October '24 Book Reviews | 10 Books from Great Authors!

[@cipriansirbu3699]

I'm very happy that you liked Empire of Silence,one of my favourite series ever. The great news is that the next books are even better. My personal favourite is Howling Dard but most people prefer Demon in White,great times lies ahead for you,Welcome to the Empire.

[@RedFuryBooks]

That's what I've heard about the books! I can't wait!

[@NevsBookChannel]

The way you talk about books is so engaging. It perfectly fits my tastes for some reason! I really enjoyed The Shaping of Middle Earth - especially, as you say, the maps of the whole world. And oddly, Christopher’s analysis is sometimes more interesting than the actual text he’s discussing

[@RedFuryBooks]

Thank you! And I agree that sometimes Christopher Tolkien's commentary can be more interesting than the text itself. It's definitely an integral aspect of these books.

[@BooksWithBenghisKahn]

Oh man this made me sooo happy with how much you liked Empire of Silence. That bodes so so well for this series becoming a new favorite - can’t wait for you to catch up with the next books!

[@RedFuryBooks]

That's what I've heard - I can't wait to continue!

[@Talking_Story]

Wow what a month. Night Shift is such an awesome collection!

[@RedFuryBooks]

Yes and yes!

[@sharathkumar8422]

First time viewer here and for a second I thought I was watching Michael Keaton reviewing books :D Nice video! Gonna get Empire of Silence and Last Light of the Sun as soon as I'm done with Hyperion...

[@RedFuryBooks]

Hey, thanks for stopping by! I hope you love Hyperion as I do! My favorite sci-fi series.

[@DebbieHeim-fv6yx]

I also just finished 11/23/62. I absolutely loved it. The length of the book was negligible to me because of the way King writes…. It’s like a friend that is talking to me , taking their time ,telling me an amazingly interesting story. I felt ambivalent about the ending, but I understood why it had to be that way. I did not want it to end . Thank you so much for talking about this book in a way that made me want to read it. I love your reviews because you are very honest, so when you say it’s good, I usually go buy it if I don’t already own it. Sooo glad I read this. My next book of King’s will be The Stand. I hope. I like that one too! Thanks again📚💜Debbie

[@RedFuryBooks]

I'm so glad that you loved 11/22/63, Debbie! And I'm glad that my recommendations are working for you - I hope this continues!

[@DebbieHeim-fv6yx]

I just finished The Waiting too! I agree with every point you made about Connelly. And I read it exactly as you did.. a few pages late at night to see what I was going to be enjoying, but the next day I finished it! I couldn’t out it down. Great reviews!!🎉🎉🙋‍♀️💜

[@BookishChas]

Great video Josh! That’s really fascinating stuff about the History of Middle Earth. I’m hoping to start Suneater next year.

[@RedFuryBooks]

Awesome - I hope you enjoy it!

[@rebeccaselsky8491]

I love your reviews. I read several books on your recommendation and all were winners. Currently reading the Farseer Trilogy and I love it!

[@RedFuryBooks]

So happy to hear this - thank you!

[@gayanegasparyan4137]

Glad you liked Empire of Silence! And I’m gonna continue with GGK books too soon ! I’ve read 5 of his books and loved them all

[@RedFuryBooks]

Yes, GGK is 8 for 8 with me!

[@wyluli-dt9wv]

Happy to hear how much you liked my favorite GGK novel, Last Light of the Sun! No one nails an ending like GGK and LLotS has the best. Just perfect! Also glad you're going to give Brust a shot. His Vlad Taltos assassin novels are great. I'm kind of surprised you didn't already read them back in the 80s.

[@RedFuryBooks]

Yes, I've heard enough positives about Brust to give him another shot. Had I read this as Hobb's first, I'd kick myself if I never picked up another!

[@douglasdea637]

Almost no one talks about Brust and Vlad Taltos. They are uneven but overall I love them, some are among my favorite fantasy books.

[@wyluli-dt9wv]

@@douglasdea637 Yeah they're never mentioned and neither is Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Booktube really misses on some of the good stuff from yesteryear.

