Stuff you’ve finished, stuff you’re in the middle of–I wanna hear about it all!
I’m just done reading The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin, and The Fate of the Tearling immediately before. Starting with the latter, I liked the rest of the series, but disliked the direction it went in this last book; however, it did keep me invested right until the very last word (in the hope that things might take a different turn, admittedly). As for the former, I don’t think I have much of an opinion. It just didn’t deliver on what I was looking for.
What I’m looking for, incidentally, is quite a specific niche of fantasy stories centered on monarchies with a romantic-in-the-classical-sense portrayal. It’s a high I got off The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison, The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold, and the original Valdemar series by Mercedes Lackey, and I’ve been chasing it ever since.
I recently finished The Serpent by Claire North, first novella in the Gameshouse trilogy. I really like stories following competitors in weird, unrealistic games as they try to out-mindgame their opponents (and the game itself), so this was right up my alley. Overall, I found it satisfying, and the next one is definitely on my TBR shortlist.
- Caveats: unusual narrator style, fantasy elements are peripheral
- Try if you like: political maneuvering, historical fiction, shadowy organizations
Currently, I’m 3 chapters into Heavy Time by C.J. Cherryh. First time reading the author, but I’ve heard good things. Not sure about it so far, though–the first chapter was great and reminded me a bit of The Expanse, but chapters 2 and 3 were super repetitive. Does anyone know if it picks up?
I just finished Sanderson’s Secret Project 3 (I know some people consider the title a spoiler).
Let me start by saying when I was about 20 chapters in, a little under half way, I was considering giving up and moving on. The writing was good, loved the world building and the mystery, hated one of the main characters. They were grating, annoying, and treated the other character in what I thought was a completely unbelievable and obnoxious way.
Now that I’ve finished it, it might be one of the best cosmere novels. Certainly one of the best non-series novels. The ending was perfect, the characters grew on me and became amazing. Loved it.
I wasn’t considering DNFing by any means, I’m too big of a Cosmere fan to do that, but I have to admit, I also did not like the beginning. I was very bored by the exposition, and not compelled by the premise. But absolutely agreed with you that in the end, it was quite possibly my favorite Cosmere. Tress was holding that honor, and I think SP3 may have unseated Tress. My expectations for SP4 are unbelievably high now.
In the middle of The Thief Who Pulled On Trouble’s Braids by Michael McClung. It’s okay. Not really wowing me, but inoffensive enough. I think hearing it was a SPFBO winner built it up for me much more than it should have been.
I tried reading They Mostly Come Out at Night by Benedict Patrick and I just wasn’t feeling it, something in the tone of the MC put me off. Similar problem with the protagonists in both these books, actually. It feels like snark is used as a bandaid to cover for a lack of personality.
Reading a practical guide to evil, finished beware of chicken, only villains do that.
