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Just chiming in to agree with the people who say 'don't read books by Piers Anthony (the author of the Xanth series) he's creepy and gross and wrote a story in which he presents a sexual relationship between a five year old and an adult as being healthy and loving.'
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Nov 29, 2014 23:37
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Chairchucker posted:Just chiming in to agree with the people who say 'don't read books by Piers Anthony (the author of the Xanth series) he's creepy and gross and wrote a story in which he presents a sexual relationship between a five year old and an adult as being healthy and loving.'  Well I guess I have to be fair to that pagecount earlier, it would take quite a lot of words to try and (fail to) explain why that's okay.
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Nov 30, 2014 00:38
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DrProsek posted:
They're what, 200-300ish pages each and has been going on since the 80s? Kinda like Discworld, if Discworld had a lot of humor removed and was written by a creeper. The fact that he's a creeper doesn't bug me since I don't really take personal views into account most of the time but from what little I remember he loves really terrible puns and dang, he aims to be funny but it was actively unfunny which is a pretty big crime when you're writing something meant for laffs Srice fucked around with this message at 01:49 on Nov 30, 2014 |
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Nov 30, 2014 01:47
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As a child, I quit reading every Piers Anthony book I ever attempted, usually due to an ultra-fetishistic rape scene, but sometimes the sleaze tried to creep under my radar in more subtle ways and I didn't quite know why I had to set the book down and watch my hands over and over until the shivering stopped. I don't think I ever picked up more than three of his books, and damned if I can remember which ones they were, but ugh.
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Nov 30, 2014 02:06
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Srice posted:The fact that he's a creeper doesn't bug me since I don't really take personal views into account most of the time but from what little I remember he loves really terrible puns and dang, he aims to be funny but it was actively unfunny which is a pretty big crime when you're writing something meant for laffs No, seriously, go read that avclub article, it's not "personal views", it's the actual text of the stories that are creepy as hell.
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Nov 30, 2014 02:11
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fritz posted:No, seriously, go read that avclub article, it's not "personal views", it's the actual text of the stories that are creepy as hell. Oh I know the actual text is too.
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Nov 30, 2014 02:33
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Did people not like Cibola Burn? I thought the first three were pretty good. The only thing that kept me from getting the third was a change in narrator on the audiobook, who is apparently really bad.
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Dec 1, 2014 01:29
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I distinctly remember as a like 10-12 year-old boy, finding the Piers Anthony section in the school library's scifi/fantasy section, seeing "The Color of Her Panties" as a title and getting all  and then looking at the cover and  I put it quietly back on the shelf and never considered reading his stuff again after that.It was this cover, and despite every single element on that image being something I thought was  at that age, it somewhow struck me as off-kilter as some deep level. It's even a pretty tame cover compared to some of the "creepy old man peering down at scantily-clad children" covers I've seen over the years. LASER BEAM DREAM posted:Did people not like Cibola Burn? I thought the first three were pretty good. The only thing that kept me from getting the third was a change in narrator on the audiobook, who is apparently really bad. 
coyo7e fucked around with this message at 01:53 on Dec 1, 2014 |
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Dec 1, 2014 01:48
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Color was published around the height of Xanth popularity and yet I'm still amazed Avon printed that title. I would love to know the particulars of that particular battle. I can easily imagine angry phone calls with Anthony screaming how the book can only have this title and absolutely must have this title and my god the artistic integrity on the line and so on.
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Dec 1, 2014 09:32
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LASER BEAM DREAM posted:Did people not like Cibola Burn? I thought the first three were pretty good. The only thing that kept me from getting the third was a change in narrator on the audiobook, who is apparently really bad. I thought it was just fine. (I don't do the audiobook thing so can't comment on that aspect.) Want more foul-mouthed UN grandma, though. She only appears briefly in this one.
