YouKneeK’s 2021 SF&F Overdose Part 4
Dit is een voortzetting van het onderwerp YouKneeK’s 2021 SF&F Overdose Part 3.
DiscussieThe Green Dragon
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1YouKneeK
Welcome to part 4 of my 2021 thread! Here’s my usual introductory info:
This year I’ve been using some Milanote boards to present a few things that may be of occasional interest. Click here if you’re interested in any of the following things:
- I read mostly science fiction and fantasy, with a heavier emphasis on fantasy.
- I tend to read slightly older books versus the newest releases.
- I hate spoilers. Any spoilers in my reviews should be safely hidden behind spoiler tags.
- I prefer to read a series after it’s complete, and I read all the books pretty close together.
- I’m 45, female, and live in the suburbs of Atlanta, GA in the U.S where I work as a programmer.
- My cat’s name is Ernest and he’s a freak.
This year I’ve been using some Milanote boards to present a few things that may be of occasional interest. Click here if you’re interested in any of the following things:
- Tentative reading plans for the next several months. I’m checking books off here as I read them, and will update it as I make changes.
- Audiobook plans. I’ve listed all the audiobooks currently on my list to try at some point and am checking off the ones I’ve listened to.
- Reading stats. I update these at the end of each quarter.
- Cross-stitch pictures. I’m posting updated pictures of my two current projects about once a week, usually on Sunday night. I also have a few pictures of some of my favorite previously-completed projects.
2YouKneeK
2021 Reading Index
Clicking on the Date Read will take you to the post containing the review.
Clicking on the Date Read will take you to the post containing the review.
Date Read/
# Review Link Title Author(s)
1 2021-01-07 Kushiel's Mercy Jacqueline Carey
2 2021-01-10 The Best of All Possible Worlds Karen Lord
3 2021-01-18 Naamah's Kiss Jacqueline Carey
4 2021-01-29 Naamah's Curse Jacqueline Carey
5 2021-02-03 Restoration Carol Berg
6 2021-02-06 Naamah's Blessing Jacqueline Carey
7 2021-02-09 The Diary of a Young Girl Anne Frank
8 2021-02-13 Rosewater Tade Thompson
9 2021-02-13 The Last Wish Andrzej Sapkowski
10 2021-02-20 The Sword-Edged Blonde Alex Bledsoe
11 2021-02-21 The House of the Spirits Isabel Allende
12 2021-02-27 Hounded Kevin Hearne
13 2021-03-01 Furies of Calderon Jim Butcher
14 2021-03-05 We Are Legion (We are Bob) Dennis E. Taylor
15 2021-03-12 Academ's Fury Jim Butcher
16 2021-03-20 Three Parts Dead Max Gladstone
17 2021-03-21 Cursor's Fury Jim Butcher
18 2021-04-01 Captain's Fury Jim Butcher
19 2021-04-03 Foreigner C. J. Cherryh
20 2021-04-08 Princeps' Fury Jim Butcher
21 2021-04-17 Midnight Riot Ben Aaronovitch
22 2021-04-25 First Lord's Fury Jim Butcher
23 2021-05-01 The Calculating Stars Mary Robinette Kowal
24 2021-05-02 To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee
25 2021-05-06 The Merry Wives of Windsor William Shakespeare
26 2021-05-18 Theft of Swords Michael J. Sullivan
27 2021-05-19 Worlds of Exile and Illusion Ursula K. Le Guin
28 2021-05-21 Soulless Gail Carriger
29 2021-05-27 Six of Crows Leigh Bardugo
30 2021-05-27 The Left Hand of Darkness Ursula K. Le Guin
31 2021-05-30 The Word for World is Forest Ursula K. Le Guin
32 2021-05-31 A Darker Shade of Magic V. E. Schwab
33 2021-06-05 More than Human Theodore Sturgeon
34 2021-06-09 The Warded Man Peter V. Brett
35 2021-06-16 The Eyre Affair Jasper Fforde
36 2021-06-18 The Dispossessed Ursula K. Le Guin
37 2021-06-22 The Black Company Glen Cook
38 2021-06-26 The Ten Thousand Doors of Alix E. Harrow
January
39 2021-06-27 Planetfall Emma Newman
40 2021-07-03 Prince of Thorns Mark Lawrence
41 2021-07-04 Shards of Honor Lois McMaster Bujold
42 2021-07-15 The Warrior's Apprentice Lois McMaster Bujold
43 2021-07-22 King of Thorns Mark Lawrence
44 2021-07-31 Elantris Brandon Sanderson
45 2021-08-07 Emperor of Thorns Mark Lawrence
46 2021-08-09 The City of Dreaming Books Walter Moers
3YouKneeK
Next Audiobook
Elantris by Brandon Sanderson. This is a long one at almost 29 hours.
I'm also still reading King of Thorns, the second book in Mark Lawrence's Broken Empire trilogy, in print. My progress has been very slow due to limited time, but I'm enjoying it about equally as much as the first book.
Elantris by Brandon Sanderson. This is a long one at almost 29 hours.
I'm also still reading King of Thorns, the second book in Mark Lawrence's Broken Empire trilogy, in print. My progress has been very slow due to limited time, but I'm enjoying it about equally as much as the first book.
4BookstoogeLT
>3 YouKneeK: Now, is this the original Elantris or the 10th anniversary one with extra Sanderson verbiage?
5YouKneeK
>4 BookstoogeLT: The audible version I have does say it’s the “Tenth Anniversary Special Edition”. I just checked the description, and it only notes an additional preface by Dan Wells, a new afterward by Sanderson, and an expanded appendix. Is there supposed to be additional story content also, or does that sound like what you're thinking of?
7Karlstar
Congrats on the new thread!
>4 BookstoogeLT: Oh no, not extra Sanderson verbiage! I wondered why it was so long, I didn't remember the book being all that long.
>4 BookstoogeLT: Oh no, not extra Sanderson verbiage! I wondered why it was so long, I didn't remember the book being all that long.
9BookstoogeLT
>5 YouKneeK: & >7 Karlstar: I was pretty sure the 10th anniversary edition had extra story content.
Not sure how much though. I only have the 10th anniversary in ebook and the original in paper, so I can't easily compare.