[@MuleFace100]

The only book I've read of these is Tortilla Flats - I actually read most of his shorter works before taking on the major ones. I've read all of Stephen Brust's Vlad Taltos series & I'll say you really can't go wrong there - a classic "clever rogue gets into trouble & uses all his wits & talents to escape (or does he?)" type of story line. Give it a try!

[@RedFuryBooks]

Thanks for he recommendation - I've jotted that one down!

[@jamesellis1635]

I really like Steven Brust. His Taltos/Jhereg series is really great. He does an interesting thing where he start the first book in the middle of the protagonist life and then the second book flips back to his early life. He was way ahead of his time when writing these books.

[@RedFuryBooks]

I've heard good things about that series!

[@akellerhouse83]

I read 9 books in Oct. Several of them were horror, so they were fairly short. Probably the craziest one was Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay. I also finished the Blackwater Saga and the ending was really good. I'm going to miss those characters! I was gonna read Sarantine Mosaic this month, but Song for Arbonne was free at my library so I went with it. I liked it better than Tigana. I think my book of the month might be Childhoods End by Arthur C Clark. I was just really surprised by the ending. I never knew what it was about. My other books were all pretty good, too. I also liked Eyes of Empire by JCM Berne and Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky.

[@RedFuryBooks]

Sounds like a great month! Glad you loved A Song for Arbonne - that remains my favorite by GGK.

[@esmayrosalyne]

Josh you are not helping with the Sun Eater FOMO here hahaha. I am glad it was such a hit for you though, and I hope that the sequels live up to your expectations! Also really need to try some more King collections myself. My favourite books of October were books 2 and 3 in Daniel Barnett's Nightmareland Chronicles (major King vibes, def recommend this ongoing serialized post-apocalyptic horror epic!!), 11/22/63, The Lost Metal and my re-read of The Way of Kings.

[@RedFuryBooks]

"Major King vibes... post-apocalyptic horror epic" sounds AMAZING! I'm writing that series down as I've never heard of it!

[@iSamwise]

Sounds like a great month! The Sun Eater books only get better from here! Personally my favorite is book four, Kingdoms of Death, but I’m currently reading book six, Disquiet Gods.

[@c-haar]

I really enjoy the great variety of books you read and review! As it happens, my favorite authors are King, Connelly, and Hobb. I also read all of Lehane's Kenzie and Gennaro books back when they were published. Gone Baby Gone is my absolute favorite. It’s been quite a few years since I read Steinbeck-I think the last one I read was Travels with Charley. I must revisit his books. My books of the month are Kingdom of the Blind by Louise Penny, an amazing Canadian crimewriter, and Assassin’s Quest by Hobb. Inspired by your videos, I might give Guy Gavriel Kay a try. Which book would be a good starting point? I might also give Ruocchio a try, but I’m not a big Sci Fi reader, but then again I only startet reading Fantasy when I dicovered BookTube 🙂

[@RedFuryBooks]

Great to find a reader with similar tastes! As for a good starting point for Guy Gavriel Kay, I started with The Lions of al-Rassan and it was a great entry point. The beauty with Kay is that most of his works are stand alone novels. If you want more options, both Jake Bishop and The Library Ladder have probably the best GGK content on YT and have great videos making recommendations and starting points.

[@c-haar]

Thank you for your suggestions!!

[@jimave]

Thanks for the reviews. Based on this, I’m going to listen to Dennis Lehane’s 2 books as I’ve listened to the first 3 Kenzie and Gennaro books. I’m looking forward to listening to Connelly’s new book. He is also one of my favorites. Steven King is usually a go to for me when I need to quick story after a long fantasy story.

[@RedFuryBooks]

I hope you continue to enjoy the Lehane books!

[@stevenstewart782]

I'm currently reading the long walk which is 1 of Stephen king's bachmann books And man he didn't hold back he didn't pull any punches with his early works man

[@RedFuryBooks]

Absolutely true! Early King is very brave King.

[@jeremycamp0206]

I had trouble with the first 2 Sun Eater books but I read book 3 about a month ago and it might be the best book I’ve read this year. Happy to hear Michael Connelly is still writing great books. I haven’t gotten to the last book yet but I’ve been impressed with how consistent his quality of writing is

[@heidi6281]

You are the first person in the entire booktube community that agrees with me that they had issues with Howling Dark. I am glad you loved book 3! Maybe the day I have no tbr left I will pick it up again. 🫠

[@RedFuryBooks]

Good to know with Sun Eater! Glad to see another Connelly fan, too! He's remarkable in his consistency.

