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Doctor Jeep posted:His girlfriend/love of his life (Molly) marries his surrogate father (Burrich) who raised him to revile his own wild magic, which the surrogate father also has but hates in himself as well. That sounds cruel.  Thank you, I will continue to not read this specific trilogy.e: For a new page: Lilith Saintcrow's urban fantasy demon-hunting series Jill Kismet is on sale for 2$ for the whole thing: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0089EHI4U/
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Apr 4, 2021 19:07
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His surrogate father beats him through his childhood to hate his low magic. At the end of the series Fitz pretends to be dead so the abuser marries Fitz's love interest and has 5 children with her and also beats them and her and drinks. I enjoyed the first book despite the horrendous abuse, of the second 2 only the end of book 3 has stuck with me due to how much I loathed it. Oh god I forgot about princess shenanigans. The Fool however is fabulous.
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Apr 4, 2021 19:17
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StrixNebulosa posted:That sounds cruel. 2.99  Also, loving hell the paperback is 1400+ pages. That's a loving brick of a book.
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Apr 4, 2021 19:35
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Kestral posted:Since we're on Bujold-chat, to what extent could ... Penric be described with words like "comfy" and "romantic" ? Extremely.
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Apr 4, 2021 19:36
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I never saw Burrich as straight up abusive. He was a very flawed character but he was just left with a kid he had no idea what to do with and I think he tried to do his best by him. I love the whole series of Farseer books. I first read them as a teenager and reread them regularly and they're still some of my favourite books. I don't think they're the best books ever written and definitely have their faults but something about them is just what I want in a book. I think I just the love the Fool so much I don't care about anything else, they are my favourite fictional character p much ever.
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Apr 4, 2021 19:55
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minema posted:I never saw Burrich as straight up abusive I've never read these books so I have no opinion one way or another but I have to praise your courage for making the most dangerous statement possible on Book/Game/TV Internet
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Apr 4, 2021 20:14
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I think the whole protagonist getting abused is a lady lit thing. Outlander is rife with it. The way Burrich is written is from Fitz first person, of course he views it as hard love and his fault really. The passage about the toy soldiers was brutal.
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Apr 4, 2021 20:15
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:2.99 gently caress, sorry about that.  Hate falling for the "it's x.99$" trick.Also yeah, do not buy these in physical form, your wrists WILL fall off.
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Apr 4, 2021 20:21
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Ccs posted:Is Robin Hobb’s much lauded trilogy about an assassin any better? Or distinct from run of the mill fantasy? I see a lot of praise for her work, to the point that some will say she’s the best author in the genre, but I haven’t read any since they rarely go on sale. Read something more happy and uplifting, like The Last Policeman trilogy.
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Apr 4, 2021 21:40
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I liked the Liveship Trader stuff. I enjoyed the Assassin trilogy when I read em but I wouldn't go back, and the third trilogy is just depressing. FitzChivalry is in a lovely situation and he reacts realistically and it's just kinda heartbreaking and depressing. I can't be done with it.
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Apr 4, 2021 21:52
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Quorum posted:It's been a bit since I listened through the Chalion books, but as far as I recall, "comfy" is a decent word. They have a distinctly optimistic tone and their protagonists are generally nice, sensible people who are genuinely trying to make the world a better place, and usually succeeding. There is romance to be had but in my opinion it's written fairly refreshingly. It's not really a core theme but it's usually present on some level. There were a few lines where the protagonist barely started getting male gaze-y in Curse and I held my breath at each one and then it didn't go any further. Just a hint, in 2 or three lines of text out of an entire novel. Pretty good.
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Apr 4, 2021 22:08
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I know Fitz is endlessly poo poo on and the books are objectively at best bittersweet but I never found they made me actually feel depressed or melancholy. I think because he does have some genuine friendships and relationships which redeem it for me a bit. I can't read "grimdark" books because they affect me too much but there's enough light in the characters in Hobbs books that make it bearable. I recently reread the Lions of Al-Rassan by GGK recently and that made me feel similar - there's a lot of tragedy in it but also optimism and hope in individuals.
