Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

This is a Buddy Read for The Hanged Man by K.D. Edwards starting on July 5, 2023.


Happy Reading!

If you like there are some free stories on the author's web site that can be read after this book:

Scenes from Quarantine
Scenes from the Holidays
The Great Atlantean Battle Royalchemy

Thank you Yanique!

And thanks for the line-up, Ann-Marie!
I found all those books on the author's website here:
(https://kd-edwards.com/extra-content/)

Question: is the Magnus Academy the second trilogy cycle after the Tarot Sequence (it's supposed to be 3 trilogies, right?), or is it a separate side-series in the same universe? Goodreads thinks there's a book 4 announced in the Tarot Sequence, so I was wondering if I had my understandings wrong.

Nirkatze wrote: "Thank you Yanique!

And thanks for the line-up, Ann-Marie!
I found all those books on the author's website here:
(https://kd-edwards.com/extra-content/)

Question: is the Magnus Academy the second ..."

The Magnus Acadamy series is a sister series to the Tarot Sequence. Edwards wanted to include the events in book 3 of the first trilogy but it would have been too long so he cut them but didn't want to abandon it so he started the supplemental series. So far he has released the first trilogy in the main story (Last Sun, Hanged Man & Hourglass Throne) and the first in the side series (Eidolon). The first in the second trilogy (Misfit Caravan) release is TBD but I believe we are looking at 2024.

Oh-kay! I think I was originally thinking the Magnus Academy was the second trilogy, but it's all going to be Tarot Sequence. That makes sense!

Just wondering if this is a retired buddy read?

What do you mean by retired? I'm still planning on being here, but I'm running late on everything... still on 7/1...

This is in the Archived/Retired folder, I was concerned because I am looking forward to the re-read so I can look for clues about something that was included in a later book lol

Yanique probably just went on a spree, retiring threads that hadn't been commented on in weeks, at the start of July, and confused this thread with a June Buddy Read....

Retiring is mostly about folder cleanliness, none of the "Archived" threads have been locked, that I've ever noticed... and I necro old 2018 posts occasionally ;)

I think we've mostly talked about being late to this BR in OTHER BR threads :D

Makes sense. I am okay delaying but I do want to re-read 😊 I got bumped for my library hood for Tress of the Emerald Sea so listening to that now.

I'll be reading soon... I'm putting a fair dent in my usual early month glut of books... my long weekend for July is coming up, and usually gives me a chance to get 100% caught up, and ride out the rest of the month's BRs...

I should be here next week--haven't decided if I'll do eye or ear, or maybe switch between. It's second in line for both though. ^^

I really enjoyed Tress--I hope you like, Ann-Marie!

Nirkatze wrote: "I really enjoyed Tress--I hope you like, Ann-Marie!"

I loved it! I knew it was a play on The Princess Bride going in and I had concerns but I thought it was done so well. The thing is I have been avoiding the Cosmere, there are so many long books but I thought I'd be safe with just this one.

I was wrong lol

So now do I start with Elantris which I read is one of the weaker books since it was his debut or go to The Final Empire or even the book large enough to be a deadly weapon The Way of Kings? I think I am going to try to do 2 a month so long as I am enjoying them.

Also I will be starting this Tuesday most likely, maybe tomorrow.

Ann-Marie wrote: "Nirkatze wrote: "I really enjoyed Tress--I hope you like, Ann-Marie!"

I loved it! I knew it was a play on The Princess Bride going in and I had concerns but I thought it was done so well. The thin..."

1) Mistborn Era 1
2) Elantris, Warbreaker, White Sands comic & early abandoned novelization ebook
3) Start Stormlight Archives

This lets you enter with the most potential to recognize world-hopping side characters peppered into the story...

4) Feel free to slide in Mistborn Era 2, when you need a break from Stormlight Archive, but don't read The Lost Metal (Era 2 #4, newest Mistborn book), until you've read Rhythm of War (Stormlight Archive #4, the newest Stormlight), if you want the full untarnished experience...

You can read Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection after The Bands of Mourning (Era 2, #3)... most of the stories are safe to read whenever... it's a collection of short stories set on a variety of new and familiar Cosmere planets... the important one to this is Secret History, which takes place during Mistborn Era 1, but contains spoilers through most of Mistborn Era 2...

Mistborn Era 1 and Elantris & Warbreaker & White Sands are the safest books to read in any order...

Stormlight Archives is one of the main events in the Cosmere's larger narrative, and is chock full of interfering characters from other worlds, that have a vested interest in the outcomes...

