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freebooter posted:Granted. But compare Robinson's writing style: Yeah I agree with you, I mostly just meant to say that the barrier to entry for Aurora is the heaviness of the ideas and themes, not the science. It's far and away better written than The Martian, which is an incredibly amateurish but very fun novel.
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Oct 6, 2015 03:02
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freebooter posted:edit - it's been a long time since I read it but I think Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park is quite a good example of casual science fiction and the plot of the book differs significantly from the movie (in particular it has a very cool alternate ending) so it's still worth reading. This is what I was going to recommend. I can't remember if it was here or elsewhere, but I read a review of The Martian that made the claim that it's something of a spiritual successor to Crichton's book because it's science fiction for people that don't typically read science fiction, and I think I mostly agree with that view.
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Oct 6, 2015 03:47
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tiniestacorn posted:Y'all are not selling me on this book. I thought the first book was good, and his writing can be good with more interesting use of the language than many genre authors use. I would say only read the second if you really like the second. It wasn't awesome but it wasn't bad either. I remain intrigued and will probably read the third book whenever he gets around to writing it.
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Oct 6, 2015 04:38
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There are bad books and then there are books that goons don't like because they offend their delicate sensibilities.
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Oct 6, 2015 06:01
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I don't think your sensibilities need to be delicate to find Street Fighter Combo Sex Moves embarrassing to read about.
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Oct 6, 2015 06:12
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oTHi posted:The 5e 'official story reasons' killed off all remaining interest in Forgotten Realms for me. I miss Mystra, the godess who who pop in to bone Elminster in a giant floating bubble above a city. R.A. Salvatore is still writing about Drizzt, because that hasn't gotten old. His writing style still sucks.
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Oct 6, 2015 08:25
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I recently read Salvatores latest, the 'Archmage' book, because I was thinking of picking up the Out of the Abyss campaign for 5E. Man he really hasn't changed as a writer over the years has he. I see he's still doing the interludes between chapters where Drizzt waxes philosophical and they've grown even more unbearable. Also why is Cattie-Brie, the Ranger woman with the bow, now some sort of powerful wizard? Edit: Was curious enough to look it up. http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Catti-brie 
Deptfordx fucked around with this message at 11:58 on Oct 6, 2015 |
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Oct 6, 2015 11:54
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"Cattie-Brie" sounds like an extremely hairy cheese.
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Oct 6, 2015 12:15
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Nephzinho posted:Some thoughts on Mercy, spoilered but not actual spoilers: Sword was one of the most disappointing sequels I've ever read. Justice was pretty fun and the end sets up this galaxy-spanning civil war, then Sword drops that plot thread almost completely and focuses on drinking tea and dealing with labor issues on a backwater station. The little Amazon blurb for Sword makes it sound like it's about the station again; I don't think I can deal with another 300 pages of that. Should I bother with Mercy if I hated Sword?
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Oct 6, 2015 13:34
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I've got a question about ebooks that's tangentially related to this thread. One of my favorite books ever, a Hugo award winner from decades past, has never been available in Kindle format despite the fact that some of the author's other books, which I consider to be not nearly as good, have been around in Kindle format for quite a while. From time to time I'd check to see if this book popped up in the Kindle store but no luck. Then it just occurred to me to google around and I found the book in "myfavoritebook.epub" file form online. So I got it, and after an easy conversion, have it in both .epub and .mobi formats. It seems complete, nicely formatted and everything. I would gladly have paid good money for a ebook file of it, and I would have been quite happy to donate my own time and effort to scan and OCR a good copy of the book to help make an ebook out of it, by the way. My question is, where does an .epub file like this come from? Did someone actually do the scanning and work themselves, or actually type it all in? If it's out of print then there's no publisher with a digital file of the text, right?
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Oct 6, 2015 16:20
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From what little I've seen of bootleg ebooks, they're usually converted scans. If you're lucky someone ran a spellchecker over them afterwards. Before the ebook boom, scanning a book into a .pdf was the go-to way to do it; I seem to remember some Harry Potter books getting leaked this way, for example.
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Oct 6, 2015 16:27
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The Library at Mount Char ebook on US Amazon has been discounted to $6, this may not last long, so anyone who was interested in it don't wait to pick it up. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NRQRWAA Goons here generally liked it didn't they? The sample was interesting enough that I grabbed it, though my virtual pile of unread ebooks is large enough already 
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Oct 6, 2015 16:47
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It's divisive. Some people love it, some people hate it - if you browse the thread for a bit you'll find opinions on both.
