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Is there anywhere to read a synopsis of the blood song series by Anthony Ryan? I was thinking of grabbing the sequel series but all I can remember from the first one is that book 1 was good, and the others sucked.
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Feb 11, 2021 15:41
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I am saying nothing new in noting this (I saw it brought up in this thread way back when it came out) but drat is City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett really drat good. I usually read something else before continuing a finished series but I'm gonna jump right into City of Blades when I finish Stairs today or tomorrow.MockingQuantum posted:Expanse I had previously read the first three books and got part-way into the fourth before stopping, and decided I'd read the rest of the series this year. I've been on a very good reading kick the last few months, better than I've done in years, but this makes me think I'll probably stick with other stuff, at least for now. There's no better way to fizzle out my desire to read a lot than get stuck slogging through a lengthy series.
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Feb 11, 2021 15:42
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TOOT BOOT posted:It's always weird when well-known stuff lacks an ebook. There's no kindle version of A Canticle For Leibowitz either. Generally this means there is an ongoing rights dispute. Ebook rights weren't part of most publisher contracts until like ten or fifteen years ago, so all those old titles the ebook rights are usually still held by the author or his estate, and if the estate is locked in litigation then welp.
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Feb 11, 2021 15:56
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fashionly snort posted:I'm in a spec fic rut and I need to read something good please. Have you read anything by CJ Cherryh? I think you'd dig her Pride of Chanur series. - Is about alien lions trying to deal with a stowaway human that all the local aliens want to get their hands on - Is short, like 200~ pages. - Is a standalone! There are sequels but the first book is a complete novel. So you can try it and if you want more there's more, and if you don't, it's short and satisfying. - If you really liked Chanur she wrote 500000 other books that are almost all worth reading! StrixNebulosa fucked around with this message at 16:13 on Feb 11, 2021 |
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Feb 11, 2021 16:11
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Japanese Dating Sim posted:I am saying nothing new in noting this (I saw it brought up in this thread way back when it came out) but drat is City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett really drat good. I usually read something else before continuing a finished series but I'm gonna jump right into City of Blades when I finish Stairs today or tomorrow. I enjoyed like 90% of this book and then the last bit felt like such a blah way of resolving things. It's usually that the build up and raising of stakes is the best part of a book, but the climax has to provide enough surprises to still be interesting. Here I felt like they invented some rules at the last second, or made use of concepts that had only just been revealed to finish things. The other reason I didn't continue is that while I enjoyed the two characters who become the protagonist of Blades and Miracles, I wasn't interested in them enough to want to read books all about them.
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Feb 11, 2021 16:15
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:Is there anywhere to read a synopsis of the blood song series by Anthony Ryan? I was thinking of grabbing the sequel series but all I can remember from the first one is that book 1 was good, and the others sucked. I couldn't find one when I looked around as I was about to start the sequel series. But having read the two books in the new series, I'm not sure it's all that necessary. I went in with a good memory of the first book, and that served me well enough to remember most of the significant characters who show up again. From the second and third Bloodsong books, it seemed to me the main things to remember would be (1) that Vaelin is now the Tower Lord up north away from the main kingdom; (2) that he's lost his blood song powers; (3) he's the guardian (I think) of Reva Mustor, who I recall had a big role in the third book, but the upshot for this seemed to me mainly to be that she's Vaelin's ornery ward; and (4) whatever big bad mystic thing that happened with the black stone at the end of the last trilogy is vaguely still going on. I enjoyed the two new books well enough with basically that background. I didn't think they were as good as the first Blood Song book, but I enjoyed them about as much as the next two -- maybe a little better since they're a little more focused, this being a two book series instead of a trilogy. Having said all that, as I just tried to remind myself of who exactly Reva was, I came across this fan wiki which appears to synopsize the first three books. I didn't read these going into the new series, but they might be what you're looking for.
