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Fivemarks posted:I'm considering picking up The Meg series just to see how deep the rabbit hole of crazy goes. Please convince me otherwise. They're honestly just really boring.
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Jan 29, 2022 17:19
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FPyat posted:Which Polity book has the best space battle? Well, that kinda depends on what you want? Massive world ending, alien enemies or space ship versus spaceship? One can’t go wrong with the first polity series for this, the one starting with gridlinked/agent cormac ( skip gridlinked btw). I think my favorite part is the Jack Ketch fight in Brass Man, although anything with Jerusalem is pretty great. But one is really spoilt for choice.
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Jan 29, 2022 18:11
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Going from polity to anything else Asher's written gives me serious whiplash.
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Jan 29, 2022 18:45
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Just wanted to say I randomly popped into this thread awhile ago and saw somebody mention Between Two Fires in passing, so I picked it up and I just finished it and it ruled. Thanks thread!
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Jan 29, 2022 20:22
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I have very rarely ever been steered wrong by this thread over the years, and it's the source of like half of all books I read. Maybe more 
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Jan 29, 2022 20:27
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Aardvark! posted:I have very rarely ever been steered wrong by this thread over the years, and it's the source of like half of all books I read. Maybe more Same. Finished Under The Skin last night. Amazing book. Gonna do the one about the priest next. I wanted to go ahead and wrap up The White Rose but something about too much of one style just kinda started to wear on me after a while.
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Jan 29, 2022 20:39
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buffalo all day posted:smdh looks like saunders has set up his sock puppets on twitter too Is the March North something to read or avoid?
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Jan 29, 2022 22:35
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BurningBeard posted:Same. Yeeessssss. Under the skin is so good, just can’t really get into details without spoiling the thread.
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Jan 29, 2022 22:39
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buffalo all day posted:Yeeessssss. Under the skin is so good, just can’t really get into details without spoiling the thread. I posted about it in the What Did You Just Finish thread in a slightly more spoilery fashion. https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2175822&perpage=40&noseen=1&pagenumber=380 Even in tags I kinda avoided details other than talking about my couple gripes. But yeah, it’s impossible to talk about, even the premise, without sucking some of the tension out of it.
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Jan 29, 2022 22:52
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goodness posted:Is the March North something to read or avoid? i haven't read it; it sounds pretty good if a bit odd. there's just a running joke that anyone recommending it is an alt of the author, on account of some jackass who insisted on thst sincerely. Because no one would recommend an obscureish self published series that they didn't care for otherwise.
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Jan 29, 2022 22:55
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Yeah nobody would ever read anything that wasn't published by Amazon unless they were a troll tbqh. I'm just upset he saw through my ruse so easily. Anyway the March North and it's sequels are extremely unique. People compare them to the Black Company books because those are really terse too, but this is a different level trust me. You'll either hate it, eventually be exhausted by it, or completely capitvated. So it's like all other 'gimmicky' writing in that way I guess.
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Jan 29, 2022 23:03
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Finished reading The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and I'm not so sure it stuck the landing for me? I like time loop stories that use the conceit as exploration for a person's ability to change, to grow and learn and choose compassion over self interest, and I feel like I got that for 90% of the story... and then the culprit is a child murderer who committed cold blooded acts at age 10 and now she's dead, victory? I dunno, I just expected some pushback from the narrator at the end about the whole thing, and found that Evelyn being some sort of Bad Seed-esque stock character at odds with the message it felt like the book was trying to tell me. Like when Daniel kills Stanwith in the forest, treating him like a disposable asset because of the nature of the time loop, I thought the story was going to go somewhere with that: explore how just because that's true for Daniel and Aiden from their points of view, that doesn't make it true for anyone who lives within the loop and doesn't make it less of a monstrous act to commit. That as awful as most of the people are, they're still human beings and don't deserve to be gunned down like dogs. But I didn't feel like the rest of the story really engaged with that, and even if the assessor is not an impartial observer and is as much a part of the corrupt system as everyone else, he still gets to voice the opinion "It's good that Evelyn died, actually" without any counterpoint from anyone else. I'm no stranger to reading stories where everyone sucks and no one is right, but I don't feel like this was that. It felt more like there was a conclusion the author wanted me to take, but didn't have enough of the story or characters to back it up in the end. Maybe I misinterpreted things, I kinda shotgunned my way through the last quarter of the book. Anyway I liked Piranesi better as a novel about identity, change, not recognizing who you used to be, and not being who others interpret or force you to be. It was interesting reading them back to back, at least. I felt Piranesi's ending with the narrator not reclaiming his former name and also relinquishing the Piranesi identity forced on him by Ketterley stronger and more satisfying. Especially with the theme being reinforced by the statues and the bones, inanimate things the narrator feels free to project his own ideas and interpretations on, but which also carry their own histories.
