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Does the Vlad Taltos series count as a companion animal? Loiosh has lots of dialogue but isn’t central, either.
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Nov 23, 2020 23:54
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StrixNebulosa posted:Does anyone in here know of any lists of fantasy novels that have companion animals? Think Mercedes Lackey and/or the Pern series - the main character is chosen by a magic animal and then they go on adventures. Robin hobb to a fair extent.
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Nov 24, 2020 04:28
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StrixNebulosa posted:Does anyone in here know of any lists of fantasy novels that have companion animals? Think Mercedes Lackey and/or the Pern series - the main character is chosen by a magic animal and then they go on adventures. Tamora Pierce's "Protector of the Small" and "The Immortals" series and Patricia McKillip's The Forgotten Beasts of Eld come to mind.
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Nov 24, 2020 05:08
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Ready Player Two is out. It reads like a parody of Ready Player One. https://twitter.com/jacobmercy/status/1331038070888685570/photo/1 https://twitter.com/jacobmercy/status/1331039788120457218/photo/1 https://twitter.com/jacobmercy/status/1331061610543124480/photo/1 https://twitter.com/jacobmercy/status/1331070619589361665/photo/1 https://twitter.com/jacobmercy/status/1331075601143218176/photo/1
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Nov 24, 2020 08:01
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https://twitter.com/jacobmercy/status/1331102974240645120?s=20
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Nov 24, 2020 08:20
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I'm reminded of another goon I know hate-reading RPO but this seems somehow incredibly loving worse.
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Nov 24, 2020 08:25
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I look at this prose and all I hear in my head is Patrick Bateman's voice.
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Nov 24, 2020 08:33
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but seriously though is that thread real quotes from the novel ready player two edit: not the "I am enlightened and know that trans people are valid" bits, I can accept those as real, but the first one? 90s Cringe Rock fucked around with this message at 09:49 on Nov 24, 2020 |
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Nov 24, 2020 09:47
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Thread continues here: https://twitter.com/jacobmercy/status/1331091899021606912 https://twitter.com/jacobmercy/status/1331150194814054401
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Nov 24, 2020 09:56
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StrixNebulosa posted:Does anyone in here know of any lists of fantasy novels that have companion animals? Think Mercedes Lackey and/or the Pern series - the main character is chosen by a magic animal and then they go on adventures. Sebastien de Castell wrote a fun YA series about a teenage mage and his talking weasel (treecat) friend. Spellslinger If I'm honest this is genre I normally bounce off pretty hard, mostly because of the David webber, even though that's also a treecat. The spellslinger one is closer to my favourite animal companion, gaspode the wonder dog. Back answer, a boy and his horse, cs Lewis.
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Nov 24, 2020 11:02
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The ending of Ready Player Two is a loving trip. SPOILING IT HERE DO NOT CLICK IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO KNOW you wish to know after everything that goes on Wade finds a magic wand that resurrects anyone any ever put on the SAO Full Dive Nervgear knockoff as an immortal AI and he sends AIs of all the main characters and everyone ever into a spaceship and sends it off to colonize a planet and also they're going to live in their own personal OASIS forever.
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Nov 24, 2020 11:21
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And then they are all eaten by roko's basilisk the end
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Nov 24, 2020 11:28
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Kchama posted:The ending of Ready Player Two is a loving trip. SPOILING IT HERE DO NOT CLICK IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO KNOW you wish to know after everything that goes on Wade finds a magic wand that resurrects anyone any ever put on the SAO Full Dive Nervgear knockoff as an immortal AI and he sends AIs of all the main characters and everyone ever into a spaceship and sends it off to colonize a planet and also they're going to live in their own personal OASIS forever. These loving books man. Like, everytime I think to myself, "maybe I'm wrong, maybe these books actually are the satire I kept hoping it would be and I'm just overexaggerating how bad they are" and then he just up and includes this poo poo with no further introspection. I try really hard not to be that person that judges people too harshly for liking a certain book, or whatever, but man do I take great issue with all the people who declare Cline to be a smart writer. malbogio posted:Thread continues here: 
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Nov 24, 2020 13:10
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Happy Landfill posted:These loving books man. Like, everytime I think to myself, "maybe I'm wrong, maybe these books actually are the satire I kept hoping it would be and I'm just overexaggerating how bad they are" and then he just up and includes this poo poo with no further introspection. I try really hard not to be that person that judges people too harshly for liking a certain book, or whatever, but man do I take great issue with all the people who declare Cline to be a smart writer. Also Wade and Sam named their kid 'Kira' after Halladay's girlfriend..
