The premise of Sorcerer’s Legacy sounds fascinating! I read Mercedes Lackey’s Arrow’s Trilogy last year which was written in the 80s, and I was very impressed with how ahead of its time it was in certain ways. I wonder if most women fantasy writers gravitated toward different tropes or storylines in that era.
Great wrap-up. Special interest for Janny Wurts. I’m about to read this book too, and your words reassured me. (Glad to hear it ís her debut, I got that wrong in one of my video’s.)
I'm a huge Prince fan, as many are, I was a young teen when Purple Rain dropped and became all the rage. Since today's the Super Bowl, and Prince was mentioned, I thought it fitting to mention here that he holds the undeniable record of the best Super Bowl half time performance in the history of the game. It was just an angelic performance with the rain, the doves, the stage, the band on the field, it was just magical. And he nailed the performance to perfection. Sorry, I know we're talking books and I'm just rambling on. Prince is one of the greats and he's missed today!
Sounds like a great month! I'm really looking forward to getting into Wurts--I started Curse of the Mistwraith a while back, set it aside (I can be kind of a magpie with books), but I'll make a point to pick it up again before too much longer. Hope your February is turning into a great reading month as well!
I did read and enjoy The Forgetting Moon--I think I might have finished it about a year ago. On the whole, it was exactly the kind of epic fantasy I've always craved, though I do agree there was that one part that dragged to a degree. But on the whole, a very, *very* good book, one I gave 4.5/5.
Sounds like a great start to the reading year! Really exciting to hear that Lehane's novels were such a hit for you, I've been meaning to read more by him after enjoying The Drop so much! And I hope that Five Warrior Angels continues to be such a blast for you! Happy reading, Josh ;)
I'm adding both Lehane and Wurts to my required reading this Spring and Summer. Super glad you recapped what's actually in the Prince book versus what I would've thought it was.
I don't read fantasy but i quite like you talking about them. My five star books this month are Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton and 2001 A Space Odyssey. Last year I decided to read more classic books, SF and horror genre this year and these are my good start.
One hundred percent agree on Dennis Lehane. He's fantastic. I wonder if you've read any Greg Iles. I love his books, particularly the Penn Cage novels. There is a new one coming out in the few months. Currently reading Children of Time by Tchaikovsky and The Burning Land by Cornwell (book 5 of the Saxon Tales). And, whatever you think is going to happen in the Five Warrior Angels, it ain't that.
I'm currently reading the Clifton Chronicles series by Jeffrey Archer and the books are *very* good!! I bought The Given Day after watching your recent video on the novels and I absolutely love Dennis Lehane. Mystic River is one of my favorites by him and Gone Baby Gone too. I've actually never seen the films but intend to someday. Im glad you cover all genres of novels. While I'm not a fantasy fan, and don't read hardly any fantasy, I enjoy very much hearing about them.
I hope you love The Given Day! I've heard of Jeffrey Archer but haven't read anything of him yet. Glad you enjoy my varied genres - for me it keeps everything fresh!
God damn Lehane is good, there is is a reason why he is my second favorite crime writer ever. Knowing you love good prose and crime fiction, might i recommend Randall Silvis whose prose are some of the most haunting i've ever read, In particular his Ryan DeMarco series.
Woke up this morning thinking about Tim Powers. Have you considered reading Powers? I feel like you’d like his work. Secret history fantasy that often blends with other genres - some blend with the Gothic, Declare is part spy novel, Anubis Gates is a time travel fantasy, etc. And hey, some of them were published in the 80s :)
@@RedFuryBooks I similarly bounced off Anubis Gates. But I’ll be reading Declare for a podcast in the spring and a few good friends have praised the crap out of that one; it seems highly regarded above AG; here’s hoping :)
Oh, man, Josh I also DNFd I, Claudius two years ago. It was dreadful. I even tried it on dramatic abridged audiobook and DNFd that version too. And I AM interested in the content. Lol.
Josh I am enjoying Shauna Lawless’s Gael’s Song tremendously!! Book 1 is mainly set up for the now 6 book series of historically fantasy with a novella prequel. When you have medieval Ireland as your backdrop with some magical tribes mixed in you get fireworks! I finished Lonesome Crown, book 2 is better but this finale will not disappoint, the last 1/3 is a tornado & earthquake occurring at the same time! I also finished the Judas Blossom by Stephen Aryan and it is historical fantasy too during the Mongolian Empire and very enjoyable too. Lastly I started Quicksilver and will tell you more as I get halfway. Historical fiction during the Enlightenment with the prose of the Empire Trilogy or Boudica…straightforward with dabs of poetry that will awe you.
Lawless' books sound right up my alley - I'll have to try to pick those up at some point. Glad you're enjoying Quicksilver! I'm so looking forward to that one later this year!