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Dec 1, 2014 10:12
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Bear Sleuth posted:Color was published around the height of Xanth popularity and yet I'm still amazed Avon printed that title. I would love to know the particulars of that particular battle. I can easily imagine angry phone calls with Anthony screaming how the book can only have this title and absolutely must have this title and my god the artistic integrity on the line and so on. The really weird thing was that Anthony revealed the title in one of the earlier books and censored it there himself. When even your characters think your book titles are indecent, it may be time to reconsider. Then again, Xanth was already shameless fan service at that point. God knows what it's like twenty books later.
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Dec 1, 2014 10:21
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So Amazon has like 23 pages of science fiction and fantasy books for $2, but most of them are bad (think 5 pages of Gorean Saga books) and I still don't know how to link Amazon searches without getting the really long data string at the end. So whatever, go read The Forge of God for $2 if you haven't yet.
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Dec 1, 2014 14:11
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I kept reading "The Color of Herdanties" and wondered what was wrong with it. My brain just wouldn't register the actual meaning.
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Dec 1, 2014 14:30
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Prop Wash posted:So Amazon has like 23 pages of science fiction and fantasy books for $2, but most of them are bad (think 5 pages of Gorean Saga books) and I still don't know how to link Amazon searches without getting the really long data string at the end. So whatever, go read The Forge of God for $2 if you haven't yet. Boy, there's a lot of poo poo (Norman, Anthony), but some good stuff among it. Barbara Hambly, Andre Norton, some Greg Bear, Silverberg, Delany, and Aldiss too. Easiest way to get the list is to go via "Cyber Monday deals" -> Kindle Books -> SF&F.
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Dec 1, 2014 18:24
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PlushCow posted:Stay away from that Malazan book Night of Knives, it's bad and only a side novel to the main series. Speaking of Malazan - I picked up Gardens of the Moon a while ago and I've started it like four times, but I keep stalling halfway through Erikson's introduction because he comes across as an actual real-life Garth Marenghi.
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Dec 1, 2014 20:33
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Clipperton posted:Speaking of Malazan - I picked up Gardens of the Moon a while ago and I've started it like four times, but I keep stalling halfway through Erikson's introduction because he comes across as an actual real-life Garth Marenghi. Many people recommend skipping Gardens of the Moon and just diving into Deadhouse Gates. I don't think you'd miss out on a whole lot of essential introduction if you did that, and Deadhouse Gates is (at least for my money) a whole lot easier to get into, and more awesome.
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Dec 1, 2014 20:53
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Yeah I've tried to get into Garden of the Moon about three times myself, last attempt ended like a month ago. The setting seems pretty interesting and I keep hearing people say book one is easily the worst, if it's skippable then I'll definitely try again with Deadhouse Gates.
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Dec 1, 2014 21:07
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DrProsek posted:Yeah I've tried to get into Garden of the Moon about three times myself, last attempt ended like a month ago. The setting seems pretty interesting and I keep hearing people say book one is easily the worst, if it's skippable then I'll definitely try again with Deadhouse Gates. Yeah, I can't say this from personal experience, since I slogged through Gardens of the Moon, but lots of people recommend skipping it, and thinking back, I can't think of single thing in Deadhouse Gates that would have been confusing if I had skipped GoM. And Deadhouse Gates is just awesome -- the ending in particular is incredible.
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Dec 1, 2014 21:10
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DrProsek posted:Yeah I've tried to get into Garden of the Moon about three times myself, last attempt ended like a month ago. The setting seems pretty interesting and I keep hearing people say book one is easily the worst, if it's skippable then I'll definitely try again with Deadhouse Gates. The next nine books are as skippable as Gardens of the Moon 
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Dec 1, 2014 21:12
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Finished up Craig Schaefer's book I linked earlier in the thread. It's... it's pretty good, but holy gently caress is it bleak. Like, just, there are no happy people. At all. It's a good book, and I'm going to read the next one, but holy gently caress it went from "Boy this is kinda dark" to "HOLY gently caress THESE PEOPLE NEED PROZAC" and then kept on rolling further and further. My friend probably said it best when he said "It's like he invented a new genre, BleakDark". It's WAY different than the Daniel Faust novels as far as tone goes. Also finished up Seven Forges by James A. Moore, and it was pretty good. The ending was a lil batshit, but it makes for a nice lead in for the next title. I'd recommend both of em if you are looking for newish fantasy to read.
