Fantasy Book Club discussion

26/26 completed

Stats:
-132 books read this year until I called this challenge done
A: 9, B: 11, C: 5, D: 13, E: 1, F: 3, G: 5, H 8 (but three of them were Bunnicula novels), I: 1, J: 9 (Wheel of time), K: 3, L: 6, M: 8, N: 2, O: 3, P: 5, Q: 1, R: 11, S: 11, T: 3, U: 1, V: 2, W: 6, X:1 (shutter), Y: 2, Z: 1
-how many times I wanted to gouge my eyes out: hmm at least twice (X and multiple attempts at V)


A-The Dragon's Path by Daniel Abraham
B-Morning Star by Pierce Brown
C-Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper
D- Curse of the Bane by Joseph Delaney
E-Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson
F-Magician: Apprenticeby Raymond E. Feist
G-Fall of Kings by David Gemmell
H-Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand
I-The Quiet Game by Greg Iles
J-Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan
K-The Last Light of the Sun by Guy Gavriel Kay
L- The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
M- Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan
N-The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness
O- 1984 by George Orwell
P-Mort by Terry Pratchett
Q-The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick
R-Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch
S-The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson
T-An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
U- First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers by Loung Ung
V- ****DNF***The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
W-The Black Prism by Brent Weeks
X- The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X
Y-***DNF***The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey
Rebel Heart by Moira Young
Z-The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Curse of the Bane (D)- second in a YA series about "the spook" and his apprentice Tom, I really liked it for being fast paced, very entertaining and much more mature than the first book of the series

You're doing well!

Over Sea, Under Stone (C)- Definitely a young adult book in the classic evil adults vs children style, very enjoyable and well narrated as an audiobook

Is that book one of the Dark is Rising set? How many stars did you give it?

Gave it 4 I think but keeping in mind it's a children's/young adult book. I'd have different expectations if it were an adult fiction

I might have to read the whole series next year.

The Book Thief (Z)- wow. What an amazing book. 5 stars, and I must say the audio narrator was outstanding. I think I felt a connection with all the characters in the book it was so well written. I've read more than a few WWII fiction books and this is one of the best.

The 5th Wave (Y)- DNF. Maybe I shouldn't have been trying to get through this at the same time as Red Rising and Golden Son... But I found this quite boring, and the "romance" incredibly contrived and juvenile even for a YA book.

Should you count it if you haven't read it?

I'll probably add another Y later on but I felt it should be known that I got fed up with it.. I at least made it 2/3 way through!

I'm very VERY happy with Mort so far. I actually burst out laughing when Death said "I COULD MURDER A CURRY"

The Dragon's Path (A)- 4 stars. Slow start with all the background info but halfway through quite enthralling. I can see this series getting even better as the story develops

Books added

Margret wrote: "The Dragon's Path (A)- 4 stars. Slow start with all the background info but halfway through quite enthralling. I can see this series getting even better as the story develops"

And it does. Can't wait for the last book.

Mort (P)- probably my favorite discworld book so far. Death is hilarious, and I just adore Terry Pratchett's sarcastic humor

Fall of Kings (G)- 5 stars. David Gemmell. He is just incredible at depicting war/ warriors. Characters are well written with their conflicts and he even writes romance in a tolerable way ;)

The Silver Linings Playbook (Q)- 3 stars. Light, generally enjoyable. I haven't seen the movie but the book made me smile several times. Modern fiction is just not my usual genre.

Rebel Heart (Y part 2)- second book in a YA dystopian series called Dust Lands which has a fun Mad Max kind of theme... this was definitely not as good and entertaining as the first book. There was the emergence of a rather annoying love triangle, and the worst kind I find is when one love interest is 100% bad, the other 100% good. Generous 3 stars

An Ember in the Ashes (T)- YA but I think it would be enjoyable for all ages. I loved the political intrigue and difficult choices the characters had to make. The audiobook narrators were AWESOME. 4 stars for the book content + 1 star for the audio actors

Unbroken (H) - my first nonfiction in quite some time, and a bit tough to get into at first due to the nonfiction writing style, but really took off after the first few chapters. Many people have read this one, it's about the story of Louis Zamperini, who was a US airman in WWII and survived a lengthy amount of time stranded on a life raft in the middle of the ocean, then Japanese POW camps. 4 stars and a very interesting and informative story

I've had quite the stressful parenting day, so I'm rewarding myself by making more progress on the Lies of Locke Lamora tonight

Morning Star (B)- 5 stars. Stayed up way too late last night finishing this one.. What can I say other than this series is the best. A completely wild ride from start to finish and I loved all the characters, even the antagonists.

Snow Like Ashes (R)- 3 stars, good enough story and writing but definitely falls into the YA category and I didn't find anything groundbreaking in the book. I'll try out the next book and see if I like that one too

The Autobiography of Malcolm X (X)- This was a tough read. First half was very good, learning about his early life up until he went to prison. It was well written, but as it's an autobiography it's difficult not to be affected by the persons opinions. There was a lot of anti-Christian comments, and his regard towards women as an inferior species (um hello, you're treating women the same way you're saying the "Negro" is being treated) was hard to swallow. I've never liked hearing another persons beliefs being cut down, but maybe it's just my tiny unformed female brain.

