Almost finished with Fury of the Gods. I did save all the books to read back to back to back. It was hard to wait but I’m glad I did. Last 200 pages of this book is amazing!!
I started The Belgariad because I've always been curious about it. Easy, fun read so far. And I bought Malice by John Gwynne so am looking forward to starting that soon.
I have tried to start reading the Belgariad three different times and just couldn't get into it. Does it get better later in the book? I really want to try to read it.
@@akellerhouse83 It depends on what you call better. The style remains the same throughout. He really takes his time in each book telling part of the story. It's almost like a serial in a way or like playing D&D where you are leveling up every game session. Some of the characters do grow, especially Belgarion, the main character, but I can't say the story is as deep or complicated as some series. It's basically an adventurous coming-of-age fantasy that I would have loved if I had read it in junior or high school back in the late 1980s or early 1990s. At 49, I'm mostly enjoying it but also a bit bored in some places. I admit to skimming parts of book 2 and 3 with all the traveling adventures to get to the political and personal drama of book 4. The story about saving the world sort of stops in its tracks for a significant portion to go through the days surrounding a really important event in Belgarion's lfe. I enjoyed it a lot but it is indicative of Edding's way of telling the overall story. There's nothing wrong with a slower story--I really loved the Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series by Tad Williams and also the 10-book Malazan series. I also like faster stories--Jim Butcher is one of my favorite authors. I would say the Belgariad is really not what I'd call a real meat-and-potatoes story. It tastes good but won't stick to your bones afterward.
“I feel bad for Achamian.” Already? 😬Man, you have the best November ever for your reading. My best to you for all your reads, and I look forward to chatting with you and our friends about The Fury of the Gods in two weeks!
I’m so thankful you got me into Malfi. Read Bone White & Come With Me. Loved both so much that I’m going to read his entire library. Love the way he tells a story.
Still stuck in the ICU so I've done nothing but read this week. I read False Witness by Karin Slaughter and Grave Peril over this last week and started You Like It Darker and Summer Night while making progress on To Green Angel Tower. I stopped by the book store the other day while I was out to pre-order Wind and Truth and picked up Pillars of the Earth and Journey to the Center of the Earth to add to my tbr for 2025.
@Morfeusm yeah. I've been in here with my wife since the 21 of October. And yeah we are from the states so it's been a nightmare dealing with insurance and all that
@@kylerieman221 oh no! Good luck to your wife as well! Hang in there and enjoy some more reading! Tad Williams sounds great, I really have to try that series one day! Greetings from Vienna 🇦🇹 🇪🇺to 🇺🇸
Good review. You seem to penalize books for not doing what you want the way you want (which I"m not a fan of), but for the most part you haven't steered me wrong too often. Your (apparent fascination) with the use of profanity aside, you are well versed in the genre and make interesting observations.
This has been one of those weeks where the I've been hectic with work in preparation for my upcoming vacation, so I didn't get much reading done. But I'm still on Fury of the Gods and the world of Vigrið is a nice escape from reality. Hoping to finish by end of weekend
Nice to see kindle finally jumping on the color bandwagon like, three years late, but still it's finally here. Look forward to your thoughts I have a boox note air 3c which runs on android and has color and its like a 10" screen. I love it. It's great. I use it for all my journaling and reading now.
Finished A Feast for Crows reread. Enjoyed it but taking a break before Dance is that is the one that drags a bit if my memory serves me right. Decided to start Dandelion Dynasty after thinking about it for a while, really enjoying Book 1 so far, about 300 pages in
Based on the why you prefere The Darkness that Comes Before over The Warrior Prophet, I think you will like the Aspects-Emperor more, because it is a much more expansive world and lore heavy. The Prince of Nothing is more of a prologue to The Second Apocalypse series and it's on the rails in comparison to Aspects-Emperor. I will be interested in hearing your thoughts to TTT because it's usually people's least favorite of the seven books on first read through.