[@douglasdea637]

I love Raymond Feist and enjoyed Rise of a Merchant Prince. It's just... different. I haven't seen business economics done in a fantasy setting before, and haven't since. Sure, it's mostly filler among the larger story of Serpent War but overall well done. I too have read maybe a dozen Feist books and look forward to reading more. Haven't read Gypsy but have read most of Steven Brust's other books. He's a hit-or-miss author but I love the way he willing to experiment and change up styles. More authors should try that. I find it sad that few Booktube reviewers rarely mention Brust or his Vlad Taltos novels some of which are among my favorite fantasy. Had no idea "Lindholm" was Robin Hobb.

[@RedFuryBooks]

The Gypsy definitely felt experimental to me. I admire that in an author, even if this particular work didn't work for me.

[@sergeybudarin7071]

I also read Ruocchio first book and to be honest, I didn't really get into it, it seemed boring to me, in places secondary, the main character doesn't really arouse sympathy, for the whole book he made few decisions, he was constantly pushed either by people (mother, girlfriend) or circumstances. It only gets interesting at the end, I've postponed this series for now, but I'll try the second book in the future!

[@RedFuryBooks]

I think my reception of Empire of Silence seems to be in the minority, while a lot of readers didn't like it as much. But it seems pretty much universally everyone says the series gets better.

[@fithfath3615]

That was a big month Josh, plenty of great reads too. I've had Empire Of Silence for a while, but never seem to get round to starting it. I'm wanting to read more of Steinbeck as Of Mice And Men is an all time favourite of mine. The Last Light Of The Sun is a great read, The Serpentwar Saga does get better after the slowness of Rise Of The Merchant Prince. I still haven't been able to gel with Stephen King, but maybe a short story collection would be a good thing to try. I had a good month in October and read: The Dispossessed - Ursula K Le Guin (my first taste of Le Guin and It was very good) The Creeper - A M Shine (great until the awfully bad ending) The Only Good Indians - Stephen Graham Jones (really great horror book) Jaws - Peter Benchley (the film is way better) Lord Of The Flies - William Golding (really enjoyed re-reading this) A Boy And His Dog At The End Of The World - C A Fletcher (loved this after the apocalypse tale) Hellboy Omnibus Volume 2: Strange Places - Comic Book (a re-read of this great collection) Legion: Secret Origin - Comic Book (nostalgia trip for The Legion of Superheroes) Book of the month is hard to pick between The Dispossessed and The Only Good Indians, but I think The Dispossessed wins (only just)

[@RedFuryBooks]

I'm 200 pages into the third book of the Serpentwar Saga and it's back to form for sure! As for Stephen King, I do think a short fiction collection like Night Shift can be a good way to start him to see if he's for you.

[@readbykyle3082]

What a stacked month of authors, haha. Def need to reread Night Shift, asap. Maybe it'll be my short story collection in January.

[@RedFuryBooks]

Yep, my top 5 plus Lehane! Had I read Abercrombie's new one it could've been my top 7!

[@Thxlbx]

Welcome to Sun Eater! It will be an amazing journey.

[@RedFuryBooks]

Thanks!

[@cynthiafialka]

You may have convinced me to read Empire of Silence. I don’t always get on well with “hyped” books but I think I’ll give it a go. My BOM is either Ordinary Grace (my second William Kent Krueger) or The City of Mirrors. (Really enjoyed The Passage Trilogy)

[@RedFuryBooks]

Glad you enjoyed The Passage Trilogy! I've added Ordinary Grace to my TBR as I keep hearing such great things.

[@Johanna_reads]

Great reviews! Last Light of the Sun sounds wonderful. I didn’t realize Sun Eater had Dune influence. I’ve mostly heard it was influenced by Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun. Good to know!

[@thatsci-firogue]

@@Johanna_reads what's funny is for the longest time in terms of influence all I'd heard was Dune and Star Wars (though those definitely apply) but I haven't read far enough to see much of the Wolfe influences yet.

