Fantasy Book Club discussion

No I'm not Virginie, well spotted!

Sadly I'm not reading either, I've been marking and sleeping :) in theory I'm reading Fire Study which I was enjoying. Hopefully I'll know what's happening when I pick it up tomorrow.

I'm listening to The Deepest Blue which is related to get trilogy I read/listened to last year.

Your turn...

I did start off with The Hobbit but got 21% in and realised I wasn't going to get through it without a struggle. Then decided to pick up another book I've had on my shelf for a few years, not fantasy though It's possibly also not my thing but I'll get as far as I can, then at least I can use the shelf space. Book is The Boy in Formaldehyde

Not heard of that.

Just finished The Priory of the Orange Tree which was disappointing and not as good as the reviews make it seem. So now hitting up The Blood Mirror

Finished Wrath. This is the last book of an amazing series. I can't understand why this series isn't better known and why people aren't raving about it. I loved everything about it.
Onto Furies of Calderon

I finished One Word Kill the other night. I really enjoyed it, and so I'm reading the next book, Limited Wish.

I've started a re-read of A Song of Ice and Fire, Iv'e just finished A Game of Thrones and am now onto A Clash of Kings. I'm paying closer attention to certain POV characters this go around, and with the show ending I needed a palate cleanser of sorts to get back into the world proper.

I've finished A Bad Spell in Yurt which was a good, old fashioned fantasy, and Akata Witch which was great. Now on to our BOM and finishing with Black Powder War.

Loved Wrath and the Furies series.

Just finished The Farthest Shore today. I found it pretty boring tbh.

Now going back to the book I was reading while I was on vacation, The Room on Rue Amélie.

Still blazing through Daniel Abraham's Dagger and the Coin books; now onto The Spider's War, the last in the series.

Jason wrote: "Finished Wrath. This is the last book of an amazing series. I can't understand why this series isn't better known and why people aren't raving about it. I loved everything about it...."

The book by John Gwynne? 'The Faithful and the Fallen' series? I enjoyed it.

I attempted to read 'Stormqueen! by Marion Zimmer-Bradley because I found the series in a thrift store. I could not finish it and posted a review as to why. The main character was annoying, and worse than my sister about making up their mind.

I'm reading A Game of Thrones and listening to Daggerspell. I'm really enjoying both of them!

Alice wrote: "I've started a re-read of A Song of Ice and Fire, Iv'e just finished A Game of Thrones and am now onto A Clash of Kings. I'm paying closer attention to certain POV charact..."

Hi Alice, I'm rereading A Game of Thrones now. I love it so much! I haven't seen all of the series, just the first season, but I heard it really goes downhill!

Elise wrote: "I finished One Word Kill the other night. I really enjoyed it, and so I'm reading the next book, Limited Wish."

Hi Elise, I thought the second one was even better than the first!

Shannon wrote: "Alice wrote: "I've started a re-read of A Song of Ice and Fire, Iv'e just finished A Game of Thrones and am now onto A Clash of Kings. I'm paying closer attention to certa..."

Depends on what you mean by downhill. I've seen it all and it's fantastic.

Shannon wrote: "Elise wrote: "I finished One Word Kill the other night. I really enjoyed it, and so I'm reading the next book, Limited Wish."

Hi Elise, I thought the second one was..."

I'm finding it to be very mindscrewy lol.

Shannon wrote: "Alice wrote: "I've started a re-read of A Song of Ice and Fire, Iv'e just finished A Game of Thrones and am now onto A Clash of Kings. I'm paying closer attention to certa..."

It's been a while since my first read so it's nice catching all the things you miss on the first go around. I enjoyed the show overall, there are a few things in the later seasons I don't particularly like, and I personally feel the last season was just ok - acting, cinematography, costumes, and special effects were all great, but I felt the dialog and writing was lacking compared to earlier seasons. Just my personal opinion, I know the internet has their pitchforks and torches out for that finale XD.

Katie wrote: "Shannon wrote: "Alice wrote: "I've started a re-read of A Song of Ice and Fire, Iv'e just finished A Game of Thrones and am now onto A Clash of Kings. I'm paying closer at..."

Hi Katie, I'm so happy to hear it's good! I really, really wanted it to be!

Elise wrote: "Shannon wrote: "Elise wrote: "I finished One Word Kill the other night. I really enjoyed it, and so I'm reading the next book, Limited Wish."

Hi Elise, I thought th..."

Yes, it is! I won't pretend and say I understood it all, but I did really love reading it.

Alice wrote: "Shannon wrote: "Alice wrote: "I've started a re-read of A Song of Ice and Fire, Iv'e just finished A Game of Thrones and am now onto A Clash of Kings. I'm paying closer at..."