I am only on book 2 of bloodsworn trilogy because I loved the first book too much I just don't want this series to be over so I talked myself into taking my time with it but now that I got back into it I can't help but find myself flying through book 2. I don't understand why john has to be so amazing at what he does for lol
Won’t lie I was going to get an Oasis based on your recommendation and I found out the discontinued it in the US 😅. Love Fury of the Gods can’t wait to see your thoughts on it!
Really looking forward to hearing your final thoughts on Bloodsworn, I am really feeling the fomo hahaha. And hope the kindle ends up being a hit for you, it seems really neat!
Right now I’m working on The Shadow of the Gods. I didn’t like it when I started it. For some reason ‘thought-cage’ makes me irrationally upset. Haha I’m liking it now though and I’m excited for The Hunger of the Gods and The Fury of the Gods.
Cowboy up! 2004 Sox comeback against the Yanks was the greatest Boston sports moment in my lifetime (57yrs old)...yes, even greater than the 16 championships I've witnessed from the 4 major sports teams. That's how much I can't stand the Yankees. The recent 5th inning meltdown against the Dodgers was also quite enjoyable. 😊
I did really enjoy the analytics part of the monthly videos. I understand not wanting to do it since the hack. But will you update us when you get back to positive arrows? I always found it extremely interesting. It's okay if not, I was just wondering :)
I think you'll really enjoy a show on Apple called For All Mankind. Its a historical fiction story about the space program by Ronald D Moore thats really character driven and right up your alley.
Interested to see your take on the colorsoft. I have the Boox go color 7 which is a competitor that uses android system so I can use all my diff reading apps including kindle.
Mike... I didn't finish Dracula by Halloween... I"ve got about 80 pages left, and I've been just hate-reading it, which breaks my heart! There's no tension whatsoever (which is a me-problem, I already know what vampires are, you know?), but the biggest issue is just that the writing style is so antiquated at this point that I almost feel like I'm reading an overly dramatic parody. I really wanted to love it, but it's just not really for me. I love the IDEA though, haha.
Currently reading the Long Walk By Stephen King and Holy Moly It feels like he's in the same basic dystopian Future as The Running Man Because of just the casual attitude towards Death That people in This world seem to have
I too have one foot in each camp when it comes to waiting for a series to be complete or not before starting it. A series might not be completed by the publishers if readers don't buy the early books right away, leaving those that do with unresolved stories. However, waiting to see if it is completed before picking it up shows that audiences and publishers enjoyed and believed in it enough to see it through. Then, there are episodic series like Agatha Christie's Poirot or Laurell K Hamilton's Anita Blake, where a reader could jump in at almost any moment. I have this belief that the first book in any series should also be able to be read as a standalone novel, meaning without a cliffhanger or unreasonable loose ends. (Think The Hobbit or The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.) There are some outliers to that like ASOIAF, but on the whole, I like first books to have something of a satisfactory conclusion.
I really enjoyed where your profit and as you say it's not until the second half that things pick up Getting to see a Achamian use his powers was Wow. Up until that point he was portrayed as a sad overweight Academian. And now pretty much everyone is realizing he is a force to be reckon with
Mike I found a series that I’m confident you will love, first book is called “The Briar King” by Greg Keyes. It has character development/depth, it is top notch grim dark without a doubt, an it’s a book that reminded me of game of thrones for a bit, before veering off into its own direction. The 4 book series is finished since 2008. The author was commissioned to write the official Skyrim books, Star Wars legends books, he is like the author people go to when they want an awesome movie translated correctly into a book. There was so much meat on the bone to enjoy, yet I never felt bogged down by the character load because everyone felt distinct and real. I know you have a lot of books on your TBR but i think you would love this series an it would be a gem in the rough overlooked. It’s a book where even though it’s “epic fantasy” it touches down into all kinds of genres, there were even moments where I was getting horror book vibes. I’m actually shocked it isn’t more talked about I couldn’t find any reviews for it on booktube. Hope you have a good weekend with the fam, and safe travels Sir 🤙🏼🫡
It's easy enough to figure why authors would have a vested interest in getting people to read on demand, but it seems likely that that is less of a thing now more than ever for several factors defining modern culture. It's something they're probably going to have to adapt to, people not wanting to wait... Anyway, I gotta finish It. Knew I wouldn't get it done by Halloween, but then it's back to trying to figure out what's next. Sigh.
