Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

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I'll be a little late starting this.

I'm finally starting this. Who was planning on reading it with me? I can't remember.

Me... join soon...

I've been struggling to remember what happened in the first book. I'm surprised I forgot so much of it when I just read it a few months ago. So far I'm feeling a bit detached from this one, probably because of that.

Tammie wrote: "I've been struggling to remember what happened in the first book. I'm surprised I forgot so much of it when I just read it a few months ago. So far I'm feeling a bit detached from this one, probabl..."

The main part I remember is the end with the super evil monologuing... and finding out some old guy is basically immortal and ruling the country... trying to rule the world... I think it's the first emperor of the main country... and he was playing the role of Ambassador for the sand country I think... and doing stuff in the woods... feeding dissidents to the daytime Night Haunts... or something...

That's probably all jumbled and slightly wrong, but hopefully enough to follow... I think the MC and love interest escaped at the end and had to flee the country... join the resistance or something... or that's the type of plot that's going to play out in book 2, anyway...

Even with all I typed above, I'm a bit lost myself... maybe it won't matter much, since Part 1 jumps ahead a year?...

Timelord Iain wrote: "Even with all I typed above, I'm a bit lost myself... maybe it won't matter much, since Part 1 jumps ahead a year?..."

Yeah it might not. I was surprised when it jumped ahead so far.

OH YEA... Korvin... that's the love interest, right?... (view spoiler)[I think he was stuck in a prison/pit, and people were left to think he was dead... then he escaped with some prisoners maybe... and ended up in the prison mines... now someone important has found him... (hide spoiler)]

I think that's right... or I'm mixing my books...

I'm approaching 50%, and still feeling a bit of that detachment you talked of... unless I'm mistaken, this book has a different feel to the first one, and is just overall depressing...

Timelord Iain wrote: "OH YEA... Korvin... that's the love interest, right?... [spoilers removed]

I think that's right... or I'm mixing my books..."

So uh... I think I drew this from another book... cause I started skimming some reviews, including a spoilery one... and apparently everything to do with Korvin just happened in the time jump from events in the prologue, before I fully grasped who all the characters were again...

Yeah that's him. I agree that this book feels different from the first one. Depressing is a good word for it. I'm not feeling all that interested even though I'm trying to be. I may end up giving up on this.

I managed 66% yesterday... will finish later today...

Plot finally started moving forward to it’s inevitable conclusion recently... not sure there’s been much to sell it with... the bar was low for me on this, and it hasn’t even really met those expectations...

Some reviewers lament the 2 time jumps, before and after the prologue, and wish this had been a trilogy instead of a duology, with an extra middle book... not sure if that would have really saved it, tho...

I'm 30% in.

I went back and forth on reading this one myself, so the bar was pretty low for me too. I just didn't think it would have a completely different feel from the other book.

I doubt a third book would have helped. It probably would have just introduced unneeded filler, which is an issue a lot of YA trilogies have.

I feel like the middle book in most trilogies are barely relevant... like you said...

I lost a day... finally finishing today...

I know I was already predisposed to be unhappy with this book, after the lackluster start and long break, but this ending just feels like bullshit... random and unearned and a bit anti-climactic, for all it's a big battle...

I decided not to finish it. Can you give me the spoilers?

Let's see... (view spoiler)[Corvin ends up the Swayed pawn of Gavril for 2/3 of the book, a Wilder Sway serving the ancestor guy...

Kate thinks Corvin is dead until she doesn't, walks into a trap by Corvin's brother, who's pretending to be the rightful king, swayed by the ancestor guy...

Resistance is crushed... Corvin thinks Kate is dead... develops platonic understanding with the daughter of the Godking, the girl he's put into an arranged marriage with... Gavril has some creeper thing for her, and wants to Sway rape her to consummate their marriage, but Corvin/girl fake the consummation, after she learns how much Corvin still loves "dead" Kate...

Kate & Corvin meet up, Corvin saves Kate with help from freed Wilders (temporary death breaks the Sway hold)... losts of torture porn, tho... but Corvin gets Kate's magic collar off and they escape captivity...