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Feb 11, 2021 16:31
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fashionly snort posted:I'm in a spec fic rut and I need to read something good please. Ancillary Justice seems like a natural fit. A person who's a spaceship tries to kill the emperor of the universe, similar themes to Murderbot and Memory Called Empire. Longer shot: Winter's Orbit. It's really more a romance than a space opera but it has a lot of fans in common with Becky Chambers (and it's my friend's book and I'm very proud)
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Feb 11, 2021 17:45
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Sally Forth posted:Ancillary Justice seems like a natural fit. A person who's a spaceship tries to kill the emperor of the universe, similar themes to Murderbot and Memory Called Empire. I'm gonna post a warning for Ancillary Justice here: the narrator for the first audiobook is godfuckingawful, so if that's your preferred method, I'm sorry. If you can manage to get past that, the book is really really good.
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Feb 11, 2021 18:49
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Sally Forth posted:Ancillary Justice seems like a natural fit. A person who's a spaceship tries to kill the emperor of the universe, similar themes to Murderbot and Memory Called Empire. well you said the magic words, starting this later tonight 
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Feb 11, 2021 18:51
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Riot Carol Danvers posted:I'm gonna post a warning for Ancillary Justice here: the narrator for the first audiobook is godfuckingawful, so if that's your preferred method, I'm sorry. If you can manage to get past that, the book is really really good. Went to look this up and realised it is the actual book I'm currently reading. I need sleep.
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Feb 11, 2021 19:02
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HopperUK posted:Went to look this up and realised it is the actual book I'm currently reading. I need sleep. Oh I absolutely love the book. The next two have their ups and downs, but as a whole the series is very good. And the narrator for the second and third books is much, much better
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Feb 11, 2021 19:15
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Ancillary Justice was one of the best books of the last decade imo
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Feb 11, 2021 19:47
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Sally Forth posted:Ancillary Justice seems like a natural fit. A person who's a spaceship tries to kill the emperor of the universe, similar themes to Murderbot and Memory Called Empire. My wife is reading Winter's Orbit right now and she likes it. Got it pre-ordered with a bonus sticker, I think. Tell your friend I didn't really get into Ancillary Justice the first time I tried to read it but I know I'll give it another shot eventually, everyone keeps recommending it.
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Feb 11, 2021 19:58
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Oooh, the Brothers Grossbart! I went to high school with the guy who wrote that, and he did NOT come across like somebody ready to drop a loving fire-rear end novel like that. I picked up the book in the bookstore, looked in the back cover and was like "Oh, poo poo, I know that guy! *checks front cover* Yep, that's him alright. Huh." Pretty sure he wrote it right out of high school, too.
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Feb 11, 2021 20:00
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wizzardstaff posted:My wife is reading Winter's Orbit right now and she likes it. Got it pre-ordered with a bonus sticker, I think. Tell your friend As a counterpoint, I tried Ancillary Justice no less than three times and could not get past the first hundred pages. The writing didn't click for me, and I - incoming pet peeve - HATED how the protagonist was all "I don't understand gender at all, so I'm not even going to try!" and then used the she/her pronouns for literally everyone, even when they could identify that characters were using he/him pronouns.