We need to normalize whatever John Gwynne is doing w recaps. I can't tell you how many times I start a new book in the series and I have no idea what's going on
"Reading should be fun" -Mike I agreeeee man. Salute buddy. Go grab yourself a nice rams horn and fill it with sweet honey mead, kick back and enjoy Fury Of The God's by good 'ol reliable Papa Gwynneeeee. ✌️ -JRoot
Mike you mention the documentary the comeback,say how much you hate the Yankees and not even one mention Of My Los Angeles Dodgers destroying Yankees!! And that legendary 5th inning meltdown Yankees had,your a sports fan I expected at least a mention of the World Series 😢
I think I’m in the minority in not liking the bloodsworn saga. I felt the characters were all too similar, a warrior in a warband travelling to save a loved one. The world seemed small as you didn’t really see any other cultures or different styles of cities. Not much politics etc. it’s a good series for sure but the faithful and the fallen was a 10/10 this is more an 8/10
I thought the first book in the Bloodsworn was like a 6/10 and I don’t think I’m going to continue. To me it’s certainly the worst book I’ve read from Gwynne.
If creators picked ads, you would get far better ads lol TH-cam advertising algorithms suck. Prime example is you getting the ads from a party you don’t like lol TH-cam is definitely biased. But Mike has nothing to do with that!
Achamian had some rough time but his escape had one of the most bad ass magic retribution moments I can think of.
Almost finished with Fury of the Gods. I did save all the books to read back to back to back. It was hard to wait but I’m glad I did. Last 200 pages of this book is amazing!!
I started The Belgariad because I've always been curious about it. Easy, fun read so far. And I bought Malice by John Gwynne so am looking forward to starting that soon.
Enjoy!
I have tried to start reading the Belgariad three different times and just couldn't get into it. Does it get better later in the book? I really want to try to read it.
@@akellerhouse83 It depends on what you call better. The style remains the same throughout. He really takes his time in each book telling part of the story. It's almost like a serial in a way or like playing D&D where you are leveling up every game session.
Some of the characters do grow, especially Belgarion, the main character, but I can't say the story is as deep or complicated as some series. It's basically an adventurous coming-of-age fantasy that I would have loved if I had read it in junior or high school back in the late 1980s or early 1990s. At 49, I'm mostly enjoying it but also a bit bored in some places.
I admit to skimming parts of book 2 and 3 with all the traveling adventures to get to the political and personal drama of book 4. The story about saving the world sort of stops in its tracks for a significant portion to go through the days surrounding a really important event in Belgarion's lfe. I enjoyed it a lot but it is indicative of Edding's way of telling the overall story.
There's nothing wrong with a slower story--I really loved the Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series by Tad Williams and also the 10-book Malazan series. I also like faster stories--Jim Butcher is one of my favorite authors.
I would say the Belgariad is really not what I'd call a real meat-and-potatoes story. It tastes good but won't stick to your bones afterward.
“I feel bad for Achamian.” Already? 😬Man, you have the best November ever for your reading. My best to you for all your reads, and I look forward to chatting with you and our friends about The Fury of the Gods in two weeks!
It is going to be a wild ride.
I do plan on reading Fury, but I have decided to read Shadow and Hunger again to refresh myself and create some dedicated reviews.
I think that's a great idea.
Fury of the Gods is exactly what I am reading right now as well.
Skol
I’m so thankful you got me into Malfi. Read Bone White & Come With Me. Loved both so much that I’m going to read his entire library. Love the way he tells a story.
Really looking forward to Black Mouth
Still stuck in the ICU so I've done nothing but read this week. I read False Witness by Karin Slaughter and Grave Peril over this last week and started You Like It Darker and Summer Night while making progress on To Green Angel Tower.
