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Anyone have anything that they want added to the thread OP or changed in it?
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Mar 9, 2021 19:23
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| # ? Jun 4, 2024 07:44 |
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Finished The Unspoken Name and loved it. Really interesting world and great characters, twisty plot, good poo poo. Can't wait for the next one. Also very, very glad to read a lesbian sf/f story, especially the first book of a series, where one or both of them doesn't die at the end. Seems to be an epidemic of that lately.
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Mar 10, 2021 01:43
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Hey cool I’m almost halfway through The Unspoken Name and I really like it.
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Mar 10, 2021 02:19
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Huh. Kristine Kathryn Rusch is writing a novella set in the universe of her "fey" series and funding it via kickstarter. Anyone read these? Are they work picking up?
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Mar 10, 2021 03:55
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quantumfoam posted:Anyone have anything that they want added to the thread OP or changed in it? OP looks good to me. Glad you are putting in the effort to keep it up to date.
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Mar 10, 2021 06:55
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Lavie Tidhar curated the latest Storybundle. There are ten weird books in this one.
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Mar 10, 2021 14:42
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A man lies bundling
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Mar 10, 2021 14:48
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StrixNebulosa posted:Lavie Tidhar curated the latest Storybundle. There are ten weird books in this one. I don't know most of them, but the Cassandra Khaw is good. That's a fun little series.
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Mar 10, 2021 16:01
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Between Two Fires is rad as hell. I love Christian mythology being used in weird ways.
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Mar 10, 2021 17:08
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StrixNebulosa posted:Becky Chambers is your next stop! I wanted to thank you for this recommendation - I jumped in with The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and am about halfway through and am enjoying it a lot. Does anyone have recommendations for places to get audiobooks for good prices? I signed up for audible and $14/month per credit seems fair, but trying to buy audiobooks outside of the credit format seems a lot more expensive than it should be.
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Mar 11, 2021 02:37
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Llamadeus posted:I've definitely seen it repeated before, but it's far from being an overwhelming consensus. I think they all had more engaging action-adventure plotlines than the earlier books. Surface Detail in particular I enjoyed because of the number of viewpoints.
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Mar 11, 2021 02:51
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They're more indulgent in 'Culture stuff' which I think is to their detriment. If by the last three we mean Matter, Surface Detail and Hydrogen Sonata.
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Mar 11, 2021 02:53
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Ccs posted:Hey cool I’m almost halfway through The Unspoken Name and I really like it. Sorry if I spoiled you. 
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Mar 11, 2021 07:23
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A GIANT PARSNIP posted:I wanted to thank you for this recommendation - I jumped in with The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and am about halfway through and am enjoying it a lot. For audible don't buy anything outside of credits unless its on sale. The daily deals generally good and they run fairly regular 2 for 1 sales. If the kindle version is on sale you can often get it cheaper by buying that and then doing the 'add audible' to it. Much better though is using Overdrive/Libby through your local library. They have a surprisingly good selection of e-Audiobooks
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Mar 11, 2021 16:33
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Just got my first ebook through overdrive on my, like, 2nd generation kindle and I'm in awe.
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Mar 11, 2021 18:51
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Overdrive is great but it can really depend on your local library. The ones here in Melbourne aren't all allied with each other (i.e. sharing one big repository that anybody with a library card from different libraries can still use) and it sucks because the network in my local council area of libraries has a paltry ebook collection of maybe 3,000 so it's not even worth bothering with. I'm fortunate in that I still have my library cards from when I used to live in Western Australia and London, and both of those places have enormous allied library networks with a shared pool of something like 50,000 ebooks each. There's no online Overdrive library that's just totally free for anybody in the world to sign up for, is there? I assume there isn't because I don't see how it would benefit anybody's taxpayer base, which is what's funding Western Australia and London's huge networks.
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Mar 11, 2021 22:46
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freebooter posted:Overdrive is great but it can really depend on your local library. The ones here in Melbourne aren't all allied with each other (i.e. sharing one big repository that anybody with a library card from different libraries can still use) and it sucks because the network in my local council area of libraries has a paltry ebook collection of maybe 3,000 so it's not even worth bothering with. I'm fortunate in that I still have my library cards from when I used to live in Western Australia and London, and both of those places have enormous allied library networks with a shared pool of something like 50,000 ebooks each. Even if they're not free it doesn't take much to beat 1 book a month for $15 with audible.
