Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

The Way of Shadows May 10th

I requested it so obviously I'm in. :-)

In

Yay!

in! Very much in!

God Damn love this book

possibly, maybe if I bilocate

Oooh! my favorite series! Not gonna read it, but I'm so here for the discussion!

Anyone else reading? I started this morning.

I'm busy at the moment... I was already busy and kept adding things... so I'll be late to this...

Iain wrote: "I'm busy at the moment... I was already busy and kept adding things... so I'll be late to this..."

Story of my reading life :-) You go faster than me anyway so I'll keep at it. If I feel myself getting too far ahead I'll switch to the next book on my list.

I'm not too worried, since the end of each month is a bit empty, it seems, at the moment... at least for me... always time to catch up... assuming I don't get mired in Malazan for too long... been so long since the last full-length novel, since we did the 3 KB&B short stories in March and April...

Chapter 20 (view spoiler)[ Wtf just happened? (hide spoiler)]

I tried reading this book early last year and I was not happy with what I was reading in the first few chapters maybe because I didn’t like how the characters acted or how they speak in the story and I don’t k ow it put me off but I’ll be interested to see what you guys think of it

35% (view spoiler)[ I mean, who didn't know they were going to build up to a doll girl romance back when she was still 7 and Azoth was 10? (hide spoiler)]

Just started it... Love it! I know, I am a Fantasy sap...:):):) All about the traditional orphaned boy theme:):):)

I'm 40% in, I think, and love this book... don't always love what's happening to the characters, but I can't put it down for long...

@Diana: (view spoiler)[I doubt they'll have an easy path... so many roadblocks to their happiness... we'll see what happens once Durzo Blint is out of the picture, I think... (hide spoiler)]

Iain wrote: "I'm 40% in, I think, and love this book... don't always love what's happening to the characters, but I can't put it down for long...

@Diana: [spoilers removed]"

Oh, I never expect anything in this book to be easy.

Anyway, I had to set this one aside for lighter Theft of Swords. That plus the fact that i get almost no reading done on the weekends means I made no additional progress. But I hope to get back to this one Monday.

I'll be jumping into Theft of Swords right after this... probably at work, in the next few hours... I stopped around 55-60% to watch some iZombie and sleep...

The last third of the book just keeps getting better and better... so many revelations and culminations of events... the one I hit at 90% truly shocked me... (view spoiler)[ altho I think it could of been a bluff to force Azoth to attack (forgot his K name)... shouldn't he have recognized the boys guarding Elene were wrong (maybe he missed that detail in his grief?)...

In other comments, the sheer diaaster this is turning into for the royals reminds me of Faithful & the Fallen / Malice (hide spoiler)]

Ah! You're making me excited to get back to it. :-)

Iain wrote: "I'm 40% in, I think, and love this book... don't always love what's happening to the characters, but I can't put it down for long...

@Diana: [spoilers removed]"

I am loving it too! It is keeping me on my toes!!!

I'm glad you started this Buddy Read... my favorite book in at least a couple weeks, that wasn't a re-read...

The surprises kept on coming to the end... (view spoiler)[CALLED IT regarding Durzo and Elene... totally missed Rat and Wroth tho... I know there was a mention of Wroth back just after Azoth started his training, but I'd forgotten by the time Wroth started blackmailing Mama Shenga... (hide spoiler)]

The ending: (view spoiler)[I didn't expect Azoth and Elene to end up together so soon... I doubt that will last... wouldn't be much of a trilogy if they just rode off into the sunset...

Logan and his wife, the Princess/Queen, really got the short end of the stick... I hope there isn't much of a time gap, for the princess's sake, as the newest member of the God-King's harem... (hide spoiler)]

Damn it, I missed this somehow. Will start soon.

idiffer wrote: "Damn it, I missed this somehow. Will start soon."

You haven't missed it. I had to set it aside for other buddy reads and am only now getting back into it.

