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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:I wasn't a fan of TGE when I first read it, but that's because I was expecting some sort of fantasy book, and instead I got a lifetime movie set in a fantasyland. It's great for a heartwarming kinda book, but pretty much sweet gently caress all happens in it. Yeah I found it kind of okay but I was expecting something with a load of intrigue and backstabbing but it turned out that anyone who didn't openly hate the emperor was completely loyal
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Sep 23, 2020 09:38
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I dislike the Goblin Emperor largely because I felt like Maia never actually had to learn anything or do anything. There's a problem, Maia's nice, everything works out without him having to take any other actions other than 'general passive niceness'. Repeat until the book ends.
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Sep 23, 2020 10:39
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Marshal Radisic posted:Yeah, Roberts tends to delete older material from his blogs if he decides to put them in a small-press collection of reviews. He also has a habit of creating multiple blogs, bouncing between them, then abandoning them at a moment's notice. Aside from Sibilant Fricative he also has Morphosis, and while that one isn't strictly SF/F there is some content, including a massive review of Peter Higgins' Wolfhound Empire trilogy that convinced me to properly read the three books and understand what they were doing. He also has a sideblog dedicated to his 2017-8 project of reading through the entire bibliography of HG Wells. There's also this sideblog, which only has a single review of Justin Call's Master of Sorrows from February on it. Hey, thanks for these links. His reviews might get me to tackle Wolfhound Century again, or read more Paul McAuley.
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Sep 23, 2020 15:09
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branedotorg posted:Katherine Addison, author of The Goblin Emperor, returns with The Angel of the Crows, a fantasy novel of alternate 1880s London, where killers stalk the night and the ultimate power is naming. I read this and do not recommend it. It is in fact an exact recapitulation of the greatest hits in the Sherlock canon, except that Holmes and Watson and a few others have a slight occult gloss. And I do mean EXACT -- it goes beat by beat through Hound of the Baskervilles including the same supporting characters with the same names. She made Sherlock less interesting by taking out his explosive, depressive side and making him into an ethereal but mild-mannered angel. It's a pleasant enough read but simply retreading mysteries that are well over a hundred years old is a bizarre decision. Like Watson spends a few chapters heading out to The Speckled Band, immediately deduces its a snake, and then they capture the snake. Great. Is it so hard to come up with something else for Angel-Sherlock to do? It also includes the most unnecessary and pointless genderswap of Watson. I concluded this was some sort of writing exercise that got published on the basis of TGE. And I loved TGE!
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Sep 23, 2020 17:19
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<re-posted from off-site SFL readthrough blog> SFL Archives Vol 11 readthrough update 06 54% completion, 152 bookmarks 18 items of interest. <re-posted from off-site SFL readthrough blog> quantumfoam fucked around with this message at 03:34 on Aug 29, 2021 |
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Sep 23, 2020 17:31
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Copernic posted:I read this and do not recommend it. It is in fact an exact recapitulation of the greatest hits in the Sherlock canon, except that Holmes and Watson and a few others have a slight occult gloss. And I do mean EXACT -- it goes beat by beat through Hound of the Baskervilles including the same supporting characters with the same names. She made Sherlock less interesting by taking out his explosive, depressive side and making him into an ethereal but mild-mannered angel. That's too bad, I really enjoyed Goblin Emperor. Somewhere in the Goodreads description they mention that it started as 'wingfic', fan fiction where a character is given wings. Not a genre I knew existed.
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Sep 23, 2020 18:26
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me, on discord: "Hmm, finding it fascinating how I'm bouncing between/arguing with the harder sci-fi / fantasy / horror novels. Wherein I like the idea of reading them, but they tend to be long and you have to focus on them, and phew." friend: "please tell me "hard fantasy" is an actual (sub)genre" and now I'm actually thinking about this. Is there an actual subgenre? Like, I know there's "magic with rules" ala Sanderson but that's, hmmmm.
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Sep 23, 2020 19:03
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Chuck Tingle can be pretty hard fantasy
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Sep 23, 2020 19:09
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The Baru series is kinda hard fantasy.
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Sep 23, 2020 19:17
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The real distinction you want is between "high" and "low" fantasy, which used to mean "is this written more like Lord Dunsany or more like Robert E. Howard" but now tends to mean "how common is magic in your setting" and / or "is this supposed to be the real world or not."
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Sep 23, 2020 19:24
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StrixNebulosa posted:me, on discord: "Hmm, finding it fascinating how I'm bouncing between/arguing with the harder sci-fi / fantasy / horror novels. Wherein I like the idea of reading them, but they tend to be long and you have to focus on them, and phew."
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Sep 23, 2020 19:26
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I'd say Modesitt's Recluce series might count as hard fantasy. Lots of focus on what society/trade/warfare looks like with magic around. Which brings me to a question: any major works with elves/goblins/dwarves etc., but no magic at all in them?
