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Jedit posted:His quality must be all over the place if people are recommending any of his books. I tried reading one once and the only saving grace was that it wasn't Anne Rice.
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Apr 24, 2015 12:18
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Add him to the list of potentially good writers partially hamstrung by their weirdness. Speaking of which, I'm 2/3 of the way through the Architect of Aeons by John C Wright. Quite good. The book is different from the Hermetic Millennia/Judge of Ages (which are essentially one book) as it shifts from the First and Last Men thing to a macro focus on aliens whose primary goal is to begin turning all matter into thinking machinery, which is what a lot of futurists see as the endgame of our civilisation. It deals with some of the problems of that type of historical trajectory, as well as with the sheer scale of any interstellar operation. In regards to its scale the only comparable work of fiction I can think of is House of Suns, and it even dwarfs that (although House of Suns was written in a more awe-inspiring way). For an example of what I mean, the universe is meant to be a hell of a lot more sedentary than it is, and the perturbations are due to intellects at odds with one another. The Andromeda Galaxy being on course to collide with the Milky Way? Actuated by intellects at war. The only guess I have for the end goal of the whole operation is beating heat death, but that's a little too obvious. I've written a couple of short stories kind of similar, so maybe I'm biased. Of course, since it's a Wright book there are some passages that grate due to religion or politics, but I think they're relatively minor. There's plenty of plot scope for it to get really bad on that point between the next 2 and a third books in the way that The Shadow character in the second War of the Dreaming book was awful, but so far it's another really cool book by an admittedly lovely person. Neurosis fucked around with this message at 13:02 on Apr 24, 2015 |
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Apr 24, 2015 12:30
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Hey guys, I recently finished reading Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone and loved it. I know there are other books in the series, are they good too? Any other books or series with a similar feel?
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Apr 24, 2015 12:36
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Dreqqus posted:Hey guys, I recently finished reading Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone and loved it. I know there are other books in the series, are they good too? Any other books or series with a similar feel? The second one is better than the first. The character is more interesting, for a start. His dad was the high priest of the old god of the city, who, unlike that in the first book, was a huge bloodthirsty jerk. He works for the local lich king as a risk manager. His dad is still out there working as a suspect, and his best friend is someone who would have been ritualistically sacrificed under the old regime. The third I couldn't get into. City of Stairs is quite similar viewed from a distance. It concerns Gods who have been forced out by upstart human powers, and the problems that creates. It plays out quite differently, as the departure of the Gods left room for a colonial power to move in under conventional technology, who were previously oppressed slave colonials themselves, but it is also a very good book the prose of which is fairly comparable. The action is better, and it moves along well. Read it!
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Apr 24, 2015 12:47
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I read and loved City of Stairs, it was pretty great.
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Apr 24, 2015 13:13
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Dreqqus posted:Hey guys, I recently finished reading Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone and loved it. I know there are other books in the series, are they good too? Any other books or series with a similar feel? Absolutely. The third one is much slower than the first and second, but the payoff once things get going, and the ending, just made me more excited for the rest of the series than the previous two had.
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Apr 24, 2015 13:27
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Don't forget Choice of the Deathless a text adventure written by the author. It's as good as the first two books. The third book takes a long, long time to get going, or so I hear. I should probably try to finish it before the next book comes out. If you like this series, I think you'll enjoy City of Stairs, The Half-Made World and The Scar. Oh and The Goblin Emperor. It's not actually very similar but you should buy it anyway.