My favorite book from January was Camelot by Giles Kristian. It’s the second book in the Arthurian Tales trilogy. (Third book will be out in June) I’m also finally reading The Passage. I had commented that was I a bit concerned about the “reset” that I know will happen. Haven’t hit that yet, but I really like the book!
I'm curious about Five Warrior Angels but for some reason its still not available in paperback and ebook in Ireland yet. Mad Ship was my favourite read of January. So far in February I've finished Liveship Traders and halfway through Fool's Errand. Safe to say I'm loving being back in Realm of the Elderlings. I re-read Cormac McCarthy's The Road and still loved it. I DNFed Ryan Cahill's Of Darkness & Light. With some exceptions, I'm just not a traditionalist when it comes to Fantasy and it's very bog standard for my taste. I see why it's becoming popular but I couldn't care less about the story, characters etc.
You can't go wrong with any of Janny Wurts books they are all excellent to read. Like you I very rarely DNF a book, I've just persevered and finished reading Childhood's End. It was a very close thing though. I read 3 books in January and 9 comic books Books: Star Wars From A Certain Point Of View - which was mostly really bad Planet Of The Apes - which was really good, if a little odd in places The Call Of The Wild - which was very good. Comic Books: Conan Chronicles Epic Collection: The Heart Of Yag-Kosha Judge Dredd - The Complete Case Files 33 Ocean - Warren Ellis Orbiter - Warren Ellis Red Rising: Sons Of Ares Marvel Knights: Punisher - The Complete Collection Volume 1 - Garth Ennis at his best, with a character perfectly suited to his writing Marvel Knights: Punisher - The Complete Collection Volume 2 - Garth Ennis Marvel Knights: Punisher - The Complete Collection Volume 3 - Garth Ennis Punisher Max - The Complete Collection Volume 1 - Garth Ennis Book of the month was The Call Of The Wild.
In January I finished: «Imperium» by Robert Harris (Historical Fiction about the Roman Politician Cicero) «Stonehenge» by Bernard Cornwell (Historical Fiction about the Creation of Stonehenge during the Late Neolithic Period) «The Buried Giant» by Kazuo Ishigaro (Fantasy inspired by Arthurian Legend) «The Dragon Lord» by David Drake (Arthurian Sword & Sorcery) I unfortunately had to push back «After Rome» by Morgan Llywelyn (Historical Fiction set in Post-Roman Britain), but I hope to get to it within Spring, together with Mike Shackle’s «We Are The Dead», Tad Williams «The Dragonbone Chair» and Christopher Ruocchio’s «Empire Of Silence»!
@@RedFuryBooks I can not help but compare it as Cornwell’s take of «The Pillars of the Earth» by Ken Follett: Rather than Follett’s slow-cooking pace and multi-generational story, it has a quick pace and is more of an epic family drama over one life time (father against sons, brother against brother), but it is similarly quite detailed about how monuments (cathedrals and Stonehenge) might have been built and give an idea of what power it must have projected for its builders both spiritually and economically, as well as manpower and ingenuity, at its creation! Also very brutal, Cornwell did not shy away from human sacrifice of children, slavery, misogyny and violence of all kind, so it is not for the faint hearted! That said, while it show case how harsh life might have been back then, that there also were characters that tried to rise above mere survival of the fittest, made it even more engaging given their situation!
I did not finish I Claudius either. Same reasons, dry and who cares :). I DNF'ed The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by McBride. Ugh. Enjoyed his Good Lord Bird though. Todd Rundgren's Something Anything album was ( I think) performed entirely by him. Great album
The Forgetting Moon is so underrated.
100% true. I started Blackest Heart last night and am loving it.
The premise of Sorcerer’s Legacy sounds fascinating! I read Mercedes Lackey’s Arrow’s Trilogy last year which was written in the 80s, and I was very impressed with how ahead of its time it was in certain ways. I wonder if most women fantasy writers gravitated toward different tropes or storylines in that era.
Janny actually just DM'd me a great list of 80's fantasy in this vein! And your supposition seems to ring true - much less formulaic storytelling.
@@RedFuryBooks she did to me as well! 😄 She has a wealth of knowledge!
Great wrap-up. Special interest for Janny Wurts. I’m about to read this book too, and your words reassured me. (Glad to hear it ís her debut, I got that wrong in one of my video’s.)
I hope you enjoy Sorcerer's Legacy and look forward to your thoughts!
I'm a huge Prince fan, as many are, I was a young teen when Purple Rain dropped and became all the rage. Since today's the Super Bowl, and Prince was mentioned, I thought it fitting to mention here that he holds the undeniable record of the best Super Bowl half time performance in the history of the game. It was just an angelic performance with the rain, the doves, the stage, the band on the field, it was just magical. And he nailed the performance to perfection. Sorry, I know we're talking books and I'm just rambling on. Prince is one of the greats and he's missed today!
100% agree!!
