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OptimusWang posted:My wife once described the Patricia Briggs books as 'a string of contrived stories to get them from one orgy in the werewolf bar to the next,' and she loves them. She doesn't like Dresden/Rivers of London/any UF that isn't a trashy romance novel, so take that as you will. I don't remember any werewolf bars or orgies in any of the Briggs novels. Are you sure she wasn't talking about someone else?
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Jun 3, 2015 18:24
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| # ? May 15, 2024 16:21 |
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Anita Blake, most likely.
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Jun 3, 2015 18:36
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They really do mostly all blur together in the most heinous of ways. Although it's been years, I'm pretty sure the Briggs' Mercy Thompson books had Mercy trying to choose between two werewolf brothers/friends or something, no? Adam and someone else? As an aside, I loving hate with as much passion as I can apathetically muster the whole 'werewolf' pack dynamic stuff in most UF (and PNR, of which is a subset thereof). Drifter fucked around with this message at 18:46 on Jun 3, 2015 |
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Jun 3, 2015 18:43
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Drifter posted:gently caress, I forgot about Mercy Thompson...I actually kinda enjoy that one. And Illona Andrews' Kate Daniels' series. I really like that one, too. They are probably the only exception to the Alpha rule. I read the Kitty Norville books for a while, but they quickly reduce to the same weird as hell werewolf 'alpha' tropes that are so so bad. It's been a little while since I read some of the Chicagoland Vampire series, but I remember them being pretty bad. The first book was a little rough (felt like it might have been the author's first novel), but showed a little bit of promise. I gave a pass to the fact that the heroine is somehow one of the strongest, fastest, best vampires right out of the gate, and while there was a lot of sexual tension, not that much was acted on. By book three, the story had pretty much devolved to action scenes interspersed between sex scenes. I remember throwing them out, rather than donating them to charity, because I would feel bad if some kid got ahold of it.
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Jun 3, 2015 19:15
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Truly Christopher Moore's A Love Story series is the best vampire urban fantasy series.
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Jun 3, 2015 19:34
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Drifter posted:They really do mostly all blur together in the most heinous of ways. Yeah, in the first book, leaking into second, choosing between three guys. No sex, though. I like her pack ideas. Alpha, second, submissive and omega. Interesting takes. Her short story, and asides, about Ben are nicely informative of the dynamic.
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Jun 3, 2015 20:04
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Patrick Rothfuss is running a fundraiser for Fantasy nerds, and one of the shirts you can donate for is courtesy of Jim Butcher: WARNING SKIN GAME SPOILERS You know you want one. You can get it (and some other cool stuff) here.
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Jun 4, 2015 04:37
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So I'm about 120 pages into the first book of Rivers of London and it's okay, but I find that Peter Grant's thoughts aren't as fun as Harry Dresden's, and the story is a bit boring because nothing is blowing up. Does it get more action-y or does Peter Grant get more fun? Or does the whole thing stay dry forever?
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Jun 5, 2015 04:56
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fruit loop posted:So I'm about 120 pages into the first book of Rivers of London and it's okay, but I find that Peter Grant's thoughts aren't as fun as Harry Dresden's, and the story is a bit boring because nothing is blowing up. Does it get more action-y or does Peter Grant get more fun? Or does the whole thing stay dry forever? There is never a giant reanimated T. rex. It certainly gets more magic-y, but I'm not sure I'd say it gets a great deal more action. If probably finish the book and then decide, but if you don't like it after that I don't know that the next few books are different enough to recommend continuing.
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Jun 5, 2015 05:27
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fruit loop posted:So I'm about 120 pages into the first book of Rivers of London and it's okay, but I find that Peter Grant's thoughts aren't as fun as Harry Dresden's, and the story is a bit boring because nothing is blowing up. Does it get more action-y or does Peter Grant get more fun? Or does the whole thing stay dry forever? There gets to be more action (there are, eventually, evil wizards but the power scale stays lower down. Peter's never going to casually burn down a building like Dresden.
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Jun 5, 2015 05:53
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The more I read the Rivers of London books, the more I realize that I don't care about Peter Grant very much at all; the series that I really want to read is all about Nightingale blowing away Tiger tanks and generally being awesome.Hieronymous Alloy posted:Peter's never going to casually burn down a building like Dresden. Nightingale, on the other hand...
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Jun 5, 2015 06:08
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Khizan posted:The more I read the Rivers of London books, the more I realize that I don't care about Peter Grant very much at all; the series that I really want to read is all about Nightingale blowing away Tiger tanks and generally being awesome. Nightingale is never casual.
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Jun 5, 2015 06:41
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I've been reading Sandman Slim and... Does the protagonist ever get less of a twat? His superedgy bullshit is really grating and I'll probably just drop it if he doesn't improve later.