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Apr 24, 2015 14:00
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While Asher's Polity stuff is generally enjoyable, provided you can get past the bland characters to the vivid settings and action, his Owners series is hilariously bad. Evil socialists are running earth into the ground, and it's up to our Hero to murder all of them. Then go into space and murder more of them. Then go to Mars and murder still more mustache twirling wealth-redistributors. It reads like bad Crusader: No Remorse fanfiction or something. Nothing but random violence inflicted by our Hero on Bad people, with occasional level changes to a new location. Velius fucked around with this message at 16:24 on Apr 24, 2015 |
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Apr 24, 2015 16:18
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I've only read the first Polity novel and liked it well enough, but the characters were definitely bland. It was almost a clever trick from Mr. Asher to say that Cormac being a cold fish was due to his gridlink addiction, but he showed no change or even particular struggle to overcome the sudden and complete cold turkey withdrawal. The central premise managed to be strong enough that I wanted to finish it, and will eventually read the next one. Also, the bit with Jarvellis's pregnancy was loving stupid. A society that can instantly teleport its citizens across space and even create a nonintrusive diagnostic device that can tell a woman she is pregnant and by whom--can't invent a decent space condom? That whole subplot turned into "for the baby...!" and gave no value to Jarvellis's own life, even while treating admitted terrorist Stanton as precious and deserving of reward.
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Apr 24, 2015 16:43
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The most interesting character in the few Asher books I've read was a drone, which is kind of telling given the missed opportunities with some of the other characters. The chapter introductions (whatever they're called) were at times more interesting than the main story in the Spatterjay series. That actually was one of the few times when the chapter intro text/poem/joke/exposition/ramble was worth reading. With regard to Jarvellis at least she lived
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Apr 24, 2015 17:00
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Can anyone recommend fantasy books that have the political realism of ASIF? I don't want to quibble over how to define "low fantasy" or whether or not ASIF is "realistic," but what I mean is that I really enjoy the parts of the series that are about, well, how medieval rulers actually made and broke alliances, conducted war, and how it affected people. Sometimes the "on the road" chapters were a little dull but they showed how common people tried to get by in a country that had been waging total war for years, and the chapters about political intrigue struck home that everyone is mortal and that armies, weapons, and provisions don't come from nowhere. (As opposed to an epic fantasy series where the principal characters are superheroes, and the idea of mustering armies only comes up in the context of whether or not the Elf King and the Dwarf King will get over their rivalry and unite against the Dark Lord.) I've heard that the Black Company is good for this kind of thing.
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Apr 24, 2015 17:09
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The Goblin Emperor has a lot of politics, though it's mostly secondary to the personal/household story. City of Stairs has a lot of realpolitik.
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Apr 24, 2015 17:21
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The Goblin Emperor is totally about politics but it's a lot less fraught than ASIF, not everyone is a total bastard. It perhaps lacks realism in that regard but it's a lot of fun. Hild is very much about rulers making and breaking alliances and politics and also a lot about textile manufacturing. It's set earlier than the rough technology level of ASIF and so the polities and armies involved are smaller. K. J. Parker's Engineer trilogy hinges more on the actions of the main character than you may like, but it is still very political and involves a lot of complex scheming and is perhaps closer in tone to ASIF. I've not read the books though, just watched some of the show.
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Apr 24, 2015 17:22
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Oh, poo poo, Hild would be perfect! If you can keep all the names straight.
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Apr 24, 2015 17:34
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Try Son of the Morning by Mark Alder. A lot lighter and less bleak than GRRM, but set in alternate history medieval Europe where the whole "King by will of God" works literally and there is intrigue and general political bastardry aplenty. Very enjoyable book all in all.
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Apr 24, 2015 17:53
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Halloween Jack posted:Can anyone recommend fantasy books that have the political realism of ASIF? I'm not sure it's exactly what you're looking for, but Daniel Abraham's "The Dagger and the Coin" fantasy series has a bunch of politicking, particularly about economic issues. In fact, it would probably be fair to characterize it as a fantasy series that is, at least in part, about monetary policy. Through the first four books is been a consistently good read and seems to be heading to an actual conclusion (as opposed to sprawling out of control like, say, The Expanse series). Might worth your checking it out. The first book is "The Dragon's Path."
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Apr 24, 2015 18:07
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Seconding Dagger & Coin, the monetary aspect is unique and well done. The world and storyline aren't anything new but great characters. Black Company gets into politics toward the end of the series. Since it takes course over a long period of time you see an empire and the relationship between the rulers and ruled grow and change. It's also in fantasy India, which I found well handled. However you're reading nothing but journal entries which means it's very passive and often dry.
