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I hadn't heard of KJ Parker before, but I'm really enjoying his writing. Hers? Literally just googled it and nobody knows. Are his/her full-length novels any good?
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Feb 28, 2015 20:18
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DACK FAYDEN posted:I hadn't heard of KJ Parker before, but I'm really enjoying his writing. Hers? Literally just googled it and nobody knows. Yes, but they're very, uh... gut punchy.
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Feb 28, 2015 20:23
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Megazver posted:Yes, but they're very, uh... gut punchy. I've only read the Engineer trilogy which I liked quite a bit, and some shorts. Gut punchy, but not quite at a Michael Swanwick/Ken Liu level. Parker tends to write very meticulously about some kind of technical or artistic process as a metaphor for larger themes and so they're great if you like intricate process descriptions, and I do.
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Feb 28, 2015 23:32
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DACK FAYDEN posted:I hadn't heard of KJ Parker before, but I'm really enjoying his writing. Hers? Literally just googled it and nobody knows. Of their novels, I've only read Colors in the Steel, but yea, it's pretty gut punchy.
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Mar 1, 2015 01:31
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What does gut punchy mean? Now I look stupid.
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Mar 1, 2015 16:58
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I think it means when you get that emotional gut punch when the author does some seriously shady/mean poo poo to a character that you dig.
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Mar 1, 2015 17:01
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Just tore through Red Rising and Golden Son by Pierce Brown. Highly entertaining. Basically space spartacus / space ben hur, but done really well. Looking forward to the last one coming out next year.
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Mar 1, 2015 18:37
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Near as I can tell Parker is a woman; back on her old old site she had a little biographical piece where she identified as a woman, and I figure that's good enough evidence as any. She also said that people had commented that people had found the middle books of her Fencer and Scavenger trilogies highly autobiographical. Given how those books are about prodigal children who return home to run the family farmstead, only to discover they have no skill for it and make a huge mess of things...yikes. I don't like fat trilogies, but I've always thought Parker did her best work in trilogies. When she has three books to work with, she has enough space and words to build up events on top of events until they just cascade down in an avalanche that engulfs the world. When she's on her game, reaching the conclusion of one of her trilogies is like poking you head up out of a dugout after the battle and just marvelling at the churned earth, splintered trees, broken machinery, and shattered bodies, vaguely understanding how everything led to this but still not accepting the sheer carnage of it all.
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Mar 1, 2015 19:03
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So Mark Alder's Son of the Morning is really good; anyone read any of his other stuff? He's supposed to have a trilogy about Vikings written under the name MD Lachlan, is that any good?
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Mar 2, 2015 13:04
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I'm neck deep in a few books right now (Caliban's War, The Quantum Thief, Fall of Hyperion, The Children of Hurin) but I'm looking for a recommendation for my wife, who wants to get into something good. She was asking me for recommendations but I didn't really know what to recommend as I'm into different stuff. She's looking for: - Less than 500 pages (not exact, but she's seen me reading Wheel of Time paperbacks...) - Fairytale fantasy - mythology may include but is not limited to magic, dragons, other folklore creatures - She mentioned she likes Stardust (Gaiman) in terms of its fairytale stuff (She also likes Ever After, Grim, and Into the Woods so there's that) - Not Game of Thrones level violence or sex stuff (although we enjoy GoT together) - Not vampires (past her Sookie phase) - She didn't specifically state, but I'm sure the strong female protagonist would be great Also, last book I finished was City of Stairs, and that poo poo was good. I didn't like it at first - thought it was too political/religion-centric (read first chapter, put it down for a few weeks, picked it up on a whim and powered through). I told her she'd probably like that a lot so she may pick it up too. Fiendish Dr. Wu fucked around with this message at 15:59 on Mar 2, 2015 |
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Mar 2, 2015 15:57
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Fiendish Dr. Wu posted:I'm neck deep in a few books right now (Caliban's War, The Quantum Thief, Fall of Hyperion, The Children of Hurin) but I'm looking for a recommendation for my wife, who wants to get into something good. She was asking me for recommendations but I didn't really know what to recommend as I'm into different stuff. Orphan's Tales duology by Valente. Easy shout.
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Mar 2, 2015 16:12
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Was going to say that too. Maybe Deathless if she wants something darker.