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Dec 1, 2014 22:50
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:Finished up Craig Schaefer's book I linked earlier in the thread. That... doesn't sound very appealing.
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Dec 1, 2014 22:52
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It was a pretty jarring tone difference. It's not a bad book, but I went in thinking it'd be about the same as the Faust novels in tone, and it was not even close. It's well written, it's got a decent plot, and it's a series I think I'll finish up, but holy poo poo it was bleak. I'd say if the sample doesn't grab you, the book probably won't be something you'd dig. It's kinda the same as the Faust novels in that respect, because I didn't really give half a gently caress about anything and was ready to put it down and move to something else before I got hooked in around chapter 3 or 4. I dunno why his books click with me around the same time each time, but hey, if it works it works.
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Dec 1, 2014 23:10
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Clipperton posted:Speaking of Malazan - I picked up Gardens of the Moon a while ago and I've started it like four times, but I keep stalling halfway through Erikson's introduction because he comes across as an actual real-life Garth Marenghi. I had the same experience as you and eventually I just had to commit an afternoon to getting through it. I'm glad I did — around halfway through it I got really hooked and couldn't put the book down, and then I moved on to Deadhose Gates and couldn't put that one down either, and now Erikson is one of my favorite authors. By the way, his newest book Willful Child is really good, very funny, and not nearly as dense as the Malazan stories. It's worth a look even for people who couldn't get into Malazan.
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Dec 1, 2014 23:25
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I just starting reading Theft of Swords. It's nothing mindblowing, but a pretty entertaining read about thieves in a fantasy setting.
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Dec 1, 2014 23:41
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If you haven't read it yet, Peripheral E by William Gibson is absolutely fab. The characters AND the story are both very intriguing.ravenkult posted:Are Gladstone's other books any good? Notes from the Internet Apocalypse was really lovely (well, for me anyway). Just wanted to pop in to say this book is poo poo and not even a guilty pleasure. Everything reads so flat and it's really short. HeartNotes3 fucked around with this message at 06:30 on Dec 2, 2014 |
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Dec 2, 2014 06:23
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Cyber Monday? More like Cyberpunk Monday! Heyyooo!! ...Sorry I'm just excited that The Peripheral came in early. I ordered it last week shipped international with an expected deliver date of Dec 15-Jan 20. Magic does exist!
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Dec 2, 2014 11:49
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Good to hear positive things about The Peripheral. Just listened to the first 5 or 6 chapters on audible driving home from the holidays. I wanted to get some clarity so if anybody who has read it can help clear it up I get what's going on with Flynne and Burton. But what the hell is up with this skydiving tattooed performance artist or whatever-the-gently caress? As usual, Gibson's prose is leaving me a little confused here.
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Dec 2, 2014 15:45
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Fiendish Dr. Wu posted:Good to hear positive things about The Peripheral. Just listened to the first 5 or 6 chapters on audible driving home from the holidays. I wanted to get some clarity so if anybody who has read it can help clear it up I get what's going on with Flynne and Burton. But what the hell is up with this skydiving tattooed performance artist or whatever-the-gently caress? As usual, Gibson's prose is leaving me a little confused here. You're not supposed to know yet. That confusion is intentional on Gibson's part.
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Dec 2, 2014 16:08
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Kesper North posted:You're not supposed to know yet. That confusion is intentional on Gibson's part.  yeah I figured.Re-listened to just those chapters now (on 8 now) at 1.5x (which is, laughably, normal speed for this narrator - I'll probably do it for the rest of the book) and she just landed on the patcher's island thing edit: and they were apparently shredded to bits. Interested to see where this goes! Fiendish Dr. Wu fucked around with this message at 16:26 on Dec 2, 2014 |
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Dec 2, 2014 16:22
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McCoy Pauley posted:Many people recommend skipping Gardens of the Moon and just diving into Deadhouse Gates. I don't think you'd miss out on a whole lot of essential introduction if you did that, and Deadhouse Gates is (at least for my money) a whole lot easier to get into, and more awesome. Xandu posted:I just starting reading Theft of Swords. It's nothing mindblowing, but a pretty entertaining read about thieves in a fantasy setting.
