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PeterWeller posted:Try This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. It's bonkers time travel, so hells of sci-fi. It's about two soldiers, but in no way hoo-rah. It's an epistolary novel, so definitely not typical sci-fi. And one of its authors is a woman. I was just popping on this thread for the first time and my opening recommendation was going to be This is How You Lose the Time War. Extremely good use of the epistolary novel format. Also, I'm apparently another Graydon Saunders sockpuppet and those who haven't already should try the Commonweal series.
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Mar 15, 2022 23:04
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I have fond memories of The Once and Future King, but as a heads up it's got some racial slurs in it.
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Mar 16, 2022 22:44
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Gnoman posted:Many of the things that go wrong in the series do so explicitly because people treat the elves so shittily, and making a real effort to treat them as people is key to saving the day. The last book explicitly states that Hermoine is right about the elves, and that the people who criticize her are wrong. The entire sequence there is more about mocking a certain kind of "well, of course I know what's best for them" kind of activist, who doesn't bother to learn about the people they're trying to help and just assumes they can fix things. Yeah, this seems correct. This as well: Tars Tarkas posted:The books go out of their way to show the magical creatures that aren't wizards are discriminated against by wizards but also doesn't resolve the issues at all. The heroes work to reestablish the status quo instead of fighting for something better, which basically squanders all the lore Rowling set up. Then they become part of the system that reinforces that status quo (Harry a cop, Hermoine Wizard President, Ron a joke store owner - ok maybe that one doesn't track but lol). It may be more realistic that everything is not magically fixed, but this is a book series about magic that is also entirely fictional and could end however Rowling wanted it to. The books' bias towards the status quo is very strong, that things are "mostly good" outside of the Wizard Nazis and once you've defeated the Wizard Nazis it's OK to go back to "normal."
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Mar 18, 2022 17:39
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I'm 40% of the way into The Monster Baru Cormorant (just finished the interludes after the first act) and happy to see that for all its bragging about itself the caliper-fuckers from Falcrest are as riven with internal division as everyone else. But man, things are not going super duper well for our eponymous Baru Cormorant.
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Mar 20, 2022 22:12
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Velius posted:This was a hard book to get through. It’s really grim overall and it doesn’t let up. It’s definitely worth reading and Tyrant had a lot of payoff for it though. Stick with it! I've really enjoyed the chapters from Xate Yawa's perspective, and I will be very cross if any lasting harm comes to Tau-Indi.
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Mar 21, 2022 05:32
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Zodiac is dope - or at least that's my memory from reading it in like 2003. Small Gods is one of the very best Discworld novels, and IIRC is a stand alone novel where you won't be missing context by not having read other Discworld books.
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Mar 21, 2022 21:16
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Finished The Monster Baru Cormorant last night and was very happy I didn't have to wait to start in on Tyrant because wow that's a lot of cliffhangers left hanging. I just reached the part where Barhu is recognized for the first time by Baru and Yawa. gently caress and yes. Also, I completely get how this series has a lot of fan-art out there. I cracked up at this one (spoilers for The Traitor Baru Cormorant): https://twitter.com/marschildwells/status/1181769723794612224
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Mar 23, 2022 18:42
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Finished The Tyrant Baru Cormorant last night. Very happy with how it ended, but man there's still a long way to go and I'm not sure how everything works out. Going to try The Black Company again. It's a book that by all rights I should love, but I've bounced off a couple times.
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Mar 25, 2022 17:05
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freebooter posted:The only ones (in my years-long re-read since his death so far) that I think are not very good are Sourcery, Eric and Soul Music, though even then they're only bad in comparison with the rest of the series; Discworld is never bad bad, at the very worst you're getting a silly romp that you'll breeze through in a day or two. Yeah, Pratchett didn't write doorstoppers, and was extremely readable. I concur that Small Gods and Guards! Guards! are good introductions, I never got around to reading the Witches plotline and should probably do that. my bony fealty posted:Uh, can someone recommend me a fantasy novel that's got some originality to it as a palette cleanser. I've been activated as a sockpuppet. If you want something extremely original and admittedly obtuse, see if your interest is piqued by the OP on this thread. I'd also recommend NK Jemisin's Broken Earth series. Or hell, her Inheritence trilogy. Stupid sexy Nahadoth. Unique/original fantasy is a bit harder to find than unique sci-fi, but maybe that's just my reference pools and I've missed a bunch of fascinating settings for fantasy. habeasdorkus fucked around with this message at 20:17 on Mar 26, 2022 |
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Mar 26, 2022 18:24
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Foxfire_ posted:(Mars trilogy's kinda boring though) Agree to disagree.  Still mad 25 years later that Arkady dies in the first book. I want my giant, red bearded, red blooded communist cosmonaut!pseudorandom name posted:The Ministry for the Future is kind of a liberal wish-fulfillment fantasy, for the protagonist only and there's a late-book reveal that her chief of security has been quietly murdering people to make it all possible. It's so pollyanna-ish that it convinced me we're all doomed from climate change. Still a good book. Also, the Children of Kali were pretty obvious from the start in murdering oligarchs and billionaires, there were chapters about it. The reveal was about the Ministry itself helping the CoK. habeasdorkus fucked around with this message at 14:02 on Mar 29, 2022 |
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Mar 29, 2022 14:00
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freebooter posted:At the time I was also annoyed... Oh, I agree with all of that. But I can't help myself, I still miss him in particular. Goddamned capitalists!
