Where are you in Fantasyland? December 2018

Still reading Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett.

Oh my, time flies! Just checking in for the month.

I'm continuing Skyward.

Finished Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett. Liked it.

Next up is Never Stop edited by Emmi Itäranta.

Reading Earth, Air, Fire, Water: Tales from the Eternal Archives #2 edited by Margaret Weis.

Added Dreams of Distant Shores by Patricia A. McKillip to my reading rotation.

Next for mew is The Amulet of Samarkand.

>7 Narilka:, I’m not a big YA fan, but that was a good trilogy.

Finished Territory, and I found it really charming and memorable, like everything I've read by Emma Bull. I was a bit clueless on any of the Western elements and had to do a bunch of wikipedia reading to catch up on Tombstone history and understand the ending. But the book touches on lots of nice themes -- moving on from the past, how to gain new skills, how to decide whom to trust, etc.

Not sure whether I'll continue with a comfort read (Black Maria) or a book that was tossed out in a thread earlier (Red Rising) to try something new.

November/December have been a slow for me.

I ended up starting The Crippled God, but have taken a little break again, now. I was managing it well enough for the first 150 pages or so, but my impatience with the prose style and sections about characters I don't care about started to rise, and I know from past experience that that becomes a short trip from "impatience" to "actively pissing me off". Page 200 was at a good stopping point (end of "Book 2", I believe) so I've put it on pause and will get back to it after a couple palate-cleansers of other books. :)

I switched back to The Well-Favored Man - a bit of a slower read, too, but in different ways. I ultimately enjoyed it a fair bit.

So, currently digging into The Traitor Baru Cormorant, which promises to be a much quicker read. :)

Just finished Thomas the Rhymer. Not great, but not a bad plane read.

Spending some time in alternate Atlanta where Magic Slays.

>10 Niko: (Malazan) I wondered because I really struggled with the last books. I guess I can see that Erikson is an artist and he was achieving his own things, but sometimes I was shouting Editor? I am on board with the Kharkanas books, but again the mood-making concerning the three brothers and Mother Dark goes overboard for me. He should stick to the snappy relationships and interactions he is great at. The Tehol Beddict and Bugg story is one of the best things I have read. I will talk Baru Cormorant when you are through it.

I read the first Murderbot Diaries novella. I will continue with them. I have not read Martha Wells before and she has some great cheap stuff on the Kobo list to try while I save up for the next Murderbot novella :-) Any love out there for Martha Wells?

Currently in Ohio with John and Sam - I am number 4.

I have just arrived in Nevermoor with Morrigan Crow.

With all this Malazan talk, I've downloaded the first book on Overdrive and will have a look at that soon too. After a dearth of reading, mainly due to lack of time, I'm catching up with a vengeance; I've just left Trebizon in the West Country, where there was Boy Trouble at Trebizon (my holiday Kindle book). It's a boarding school story, so not really fantasy - or is it?

>14 humouress: I love the Trebizon books! Have you read The secrets of Drearcliff Grange School, which is a girls school story mashed up with Lovecraftian creepiness?

Not to be confused with Trebizond, like I just did.

>15 Sakerfalcon: I haven’t come across them, but I’ll look out for them. I think - I’m not a horror fan.

>16 Cecrow: Yes, my spellchecker keeps trying to take me there.

>13 cremorn: (Malazan) If I'm honest, I don't think I'll ever pick up another Erikson book. I'm finishing this one because I bought the whole series back when I was still in awe of the first four volumes, and there's a curiosity factor to wanting to know what happens to certain favorite characters like Fiddler and Bottle, but I'm to a point where I don't have any interest in reading any more books in this style.

I'm a huuuuuge fan of Marth Wells. She's a "buy everything she writes, sight unseen" author for me. She has a knack for writing good characters, so even her "lesser" works give you characters who are just a lot of fun to "hang out" with. Her Raksura books seem to be the ones that get noticed (and they're good) but I fell in love with her via The Death of the Necromancer, and that one is still my favorite. Murderbot continues to be great, too... though I'm not a fan of this mini-trend of authors writing a rapid succession of novellas instead of just putting them all into one book. Feels a little price-gougy.

