Where are you in Fantasyland? October, 2019

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Where are you in Fantasyland? October, 2019

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1seitherin
Out 1, 2019, 4:59 pm

2Niko
Out 2, 2019, 8:50 am

Going sci-fi right now for the "Cyberpunk" square of fantasy bingo, spending some time with Trouble and Her Friends.

3vwinsloe
Out 2, 2019, 9:34 am

>2 Niko:. I read that not too long ago myself, after finding out that the location of the story is near where I live. It was a bit dated, but obviously must have been cutting edge when it was written.

4Narilka
Out 2, 2019, 7:13 pm

The war between the Kez and Adro is heating up in The Crimson Campaign. Things aren't looking too good for our heroes.

5Carnophile
Out 2, 2019, 8:34 pm

With Kaz Brekker and the gang in Crooked Kingdom. If anything it's better than Six of Crows.

6seitherin
Editado: Out 5, 2019, 10:08 am

Finished The Black Company by Glen Cook. Enjoyed it.

Next up is Acheron by Sherrilyn Kenyon.

7Sakerfalcon
Out 7, 2019, 7:21 am

I'm in Califa with Flora Segunda.

8seitherin
Editado: Out 7, 2019, 1:29 pm

Tossed Acheron by Sherrilyn Kenyon aside. Pretentious swill.

Added A Shadow in Summer by Daniel Abraham to my rotation instead.

9Zambaco
Out 8, 2019, 12:43 pm

I'm in Oxford with Lyra and Pantalaimon, but trouble is brewing.....

10Roksy93
Editado: Out 11, 2019, 6:54 am

I struggled through Acheron shortly after it's release because a friend begged me to read it with her. You're not missing much by putting it aside, seitherin.

I've dived into Andarra in The Shadow of What Was Lost by James Islington.

11Roksy93
Editado: Out 11, 2019, 6:55 am

Esta mensagem foi removida pelo seu autor.

12Jarandel
Out 11, 2019, 11:29 am

After some cyberpunk, some steampunk. I'll be aboard the Ketty Jay in Retribution Falls.

13Niko
Out 14, 2019, 12:26 pm

Picked up Children of Blood and Bone. I'm a big proponent of YA, but I think I'm hitting a point where I need to take a break from it. All of the recent ones I've read are starting to feel kinda same-y.

14seitherin
Out 15, 2019, 9:12 am

Finished A Shadow in Summer by Daniel Abraham. Took a bit to get into but enjoyed it when in did.

15Cecrow
Out 15, 2019, 11:58 am

>14 seitherin:, I've been circling that series for a long time without diving in, and your review seems to echo the majority.

16seitherin
Editado: Out 15, 2019, 4:13 pm

>15 Cecrow: I received it as a Tor.com freebie. Every month I get a book I probably wouldn't have bought on my own. Some have been winners. Some not so much. A Shadow in Summer was one of the freebies. I liked Abraham's The Dragon and Coin series much better. And I loved (mostly) The Expanse books he co-wrote.

Edited: Actually, I'm not sure if A Shadow in Summer was a Tor.com freebie or part of a curated bundle I bought a while back.

17seitherin
Out 16, 2019, 12:37 am

18Narilka
Out 16, 2019, 5:55 pm

I am visiting Arrakis in Dune. Probably more science/fantasy than pure fantasy but close enough :)

19seitherin
Out 18, 2019, 4:17 pm

Added The Tiger's Daughter by K. Arsenault Rivera to my reading rotation.

20Narilka
Out 18, 2019, 9:09 pm

And for my audio pick. Second Hand Curses. This promises to be fun.

21drmamm
Out 19, 2019, 7:57 pm

Finished Memories of Ice, which was very good - best of the three Malazan books I have read so far. The only issue (which will probably continue to be an issue) is that there are so many sub-plots strung together that the climax at the ending becomes very confusing. "Why is she doing that? What is the wolf doing this? Why didn't so-an-so do this? Which god is which?" Luckily, the author creates some great characters that you really invest in (and sometimes mourn their loss).

Just downloaded House of Chains which is Malazan Book Four.

22Jarandel
Out 22, 2019, 10:24 am

I was in the Low Town of some unnamed city, as a disgraced former detective tries to unravel the disappearance of several children on his turf.

It was good, though it fell short of exceptional.

23Cecrow
Out 22, 2019, 11:30 am

>22 Jarandel:, the city is named Rigus. Says so right in the book description, lol.

24Narilka
Out 22, 2019, 8:24 pm

I am somewhere in the UK with The Boy on the Bridge.

25curioussquared
Out 23, 2019, 12:26 pm

I'm in the Summerhall library in Sorcery of Thorns.

26Niko
Out 24, 2019, 3:03 pm

Spending some time on a giant ship with The Ruling Sea.