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Feb 11, 2021 20:12
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That stupid spaceship
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Feb 11, 2021 20:31
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StrixNebulosa posted:Have you read anything by CJ Cherryh? I think you'd dig her Pride of Chanur series. I've read (and really liked) her Faded Suns trilogy and Fortress in the Eye of Time (although I read this almost 20 years ago and don't remember much about it). This is a great suggestion; I think I'll pick up more of her work. Sally Forth posted:Ancillary Justice seems like a natural fit. A person who's a spaceship tries to kill the emperor of the universe, similar themes to Murderbot and Memory Called Empire. I've read and loved all her stuff! At a book signing it was Ann Lecke who told me about the murder bot books; I wanted recommendations for spec fic w/ unique or well realized narrative voices =) Winters Orbit sounds right up my alley though; I"ll check it out! Gato The Elder fucked around with this message at 20:43 on Feb 11, 2021 |
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Feb 11, 2021 20:36
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Winter’s orbit is extremely good and is a romance in every sense of the word as well. It’s kinda interesting comparing it to the original version that was posted online — the worldbuilding has been expanded on so much more in a way that raises the stakes of the conflict higher as well. It’s definitely a better story imo, and I already liked the original Anyways if you liked winter’s orbit and you would like to read a similarly romance-focused story but with a more creepy-folklore-fantasy bent, I recommend Emily Tesh’s Silver in the Wood. She and the author for Winter’s Orbit are writing partners too lol kurona_bright fucked around with this message at 20:45 on Feb 11, 2021 |
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Feb 11, 2021 20:42
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Apparently C.J Cherryh wrote an entire series of Fortress books??? Are they any good? Should I re-read Fortress in the Eye of Time and go through the series? Also also also, I loooooved Patricia McKillip's Riddle Master series when I read it in high-school but I've never gone back to read anything else she did; anyone have thoughts on her other work?
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Feb 11, 2021 20:50
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fashionly snort posted:Apparently C.J Cherryh wrote an entire series of Fortress books??? Are they any good? Should I re-read Fortress in the Eye of Time and go through the series? I've read the second one and loved it, then wandered off distracted and never got back to them. Jo Walton wrote a lot of words about them though! quote:There are two things you can do when you write a sequel to a book where you defeat the magical enemy. You can say they weren’t really defeated (or that they were only the pawn of another, worse, enemy, which is really the same thing) or you can deal with the consequences of the aftermath on the people who are left. In the three books that follow Fortess in the Eye of Time (post), Cherryh does both. Fortress of Eagles, Fortress of Owls and Fortress of Dragons are largely about the characters of Fortress in the Eye of Time trying to cope with consequences, some of them philosophical but most of them political. Then half way through Dragons it takes a swerve into the other kind of sequel and builds up to another big magical confrontation which I find strangely anticlimactic.
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Feb 11, 2021 20:55
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kurona_bright posted:Winter’s orbit is extremely good and is a romance in every sense of the word as well. It’s kinda interesting comparing it to the original version that was posted online — the worldbuilding has been expanded on so much more in a way that raises the stakes of the conflict higher as well. It’s definitely a better story imo, and I already liked the original Silver in the Wood also started off on Ao3 (although Emily didn't rework it quite as much going from online to print). Both authors are really good, well worth checking out.
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Feb 11, 2021 21:05
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StrixNebulosa posted:As a counterpoint, I tried Ancillary Justice no less than three times and could not get past the first hundred pages. The writing didn't click for me, and I - incoming pet peeve - HATED how the protagonist was all "I don't understand gender at all, so I'm not even going to try!" and then used the she/her pronouns for literally everyone, even when they could identify that characters were using he/him pronouns. I definitely thought Breq completely not grokking sex and gender was supposed to be a brain injury analogue at the beginning of the book. Nope! Just a fantastically uncurious dope.
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Feb 11, 2021 21:06
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Sally Forth posted:Silver in the Wood also started off on Ao3 (although Emily didn't rework it quite as much going from online to print). Both authors are really good, well worth checking out. Yeah, I remember reading the original there as well. I wish the two of them hadn’t deleted their accounts and orphaned their works but I can see why If anybody is hankering for a good Dragon Age fanfic, look up ‘By the Still Waters’ 
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Feb 11, 2021 21:18
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Probably a bit of a hot take, but ultimately I enjoyed Provenance more than the entire Radch trilogy. Tighter story with a more satisfying resolution. As for other recommendations, I mostly enjoyed Scalzi's latest trilogy, The Collapsing Empire, which was a fairly light hearted space opera about a civilization whose FTL system is on the verge of collapse, and how the powerful factions deal with that knowledge/impending doom. Lots of corporate and royal intrigue, backstabbing, people being assassinated by having spaceships crashed into them, etc. It's over the top but I was on board with it. Decent interpersonal relationships in spite of how melodramatic it is.