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Nov 24, 2020 13:14
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Correct me if I'm wrong but is this not Freudally virginal, an admission that the only kind of sex he's not experienced is "as a man with a woman"
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Nov 24, 2020 13:41
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I'd suspected RP2 would be worse, I just hadn't thought how much worse it would be.
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Nov 24, 2020 14:12
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Ahaha, who thought that was a good idea.
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Nov 24, 2020 15:17
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Gnomon was a really good book. I love thinky fiction like that and Blindsight. I need to find more like those.
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Nov 24, 2020 15:24
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freebooter posted:Correct me if I'm wrong but is this not Freudally virginal, an admission that the only kind of sex he's not experienced is "as a man with a woman" He had sex with his girlfriend and lost his virginity earlier in the book.
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Nov 24, 2020 15:50
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who the gently caress is scraeming at my house oh wait it's me
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Nov 24, 2020 17:44
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Kchama posted:The ending of Ready Player Two is a loving trip. SPOILING IT HERE DO NOT CLICK IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO KNOW you wish to know after everything that goes on Wade finds a magic wand that resurrects anyone any ever put on the SAO Full Dive Nervgear knockoff as an immortal AI and he sends AIs of all the main characters and everyone ever into a spaceship and sends it off to colonize a planet and also they're going to live in their own personal OASIS forever. So this is just SOMA, right? But I'm assuming minus any contemplation about continuity of self and the nature of conciousness. Just upload yourself into the magic brain bank whoopiedoo?
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Nov 24, 2020 18:00
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StrixNebulosa posted:Does anyone in here know of any lists of fantasy novels that have companion animals? Think Mercedes Lackey and/or the Pern series - the main character is chosen by a magic animal and then they go on adventures. Garth Nix's Old Kingdom series (at least the first two entries) might be what you're looking for. They're also exceptional books! Someone upthread mentioned Robin Hobb... the Fitz books aren't a bad pick necessarily, but know that things don't end well for the animal companion.
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Nov 24, 2020 20:45
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I'm about a third of the way through Tyrant Baru she just went over to Ormsment as a "prisoner" and I must say, it's a huge relief that she's actually making plans now rather than ineffectually lurching from disaster to disaster as in Monster, and that she has allies and even -- dare I say it -- friends helping her carry them out. But I also gotta say that if anything happens to Aminata I will completely lose my poo poo 
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Nov 24, 2020 23:06
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Kchama posted:The ending of Ready Player Two is a loving trip. SPOILING IT HERE DO NOT CLICK IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO KNOW you wish to know after everything that goes on Wade finds a magic wand that resurrects anyone any ever put on the SAO Full Dive Nervgear knockoff as an immortal AI and he sends AIs of all the main characters and everyone ever into a spaceship and sends it off to colonize a planet and also they're going to live in their own personal OASIS forever. The only question I have is does this world-altering paradigm shift take place over the span of a page and a half at the very rear end end of the book like it does in Armada? Also way to trap all your friends in Digital Hell, Wade. So is AI evil then, or is it actually super cool and good? What's your thesis here, Ernie? Also I dig the poo poo out of the extended sequence of the book where Cline turns his protagonist into a power-mad digital serial killer in order to work out his real life frustrations over everyone and their dog mocking the poo poo out of RP1 and Armada online in a sequence so thinly veiled it's not even wearing a veil. And by "dig" I mean "am super grossed out by". God, I can't wait for the 372 Pages series on RP2. It's gonna be a trip. nine-gear crow fucked around with this message at 23:15 on Nov 24, 2020 |
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Nov 24, 2020 23:13
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Art3mis is the the girl he more or less stalks and pressures until she goes out with him the first book, right? I can't stomach the book/movie and holy hell this one sounds so amazingly bad and I bet it's going to sell millions of copies because this is a dumb hell world.
