7 Yrs♥$✓#
ThomasE
7 Yrs♥$✓#
First book I finish in 2025 is ... Red Tithe by Robbie MacNiven, the first entry in the Carcharodons series. I had started it on 2024-11-19 already though.
I got this book in one of the W40k humble bundles and it is another really great find from there. It's about an Adeptus Astartes chapter of the Carcharodons, landing on a planet to conduct a "Red Tithe" (kidnap the population to fill their own ranks), while fighting off a Chaos warband of the Night Lords. The Carcharodons are an exiled chapter that even (at least parts of) the Inquisition and the general Imperium know nothing about.
Overall I liked the omnipresent mysticism but I wish a bit more Carcharodons lore would have been explained: why were they exiled, why can't they return, etc. Probably will get resolved in the next books? I also really enjoyed how the Night Lords and Carcharodons were shown to be surprisingly similar in many regards and how the Carcharodons mind-control humans to reach their goals.
Next book for me is The Flight of the Eisenstein, the forth entry in the Horus Heresy, next manga is fifth volume of Goodnight Punpun. And regarding audio books: I'm still listening to Dune, having taken a longer break now over the holidays.
edit: a present to myself: I've ordered a new kindle. My kindle is having a bit too many issues now. Nothing major, just battery runs out fast (maybe lasts for 4-5 hours or so) and I can no longer order books from it (page is just blank and stays that way). It's an 8th generation kindle, so from 2016. I actually thought it was much older but hey. I guess almost 10 years is enough justification to get a new one.
I got this book in one of the W40k humble bundles and it is another really great find from there. It's about an Adeptus Astartes chapter of the Carcharodons, landing on a planet to conduct a "Red Tithe" (kidnap the population to fill their own ranks), while fighting off a Chaos warband of the Night Lords. The Carcharodons are an exiled chapter that even (at least parts of) the Inquisition and the general Imperium know nothing about.
Overall I liked the omnipresent mysticism but I wish a bit more Carcharodons lore would have been explained: why were they exiled, why can't they return, etc. Probably will get resolved in the next books? I also really enjoyed how the Night Lords and Carcharodons were shown to be surprisingly similar in many regards and how the Carcharodons mind-control humans to reach their goals.
Next book for me is The Flight of the Eisenstein, the forth entry in the Horus Heresy, next manga is fifth volume of Goodnight Punpun. And regarding audio books: I'm still listening to Dune, having taken a longer break now over the holidays.
edit: a present to myself: I've ordered a new kindle. My kindle is having a bit too many issues now. Nothing major, just battery runs out fast (maybe lasts for 4-5 hours or so) and I can no longer order books from it (page is just blank and stays that way). It's an 8th generation kindle, so from 2016. I actually thought it was much older but hey. I guess almost 10 years is enough justification to get a new one.
4 Yrs♥$✓#
Siver
4 Yrs♥$✓#
In this case publication order = chronological order, so that's not hard anyway. I also don't really have a personal set order anyway. My initial reading of the series was a scattered mess all over the map based on whatever was available/I was gifted. I've never really been part of a book club likes this before, so hopefully it'll be fun!
7 Yrs♥$✓#
ThomasE7 Yrs♥$✓#
I've finished Dune by Frank Herbert (audio book), my second book of 2025.
I had watched the movies recently and found them great, especially the second one, and that made me interested in the book.
It's a rather long audio book with 21h and actually both movies are based on the first book. It was interesting to take note of where the movies and the book differed and which things didn't make the movie (CHOAM company, Alia - Paul's sister - becoming a Reverend Mother right from birth, Alia first becoming a hostage of the Emperor and then killing the Baron (she's two years old!), Paul's son being murdered, the Baron being afraid of the Emperor, and probably many more things that have just slipped my mind.)
Hard to describe but the writing style is unique, mystical. I have never read anything similiar. Almost like a religious text. And while I did have a great time with Dune I felt like the book is more fascinating than enjoyable. I think Dune is the kind of book that you finish and then afterwards can easily find yourself spending hours on wikis or forums googling things. A surprise to me were the many references to Islam and the Arabic world in Dune. Sure, from the movies alone you get some references or similiarities, even if just that some names sound more Arabic in origin (at least for someone not Arabic) or the mentioning of Jihad. But in the book the references are all over. There are whole wiki pages about this. Anyone who's interested can just google Islam and Dune. Personally I found it already interesting that Ramadan is mentioned (verbatim).
