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Sally Forth posted: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. I'm pretty sure Breq spent most or all of her travels inside the Radch and this was the first time she dipped out into one of the weird backwater cultures that believe in gender for any length of time, specifically because she had to find that disgraced Radch officer.
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Feb 12, 2021 01:46
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Just finished Fireheart Tiger which is apparently just continuing to blow up the sales charts right now. It's short and fast-paced and a solid read. Sort of an amuse-bouche of a novella (novelette maybe? It's about 99 pages not counting acknowledgements and all that). Definitely worth checking out if princess/fire elemental lesbian love triangle with some light court intrigue is your thing. And speaking of gay court intrigue, Winter's Orbit was definitely something I'm glad I picked up. There's definitely still a noticeable lack of m/m romance/relationships in SFF, even if you just look at queer SFF (unless I've been looking in the wrong places) so it's great to see more being published that are also good reads. One thing that stuck out to me (in a way that's to the book's/author's credit) was how the past abuse that Jainan went through was reflected in his psychology. I would have loved a little more info relating to the worldbuilding (like with the clans and the Iskat court especially) but that's probably just me not being used to reading more romance-focused books.
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Feb 12, 2021 04:55
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DurianGray posted:I would have loved a little more info relating to the worldbuilding (like with the clans and the Iskat court especially) but that's probably just me not being used to reading more romance-focused books. Fun fact -- the original online version just had Iskat and Thea. No Auditor, no hint of the greater galactic civilization beyond the star system the book takes place in -- I just did a search for 'remnant' in my copy of said original and came up with 2 hits, both being used in phrases like 'remnants of <noun>'. A lot of the broad strokes of the plot are the same, but yeah. It's kinda wild how much the worldbuilding has been elaborated upon in this release lol
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Feb 12, 2021 06:32
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Started reading Between Two Holy poo poo, the monsters in this book are incredible. The long-form flashback character building storytelling is reminding me a little bit of Hyperion. I am convinced this thing will be a TV series in the next decade. It would adapt so well to screen.
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Feb 12, 2021 07:05
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Sheriff Falc posted:Started reading Between Two im enjoying it but it is Extremely a downer, so far (about a third in). bad things happen! to erryone! its not a good time to be alive, folks!
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Feb 12, 2021 07:57
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I always thought gender in the Radch was wildly overstated as a talking point, or more cynically a marketing point. Yeah, genderless society is in there and mildly interesting, but it feels like a cool setting detail. From the amount of ink spilled around it, you might get the impression that it's a game changing novel primarily about gender. Far more interesting IMO was the Radch's pantheon of foreign gods integrated into the empire, and the importance of fortune telling supporting the ideology of 'the empire exists therefore it was fated to exist and can never be destroyed'. They're great books and I love them
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Feb 12, 2021 09:43
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If you were sold on the Ancillary series because of the gender stuff it's probably a disappointment, I just started filtering she to they automatically after the first few times. I was sold on it as a spaceship trying to be human and get revenge and I think it works from that angle. Unrelated , I've been putting off reading the latest Baru despite getting it for Christmas because the only time I have to read is before bed and I really don't need to skip sleep and rad until 4 am. Especially when I'm busy with school.
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Feb 12, 2021 10:36
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fashionly snort posted: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? McKillip is like the Joanna Newsome of Fantasy. You have to be in the right mindset for her stylistic quirks and thematic concerns but if you are it's all excellent. She's a major prose stylist in a genre that lacks good writers. It's a shame that her wikipedia entry is so threadbare but the SF Encyclopedia covers why she deserves respect: http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/mckillip_patricia_a fez_machine fucked around with this message at 11:15 on Feb 12, 2021 |
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Feb 12, 2021 11:13
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Sally Forth posted: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) I read this in two evenings and loved it, it's definitely a universe I want to spend more time in if that's ever possible.
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Feb 12, 2021 13:11
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StrixNebulosa posted: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. The narration consistently uses "she" for everyone, even in the Breq chapters where she's made a guess at someone's gender, because Breq thinks in Radchaii and she (and Justice of Toren in the flashback chapters) is the narrator. Dialogue, when outside the Radch, either uses gendered pronouns or has asides that make it clear Breq is using gendered declensions for things based on her best guess as to the gender of the participants, like that conversation with the bartender at the very start of the book. Perhaps it would have been more obvious if Leckie had used "they", or a completely alien gender-neutral pronoun like "gtst", in the narration instead of "she", and it's fine to be annoyed that she didn't, but "Breq guesses someone's gender correctly and then decides to misgender them in dialogue anyways" is not what's happening there. 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? If you liked Fortress, I think Eagles, Owls, and Dragons are easy recs. I haven't read Ice.
