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BigSkillet posted:There's also a super-fancy leatherbound edition from Easton Press (gilt edges, ribbon bookmark and all that) that you can find from resellers for a couple hundred, though I think that might be just the first book instead of all five. Rythe posted:Looking at the Easton Press books brought up a few Google images and I found the copy I have. http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/230597700506?lpid=82utm_campaign=localinventory&gclid=CLjS5vCHpLoCFWtk7Aodo18AFw(link to book on E-Bay) and what the heck would cause that copy of the book to shoot up in value so much? I remember getting it for $20 about 10 years ago or so I think. It's beautiful, though, and feels good to hold.
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Oct 21, 2013 21:44
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Or it's worth what you paid 20 years ago. That's also not the Easton Press edition, it was published by Gramercy Press. In fact here it is for <$20. Do your research, guys; don't trust the first eBay auction that shows up.
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Oct 22, 2013 00:57
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I just finished Feist's Magician's End. It is (supposedly) the last Midkemia book he will write, and has a somewhat bittersweet ending (both Pug and Tomas die). His books have definitely varied in quality over the years. Some were fantastic, some were pretty terrible. However, these books have been a presence for a majority of my life. It was Magician: Apprentice that got me started in Fantasy novels (which in turn got me started in Sci-Fi). I still remember camping with my parents when I was about 11-12 (20 years ago) and staying up all night reading the book with my flashlight. Anyway, it appears I didn't have much else to say other than to reminisce! It's rather interesting when a large series like this ends. Anyone else manage to finish the series?
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Oct 22, 2013 01:16
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syphon posted:I just finished Feist's Magician's End. It is (supposedly) the last Midkemia book he will write, and has a somewhat bittersweet ending (both Pug and Tomas die). Christ, Pug and Tomas were still alive?. I too have very fond memories of Magician, but seeing as the last book I read was Talon of the Silver Hawk, I can't see me catching up, somehow.
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Oct 23, 2013 14:01
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Junkenstein posted:Christ, Pug and Tomas were still alive?.  for me about the Midkemia series - Feist seemed to all-too-often fall back on using them as Deus Ex Machina when he couldn't figure out how to right some other kind of climactic scene. They were both basically deities after a few books.
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Oct 23, 2013 17:01
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I finished that Ancillary Justice book. I thought the first half of the book was a bit of a drag. I didn't really know what was happening, what the conflict was, and or why I should care about what was happening. Second half was very good though. As far as being "progressive" or whatever, the (these are probably not spoilers, but in an abundance of caution) use of the female pronoun as the default was fine, and I didn't really notice it after the first couple of pages. When the author tried to introduce gender pronoun issues relating to different languages or dialects, it just felt kind of tacked on, overly explain-ey, and did not really seem to impact the story at all. I don't know.
gvibes fucked around with this message at 17:44 on Oct 23, 2013 |
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Oct 23, 2013 17:40
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I'm glad it's not just me that thought Ancillary Justice dragged. I stopped reading it for the moment. I just couldn't bring myself to care about anything that was happening.
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Oct 24, 2013 00:18
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Man, Gregory Benford's Galactic Center series gets waaaaaay better after the 2nd book. I don't know what the hell happened, he just goes in a completely different direction and it's so much better than the first two.
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Oct 24, 2013 02:19
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Somewhere a bit ago, someone recommended Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway. I just finished reading it, and I really enjoyed it. It was loads of fun. So thanks, recommender I can't recall.
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Oct 24, 2013 19:56
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Listen up, maggots! We've now got an Ursula le Guin thread, so if you've read any her books go over and post about 'em, and if you haven't, read some of the OP's recommendations and then post about whichever ones you did read!
