Finished Dragons of the Hourglass Mage (Goodreads page) last night and the "Dragonlance: Lost Chronicles" trilogy with it. As with the previous novel in the series, I enjoyed it quite a bit, making the trilogy a winner for me, despite the middling start. I will definitely continue exploring more Dragonlance trilogies that passed me by the first time around (or came out after I moved on to other things).
Now it's on to The Broken Room (Goodreads page) by Peter Clines. Clines has written two of my favourite sci-fi thrillers in recent years, 14 and The Fold, but I wasn't too fond of his two "Threshold" follow-ups and his standalone Paradox Bound didn't engage at all.
So, I've been unsure about this one, but I'm about 20 pages in and it seems we're already in the thick of it, so it has a very promising start, at least 🙂
@FuriousMachine they do fancy editions of sci-fi/fantasy books. I mainly signed up to get on the list when I heard they were doing Malazan. Which is happening later in the year.
They make beautiful hardcover editions with interior art, sprayed edges and all that Jazz!
@MightyDemon82 Oh no, that's even worse! I'm a sucker for that kind of thing and I can't really afford or have the space for them, two things my collector-without-impulse-control brain ignores on a regular basis... here's hoping they don't ship internationally...
Just finished The Broken Room (Goodreads page) and it was back to form for Peter Clines! While none of his novels are anywhere near bad, 14 and The Fold set the bar so high that the three novels I read from him after never managed to clear it.
This one, however, did, and boy did it ever. It sunk its claws into me from the start and clung on for the duration of the ride. It is very rare that I finish a 400-page novel in three days, but this one simply wouldn't let me go.
It's not officially a Threshold novel, but, I mean... of course it is
Fantastic novel!
Up next is a Harry Bosch double-header.
First up is Angle of Investigation (Goodreads page), three short stories about Michael Connolly's LA detective, followed by a proper full-length novel with The Drop (Goodreads page)
@MightyDemon82 Yeah, it's been a good couple of weeks for reading, but as a result I'm falling behind on my Witchering Will be taking on some contracts and hunt down some monsters this weekend, I think.
I hope and think you'll like "The Broken Room", and if you do, you'll probably like "14" and "The Fold" as well.
I started Vathek and Other Stories by William Beckford, apparently the richest man who lived in the 19th century, it is exceptionally well-written Gothic fiction so far, really enjoying it.
Finished The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski this week and have already ordered Sword of Destiny, quite possibly the most I’ve enjoyed a book in years. The characters, world building and writing were all superb and left me thirsting for more. The next book won’t arrive until sometime next week so I’ve picked up The Body by Stephen King. I was inspired to return to King by the Booksaresick dude, I’ve previously read Misery, Bachman books and the Stand (barely remember it though)
I’ve cautiously created a profile on goodreads to try and keep track and inspire myself, I’ve heard good things about it.
@AgentCooper
Nice. I do enjoy Stephen King and recently read The Cell.
As for The Body I have his Different Seasons book which I highly recommend, it has four stories including The Body, Apt Pupil, Shawshank Redemption and The Breathing Method (the only story of the four to have not been made into a film as far as I know).
@CaptD oh excellent appreciate the recommendation, I’ve somehow managed to avoid watching stand by me and only vaguely remember Shawshank so that’s quite refreshing. I struggle for consistency in reading for whatever reason but I’m making a concerted effort.
We’re playing The Plucky Squire this month, join us!
@AgentCooper Goodreads ruined my life! Before, whenever someone would recommend a book, I would promptly forget it. Now I track them on Goodreads, where there is a community that also recommends books, and add to that the lovely people on here that will unscrupulously talk about interesting books, I now have a reading list of over 800 books! My life is in tatters!
All joking aside, though, I find Goodreads to be indispensable when picking my next book to read and I enjoy rating and writing a few words on what I liked or disliked (which I echo on here as well).
The community is friendly and following readers with similar tastes as yourself may lead to discovering some gems that you might not have stumbled over on your own (as will following this thread right here) - for better or for worse
As you may or may not have seen here, I've recently finished the Witcher series of novels and I mostly enjoyed them. They are a little bit uneven, but never dip below "good", IMO. I actually preferred the books that collected short stories about Geralt's adventures over the large overarching narrative in the main books (I got easily confused by all the players in the geopolitical conflict). The novels remain my favourite source for Witchery goodness, with the Witcher 3 game coming a very close second (I'm playing it now and it feels like a sequel to the books in all the best ways).