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Oct 6, 2015 16:58
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I'm making my way through Ancillary Mercy and liking it a lot so far. I love the nod to the Culture (spoilers for those who want to go in blind) when the captain goes "Didn't these type of ships have long names? Like Ineluctable Ascendancy of Mind Unfolding or The Finite Contains the Infinite Contains the Finite?" and Breq notes that they're just names of fictional characters in famous melodramatic entertainments.
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Oct 6, 2015 20:41
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More of a nod to Harrison really, the centauri device had ships with names very similar to that. Banks and Alastair Reynolds both took the idea and put their own spins on it but those names sound more like something out of the centauri device then either culture or ultra ships.
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Oct 6, 2015 20:51
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The Southern Reach was a lot of fun. Definitely scratches that 'exploring unknown place' itch. Anyone got anything similar?
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Oct 7, 2015 05:16
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Deptfordx posted:I recently read Salvatores latest, the 'Archmage' book, because I was thinking of picking up the Out of the Abyss campaign for 5E. dms_girlfriend.txt
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Oct 7, 2015 05:21
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Deptfordx posted:I recently read Salvatores latest, the 'Archmage' book, because I was thinking of picking up the Out of the Abyss campaign for 5E.
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Oct 7, 2015 06:17
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Mars4523 posted:Girls can't shoot bows/swing swords/do anything remotely physical, don't be silly! 
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Oct 7, 2015 12:14
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Mars4523 posted:Girls can't shoot bows/swing swords/do anything remotely physical, don't be silly! D&D spellcaster are so much more powerful than the physical classes, I wouldn't actually see this as a form of sexism.
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Oct 7, 2015 12:59
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Bold Robot posted:Sword was one of the most disappointing sequels I've ever read. Justice was pretty fun and the end sets up this galaxy-spanning civil war, then Sword drops that plot thread almost completely and focuses on drinking tea and dealing with labor issues on a backwater station. The little Amazon blurb for Sword makes it sound like it's about the station again; I don't think I can deal with another 300 pages of that. Should I bother with Mercy if I hated Sword? If you care more about the larger-universe events than the people, then you'll probably find Mercy somewhat disappointing but I agree with the previous poster that said it has some bits that are like Sword and some bits that are like Justice so there's a bit of both in it.
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Oct 7, 2015 14:50
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I thought that Ancillary Mercy came out pretty well. Justice-y type situations in the Sword setting.
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Oct 7, 2015 19:18
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So... are the Dragaera books out of print? That Limyaael blogger the thread was talking about a while back was all over them, so I thought that, even though it's a premise I usually wouldn't get anywhere near, I might as well check it out. Doesn't look like the series has a digital release though, and physical copies are all secondhand, either shipping from the States or ludicrously expensive. Going to try dragging my carcass to an actual physical bookstore tomorrow, but am I likely to find anything? e: Aha! An omnibus edition. I'm making progress. e2: And there's a Kindle edition. Problem solved, at ease everyone. Now, are they any good? e3: Oh hell, it's the wrong one. 
KOGAHAZAN!! fucked around with this message at 21:58 on Oct 7, 2015 |
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Oct 7, 2015 21:38
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Autonomous Monster posted:Now, are they any good? Yes. Some of the best books in the genre if you like the whole thief/assassin thing.
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Oct 7, 2015 21:49
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Bold Robot posted:Sword was one of the most disappointing sequels I've ever read. Justice was pretty fun and the end sets up this galaxy-spanning civil war, then Sword drops that plot thread almost completely and focuses on drinking tea and dealing with labor issues on a backwater station. The little Amazon blurb for Sword makes it sound like it's about the station again; I don't think I can deal with another 300 pages of that. Should I bother with Mercy if I hated Sword? From spoiler-free context of people talking about it, and my memories of Justice and Sword, it sounds like Breq's going to try and live a relatively peaceful life on that backwater station, until the civil war kicks down the door and goes "HEY DID YOU FORGET ABOUT ME?" The way the second book was paced in relation to the first left me cold, but maybe Mercy will try and fix that, so after I'm done with my long reading queue I'll give it a shot.
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Oct 7, 2015 23:12
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Mars4523 posted:R.A. Salvatore is still writing about Drizzt, because that hasn't gotten old. His writing style still sucks. I tried to read Night of The Hunter as my first Salvatore. I thought everyone was under some sort of geas or mind control because of how murderous they were. No, that's just how they are. Not the best book to start with, but I'm not being compelled to go back.
