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anilEhilated posted:They get worse. I dunno, I thought they got a fair bit better.
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Jun 3, 2015 20:06
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Naomi Novik's new Uprooted is pretty fantastic. It is very much like as if Rothfuss' Cthaeth was a whole forest, or a fantasyland kingdom fighting the war against the Chtorr. The Endmerely reinforces this. The deus ex machina ending of there being a 'borg queen' that could be defeated felt a bit cheap, but honestly, if there hadn't been, it would have meant the end of humanity. The non-academic sorcery of the main character also felt like a bit of a cheat
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Jun 3, 2015 20:15
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Kesper North posted:I dunno, I thought they got a fair bit better. They reach a low point in book three or four and then start improving.
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Jun 3, 2015 20:50
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Robert Charles Wilson's Spin was pretty great, and I just found out it has sequels. Anyone read them? As good as the first?
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Jun 3, 2015 21:55
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Lemniscate Blue posted:Robert Charles Wilson's Spin was pretty great, and I just found out it has sequels. Anyone read them? As good as the first? They're a bit of a mess, to be honest. They have that classic problem explaining a mystery is way less satisfying than the mystery itself. I liked Blind Lake, though, in a similar way to Spin. It does the same thing of juxtaposing cosmic and human drama.
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Jun 3, 2015 22:11
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Lemniscate Blue posted:Robert Charles Wilson's Spin was pretty great, and I just found out it has sequels. Anyone read them? As good as the first? They're bad. You can read the Wikipedia summaries and probably get a sense for them.
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Jun 3, 2015 23:19
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Has anybody here actually read Poseidon's Wake because I am seriously confused about the big reveal that happens
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Jun 4, 2015 01:33
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cultureulterior posted:Naomi Novik's new Uprooted is pretty fantastic. It is very much like as if Rothfuss' Cthaeth was a whole forest, or a fantasyland kingdom fighting the war against the Chtorr. The Endmerely reinforces this. The deus ex machina ending of there being a 'borg queen' that could be defeated felt a bit cheap, but honestly, if there hadn't been, it would have meant the end of humanity. The non-academic sorcery of the main character also felt like a bit of a cheat Uprooted has a pretty great beginning too! Got me hooked enough to buy the book... I do agree with the spoilered points, though, and add that the city portion dragged on for me because she's obviously not going to be great at high society, and the exposition dumps didn't help. In a lot of ways, this was what I wanted The Paper Magician to be, except with more horror and Polish fairy tales.
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Jun 4, 2015 01:34
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Neurosis posted:Well, the idea behind treating unrealistic concepts realistically is that everything but for the conceit in question operates realistically... I don't think the Magicians did that at all since the magical society is basically an irrelevance which is not subject to the 'real' world. The books' merits such as they are come from the characters and not the world, which isn't very good, in my opinion. That's fair. I mean more in the sense that the magic itself in The Magicians is treated more as a rigorous discipline that isn't easy. The magic isn't merely saying spell without much conscious effort or grunting with great exertion. Grossman really put in place a magic that felt hard to achieve. The characters didn't succeed because they were ordained by prophecy or anything but were type a weirdo students who worked a shitload. Also I thought the exploration of what characters do upon graduation interesting. Like what does being a magician really do for your life. Taste is obviously subjective but I found it a worthwhile read. It's not in my top 5 five but I did like it. If you can find it in the library or for cheap I think it's worth trying.
