i get really upset when a book makes references to anything i don't understand or uses big words or fails in any way to spoon feed me like a babbling idiot child i have never read anything besides genre fiction
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# ? Aug 16, 2015 14:50 |
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# ? May 30, 2024 13:02 |
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End Of Worlds posted:i get really upset when a book makes references to anything i don't understand or uses big words or fails in any way to spoon feed me like a babbling idiot child Especially considering religious mythology is basically fantasy. Greek, Norse and Indian mythology is actually pretty cool fantasy when you think about it.
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# ? Aug 16, 2015 15:19 |
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Io9 has an exclusive excerpt from This Census Taker up on their site : http://io9.com/heres-a-first-look-at-china-mievilles-harrowing-new-nov-1724499907 They also have the synopsis : quote:In a remote house on a hilltop, a lonely boy witnesses a profoundly traumatic event. He tries - and fails - to flee. Left alone with his increasingly deranged parent, he dreams of safety, of joining the other children in the town below, of escape.
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# ? Aug 17, 2015 20:54 |
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The US publisher really needs a better cover designer.
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# ? Aug 17, 2015 23:36 |
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End Of Worlds posted:i get really upset when a book makes references to anything i don't understand or uses big words or fails in any way to spoon feed me like a babbling idiot child I personally found Don Quixote to be complete gibberish. Seems like every single word was some outside reference they didn't bother to explain.
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# ? Aug 18, 2015 01:43 |
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Hedrigall posted:The US publisher really needs a better cover designer. I'm buying the hardcover and taking the dust jacket off because everybody I know is going to notice that.
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# ? Aug 18, 2015 04:54 |
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Maybe that is exactly what it is supposed to look like.
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# ? Aug 19, 2015 14:46 |
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Looking forward to eight pages of intimate mechanical detail describing someone making love to Bellend Mountain
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# ? Aug 21, 2015 02:29 |
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BBC is going ahead with production for the 4-hour miniseries based on The City & the City! http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2015/the-city-and-the-city
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# ? Aug 30, 2015 05:18 |
I really want to see how they're going to pull off the whole premise of the book visually without looking completely stupid. I mean... careful yay?
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# ? Aug 30, 2015 10:14 |
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anilEhilated posted:I really want to see how they're going to pull off the whole premise of the book visually without looking completely stupid. I mean... careful yay? If they go with the reading where there's nothing supernatural at all and the citizens ignore each other like we ignore the homeless then it's... well still not easy actually. Looking forward to it.
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# ? Aug 30, 2015 16:21 |
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Dirty Frank posted:If they go with the reading where there's nothing supernatural at all and the citizens ignore each other like we ignore the homeless then it's... well still not easy actually. I'd like it to appear possibly supernatural at start, then it turns out it likely isn't. That shift in perspective I had while reading was one of my favorite things about the book and I'd hate for the show to miss out on that.
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# ? Aug 30, 2015 22:53 |
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I was never clear on Breach specifically. The words Mieville used to describe how he moved around seemed very purposefully supernatural, but that could all have easily been written from Borlu's newly-hosed perspective.
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# ? Sep 2, 2015 22:24 |
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So I just finished (and loved) Iron Council, meaning I've finished the Bas-Lag trilogy completely now. Where do I go with Miéville from here? The only other book of his I've read (and also loved) was London's Overthrow, and I own the essay collection Red Planets.
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# ? Sep 16, 2015 20:35 |
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Gertrude Perkins posted:So I just finished (and loved) Iron Council, meaning I've finished the Bas-Lag trilogy completely now. Where do I go with Miéville from here? The only other book of his I've read (and also loved) was London's Overthrow, and I own the essay collection Red Planets. I would go with either Railsea (because it has the same sort of fantastical setting, though with a slightly different tone) or Embassytown (It is science fiction, but it is another "big" book from him, that is comparable in quality to the bas-lag books)
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# ? Sep 16, 2015 20:46 |
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Where do you go from Iron Council? Guess it's time for favorites charts! 1. The Scar 2. Perdido Street Station 3. Kraken 4. Embassytown 5. 3 Moments in an Explosion 6. The City & The City 7. Iron Council 8. Railsea
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# ? Sep 16, 2015 21:37 |
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Ranking them is hard, because I think pretty much all of them are at worst still very solid books, but... 1. The City & the City 2. The Scar 3. Perdido Street Station 4. Embassytown 5. Kraken 6. Three Moments of an Explosion 7. Looking for Jake 8. Un Lun Dun 9. Railsea 10. King Rat 11. Iron Council
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# ? Sep 16, 2015 21:43 |
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1. Perdido Street station 2. Embassytown 3. Iron Council 4. The Scar 5. Railsea 6. The City and the City 7. Un Lun Dun 8. Three Moments of an Explosion 9. Looking for Jake 10. Kraken
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# ? Sep 16, 2015 22:13 |
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If you're interested, I ran a poll over at my blog where people voted for their 3 favourites: https://outtherebooks.wordpress.com/2015/08/09/poll-choose-your-3-favourite-china-mieville-books/ The top 5 have consistently been PSS, The Scar, TC&TC, Embassytown, and Iron Council.
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# ? Sep 17, 2015 01:08 |
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Hedrigall posted:If you're interested, I ran a poll over at my blog where people voted for their 3 favourites: https://outtherebooks.wordpress.com/2015/08/09/poll-choose-your-3-favourite-china-mieville-books/ PSS, The Scar, and Iron Council should really just count as one, to give a more honest approximation of the other novels he's written. Also if you don't like Krakren then I have a different opinion than you. And I am subtly indicating that your opinion is wrong.