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Jan 29, 2022 23:13
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goodness posted:Is the March North something to read or avoid? it's basically a meme at this point
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Jan 30, 2022 02:27
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goodness posted:Is the March North something to read or avoid? Yes I really enjoyed them but at this point I've read so much fantasy that I prize novelty of concept and approach above most all else and those books are very, very *different*.
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Jan 30, 2022 03:04
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Yes yeah i think as a whole the series gets described a little too much as Glen Cook black company stuff (though that is the familiar part of it), when it's much more a very eccentric guy working through how an anarcho-syndicalist state will function after we kill all the rich eke out fucked around with this message at 03:34 on Jan 30, 2022 |
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Jan 30, 2022 03:32
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eke out posted:yeah i think as a whole the series gets described a little too much as Glen Cook black company stuff (though that is the familiar part of it) IMO, this is because the general setup of the first book has some very strong Black Company vibes with the whole "ragtag underdog military group paired up with grand and terrible ancient wizard-kings from countries long since destroyed" thing. When you first meet everybody, Halt and Rust would fit right in with the Ten Who Were Taken, and Blossom wouldn't be very out of place either. Everything past that is nothing at all like the Black Company, but the first ~2/3rds of the first book definitely has that mood to it.
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Jan 30, 2022 03:54
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So I want pure escapist, popcorn fantasy. Something glorious. Something like Kings of the Wyld or Heroes Die. And I'm coming up short. Any ideas?
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Jan 30, 2022 05:10
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GrandmaParty posted:So I want pure escapist, popcorn fantasy. Something glorious. Something like Kings of the Wyld or Heroes Die. And I'm coming up short. Any ideas? i think the goon-written Order of the Magi by Christopher Scott fits with what your asking. it's a fun fantasy read. Amazon link
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Jan 30, 2022 05:36
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GrandmaParty posted:So I want pure escapist, popcorn fantasy. Something glorious. Something like Kings of the Wyld or Heroes Die. And I'm coming up short. Any ideas? The Gray Bastards by Jonathan French.
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Jan 30, 2022 05:38
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I started lurking then immediately you guys started talking about Aubrey/Maturin. (The second book is so good.) But just read Between Two Fires on thread recommendation. It's good, though a bit (swears) oval office WHORE. Felt like a XXX YA novel, but in a good way I guess. All the episodes in the journey had an interesting progression, and nothing overstays its welcome or gets too tropey, though it felt like it was on that line.
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Jan 30, 2022 07:12
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GrandmaParty posted:So I want pure escapist, popcorn fantasy. Something glorious. Something like Kings of the Wyld or Heroes Die. And I'm coming up short. Any ideas? Pretty much any novel by David gemmell, but especially those with druss. Lawrence watt-Evans has some great books in his esthar series that starts with the Misenchanted sword. I can't recall em offhand but there's also a series with two protags that is pretty good, although it gets a bit rapey in the first one. One guy is bald with 2 warhammers, the other dude is a knife guy who's handsome. I think there's only 2 books out. I'll try to dig and find em.
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Jan 30, 2022 08:32
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Ethshar ftw
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Jan 30, 2022 10:36
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Yes I have a similar problem and I think it's why I've transitioned over to reading majority sci-fi over the last 5 years or so. It's part of the reason I couldn't get super in to Wheel of Time, recently, too. I've just read too much bog standard fantasy over the years for it to hold my interest. It's also how I ended up reading LitRPGs. Don't read too much fantasy as a teenager or it could happen to YOU!
