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Internet Wizard posted:If Reynolds wrote a collection of short stories that was just Clavain going on rad space adventures I'd buy it in a heartbeat. Same here. Absolution Gap just feels odd. The parts on the planet just seem so different in tone and pacing than the rest of the story, that I'm sure it turned off a lot of readers. Then it picks back up again at the end.
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Jun 27, 2015 22:40
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So I just finished Use of Weapons. God drat, Banks. 'Chairmaker' indeed. 
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Jun 28, 2015 00:56
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WarLocke posted:So I just finished Use of Weapons. For someone who was extremely personally affable, principled, and possessed of a strong sense of morality and compassion, Banks had the most incredibly ghoulish talent for imagining the cruel and macabre. I'm not sure I can think of a single one of his books, SF or not, that doesn't have something toe-curlingly horrible in it.
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Jun 28, 2015 08:31
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There's a bit of that in many Reynoldses too. It's not exactly why they are some of my favourite authors but having that dash of base-level dread is a part of the recipe.
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Jun 28, 2015 13:29
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Reynolds has some good ones, that Sectioning thing in House of Suns... *shudder*
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Jun 28, 2015 14:03
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WarLocke posted:So I just finished Use of Weapons. When I told a friend to read that book I said it had a really good chair in it. I'm glad he went into it completely confused about what the hell a chair had to do with anything.
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Jun 28, 2015 16:41
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PINING 4 PORKINS posted:When I told a friend to read that book I said it had a really good chair in it. You are a really evil person.
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Jun 28, 2015 17:10
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I saw a fan (goon?) made cover for it that was just a silhouette of a chair... it was beautiful
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Jun 29, 2015 19:08
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pile of brown posted:I saw a fan (goon?) made cover for it that was just a silhouette of a chair... it was beautiful This is my paperback book cover, though. From the publisher. 
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Jun 29, 2015 19:36
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Drifter posted:This is my paperback book cover, though. From the publisher. I can just imagine someone reading that book. "What the gently caress is this chair on the cover?" . . . "Oh, okay, he's freaked out by chairs for some reason? Idunno whatever." . . . . . . "Holy gently caress, what" 
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Jun 29, 2015 21:53
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If I've never read a Culture book, could I get into that? Because now I have to loving know what the deal is.
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Jun 30, 2015 01:31
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The Muffinlord posted:If I've never read a Culture book, could I get into that? Because now I have to loving know what the deal is. Yes you could, they're superb and they all standalone. Read Player of Games then Use of Weapons, or just jump into Use of Weapons.
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Jun 30, 2015 01:48
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General Battuta posted:Yes you could, they're superb and they all standalone. Read Player of Games then Use of Weapons, or just jump into Use of Weapons. I think Consider Phlebas is a good introduction (and it is the first book) since the viewpoint character isn't part of the Culture so you get a view of it from the outside before having characters that take it for granted in the next books.
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Jun 30, 2015 02:11
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I think it's a bad introduction and I try to steer people away from it, for fear of turning them off the Culture. It's a good book, but it's so intentionally and constantly cruel that it gives a very misleading picture of what you're signing up for.
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Jun 30, 2015 02:46
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General Battuta posted:just jump into Use of Weapons. Just jump into Use of Weapons. It was my first Culture novel and it worked out fine. Although Player of Games is still my favorite.
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Jun 30, 2015 02:47
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The Muffinlord posted:If I've never read a Culture book, could I get into that? Because now I have to loving know what the deal is. Use of Weapons was my first culture book, too. After that one I read Player of Games and then just went back and read all of them in order from publish date. But look...as far as 'twists' and poo poo go, and I mean, it's a great book, don't get me wrong, but if you've spent twenty minutes on the internet I can't see that it'll phase you or whatever in the slightest. It's a good fuckin' book, but don't let these weirdos build up that whole ending as though it were Jesus Christ washing your car and serving you lemonade. It's a good ending, of course, but it's not worthy. At best it's  -worthy.Drifter fucked around with this message at 06:47 on Jun 30, 2015 |
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Jun 30, 2015 06:44
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I honestly can't recall which Banks novel was my first, although I have a feeling that I somehow got hold of Player of Games a decade or so before I really registered the work or the author.. I think Use of Weapons was the first one which stuck with me and caused me to want to hunt down the rest of his work. Also Use of Weapons' ending "twist" was a lot more novel for me.
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Jun 30, 2015 06:59
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coyo7e posted:Also Use of Weapons' ending "twist" was a lot more novel for me. I've become inured to life.  ...and puns, coyo7e. 
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Jun 30, 2015 07:22
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I recommend reading just Use of Weapons if you would like to only commit to 1 book, but reading Player of Games then Use of Weapons if you'd like to commit to 2+. The Use of Weapons twist I did not find as surprising as everyone else seems to, I feel it was very properly foreshadowed and the whole novel built towards its pleasantly horrific conclusion in a very satisfying manner.
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Jun 30, 2015 08:17
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Drifter posted:Use of Weapons was my first culture book, too. After that one I read Player of Games and then just went back and read all of them in order from publish date. As for the chair, my first impression was "Oh, it is one of those endings". Interesting twist, but nothing more than that. I had read several other Culture books before Use of Weapons, and you kinda get used to Banks always having a twist in the end.
