Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

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This is a Buddy Read for The Answer / The Beginning by K.A. Applegate starting on February 1, 2025.


Happy Reading!

This will be the final Animorphs thread, and the end of the year-long BR... will be sad to see it end...

Through ch 2 of The Answer (view spoiler)[ wow did that start with a bang! And we get Jakes last name and age... truly a penultimate book. Good to see also we get Jakes thoughts about what Cassie did. I wonder if these will change by the end of the book (hide spoiler)]

Read The Answer and jumped right to the finale… anyone who doesn’t has more willpower than I do…

Timelord Iain wrote: "Read The Answer and jumped right to the finale… anyone who doesn’t has more willpower than I do…"

I was going to do the same thing, but it was 3am and I had to go to bed. Then I woke up and started a different book instead. I'll probably go straight into the ending today when I'm done.

Agree with Ann-Marie--what a great way to start off the book! (view spoiler)[They set us up really well for it too, repeating that each time each time each time and now it's time to break the mold. (hide spoiler)]

#53 The Answer was a really great entry all around--(view spoiler)[I was glad that the Cassie/Jake tension was addressed--it wasn't just quietly solved off-screen like it felt last book. Still being dealt with, still lingering... but the feelings are there, the history is there, and it won out in the end. Super cute that the book closed with a marriage proposal--and I respect Cassie all the more for not insta-saying "yes." That girl has a good head on her shoulders.

And so Tom's group did come around and try to rebel--but of course they double crossed. I love that the Andalite friend of Elfangor who got stuck as a nothlit came back!!! And that they'll be able to help all the Tachywhatsits! (hide spoiler)]

Lol I decided to wait for the next one mostly because I didn't have it ready to go. Will finish the finale soon though!

#53 was another 5 star read for me in the series... finale was 4 star for multiple reasons, not the least of which being (view spoiler)[it's almost a montage book... all the POVs and multiple time jumps from the wrapup of the war to 1-3 years later, to the final ending... (hide spoiler)]

I know I've already replaced this BR with monthly parasite BRs the rest of the year, and not really looking to start another official weekly BR...

But I AM personally planning to replace this with an unofficial weekly solo read... Got several options:

1) Harbinger PI: novella series I started in the past and abandoned, but decided to revisit... bought the rest of the series on Black Friday for cheap:

Lost Soul
Buried Memory
Dark Magic
Dead Ground
Shadow Land
Midnight Blood
Twilight Heart
Faerie Storm
Night Hunt
Grave Night
Final Magic
Purgatory Blood
Thirteen Bones -- Summer 2025...

Short option, 3 months...

Reading Steamborn, I'm tempted to give Vesik another try, if only because the omnibuses exist -- 8 novels, 10 novellas, 2 more novels and counting:

Days Gone Bad
Wolves and the River of Stone
Winter's Demon
This Broken World
Destroyer Rising
Rattle the Bones
Witch Queen's War
Forgotten Ghosts
The Books of the Dead, Parts 1-6
The Books of the Dead, Parts 7-10
Dreams of the Forgotten Dead
Garden Gnome Graves

I figure these should be closer to monthly for the novels and weekly for the novellas, so it'd take about a year...

And finally, them Black Ocean mission omnibuses:

Galaxy Outlaws: The Complete Black Ocean Mobius Missions 1-16.5
Black Ocean: Mercy for Hire: Complete Collection: Missions 1-16
Black Ocean: Mirth & Mayhem: Complete Collection: Missions 1-16
Black Ocean: Astral Prime Collection: Missions 1-12
Black Ocean: Passage of Time: Missions 1-11 and counting...

This set of series would take me 1.5 years, even weekly...

I'll probably get serious about these, after I burn through my current slew of LitRPG sequels to all the LitRPGs I started in the past 2 weeks...

Those do look like some tasty reads, stop tempting me, my plate is full!

Read #54 The Beginning early this week--I only waited about a day before jumping in, just haven't had my thoughts together. I liked it a lot more than Iain seems to... but then, I'm a fan of extended denouements... (view spoiler)[though I was surprised
how quickly, at first, it seemed like everything was wrapped up... almost all of the book was one big epilogue, until Ax went missing...

I was a little surprised that Rachel really was dead. No last minute saves for her, for all there've been last-minute saves for everyone else through the series... I feel especially bad for Tobias...

It was really nice to see Alloran free from the Visser, and Ax promoted to Prince. The immediate aftermath was pretty satisfying, and I enjoyed hearing Marco's recount of his fame. Made me laugh a lot. But then, things take a darker turn, first with the Visser accusing Jake of war crimes, and then the story ending with the band getting back together for one last mission... I had an emotional moment when they named the Ship The Rachel.

I thought it was a pretty brave move on the author's part, to end it without a happy ending... Jake didn't end up marrying, or even dating Cassie. Tobias and Rachel never got to get together. Even Marco's fame was just paving over his trauma... Again, the author was leaning into the real world parallels of war trauma... and when one of the old band needed them, they immediately jumped back in, one of the few places where they could ignore the trauma of being post-war is back in the war itself... (hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[I knew how it ended before we started... from spoilers over the years...

I liked the book itself, just not 5 stars like so many of the last half dozen have been... and open / unhappy endings are rough... even if I've heard the author's rationale... the series is kinda famous for the fan hate of the ending, and flood of letters to the author for the audacity... so much so that she had to put out some statements in the months after, leading to the explanations of why I mentioned before... (hide spoiler)]

Timelord Iain wrote: "leading to the explanations of why I mentioned before..."

Are you talking about why you felt the book was 4 stars, or the author's explanations of why? I'd definitely like to hear the latter--and I didn't know about the fan response, though I can understand why... I think as a child reading the series I probably would have felt differently about the ending.

https://hiracdelest.com/database/arti....