Corvin and brother stay alive despite machinations, because the Yao brand thing from their trial is still active...

Then the resistance is back on... but it gets sidetracked when Corvin sees Gavril doing something with a ritual and a weapon made of demonsteel (I think that's the name... same material as the special bullets)... Corvin breaks ritual circle... Gavril kills Corvin's brother anyway... but black smoke comes out of the blade... special black smoke that eats magic... Bonner touches smoke to take sword from battle, and loses his Wilder magic... Gavril thought dead here...

(I'm mangling this, for sure)...

Lots of angst here when Corvin & Kate both think the other can't stand them, for plot reasons... real animosity between Kate and Signe, as Kate starts using Sway for people's own good more and more... questions of comparing her to the ancestor guy...

Kate is resistant to using the demonsteel blade to defeat the godking & ancestor, because she can't separate her identity from her magic... but in the end, it's that or this MacGuffin magic solution involving a book with god language in it that burns out the eyes of a priestess of the gods...

Kate is offered unlimited power, but backs out over worries of losing her identity...

Battle approaches... Gavril is back, somehow... controls people and Corvin's friend Dal... Corvin has to kill Dal to win... breaks down and almost dies... Kate runs into the daughter of the Godking, when looking for Corvin's Yao horse... almost kills her in jealousy... doesn't... we find out the ancestor guy already killed the Godking and said the rebellion did...

Horse saves Corvin... Corvin yells with Gavril... figures out he lost his magic to the demonsteel, and is using a vial of Kate's blood to control everyone... throws weapon and breaks vial... soldiers tear Gavril apart...

Ancestor guy shows up... kills Kate... almost kills Corvin... but Kate has a "Harry Potter Moment" and comes back to life, after claiming the magic she declined before... is super Overpowered... beats the ancestor guy easy...

And everyone lives happily ever after... except for Dal & Signe... since Dal is dead... (hide spoiler)]

I just kinda rambled alot in that spoiler tag... I think I covered most things... not sure how decipherable I was tho... but hopefully you get the gist of things coming out of relative nowhere tho...

Thanks! I think I'm glad I quit.

Tammie wrote: "Thanks! I think I'm glad I quit."

The author did a bit better job piecing the info together than I did XD

If I wasn't so close to done already, from my first burst, I'm not sure I'd have cared to finish, either... hopefully our next BR is better...

Not sure what we're doing next, actually... Lady Sherlock is all caught up... we did the first book in that one series with the preppers... we have loose plans to try Shetland Island #4... and it's been awhile since we did a standalone... didn't we request a thread for something in July or August?...

I didn't really like the preppers book all that much so I don't think I want to continue that one. I was planning on getting to the next Shetland book by the end of this month. I just haven't been in the mood for it yet. I would like to get back to reading the standalones when I get the time. I'll have to see how quickly I get through the next couple of books on my buddy read list.

These are the buddy reads I've got lined up for June, July and Aug. (Excluding the Lindsay Buroker ones, since I know you are not reading those.) Besides Peace Talks, I can't remember which ones you were planning to read...

June 17: The King's Traitor I'm behind on this one.
June 25: The Girl and the Stars
July 21: Peace Talks
July 27: Age of Empyre
July 28: The Sisters of the Winter Wood
Aug. 5: City of Bones

Seems like Soo zoomed through the preppers books already, so I don’t mind abandoning or delaying that one, either...

I know I’m signed up for Dresden and Winter Wood... City of Bones re-read was the August BR I was forgetting...

Still need to read the last LFE book, not sure if that’s Empyre or not...

Yes, that is Emypre.

Oh crap I read the first book and just missed this one.
So reading above I am getting the feeling it may not be worth the time?

I didn't think was as good as the first book.

You can read the book, or read my mangled summary :D

Make up your mind after you read the first chunk of the book... post-prologue, the following chapters give a good idea of the tone of the first 66% of the book...

Thanks Tammie and Iain.