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Apr 24, 2015 18:17
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Yeah, the Black Company has the limited first person POV, so you might not get the level of scheming,etc you're looking for out of it, as you only get the info that the one narrator is privy to, or considers relevant. Someone was just talking about Guy Gavriel Kay, his books seem in line with the type of thing you want, with his two Saratine Mosaic probably fitting best. R Scott Bakker's Prince of Nothing books also have the grand scale scheming and maneuvering you're looking for. They have a lot of magic, but it ties into the political machinations and power-playing in interesting & relevant ways.
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Apr 24, 2015 18:55
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occamsnailfile posted:Also, the bit with Jarvellis's pregnancy was loving stupid. A society that can instantly teleport its citizens across space and even create a nonintrusive diagnostic device that can tell a woman she is pregnant and by whom--can't invent a decent space condom? That whole subplot turned into "for the baby...!" and gave no value to Jarvellis's own life, even while treating admitted terrorist Stanton as precious and deserving of reward. Jarvelli's pregnancy is part of the second book "twist". At least there is a little bit of human interaction between two characters (Stanton and Jarvellis). By the way, at least the motives of Stanton to do what he does are understandable, which can not be said about a lot of the characters in the series. The badies, in particular, are really stupid, and their motivations don't go beyond "I'm going to do evil things just because I'm Evil". With one particular exception, which is revealed at the end of the series... Speaking of that, I don't understand how EC knows that a human is necessary to boot up the Jain nodes some years before the Skellor incidents. Neither I understand why Erebus needs the nodes provided by the Maker (just 4 of those) when he can grab as many as he wants from the protostar, where they are produced by the millions after the Jain Tech is booted using the victims provided by EC, but meh... Oh, and by the way, in Prador Moon the cartoonish evil stuff works, just because... those Prador are EVIL CARTOONISH MONSTER ALIEN CRABS WHO LIKE TO EAT HUMANS. Gosh! A fun read, even knowing how it ends before starting to read...
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Apr 24, 2015 18:56
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On politic talk, The Left Hand of Darkness isn't medieval politics but it still involves a lot of political maneuvering and backstabbery and is also just a loving phenomenal book. Edit: I guess technically it's Sci-Fi, not Fantasy, but I feel like it's fantastical enough to blur the genre line.
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Apr 24, 2015 19:24
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Halloween Jack posted:Can anyone recommend fantasy books that have the political realism of ASIF? I don't want to quibble over how to define "low fantasy" or whether or not ASIF is "realistic," but what I mean is that I really enjoy the parts of the series that are about, well, how medieval rulers actually made and broke alliances, conducted war, and how it affected people. Sometimes the "on the road" chapters were a little dull but they showed how common people tried to get by in a country that had been waging total war for years, and the chapters about political intrigue struck home that everyone is mortal and that armies, weapons, and provisions don't come from nowhere. (As opposed to an epic fantasy series where the principal characters are superheroes, and the idea of mustering armies only comes up in the context of whether or not the Elf King and the Dwarf King will get over their rivalry and unite against the Dark Lord.) The Black Company, at least at first, is more about ordinary soldiers trying to survive in the midst of a war against demigod-level wizards. It doesn't really dabble in politics much until the Books of the South, as others have noted. You may want to check out Tad Williams' Shadowmarch books, which struck me very much as trying to be ASOIAF, although I've only read a couple.
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Apr 24, 2015 20:18
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Halloween Jack posted:Can anyone recommend fantasy books that have the political realism of ASIF? Craig Schaefer's Revanche Cycle, the second book of which just came out, is all about alt-history-Holy-Roman-Empire political shenanigans, with fun characters. Not nearly as grimdark as ASIF, so far, which pleases me. (Also, to date, no lovingly described rape of minors).
