SFF Readalongs led by Kitty G discussion

This is a topic where everyone can get to know one another, introduce yourselves and say why you want to join in with the readalong.
I've been meaning to start this series for a fair while now and the major reason I want to go for it in January is because it's the start of the new year and it should kick off the year with a bang (I hope).
I've also been recommended this book to read many times by various people and that alone makes me want to get to it asap.
I've also been told that the best way to read this is with a group because then we can natter about the epic scope and depth to everything and hopefully discover some hidden meanings behind everything too (I hear there are a fair few of them).
Let's have fun reading, and I can't wait to chat with you all soon :)

Yay! I'm excited for this read-a-long. Malazan is my big series of 2015 to get through. My expectations for this first book is a little lower than for the entire series because of what some people have said. Can't wait. I am Common Touch of Fantasy on booktube and my name is Paul. =)

Paul wrote: "Yay! I'm excited for this read-a-long. Malazan is my big series of 2015 to get through. My expectations for this first book is a little lower than for the entire series because of what some peop..."

Hi Paul! :D I agree I have heard that a few people say it's not the best book in the series but that it's still great and so I hope I really enjoy it. I have had this series on my radar for a while and I am looking forward to starting it and seeing why so many people seem to love it.
I'm intrigued by the fact that it was originally a D&D game idea and was developed into a book because that's something different and I hope that means it's really well realised. We'll see!

Hey everyone I'm Brock. Very glad and excited to join along. Special thanks to Kaitlin for hosting and organizing all this so we can read together.

With the Wheel of Time being finished it's time to start another multi-volume fantasy epic. There's something about the series title "The Malazan Book of the Fallen" that sounds mysterious and haunting. Additionally the core series is finished and the author is Canadian so how can I resist.

Tried reading this a long time ago and was confused by the first few chapters. My expectations of fantasy were much different then and I may have been too young at the time. Gave it up entirely but since so many people have been raving about it I'd like to see if I can try it again. Looking forward to finally climbing this mountain and to have everyone along to help me through it.

Brock wrote: "Hey everyone I'm Brock. Very glad and excited to join along. Special thanks to Kaitlin for hosting and organizing all this so we can read together.

With the Wheel of Time being finished it's time ..."

Woop! :D I'm happy to organise it if it's something everyone wants to read together and I didn't know he was Canadian so that's cool. I agree that it has a certain allure to the series name and I wonder what it's all about... :D

Hi everyone, I'm Sabrina. I was already planning on trying out Gardens of the moon in January, so this read-along is perfect!

I haven't tried reading Gardens of the Moon and I don't know what I'm in for. But I like a challenge, so it's worth a try.

It's going to be fun trying to figure stuff out together. I'm excited! Thanks, Kaitlin, for hosting. :)

Hey everyone! I'm Jane: I don't really know anything about this book except there are people who really love it, and it has an amazing series name. I'm in!!!

I discovered Booktube a couple months ago and one of the channel I like is Michael's Bitten by a Radioactive Book. Michael HIGHLY recommended the series and I bought the first book based solely on his recommendation. The read-a-long gives me a reason to get into it sooner than I would have otherwise. I have no preconceived feelings on this book, just hope it lives up to the hype.

I've decided to join in with this readathon as I keep getting told amazing things about the series as a whole and that I would really enjoy this book.

Hey gang, I've actually read Gardens of the Moon, in addition to most of the rest of the series. But now is as good a time as any for a re-read. And seeing the reactions of folks who haven't read it yet should be very entertaining.

I actually wish I had done something like this when I first read it. It's a book (and by extension series) that benefits well from a group read of this nature.

Hope you all enjoy it.

Hi I'm Katherine, I'm on YouTube with my channel The Android's Conundrum. I have been meaning to read this book for awhile, mainly because Michael from Bitten By A Radioactive Book raves about the series! I was actually planning to read the book in January anyway so this is a great opportunity for me to read and discuss the book. If I like the book I'll be continuing on with the series, maybe one book per month if I can manage that, because I've been looking for a big fantasy series to get stuck into. I have heard that Gardens of the Moon is a bit confusing but the series gets better after the first book, so I'm not really sure what to make of that. Anyway I'm looking forward to reading the book and discussing it with all of you. And thanks Kaitlin for setting this up :)

Sabrina wrote: "Hi everyone, I'm Sabrina. I was already planning on trying out Gardens of the moon in January, so this read-along is perfect!

I haven't tried reading Gardens of the Moon and I don't know what I'm ..."

No problem Sabrina I'm glad you're joining us and I hope it will be really fun. I've also not attempted to read these books before now so I am very excited to see how it goes and be part of a big group read!

Jane (yesmissjane) wrote: "Hey everyone! I'm Jane: I don't really know anything about this book except there are people who really love it, and it has an amazing series name. I'm in!!!"

Hi Jane! Yes I can't wait and the name is creepy and enticing which is a really cool mix within fantasy... can't wait to see what lies ahead!

