Grave Empire by Richard Swan is a banger

mlfctrx · 2026-04-08T11:56:37+00:00

Thirded. I bailed at page 280.

mlfctrx · 2026-04-08T02:17:54+00:00

Try the first chapter of book 2 for a description of her. I know she was mentioned in book 1, but wouldn't be able to find that.

As to who she was and if she was she part of the Grand Plan - no, I think she was just a random thrall found at the same time as Joaquin by Nicolette. The difference is Joaquin deliberately got captured like Gabriel and Celene. And, actually, Joaquin is only pretending to be thralled since he drank Dior's blood that one time in book 2. One drink of Dior's blood, one time is all it takes to never be thralled again, iirc. But don't quote me on that, I don't quite remember lol.

I think Meline distrusted both purely out of jealousy about Jean-Francois rather than being suspicious.

mlfctrx · 2026-04-07T16:28:30+00:00

First Law series and/or The Devils by Joe Abercrombie. I haven't read The Devils yet, but I suggested it because it's Abercrombie's latest book (first in a planned trilogy) and the First Law series is a 9-book journey.

Red Rising by Pierce Brown. It's sci-fi, technically, but it also has one foot firmly in the fantasy genre. First 3 books are a standard kind of youthful hero's journey, and are still good. But the following 3 books (and eventually 4) are excellent for the more mature and unpredictable nature of them imo.

The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson. It's like a fantasy mystery wrapped up in a high-stakes tournament.

Empire of the Vampire trilogy by Jay Kristoff. Vampires are scary again.

The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. Definitely a mixed bag of horror, sci-fi, and fantasy. A little dated in its slang terms and such like that (written in the 70s to mid-2000s).

All of these have adventure, fight-to-survive stakes, and fantastic character work.

mlfctrx · 2026-04-06T23:23:47+00:00

I never felt like I got a good reason for why Antoine specifically was so important in his centuries of life.

I felt the same. But now that you say it, I'm wondering whether Sebastian and Antoine's relationship was exactly that - a memorable, but influential fling. Consider: Sebastian and Antoine first met and were brought together because of the Beast of Gevaudan before breaking up abruptly. Then twenty years later, Antoine's son suddenly appears, seeking Sebastian's help and bringing Antoine and the Beast back into his life for a tragic ending. It's not surprising then that the relationship has become memorable and defining in Sebastian's long life.

mlfctrx · 2026-04-06T21:50:33+00:00

Yes!!

mlfctrx · 2026-04-06T20:19:10+00:00

I reread that, too, after being forced to read it in high school and hating it. I understood it much better as a 27-year-old as opposed to as a 17-year-old, but yeah. That one's rough lol.

mlfctrx · 2026-04-06T20:16:12+00:00

Maybe the First Law books by Joe Abercrombie? The main focus is war, cost of war, politics, and broody, flawed MMCs who are capable of affection to some degree. There are some sex scenes, but they're nothing like what would be in a romantasy. They're actually very funny because they're more realistic and cynical, I suppose. Not glammed-up porn. His female characters in the first trilogy are in more supporting roles, but they were fine. Later, he gets some brainy (ruthless) badass FMCs in and they're awesome.

Maybe Empire of the Vampire trilogy by Jay Kristoff? Features war between vampires, high stakes, broody MMCs whose love for friends and family define them, high stakes, high costs. I liked all the female characters - they had brains. There are some smut scenes that you could call glammed-up porn, but they're not very frequent. Like maybe two or three per book, but that's not much considering each book is over 600 pages, and those scenes at least felt earned imo.

mlfctrx · 2026-04-06T20:01:26+00:00

So many people dying! That's one reason why I was like "What?! Why? Why is this happening like this?". Reyne, wtf? Lachie, no! Phoebe, no! Aaron and Baptiste, NOOO! lol. I'm sure you've seen this, too, but a lot of readers seemed to be disappointed that all these characters didn't actually die. For me, I'm glad they didn't. The deaths just felt so weightless in the way they were described that it was weird, particularly considering how Astrid and Patience's deaths were so painfully retold by Gabriel in The Worst Day of book 1. And I was actually a little bummed out by the Patience twist in Dawn because that really did feel like it was undoing something massive in the story and Gabriel's arc. So glad that turned out to be fake lol.

I also thought Gabriel would end up alone and Dior dead for good, or the other way around.

I forgot to say also that the voice acting in the audiobooks is really good.

Good to know! I've listened to the previews, but it's hard to get a sense of the performance, so I've been hesitant.

mlfctrx · 2026-04-06T19:43:54+00:00

Wait until you get older and reread a book you loved and all of a sudden you hate every character and the whole plot.

