|
Finished The Belly of the Bow. Huh. I don’t know what to think. As a somewhat minor quibble, the first book displayed warfare using trebuchets, armed rushes, volleys of arrows, and some calvary. This second book has one army consisting of only halberdiers vs another army consisting of only longbowman. The latter I can understand, it’s a small force and they need to keep their enemy at bay with arrows or be overrun. But the much larger force could branch out into more than just halberds. Hard to square an army not using combined arms after the previous book showed this. Ccs fucked around with this message at 18:19 on Jul 4, 2021 |
#
?
Jul 4, 2021 17:32
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 5, 2024 21:48 |
|
|
I'm about 100 pages from the end of The Tyrant Seth Dickinson and I don't know what to think either. Seth Dickinson hasn't even appeared in the book yet. I'm looking forward to the UK publisher suffering when they learn the title of the last book and realise they've hosed it.
|
|
#
?
Jul 4, 2021 18:15
|
|
|
Drakyn posted:Any chance you could elaborate on this if you feel like it (no obligation)? I only read the first one, and that was a million years ago, but I'm curious for more details. Basically (mild Caine’s Law spoilers) it’s the tension between Caine’s persona in different contexts: it works well in the fantasy world but fails tremendously in the real one. Caine trying to deal with that and forge a health path forward for both worlds is the main through line. I say this without doing a recent reread though, which I probably should do.
|
|
#
?
Jul 4, 2021 18:56
|
|
|
ulmont posted:Basically (mild Caine’s Law spoilers) it’s the tension between Caine’s persona in different contexts: it works well in the fantasy world but fails tremendously in the real one. Caine trying to deal with that and forge a health path forward for both worlds is the main through line. I say this without doing a recent reread though, which I probably should do.
|
|
#
?
Jul 4, 2021 23:26
|
|
|
Drakyn posted:Ah, I get it. I misread you - thought you meant the SERIES ITSELF was trying to critique toxic masculinity while being poisoned by it. This is a lot more straightforward. You misread me again - I’m not the OP, just someone else who enjoyed the series. 
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2021 00:06
|
|
|
Anyone got a tip for where to get "nice" editions of books? Delivery within contiental USA. And please don't say one of those that do a 100 print limited run that immediately sell and you have to rebuy for 5x the price. I'm looking to spend 40, 50 bucks on a book and get a nice hardcover, rather than spend 15 or 20 on a lovely paperback. Any tips (sci fi or not) are appreciated.
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2021 02:11
|
|
|
Mr. Nemo posted:Anyone got a tip for where to get "nice" editions of books? Delivery within contiental USA. And please don't say one of those that do a 100 print limited run that immediately sell and you have to rebuy for 5x the price. Nice how? It was my understanding that either you buy the hardback of a given book (if it has one), and that's nice enough, or you spend $$$ on the limited print runs.
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2021 02:37
|
|
|
friends of mine who work in journalism and magazine writing have been more-or-less forced by their editors to maintain twitter presences for promotional/networking purposes when they did not want to i don't know whether that happens to book authors probably someone here would know though can management make you tweet??
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2021 09:03
|
|
|
Mr. Nemo posted:Anyone got a tip for where to get "nice" editions of books? Delivery within contiental USA. And please don't say one of those that do a 100 print limited run that immediately sell and you have to rebuy for 5x the price. which books? Try abebooks.com .
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2021 12:18
|
|
|
Mr. Nemo posted:And please don't say one of those that do a 100 print limited run that immediately sell and you have to rebuy for 5x the price. So regular hardcovers? Define "nice" hardcovers.
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2021 13:03
|
|
|
Folio Society do a nice-looking Book of the New Sun?
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2021 13:34
|
|
|
ulmont posted:You misread me again - I’m not the OP, just someone else who enjoyed the series.
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2021 13:41
|
|
|
Mr. Nemo posted:Anyone got a tip for where to get "nice" editions of books? Delivery within contiental USA. And please don't say one of those that do a 100 print limited run that immediately sell and you have to rebuy for 5x the price. At that price range, you can either be happy with the regular hard cover editions or search Ebay and Abe for secondhand copies of less-popular Folio and Easton editions. You're simply not going to find, say, Dune in a cloth bound/Smyth sewn edition for less than a hundred bucks. Or you can get on mailing lists and buy one of those 100 copies before they sell out. Otherwise Barnes and Noble do "fancy" editions of a lot of books that at least look nice (but are lacking in the longevity department).
