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re: Sci-Fi/Fantasy Recommendation & Discussion Thread

Posted on 12/10/20 at 5:06 pm to
Posted by auyushu
Surprise, AZ
Member since Jan 2011
9212 posts
Posted on 12/10/20 at 5:06 pm to
Riyria. Kay is solid, but Riyria is exceptional.
Posted by Sneaky__Sally
Member since Jul 2015
12364 posts
Posted on 12/10/20 at 5:08 pm to
That is what I was leaning towards - Riyria it is
Posted by Sneaky__Sally
Member since Jul 2015
12364 posts
Posted on 12/14/20 at 9:45 pm to
Good call on Riyria, finished Theft of Swords this weekend and it was really well done. Had some oddities down at sentence level makeup and all - but it was fantastic for a first time author, self published book. Excited to get through the next two by the end of the year.
Posted by Sneaky__Sally
Member since Jul 2015
12364 posts
Posted on 12/18/20 at 5:30 am to
I see Django Wexler had his first book in a new series come out in July. I absolutely loved Shadow Campaigns, one of my favorite series I read recently.
Posted by auyushu
Surprise, AZ
Member since Jan 2011
9212 posts
Posted on 12/18/20 at 6:00 am to
quote:

see Django Wexler had his first book in a new series come out in July. I absolutely loved Shadow Campaigns, one of my favorite 


I just read it a couple weeks ago, it was quite good. Interesting technology/magic hybrid world building.
Posted by Sneaky__Sally
Member since Jul 2015
12364 posts
Posted on 12/18/20 at 6:23 am to
quote:

Interesting technology/magic hybrid world building.



awesome, love that stuff. I'll probably wait till a couple more are out to dig into it - got a lot of stuff already lined up for next year.

But am going to need to work in more of Riyria, the Castell YA fantasy series probably, The other mark Lawrence Ancestor series, 2nd powder-mage trilogy as well oh ya and first law standalones and 2nd series.
This post was edited on 12/18/20 at 6:25 am
Posted by auyushu
Surprise, AZ
Member since Jan 2011
9212 posts
Posted on 12/18/20 at 7:09 am to
quote:

confess that I'm a sucker for footnotes in some styles (David Foster Wallace), but I skipped a lot of these, even though some of them were hilarious.



The footnotes were hilarious, he's up there Terry Pratchett in terms of making funny footnotes. I particularly liked in the later books where he had the characters in the books talking smack about authors using footnotes being wankers and talking about the sex scenes being over the top. And then when he had the footnote after that which was basically "oh you thought there weren't going to be any more footnotes after they were talking smack about them eh? Well screw you" it cracked me up.

Thanks for all you guys pushing the Nevernight trilogy in here, was one of the better series I've read in a while. Reminded me a decent bit of Sebastian de Castell with the gallows humor throughout (though more his Spellslinger series rather than Greatcoats, it's not quite as dark and gritty as Greatcoats). And the protagonists in Spellslinger and Nevernight both have similar smartass, violent minded pets/familiars.
This post was edited on 12/18/20 at 7:15 am
Posted by auyushu
Surprise, AZ
Member since Jan 2011
9212 posts
Posted on 12/18/20 at 7:25 am to
quote:

probably wait till a couple more are out to dig into it - got a lot of stuff already lined up for next year.


Yeah, I find myself doing that a lot more these days just for convenience for remembering the plots. I pretty much only bought it because it happened to be on super sale one day when I was browsing Amazon with the kindle version for like 3 bucks.

Sounds like you have a bunch of awesome reading lined up to keep you busy for a while.
Posted by Sneaky__Sally
Member since Jul 2015
12364 posts
Posted on 12/18/20 at 8:03 am to
Ya, i have found a couple other threads with sci fi / fantasy book recommendations and i've also decided to to get around to some of the non-fiction books I've bought and read.