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Mar 2, 2015 16:14
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Fairytale whimsical - might be a longshot but you could try Bridge of Birds. love that book way too much
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Mar 2, 2015 16:16
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anilEhilated posted:Fairytale whimsical - might be a longshot but you could try Bridge of Birds. love that book way too much I'd say Bridge of Birds OR The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle. I really need to get around to reading Valente. edit: the below suggestion of Lud-in-the-Mist would be great also. Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 16:32 on Mar 2, 2015 |
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Mar 2, 2015 16:21
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anilEhilated posted:So Mark Alder's Son of the Morning is really good; anyone read any of his other stuff? He's supposed to have a trilogy about Vikings written under the name MD Lachlan, is that any good? He wrote those? Well, I'd definitely say Son of the Morning is proving much more interesting by a long shot. I read the first although admittedly I don't remember a whole lot of it now since I didn't find it terribly engaging. As cool as some werewolf viking saga sounds it ended up feeling like some mediocre young adult novel that's trying too hard. The mythology elements were kind of clunky and tacked on. In general I'd say that the different pieces just didn't really fit together as nicely as Son of the Morning (and that's starting to get a little kludgy in the back half).
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Mar 2, 2015 16:27
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Fiendish Dr. Wu posted:I'm neck deep in a few books right now (Caliban's War, The Quantum Thief, Fall of Hyperion, The Children of Hurin) but I'm looking for a recommendation for my wife, who wants to get into something good. She was asking me for recommendations but I didn't really know what to recommend as I'm into different stuff. Lud-in-the-Mist, Hope Mirrlees. Something by Diana Wynne Jones, maybe Fire and Hemlock. The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter is sexy and violent, but not Game of Thrones-esque. Maybe Peter S. Beagle. Also scroll to near the bottom of this: http://sf-encyclopedia.uk/fe.php?nm=fairytale About to start an ARC of The Gate to Womens' Country. There are cover quotes from Stephen R. Donaldson and Marion Zimmer Bradley.
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Mar 2, 2015 16:27
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Those are some great sounding recommendations! Thanks!
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Mar 2, 2015 16:36
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Graceling by Kristen Cashore is pretty good. It's got a strong female protag, it's kinda violent but not incredibly so (I'm one of like 12 people who don't watch GoT or read the books, so I dunno what the violence level is for those), no vamps. Basically in the fantasy world that the book is set in, some people are born with a grace. It means if they have a grace for cooking they are amazingly awesome at it. If they have a grace for painting it's going to look like a photograph. A grace for sculpture would make it look like a real person or object. The main character has a grace for killing, and she's really good at it. The story is a little flipped from normal, because it's not a case of super badass chick going around being badass, but more along the lines of a girl raised to be an assassin learning to be human. I really enjoyed the book.
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Mar 2, 2015 16:42
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Fiendish Dr. Wu posted:I'm neck deep in a few books right now (Caliban's War, The Quantum Thief, Fall of Hyperion, The Children of Hurin) but I'm looking for a recommendation for my wife, who wants to get into something good. She was asking me for recommendations but I didn't really know what to recommend as I'm into different stuff. Anything by Anne McCaffrey? Perhaps the Dragonriders of Pern series. It's pretty female heavy. XBenedict fucked around with this message at 16:48 on Mar 2, 2015 |
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Mar 2, 2015 16:44
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Mythago wood, Robert holdstock. Excellent especially in the "fairytale fantasy" sense.
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Mar 2, 2015 17:43
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andrew smash posted:Mythago wood, Robert holdstock. Excellent especially in the "fairytale fantasy" sense. Dang I want to read that one. I put these suggestions on an amazon wishlist for her. Can't wait to see what she picks. I'll probably read along.
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Mar 2, 2015 18:10
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andrew smash posted:Mythago wood, Robert holdstock. Excellent especially in the "fairytale fantasy" sense. He's great, but Lavondyss is the better book, and it ticks the strong female protagonist box. And gently caress, I didn't realise Holdstock was dead. That's a loss. 
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Mar 2, 2015 18:16
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Oh, there's one more I'll add in. It's technically sci fi, sortof a pseudo-victorian Spelljammer type setting, steampunk before steampunk got absurdly over-done. Harm's Way by Colin Greenland. Most of the other books we've just mentioned are TBB staples but that one doesn't get mentioned often so I've been flogging it lately. It's a beautiful little book. Once you and she have read the above recommendations, I'd also suggest checking out Lord Dunsany. Stardust was Neil Gaiman very much deliberately imitating Dunsany's style. The King of Elfland's Daughter is a good place to start, or his short stories (start with Idle Days on the Yann).. Only real issue is that Dunsany is very very much early 20th century so, yeah, he's not much on the Strong Female Protagonists.
