I dropped ASOIAF in the middle of the third book. It probably had something to do with knowing it’d never be finished, but I just felt bored. It was all so high stakes and meaningless, not for me.
The writing in The Expanse is grating, it’s all he said, she said, he said, they said, he said, said said said said said said said said said said said. If I hadn’t been listening to it while at work I’d have bailed in the first book. If you can get past that the series has great world building and I love Avarsarsla.
Rothfuss is indeed great but I can’t recommend it to anyone knowing we’re only getting two nights of the three promised.
Silo is actually on my list.
I’ve also been rereading the Honorverse by David Weber. I love it still but it gets to be a slog and the story is feels like it’s the same everytime. I want to get past book 6 or 7 but never have.
I can’t say enough good things about the Stormlight Archive.
But then again I also enjoyed the hell out of Brent Weeks’ Lightbringer series which seemed to be mostly disliked on the whole. I read it before the 4th and 5th books were released so I’m not sure where it goes and need to get back to it some day.
Speaking of Weeks, the Night Angel Trilogy is bomb. It’s no literary masterpiece but it’s a dark and gritty world that sets your expectations and fulfills them over and over again. The story is cliche and I like it. The characters are fun to follow as they navigate the plot points I can see coming from books away.
Nah the take is:
Often times in media the only queer representation is a villain.
It’s actually difficult to find characters that are gender non-conforming and good or at least neutral in any media before like 2006. Only having queer people show up as villains subtly hints at your brain that something is wrong with queer people, that you should be wary, that they are bad. This is held out in scientific studies and also applies to bipoc representation in media too.
I’m all for queer and bipoc villains but we also deserve to be heroes.