Plus we seem to be in a pretty awesome time for the genre right now - there are a solid half dozen fantastic fantasy authors who put out a book nearly every single year or every other year.
This post was edited on 12/18/20 at 8:04 am
Posted by hogfly
Fayetteville, AR
Member since May 2014
4921 posts
Posted on 12/18/20 at 2:37 pm to
I tried hi previous adult trilogy, the Lotus Wars, and it didn't pull me in the same way. I only made it through the first book and am switching over to something else. He really grew a lot as a writer between the Lotus Wars and Nevernight. It could also be that I'm suffering from recency bias because I rolled straight from one series of his into another.

Posted by Sneaky__Sally
Member since Jul 2015
12364 posts
Posted on 12/20/20 at 6:58 pm to
Just got The Burning God (Poppy Wars Book 3) on my libby app. Excited to see how this one wraps up.
Posted by Sneaky__Sally
Member since Jul 2015
12364 posts
Posted on 12/22/20 at 6:14 pm to
i thought it ended pretty well, I feel like none of the characters were sympathetic and maybe that was the point but definitely hurt my enjoyment on the series. Overall the series is a solid B to B+ for me I think. Definitely worth checking out if you like books with war and suffering and analysis of what trauma can do to people. The unique world with tons of interesting history, culture and mythology influenced by eastern asia ideas and a different viewpoint was the best part for me.
Posted by auyushu
Surprise, AZ
Member since Jan 2011
9212 posts
Posted on 12/22/20 at 8:37 pm to
quote:

feel like none of the characters were sympathetic and maybe that was the point but definitely hurt my enjoyment on the series.


I've only read the first (waiting on the 12 week backlog with my library through Libby for the next ones), but I kinda got the impression that the series would head in that direction with the downward spiral of the main character.

Once you get a Kindle I'd recommend The Sword of Kaigen for a book that covers a similar topic but does it tremendously better, with much more interesting and likeable characters.

The Jade War series is also way better in terms of Asian fantasy.
Posted by Sneaky__Sally
Member since Jul 2015
12364 posts
Posted on 12/23/20 at 12:13 pm to
What other series / books has anyone read that has that really dense style of Dune and Malazan?
Posted by auyushu
Surprise, AZ
Member since Jan 2011
9212 posts
Posted on 12/23/20 at 1:34 pm to
You talking about the philosophical standpoint of both? Or world building?
Posted by Sneaky__Sally
Member since Jul 2015
12364 posts
Posted on 12/23/20 at 1:37 pm to
quote:

You talking about the philosophical standpoint of both? Or world building?



Kind of both, that sort of drop you in, long history with great world building that sort of culminates into those philoshical elements and really intense scenes / ideas with powerful and all knowing characters.
This post was edited on 12/23/20 at 1:39 pm
Posted by auyushu
Surprise, AZ
Member since Jan 2011
9212 posts
Posted on 12/23/20 at 1:50 pm to
R Scott Bakker with The Prince of Nothing trilogy that we've discussed fits the bill here.

China Mieville's The Scar and Perdido Street Station are both really good and unique and might kinda fit the bill here.

The other ones I can think of right off hand I don't necessarily think are that great, such as The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant and Tad William's Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn.
Posted by auyushu
Surprise, AZ
Member since Jan 2011
9212 posts
Posted on 12/23/20 at 2:11 pm to
Maybe Zelazny's Amber Chronicles too, though slightly less for the philosophical parts and more because it fits the bill for everything else you mentioned.
Posted by Sneaky__Sally
Member since Jul 2015
12364 posts
Posted on 12/27/20 at 2:00 pm to
Just finished up Rise of Empire - on to Heir of Novron - enjoying Riryia a lot, Definitely trends way towards traditional fantasy but it is just done really, really well.
Posted by Sneaky__Sally
Member since Jul 2015
12364 posts
Posted on 12/29/20 at 7:26 am to
Is the Jade War by Fonda Lee?

The Amazon link I found shows it as book 2 in the Green Bone saga - is that the series you are talking about? Looks like Book 3 is coming out late next year, i'll probably hit up all 3 around that time.
This post was edited on 12/29/20 at 8:10 am
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