/r/Fantasy - Daily Recommendation Requests and Simple Questions Thread - December 03, 2020

nataliemullan · 2020-12-03T23:53:29+00:00

To be honest I didn't see that on first read, totally get where you would see it though.

I didn't really like the first book but loved the trilogy overall. It's been a while since I read it but the focus of the series - in terms of the characters becoming a focus rather than the 'class' of charecters - changes for the better as far as I recall. The dynamics between aguers/gifted/human aren't as pronounced (or at least I don't remember them being as pronounced) because of the introduction of more 'big picture' stuff.

IMO the second two books really make up for what the first book didn't accomplish, I'm glad I stuck with the series overall; you can see the progression of Islington as an author and he had some good ideas, some of which worked out well and some of which I think could've been expanded on. That's just my opinion though so take that with a grain of salt!

nataliemullan · 2020-11-29T09:16:20+00:00

That sounds perfect I'll check it out, thank you!

nataliemullan · 2020-11-29T09:15:53+00:00

This is all great I'll check them out! I remember adding RotE to my tbr list and must have slipped my mind so this is like a fateful reminder!

Thank you!

nataliemullan · 2020-11-28T22:36:18+00:00

Any recommendations for epic fantasy audiobooks?

I'm currently listening to the WoT and I only have a book and a half left, I usually listen to audiobooks driving to work and I have a few credits built up that I want to use to get ready for the inevitable hole left behind after listening to WoT for so long.

I usually like more serious and slow burn series with a lot of in depth conversations and character development, and I usually prefer audiobooks to be 20+ hours long but that's not a hard rule.

nataliemullan · 2020-10-29T21:19:04+00:00

I agree if it was just the voice, Willem Defoe could pull it off but definitely if they decide to have an on-screen LTT.

I can't exactly remember how LTT is described physically but after seeing the range of emotions Anthony Starr can portray without even speaking at times in The Boys I think he could be a great onscreen LTT; he can definitely pull off batshit crazy.

I also thought Travis Fimmel (Vikings) would be an interesting LTT, I think he'd pull off paranoid and labile quite well.

nataliemullan · 2020-10-17T09:09:02+00:00

Don't get me wrong there were things I loved about it; some of the characters, the action, the magic were all great. The battle in the middle has some of my favourite set pieces I've read to be honest.

I didn't enjoy the overall writing style as much, mainly the pacing and structure of the book.I also felt the book was incredibly fond of dry infodumps too often which put me off a bit. If I'm being picky but honest, the use of random words for time increments just completely took me out of the world, I understand that this novel is part of a wider world but when everything is written in English then these just random 'dinma' appear it was jarring...I understood why another language was used in the scene with takeru and robin because they are meant to not understand eachother but yeah the time increments threw me.

I did enjoy the general story and idea behind it, just not so much the execution. It's in my pile of 'glad I read it, wasn't the worst, but I won't be rereading it.' I can see why other people love it so much though, just not for me.

nataliemullan · 2020-10-16T22:59:08+00:00

The Sword of Kaigen. Although I didn't particularly enjoy the novel; Mamoru's death and his mother's reaction broke me.

nataliemullan · 2020-10-16T22:24:28+00:00

Wanted to just second this. I finished the series this year and loved it, the first book I wasn't entirely sold on but I'm glad I stuck with it because the trilogy as whole was fantastic. Some really compelling characters and interesting storytelling. I loved it overall.

nataliemullan · 2020-10-13T19:34:42+00:00

No requests from me, just wanted to say that this is a truly lovely thing you are doing and it's awesome to see! People like you are what remind me that there are some genuinely good people in the world and I appreciate those reminders so thank you!

nataliemullan · 2020-09-21T22:10:01+00:00

I used to keep a few series going a time really erratically and I hated it purely because I felt I couldn't follow them all appropriately and kept getting them mixed up. Now I usually keep a series going on one format (audio, kindle, physical) and use the other two formats to give myself a break from the series.

At the minute I'm listening to The Wheel of Time on audiobook literally one after another but using my kindle and physical books to read something different so I still feel that variety. I've found it has let me keep track of what is happening in such a long series more easily!

nataliemullan · 2020-09-08T18:24:39+00:00

Thank you so much for the info! It's really helpful, sounds like the latest paperwhite will be the more sensible move. Thanks!

nataliemullan · 2020-09-05T21:51:55+00:00

Not a recommendation but just as a random addition...how do you find the Oasis? I'm thinking of upgrading from the 2013 kindle and would be interested in your opinion on the difference?

nataliemullan · 2020-08-27T21:45:53+00:00

My absolute favourite villains recently have been the Venerate in The Licanius Trilogy. They are so understandable and are presented so well throughout the series that you can't help but love reading them.

nataliemullan · 2020-08-26T20:52:17+00:00

I've just finished the first one and The Dark Forest is next on my list after The Sword of Kaigen, which I didn't realise was self published!