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Jan 30, 2022 15:18
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Thank yall! I appreciate it. Ethshar is great stuff and I'll give gray bastards another go. Trying order of the magi too.
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Jan 30, 2022 16:13
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Aardvark! posted:I have a similar problem and I think it's why I've transitioned over to reading majority sci-fi over the last 5 years or so. It's part of the reason I couldn't get super in to Wheel of Time, recently, too. I've just read too much bog standard fantasy over the years for it to hold my interest. Yeah, I'm glad I read Wheel of Time when it came out, when it was still relatively original relative to the field. I do think a lot of the WoT holds up still today but you have to get through at least the first book before it really starts setting itself apart and that first book is 800 pages (the entire main story of the Lord of the Rings is only roughly 900 pages!) so I don't blame anyone at all for not getting into it today.
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Jan 30, 2022 16:27
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GrandmaParty posted:Thank yall! I appreciate it. Ethshar is great stuff and I'll give gray bastards another go. Trying order of the magi too. The Ethshar books do vary a lot in quality but Misenchanted Sword and Ithanalin's Restoration are genuine favorites of mine. I feel like Watt-Evans was anticipating the "cosy" trend by a generation or two. Also don't forget Bridge of Birds if you've missed it so far.
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Jan 30, 2022 16:29
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GrandmaParty posted:So I want pure escapist, popcorn fantasy. Something glorious. Something like Kings of the Wyld or Heroes Die. And I'm coming up short. Any ideas? I haven't read either of the books you cite, but off the top of my head, for "fun escapist fantasy", I'd probably rec The Legend of Eli Monpress (Rachel Aaron, five books), The Khaavren Romances (Steven Brust, five books; same setting as Vlad Taltos but set hundreds of years before it), maybe The Palace Job (Patrick Weekes, three books) but it's been a while since I've read it, and probably Tales of the Raksura by Martha Wells. Hieronymous Alloy posted:The Ethshar books do vary a lot in quality but Misenchanted Sword and Ithanalin's Restoration are genuine favorites of mine. I feel like Watt-Evans was anticipating the "cosy" trend by a generation or two. And these. Definitely these.
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Jan 30, 2022 18:22
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Three Hearts and Three Lions by Poul Anderson - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B016CQUL4U/
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Jan 30, 2022 18:38
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I'll second the Eli Monpress series. Surprisingly good. I wasn't expecting much since the original release had some weird romance style covers. Was a great story though.
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Jan 30, 2022 19:31
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I just finished reading Akata Warrior, the sequel to Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor. These books are really good. They're charming, weird, light-hearted and steeped in Nigerian culture (both the fantasy/folklore elements and the mundane stuff like food and music). The magic and worldbuilding follows a sort of dream logic but is still rooted in reality enough that each scene has clear stakes. Oddly enough the closest thing I can compare it to is the weird fairies and wizards in Jack Vance's Lyonesse. Looking forward to the third book coming out this year.
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Jan 31, 2022 07:37
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Okorafor writes good words. Read more Okorafor.
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Jan 31, 2022 09:29
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Groke posted:Okorafor writes good words. Read more Okorafor.  E: yes, can't wait for the third. Especially since Okorafor has said that she'll follow Sunny to adulthood.
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Jan 31, 2022 17:11
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Sailor Viy posted:I just finished reading Akata Warrior, the sequel to Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor. These books are really good. They're charming, weird, light-hearted and steeped in Nigerian culture (both the fantasy/folklore elements and the mundane stuff like food and music). The magic and worldbuilding follows a sort of dream logic but is still rooted in reality enough that each scene has clear stakes. Oddly enough the closest thing I can compare it to is the weird fairies and wizards in Jack Vance's Lyonesse. It's out. Came out last week or so. At least in the US. I just finished it this morning, it was pretty good.
