Mod edit for context: this was in a discussion of the Wheel of Time TV series that moved into the books.
I read the first book, and part of the second, many decades ago. I have no memory of any of it, but I don’t usually abandon books, so it must have sucked.
I found myself predicting the first book [of Wheel of Time] half a chapter in advance, and gave up on it. It may well get better but it wasn’t for me.
I’ve recently read Arkady Martine’s A Desolation Called Peace, sequel to A Memory Called Empire – and it is a sequel, you’ll need to carry over quite a bit of state from the first book. Memory rested too hard on a tech conceit that never felt well thought out, but I still liked it quite a bit; Desolation puts that into the background and concentrates on the people, and I loved it.
I finished listening to the 2nd book of the Malazan prequels. “Deadhouse Landing”
I would probably have to listen a 2nd time to grasp it all. If I didn’t know what was coming I would not have been able to follow. I am actually waiting for my next audible credit for book 3.
I also recently listened to the first part of the Sandman as “audiobook” read by a variety of famous people among others James McAvoy as Sandman and Kat Dennings as death who are both perfectly cast voice-wise. (McAvoy would not be a good fit for the tv adaptation IMO) and of course Neil Gaiman himself who is describing the scenes… I like hearing him speak. I am remembering this because it was also quite hard to follow.
Still unable to concentrate much on reading as all throughout pandemic. But audiobooks are about the only thing I can do while I have a mirgaine.
Currently reading Humble Pi: A Comedy of Maths Errors which is quite an amusing read. I say amusing but half of the stories could probably happen in my company.
half of the stories could probably happen in my company
Hopefully not the ones where lots of people die. (I must finish that book sometime, but I’m not sure where I put it when we moved house…)
I do write software for mission critical aircraft systems.
It’s just reading stories like, “every so many days this counter overflowed and relied on the system being power cycled more frequently than that”. And I go “yep, I know exactly how that happens”.
Did you read the God is not Willing by Steven Erikson? It is the newest installment in the universe and the start of a new trilogy 10 (?) years after the main series.
I liked it a lot, it is way quicker and easier to digest than the main series. Interesting change.
not yet. as I just convinced a friend to start Malazan I’ll probably listen to Gardens of the Moon when I’m through with Kellanveds Reach.
If you’re in the UK (and maybe elsewhere?) all the Frank Herbert Dune novels are £1 today on Kindle. I’ve picked up #2 and #3. Not sure if I want to commit to #4 through #6 right now 
I finished Humble Pi last night and decided I’d go back and finish The Indisputable Existence of Santa Claus: The Mathematics of Christmas which I started in summer.
On top of the Dune books I mentioned in the last post I’ve also picked up the following in the last couple of weeks:
Should set me up nicely for some holiday reading.
I finished the first of the Twilight Imperium books… The Fractured Void.
It was good! It was good. Not great, but I think expecting “great” from a novel tie-in to a board game might be putting your bar a little too high. I had a couple quibbles (there is a moment where a “Mentak Destroyer” is mentioned as orders-of-magnitude more powerful than a Cruiser… which… no…) but overall I think they did a good job. I’m looking forward to reading the sequel, The Necropolis Empire at work over the next few weeks.
I would put it on par with the best 40K novels I’ve read (anything by Dan Abnett, basically). Would recommend for people who like the TI universe already.
I sit on Kindle?? I will have a look.
Talking about Kindle, I returned Rotherweird unfinished to the library (sorry, not sorry) and as my children took a couple of books each, I decided not to take anything out (didn’t see the two books I am after, Baptism of Fire and Making Movies) So I had a rummage in my Kindle instead, and found that I have not read As You Wish, by Cary Elwes, about the making of The Princess Bride. So I started it yesterday, and so far I am loving it. When I finish it, I have to look up the actual novel, I know I will love it.
That was a good one (As You Wish, I mean). Got our copy signed by the man himself when he was touring promoting the book.
Yeah I listened to that on Audible. Cary Elwes is a lovely narrator
Got this on a whim; a manga rendition of At the Mountains of Madness. Now I can ‘Tekeli-li!’ in style 
If the images are as scary as the words…
Once–many years ago, I had barely heard of Cthulu… I decided I should read the Mountains of Madness. I was home alone and it was dark and… I had to stop reading… I could only read the last 20 or so pages months later.
I just finished Becky Chamber’s A Closed and Common Orbit, book 2 of the Long Way to a Small Angry Planet series.
Wow. Totally different. Almost no crossover/continuity with LWtaSAP, but deeply touching, thoughtful, and beautiful.
Now, granted, I’m hoping we’re back on the Wayfarer for the third book in the series because as much as I liked this one I miss the characters from the first. They were cool! I want to get to know them more!
On an unrelated note, the next book I’m reading (after I finish my English exam today) is going to be A Record of a Spaceborn Few, book 3 in the series.
Not a spoiler: we’re not going back to the Wayfarer but we will meet some of the characters again.
Honestly, it’s actually kinda chill; the pictures make things a lot less abstract, and thus less inescapable. If a slimy glob full of eyes tries to eat you, you run! Easy as that 
It’s not quite as casual as “shotgun-cthulhu” type stuff, but any visual medium will tend more towards reality, instead of the pure weirdness that writing can invoke.
I am kinda stuck at the beginning of this book. I wanted to read more of Wayfarer’s crew and I am not sure I care so much about this new main character…
I will continue on, but it will take time.