Looking through a google search however it seems to be more cosmetic and the stuff Youkneek mentioned.
Not sure how much though. I only have the 10th anniversary in ebook and the original in paper, so I can't easily compare.
Looking through a google search however it seems to be more cosmetic and the stuff Youkneek mentioned.
10Sakerfalcon
Happy new thread! I hope you love Elantris as much as I did (and many others in this group)!
11YouKneeK
>6 Narilka:, >7 Karlstar:, >8 quondame:, >10 Sakerfalcon: Thanks!
>10 Sakerfalcon: I started it last night and, while I didn’t have time to listen to very much, my initial impression is that the setting is interesting and that this is likely to be right up my alley. :)
>7 Karlstar:, >9 BookstoogeLT: I checked the Table of Contents for my audiobook, mostly because I was wondering if I should be prepared for the story to end hours earlier than the length of the audiobook due to an enormous appendix. Apparently not, it looks like the “Ars Arcanum” section is less than 5 minutes. I doubt 5 minutes could represent an entire appendix, much less an expanded one, so maybe they only included the part that’s new. I’ve never heard an appendix in an audiobook before, and it would make sense to me if they’re usually excluded. In my experience they’re usually repetitive and full of things people should already know from the book they just read. In print books, I’ll skim them quickly to read any new information of interest, but I rarely read them in detail. I don’t think I’d have the patience to sit through a lengthy audio reading of one.
However, in the audio TOC, there’s an “Elantris Deleted Scenes” section that’s almost 50 minutes long, so maybe that’s extra story content that was added to this version. The other new content, unless there is some new story content embedded throughout the book after all, doesn’t seem to add much time. The Foreword by Dan Wells is 7.5 minutes and the new Postscript is almost 13 minutes.
>10 Sakerfalcon: I started it last night and, while I didn’t have time to listen to very much, my initial impression is that the setting is interesting and that this is likely to be right up my alley. :)
>7 Karlstar:, >9 BookstoogeLT: I checked the Table of Contents for my audiobook, mostly because I was wondering if I should be prepared for the story to end hours earlier than the length of the audiobook due to an enormous appendix. Apparently not, it looks like the “Ars Arcanum” section is less than 5 minutes. I doubt 5 minutes could represent an entire appendix, much less an expanded one, so maybe they only included the part that’s new. I’ve never heard an appendix in an audiobook before, and it would make sense to me if they’re usually excluded. In my experience they’re usually repetitive and full of things people should already know from the book they just read. In print books, I’ll skim them quickly to read any new information of interest, but I rarely read them in detail. I don’t think I’d have the patience to sit through a lengthy audio reading of one.
However, in the audio TOC, there’s an “Elantris Deleted Scenes” section that’s almost 50 minutes long, so maybe that’s extra story content that was added to this version. The other new content, unless there is some new story content embedded throughout the book after all, doesn’t seem to add much time. The Foreword by Dan Wells is 7.5 minutes and the new Postscript is almost 13 minutes.
12reading_fox
Elantris - https://www.librarything.com/topic/10977 - the GD discussion with Brandon about a bit! You may have to hunt the archives to find the complete set: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/Groups:The_Green_Dragon/Group_book_discu...
13YouKneeK
>12 reading_fox: Oh cool, thanks! I'll check that out after I've finished listening to the book.
14Karlstar
>12 reading_fox: Very cool! Just before my time, unfortunately.
15YouKneeK
Review: King of Thorns by Mark Lawrence
King of Thorns is the second book in Mark Lawrence’s Broken Empire trilogy. As with the first book, we remain in the first person POV of Jorg, who in this book ranges from 14 through 18 years old. The story alternates between two time periods, one spanning a period of time shortly after the first book and the other spanning a single day four years later.
Jorg is still really messed up, but there are some glimmers of developing maturity hidden here and there. He started to grow on me a teensy bit in this book. I can’t see him ever being a character whose actions I cheer for, but I didn’t hate all his choices or all his thoughts.
There was one really awful scene I could have done without. Well, there were a few awful scenes, but the one that was hardest for me to read was the one aboutJorg’s childhood dog, Justice . If you get to an animal scene that’s hard to read about, I would just warn that it doesn’t get better and if you’re the fortunate kind of person who has the ability to skip things without reading them, you might want to skip that scene altogether.
I still have mixed feelings about the series. The story holds my interest while I’m reading it, and Jorg is interesting to read about even if not very likeable. I didn’t feel any special motivation to pick the book back up after I'd put it down though, and I was easily distracted by other things I needed or wanted to do. I’ll go ahead and read the last book in this trilogy, but I’ll probably skip the related collection of short stories. I’m not sure yet if I’ll move on to the related subseries The Red Queen’s War. I’d be interested in any vague and spoiler-free opinions people who have read both subseries might want to offer. I’m curious if people thought The Red Queen’s War (starts with Prince of Fools) was better or worse, different or similar.
King of Thorns is the second book in Mark Lawrence’s Broken Empire trilogy. As with the first book, we remain in the first person POV of Jorg, who in this book ranges from 14 through 18 years old. The story alternates between two time periods, one spanning a period of time shortly after the first book and the other spanning a single day four years later.
Jorg is still really messed up, but there are some glimmers of developing maturity hidden here and there. He started to grow on me a teensy bit in this book. I can’t see him ever being a character whose actions I cheer for, but I didn’t hate all his choices or all his thoughts.
There was one really awful scene I could have done without. Well, there were a few awful scenes, but the one that was hardest for me to read was the one about
I still have mixed feelings about the series. The story holds my interest while I’m reading it, and Jorg is interesting to read about even if not very likeable. I didn’t feel any special motivation to pick the book back up after I'd put it down though, and I was easily distracted by other things I needed or wanted to do. I’ll go ahead and read the last book in this trilogy, but I’ll probably skip the related collection of short stories. I’m not sure yet if I’ll move on to the related subseries The Red Queen’s War. I’d be interested in any vague and spoiler-free opinions people who have read both subseries might want to offer. I’m curious if people thought The Red Queen’s War (starts with Prince of Fools) was better or worse, different or similar.
16YouKneeK
Next Book
Emperor of Thorns, the third book in the above trilogy.