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Sep 23, 2020 19:33
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graventy posted:That's too bad, I really enjoyed Goblin Emperor. Let me give an example of how strange this book is. In the original Hound of the Baskervilles there's an early mystery where Sir Henry's boots go missing. This is explained late in the book as bad guy Stapleton stealing the boots to teach his trained hound what Henry smells like. Here, yet again Sir Henry loses his boots and the characters run around looking for boots. However this time the escaped convict Selden turns out to be a hell-hound who is convinced by Stapleton to take on the assassination attempt. Thus the boots become superfluous. I went back and checked and Addison faithfully mentions in a few throwaway, easily missed lines that the original hound was killed by Selden and the missing boot is nearby. So its all internally consistent -- in this version, Stapleton did initially need the boot but abandoned boot and hound when he got an actual hell-hound to carry out his evil plans. But from a plot standpoint, what the hell is this? Its all very odd.
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Sep 23, 2020 19:55
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quantumfoam posted:- I, Martha Adams" by Pauline Glen Winslow. "America has become complacent & surrenders to the Russians after they destroy certain military bases. One woman fights back. This book has good ingredients for a movie - pyrotechnics, politics, bad guys beating upon good guys, suspense, and sex. Oh, yes, let us not forget a strong female lead".
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Sep 23, 2020 19:59
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StrixNebulosa posted:me, on discord: "Hmm, finding it fascinating how I'm bouncing between/arguing with the harder sci-fi / fantasy / horror novels. Wherein I like the idea of reading them, but they tend to be long and you have to focus on them, and phew." Like fantasy in the vein of hard sci-fi? There's a series of novels called the accursed kings by Maurice Druon that GRRM cites as being "the original game of thrones". They're more accurately described as historical fiction rather than hard fantasy, but I think their existence proves the point that you can have dramatic, warring noble houses fantasy and leave out the magic & dragons part. e: does this mean Robin Hood is hard fantasy? crap mewse fucked around with this message at 20:09 on Sep 23, 2020 |
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Sep 23, 2020 20:07
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Marshal Radisic posted:Hahaha, that takes me back. Back in my late teens I had this "hobby" of tracking down and reading novels depicting fictional Soviet invasions of the United States or the UK, mostly by trawling Paul Brians' online bibliography of nuclear war stories. I was able to find a few novels that were decent enough reads that handled their subjects with some nuance, but I, Martha Adams wasn't one of them, rarely rising above the level of your bog-standard Reagan-era conservative polemic. You might enjoy this blog. https://fuldapocalypsefiction.com/
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Sep 23, 2020 20:28
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hard r fantasy
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Sep 23, 2020 20:30
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Deptfordx posted:You might enjoy this blog.
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Sep 23, 2020 20:36
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MockingQuantum posted:I've read some stuff Addison has written under her other (real?) name, Sarah Monette, and a lot of it was pretty underwhelming, honestly. I loved Goblin Emperor but I think it might be kind of the odd one out in her bibliography. I bounced off The Goblin Emperor because the first chapter didn't grab me, but if I had known that it was written by the psychic wolf gang rape author I wouldn't have even bothered in the first place.
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Sep 23, 2020 20:46
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StrixNebulosa posted:me, on discord: "Hmm, finding it fascinating how I'm bouncing between/arguing with the harder sci-fi / fantasy / horror novels. Wherein I like the idea of reading them, but they tend to be long and you have to focus on them, and phew." Hard sci-fi is just bullshit and substitutes a wizard did it with a scientist/alien did it. Actual science does not fit into a story format, despite the fact that most prominent scientists are excellent story tellers. For hard fantasy, I guess A land fit for heroes by Morgan is an option. 
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Sep 23, 2020 20:51
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The Book of Koli (Rampart #1) by MR Carey - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07W54MPDZ/
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Sep 23, 2020 22:57
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Hobnob posted:I'd say Modesitt's Recluce series might count as hard fantasy. Lots of focus on what society/trade/warfare looks like with magic around. Dale Lucas has a series called Fifth Ward that does have elves and dwarves and whatnot, but as far as I can recall there's no magic or wizards. There might be a spell or two but I can't recall. I know the elves are telepathic, but it's been a while since I read any of them. Good books.
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Sep 23, 2020 23:11
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Less Fat Luke posted:The Baru series is kinda hard fantasy. I've been thinking of it as Speculative Fantasy to riff off of "Speculative Fiction" as a term for science fiction.
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Sep 23, 2020 23:26
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quantumfoam posted:I distinctly remember a "Would whoever grabbed the cables I used to hookup the portable computer-terminal at last week's Worldcon, please return them to me" happening at least once. (I will take any opportunity to reference that awful piece of garbage internet post.)
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Sep 24, 2020 03:51
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Khizan posted:I dislike the Goblin Emperor largely because I felt like Maia never actually had to learn anything or do anything. There's a problem, Maia's nice, everything works out without him having to take any other actions other than 'general passive niceness'. Repeat until the book ends. Walking Simulator Fiction: Protagonist wanders about noticing things being resolved around them. It was fairly low stress to read, but so devoid of actual events I literally cannot remember anything about it beyond the set-up and the general impression that Goblins and Elves could be replaced by any literally other traditionally opposed viewpoints (cathlics/protestants, dogs/cats etc) and the text could remain the same, albeit weirdly focussed on the state of people's ears (although that would probably still fit with dogs/cats) pseudorandom name posted:I bounced off The Goblin Emperor because the first chapter didn't grab me, but if I had known that it was written by the psychic wolf gang rape author I wouldn't have even bothered in the first place. Urrrgh. So much for my blissful ignorance.
