Fantasy Book Club discussion

Hello, another month another book... although I'm on the same one. The Skull Throne, I'm listening to Harry Potter 2, I couldn't resist after a friend was talking about her listen.

My list for October is The Briar King, Under Heaven, The Broken Eye and finally
The Blood Mirror. I would like to read a good October Book. Has anybody read Rosemary and Rue? Just thought it would be kinda cool, with the MCs name being October Daye and all.

I have and the second book. I liked them, they're not outstanding but fun.

Sometimes simple fun books are all I need.

Haven't read 'em, but I heard good things about the series. Not really outstanding, but a good solid UF :)

I can't remember how I starred it but I wouldn't have read book two if I hadn't liked it.

I'm currently reading:
- City of Lies in audio; I'm only two chapters in but I can already tell I'm going to love it! It focuses on the role of the proofer, and it's quite refreshing ;)
- Iron and Magic in audio; I'm so happy to have a trilogy focused on Hugh (from Kate Daniels).
- All the Birds in the Sky in ebook; decided to read this one on a whim after reading a short story by the author. I'm halfway through the book, and not sure what to think. It's... weird? Probably, magical realism is just not my cup of tea :/

I was supposed to read City of Lies in a buddy group, I just had to go back to proper fantasy, too many realistic settings recently. I'm planning on that this month though.

I'm still reading The Magic of Recluce, progressing very slowly. The book's so frustrating! The main character spends most of his time bored and frustrated because no one is willing to explain how the world and how magic works. I spend most of my time bored and frustrated because of the same thing. I'm almost halfway through the book and I still don't know what's going on most of the time. Argh.

The Idea of the Labyrinth: from Classical Antiquity through the Middle Ages by Penelope Reed Doob

Femmy wrote: "I'm still reading The Magic of Recluce, progressing very slowly. The book's so frustrating! The main character spends most of his time bored and frustrated because no one is willing t..."

That's one of the trickiest things to write: to convey the character's boredom without boring the reader.

Which does not justify inflicting failure on the reader.

Femmy wrote: "I'm still reading The Magic of Recluce, progressing very slowly. The book's so frustrating! The main character spends most of his time bored and frustrated because no one is willing t..."

I found solace in watching for signs that he was an unreliable narrator - what he sees, but misses - even the first time through. There are a lot of clues that will eventually become clear.

Goodness, I clicked on the Goodreads icon with the crow and it came up "Horror Week" sponsored by Dark Corners, an Amazon Original Stories Collection. I do believe I have found my "spooky" read(s). Here's the link.

I always read horror in October. My planned reads include:

Dark Gods by T.E.D. Klein

House of Small Shadows by Adam Nevill

Curfew by Phil Rickman

Harvest Home by Thomas Tryon

Long Lankin by Lindsey Barraclough

Florence & Giles by John Harding

These will all be re-reads of my faves. If I find any new horror that looks good I'll try it, but it's not easy to find.

I started Pandemonium last night for my bed time book. About time to get back to finishing series again. This one kind of works for this month as well because it’s a thriller.

Elise wrote: "I started Pandemonium last night for my bed time book. About time to get back to finishing series again. This one kind of works for this month as well because it’s a thriller."

I liked Fragment well enough for what it was; Pandemonium was OK, but I wasn't happy with the fact that (view spoiler)[the nasties down in the cave were actually from the island in Fragment (hide spoiler)].

And I finished Chronicles of the Black Company and am starting Ari Marmell's The Iron Devils, which at least initially has a bit of a post-apocalyptic vibe to it.

Just finished Updraft by Fran Wilde. An interesting world to discover.
Else I finished rereading the 20 Sided Sorceress and am heading for a Kate Daniels reread

New audio: Ravencry. My book isn’t getting a lot of time I keep falling asleep!

Women in the Days of the Cathedrals by Régine Pernoud

Mary wrote: "Women in the Days of the Cathedrals by Régine Pernoud"

I added that to my "to read", it looks fascinating.

Hope you enjoy it!

Finished The Briar King now on to Under Heaven.

Finished The Iron Devils and (because 'tis the season) picked up Kirby McCauley's magnificent horror anthology Dark Forces: New Stories of Suspense and Supernatural Horror for the first time in probably 30+ years.

Skull Throne is so good but I’m only touching it at the weekend. Unhappy work life is messing my read time and peace.

Number of books I thought I'd read on our college visit road trip: one million

Number of books I actually read on our college visit road trip: zero

Number of Philly cheesesteaks eaten in Philadelphia: one, and it was glorious.