Current Audiobook
I also just wanted to comment that I’m really enjoying my current audio listen, Elantris. I still have over 15 hours to go though. This is the first audiobook where I finally took the plunge and tried increasing the speed. I started playing with it in my last couple of listening sessions, so this is a recent thing. I’ve only increased it to a modest 1.2x, but it’s definitely working better for me than the default speed did. The narrator is ok, but he reads slowly and sometimes sounds like he’s trying to explain something to a particularly slow child. Those things are less obvious at a faster speed and yet it still sounds completely normal, to the point that I double checked a couple of times if the speed was really increased.
Emperor of Thorns, the third book in the above trilogy.
Current Audiobook
I also just wanted to comment that I’m really enjoying my current audio listen, Elantris. I still have over 15 hours to go though. This is the first audiobook where I finally took the plunge and tried increasing the speed. I started playing with it in my last couple of listening sessions, so this is a recent thing. I’ve only increased it to a modest 1.2x, but it’s definitely working better for me than the default speed did. The narrator is ok, but he reads slowly and sometimes sounds like he’s trying to explain something to a particularly slow child. Those things are less obvious at a faster speed and yet it still sounds completely normal, to the point that I double checked a couple of times if the speed was really increased.
17clamairy
>15 YouKneeK: I think I'll keep avoiding this series.
>16 YouKneeK: I've had to increase the speed a few times myself. Like you I was surprised at just how well it worked.
>16 YouKneeK: I've had to increase the speed a few times myself. Like you I was surprised at just how well it worked.
18Busifer
>12 reading_fox: Oh, wow. I remember this but not that it was THAT long ago!
19Karlstar
>15 YouKneeK: Based on your review, if I read and rated that one (I won't now, thank you!) I would have only given it 2 stars at most. You've confirmed I should not pick it up.
>16 YouKneeK: I seem to be a bigger fan of Elantris than most Sanderson fans, it will be interesting to see what you think.
>16 YouKneeK: I seem to be a bigger fan of Elantris than most Sanderson fans, it will be interesting to see what you think.
20BookstoogeLT
>15 YouKneeK: There is a reason I gave up on Lawrence after the first book. Glad you weren't scarred for life though.
I too am looking forward to what you think of Elantris.
I too am looking forward to what you think of Elantris.
21YouKneeK
>17 clamairy:, >19 Karlstar:, >20 BookstoogeLT: You probably all made a good decision on avoiding or giving up on the Lawrence series. I can't think of anybody I'd be confident in recommending something like this to.
I am sometimes able to enjoy stories like this where the main character is horrid, if I think it’s done in an interesting way. It depends though, because there are other types of character attributes that will drive me nuts even if they’re lower on the “evil scale”. The first book I remember reading with an evil main character was Empress by Karen Miller. It made an impression because it was so different from anything I’d read before.
>17 clamairy: I think I’ll be increasing the speed more often now that I’ve taken the plunge, especially with these sorts of slower narrators. Now if only I could do that to people when they’re talking to me in real life. :) (There are probably many people who wish they could slow me down!)
I am sometimes able to enjoy stories like this where the main character is horrid, if I think it’s done in an interesting way. It depends though, because there are other types of character attributes that will drive me nuts even if they’re lower on the “evil scale”. The first book I remember reading with an evil main character was Empress by Karen Miller. It made an impression because it was so different from anything I’d read before.
>17 clamairy: I think I’ll be increasing the speed more often now that I’ve taken the plunge, especially with these sorts of slower narrators. Now if only I could do that to people when they’re talking to me in real life. :) (There are probably many people who wish they could slow me down!)
22clamairy
>21 YouKneeK: Bwahaha!!! I hear ya. Some people are like the sloth at the DMV desk in Zootopia.
I think I talk slower than I used to when I was 30 and moved to Illinois where every other person I talked to asked me to repeat myself more slowly. I was still set to New York speed. Then again maybe no one asks me to slow down anymore because I'm back East...
I think I talk slower than I used to when I was 30 and moved to Illinois where every other person I talked to asked me to repeat myself more slowly. I was still set to New York speed. Then again maybe no one asks me to slow down anymore because I'm back East...
23YouKneeK
Audiobook Review: Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
This was another one of my series-sampling audio listens, to see if I might want to pursue it in print someday. The book does stand alone well, but Sanderson has plans to continue it eventually, so I’d been holding off on reading it in print.
Audio Narration
The narrator is Jack Garrett. I didn’t have any significant trouble listening to him. He distinguished between different character voices well and he didn’t over-do the drama too much. He does however read very slow compared to what I’ve become accustomed to with other narrators. This was the first time I ventured to increase my listening speed, only by a small amount to 1.2x, but that was a big improvement. His slow reading speed combined with the explanatory tone of voice he used sometimes made me feel like he was talking to a small and not particularly bright child. That distracted me a little until I increased the speed, and then it no longer bothered me. When I first increased it, I had to double check a couple of times to verify it really was increased, because it sounded so normal. To my ears, the slightly faster speed sounded more natural.
Story
I really enjoyed this! Elantris is a city that used to be beautiful and full of magic, and its inhabitants had transformed bodies and magical powers. Then 10 years ago something happened, and both the city and its people became diseased. Becoming an Elantrian, both before and after it became diseased, is something that happens randomly and unexpectedly to people from all walks of life. One day the prince of Arelon, Raoden, wakes up having been transformed. He’s locked in Elantris as is currently the custom, where he’s promptly attacked by deranged and desperate people. Meanwhile, Princess Sarene of Teod is sailing to Arelon to wed the aforementioned Raoden, a man she barely knows, mostly due to political necessity as their nations are the last two nations who haven’t fallen to the militant Fjordell religion. There’s a third main POV character, Hrathen, a priest of the aforementioned militant religion, who has recently come to Arelon. He sees himself as their savior, with his mission being to convert the people before they have to be destroyed.
As with most books I enjoy a lot, I’m not sure how to explain why I enjoyed this one so much. I just did. :) I was hooked from the beginning. The idea of Elantris and people unexpectedly transforming into Elantrians and the mysterious dying city all really captured my interest. Prince Raoden is the type of character that always appeals to me, noble and working toward the greater good. Princess Sarene was an enjoyable character too, strong and feisty. Her portion of the story focused more on political maneuvering, which is something I also enjoy. I could have done with a little less bemoaning of her difficulties in obtaining a husband, but I guess it wasn’t too bad. I didn’t enjoy the Hrathen POV as much, even though I did appreciate the nuances of his character and his chapters’ relevance to the rest of the story.