Prince's Super Bowl performance is easily the best of all time. It was almost like he predicted the rain to incorporate it into his show.
Sounds like a great month! I'm really looking forward to getting into Wurts--I started Curse of the Mistwraith a while back, set it aside (I can be kind of a magpie with books), but I'll make a point to pick it up again before too much longer. Hope your February is turning into a great reading month as well!
I did read and enjoy The Forgetting Moon--I think I might have finished it about a year ago. On the whole, it was exactly the kind of epic fantasy I've always craved, though I do agree there was that one part that dragged to a degree. But on the whole, a very, *very* good book, one I gave 4.5/5.
I hope you get back to Durfee and Wurts soon! I'll be starting the Blackest Heart sometime this week and really looking forward to it!
Sounds like a great start to the reading year! Really exciting to hear that Lehane's novels were such a hit for you, I've been meaning to read more by him after enjoying The Drop so much! And I hope that Five Warrior Angels continues to be such a blast for you! Happy reading, Josh ;)
Thanks, Esmay! January will be hard to top!
I'm adding both Lehane and Wurts to my required reading this Spring and Summer. Super glad you recapped what's actually in the Prince book versus what I would've thought it was.
Nice! I hope you enjoy both.
Sounds like a great month Josh! I need to check out some Dennis Lehane. Storytoob has talked him up too. Sorcerer’s Legacy sounds fun.
Nice! Glad some others are talking about Lehane!
DNF I Claudius? Wow. Speechless.
I don't read fantasy but i quite like you talking about them. My five star books this month are Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton and 2001 A Space Odyssey. Last year I decided to read more classic books, SF and horror genre this year and these are my good start.
It's been many years since I read 2001 (maybe since 2001?) but definitely want to reread that one at some point.
One hundred percent agree on Dennis Lehane. He's fantastic. I wonder if you've read any Greg Iles. I love his books, particularly the Penn Cage novels. There is a new one coming out in the few months. Currently reading Children of Time by Tchaikovsky and The Burning Land by Cornwell (book 5 of the Saxon Tales). And, whatever you think is going to happen in the Five Warrior Angels, it ain't that.
I haven't read any Greg Iles but he has been on my radar for awhile.
I'm currently reading the Clifton Chronicles series by Jeffrey Archer and the books are *very* good!! I bought The Given Day after watching your recent video on the novels and I absolutely love Dennis Lehane. Mystic River is one of my favorites by him and Gone Baby Gone too. I've actually never seen the films but intend to someday. Im glad you cover all genres of novels. While I'm not a fantasy fan, and don't read hardly any fantasy, I enjoy very much hearing about them.
I hope you love The Given Day! I've heard of Jeffrey Archer but haven't read anything of him yet. Glad you enjoy my varied genres - for me it keeps everything fresh!
Nice reviews! I haven't read any of those but some seem pretty interesting!
Thanks! I hope you find something of value here!
Should be picking up Blackest Heart about mid week. Looking forward to it!
About the same for me - I know we're both looking forward to that one!
God damn Lehane is good, there is is a reason why he is my second favorite crime writer ever. Knowing you love good prose and crime fiction, might i recommend Randall Silvis whose prose are some of the most haunting i've ever read, In particular his Ryan DeMarco series.
I've never heard of Randall Silvis but am writing it down!
Woke up this morning thinking about Tim Powers. Have you considered reading Powers? I feel like you’d like his work. Secret history fantasy that often blends with other genres - some blend with the Gothic, Declare is part spy novel, Anubis Gates is a time travel fantasy, etc. And hey, some of them were published in the 80s :)
I read Anubis Gates years ago and didn't connect with it, but he's an author I'd certainly try again.
@@RedFuryBooks I similarly bounced off Anubis Gates. But I’ll be reading Declare for a podcast in the spring and a few good friends have praised the crap out of that one; it seems highly regarded above AG; here’s hoping :)
Oh, man, Josh I also DNFd I, Claudius two years ago. It was dreadful. I even tried it on dramatic abridged audiobook and DNFd that version too. And I AM interested in the content. Lol.
Oh good, glad I'm not the only one not loving I, Claudius!
Josh I am enjoying Shauna Lawless’s Gael’s Song tremendously!! Book 1 is mainly set up for the now 6 book series of historically fantasy with a novella prequel. When you have medieval Ireland as your backdrop with some magical tribes mixed in you get fireworks!
I finished Lonesome Crown, book 2 is better but this finale will not disappoint, the last 1/3 is a tornado & earthquake occurring at the same time!
I also finished the Judas Blossom by Stephen Aryan and it is historical fantasy too during the Mongolian Empire and very enjoyable too.
Lastly I started Quicksilver and will tell you more as I get halfway. Historical fiction during the Enlightenment with the prose of the Empire Trilogy or Boudica…straightforward with dabs of poetry that will awe you.
