What are you reading Thread

I think it's going to work much better as a film then as a book. Rather than devoting pages to describing the layout of an 80s reference filled bedroom, a simple pan across some shelves filled with games or posters on the wall will accomplish that just fine. Couple that with the fact that Spielberg is at the helm and it should work out fine.

@ Buska

I loved Ready player one so that's sad to hear that didn't enjoy it all that much, perhaps the constant recommendations for you to read it subconsciously put you off before you started it? Or maybe it just hasn't aged all that well in the last 6 years.

Little from column a, little from column b. I also think anything that references a lot of other great works like that invites itself to be compared to them, unfortunately.
Like I said, once it got going I didn't hate it, and if the things that bothered me aren't as annoying to someone else I can see why it would be up there.

I'm also not really in the right mood to read about capitalist dystopian futures right now, seeing as we're living in one

Fair enough.

Been a while and I've finished two books in that time.  Daggerspell, book one of the Deverry saga, a reread of my first foray into the genre and adult fiction way back when.  Long story short the story follows an almost-immortal magician (Dweomer Master to use the in-universe terminology) and three constantly reincarnating souls after he played a pivotal role in screwing up their destinies in an earlier life that saw him cursed to immortality after vowing to never rest until he set it right.  The series likes to take a rather unique route of telling the story, covering the past lives as they become relevant to the current ones, and its use of reincarnation is a key feature that sets it apart from your typical fantasy settings.  While a decent read the series starts to really get in to the mojo of things from book 2, this one was a lot of set-up with a smaller scale conflict.  

The second being the first book in the two-novel omnibus Theft of Swords, The Crown Conspiracy.  This one was a ton of fun, a couple of unlikely heroes in the form of a mercenary and a thief duo end up dragged in to a conspiracy involving the royalty of the region, much swashbuckling adventuring ensues.   The relationship and banter of the grumpy Royce and affable Hadrian keeps things entertaining throughout and they have excellent chemistry.  This book's an easy recommendation for anybody after a swashbuckling fun adventure that don't want to feel like they need to go on suicide watch afterwards, it may not exactly set the world on fire with an original setting (but lets be honest here, sometimes a traditional fantasy setting with a few unique tweaks is just what the doctor ordered) but boy is it a fun ride.  The second story so far gets even better too.

The first of those sounds interesting, but the second sounds like exactly what the doctor ordered. Fun!

And indeed it was!  Brushed off the second story in Theft of Swords, Avempartha.  The tone was still light for most of the story although the storm on the horizon is now starting to come in to clearer focus.

The story this time took a nice contrast to the first one.  Where the first story dealt with the dealings and treachery of a grand conspiracy this one instead dealt with a small village under attack from a monster.  What sounds like a small affair soon becomes something far bigger however, and the story ends with what is best described as an avalanche of awesome.  

Overall the book was an absolute blast and I cannot wait for the next instalment, Nyphron Rising.  The name alone has me all kinds of hyped considering the conclusion of Avempartha.  It's safe to say my recommendation of the series has only strengthened after concluding the book.  

The wait for book depository to get me the rest of the series is going to be painful.  In the meantime I'll probably read the second part of The Deverry Cycle, Darkspell.

I recently finished The Odyssey, which I read for this nonsense and I enjoyed it much more than the Iliad. It just felt less repetitive and tedious, and took me on an actual adventure. I was pretty into it by the end, and properly rooting for Odysseus, Penelope and Telemachus to get a happy ending. Crazy to think it got to me like that 2,800 years after it was written!

I wonder if Odysseus ever 'fessed up to his wife what he was busy doing (or who) for many of those years... anyway, agreed that it's a better story than the Iliad, which focusses in stupid detail on one area of a war. Surprised nobody's made a game based on it actually.

Their was one back in 2011 called Warriors: Legends of Troy which is a Musou.

If that ever comes to XBox One BC I will be all over it.

All but finished Darkspell, the second part of the four book long Deverry Cycle and fifteen book long Deverry saga. Picking up about a year after the events of the first book once-a-lord Rhodry, now tasked to travel as a Silver Dagger (lone-wolf mercenaries that travel the land constantly looking for hire) with his soulmate Jill (also a silver dagger) finds the dweomer that caused the rebellion aimed at killing him hasn't finished, as he and Jill find themselves unwittingly entrapped in a conspiracy of a Dark Dweomer Master with nasty plans and even nastier means of working his vile schemes.

