Fantasy Book Club discussion

Ladies and gentlemen, I hereby announce my honest intentions to complete the A-Z Challenge in the year 2018!

While it was hard to find books especially for letters I, O, Q and X, I believe I managed to include a good range of fantasy from my TBR with lots of sequels, and also a couple of books from other genres. So here we go!

A- The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
B- The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
C- Changeless by Gail Carriger
D- Redux by A.L. Davroe
E- Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson
F- The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
G- Death's Mistress by Terry Goodkind
H- Hero at the Fall by Alwyn Hamilton
I- Genghis: Birth of an Empire by Conn Iggulden
J- The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
K- The Alchemists of Loom by Elise Kova
L- Grey Sister by Mark Lawrence
M- Cinder by Marissa Meyer
N- Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
O- Star Of The Sea by Joseph O'Connor
P- Seven Surrenders by Ada Palmer
Q- Mistress of Rome by Kate Quinn
R- The Dark Prophecy by Rick Riordan
S- Vicious by Victoria Schwab
T- Days of Blood & Starlight by Laini Taylor
U- Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset
V- Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente
W- The Queen's Poisoner by Jeff Wheeler
X- The Dream of the Red Chamber by Cao Xueqin
Y- Lying on the Couch by Irvin Yalom
Z- A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny

Non-fantasy books that wormed their way into the list:

I - Genghis: Birth of an Empire which is an acclaimed historical fiction book. I have high expectations as the historical background is so rich and I've never read anything on the subject before.
O - Star of the Sea is a seafarer saga that I already have on my shelf. I think it's a book that's supposed to span generations which is always cool.
Q - Mistress of Rome sounds like a good historical fiction & romance read with a lot of heartbreak, betrayal and politics.
U - Kristin Lavransdatter a Nordic historical fiction set in the 14th century with a kickass woman protagonist. Need I say more?
X - The Dream of the Red Chamber is supposed to be one of the classics of Chinese literature. I'll probably be reading it in Russian translation as it's my native language. I hope I get the nuances.
Y - Lying on the Couch is written by Irvin Yalom. I absolutely love his novels and have huge respect for him as a psychologist.

All in all, seems like a pretty solid list so I'll get right on it!

I actually thought this was kind of a hard challenge.

Tnkw01 wrote: "I actually thought this was kind of a hard challenge."

I think I'm going to agree. But a lot of these books have already been on my radar so I was going to read them anyway. I hope that helps me in this quest...

Good luck with this. You have some great books on your list.

January Update:

I think it's safe to say that I've managed to cross 3 books off my list in January, unless a miracle helps me navigate 400+ pages of Gardens of the Moon in 4 days.

Death's Mistress by Terry Goodkind was a terrible disappointment but I wanted to put myself out of my misery and get it over with for the whole of 2016 so I get mad props for doing that. I found the book weak, the writing repetetive and the characters very dumb.

The Dark Prophecy by Rick Riordan fared much better. I absolutely love the main character Apollo so I'm totally fine with following him around anywhere. It wasn't the best book on Rick Riordan's list but it's probably because it was setting the stage for the next one, so I'm fine with that.

Days of Blood & Starlight by Laini Taylor delivered and was a fantastic read. I have now completed the trilogy and am happy to say that Laini is a fantastic writer and I'll definitely be keeping an eye on her other books. The trilogy did leave a lot of things open-ended but I don't think that this is an issue that will necessarily happen again in other series by her, so I'm okay with that too.

The books I'm hoping to cover in February:
The Cruel Prince, Gardens of the Moon and perhaps something else that fits my everchanging mood!

Good job on the other books. I don't care much for Goodkind either but some people love him. He's probably one of the more divisive authors for fans.

I liked Wizard's First Rule when it came out, but thought the series went downhill from there. I think I got through 4 or 5 of the books & couldn't take it any more. On a reread, even the first book didn't hold up so well. Zed is riding without anything under his robes (eeew!) & all the horses were good little cars with hooves.

Gardens of the Moon is so good. I haven’t read Goodkind.

Jim wrote: "I liked Wizard's First Rule when it came out, but thought the series went downhill from there. I think I got through 4 or 5 of the books & couldn't take it any more. On a reread, even ..."

That's quite all right, I've stuck with the series for a long while and still have very fond memories. However at this point I'm done with Goodkind's writing and perhaps won't be rereading the books anymore.

Helen wrote: "Gardens of the Moon is so good. I haven’t read Goodkind."

So far I find Gardens of the Moon really really dry. But I'm just moving at a 10 pages per session pace. It's a bit hard.

Helen wrote: "Gardens of the Moon is so good. I haven’t read Goodkind."

Neither my wife nor I could get into it, but a couple of my kids loved it.

Lesia, I've found that some books shouldn't be reread so happy memories stay that way. It's a tough call. I watched Disney on TV every Sunday night on one of the 3 channels available & times have changed a fair amount since then. Writing errors & cliches that I didn't notice or could live with in the past just drive me to distraction now. I've avoided rereading some books for just that reason & made the mistake of rereading others. It's the mark of a true classic when I like it as much now as way back when.

Oomph... I'm suffering from a really annoying reading slump which left me behind on this and my yearly reading challenge. I hope to get back into shape soon though. Meanwhile, I did cross some books off the list.