Thank you for sharing! That pretty much vibes with what I was thinking when I read it... I think her message was successful...

I need to re-read that... I was in a hurry and just found a link to share, at work this morning...

I'm strongly of the opinion that not everything needs a perfect HEA, and given the trajectory of the story throughout the series I think the ending was about as satisfying as we could expect (view spoiler)[ and ending with more adventure to be had with Jake Tobias, Marco and hopefully Ax it leaves a lot of stories up to the imagination. Honestly I didn't see them walking away leading normal lives.. except for maybe Cassie, and she was the most successful at moving on!

Rachel's death was definitely sad, but again I didn't see that going any other way with how reckless she was, and if anyone was gonna make the sacrifice it makes most sense for her (hide spoiler)]

I agree. I think it is harder to write a satisfying book that doesn't have an HEA though. I think Applegate succeeded, at least for me.

I think #53 The Answer was one of the best entries in the series, up there with the Elimist...

#54 kind of broke my heart... (view spoiler)[ I agree with Nirkadze, I thought the author took a chance not giving us a bunch of happy endings, but I am with Iain in that the unhappy and open ending is rough for me to handle.... I wanted that optimistic, if not perfect ending for all, while only Cassie gets to go on ... I am sure she will be sad for her friends, she will have regrets, but she really is the most resilient of them all and I am sure she will be steady and strong in her purpose until the end of her life, as Emily said...

I felt very sad for Rachel, but also kind of relieved for her... She was not doing well mentally, and this was really a good way for her to go... (hide spoiler)]

Thank you guys for sharing this experience with me! I can't lie, I have been fighting to stay above water both physically and emotionally... These steady series we have been reading through the last year have been an anchor for my sanity, and it is bittersweet to be coming to the end of this one and Vorkosigan... I am doing my best not to give into depression and knowing you guys are here to come back to is one of my biggest blessings!!! Thank you and I love you all!!!🙏❤️

Choko wrote: "I think #53 The Answer was one of the best entries in the series, up there with the Elimist...

#54 kind of broke my heart... I agree with Nirkadze, I thought the author took a chance not giving ..."

We love you Choko, and we love having you around for our BRs... you should join all cozy BRs this year...

We finish BioShifter this month, and go back to RavensDagger in March (author of Cinnamon Bun)... we're reading Dead Tired 1 & 2... then we'll decide what next, there's plenty of series to choose from:

Stray Cat Strut 1-5
The Agartha Loop: Book 1-2
Sporemageddon 1-3
Fluff 1-2
Love Crafted

Choko wrote: "I think #53 The Answer was one of the best entries in the series, up there with the Elimist...

#54 kind of broke my heart... I agree with Nirkadze, I thought the author took a chance not giving ..."

Sending you all the love and hugs, Choko!! It's such a treasure to get to read with you!

I'm also bummed about Vorkosigan coming to an end--but I'm looking forward to continuing with the Honor Harrington books! Those got me out of a Vorkosigan slump in the past... and we've got at least another year to go on them...

We need to find some more long-running comfort food... I tried doing some research--here are some longer running series that have some comfort-food if not cozy aspects... I'm only writing down things at least 5+ Books

Belgariad/Mallorean
Earthsea
Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar
Jack McDevit's Alex Benedict series
Tamora Pierce's Tortall series (though I know Iain doesn't like these, they're my favorites)

On the list but haven't tried:
Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments
Jennifer Armentrout's Blood and Ash
Samantha Shannon's Bone Season

Seems like we're in the middle of a lot of the recs:
Temeraire
Horus Heresy
Riordan books
I'd also plug the Osten Ard saga so far--very nice writing--third book's a chonker but after that they are more normal...

oh, and this isn't even getting into LitRPG possibilities...

LitRPG/Cultivation is definitely one of my cozy go-tos...

I read a few Cassandra Clare books back in the day before abandoning...

Tamora Pierce's Alanna: The First Adventure quartet was a fail for me (quickly devolved into 1 star reads)... and A Wizard of Earthsea was a dud series for me, that I pushed through... Alex Benedict I read in the Mystery club, and got tired of the formula after awhile...

Read the Percy Jackson series and enjoyed it for what it was...
Reading Horus Heresy now, on book 2 this month...
Read Temeraire once, need to do the anthology...

Haven't read Belgariad, Valdemar, Armentrout, Samantha Shannon, or Tortall...

I am going to try and read everything I have to catch up on, so there will be time for us to decide...

Ah, I wasn't sure if you were dropping some stuff and starting from scratch...

No, I am not giving up... Just dragging myself out of the hole...

Timelord Iain wrote: "LitRPG/Cultivation is definitely one of my cozy go-tos...

I read a few Cassandra Clare books back in the day before abandoning...

Tamora Pierce's Alanna: The First Adventure quartet ..."

re: Tortall--that series is the Alanna series--there's five or so series in the same world, and Alanna's the first. It's my favorite childhood read, and I still return to it when I need comfort, though my favorite is Protector of the Small, the third series.

Wow, I'm somewhat surprised you managed to avoid the Belgariad though... the same way I'm surprised I managed to avoid any Mercedes Lackey until recently...

@Choko--yay!! I hope the "dragging out of hole" ends up being more like leisurely and exciting walk with occasional hike-y bits.

I don't think anyone has tried to read any Eddings around here in awhile... last I remember was like 2018... went and checked and it was 2019, the only time we made a thread for Pawn of Prophecy...

Choko wrote: "I think #53 The Answer was one of the best entries in the series, up there with the Elimist...

#54 kind of broke my heart... I agree with Nirkadze, I thought the author took a chance not giving ..."

I know its been a couple days but we love you too! I'm happy the group can be here for everyone when times get tough. Looking forward to your posts as you catch up to things!