3 stars

The Lies of Locke Lamora (L)- 5 stars. What can I say, this book was so awesome. It was funny, smoothly written and unique as well. I'm so excited to read the next book!

The Quiet Game (I)- 3.5 stars. Crime/Legal dramas aren't my usual cup of tea, but this one was well written and interesting. As with many crime novels this is set in the south and involves racial tensions. I would have preferred an MC that was a tad more complex though

Wow! I'm stunned, well done. And some amazing choices too.

Margret wrote: "The Lies of Locke Lamora (L)- 5 stars. What can I say, this book was so awesome. It was funny, smoothly written and unique as well. I'm so excited to read the next book!"

I loved The Lies of Locke Lamora. One of my favourite series! The second book is not as good as the first in my opinion, but it picks back up in the third.

Thank you! I listen to a lot of audiobooks while driving, housework etc so that's why I have so many read. Plus I'm trying to get this challenge done before I have my second child in June

the Bands of Mourning (S)- 5 Stars! I just love this series. The wit from Wayne, and Sherlock style western lawman Wax are the hit of the series for me. Even the background characters shine in this book, Steris is so charming in her own funny way, and how can you not love the Kandra MeLaan? I know that this review will only make sense to followers of the series, but oh well!

First They Killed My Father..... (U)- 4 stars. Quite the gut wrenching story about life in Cambodia under the tyranny of the Khmer Rouge. Captures the child's point of view of starvation and backbreaking work camps, and doesn't sugar coat it either.

Gardens of the Moon (E)- 5 stars. Difficult read so I recommend using the tor.com read along for the first half of the book, totally hooked now!

Knife of Dreams (J) 4.5 stars. There was so much excitement in this book it reminds me of the first 4 or so of the WoT series. Finally through the difficult books and back into the action again and it feels so good!

Yay! Found out Promise of Blood is an audiobook on Hoopla! So I just started that today. After I run out of library audiobooks for this list I will resume chipping away at it after I've completed the final 3 Wheel of Time books

Margret wrote: "Yay! Found out Promise of Blood is an audiobook on Hoopla! So I just started that today. After I run out of library audiobooks for this list I will resume chipping away at it after I've completed t..."

I loved the Powder Mage series so I'll be waiting to see what you think!

Jenna wrote: "Margret wrote: "Yay! Found out Promise of Blood is an audiobook on Hoopla! So I just started that today. After I run out of library audiobooks for this list I will resume chipping away at it after ..."

Me too.

Me three.

Promise of Blood (M)- somewhere between 3-3.5 stars. I just felt like this book didn't hold my attention as much as it could have. Not really sure what issues I even had with it, but I can tell the series has potential so I will definitely be continuing with it.

Margret wrote: "Promise of Blood (M)- somewhere between 3-3.5 stars. I just felt like this book didn't hold my attention as much as it could have. Not really sure what issues I even had with it, but I can tell the..."

It has its slow spots, but I loved the book and the series - it does get better so I'm glad you're going to keep going!

1984 (O)- 4 stars. Very good dystopian fiction. Kinda scared the sh*t out of me and one of the most disturbing torture scenes I've read for sure

The Ask and the Answer (N)- 4 stars. 2nd book in the Chaos Walking series, this took an even darker turn than the first book. Things are just bad on the planet Todd lives on. Because everyone can hear the thought stream of every being except for human women (the women can hear "noise" too) the distrust of women really takes a toll on society. There is torture in this book, so if you can't read it, don't. Very good though

4 to go! Will probably start my K or my V next

Margret wrote: "The Ask and the Answer (N)- 4 stars. 2nd book in the Chaos Walking series, this took an even darker turn than the first book. Things are just bad on the planet Todd lives on. Because everyone can h..."

The plots of these books are alright, but the slang makes them pretty hard to get through. I've been putting off reading the last book for a while..

You're almost done!!

I agree with that! I have a hard time with some of the language in series like this. The maze runner I couldn't handle it, stopped after reading the first. I think these books would have been even more successful if the slang and language in general were cleaner or more coherent.

Margret wrote: "I agree with that! I have a hard time with some of the language in series like this. The maze runner I couldn't handle it, stopped after reading the first. I think these books would have been even ..."

I was the same with Maze runner - I suffered through the first one and gave up. Chaos Walking is better, but the slang is enough to turn me off of the books. If he wanted to add slang, it would have been better if it was less frequently used with less used words rather that "your/yer."

Attempted V- was a DNF due to the fact the writing style just wasn't for me, will try again

Margret wrote: "Attempted V- was a DNF due to the fact the writing style just wasn't for me, will try again"

What was the book?

Edit: never mind. Sadly I had one of her books as my V so now I have to question if I want to change it before starting.

You might like her style, she had a lot of positive reviews for the book I read. I just found it hard to focus on the storyline because it felt like she was trying to cram too much whimsical magic-y type stuff into the book too fast.

The Last Light of the Sun (K) - 3.5 stars. Took about 300 pages to hit its stride. Last 200 pages were fabulous. Blends Celtic, Viking, Christian mythology/characters in a well thought out, and as always well researched way. It just doesn't hold a candle to the Fionavar Tapestry when it comes to intrigue, scale, and that signature prose of his. Still a worthy read by far