I stopped by the book store the other day while I was out to pre-order Wind and Truth and picked up Pillars of the Earth and Journey to the Center of the Earth to add to my tbr for 2025.
Assuming you are in the ICU as patient and not as nurse/doctor so good luck with the recovery. And if you’re American good luck with insurance too!
@Morfeusm yeah. I've been in here with my wife since the 21 of October. And yeah we are from the states so it's been a nightmare dealing with insurance and all that
@@kylerieman221 oh no! Good luck to your wife as well! Hang in there and enjoy some more reading! Tad Williams sounds great, I really have to try that series one day! Greetings from Vienna 🇦🇹 🇪🇺to 🇺🇸
Journey to the Center of the Earth is such a classic!
Good review. You seem to penalize books for not doing what you want the way you want (which I"m not a fan of), but for the most part you haven't steered me wrong too often. Your (apparent fascination) with the use of profanity aside, you are well versed in the genre and make interesting observations.
This has been one of those weeks where the I've been hectic with work in preparation for my upcoming vacation, so I didn't get much reading done. But I'm still on Fury of the Gods and the world of Vigrið is a nice escape from reality. Hoping to finish by end of weekend
Nice to see kindle finally jumping on the color bandwagon like, three years late, but still it's finally here. Look forward to your thoughts I have a boox note air 3c which runs on android and has color and its like a 10" screen. I love it. It's great. I use it for all my journaling and reading now.
It’s a big upgrade for sure.
Finished A Feast for Crows reread. Enjoyed it but taking a break before Dance is that is the one that drags a bit if my memory serves me right. Decided to start Dandelion Dynasty after thinking about it for a while, really enjoying Book 1 so far, about 300 pages in
Feast/Dance are great as one “super” book.
@ true, they are essentially 2 halves of a 2000 word epic
Consider reading the 1986 Necroscope series - they feature espionage with brutal vampires - it's a classic series of horror books.
I read book 1
Based on the why you prefere The Darkness that Comes Before over The Warrior Prophet, I think you will like the Aspects-Emperor more, because it is a much more expansive world and lore heavy. The Prince of Nothing is more of a prologue to The Second Apocalypse series and it's on the rails in comparison to Aspects-Emperor. I will be interested in hearing your thoughts to TTT because it's usually people's least favorite of the seven books on first read through.
I’ve heard such mixed things on AE.
@@mikesbookreviewsif you dont mind the darkness and bleakness AE is phenomenal. Very unique and powerful reading experience
I had to buy a bookshelf yesterday... thanks Mike!
We’ve all been there.
I am only on book 2 of bloodsworn trilogy because I loved the first book too much I just don't want this series to be over so I talked myself into taking my time with it but now that I got back into it I can't help but find myself flying through book 2. I don't understand why john has to be so amazing at what he does for lol
Told myself that with book 3 and I only have 100 pages left 😂
@acidunicorn1225 I'm almost ready for book 3 I can't put hunger of the gods down and ready to feel their fury lol
John is too good!
@@mikesbookreviewsI agree he is definitely one of my favorite fantasy authors along with jay Kristoff and Joe abercrombie
Literally just finished fury! That ending was perfect ❤
Can’t wait
Won’t lie I was going to get an Oasis based on your recommendation and I found out the discontinued it in the US 😅.
Love Fury of the Gods can’t wait to see your thoughts on it!
Really looking forward to hearing your final thoughts on Bloodsworn, I am really feeling the fomo hahaha. And hope the kindle ends up being a hit for you, it seems really neat!
I'm still struggling with remembering all the names but John made it as easy as possible with his cheat sheet.
Right now I’m working on The Shadow of the Gods. I didn’t like it when I started it. For some reason ‘thought-cage’ makes me irrationally upset. Haha
I’m liking it now though and I’m excited for The Hunger of the Gods and The Fury of the Gods.
