Two questions:
1. Should I read the Wheel of Time series?
2. Will I be able to finish it before George R.R. Martin releases The Winds of Winter?
(Semi-related: Jeff VanderMeer's unsettling Southern Reach Trilogy was my favorite read of 2019; I would highly recommend it, along with the movie Annihilation, to anyone. Very, very disquieting. In a good way.)
@callahad the Southern Reach Trilogy is so good, I'm glad you enjoyed it!
I personally was never able to get into the Wheel of Time books, but I have a lot of friends that enjoyed them quite a bit, so if you're into high fantasy (as an adult, I'm not, so that might be why they never stuck the landing for me), they might be worth a shot!
@hafnia Have you seen the film? Very significant departures from the Trilogy, but exceptional in its own right. If I recall correctly, the director read the first book, once, many months before he wrote the screenplay, and didn't consult it at all during the process. So it's a really bizarre synthesis. But beautiful. And terrifying.
@callahad I have not! It's on my "I'll get around to this eventually" list (I have a hard time sitting through full movies). I'll have to make a point to watch it. :)
@hafnia let me know if you do! I rarely have such a strong reaction to a film, but it really stuck with me. Just visually stunning to see inside Area X.
What was your favorite read of the recent past, as someone who also liked Southern Reach?
@callahad oh! I also read the Murderbot Diaries and found them delightful. The Black Tides of Heaven was also quite good and made me think a lot.
I tried to read Gideon the Ninth, because everyone was excited about it, but it left me cold -- the humor in it didn't appeal to me.
@hafnia @callahad Jumping in to say
1. I am attempting to read WoT for the 4th or 5th time because I know people who usually have similar taste who loved it but in the past I couldn’t get beyond book 4 or 5? I’ve just started book 2.
2. I loved the VanderMeer series, but unlike you I spent most of the movie yelling at the screen because I felt it removed much of what I loved most about Annihilation. Maybe if it had been just a story about one of the other teams going in I wouldn’t have minded.
@dani @hafnia @callahad Jumping in after Dani.
1. I finally finished WoT (on audio!) a couple years ago. It really sags for a few (long) books in the middle. It gets better, but I'd class it as for completists.
2. Agreed. I like the suggestion of another team.
Gideon the Ninth, I liked the humor, but I found the plot mostly tedious.
I've only read one Wayfarers, but it was a delight.
@edebill lol, another one I just couldn't finish! Alas.
@hafnia you must hate adjectives and adverbs. That was my favorite for the entire year. #1 Hugo vote.
@edebill no, just couldn't fucking stand the narrative voice. Heh. :x I shouldn't have been surprised, I haven't read anything by Valente that I've liked. To each their own, I guess!
@edebill I loved Spinning Silver up until she decided she was going to stay married to the guy. Like...NO. That ruined it for me.
The rest were all things I tried to read but just couldn't get into or couldn't bring myself to finish. TCS was particularly frustrating bc of my career and experience in academia.
@hafnia I had read (and liked) all but the Becky Chambers before the short list came out. I was not a super fan of that particular choice in Spinning Silver, but it didn’t ruin it for me.
Did you read The Light Brigade or The Raven Tower? I loved them both and am curious if we are 100% diametrically opposed.
@edebill I haven't read either -- I'm not a huge fan of Leckie, and the other doesn't sound like the sort of thing I'd pick up (I read SF/F to escape; I tend to avoid anything particularly dark because of that).
I do wonder what you've hated that I've read, tho...
@hafnia The Raven Tower was completely unlike the ancillary series. Like it had more in common with Spinning Silver and Uprooted.
TLB was definitely a gut punch, so no shade for skipping it. I procrastinated on starting her most recent novel because I knew it was going to be heavy. I will say that I was surprised by a hopeful ending.
@edebill huh, maybe I'll give it a try. I'm all for "things are dark but the ending is hopeful".
@hafnia now for pure escapism, have you tried Seanan McGuire’s Incryptid books? Rogue cryptozoologists, concealed weapons, talking mice, romance...
@edebill haha, I love Seanan McGuire :)
@hafnia yay! Something we agree on.
@edebill I figured we'd get there in the end ;)
@hafnia I get the feeling we both read enough that it was inevitable.
@edebill nowadays, maybe, but there was a dark period (grad school!) where I hardly read at all :D
@hafnia understandable.
@hafnia and I loved all but the Becky Chambers. Like I gave myself a pass on reading that one because I’d read the first couple and was content that it wouldn’t rate highly. I was ecstatic that TCS won, even though I had put Space Opera above it.