What I feel a bit conflicted about was that Paul - much more than in the movies - really undoubtable is the messiah of the Fremen. There's no way around it. He has mystical powers, for example foresight. In the movies it's kind of left to speculations - to some degree - and that in my opinion creates more suspension. Here it's very clear.
The book has the most random weird ending: The book literally ends with a sentence spoken by Jessica to Chani saying that they as concubines will be remembered as the wives, or at least more so than the actual wives of their husbands. I assume that authors put a lot of thought into the first and last paragraphs of theirs books. To end Dune with this sentence is so random and out of context. That was hardly ever a topic elsewhere in the book.
I've read a bit about how the story progresses in the series and it seems like it enters a much more depressing path. I don't think I want to continue the series.
I would definitely recommend reading Dune. It's fascinating and unique in my opinion, though it's not one my favourite books.
As my next audio book I've picked The guns of Tanith by Dan Abnett, the fifth Gaunt's Ghost novel.
I had watched the movies recently and found them great, especially the second one, and that made me interested in the book.
It's a rather long audio book with 21h and actually both movies are based on the first book. It was interesting to take note of where the movies and the book differed and which things didn't make the movie (CHOAM company, Alia - Paul's sister - becoming a Reverend Mother right from birth, Alia first becoming a hostage of the Emperor and then killing the Baron (she's two years old!), Paul's son being murdered, the Baron being afraid of the Emperor, and probably many more things that have just slipped my mind.)
Hard to describe but the writing style is unique, mystical. I have never read anything similiar. Almost like a religious text. And while I did have a great time with Dune I felt like the book is more fascinating than enjoyable. I think Dune is the kind of book that you finish and then afterwards can easily find yourself spending hours on wikis or forums googling things. A surprise to me were the many references to Islam and the Arabic world in Dune. Sure, from the movies alone you get some references or similiarities, even if just that some names sound more Arabic in origin (at least for someone not Arabic) or the mentioning of Jihad. But in the book the references are all over. There are whole wiki pages about this. Anyone who's interested can just google Islam and Dune. Personally I found it already interesting that Ramadan is mentioned (verbatim).
What I feel a bit conflicted about was that Paul - much more than in the movies - really undoubtable is the messiah of the Fremen. There's no way around it. He has mystical powers, for example foresight. In the movies it's kind of left to speculations - to some degree - and that in my opinion creates more suspension. Here it's very clear.
The book has the most random weird ending: The book literally ends with a sentence spoken by Jessica to Chani saying that they as concubines will be remembered as the wives, or at least more so than the actual wives of their husbands. I assume that authors put a lot of thought into the first and last paragraphs of theirs books. To end Dune with this sentence is so random and out of context. That was hardly ever a topic elsewhere in the book.
I've read a bit about how the story progresses in the series and it seems like it enters a much more depressing path. I don't think I want to continue the series.
I would definitely recommend reading Dune. It's fascinating and unique in my opinion, though it's not one my favourite books.
As my next audio book I've picked The guns of Tanith by Dan Abnett, the fifth Gaunt's Ghost novel.
✓
horror authors giving out free e-books lately, so i snagged the offers. and reading through the gates by ian rob wright.
7 Yrs♥$✓#
ThomasE7 Yrs♥$✓#
I finished the fifth volume of Goodnight Punpun.
(Summary from Goodreads for the fifth volume, although it's more fitting for the first volume)
Punpun is now a young man and he finally mets Aiko again. And boy is that first meeting painful to read.
I have to say that I find the fifth volume to be the weakest yet. I still enjoyed it but the absurdness was just too much. All this Pegasus stuff is really tiring to me. For people who haven't read the manga yet, Goodnight Punpun is always to a big part absurd but other volumes contained more coming-of-age story and less "talking random bullshit that makes zero sense".