There’s some occasional humor, and some other fun secondary characters. It was easy to follow in audio while still having plenty of depth. It wasn’t very twisty, but it had its moments. Mostly, it was written in such a way that I usually guessed where things were going in advance and enjoyed the satisfaction of being right. All the main story threads are wrapped up, but there are some open questions about the Elantrians and its magic and such. I look forward to someday re-reading this in print and continuing the series when the other books are published. This is a definite “yes” for me to follow up on in print someday.
This was another one of my series-sampling audio listens, to see if I might want to pursue it in print someday. The book does stand alone well, but Sanderson has plans to continue it eventually, so I’d been holding off on reading it in print.
Audio Narration
The narrator is Jack Garrett. I didn’t have any significant trouble listening to him. He distinguished between different character voices well and he didn’t over-do the drama too much. He does however read very slow compared to what I’ve become accustomed to with other narrators. This was the first time I ventured to increase my listening speed, only by a small amount to 1.2x, but that was a big improvement. His slow reading speed combined with the explanatory tone of voice he used sometimes made me feel like he was talking to a small and not particularly bright child. That distracted me a little until I increased the speed, and then it no longer bothered me. When I first increased it, I had to double check a couple of times to verify it really was increased, because it sounded so normal. To my ears, the slightly faster speed sounded more natural.
Story
I really enjoyed this! Elantris is a city that used to be beautiful and full of magic, and its inhabitants had transformed bodies and magical powers. Then 10 years ago something happened, and both the city and its people became diseased. Becoming an Elantrian, both before and after it became diseased, is something that happens randomly and unexpectedly to people from all walks of life. One day the prince of Arelon, Raoden, wakes up having been transformed. He’s locked in Elantris as is currently the custom, where he’s promptly attacked by deranged and desperate people. Meanwhile, Princess Sarene of Teod is sailing to Arelon to wed the aforementioned Raoden, a man she barely knows, mostly due to political necessity as their nations are the last two nations who haven’t fallen to the militant Fjordell religion. There’s a third main POV character, Hrathen, a priest of the aforementioned militant religion, who has recently come to Arelon. He sees himself as their savior, with his mission being to convert the people before they have to be destroyed.
As with most books I enjoy a lot, I’m not sure how to explain why I enjoyed this one so much. I just did. :) I was hooked from the beginning. The idea of Elantris and people unexpectedly transforming into Elantrians and the mysterious dying city all really captured my interest. Prince Raoden is the type of character that always appeals to me, noble and working toward the greater good. Princess Sarene was an enjoyable character too, strong and feisty. Her portion of the story focused more on political maneuvering, which is something I also enjoy. I could have done with a little less bemoaning of her difficulties in obtaining a husband, but I guess it wasn’t too bad. I didn’t enjoy the Hrathen POV as much, even though I did appreciate the nuances of his character and his chapters’ relevance to the rest of the story.
There’s some occasional humor, and some other fun secondary characters. It was easy to follow in audio while still having plenty of depth. It wasn’t very twisty, but it had its moments. Mostly, it was written in such a way that I usually guessed where things were going in advance and enjoyed the satisfaction of being right. All the main story threads are wrapped up, but there are some open questions about the Elantrians and its magic and such. I look forward to someday re-reading this in print and continuing the series when the other books are published. This is a definite “yes” for me to follow up on in print someday.
24YouKneeK
Next Audiobook
The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers. This is one of the August group reads in the GR group I’m a member of, and it meets my criteria for a good audiobook series sampling choice. I have no idea what it's about, but the title is appealing.
The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers. This is one of the August group reads in the GR group I’m a member of, and it meets my criteria for a good audiobook series sampling choice. I have no idea what it's about, but the title is appealing.
25Karlstar
>23 YouKneeK: That's how I feel about Elantris too. It might be my 2nd favorite Sanderson book (not counting the Wheel of Time books) but that seems to be a minority opinion.
26YouKneeK
>25 Karlstar: What’s your first favorite? Sorry if you’ve told me before; I can’t remember!
Except for the Wheel of Time books, it’s been several years since I’ve read any of his work. I remember really enjoying Mistborn, but I read it about 11 years ago, so I don’t remember it well.
Except for the Wheel of Time books, it’s been several years since I’ve read any of his work. I remember really enjoying Mistborn, but I read it about 11 years ago, so I don’t remember it well.
27BookstoogeLT
>23 YouKneeK: Glad to see this was such a high rating for you. I've been meaning to re-read it for years now and your review was the nudge I needed to add the tbr tag so now I'll definitely get to it.
It's been so long for me that I pretty much forget most of the details. Big picture I can remember and the "why" things went bad, but about the characters themselves? Not a thing :-D
It's been so long for me that I pretty much forget most of the details. Big picture I can remember and the "why" things went bad, but about the characters themselves? Not a thing :-D
28YouKneeK
>27 BookstoogeLT: I hope it holds up well as a re-read for you!
29clamairy
>23 YouKneeK: I am glad you enjoyed this one. Did you get a chance to check out the old discussion thread with Brandon's comments? It might be worth the time to just read his posts and skip the rest of them.
30YouKneeK
>29 clamairy: I did read through the first thread. (It turned more into skimming by the end as it was a bit long and I was short on time.) There was some interesting stuff there! I'd like to squeeze in some time to check out the rest of the threads later.
31Karlstar
>26 YouKneeK: I don't think I did. I think my favorite Sanderson is Alloy of Law. I really liked the way his magic system seemed to work with a story with a 'western' feel. I also liked Wax and Wayne, of course.
32YouKneeK
>31 Karlstar: I hope to read that someday, so I'm glad to hear it's good!
33Somema7299 
Deze gebruiker is verwijderd als spam.
34Sakerfalcon
>23 YouKneeK: >25 Karlstar: Elantris is one of my favourites by Sanderson too. IIRC it was his first published novel - what a great start to his career! There is a novella set in the same universe too, The emperor's soul, which is worth reading.