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Apr 4, 2021 23:38
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Apparatchik Magnet posted:Read something more happy and uplifting, like The Last Policeman trilogy. Honestly I think that ended up feeling more optimistic than the Farseer stuff. Happiness Commando posted:There were a few lines where the protagonist barely started getting male gaze-y in Curse and I held my breath at each one and then it didn't go any further. Just a hint, in 2 or three lines of text out of an entire novel. Pretty good.  Yea definitely gave me pause, but I hadn't heard anything about that before hand, and was pleasantly surprised it didn't go any further.
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Apr 4, 2021 23:40
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Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse - US Kindle - $4.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084G9YRK3/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_XZFR2XGQGT731DX93Z01 Been looking forward to checking this out.
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Apr 4, 2021 23:43
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As I enjoy Lord of the Rings I reflect on elves and - are there any elves in fiction where they aren't depicted as a civilization/species in decline? Why were they in decline in lotr, anyways, if they're so wonderful?
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Apr 4, 2021 23:45
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StrixNebulosa posted:As I enjoy Lord of the Rings I reflect on elves and - are there any elves in fiction where they aren't depicted as a civilization/species in decline? Why were they in decline in lotr, anyways, if they're so wonderful? They aren't in decline in most DnD poo poo or its knockoffs, nor in Warhammer Fantasy ( though space elves in 40k totally are). Honestly most one off books or series I can think of that feature them don't have them in decline. Warcraft didn't have any Elves in decline until they decided between WC3 and WoW that elf genocide would be the cool thing to do and did it at least 3 times Zore fucked around with this message at 23:58 on Apr 4, 2021 |
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Apr 4, 2021 23:55
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StrixNebulosa posted:As I enjoy Lord of the Rings I reflect on elves and - are there any elves in fiction where they aren't depicted as a civilization/species in decline? Why were they in decline in lotr, anyways, if they're so wonderful?
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Apr 4, 2021 23:57
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Yeah, the elves aren't really meant to still be hanging out in Middle Earth any more, they're supposed to be in Valinor in the West. Elrond and Galadriel have rings of power and that's let them keep their respective realms in good health way past the time when they should have declined, but with the destruction of the One Ring those rings won't work that way any more.
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Apr 5, 2021 00:03
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It's basically magic climate change that doesn't affect mortals.
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Apr 5, 2021 00:21
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StrixNebulosa posted:As I enjoy Lord of the Rings I reflect on elves and - are there any elves in fiction where they aren't depicted as a civilization/species in decline? Why were they in decline in lotr, anyways, if they're so wonderful? If you want elves at the height of their glory, and also a great story about why they're in decline in LotR, read The Silmarillion. If you have any tolerance for audiobooks, read it that way: Martin Shaw's narration is outstanding and really brings the material alive, since the style is deliberately calling back to epic works that are meant to spoken more than read. The short answer though, yes, is that the ones still in Middle-Earth either hosed up enormously over and over thanks to their tragic flaws, or took the first rise of dark powers right on the chin, or both, and now they're only hanging on in an age they were never meant for because of the power of the rings.
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Apr 5, 2021 00:55
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Zore posted:They aren't in decline in most DnD poo poo or its knockoffs, nor in Warhammer Fantasy ( though space elves in 40k totally are). Honestly most one off books or series I can think of that feature them don't have them in decline. If you consider the Forgotten Realms the default D&D setting, the elves are totally in decline. Most of them packed up to Evermeet, abandoning Faerun like their Tolkien forbears. There are only a couple of elven kingdoms left, with the biggest of them at Myth Drannor having been destroyed, partially rebuilt at huge expense, then destroyed again in the most recent fluff.