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Oct 28, 2013 22:33
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I just finished The Long Earth and The Long War. The concepts in them are interesting enough to carry the books, but at no point did I ever feel any tension or conflict in the books. I think due to the nature of the world(s) they were written in, and in particular the nature of Lobsang and later Agnes, there's really nothing to worry about on the whole. When your protagonists can jump from one world to another, its difficult to set up any kind of climactic scenes
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Oct 30, 2013 15:46
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Phummus posted:I just finished The Long Earth and The Long War. The concepts in them are interesting enough to carry the books, but at no point did I ever feel any tension or conflict in the books. I think due to the nature of the world(s) they were written in, and in particular the nature of Lobsang and later Agnes, there's really nothing to worry about on the whole. When your protagonists can jump from one world to another, its difficult to set up any kind of climactic scenes That's hardly a spoiler when it's in the first chapter and forms the central premise of the entire series. Also I think you're wrong. The Long Earth series is, as the name suggests, about the long game - how the discovery of stepping and that we are not the sole dominant species any more, and the ELE on Datum Earth are going to change humanity.
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Oct 30, 2013 23:19
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I just finished them both this month and I agree with Phummus. I enjoyed the books, but at the same time I found myself completely forgetting what the conflicts were supposed to be, especially in the Long War. It felt very aimless, which could have been just fine, but then it also tried to fit directed plot points in and it just didn't work for me. Like, I would have been perfectly happy reading just about their journey throughout the worlds exploring stuff, but then the book goes "oh hey remember that war we totally built up in the early chapters? Well there's a sit-in and now it's resolved! Hooray! Back to wandering!" It felt a little like it could decide what to be about.
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Oct 31, 2013 08:54
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Jedit posted:That's hardly a spoiler when it's in the first chapter and forms the central premise of the entire series. Is the second book worth reading? Conceptually I liked the first book, but it seemed like there was too much forcing of a conflict back on Datum Earth when it could have just been awesome sa a exploratory style let's see what is out there thing. There was also a lot of foreshadowing about the protaginists birth that ultimately seemed to fall flat on it's face other than the ability to sense the blob whose name I can't remember off the top of my head simply by having instincts unspoiled by the modern/packed world he actually did grow up in. nessin fucked around with this message at 18:28 on Oct 31, 2013 |
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Oct 31, 2013 18:25
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Some quick recommendations: The Dreamblood series (two books) by N.K. Jemisin. Fantasy loosely based on ancient Egyptian religious/magical thinking as well as Jungian psychoanalysis. Amazing writing, good characters, fascinating super un-cliche "magic", interesting ideas. Just great books all around. I've mentioned it a couple times but I'll repeat that Emphyrio is one of the best books I have ever read in my life. It's a Jack Vance book which is totally and completely different from the rest of his work. Some of the most compelling world and culture-building I've ever had the pleasure of reading. The only place to find this book may well be from a Jack Vance torrent, fyi. Witpunk is a compilation of edgy short stories with a literary bent that include fantastical elements. Really interesting stories they chose for this one. Also I've been hitting up some Discworld and enjoying it pretty well.
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Nov 1, 2013 15:05
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I've put off reading The Half-Made World for a while because the descriptions I'd read made the concept sound stupid, but it's one of the more engaging and interesting books I've read in a while. It's very well written, The Gun and The Line both feel real and messed up in their own ways, and the world-building is top notch.
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Nov 1, 2013 15:54
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regularizer posted:I've put off reading The Half-Made World for a while because the descriptions I'd read made the concept sound stupid, but it's one of the more engaging and interesting books I've read in a while. It's very well written, The Gun and The Line both feel real and messed up in their own ways, and the world-building is top notch. Like you, I initially held off on reading The Half-Made World because the description wasn't particularly inspiring, but it really is a great book and, unlike most fantasy novels, stands very well on its own. It wasn't quite what I was expecting, and I didn't know if I liked it when I finished it, but the more I thought on it, the more I liked it. That said, I really enjoyed The Rise of Ransom City from beginning to end. I knew more what to expect with this, so I was able to appreciate it for what it is, which I think hurt my appreciation of The Half-Made World. I went into The Half-Made World expecting a something closer to a traditional quest-based fantasy novel and got something more philosophical, though tucked inside an action shell. My interpretation: The Half-Made World is an allegorical exploration of American expansion into the West, with points made about the treatment of Native Americans and slaves. It shows how most people aren't ideologically motivated and are just trying to get by, in the face of a world that changes inexorably around them and over which they have little control. The Rise of Ransom City largely puts that aside in favor of exploring our relationship with science, and the relationship between science and industry, in a setting where an inventor like Tesla or Edison could still change the world with a single great discovery or invention. It also asks some interesting questions about the moral responsibility of an individual within a corporation. And does all this while exploring one of the most unique worlds I have ever read about. I really hope he writes another novel set in the same world.