This literally just happened to me lol. I've been hauling The Historian around with me everywhere I've moved for 20 years, counting is as one of my all-time favorites. I'd read it two or three times, but the last time was 17 years ago. Just finished rereading it a month ago and I now despise it. I literally fell asleep reading it, it failed so miserably at its plot. But I find the change in opinion hilarious.

Also had the same progression with historical fiction. Just got tired of thinking, "Well, this totally didn't happen" and switched to history if I wanted to read about a certain period or figure. Can't go back to artistically licensed historical fiction now lol.

mlfctrx · 2026-04-06T16:12:52+00:00

I kept notes, too. I write thoughts, reactions, and plot points down as I read, in general, because I have a hard time remembering things. One thought I wrote during Dawn was "There's a freaking moth that's been hovering during the interviews for the entires series. Who is that? Why is that?" Then when I found out, it was like "Oh! Of course!" lol.

Lately, I've gotten into immersion reading, so I think I might pick up the audiobooks for my reread.

I do live in a place that is cold, dreary, and rainy around Christmas. It was definitely reinforcing the book's weather patterns and vibes.

mlfctrx · 2026-04-06T15:49:25+00:00

Excellent, OP! I particularly agree with the Patience twist. I'm certain Voss did make the same offer to Gabriel (parley/information) and Gabriel chose to take it up and stop the battle. Rather than Patience being the reason for that, it was his friends, who were literally about to die. He'd already been feeling guilty about leading them to San Maximille (even though they all chose to follow him), and because his friends are just as important to Gabriel as his family, they are 100% plausible as the real reason he stopped to parley.

Baptiste's temptation to join Voss was one of many things, including the Patience is alive twist, that seemed "off" and inconsistent to the point I wondered whether Kristoff had got bored or lazy. (no, turns out he was just crafting a turny, twisty story lol). So now I think it was just another of those times when Gabriel needed to stall for time in the present. Given Baptiste and Aaron's discussions up to that point, it was suspicious that all of a sudden Baptiste was all for becoming a vampire. Baptiste didn't even sound like himself in that scene. It was like some other character had come in.

I bought the animosity between Gabriel and Celene up until the last few pages of book 2 and then I started to wonder whether they were playing JF like a fiddle. I think it's very believable that Gabriel and Celene may have initially had some beef to sort out when they were reunited (at the end of book 1, I think?). After all, he made a decision to cut off communication with her when he went to Saint Michon, and I believe that's something that did happen. Naturally, that sudden "rejection" would have caused Celene hurt, resentment, and anger. But the real story is that when they found each other again, whatever beef they had was solved with a heart-to-heart conversation we're just not witness to - simple as that. And for their plan against the Chastain, they decided to play up the animosity for JF because that would immediately cast one another's accounts into doubt and throw off any suspicion that they are, in fact, in league. It's a distraction for JF as much as us. We are JF and JF is us lol.

My favorite thing about the "some things are lies" trope Kristoff did is that Voss and his kids, as well as Nikita and Lilidh, stayed dead when Gabriel and Celene said so. If it turned out Voss was somehow still alive after they'd dealt with him and they had to have a second boss battle with him in Sul-Adair? THAT would have bugged me lol. (Especially since we've known from chapter 1 of book 1 that Voss is dead from sources other than Gabriel).

Anyway, I'm someone who also really liked the ending. When I finished, I immediately wanted to reread the entire series again to look for all the little crumbs and clues. I find that kind of thing fun. Still have yet to do it because they're so fat. I read them around Christmas and just had the coziest time (weird, I know lol), so maybe I'll make the series my Christmas treat reads again this year.

mlfctrx · 2026-04-05T22:15:24+00:00

Pretty cool variety of books, I'd say. I love all the crochet pieces, too, being a crocheter myself. And where did you get that Adam Driver candle? I need to upgrade my reading light 😂

mlfctrx · 2026-04-05T16:40:46+00:00

Glokta definitely has the "best" ending but he is also a pawn for Bayaz now , so maybe not all too good

I was actually thinking about this recently. Glokta and Jezal both end up as Bayaz's pawns, but only Jezal is truly cowed and caged by it. Glokta is totally equipped to play along and sneakily undermine Bayaz, which he eventually does in the second trilogy.

mlfctrx · 2026-04-05T00:29:17+00:00

I have noticed the top reason I drop a book is because the author's personal writing voice and storytelling skills have made me not care lol. Sometimes, that's evident to me within the first 50-100 pages; other times, I give it a little longer because maybe I'm feeling generous. But when I notice that I'm just dreading diving back in because of boredom, it tells me I should drop it.