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Jun 30, 2015 12:13
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I was discussing Use of Weapons with my dad the other day. As I told him, my favourite thing isn't so much the twist, but re-reading the book afterwards. It's like the ambiguity in a sentence like "The officer shot the man with a gun' except as a novel, and it's really cleverly done in many places.
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Jun 30, 2015 12:34
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Taeke posted:I was discussing Use of Weapons with my dad the other day. As I told him, my favourite thing isn't so much the twist, but re-reading the book afterwards. It's like the ambiguity in a sentence like "The officer shot the man with a gun' except as a novel, and it's really cleverly done in many places. Yeah, this. In hindsight everything was set up well in advance, but I'm not quite used to Banks' style and missed the connotations of a lot of it as I read through. So at the end everything clicks together all at once. Like the chapter that ends with Zakalwe shooting himself in the head. Oh, that's why he woke up in a hospital with a messed-up memory. And then later, NOPE I will say the narrative construction(?) of Use of Weapons is pretty unique - one story progressing 'forwards' and the other starting at the 'end' and working back to the beginning, alternating by chapter I haven't seen done before.
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Jun 30, 2015 15:45
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I shouldn't buy more books but damnit you guys just won't shut up about Use of Weapons.
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Jun 30, 2015 21:29
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thehomemaster posted:I shouldn't buy more books but damnit you guys just won't shut up about Use of Weapons. Libraries are a thing. 
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Jun 30, 2015 21:41
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Too much effort.
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Jul 1, 2015 03:32
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thehomemaster posted:Too much effort. Library on the kindle kinda owns.
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Jul 1, 2015 05:12
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MonkeyBot posted:Library on the kindle kinda owns. gently caress that poo poo, they dumped tons of money and spent years lobbying preventing libraries from offering that service, just so they could turn around and charge you for the same service under their name. Screw those bastards
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Jul 1, 2015 21:08
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Fried Chicken posted:gently caress that poo poo, they dumped tons of money and spent years lobbying preventing libraries from offering that service, just so they could turn around and charge you for the same service under their name. Screw those bastards There are lots of places to get ebooks online, even free. Baen has most of their stuff online, then there's Gutenberg.... I'm sure there are others I'm not aware of. Honestly at this point Calibre has been the best thing to happen to my book reading. I actually have too much stuff to read for once.
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Jul 1, 2015 21:13
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You don't need to buy from amazon...WarLocke posted:Honestly at this point Calibre has been the best thing to happen to my book reading. I actually have too much stuff to read for once. Hell yes.
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Jul 1, 2015 21:23
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Fried Chicken posted:gently caress that poo poo, they dumped tons of money and spent years lobbying preventing libraries from offering that service, just so they could turn around and charge you for the same service under their name. Screw those bastards I have a free app that borrows from my local library.
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Jul 1, 2015 22:49
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Is it worth it to continue with the Revelation Space series if the first one didn't do much for me? I mean I liked some of the ideas in the book and I thought the middle section of the book was decent but I really didn't like how the last hundred pages are half lovely slasher movie last act and infodumps after infodumps. Especially when those infodumps were things that the book seemed like it was on the verge of explaining hundreds of pages ago but then cut off to switch to a new scene so they didn't ruin the surprise.
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Jul 2, 2015 15:42
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0 rows returned posted:and infodumps after infodumps. Especially when those infodumps were infodumps that the infodump seemed like it was on the verge of infodumping hundreds of infodump pages ago but then cut off to infodump to a new scene infodump so they didn't ruin the infodump. Its really quite infuriating.... I can't really read things by this author because he saves the book for the last chapter.
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Jul 2, 2015 17:20
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0 rows returned posted:Is it worth it to continue with the Revelation Space series if the first one didn't do much for me? Read Redemption Ark, and if you don't like it, stop.
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Jul 2, 2015 17:48
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I felt a bit the same about revelation space, though I felt it was a bit more of a climax rather than info dump redemption ark feels similar so far to revelation spaces start but with a little tighter focus because you know what the major plot issues are to some extent. I'm continuing on since the idea is interesting and the writing is pretty good but he seems to have a bit of trouble really pulling things together
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Jul 2, 2015 19:48
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Kellanved posted:Reynolds has some good ones, that Sectioning thing in House of Suns... *shudder* One of my favorites like this is in Absolution Gap when they put the dude in that life support coffin thingy in the ice on the outside of the ship and have drugs constantly being pumped into him that never allow him to sleep
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Jul 2, 2015 22:19
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 LOGH novels and anime official English release
Peel fucked around with this message at 02:24 on Jul 3, 2015 |
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Jul 3, 2015 02:18
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WHAAAAAAAAAAT Dude seriously, that's really cool! Thanks for the heads-up!
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Jul 3, 2015 02:59
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Whichever genie visited E3 stopped by Anime Expo on the way home.
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Jul 3, 2015 03:40
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That's amazing, but is it any different than the videos/media already out? Or is it news because it's getting a dub or something, updated art? I'm referring to the show, not the novels.
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Jul 3, 2015 03:43
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WarLocke posted:So I just finished Use of Weapons. Just finished it. Yep.
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Jul 3, 2015 15:07
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