I'm at about 50%. I had to relisten to a few chapters since I couldn't remember where I had left off. I have to admit to not enjoying this as much as I wish I were. The premise was interesting, and I liked the set up, but plot points are overly convenient, some scenes are Soap Opera dramatized, and the writing is choppy and amateurish. This book is missing an experienced writer.

I'm trying to contain my ranting about this book. I have so much to say and none of it positive. I'm sorry for recommending this buddy read.

I love a bit of controversy/ranting may I see it?? 😬😬😬😬😬😬

And here I'm glad you did :D ... ranting won't hurt my feelings...

I hate this book so much that I already wrote my review and I'm only 60% in. It's long. I guess I had a lot to say. I don't think it's spoilery.

Here you go: (view spoiler)[I’m going to start this by saying that I love assassin books. So I came into this with high expectations. Boy was I disappointed.

Let’s start at the beginning. The story starts out interesting enough. I mean, I’m not rooting for child rape and beatings/disfigurements, but I like a book that can make you uncomfortable. But don’t worry, the uncomfortable parts are all in the first few pages. After that it gets really, really tame. :-/

There are many issues I had with this book. The first being the “wetboy”. The “wetboy” is supposed to be a master assassin a billion times better than any assassin. You’re supposed to wet yourself in fear when you see one maybe? Or are you wetting yourself in laughter at the stupid name “wetboy”. This might be the single least scary name for an assassin ever created in the history of the world. It makes me think of a 12 year old water boy. I cringed every time I heard it (I listened to this on audiobook btw).

Another issue I had was that all of the characters were trope-y 2 dimensional characters. The young but smart street urchin, the gruff mentor who’s really caring on the inside, the beautiful virginal love interest, the brothel madam with the heart of gold. None of them had any real personality or nuances. How do you have a 2 dimensional paid protagonist assassin? By making him only kill the bad guys of course! There’s no gray area in this book. Characters are either good guys or bad guys , virgins or whores. And speaking of, a feminist book this is not. Every female character is introduced by her breasts and if she’s a virgin or whore. I can’t even begin to think of another book with SUCH poorly written female characters, and I’ve read my share of books with some pretty tropey females. I’m convinced that it’s really written by a 12 year old boy going through puberty. And speaking of, this brings me to my next point, the writing.

The writing style was so choppy. There was one paragraph where the word Kylar was used no less than 6 times to start every single sentence. There was no deviation to the sentence structure. It really writes like a debute novel. Or maybe a soap opera? Every scene is overly dramatic and over the top. He really hammers you over the head with how people are feeling. There’s a lot of telling and little showing. It led to a lot of eye roll moments.

And let’s not forget the convenience factors. Everything is made very convenient. Everyone is where they should be and acts how they should to point the story in the right direction. Coincidences are taken to the next level in how often they show up.

Overall, this book started like a cool grimdark but quickly deteriorated to a pg-13 YA. And basically, what it boils down to is that this book, which was great at the beginning, quickly lost my attention. I had to keep putting it down because it was just painfully eye-rolling/boring to keep reading at times. (hide spoiler)]

Diana Stormblessed wrote: "I hate this book so much that I already wrote my review and I'm only 60% in. It's long. I guess I had a lot to say. I don't think it's spoilery.

Here you go: I’m going to start this by saying tha..."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wetwork

Wetwork is a euphemism for assassination, because of the spilled blood... I understood the reference, even if the intepretation here is unfortunate :)

Iain wrote: "Diana Stormblessed wrote: "I hate this book so much that I already wrote my review and I'm only 60% in. It's long. I guess I had a lot to say. I don't think it's spoilery.

Here you go: I’m going ..."

Yeah, but there's a big different between wetwork and wetboy. No grown man should be calling himself boy.

It’s interesting that you liked the beginning Diana I hated it because it felt like the author was trying to prove how dark and edgy the book was with all this stuff and some of the dialogue and how the characters act in the first few chapters really annoyed me since I can’t imagine any other person say something like that at all

Ahdam wrote: "It’s interesting that you liked the beginning Diana I hated it because it felt like the author was trying to prove how dark and edgy the book was with all this stuff and some of the dialogue and ho..."

