What are you reading in 2025?

[gban007]

That’s what I see from others, too. I love the world history, a lot of the cultures, and the interrelated magic and gods. A lot it’s captured my imagination in ways fantasy hasn’t for me in a while. But I really need some other story.

This will sound sarcastic, but I mean it: Malazan made me freshly appreciate how little sexual violence there is in Warhammer 40K novels.

Yeah, it is a tough read a lot of the times for the bleak stuff that happens, and thr sexual violence gets worse over the series, with one part of book 9 particularly dark / tough.
I still enjoyed the series as a whole, but unlike most Malazan fans I prefer Esslemonts novels in the world as feel a bit lighter with less sexual violence (not no violence, but i can only recall one or two instances vs the many in the main 10) and so easier reads.

 

[Autumnal]

Bleakness doesn’t bother me - I read Dostoyevsky, Ballard, W.S. Burroughs, Ligotti, and so on. It’s the mix of specific bad acts that ground me down. I’ll go read something restorative like Naked Lunch or Ballard’s Crash.

 

[Old Fezziwig]

I’ve bombed out the Malazan Book of the Fallen, at least for now. I DNFed book 4, House of Chains. I cannot handle this level of rape on top of all the other violence. Dunno what I’m going to read next. Probably random short stuff for a little while.

I’m conflicted. On the one hand, I hate knowing that there’s a lot I’d enjoy if I persisted and I feel like a wimp. On the other, I don’t actually wish I were less repulsed by sexual violence.

I loved the series, but I can see where House of Chains would end in a DNF. I found Karsa Orlong to be viscerally unlikeable from page 1, and Erickson's entirely too comfortable using sexual violence in his plots. It also felt like a little bit of a betrayal tonally after Memories of Ice, which has some pretty heroic and noble stuff at the end. But Erickson has a puerile, edgy side that would be better restrained sometimes (I found Willful Child to be repellant, and I'm not big on the Bauchelain and Korbal Broach stories).

 

[Old Fezziwig]

I've been reading Venice: A New History by Thomas F. Madden lately, or as I've been calling it, A Young Christian's Unillustrated History of Venice. I'm about 20 pages from the end, and I don't think there's much that it could do to change my feelings about it. Madden reminds me of some of the Warhammer 40k RPG books I've read talking about space marines. People seem to really like space marines. And Madden is very excited about Venice, Venetians, and their commitment to the medieval Church and the Crusades. The entirety of the medieval world aside from the Venetians is reduced to pantomime villains in a strange little morality play. I was looking for a single volume history of Venice for the layperson, and this fit the bill, but it's been offensively simplistic in its portrayal of the rest of the European world throughout. I think the broad facts are accurate, so there's that, I guess, but it's been a really weird read. And I probably could have gotten as much information out of the Wikipedia page (and weirdness if I wanted to chase footnotes and hyperlinks from it) in far less time for free.

 

[Autumnal]

Well, damn, that’s a disappointment. If you’re on Bluesky, you could ask Ada Palmer or Jo Walton for a recommendation - they’re waist-deep in the subject.

 

[Old Fezziwig]

Well, damn, that’s a disappointment. If you’re on Bluesky, you could ask Ada Palmer or Jo Walton for a recommendation - they’re waist-deep in the subject.

I am, though I might dive into Palmer's Inventing the Renaissance first. That book looks great!

Edit: Alas, it's not out yet. Something to look forward to, then.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

I am, though I might dive into Palmer's Inventing the Renaissance first. That book looks great!

Edit: Alas, it's not out yet. Something to look forward to, then.

You know that thing about men thinking about the Roman Empire? For me, if my partner asked me about Terra Ignota, my answer would be "Every damn day..."

 

[Mad_Jack]

First book finished in March: Memories of Ice by Steven Erickson, Malazan Book of the Fallen #3.

I studied lit at university and had Frankenstein as required reading for a few classes, but before reading the quoted above I’ve never come across that take of Frankenstein. Most of the film versions also seem to support the take that Victor is the real monster. Adam, the creation, is almost universally portrayed as what amounts to an unwanted child who lashes out at the creator who abandoned him.

I thought the tv show Penny Dreadful did an excellent interpretation of the monster - the monster is clearly lashing out at Frankenstein because he's almost too human, and feels things too deeply, and yet is also keenly aware of his own monstrosity and moral failings...

I’ve bombed out the Malazan Book of the Fallen, at least for now. I DNFed book 4, House of Chains. I cannot handle this level of rape on top of all the other violence. Dunno what I’m going to read next. Probably random short stuff for a little while.

I’m conflicted. On the one hand, I hate knowing that there’s a lot I’d enjoy if I persisted and I feel like a wimp. On the other, I don’t actually wish I were less repulsed by sexual violence.

Erikson is a hell of a worldbuilder, and I loved his take on magic. But that series was definitely a polarizing read - I've heard people love it and hate it, but few opinions in between. You may want to try to skim through the rest of that book and take up reading it from a less violent part - I think the series is worth reading all the way to the end.

 

[Autumnal]

I’ll keep that in mind, when I have some extra free brain, thanks. (No sarcasm, either.) it’s tricky when, for instance, I want to learn a lot about what’s up with Karsa’s people but not even a little bit more about his raiding. But I have a high-capacity Kindle and no need to throw the ebooks away, so they can wait.

 

[trappedslider]

And that's why the doctor was the REAL monster