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Mar 2, 2015 18:18
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Fiendish Dr. Wu posted:I'm neck deep in a few books right now (Caliban's War, The Quantum Thief, Fall of Hyperion, The Children of Hurin) but I'm looking for a recommendation for my wife, who wants to get into something good. She was asking me for recommendations but I didn't really know what to recommend as I'm into different stuff. Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan.
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Mar 2, 2015 20:36
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Has your wife read, like, all of the Discworld books? Depending on just how high a priority 'strong female protag' is, the Tiffany Aching books could work.
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Mar 2, 2015 20:52
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I enjoyed Robin McKinley's writings back when I read them but I think they may skew a bit young.
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Mar 2, 2015 20:57
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Fiendish Dr. Wu posted:I'm neck deep in a few books right now (Caliban's War, The Quantum Thief, Fall of Hyperion, The Children of Hurin) but I'm looking for a recommendation for my wife, who wants to get into something good. She was asking me for recommendations but I didn't really know what to recommend as I'm into different stuff. The Black Magician Trilogy by Trudi Canavan?
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Mar 2, 2015 21:09
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Hey thread thanks for turning me onto Matthew Swift. It's fun.
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Mar 2, 2015 21:16
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DACK FAYDEN posted:I hadn't heard of KJ Parker before, but I'm really enjoying his writing. Hers? Literally just googled it and nobody knows. I loved The Hammer and The Folding Knife, and will be reading the other novels when my schedule opens up. KJ Parker is good poo poo. Though if any of that is autobiographical...  Tor did a neat read through on The Folding Knife and why it's so good, if you're interested: http://www.tor.com/features/series/rereading-kj-parkers-the-folding-knife
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Mar 2, 2015 22:18
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DACK FAYDEN posted:I hadn't heard of KJ Parker before, but I'm really enjoying his writing. Hers? Literally just googled it and nobody knows. His (I very much doubt it's a woman) main characters (I refuse to say heroes, or even protagonists) in all the books I've read (the Fencer series, and the first in the Engineer) are vile, vile people, to the point where despite them both being in the library when I returned Devices and Desires, I had no interest in continuing the trilogy which is highly unusual for my obsessive-completionist self. The main characters are horrible, they do horrible things, and he spends WAAAAY too much time Showing His Research in all of the books I've read. In the Fencer it was weapon creation, in Devices and Desires it was hunting - everyone in Devices and Desires in particular seemed unreasonably interested in and knowledgeable about hunting, despite in some cases professing to hate it and anyone who did it. KJ Parker is lovely, is what I'm saying. I enjoyed his writing up to the point where I realised I was reading a book written largely from the point of view of a pretty reprehensible villain with incredibly petty motivations, who we are apparently supposed to firmly root for... and at that point I kind of gave up. The prose is usually pretty well done, the plots are well thought out and clever, and the grand schemes are surprising and well-executed, the characters are pretty deep and interesting, and the stories are well-told, but... I can't get over the choice of main characters. I just found the engineer in particular incredibly distasteful. He's a good writer, he just picked, for me, really, really bad subject matter. Maybe I'm missing the point, or something. Dysgenesis posted:The Black Magician Trilogy by Trudi Canavan? But I seem to be an odd one out, here.