This volume is a bit hectic, many grave topics are just brushed off on a handful of pages - Punpun's kind-of-girlfriend kind-of cheated on him with her Ex, she became pregnant and wants to abort the child, Punpun decides to fake a personality - Taka, after finally being with Aiko he suddenly is unsure if he doesn't want to be with his kind-of girlfriend instead. All of these topics get just tiny space. To be fair the last point is the cliffhanger so, yeah, it's okay it got like 3 panels or so.
I've already bought the next volume and will continue the manga soon.
This is Punpun Onodera’s coming-of-age story. His parents’ marriage is falling apart. His dad goes to jail and his mom goes to the hospital. He has to live with his loser uncle. He has a crush on a girl who lives in a weird cult. Punpun tries talking with God about his problems, but God is a jerk. Punpun keeps hoping things will get better, but they really, really don’t.
Punpun finally has a plan. But it gets shattered. He wants the world to shatter too. And it does. How can he live with himself? Maybe you just need to find a different life, Punpun.
(Summary from Goodreads for the fifth volume, although it's more fitting for the first volume)
Punpun is now a young man and he finally mets Aiko again. And boy is that first meeting painful to read.
I have to say that I find the fifth volume to be the weakest yet. I still enjoyed it but the absurdness was just too much. All this Pegasus stuff is really tiring to me. For people who haven't read the manga yet, Goodnight Punpun is always to a big part absurd but other volumes contained more coming-of-age story and less "talking random bullshit that makes zero sense".
This volume is a bit hectic, many grave topics are just brushed off on a handful of pages - Punpun's kind-of-girlfriend kind-of cheated on him with her Ex, she became pregnant and wants to abort the child, Punpun decides to fake a personality - Taka, after finally being with Aiko he suddenly is unsure if he doesn't want to be with his kind-of girlfriend instead. All of these topics get just tiny space. To be fair the last point is the cliffhanger so, yeah, it's okay it got like 3 panels or so.
I've already bought the next volume and will continue the manga soon.
5 Yrs✓#
NoOne
5 Yrs✓#
Good luck :]
7 Yrs♥$✓#
ThomasE7 Yrs♥$✓#
I've finished The Guns of Tanith (audio book edition) today, the fifth entry in the Gaunt's Ghosts series.
I liked the murder investigation and the general Tanith/Veghast divide. Also that Abnett dares to kill off a major character. I was actually thinking that Gaunt's Ghosts are maybe a bit too lucky and goody-two-shoes for a grimdark w40k universe and then Abnett goes further than before with Cuu's character.
I didn't like that there is only a single narrator/voice actor to read lines for, I guess, over 20 characters and therefore it became completely impossible to keep most of them apart. None of my favorite Ghosts got to play a bigger part, they were all sidelined for new guys. Which is obviously a completely subjective criticism. I also found the action a bit boring and since that is a major focus of this book, in my opinion, it's a weaker entry in the series.
Btw, after finishing the audio book Audible automatically started a preview for my potential next book and it picked First and Only, the first entry in the series. I found that very funny. What would be the chances that someone read the fifth but not the first book in this series?
Now starting to listen to Outer Dark by Robbie MacNiven, the second book in the Carcharodons series.
I liked the murder investigation and the general Tanith/Veghast divide. Also that Abnett dares to kill off a major character. I was actually thinking that Gaunt's Ghosts are maybe a bit too lucky and goody-two-shoes for a grimdark w40k universe and then Abnett goes further than before with Cuu's character.
I didn't like that there is only a single narrator/voice actor to read lines for, I guess, over 20 characters and therefore it became completely impossible to keep most of them apart. None of my favorite Ghosts got to play a bigger part, they were all sidelined for new guys. Which is obviously a completely subjective criticism. I also found the action a bit boring and since that is a major focus of this book, in my opinion, it's a weaker entry in the series.
Btw, after finishing the audio book Audible automatically started a preview for my potential next book and it picked First and Only, the first entry in the series. I found that very funny. What would be the chances that someone read the fifth but not the first book in this series?
Now starting to listen to Outer Dark by Robbie MacNiven, the second book in the Carcharodons series.