Reading Fantasy / Horror in May 2026

[tpetty]

Finished Tchaikovsky's Cage of Souls. A good read, with great world building in a far off Earth with a likely dying sun. It's amazing to me how numerous and yet varied his books are - and usually very good. I will need to restart his Apt series at some point. I read the first few, then fell off. I'll have to start over.

Just started Eye of the World by Jordan. I read the first 8 or 9 books in the series when they first came out decades ago. I liked, but didn't love them. Too many non-essential threads/chapters that really bogged the story down and annoyed me. However, I've wanted to read Sanderson's books to conclude the story. I have the entire series taking up quite a bit of space on the shelf. I initially considered just reading online book synopsis of Jordan's books that I had read so long ago. I really only remember the over-arching main story concept, and no details. However, with some misgivings I finally decided to just take the plunge and start over at the beginning. Committing to a 10,000 page story - or whatever the number is - almost feels more like work than pleasure. Hopefully the re-read goes well. I plan to read everything, but if I start getting annoyed again I may just skim certain story-line/POV chapters

Often after I finish an entire series I will sell it on ebay. Opens up shelf space. These two series will open quite a bit of space when I can get rid of them.

 

[suciul]

Finished Condemned 7 by V Mahanenko - it started and ended great but the middle was a bit too much, very close to jumping the shark so to speak; my Goodreads review:

The book has a great beginning dealing with the fallout from Max's assassination by Karina - after all, earlier he shot her in the head with a crossbow from point blank range, so she got mad and wanted revenge and thought she got it.

However, Max only loses a few days of memory since the Citadel had brought him in for a "relearn your place" lesson in which he would be condemned to death, executed and then resurected by the magic runes secretly drawn on him by magister Meram (who kindly overloooked the fact that Max literally ripped his heart out, by wryly noting that proved he is still human), but Max confounded everyone by mounting a spirited defense and getting scot free only for the close encounter with Karina's true shot soon after.

Max now has no idea about the trial, his defense etc, but he knows that the greedy Light priests have all his stuff, want him to keep working for them for free as a "doomed soldier" despite him being now an archduke, so he needs to find a solution to get back his things and go back home.

Luckily for him and not so luckily for the Citadel, magister Elor is in the mood for destruction and using Karina's "execution" at the stake (and secret help from Academy Chancellor Kimal, manipulator supreme, who wants to take down the Citadel a peg too and help Max), unleashes an unstoppable wave on the Citadel and the Pope desperately needing Max's help agrees to all his conditions, so things seem to look up for a while at least.

But things soon get tupsy turvy again as magister Meram wants his favor promised by Max for teaching him the communication rune and enrolls Max for a mission in his service where he soon finds out he needs to work closely like best buddies with the also recently resurrected Karina to both their dismay - however there are other happenings which get close to jumping the shark and degenerating into parody, so the middle part of the novel is less interesting to a large extent, but the twists at the end get the series back on track.

Overall, still crazy fun but a bit over the top in parts, though the ending is superb

 

[Westy]

I read Sharp Ends, the collection of short stories set in the First Law Universe - like any short story collection, some are better than others, and they're never as good as the full novels (for me anyway) - not enough room to fully flesh out the characters/story. These were more like snippet stories from the same characters from the books, as opposed to shorter versions of novels with a true ending. (For me the best proponent of this is (early) Stephen King).

But definitely better than average, with Abercrombie's typical approach to writing.

 

[cgw]

Finished Onslaught (Last Life 12) by A Osadchuk - it was excellent - I got it the morning it was published and read it by noon, but it just begged for the next installment as the multiple plots just thickened.

My Goodreads review:

Starting as a sort of generic progression fantasy/hero sent into another body/world, Last Life has morphed into one of the top fantasy series with an increasing cast of characters, action, and intrigue on multiple fronts and of course magical undertones and battles on various levels of the multiverse.

Onslaught continues the multiple storylines, adding some complications - the mythical Vultarn comes to take over Max's body, though of course he is quite surprised when Max disagrees with that course of action, and on this subplot we find out more and more about Max's true past.

Among the many threads we also have:

The sort of vampire King Olgerd starts getting more and more into action and of course not quite as the benign figure he presents himself to Olgerd's vassal and Max's former associate and sort of friend, the princess witch Lada.

The vainglory of prince Heinrich (the Heir to Vestonia and Verena's semi-official fiance) and Marshall von Mansfeld (the leading light of Verena's loyalist Astlandic nobles) leads to their dismissive attitude to Verena' worries and insights as what could a young woman, princess though she may be, can know about war, politics and so on, having Verena regretting more and more she didn't go with Max.