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Jan 31, 2022 18:23
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Sword of Destiny (Witcher) by Andrzej Sapkowski - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00W22J07S/
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Jan 31, 2022 23:41
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finished klara and the sun, the latest ishiguro. reminds me in some ways of never let me go, where you’re trying to piece together what exactly has gone wrong with the world through the eyes of a naive and fundamentally decent protagonist. beautifully written, as you’d expect, but actually gripping too and some truly memorable scenes like in the dollmaker’s apartment amazing book, I’m going to start recommending it to people who just finished Murderbot 
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Feb 1, 2022 02:03
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Going from Perhaps the Stars (which was loving amazing holy crap!) Directly into the latest Stross new management book is giving me horrible tonal whiplash.
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Feb 1, 2022 06:10
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Finished The Book of Strange New Things by Faber, again. Overall I enjoyed it, and was compelled to finish it, but while not nearly as gnarly as Under The Skin i think on the whole it was actually a good deal more cynical. Faber’s got such a good eye for the unspoken behaviors driving people, and that’s my favorite part. But the protagonist in this one is such a shithead, not a bad person, but a shithead, that it was really frustrating to read. I mean mostly when he starts patronizing his wife via sci-fi email while her world crumbles around her, and by the time he realizes what an rear end in a top hat he was it’s probably too late to matter. Some of the themes in Skin get revisited here, namely malevolent corporate indifference, and I like those parts of the book. But for a book about faith and spirituality, I think faith itself was treated one-dimensionally. If that weren’t so central to the book, I wouldn’t have anything to complain about but it is, and Faber’s got a nasty tendency to undercut the moments of character growth by cheaply applying crowbar events with such heavy-handed overtones that it really diminishes any change that arises out of the character. In Skin, it was the rape of the protagonist, and in Strange New Things, it’s the realization that the aliens don’t heal by natural means. Granted, that realization works better in Things, but it comes so late in the book that there’s no time to acclimate. Peter has an almost identical crisis to the protagonist of Skin, but with way less of the nuance than she got. A decent book. I mean it was 600 pages and I bashed through it in two days. But, and this is obviously subjective, the more time I spend in Faber’s headspace, the more his blindspots and shortcomings show themselves.
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Feb 1, 2022 16:46
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I think those are all fair criticisms. I disagree about how faith was treated -- I was actually pretty impressed by how thoughtful it was and how -- although the protagonist definitely was a shithead -- he never came across as less than genuine in his beliefs. Obviously he fails in a lot of ways but it's mostly through a lack of self-examination. I also have to say that a lot of his being an rear end in a top hat by not picking up on his wife's problems and not focusing on how she was perceiving his silences, lack of support, etc. rang true to me as someone who was in a long-distance relationship for a significant amount of time. That might have led to me empathizing with him more than others might. Glad you enjoyed it!
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Feb 1, 2022 16:54
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I read The Tide Child Trilogy recently. I enjoyed it quite a bit. The setting is different. The characters are very flawed, it can drag at times, but it has a lot of heart.
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Feb 1, 2022 17:04
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buffalo all day posted:I think those are all fair criticisms. I disagree about how faith was treated -- I was actually pretty impressed by how thoughtful it was and how -- although the protagonist definitely was a shithead -- he never came across as less than genuine in his beliefs. Obviously he fails in a lot of ways but it's mostly through a lack of self-examination. Oh definitely. I agree with all of that. He's super well realized and relatable. Probably more so than she was in Skin. I think the observations made are accurate ones. I squirmed, more than once, reading it because I could relate. Faber cares a lot about human beings and you can tell because of how accurately he portrays behaviors in people. It was really affecting, but very uncomfortable. As far as faith goes, I think he did his best, but by his own admission, that's not a life he leads. He's not a vegetarian either, but that’s more sociopolitical, so I think he had an easier time hitting the mark. I just felt like the portrayal of faith in the book was pretty drat one note. No matter what happened to Peter, he doggedly kept on, which okay, if you’ve got a simplistic, purely rationalist take on the inherent contradictions in faith, that’s fine. But increasingly, as things escalated, I couldn’t help feeling that Peter was made to look more blinkered, more stupid. Someone mentioned The Sparrow a couple pages back. I thought that book handled a crisis of faith better, personally. It’s been a bunch of years and maybe I’d have to reread it to make certain, but definitely not now. I am in dire need of something lighter.
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Feb 1, 2022 17:06
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