Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

Apr 15th

I'm in... obviously :)

I should start recommending this to everyone, like Mayim did to create the Bujold-crew...

Sounds like fun

I hope some people are reading this... I'm planning to re-read along... I love this series and I hope others will, too... gonna wait on reading #9 while I re-read...

Guess I never told you guys, since I decided this a month or so ago...

Bring on the weird cabbage smells...

Ah sorry Iain, I missed your comment here but saw the second one on my tracker. I'm definitely reading this and I'm actually pretty excited for it Especially because you said it's one of your favorites. :)

A small text on my cover says "Meet the disaster-magnets of St Mary's as they hurtle around history..." if that's not promising I don't know what!

Actually I already started yesterday night, but was so tired that I don't even finished chapter 1 but I like what I read so far :)

I should re-read this. It'll be a fun read to offset all the upsetting reads. hmm.

//checks current booklist

Ooo, cool! I will start it on Wed!!!

Starting in the next two days

Woo... I re-read The Very First Damned Thing last month... that can be read anytime after this book, I think...

30% in already... I'd forgotten how dangerous these books can be (view spoiler)[ I remember commenting on the emotional rollercoaster that was book #8, but this one doesn't shy away from it either... the death toll is pretty high, and they just have to soldier on... Jodi Taylor also plays a long game sometimes... didn't it take until book 7 or 8 (view spoiler)[for Max to decide to try and find the missing crew of shuttle 4?... or was that just a happy accident during another mission... (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

I also think I built up the "training" in my head... I could have sworn it took longer to reach the point where (view spoiler)[everyone is coming up with ways to avoid their 2 day survival training (hide spoiler)] but it seemed like I'd barely started and already I was there...

Still having a great time re-listening tho...

I also think I built up the "training" in my head...
You and me both. All the training's done and it was barely 20% of the book. It sure felt longer the first time around. In my head the (view spoiler)[avoiding treks through the wilderness (hide spoiler)] was about two chapters worth of planning or something. Huh.

Any thoughts on the final stage of the training? (view spoiler)[Is that really the best way to determine nerve of a person? It's one thing to test their mettle- but on the first jump? A bit of overkill in retrospect. Although as a first time reader I was admittedly enthralled with getting a time travel adventure before one was scheduled. (hide spoiler)]

The training is over so fast that later on when Max is talking about 4 years passing, I'm like "huh?" "what are you talking about?"

Sha wrote: "I also think I built up the "training" in my head...
You and me both. All the training's done and it was barely 20% of the book. It sure felt longer the first time around. In my head the [spoilers ..."

Yea...(view spoiler)[they're basically wasting recruits/employees... it's like any business... you don't want to be throwing away money on training if the employee is just going to quit (die)...

It makes the fact ANYBODY survives seem miraculous... (hide spoiler)]

For re-readers only: In hindsight, we have (view spoiler)[Max's much better teaching regime from book 6 or 7 to compare it to... the one that condenses training down to one year, has trainers go on missions with the trainees, and the light-historians who prep missions to ensure higher survival rates...

I'm not sure what Barstow was thinking with this initial setup, other than the fact that this entire school was basically designed for Max to take over, anyway, based on the prequel and some other material... (hide spoiler)]

I didn't read much for the past 12-18hrs... so I'm continuing past the halfway point now...

I was starting to think I'd combined the plot of the first 2 books in my head, but it really might all happen in this book... so much time flies by and they just hurtle from one catastrophe to the next, like the book cover says...

Like October Daye, but on a larger timeline...

(view spoiler)[IZZIE BARKLAY!!! (hide spoiler)]

I think I have just read one chapter. The premise seems very interesting. Do these books remind anyone here of Connie Willis' books?

Arkadeb wrote: "I think I have just read one chapter. The premise seems very interesting. Do these books remind anyone here of Connie Willis' books?"

I didn't know more time-traveling historian books existed... I just added them to my TBR, Arkadeb, thanks...

Iain wrote: "Arkadeb wrote: "I think I have just read one chapter. The premise seems very interesting. Do these books remind anyone here of Connie Willis' books?"

I didn't know more time-traveling historian bo..."

Check out To Say Nothing of the Dog, which is a laugh riot. If you have ever read PG Wodehouse, or Jerome K Jerome you will notice several winks to them.

As for this book I have finished 7 chapters already! This book just zips along. (view spoiler)[ Some of those deaths came out of nowhere, but I think they were supposed to shock the reader and they did, and now I am catching the first glimpse of the larger plot. (hide spoiler)]

Arkadeb wrote: "Iain wrote: "Arkadeb wrote: "I think I have just read one chapter. The premise seems very interesting. Do these books remind anyone here of Connie Willis' books?"

