A Land of Fantasy Addicts discussion

The Empire of Acacia awaits us! Chapters 1 - 5 - comments and stuff :D

Haha! Awesome!
I am starting right now! MUAHAHA!

WOW! I'm rather enjoying limiting myself to only 5 chapters per day - it makes you pay extra attention to the details.

Spoilers for first 5 chapters.

So what can I say - ... surprisingly, I am already completely engrossed in the story! I love how each chapter focused on different characters - WTF Uncle Fabios! Why did you kill the awesome messenger/soldier lady?

Mena is the typical curious and anti-girly princess (aka. Aria from GoT). And I hope Corinn doesn't end up being boring and useless just because she likes lace and pillows.

Aliver is spoilt, annoying and will definitely have a massive character development by the time this book ends. I can hardly wait for it :D he's my favourite.

Conclusion: The story is slightly predictable for now - we all know that Fabios will probably end up killing his brother, the King (just like in the fairytale). And yet, there is something in the prose, or in the voices of the characters, or in the world-building, that's totally addictive! The suspense of what will happen in the next chapter is killing me and I think this is one of those rare multiple-POV books that I actually enjoy.

PS: The druuuuuums.... Man, the drums were scary.

"Thaddeus"... so that's how you spell his name XD Audiobooks should come with character lists. Yes, it took me a few more chapters to figure out that he's not Leodan's brother (sometimes my brain just zones out, especially when there is a lot of info dump)

I am a little bit further ahead now, but what I've noticed is - there are a lot of similar to GoT characters. Especially when it comes to the royal children. Thankfully, it's not too bad, but... Corinn is Sansa - pure and simple. The only thing that makes her different is (view spoiler)[her fear of death (hide spoiler)], but I can already see how the story will go: "girls that like girly things live in fantasies and are completely oblivious and useless as politicians." She'll probably moan, complain and worry about her hair and fashion for a while.

And I agree about Aliver - he is rather annoyingly stereotypical - I hope he grows up soon.

Nevertheless, I am not completely bothered by the predictability (as I usually am). Maybe it gives me comfort to know what will happen (or maybe that's a trap and the author will pull a Game of Thrones death on us as a surprise)

I accidentally kept going until chapter 12. XD Ten, how are you doing, is the pacing 5 chapters per day alright for you?

Hiya! Yeah, it makes sense to continue discussing the book here instead of starting new topics. Let's just label the post with the chapters we're commenting. I'll move my comments from chapters 6-10 to this topic as well:

Chapters 6 - 10

I am still a little bit unused to having a different POV for each chapter - it's kind of fun (and useful when the cast is so big and you want to know them better), but some times it feels like I'm reading separate books XD

Anyways:

Damn you Corinn! Why did you have to be so predictable and stereotypical! Why couldn't you be girly, but wise, intelligent and not so horny for a guy's attention :D You're a princess, for God's sake! You could be Aliver's closest confident, you could try to figure out the mystery behind the empire's trade treaty, but instead - you're so dumb! I guess scarves and seashell powder negates brain activity in every female. If you're into fashion, there's no way you can have brain cells. Grrrrrr. I hope the only reason you're so boring is because you'll have a massive character growth (I seem to be praying for this in all the characters)

The children continue to be completely one-dimensional. Even Aliver, the future king of Acacia, doesn't mind when he's kept in the dark.

The Ishanian Prince Igodawn (I bet spelling is preposterous) is the only sensible young adult so far, but even he's a slave to his hormones XD Or he's just a very good flatterer, who would do anything to gain a favor for his country. Edit: I think you're right, there's something calculating about him, he's been too good to be true and his willingness to join the Empire seems a little bit strange, like he has a hidden agenda.

The trade treaty sounds ridiculous - I hope it starts making sense soon, because I can hardly believe people (or even rulers) just accepted giving away children for drugs.

General Lika (Leeka or whatever) turning into a half animal is cool though!

Conclusion:
I am expecting the story to go in a certain way and can hardly wait for it to happen. It's been 4 hours and I am still waiting for the king to die though. XD

Edit: Leeka was a surprise. I am still not a 100% certain what's happening with him and what role he would play in the story, but I'm curious to find out.

