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Along the same lines, I really really appreciated that the heroine of Alanna: The First Adventure had to cope with periods while masquerading as a boy.
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Dec 20, 2023 03:33
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Don't forget about Keladry of Mindelan having to go change her hose because she got her first period at the most inconvenient time possible in Pierce's other lady knight series!
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Dec 20, 2023 05:54
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The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard #1) by Scott Lynch - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000JMKNJ2/ Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FC130E/ Neuromancer (Sprawl #1) by William Gibson - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000O76ON6/ Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K Dick - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000SEGTI0/ The Martian by Andy Weir - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EMXBDMA/ The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084FY1NXB/ The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler - $3.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09NTKMJ1K/ Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C Clarke - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XD75HGV/ Foundation (#1) by Isaac Asimov - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FC1PWA/ Imperfect Ideal: Utopian and Dystopian Visions by Many Authors - FREE https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00UIFE9Y0/
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Dec 20, 2023 17:25
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pradmer posted:The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard #1) by Scott Lynch - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000JMKNJ2/ Fantastic debut novel. I’ve bought a half dozen copies to hand out as gifts over the years. The sequels suffer from constant comparison to the first novel; they’re pretty good in isolation, but pale when compared to the original… but I think I feel that way about pretty much every book series. Might not be as great now that “I wrote a novel about our d&d campaign” has gotten more popular these days.
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Dec 20, 2023 19:20
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pradmer posted:The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart by Jesse Bullington - $1.99 haven't gotten around to reading the author's latest yet (been busy) but I bought it instantly on the strength of this book like if you don't like grim content, stay away, but it's really good and scenes from it have been chilling in my head since I read it. also an incredible ending imo.
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Dec 20, 2023 22:04
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DACK FAYDEN posted:this book is about, and follows, two assholes who are slimy and gross as gently caress and it's really, really good am I to assume this line from a review is Missing The Point quote:All the killing and plundering is great too. Originally I thought the Grossbarts were going to be jerks but I've found the quote on the back of the book to be so true, "We ain't thieves and we ain't killers, we's just good men been done wrong." The story of the Grossbarts is one that reaches beyond itself. It's a story anyone could easily relate to. We may not have encountered demons or witches, but we've all been screwed over, treated badly and mistaken for being something that we weren't. It's a story that's not just about the evils that the Grossbarts face it's how they defeat them.
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Dec 20, 2023 22:42
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rmdx posted:Since there's been quite a bit of demand lately for non-grimdark hopeful fantasy, I'd like to recommend a favorite of mine: Victoria Goddard, and her Nine Worlds series of interconnected books. I suspect anyone who likes Bujold, T. Kingfisher's Paladin books or Katherine Addison (Goblin Emperor etc) might appreciate them -- they have the similar quality of making one feel happy and satisfied after finishing one. High-grade, effortless prose, charming, competent characters with agency and realistic motives, and a fairly original setting. I've enjoyed them tremendously. I think at the time you posted this I put these books on the ol' wishlist and only just now got around to reading them. I started with "The Return of Fitzroy Angursell" and that one was good enough I just bought a bunch more, and there goes my reading for quite a while.
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Dec 20, 2023 23:39
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I really love Victoria Goddard. For everybody but fritz, do NOT read The Return of Fitzroy Angursell first! Start with The Hands of the Emperor, because Fitzroy Angursell is a major spoiler.
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Dec 20, 2023 23:43
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Levitate posted:am I to assume this line from a review is Missing The Point uhhhh let's just say https://x.com/dril/status/831805955402776576?s=20
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Dec 21, 2023 00:03
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Levitate posted:am I to assume this line from a review is Missing The Point That review looks like it was written by one of the brothers Grossbart. Anyway, things I liked about Brothers Grossbart: it's a medieval picaresque, it's about some gross assholes, the supernatural (witches, demons, etc.) stuff is grody and fun, I really enjoyed the subplot with the turnip farmer Things I didn't like: felt too long sometimes, too many times/too long each time when the brothers were waxing on about their personal philosophy/theology, not enough of the turnip farmer
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Dec 21, 2023 00:22
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DurianGray posted:Things I didn't like: felt too long sometimes, too many times/too long each time when the brothers were waxing on about their personal philosophy/theology, not enough of the turnip farmer Agreed on all counts, but the book did give us maybe 100 words regarding the Road Popes, a bit I intend to steal whole cloth when I form my motorcycle gang.
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Dec 21, 2023 01:03
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Thanks for the recs everyone, going to start with Children of Time. Have some friends irl who recommended it too. So far so fun. Portia!
