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I liked Fool's Assassin quite a lot, but it hit me in a very personal way that I badly needed at the time that I read it, so I think that's colouring my perception quite a bit.
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Jul 19, 2015 02:34
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Lowly posted:You could try House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski. It has that same sort of weird mystery exploration vibe except it's about strange doors and a hallway that appear in a family's house instead of an outdoor area. It has a weird gimmick in that there's all kinds of typography tricks where there are different layouts and fonts and stuff. If you image search the title you can see some page examples. Anyway, I found the story compelling enough in this book that the typography didn't hold me back too much, but I tried reading another one of his books and I couldn't stomach it. Johnny Truant is the guy who takes another person's film and edits in his own commentary along with scenes with himself. Imagine watching "TheThing", only it's interrupted every five minutes by a Youtuber who bitches about his day.
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Jul 19, 2015 03:08
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Evil Fluffy posted:I'll agree that some of his stuff is pretty cringe-worthy at times (looking at you, last stretch of Shards of a Broken Crown with your literal zombie army and a puppetmaster angel 'dream' thing because so much stuff involving The Nameless One is awful (and later redefining of The Dread)) but overall the Riftwar books are decent-to-good and Shadow of a Dark Queen was The Dirty Dozen: Riftwar Edition and worth the read. Betrayal at Krondor is also an awesome RPG for when it was made and is still kinda fun. 
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Jul 19, 2015 03:10
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Apraxin posted:Yeah, it's subtle enough that I don't think I'd have caught it if I hadn't had a 'wait what if...' thought before I reread and deliberately kept track of all the age/date references, but: Wow. Yeah, I managed to miss that. And as of Price of Valour, Marcus still believes Colonel Ihrenglass is a man, so he has no reason to suspect any connection there. Fascinating. It does seem like something that's unlikely to be coincidence, in this context... Play posted:I DID, however, catch the idea that Sothe was the killer of Marcus' family. Perhaps this is how Winter's relationship to him will end up being revealed? Quinton fucked around with this message at 15:20 on Jul 19, 2015 |
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Jul 19, 2015 15:16
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Evil Fluffy posted:I'll agree that some of his stuff is pretty cringe-worthy at times (looking at you, last stretch of Shards of a Broken Crown with your literal zombie army and a puppetmaster angel 'dream' thing because so much stuff involving The Nameless One is awful (and later redefining of The Dread)) but overall the Riftwar books are decent-to-good and Shadow of a Dark Queen was The Dirty Dozen: Riftwar Edition and worth the read. Betrayal at Krondor is also an awesome RPG for when it was made and is still kinda fun. JIMMY THE HAND might be the worst character in any book, ever
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Jul 19, 2015 20:14
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Has anyone read the Warworld/colonization series by Harry Turtledove? Are those books good?
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Jul 19, 2015 20:23
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Amberskin posted:Has anyone read the Warworld/colonization series by Harry Turtledove? Are those books good? Short answer: No. Longer answer: Woldwar is kind of amusing if you want to see WWII-armies-vs-aliens, but Colonization stretches the premise to the breaking point. Correct answer: Turtledove is never good.
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Jul 19, 2015 21:41
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Marshal Radisic posted:Short answer: No.
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Jul 19, 2015 22:04
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Aurora talk: That has to be one of the rare books that seems to profoundly temper expectations on space travel even in the distant future. Balancing that, the idea of morally condemning generation ships, and exploring two coming of age tales along with Ship deconstructing narrative devises was thrilling. Hell of a book.
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Jul 19, 2015 23:36
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Anybody able to give me a go/no-go on Sebastien de Castelle's The Greatcoats series, starting with Traitors Blade?
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Jul 20, 2015 00:24
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Ferret posted:Anybody able to give me a go/no-go on Sebastien de Castelle's The Greatcoats series, starting with Traitors Blade? Worth a try.
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Jul 20, 2015 00:29
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Ferret posted:Anybody able to give me a go/no-go on Sebastien de Castelle's The Greatcoats series, starting with Traitors Blade? loving loved it. Loved.
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Jul 20, 2015 00:30
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Ferret posted:Anybody able to give me a go/no-go on Sebastien de Castelle's The Greatcoats series, starting with Traitors Blade? Go -- well written and (almost entirely) lots of fun. But just be aware (and this doesn't spoil anything in particular, but just in case you or someone else wants to go in totally cold), be aware that despite the generally upbeat, swashbuckling tone both books feature an episode of pretty gratuitous, harrowing torture -- which didn't really spoil my enjoyment of the books, but just seems to be inconsistent with the tone of the rest of the books. And I guess not a one-off since it happens again in the second book).
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Jul 20, 2015 00:34
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A note about the above spoiler: It's not really that detailed/gratuitous in my opinion. IIRC it's all done with chemicals/drugs that induce pain and the like, it's not like he's spending 5 pages about somebody taking pliers to some poor motherfucker's nutsack or something.