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Jun 4, 2015 01:46
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Paragon8 posted:That's fair. It's not that magic is "hard", it's that it's mind destroyingly, dehumanizingly hard and awful. The people capable of doing magic are all broken or crazy, and the extent of their difficulties parallels their willingness to devote their lives to essentially mastering hacking reality through exploiting the weird loopholes people discovered in "magic". Which seems to consist of absurdly precise finger and hand motions, memorizing completely useless bullshit and learning dozens of useless, dead languages. It's utterly dissatisfing and pointless outside the whole magic thing. In the first book you have people who manage to do that trying to figure out what the hell to do with their lives once they're done with school, how to become adults or grow, when they can potentially achieve almost anything with the snap of a finger. It makes almost any achievement devoid of value or satisfaction. In that situation it isn't surprising the characters are unlikeable, and the two sequels are very much focused on how they grow up. Velius fucked around with this message at 02:02 on Jun 4, 2015 |
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Jun 4, 2015 02:00
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Velius posted:It's not that magic is "hard", it's that it's mind destroyingly, dehumanizingly hard and awful. The people capable of doing magic are all broken or crazy, and the extent of their difficulties parallels their willingness to devote their lives to essentially mastering hacking reality through exploiting the weird loopholes people discovered in "magic". Which seems to consist of absurdly precise finger and hand motions, memorizing completely useless bullshit and learning dozens of useless, dead languages. It's utterly dissatisfing and pointless outside the whole magic thing. I felt the Magicians was unsatisfying as a single novel, but I enjoyed the trilogy very much because it completed the arc of each character in ways I could appreciate. The trailer for the TV show looks like garbage though, all sex and cgi.
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Jun 4, 2015 02:27
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PINING 4 PORKINS posted:Has anybody here actually read Poseidon's Wake because I am seriously confused about the big reveal that happens I've read it. Which part?
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Jun 4, 2015 03:31
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PINING 4 PORKINS posted:Has anybody here actually read Poseidon's Wake because I am seriously confused about the big reveal that happens Thanks for spoiling that there is a big reveal. I'm joking of course, it is AR after all
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Jun 4, 2015 03:35
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Hedrigall posted:I've read it. Which part? The fact that the universe ending at some point is a huge, mindblowing fact that the characters had to come to terms with. Not the part where it could happen at any time, mind you, they specifically say that isn't what they have a problem with. Just that the universe will end at all. Isn't the heat death of the universe, with effectively the same result as a vacuum collapse as far as leaving a legacy is concerned, accepted as probably inevitable by cosmologists *today*? It seems like Reynolds actually considered that and came up with "Well it's different to actually KNOW it's going to happen," which strikes me as a pretty lame justification. I feel like I'm missing something.
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Jun 4, 2015 03:41
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PINING 4 PORKINS posted:The fact that the universe ending at some point is a huge, mindblowing fact that the characters had to come to terms with. Not the part where it could happen at any time, mind you, they specifically say that isn't what they have a problem with. Just that the universe will end at all. Isn't the heat death of the universe, with effectively the same result as a vacuum collapse as far as leaving a legacy is concerned, accepted as probably inevitable by cosmologists *today*? It seems like Reynolds actually considered that and came up with "Well it's different to actually KNOW it's going to happen," which strikes me as a pretty lame justification. I feel like I'm missing something. Yeah, good point. I thought it was a bit more the fact that the eventual death of the universe is something that humanity can easily ignore, but the Terror has implanted the thought in the characters' minds so it blares like a siren and they really can't drown out the idea anymore, and it's consuming them. I guess maybe the m-builders were a species who were obsessive over that fact, so they create the Terror to make other species uncomfortably aware of it? I dunno.
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Jun 4, 2015 03:46
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Hedrigall posted:Yeah, good point. I thought it was a bit more the fact that the eventual death of the universe is something that humanity can easily ignore, but the Terror has implanted the thought in the characters' minds so it blares like a siren and they really can't drown out the idea anymore, and it's consuming them. I guess maybe the m-builders were a species who were obsessive over that fact, so they create the Terror to make other species uncomfortably aware of it? I dunno. I can buy that perspective. The m-builders were described multiple times as seeming immensely arrogant, so perhaps as a species the idea of not being able to 'fix' the universe with their Super Science was far more terrifying to them than it is to us little, nihilistic humans. Maybe passing their feelings of existential terror onto other races further serves their arrogance by inflating the importance of their sacrifice, trying to fix a problem everyone else had considered and answered with 'eh, I'm alright with that. Live it up while you can.'
