|
I think someone here mentioned the book: "The Girl With All The Gifts" by M. R. Carey and i just finished it yesterday, a wonderful book.  
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2015 07:29
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 14, 2024 20:47 |
|
|
This thread can get really loving weird.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2015 09:44
|
|
|
Wade Wilson posted:I started to have a tirade about how stupid it is to have Leslie interested in Peter like that, but she did try to get him to have sex with her while she was drunk that one time.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2015 18:58
|
|
|
Benny the Snake posted:I finished "Broken Homes" earlier this week. Wow.
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2015 17:54
|
|
|
I've just started Whispers Underground myself (finally).
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2015 18:35
|
|
|
I'm working on Foxglove Summer, which is the latest one I think. It takes Peter out of London for the first time and it's kind of a nice break because things happen more slowly out in the countryside. I am a little sad that the series seems to be outgrowing London just like Dresden outgrew Chicago eventually though.
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2015 20:23
|
|
|
mistaya posted:I'm working on Foxglove Summer, which is the latest one I think. It takes Peter out of London for the first time and it's kind of a nice break because things happen more slowly out in the countryside. I am a little sad that the series seems to be outgrowing London just like Dresden outgrew Chicago eventually though. It's gonna happen with any series that runs long enough. Past a certain point your only options are to go stale or raise the stakes.
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2015 11:07
|
|
|
New to the series, and I just read the first two books in the last week. I'm glad the OP said the first two were the worst in the series, as I can see their flaws becoming unbearable over time. But don't let me give the wrong impression, I really really liked them. Especially Storm Front, which was a lot more fun than Fool Moon. My biggest gripe so far is Fool Moon's treatment of women. I'm not saying every book has to be make a statement (there's room for all kinds of stories and characters in fiction), and I'm certainly not trying to bring up the arguments from the last couple of pages I just scanned over, but Fool Moon has three major female characters. The first is the hard, tough police officer from the first novel, here relegated to the bitch role of constantly trying to stop our hero from doing what we, the reader, clearly know is right. The second is naked for most of the book, literally thrusting her body at men to distract them. And the third is literally naked while suiting up our hero before the final battle. If the rest of the series is going to be a man's wish fulfillment, that's fine, I like James Bond, too. But I'm hoping this is the worst it gets in that respect. Again, though. I really liked the books. Can't wait to start the third one, after reading the OP.
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2015 18:00
|
|
|
Murphy gets less stupid, but women continue to throw themselves at Dresden, usually because they're evil and want to manipulate him. So kinda James Bondy, if James Bond were an awkward nerd who could throw fireballs, nonetheless, the series only gets better, so if you enjoyed the first two you'll have an absolute blast as you go on.
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2015 18:05
|
|
|
Murphy gets better. The big thing is that Dresden's behavior is (somewhat retroactively) revealed to be kind of lovely and dumb and he stops trying to hide everything from everyone which, unsurprisingly, helps make Murphy chill the hell out. She always is there to call Harry out on his poo poo but Harry needing people to call him out on his poo poo is an established thing and the books play with that. Harry thinking he is right isn't the same as Harry being right. However you're not going to stop hearing about hot women throwing themselves at Dresden anytime soon.
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2015 18:08
|
|
|
thrawn527 posted:New to the series, and I just read the first two books in the last week. I'm glad the OP said the first two were the worst in the series, as I can see their flaws becoming unbearable over time. But don't let me give the wrong impression, I really really liked them. Especially Storm Front, which was a lot more fun than Fool Moon. This is a valid critique but Murphy at least is, in fact, actually right and actint correctly, given what she knows and what Dresden has told her. Later in the series *he* has character development and their relationship improves. I think part of what Butcher was *trying* to do with fool moon was show how patronizing "chivalry" leads to bad outcomes, though there is an argument over how much he succeeded.
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2015 18:10
|
|
|
I've just finished Whispers Underground, which I enjoyed. I have Broken Homes but I'm a bit reluctant to start it, because there's still a couple of months before the Foxglove Summer paperback comes out, then probably a year before The Hanging Tree is out in paperback; I never enjoy catching up with series I started reading after the fact. If I'm reading them as they're published, that's fine - it was fine even when I was eight and desperately waiting for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire to come out - which is why I tried to pace myself a bit with these. Anyway, I'm a bit disappointed because one of the blurbs I read beforehand made a lot more of the conflict between Peter and Reynolds; it gave the impression that they were going to have it out because she's got this evangelical background and won't suffer a witch to live, but in the end there wasn't really any of that.