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2021 13:47
|
|
|
PupsOfWar posted:friends of mine who work in journalism and magazine writing have been more-or-less forced by their editors to maintain twitter presences for promotional/networking purposes when they did not want to Yeah Lindsay Ellis says she’s required to keep her twitter account open for promo purposes around the time that her new books come out. I think it’s especially likely that authors who are published partially due to their online following are required to have a Twitter account by their contract.
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2021 13:50
|
|
|
I've basically been lurking in this thread and reading whatever sounds interesting for the past year, and there was so much cool stuff I would've otherwise never picked up. I immensely enjoyed Gideon and Harrow the Ninth (probably my favs in a long time, can't wait for the sequel), had a blast with the Murderbot series, really liked Piranesi, chuckled a lot at Three Men in a Boat and I've just finished Between Two Fires, which was also a pretty good ride. So, nothing I regret reading or did not finish, and I'd like to thank everyone continiously talking about good stuff. Next, I'd like to get into a bigger series again, and from the amount of mentions the series gets (and I do believe it's because it's actually good, not just because of the good General Battuta's presence) I'm gravitating towards Baru Cormorant, but I'm also tiptoeing somewhat around it, because from the description it sounds kinda heavy and political in a way where I'm not sure it'd be my thing? I've also put the Mistborn series, the Book of the New Sun series and and Malazan Book of the Fallen on my list to check out. So I guess I'd appreciate any pointers on those four series (or anything else not on my radar, even), which are deserving of the praise they get and which may be overhyped. Maybe I should also mention that my standards are low, as in I already read the entirety of the "patiently waiting for the last book for 10 years" trifecta of A Song of Ice and Fire, Gentlemen Bastards and even the Kingkiller Chronicles (which I'm ashamed to admit I liked large parts of, except the nymph sex thing). So I may suffer from somewhat misguided taste. 
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2021 14:33
|
|
|
I've definitely followed people who explicitly only tweet to promote their books.
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2021 14:34
|
|
|
Patrick Spens posted:I've definitely followed people who explicitly only tweet to promote their books. I mean that's ideal. I want to know when their new books are coming out. edit: is there no upcoming Rivers of London novel announced? Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 14:49 on Jul 5, 2021 |
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2021 14:46
|
|
|
Oenis posted:I've basically been lurking in this thread and reading whatever sounds interesting for the past year, and there was so much cool stuff I would've otherwise never picked up. I immensely enjoyed Gideon and Harrow the Ninth (probably my favs in a long time, can't wait for the sequel), had a blast with the Murderbot series, really liked Piranesi, chuckled a lot at Three Men in a Boat and I've just finished Between Two Fires, which was also a pretty good ride. So, nothing I regret reading or did not finish, and I'd like to thank everyone continiously talking about good stuff. Malazan will keep you going for some considerable time. Start with Deadhouse Gates and then go back to Gardens of the Moon - Erikson was an archaeologist before he was an author and saw nothing wrong with throwing people into the middle of the story without context. Gates is the better book, plotwise it's almost entirely separate from Gardens, and you can go back afterwards.
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2021 14:51
|
|
|
Oenis posted:I've basically been lurking in this thread and reading whatever sounds interesting for the past year, and there was so much cool stuff I would've otherwise never picked up. I immensely enjoyed Gideon and Harrow the Ninth (probably my favs in a long time, can't wait for the sequel), had a blast with the Murderbot series, really liked Piranesi, chuckled a lot at Three Men in a Boat and I've just finished Between Two Fires, which was also a pretty good ride. So, nothing I regret reading or did not finish, and I'd like to thank everyone continiously talking about good stuff. I read 5 books of Malazan and abandoned it cause I couldn't care about any of the characters. There's some good action setpieces and a very dense world though. The Chain of Dogs storyline is affecting even though I couldn't tell you the name of a single character in the entire thing. Baru is good, yeah its a bit heavy and quite a lot of revelations hit Baru in the third volume that seem almost overmuch for one character to realize in such a short span. But that seems almost inevitable when focusing the project of taking down empire and its various twisted ideologies around one person. Mistborn is a fun lark. I don't feel the need to read Sanderson's Stormlight Archive past book 2 because it feels like Mistborn writ large. The book is very YA. The good guys are rebels against the system, and the evil is evil. Prepare for repetitive descriptions, like Vin frowning every page. Book of the New Sun is a classic. Very obscure in parts but it tells a compelling story that can apparently be reread multiple times if you want to suss out all the hidden meaning. I only got through it once and had a good time. Severian is a weirdo. My favorite fantasy series is The First Law by Joe Abercrombie. There are very valid criticisms of parts of the first trilogy, but it's still great imo. Also Buehlman of Between Two Fires has his first fantasy novel out, The Blacktongue Thief, which will be part of a series. The first tells a mostly self contained story. I'm also a big fan of KJ Parker. The Two of Swords, 16 Ways to Defend a Walled City, The Folding Knife, Academic Exercises, etc. I'm currently going through his Fencer trilogy which was his first series under that pseudonym. It's rougher but still alright.