Later Mistborn trilogies are more and more connected to larger cosmere stuff (most hasn't been published yet... only the first 2 eras/trilogies)... Secret History, Last Metal, and Tress of the Emerald Sea are the stories with the most overt Cosmere overlap...

Tress of the Emerald Sea is the farthest future point we've seen in the timeline, I think, other than maybe Sixth of the Dusk... both are in the sci-fi era, which will eventually be the 4th Mistborn trilogy... The Endgame...

Sanderson still needs to write Mistborn Era 3, Elantris 2-3, Warbreaker 2, Stormlight 5-10, and Dragonsteel (1-3?) (the beginning of the timeline), before he can write Mistborn Era 3, and the conclusion of the Cosmere story... and a bunch of short stories and standalones along the way...

Timelord Iain wrote: "Ann-Marie wrote: "Nirkatze wrote: "I really enjoyed Tress--I hope you like, Ann-Marie!"

I loved it! I knew it was a play on The Princess Bride going in and I had concerns but I thought it was done..."

Thanks! I'll add a tab on the spreadsheet I keep with reading order of different series.

Ann-Marie wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "Ann-Marie wrote: "Nirkatze wrote: "I really enjoyed Tress--I hope you like, Ann-Marie!"

I loved it! I knew it was a play on The Princess Bride going in and I had concerns but..."

I found a thorough recommended reading order list, with all the book titles, online... Elantris and White Sand are the wildcards that could be included anywhere... Arcanum Unbound includes the novella between Words of Radiance & Oathbringer (Edgedancer)... everything else in it is safe to read then except Secret History, as mentioned before...


Mistborn (The Final Empire)
The Well Of Ascension
The Hero Of Ages
Warbreaker
The Way Of Kings
Words Of Radiance
Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection
Oathbringer
Dawnshard
Elantris
Rhythm Of War
The Alloy Of Law
Shadows Of Self
The Bands Of Mourning
The Lost Metal
White Sand
Tress Of The Emerald Sea


I like my recommendation a bit better, mostly because late-Cosmere largely starts to come down to publication order... you want to read:

Bands of Mourning > Secret History > Rhythm of War > Lost Metal, for REASONS... altho just writing that is a bit of a spoiler, once you see the character(s) involved... the reveals are buried in the story with aliases and stuff...

Timelord Iain wrote: "Ann-Marie wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "Ann-Marie wrote: "Nirkatze wrote: "I really enjoyed Tress--I hope you like, Ann-Marie!"

I loved it! I knew it was a play on The Princess Bride going in and ..."

Thanks for this! Also super glad that I started at the absolute end, go me!

Ann-Marie wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "Ann-Marie wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "Ann-Marie wrote: "Nirkatze wrote: "I really enjoyed Tress--I hope you like, Ann-Marie!"

I loved it! I knew it was a play on The Prince..."

Tress is an entertaining story on it's own, I think... but (view spoiler)[Hoid is a recurring character in all series... some more than others... he's the storyteller, and a side character in the story with missing memories...

The chef is a Kandra, a creature from the Mistborn series...

The color crystal magic system is introduced in Lost Metal, coming from another planet and a book that Sanderson never published from early in his career...

The ending obviously has all sorts of implications... and I've forgotten so much already... I made tons of Cosmere comments in the Tress thread... (hide spoiler)]

I mostly put that in a spoiler tag so I don't spoil Tress stuff for people that haven't read it yet...

Timelord Iain wrote: "Ann-Marie wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "Ann-Marie wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "Ann-Marie wrote: "Nirkatze wrote: "I really enjoyed Tress--I hope you like, Ann-Marie!"

I loved it! I knew it was a ..."

Nice! By the time I make my way through to the end I'll likely be ready for a Tress re-read/listen so I'll have a new appreciation for it!

Don't forget Emperor's Soul in that lineup!! Though you could just read that after Elantris.

I've been wanting to do an Elantris & Warbreaker reread at some point, Ann-Marie, if you wanted to Coordinate. White Sand too--I have all three comics but I have trouble reading comics...

I imagine there'll be a big BR for Stormlight when book 5 is announced...

Nirkatze wrote: "Don't forget Emperor's Soul in that lineup!! Though you could just read that after Elantris.

I've been wanting to do an Elantris & Warbreaker reread at some point, Ann-Marie, if you wanted to Coor..."

Emperor's Soul is in Arcanum Unbound... it's one of my favorites...

Nirkatze wrote: "I imagine there'll be a big BR for Stormlight when book 5 is announced...."

I was immediately concerned until I checked and the anticipated release is Fall 2024 so I have plenty of time to catch up. And of course I will let you know when I am on those books and I will be right there with you about the graphic novels, not me favorite book style.