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Nov 1, 2013 17:28
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Isn't Felix Gilman, the author of Half-Made World, a goon?Play posted:I've mentioned it a couple times but I'll repeat that Emphyrio is one of the best books I have ever read in my life. It's a Jack Vance book which is totally and completely different from the rest of his work. Some of the most compelling world and culture-building I've ever had the pleasure of reading. The only place to find this book may well be from a Jack Vance torrent, fyi. Emphyrio is in print from Gollancz (it's an "SF Masterwork") and I think all of Vance's books are available via his website in a special memorial edition.
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Nov 1, 2013 18:34
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House Louse posted:Isn't Felix Gilman, the author of Half-Made World, a goon? He posted here on his account a few times, but I'm not sure about "goon".
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Nov 1, 2013 18:37
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I've begun to have a sinking feeling when I hear a book I'm interested in is an SF Masterwork because it's usually the easiest edition to get and they're hideous.
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Nov 1, 2013 18:47
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Azathoth posted:I just finished the sequel, The Rise of Ransom City and I highly recommend it (along with The Half-Made World for those who haven't read it first. I disagree a little with the interpretation of the Half-Made World. Or, at least, I think there's more than that. The war between the Line and Gun is representative of the corporatisation and social and economic changes as the wild frontier gave way to the modern US. The Line had a lot of stuff going into them and it's not that clear cut but that's what I got out of it. I really liked both the Gun and Line and my big problem with The Rise of Ransom City was we did not get to see enough of either! I didn't like The Rise of Ransom City as much but I would still recommend both books to pretty much anyone. The Half-Made World is also a book I am comfortable recommending to non-fantasy/sci-fi readers.
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Nov 2, 2013 05:14
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Continuing a pretty good year for my short fiction, I've got a story up on Clarkesworld today, a bit of hard SF, a bit of fantasy, a bit of Kerbal Space Program. If you don't read Clarkesworld, you should, it's one of the best markets for short SF/F out there, and short is where a lot of really wild stuff happens.quote:“I’m going to lose the ability to dream,” Nur Zaleha tells her best friend. “Then I’m going to die.” It's weird how different everything looks in the magazine format. Sentences that seemed fine in Word or Scrivener on a dinky laptop screen suddenly cry out for tinkering. Also if you ever want to have deeply anxious insomnia, Google that syndrome 
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Nov 2, 2013 06:05
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That was a really cool story. And I was taken by surprise by the  ending, I didn't really expect that, but in a good way.
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Nov 2, 2013 11:09
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When life turns into investments and kids and responsibility and 'where are you at today?' constantly.. You meet death first-hand and and realize 'this is it' when realities become the norm.. There is still sci-fi, something to be excited about, a world or place or idea that is apart from this muck. Thanks Sci-Fi Thread!
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Nov 2, 2013 16:21
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General Battuta posted:Continuing a pretty good year for my short fiction, I've got a story up on Clarkesworld today, a bit of hard SF, a bit of fantasy, a bit of Kerbal Space Program. If you don't read Clarkesworld, you should, it's one of the best markets for short SF/F out there, and short is where a lot of really wild stuff happens. Great story! I liked it better than the last story of yours I read, "The Traitor Baru Cormorant, Her Field-General, and Their Wounds" (though I liked that as well). Do you have a site or something where you keep a list of your works? I want to read all of them! And I've heard of that horrible syndrome before. Probably goes on the list of phobias next to brain-eating amoebas for me.
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Nov 2, 2013 22:23
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Glad you liked it! You can find links to my published work on my website.
