646 replies to this topic

[DuffMan]

Reading Fire and Blood to get ready for House of the Dragon. Going to finally read The World of Ice and Fire after that.

Never read Fire and Blood.  World of Ice and Fire was fun, the artwork is incredible!

[DuffMan]

Never read Fire and Blood.  World of Ice and Fire was fun, the artwork is incredible!

Something else to keep an eye on, George has made several little mentions to Winds in his blog over the last couple of months.  Not much in the way of details, but I do wonder if the occasional mention here and there is a sign that he may actually be getting close.  I've long since given up guessing if and when we see that book but I would be lying if I said I didn't want to read it.

[Dupin]

Finally making some progress on Dune.  I don't know why I didn't finish my first go round; it's really good.

[Dupin]

I have finally finished Dune.  I enjoyed it, it had a lot of interesting points, but I wasn't blown away by it and thought the ending landed a bit flat.  

 

With the new Amazon show, I have decided to do something I haven't done in 20 years and re-read Lord of the Rings.  They haven't even made it out of the Shire yet, and I'm in love with these books again.

[BobPhelan]

I’ve never read LOTR 😬, added them on hold from Libby.

[DuffMan]

I’ve never read LOTR , added them on hold from Libby.

I actually just started a reread myself.  The first time I finished fellowship was December of 2001 right before seeing the first movie.  Once I got home I dove right into Two Towers.  

 

I reread the Trilogy many teams during the early and mid 2000's (it was several years before I finally read the Hobbit) and even tackled The Silmarillion (tough read but a lot of cool stuff in there) and Unfinished Tales.  I know Tolkien's books aren't for everyone but I still think it's worthwhile to check out at least the Trilogy and The Hobbit

[DuffMan]

I have finally finished Dune.  I enjoyed it, it had a lot of interesting points, but I wasn't blown away by it and thought the ending landed a bit flat.  

 

With the new Amazon show, I have decided to do something I haven't done in 20 years and re-read Lord of the Rings.  They haven't even made it out of the Shire yet, and I'm in love with these books again.

It's probably been about 5-7 years at least since I reread them as well but yes it's as much fun as I remembered.   Sam, Frodo and Pippin just met Gildor and the Elves.    Can't wait to get to the Old Forest and Tom Bombadil.

 

It's funny the first few times I read the books I wasn't much of a fan of the Poems/Songs, but as I've gotten older I appreciate them much more.

[DuffMan]

https://www.reddit.c...web2x&context=3

 

Brandon posted an update to Stormlight 5 in a reddit post he made today.   There are potential spoilers in his post (you have to highlight them to reveal, I don't think they are that major) as well as one piece of concept art.  The concept art would probably be considered a slight spoiler (shows 2 characters together) but damn it's awesome looking and worth seeing.

 

In regards to Stormlight 5 it looks like that won't be coming until Fall of 2024.  I kind of had a feeling that was the case, and with so much other content on the way it's hard to be upset with a 4 year wait for a book especially while I'm still waiting 11+ for another book.  Brandon lists three reasons for the delay  one of which is he just wants to take extra time to get this book right.  I feel like this is going to be a major one and I rather wait a bit for an A+ book then get a B minus quicker.

[Dupin]

Fellowship done, on to Two Towers. 

 

They're still fantastic 20 years later, but I forgot how much changed between the books and the movies.  It's similar to The Expanse where the adaptation holds true to the core points, but a lot of how they get there are subtly different in meaningful ways.  I respect it in both cases; not everything would work well in the tv or movie format, and they also have different time constraints to work in to get the point of the story across with a plot that makes sense.

[BobPhelan]

Fellowship done, on to Two Towers. 

 

They're still fantastic 20 years later, but I forgot how much changed between the books and the movies.  It's similar to The Expanse where the adaptation holds true to the core points, but a lot of how they get there are subtly different in meaningful ways.  I respect it in both cases; not everything would work well in the tv or movie format, and they also have different time constraints to work in to get the point of the story across with a plot that makes sense.

 

Getting ready to start Fellowship for the first time!

[DuffMan]

Fellowship done, on to Two Towers. 

 

They're still fantastic 20 years later, but I forgot how much changed between the books and the movies.  It's similar to The Expanse where the adaptation holds true to the core points, but a lot of how they get there are subtly different in meaningful ways.  I respect it in both cases; not everything would work well in the tv or movie format, and they also have different time constraints to work in to get the point of the story across with a plot that makes sense.