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Mar 12, 2021 02:53
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So I finished The Unspoken Name. I really liked it! Probably the best book I’ve gotten free from Tor aside from Baru #1 (which I had already read from the library, just grabbed the download so I’d own it.) On GoodReads I was surprised to see a lot of people didn’t care for it. The top review is from someone who stopped reading a 60% (and it seems super lovely for the top goddamn review to be from someone who didn’t read the whole book.) I can understand some of the critiques. The protagonist is a little underdeveloped because large parts of her adolescence is skipped over. In a more traditional fantasy series we’d be shown all her skill acquisition in excruciating detail. The material in this first book could probably sustain a trilogy, but I was glad for the economical storytelling. I suppose the author could have punched up the protagonists emotions to let her leave more of an impression on the page, as it felt like a few of the other characters had a stronger voice to their thoughts. There were instances where a bit of bluntness or unexpected humor would come through which livened up the prose, and it could have used even more of that. Overall though I don’t know how readers were bored with a story that zipped so steadily through diverse locations and cool set pieces and character moments. The author of Gideon the Ninth is namechecked in the acknowledgments and that book has near universal acclaim yet I was much more bored during large stretches in the First House where characters walked around the same areas and were too numerous to keep track of than during any part of The Unspoken Name. Gideon did have more humor though so I guess that’s part of it. More jokes!
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Mar 12, 2021 05:56
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If you call reheated decade-old memes "humor," I guess.  Csirwe's reservedness made sense to me, honestly. She endures abuse throughout the whole drat book, and it's only at the end that she realizes she can spend time with people she actually likes - she's a lot more ebullient around Shuthmili. I also enjoyed seeing the more forceful characters through her lens, since a lot of other authors try to make their main character a quip-a-minute Joss Whedon escapee and nobody else really has room to breathe. eta: fixed weird wording packetmantis fucked around with this message at 07:04 on Mar 12, 2021 |
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Mar 12, 2021 06:53
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From one of the Covid threads:BattleMaster posted:speaking of covid denial, notorious racist H. P. Lovecraft, who was racist even for his time and told to tone it down by colleagues, would have been anti-lockdown today H. P. Lovecraft to Lillian D. Clark, 2 December 1925 posted::
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Mar 12, 2021 11:06
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That's odd, I would have thought he would be pro-lockdown considering how afraid he was of literally everything.
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Mar 12, 2021 11:12
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Lol I guess there's just something about being a huge racist and being against lockdowns that's consistent through the ages.
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Mar 12, 2021 15:31
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A Proper Uppercut posted:Between Two Fires is rad as hell. I love Christian mythology being used in weird ways. I literally just finished reading his Vampire novel The Lesser Dead an hour ago, and thought it was great. Would recommend.
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Mar 12, 2021 22:45
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The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A Heinlein - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CWGBZ4R/ Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson - $4.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FC11A6/ Discworld series by Terry Pratchett - $4.99 each https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TYGGG76/
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Mar 12, 2021 23:37
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The Two of Swords: Volume One by KJ Parker - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06Y5K2CK3/ Someone missed out last sale. Here's a second chance. The Sharing Knife: Passage (Wide Green World #3) by Lois McMaster Bujold - $3.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0010SKSWQ/ Neptune's Brood by Charles Stross - $4.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AR2RZ4K/ The Traveler's Gate Trilogy by Will Wight - Free https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZK3KUE8/
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Mar 13, 2021 19:06
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pradmer posted:The Two of Swords: Volume One by KJ Parker - $2.99 As someone who mostly enjoyed Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City but had an issue with the "ending".... Should I read this?
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Mar 13, 2021 19:22
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GoodluckJonathan posted:As someone who mostly enjoyed Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City but had an issue with the "ending".... Should I read this? It's the most Parker of everything K.J. Parker ever wrote. It's the most ambitious thing he's ever written, that's for sure, and as a fan I think he nails it though I don't think it's for everyone. Do note that while there might be 3 books, this is not really a trilogy per se, but just a big rear end story divided in three books (it was initially published as a monthly serial).