Alex wrote: "I discovered Booktube a couple months ago and one of the channel I like is Michael's Bitten by a Radioactive Book. Michael HIGHLY recommended the series and I bought the first book based solely on ..."

Agreed! Michael was a big reason for me to pick up this book and I will be relying on his help for direction as I progress through the book and hopefully the rest of the series! He loves it so let's hope we do too!

Natasha wrote: "I've decided to join in with this readathon as I keep getting told amazing things about the series as a whole and that I would really enjoy this book."

Hi Natasha,
That's great that you've heard a lot of wonderful things about this, it's certainly a series I am highly interested in picking up and I know so many people who love it, hopefully I'll soon be one of them :D

Evan wrote: "Hey gang, I've actually read Gardens of the Moon, in addition to most of the rest of the series. But now is as good a time as any for a re-read. And seeing the reactions of folks who haven't read i..."

Hi Evan!
That's awesome that you fancy a re-read with us and I am very much looking forward to seeing your thoughts the second time around (I've heard it's the sort of series where it reveals more every time you re read it!)

Adam wrote: "I've already read this book when it first came out and always intended to continue reading the series. I never got round to the sequals and now a decade has passed and I don't even remember gardens..."

Hey Adam,
There's no worries about keeping up, take it totally at your leisure and whenever you can fit it in and want to contribute feel free to!
Hopefully a group readalong will be inspiring and make us all want to read it more and I hope that we all enjoy this epic book and series, but if not then at least we enjoy chatting about it and dissecting it!

Katherine wrote: "Hi I'm Katherine, I'm on YouTube with my channel The Android's Conundrum. I have been meaning to read this book for awhile, mainly because Michael from Bitten By A Radioactive Book raves about the ..."

Katherine,
No problem at all, I'm just glad that I can arrange to read this with so many people too, it's crazy-awesome and I certainly can't wait for the discussion pages to start up in January! I might end up spending a lot of time writing in them!
Thanks for joining and I'm the same, if I like the series it will probably replace WoT for me as I go through next year and finish that up as the new epic series I want to get through.
:D

Adam wrote: "Hey again. I know your after suggestions for what to read next and have a few suggestions. 1. ship of magic (book 1 of the liveship traders) because I know your a Hobb fan now. 2. The sum of all me..."

:D I personally have read Magician and I enjoyed it a lot. I wasn't such a fan of the later two books in the series but that's just my opinion. As for the Ship of Magic I do actually own that book and I intend to get to it sometime in 2015 and the Sum of All Men is a book that I had seen and thought sounded interesting (although I don't yet own that one) so I will be on the look out for a copy of that too. Ta!

Hello everyone! I started reading this book before but never ended up finishing it due to other books grabbing my attention. I've never done a read a long and just found goodreads not long ago. I think this will be really fun, especially with a series that seems to have some intense world building.

Hey guys, this is David. Excited to pick this book BACK up. I started it a couple of months ago but soon there after the other books I was reading at the time distracted me and I was unable to get more than about 50 pages into GotM. However, after stumbling upon Kaitlin's video on YouTube, I felt that it was utter fate that I should participate in the read along. I'm looking forward to the discussions and theories to follow in January. See you guys in the forums!

Kaitlin wrote: Hi Evan!
That's awesome that you fancy a re-read with us and I am very much looking forward to seeing your thoughts the second time around (I've heard it's the sort of series where it reveals more every time you re read it!)

Thanks for having me. I'm certainly excited for my own reaction haha. I've re-read the prologue to Gardens a couple of times as I've made my way through the series. There are some great moments in there that won't click with a new reader without context, which is interesting.

A bit of preamble and attempt to allay fears for new readers going into this series who've heard about its density and complexity: all of those things are true. It does have a steep learning curve, but this is honestly part of the fun of the series, figuring out the nature of the world and the mechanics of how it all works.

But I think the more main reason there are detractors of the first book (and that fans of the series almost universally acclaim this book is the worst one) is simply the background behind its composition.

Erikson wrote Gardens somewhere in the early 90's, 91/92, something like that. It didn't see publication for some eight years later, until 1999. So there's about a decade of difference between his writing craft in Gardens of the Moon and the next book Deadhouse Gates. The jump in writing quality is stark and obvious (not to put down Gardens, it is a fine book).

So Erikson definitely became a much better writer in that ensuing decade between those two books, and Gardens will demand a little patience out of you for some of its more amateurish moments. It's still good though, I think most of you will dig it all the same.

Hi, I'm Peggy, Kept seeing this at the bookstore so when I saw that you were doing a read along, I went and bought it.

Hi everyone, I'm Kyle. I've had this book on my shelf for so long, unread, that it's kind of pathetic. It's been the one book that I keep telling myself that I'll read next, only to be intimidated its denseness. I just want to say thanks to Kaitlin for providing me with the proverbial kick in the ass to finally get to it.

Commerce the glorious bum kicking! I know we're a few days away but I'm so durn excited.

