Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

My sister uses my library account and took out The Sword of Shannara so figured I would do it too so we can discuss.

I loved Elfstones :), the first one though I felt there was far to much LOTR plagiarism

Yeah I know that it is a LotR clone going in. My sister hasn't read LotR so it will be interesting seeing how that influences our opinions. I'm in the mood for a typical fantasy quest so this just fits the bill right now.

Knocked off the last chunk of the Sandman series today.

I need to get back on that one... and Graphic Novels in general

Nice! That's a hefty number off your list. :)

Margret wrote: "I need to get back on that one... and Graphic Novels in general"

The series was great. I am just really getting into graphic novels this year. Need to find a new one to do.

Niki Hawkes wrote: "Nice! That's a hefty number off your list. :)"

Yeah makes my high priority look much more manageable now.

Hoopla has a ton, I'm sure you knew that already though.

It's Manga, but I've gotta give a shoutout to Deathnote. I've only read the first 4 volumes (can't remember how many issues that is). But it's great, very cat and mouse.

Been using Hoopla for around 3 months now. It's actually where I read all the Sandman series. I am out of borrows for the month so have until next month to decide what to do. They don't have Deathnote on there but think I may have seen the show(if there is one).

Finished the first Shannara novel and it wasn't as terrible as I thought it was going to be based on what I've heard from fellow fantasy fans. The first 60% was kind of rough but after that it was pretty enjoyable.

Got two books that will bring me to UTD in their respective series but haven't decided which to do yet. Kind of leaning towards another book entirely.

If I remember right, the second two of Shannara are a lot more entertaining. Good progress. :)

Btw, you're being beckoned over in the October book club thread. ;)

I heard the rest of the series is better. Have to wait on my sister to finish to see when she wants to do the rest.

Thanks for the heads up. Hate to see how much that would have escalated by morning.

Lol it was getting increasingly hostile.

Lol it was.

Moved 2 series up to my high priority list to keep it at 10.
1. Dominion of the Fallen by Aliette de Bodard. I have the 2nd book out from the library and that will bring me back to UTD on the series.
2. Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon. Have the final two books in audio so hoping to wrap them up soon.

Finished Temeraire. For a series that started out with a lot of promise think it went downhill after book 5.

Moved Drenai Saga up to high priority and started book 4.

Got to move a series back to up to date today. Book 2 of The Tarnished Crown series by Karen Miller was supposed to come out in April but I checked today and it now has a release date of January 2019 so looks like it will be hanging out on the old UTD pile for a while.

Finished the second Shannara and the fourth Drenai. Started the fifth Drenai and the second in The Legends of the First Empire. Not even moving Legends out of the UTD section.

Monthly Totals:
Books read towards challenge: 49(32 Sandman issues)
Finished series: 3 (Wheel of Time, Sandman, Temeraire)
Brought up to date: 2 (Yarnsworld, Alex Verus)
Series progressed: 5 (Discworld, Dragonriders of Pern, Deed of Paksenarrion, Shannara, Drenai)
New series started: 1 (Shannara)
Abandoned: 0
Total series completion: 196 for 436 = 45%

Really happy with what I got done. I expected to get a few more series to completed but of course changed my priorities mid-month. Won't have the sandman issues to pad my numbers next month so will have to find a new graphic novel series to start. I have 4 series with 1 book left and another 3 with 1 book left to bring UTD so expecting August to be very productive also.

Great progress Bill. I seem to have list of books with 1 book left to read as well, but seem to stall on reading the last book in a series. I guess if it gets to crunch time later in the year I'll have a few to chose from.

Angela wrote: "Great progress Bill. I seem to have list of books with 1 book left to read as well, but seem to stall on reading the last book in a series. I guess if it gets to crunch time later in the year I'll ..."

I'm completely the same. For some reason when I get to 1 left I hit a wall and can't knock them out.

We can form our own club with Tammie. I'm sure she mentioned the same thing. It's like I don't want the series to end and if I read the last book it's definitely over. It's either that or I slightly annoyed with now the previous book in the series may have played out.

Killer month.

Yeah, great month. The ones you finished were hefty series too. I'm saving a few series with one left for a desperate month haha.

Snuck one more book in to bring the Alex Verus series UTD and moved it to that section. Moved the Broken Earth series to my high priority.

I wish I'd known you were doing Drenai I would love to start that soon. How is it so far?