[@Johanna_reads]

@@thatsci-firogue I know Ruocchio is a huge BotNS fan. One reason I haven't picked up Sun Eater yet is because I'd like to read BotNS first.

[@thatsci-firogue]

@@Johanna_reads I definitely recommend Book of The New Sun. Unlike anything I've read.

[@RedFuryBooks]

The beauty of reading Ruocchio first is that I don't know the Gene Wolfe references! :)

[@Kim_Miller]

I loved Empire of Silence right from the start and have loved all of the main books so far. The fillers are not as consistently good but there are a couple of five star books in there. Looking forward to the final book. And I recently read A Drink Before the War, the first in Lehane's detective series. It was fast paced attention grabber and I can see I'll follow up with more of his work. In a similar vein I read Harkaway's Titanium Noir two weeks ago. The typical sardonic noir detective but with a bit of a scifi edge. And in the opposite direction was Andy Weir's Artemis, a book about a criminal rather than a detective, and if you can get past the polarizing protagonist it's a lot of fun.

[@RedFuryBooks]

Good to know about all of Ruocchio's books! I hope you continue enjoying the Lehane books - they're great!

[@ianthereader]

At this point, Dennis Lehane is an auto-read author for me. Still need to continue the Kenzie and Genarro series and read his trilogy, but his stand-alones are unforgettable. Small Mercies is in the running for my favorite book of the year.

[@RedFuryBooks]

Oh yeah, Lehane's latest was fantastic!

[@WordsinTime]

Welcome to the empire! ⚔️

[@RedFuryBooks]

I'm excited!

[@thatsci-firogue]

Last Light of the Sun ❤ I really enjoyed it, and I normally don't care for viking stuff. Underrated. I'll continue Sun Eater one of these days, a lot of people with similar taste to me were more impressed with Empire of Silence than I was. In October I read: *Fantasy* Earthsea 4: Tehanu - My long overdue return to LeGuin and Earthsea. Wonderful. These books are my idea of cosy Fantasy. Love the themes of found family and ageing. Book of The Month! Memory, Sorrow & Thorn 2: Stone of Farewell - Scratches that LotR and ASOIAF itch, tho so far I like it more that LotR. More in line of what I was hoping Wheel of Time and Faithful & the Fallen would be. *Horror* The Ritual / Adam Nevill - Couldn't put it down! I'll try to prioritise more Nevill going forward. I didn't find the 2nd half as creepy though. *Image Comics* Criminal 2: Lawless Written by Ed Brubaker | Art by Sean Philips - Didn't love this as much as I did the previous volume. Didn't find the plot as engaging. *Marvel Comics* Ultimate Spider-man 1: Married with Children Written by Jonathan Hickman | Art by Marco Checchetto - Loved this! The Spider-man Marvel refuses to give the fans in the main continuity for nearly twenty years! *Short Fiction* Hell is the Absence of God / Ted Chiang - As an atheist with no spiritual leanings this was an interesting read. As for what I'm currently reading: *Epic Fantasy* Memory, Sorrow & Thorn 3: To Green Angel Tower Wars of Light & Shadow 1: Curse of the Mistwraith (re-read)

[@RedFuryBooks]

Tehanu was my favorite of all the Earthsea novels. It's only been a few years but I want to reread them all soon! And I can't wait to start Memory, Sorrow and Thorn in January!

[@richardlock1631]

My book of the month was Gone, Baby, Gone by Dennis Lehane. After the slightly shark jumping Sacred this put wheels back on the ground and was a masterclass of procedural investigation, character development and bruising realism. The best of the series so far, despite me having seen the film first and close, if not level with, Mystic River as Lehane's finest. Honourable mentions go to Last Stand At Saber River, a deceptively nuanced western set piece by Elmore Leonard and my re-read of Flashman - surely the biggest bastard of a protagonist ever.

[@RedFuryBooks]

Gone Baby Gone and Mystic River are definitely in my top tier of Lehane's works. Glad you enjoyed Gone Baby Gone!

[@bigaldoesbooktube1097]

Interesting to get opinions on some of the authors’ less established works

[@RedFuryBooks]

Sometimes you find gems in the back catalog of authors!

