(no subject)

[bjornwilde]

YES! The 50% off sale was still on at Audible, so I was able to get the last four books of the Vlad Taltos series. I am taking this as my Yule and birthday present to myself. Here's hoping I remember and don't buy more pretty things as I need to be careful with my paycheck.

Once I finish these books, I will either take a break or dive into the Viscount of Adrilankha series, which seems to center on Morrolan's past. I'll likely start with Paths of the Dead, as I'd read The Phoenix Guards before and remember struggling with it some. I can't even say if I remember any of the story to be honest. The Viscount series seems to be a follow up to Phoenix Guards and 500 Years After, so I should be okay for not having read them first.

I am back at work, having spent yesterday at home with the Teen who has bronchitis. She's on antibiotics and has been so for two days now, so she'll be going back to school. We'd prefer to let her get over the phlegm but next week is finals and she missed a lot of school from her chronic illness, so we don't want to give the teachers any reason to ignore her work and want to get her as squared away with the content as we can.

My knees have been bugging me lately, but not being in a car for an extended period of time yesterday has helped a great deal. I also managed to cut myself on the tips of two fingers yesterday, which is not a fun thing. So many things we do that involve the tips of our fingers...

Comments

[hamsterwoman]

Yay, I'm glad the sale was still active and you were able to take advantage of it :)

Re: Viscount books and 500 Years After -- you can certainly enjoy the Vlad series without reading them, but Tiassa features characters from those books, and I feel like being familiar with 'Viscount' makes it a richer experience. (Of course, you could always read Tiassa, then reread it after you've read the Paarfi books). Basically, Tiassa is 3 linked stories, and each of them features a different Tiassa characters; you've already met Khaavren in The Phoenix Guards, but have not yet met the other two if that's the only Paarfi book you've read.

I did not care very much for The Phoenix Guards, but liked 500 Years After a lot, and really enjoyed big chunks of the Viscount volumes. Looking at my write-ups, here's what you'd be getting (as it pertains to the Vlad books) from each one:

Five Hundred Years After:
- What actually happened during Adron's Disaster
- Aliera and Sethra meeting for the first time (this is great!)
- Young Mario
- Meeting a character who will be important in one part of 'Tiassa' (but who also appears in the Viscount books, so you could probably get a feel for them there)
- An interesting parallel to something revealed over the course of 'Iorich'
- Meeting Morrolan's father and older brother

Viscount books:
- Meeting a different character who will be important in one part of 'Tiassa'
- More insight into the Empress Zerika's character, which made me like 'Phoenix' a lot more, and also contributed to my enjoyment of 'Iorich' and 'Hawk'
- Seeing young Morrolan and his relationship with witchcraft and sorcery
- The first meeting of Morrolan with Teldra, Sethra, Sethra the Younger, the Necromancer, Fentor, and Zerika
- The story behind Castle Black
- The story (or A story, anyway) behind the events alluded to by Teldra in 'Issola'
- A different retelling of a side story we hear in 'Teckla' (which I never would've realized if I hadn't read the comparison, so this is more of an Easter Egg kind of thing)

Basically, I do think you could skip 500 Years After (although it's legit one of my favorite Dragaera books, despite the fact that I don't much care for the Paarfi style), but Viscount especially does have a lot of places where it links up with the Vlad books and complements them nicely. (Of all the Paarfi books, The Phoenix Guards is the most disconnected from the Vlad story, so not having enjoyed it doesn't necessarily mean you won't enjoy the rest. Although if you hate Paarfi's style, well, that's still there in 500YA and Viscount.)

I hope Teen feels better soon, as do your hands and knees!

[bjornwilde]

I think I will definitely read them as I am very curious about Sethra, Morrolan, and Aelira’s past. I might wait until I polish off the Vlad books just cause I have them and to keep me spending more money on myself.

I’m actually tempted to get all the audiobooks and reread the whole series once I’m done. Maybe in world time order just to be weird since I’ve never done that.

Funny how I don’t ball at doing that but do at doing the same with the “Wheel of Time” series.

[hamsterwoman]

I usually never reread books, but I've reread most of the series, and my favorites I've reread multiple times. These are books that lend themselves well to re-reads -- I notice something new every time, and often what I notice is thrown into relief by which book in the series I'd read just before that -- which means your in Vlad's experience order (vs pub order) could uncover some neat things :) (I actually prefer re-reading in that order myself).

And, well, these are much shorter individual books than WoT! (I haven't read those, but I've seen the size of them :P)