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Feb 11, 2021 21:20
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Patrick Spens posted:I definitely thought Breq completely not grokking sex and gender was supposed to be a brain injury analogue at the beginning of the book. Nope! Just a fantastically uncurious dope. Not quite. Ann Leckie Herself posted:Q: I don’t get the thing about the gender. Why are the Radchaai all “she”? Is it because they’re all women? I don’t understand why some characters are called “she” in some places and “he” in others.
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Feb 11, 2021 22:16
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Hubbardologist posted:Probably a bit of a hot take, but ultimately I enjoyed Provenance more than the entire Radch trilogy. Tighter story with a more satisfying resolution. I didn't mind the first although the look how smart I am aspect of scalzi's writing really came through but I despised the second one so much I didn't bother with the third.
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Feb 11, 2021 22:25
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fashionly snort posted:Apparently C.J Cherryh wrote an entire series of Fortress books??? Are they any good? Should I re-read Fortress in the Eye of Time and go through the series? She's good. Besides the Riddlemaster series, I've read her Cygnet books, The Forgotten Beasts of Eld, The Throme of the Erril of Sherill, Fool's Run, and Od Magic, and they've all been solid.
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Feb 11, 2021 22:25
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McCoy Pauley posted:I couldn't find one when I looked around as I was about to start the sequel series. But having read the two books in the new series, I'm not sure it's all that necessary. I went in with a good memory of the first book, and that served me well enough to remember most of the significant characters who show up again. From the second and third Bloodsong books, it seemed to me the main things to remember would be (1) that Vaelin is now the Tower Lord up north away from the main kingdom; (2) that he's lost his blood song powers; (3) he's the guardian (I think) of Reva Mustor, who I recall had a big role in the third book, but the upshot for this seemed to me mainly to be that she's Vaelin's ornery ward; and (4) whatever big bad mystic thing that happened with the black stone at the end of the last trilogy is vaguely still going on. I enjoyed the two new books well enough with basically that background. I didn't think they were as good as the first Blood Song book, but I enjoyed them about as much as the next two -- maybe a little better since they're a little more focused, this being a two book series instead of a trilogy. Would have to agree, the new series had the same characters but it's not that reliant on remembering the first set. It takes place in a sort of China analogue and isn't bad, better than the disappointing later books of the first trilogy. Did you ever read the dragon blood books he wrote in between?
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Feb 11, 2021 22:28
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branedotorg posted:I didn't mind the first although the look how smart I am aspect of scalzi's writing really came through but I despised the second one so much I didn't bother with the third. I get that, and tbh I mostly finished the trilogy because the last one was on sale on Kindle for a few bucks and I figured why not. I was glad to know how things ended though. It's been a minute since I read the first two, was the second one the one where they find the system that got cut off from the Flow and people there survived against all expectations, where they meet the AI-ghost of the former king who got couped? Because I remember liking that bit quite a lot, and that character to boot.
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Feb 11, 2021 22:34
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branedotorg posted:Would have to agree, the new series had the same characters but it's not that reliant on remembering the first set. I did, and I enjoyed them well enough -- the world he built there was interesting, and although I didn't find many of the characters all that memorable it held my interest through to the end of that trilogy. Did not enjoy it as much as Blood Song, which remains my favorite novel by him, but it was worth the time it took to read it.
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Feb 11, 2021 22:36
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branedotorg posted:I didn't mind the first although the look how smart I am aspect of scalzi's writing really came through but I despised the second one so much I didn't bother with the third. the second one made me so mad i wrote my one and only ever e-mail to an author and told him it sucked
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Feb 11, 2021 22:42
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drat, maybe I aggressively forgot the 2nd book then. What was the issue?