Chapters 11- 15

Oooookkaaaay... so now I remember why I'm not such a huge fan of multiple POVs.
(view spoiler)[
Out of every possible character, the attack scene had to be from the assassin's POV... and I wasn't happy with that. I wasn't feeling the shock or the despair I would've felt if I was reading Leonard's or one of his children's POV. Don't know, felt kind of detached during the whole action. And it happened so fast, so EASY ( even the author kept saying it), it was almost anti-climatic.

(hide spoiler)]

Yeaaaah, that's the main thing that struck me to be honest. I am starting to get annoyed by the info dump too. At first, I guess I didn't mind it because I was still getting used to the world and it's only normal to get bits of information every few paragraphs. BUT ... the characters are thinking waaaaaaay too much.

Chapters 16- 20

This is where things got even more complicated for me.

(view spoiler)[
7 hours. That's how long it took for the King to finally kick the bucket. True, this audiobook is double the usual size, but still. Not to mention that we had to go through so many POVs before the obvious thing happened. And I am having so much trouble liking the characters now:

Aliver is the worst. I seriously want to kill him in order to save the kingdom from the most incompetent and suicidal ruler ever. Yes, yes, he's lost his father, he's not thinking straight, but, hey, 1. his father wasn't dead yet and 2. he's the future king, he has to have a better grip on his emotions!

Corinn- yep, still crying and feeling sorry for herself.
Derial - same
Mena - not sure what's happening there.

Leodan - seriously man, what have you done with your children!?! Especially your eldest? They're unprepared to rule! You kept them in the dark, you kept the future king in the dark and now Aliver is going to suffer. Nope, not buying the logic of: "I just wanted my children to grow up happy before they realize how horrible life can be." Yeah sure... that's the worst thing you could've done to not only your child, but also the thousands and thousands of people he's going to rule. Any other character is a better candidate at the moment.


(hide spoiler)]

Aaaaagh! My emotions are so conflicted! I feel almost the opposite of what I felt in the beginning. My main problem is that Aliver is extremely dislikeable, Corinn is self-absorbed, Leodan took forever to die and everyone is thinking sooooo much! Even when they fight.

On a positive note... I have absolutely no idea what's going to happen from now on. I have no idea who the bad guys are (everything is pretty grey at the moment), even Thaddeus is not behaving the way I thought he would (at least for now). I'm curious enough to keep going, but I'm really hoping for:
1. Less thiking, more action
2. Chapters where something important actually happens, not just reading about the emotional state of the character.
3. Character development (I need this so badly)

Wow, I sound so whiny XD Hopefully I'll have better luck with the next set.

Oh! And thank you for the maps, Ten! I really needed these! :D

Ok, one more set and I'll take a break for a couple of days until you catch up :D (and because I really need it! XD this book is as heavy as reading the history of Ancient Europe)

Chapters 21 - 25

Right, the info dump is a given. Everything was moving as slow as ever when...
(view spoiler)[
FINALLY! Finally we have some real action, treachery, assassinations, war! I can hardly believe that it took so long for anything major to start happening, but once it did, it was epic! (and quite fast). Chapter 24 - where Aliver and his court are attacked - was pretty good!

(hide spoiler)]

I think this book would've been perfect (for me) if there was 1 main 2 POV - Aliver's - and 2 additional - Hannish's and Leeka's. We wouldn't have missed anything important, but at least I would've cared about Aliver and his friends a little bit more :D

" I don't think Durham is a very good writer; he's full of good ideas, but he's not too dexterous in the execution. We should be breezing through it at this point, and instead I find myself counting the pages to reach the quota."

THAT is my main problem. I agree that the premise is interesting and that Durham's ideas are pretty good (I'm even impressed with the super-detailed world-building), but the whole thing is kind of dry - I neither hate is, nor love it - I'm just going through it and I'm not sure whether that's a good way to read a book that is taking so much of your time.