[@bhubb198]

I have empire of silence teed up on my TBR. Will prob take me a month to get through it.

[@RedFuryBooks]

I hope you enjoyed it as I did!

[@Kamakazi152.]

Empire of Silence is on my short list. Will probably start it very soon. I need to read some Michael Connelly, You sent me one in a giveaway, so I have no excuse not to start that one soon either :) The best book I started in October hasn't been finished yet The Long Walk and The Halloween 5 Novelization have both been good, I expect to like The Long Walk better by the time they are done. The best book I finished in October was probably The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker.

[@RedFuryBooks]

Sounds like a great spooky season for you! I hope you enjoy Connelly when you fit him in as well as The Long Walk!

[@duffypratt]

I liked Rise of a Merchant Prince, but I enjoyed Roo’s main story much more than the parts of the book that I felt were forced into it to advance the overall story arc of the series. Can’t say that I disagree with anything you said, and I was surprised that the book largely focused on a story that could as easily have been told in historical Europe. But the writing was excellent, and I felt some real character development here. Also agree with your assessment of The Gypsy. I love both Hobb and Brust, but was disappointed with this. Just read one of the Vlad Taltos books already. It will only take a day or two.

[@allthekingsbooks]

Same here, loved Roo's story arc much more than anything else in the whole Serpentwar Saga to be honest.

[@RedFuryBooks]

Interesting!

[@OnlyTheBestFantasyNovels]

I think I'm a little more hopeful I'll enjoy Last Light of the Sun now after hearing your take on it. It's the one GGK I expect to not enjoy much. Great breakdown! I've never heard anyone say anything bad about Night Shift 😂

[@RedFuryBooks]

You know you're right about Night Shift!

[@dab505279]

In your discussion of Tortilla Flat, you mentioned Don Quixote. I've wanted to read Don Quixote for a while but in the past I've read some back and forth on the best translation. Could you give me any advice on the best translation of this book. Much respect to you from Larry.

[@RedFuryBooks]

I don't consider myself any expert of Spanish translations, but the version of Don Quixote I read, translated by John Rutherford, was very good. Penguin Classics.

[@samcostello2861]

I too just finished reading The Gypsy. Like you, I felt pretty "meh" about the book. Maybe I'm just dumb, but I could barely understand what was going on outside of the the police officer's chapters. I think this book is more of Steven Brust's work than it is Megan Lindholm's. I've read a lot of Lindholm's early works like The Reindeer People duology, Cloven Hooves (my favorite!), Alien Earth, and the Ki and Vandien stories and there's a big difference between those works and the Gypsy.

[@RedFuryBooks]

Yeah, there was a lot of confusion, especially in the newer character introductions when they had no context. I'm a bit behind you in reading all of Lindholm, but it's a goal to do in the next year or less.

[@samcostello2861]

@ it’s so much fun to read Lindholm/Hobb’s earlier books and spy themes and techniques that she would use when writing Realm of the Elderlings. The villain of The Reindeer People definitely feels like a proto-Regal.

[@quinncrochet19]

I'm very interested in your Stephen King short fiction project!!!!! I own Different Seasons but would like to buy more!! It would be nice to hear your thoughts that way I can figure out what I should buy next! Love your videos! Thank you!!

[@RedFuryBooks]

Thanks so much, and stay tuned with the short fiction project. I hope to put the Night Shift video out November 17th.

[@quinncrochet19]

​@RedFuryBooks WOW you couldn't have picked a better one to talk about next. Night Shift was next on my radar ❤ Looking forward to the video!

[@dougsundseth6904]

I strongly recommend Steven Brust's writing. I'd recommend starting with "Jhereg", though if you're interested in more experimental writing, you might consider "The Phoenix Guards", which is set in the same world, but has a radically different style. "Jhereg" is relatively short and is a heist fiction piece starring a human assassin who is a member of the organized crime group in an Elven empire. It's one of the best heist novels I've read. It has an excellent ensemble cast and the sarcastic tone works very well. Loiosh, the protagonist's familiar, is a particular delight. Empire of Silence really didn't work for me at all. The book didn't flow (very random and abrupt transitions hurt the flow a lot), I didn't believe the characters, and I really disliked the retrospective comments. In some ways it reminded me of Piers Anthony's "Bio of a Space Tyrant" series, which I read many years ago. I'm glad for the people who loved it, but I won't be continuing the series.

