OT: Sci-Fi and Fantasy Thread - SPOILERS Part Three

[Surrounded By Ahos]

Ok, I'm on pace to read around 60 books this year, so I'm going to go ahead and get a head start on my tier list. Just to humblebrag a bit, I've already finished 18 books as of today, and have read at least something for 171 days in a row.


S Tier: Books I would consider a foundational part of who I am and will recommend without hesitation:

Titus Groan, Best Served Cold, The Word for World is Forest, Gormenghast, The Heroes,


A Tier: Books I loved:

The Other Wind, Tender is the Flesh, The Player of Games, Use of Weapons,

B Tier: Books I enjoyed:

A Natural History of Dragons, Eyes of the Void, Lords of Uncreation, Shadows Linger, Legends and Lattes, The Haunting of Hill House, Roadside Picnic, Matter, Hawkwood's Voyage


C Tier: Books I finished:



D Tier: Books I don't think were worth finishing:

 

[Surrounded By Ahos]

Anybody who liked Peaky Blinders should check out a book called Priest of Bones. I'm not saying they're identical, but the man character is a man called Tomas who was a mob boss that got drafted to fight in a war. After the war ends, he comes home to an industrial slum filled city and starts mob bossing again, along with his ornery brother and has to deal with his aunt, who wants a bigger say in things. Along the way he becomes infatuated with a barmaid who, as it turns out, is actually a secret government agent, and has to work hard to keep the local chief of police off his back.

So yeah, it's basically Peaky Blinders, the fantasy book, and it's pretty fun. Highly recommend.

 

[Lord Defect]

I finished the last book of the Malazan series. Damn good series.

 

[ajgoal]

I finished the last book of the Malazan series. Damn good series.

Just the main series? Or the side books too?

 

[KINGKENZO]

Anybody who liked Peaky Blinders should check out a book called Priest of Bones. I'm not saying they're identical, but the man character is a man called Tomas who was a mob boss that got drafted to fight in a war. After the war ends, he comes home to an industrial slum filled city and starts mob bossing again, along with his ornery brother and has to deal with his aunt, who wants a bigger say in things. Along the way he becomes infatuated with a barmaid who, as it turns out, is actually a secret government agent, and has to work hard to keep the local chief of police off his back.

So yeah, it's basically Peaky Blinders, the fantasy book, and it's pretty fun. Highly recommend.

Did JJ Abrams write it?

 

[Lord Defect]

Just the main series? Or the side books too?

Main series. They did not have the side books in the humble bundle I picked up last year but I’ll be keeping an eye out for them.

 

[Surrounded By Ahos]

Did JJ Abrams write it?

Nah, not enough lens flares.

 

[Surrounded By Ahos]

I finished the last book of the Malazan series. Damn good series.

I'm taking this as my inspiration to finally start Malazan. Thank you, O Defective One.

 

[Lord Defect]

I watched the new movie Havoc on Netflix with ton hardy and Timothy olyphant. Man that movie was terrible.
They went full overboard Kill Bill esque blood, everyone and their mom died by massive gunfire overkill where the rounds keep the person standing and dancing.
Infinite capacity magazines for everyone!
The subtitles said that a shotgun being racked was a “rifle being cocked”. Totally unwatchable just for that.
There’s much more wrong with it but it’s spoilery.

I’m sure it could be fun if you’re bored and not big into guns or realism in a movie that looks like it should be adhering to physics.

 

[Lord Defect]

I'm taking this as my inspiration to finally start Malazan. Thank you, O Defective One.

Enjoy it.
Fair warning, as per the authors notes at the end of the last book, the main series is over 3.5 million words.

 

[Surrounded By Ahos]

Enjoy it.
Fair warning, as per the authors notes at the end of the last book, the main series is over 3.5 million words.

I’m game. I’ve read all of Discworld and Sanderson’s Cosmere, both of which are just over that (if google is to be believed).


I’m more worried about the lack of exposition. I just read Gardens of the Moon’s prologue. It was like eight pages long and shit out about a dozen titles, names, and concepts with absolutely zero explanation as to what they are or any surrounding context.

 

[Lord Defect]

I’m game. I’ve read all of Discworld and Sanderson’s Cosmere, both of which are just over that (if google is to be believed).


I’m more worried about the lack of exposition. I just read Gardens of the Moon’s prologue. It was like eight pages long and shit out about a dozen titles, names, and concepts with absolutely zero explanation as to what they are or any surrounding context.