I did read the prologue to Legend, and will keep going.

Finished Under Heaven. Here's my review. Now on to The Broken Eye.

Liam wrote: "Number of books I thought I'd read on our college visit road trip: one million

Number of books I actually read on our college visit road trip: zero

Number of Philly cheesesteaks eaten in Philadel..."

Ever had a cheesesteak pizza. It's wonderful.

Tnkw01 wrote: "Liam wrote: "Number of books I thought I'd read on our college visit road trip: one million

Number of books I actually read on our college visit road trip: zero

Number of Philly cheesesteaks eate..."

Ha! The place we got the cheesesteaks had a cheesesteak pizza on the menu. We decided to go for the original experience before branching out :) But yeah it does sound fantastic.

Joseph wrote: "Finished The Iron Devils and (because 'tis the season) picked up Kirby McCauley's magnificent horror anthology [book:Dark Forces: New Stories of Suspense and Superna..."

Dark Forces is great....I have to see if I still have my copy buried somewhere.

Liam wrote: "Number of Philly cheesesteaks eaten in Philadelphia: one, and it was glorious.."

Pat's, Geno's, John's......?

Ctgt wrote: "Liam wrote: "Number of Philly cheesesteaks eaten in Philadelphia: one, and it was glorious.."

Pat's, Geno's, John's......?"

Femi's I think was the name. It was the only one that came within arm's reach as we were hurled along by the white-water current of east coast foot traffic.

Ctgt wrote: "Dark Forces is great....I have to see if I still have my copy buried somewhere."

It's a shame that we'll never get eBook editions of most or all of those great anthologies from back in the day, just because trying to sort out the reprint rights would be a nightmare and a half.

Liam wrote: "Femi's I think was the name. It was the only one that came within arm's reach as we were hurled along by the white-water current of east coast foot traffic."

I hear you. I am fairly familiar with Philly but my wife and I never strayed from walking distance when we were in town for a book convention last summer.

Joseph wrote: "It's a shame that we'll never get eBook editions of most or all of those great anthologies from back in the day, just because trying to sort out the reprint rights would be a nightmare and a half."

No joke. I'd love to have a digital version of The Dark Descent as well. Strange thing about DF, I do have a Kindle version. I can't remember the exact circumstances but it popped up a couple of years ago and had a strange cover but the contents matched so I snagged it. Doesn't look like it is still available.

On a re-read kick at the mo. Finished The Bands of Mourning then through the awesome The Name of the Wind now onto the equally brilliant The Wise Man's Fear

Ctgt wrote: "No joke. I'd love to have a digital version of The Dark Descent as well. Strange thing about DF, I do have a Kindle version. I can't remember the exact circumstances but it popped up a couple of years ago and had a strange cover but the contents matched so I snagged it. Doesn't look like it is still available. ..."

Yes, digital Dark Descent would be fantastic. I guess I'll just have to console myself with The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories.

The Shadow Prison by Jonathan Moeller

Finished Dark Forces: New Stories of Suspense and Supernatural Horror and started The Assyrian by Nicholas Guild, which is historical fiction but scratches a lot of the same itches as, say, A Game of Thrones-style epic fantasy.

Murderbot is so good!

So I had some spooky stories for October but The Broken Eye is so freaking good I can't stop. This has just confirmed my decision to be open next year on my choices of books. I'm doing the series challenge but if one starts falling flat, I'm moving on.

Finished The Broken Eye and now moving on to The Blood Mirror. The Broken Eye was great, gave it 5 stars. This is a really great series.

The Witch: A History of Fear, from Ancient Times to the Present by Ronald Hutton

Kingdom of Ash

Child of the Ghosts by Jonathan Moeller

I finished Dracula. The beginning was really exciting from Jonathan Harker's perspective, but after that it was a real drag with little suspense. I struggled to finish it, so I can't say I enjoyed it all that much.

Now starting thankfully a much lighter read: Mortal Engines.

Elise wrote: "I finished Dracula. The beginning was really exciting from Jonathan Harker's perspective, but after that it was a real drag with little suspense. I struggled to finish it, so I can't s..."

You might want to pick upThe Dracula Tape & read it sometime in the near future. Saberhagen wrote a series from Vlad's POV & the first one is his account of what really happened. It's well done & a lot of fun.

Ghost in the Flames by Jonathan Moeller

Finished Miserere: An Autumn Tale last night. It was pretty good and had a nice ending.

And I just started Exit Strategy.

Ghost in the Blood by Jonathan Moeller