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Mar 30, 2022 03:38
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Yeah, having read the original Herbert books way back in the day the OG is a true classic with Messiah/Children/God Emperor are all solid in their own ways. IIRC God Emperor reaches a solid denouement to the overall plot. Having been willing to read any Star Wars stories as a very nerdy teenager, even I learned to stay far the gently caress away from KJA after a couple books. That dude is loving awful at his craft.
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Apr 7, 2022 21:39
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pradmer posted:Royal Assassin (Farseer Trilogy #2) by Robin Hobb - $4.00 I really enjoyed the Farseer trilogy by Robin Hobb way back in the day. Really should have the first book of that series, though. Fitz goes through a lot. I think I might have preferred the Liveship Traders trilogy set in the same world more. CW for sexual assault in the latter trilogy, tho. DACK FAYDEN posted:But doctor, I am Graydon Saunders. One of the things I like about Saunders is that he answers a lot of questions about the world of his books through a google group. Which then reveals that he's got a decent answer for most questions you have about that world so long as they're not plot points to future entries into the series.
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Apr 12, 2022 02:27
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Which was the Gibson novel that involved blackmail via deepfake, iirc of the main character? I've been trying to remember for like two years, usually whenever the topic of deepfakes come up.
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Apr 12, 2022 13:42
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Hmm, I think I was misremembering Virtual Light.
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Apr 12, 2022 17:38
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I found Dark Age moved at a breakneck pace because of all the plotlines. It never gave you a moment to breath. Which was surprisingly anxiety producing. I think the politics in the book were meant as an "Empire Strikes Back" moment more than actually supportive of the old Gold eugenicist system. We'll see how it turns out in the final book of the trilogy, but the series has been anti-eugenicist from the start and barring a real downer ending I don't see it ending with "Darrow loved being Gold." Also, Seraphina getting chumped (and chunked) after being such a stereotypical warmongering rear end in a top hat Gold was a rewarding moment. We see her death from both Lysander and Darrow's viewpoint and in the latter it's just one line. So much for her glorious war. Also, also Volga loving rules and I cannot wait for her to wreck Fa's poo poo.
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Apr 14, 2022 12:59
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Tezer posted:The book isn't very interesting for all the attention it's gotten. I enjoyed both of these. 
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Apr 16, 2022 00:08
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freebooter posted:I enjoyed Zone One purely for seeing extremely familiar tropes written by a hugely talented author, but yeah, it didn't do anything else new with the genre and didn't feel like e.g. Ishiguro writing SF. Yeah. It's a very solid, well written zombie story... but it's just a zombie story. I did like the twist at the end, though, indicating that everything was completely hosed everywhere.
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Apr 16, 2022 17:55
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I'm trying to think of the best possible world outcome of the Greydon Saunders sockpuppet joke, and it has to be him actually having an active account that only shitposts in like, FYAD or C-Spam, and has no clue about this thread.
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Apr 22, 2022 02:22
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Ccs posted:Haha yes he goes overboard in the other direction and writes books I really want to enjoy but just can’t get through Graydon doesn't do "worldbuilding" so much as "civil engineering or military AAR where you can see that there's a whole world the characters built upon."
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Apr 26, 2022 16:46
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Cicero posted:Into the Labyrinth (Mage Errant #1) is currently also free if you want some very YA progression fantasy: https://www.amazon.com/Into-Labyrinth-Mage-Errant-Book-ebook/dp/B07J675X2C I read The Wrack by the same author and was very happy with it, a neat little fantasy epidemiological story, and then tried Mage Errant... only to find it too YA for me.
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Apr 27, 2022 13:56
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Bhodi posted:Also sounds like the Heechee/Gateway books. I read them as a kid, no idea if they hold up. Way back when I was a very young kid I played the text based adventure games of these. My most notable memory as like a grade school kid is that I ate a diseased raccoon and died. My second most notable was learning about Chernobyl as a thing that happened recently based upon the year ingame and doing the arithmetic of when it happened.
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Apr 29, 2022 06:17
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The Red Rising series has good audiobooks IIRC. It doesn't have any explicit sex scenes, but does have sexual violence in the background of at least the first book.
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May 7, 2022 05:28
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I enjoyed the Gaunts Ghosts series by Abnett, and I also enjoyed the Ciaphas Cain novels. The 40k setting can be a lot of fun.
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May 7, 2022 16:31
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I liked the series as a whole, and it goes to some pretty interesting places to the point that I wish there was more exploring it, but it wasn't as good as Scalzi's best stuff. Kiva is fine, but she's nowhere near the most interesting character.
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May 11, 2022 00:26
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What would folks recommend for creepy/scary sci-fi?