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Jun 4, 2015 04:24
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cultureulterior posted:Naomi Novik's new Uprooted is pretty fantastic. It is very much like as if Rothfuss' Cthaeth was a whole forest, or a fantasyland kingdom fighting the war against the Chtorr. The Endmerely reinforces this. The deus ex machina ending of there being a 'borg queen' that could be defeated felt a bit cheap, but honestly, if there hadn't been, it would have meant the end of humanity. The non-academic sorcery of the main character also felt like a bit of a cheat Well, she's certainly better at frumpy, clumsy virgins (actually gorgeous and unique) being placed in power of hot, rich, eccentric tsunderes than she is at 19th century Royal Navy officers.
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Jun 4, 2015 05:48
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General Battuta posted:They're bad. You can read the Wikipedia summaries and probably get a sense for them. I did exactly this. I recently read Spin and loved it, when I realized there was a trilogy I was very confused. I didn't see how the story could be improved or furthered in a meaningful way, so I looked at the wiki summaries. I can't say whether they are bad or not as I have not read them, but I did get the sense that they had very little, if anything, to do with the first book. So I'm pretty sure you won't miss anything or feel left out by skipping them. Also I just finished the Southern Reach trilogy and I think I have a firm grip on everything that happened/the purpose of Area X/what is was/etc. But one thing I'm wondering if anyone read it knows, is Who was Whitby talking to in the Director's office when the Area expanded (The Director's double? I think the book says its a blur) and what was he saying?.
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Jun 4, 2015 11:22
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PINING 4 PORKINS posted:The fact that the universe ending at some point is a huge, mindblowing fact that the characters had to come to terms with. Not the part where it could happen at any time, mind you, they specifically say that isn't what they have a problem with. Just that the universe will end at all. Isn't the heat death of the universe, with effectively the same result as a vacuum collapse as far as leaving a legacy is concerned, accepted as probably inevitable by cosmologists *today*? It seems like Reynolds actually considered that and came up with "Well it's different to actually KNOW it's going to happen," which strikes me as a pretty lame justification. I feel like I'm missing something. I kinda felt like this too, but yeah, I guess he was going for a complete and utter realisation and understanding of what 'no more universe' means. As you touch on, I think the Terror was also designed from the perspective of the M-Buliders who, by that point, may well have believed they had reached a point where it was feasible for them to live forever. The way Kanu starts to get over it is going back to a more human 'live for the moment' outlook
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Jun 4, 2015 11:42
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Neurosis posted:Well, the idea behind treating unrealistic concepts realistically is that everything but for the conceit in question operates realistically... I don't think the Magicians did that at all since the magical society is basically an irrelevance which is not subject to the 'real' world. The books' merits such as they are come from the characters and not the world, which isn't very good, in my opinion.
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Jun 4, 2015 14:13
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robotox posted:So, on a whim, I've begun the Iron Druid books. I'm most of the way through the second one and, by and large, it's decent popcorn fiction with accessible prose. His repetition of certain phrases ("I drew power from the Earth," ad nauseum), frequent wordy descriptions about stuff you've either already heard before or stuff that has no bearing on the story (like long winded details about the food they're eating), and then constant, repetitive gags (oh, the dog thinks French Poodles are hot, this elderly Irish woman drinks whiskey and hates Brits) all have me thinking I'll stop after this book. I recently read through the first three again and the only food references I can even think of were the dog talking about chicken sausages.. Are you sure you reads the right book?
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Jun 4, 2015 14:15
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Velius posted:In the first book you have people who manage to do that trying to figure out what the hell to do with their lives once they're done with school, how to become adults or grow, when they can potentially achieve almost anything with the snap of a finger. It makes almost any achievement devoid of value or satisfaction. In that situation it isn't surprising the characters are unlikeable, and the two sequels are very much focused on how they grow up. The first book explicitly lays this out; at graduation, the Dean takes everybody into the basement and basically says that you become an adult when you learn that wishing doesn't make it so. "Tell me this: can a man who can cast a spell every really grow up?" He proceeds to try and make something nice out of it. Dean Fogg posted:I have a little theory I'd like to air here, if I may. What is it that you think makes you magicians? Is it because you're intelligent? Is it because you are brave and good? Is it because you're special? Maybe. Who knows. But I'll tell you something: I think you're magicians because you're unhappy. A magician is strong because he feels pain. He feels the difference between what the world is and what he would make of it. Or what did you think that pain in your chest was? A magician is strong because he hurts more than others. His wound is his strength. Which sounds fancy, until you realize that it's basically a fourteen year old's fantasy of how great they are; "YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M GOING THROUGH DAD SHUT THE gently caress UP, MY PAIN IS MY ENGINE". The dean is a magician and is just as incapable of growing up as his students, possibly even more so because he's never leaving the cocoon of Brakebills while his students have to actually go out and fail to deal with the world.