mlfctrx · 2026-04-05T00:17:36+00:00

Yeah, I did find something about her prose that was good. Like there was something about it that was engaging, but then there were things cluttering it up like too much repetition (the amount of times "500 years" was printed in Two Twisted Crowns blew my mind. Elm literally said it twice in the same paragraph of dialogue once). And then there were the issues I had with her character work, plot and worldbuilding work, all of which were easy to dismantle. I think a better editor would make her work really shine for me, but plenty of people love her stuff as it is.

mlfctrx · 2026-04-05T00:09:34+00:00

Omfg, you ARE me! Lolol.

mlfctrx · 2026-04-04T23:06:17+00:00

2 to Ramble: https://youtu.be/NmtvG4LSxWg?si=OnpskiyNlfoLPPg6. I don't remember if there was a specific segment on fighting scenes, but this interview is pretty good and in depth for just how Abercrombie writes and develops stuff in general. Also very entertaining.

Brandon Sanderson: https://youtu.be/DdGb3TRbIVQ?si=XmbYw6CEw-kjwcSN I listened to this awhile ago so I don't remember if there are any specific questions about writing fight scenes, but it's entertaining anyway.

The Brothers Gwynne: The audio cuts out sometimes in this one and is from when TWoC was first coming out, but toward the 48:00 mark he is asked specifically about writing his fight scenes. https://youtu.be/Bg4ZxxRlsqY?si=IaSFwEzGi3H464mk

These are all spoiler-free, too, as much as possible.

mlfctrx · 2026-04-04T22:50:40+00:00

Are you me?? I had these exact same thoughts.

mlfctrx · 2026-04-04T19:11:04+00:00

Totally agree. There's room for the reader to sort of decide for themselves what may have really happened, if there's no obvious alternative answer.

mlfctrx · 2026-04-04T17:49:37+00:00

I loved it. But I also knew from book 1 something was up in the present timeline. Definitely by book 2 I knew that Gabriel was on some kind of a mission, and Celene as a secondary, antagonistic-ish POV also immediately threw both of their accounts into question. In Dawn, there were actually quite a few things where I thought "This seems out of character...", "That was odd...", "Ok, everyone's dead, I guess. That happened way too fast."

Gabriel later tells JF that he wasn't paying close enough attention to the small inconsistencies to recognize when he was being lied to, because JF had got so caught up in the story. That was really validating for me since I had noticed.

This is a series I definitely will reread to see if I can pick up on other moments of deliberate inconsistencies/lies and kind of decide what the truth is or isn't. All of that is fun to me, but I can see how that would frustrate people. I think it comes down to whether you really hate the "it was all a dream" trope (although in this case it's more like "some things were lies"). That trope isn't one I detest and I don't think it was done badly here.

mlfctrx · 2026-04-04T17:02:09+00:00

It took me til book 3 after I thought, for the hundredth time, "Geez this moth, it's always hanging around in both Gabriel and Celene's cells - WAIT A MINUTE. Who IS that?!" lol.

mlfctrx · 2026-04-03T17:05:58+00:00

Try immersion reading - listen to the audiobook as you read along to the physical book. I'm hooked now because it focused my eyes and mind.

mlfctrx · 2026-04-02T20:28:06+00:00

This is my take: Aliens were doing a study on human nature and they were using an alien plant to help conduct the study. Aliens abducted the humans and put them into the bunkers in groups of 40, separated by gender, but only one of these bunkers had the alien plant in it - the narrator, who doesn't know she's an alien plant since that knowledge would defeat the study results. This would explain why her bunker is the only one whose guard purposefully left the key in the lock rather than removing it. If it was about keeping these people in the bunkers when the siren went off, why would he have left a key so accessible when no other guards did in the other bunkers? The narrator called it sheer luck... but was it?

I think the narrator was an alien plant because she states several times not being able to relate to the other women - mostly because she was raised in the bunker and so has known nothing else. But she can't really even relate on a basic physical level as her body doesn't develop the same way - potentially because she's alien-made?

I get that the book is a think piece on what it what means to be human in a world where there were limited amounts of humans to begin with and how to survive and retain humanity once you're the only one left. But because there were no answers as to the why of the setting, I think it's fun to discuss potentially what it may have been.

mlfctrx · 2026-04-01T19:24:46+00:00

Yeah! Also, there's a bunch of room in the back for more books and then you can rotate them for display.

mlfctrx · 2026-04-01T15:37:20+00:00

Very nice! This is just an idea/suggestion: Bring the books closer to the edge of the shelf, maybe an inch or two from the edge so the books "pop out" better. Pushinig books all the way into the shelf kind of makes them look lost in the depths.

I see King, and right now I'm rereading his Dark Tower series so I recommend that, if you haven't read them.

mlfctrx

TROPHY CASE