The Mein people remind me of sexy muscular Vikings :D Only with less hygiene and more mental problems. But I agree, Hanish sounds hot and I wouldn't mind it if this series get adapted for TV just so I can squeal over the actor that is close to his appearance.

Hahaha, the children are the most unbelievable part so far. Corinn's in love?!? Seriously? Wow, I suppose looks is truly everything for her.

"Friend, you say "it took so long" as if we were on page 500. :/"
True, but this book can be so sloooooooow at times. Any action that moves the plot along is a "FINALLY" for me XD

I like Thaddeus! I was pretty surprised that he didn't end up killing Leodan and that he felt strong guilt for killing the messenger woman in the beginning. I'm happy he's trying to protect the children and his actions are believable. Hope he doesn't die soon X(

Oh! I though you were behind, but now that we are both on the same page, we can continue :D We're pretty diligent and organized, reading at a similar pace! That's the most synchronized buddy-reading I've ever had!

I'll keep going then as well and hiding any spoilers.

Chapters 26 - 33

This book... HATES ME! I've never felt so despised by an inanimate object for a long time.

I can't believe it did THAT to me! I can't... If there WAS one thing that kept me going it was that, despite how annoying, plain or "Game-of-Thrones"-ish the characters were, I was curious to see them challenged, to see them struggle, grow into wiser, stronger, more tolerant people. The character development should've been massive and I wanted to savor every moment of it.

WHAT DOES THIS BOOK DO?!?
(view spoiler)[ IT F%#&$(! SKIPS THE BEST PART! The PART that could've been a book on its OWN! It takes us years in the future (YEARS!!!) and it presents us with our protagonists who are even MORE annoying (for me at least... except Corinn, she's actually an improvement) than before!

Dariel is a pirate? Ok, cool. How did he become one? Nahh, who cares, here is a quick info dump of the events and let's keep reading the boring parts where NOTHING is happening.
Meena - more legends, more cultures, more info dump, more... oh, this book is definitely written by a guy XD Seriously? A statue of a horny male-whore with a big erection? What a magnificence...
Corinn - kept alive, oh, how convenient. Not to mention this is such a copy of Game of Thrones's Sansa's plot. I can't believe it...

Aliver - HE IS THE WORST!!! The character I was the most excited to see challenged and mature... is a freaking MARY SUE (or a Gary Sue, whatever). He's all powerful now, a master of all kinds of fighting styles, a hit among the women (wow), respected, wise, a murderer of a massive animal to show how manly he is and EVERYONE adores him and idolizes him... WTF?!

How did this happen? Sssshhhhhhh, here is a quick overview of the events for the past 9 years.
Oook, so what's happening now? - Oh, nothing much, just chapters filled with boring conversations, thoughts and, best of all, info dump. Here are a few more fictional history lessons.
Is this book even going somewhere? What will happen when Aliver finally meets Hannish face to face? Are they going to meet their gazes and then BAAAAAM! 5 years later, Aliver is king! Yey! Here is a quick overview of how it happened in the history book.

I don't care... I don't care... I DON"T CARE how amazing the children have become now. I cared about their journey, their inner journeys.

(hide spoiler)]

This book is giving me absolutely nothing. I was having problems with it before, but I was enjoying the buddy read so much and that kept me going. Is it bad? No. There is so much to enjoy in it (Hannish for once), and if I had at least one thing, one single thing to keep me interested, I would have absolutely no problem with it... But GOD, reading this has turned into a torture for me.

Hannish is the only character that I approve of. (And Leeka...and Thaddeus). Everyone else is just a cookie cutout for me.

Apologies Ten, I was doing such a good job at ignoring everything that annoyed me in Acacia, just so we can continue the buddy read, but the (view spoiler)[ time skip (hide spoiler)] completely destroyed my resolve. It is painful. I haven't erased it from my mp3 list yet. I'll give myself a break for a day or two, just to see how I feel about it.