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Jun 4, 2015 16:41
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Coca Koala posted:The first book explicitly lays this out; at graduation, the Dean takes everybody into the basement and basically says that you become an adult when you learn that wishing doesn't make it so. "Tell me this: can a man who can cast a spell every really grow up?" Excellent point about the Dean. Quentin notices this about the Dean too when he returns to Breakbills as a teacher in the Magician King.
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Jun 4, 2015 17:04
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coyo7e posted:No you will hate it. Oh, yeah, sorry. I meant it more as an example of constant extraneous detail, but he discusses the fish and chips at Rula Bula a bunch of times, there's a scene where he's cooking breakfast for another character and he goes into detail. But like I said, just a subsection of my main complaint, which extends to excessive physical details about character and location and describing every road they go down to get some place and things of that nature. Maybe I'm just being too sensitive to it. I just started the third book, which at least seems different thus far, so I guess I'll reevaluate after I finish it.
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Jun 4, 2015 17:33
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robotox posted:Oh, yeah, sorry. I meant it more as an example of constant extraneous detail, but he discusses the fish and chips at Rula Bula a bunch of times, there's a scene where he's cooking breakfast for another character and he goes into detail. But like I said, just a subsection of my main complaint, which extends to excessive physical details about character and location and describing every road they go down to get some place and things of that nature. Maybe I'm just being too sensitive to it. I just started the third book, which at least seems different thus far, so I guess I'll reevaluate after I finish it. I made it through about 40 pages through the first one before deciding I never wanted to read another Kevin Hearne book again. But my mom loved them. 
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Jun 4, 2015 17:46
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Drifter posted:I made it through about 40 pages through the first one before deciding I never wanted to read another Kevin Hearne book again. But my mom loved them. He gets palpably better during the course of the first book. I actually started enjoying it 1/3 through and was kinda digging it for the stupid fun it became 2/3 through. I am burnt out on the series, though. Dropped Hunted and probably not gonna read any more of them.
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Jun 4, 2015 17:51
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robotox posted:Oh, yeah, sorry. I meant it more as an example of constant extraneous detail, but he discusses the fish and chips at Rula Bula a bunch of times, there's a scene where he's cooking breakfast for another character and he goes into detail. But like I said, just a subsection of my main complaint, which extends to excessive physical details about character and location and describing every road they go down to get some place and things of that nature. Maybe I'm just being too sensitive to it. I just started the third book, which at least seems different thus far, so I guess I'll reevaluate after I finish it. "These r sure the best fish n chips in the state!" "I added some chives n stuff from my garden to the omelette.". You are really pushing hard to bitch about the food descriptions. Seriously. That's like getting upset about the brand of oil that Harry Dresden puts into his Patented Shitbox VW Bug. There are more glaring issues which would stand out to more sane critiques. Because seriously, there really isn't much written about food in that series, unless you're undead or a demon or some poo poo.
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Jun 5, 2015 03:41
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Is The Culture series by Ian M. Banks good?
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Jun 5, 2015 04:44
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The Dennis System posted:Is The Culture series by Ian M. Banks good? Yes, it's one of the high water marks of the entire science fiction genre, and some of them are among my favorite novels across any genre. Don't start with Consider Phlebas. Start with Player of Games. Excession is the one with the most spaceships. Use of Weapons is the best one. It's not really a series so much as a number of novels set in the same world so you can go out of order.
