Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

This is a Buddy Read for Life, the Universe and Everything by Douglas Adams starting June 28, 2021.

I'm going to be a day or two late getting started. Work ate a good chunk of my reading time last week and it's taking longer to finish my current book than expected.

Looks like I'm only one day late :D I'll be starting tonight.

This was a fun and quick book to get through, especially while listening to the Martin Freeman audiobook version. While I found the first two more enjoyable, this one has its moments.

I'm 4 chapters in (view spoiler)[It's good that Ford and Arthur are finally rescued. Interesting space ship though lol (hide spoiler)]

I'm struggling to read what I'm supposed to be reading right now... reading some other stuff to avoid being slumpy...

You can come back to this later Iain. No rush :)

This one probably won't be such a chore... it's some other longer reads, and a bunch of stuff I've had waiting forever to read, and half the new stuff I picked up off of Audible Plus and the sales, that aren't quite holding my interest...

A week or so ago, Jonathan Tibbs/Never Army felt like a 30hr black hole of reading time, when I wanted to be reading different things faster... so I think I'm trying to read shorter stuff right now...

I'm hoping to pick this up sometime today or otherwise tomorrow. I've not read much (if at all) due to some deadlines and I'm hoping this will bring me right back to it!

Through Ch 19 (view spoiler)[While still mostly fun, it's not as funny as the first two. Ch 16 was depressing. Glad it's pretty short. (hide spoiler)]

Narilka wrote: "Through Ch 19 [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[Some stories strike gold once or twice, and then struggle to retain the magic formula?... (hide spoiler)]

Still haven't read it yet... plan to soon... I've started and paused a ton of books recently...

Timelord Iain wrote: "Narilka wrote: "Through Ch 19 [spoilers removed]"

[spoilers removed]

Still haven't read it yet... plan to soon... I've started and paused a ton of books recently..."

Yeah, your spoiler is likely close.

I finished yesterday. It was entertaining but not as hilarious as the first two. Whenever everyone else catches up we can figure out if we want to continue to #4 and when.

I like some of the ideas, but the first 40% hasn’t really impressed me… I kinda just want the “team” to reunite already…

This is my endpoint as well... I'd rate these first 3 books as 5 stars, 4 stars, 3 stars...

I really loved the first book... the 2nd book was plenty of fun, too... this 3rd book I kinda just wanted to end, which is sad for a book that is under 6hrs on audio... I chuckled at some of the plot, but got tired of it before it played out... I think I laughed most at the excerpts from the Guide and some of the absurd tangents... but even half the stuff I laughed at I eventually got tired of...

Doesn't sound like the next book returns to the magic of the whole group, either... more of Arthur mostly alone...

Those were my ratings for the books too. I looked at my ratings for books 4 & 5 and they were 3 & 3.5. So yeah, I'm good calling it here too.

Have you read Just One Damned Thing After Another?... this book kinda reminded me of some of the antics of that series, actually...

(view spoiler)[since this book played with time travel a bit more than the previous ones... the previous books had time travel, too, but for this one it felt like the main plot point... with Arthur constantly looping back to around the time the Earth ends... (hide spoiler)]

St. Mary's is a series I loved on first read, and not-so-much when I re-read it in a Buddy Read... still recommend, tho, and I make time for the new releases...

Not yet. Is it like Parasol Protectorate at all?

Narilka wrote: "Not yet. Is it like Parasol Protectorate at all?"

I'd say not really, at all?... The thing I can most closely compare it to is the show Timeless, that didn't last very long...

It's about a university in the UK that secretly has time machines and uses them to "study history in contemporary time"... and there's a rogue agent from the future that's trying to use time travel to save the woman he loved that died...

Most of the books follow Maxwell and her team as they learn about time travel, deal with mistakes they make in the past, the trouble the rogue agent causes (Clive Ronan), and the various bureacratic nightmares that arise when government tries to take control...

Time itself doesn't like to be messed with, and will actively try to harm the travelers when they mess with things, and eventually there are Time Police and whatever else the author can think up...

The books are funny, ridiculous, and all over the place... but have a BIT more of a cohesive plot than the Hitchhiker's guide does...

I think I'd also compare it to the Loki show a bit (view spoiler)[in that, eventually St. Mary's finds interesting workarounds to making small changes to the timeline (hide spoiler)]

It really IS a hard series to describe... mostly something to give a try if you can get a copy of the first book... most people that have tried it have enjoyed it... I did my re-read with Diana and Daniel I think... Charlie and Siobhan have been reading the series in their Last Minute BR thread for the past year or so...

It's sci-fi/historical... despite being set vaguely in the future, you don't see much future outside the university grounds... 90% of the action happens in the past in historical locations...

I think the first book goes for sale fairly regularly. I'll keep my eye out for it.

The first 3 books are a halfway cohesive trilogy, then the ending of the third book and the majority of the 4th book kinda blow up the mythology and hit a giant Reset Button on many things... creates some interesting events in books 5-7ish, by which point the new normal has set in, and other hijinks continue to happen... the series is around 11-12 books now, and the spinoff series about the Time Police has 2-3 books already...

Timelord Iain wrote: "I like some of the ideas, but the first 40% hasn’t really impressed me… I kinda just want the “team” to reunite already…"

I've been stuck at about 25% in for about a week now and I just don't feel the motivation to pick it back up. Might finish it when I'm looking for a quick read, but I also won't be continuing the series. Who knows, maybe later, but definitely not now.

This is probably one of the few series that I'd say there's nothing wrong with stopping after the first book, even tho it ends on a cliffhanger... it's a pretty perfect book, and as much as I liked the 2nd book, the cliffhanger at the end of the 2nd book didn't feel like as great of a stopping point, even tho I didn't love the 3rd book...

Usually I'm pretty diehard about trying to make it to the end of series, for the overarching story arcs/plotlines...

I agree. And now that I've reread the original trilogy, I remember why I've only reread the first book. Glad we did it though. The second book is worth it too.

Chapter 4
(view spoiler)[This has been better than what I expected after seeing all these comments. I have enjoyed discussions between Ford & Arthur, I have laughed so much xD I have started to wonder if someone has used dialogies between me & one person who's close to me xD (hide spoiler)]

Narilka wrote: "I'm 4 chapters in [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[That someone else's problem -idea was so hilarious. I laughed while reading it xD (hide spoiler)]

Don't let our disappointment sour your enjoyment... more power to you :D

I finished this, finally...

I liked the beginning, then I had zero interest toward this book and continued it after several months. And because there is almost no plot at all, it was painful to continue. I am still going to re-read the next books at some point. But this wasn't my cup of tea.