Peggy wrote: "Hi, I'm Peggy, Kept seeing this at the bookstore so when I saw that you were doing a read along, I went and bought it."

YAY! :D We convinced you to join! I know I always see it in the bookshops too which is why I really wanted to host this readalong :)

Brock wrote: "Commerce the glorious bum kicking! I know we're a few days away but I'm so durn excited."

Me too Brock, me too :D

Kyle wrote: "Hi everyone, I'm Kyle. I've had this book on my shelf for so long, unread, that it's kind of pathetic. It's been the one book that I keep telling myself that I'll read next, only to be intimidated ..."

:D You're not alone there, I have also had this on my shelf for WaAAAYYYYyyYYYYy too long :)

So, I kinda stumbled on this accidentally when I was on YouTube and seen Kaitlin talking about it. I had other things on my list to read but have been wanting to read this series really bad and since there's a read along sealed the deal. Btw, my name is Josh, I started a Goodreads account like a year ago but never seemed to use it, but I'm back now and really enjoying this site. Cheers

Hi guys, I thought I’d join in after watching Kaitlin’s vid about the read-a-long and having since heard many great things about the series. I’ve also been craving a good fantasy series to get stuck into lately!

Hi guys, I have never been a massive reader in the past but recently I've been making a lot more of an effort and have just started dipping my toe in the world of fantasy. I thought that a read-a-long would be a great way to spur me
on and to increase my confidence in discussing my ideas with other people. And general internet posting!

I've watched a lot of Kaitlin's videos and am really excited i hope I can build up my reading stamina and keep up with everyone! X

We're soooo close people. Pretty darned excited.

2015 Can't get here fast enough. Hi everyone who has joined. I'm excited to be reading with you.

Josh wrote: "So, I kinda stumbled on this accidentally when I was on YouTube and seen Kaitlin talking about it. I had other things on my list to read but have been wanting to read this series really bad and sin..."

YAY! Join us in our readalongs :)

James wrote: "Hey guys, I'm James. I got this book for Christmas and was planning to read it after I finish The Song of Ice and Fire series, but this read-a-long seemed like a really cool opportunity to read and..."

Oooh that's cool James, I wonder if you'll be able to pick up all the influences then :D

Yes, only a few hours until we can begin :D!! Hype hype :D

Hi everyone. I have been in a reading slump since I finished the mistborn series earlier this month and haven't been able to get into another book since. I have been wanting to read this series for awhile, but have steered away due to everyone talking about the steep learning curve. I hope from this read along that I will be able to get over my slump and get a lot of different view points from everyone to be able to get into the story so I don't quit out of frustration. Only a couple hours until we can start, but I think I might cheat a little and crack it open tonight :).

Hi everyone! Just joined the group now so I could be the cool guy who shows up late to the party. It's my first time every being cool, so I'm excited. Really looking forward to digging into this book.

P.T. wrote: "Hi everyone! Just joined the group now so I could be the cool guy who shows up late to the party. It's my first time every being cool, so I'm excited. Really looking forward to digging into this book."

:) I'm starting this now guys and I am excited!

I completely forgot to post when I joined the group, so hello! I was going to start this a couple of weeks ago but decided to wait when I saw the readalong. I'm hoping to read the entire series this year, after finding it through Nicole's Adventures in SFF channel. I'm really excited to start reading tonight!

Hey everyone, I'm Mirjam and I was linked here by Michael (bittenbyaradioactivebook). He's also one of the people that's been recommending this book to me and I just so happen to have started it in January as well :) I read a lot of fantasy but am not very familiar with the story of the series beyond the absolute basics. Assuming I enjoy the series, I plan to go through a book a month this year! Excited to see how this is going to go. :)

Hi everyone, my name is Ana - and for some reason I want to say that I'm from Brazil KSOPAKP :)

I saw about this readalong on Kitty's channel and I got interested but since I don't own the book and to order now would take a very long time to get to me, I disconsidered it. But seeing that so many of my favorites booktubers will be joining and since I have some credit on Audible - I'm glad and excited to join you guys while listening to the audio book! :D
And I don't know if there are anyone who will be also listening to the audiobook, but I will let you guys know if it is any good!
Good reading everyone! :D

Ana wrote: "Hi everyone, my name is Ana - and for some reason I want to say that I'm from Brazil KSOPAKP :)

I saw about this readalong on Kitty's channel and I got interested but since I don't own the book an..."

I'm also listening to the audiobook (well I am reading and listening at the same time actually because I have both and I felt like it :) and I don't know which narrator you have but the one I have [Ralph Lister] is really engaging and exciting!

Kaitlin wrote: "Ana wrote: "Hi everyone, my name is Ana - and for some reason I want to say that I'm from Brazil KSOPAKP :)

I saw about this readalong on Kitty's channel and I got interested but since I don't own..."

I have the same narrator as well! :D
And I'm also reading - because after I only listen to the prologue and Chapter 1, I find myself not getting all the nuances and it's easy for me to re-read something I missed rather than listen again.