Like the title suggests the story takes a more sinister turn as the readers are given a nice showing of the Dark Dweomer and how it conducts business, plenty of ensorcelling people to slaves, inflictions of insanity and depression, that sort of thing. The conflict is smaller in scale although the stakes are more openly large at the same time, for failure would result in an eventual return to an age of endless conflict. Speaking of that age, we're given our first showing of the Deverry civil war as well, with Jill's soul being a bloodlusting warrior-priestess in a previous life. Needless to say the results are another tragedy in the chain of fate that binds the three souls (they don't always die horribly in every life, promise!), although the big take-away is the set-up for the Deverry civil war happening during the time period, as well as the foundation of a noble bloodline that has relevance in the current time-period.

Overall it's a good book and where I feel the series starts to really hit its stride, doing well to keep the story in the perspective of smaller more personal views of the characters and a more grounded realistic setting. It's the little things, like mention of a castle having barbican's and other realistic features or how a war affects the lives of the peasants, that really make the setting of the series feel authentic and grounded, which works hand in hand with the magic and its various dimension-shifting astral plain shenanigans.

DoPo for the win!  

So, Nyphron Rising is finished, another awesome adventure.  The Empire has been established and is sweeping the world, only a treaty between the kingdom of Melengar and the Nationalists can force a retreat of the imperial army from the former's lands.  Needless to say it falls to miracle workers Royce and Hadrian to get that treaty formed, and needless to say things don't go anywhere close to as planned on paper as what starts as a simple meeting ends in something far larger.  The main cast continues to develop in delightful and satisfying ways, with princess Arista stepping in to a main character role and providing some great chapters.  

Can't really say any more than that because we're quickly coming to the point where summaries, even brief, are spoilers.  Suffice to say the books just keep getting better and better, and I've already started devouring the next one, The Emerald Storm.

I'm currently reading The Last Wish by Andrezj Sapkowski, which GNamerans who have been paying attention may notice is the book which the Witcher games are based on. It is very good, and at a quick pace and characterful tone I'd recommend it to fantasy fans who want something to read between thick tomes. Like the games, it takes place in a very grim, real medieval world which is afflicted by a very whimsical, fairy-tale breed of magic and monsters. It is wondefully, brilliantly Polish. (I'm about halfway through).

By the way, if you're not all sick of Jamie yet: he had a very nice black, hardcover copy of Arcanium Unbounded, the short Cosmere collection by Brandon Sanderson. His reading that and my reading TLW is how we became friends, see.

Aaaaw - that's a nice thing to happen!

Less nice is I realised I have a load of books on my bookshelf that I was given as a kid (I think my mum was trying to get me to read anything that wasn't a vidjagames magazine) that I never read, but didn't have the heart to pass on. So I went back and read The Jungle Book. You know what? It's terrible. I appreciate that Kipling wrote this in the 1890s, but he deliberately makes the jungle animals speak in an antiquated form of English. A whole paragraph is spent on describing the movement of an animal, but sometimes three years' time is covered by a comma. Disney butchered the story of Mowgli (only actually half the book; not many orangutans in India; Baloo was the grumpy one and Bagheera was more relaxed), but they at least made something watchable. #18905HotTake

I've ordered myself a trilogy of books based on the Alien universe, most of them are either set between Alien & Aliens or slightly after.

The Emerald Storm is done and Rise of Empire is over.  This series gets stronger with every story, overall an easy rec for anybody after a good fantasy yarn with awesome protagonists.  Not going to do my usual rundown because we've entered massive spoiler territory, and things here on out are going to get very exciting I suspect.


I'll be taking a break before the final omnibus to allow someone irl the chance to catch up and instead will be returning to Sanderson's Cosmere.  That's right, I'm finally going to start Mistborn: Alloy of Law!  Stormlight Archive 3 is only five months away so I'd better get cracking!

I need to get on with some more Sanderson/ Cosmere, I reckon.
I finished The Last Wish. Very good, but almost dreamlike. Very fairy tale. I want to read more in that world, now, to see how much of the very grounded world from The Witcher games is actually in the books.

Wrapped up Alloy of Law: A Mistborn Novel this morning before going to sleep.  Very fun romp this one, Wax and Wayne are a great duo.  Not much in the way of jaw dropping plot twists this time round, this one's a side story (or starts as one at any rate, who knows what'll happen by series-end).  Still the way the world's changed since the Mistborn Trilogy works perfectly, and the mix of a world on the edge of the industrial era boom and Mistborn's magic allows for some pretty great combo's.  Coins make way for bullets when it comes to steel-pushing for example.  Even so society is still influenced of a time when gods and mortals did battle, with a host of religions sprouting up (and an old one standing the test of time) in the few centuries since the original trilogy, creating an evolution that feels profound yet completely natural.  

Also this might be the only time you'll ever see something where self-weight manipulation is awesome (never thought I'd say that, Sanderson is quiet remarkable in how he can use all the powers he creates).  

Some will like how the connections to the trilogy are handled, others will likely wish it went further.  Personally I felt it got the balance right, hearing about all the conflicts and the people who fought in them and how time has twisted them was great, but at the same it doesn't beat you over the head with references to Vin and co's adventures.  