Very much looking forward to trying Shauna Lawless and Stephen Aryan.
@@thatsci-firogue They both strike a beautiful balance in their writing for me.😀
Lawless' books sound right up my alley - I'll have to try to pick those up at some point. Glad you're enjoying Quicksilver! I'm so looking forward to that one later this year!
My favorite book from January was Camelot by Giles Kristian. It’s the second book in the Arthurian Tales trilogy. (Third book will be out in June) I’m also finally reading The Passage. I had commented that was I a bit concerned about the “reset” that I know will happen. Haven’t hit that yet, but I really like the book!
I love The Passage, and honestly hadn't heard of people not liking that part of the book until Mike talked about it. I hope you continue to enjoy it!
@@RedFuryBooks I reached that point. I’m still enjoying it so won’t stop reading!
I'm curious about Five Warrior Angels but for some reason its still not available in paperback and ebook in Ireland yet.
Mad Ship was my favourite read of January. So far in February I've finished Liveship Traders and halfway through Fool's Errand. Safe to say I'm loving being back in Realm of the Elderlings.
I re-read Cormac McCarthy's The Road and still loved it.
I DNFed Ryan Cahill's Of Darkness & Light. With some exceptions, I'm just not a traditionalist when it comes to Fantasy and it's very bog standard for my taste. I see why it's becoming popular but I couldn't care less about the story, characters etc.
The Road is one of my favorites and will be an often reread book for me. I hope you continue to love RoTE! I'm fairly certain you will do so.
You can't go wrong with any of Janny Wurts books they are all excellent to read.
Like you I very rarely DNF a book, I've just persevered and finished reading Childhood's End. It was a very close thing though.
I read 3 books in January and 9 comic books
Books:
Star Wars From A Certain Point Of View - which was mostly really bad
Planet Of The Apes - which was really good, if a little odd in places
The Call Of The Wild - which was very good.
Comic Books:
Conan Chronicles Epic Collection: The Heart Of Yag-Kosha
Judge Dredd - The Complete Case Files 33
Ocean - Warren Ellis
Orbiter - Warren Ellis
Red Rising: Sons Of Ares
Marvel Knights: Punisher - The Complete Collection Volume 1 - Garth Ennis at his best, with a character perfectly suited to his writing
Marvel Knights: Punisher - The Complete Collection Volume 2 - Garth Ennis
Marvel Knights: Punisher - The Complete Collection Volume 3 - Garth Ennis
Punisher Max - The Complete Collection Volume 1 - Garth Ennis
Book of the month was The Call Of The Wild.
Ouch - sorry to hear the Star Wars book was so bad! I love the title, but think I'll skip that one!
Love some Prince 👌
In January I finished:
«Imperium» by Robert Harris (Historical Fiction about the Roman Politician Cicero)
«Stonehenge» by Bernard Cornwell (Historical Fiction about the Creation of Stonehenge during the Late Neolithic Period)
«The Buried Giant» by Kazuo Ishigaro (Fantasy inspired by Arthurian Legend)
«The Dragon Lord» by David Drake (Arthurian Sword & Sorcery)
I unfortunately had to push back «After Rome» by Morgan Llywelyn (Historical Fiction set in Post-Roman Britain), but I hope to get to it within Spring, together with Mike Shackle’s «We Are The Dead», Tad Williams «The Dragonbone Chair» and Christopher Ruocchio’s «Empire Of Silence»!
How did you enjoy Stonehenge? I think I only gave it a 3-star, but remember a lot of it, leading me to believe my rating wasn't accurate.
@@RedFuryBooks I can not help but compare it as Cornwell’s take of «The Pillars of the Earth» by Ken Follett: Rather than Follett’s slow-cooking pace and multi-generational story, it has a quick pace and is more of an epic family drama over one life time (father against sons, brother against brother), but it is similarly quite detailed about how monuments (cathedrals and Stonehenge) might have been built and give an idea of what power it must have projected for its builders both spiritually and economically, as well as manpower and ingenuity, at its creation! Also very brutal, Cornwell did not shy away from human sacrifice of children, slavery, misogyny and violence of all kind, so it is not for the faint hearted! That said, while it show case how harsh life might have been back then, that there also were characters that tried to rise above mere survival of the fittest, made it even more engaging given their situation!
@@MacScarfield that's a brilliant take comparing those two books. And each is so wholly their own creation.
Anyone ever told you you look a bit like Bill Burr? Sorry for the random comment.
Haha, so I've heard!
It's a hard life
Amen. It is a challenge I accept though.
I did not finish I Claudius either. Same reasons, dry and who cares :). I DNF'ed The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by McBride. Ugh. Enjoyed his Good Lord Bird though. Todd Rundgren's Something Anything album was ( I think) performed entirely by him. Great album
Oh good, glad I'm not the only I, Claudius DNF'er.