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Jul 20, 2015 01:19
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holocaust bloopers posted:Aurora talk: That has to be one of the rare books that seems to profoundly temper expectations on space travel even in the distant future. Balancing that, the idea of morally condemning generation ships, and exploring two coming of age tales along with Ship deconstructing narrative devises was thrilling. Totally agree, Ship's d/evolving voice is the best part, it's magical.
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Jul 20, 2015 01:37
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thehomemaster posted:Totally agree, Ship's d/evolving voice is the best part, it's magical. What I really appreciated is KSR wisely choosing not to ever follow up on the Iris group. He made it abundantly clear that their arc was essentially finished the moment they said their good byes to everyone flying back to Earth. They were happy to just get the chance to try and colonize Iris regardless of the outcome however distant it may be.
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Jul 20, 2015 02:20
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holocaust bloopers posted:What I really appreciated is KSR wisely choosing not to ever follow up on the Iris group. He made it abundantly clear that their arc was essentially finished the moment they said their good byes to everyone flying back to Earth. They were happy to just get the chance to try and colonize Iris regardless of the outcome however distant it may be. Yeah, this was the first KSR I out and out enjoyed and didn't feel like so much 'work' (a la the Mars Trilogy). What a great narrative arc. Probably will end up being my favorite Generation Ship story. thetechnoloser fucked around with this message at 02:25 on Jul 20, 2015 |
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Jul 20, 2015 02:22
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CaptainScraps posted:loving loved it. Loved. Yeah, it's been my favorite books I've read this year. Go go go.
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Jul 20, 2015 02:24
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thetechnoloser posted:Yeah, this was the first KSR I out and out enjoyed and didn't feel like so much 'work' (a la the Mars Trilogy). What a great narrative arc. Probably will end up being my favorite Generation Ship story. Speaking of, how does the Mars trilogy compare? This was my first KSR novel.
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Jul 20, 2015 02:26
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True, though the brief mention of no communication is eery! I actually felt the foreshadowing and hints dropped through the story were really well done, and the notion of exposition was played with expertly. I think this would make a better TV/mini series than the Mars trilogy. Opening scene: people living in the tundra, day to day life, cut to suiting up a kid for their initiation. Cut to kid having space/ship revealed, pull back to show enormity of ship. Cut to kid screaming. Beginning credits + music
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Jul 20, 2015 02:28
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holocaust bloopers posted:Speaking of, how does the Mars trilogy compare? This was my first KSR novel. My take? Mars Trilogy is fascinating if you're really into the scientific challenges that terraforming brings about. Also space elevators. There's lots of infodumping. It's a bit dry for my tastes. TBF, I haven't read it in a good many years.
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Jul 20, 2015 02:30
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Awesome, thanks all.
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Jul 20, 2015 02:35
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Ferret posted:Anybody able to give me a go/no-go on Sebastien de Castelle's The Greatcoats series, starting with Traitors Blade? Traitor's Blade was the best fantasy debut since The Lies of Locke Lamora, and Knight's Shadow did not suffer the sophomore slump that is so common in fantasy series (including Lynch).
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Jul 20, 2015 02:42
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thetechnoloser posted:My take? Mars Trilogy is fascinating if you're really into the scientific challenges that terraforming brings about. Also space elevators. There's lots of infodumping. It's a bit dry for my tastes. TBF, I haven't read it in a good many years. Cool. I picked up the first book on Amazon for 4 bucks.
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Jul 20, 2015 02:53
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holocaust bloopers posted:Speaking of, how does the Mars trilogy compare? This was my first KSR novel. It gets a lot of macro thing very right IMO, which made it an a-okay series in my book. If you're cool with some highly imaginative, though kinda esoteric dilemmas in terraforming, the morality of science, and both inter- and intraplanetary sovereignty, then you'll surely get over the serviceable plot & characterization.
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Jul 20, 2015 02:54
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I'd hardly call the plot/characters 'serviceable'. That's disingenuous.
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Jul 20, 2015 03:06
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To the IMO grander vision of its setting? I'd say that's in the eye of the beholder. But hey English is my second language so 
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Jul 20, 2015 03:10
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thetechnoloser posted:Yeah, this was the first KSR I out and out enjoyed and didn't feel like so much 'work' (a la the Mars Trilogy). What a great narrative arc. Probably will end up being my favorite Generation Ship story. Poppycock. Chasm City has hands down the best Generation Ship narrative.
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Jul 20, 2015 04:11
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holocaust bloopers posted:Speaking of, how does the Mars trilogy compare? This was my first KSR novel. Aurora is much better than Blue Mars. It isn't as good as Red and Green.
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Jul 20, 2015 04:13
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I just finished Alistair Reynold's Revelation Space and thoroughly enjoyed it, the characters of Dan and Ilya definite favorites, while the Fermi paradox stuff and detailed scenes still haunt me. I've wondering what I should read next since I'm definitely chomping at the bit for more stories in the universe. I've read the short story about Clavain leaving Mars and I know Redemption Ark follows his journey, so that's where I'm thinking of heading next but I have some questions. To note, I prefer reading stories in publish order, not in-universe chronology. So, at some point will we revisit characters from Revelation Space? Is Chasm City a must-read or can I skip it and go through Redemption Ark and Absolution Gap? Are there any short stories from earlier that would really make these all the better? As I said, I've read Great Wall of Mars so I'm just curious if there are others that would make a good prologue to Clavain's story or even an epilogue to Revelation Space.