27Sakerfalcon
Out 28, 2019, 9:26 am

I'm in Seattle investigating The voodoo killings.

28Narilka
Out 28, 2019, 7:53 pm

I'm... in some fantasy-land near the Woods with Uprooted.

29Niko
Out 29, 2019, 9:40 am

I am *so* excited, y'all.

A couple years ago, I enjoyed an obscure little gem called The Sword of Winter very much, and I was very bummed that the book was published way back in 1983, and the author didn't really have any other published fantasy.

Yesterday, I discovered that she's back! After 30+ years, The Sword of Winter has been reworked into a new title - Mapping Winter - with new character names and with her having freedom to rejigger some plot issues that were imposed on her by the original publishers, AND a second book in the series is out as well. So, right now, I'm in process of enjoying the reworked story in Mapping Winter, and am SO excited to have a new book to look forward to (and hopefully more). :)

30Cecrow
Editado: Out 29, 2019, 11:22 am

>29 Niko:, I heard about that, review at Tor.com made it sound interesting.
I’d never heard of Marta Randall before an acquaintance mentioned the republication (with substantial edits) of a fantasy novel of hers from the early 1980s. It seems Randall’s career as a novelist came to an end thanks to a combination of market forces and sucky editorial experiences, and from Mapping Winter—that substantially rewritten republication—I can only say that’s a damn shame.

Her sensibilities here remind me rather of K.J. Parker: there’s the same careful construction of a social world; the absence of magic; the concern with a society whose structures and traditions are in the process of being altered by technological change and the attendant disruption to social structures; and characters who may not be likeable but are, within the constraints of their world, understandable and relatable. It is pleasing to be able to trace, in part, the evolution of “low” fantasy to another of the women of the 1980s who quietly went about revolutionising the genre in the face of anti-feminist backlash… even though every ten or twenty years, like clockwork, those of us who were too young to witness them the first time around have to appeal to our elders to help us with the work of rediscovery in the face of a persistent, repetitive erasure of memory.

Mapping Winter is an atmospheric, strongly characterised story about paradoxes of honour and loyalty, social change, murder, and making shitty decisions (or the best decisions one knows how to make) in pretty terrible circumstances. It’s definitely worth checking out—and it has a sequel, The River South, which also looks good.

31rshart3
Out 29, 2019, 2:02 pm

>29 Niko:
I'm glad to hear this, too -- thanks! I liked her books a lot (I own four of them) and was always disappointed she seemed to have stopped writing. Good news about the new ones.

32Jenson_AKA_DL
Editado: Out 29, 2019, 3:03 pm

I'm re-reading Traitor's Moon by Lynn Flewelling. It has been years since I read this book the first time. I'm enjoying it.

33Sakerfalcon
Out 30, 2019, 8:24 am

>29 Niko:, >30 Cecrow: Thanks for the heads-up. This sounds right up my alley.

34Niko
Out 30, 2019, 9:56 am

>29 Niko: That review is a great representation of the book! (Based on the original, and I'm so far enjoying the rework just as much.) I really like it for how it packs a lot of content into what is, at core, a fairly "small" scale. It's not a big EPIC sort of story, but dealing more with the fate of a single region with a single handover of power, but there's such a cool specificity to some of the worldbuilding with the low-magic, onset of technological innovations, etc.

Plus, it's always a pleasant change of pace to have a heroine who is an adult woman who's allowed to be kinda cranky and annoyed by people in general. It's amazing how refreshing that continues to be after reading a string of plucky teenagers in my other most recent reads.

>31 rshart3: I hadn't pursued her other work before because I don't usually read much "serious" sci-fi. I should probably rethink that. Do you think they're accessible for a not-usually-sci-fi-reader sort of reader?

35rshart3
Out 30, 2019, 6:04 pm

>34Niko
Well, I read them years ago, so details are unclear. Sword of Winter is the only one that's basically fantasy-themed -- the others are definitely SF, but there's certainly action, and vividly drawn characters. The only element I'd call "serious" is that she does involve issues: the effects of human/alien interactions, power structures, ethics. There's often a feminist slant, though it fits in (not preaching-in-your-face). And in terms of accessibility, I don't remember them being complex or difficult in a way that would require lots of familiarity with SF modes -- but I might be a poor judge of that, since it's been a while, and I *do* read some fairly complex SF. Try one like Islands and see what you think.

36Unreachableshelf
Out 31, 2019, 12:32 pm

I'm in London in Lies Sleeping.

37seitherin
Out 31, 2019, 10:30 pm

Finished A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie. Liked it.

38seitherin
Nov 1, 2019, 12:02 am

Finished The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction January/February 2019 edited by C. C. Finlay. Liked it overall.

39Sakerfalcon
Nov 1, 2019, 8:06 am

I'm in a far-future America with The record keeper.

40seitherin
Editado: Nov 1, 2019, 7:38 pm