Dammit Ten! After reading your awesome comment, now I feel like I have to persevere and not leave you alone through this torturous (for me at least) journey XD I can't abandon this quest yet! I'll keep going and try to be more positive about it. But dammmmn, next time we do a buddy read, let's pick something... you know - shorter! XD

WOW! You''re one tough cookie if you're not bothered by the time skip... or maybe I'm just too easily frustrated X)

Chapters 34 - 45

No worries Ten :) If I see I can't take it anymore I'll stop.

Alright, there is one good thing about the time skip - the characters have changed so completely, that it feels like you're reading a different book. LOL!

Even Hannish seems to be nicer and more...civilized? Corinn is definitely a better human being and far more complex than before. (view spoiler)[ I loved the scene where she tried to defend a boy from Hannish's arrow, and I kind of enjoy the angsty romance between these two. Do you think Hannish will try to spare her life and escape together? X) Haha, or is it just in my head . (hide spoiler)]

Aliver is (view spoiler)[as boring as ever. So perfect, so destined for greatness. I can't believe he slept with so many women in this village? Can you imagine if the genders were reversed? XD I doubt it would've been something Aliver should be proud of. Anyways, the ghosts in the cave thingy was reminiscent of Lord of the Rings. The writing style is beautiful, I admit, but why does everything sound so flat and uninspiring? Not even a cave filled with a bunch of ghosts with some ultra special powers could impress me. Despite all that, I loved the parts where Aliver lost his hope, where he doubts himself, and admits his fear of being nothing like what his father expected him to be. It actually made me care for him, it's so easy to forget how everyone, including the reader, has such high expectations from him and it would've been an awesome plot twist if he had actually died, right then and there... well, it didn't happen.
(hide spoiler)]

Meena - I enjoy her character, but the story arch is rather, for lack of a better word, boring. (view spoiler)[ Mario (Aliver's friend, spelling...) was a nice surprise. I thought he was dead. I kind of wished we actually got to see him teaching Aliver how to fight (like he promised to in the beginning). But, oh well, his sister will do. It's kind of funny how the female characters are so easily smitten by the men in this book. Neither Derial nor Aliver seem to be falling in love any time soon though.
(hide spoiler)]

Derial - Wow. (view spoiler)[ Derial is not just a pirate, but a CAPTAIN of pirates. Aliver is not just a warrior, but one of the strongest and most popular ones in the village, Meena is not just a priest, but the HUMAN VESSEL of a freaking Goddess... Why is everyone in this book so special? Even Corinn is, treated with respect and admired by the other court members.
Anyways, Derial is ...agh, no idea. His voice in the audiobook sounds really annoying. XD
(hide spoiler)]

What do you think Ten? Which story arch is your favorite so far? Mine is probably Corinn's (because Hannish is there too :P )

Hanish is the best. Period. X)

You're right, Corinn is actually really easy to manipulate. Her hormones on one side are affecting her brain, and on the other, she just doesn't DO anything. I haven't seen her try to form a rebellion, or try to use her female charm to seduce Hannish and make him do what she wants, she hasn't even tried to escape! WTF?!?

Mena - I like the setting, but the mythology is too much for me. xD despite its juicy parts.

Durham style is too stiff, dry and laundry list-like:
This happened
Then this happened
Then they did this
Now they're doing that
They're thinking this

Precisely!

This book reminded me (hahah, not again) of Brent Week's work. He also uses many POVs and all kinds of characters story archs that overlap from time to time, but they are done so much better...

Ten? How is it going? :D I am reading quite fast, I might finish soon.

LOL!!!! Now that you mentioned it - we're so lucky XD 9 years would've taken forever.

You know what, the second part DOES feel longer than the first (they're actually equal). Not sure why though.

Oh, I finished the book on Friday XD Best part about audiobooks - you can tell the narrator to read 2 times faster while you're drawing.

I don't want to spoil anything, but there are some pretty good surprises towards the end. And some really bad ones... I'll wait for you to finish before we discuss them...

Derial is the most boring, unmemorable sibling of them all. Even Corinn has some character - the meek, pathetic one that feels sorry for herself all the time. Derial is just... noone. I can't figure him out, what type of person is he? What does he like or hates? He's not even a secondary character, more like one of the background men that do random stuff.