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Dec 2, 2014 18:22
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:Finished up Craig Schaefer's book I linked earlier in the thread. I liked it a lot. It's very tightly plotted - you can see how the connections between the characters draw them together - and he's pretty clearly setting up a ton of Chekhov's Guns to go off later, which he was pretty good about in the Daniel Faust books as well. I didn't think it was *that* grimdark - no more so than a novel about revenge political machinations should be, anyway. It's got much more sympathetic characters than, say, Game of Thrones, even though most of them have done variously bad poo poo in the past.
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Dec 2, 2014 18:38
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I've continued reading Max Gladstone's Craft books. Two Serpents Rise is definitely superior to Three Parts Dead. Three Parts Dead had in many ways a better core mystery, but the characters were flatter and the worldbuilding, despite being fairly decent in the earlier book, overall less interesting. It has some cool things going on I haven't seen elsewhere. I think the big thing it does is bring enigmatic magic power kicking and screaming into a world with modern financial and economic systems. As I've said before, power has become akin to a universal financial instrument. Gods and wizards trade different types, form companies to develop further power, and run cities on what is generated. Decades before the first book there was a war where the wizards learnt how to use power and took most of a continent away from gods and their priests. Aside from the fairly original conception of how wizards and gods operate in society something else that is cool is that it shows what happens after heroes win their war. The wizards follow their paths to power to effectively govern and become liches. They're not all exactly happy with this, and governing is extremely complex, especially when, owing to the nature of the way power works in this world, they are literally their companies. The only thing that stops me raving about these books is that I find the action sequences kind of poor. They don't evoke anything like the sort of rush something like, say, City of Stairs, or, for something older, Wheel of Time. Overall the plot moves pretty fast and this book is even denser with cool poo poo than the previous one. Neurosis fucked around with this message at 18:48 on Dec 2, 2014 |
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Dec 2, 2014 18:46
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The Ninth Layer posted:By the way, his newest book Willful Child is really good, very funny, and not nearly as dense as the Malazan stories. It's worth a look even for people who couldn't get into Malazan. Seconding this, It's a totally different tone, but I haven't laughed out loud like that in a book in years. It's kinda like the Star Trek discworld. Or Iskaral Pust IN SPACE (not really but just as funny).
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Dec 2, 2014 19:18
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Whoa, I had no idea Gibson had a new book out. I'm glad to hear that it's good, I'll have to pick it up as soon as possible.
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Dec 2, 2014 19:45
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I'll just support the recommendations of people saying to 'keep going' with Gardens of the Moon, for me that series is the most rewarding reading experience I've had. Even surpassing my, as a teenager a long long time ago (now almost embarressing) cultish devotion to LOTR. I've actually tried to figure how the Malazan books managed to evoke such an intense response in me. While I really enjoyed the disjointed narrative arc, world building and the complexity of story in general, the thing that really struck me, was how emotionally invested I got in many the characters, despite them being almost caricaturish at times. The highs/lows of those books were nothing short of incredible for me. Maybe it was some sort of, incredibly fortuitous, perfect storm of my life situation at the time and stylistic/narrative preferences, but it's hard to tell. One of my friends (who I share book tastes with generally) read it and thought it was really good, but with nowhere near my enthusiasm. I felt similiarly, but more muted, with a Song of Fire and Ice. Anyway, by recommendation of the thread, I read China Mievilles' Perdido Street Station (and then The Scar and Iron Council) and enjoyed them immensely. The world builing, the translation of modern problems/issues into the setting and especially the writing itself was amazing. While I did immediatly get attached to Isaac (probably a phd/scientist connection), I never got into the characters in the same way as I did with Malazan, but overall it was an awesome read, thanks for the recommendation! Next up, I'm probably going to start either Hobbs Liveship Traders (since I liked the Farseer stuff, a long, long time ago) or the Ambergris series, but I'm open to more suggestions. I'm also considering the prince of nothing recommendation, but I'm somewhat leery of it, considering the differing opinions. I'm also going to read Windeye, since I'm a massive fan of both Poe and Kafka, and it seems right up my alley in many ways, but I'm putting it off to take it with me on Christmas vacation. (my 'previous readings' post for reference: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3554972&pagenumber=164&perpage=40#post436782601). Revelation 2-13 fucked around with this message at 21:14 on Dec 2, 2014 |
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Dec 2, 2014 21:06
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I read I think three of the Liveship stories and they were pretty good, although the only thing I can recall of them was that it felt remarkably like My Little Pony, except with talking boats instead of talking horses. 420 carve boobs on every ship figurehead erryday.