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Dec 21, 2023 01:38
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fischtick posted:Fantastic debut novel. I’ve bought a half dozen copies to hand out as gifts over the years. The sequels suffer from constant comparison to the first novel; they’re pretty good in isolation, but pale when compared to the original… but I think I feel that way about pretty much every book series. I really wish the sequels would come out.
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Dec 21, 2023 03:20
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ToxicFrog posted:I'm not sure what you think is "wrong" about that statement given that Magister and Coldfire are completely different settings. Surely not…it all fits together perfectly! …it sure felt like they were intentionally connected when I read them, but maybe that was the marketing.
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Dec 21, 2023 06:20
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The Vorkosigan Saga starts out with a dead redshirt on an alien world. I can see why people say that Shards of Honor was originally a Star Trek fic.
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Dec 21, 2023 15:07
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For those of you who enjoy space comedy, I finished up the first book in the Space Academy series by C.T. Phipps and it was pretty good. It's on KU as well. I'd rank it up there with the good space team books.
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Dec 21, 2023 20:48
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Had an interesting conversation with someone about The Dispossessed. They were incredulous that I considered Shevek's discovery of the ansible as being the thematic conclusion of the book, seeing it as an insignificant thingamabob that could be switched with any other gizmo without affecting the book's meaning and story. My belief that his work in reaching out to other worlds was closely linked to the way Shevek observes the walls people set up between each other and inside their own heads, that communication and connectedness were major throughlines in the book - they thought I was misreading the whole thing, that the book is just about the politics and economics of anarcho-communism.
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Dec 22, 2023 14:13
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ulmont posted:Surely not…it all fits together perfectly! I mean, they're definitely thematically connected; Magister feels a lot like Friedman had more things to say about some of the ideas underpinning Coldfire, but that didn't really fit as additional Coldfire books. Magister is in no way a sequel, though. To claim it is, you basically end up having to wave your hands and say that it's Erna so far in the future that there is no cultural, linguistic, ecological, or technological connection to the Erna seen in the Coldfire books, and also the way magic works has changed almost completely, and at that point you're talking about things that are functionally different settings anyways. I have no idea what the marketing looked like, though, I just saw it in the library and went "oh, I didn't realize Friedman had written more stuff, sweet".
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Dec 22, 2023 15:11
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I enjoyed THE DEVIL’S ALPHABET a lot! It starts out feeling very much like a horror novel (returning to a rural Southern community you fled in the wake of a devastating and unexplained Radical Flesh Change) but it’s not at all. More of a…I don’t know how to categorize it. You think it’ll be about the horror of people turning into various sorts of mutants, but actually it’s about how those new species of humanity deal with being poor Southerners with a unique biology.
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Dec 22, 2023 15:19
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FPyat posted:Had an interesting conversation with someone about The Dispossessed. They were incredulous that I considered Shevek's discovery of the ansible as being the thematic conclusion of the book, seeing it as an insignificant thingamabob that could be switched with any other gizmo without affecting the book's meaning and story. My belief that his work in reaching out to other worlds was closely linked to the way Shevek observes the walls people set up between each other and inside their own heads, that communication and connectedness were major throughlines in the book - they thought I was misreading the whole thing, that the book is just about the politics and economics of anarcho-communism. It's both OP. HTH. Like, obviously the main point of the book was to engage in a serious exploration of what a functional anarchist society would look like. But also, the thing you spoilered is a theme of the whole Hainish Cycle.
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Dec 22, 2023 15:23
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Nona the Ninth (Locked Tomb #3) by Tamsyn Muir - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09G14BQMM/ The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Blue Bear (Zamonia #1) by Walter Moers - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MWB1RZP/ The Penultimate Truth by Philip K Dick - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005MZN172/
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Dec 22, 2023 18:21
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RoboCicero posted:Just finished Children of Time. What a great, old-school sci-fi book. Big trundling generation ships, first contact, existential horror, weird science. It's got it all! I just put a hold on the sequel at my library but I'll probably just go ahead and buy the next one, haha. We're going on an adventure!
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Dec 22, 2023 20:10
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pradmer posted:The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Blue Bear (Zamonia #1) by Walter Moers - $2.99
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Dec 22, 2023 20:18
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Groke posted:We're going on an adventure! I loving loved how horrific it seemed the 1st time that came up in the book.
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Dec 22, 2023 20:19
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pradmer posted:
How many fuckjng books are there with a variation of this title. What is going on?!?!