Cowboy up! 2004 Sox comeback against the Yanks was the greatest Boston sports moment in my lifetime (57yrs old)...yes, even greater than the 16 championships I've witnessed from the 4 major sports teams. That's how much I can't stand the Yankees.
The recent 5th inning meltdown against the Dodgers was also quite enjoyable. 😊
I can imagine so! What a great doc and a wonderful team.
1:36 as slow burn like stormlight books?
Bookborn has an awesome recap for Stormlight!
Yes, her work is fantastic.
I did really enjoy the analytics part of the monthly videos. I understand not wanting to do it since the hack. But will you update us when you get back to positive arrows? I always found it extremely interesting. It's okay if not, I was just wondering :)
The kindle scribe lets you write in books now!
I’m going to finish Wrath by the end of the year. And that will be my first John Gwynne series completed. I’m looking forward to it. Thanks Mike!
Just let me tell you. You are SO not ready for how that series ends.
@ oh boy… you got me sweating 😅😅
Wrath is my favorite John Gwynne book. I haven’t finished Bloodsworn yet, but I don’t think it’s going to beat it.
I love that series!
I think you'll really enjoy a show on Apple called For All Mankind. Its a historical fiction story about the space program by Ronald D Moore thats really character driven and right up your alley.
Interested to see your take on the colorsoft. I have the Boox go color 7 which is a competitor that uses android system so I can use all my diff reading apps including kindle.
P.S there’s no better rivalry than Ohio State Michigan
The Fury of the Gods❤
Skol
I grew up and Alabama and used to love running around downtown screaming ROLL TIDE
War Damn Eagle 😂 (not really, I’m a UGA fan)
Mike... I didn't finish Dracula by Halloween... I"ve got about 80 pages left, and I've been just hate-reading it, which breaks my heart! There's no tension whatsoever (which is a me-problem, I already know what vampires are, you know?), but the biggest issue is just that the writing style is so antiquated at this point that I almost feel like I'm reading an overly dramatic parody. I really wanted to love it, but it's just not really for me. I love the IDEA though, haha.
I get that. The narrative style isn’t for everyone.
I’ve been burning through dungeon crawler Carl books! Very addictive
No spoilers but Vargs conclusion to what happened with his sister I freaking loved. Can’t wait to hear your final thoughts.
Outstanding!
The movie Old was a surprise hit for me
We both liked it a lot.
Currently reading the Long Walk By Stephen King and Holy Moly It feels like he's in the same basic dystopian Future as The Running Man Because of just the casual attitude towards Death That people in This world seem to have
Mike when are we gonna talk about Duma Key
I would love to hear your review of "Theft of Fire" by Devon Eriksen.
If the ChristopherJudge to play Kratos, that would be freakin awesome.
I too have one foot in each camp when it comes to waiting for a series to be complete or not before starting it. A series might not be completed by the publishers if readers don't buy the early books right away, leaving those that do with unresolved stories. However, waiting to see if it is completed before picking it up shows that audiences and publishers enjoyed and believed in it enough to see it through. Then, there are episodic series like Agatha Christie's Poirot or Laurell K Hamilton's Anita Blake, where a reader could jump in at almost any moment.
I have this belief that the first book in any series should also be able to be read as a standalone novel, meaning without a cliffhanger or unreasonable loose ends. (Think The Hobbit or The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.) There are some outliers to that like ASOIAF, but on the whole, I like first books to have something of a satisfactory conclusion.
I totally get your point about that first book.
I really enjoyed where your profit and as you say it's not until the second half that things pick up Getting to see a Achamian use his powers was Wow. Up until that point he was portrayed as a sad overweight Academian. And now pretty much everyone is realizing he is a force to be reckon with
That’s some autocorrect 😂
It is so satisfying to see him finally use his powers!