I had done the first a few years back and books 2 + 3 last year so just picking it up again. I don't think they are anything mind blowing but if you want a heroic story they are perfect. I really enjoy them. They all have the same format so far. The hero will assemble a team/army and then go on a quest/fight a battle. They are kind of simple and fairly quick reads but super enjoyable.

Like I said though the format is pretty repetitive so will probably take a break after book 5 then come back to do some more in a bit.

Started 2 new series with The Band by Nicholas Eames which I didn't realize was a series and The World of the Five Gods which I've been meaning to start for a long time.

Bill wrote: "Started 2 new series with The Band by Nicholas Eames which I didn't realize was a series and The World of the Five Gods which I've been meaning to start for a long time."

Well since you were so happy I started some new series last month it warms my heart to see you doing the same. :)

The Band was really good and even though it's a series you're instantly up to date.

Lol. Well like you said The Band will instantly go to UTD and hoping World of the Five Gods will be going to finished by end of next month. I need some quick series to keep my 5 for 1 challenge going.

I have 2 audiobooks out from hoopla and another 2 audiobooks out from the library but today I started listening to A Shadow in Summer instead of any of my loans.

Bill wrote: "I have 2 audiobooks out from hoopla and another 2 audiobooks out from the library but today I started listening to A Shadow in Summer instead of any of my loans."

I hope you like LPQ as much as I did. One of the few series to receive 5*'s across the board from me and totally worth the cheat.

It's off to a great start.

I'm kind of in a reading slump this month. Even though I'm really enjoying the books I'm reading I constantly just want to jump into something else. With that said I started another series. This time it is Monstress so a graphic novel to fill the hole that finishing Sandman left.

Going to start the Coldfire trilogy in audio next week and might jump into Black Magician trilogy after that. Got a few series on kindle I want to start too.

Not going to hit my 1 year challenge goals so figured why not completely derail and start a ton of stuff that I've been wanting to.

I have the first of Black magician in my audible queue as well if you wanna BR it

Definitely. I have a few books out from the library I need to get done first so anytime after mid-September is good for me.

I really liked Black Magicians! The book format, anyway. The audio version is really nasally.

Well that took the wind outta my sails

You might still like it. Maybe I'm just too judgmental. ;P

Well I will be doing the audio too so we can suffer together.

August Totals:
Books read towards challenge: 12
Finished series: 3 (Deed of Paksenarrion, Original Shannara, Vagrant)
Brought up to date: 1 (The Band)
Series progressed: 4 (Drenai, Discworld, Kate Daniels, Vagrant)
New series started: 4 (World of the Five Gods, Long Price Quartet, Monstress, Y: The Last Man)
Abandoned: 0
Total series completion: 201 for 440 = 45%

I feel like this was a slow month for me. I read some really good books but felt like I was constantly shuffling between books and never really got fully invested in one.

Think all 3 of my new series will be ones that I go through quickly.

Amazing job as always Bill!

10 books isn't shabby! Especially since I see some good ones on there, lol. I also felt like I enjoyed most of the books I read this month, but was trying to tackle too many, so nothing really stood out. I did like 6 buddy reads, which I think was the issue lol. I'm hoping next month I'll get more series immersion.

I think you are still doing fantastic Bill. I get that how sometimes you want to jump into something else to read. I read two books this month on a whim as I wanted a change and really liked both books.

Thanks Ladies. Good results just felt really disjointed. I also think I'm not into new releases anymore. I love Michael J. Sullivan's work but just couldn't get up the energy to read book 2 of his new series. Had the same thing with the last few new releases I tried.

Great job Bill especially for what you consider an off month for you.

Not an off month in results. Think I may need to mix in a few non-fantasy next month for some variety. Been reading 99% fantasy for the last 2ish years and think it is catching up to me.

Bill wrote: "Not an off month in results. Think I may need to mix in a few non-fantasy next month for some variety. Been reading 99% fantasy for the last 2ish years and think it is catching up to me."

I've been mixing in historical fiction and history to break it up. I also have a bunch of Sci-Fi upcoming and granted it's not that far off from Fantasy but Expanse being set in space is a setting I haven't read in awhile.

I like to mix up genres too. Too much of the same thing back to back gets old. I usually throw in some mystery in the middle of my fantasy reads, with the occasional historical romance.

I prefer mixing up my genres too. Usually like Tammie, with a mystery book.

I mix genres, but only in the specfic realm lol.