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Sep 24, 2020 06:18
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pradmer posted:The Book of Koli (Rampart #1) by MR Carey - $1.99 Windmill slam buy if you're in the right country.
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Sep 24, 2020 11:10
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pseudorandom name posted:I bounced off The Goblin Emperor because the first chapter didn't grab me, but if I had known that it was written by the psychic wolf gang rape author I wouldn't have even bothered in the first place. The what now
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Sep 24, 2020 11:22
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Cardiac posted:
If wizards existed in secret, like in a typical urban fantasy setting, I’d image they would distinguish between fantasy that matched their understanding of how magic worked, and that which got it completely ‘wrong’. Hard fantasy would be the former. Meanwhile, non-wizards would remain completely unable to tell the difference.
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Sep 24, 2020 12:36
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freebooter posted:The what now A Companion to Wolves. Read this interesting review before you judge it: https://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/reviews/books/0-7653-1816-4.html quote:And, more difficultly, the rumors about the wolfcarls are not wrong. The wolfcarls, matching the warrior cultures on which they're modelled, are exclusively male. The wolves, of course, are not. This means there is none of Pern's convenient matching of sex in bonding. However, the emotional bond to wolves is just as strong (and far more intensely described). When one of the bitches comes into heat, there's an orgy of both sex and violence as the male wolves fight for precedence and then take their turns at mating. And their human brothers do the same.
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Sep 24, 2020 14:07
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Anyways hi thread thanks for your thoughtful responses to my hard fantasy question, and I agree with a lot of you. I also can't be mad at Robin Hobb being hard fantasy because that's hilarious to me. Today I am reading Wolfhound Century and poking at Paul McAuley's Fairyland, but don't know yet if I'll settle into them as I'm still in this very... jump from book to book mood.
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Sep 24, 2020 14:14
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Jedit posted:Windmill slam buy if you're in the right country. The Book of Koli looks like it's extremely my thing, having run a lengthy tabletop RPG campaign in what sounds very much like that setting. I'm concerned by a review on Audible though - spoiler tagged just in case: quote:Story was well constructed and well conceived for the first half or so, and then it seemed to me the author started taking short cuts and getting cute, and the story just fell apart into a Lifetime TV feel good mode. None of the grit of the first half. I had to go back to the Audible site to see the book category to see if I had fallen into that familiar YA trap. It was obviously, at least to me, a rickety bridge to the second book of the trilogy. Or worse, the publisher forced a deadline. No more flesh eating plants or nasty animals, just a vulnerable bratty girl with daddy issues. Emphasis mine, because the "shove a romance into a story that was perfectly interesting without it" thing is my biggest pet peeve in literature. Can anyone who's read this series comment on it?
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Sep 24, 2020 16:04
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pseudorandom name posted:I bounced off The Goblin Emperor because the first chapter didn't grab me, but if I had known that it was written by the psychic wolf gang rape author I wouldn't have even bothered in the first place. Does this happen? The review Strix Nebulosa linked made it sound pretty interesting.
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Sep 24, 2020 17:04
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StrixNebulosa posted:and now I'm actually thinking about this. Is there an actual subgenre? Like, I know there's "magic with rules" ala Sanderson but that's, hmmmm. How about the Commonweal books by Graydon Saunders?
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Sep 24, 2020 18:36
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Wikipedia describing Baru as hard fantasy is the first time I've encountered the term, dunno if the General would agree with that though.
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Sep 24, 2020 19:17
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I hate all subgenres, marketing labels, and things nerds argue over on Reddit. Just read the loving book you Sanderson rear end category havers
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Sep 24, 2020 19:19
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General Battuta posted:Just read the loving book you Sanderson rear end category havers Can this be the new thread title please?
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Sep 24, 2020 19:26
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Sarern posted:Can this be the new thread title please?
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Sep 24, 2020 19:39
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General Battuta posted:I hate all subgenres, marketing labels, and things nerds argue over on Reddit. Just read the loving book you Sanderson rear end category havers I prefer to think of the Baru books as Renaissancepunk.
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Sep 24, 2020 19:43
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Lol, perfect.
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Sep 24, 2020 20:08
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Safety Biscuits posted:Does this happen? The review Strix Nebulosa linked made it sound pretty interesting. It happens, more or less. The young man bonded with the alpha female wolf has sex with multiple other men and while he is there voluntarily, it isn't anything he wanted, and it traumatizes him badly and never really goes away, he's dealing with it throughout the rest of his time in the books. I've read two or three of them, I forget now. She's a good author but it's not going to be for everyone, to say the least.
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Sep 24, 2020 20:53
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