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Jun 5, 2015 04:51
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The Fold by Peter Clines is pretty awesome. I read it last night. *this wasn't in recommendation to anything else posted, just wanted to share that the book is awesome.* Stupid_Sexy_Flander fucked around with this message at 05:27 on Jun 5, 2015 |
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Jun 5, 2015 05:04
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The Dennis System posted:Is The Culture series by Ian M. Banks good?
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Jun 5, 2015 05:08
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The Dennis System posted:Is The Culture series by Ian M. Banks good? It's excellent, but Amazon is inexplicably missing books 4, 5, and 6 from its Kindle selection(at least if you live in the US), so if you're a fellow Kindle-haver you'll have to do the whole UK-address workaround or deal with a physical book, sadly.
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Jun 5, 2015 05:30
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coyo7e posted:"These r sure the best fish n chips in the state!" "I added some chives n stuff from my garden to the omelette.". A dearth of offending text has never been enough to stop people form bitching endlessly about the lolcats in book two, so honestly this is par for the course.
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Jun 5, 2015 05:37
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The Dennis System posted:Is The Culture series by Ian M. Banks good? They are fantastic, as everyone else has said. I've only ever read Peter Clines' superhero books, which I really liked, so hearing he has a new book out makes me excited. I'll get started on it. Thanks for mentioning it.
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Jun 5, 2015 05:41
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Culture series sounds good. Thanks guys.
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Jun 5, 2015 05:49
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It's sort of a side-quel to the other book he did, 14. I went in completely blind though, and there isn't really any crossover that I can tell, where you think "HOLY poo poo I NEED TO STOP AND READ THE FIRST BECAUSE I AM SO LOST". There's no conversations that are "Boy, sure is like that time 2 years ago in that cave in Afghanistan!" "I know! Thank god we have Dave there!" or anything. Re: Iron Druid - Yes the lolcat poo poo sucked SO HORRIBLY. Also, dude tends to talk about food a lot. That being said, it's a decent series. It gets better, and worse. If you dig the premise and overall arc, then you'll like the series. It's why I stick with it. If it's not grabbing you and you don't really give half a gently caress about this immortal 20 year old irish dude, gently caress it and cut your losses cause he's in every book.
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Jun 5, 2015 05:52
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The Dennis System posted:Culture series sounds good. Thanks guys. Another audiobook plug but the same guy narrates all of the culture novels (Peter Kenny) and he's excellent.
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Jun 5, 2015 07:05
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This is worth a look: Lightspeed Magazine's new special issue titled "Queers Destroy Science Fiction!" which is HUGE: 432 pages in the print edition! It's made up of tons of short fiction, flash fiction, essays etc, all by LGBTQ writers. And on Kindle it's only US $4! (there are also purchase links for every kind of e-reader and the print edition) I snapped it up immediately. Check out the contents here: http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2015/06/table-contents-lightspeed-magazine-june-2015-queers-destroy-science-fiction/ Hedrigall fucked around with this message at 07:17 on Jun 5, 2015 |
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Jun 5, 2015 07:12
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I started rereading The Chronicles of Prydain (The Black Cauldron)series again for the first time since I was 8-9, and I'm amazed at how it holds up. It's a coming of age book that teaches some basic morals,, that not manages to not be preachy, but actually has some good LoTR style epic fantasy going on. I started it for nostalgia's sake, but wow. I'm amazed at how effortless but satisfying the plot arc of the main character is, you actually get a sense of him going from a young boy to a mature adult--culminating with him challenging Big Evil obviously I don't know why I'm spoiling this--and it doesn't have the forced feel of most YA fiction. Seriously, if you only ever saw the Disney movie, and want some classic fantasy, read this series. edit: oh wow I missed the whole thread in the OP I was so into these books. Famethrowa fucked around with this message at 07:27 on Jun 5, 2015 |
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Jun 5, 2015 07:20
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Junkenstein posted:Any opinions on Vermillion by Molly Tanzer?
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Jun 5, 2015 08:46
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