Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

This is a Buddy Read for The Lightning-Struck Heart by T.J. Klune starting January 14, 2021.

I guess I'll wait a bit to see if/when Laura shows up, before starting...

Found it. I am either Rusty at finding BR threads on my own or these books don't show up on the Group shelf.

Regardless. I was waiting to read this. Wanna start later today?

Laura wrote: "Found it. I am either Rusty at finding BR threads on my own or these books don't show up on the Group shelf.

Regardless. I was waiting to read this. Wanna start later today?"

I left a long comment in the Transformation thread, but I think the last comment I made in the BR Invite thread was with dates I was going to request BRs for... never went back and posted thread links... that thread has been so busy, lately, that people were struggling to find all the open BR opportunities... and then I kinda stopped checking in about a week ago...

My bad...

I can start this later today...

That thread is on fire. I completely missed your comment and thought you don't wanna read anymore.

I'll post some comments on the other threads then start reading this.

Laura wrote: "That thread is on fire. I completely missed your comment and thought you don't wanna read anymore.

I'll post some comments on the other threads then start reading this."

I always wanna read... I just get busy and maybe don't comment enough or keep up with all the threads...

I kinda stopped checking the BR Invite thread because I was structuring my reading too much...

So I have a couple BRs each week, almost, and try to cycle between about 5 mystery/etc series in the downtime... and have enough flexibility for how much NOT reading happens, these days...

5 minutes into the book... I’m not sure I can listen to a dehorned unicorn (Greg) wax poetic about his parents’ hardcore unicorn sex while I’m out shopping, LOL...

The narration/tone reminds me of Jonathan Van Ness from the 2nd incarnation of Queer Eye... I listened to his memoir last year...

It's a bit over the top for a fantasy story, but it works and I'll survive, I think... the story is quite fun... I'd probably laugh too much to listen to this at work, tho, the way work is these days... need to be discrete...

I still need to keep the kids to bed. Then I'll start.

LOL that is defo not a thing to listen to while out shopping. :D

And laughing out loud may be kinda bad for work.

So the book is good till now right?

It's honestly a bit dirtier than I'm used to from Klune...

My Klune so far has been The House in the Cerulean Sea & Wolfsong...

There's a scene a bit later on with some "jousting" comment...''

I'm actually not too far ahead, I don't think... got sidetracked... and now cooking... almost to chapter 5...

I'm starting now. Will get back here after chapter 5.

Up to chapter 3 and either I'm getting to old for jokes like that or they kind of fall flat.

You're so rad and I'll cut off your legs and shove them....
I'm like... Sheesh!! Are you for real?
I don't like parodies and this one seems to be a full blown parody.

And there's sex talk everywhere. I mean if I want smutt I'll grab smth smutty but bad sex jokes are a complete turn off for me.

Is House in the Cerulean Sea the same?

Laura wrote: "Up to chapter 3 and either I'm getting to old for jokes like that or they kind of fall flat.

You're so rad and I'll cut off your legs and shove them....
I'm like... Sheesh!! Are you for real?
I d..."

No... House on the Cerulean Sea is 10x better... more in line with Wolfsong... it's a subtle adult romance at an orphanage for supernatural outcasts...

If you DNF this, I probably will too... I can make it through this book, but I'm not in it for the crude humor...

Soo only lasted 35 minutes on audio... the review page is drowning in 5 star superfans, I think...

And I mean... for the most part I agree... TJ Klune is a great writer, from the other 2 books I've read... but I guess it's true that just because you like a writer doesn't mean you'll like all his books...

I'm 30% in and am seriously thinking about DNFing.

There are so many 5 star reviews for this and I can't help but wonder if there's something wrong with me for finding it course and rough. To put it plain... the stupidity is hurting my brain at times! Really. It's just not for me.

Should we call it quits and move to something better?
I'd like to read Harrow the Ninth after I'm done with Transformation. Are you up for that?

I tried to listen to two of the books by Klune & didn't make it far with either one. So, I feel like I must be out of the loop for this author. Writing/narration did not work for me. *shrug*

I loved Wolfsong Soo. That was one laugh our loud sweet book with all the feels.
But his next in series kind of fell flat and I didn't try anything else by him till now.

This one is another disappointment.

Laura wrote: "Should we call it quits and move to something better?
I'd like to read Harrow the Ninth after I'm done with Transformation. Are you up for that?"

I still haven't read Ravensong... I paused this book at 20% to see if you wanted to continue... I'm fine with DNF... what date do you want to set for Harrow the Ninth?... we'll probably need to set it up now, if we want it to be up when it's time to start... I think the mods are a bit behind on making book threads right now...

Soo wrote: "I tried to listen to two of the books by Klune & didn't make it far with either one. So, I feel like I must be out of the loop for this author. Writing/narration did not work for me. *shrug*"

What other books did you try?... only ones I read (and happened to like) were the 2 mentioned before... Wolfsong and House on the Cerulean Sea... but Klune apparently has quite alot of books to choose from...

I have his Bear, Otter, and the Kid on my TBR too. wonder if that's good now.

Laura wrote: "I have his Bear, Otter, and the Kid on my TBR too. wonder if that's good now."

The reviews are mixed... alot of 4-5 star reviews, and a surprising number of 2 star reviews... and a 1 star review that says it stole the plot from a movie...

Turns out I tried a few:
- Wolfsong
- Extraordinaries
- The Lightning-Struck Heart
- The House in the Cerulean Sea

All audio and I didn't like any of them in audio format.

Maybe I would enjoy reading the book? But, to be fair, the writing didn't grab me either. The fact that a bunch of friends like the books are a good reason for me to try again but it's not high on my "try again" list.

Tastes differ...