35YouKneeK
>34 Sakerfalcon: That was my understanding also, that it was his first published novel. I had missed noticing that The Emperor’s Soul was related, thanks for mentioning it! I’ll make sure to fit that in down the road when I come back to the Elantris books in print.
36clamairy
The Emperor’s Soul is my favorite Sanderson. It's on the short side, so perhaps you can squeeze it in sooner rather than later.
38clamairy
>37 Karlstar: I don't have a clue. I didn't know it existed.
39BookstoogeLT
>37 Karlstar: It's a left out chapter, in essence, from near the end of Elantris. Which Sanderson has released for free, not sure if it still is though, on his website.
40quondame
>36 clamairy: Mine too.
41YouKneeK
>36 clamairy: I probably won't go back to it until Sanderson publishes the other books he has planned for the series, so I think based on his last “State of the Sanderson” we’re talking 2025 or later. :) Right now I’m just using audiobooks to sample the first books in various series I’ve had on my list for years but kept putting off in favor of already-complete series. But it’s possible, maybe even probable, that I’ll reach a point where I run out of series I want to sample and then I may consider listening to some of the other books in series that worked well for me in audio. I’d probably prioritize longer series though.
While I’m here, I’d just like to take a moment to say that The City of Dreaming Books is DRIVING ME NUTS! Soooo much rambling. I keep tuning the audiobook out just like I would tune out any person in real life who insisted on babbling at me like this. :p Every aspect of every setting, and many aspects of many events, all get expounded on with lists of creative but tedious examples. There’s definitely humor, and the audio narrator captures the voice of the print narrator very well, but it’s not a style of story that appeals to me. I might enjoy it more if the humorous lists were in smaller doses and there was more actual story content.
While I’m here, I’d just like to take a moment to say that The City of Dreaming Books is DRIVING ME NUTS! Soooo much rambling. I keep tuning the audiobook out just like I would tune out any person in real life who insisted on babbling at me like this. :p Every aspect of every setting, and many aspects of many events, all get expounded on with lists of creative but tedious examples. There’s definitely humor, and the audio narrator captures the voice of the print narrator very well, but it’s not a style of story that appeals to me. I might enjoy it more if the humorous lists were in smaller doses and there was more actual story content.
42MrsLee
>41 YouKneeK: "that The City of Dreaming Books is DRIVING ME NUTS!"
LOL I was going to say something similar to that when you said you were going to read it, but didn't want to color your perspective. I think I managed to finish it, but knew I would never look at it again. Been a long time, but I think there were interesting points that made me keep reading.
LOL I was going to say something similar to that when you said you were going to read it, but didn't want to color your perspective. I think I managed to finish it, but knew I would never look at it again. Been a long time, but I think there were interesting points that made me keep reading.
43YouKneeK
>42 MrsLee: LOL, I’m glad I’m not the only one! I’ve seen a couple similar comments in the GR spoiler-free group read thread, but the majority of people seem to be enjoying it. I usually avoid even the “spoiler-free” threads until I’ve finished a book, but this time I just don’t care and I wanted to see what people were saying about it. It's a very bad sign when I stop worrying about spoilers. It’s very… atmospheric. But so far there’s more atmosphere than story.
44Karlstar
>39 BookstoogeLT: Thanks! I didn't think there was another book, I was surprised to see LT list a 'series'.
45YouKneeK
Review: Emperor of Thorns by Mark Lawrence
Emperor of Thorns is the last book in the Broken Empire trilogy, although there is another trilogy set in the world. This is a different sort of fantasy series, with a main character who does horrible things, sometimes for his own benefit and sometimes just because he can. However, the character does grow over the course of the series, and I thought that growth was realistically done.
The writing never really grabbed me that well. It was interesting enough that I kept reading “just one more book” to find out what would happen next. The post-apocalyptic fantasy setting was really interesting, and Jorg and his “brothers” were fairly unique. Nevertheless, I usually found it easy to put down and I was slow to pick it back up. Even with my current slower reading speed, it took me far longer to read these books than it should have. In retrospect, I probably should have stopped after the first book, but I did want to see where the story went. They also started holding my attention better near the end of each book, which probably influenced my decisions about subsequent books.
I have mixed feelings about the ending. There were some parts I liked, and parts I had trouble buying into. I started to type out some of my issues, but I can find logical arguments against any objection I try to raise, and I decided I didn’t have the time or energy to write a book about the book, so I’ll just leave it at this – I think the ending works, but I’m not sure what I think about it.
I’ve decided against reading the next subseries at this time. I’m curious about it, but I’m not up for another trilogy that might hold my interest as loosely as this one did. Maybe someday in the future I’ll consider giving it a try.
Emperor of Thorns is the last book in the Broken Empire trilogy, although there is another trilogy set in the world. This is a different sort of fantasy series, with a main character who does horrible things, sometimes for his own benefit and sometimes just because he can. However, the character does grow over the course of the series, and I thought that growth was realistically done.
The writing never really grabbed me that well. It was interesting enough that I kept reading “just one more book” to find out what would happen next. The post-apocalyptic fantasy setting was really interesting, and Jorg and his “brothers” were fairly unique. Nevertheless, I usually found it easy to put down and I was slow to pick it back up. Even with my current slower reading speed, it took me far longer to read these books than it should have. In retrospect, I probably should have stopped after the first book, but I did want to see where the story went. They also started holding my attention better near the end of each book, which probably influenced my decisions about subsequent books.
I have mixed feelings about the ending. There were some parts I liked, and parts I had trouble buying into. I started to type out some of my issues, but I can find logical arguments against any objection I try to raise, and I decided I didn’t have the time or energy to write a book about the book, so I’ll just leave it at this – I think the ending works, but I’m not sure what I think about it.
I’ve decided against reading the next subseries at this time. I’m curious about it, but I’m not up for another trilogy that might hold my interest as loosely as this one did. Maybe someday in the future I’ll consider giving it a try.
46YouKneeK
Next Book
Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift, the unabridged version. I know I read part of this in my late teens, although I don’t know if it was abridged or not. I don’t think I finished it, and I only remember tiny (in more ways than one) parts of it.