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Apr 24, 2015 20:29
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Thank you all for the suggestions. To be clear, I don't require that lots of people be dismembered, tortured, raped, and/or burnt to a crisp. (An example I find more intriguing is one of Roose Bolton's allies forcibly marrying a noblewoman and walling her up in a tower, which takes place off-screen, so to speak.) Although I prefer violence be described more practically than "Thereupon Glorfindel smoteth the ruin of his hated foe" or whatever.
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Apr 24, 2015 21:20
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Halloween Jack posted:Thank you all for the suggestions. To be clear, I don't require that lots of people be dismembered, tortured, raped, and/or burnt to a crisp. (An example I find more intriguing is one of Roose Bolton's allies forcibly marrying a noblewoman and walling her up in a tower, which takes place off-screen, so to speak.) Although I prefer violence be described more practically than "Thereupon Glorfindel smoteth the ruin of his hated foe" or whatever. The Revanche Cycle sounds like a good fit for you. (Schaefer in general is awesome, you should also check out his modern day noire urban fantasy series, set in Las Vegas).
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Apr 24, 2015 21:43
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Halloween Jack posted:Can anyone recommend fantasy books that have the political realism of ASIF? I don't want to quibble over how to define "low fantasy" or whether or not ASIF is "realistic," but what I mean is that I really enjoy the parts of the series that are about, well, how medieval rulers actually made and broke alliances, conducted war, and how it affected people. Sometimes the "on the road" chapters were a little dull but they showed how common people tried to get by in a country that had been waging total war for years, and the chapters about political intrigue struck home that everyone is mortal and that armies, weapons, and provisions don't come from nowhere. (As opposed to an epic fantasy series where the principal characters are superheroes, and the idea of mustering armies only comes up in the context of whether or not the Elf King and the Dwarf King will get over their rivalry and unite against the Dark Lord.) Maaaaybe The Wars of Light and Shadow by Janny Wurts. Her writing is pretty purple and I make no promises of actual realistic politics (been a while since I read them), but the theme is portraying both sides in a conflict with equal sympathy and brutality and there's not much by way of clear evil, so might be worth looking into.
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Apr 25, 2015 00:53
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What are some fantasy series that would be paired well with a good, heavy stoner metal soundscape? Or at least one that nails down that decadent atmosphere you get in Clark Ashton Smith's works.
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Apr 25, 2015 01:16
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Conan, Solomon Kane, Lovecrafty, Moorcock, Leiber..ravenkult posted:Is there anything out there remotely like the Fallout and Wasteland games? Ironically, two Russian offerings - one based on a game and the other being the impetus for a game.. Metro 2033 and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. the series. coyo7e fucked around with this message at 02:15 on Apr 25, 2015 |
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Apr 25, 2015 02:11
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Richard Tierney, any of Moorcock's fantasy series and, if you like Smith's sardonic wit, Vance's Dying Earth series.
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Apr 25, 2015 02:59
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Anyone read A Crown for Cold Silver by Alex Marshall? I read the first couple of chapters at my friends house and they were good. It started with a very cool concept where a foolishly arrogant & spoiled nobleman knight leading a conquering army wants to do one of those deals where he wipes out the whole population of a backwater town except for one person that's supposed to witness and spread word about the army's ruthlessness. He picks the mayor's wife, whom he presumes to be a harmless old woman, but is in fact some kinda retired badass general. There was another plot with a lot of worldbuilding in it, but I couldn't tell much about where it was heading from the short amount of reading I did.
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Apr 25, 2015 03:07
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snooman posted:The most interesting character in the few Asher books I've read was a drone, which is kind of telling given the missed opportunities with some of the other characters. The chapter introductions (whatever they're called) were at times more interesting than the main story in the Spatterjay series. That actually was one of the few times when the chapter intro text/poem/joke/exposition/ramble was worth reading. Orbus is an alright character. Sadist Old Captain who sold out people to survive Hooper's prisons and only got jarred out of his habits centuries later. And a lot of what is changing him is the Spatterjay virus, which selects for survivability. Not great but better than Cormac, and the premises of his character are good.