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Apr 5, 2021 01:32
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Kestral posted:If you want elves at the height of their glory, and also a great story about why they're in decline in LotR, read The Silmarillion. If you have any tolerance for audiobooks, read it that way: Martin Shaw's narration is outstanding and really brings the material alive, since the style is deliberately calling back to epic works that are meant to spoken more than read. I've read roughly half (ish) of the Silmarillion - I was reading it and listening to a podcast about it last year, then covid hit and I couldn't do anything complicated for a while thanks to the stress. Now I can, so - yes, I actually bought the Silmarillion on audiobook yesterday, to round out my Hobbit-LOTR set. I'm sad that the Silmarillion has a different narrator, as the fellow doing LOTR is really, really good - but I'm excited anyways, as it seems like the Silmarillion guy will pronounce things mostly correctly. Also, yeah - Lord of the Rings comes ALIVE in a way that it didn't when I read it, as it just sparkles in the spoken word in a way that some modern books just don't. I love the style, I love the narration, I'm so glad I picked 'em up. As for elves, well, huh. I never thought of it as magical elf-only climate change, that's fascinating.
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Apr 5, 2021 01:35
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The Goblin Emperor has elves that are doing fine.
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Apr 5, 2021 01:44
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The Palace job (and accompanying books) by Patrick Weekes has a world with elves, and basically they kinda show up randomly in the books, and are doing just fine. I don't think there's any main character kinda setups with them. Great books though.
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Apr 5, 2021 02:03
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The Vlad Taltos series, of course, answers the question of "if elves are so superior to humans, why don't they rule the world?" by having them actually ruling the world.
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Apr 5, 2021 02:35
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Selachian posted:The Vlad Taltos series, of course, answers the question of "if elves are so superior to humans, why don't they rule the world?" by having them actually ruling the world. Did that one ever get a satisfying resolution?
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Apr 5, 2021 02:40
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StrixNebulosa posted:Did that one ever get a satisfying resolution? It’s supposed to be 19 books, 15 are published.
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Apr 5, 2021 03:21
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Selachian posted:The Vlad Taltos series, of course, answers the question of "if elves are so superior to humans, why don't they rule the world?" by having them actually ruling the world. It and the Phoenix Guards also raise the question of how a population with a lifespan of 2000 years and such low fertility and stovepiped genetic pools survives so many deaths via duels, war, extraterrestrial invasion, and underworld violence every year.
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Apr 5, 2021 03:24
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Selachian posted:The Vlad Taltos series, of course, answers the question of "if elves are so superior to humans, why don't they rule the world?" by having them actually ruling the world. Mercedes Lackey and Andre Norton wrote the Halfblood Chronicles with the same premise, although I only read the first two as a teen and I don't remember them being very good.
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Apr 5, 2021 03:48
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Apparatchik Magnet posted:It and the Phoenix Guards also raise the question of how a population with a lifespan of 2000 years and such low fertility and stovepiped genetic pools survives so many deaths via duels, war, extraterrestrial invasion, and underworld violence every year. I mean isn't one of the basic premises of the Vlad Taltos novels that resurrection magic is widely available and few people permanently die from that poo poo? Like you have to kill people in specific ways with special 'no resurrection' macguffins which are super illegal to make sure they stay dead.
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Apr 5, 2021 04:18
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Zore posted:I mean isn't one of the basic premises of the Vlad Taltos novels that resurrection magic is widely available and few people permanently die from that poo poo? It is, but that's a recent invention of the past thousand years or so and so can't explain the previous hundred thousand or two...
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Apr 5, 2021 04:58
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minema posted:I never saw Burrich as straight up abusive. He was a very flawed character but he was just left with a kid he had no idea what to do with and I think he tried to do his best by him. Same. As is revealed in later books, Burrich is also Witted, which is given as explanation for his actions. This happens in the third trilogy (second of one counts the liveship series).
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Apr 5, 2021 06:02
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Collateral posted:I think the whole protagonist getting abused is a lady lit thing. Outlander is rife with it. Yep reading The Space Between Worlds now and while the premise is good and the book is well written there's just tons of explicit physical abuse right in the first chapters. I guess that says something about the way we treat women. E: on a more positive note, preordered the next murderbot 
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Apr 5, 2021 07:23
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StrixNebulosa posted:As I enjoy Lord of the Rings I reflect on elves and - are there any elves in fiction where they aren't depicted as a civilization/species in decline? The Death Gate Cycle has everyday elven civilisations, although being Weis/Hickman it probably falls into the D&D camp.