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2015 18:30
|
|
|
ImpAtom posted:However you're not going to stop hearing about hot women throwing themselves at Dresden anytime soon. This is true, but the variety of female characters also improves along with Murphy chilling out.
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2015 21:39
|
|
|
effervescible posted:This is true, but the variety of female characters also improves along with Murphy chilling out. Murphy doesn't so much chill out, as she gets brought in on what's happening. She's still slamming people into walls (which is awesome), just not doing it to Harry.
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2015 21:54
|
|
|
effervescible posted:This is true, but the variety of female characters also improves along with Murphy chilling out. And speaking of (early series Murphy), that's the problem with the main character being a jerk without immediately acknowledging that he's acting like a jerk: we as the reader are automatically disposed to sympathize with him over anyone else. I guarantee you that if Fool Moon were about Lieutenant Karrin Murphy of the CPD having to deal with a gruesome murder while also finding out that the weird paranormal consultant who basically lives off of the work she throws his way has been intentionally loving up her investigation, our opinions of the two characters would be very different.
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2015 02:51
|
|
|
To be fair the books really do try to show that Harry fucks up often. I mean it's fun but holy poo poo how many problems could Harry have solved much more easily if he had an iota of diplomacy in his veins.
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2015 02:54
|
|
|
ImpAtom posted:To be fair the books really do try to show that Harry fucks up often.
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2015 02:58
|
|
|
Mars4523 posted:Still, you get the feeling the author wants you to think "Harry is an tough badass who is Right" rather than "Christ he can be a fuckup at times". I feel that was a little early on but by the midpoint I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be an established Harry Is Kind Of A Fuckup trait, sort of like how his treatment of women evolved. There's absolutely times when Harry mouthing off to people is supposed to be cool and satisfying but there are also plenty of times he ends up paying a really heavy price for something that could have been trivially avoided or where he just can't help himself and usually he gets the utter poo poo beaten out of him because of it. In general I feel like Harry began as the kind of guy who did all these things unironically but as the books evolved and Butcher got more comfortable he began to adapt it towards it being flaws in Harry instead. Which isn't really a bad thing and it helps keep things feeling a bit more coherent instead of just retconning out elements that go against the flow. It also helps humanize Harry a bit and it makes his mouthing off feel more natural that it works sometimes and other times he gets the poo poo beaten out of him for it.
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2015 03:04
|
|
|
Mars4523 posted:Still, you get the feeling the author wants you to think "Harry is an tough badass who is Right" rather than "Christ he can be a fuckup at times". Exactly this. Compare it with Felix Castor, who is an rear end in a top hat for the sake of being an rear end in a top hat and brings every single problem he has down on himself because he's an rear end in a top hat. There's a scene in the second (I think) book where he needs to get some info from a guy, and while the guy is initially suspicious there's no reason to believe he can't be convinced or bribed or something, but nope, Felix just starts screaming at the guy for no real reason. I stopped reading there series because every situation is like that.
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2015 03:07
|
|
|
ImpAtom posted:I feel that was a little early on but by the midpoint I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be an established Harry Is Kind Of A Fuckup trait, sort of like how his treatment of women evolved. And still, audience reactions to the framing of a story and all that. Murphy presents an obstacle for Harry to overcome and so we don't like her (despite her being in the right). Flip the narrative and have Harry presenting an obstacle (his boneheaded insistence on withholding vital intelligence from the proper authorities who can act on it) for Murphy to overcome and . . .
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2015 03:16
|
|
|
Mars4523 posted:Still, you get the feeling the author wants you to think "Harry is an tough badass who is Right" rather than "Christ he can be a fuckup at times". The entire point of Ghost Story is how he is such a gently caress up and all the nasty poo poo that happened to others as a result of it and his thinking he is right all the time.
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2015 03:50
|
|
|
Mars4523 posted:Perhaps (although we're talking about Fool Moon which is very early). That said, I feel like we're drifting back towards "Harry is always Right" territory again. Like how in Ghost Story we touched on how Harry's choices hosed everybody else over in a massive way, but now it kind of feels like that's been papered over a bit. If Harry needs to confront the consequences of those actions, I fear that he (and the reader) will view that blowback in terms of how it affects him rather than how it affects his friends and loved ones. No I'm pretty sure the reason I don't like murphy is that she makes no goddamn sense. Harry is still Wrong, but murphy is just impossible to suspend my disbelief about any more.