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Feb 12, 2021 13:52
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I'm about 150 pages into The Book of Strange New Things and it's extremely good so far. I don't think I've ever seen it recommended when people ask for first contact // people interacting with alien civilization stories, is it because Michael Faber (also wrote "Under the Skin" which turned into a very good movie) fell into the Michael Chabon "it's not genre because we said so" bucket? Basic premise is non-denominational priest goes to strange new world, leaving his wife back on earth. Don't want to spoil too much because it's a slow reveal (it's not immediately clear where he's going or what his purpose is). But seems like it would be totally up the alley of many people in this thread...
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Feb 12, 2021 15:03
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I got my hands on a copy of The Necromancer's House, by the author of Between Two Fires. This thing is drat hard to get unless you prefer audiobooks. But it's the best story about modern day wizards I've read since The Magicians, and I've tried a lot of those. In theory I love stories about wizards, yet they make up the majority of the unfinished books on my kindle. The Necromancer's House doesn't have that problem. It's written in a completely different style than Between Two Fires, very staccato with lots of one sentence paragraphs. Not something I thought I'd enjoy, but it works! The pacing is great, with lots of imaginative, wonderful, and horrifying applications of magic. One character who's only present for a few pages died in such an unusually gruesome way that I felt sick. Don't think I've ever felt that way reading a book before. The protagonist is flawed and initially very unsympathetic. That could be a problem, because it makes the prose work harder to keep you reading about a guy who seems so annoying. But I'd say he's still a compelling character. After I finish this book the author's got a couple more, though they're about vampires. Not a subject matter I'm usually into, but this guy's a good enough writer that I'll probably read them. Really looking forward to May when he releases The Blacktongue Thief, I really want to read his first foray into secondary world fantasy. Ccs fucked around with this message at 16:04 on Feb 12, 2021 |
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Feb 12, 2021 16:00
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The Sweet Hereafter posted:I read this in two evenings and loved it, it's definitely a universe I want to spend more time in if that's ever possible. Another book is in the works - different characters and set in a different part of the universe but just as good as the first!
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Feb 12, 2021 18:37
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The draft of the last Baru is a total mess but I’m enjoying finally getting to crash all the model trains into each other.
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Feb 12, 2021 18:50
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buffalo all day posted:I'm about 150 pages into The Book of Strange New Things and it's extremely good so far. I don't think I've ever seen it recommended when people ask for first contact // people interacting with alien civilization stories, is it because Michael Faber (also wrote "Under the Skin" which turned into a very good movie) fell into the Michael Chabon "it's not genre because we said so" bucket? e: Speaking of authors no one talks about, how about Erin Morgenstern? I just finished The Starless Sea and frankly cannot decide whether it was amazing or an utter waste of a great premise. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 19:12 on Feb 12, 2021 |
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Feb 12, 2021 19:02
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General Battuta posted:The draft of the last Baru is a total mess but I’m enjoying finally getting to crash all the model trains into each other. It's not too late to turn the series into a 13 book fantasy epic. Ccs posted:I got my hands on a copy of The Necromancer's House, by the author of Between Two Fires. This thing is drat hard to get unless you prefer audiobooks. Amazon US has Necromancer's House in paperback and hardcover, so I've got the paperback coming next week. I'm listening to the audiobook of Between Two Fires which is free for me in Audible, not sure if its because I'm signed up for 1 credit a month or if its from prime or unlimited or something. Too many subscriptions these days.
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Feb 12, 2021 19:09
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General Battuta posted:The draft of the last Baru is a total mess but I’m enjoying finally getting to crash all the model trains into each other. 
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Feb 12, 2021 19:28
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anilEhilated posted:I enjoyed it a lot; the "real lit writer" label might have turned off some people from what is genuinely a very accessible and powerful book. Out of curiosity I went to the Amazon page to see what the Real Lit Reviews would say about this, and was not disappointed: quote:“Defiantly unclassifiable. . . . The Book of Strange New Things squeezes its genre ingredients to yield a meditation on suffering, love and the origins of religious faith. . . . Faber reminds us there is a literature of enchantment, which invites the reader to participate in the not-real in order to wake from a dream of reality to the ineffability, strangeness, and brevity of life on Earth.” —Marcel Theroux, The New York Times Book Review (cover review) I can't recall the last time I saw someone work so hard to justify why enjoying a genre book shouldn't result in having their Real Lit Critic License revoked, as if a fair number of English's timeless masterworks weren't genre pieces written by, say, Le Guin. What a pretentious blinkered jackass.
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Feb 12, 2021 19:45
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General Battuta posted:The draft of the last Baru is a total mess but I’m enjoying finally getting to crash all the model trains into each other. Hell yes. I am bagrada posted:It's not too late to turn the series into a 13 book fantasy epic. You shut your filthy mouth. I'm glad I'm not the only person who immediately thought of this.