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Jul 20, 2015 07:46
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gently caress Harry Turtledove
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Jul 20, 2015 08:07
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bloodychill posted:I just finished Alistair Reynold's Revelation Space and thoroughly enjoyed it, the characters of Dan and Ilya definite favorites, while the Fermi paradox stuff and detailed scenes still haunt me. I've wondering what I should read next since I'm definitely chomping at the bit for more stories in the universe. I've read the short story about Clavain leaving Mars and I know Redemption Ark follows his journey, so that's where I'm thinking of heading next but I have some questions. To note, I prefer reading stories in publish order, not in-universe chronology. Khouri, Volyova and Clavain are the major characters in Redemption Ark. Go for that one. Dan Sylveste doesn't really show up in a major way again. But there's a cameo later on I think. Chasm City is okay. People jerk off over it being the best one but I only really liked one of the three plot threads of that book. Edit: the short story Glacial stars Clavain, and is set in between Great Wall of Mars and Redemption Ark. Read the rest of the short stories whenever. Hedrigall fucked around with this message at 09:07 on Jul 20, 2015 |
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Jul 20, 2015 09:04
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Don't skip Chasm City. It's pretty divisive but a pretty crucial bit in Redemption Ark won't make sense unless you've read it. Plus it's the best book in the series.
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Jul 20, 2015 09:10
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Redemption Ark is the best in the series 
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Jul 20, 2015 09:39
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Mass drivers at dawn.
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Jul 20, 2015 09:42
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bloodychill posted:I just finished Alistair Reynold's Revelation Space and thoroughly enjoyed it, the characters of Dan and Ilya definite favorites, while the Fermi paradox stuff and detailed scenes still haunt me. I've wondering what I should read next since I'm definitely chomping at the bit for more stories in the universe. I've read the short story about Clavain leaving Mars and I know Redemption Ark follows his journey, so that's where I'm thinking of heading next but I have some questions. To note, I prefer reading stories in publish order, not in-universe chronology. Chasm city is a standalone novel. It contains some references to RS characters and a small cameo of one of the main ones at the end. It is a really good read, with good character development and one of the most thrilling descriptions of a generation ship travel. Go for it. Redemption Ark does not follow "The Great Wall of Mars". One of the main characters is Clavain, so there is some continuity. Redemption Ark is the continuation of Revelation Space, and with Absolution Gap forms the "Inhibitor trilogy".
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Jul 20, 2015 09:47
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Basically, if you're into the RS universe, you are going to want to read Chasm City at some point, so you might as well read everything in published order. Glacial is a direct continuation of Clavain and Co's story from Great Wall, so read that before Redemption Arc. It throws light on a very important character.
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Jul 20, 2015 10:13
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Ferret posted:Anybody able to give me a go/no-go on Sebastien de Castelle's The Greatcoats series, starting with Traitors Blade? Liked it a lot. But holy hell, the evil characters are really, really evil. No shades of grey there. But that's probably very intentional, since it feels very much like d'Artagnan and the Musketeers transported into a much, much more grimdark setting (the setting mind you, its very much tempered by humour and the hero characters). Decius fucked around with this message at 11:16 on Jul 20, 2015 |
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Jul 20, 2015 11:14
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Decius posted:Liked it a lot. But holy hell, the evil characters are really, really evil. No shades of grey there. But that's probably very intentional, since it feels very much like d'Artagnan and the Musketeers transported into a much, much more grimdark setting (the setting mind you, its very much tempered by humour and the hero characters). I was contemplating dropping it after book one because the villain was so cartoonishly moustache-twirly despite not having a moustache but I'm plowing through book two and still enjoying it so whatever. Maybe there's a place in my life for panto villains. I mean holy loving gently caress, (book one spoiler) you force your natural born daughter into menial servitude to build her character and this works out and your natural born daughter doesn't stick a knife in your guts in revenge? And then you pull the rug from under the girl who was raised as your daughter? A dramatically appropriate knife in the back is only way for that to shake out appropriately so maybe it'll happen in book two or three. Sulphagnist fucked around with this message at 14:15 on Jul 20, 2015 |
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Jul 20, 2015 14:13
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Antti posted:I mean holy loving gently caress, (book one spoiler) you force your natural born daughter into menial servitude to build her character and this works out and your natural born daughter doesn't stick a knife in your guts in revenge? And then you pull the rug from under the girl who was raised as your daughter? A dramatically appropriate knife in the back is only way for that to shake out appropriately so maybe it'll happen in book two or three. In this case the daughter is obviously being hidden in plain sight while still getting a first class education and experience and she is clearly is complicit in the entire scheme.
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Jul 20, 2015 15:39
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