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2021 14:56
|
|
|
Ccs posted:I read 5 books of Malazan and abandoned it cause I couldn't care about any of the characters. There's some good action setpieces and a very dense world though. The Chain of Dogs storyline is affecting even though I couldn't tell you the name of a single character in the entire thing. I had the same experience, which is a pity because I'm also in the wonderful and poorly-compensated world of archaeology and zombie Neanderthals with magic flintknapped swords ought to be my poo poo.  Something about the structure of the series, probably the billions of characters and the refusal to stick with a particular set of them for longer than a book at a time, is just hell on my brain.
Quorum fucked around with this message at 15:23 on Jul 5, 2021 |
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2021 15:19
|
|
|
Hieronymous Alloy posted:edit: is there no upcoming Rivers of London novel announced? The Abigail novella came out earlier this year, so it'll likely be winter before we see an announcement for the next novel.
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2021 15:29
|
|
|
Quorum posted:I had the same experience, which is a pity because I'm also in the wonderful and poorly-compensated world of archaeology and zombie Neanderthals with magic flintknapped swords ought to be my poo poo. Maybe that's why I liked them so much, it really reminds me of reading about various periods of history. Of course there are a whole new cast of characters on a different continent.
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2021 15:49
|
|
|
Ccs posted:My favorite fantasy series is The First Law by Joe Abercrombie. There are very valid criticisms of parts of the first trilogy, but it's still great imo. I'm about 30% through The Blade Itself and finding a bit dull. It does pick up eventually for the series, right?
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2021 15:50
|
|
|
Armauk posted:I'm about 30% through The Blade Itself and finding a bit dull. It does pick up eventually for the series, right? Sure does. And the sequels are all much better paced.
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2021 15:54
|
|
|
Oenis posted:I've basically been lurking in this thread and reading whatever sounds interesting for the past year, and there was so much cool stuff I would've otherwise never picked up. I immensely enjoyed Gideon and Harrow the Ninth (probably my favs in a long time, can't wait for the sequel), had a blast with the Murderbot series, really liked Piranesi, chuckled a lot at Three Men in a Boat and I've just finished Between Two Fires, which was also a pretty good ride. So, nothing I regret reading or did not finish, and I'd like to thank everyone continiously talking about good stuff. Malazan is tedious and after five or so books people usually decide it’s not going anywhere. Mistborn is a light read. Book of the New Sun is a hard read, at the same time oblique and chock full of archaic and weird words, but ultimately satisfying if you can push to the end.
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2021 15:57
|
|
|
Armauk posted:I'm about 30% through The Blade Itself and finding a bit dull. It does pick up eventually for the series, right? Yeah, Abercrombie markedly improved as he continued to write.
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2021 16:39
|
|
|
Jedit posted:Erikson was an archaeologist before he was an author and saw nothing wrong with throwing people into the middle of the story without context I'm neither an archaeologist nor an author but I see nothing wrong with making the reader work a little bit to figure things out.
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2021 16:39
|
|
|
I recently got back into SF after a relative recommended We Are Legion (We Are Bob). It seemed like a bunch of B-tier Star Trek episodes strung together. And Bob himself sometimes rubbed me as an insufferable new atheist, tech-lord type. But despite that I enjoyed the book overall. There is something relaxing about the idea of being an immortal consciousness slowing exploring the universe, I guess. Even if the other aspects seem underdeveloped. I noticed this is the author's first book. So it has me hopeful it will get better. How are the sequels?
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2021 16:51
|
|
|
FacelessVoid posted:I recently got back into SF after a relative recommended We Are Legion (We Are Bob). It seemed like a bunch of B-tier Star Trek episodes strung together. And Bob himself sometimes rubbed me as an insufferable new atheist, tech-lord type. But despite that I enjoyed the book overall. There is something relaxing about the idea of being an immortal consciousness slowing exploring the universe, I guess. Even if the other aspects seem underdeveloped.