 

Any favorite parts from the first book that you loved to read again, and any big ones you are looking forward to in the next two.  There's a part in ROTK that I never get tired of reading.

 

Nice, I'm only just now getting to Bree (busy with kid stuff right now).  I forgot how much I enjoyed the Old Forest and Tom Bombadil!  Looking forward to the Council of Elrond as well.  The world building that Tolkien does while telling this story is great.   I am still amazed that he came up with these ideas back in the 30's and 40's.  As far as adaptations go that's a good way of putting it, I think the movies are some of the best books that have been adapted to movie or tv.

[Dupin]

Any favorite parts from the first book that you loved to read again, and any big ones you are looking forward to in the next two.  There's a part in ROTK that I never get tired of reading.

 

Nice, I'm only just now getting to Bree (busy with kid stuff right now).  I forgot how much I enjoyed the Old Forest and Tom Bombadil!  Looking forward to the Council of Elrond as well.  The world building that Tolkien does while telling this story is great.   I am still amazed that he came up with these ideas back in the 30's and 40's.  As far as adaptations go that's a good way of putting it, I think the movies are some of the best books that have been adapted to movie or tv.

 

In the first book, the Council of Elrond was fantastic.  And Moria of course; I loved that Gandalf's dialogue was basically ripped straight from the books for that sequence.  Tolkein is almost Shakespearian in how verbose his dialogue is, so it's nice to see where they managed to keep that.

 

I paused tonight before Helm's Deep, so I'm looking forward to that in Two Towers.  In Return of the King, I vaguely remember the ghost dudes being explained better, but I'm most looking forward to Gandalf at Minas Tirith.  And of course the part when they go back to the Shire since that isn't in the movies.

[Dupin]

In addition to The Two Towers (~50% done), I finished book 11 of the Wheel of Time on audiobook.  Got to start The Ink Black heart, the release of which was a surprise to sure, but a welcome one.  I've thoroughly enjoyed the first 5 books in the Cormoran Strike series, and the narrator they get for the audiobooks is one of the best I've heard.

[BobPhelan]

Hoping I’ll have more time to read/listen once baseball is over. So many books, so little time.

[DuffMan]

In addition to The Two Towers (~50% done), I finished book 11 of the Wheel of Time on audiobook.  Got to start The Ink Black heart, the release of which was a surprise to sure, but a welcome one.  I've thoroughly enjoyed the first 5 books in the Cormoran Strike series, and the narrator they get for the audiobooks is one of the best I've heard.

WoT books 12, 13 and 14 are all fun.  There's even a 100 page chapter in book 14!

[Mackus]

Have either of you guys (or anyone else who's into fantasy but somehow hasn't chimed in on our Cosmere talk) read Black Prism?  I'm a little halfway through it and I think its quite good.  There was a huge twist like 1/4 way into it that I didn't see coming at all and got one of the bigger reactions to a book I think I've ever had.  

 

Just finished this series. I thought it was terrific.  Highly recommend, definitely my favorite thing I've read while searching for other things similar to Stormlight / Ice & Fire / Wheel of Time.

[DuffMan]

Just finished this series. I thought it was terrific.  Highly recommend, definitely my favorite thing I've read while searching for other things similar to Stormlight / Ice & Fire / Wheel of Time.

Did you ever read The 1st Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie?  Very gritty like ASOIAF with many great characters.

[Mackus]

Did you ever read The 1st Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie?  Very gritty like ASOIAF with many great characters.

 

No.  I've often had that reserved at the e-library but it has a very long waitlist.  So far I've always ended up getting into something else by the time it's my turn, releasing it, and then finding myself back at the beginning when I'm ready for something new. 

[DuffMan]

No.  I've often had that reserved at the e-library but it has a very long waitlist.  So far I've always ended up getting into something else by the time it's my turn, releasing it, and then finding myself back at the beginning when I'm ready for something new. 

It's definitely worth checking out.  Dark like Ice and Fire, a few good Sanderson style twists,  a grumpy wizard who reminds me a little of Gandalf but not as nice, and it's a completed series so there's no waiting for the next book! 

[DuffMan]

The Lost Metal , the 4th and final book in the Wax and Wayne series comes out next Wednesday.  Kids activities will be slowing down by that point for me so I should be able to jump right into this book and see how the series finishes up