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2015 03:51
|
|
|
Wheat Loaf posted:I've just finished Whispers Underground, which I enjoyed. I have Broken Homes but I'm a bit reluctant to start it, because there's still a couple of months before the Foxglove Summer paperback comes out, then probably a year before The Hanging Tree is out in paperback; I never enjoy catching up with series I started reading after the fact. If I'm reading them as they're published, that's fine - it was fine even when I was eight and desperately waiting for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire to come out - which is why I tried to pace myself a bit with these. You do know online retailers and international shipping are things that exist right? Hell, Bookdepository will even give you free worldwide shipping on all their stuff.
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2015 11:52
|
|
|
Mr.48 posted:You do know online retailers and international shipping are things that exist right? Hell, Bookdepository will even give you free worldwide shipping on all their stuff. Yes? I'm not sure what point you're making; I prefer paperbacks to hardcovers, that's all.
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2015 13:06
|
|
|
Wheat Loaf posted:Yes? http://www.bookdepository.com/Foxglove-Summer-Ben-Aaronovitch/9780756409661
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2015 14:45
|
|
|
I'm confused now. Amazon says it's out not out until July.
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2015 15:27
|
|
|
Ornamented Death posted:Exactly this. Felix gets better later on. Probably because his assholishness nets him multiple beatings until he ends up in hospital. He also gets better at anti-ghost music.
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2015 15:32
|
|
|
Mars4523 posted:Still, you get the feeling the author wants you to think "Harry is an tough badass who is Right" rather than "Christ he can be a fuckup at times". Kind of a hardboiled detective genre thing, I'd think. To quote Brandon Sanderson talking about the Suvudu cage matches which kinda sums it up: quote:Harry Dresden decides this is really all too much work, and wanders off to get himself something to drink. He gets beaten up seventeen times on his way, but saves two orphanages.
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2015 17:12
|
|
|
fordan posted:Kind of a hardboiled detective genre thing, I'd think. That quote should really go in the OP.
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2015 17:17
|
|
|
Wheat Loaf posted:I'm confused now. Amazon says it's out not out until July. The US paperback is out (they only get a paperback edition and it comes out midway between the UK hardback and paperback releases)
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2015 17:22
|
|
|
fordan posted:...talking about the Suvudu cage matches... 'What is a "Suvudu Cage Match?"' turns up nothing incredibly descriptive in Google. What is a Suvudu and why do people fight it in cages? And what does that have to do with Dresden, besides evoking a very accurate statement from a prolific fantasy author?
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2015 17:41
|
|
|
Blasphemeral posted:'What is a "Suvudu Cage Match?"' turns up nothing incredibly descriptive in Google. Suvudu is the website that said cage match story thing appeared on Edit: I dunno if the Sanderson thing was there but they do regular cage match tournament things with various characters
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2015 17:45
|
|
|
ookiimarukochan posted:The US paperback is out (they only get a paperback edition and it comes out midway between the UK hardback and paperback releases) It would probably be a slightly different size from the rest of my set. 
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2015 17:48
|
|
|
Blasphemeral posted:'What is a "Suvudu Cage Match?"' turns up nothing incredibly descriptive in Google. Suvudu is a website about books/ Every year they put up a bracket of characters from various fantasy series, and have votes on who would win. Authors often get involved and do a short piece about interesting matches. For example, Vin vs Zeddicus Zu’l Zorander, which is pretty funny.
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2015 17:58
|
|
|
Blasphemeral posted:'What is a "Suvudu Cage Match?"' turns up nothing incredibly descriptive in Google. Usually a bunch of garbage that is badly written. http://suvudu.com/2010/04/cage-match-2010-championship-5-rand-althor-versus-15-jaime-lannister.html
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2015 18:05
|
|
|
Tunicate posted:For example, Vin vs Zeddicus Zu’l Zorander, which is pretty funny. Ahaha this is great
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2015 18:10
|
|
|
Tunicate posted:For example, Vin vs Zeddicus Zu’l Zorander, which is pretty funny.  oh god this is wonderful. Makes me feel slightly less bitter about reading Sword of Truth.
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2015 18:24
|
|
|
Rothfuss turned in a nice tribute to Pratchett in the most recent suvudu. Here's his blog (the first google hit for it) http://blog.patrickrothfuss.com/2015/04/suvudu-cage-match-felurian-vs-death/
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2015 18:40
|
|
|
So a question I can't recall the answer to with regards to Dresden. The first time Harry encounters a Naagloshii, Bob makes fun of him for even trying to gender the being, claiming it doesn't reproduce. So how the hell does Goodman Grey work?
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2015 22:27
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 14, 2024 20:47 |
|
|
ImpAtom posted:So a question I can't recall the answer to with regards to Dresden. Bob probably assumed they didn't reproduce. 
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2015 22:30
|
|