Also, in a funny coincidence, I'm also returning to Stephen King for my next read
Finished my "Harry Bosch double-header" last night. Angle of Investigation (Goodreads page) was a collection of three (very) short stories, all of which were fine, but nothing special. Garnered three stars in my Goodreads review.
The full length novel The Drop (Goodreads page) was better, though. A meaty story with two parallel cases, both of which were interesting and one which may have some long-term ramifications for Harry and his relationships in the department. This one got four stars.
Next, I will return to the master himself, Stephen King, after having had a year-and-a-half hiatus since I finished my "Dark Tower" project of reading all his Dark Tower books as well as any "Dark Tower adjacent" novels (which ended up being around 20 novels in total).
Now I will dive into If It Bleeds (Goodreads page), a collection of four novellas, one of which features one of my favourite King-characters, Holly Gibney.
The plan is to return to liberally sprinkling King and Koontz novels onto my reading schedule going forward
I'm also going to return to reading a short-story between every novel as a palate cleanser; a practice that had fallen by the wayside as I've been struggling with Alone With the Horrors (Goodreads page) by Ramsey Campbell. I'm about half-way through and I haven't really loved any of the stories so far, but will give it a few more tries before cutting it loose.
@FuriousMachine Well that has me worried 😂 though I have found I enjoy the cataloging process side of things. I’m not particularly predisposed to being social or articulating my thoughts on things I like, I’ve always struggled with that, but I would really like to kick myself up the arse with the reading though. I might have a nosey at your profile if you don’t mind?
I’m looking forward to continuing the series, the short stories was the perfect format to reinvigorate my interest.
We’re playing The Plucky Squire this month, join us!
@AgentCooper Know what you mean; I'm not particularly active in the community over there myself, but I find that most of the people I've met over there are very nice and welcoming and love nothing more than discussing books (shocking, right? )
I don't mind at all if you want to look at my profile; you can find my list of read books here
It's not too long ago I switched from writing my notes in Norwegian to English, though, but the star ratings speak for themselves. I started writing them mostly so that I could remind myself why I gave a book the rating I did and switched to English after one of my friends on there sent me a message wanting to know what I wrote about a particular book he liked.
I finished The Hero of Ages. Great story over the trilogy and a perfect ending. I would be happy to leave it there, but I know there are more books set in that world. I also hear great things about The Stormlight Archive, so they are on the list.
I've started Prophet Song and have The Fourth Sacrifice lined up for after!
@MightyDemon82 Must say, the premise of Prophet Song sounds very compelling! I will probably get to it around 2049 or so, but it's on the list. Looking forward to hear what you think
(both the Mistborn and Stormlight Archive series has been on my list for a while, so I might actually get to them during the 2030s )
Finished The Body by Stephen King last night. A really charming book and not at all what I expected from King. I loved the characters and the pace and detail of long friendships and long summers on the cusp of coming to an end, felt very familiar and comforting.
And just in time, Sword of Destiny arrived this morning (easily the worst book jacket i've seen in some time) so hopefully make a start on that tonight.
@FuriousMachine The fact you can switch in the first place is incredible, your english is impeccable. I really need to put more time and effort in to learning a second language. I make a start and always run out of steam.
@AgentCooper Thanks, my second language skill is one that I am proud of and mindful of trying to maintain and improve, but it is worth mentioning that I, like most Norwegians (and, probably, other Scandinavians) my age, were lucky to be exposed to so much British and American culture growing up that we learned a lot at an early age almost through osmosis So, sure, takes a little work maintaining, but reading books, playing games, watching movies and interacting on forums like this isn't really work
I have been trying to learn Spanish for maybe the last 20 years or so and I can absolutely identify with "starting and running out of steam" (though I did reach the point last year where I managed to fully complete an ice-cream purchasing transaction in Spain using nothing but Spanish. I was so proud! )
Haven't read The Body, but it wasn't too long ago that I saw Stand By Me again. Great movie and it manages to capture two of King's absolutely greatest strengths in my opinion: Characters and the magic of youth. I have only read one book that rivals King in this area and that was Boy's Life by Robert R. McCammon, but King is absolutely the undisputed master there.
Hope you'll enjoy Sword of Destiny! I enjoyed it a lot
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