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2021 17:26
|
|
|
This Alien Shore (Outworlds #1) by CS Friedman - $4.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002VB3F2Q/ Saturn's Children by Charles Stross - $4.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0013A1IYI/ The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PI181JI/
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2021 18:41
|
|
|
Take the plunge! Okay! posted:Malazan is tedious and after five or so books people usually decide it’s not going anywhere. Mistborn is a light read. Book of the New Sun is a hard read, at the same time oblique and chock full of archaic and weird words, but ultimately satisfying if you can push to the end. Eh, in the first five books malazan have been all over the place. Every book has its own storyline with some form of conclusion, which is then connected by the overarching story arch. If you want a simple story go read GoT (which is shorter and will never be finished in book form).
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2021 18:56
|
|
|
Ccs posted:Sure does. And the sequels are all much better paced. genericnick posted:Yeah, Abercrombie markedly improved as he continued to write. Okay that's promising!
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2021 19:56
|
|
|
FacelessVoid posted:I recently got back into SF after a relative recommended We Are Legion (We Are Bob). It seemed like a bunch of B-tier Star Trek episodes strung together. And Bob himself sometimes rubbed me as an insufferable new atheist, tech-lord type. But despite that I enjoyed the book overall. There is something relaxing about the idea of being an immortal consciousness slowing exploring the universe, I guess. Even if the other aspects seem underdeveloped. The first three are about the same. Decent light reading. The fourth was bad. Also, Malazan has you hopping around characters and continents (and dimensions) for a solid 5% of the books but then brings it all home in the end in a fairly satisfying way. Except the hobbling, you can skip over that entire section, and it sticks out as a bad sore point in an otherwise pretty decent set of books.
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2021 21:54
|
|
|
I don't usually have a lot of time for epic fantasy, but there's a special place in my heart (as well as an entire bookshelf in the study) for Malazan. My advice tends to be to read Gardens of the Moon and Deadhouse Gates in whatever order you prefer, and at the end of DG ask yourself "do I want more of that?" If the answer is yes, then it's definitely worth reading the whole thing, and trusting that the very long journey has pretty good payoff at the end, and if you get bored halfway through then you can always just apply Dune rules and stop.
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2021 22:28
|
|
|
Oenis posted:I've basically been lurking in this thread and reading whatever sounds interesting for the past year, and there was so much cool stuff I would've otherwise never picked up. I immensely enjoyed Gideon and Harrow the Ninth (probably my favs in a long time, can't wait for the sequel), had a blast with the Murderbot series, really liked Piranesi, chuckled a lot at Three Men in a Boat and I've just finished Between Two Fires, which was also a pretty good ride. So, nothing I regret reading or did not finish, and I'd like to thank everyone continiously talking about good stuff. You've been reading this thread and haven't check out Bujold's World of Five Gods series yet? Time to fix that.
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2021 22:38
|
|
|
fez_machine posted:You've been reading this thread and haven't check out Bujold's World of Five Gods series yet? Time to fix that. Oh look, https://smile.amazon.com/Curse-Chalion-Lois-McMaster-Bujold-ebook/dp/B000FC11AQ $5.99, and the next two novels are down to $6.99
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2021 22:42
|
|
|
N.icee
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2021 22:49
|
|
|
General Battuta posted:N.icee Grats on Baru earning out, btw!
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2021 23:03
|
|
|
When talking about nice hardcovers i was actually thinking about the old barnes and noble editions they did like 10 years ago. Apparently they have appreciated quite a lot https://onegirlcollecting.com/2013/02/barnes-noble-leather-bound-editions/ Those were very nice hardcovers at a very reasonable price, 25-30.
|
|
#
?
Jul 6, 2021 00:07
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 5, 2024 21:48 |
|
|
Mr. Nemo posted:When talking about nice hardcovers i was actually thinking about the old barnes and noble editions they did like 10 years ago. Apparently they have appreciated quite a lot They weren't very nice hardcovers, they were very nice looking hardcovers. There's a reason Easton Press charges seventy bucks for an unsigned hardcover - their books don't fall apart. You can also find most of them for ~$30 on Ebay. I don't really recommend them, but if you just want something to look nice on a shelf, they'll do. Edit: Hell, some are even available on the B&N website. Ornamented Death fucked around with this message at 00:26 on Jul 6, 2021 |
|
#
?
Jul 6, 2021 00:23
|
|