>17 humouress: They're not gruesome, and there is plenty of sly humour. If you do decide to take the plunge I hope you'll enjoy it.

Finished Never Stop edited by Emmi Itäranta. Overall, I enjoyed it.

>13 cremorn: I haven't read much Martha Wells aside from the Muderbot novellas, but I have really enjoyed the books I did read.

>19 Sakerfalcon: *mutters* Oh, all right then.

*licks pencil*
Drearcliff Grange
Martha Wells
... Santa's going to be busy this year ...

Added Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear to my reading rotation.

I'm in an alternate England with Laurence and Temeraire in Throne of Jade.

Reading about the early Targaryens in Fire & Blood.

Finished Dreams of Distant Shores by Patricia A. McKillip. Overall, I liked it well enough.

Added In the Village Where Brightwine Flows by Bradley Beaulieu to my rotation.

Heading back to the Six Duchies and Fool's Assassin. It's time to see how it all ends.

On the last leg of a year-long reread of Moorcock's Eternal Champion cycle. Just the 3 Count Brass books to go today / tomorrow and I"ll reach Tanelorn and find rest. I'm going to miss the gaudy glory and energy of these, Elric in particular

Finished In the Village Where Brightwine Flows by Bradley Beaulieu. Liked it well enough.

I'm currently in some hellish otherworld with Jirel of Joiry in the Black God's Kiss compilation by C.L. Moore.

I’ve been back to the west country for the Tennis Term at Trebizon reliving school days.

Finished The Traitor Baru Cormorant. I hadn't specifically spoiled myself, but I think just the fact that people were so gaga over it had me primed to expect some of the plot events, which hurt my overall reaction, I think. I came out feeling like it had a really strong opening, and really strong closing, but a big chunk of the middle I found just sort of "there" - not bad, exactly, but not super-engaging, either. Part of that is almost certainly because I was waiting for certain plot points, so everything until those points felt like the plot treading water, but I think there was also just an aspect of Baru's scheming that rang a bit hollow for me.

Currently popping into a fantasy-of-manners-esque London in Wondering Sight. First book in this series was a pleasant, fluffy sort of read, so I'm looking forward to more of the same. I love the idea of each book featuring a protagonist with a different "extraordinary" power.

Added Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas to my reading rotation.

I made a few more trips to the west country and Trebizon, most recently for The Hockey Term at Trebizon and am now contemplating chasing The Runaway King through Carthya.

I'm in the Corridor with Mark Lawrence's Red Sister.

Added Stone of Farewell by Tad Williams to my reading rotation.

With how the first book ended it's straight on to Fool's Quest for me.

I've just left Nevermoor where I was watching The Trials of Morrigan Crow.

I just returned from a full survey of Dalemark. I hadn't read them since childhood and I'd forgotten how much I enjoy them. It's especially nice to read a series where each book has a very different focus and feel, so that you never feel fatigued.

>37 humouress: I'm afraid that I quit Red Rising after about 100 pages, getting rapidly bored. Not for me, I guess. Maybe I wanted the "Greek myth" influence to be stronger? Unsure.

Now I seem to be continuing my Emma Bull kick, reading Freedom and Necessity, which I am really enjoying. It's one of the few novels from multiple perspectives where I am equally interested in everyone.

>38 Kanarthi: No, I didn't really get a Greek myth vibe from Red Rising. I thought it was a good book in the end, but a bit violent.

I adore Martha Wells as well. I think the only book of hers I don’t own at leaset one copy of is the second Emilie book. Somehow the YA format seemed too dumbed down on the worldbuilding.
I’ recommend Wheel of the Infinite as a great stand alone intro to her writing. The Wizard Hunters trilogy set in the Ile-Rien universe is wonderful as well.

For the last book of the year I am revisiting the pleasure planet Artemis in Artemis Invaded

>38 Kanarthi: I actually completed Red Rising, but frankly after the halfway point (if not before) I basically knew I was going to give the book a very low rating. I then sold it and the other two books in the first trilogy to a friend at work.

Finished Erika Johansen's The Queen of the Tearling and added her The Invasion of the Tearling into my reading rotation. Definitely a guilty pleasure type of read. Liked it much more than I should have.

New thread: https://www.librarything.com/topic/301522