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Apr 5, 2021 08:54
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minema posted:I know Fitz is endlessly poo poo on and the books are objectively at best bittersweet but I never found they made me actually feel depressed or melancholy. I think because he does have some genuine friendships and relationships which redeem it for me a bit. I can't read "grimdark" books because they affect me too much but there's enough light in the characters in Hobbs books that make it bearable. A lot of the horrible trauma stuff comes off feeling quite mawkish to me. It's almost comical how many times Fitz gets beaten half to death in the first book. Although the high point of the first trilogy is the bit at the start of the third book (paraphrase) "But Adopted-Dad...I never get to make my own decisions...you never let me do anything" "Motherfucker, you got away with treason"
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Apr 5, 2021 09:18
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fritz posted:Extremely. The Penric series has some romance, but I don't see it ever hitting the levels of Shards of Honor or especially A Civil Campaign. Now, ACP is a brilliant homage to the great Regency-period novels, most of which are romances, but that's not for everyone. It's also one of the most Bujold-ish novels she's written, 3/4 of the book is her thinking of what's the best way to screw over this character and then doing that (bringing the old couch down from the attic is the most Cordelia thing possible). There's a shockingly detailed reader's guide to ACP that covers the homages to classic Regency novels in great detail, you can read that for more information. Besides, how can you resist a whole book of Miles versus his most dangerous enemy: himself ? I don't see the Penric series going that far into actual Romance Novel territory. People will just fall in and out of love in the natural course of things, some of which might show up in one of the novellas. Happiness Commando posted:There were a few lines where the protagonist barely started getting male gaze-y in Curse and I held my breath at each one and then it didn't go any further. Just a hint, in 2 or three lines of text out of an entire novel. Pretty good. Well, the protagonist is male and, I'm sorry to say, we do that. Bujold is just writing him the way he sees the world. mllaneza fucked around with this message at 09:55 on Apr 5, 2021 |
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Apr 5, 2021 09:32
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mllaneza posted:Well, the protagonist is male and, I'm sorry to say, we do that. Bujold is just writing him the way he sees the world. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIvn1h-71IE
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Apr 5, 2021 13:30
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I've read eight out of nine stories in Exhalation, Ted Chiang's second story collection. I'm coming out of these stories a lot more impressed than I was with Stories of Your Life, which had well-constructed stories that felt a bit lifeless in the final accounting.
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Apr 5, 2021 16:56
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Re: fading elves, the Children of the Forest in A Song of Ice and Fire definitely fit this archetype, despite GRRM saying they aren't elves.A Dance with Dragons posted:“Where are the rest of you?” Bran asked Leaf, once. “Gone down into the earth,” she answered. “Into the stones, into the trees. Before the First Men came all this land that you call Westeros was home to us, yet even in those days we were few. The gods gave us long lives but not great numbers, lest we overrun the world as deer will overrun a wood where there are no wolves to hunt them. That was in the dawn of days, when our sun was rising. Now it sinks, and this is our long dwindling. The giants are almost gone as well, they who were our bane and our brothers. The great lions of the western hills have been slain, the unicorns are all but gone, the mammoths down to a few hundred. The direwolves will outlast us all, but their time will come as well. In the world that men have made, there is no room for them, or us.” She seemed sad when she said it, and that made Bran sad as well. It was only later that he thought, Men would not be sad. Men would be wroth. Men would hate and swear a bloody vengeance. The singers sing sad songs, where men would fight and kill.
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Apr 5, 2021 17:15
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Jedit posted:The Death Gate Cycle has everyday elven civilisations, although being Weis/Hickman it probably falls into the D&D camp. Though they are definitely in decline.
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Apr 5, 2021 18:10
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