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Nov 24, 2020 23:29
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372 Pages sounds like a hoot, but... do you really need to read RP2 to laugh at their takes?
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Nov 24, 2020 23:42
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ringu0 posted:372 Pages sounds like a hoot, but... do you really need to read RP2 to laugh at their takes? No, you don't need to read any of the books to enjoy that podcast. They walk through the books chapter by chapter, read plenty of excerpts, and (try to) follow the plot. I've listened to most of them and haven't read anything except for pulling up the Eye of Argon I guess. If you're curious and/or masochistic it can be nice to have a copy to skim and read some more passages, but you mostly only need a taste of the prose for the jokes to work. edit: If anything, I would say you might need to listen to their RP1 season though because they have built up their own inside jokes and pet peeves about each author Ror fucked around with this message at 00:01 on Nov 25, 2020 |
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Nov 24, 2020 23:56
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Evil Fluffy posted:Art3mis is the the girl he more or less stalks and pressures until she goes out with him the first book, right? I can't stomach the book/movie and holy hell this one sounds so amazingly bad and I bet it's going to sell millions of copies because this is a dumb hell world.
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Nov 24, 2020 23:59
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Magician: Apprentice (Riftwar #1) by Raymond E Feist - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073TJ3J3J/ The Delirium Brief (Laundry Files #8) by Charles Stross - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LM09RDM/
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Nov 25, 2020 00:17
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ringu0 posted:372 Pages sounds like a hoot, but... do you really need to read RP2 to laugh at their takes? Ror posted:edit: If anything, I would say you might need to listen to their RP1 season though because they have built up their own inside jokes and pet peeves about each author I'd extend that to Armada as well, because they've built up kind of a "Clineverse" of jokes and references--and because Armada is a worse pile of poo poo than RP1 and RP2 and them tearing it a new one is hilarious. Don't read the books though, please. You don't even really need to, beyond a few pages, to get what Cline is all about. I tired to do the read along with 372 Pages for Armada with a library copy and got 50 pages in and returned the book as quick as I could, it was that bad. I then went and wrote a Fanfic Or Real entry for a later Armada episode and I nailed Cline's lovely prose so well Mike Nelson himself said it was "perfect", based on 50 pages and some light skimming of later chapters. Anyone can be Ernest Cline.
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Nov 25, 2020 00:25
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pradmer posted:Magician: Apprentice (Riftwar #1) by Raymond E Feist - $1.99 Magician was the book that got me into fantasy as a kid. Looking back as an adult now, the book (and series) is derivative in a lot of ways, but his prose is still very readable, and it's pretty impressive that hes gone through like four or five generations of some memorable characters. I recommend it if anyones up for a light read. Like the Dune series, it's best just to stop reading when you lose interest.
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Nov 25, 2020 00:52
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https://twitter.com/edzitron/status/1331119179827539970?s=21
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Nov 25, 2020 01:03
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Eason the Fifth posted:Magician was the book that got me into fantasy as a kid. Looking back as an adult now, the book (and series) is derivative in a lot of ways, but his prose is still very readable, and it's pretty impressive that hes gone through like four or five generations of some memorable characters. Things really take a turn for the worse by the last Serpentwar book. The last stretch of that book in particular evoked a very  reaction from me.