Edited to add: This is one of my third quarter classic selections. After this, the dreaded Romeo and Juliet. :)
Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift, the unabridged version. I know I read part of this in my late teens, although I don’t know if it was abridged or not. I don’t think I finished it, and I only remember tiny (in more ways than one) parts of it.
Edited to add: This is one of my third quarter classic selections. After this, the dreaded Romeo and Juliet. :)
47YouKneeK
Audiobook Review: The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers
This was August's chosen fantasy read in the SF&F group I’m in on Goodreads. Since it’s part of a long series, and apparently not even the first book in that series, I decided it would be a good audio candidate and joined in that way. This book does stand alone entirely fine. I could tell that world-building from previous books was being referenced, but I never felt like I was missing anything.
Audio Narration
The narrator is Richard Powers. I think he was just about perfect for this story. He’s a bit melodramatic, which I normally don’t like, but the character narrating the story is also melodramatic. I completely bought into his reading of the story and never argued in my head with how he voiced certain portions of the text like I often do with audiobooks. Since the humor in this story didn’t work great for me, I can say with confidence that he added more humor than I would have gotten out of it otherwise. He differentiated between character voices well also.
Story
For the first third, I wasn’t even sure if there was a story. This is written in a very atmospheric manner. The main character, Optimus Yarnspinner, is bequeathed a mysterious manuscript from his recently-deceased authorial godfather. The manuscript is perfect in every way and Yarnspinner, an aspiring author himself, decides to hunt down the author, whom he believes would have ended up in Bookholm, so that's where he travels to.
In Bookholm, Yarnspinner sees lots of things and rambles to us about all of them in excruciating detail. I don’t think I’ve ever read (or heard) so many lists in a fiction book before. For every place he went, for everything he saw, for everything he did, and for everything he heard, we received lists and lists of examples. These lists were creative and clearly intended to be humorous, but there were just too many of them and they quickly became tedious to me. It occasionally got a chuckle out of me, but for the first third or so I was bored out of my mind and I wasn’t sure I would make it to the end. I kept tuning it out unintentionally because I couldn’t stand to listen to so much rambling.
At some point, I think after about a third of the book, the story came more to the forefront and I became more interested. Every now and then we’d encounter a new setting and the author would go off on one of his lists again, but they were spaced out a bit better and no longer dominated the plot. Or maybe I had grown used to it, I’m not entirely sure. But I do think the story picked up and became quite a lot more interesting.
I had some trouble deciding how to rate this. During the first third, I intended to give it no more than 2 stars. By the end, it felt more like a 3 star read. I considered giving it 2.5 stars and rounding up to 3 on Goodreads, but I decided to give it a straight 3 star rating, maybe in part on the strength of the audio narration. It is creative, and it’s possible I would have appreciated the author’s cleverness more if I’d been able to read it in the original German (or the true original Zamonien), but I think this just isn’t the type of humor that works well for me. I prefer more subtle cleverness, not the waving-arms-in-your-face-to-make-sure-you-don’t-miss-it sort, which is what I felt like this was. Despite that, I did like the story (once the author deigned to give us one) and it might even have caused a tear or two to show up in my eyes on occasion.
This was August's chosen fantasy read in the SF&F group I’m in on Goodreads. Since it’s part of a long series, and apparently not even the first book in that series, I decided it would be a good audio candidate and joined in that way. This book does stand alone entirely fine. I could tell that world-building from previous books was being referenced, but I never felt like I was missing anything.
Audio Narration
The narrator is Richard Powers. I think he was just about perfect for this story. He’s a bit melodramatic, which I normally don’t like, but the character narrating the story is also melodramatic. I completely bought into his reading of the story and never argued in my head with how he voiced certain portions of the text like I often do with audiobooks. Since the humor in this story didn’t work great for me, I can say with confidence that he added more humor than I would have gotten out of it otherwise. He differentiated between character voices well also.
Story
For the first third, I wasn’t even sure if there was a story. This is written in a very atmospheric manner. The main character, Optimus Yarnspinner, is bequeathed a mysterious manuscript from his recently-deceased authorial godfather. The manuscript is perfect in every way and Yarnspinner, an aspiring author himself, decides to hunt down the author, whom he believes would have ended up in Bookholm, so that's where he travels to.
In Bookholm, Yarnspinner sees lots of things and rambles to us about all of them in excruciating detail. I don’t think I’ve ever read (or heard) so many lists in a fiction book before. For every place he went, for everything he saw, for everything he did, and for everything he heard, we received lists and lists of examples. These lists were creative and clearly intended to be humorous, but there were just too many of them and they quickly became tedious to me. It occasionally got a chuckle out of me, but for the first third or so I was bored out of my mind and I wasn’t sure I would make it to the end. I kept tuning it out unintentionally because I couldn’t stand to listen to so much rambling.
At some point, I think after about a third of the book, the story came more to the forefront and I became more interested. Every now and then we’d encounter a new setting and the author would go off on one of his lists again, but they were spaced out a bit better and no longer dominated the plot. Or maybe I had grown used to it, I’m not entirely sure. But I do think the story picked up and became quite a lot more interesting.
I had some trouble deciding how to rate this. During the first third, I intended to give it no more than 2 stars. By the end, it felt more like a 3 star read. I considered giving it 2.5 stars and rounding up to 3 on Goodreads, but I decided to give it a straight 3 star rating, maybe in part on the strength of the audio narration. It is creative, and it’s possible I would have appreciated the author’s cleverness more if I’d been able to read it in the original German (or the true original Zamonien), but I think this just isn’t the type of humor that works well for me. I prefer more subtle cleverness, not the waving-arms-in-your-face-to-make-sure-you-don’t-miss-it sort, which is what I felt like this was. Despite that, I did like the story (once the author deigned to give us one) and it might even have caused a tear or two to show up in my eyes on occasion.
48YouKneeK
Next Audiobook
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir.
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir.
49Sakerfalcon
>45 YouKneeK: I considered reading this trilogy but decided it was just too dark and unpleasant for me (which is saying something!) However, I loved Red sister and Grey sister and would highly recommend that trilogy if you decide to read more by the author. I believe it is actually set in the same world as the Thorns books but far, far in the future (I could be wrong though).
