FREE/BARGAIN — Science Fiction & Fantasy

[GlennD]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Aside from the book being split in half, do you know if there are any differences in the two editions of Magician?

There's some explanation here, with some spoilers so I won't quote the whole thing.

But:

So, APE is 80% cut material being added back in, 10% rewrite, and 10% new material.

[escaner]

Shadows of Self (second Mistborn Era 2 book), by Brandon Sanderson, free at tor.com website:

https://ebookclub.tor.com

The fourth book in the saga is coming in November and looks like they are giving away the saga one by one. A few weeks ago it was The Alloy of Law, maybe soon they will give The Bands of Mourning too...

[salty-horse]

4 months after I purchased the Era 2 books

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by GlennD

There's some explanation here, with some spoilers so I won't quote the whole thing.

So, here's some confusion: Magician Apprentice is also the author's preferred edition. So I think it is the same (revised) book, split in two. The cover doesn't mention it, but the title page does.

[GlennD]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

So, here's some confusion: Magician Apprentice is also the author's preferred edition. So I think it is the same (revised) book, split in two. The cover doesn't mention it, but the title page does.

It IS the same book, split in half. They split it because the added material was enough to make it too large for a single book. If you're buying it today, you're better off getting the author's preferred editions.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by GlennD

It IS the same book, split in half. They split it because the added material was enough to make it too large for a single book. If you're buying it today, you're better off getting the author's preferred editions.

Or shopping in the UK and getting the single eBook preferred edition.

[Manabi]

Originally Posted by GlennD

It IS the same book, split in half. They split it because the added material was enough to make it too large for a single book. If you're buying it today, you're better off getting the author's preferred editions.

I remember reading those, even split in half they weren't remotely as thick as most of Peter F. Hamilton's books. Just look at the UK paperbacks of his Night's Dawn trilogy, below. Paperbacks can be a lot thicker than people realize, and we've all seen really thick hardbacks.

Your link makes it clear that the initial hardback release for the first book was limited (4,500 across three print runs). Because of that fans were unable to get a hardback edition, but the publisher wouldn't do a reissue unless there was new material. Feist added back in cut material, was able to turn some generic references into specific ones (such as character names not decided on until later), and tweaked some things that got missed in editing before.

With that information I suspect the real reasons were that 1. The publisher was a bit leery of taking a large chance on a new author, and 2. They saw a chance to potentially get more money by splitting one book into two. If it was successful, fans would buy both books.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Manabi

I remember reading those, even split in half they weren't remotely as thick as most of Peter F. Hamilton's books. Just look at the UK paperbacks of his Night's Dawn trilogy, below. Paperbacks can be a lot thicker than people realize, and we've all seen really thick hardbacks.

In the US all three of those books were split into two paperbacks each.

[ReadingManiac]

Originally Posted by GlennD

It IS the same book, split in half. They split it because the added material was enough to make it too large for a single book. If you're buying it today, you're better off getting the author's preferred editions.

Finding this conversation interesting as this is on my tbr.

[ReadingManiac]

Worth keeping an eye on the new release page of this website as whole series tend to go on sale when a new one comes out. I have information that this will apply to the one at the top coming out tomorrow.
http://epicdarkfantasy.org/mnew.html

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by ReadingManiac

Finding this conversation interesting as this is on my tbr.

Yeah, I don't think I'd read the whole Riftwar series, but I have been interested in Magician as a stand-alone read (or a duology, if I'm buying the split version).

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Yeah, I don't think I'd read the whole Riftwar series, but I have been interested in Magician as a stand-alone read (or a duology, if I'm buying the split version).

The non-split version of Magician is £2.99 at eBooks.com UK. You can travel to the UK and use PayPal to pay for it. It will be cheaper then the US split eBooks even with the first 1/2 on sale.

[Manabi]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Yeah, I don't think I'd read the whole Riftwar series, but I have been interested in Magician as a stand-alone read (or a duology, if I'm buying the split version).

I prefer scifi over fantasy, but I enjoyed those books quite a lot. (Mom got me a set as a gift, I believe it was books 1 - 3, with 1 & 2 being the split versions of book 1.) Don't think I could manage all thirty-two books in the full Riftwar cycle, either. I might try re-reading Magician, been thinking about doing so for a while now and I do have a copy of the author's preferred version.

[GlennD]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Yeah, I don't think I'd read the whole Riftwar series, but I have been interested in Magician as a stand-alone read (or a duology, if I'm buying the split version).

I've read the first few sub-series, and had to pause for a bit. They're enjoyable, but not a binge set for me. They do improve though; the first books were based on Feist's D&D campaign if I remember correctly, and they read like it at times. His writing definitely improves. I suspect some of the changes to Magician involve cleaning up some writing that was a bit subpar

[salty-horse]

The Thousand Eyes (The Serpent Gates #2) by A. K. Larkwood is $3 on Amazon.com