I didn't know more time-traveling..."

I prefer to read in order, so I'll start with Doomsday Book...

Regarding this book... I was shocked, frankly... almost made me wonder if I over-reacted about book #8...

I guess, in a lot of ways, this series is like Star Trek... (view spoiler)[and almost everyone except a handful of Max's friends and staff are the Redshirts... it's when one of the "safe" cast members gets hurt that you worry... (hide spoiler)]

@Iain have you read the entire series? What makes this series good? I’ve been interested to read the series, but I’m thinking of picking it up later in the year, if I have the time.

Barry wrote: "@Iain have you read the entire series? What makes this series good? I’ve been interested to read the series, but I’m thinking of picking it up later in the year, if I have the time."

It's just so much fun, and I'm a sucker for anything time-travel...

It rushes around at a breeakneck pace, breaking things and trying to fix them... I think the only thing I didn't like about the series was the (view spoiler)[Reset Button (hide spoiler)] at the end of book 3... such a cop-out...

Otherwise loved them all... like we've been saying in the comments, Jodi Taylor doesn't hold back on (view spoiler)[killing characters (hide spoiler)] either...

Iain wrote: "Barry wrote: "@Iain have you read the entire series? What makes this series good? I’ve been interested to read the series, but I’m thinking of picking it up later in the year, if I have the time."
..."

Wasn't a huge fan of the book 3 ending either, but I have to admit it neatly took care of the one problem I had with the series. (view spoiler)[ Max's unnecessary romantic subplot. Farrell 2.0. is way more palatable as a love interest than the original version, who often made me want to smack my head on the wall and demand if he was here PURELY for making things harder for other, more reasonable people. (hide spoiler)]

Yayyyyyyyy first mission and (spoilerish for book as a whole at least) (view spoiler)[the start of my max-peterson brotp. Just bring in Markham and the gangs all here!

I love all three of them. Especially when they are together and egging each other on to do increasingly reckless and insane stuff. (hide spoiler)]

Sha wrote: "Yayyyyyyyy first mission and (spoilerish for book as a whole at least) [spoiler]..."

Agreed... I still need to read some of the novellas... including My Name is Markham

I'm currently at Chapter 5 and I really like it so far :) The writing style is great and the characters too. I intended to only finish the chapters I started yesterday night, but I couldn't stop until 1am 😅

One thing about this book - the transitions are very abrupt. Like everything is sunshine and daisies one second, and then its all blood and misery.

Also St. Mary's has some very messed up people living in it.

Starting this one today.

You know, the extended plot arc is actually less interesting to me than the normal (heh. "normal.") history jumps. The former makes me suspend my disbelief a little too much for comfort (PARADOXES) but the latter is just pure fun.

Ah Max. I've missed you, you insane little shit.

Also I am concerned the time travel pods don't have emergency air conditioning. //shakes head Typical non-tropical thinking.

Oh wait there IS aircon. Good job, oranges aircon is important. //nodnod

MARKHAM, MY PRECIOUS FAVOURITE.

"maybe we'll cancel each other out, like white noise."

ha. HAH.

@ repeat readers of SERIES not just this book;
(view spoiler)[was it ever discussed which muse Mrs. De Winter was? "Sibyl" does not give me a clear answer. (hide spoiler)]

Ok so I have some serious problems with Deiter.

Did he just try to blame (view spoiler)[ Max? For Sussman? For subsequent events? Sussman tried to rape and kill her! The other events in the Cretaceous were never close to being her fault! This is just out of line (hide spoiler)]

I was about 75% of the way through this book and wondering why I had such a negative reaction to (view spoiler)[Farrell the first time around. Apart from taking up way too much time with an unspectacular romance subplot, he was not especially bad.

But then I reach the random "SLUT SLEPT WITH SOMEONE ELSE" accusations and I'm just...yeah. This was why. This was where apathy transitioned into extreme irritation. This is just bloody unnecessary drama, and Tim going on about how rock solid their relationship is did not help. -__- I mean, that's sweet Tim but look at the evidence.

Reset button or not, I can't wait for this to be cleared up.
(hide spoiler)]

Arkadeb wrote: "Ok so I have some serious problems with Deiter.

Did he just try to blame [spoilers removed]"

Wait, when did Deiter say this? I searched and I can't find it. Give me the chapter?