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Jun 5, 2015 08:43
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General Emergency posted:I've been reading Sandman Slim and... Does the protagonist ever get less of a twat? His superedgy bullshit is really grating and I'll probably just drop it if he doesn't improve later. No, he doesn't get better. If that's a deal-breaker (which is completely understandable) you better drop the series, because if anything gaining more power just means he can be more of a twat to more and more powerful people. And I say this as someone who likes the series.
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Jun 5, 2015 09:08
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General Emergency posted:I've been reading Sandman Slim and... Does the protagonist ever get less of a twat? His superedgy bullshit is really grating and I'll probably just drop it if he doesn't improve later. I only got to book 3, and he stays pretty much the same, save for his power level. I'm going to try some of the newer ones this summer, but it got to be a little too much. If you like the writer's style, but not Slim as a character, Butcher Bird is pretty great. It's stand alone. Anyone here read Blue Blazes by Chuck Wendig?
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Jun 5, 2015 14:15
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Khizan posted:The more I read the Rivers of London books, the more I realize that I don't care about Peter Grant very much at all; the series that I really want to read is all about Nightingale blowing away Tiger tanks and generally being awesome. Yeah, the way Nightingale dismantled the barn and utterly shut down the Russian witch without breaking a sweat was an amazing tease. General Emergency posted:I've been reading Sandman Slim and... Does the protagonist ever get less of a twat? His superedgy bullshit is really grating and I'll probably just drop it if he doesn't improve later. No, he gets worse. EDIT: Been listening to the The Rook audiobook with Susan Duerden and cracking up at her delivery of the word "mother fucker" whenever it comes up. Also just googled her to make sure I spelled her last name right and holy poo poo. 
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Jun 5, 2015 14:29
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fruit loop posted:So I'm about 120 pages into the first book of Rivers of London and it's okay, but I find that Peter Grant's thoughts aren't as fun as Harry Dresden's, and the story is a bit boring because nothing is blowing up. Does it get more action-y or does Peter Grant get more fun? Or does the whole thing stay dry forever? Stick with it, it gets better written and more unique. It really reads like Dresden fanfic in the first hundred or so pages; that goes away pretty quickly.
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Jun 5, 2015 18:06
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Harry Connolly's Twenty Palaces isn't as 'fun' as Harry Dresden, but it's really darn cool. I liked them a lot. And I don't know why you guys don't talk about John Ford's The Last Hot Time more. Especially since you seem to want to talk about good books.
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Jun 5, 2015 18:21
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Drifter posted:Harry Connolly's Twenty Palaces isn't as 'fun' as Harry Dresden, but it's really darn cool. I liked them a lot. The concept was cool, but drat did the kindle editions need to have a spell checker run on them when I read them. It was like reading a 1st draft story that nobody bothered to proofread before publishing.
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Jun 5, 2015 19:43
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fruit loop posted:So I'm about 120 pages into the first book of Rivers of London and it's okay, but I find that Peter Grant's thoughts aren't as fun as Harry Dresden's, and the story is a bit boring because nothing is blowing up. Does it get more action-y or does Peter Grant get more fun? Or does the whole thing stay dry forever? It'll be drier than Dresden throughout. I've always described the difference between the two series as Dresden being a Wizard who is also a Detective while Grant is a Detective who is also a Wizard. A Dresden book will often have a Mystery->Investigation->Reveal framework like a detective story but that's fallen off in later novels, and even in earlier ones it tends to go off those rails pretty early. That generally only happens near the climax of a Grant book; the majority stays sort of police procedural, but with the supernatural elements drifting in and out of the plot as it develops. There's some really good world building in the stories but Aaronovich takes his time exploring themes. Grant's inner monologue tends to stay pretty dry and sarcastic throughout, but it grew on me. I find a lot of his comments on investigation culture and interacting with civilians pretty funny. For what it's worth, the first book is going to get more action-y before the end.
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Jun 6, 2015 23:59
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Wade Wilson posted:The concept was cool, but drat did the kindle editions need to have a spell checker run on them when I read them. That's too bad. I've only ever read my paperback physical copies. It is such a stupid thing to have kindle versions not edited well.
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Jun 7, 2015 00:09
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Just finished Whispers Under Ground. I'd originally given up on the series last year halfway through Moon Over Soho, but decided to try the audiobooks and wound up enjoying the first two much more the second time around. Whispers Under Ground was just mediocre. Thank Nightingale that it reintroduces Lesley and gets her in the action. I get that the books are police procedural novels with magic, but this one was almost entirely a police procedural - go there, interview someone; go here, interview someone. It dragged. It wasn't bad by any stretch, and every character not named Peter remains the reason to keep reading, but unlike the first two where there was plenty of magic type of stuff to pull you along, this one was way heavier on the actual process of policework that just happened to be interviewing people of a supernatural nature while in an interrogation room or at bars. Still, I'm hooked enough on the series to keep going, but it didn't resonate compared to the last two.