The increasing assertiveness of King Adrian (of Attalia) and King (of Astland and Emperor to be) Otto II making their chief subordinates, the Golden Lion (most famed general of the times who put Adrian on the throne) and minister Lander (who masterminded the coup that dethroned Verena's father and put Otto on the throne) respectively, more and more worried about their futures so to speak.

Princess Astrid (the true Queen of the North as her surviving brother rules there by her will, and knows what happend with the other brother who Astrid made king but then he tried to go his way) in tow with Prince Louis (her submissive poet husband and younger brother of Heinrich) have come to Vestonia with a powerful army and nobody quite knows what Astrid intends - beyond of course becoming Queen of Vestonia in due time.

And as expected there is more about Max Renard's birth in this world as he finally finds out that while his philandering father's liason with Isabelle, the merchant heiress who most people believe to be Max's mother, was an open secret, there were some rumors about a liason with the daughter of a duke who happened to be the premier marshal of Vestonia, which was of course a much more serious business.

Just nonstop action and a book I couldn't put down until I finished it, with the only regret being that book 13 has no release date yet - and of course that the audio versions are progressing even slower with 10 scheduled for late in the year so far.

Overall, an excellent series that is getting better and better as complexity and the cast of characters keeps increasing.

That came out quickly. I was expecting a few months and not even looking for it.

 

[suciul]

That came out quickly. I was expecting a few months and not even looking for it.

When I finished Resistance (Last Life 11), I thought it will be later too but then I saw the date; the funny thing was that when Onslaught (Last Life 12) came out last week on the 8th, I was in NY and since I was awake at 12 am I wanted to get it then and just read a few pages before bed, but Amazon didn't want to let me buy it since it knows my home is in Denver so it was only 10 pm for its algorithms - despite that its Kindle app was synchronized with the NY hour...

Anyway, I just read it the next day but sadly on finishing it, one wants book 13 asap as everything depeens rather than resolves - without spoilers, the ending is close in many ways to the ending of Shadow Pass, and so far there is no announcement for 13; hopefully later this year or early next year.

Back on topic, in audio almost done with Last Paladin 4 (still funny, exciting and inventive - there was a scene that had me laughing out so loud that it was lucky I was stopped at a light - excerpt below...) and will get into 5 immediately and then back to sf, while in reading Condemned/Last of the Line 8 is going nicely, back on track so far

"Meet Amelia,” the major said. “The snow devil of the front line. Over a hundred combat deployments under her belt, and we’re lucky she was in the capital when the call came in…” He was still rattling off her accolades when Amelia finally spotted me. Her eyes widened, and every trace of composure vanished. She stumbled down the last train step with all the grace of a startled ox.
Well… at least she didn’t faceplant.
*********

The major cleared his throat and gestured toward me. “Your Grace, meet Marcus. Your unit commander.”
Amelia’s throat bobbed with a nervous swallow. She took a half-step back. “You… You must be joking, Major Winthrop,” she said, barely finding her voice.
“No jokes, Your Grace,” the major said, briefly taken aback. “Despite his low Guardian rank, Marcus has proven himself a skilled fighter and a capable commander. He’s the acknowledged leader of the Shadow Clan and was officially sanctioned as a Guardian by Argus. He’s trusted by the Head of the Nature Clan, an active Imperial Warrior, and...” He hesitated before adding, “and Maximilian.”
*********

“Forgive me, Your Grace. Perhaps… you would be willing to lead the squad instead? You’re Victoria Lugovsky, aren’t you? I’ve heard of your accomplishments. My instructors used to hold you up as an example in training. It would be a tremendous honor to follow you into battle.”
“Out of the question,” Victoria said, her tone just a little icier than necessary. “I trust Marcus completely. If you, Amelia, have doubts about the commanding officer, you’re free to remain here. There will be no consequences from us. Nor damage to your honor. Isn’t that right, Major Winthrop?”
********

The major, who hadn’t exactly been thrilled about the group composition to begin with, looked like he’d gone gray all over again.
The life of a staff officer… never easy.
“You know that girl?” Victoria asked sweetly. Too sweetly.
“Not really,” I said with a shrug.
“Liar. She definitely knows you.” She wasn’t letting this go.
“Well… we bumped into each other once. Shower room. Nothing special.” I hitched my pack higher and stepped into the train.
“The shower?” The scandalized voice came from behind me.
Up ahead, Albert stifled a chuckle so hard it turned into a snort.
“Oh, this is going to be fun,” Max said, still grinning, and followed me inside."