In many ways, I think the Sanderson Secret Projects gave Sanderson some breathing room...

Stormlight books take awhile to write, edit, and release, and can lead to some pretty empty publishing years, especially if there are any delays... he tries/tried to release a Stormlight book every 3 years... and the process takes up most of 1-2 years of that, with a gap year to write other stuff like Mistborn books & his YA stuff that's outside the Cosmere... Legion, Reckoners, Cytoverse...

I binged the hell out of my Hanged Man re-read today...

More books/series need to just admit there's an Endgame section at the end, and call it that :D

Re-reading this one made me want to start a Hidden Legacy re-read, so I'm literally about to do that right now...

Timelord Iain wrote: "I binged the hell out of my Hanged Man re-read today...

More books/series need to just admit there's an Endgame section at the end, and call it that :D

Re-reading this one made me want to start a..."

I have like an hour left on the Silver Thief, starting this one tomorrow. Did you read the free stories on Edwards's web site? You can't sleep on those, there was some interesting info about a certain character in Sunken Mall, very hopeful it will be the same for the shorts after this one. And honestly the Scenes from Quarantine was absolutely awesome, I remember reading them as he released them on twitter and they were an all too brief respite from quarantine <3

Through The Green Docks (view spoiler)[The opening was such a great action sequence with the fighting and the water elemental and everything, well-done for sure. Then the Jirvan chapter, creeper creeper but then we get the Dawncreeks and while I love them all I want to wrap Corbie in bubble wrap next to Quinn and protect them with my life.

Rune was jealous on the Green Docks, I will not be taking questions or comments at this time! On to the battleship.... (hide spoiler)]

Ann-Marie wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "I binged the hell out of my Hanged Man re-read today...

More books/series need to just admit there's an Endgame section at the end, and call it that :D

Re-reading this one m..."

I still need to read the e-content...

But I just did a serious bingefest... re-read the whole first Hidden Legacy trilogy in the past 23hrs... 39hrs of audio at 3x speed...

Timelord Iain wrote: "Ann-Marie wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "I binged the hell out of my Hanged Man re-read today...

More books/series need to just admit there's an Endgame section at the end, and call it that :D

Re-..."

That is crazy, the quickest I listen to comfortably is 1.5 but 1.25-1.35 is my normal sweet spot, I can't imagine 3 times speed. I listened to my first (and last) CoHo book and I did 2.5 for the last 20% or so, it sounded like Mickey & Minnie Mouse were reading to me lol

@Iain (view spoiler)[What DID they do for cooking pre-Queenie? Does he remember the time before she joined them??? (hide spoiler)]

Ann-Marie wrote: "@Iain [spoilers removed]"

That's what I was wondering too... such a suspicious word choice...

Ann-Marie wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "Ann-Marie wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "I binged the hell out of my Hanged Man re-read today...

More books/series need to just admit there's an Endgame section at the end, an..."

I've listened to everything at 2x speed for many years now...

I've cranked some stuff up from 2-3x a number of times in the past 3-5 years...

2020 & this year are the only years I've listened to almost everything at 3x speed for prolonged periods of time...

I occasionally drop to 2.7x, 2.5x, 2.2x and 2x, depending on the book, but not often... it truly is an acquired skill... and only avoids mickey mouse gibberish on earbuds...

Timelord Iain wrote: "Ann-Marie wrote: "@Iain [spoilers removed]"

That's what I was wondering too... such a suspicious word choice..."

@Iain (view spoiler)[Her bag is like another dimension???? I swear, I hope when her true identity is finally revealed it lives up to the level of hype I am building in my brain lol (hide spoiler)]

Through Lord Sun (view spoiler)[Rune's plan was chef's kiss perfect, loved every second of the meeting with the Arcanum and when he claimed his father's throne? So good! The Hanged Man absolutely deserves to get destroyed for the shit he has been pulling.

The Dawncreeks, Corbie is such a pure soul, I absolutely love him. Anna is so powerful, breaking the curse on Rune, manifesting her aspect so young, so powerful but still so young.

Ciaren was a little iffy in book 1 but he started growing on me in The Sunken Mall and became part of the found family that surrounds Rune in this book. (hide spoiler)]

Very excited to get to the Endgame chapters <3

Ann-Marie wrote: "Through The Green Docks ..."

Hah! I totally agree! (view spoiler)[Anyone who denies that there is more than just family friendship between Rune & Brand need to reread these chapters... they just don't realize it yet.