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Apr 25, 2015 03:41
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Kesper North posted:Craig Schaefer's Revanche Cycle, the second book of which just came out, is all about alt-history-Holy-Roman-Empire political shenanigans, with fun characters. Not nearly as grimdark as ASIF, so far, which pleases me. (Also, to date, no lovingly described rape of minors). It's not grimdark, but it's bleakdark or grimbleak. It's just... wow I haven't ever read a book where no one is happy. It's a huge tonal shift from his regular work on his urban fantasy series. That being said, it's a great series. Haven't read the second book yet but really liked the first one. No weird rapey poo poo in either series, thank god. That's usually a book killer for me.
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Apr 25, 2015 03:47
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Velius posted:While Asher's Polity stuff is generally enjoyable, provided you can get past the bland characters to the vivid settings and action, his Owners series is hilariously bad. If you interpret the Earth government in the Owners series as socialists I don't know what to say. They do have an interesting case of environmentalism in the series. But it is a loving grim series when it comes to killings, but still enjoyable if one looks for a near-Earth thriller with a lot of action.
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Apr 25, 2015 05:55
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People in this thread are incredibly sensitive when anything which can be vaguely interpreted as representing their political opinions is attacked in books.
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Apr 25, 2015 06:02
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Neurosis posted:People in this thread are incredibly sensitive when anything which can be vaguely interpreted as representing their political opinions is attacked in books. Weren't you the guy that couldn't stand LeGuin because it read like she was critiquing capitalism? (I'm just giving you a hard time, I know what you mean.)
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Apr 25, 2015 06:16
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General Battuta posted:Weren't you the guy that couldn't stand LeGuin because it read like she was critiquing capitalism? (I'm just giving you a hard time, I know what you mean.) Yep! I thought her attacks were pretty direct, though, and that was only in The Dispossessed. I thought The Left Hand of Darkness was pretty good. I'm also not going to stop reading China Mieville because of the socialist/Communist subtext because his books are cool and fun, for example Neurosis fucked around with this message at 06:23 on Apr 25, 2015 |
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Apr 25, 2015 06:19
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I preferred The Dispossessed over Left Hand of Darkness. I also liked The Scar over Perdido St Station and Iron Council.
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Apr 25, 2015 06:22
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Phobophilia posted:I preferred The Dispossessed over Left Hand of Darkness. I agree with you on 3/4 of them. As I've said before in this thread I thought LeGuin was strawmaning in The Dispossessed and I don't think she properly understands economics, so I didn't like it. The others gave comprehensible and rational backings setting up their social critiques so I liked them, even though I didn't agree with all of the points made.
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Apr 25, 2015 06:24
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I finished up Drag Hunt by Pat Kelleher and it was probably the most amazing novel I had read about the hunt for a missing god's wang. The wang was missing, not the god. He was looking for it. It's book 3 of the Gods and Monsters series, although I don't think you really need to read em in order. They are all basically self contained stories with small nods towards the other books but nothing that's blatant. You kinda need to know what you are looking for. Currently something like 2.50 or at least under 3$ on kindle. Interested in what happens when a god's dong goes missing? Well, this book handles that question pretty well.
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Apr 25, 2015 10:29
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Does anyone know if http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00HFU5AUS/sfsi0c-20 is the re-edited Merchant Princes? I'm interested in that series but want to wait for the re-issue.
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Apr 25, 2015 17:33
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occamsnailfile posted:Does anyone know if http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00HFU5AUS/sfsi0c-20 is the re-edited Merchant Princes? I'm interested in that series but want to wait for the re-issue. Yes, that's the first volume of the re-edited release; the other two re-issued volumes are linked down the page. Charlie originally wanted it to be in three volumes like this, but his editor shat the bed at the concept and told him halfway through book 2 that he had to split each volume into two books, which royally hosed up several bits. The re-edited releases are how the books should be.
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