Mike I found a series that I’m confident you will love, first book is called “The Briar King” by Greg Keyes. It has character development/depth, it is top notch grim dark without a doubt, an it’s a book that reminded me of game of thrones for a bit, before veering off into its own direction. The 4 book series is finished since 2008. The author was commissioned to write the official Skyrim books, Star Wars legends books, he is like the author people go to when they want an awesome movie translated correctly into a book. There was so much meat on the bone to enjoy, yet I never felt bogged down by the character load because everyone felt distinct and real. I know you have a lot of books on your TBR but i think you would love this series an it would be a gem in the rough overlooked. It’s a book where even though it’s “epic fantasy” it touches down into all kinds of genres, there were even moments where I was getting horror book vibes. I’m actually shocked it isn’t more talked about I couldn’t find any reviews for it on booktube. Hope you have a good weekend with the fam, and safe travels Sir 🤙🏼🫡
I’ll look it up
It's easy enough to figure why authors would have a vested interest in getting people to read on demand, but it seems likely that that is less of a thing now more than ever for several factors defining modern culture. It's something they're probably going to have to adapt to, people not wanting to wait...
Anyway, I gotta finish It. Knew I wouldn't get it done by Halloween, but then it's back to trying to figure out what's next. Sigh.
That intro personifies jet fans.
😂
I dnfd the warrior prophet, for me it wasn't even hard to get through book 1.
BTW, the term “rubber match” comes from the game of bridge, not baseball.
Both. www.reference.com/world-view/call-rubber-match-5671076b20c7f0d3
Try CJ Leede
Oh yeahhhh. 🙌
Get it Mikeeeee. Thanks for the content man. 🙏
-JRoot
The names make it very difficult to read! The difference between one character and the next is where he puts the “j”!
We need to normalize whatever John Gwynne is doing w recaps. I can't tell you how many times I start a new book in the series and I have no idea what's going on
I'm with you!
Ohio state - Michigan is the best rivalry in sports Mike.
Damn, you're right. I totally whiffed on that one. I'm an SEC guy so Bama/Auburn always comes to mind first.
@@mikesbookreviews We forgive you ;) I thought we adopted you as a buckeye fan after you got Stroud.
"Reading should be fun" -Mike
I agreeeee man. Salute buddy. Go grab yourself a nice rams horn and fill it with sweet honey mead, kick back and enjoy Fury Of The God's by good 'ol reliable Papa Gwynneeeee.
✌️
-JRoot
Skol!
RDM is doing God of War? Get hype!
So say we all
Yes the Red Sox yankee hate is real-I was raised on the yankee side of that hate but have so many buddies from New England lol
They don’t play.
Based is a control Word, lol . As in, "Base."
Profane.
Mike you mention the documentary the comeback,say how much you hate the Yankees and not even one mention Of My Los Angeles Dodgers destroying Yankees!! And that legendary 5th inning meltdown Yankees had,your a sports fan I expected at least a mention of the World Series 😢
🤝
@@mikesbookreviews🤝
Comment about the Yankees was real af 🤙🏼 when the jankees lose America wins 😂😂
💯
I think I’m in the minority in not liking the bloodsworn saga. I felt the characters were all too similar, a warrior in a warband travelling to save a loved one. The world seemed small as you didn’t really see any other cultures or different styles of cities. Not much politics etc. it’s a good series for sure but the faithful and the fallen was a 10/10 this is more an 8/10
That’s still a very high rating for a series you don’t like 😅
I liked the Saga and I gave the series the same rating lol
@@RLX5201true! Maybe I should have said I didn’t like it anywhere near as much as FaF 😂
I thought the first book in the Bloodsworn was like a 6/10 and I don’t think I’m going to continue. To me it’s certainly the worst book I’ve read from Gwynne.
This is how I feel about Bloodsworn as well.
First!
Stop with the darn democrat commercials. At least do both sides. Every one of these so called book channels has the same commercials.
He doesn’t choose what commercials happen on his account.
If creators picked ads, you would get far better ads lol TH-cam advertising algorithms suck. Prime example is you getting the ads from a party you don’t like lol TH-cam is definitely biased. But Mike has nothing to do with that!
Ads are targeted based off your search history. We don’t select them.