General Battuta fucked around with this message at 23:03 on Nov 2, 2013 |
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Nov 2, 2013 22:41
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Neurosis posted:I disagree a little with the interpretation of the Half-Made World. Or, at least, I think there's more than that. The war between the Line and Gun is representative of the corporatisation and social and economic changes as the wild frontier gave way to the modern US. The Line had a lot of stuff going into them and it's not that clear cut but that's what I got out of it. I really liked both the Gun and Line and my big problem with The Rise of Ransom City was we did not get to see enough of either! I agree with Neurosis more on THMW, but my take on TRoRC is different. Ransom is just a different way of exploring the same themes of HMW. HMW is about the competing forces of corporatism and individualism in the new world. Ransom is some kind of of uber-American archetype: the self-made man, the inventor, the preacher, the salesman, the tent-pole revivalist--he has aspects of all of those. However, his experience completely subverts what is supposed to happen in the American dream--when he finally gains power, he's a puppet, caught as a figurehead in a cruel political system that he actually was hoping to create the opposite of. The time in Jasper City is the most interesting--it seems like the Chicago of the 1890s, the time of the World's Fair. The whole thing seems to be heavily influenced by The Education of Henry Adams and the idea of America bursting into the 20th century. The note that Gilman ends it on, with Ransom still pursuing his dream is a great encapsulation of the beauty of the American dream and the horror of its execution. The book has really a lot in it, so these thoughts are kind of half-formed still. I would recommend them both to anyone, and I really hope I have the time sometime to read it again and spend some time thinking on it.
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Nov 4, 2013 01:56
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Seldom Posts posted:I agree with Neurosis more on THMW, but my take on TRoRC is different. Ransom is just a different way of exploring the same themes of HMW. HMW is about the competing forces of corporatism and individualism in the new world. Ransom is some kind of of uber-American archetype: the self-made man, the inventor, the preacher, the salesman, the tent-pole revivalist--he has aspects of all of those. However, his experience completely subverts what is supposed to happen in the American dream--when he finally gains power, he's a puppet, caught as a figurehead in a cruel political system that he actually was hoping to create the opposite of. I'll stand by my original interpretation, but expand by saying that there are deeper undercurrents in both books about the struggle between order and chaos, and how neither side is necessarily the right choice with the ideal of the Red Valley Republic as the mythical perfect balance between the two. In The Half-Made World, it's presented as a utopia broken down by the forces of chaos and order, at least until the end when you get some less than flattering details about it's founders and it's suggested that it wasn't everything the General remembered it to be. In The Rise of Ransom City, you get a couple more hints about this at the end when the Line is losing and different Red Valley Republics begin springing up, and the President of the one that Liv and John Creedmoor are associated with has a name more reminiscent of a King or an Emperor, implying that the world may be trading the tyranny of the Engines for the tyranny of a person, and that they're using the name of the Red Valley Republic in the same way that much of Europe used the name of Rome after the Western Roman Empire fell. I don't think that what I'm saying is necessarily incompatible with your interpretation either, I think we may be seeing the same underlying concepts and putting our own little spin on it. I'll also second that they're books that I would recommend to just about anyone, even people who aren't normally scifi/fantasy fans.
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Nov 4, 2013 02:37
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General Battuta posted:Continuing a pretty good year for my short fiction, I've got a story up on Clarkesworld today, a bit of hard SF, a bit of fantasy, a bit of Kerbal Space Program. Good story, thanks. Was there a particular reason you went with the name "Tariune"? I googled it and just found misspellings of taurine, but was it a pun on "tarry"?
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Nov 4, 2013 12:07
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Azathoth posted:I'm not sure I necessarily disagree with either you or Neurosis, and it's a good example of what I love so much about those two books. There's so much to think about with them, and Gilman doesn't bash you over the head so much with what he's trying to say that there's room for legitimate difference in interpretation. I wasn't trying to start a 'my interpretation is better than yours' thing. Sorry if it came off that way. I like your points about the republic, but rather that situating it in the order/chaos dichotomy, I think it speaks more to the false promise of 'city on the hill' style American utopianism. Which would also link back to also to what you're saying about kings and emperors--you come to the new world to get away from kings, but end up raising one anyway.
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Nov 4, 2013 18:26
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Anyone here read the latest Locke Lamora book? Looking for some impressions but scared of clicking on the series thread and getting insta-spoiled about everything.
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Nov 4, 2013 22:44
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Geek U.S.A. posted:Anyone here read the latest Locke Lamora book? Looking for some impressions but scared of clicking on the series thread and getting insta-spoiled about everything. I haven't read it myself yet, but the general impressions have been worth reading, better than Red Skies, but not as good as Lies.