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Mar 13, 2021 19:26
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GoodluckJonathan posted:As someone who mostly enjoyed Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City but had an issue with the "ending".... Should I read this? Have you read the sequel to City? It tied things up pretty well I thought. Anyway it was me who missed out on the previous Two Swords sale so I grabbed it this time! I’ve read 6 of Parker’s books, loved 3 of them, was kind of ambivalent on 2, couldn’t finish 1. Hopefully this falls into the majority camp. Ccs fucked around with this message at 21:16 on Mar 13, 2021 |
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Mar 13, 2021 21:14
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Another Philip K. Dick Award shortlistee knocked off: 1987's Becoming Alien by Rebecca Ore. Quite a weird one. A teenager in backwater Virginia rescues a survivor from a spaceship crash, one thing leads to another and he gets enlisted as a cadet in a multi-species galactic federation. Not at all the kind of book I was expecting; it's quite dense, very serious and often difficult to read, basically exploring xenophobia and the way that lots of intelligent species have developed social traits based on their deep-level ancestral instincts. Also it's more or less plotless. One of those books I didn't quite like but definitely admired, and would recommend if it sounds like the kind of thing you'd be interested in.
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Mar 14, 2021 03:34
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Ccs posted:Have you read the sequel to City? It tied things up pretty well I thought. No, I haven't. The impression I got from finishing the book is the author abruptly decided he didn't want to spend any more time with the story and just... stopped. Turned me off reading the sequel.
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Mar 14, 2021 03:40
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GoodluckJonathan posted:No, I haven't. The impression I got from finishing the book is the author abruptly decided he didn't want to spend any more time with the story and just... stopped. Turned me off reading the sequel. It’s just Parker pulling his usual “things are going great, they’re still in a bit of a tight spot but overall almost in the clear, aw gently caress now everything is poo poo” ending that he likes to do.
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Mar 14, 2021 04:22
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GoodluckJonathan posted:No, I haven't. The impression I got from finishing the book is the author abruptly decided he didn't want to spend any more time with the story and just... stopped. Turned me off reading the sequel. Whaaaat? Huh, definitely not the feeling I got. I liekd the ending, even if it was a bit abrupt. Kept the book tight and nice. I would've liked it to keep going with the same pace, but nothing good lasts forever. I got the sequel lined up for later this year.
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Mar 14, 2021 06:38
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Was looking for some detective fantasy and saw some recommendations of Low Town by Daniel Polansky. Anyone read it?
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Mar 14, 2021 07:16
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theblackw0lf posted:Was looking for some detective fantasy and saw some recommendations of Low Town by Daniel Polansky. Anyone read it?
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Mar 14, 2021 08:11
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theblackw0lf posted:Was looking for some detective fantasy and saw some recommendations of Low Town by Daniel Polansky. Anyone read it? I don’t remember much about it, I don’t think? Main character is a criminal of some kind? Brothel owner or drug dealer?
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Mar 14, 2021 18:05
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Neuromancer (Sprawl #1) by William Gibson - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000O76ON6/ Storm Front (Dresden Files #1) by Jim Butcher - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000WH7PLS%27 Lies Sleeping (Rivers of London #7) by Ben Aaronovitch - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BPNZBPS/ The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2020 by John Joseph Adams and Diana Gabaldon - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B081TV2NL6/
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Mar 14, 2021 18:57
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A Proper Uppercut posted:Between Two Fires is rad as hell. I love Christian mythology being used in weird ways. Deptfordx posted:I literally just finished reading his Vampire novel The Lesser Dead an hour ago, and thought it was great. Would recommend. I hosed myself up reading nothing but work-related material for like eight years and broke my fiction-fast with Between Two Fires this morning in about five hours Gonna hit up The Lesser Dead tonight/tomorrow morning I reckon Thanks fam
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Mar 14, 2021 20:25
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navyjack posted:I don’t remember much about it, I don’t think? Main character is a criminal of some kind? Brothel owner or drug dealer? Yeah, drug dealer. I found it a bit trite in the protagonist being an incredible omnicompetent badass, and it (and especially the sequels) could have used an editor pass for typos. But it was entertaining enough, and had the occasional clever turn of phrase.
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Mar 14, 2021 22:38
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theblackw0lf posted:Was looking for some detective fantasy and saw some recommendations of Low Town by Daniel Polansky. Anyone read it? Found it OK though thanks to random chance I read in the lose succession to other works that did the (End of book spoilers) vain evil sorceress thing, which also lead to me completely losing interest in the Rivers of London series after the forth book because I was just so tired of it and I didn't think it folloved from what came before it.
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Mar 15, 2021 01:12
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Ceebees posted:Yeah, drug dealer. I found it a bit trite in the protagonist being an incredible omnicompetent badass, and it (and especially the sequels) could have used an editor pass for typos. But it was entertaining enough, and had the occasional clever turn of phrase. It's better than this recommendation. Read it, but don't expect Low Town to change your life.
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Mar 15, 2021 04:42
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