Anything related to the fantasy genre
On book 9 (Winter's Heart) of the Wheel of Time right now, albeit for the 4th time! If it's your first read of the series I hope you're enjoying it, it's my favorite of all time. Book 11 is one of the very best!
I also just started The Prince of Nothing series, for which I've heard good things. I'll have more to say about it later.
I'm rereading (listening) to A Song of Ice and Fire series, currently in the early part of Storm of Swords. I really fell down the theory rabbit hole in the last couple years and finally decided to reread them all after bouncing off a couple of unrelated nonfiction books I had been struggling through.
I couldn't get past the halfway mark of the second book. Just something about his writing style that just doesn't jive with me. Like the story and characters were interesting, but reading it felt like work.
I found this as well. The audiobooks in particular have a soporific effect on me. Love Roy Dotrice as a narrator but the content is extremely dry, and that is coming from someone who rereads the Silmariliion regularly.
Hmm, audiobooks solve this problem for me since I can kinda let it happen while driving or doing absent minded chores.
I can definitely understand that being a turnoff. There is an aspect to this reread where I am questioning a bit as to how much I actually like the books themselves, versus the idea of them I had in my head after reading so many fan theories and such.
Can't get into audiobooks, think the issue is the narrator in my head is better than the audiobook narrator in most cases.
I suggest that you edit the post title to just be "what's everyone reading?"
Its like on TikTok when someone starts off with "I did not expect that to blow up"
What is your opinion on the wheel of time? I’m reading it currently, crown of swords I think. I really enjoy it, but at times I feel like there are some random plot twists haha
Most of the plot twists pan out, they're not just tossed in there!
Honestly, I read up to the 9th or 10th book when they were relatively newly released, never got around to finishing the series. I'm on my second read of the series and I'm around where I stopped last time, and I wish I had made it through the first time.
Just starting with Malazan, and finished up Gardens of the Moon a couple of days ago. Overall was pretty enjoyable, but it certainly shows that I'm out of practice with high fantasy worlds. Lots of unfamilar names that left me checking the cast list regularly.
Really looking forward to more info on the warrens that I'm hopeful will come in later books. While I get the impression the same cast won't be back for the whole series, I hope to see more of the Bridgeburners as well!
Lately i had read "American Gods" by Gaiman, despite not really liking this author. Surprisingly it came off quite ok. First half of the book was tedious slog but when they stopped travelling around the american nowheres and meeting lumpenized mythological characters it started to be quite interesting. Though that book should be named "Unamerican Gods" for at least two reasons.
I read wheel of time book 10 recently. I read the first 10 books or so when they originally came out, but kind of gave up on the series at that point. During Covid I decided to make my way through the series and actually read to the end this time.
So far its kind of both better and worse than I remembered. Some of those middle books were less dull than I remembered, but also in the intervening 20 years I have read a lot more, including a lot more fantasy, and Wheel of time comes off a bit pulpy now. I don't think if these books were to release today that they would get nearly the same attention they did in the 90s.
I agree, I also started when they were just released, and they're definitely a looooot more pulpy than I remember. For me this is a bonus! Love me some pulp. Also I found books 5 and 6 or 4 and 5, can't quite recall, to be a major slog. Had to almost force myself to keep reading, which is not great.
Sadly, I think the reason they wouldn't do very well if released today is not that they're a bit pulpy, but that they're not drivel, been noticing the trend in the last decade that the most popular books are verrry poorly written.
Wheel of time is massive. It's great a and deep and soe parts do drag but at least it's finished! (small barb aimed at KKC)
So back in the day I was sure that Robert Jordan would never finish WoT and I made a personal rule not to start series that isn't finished. I was reading a book recommendation thread on Slashdot, someone emphatically sold me on Game of Thrones and said that it was just a three book series, and book 2 was already out. Great, I thought, but here I am after like 25 years and A Song of Ice and Fire will never be finished.
I also made an exception for King Killer Chronicles, and I really enjoyed reading it, but its a bummer it is not and may never be finished.
Yeah, at least it's finished. I'm quite enjoying it so far. Any recommendations for when I'm done?
Robin Hobb - start with the Farseer Trilogy and then enjoy the ride.
@SturgiesYrFase
@psysok Whaaaaat I don't think I've ever heard anyone call any of the books 4-6 a slog. Especially not after making it to 10.
They're all kind of a blur at this point if I'm honest. I've been mostly reading them one after the other, it could be books 7/8? All I remember is it was a few books ago, and I was feeling really burnt out on them, had a really hard time getting through two of them. They felt really slow.
They do blend together. I am sure if I sat there and plotted out the big events I could tell you what was in each book specifically, but I can't off the top of my head.