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Jun 9, 2015 22:48
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I think Whispers Underground was the weakest book of the series, have read up through Foxglove Summer. It didn't really catch me either, and I wasn't very intrigued by the main mystery plot of the book. Broken Homes is much better, and has the best ending of any of them. Foxglove Summer is weird, it's divided in half and I liked the first half but didn't like the second half as much. Feels very Hot Fuzz-ish.
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Jun 10, 2015 11:50
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I actually really enjoy that the books are "police procedural with supernatural elements" rather than the other way around, but I do agree that Whispers Under Ground is probably the weakest in the series.
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Jun 10, 2015 14:22
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I was looking for Peace Talks progress updates when I found Butcher had tweeted the first line back in Feb (apologies if I missed it in the thread already). It has some... implications.
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Jun 10, 2015 16:29
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Why would it have implications? A side character that exists for exposition and sex gets pregnant? Who cares?
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Jun 10, 2015 17:17
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Wade Wilson posted:Why would it have implications? I presume because "Harry is loving absurd about family and this adds yet another thing for him to be loving absurd about."
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Jun 10, 2015 17:24
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Pretty much. Also the whole lethal feeding if not true love thing.
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Jun 10, 2015 19:14
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I honestly just wish he'd axe the White Court completely. They're not interesting in any way and just ooze awkwardness. I mean, okay, Thomas is important and there to stay, but can we just let sleeping succubi lie?
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Jun 10, 2015 19:17
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I'm pretty sure the White Court will be one of the, if not the, next big faction to taken out of the picture entirely. Lara's resources are too much for Harry to have access to and retain as much tension, and I'm pretty sure Thomas is going to die by the final trilogy anyway. Also there was some discussion about the world finding out magic is real a while back, and I'm hoping it's something so big it can't be ignored or excused, like a televised baseball match Harry's attending being attacked by a giant that's physical in nature so it leaves a body.
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Jun 10, 2015 20:48
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Illuyankas posted:I'm pretty sure the White Court will be one of the, if not the, next big faction to taken out of the picture entirely. Lara's resources are too much for Harry to have access to and retain as much tension, and I'm pretty sure Thomas is going to die by the final trilogy anyway. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Bowl_XLVII
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Jun 10, 2015 20:50
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anilEhilated posted:I honestly just wish he'd axe the White Court completely. They're not interesting in any way and just ooze awkwardness. Unfortunately I don't think we're going to see the end of them until Thomas' father inevitable gets his mojo back. He's too big a character to leave dangling alive. (Protected against magic, outsider connections, killed Harry's mother) and so we've got at least one more major White Court story to go.
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Jun 10, 2015 21:09
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ImpAtom posted:Unfortunately I don't think we're going to see the end of them until Thomas' father inevitable gets his mojo back. He's too big a character to leave dangling alive. (Protected against magic, outsider connections, killed Harry's mother) and so we've got at least one more major White Court story to go. Pretty sure Papa Raith is out of the picture since his "STARVE" curse is still in effect and Lara has subjugated his mind.
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Jun 10, 2015 21:15
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Wade Wilson posted:Pretty sure Papa Raith is out of the picture since his "STARVE" curse is still in effect and Lara has subjugated his mind. That'd make him a pretty impressive Chekhov's Gun though, for exactly those reasons.
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Jun 11, 2015 00:39
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Wade Wilson posted:Pretty sure Papa Raith is out of the picture since his "STARVE" curse is still in effect and Lara has subjugated his mind. Right. He's incapacitated but alive. Until that changes he's a pretty big gun waiting to go off with a dramatic reveal of "Papa's back at full power." I mean alternately he's just going to live the rest of his life as a castrated mindslave but considering all the plot mojo he has it feels pretty likely we'll see him at full power at least one more time.
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Jun 11, 2015 00:46
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Wade Wilson posted:Pretty sure Papa Raith is out of the picture since his "STARVE" curse is still in effect and Lara has subjugated his mind. It all depends on whether the curse is only being powered by Thomas now or if it has reattached itself to Harry.
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Jun 11, 2015 00:48
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Rumda posted:It all depends on whether the curse is only being powered by Thomas now or if it has reattached itself to Harry. Maggie and Ebenezer might be included there.
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Jun 11, 2015 04:07
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Illuyankas posted:I'm pretty sure the White Court will be one of the, if not the, next big faction to taken out of the picture entirely. Lara's resources are too much for Harry to have access to and retain as much tension So are Mab's. And the White Council's. And the Gray Council's. And Marcone's. And every other organization Harry's ever allied with. I'm not really seeing a reason why the White Court would be next up on the chopping block.
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Jun 11, 2015 10:19
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Illuyankas posted:Maggie and Ebenezer might be included there. Oh yeah that would also further reduce blood rites dramatic tension.
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Jun 11, 2015 10:21
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I think that the White Court's (or Papa Raith's, at least) ties to the Outsiders alone mean they're in it for the long haul.
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Jun 11, 2015 11:01
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