I liked it because I thought I was going into an edgy story. After reading more of the book it now feels like the beginning was just there as clickbait.

It's true some people love this book and some people hate it. IIRC the author himself seems pretty apologetic about this series (It being his first series and all) but I liked it XD I especially liked the Magic System and the humour.

Diana Stormblessed wrote: "I hate this book so much that I already wrote my review and I'm only 60% in. It's long. I guess I had a lot to say. I don't think it's spoilery.

Here you go: I’m going to start this by saying tha..."

I haven't liked this series or Lightbringer. I only read the prequel of this after reading Lightbringer and that was enough for me.

I might still continue the series. Def will try to read the Lightbringer series. I feel like this book suffers a lot from being a debut novel.

I am about 30% in and I love it... No, it is not even close to the quality of the Lightbringer Series, but I think the author grows with every book he writes. This is his first and you can tell that, but I think he jas a great sense of storytelling and I tend to enjoy books of this type 😀... I am sure it is not everyone 's cup of tea though...

Choko wrote: "I am about 30% in and I love it... No, it is not even close to the quality of the Lightbringer Series, but I think the author grows with every book he writes. This is his first and you can tell tha..."

Around 50% it started losing me, fast. So let me know if you still enjoy it in 20-30% ;-)

I will, D😀

Well, I think it's official I won't make it this month (also Diana's rating is an ominous sign, we tend to agree when it comes to the number of stars).

The pov changes are too frequent + I couldn't care less about Gyre.

Diana Stormblessed wrote: "I hate this book so much that I already wrote my review and I'm only 60% in. It's long. I guess I had a lot to say. I don't think it's spoilery.

Here you go: I’m going to start this by saying tha..."

Wow, those are some harsh words! That said, I agree with a lot of it, and I imagine that the author would too. It's my favorite series, and I recommend it all the time, but yeah, it's got its fair share of problems.

idiffer wrote: "The pov changes are too frequent + I couldn't care less about Gyre."

I think the pov shift rates in Night Angel are pretty common for epic fantasy novels like this book. Also, I'm kinda with you on Gyre, I kinda glossed over his chapters the first time I read through The way of Shadows, but please don't let that stop you from continuing the series, he gets a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT more interesting in book 2.

Also, book 2 and 3 are a looooooooooooooot better!

btw, anyone up contiung into book 2, because I'd LOVE to join you all for it.

I'm in... I liked this more than others, it seems...

Alright, then can you post in the "anyone interested in this" topic?

MorteTorment(Unofficial World's Fastest Reader) wrote: "Diana Stormblessed wrote: "I hate this book so much that I already wrote my review and I'm only 60% in. It's long. I guess I had a lot to say. I don't think it's spoilery.

Here you go: I’m going ..."

I know he's apologized many times for this series. That should have been my first clue. When an author has to apologize for his books it's can't be good.

MorteTorment(Unofficial World's Fastest Reader) wrote: "idiffer wrote: "The pov changes are too frequent + I couldn't care less about Gyre."

I think the pov shift rates in Night Angel are pretty common for epic fantasy novels like this book. Also, I'm ..."

I didn't mind the POVs. I'll continue. I need to finish his books before his signing next year to feel good about myself.

Diana Stormblessed wrote: "MorteTorment(Unofficial World's Fastest Reader) wrote: "Diana Stormblessed wrote: I know he's apologized many times for this series. That should have been my first clue. When an author has to apologize for his books it's can't be good.

That is utter bunk.

Stephen King hates his won books, and tp this day he still doesn't understand why anyone would possibly want to read them.

My favorite game designer Chris Avellone thinks that every single game he's ever made has been an utter failure outside of Planescape Torment, including my favorite game, Fallout 2.

Yes, it's true that Night Angel has a lot of detractors, but that doesn't amke it objectively bad. A lot of us can look past its flaws because there's so much to love about it.

I requested the Buddy Reads be added for June and July 10th...