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May 17, 2022 01:59
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I was unimpressed with Bakker's stuff. It was boring, and extremely edgelordy. I put the second book down a couple years back and have no desire to pick it up again.
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May 17, 2022 02:56
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I, for one, deeply enjoy the existential horror of Mr. Bennet.
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May 18, 2022 01:06
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Yeah, attacking KSR's Mars trilogy for those reasons is pretty off base.
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May 18, 2022 04:13
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Stuporstar posted:This Ok, but I don't think you've really told us how you feel about this book.
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May 21, 2022 01:50
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Megasabin posted:There was one narrative beat in this trilogy I did not love. Kennith raping Aletha. It felt really out of left field for his character, happened way too late in the plot of the book, and became this overpowering force that trod on a lot more interesting conflicts that were set up in the previous two books. For example. the trilogy somehow managed to sidestep one of the main conflicts it was setting up across all 3 novels-- Althea and Wintrow vying for the Vivica. Althea's entire character (understandably) changes after the rape and they are simply able to solve 3 book's worth of tension with her hand waving away her claim to the ship in a throw away sentence. It could have lead to some interesting psychological and interpersonal distress with Wintrow and Etta, which they hinted at briefly, but since it all happened in the 2nd half of the final book it never got time to breathe or develop. I felt like it worked from a story and character perspective, and Kennit's shittiness is wrapped up in his repeating the same abuse he suffered, but you're right about it derailing one of the central conflicts of the story.
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May 24, 2022 04:16
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Blastedhellscape posted:I know I'm asking for it but why is Frank Herbert on that BINGO card? I know about the issues with every other author there, but as far as I know Herbert seems like a guy who just threw every wild psycho-sexual idea or hallucinogen-inspired thought he had onto the page, but ultimately comes off as a wild pervert with his heart in the right place. IIRC Herbert was very lovely to his gay son and lovely about gay people in general (including in his fiction). It's one of the milder faults compared to some of the writers on that bingo card as far as I'm aware, tho.
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May 24, 2022 04:18
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pradmer posted:
Probably my favorite Stephenson book. A really great true spec-fic ride.
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May 29, 2022 01:13
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The British and French in that series's timeline get Versailled and are pretty fashy. Turtledove is fine, he's a mediocre writer but anyone who gives me communist black guerilla's in the swamps of the south had at least one neat idea.
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Jun 5, 2022 04:35
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Megasabin posted:For some reason I always thought Red Rising was a young adult series. I started it and kept being like, "Hmm, this sort of language usually isn't used in a young adult novel", "this sort of content usually isn't..". Then I got to the scene Where for the passage he has to fight another student. And not just any student-- a friendly student he had already met earlier that seemed coded to become a "best friend" type character. I figured he would figure out a way to cheat the system so they both live. Instead he just mercs the kid. Well before that point Darrow mercy killed his pregnant wife while she was being hung for treason. At that point I was pretty sure it was not a regular YA book. And man, for my money it absolutely does. e: Also, I strongly recommend the Red Rising series and the Iron Gold follow on books, but serious content warning for violence and sexual violence. habeasdorkus fucked around with this message at 04:03 on Jun 16, 2022 |
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Jun 16, 2022 03:59
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I should revisit some Stackpole stuff, he always seemed a cut above the standard extremely prolific sci/fi-fantasy author doing licensed work.
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Jun 19, 2022 16:01
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Cardiac posted:Finished Empire Games by Stross and thought it was a slog. I recall a bunch of people dying in that trilogy, but maybe I'm confusing it with the original Merchant Prince's trilogy. I personally found the series enjoyable but not his best work. I also rather liked that the two paratime USA's weren't complete idiots and willing to actually engage in diplomacy with one another. I also thought that Dead Lies Dreaming was an excellent first novel in his new, Laundry adjacent series but Quantum of Nightmares didn't catch me the same way. The Laundry Files proper just had a novella released this year. Stross has been pretty open about how the failing health and death of his parents + covid has knocked his writing process very far off track. habeasdorkus fucked around with this message at 15:01 on Jun 20, 2022 |
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Jun 20, 2022 14:58
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The author offered a whole lot of background information, clarification on how things in the world worked, and cool stuff including spoilers for future books and asked only that it not get spread outside the group. As the author noted in one of the final posts, this was probably always going to happen, it's the nature of the world, but now that it had it was time to shut down the group.
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Jul 1, 2022 16:13
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Larry Parrish posted:I'd love to say that I'm sorry that it pissed the author off and perhaps made some extra work for you, but that's really funny to me. Anyway sorry Graydon but out of book discussion detracts from the book, imo, although clearly some people don't think that. gently caress off, you shitheel troll. One of these days a perma will stick and we will all be better off for it.
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Jul 1, 2022 16:14
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freebooter posted:Real good book and - despite the "Inhibitor 2" - one that was intended as and can be read as a standalone novel, if you've never dipped into Reynolds. Seconded. It's an excellent stand alone hard sci-fi novel.
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Jul 6, 2022 16:29
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