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Nov 25, 2020 01:40
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Strom Cuzewon posted:So this is just SOMA, right? But I'm assuming minus any contemplation about continuity of self and the nature of conciousness. Just upload yourself into the magic brain bank whoopiedoo? nine-gear crow posted:The only question I have is does this world-altering paradigm shift take place over the span of a page and a half at the very rear end end of the book like it does in Armada? Also way to trap all your friends in Digital Hell, Wade. So is AI evil then, or is it actually super cool and good? What's your thesis here, Ernie? It's basically SOMA, yes. It does have continuity of self, in that the AI versions are distinct individuals from the originals. In fact the entire epilogue is written from the perspective of AI Wade on their spaceship talking endlessly about how amazing it is to be an AI and giving a rundown on what happened while they were flying off in space cuz they were swapping emails with their original selves.
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Nov 25, 2020 01:51
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Evil Fluffy posted:Things really take a turn for the worse by the last Serpentwar book. The last stretch of that book in particular evoked a very lol I know exactly the part you're walking about in Shards of a Broken Crown. The back third reads like either a parody or a first draft written to hit a deadline. edit - I think I've mentioned it before, but Shadow of a Dark Queen is legitimately good as novel about life in a mercenary company, and Prince of the Blood is a pretty great one-off swashbuckling intrigue story. And Feist really can write some memorable characters. I haven't read the series through in probably twenty-five years, but I still remember even secondaries like Roland and Charles from the Riftwar Saga and Bobby DeLongville, Biggo, Nakor, and all the rest of the goons from the Serpentwar Saga. Eason the Fifth fucked around with this message at 04:34 on Nov 25, 2020 |
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Nov 25, 2020 04:20
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I re-read Mercedes Lackey's Arrows of the Queen, the first of the Valdemar saga, and here's my revised review: I owe this book an apology. Some years back I read it for the first time, and due to my own snobbishness I wrote an awful review for it. Gave it two stars, railed against it. No longer. Here's a proper review, and a proper rating. Arrows of the Queen is not a perfect novel, and I cannot give it five stars thanks to its uneven pacing - but it is an indulgent one, a sweet one, and a book I would happily give to anyone who needs a pick-me-up. See, it's a book about a young girl who flees an abusive home, is rescued by a magical horse, and spends the rest of the novel growing up at a magical college. The end of the novel is her finally accepting that she's home, she has friends, and she's happy. The emotional core here - that it is okay to trust others, that it is okay to be happy, and that emotional pain is as valid as physical pain - is as powerful today as it was when it was written. Now for the details: you can tell the author is bursting at the seams to tell you about her fantasy universe, and the many stories in it, and oddly this works - the heroine reads stories about mythical people and historical events, and it lends a sense of real weight to the setting. It also adds some excitement, as the author did go on to write these stories and just seeing Magic's Pawn mentioned makes my heart ache - even if at the time the book didn't exist yet! Details: the feminism and queer history comes through clearly, with Talia leaving a patriarchal society (that I believe is modeled on the worst stereotypes about Mormons) to join a college that has openly queer people in it who are mostly accepted by those around them, and that's... wow. Fantasy novels don't do that, or they didn't, and here's one from the 80s saying that yes, we're here, we're queer, and we get magic horses too. Details: the magical horses themselves. They're walking deus ex machinas, angels come down from Heaven in horse shape, and it works because of how earnest the author is, and how willing the author is to go "yeah they're pure white and that's bad tactically". The horses are psychic and magic, they find the right person, they enhance their chosen's magical abilities, and they're the most perfect horses in the entire land... Listen, you either love them or the books aren't for you. There's something so precious about a setting that offers this: pure good. These horses want everything to be just, and kind, and healthy. Gushing aside, here's the flaw in this book: once the major "arc" is over - Talia has a horrible home, Talia escapes, Talia meets everyone in the College and begins her training, Talia gets bullied and through a series of events finds the ability to trust others enough to ask for help - time compresses, and the back half of the novel is slice of life college learning. Infodumps galore, with emotional interludes as Talia becomes an empath and therapist for others. It works, but the pacing is off and it feels like it stops before anything can really get going. Which, I suppose, works with the sequels. But as a single book I must take away the star. Overall, I'd recommend this book if you want something earnest and emotional and with horses that have bells on them. It works as a standalone, mostly, it's the best place to start in the entire series, and above all else it's kind. I love that in a book.