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Mar 2, 2015 23:24
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thespaceinvader posted:His (I very much doubt it's a woman) main characters (I refuse to say heroes, or even protagonists) in all the books I've read (the Fencer series, and the first in the Engineer) are vile, vile people, to the point where despite them both being in the library when I returned Devices and Desires, I had no interest in continuing the trilogy which is highly unusual for my obsessive-completionist self. The main characters are horrible, they do horrible things, and he spends WAAAAY too much time Showing His Research in all of the books I've read. In the Fencer it was weapon creation, in Devices and Desires it was hunting - everyone in Devices and Desires in particular seemed unreasonably interested in and knowledgeable about hunting, despite in some cases professing to hate it and anyone who did it. I'm pretty sure that is the point. If rumor is to be believed, Parker is a lawyer, and though I haven't read all of her (a lot of folks suspect Parker's a woman based on the old Subaltern Press page) works, one of the major themes in the ones I have is showing how and why these broken and hosed up people are the way they are. The protagonists in both The Hammer and The Folding Knife are products of their upbringing and the societies that they live in, and despite their attempts to work within them, buck them, or destroy them, they still end up just as trapped as they ever were. In some cases, no one knows more about something than someone who hates it. Rather than the cardboard "I am the evil lord of evil, dedicated to the evil god of destruction!" types or even the "He killed my brother accidentally, and I must have vengeance at all costs, even if he is otherwise the hero!" villains, we are given folks as they see themselves, for better or for worse -- claiming that this or that is "necessary" or "only okay this one time", watching how greed and envy and resentment function, building slowly and quietly. Bad people, no doubt, but humans. What is the nature of justice and/or revenge? Is it simply a matter of perspective? When is enough enough? Are you simply continuing the cycle? Now, is this enjoyable to read? You mileage, of course, may vary. The quality of the writing is fantastic either way, but I can see how people might dislike the characters and subject matter. I really liked them, even more so because they weren't part of a trilogy or connected directly with any of the author's other works.
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Mar 3, 2015 02:55
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Sabriel by Garth Nix is about a young woman who is last in a line of necromancers. She crosses from the "real world" (vaguely early twentieth century Britain) to the "old kingdom" to find her father and stop evil undead. Just under five hundred pages. I really enjoyed it. Have not got to the rest the series yet but the first book can stand alone.
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Mar 3, 2015 05:32
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I absolutely love Sabriel and the two sequels. I don't know if my love actually holds up, but I'll recommend them to anyone. They're oddly effective books, dark and tactile and quite different from most fantasy even though they've got an Old Kingdom and an empty throne and secret princes. The nine bells and the precincts of Death are really arresting images.
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Mar 3, 2015 05:58
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Toph Bei Fong posted:I really liked them, even more so because they weren't part of a trilogy or connected directly with any of the author's other works. I love KJ Parker and I'm currently rereading the books. I think they work better as standalones - there's about a spare book in each trilogy that feels like filler. Still I highly recommend the single books and in particular The Folding Knife which I think is the best of the lot.
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Mar 3, 2015 06:21
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General Battuta posted:I absolutely love Sabriel and the two sequels. I don't know if my love actually holds up, but I'll recommend them to anyone. They're oddly effective books, dark and tactile and quite different from most fantasy even though they've got an Old Kingdom and an empty throne and secret princes. The nine bells and the precincts of Death are really arresting images. No, it's not just you and I think they do hold up - they're just really nicely written books that create an interesting world with great imagery (the house at the edge of the waterfall, for example) and tell a story with characters who seem to be reasonably real people. (Also there is a prequel now as well. It's not quite as good, but still worth a read after you finish the trilogy.)
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Mar 3, 2015 06:23
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thespaceinvader posted:His (I very much doubt it's a woman) Uh-huh.
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Mar 3, 2015 06:56
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Zeitgueist posted:I enjoyed Robin McKinley's writings back when I read them but I think they may skew a bit young. Agreed that her fairytale retellings skew young. But Hero and the Crown I have a soft spot for and try to push on anyone remotely interested.
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Mar 3, 2015 10:37
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funakupo posted:Agreed that her fairytale retellings skew young. But Hero and the Crown I have a soft spot for and try to push on anyone remotely interested. Seconding this, it's a great book.
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Mar 3, 2015 13:21
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Fiendish Dr. Wu posted:I'm looking for a recommendation for my wife, who wants to get into something good. She was asking me for recommendations but I didn't really know what to recommend as I'm into different stuff. The Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner sounds almost perfect. If she can stand a longer story with shorter instalments, I'd also recommend the Indigo Saga by Louise Cooper. Eight books, but all around the 300-page mark. The protagonist is not only strong female but also female female.
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Mar 3, 2015 13:58
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Jedit posted:The Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner sounds almost perfect. Nice, I've added those to the list. I'm adding all of these to an amazon wishlist for her kindle. We'll probably end up hunting for those without a kindle edition at the local book store. I also added The Windup Girl, as I've read good things about it (I know it's not exactly what I described, but I think she'll like it)
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Mar 3, 2015 14:10
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