Why You Should Read The Culture - Part One: The Hub Book 1) Consider Phlebas - Much like Malazan the Book of the Fallen's hotly debated first book, Consider Phlebas is thought to be a rough first book. Forums and Reddit posts have been dedicated to whether Consider Phlebas is a good fit for The…
Continue reading ➞ Why You Should Read The Culture – Part Two: Books 1-3
After the stunning popularity of our “Why You Should Read Malazan” post, I sat down and thought about what other massive series could use a deep dive guide for new readers. While there are a ton of series that we love, there are only a few that are complex enough in their wonder that they…
Continue reading ➞ Why You Should Read The Culture – Part One: The Hub
Stark vs. Lannister. The Avengers vs. Thanos. Millennials vs. Crippling Anxiety. These are the biggest bouts of our time, waged on the silver screen, HBO Max, and in drab cubicles around the world. And today, The Quill To Live adds another revolutionary battle to the list: Libraries vs. Bookstores. Where do you fall? Do you…
I am a character reader. I like themes; they add a lot to the messaging and ideas of a book. Worlds are awesome, I love closing my eyes and imagining slinging spells and exploring unknown wilds. But, at the end of the day, the real reason I show up to read a book, and the…
Continue reading ➞ Five Characters I Can’t Stop Thinking About
"Nice bird, arsehole." Out of context, that quote is just fun to say. In context, nestled into the pages of Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora, it's one of the single funniest lines in any book I've ever read. The Gentleman Bastards series holds countless laughs among its pages, and the story is more fun…
Continue reading ➞ The Book Rookie – The Gentleman Bastards Sequence
If there ever was a piece of media that acted as my editorial/sexual awakening, Mad Max: Fury Road would be it. It wasn’t the first film to make me think critically about movies and their themes and messages. But It was the first one that made me really want to understand media (be it books…
Continue reading ➞ Mad Max: Fury Road — Blossoming In The Desert
Are you a fantasy die-hard? May I introduce you to Survivor? In 2001, families across America glued their eyeballs to the screen as Survivor revolutionized reality television. 16 Americans hopped off a boat and onto a beach, where a full production crew awaited and Jeff Probst introduced the very first season of the show that…
Welcome back to The Book Rookie, everyone! Last year, we kicked off a series aimed at getting me, the eponymous Book Rookie, up to speed with some of the biggest fantasy and science fiction books available. We started off the series with Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy. Here are the first three installments of The Book…
Continue reading ➞ The Book Rookie – The Kingkiller Chronicle
Welcome to part 2 of The Quill to Live’s roadmap to Amber, a guide to reading The Great Book of Amber by Roger Zelazny. If you are just joining us for the first time, we highly encourage you to take a look at part 1, which covers the first five installments of The Great Book…
Continue reading ➞ Your Guide To The Great Book Of Amber Part 2: The Merlin Cycle
Joe Abercrombie is an excellent writer. I welcome dispute, but I think you’re playing a losing hand if you disagree. He’s one of the easiest examples to point to when people mention Grimdark, and the only other king I recognize in that field is Glen Cook. They both write delightfully gritty fantasy stories about power…
Continue reading ➞ An Open Mind is… Well You Can Finish the Rest