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# ? Sep 17, 2015 06:16 |
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People really like Three Moments more than Looking for Jake??? I loved Säcken and The Dowager of Bees don't get me wrong but Looking for Jake owned bones, guys.
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# ? Sep 17, 2015 13:18 |
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Xiahou Dun posted:People really like Three Moments more than Looking for Jake??? For some reason Looking for Jake is really forgettable to me, i have read it twice but most of the stories just don't stick out.
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# ? Sep 17, 2015 13:38 |
Oasx posted:For some reason Looking for Jake is really forgettable to me, i have read it twice but most of the stories just don't stick out.
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# ? Sep 17, 2015 14:12 |
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Huh. Maybe I'm weird then. I loved Foundations, The Ball Room, Familiar, Details, The Tain, etc. Even that weird Christmas one.
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# ? Sep 17, 2015 14:22 |
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I still think it is a good book, apart from Kraken i haven't read anything from Mieville that isn't good, i just think most of his other work is better.
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# ? Sep 17, 2015 14:26 |
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Kraken is the only thing by CM that I haven't read because I hear it's so terrible. Why is it so bad?
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# ? Sep 17, 2015 17:08 |
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Transistor Rhythm posted:Kraken is the only thing by CM that I haven't read because I hear it's so terrible. Why is it so bad? I really liked it, but I remember when it came out it got criticized because it's fairly fluffy and light. It's been a few years since I've read it but if I'm remembering it correctly it's really more of a fun comedic adventure story than his normal stuff. It doesn't have the unsettling creepy vibe most of his books have, and there isn't really a strong underlying social message. If you think you won't get annoyed at stuff like Chaos Nazis and weird Star Trek shut-in ghosts, give it a shot.
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# ? Sep 17, 2015 17:37 |
Transistor Rhythm posted:Kraken is the only thing by CM that I haven't read because I hear it's so terrible. Why is it so bad? King Rat is the terrible one.
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# ? Sep 17, 2015 17:43 |
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It's not BAD it's just not really in line with his other books in terms of literary merit, or gravitas. It almost reads like a mashup of neil gaiman and terry pratchett.
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# ? Sep 17, 2015 19:31 |
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Kraken was a decent book, i just really didn't like it.
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# ? Sep 17, 2015 19:34 |
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anilEhilated posted:It's not. It is way more relaxed and less serious than his other books and generally a much more grounded urban fantasy. King Rat is legit pretty bad.
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# ? Sep 17, 2015 23:02 |
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Embassytown Iron Council The first 1/3 of Perdido Street Station Everything Else ... the last 2/3s of Perdido Street Station Kraken I haven't read King Rat, Un Lun Dun, or The City & The City, though. e: Kraken is terrible because it's indistinguishable from a Neil Gaiman novel. I can forgive Neil Gaiman for being Neil Gaiman, I can't forgive it in someone who can actually write.
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# ? Sep 18, 2015 01:36 |
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Aerox posted:Ranking them is hard, because I think pretty much all of them are at worst still very solid books, but... This is my list too except I haven't read numbers 6 to 10. TC & TC is still my fav!
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# ? Sep 18, 2015 04:53 |
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I'm a bit of a rebel, I guess, judging by the prior responses. 1) Embassytown 2) Perdido Street Station 3) The Scar 4) Iron Council. 5) Railsea
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# ? Sep 18, 2015 05:03 |
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I don't think I've done mine recently in this thread. 1. The Scar 2. IC 3. Embassytown 4. PSS 5. Railsea 6. TC&TC 7. Three Moments 8. Kraken 9. LFJ 10. Un Lun Dun 11. King Rat Booooo anyone who puts Iron Council last. Booo, not cool! Hedrigall fucked around with this message at 06:32 on Sep 18, 2015 |
# ? Sep 18, 2015 06:30 |
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Hedrigall posted:Booooo anyone who puts Iron Council last. Booo, not cool! 1. IC 2. The Scar 3. Dial H (17 issues it sure counts) 4. PSS 5. Kraken 6. TC&TC (although thinking of it along the lines of a forced willful disassociation makes me want to re-read) Prob should get on Embassytown and Railsea. Also, Kraken was good because even though I love and adore Sandman and American Gods, Neverwhere is shite, and Kraken was a wilder, better version.
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# ? Sep 19, 2015 07:25 |
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SaviourX posted:3. Dial H (17 issues it sure counts) Hmm, on my list I'd slot Dial H in between Kraken and LFJ. It was fun, and it had its really clever moments, but just seemed a tiny bit shallow in its worldbuilding because it had to be shackled to all the DC crap. It really came into its own in the last 4-5 issues though, with all the reality hopping.
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# ? Sep 19, 2015 07:38 |
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I have Embassytown on order at my local bookshop, and I'm excited. Speaking of Dial H, I only have the first trade - is the second one also China's writing? Is it worth getting either way?
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# ? Sep 19, 2015 17:54 |
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All of Dial H was written by China, from go to whoa. The second trade is WAAAY better and more Miéville-esque.
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# ? Sep 20, 2015 00:28 |
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# ? May 30, 2024 13:02 |
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Notahippie posted:King Rat is legit pretty bad. King Rat was his first novel: he was very much finding his feet with it. I think all the references to jungle music date it beautifully
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# ? Sep 20, 2015 09:40 |