Louis CK : How I Got Myself Into This Sticky Situation

does she ever pretend the books she reads dont contain as much s***as they do

Nah not really. Sometimes she's embarrassed and doesn't want to talk about them with most people but she's comfortable talking about s***so whatever. She'll laugh about some of the ridiculous s***stuff that's in them but she obviously gets something from it. I guess similar to what others get from action or mystery, some kind of excitement or engagement

My wife got me reading 4th Wing. It’s not bad, it’s my first “romantancy” novel. Certainly different from the Cosmere novels

Reading Poppy War rn

Pacing is perfect

Not gon pretend like its the most unique thing in the world but world building is great and the writing is pretty great so far. I can imagine everything that is happening super sharply.

Finished up 4th Wing, and onto Iron Flame. When the book is focused on the actual plot and not the melodrama of Violet & Xaden lovey dovey s*** it’s really engaging. Rebecca Yarros has such a vivid touch to her prose. Bout half way into Iron Flame, the story is still pretty good, but creeping into power fantasy territory. Xaden is unmatched to such a degree that it starts to make you wonder how the hell the country is even standing. He can single handedly defend/destroy a fortress damn near. Just eviscerates everyone. They’ve yet to introduce someone who could actually give him pause to engage. Well Violet’s path seems inevitably headed that way.

On another note, I have so many toxic potentially toxic takes on this romantancy genre, through the lens of women. Like on some real nigga s***, all these hoes the same man Rebecca Yarros she really must’ve been outside

On the 3rd book and the story has progressed to what I feared tbh. A chosen one, power fantasy. Also feel like the prose has taken a shift… it’s almost TV-esq. Violet constantly restating her motivations, plans, concerns etc. It’s like man I get it, just do the thing already. Every single time at a certain point you constantly fussing over every mission and barely holding it together, it’s insulting being on the other side of it. Because it’s like you are not trusting me to be able to handle myself. They even address this somewhat, but hasn’t really gone anywhere. Still at the beginning of Onyx Storm, so we’ll see.

The ending battle in Iron Flame was high octane, but strategically didn’t really hold up imo. !#Overwhelming majority of Dragon Riders had little to no experience fighting Venin and Wyvern. The Griffin Riders however, have been fighting them for who knows how many years. They were completely sidelined the whole battle. Regulated to carting the wounded. The plan essentially revolved around maximizing Violet’s signet, which continues to feed into the power fantasy. It just makes the ensemble cast feel inconsequential.

Then Xaden… my wife was like just wait, keep reading cause I told her I felt like he never has consequences for his actions. Bro is basically Sung Jinwoo. Iykyk.

Yea if it wasn’t for my wife, I’d DNF Onyx Storm. The story has really devolved into every stereotype this genre has. It had the seeds to be great, but its focus just isn’t on that.

What are some comedy books that aren’t Reddit cringe bullshit?

Rereading Moby D*** since it's been awhile (freshman year of college). The first few chapters has some of the greatest atmosphere I've ever read in literature

Licanius trilogy a fun read so far.

Yea… Unless you are big fan of “romantasy”genre, avoid 4th Wing series. The first book is fools gold on selling you on this being an epic fantasy series. From the second book on, this s*** is nothing but a romance/weird power couple bird fantasy. This is basically a CW tier show in novel form.

When I get money, I am going to commission high quality art for all the series that I like, but have NO good fanart.

I honestly thought this is most fantasy nowadays and that's why I avoid it like the plague

Somebody recommend me Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff. Will see how that goes

Which fantasy books didn't work for you?

I won't say it didn't work for me because in some respects I did like it, and I think the world building is unique, but didn't like it enough to continue with the series, not to mention the ending was lackluster sequelbait. That's "5th Season" by NK Jemisin.

Oh you tweakin
That is great trilogy series. I honestly was iffy on the books as I was reading them. After finishing the series, I felt lukewarm about it. But it’s like the more time persisted after reading it I kept thinking back to the story, its themes, the characters, and how just how much child hood trauma can shape you… man. It’s just stuck with me in such a profound way. It’s a great read to reflect on. I really encourage you to give it another go.

I'm gonna try and give it another shot but knowing how messy my backlog is rn, it'll be a while till I circle back lol

Can't speak on that. Haven't gotten to it yet. But if you ever wanna try again and support black voices in the genre, check out Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter.

Oh I know of that one. Didn't interest me tbh.

damn that's tough