[@RedFuryBooks]

Thanks for the details regarding the Jhereg books - that's a likely starting place for me.

[@MacScarfield]

«Our trouble», muttered Dai looking down through green-gold leaves at the farmyard, «is that we make good poems and bad siege weapons.» Love that quote from «The Last Light of the Sun»!😄 Are you planning any discussions of «Empire of Silence» or «The Last Light of the Sun», Josh? There is also a tragic feel to the Arthurian Themes of «Tortilla Flat» mixed into the comedy, as when Danny in a side comment mentioned his friend Arthur died during the War and (paraphrasing) «won’t come back..» As such I felt it was a lower class version of the middle class and upperclass «Lost Generation» survivors of WW1 drifting between euphoria and tragedy described in the works of say F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway! As for myself, in October I read: Mary Shelley’s «Frankenstein» (Gothic Science Fiction, with illustrations by Bernie Wrightson: Breathtaking!) «The Land Leviathan» (A Nomad of the Time Streams» Trilogy #2) by Michael Moorcock (Multiverse/Alternative History/Time Travel Steampunk(?)😅) «Midnight Falcon» (Rigante #2) by David Gemmell (Heroic Fantasy/S&S inspired by Celtic Britain and the Roman Invasions and Gladiators) «The City» (City of Victory Trilogy #2) by Adrian Goldsworthy (Historical Military Fiction set during Emperor Trajan’s Campaigns) «The Power Broker» by Robert Caro (Political Biography/Investigative Journalism Classic, my Q4 long-read) Cheers Josh!

[@RedFuryBooks]

Good poems and bad siege weapons indeed! lol No plays for any discussions - the end of the year is quite busy with work. One thing you mentioned in your comment about Tortilla Flat that I wanted to mention but failed to do so was how it did remind me of The Son Also Rises by Hemingway. At least the alcohol intake haha!

[@MacScarfield]

@@RedFuryBooksAlso the scene where Princess Judit seeks revenge on the Crown Prince’s Skull prank, waving a sword and ending up kick him “up between his legs”: I seriously was struggling to breathe from laughter when I read it, GGK is seriously underrated as a humorist! 😄

[@wbbartlett]

The English Isles? - Isle of Wight, Scilly Isles, Sheppey, Lundy? No Welsh there, unless they're tourists or they moved from Wales. ;)

[@RedFuryBooks]

Yeah, I totally misspoke there! Meant to type a correction on the screen and whiffed.

[@angelaholmes8888]

I read 10 books in October My book of the month is the violence by delilah s dawson it's a dystopian thriller I couldn't put the book down

[@RedFuryBooks]

I've read a few by her - she's great!

[@Scott_53110]

Bill Burr?

[@RedFuryBooks]

If only! (financially speaking haha)

[@heidi6281]

Hadrian Marlowe is Fitz in Space! The waxing poetic drove me to DNF Demon in White, the action that finally hits in the first two books is too short & fleeting for me and is drowned out by the purple/denseness. Look how GGK does philisophy? Subtle, enjoyable mixed in with beautiful imagery! I think Suneater is overblown and way overrated!!! The one woman character in the story is totally cardboard too. 🤮

[@heidi6281]

Wow Josh excited for you to read Memory, Sorrow & Thorn next year!! I am also almost done with Boudica: book 3 Dreaming the Hound! Manda Scott sits at the table with Hobb, GGK, Wurts & Tolkien!

[@heidi6281]

Light of the Last Sun is my next GGk on deck then Under Heaven. I thought Saratine Mosaic was a 5 star for the bread in a sandwich, book end the first half of Sailing with the last of half of Emperors! The middle was 3 stars where those aristos were cartoonish for me until they became seriously beautiful towards the end!!

[@RedFuryBooks]

Yes, GGK sets a high bar for other authors!

[@RedFuryBooks]

That's not an inaccurate assessment of Sarantine!