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Feb 11, 2021 22:59
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My local bookstore can get a copy of Winter's Orbit so I'm doing that! In the mean time I started a re-read of Hyperion (Dan Simmons sucks I Know) and Fortress in the Eye of Time and I really appreciate how much Cherryh seems to enjoy just using language - it gives the work a lot of texture =)
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Feb 11, 2021 23:47
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Riot Carol Danvers posted:Not quite. No I get that the Radchaai don't have a conception of gender, but Justice opens with Breq having lived outside of the Radch for years and is still all, "....I guess this one's male?" It's like if you'd spent a decade in India and still had no idea the difference between Tamil and Hindi or Bengali.
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Feb 12, 2021 00:08
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Patrick Spens posted:No I get that the Radchaai don't have a conception of gender, but Justice opens with Breq having lived outside of the Radch for years and is still all, "....I guess this one's male?" It's like if you'd spent a decade in India and still had no idea the difference between Tamil and Hindi or Bengali. Gotcha. I think it's time for a re-read because my memory on that is getting iffy.
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Feb 12, 2021 00:44
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The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K Le Guin - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087X6Z1GS/
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Feb 12, 2021 00:51
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:I really really enjoy well done fantastic/historical fiction. It's so rare. I'll recommend A Dirge For Sabis by Leslie Fish (from a CJ Cherryh outline). This is the first of the Sword of Knowledge shared-world books Cherryh did with some up and coming female writers. She had a sort of Canticle for Leibowitz thing going on in it. Unfortunately this is the <famous author> + <young writer> collaboration that proves that the established author writes an outline and the new talent does the heavy lifting to bring the novel to light, even Mercedes Lackey's entry doesn't really come to life. Dirge however, does come to life. It's about an inventor trying to perfect the first bronze field piece before barbarian hordes sack the city. It's a really bustling tale because the whole entourage is full of vibrant, active characters. A lot happens in the plot, most of it cool and interesting. No ebook for this one either, https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/0671876457/
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Feb 12, 2021 01:00
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Patrick Spens posted:No I get that the Radchaai don't have a conception of gender, but Justice opens with Breq having lived outside of the Radch for years and is still all, "....I guess this one's male?" It's like if you'd spent a decade in India and still had no idea the difference between Tamil and Hindi or Bengali. iirc Breq's problem is that she's spent that time travelling and gender signifiers vary from culture to culture, so while she might have learned to tell Tamil from Hindi, that doesn't help her tell English from Scottish when she arrives on a new planet.
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Feb 12, 2021 01:13
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Patrick Spens posted:No I get that the Radchaai don't have a conception of gender, but Justice opens with Breq having lived outside of the Radch for years and is still all, "....I guess this one's male?" It's like if you'd spent a decade in India and still had no idea the difference between Tamil and Hindi or Bengali. Welcome to the mindset of the British Empire circa 1790-1945. Ancillary series: Breq cares more about songs than anything else, with revenge and eventually tea-drinking taking 2nd & 3rd places. The biggest changeup in the Ancillary series is tea and tea drinking ceremonies/tea sets becoming load-bearing plot elements similar to that deus-ex cougar in Reamde. The SFL Archives 1994 readthrough attempt is going rough, worse than SFL Archives 1993. quantumfoam fucked around with this message at 01:19 on Feb 12, 2021 |
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Feb 12, 2021 01:15
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Patrick Spens posted:No I get that the Radchaai don't have a conception of gender, but Justice opens with Breq having lived outside of the Radch for years and is still all, "....I guess this one's male?" It's like if you'd spent a decade in India and still had no idea the difference between Tamil and Hindi or Bengali. Riot Carol Danvers posted:Gotcha. I think it's time for a re-read because my memory on that is getting iffy. Exactly my impression, thank you. There's a bit early in the novel where the starship looks at a person and goes "facial hair, uses the local mannerisms of a dude, probably is a dude, but I will continue to refer to him as she/her" essentially and it bothered me a lot. Still does. I see the author's intent, but that was not what was present in the book.
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Feb 12, 2021 01:17
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