I'm so glad to hear it's good. I really loved the first season, so I was disappointed that everyone seemed to hate the last few seasons. I've had to be super careful to not read too much because I don't want spoilers. I'm really glad to hear you enjoyed it overall though, because I definitely want to watch it!

Shannon wrote: "Alice wrote: "Shannon wrote: "Alice wrote: "I've started a re-read of A Song of Ice and Fire, Iv'e just finished A Game of Thrones and am now onto A Clash of Kings. I'm pa..."

Yeah, definitely worth finishing despite the flaws. It will be interesting to see how the books end compared to the show.

Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi

Finished The Last Olympian last night. Excellent series. Loved every bit of it. Kind of sad it's over.

Chinese Fairy Tales and Fantasies by Moss Roberts

Finished Red Seas Under Red Skies. It was great. Now on to Black Powder War.

The Golden Peaches of Samarkand: A Study of T'ang Exotics by Edward H. Schafer

Another non-fantasy for me but this time it's The Prince's Boy

Finished The Spider's War, a great conclusion to an epic fantasy that stubbornly refused to go where you expected it to go, and am resuming my Hugo reading with Murderbot #2, Artificial Condition by Martha Wells.

Just finished The Blood Mirror which was great and I am really hanging out for the final book. Next for me is Mort

Black Powder War was great. How can you not love a book about Dragons. Next book is something out of left field. Warlock Holmes A Study in Brimstone.

Warlock Holmes sounds like it could be really good, I may pick it up if you think it's good once done.

I had high hopes for Warlock Holmes, but I didn't manage to finish it. That could be just me. I'm often out of step with humor.

And, having finished Artificial Condition (I love Murderbot!), I'm continuing my Hugo reading with The Night Masquerade, third in Nnedi Okorafor's Binti trilogy.

Started Sir Thomas the Hesitant and the Table of Less Valued Knights

Reading The Pale Blue Eye at the moment. Have given up on The Devourers . . . can't seem to get into it and going back and forth on a couple of others.

Aaron wrote: "Warlock Holmes sounds like it could be really good, I may pick it up if you think it's good once done."

Just a little way in, but so far I really like it. It should be a quick read.

Ctgt wrote: "Started Sir Thomas the Hesitant and the Table of Less Valued Knights"

I thought it was great. I hope you like it.

My month is being uncooperative. I've started books and then life has interrupted so I'm now on four books! I reset myself with Potter, they're like magic to my brain, it's odd. Anyway, I started Red Skies but then my library audios arrived so I'm listening to them first and then I'll return.

I think I'll start Royal Assassin early as I doubt i'll finish a book before the new month rolls in.

Tnkw01 wrote: "I thought it was great. I hope you like it."

Really enjoying it so far.

Just finished Mort which was amazing. Death is great. Now hitting up Children of Time

Aaron wrote: "Warlock Holmes sounds like it could be really good, I may pick it up if you think it's good once done."

So, half way and I think it's great. Watson is actually the main character and brains of the duo, but it takes nothing away from the story. I recommend it if you like humorous fantasy.

I finished my historical fiction, The Room on Rue Amélie. It kept me turning the pages, but then the ending completely ruined the book for me. I was so frustrated and angry.

Starting Age of Legend now. So far, so good.

Elise wrote: "I finished my historical fiction, The Room on Rue Amélie. It kept me turning the pages, but then the ending completely ruined the book for me. I was so frustrated and angry.

Starti..."

I hate bad endings. But I have to ask. Which is worst, a good story with a terrible ending or a slow, boring, (sometimes terrible middle) story that builds to a good finish? I find if a story is so bad at first I can't get to the ending but others say "oh, it was great because of the ending". I say poppycock!

Tnkw01 wrote: "Elise wrote: "I finished my historical fiction, The Room on Rue Amélie. It kept me turning the pages, but then the ending completely ruined the book for me. I was so frustrated and ..."

I would say the former is so much more disappointing. The latter, I tend not to finish either anyway. Preferably I'd like the entire book to keep the same quality throughout.

As I’ve got to the ripe old age of 21+lots, I find I can’t read a book that doesn’t hold my attention.

Helen wrote: "As I’ve got to the ripe old age of 21+lots, I find I can’t read a book that doesn’t hold my attention."

Me too! My mind wonders all over the place. Though it doesn't happen much, if I have to read the same sentence 3 or 4 times, I'm pretty much done.

Finished all of the Hugo novelettes and short stories (at least, the ones in the voter packet) and started the novels with Catherynne M. Valente's Space Opera.

Well done Joseph.

Exactly, life’s too short. Generally I pick books I’ll like but some just don’t work for me.