>47 YouKneeK: I read this years ago and loved it! Must reread it to see why. Perhaps it works better in print than audio - it has illustrations, for one thing!
>48 YouKneeK: Ooh, can't wait to see what you think of Gideon!
>47 YouKneeK: I read this years ago and loved it! Must reread it to see why. Perhaps it works better in print than audio - it has illustrations, for one thing!
>48 YouKneeK: Ooh, can't wait to see what you think of Gideon!
50YouKneeK
>49 Sakerfalcon: I definitely don't blame you on the Lawrence trilogy! I'm glad to read that you enjoyed Red Sister so much, because that book is also on the GR group shelf that so many of my reading selections have come from over the past few years. I'll most likely get to that one eventually, after some more time has passed.
The reactions to The City of Dreaming Books seems pretty mixed so far on GR. From enthusiastic, to disliking it so much they abandoned it, and everything in-between.
The reactions to The City of Dreaming Books seems pretty mixed so far on GR. From enthusiastic, to disliking it so much they abandoned it, and everything in-between.
51clamairy
>48 YouKneeK: Oh, who's the narrator for this? I really enjoyed reading this last Summer. I have the sequel but I keep forgetting about it.
52YouKneeK
>51 clamairy: Moira Quirk. Have you had any experience with her? She'll be new to me.
I had really hoped to get at least a brief start on it today, but I got trapped in work craziness and am only just now logging off. Maybe tomorrow! I expect my time to be extra limited for the next month or so. We have an upgrade going live this weekend, which means I'm probably heading back into 70-80 hour work week territory again. Yay. :) At least it won't last forever.
I had really hoped to get at least a brief start on it today, but I got trapped in work craziness and am only just now logging off. Maybe tomorrow! I expect my time to be extra limited for the next month or so. We have an upgrade going live this weekend, which means I'm probably heading back into 70-80 hour work week territory again. Yay. :) At least it won't last forever.
53clamairy
>52 YouKneeK: Yikes! Good luck with all of that.
And that name is not familiar to me.
And that name is not familiar to me.
54tardis
>53 clamairy: I've listened to quite a number of books read by Moira Quirk - she's excellent.
56YouKneeK
Hi all, I’m going to stop maintaining my thread for an indefinite time. I’ve greatly enjoyed all the discussions in my thread over the past 4 years, and I’m very grateful for everybody who has taken the time to stop by and post and make this such a fun experience! I’ve really appreciated how welcoming and friendly this group is.
I’ve been thinking about doing this for a couple months, but I’d planned to wait until the end of the year before deciding for sure. When I realized I kept looking forward to the end of the year, I realized I’d already made my decision. Nothing drastic has happened in my life, it’s just that there are many things I need and/or want to spend my time on, and there’s never enough time. I think we all sometimes need to step back and reprioritize, and I’m at one of those points.
I plan to keep writing reviews because I think it’s a valuable part of the reading process for me, and it only takes a second to copy and paste, so I’ll keep posting reviews on the LT work pages. In the unlikely case that anybody feels like they couldn’t possibly live without my reviews, well, there’s that. :) I’ve always been less likely to keep up with people’s LT reviews if they don’t post in a thread, so I expect and completely understand that I’ll drop off most LT members’ radars.
I may still pop in now and then to read and comment on your threads, but I do plan to cut back on that too. Even though I don’t comment on other people’s threads often, I read most of them daily and the time adds up. Of course, things always change. The day may come when I really miss my thread here and want to start it back up again, so I’d be happy if you all would please keep the light on for me. And Ernest too. :)
(If anybody feels like I'm leaving you hanging on the books I'm currently reading, here's a really short update on how I'm getting on with them. My reading progress is really slow right now because of the work craziness I mentioned in >52 YouKneeK:. I've worked 31 hours out of the past 41 hours, and expect that to go on for a while longer. This isn't playing a role in my decision though; if anything it slowed me down in taking the time to write this post. Last night I finished the third out of four stories in Gulliver's Travels. I think the third story is where I stalled out in my late teens, but I'm finding it very readable now and moderately entertaining, but definitely not a page turner. I'm a little under halfway through the Gideon the Ninth audiobook. At first I wasn't sure what on earth I was getting into, but I think I like it. I haven't been able to listen to it since Saturday, but I was quite interested in it in my last couple of reading sessions. And I do like Moira Quirk's narration!)
I’ve been thinking about doing this for a couple months, but I’d planned to wait until the end of the year before deciding for sure. When I realized I kept looking forward to the end of the year, I realized I’d already made my decision. Nothing drastic has happened in my life, it’s just that there are many things I need and/or want to spend my time on, and there’s never enough time. I think we all sometimes need to step back and reprioritize, and I’m at one of those points.
I plan to keep writing reviews because I think it’s a valuable part of the reading process for me, and it only takes a second to copy and paste, so I’ll keep posting reviews on the LT work pages. In the unlikely case that anybody feels like they couldn’t possibly live without my reviews, well, there’s that. :) I’ve always been less likely to keep up with people’s LT reviews if they don’t post in a thread, so I expect and completely understand that I’ll drop off most LT members’ radars.
I may still pop in now and then to read and comment on your threads, but I do plan to cut back on that too. Even though I don’t comment on other people’s threads often, I read most of them daily and the time adds up. Of course, things always change. The day may come when I really miss my thread here and want to start it back up again, so I’d be happy if you all would please keep the light on for me. And Ernest too. :)
(If anybody feels like I'm leaving you hanging on the books I'm currently reading, here's a really short update on how I'm getting on with them. My reading progress is really slow right now because of the work craziness I mentioned in >52 YouKneeK:. I've worked 31 hours out of the past 41 hours, and expect that to go on for a while longer. This isn't playing a role in my decision though; if anything it slowed me down in taking the time to write this post. Last night I finished the third out of four stories in Gulliver's Travels. I think the third story is where I stalled out in my late teens, but I'm finding it very readable now and moderately entertaining, but definitely not a page turner. I'm a little under halfway through the Gideon the Ninth audiobook. At first I wasn't sure what on earth I was getting into, but I think I like it. I haven't been able to listen to it since Saturday, but I was quite interested in it in my last couple of reading sessions. And I do like Moira Quirk's narration!)