Corinn is just... gaaaaagh! I want to hate her the most, but Hannish makes her story arc the most bearable one. I think she suffers from the Stockholm syndrome, but then... Ugh.. just keep reading XD

Mena - not sure if you've reached this part yet, but don't worry - it's not an actual spoiler. She's described as a blood thirsty monster that kills without remorse, yet, you can see her compassionate side in her kind face and wise gaze.... WHICH ONE IS IT!?!? You can't have both? You can't be a freaking murderer that goes as far as chasing people around to kill them and at the same time resonate kindness and love. GODDESS, explain this to me?!

Aliver - just keep reading...

Hannish - just keep reading...

Leeka, Realis, Thedeos (spelling- whatever) - I can't even...

Don't worry about finishing this book quickly - take as much time as you need. Like you said- we were both supposed to finish on Thursday, but I don't think my sanity would've survived by then XD

LOL! I couldn't stop laughing while reading your last comment XD

This book is just so so so so not right for me. I wasn't able to follow as good as you did (sometimes I would zone out while the narrator kept reading), but I got the main points alright.

(view spoiler)[
Aliver - yeah, it is kind of sad that the whole build up was all for nothing. But when his throat was cut open I was in a complete shock - seriously? Durham just killed Aliver? The perfect one? I was beyond happiness to see something unexpected happen (and to have one less POV) that I just kept going, hoping that all siblings will meet a similar end... haha, joking... or am I.

Mena - she's just a blood-thirsty bitch XD Like you said - three months of training is not enough to defeat armies single-handedly. I kept imagining her as a disheveled, messy-haired, half-naked female with a mad expression on her face and saliva dripping from her mouth. So I couldn't quite understand where this "kindness" in Durham description comes from. She's mad.

Corinn - Oooooh boy. You summarized everything I wanted to say and more. Everything in this book is so convenient. The change in Corinn came out of NOWHERE. You're right, she was a horny angsty self-pitying woman until one point, and then - BAM - a stone-called, equally mad, power-hungry and unbalanced female on the other. What happened?! I hope the author didn't think her period could change her that much XD I can't believe she's left to rule a kingdom, the second book will be a total disaster. At least Mena and Derial participated in the war and lead the armies.

Hanish - nope, he isn't the Hannish from the first half of the book. The Hanish that wanted to boil people alive and do anything to save his people from the curse. This Hanish is another angsty horny teen. And the baby in the end...oh gods.

Derial - who was that again? XD Oh yeah, the pirate without personality.

(hide spoiler)]

Say, have you read the summary of the sequel? You should. As shitty as this book was, I'm inclined to pick up The Other Lands once the choking feeling subsides.

hehehehehehehe......nope XD Sorry Ten, I don't think I'll survive another 30 hours of this. Derial might have more personality in it, but I'd much rather read something different.

By the way, I would be happy to do another buddy-read sometime soon (I just need to finish a few of my e-books). I wouldn't mind rereading books too. :) I've been planning to reread The Amulet of Samarkand and Darkfever for a while now.

Darkfever is one of those books - you either love it or hate it. Surprisingly, I am not a huge fan of Paranormal Romance, yet, I ended up enjoying it. But it's true - the protagonist can be a whiny good-for-nothing, and the guy can be considered a narcissist with psychopathic tendencies XD

I wouldn't have finished this book without you Ten. I feel kind of proud that I did it :D And it was a fun buddy-read, despite our lack of enjoyment for the book itself. You know, I wouldn't have minded drawing Hanish if the book had ended half-way through. I have no idea why he is such a meek and gullible character in part 2 (loosing all kinds of personality when a young, sexy, snobbish and hard-to-get woman is nearby). He was the best part of the novel and would've made it into my list of top 20 most hard-core villains. But helas....

The Malazan Book - I hear so many good things about them. I am certain it will be a great adventure (far better than the Acacia series) :D I would be tempted to join you, but 10 months?!? 10 months is such a long time of my life! XD I think I'll leave the series for a later stage of my life.