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Feb 12, 2021 19:47
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Kestral posted:Out of curiosity I went to the Amazon page to see what the Real Lit Reviews would say about this, and was not disappointed: Ha yeah, not sure how "defiantly unclassifiable" the story of a man traveling through space to another planet to work with aliens is.
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Feb 12, 2021 19:48
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bagrada posted:It's not too late to turn the series into a 13 book fantasy epic. And just stop writing it about book 5 but constantly say you're about to finish it.
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Feb 12, 2021 20:11
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a baru in three parts
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Feb 12, 2021 20:24
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General Battuta posted:The draft of the last Baru is a total mess but I’m enjoying finally getting to crash all the model trains into each other. It's good to hear you're having fun with this book, since I remember you being pretty upset about the last novel when it was still in draft format!
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Feb 12, 2021 20:27
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General Battuta posted:The draft of the last Baru is a total mess but I’m enjoying finally getting to crash all the model trains into each other. Hahaha I'm looking forward to that. Book 3 really could have been the end, leaving it to the reader to imagine how Baru would use economics to crater the empire but I will enjoy reading about it too. It'd be funny if some people in Falcrest realize what Baru is doing and it becomes a Big Short scenario, but like the housing crisis most are too ignorant or greedy to stop it.
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Feb 12, 2021 20:35
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/r/falcrestbets
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Feb 12, 2021 20:53
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General Battuta posted:The draft of the last Baru is a total mess but I’m enjoying finally getting to crash all the model trains into each other.
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Feb 12, 2021 21:18
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gently caress yeah, trains. The Conductor Baru Cormorant
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Feb 12, 2021 21:20
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There actually were trains in the original short story. I took them out because, uh, I dunno. It might've been kind of cool. Maybe I thought it was too steampunk? Or too Bas-lag?Ccs posted:Hahaha I'm looking forward to that. Book 3 really could have been the end, leaving it to the reader to imagine how Baru would use economics to crater the empire but I will enjoy reading about it too. It'd be funny if some people in Falcrest realize what Baru is doing and it becomes a Big Short scenario, but like the housing crisis most are too ignorant or greedy to stop it. I think the problem with ending at Book 3 is you end up with the 'answer' to the series being and then Baru ended colonialism with the power of friendship and it's totally great to use the master's tools to disassemble the master's house, works like a charm, don't kick up a fuss or do anything too radical, just collaborate and try to reform the system from within, it takes a reform like no problem. Which I think...misses the problem of empire, a bit; it's not about a secret cabal planning the conquest of the world; it's about these vast stupid greedy processes which resist change specifically because they are producing huge gushing geysers of wealth for the colonisers. Trim is a lovely idea, and in some sense trim did exist in our real world because there was a general recognition that colonisation was a violation of fundamental human dignity, but that wasn't enough to actually stop colonialism until a huge amount of suffering had been inflicted. After three books of agonising over "can you play the game from inside without being compromised and becoming what you hate?" I think it'd be sort of cowardly to end on an unqualified "Yeah!!!" I am still vaguely planning to do a "many centuries later" book in Baru's world which is a lesbian Top Gun story about mercenary pilots. And you'd get to see all the downstream effects of Baru's failure or success.
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Feb 12, 2021 21:29
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General Battuta posted:I am still vaguely planning to do a "many centuries later" book in Baru's world which is a lesbian Top Gun story about mercenary pilots 
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Feb 12, 2021 21:33
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General Battuta posted:I am still vaguely planning to do a "many centuries later" book in Baru's world which is a lesbian Top Gun story about mercenary pilots. And you'd get to see all the downstream effects of Baru's failure or success. I think you had us at 'lesbian Top Gun story'.
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Feb 12, 2021 21:39
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Ccs posted:I got my hands on a copy of The Necromancer's House, by the author of Between Two Fires. This thing is drat hard to get unless you prefer audiobooks. But it's the best story about modern day wizards I've read since The Magicians, and I've tried a lot of those. In theory I love stories about wizards, yet they make up the majority of the unfinished books on my kindle. I read his book about werewolves ages ago (Those Across the River) and it was a... big swing, for reasons that I couldn't really get into without spoiling, but its very effective and memorable. I've had one of his vampire books sitting around my kindle for ages but since the werewolf one was a downer haven't gotten around to it.