57Narilka
I don't post a lot but I do read threads. I'll miss seeing your reviews here and chatting about books. I totally get it about not keeping a thread though. I just haven't been in the reviewing mood myself since summer started so have decided not to force it. I'm sure it will cycle back. Enjoy your time doing other things :)
58Maddz
>56 YouKneeK: I'll be sorry to see you go. I'm in awe of people who maintain their own talk threads, I just don't have the discipline to do so myself. I know my reading rate over the past 18 months has dropped off a cliff, and I find I'm usually starting something, getting distracted, and not restarting.
59-pilgrim-
>56 YouKneeK:
I am saddened that you are going, since your comments about your reading are all the more interesting because of the thought that you put into them.
But this should be something that you do because you want to write about them and discuss them. If has become a chore, then you are right to come to a halt.
The problem with reviews that are only in the review slots is that one only gets to see them once one has already decided to, at least probably, read that book. And the joy of the GD is hearing about the books that one would never have thought of reading. Personally, I rarely read the reviews attached to books here, until I have also read the book, because they include too many spoilers.
So I will see less of you, and I will miss that. I have enjoyed our conversations.
I hope this does reduce any pressure that you may have been feeling. I am sure Ernest will approve of that!
I am saddened that you are going, since your comments about your reading are all the more interesting because of the thought that you put into them.
But this should be something that you do because you want to write about them and discuss them. If has become a chore, then you are right to come to a halt.
The problem with reviews that are only in the review slots is that one only gets to see them once one has already decided to, at least probably, read that book. And the joy of the GD is hearing about the books that one would never have thought of reading. Personally, I rarely read the reviews attached to books here, until I have also read the book, because they include too many spoilers.
So I will see less of you, and I will miss that. I have enjoyed our conversations.
I hope this does reduce any pressure that you may have been feeling. I am sure Ernest will approve of that!
60BookstoogeLT
>56 YouKneeK: Best of luck. Hope you enjoy your time doing other things :-D
61hfglen
>56 YouKneeK: We'll miss you and Ernest. But, like good Scots, "we'll keep a welcome".
62Sakerfalcon
>56 YouKneeK: Sorry to see you go, but I hope that you'll be able to have more time for things you want to do in real life. And, of course, play with Ernest!
63reading_fox
>56 YouKneeK: take care! The pub's doors are always open whenever you fancy some company.
64Karlstar
>56 YouKneeK: Be well and don't work too much! When you need to tell people about books, we'll be here.
65YouKneeK
Thank you all very much. :) I hope to see you all now and then in the others GD threads.
>59 -pilgrim-: Just in case you didn’t know about the feature, on a person’s profile there is an option to Add to “Interesting libraries”. On the desktop version it's in the top-right corner of the profile page, but I'm not sure about mobile. For people you've added, you can see their shelving activity (including reviews) on the “Connections” tab. (It takes a VERY long time to load.) There’s also a “Recent News” module you can add to your home page that loads faster and shows the same basic thing, but you have to click a link to see each review instead of being able to just scroll down a page and read.
I haven’t made much use of it myself, because the slow loading time of the one method and all the clicking of the other method makes it cumbersome. I have the aforementioned Recent News module on my Home Page where it’s theoretically in my face every time I open LT, but I rarely even glanced at it. I agree that threads make it much easier, and they're more fun because they're interactive and because other interesting topics come up in the threads too.
Going out with a how-to post seems appropriate for me, even if it's likely not to be useful. :)
>59 -pilgrim-: Just in case you didn’t know about the feature, on a person’s profile there is an option to Add to “Interesting libraries”. On the desktop version it's in the top-right corner of the profile page, but I'm not sure about mobile. For people you've added, you can see their shelving activity (including reviews) on the “Connections” tab. (It takes a VERY long time to load.) There’s also a “Recent News” module you can add to your home page that loads faster and shows the same basic thing, but you have to click a link to see each review instead of being able to just scroll down a page and read.
I haven’t made much use of it myself, because the slow loading time of the one method and all the clicking of the other method makes it cumbersome. I have the aforementioned Recent News module on my Home Page where it’s theoretically in my face every time I open LT, but I rarely even glanced at it. I agree that threads make it much easier, and they're more fun because they're interactive and because other interesting topics come up in the threads too.
Going out with a how-to post seems appropriate for me, even if it's likely not to be useful. :)
66clamairy
>56 YouKneeK: Oh, I am sorry to hear this, but I understand completely. I've left myself (Sometimes for years at a time) when I couldn't handle posting. I did not stop reading, BTW. Just posting.
Maybe you could consider adopting TimSpalding's one word reviews. LOL Just kidding...
Maybe you could consider adopting TimSpalding's one word reviews. LOL Just kidding...
67-pilgrim-
>65 YouKneeK: Thank you, YouKneek. (BTW, now seems to be an appropriate moment to mention that I love your username.)
You guessed correctly: the Connections page loads so slowly that the page 404 times out over my slow Internet connection. I will have to investigate that "Recent News" module...
You guessed correctly: the Connections page loads so slowly that the page 404 times out over my slow Internet connection. I will have to investigate that "Recent News" module...
68haydninvienna
Sorry to see you (and Ernest!) go, and hope you will be back as soon as you feel up to it.
69YouKneeK
>66 clamairy:, >68 haydninvienna: Thank you.
>66 clamairy: LOL about the one word reviews. That would definitely save a lot of time, but I don’t think I’m capable of touching my hands to a keyboard and typing only one word.
>67 -pilgrim-: And thanks for the username compliment. :)
>66 clamairy: LOL about the one word reviews. That would definitely save a lot of time, but I don’t think I’m capable of touching my hands to a keyboard and typing only one word.
>67 -pilgrim-: And thanks for the username compliment. :)
70MrsLee
I'm glad you feel able to take a break for however long you need. You will be missed, but of course we understand. I'm working my way up to some such thing as well. Life changes, we need to shift with it sometimes. Be well!
72YouKneeK
>70 MrsLee:, >71 quondame: Thank you both.
>70 MrsLee: I hope you're also able to find the right balance with all of life's demands!
>70 MrsLee: I hope you're also able to find the right balance with all of life's demands!