I'm really enjoying this book more than #1--I think it might take me at least a book or two to get used to a new narrator and series. But I'm actually following everything and paying attention really well.

I like the new kids introduced--Rune seems to be gathering quite a little collection of kiddos around him... and the question about whether his candy would burn... awww kiddo. (hide spoiler)]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westerm...

Timelord Iain wrote: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westerm..."

........

No.....Just no......

I finished a bit ago, this is my favorite of the books so far. (view spoiler)[We get the Dawncreeks joining into Rune's found family. Anna becomes his HEIR even! And Corbie is just so freaking adorable, he has my heart <3

Rune taking his place in the Arcanum after he said earlier in the book it would be like 100 years or so before he did shows how much he would sacrifice for those he loves. His plan to defeat the Hanged Man, how it all played out and then him ending it rather than give the Hanged Man the opportunity to cause trouble later on was awesome, loved that! He took a page out of Brand's book, never leave your enemy so they can pop back up to attack again lol

And it had the perfect ending, Rune and Brand on the beach celebrating their spoils of battle with things that fit perfectly for them was just chefs kiss <3 (hide spoiler)]

Snarky banter and found family are my favorite tropes and these books have both in spades. I love this series so much!!!

Nirkatze wrote: "Ann-Marie wrote: "Through The Green Docks ..."

Hah! I totally agree! "

I am glad you are enjoying this one more than the first!

Ann-Marie wrote: "Through Lord Sun..."

Loved that scene! (view spoiler)[And I love how everyone is telling Rune he can't go up against the Hanged Man alone... and so he doesn't! Actually kind of reminds me of Ender's Shadow bad guy confrontation...

I really fell like that the focus of this book feels a lot tighter and flows really well--everything revolves around the Hanged Man. And I really like how Rune called him on all of his perversions in the session--and how even though supposedly the only rule of Atlantis is the rule of power, there were definite ripples of discomfort in reaction to the Hanged Man's evils. Maybe there's hope for them after all... (hide spoiler)]

also, re: Queenie--(view spoiler)[Apparently I need to be paying more attention to her? Y'all have some theories to share?

I find it interesting how she always seems to talk with a question...

And apparently Rune can at least make spaghetti... (hide spoiler)]

I think my problem with the first was just that I had a hard time paying attention to the audio and felt a bit lost. I'm finding that's not uncommon when I do a new narrator and new story... but I've been doing better on the second ones!

Ann-Marie wrote: "I finished a bit ago, this is my favorite of the books so far...."

Finished this morning! Also really enjoyed the ending. (view spoiler)[THEY HAVE AN ARTHRITIC DINOSAUR! How is that not awesome? I bet the vet checkups are insane.

I love Ana becoming the heir, and that the three teens are getting shipped off to boarding school. Makes me more excited to read the Magnus academy book(s). I'm a little worried that little Corbie's going to feel alone without Ana to look after him... but he'll have some extra uncles around to help... will the whole family move in to the Sun estate as they work on fixing it up?

The formal adoption of Max brought a tear to my eye too. I really like how affectionate they all are in general--or maybe the author--there's a lot of descriptions of hugs and top-of-head-kisses. Those kids all need healthy family love.

And even Addam acknowledged that Brand had a place in Rune's heart that he wasn't recognizing yet! The whole "I know I'm not your true love but I'll take what I can get and not be jealous" speech? Take that, Westermark!

Rune killing the Hanged Man kind of reminded me of Miller taking out the scientist dude in Leviathan Wakes. I find the revelation about "the most compelling man" of his generation very interesting--paired with what ... was it Lady Death? was saying about how people can go around with great power... and the way that Rune is collecting his found family... he has the potential to shape the direction Atlantis goes, as one of compassion, and maybe move it away from the rule of power to a rule of protection... (hide spoiler)]

I just started going back and looking at the shorts. The Separation was really cute, and I thought really nicely executed short story. It gave a good insight into their lives pre-destruction, established a very easily hatable bad guy very quickly and then brought him down in 4 pages.

Almost done with the Sunken Mall, and I am wishing I read it before book 2--it has some good preambles to the second book. (view spoiler)[Diving into the (non)effects of Quinn's medicine, fleshing out Ciaran, building up the relationship between Quinn and Max a bit more, and starting to hit the tension Max feels about being part of the family, and its origin in the Hanged Man contract... and how they are so going to need to deal with that.

I also thought the Under Atlantis court, and the evolving elementals, was really cool. I hope they show up again... (hide spoiler)]

Ann-Marie wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westerm..."

........

No.....Just no......"