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Dec 3, 2014 00:02
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Re: mbotf, Fiddler's song for the dead was probably my favourite part so far, and certainly the most memorable, but I haven't read much past that. I know what happens with rake but I haven't read it so  . I actually almost put it down about halfway through gotm but stuck with it, and it was a pretty interesting feeling when all the disparate names and apparently disconnected plot threads started to all pull together. If I wanted to describe it to someone who hadn't read it I'd say it was the literary equivalent of showing someone a tapestry by starting with individual threads and then following them to their connections, where most fantasy that people are familiar with I think goes the other direction - zooming in from the whole to look at the details as it were. It's more difficult to get into that way, as a lot of what's going on at the start is confusing as hell without context, but for me it's led to some rewarding payoffs as poo poo happens that was set up early on and it all sort of makes sense. I need to get back to reading the series again, I stalled around the spoilered point above because work intruded and never got back to it for reasons.
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Dec 3, 2014 00:21
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Am I the only one who didn't give a crap about Whiskeyjack? Maybe it was the general crappiness of the first book, but I was sick of hearing about how awesome he is when the text mostly just makes him out to be a weary, but supremely competent soldier. When he got killed I was so drat happy, but then I accidentally got spoiled that he comes back later, which made me more than a little ambivalent about continuing. I genuinely enjoyed the world building and really appreciated how so many of the races/creatures felt truly original and how well all the world's pieces fit together, but I just couldn't keep going with his never-ending PoV swapping between what are essentially interchangeable characters. Once I met Snarky Military Person #43 and got to see the world through their eyes, it really made me notice just how similar they were to Snarky Military Persons #1 through 42. So many characters that only have superficial differences made it really tough to remember who did what, so when I finally lost steam and stopped reading for a while, I just couldn't pick it back up. I don't regret reading as far as I did, which is, I think, somewhere into the 4th book, but I just couldn't make it to the payoff everyone told me was coming.
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Dec 3, 2014 01:50
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Azathoth posted:Am I the only one who didn't give a crap about Whiskeyjack? Azathoth posted:I genuinely enjoyed the world building and really appreciated how so many of the races/creatures felt truly original and how well all the world's pieces fit together, but I just couldn't keep going with his never-ending PoV swapping between what are essentially interchangeable characters. If you got to the middle of book 4 and still didn't care for it, then it's probably not your thing, although the beginning of House of Chains is pretty mediocre since there's no reason for the reader to give a poo poo about Karsa at that point.
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Dec 3, 2014 02:13
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Azathoth posted:Am I the only one who didn't give a crap about Whiskeyjack? Yeah, I feel pretty similarly to you. I made it a lot farther but found I just didn't really care what happened anymore, as it was sure to be another fight between people I could barely distinguish. There never seemed to be a coherent frame of reference for what to expect from anyone, if that makes sense. Dude A fought and won against B, but then C totally smashed A, and I never felt like there was any logic to it. One second there's a demigod wrecking whole armies, and the next a random soldier dude stabs him with a dagger and kills him, that kind of thing. I wanted to like it, and there were a solid 2-3 books in there I quite liked, but overall I was disappointed.
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Dec 3, 2014 02:15
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