I wouldn't even touch a GoT book. I can barely get through the tv series with all this gore and body parts flying around. Reading about the massacres and rapes would be even worse. XD

Yey! Yes, we can create threads and suggest books! For some reason, there have been people joining the group while we were reading Acacia (I guess the active groups appear first in the group suggestion list). That's kind of awesome! :)

LOL! Ten, you know what happened? I started opening each link after another and I really loved the first few books! I've only tried Empire in Black and Gold and although I adored the concept, I somehow failed to be impressed by it. XD But some of the others sound super impressive! Especially Imager and The Golden Key (I love books about artists who can do magic through their imagination - it's a goal of mine XD)

Here are some of my favorites plus comments:

Imager (and Legacies if I like it) + there is an audiobook available in the library.
The Golden Key - I love the concept, but... 800 pages and no audiobook. I'm afraid this book will take me 8 years to finish.
Assassin's Apprentice - Robin Hobb is a classic. I would love to try his books. (audiobook, I'll need to buy)
The Dragonstone - elves, prophecies, what's not to like... 17 books?! and no audiobooks.
The Summer Dragon - me likes it! And audiobook also available in library.

I believe these are my favorites :D Thank you for suggesting them to me, Ten! There is only one bad news - I'll be traveling in March for almost a month (going to Japan), I am having exams for my Japanese class and I am going to schedule a class to learn how to ride a bicycle before I go to Kyoto where bikes are the preferred method of transportation for tourists. XD Overall, it will be a busy month. And I still need to finish a few books I started ages ago (Earthrise, Hokkaido Highway Blues. Hitchhiking Japan and No Good Dragon Goes Unpunished)

However...I really want to check Imager before I go on vacation. I believe it's my favorite one out of them all. I'm slightly busy this coming week, but the weekend should be alright. Let me know how available you are.

Also, I never learned to ride a bicycle. Ever. I feel your pain.
YEEEEY!! :D We should rename this group to "Don't know how to bike, but books we like". Haha, I'm weird.

Sorry for taking so long to reply, life is as hectic as ever! I am ready when you are! I'll add it to the message board and say we start around Wednesday maybe (we can change anytime).

Goal accomplished. Achievement unlocked. Your art is pure magic; it never fails to make people (me included) exceptionally happy.
Please, my body can't handle so much blushing! XD I'm super glad and happy!

You seem to really like Rachel Aaron. I suppose you know of her other series, Eli Monpress. I own the omnibus of the first three...

I absolutely adore her Heartstrikers series, but I didn't have much luck with Eli Monpress I'm afraid. I've got up to mid second book.
I am actually currently reading the 3rd Heartstrikers book and I'm completely obsessed with it. So much that I'm super afraid of finishing it. Therefore I would like to postpone the experience by listening one more book at the same time :D

Oh! I love Japanese! I still haven't gotten to the more complicated grammar parts, but I love the sound of it, the hiragana and katakana (and even Kanji - there's an awesome book called Essential Kanji made easy - it's pretty good). It's so awesome to find more people who are giving such different languages a go :D You're awesome!
How long did you study Japanese for?

To is alright for me (I just imagine a nail stuck in a toe), but Fu.... every time I write it differently XD

Thursday is fine for me too. I got the audiobook, but I have no idea how many chapters it is. Let's make it easier, can we discuss every 20-25% of the book (and add minor comments when we are compelled to XD) That way we can have a discussion without chasing a daily quota. When I was reading Acacia I really wanted to read 5 chapters a day and since I am a freaking perfectionist, I would freak out every time I was falling behind or going too fast. If we discuss every quarter of the book that would give us more things to talk about and more ways to manage our reading time. Let me know what you think.

I am leaving for Japan on the 25th so I'll try to finish a few days before that... I hope. If not, I might not be able to comment for a while... :( which kind of sucks.

HAHAHA! No wonder, goodreads has something against us, non-bikers. >:( I could feel the anti-not-yet-bikers vibe for quite some time now.

That's a good plan! Let's do 20 or so chapters per week, regroup in the forum and share our adventures X)