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Nov 4, 2013 22:47
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I thought it was alright. Maybe a little worse than Red Seas but not by much (and I thought Red Seas was still pretty good). It's still got the sharp dialogue and characterization you've come to expect. The plot is a little lacking but that might reflect a book that has simply been baking for too long. The next book is set up with some nice developments. If you're on the fence maybe just wait for the paperback edition, but I enjoyed it a lot.
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Nov 4, 2013 22:48
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Geek U.S.A. posted:Anyone here read the latest Locke Lamora book? Looking for some impressions but scared of clicking on the series thread and getting insta-spoiled about everything. It's a decent book that makes a bunch of amateur mistakes in the plotting department. You can tell it was an agonizing thing for Lynch to write in places...and in others the old magic is there. My main complaint is that Locke doesn't ever of any real thievery, and that the big reveal of the novel is an answer to a question no one cared about.
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Nov 4, 2013 23:12
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BananaNutkins posted:It's a decent book that makes a bunch of amateur mistakes in the plotting department. You can tell it was an agonizing thing for Lynch to write in places...and in others the old magic is there. I don't think the book as published has too many amateur mistakes, but its flaws are the result of Lynch cocking up the plot in the first place. He realised 75% of the way in that he'd made a major error in the original con and had to rewrite it all. I would say that The Republic of Thieves is the weakest of the three books, but it's still a good book and if you don't like it you are literary Hitler.
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Nov 4, 2013 23:20
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House Louse posted:Good story, thanks. Was there a particular reason you went with the name "Tariune"? I googled it and just found misspellings of taurine, but was it a pun on "tarry"? Not a pun. For the story's subtext to work I wanted a slightly Tolkienesque high fantasy name, so I looked at that pool of cognates.
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Nov 4, 2013 23:52
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Geek U.S.A. posted:Anyone here read the latest Locke Lamora book? Looking for some impressions but scared of clicking on the series thread and getting insta-spoiled about everything. Loved the first book, thought the second was heavily flawed but at least ambitious and really disliked the latest one. Without getting into specific spoilers the plot is moving rapidly toward stereotypical fantasy departments where wizards solve everything and the evolving backstory of Locke feels ridiculous. It still has interesting characters but they are going through the motions so you never feel any tension or urgency. It is one of the most boring books by a good author that I've read, he's capable of much better.
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Nov 5, 2013 01:25
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I'm not sure if this is the best thread for this, but it was the closest I could find. Lately I've been in the mood for a certain sort of book. Monster thrillers I guess would be the term, where there's something in the dark trying to eat you. Relic (Which I loved as a kid) would be a good example, but just any of the type of book where something in the dark is trying to eat the main characters. Would anyone have recommendations for recent books in this vein? Note that I'm not asking for great literature (possibly the opposite, in fact); just good pulpy thrillers. Bremen fucked around with this message at 02:57 on Nov 5, 2013 |
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Nov 5, 2013 02:51
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Geek U.S.A. posted:Anyone here read the latest Locke Lamora book? Looking for some impressions but scared of clicking on the series thread and getting insta-spoiled about everything. It's mostly a transitional book as the main story is about setting up a lot of things that won't be addressed until later books. Luckily while that's the main plot, there's also an ongoing flashback that is a lot of fun to read. Overall it was alright. Definitely the weakest of the bunch. I do worry about the future of the series, though I'm still looking forward to the next book. Jedit posted:I don't think the book as published has too many amateur mistakes, but its flaws are the result of Lynch cocking up the plot in the first place. He realised 75% of the way in that he'd made a major error in the original con and had to rewrite it all. Did he ever say what that original con was? Because with the way the book was written it really doesn't feel like it would deserve a massive rewrite to fix that problem. Between the flashbacks and the mass infodumping in the first quarter, the main plot was kinda underwhelming as heck.
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Nov 5, 2013 04:34
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Geek U.S.A. posted:Anyone here read the latest Locke Lamora book? Looking for some impressions but scared of clicking on the series thread and getting insta-spoiled about everything. I'm about 20% in and so far it's pretty good. You can only write a book like Lies Of Locke Lamorra once and then everything else is never quite the same. But still, so far, I'm happy with my investment.
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Nov 5, 2013 06:20
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