They’ll fill you in. Each chapter starts with a poem or two, but I don’t think they hold any actual context or cues to the story on the whole, but rather add additional content. They are not mandatory to read if that’s not your thing.
Later in the series you’ll get hit with a few characters who have somewhat similar names but it’s not a big deal.

 

[Surrounded By Ahos]

They’ll fill you in. Each chapter starts with a poem or two, but I don’t think they hold any actual context or cues to the story on the whole, but rather add additional content. They are not mandatory to read if that’s not your thing.
Later in the series you’ll get hit with a few characters who have somewhat similar names but it’s not a big deal.

Finished the first chapter today. Still no clue what the f*** is going on. The noble kid from the prologue is a soldier now, and investigated some really nasty shit. A couple dudes summoned some magic wolves and slaughtered a company or something? And those same dudes killed an old lady who may have been a magic user of some sort, then brain wiped some poor girl and are using her to infiltrate the army?


People really weren't kidding when they said it tosses you in the deep end lol. I'm so lost.

 

[Surrounded By Ahos]

I just started the Part Two of Gardens of the Moon and my current thoughts are as follows:




Gods moving against one another, all sorts of internal politics in the Malazan Empire, talking f***ing birds, about six new characters every chapter. I'm lost and confused and I can't stop reading. I gotta know what's gonna happen next.

 

[ajgoal]

I just started the Part Two of Gardens of the Moon and my current thoughts are as follows:




Gods moving against one another, all sorts of internal politics in the Malazan Empire, talking f***ing birds, about six new characters every chapter. I'm lost and confused and I can't stop reading. I gotta know what's gonna happen next.

I might jump into a re-read. I've been in a rut, and this is the kind of series where everything is important and new details pop out.

 

[Surrounded By Ahos]

I might jump into a re-read. I've been in a rut, and this is the kind of series where everything is important and new details pop out.

Pretty much every page I come across something that makes me think "Oh, that was probably important foreshadowing, I should remember that"

 

[ajgoal]

Pretty much every page I come across something that makes me think "Oh, that was probably important foreshadowing, I should remember that"

Don't be surprised when threads just disappear and never come back. It's like real life where people appear, do things, then don't come back into the specific story.

 

[trostol]

3 series i can wholly recommend

Janitors of the Post-Apocalypse
Phule's Company series
Space Team series

All fun not so serious sci fi

 

[Surrounded By Ahos]

I finally finished Gardens of the Moon. Boy, that was quite the ride. Things really start picking up once the Bridgeburners make it to the city. It wasn't that tough to read, but keeping up with the dozens of characters, various magics, gods, races, and schemes was a bit trying at times. Every time I thought I had things under wraps, something new would pop up, and I'd cycle right back to this:

Luckily, his writing is so fantastic I was able to overlook temporary confusion and just enjoy the ride for what it was. There were so many wonderful passages that had me just stop and think for a minute, or laugh really f***ing hard:

“Tell me, Tool, what dominates your thoughts?'
The Imass shrugged before replying.
'I think of futility, Adjunct.'
'Do all Imass think about futility?'
'No. Few think at all.'
'Why is that?'
The Imass leaned his head to one side and regarded her.
'Because Adjunct, it is futile.”

“The Queen of Darkness spoke thus of Light when it was first born: ‘It is new, and what is new is innocent, and what is innocent is precious. Observe this child of wonder, and know respect.’ ”

Orfantal scowled. “Thus did Light survive, and so was Darkness destroyed, the purity vanquished—and now you would have us flawed as our Queen was flawed. Light became corrupted and destroyed our world, Korlat, or have you forgotten?”

Korlat’s smile was a sad one. Cherish such flaws, dear brother, for our Queen’s was hope, and so is mine.”

Wonderful stuff. I'll probably read something a bit more straightforward to detox before I dive into Deadhouse Gates, but I'm really hyped to see what happens next.

 

[CanadianFlyer88]

I finally finished Gardens of the Moon. Boy, that was quite the ride. Things really start picking up once the Bridgeburners make it to the city. It wasn't that tough to read, but keeping up with the dozens of characters, various magics, gods, races, and schemes was a bit trying at times. Every time I thought I had things under wraps, something new would pop up, and I'd cycle right back to this:





Luckily, his writing is so fantastic I was able to overlook temporary confusion and just enjoy the ride for what it was. There were so many wonderful passages that had me just stop and think for a minute, or laugh really f***ing hard:






Wonderful stuff. I'll probably read something a bit more straightforward to detox before I dive into Deadhouse Gates, but I'm really hyped to see what happens next.

Be prepared for subsequent novels to not directly relate to its previous one. It all ties together in the end, but the journey is all over the place.