The latest was Mistress of Rome which fell flat for me. The characters were unlikeable, I didn't like Thea's narrative and the whole bloody Rome setting failed to excite my imagination. I didn't care for any of the fights in a gladiator book which isn't a very good indicator. I skim read parts of this one but at least I can move on to something better now.

Somehow it's a bit hard to find a book that will make me FEEL lately. I'm saving Vicious by V. Schwab for autumn when the sequel comes out so that I can enjoy both of them - I'm sure I'm going to love those.

Jim wrote: "Helen wrote: "Gardens of the Moon is so good. I haven’t read Goodkind."

Neither my wife nor I could get into it, but a couple of my kids loved it.

Lesia, I've found that some books shouldn't be r..."

Sadly I find it also to be true. But then once you find a book that you can return to... it's such a joy.

May I suggest reading A Night in the Lonesome October in October. You'll love it if you do.

Lesia wrote: "But then once you find a book that you can return to... it's such a joy. "

For me, the Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb are such books... I read the Liveship Traders and Tawny Man trilogies at least four times.

EDIT: I sometimes come back to those books when in a reading slump. Re-reading the words that made me fall in love with fantasy (and reading in general) in the first place.

Virginie wrote: "Lesia wrote: "But then once you find a book that you can return to... it's such a joy. "

For me, the Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb are such books... I read the Liveship Traders and Tawny M..."

I'm going to get to these trilogies soon, hopefully. They're quite a commitment though, I suppose ;) I love re-reading books. My favorite rereads include Uprooted and Master and Margarita, plus an annual Harry Potter visit :)

Tnkw01 wrote: "May I suggest reading A Night in the Lonesome October in October. You'll love it if you do."

Yeah, I'm keeping it for the Halloween season!

Definitely falling behind here but I did finish Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik which I absolutely loved. Let's hope I can push through Gardens of the Moon! Next to come is probably Hero at the Fall but then it's time to bring in the cavalry and take down a big and serious book.

Gardens of the Moon is one that may slow you down. It is a really "in depth" read. Good luck.

Tnkw01 wrote: "Gardens of the Moon is one that may slow you down. It is a really "in depth" read. Good luck."

To be honest, I'm dreading it, I pray I finish it by the end of the year. It does not go easy, that's for certain.

Had a fun time reading the Hero at the Fall. It was a good finale for the series and I even shed a tear at one point, which really surprised me - I didn't realise I was growing attached!

Finished Changeless and was really disappointed by the narration, the main character, the dialogue read like it was trying to be witty in every single line... And the ending really just lowered it from 3 stars to 2.

I've started on The Dream of the Red Chamber but I sense it will be quite a challenge to get through!

Lesia wrote: "Finished Changeless and was really disappointed by the narration, the main character, the dialogue read like it was trying to be witty in every single line... And the ending really j..."

I couldn't agree more. I stopped reading the series after this book. After a while I found it so annoying. Great job on the challenge though.

What did you think of Gardens?

Helen wrote: "What did you think of Gardens?"

Still didn't finish it. I swear, this book is intimidating the heck out of me :(

Yay! Completed Vicious and I really enjoyed it. It didn't make it to my favorites but I think the second book might be even better, so I'm looking forward to that very much! Victoria's writing is superb as usual but the plot was a bit weak for me. The character building was great.

Lesia wrote: "Yay! Completed Vicious and I really enjoyed it. It didn't make it to my favorites but I think the second book might be even better, so I'm looking forward to that very much! Victori..."

Great Job. I have that one on my TBR list.

Ok, so it's safe to say I didn't complete my challenge in 2018. I will carry it over to 2019 and see whether I can knock it out of the park.

I finished Elise Kova's The Alchemists of Loom and found the book absolute torture. I did not gel with the writing style, I was pulling sentences apart and snorting every time a character did something that didn't fit with their behavior... It's a pity but I'm also really glad it's over.

I wanted to read Roger Zelazny over the Halloween holidays and I picked it up and didn't like the narration so I didn't get very far... now debating how to go about it.

Gardens of the Moon will be my magnum opus, it seems. I can only get through 10 pages at a time, so that's a bit depressing.

All in all, I read 13 out of 26 announced books so I'm making progress.

Well, that's that. Welcome into 2019!

May I suggest instead of going through torture just do a DNF and replace it with another book. I learned a long time ago that if I don't care for a book at all, I won't finish it. I agree Gardens of the Moon is tough but it gets better the further you get it in.

It does. I guess it needs an extra long set up.

Vicious was brilliant. I’ve just read book 2 and I loved it but the others I read with hated it.

Tnkw01 wrote: "May I suggest instead of going through torture just do a DNF and replace it with another book. I learned a long time ago that if I don't care for a book at all, I won't finish it. I agree Gardens o..."

I would if it wasn't my boyfriend's favorite series. It's just so dense that I don't get the urge to go back to it and then when I finally resume it I have forgotten who everyone was. I'll power through somehow and we'll see how I feel by the end of the book.

Helen wrote: "It does. I guess it needs an extra long set up.

Vicious was brilliant. I’ve just read book 2 and I loved it but the others I read with hated it."

Like really really hated it? I wonder why. I thought it was a strong book, even though I don't love Victor nor Eli particularly. I thought the female leads stole the show in that one.