All up a great and fun new cast of characters, a fun story, some of Sanderson's typical awesome action scenes, and an awesome and unique setting. In short: damn good and short read, and a must-read for fans of the trilogy (and if you haven't read the trilogy yet I advise you to rectify this crime immediately).  

Now I'll be diving straight in to Wax and Wayne's second book, Shadows of Self.

Question for you Athrun: what order should I read the rest of Sanderson's stuff in? Just now all I've read is the original Mistborn trilogy, and my gut instinct is to jump straight in with the other MB stuff.

I read the first W&W straight away and I think remembering what the metals do probably helps - I do have a horrendous memory mind.

I've currently ground to a halt with Warbreaker. Need to get back to it but Steins Gate 0 is more appealing...

^ I would be mildly saddened by that news but, well, it is Steins;Gate.  Which reminds me I really need to pick up 0 already! That said Vivenna's slow but certain downward spiral was oh-so satisfying to read.



Technically aside from direct sequels you can read any Cosmere book at any point, although I'd say go with Elantris next actually.  Its story and characters hold up well, and for other reasons that might become clear when you reach Stormlight it makes the next logical step from the Mistborn trilogy (despite being published first).  While it's still in self-contained territory there are some elements about its world that make it retrospectively of great interest.  Plus Hrathen, whose development and journey is one of my favourite in recent memory.


From there choices open up a bit, as Warbreaker, Way of Kings (Stormlight Archive 1) and Alloy of Law (Wax and Wayne 1) can, as mentioned, all be read whenever you please (Way of Kings is a tad more rewarding if you've a bit of exposure to the Cosmere though).  That said there is still a bit of a recommended reading order, for example you should read Warbreaker before reading Words of Radiance (Stormlight Archive 2), and you should leave the Cosmere short-story collection Arcanum Unbounded until you've read all currently released books (Warbreaker, Stormlight 1 and 2, Wax and Wayne 1-3).

I'd also say spacing out the Stormlight Archive novels with other books (Cosmere or otherwise) when you get to them would likely be wise, as they're extremely dense and over 1000 pages each (also should be noted that Way of Kings can be pretty slow for the first 600 or so pages, but as far as big investments go it absolutely pays off, once it gets going it stays going).  Wax and Wayne would work perfectly for that, Alloy of Law is a short and punchy novel and the opening sections I've read of the sequel seem to only improve on it.

TLDR: In terms of Cosmere as a whole I'd go the publication order of Elantris > Warbreaker > Way of Kings > Wax and Wayne 1 and 2 > Words of Radiance > Wax and Wayne 3 > Arcanum Unbounded

That said you could also go this way (or an order close to it) without any issue: Wax and Wayne 1 and 2 > Elantris > Warbreaker AND/OR Way of Kings > Wax and Wayne 3 > Words of Radiance (After Warbreaker) > Arcanum Unbounded

Choice is yours!

Athrun888 wrote:

TLDR: In terms of Cosmere as a whole I'd go the publication order of Elantris > Warbreaker > Way of Kings > Wax and Wayne 1 and 2 > Words of Radiance > Wax and Wayne 3 > Arcanum Unbounded

I reckon I'll trust your judgement and go with that. Might be a while, as I'll be mixing in other stuff as well.

So, finished Shadows of Self this morning at the expense of my sleeping schedule (getting a new console, starting House of Cards, and reading a amazing novel will do that).  That ending was something else, another great twist from Sanderson, tore my heart right out it did.  And that epilogue is loaded with Cosmere subtext, indeed it is.  

Overall another excellent novel.  Great blend of crime mystery and action in this one, and even as a sequel series the old three magics are still showing there's a lot left to learn in how they can be used.  "There's always another secret."  I really can't say anything more because of how spoiler sensitive this one was, everything that made the first Wax and Wayne novel great was back and better than ever though.    

Just a bit of advice though, if you pick up the UK edition don't read the blurb on the back cover, gives way too much away.  Like, practically the entire first half of the book gets given away, and considering a good deal of the novel is a mystery, yeah.  I got warned not to read it before picking it up and I'd be remiss not to pass that advice on.  


This is the part of the post where I'd like to say "onwards to Bands of Mourning", alas that playstation 4 bled all my expendable income dry for the next few weeks so instead I'll be turning my attention back to Riyria in the grand finale of the adventures of Hadrian and Royce.

I remember someone (maybe Drunka?) saying here that they'd tried and not liked seminal classic Ready Player One? I'm reading it now and am in a similar boat: its descriptions of nerds, in particular their dealings with women and their language, are clichéd to the point of painfulness. Like the concept, don't like the execution thus far.