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Feb 12, 2021 21:40
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anilEhilated posted:e: Speaking of authors no one talks about, how about Erin Morgenstern? I just finished The Starless Sea and frankly cannot decide whether it was amazing or an utter waste of a great premise. I stopped reading it halfway through because the protagonist was a nerd stereotype with zero personality (liking Harry Potter is not a personality), the metaphors were blatant and constantly jackhammered onto the page in droning unchanging forms, and the prose and dialogue was annoyingly twee It’s trying so hard to be Borges. Just read Borges. Or Catherynne Valente. Hell Piranesi was similar and a billion times better as well
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Feb 12, 2021 21:41
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bagrada posted:It's not too late to turn the series into a 13 book fantasy epic. The Blockchain Specialist Baru Cormorant, Volume 9 of the Ongoing Adventures of Baru Cormorant
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Feb 12, 2021 21:45
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Benagain posted:Naomi Novik is a good enough writer that I think she kind of trapped herself with the Temeraire series in that it obviously started out as 'what if ships were dragons' and no one including herself expected it to take off. You can see the swerve where she actually starts thinking about some of the issues like 'how are these dragons fed' and 'what effect would it have on world history if air forces existed before industry of any kind.' You can also see from her later works that once she struck it big she stayed away from the long drawn out series and focused on tighter, focused, single volume works because she probably felt burned by that whole experience. I've spent the last year or so working through the entire Temeraire series on audiobook and its helped a LOT by the always magical Simon Vance, but it really could not sustain 9 books, and I think the swerve you point out is part of the reason. FWIW I would slightly disagree with the general consensus that it's a straight downhill line and say that it does perk up a bit for the ending after the long, long Australian expedition. There are a ton of nits to pick because, as you say, it's a thought experiment that kind of doesn't work if you spend too long on it. She was a good enough writer and I'm stubborn enough that I stuck with it but it doesn't hold a candle to Uprooted.
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Feb 12, 2021 21:50
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Just here to drop my recommendation for the Dandelion dynasty books. The world and the story is clearly heavily inspired by chinese history and folklore, but the world of "Dara" is certainly not fantasy china either. The first book "Grace of Kings "is a excellent tale of heroism, derring do, wild battles and tragic misunderstanding with a bitter sweet ending that i really liked. The second book "The Wall of Storms" is also very good, maybe not quite as good as the first book tough. It has some really great emotional storylines and quite inventive and exciting battle scenes. Overall a very different feel from book 1. It was much less bittersweet, personally i missed that. The drawbacks are; genius Mary Sue-like super articulate children, a bit too much declaring and speechifying that felt unnatural, a male rape scene that i think was supposed to be funny( but i am not sure)
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Feb 12, 2021 21:50
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General Battuta posted:I think the problem with ending at Book 3 is you end up with the 'answer' to the series being and then Baru ended colonialism with the power of friendship and it's totally great to use the master's tools to disassemble the master's house, works like a charm, don't kick up a fuss or do anything too radical, just collaborate and try to reform the system from within, it takes a reform like no problem. Which I think...misses the problem of empire, a bit; it's not about a secret cabal planning the conquest of the world; it's about these vast stupid greedy processes which resist change specifically because they are producing huge gushing geysers of wealth for the colonisers. Trim is a lovely idea, and in some sense trim did exist in our real world because there was a general recognition that colonisation was a violation of fundamental human dignity, but that wasn't enough to actually stop colonialism until a huge amount of suffering had been inflicted. The counterpoint of course is that the realistic "Hell no, broad historical forces/capital wins out!" ending isn't much fun to read about and given the Cancrioth it's not like realism is the watchword here. I also definitely didn't end the book thinking that your spoiler was the "answer," and I can't imagine anyone who read the book with any care thinking that, either.
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Feb 12, 2021 21:54
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pseudorandom name posted:The Blockchain Specialist Baru Cormorant, Volume 9 of the Ongoing Adventures of Baru Cormorant Falcresti schools putting out math geniuses who sit and crunch numbers on unsolvable problems, shipping letters back and forth confirming anonymous bitcoin wallets is an idea that is like /almost/ compelling. Especially as an exploration of just how much extra effort and resources are being put into something nearly identical to a piece of metal run through a special press.
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Feb 12, 2021 22:27
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perhaps a modern day baru can run some analysis on the number/frequency/most repeated versions of "the __ baru cormorant" related jokes in this thread
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Feb 12, 2021 22:49
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Sarern posted:I think you had us at 'lesbian Top Gun story'. Yeah; shut up and write.
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Feb 12, 2021 23:27
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Parable of the Talents (Parable #2) by Octavia E Butler - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008HALPHC/ The Slow Regard of Silent Things (Kingkiller Chronicle) by Patrick Rothfuss - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J9SUF2W/ The Gallows Black (Grave of Empires) by Sam Sykes - $0.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07QFPY6MD/ The Ambassador's Mission (Traitor Spy #1) by Trudi Canavan - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00351DSHI/ The Traitor Queen (Traitor Spy #3) by Trudi Canavan - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007WUW72K/
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Feb 12, 2021 23:36
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