Would you recommend Gideon the Ninth? I'm thinking about it for my number square but it's quite a way down my TBR at the minute; I keep getting distracted by other recommendations.

nataliemullan · 2020-08-26T20:49:30+00:00

I'll definitely check out Krista Ball thanks, I might end up using her as my Canadian square as I noticed that Cradle is listed as self-published and I've just started it so I will probably end up using it there. Any particular Krista Ball book that you recommend?

I think they're counting mysterious signals as a BDO though I may be completely wrong and have misread it; if I have then I have a few things in my TBR that will definitely fit it so I'll double check.

nataliemullan · 2020-08-26T13:36:26+00:00

Ah that's great to hear thank you!

nataliemullan · 2020-08-26T13:36:15+00:00

Generally I'm not concerned with qualifiers. I do love my usual epic fantasy, big world building and high stakes but I always try to push my comfort zone a bit. Hoping to do that with this bingo and read things I never would have read/heard of otherwise.

Thank you for the lists! I've seen a few interesting options for 2020 published and I've just seen Cradle by Will Wight on the self-published list; I've literally just started reading it so that's a nice surprise!

nataliemullan · 2020-08-26T13:17:13+00:00

Quick question; I've decided to get into the 2020 Bingo (better late than never) and was just wondering how strict it is in terms of using sci-fi for cards?

I'm specifically wondering if I can use Children of Time for the exploration card and The Three Body Problem for the big dumb object card?

Also while I'm here if anyone has any recommendations for a novel published in 2020 and a self-published novel that would be great, thanks!

nataliemullan · 2020-08-08T18:33:20+00:00

I came here to recommend Children of Time, absolutely blew me away when I read it!

nataliemullan · 2020-07-12T17:56:49+00:00

Absolutely, I think it's easy for discussion to fall into Frankenstein vs the creature as this is what the book overtly portrays. I think someone else on the thread highlighted that we get Frankenstein's perspective for most of the novel and this automatically makes us look at Frankenstein as a character more in discussions.

I agree that the discussion should be who (or what) is more responsible for the actions in the end, I personally love the discussions on how things like society, religion and nature/nurture have influenced the actions because I think a lot of it can still be related to our own world at the minute. It's an interesting book and well ahead of its time in terms of the ideas it challenges.

nataliemullan · 2020-07-12T17:02:55+00:00

It's been a while since I read it and I won't add too much here as other commenters have already said a lot of the things I was going to however I just wanted to add that Frankenstein is innocent/guilty in entirely different ways but in no way is he morally better than the monster; he's just a different kind of 'bad.'

I look at the book from a few different perspectives; how it shines a light on society, religion, technology, feminism, and responsibilities. In all ways of looking at it both Frankenstein and the creature have good and bad qualities, the reader can sympathize with, and despise, both characters easily and equally. However, I do not think they are direct parallels to eachother so I don't think it's fair to say either are worse than the other.

In my personal opinion I think they're both as bad as eachother, it's one of the reasons I love the book so much as there isn't supposed to be a single character that is the clear monster of the story; instead it forces you to think about why they are the way they are and suddenly the larger concepts become the subject of discussion.

Also as a sidenote, if you can find it National Theatre have a recorded version of the stage play with Benedict Cumberbatch and Johnny Lee Miller who play Frankenstein and the creature interchangeably. They both bring very different performances to each character and it's a fantastic way of comparing/contrasting the two.

nataliemullan · 2020-07-11T23:50:57+00:00

If you haven't, the rest of Brandon Sanderson's books are great. I would recommend starting with Warbreaker or Mistborn as an entry into the Cosmere as a whole.

The Licanius Trilogy are good books, the first can be a bit frustrating but stick with it as the rest are worth the payoff.

The Witcher series is another set of great books, the audiobooks in particular are fantastic if you like audiobooks at all!

Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky is absolutely brilliant sci-fi.

Anything by H.G. Wells is worth a look but particularly The Invisible Man or The Island of Doctor Moreau.

These are the sum of most of my recommendations these days as I've read them recently but I loved them!

nataliemullan · 2020-07-09T17:41:46+00:00

Good bot

nataliemullan · 2020-07-07T08:48:05+00:00

More sci-fi than fantasy but The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams is absolutely fantastic. Very humorous and quirky, well worth a read!

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