Also, (view spoiler)[Nobody except Farrell, the Boss and Mrs Partridge know about Sussman's attempted rape, remember? For everyone else he just got killed on the job like a normal person. (hide spoiler)]

Sha wrote: "I was about 75% of the way through this book and wondering why I had such a negative reaction to Farrell the first time around. Apart from taking up way too much time with an unspectacular romance ..."

Yes, this!! I almost dropped the book at that point because where the hell does he get off saying and assuming things like that? (view spoiler)[ This woman narrowly escaped a life-threatening experience then went back again to rescue them from certain doom. And he reacts like that. This is the same reason I ultimately dropped Outlander (hide spoiler)]

Sha wrote: "Arkadeb wrote: "Ok so I have some serious problems with Deiter.

Did he just try to blame [spoilers removed]"

Wait, when did Deiter say this? I searched and I can't find it. Give me the chapter? ..."
Oh wait, that wasn't Deiter, that was Barclay! My bad.

Finished.

I enjoyed the book, but the whole (view spoiler)[ Muse/goddess of history came out of nowhere for me. So far there were no fantasy elements in this book, it was all science. And then suddenly we have deus ex machina goddesses. I did not like that at all (hide spoiler)]

Arkadeb wrote: "Sha wrote: "I was about 75% of the way through this book and wondering why I had such a negative reaction to Farrell the first time around. Apart from taking up way too much time with an unspectacu..."

ALSO, let's not forget that (view spoiler)[the slut shamers, in addition to being BLATANTLY HYPOCRITICAL, are shamelessly embracing the accusations of a person who was just recently proven to be guilty of cold-blooded attempted murder.

In addition, how exactly did the conversation between Farrell and Barclay go? "Oh hey I just abandoned you to be eaten by a T-Rexes but you should definitely believe me when I accuse the supposed love of your life who just braved depression and death to come and rescue you of abortion and general sluttiness."

//shakes head in despair (hide spoiler)]

Arkadeb wrote: "Oh wait, that wasn't Deiter, that was Barclay! My bad."

AHA. I thought so.

Sha wrote: "Arkadeb wrote: "Sha wrote: "I was about 75% of the way through this book and wondering why I had such a negative reaction to Farrell the first time around. Apart from taking up way too much time wi..."

I would have punched his lights out and left forever. The degree of hypocrisy and shallowness really irked me.

I was really pissed off too and was considering throwing the book at a hard surface, but then Peterson came in and I was all, "GOOD MAN. Good. Man. A TRUE FRIEND." because he was. Bless him so much.

Sha wrote: "I should re-read this. It'll be a fun read to offset all the upsetting reads. hmm.

//checks current booklist"

I wonder how you feel about this now :p

Are there any plans to continue this into a read of the entire (ongoing) series?

I do, for sure... next 8 months... hope others do too...

:D oh it's still a fun read and I knew what to expect this time so I'm sulking less and moved the rating up from 3 to 4. Because fun.

The book doesn't give you time to get mired in annoyances/problems :D

I agree that some of the stuff towards the end was BS... but I didn't remember it before it happened, because I remembered other things like their (view spoiler)[drunken business plans (hide spoiler)]...

Arkadeb wrote: "Iain wrote: "Arkadeb wrote: "I think I have just read one chapter. The premise seems very interesting. Do these books remind anyone here of Connie Willis' books?"

I didn't know more time-traveling..."

Maybe I should have listened to you... I'm not liking Doomsday Book at all... 100-200 pages in and NOTHING'S HAPPENED... (view spoiler)[the student went back in time and is sick, so is the techie that sent her back... clearly she's in the wrong time somehow, and is a disease vector for the Black Plague or something... but that's like 10 pages of plot, bogged down by endless scenes of both characters in feverish delirium... so the historian don't know what's wrong, and spend all their time bickering and dealing with the mother of some student and a researcher, and the historical stuff is all the student failing to communicate with her rescuers... (hide spoiler)]... so boring... going to abandon, I think...

Luckily the books in the "series" seem to be standalone, and i can try the 2nd book some other time...

Iain wrote: "Arkadeb wrote: "Iain wrote: "Arkadeb wrote: "I think I have just read one chapter. The premise seems very interesting. Do these books remind anyone here of Connie Willis' books?"

I didn't know mor..."

Books are totally standalone. Doomsday book is very dark. The other one I mentioned is quite different.

Iain wrote: "I do, for sure... next 8 months... hope others do too..."

I think I will be joining for the rest of the series then.