Not a fan of the theory?... I seem to bring it up alot... posted it last night, just after laying down to bed, since I didn't want to get up and use a keyboard...

It's stated in the book that they've been together since the crib/cradle...

Also, I think any relationship is complicated by the revelation in book 3 that (view spoiler)[Brand was mind-controlled to participate in Rune's rape, and Rune has known all along, or at least for a long time... and it's one of Brand's biggest hangups linked to NEEDING to keep Rune safe, as much as possible... (hide spoiler)]

Also, Edwards has said online that rune is Demisexual, altho the first book played it fast and loose with that to setup a romantic plotline for the series... demisexuals need a strong emotional bond to feel sexual attraction, and some have little to no interest in sexual activity, according to the internet...

Rune is all about strong emotional bonds :D

Nirkatze wrote: "Ann-Marie wrote: "Through Lord Sun..."

Loved that scene! And I love how everyone is telling Rune he can't go up against the Hanged Man alone... and so he doesn't! Actually kind of reminds me of En..."

It's understandable... sometimes, I have alot of trouble retaining audio details as well, but I persevere, or rewind alot... there seems to be a specific type of story/narration that just goes in one ear and out the other...

Timelord Iain wrote: "Ann-Marie wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westerm..."

........

No.....Just no......"

Not a fan of the theory?... I seem to bring it up alot... posted it last ..."

@Iain (view spoiler)[There are several references to Rune's complete & total opposition to Brand being mind-controlled in any way, even if it was a simple as Ciaran making him dance in book 1. And he nearly killed them all when he used Exodus at the end of book 1 to eliminate the possibility of Brand finding out what he did. I am not looking forward to when he finds out the truth, that will be heart-wrenching. (hide spoiler)]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Ann-Marie wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westerm..."

........

No.....Just no......"

Not a fan of the theory?... I seem to bring it up alot... posted it last ..."

If you want to read (or listen to) a great book with a demi MC then check out How to Be a Movie Star but to fully appreciate it you should check out How to Be a Normal Person first. Gus, one of the MCs in the first book, is hands down my all time favorite Klune character and the fact that the books have different narrators didn't even bother me <3

Nirkatze wrote: "Ann-Marie wrote: "I finished a bit ago, this is my favorite of the books so far...."

Finished this morning!"

The free shorts online are essential I think, fun & quick reads but they add to the main stories quite a bit.

Nirkatze wrote: "Ann-Marie wrote: "Through Lord Sun..."

Loved that scene! And I love how everyone is telling Rune he can't go up against the Hanged Man alone... and so he doesn't! Actually kind of reminds me of En..."

You cheated reading the spoiler tags that Iain and I have been posting for each other! lol many questions remain, even after reading everything released to date.....

Ann-Marie wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "Ann-Marie wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westerm..."

........

No.....Just no......"

Not a fan of the theory?... I seem to bring it up a..."

I'll add it to my TBR

Nirkatze wrote: "Ann-Marie wrote: "Through Lord Sun..."

Loved that scene! And I love how everyone is telling Rune he can't go up against the Hanged Man alone... and so he doesn't! Actually kind of reminds me of En..."

re:Queenie: (view spoiler)[honestly, I never even hinted at paying attention to Queenie outside of re-reader spoilers with Ann-Marie, because there's not really any overt red flags until Eidolon to look for...

Me & Ann-Marie are mostly just paying extra close attention on this read-through, and grasping at anything and everything...

There was more in the first book than this one, honestly, on that front, I think...

I also might have overlooked things with the character, because I've read the Her Royal Spyness series, and there's an annoying, bumbling maidservant named Queenie in that series, that I'm a bit hypercritical of... (hide spoiler)]

Scenes from Quarantine

(view spoiler)[So I read these as Edwards posted them on Twitter as quarantine progressed and I was so glad to hear that he was compiling them to add to his free content. Literally LOL'd so many times and again I feel this is essential to knowing what is going on when book 3 starts and they are all living together. This is my favorite of the free contact but my favorite scene from these stories is in the next one.... (hide spoiler)]

Scenes from the Holidays

(view spoiler)[The Tower with Corbie's chocolate hand prints on his shirt! My heart <3 Diana makes another appearance, the group bonds some more, Rune gets to free the Roc, so many good things happen! And Corbie's birthday part for Flynn, so much AWWWWWW (hide spoiler)]

The Great Atlantean Battle Royalchemy

(view spoiler)[To me this was the closest to what could have been included in one of the main books. We get to know Layne more and Cieran as well. He is becoming more and more part of Rune's family which is not necessarily part of his actual court. Enjoyed this very much. (hide spoiler)]