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Dec 22, 2023 21:02
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We're going on an adventure! 
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Dec 22, 2023 21:11
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buffalo all day posted:How many fuckjng books are there with a variation of this title. What is going on?!?! I was thinking the same thing. What a strange thing to copy.
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Dec 22, 2023 21:17
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Velius posted:I was thinking the same thing. What a strange thing to copy. "Die 13 1/2 Leben des Käptn Blaubär" is from 1999, that precedes the recent glut of "The x lives of y" books by quite a while
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Dec 22, 2023 22:14
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It's also a modern classic of Fantasy. Not a ruling classes romance or feudalism fetish book. Bluebear's a masterclass of combining a classic vibe with a modern sensibility. If you've never read it, you should.
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Dec 23, 2023 06:21
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RoboCicero posted:Just finished Children of Time. What a great, old-school sci-fi book. Big trundling generation ships, first contact, existential horror, weird science. It's got it all! I just put a hold on the sequel at my library but I'll probably just go ahead and buy the next one, haha. I feel like CoT is almost a compendium of Generation Ship Gone Wrong stories, and that's just one half of the book...
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Dec 23, 2023 06:50
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The full World War Z audiobook is an incredible experience. It’s been a long time since I last thought the dumber ideas Max Brooks has are a mark against the book’s value.
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Dec 23, 2023 07:44
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fez_machine posted:It's also a modern classic of Fantasy. Not a ruling classes romance or feudalism fetish book. Bluebear's a masterclass of combining a classic vibe with a modern sensibility. How does it translate to English? I remember it had a bunch of silly German puns. Heck the name of the character himself is a pun which doesn't translate quite as well. cant cook creole bream fucked around with this message at 09:24 on Dec 23, 2023 |
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Dec 23, 2023 09:19
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cant cook creole bream posted:How does it translate to English? I remember it had a bunch of silly German puns. Heck the name of the character himself is a pun which doesn't translate quite as well. John Brownjohn (RIP) tried to pack as many puns/anagramisations in as he could. It's a world class translation for readability though presumably some of the finer stuff is gone. fez_machine fucked around with this message at 10:39 on Dec 23, 2023 |
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Dec 23, 2023 10:37
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Picked up the first Coldfire book on this threads rec, and so far it's a real delight. Great character work, even the minor ones are sketched out nicely almost as soon as they appear. And the book doesn't waste a single moment on explaining or systematising the weird magic of the world, any more than we'd bother explaining electricity or international finance. Gives it a great sense of being familiar and alien at the same time.
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Dec 23, 2023 13:01
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FPyat posted:The full World War Z audiobook is an incredible experience. It’s been a long time since I last thought the dumber ideas Max Brooks has are a mark against the book’s value. Yeah, definitely recommend the WWZ audio book. That’s an impressive cast. A friend and I listened to it on a road trip across the US Southwest a few years ago, it made the miles go by. Though the least believable thing about the book was the idea the Israeli government would either defy settlers or protect Palestinians in an existential crisis.
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Dec 23, 2023 13:10
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Witch King by Martha Wells - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B9KVV7JH/
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Dec 23, 2023 17:05
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pradmer posted:Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K Dick - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000SEGTI0/ Thank you! I am trying to catch up on Philip K Dick. I'm currently on Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said. It's good but it's creeping me out a little.
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Dec 23, 2023 20:46
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Chairman Capone posted:Yeah, definitely recommend the WWZ audio book. That’s an impressive cast. A friend and I listened to it on a road trip across the US Southwest a few years ago, it made the miles go by. When poo poo started popping off again that book was the first thing I thought about. Man made two interesting books but was filled with some of the dumbest ideas known to man. Big fan of the weeb studying the blade to defend Japan as well.
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Dec 23, 2023 20:53
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Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YK1K1YK/ Storming Heaven: The Age of Bronze (Against All Gods #2) by Miles Cameron - $0.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BNBC5XHD/ Parable of the Talents (Parable #2) by Octavia E Butler - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BZHR92F7/ Dawn (Xenogenesis #1) by Octavia E Butler - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BZHPS7LJ/ Adulthood Rights (Xenogenesis #2) by Octavia E Butler - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BZHT44V8/
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Dec 24, 2023 17:54
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Just finished Between Two Fires by Chris Buehlman. Feels like it's been a while since I've read a book that really sucked me in but I found this to be a fantastic page-turner. Apparently a grimdark messianic plague adventure in medieval France was just what I needed, who knew.
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Dec 24, 2023 20:12
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