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Nov 25, 2020 04:48
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Finished SFL Archives 1988. Bookmarked about 300 things of interest, almost everything mentioned below is covered in more detail off-site. Robert Heinlein dying was the defining moment of 1988 for the SFL Archives. The SFL's reaction to Heinlein's death as a whole showed the good sides & bad sides of the SFL mailing list (lots of sucking up, Heinlien canon fanwanks mixed with heartfelt tales of reading Heinlein for the first time/being raised on Heinlein stories). The thing I feared the most (endless Star Trek: TNG discussion) never happened, while precursor internet experts took all sorts of positions on physics in fiction, mathematics in fiction, race science/eugenics, cultural mores, and Hugo Awards nomination categories/the suspect Hugo Award vote counts at WorldCon 1988. The Vonda McIntyre Star Trek novel that pissed off every Star Trek fan ending up being 100% canon & approved by everyone who produced/starred in Star Trek: TOS was a amusing thing. The extremely rambling Richard Lupoff SFL interview remains a thing other people need to experience themselves, DolphinFucker is gone for good because David Brin's dolphin-focused Startide Rising failed to summon DolphinFucker to the SFL, especially after it won two major industry awards. The ASCII text flowchart of zombie movies, flying car discussion FINALLY happening in the SFL mailing list, the reactions to April Fools jokes of 1988 & earlier (kremvax),SFLer's horror at Isaac Asimov signing his name to some really terrible movies/movie adaptations, the first appearances of Ed Greenwood & Richard Kadrey in the SFL Archives. Maybe the 2nd mention of Neil Gaiman in the SFL Archives, lots of now well regarded released in 1988 movies being ignored for the 1988 film Willow (and the Siskbert monster in Willow), David Brin in addition to the terrible convention behavior revealing he doesn't believe in any of the positive things he writes about regarding gender equality/women/disabled people/social justice, and every SFL anecdote about Harlan Ellison ending with him angrily quitting something or Ellison threatening to sue/actually suing someone. Despite tough competition, my overall favorite things reading the 1988 SFL Archives were the organizers of BOSKONE tired of 17 months of exile in Springfield MA/hell-banned from holding conventions in Boston MA try to get around the Boston ban by starting a brand new scifi/fantasy convention in the Boston suburbs, Selachian's post about LeGuin & Katherine Kurtz making me do the research and realize that LeGuin's 1973 essay "From Elfland to Poughkeepsie" was half literary commentary and half a hit-piece about a competitor for an 1973 award that neither of them ending up winning, and finally, 1988 being the year of Roddy Piper movies.
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Nov 25, 2020 07:23
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tiniestacorn posted:Garth Nix's Old Kingdom series (at least the first two entries) might be what you're looking for. They're also exceptional books! Hobb is not exactly known to write feel-good books to say the least. But she knows how to push certain buttons.
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Nov 25, 2020 12:42
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On goodreads: it's not a good website. The reviews on it range from actually useful (rare) to gif-ridden garbage. However! I enjoyed getting everything I've read on it, and I enjoy having a place to slap my reviews. I also enjoy using the "find books like X" feature because while it's bad, it still gets me to similar-ish books - same with the list option. It's also handy for going "ah, friend is reading this series" and such. So I keep using it and I enjoy how it encourages me to write up reviews for books. Feels good to get those thoughts out.
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Nov 25, 2020 14:48
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https://twitter.com/thelindsayellis/status/1331655456691867648 ready player two? more like dmca lawyer two
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Nov 25, 2020 21:29
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