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Oct 8, 2015 01:31
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Mars4523 posted:Girls can't shoot bows/swing swords/do anything remotely physical, don't be silly! Also Salvatore literally forgot the gender of the magical panther over the course of like 3 or 4 years, so I realized he was phoning it in back in like 1995 when I noticed him shift from "she" to "it" to "he" to "she" over the course of like 6 books and short stories. At least he's no longer taking author selfies in a black turtleneck and holding a claymores, half-obscured by shadow.. 
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Oct 8, 2015 02:32
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I have a soft spot for the Exile trilogy, and maybe the Icewind Dale trilogy, but the rest of his stuff is basically garbage (even Exile and Icewind Dale aren't especially good). There are far better D&D authors (for varying definitions of 'better').
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Oct 8, 2015 02:44
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Torrannor posted:D&D spellcaster are so much more powerful than the physical classes, I wouldn't actually see this as a form of sexism. Weren't the books about Drizzt originally written during 2nd edition too? Because 2nd edition high level magic users were basically gods if you didn't ambush them unprepared or have specific anti-magic classes/gear. Even then it was a toss-up and they might still have spells setup to counter your counter and really if they're a crazy powerful magic user by the time you counter the counter to your counter you're likely dead from a lethal dose of meteors or worse. At least Baldur's Gate let you subclass your paladins as inquisitors, aka the gently caress You And Your Magic subclass (and then you give them Carsomyr and just have someone memorize an occasional breach/piece magic spell).
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Oct 8, 2015 03:08
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Autonomous Monster posted:So... are the Dragaera books out of print? That Limyaael blogger the thread was talking about a while back was all over them, so I thought that, even though it's a premise I usually wouldn't get anywhere near, I might as well check it out. Doesn't look like the series has a digital release though, and physical copies are all secondhand, either shipping from the States or ludicrously expensive. Going to try dragging my carcass to an actual physical bookstore tomorrow, but am I likely to find anything? Dunno if this helps but all of the books are on audible if you care for that format. Edit: Looking on Amazon, seems like they have paperback omnibus editions that collect three books at a time and they are amazon prime. No Kindle though. bonds0097 fucked around with this message at 03:37 on Oct 8, 2015 |
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Oct 8, 2015 03:32
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Yep I think the first 10 or 12 Vlad Taltos books are all in omnibuses in some form. Also, great series that I would recommend very highly. Easy to read, great dialogue, tons of badass stuff. Hands down the best books about an assassin that I have ever read, they blow the Night Angel trilogy out of the water when it comes to that.
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Oct 8, 2015 04:03
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Looking for some politics and/or planning and/or intrigue books. Reading Goblin Emperor now and enjoying it. Also enjoy the bits of the various Eddings books where they were politicking for votes. Basically I don't really dig battle scenes and I'm looking for books that have a lot of court/church/whatever politics.
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Oct 8, 2015 04:21
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coyo7e posted:Catti-Brie is the creepiest girlfriend write-in character ever. She starts off as the underage girl next door, marries Drizzt's best friend, breaks up with that guy because he basically gets PTSD, then falls into the arms of good ol' Drizzt who's always been there as the nice guy shoulder to cry on and teacher. She also kind of dabbles (to at least 2nd-4th level) in becoming a fighter and maybe a rogue. I lost interest by that point though, and am entirely unsurprised that she's now a badass wizard because that's the only way a lot of fantasy writers seem to be able to treat a female character similar to a male one - and because Salvatore can't write anything about clerics and priests that remotely readable so there was only one class left for her to join until she becomes a nun.
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Oct 8, 2015 04:24
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EVGA Longoria posted:Looking for some politics and/or planning and/or intrigue books. Reading Goblin Emperor now and enjoying it. Also enjoy the bits of the various Eddings books where they were politicking for votes. Check out The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson. Goon author, current TBB Book of the Month. While there are a few small issues others have brought up when it was released a few weeks ago, it's a pretty solid book without much physical fighting. Just an accountant doing her accountant thing while plotting to bring down her government.
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Oct 8, 2015 04:50
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Traitor Baru is so good but I'm just reading slowly. I need to sit down with it for a few hours with no distractions. I just read the (44% through spoiler) duel scene between Tain Hu & Cattlson, which was excellent. Can't wait to see what happens next 
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Oct 8, 2015 05:00
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I finished Baru earlier today, and it was excellent. Just about my only complaint was that most of the characters, by the time they interact with Baru and we actually see them, are already fully developed. Secondary and supporting characters don't so much experience character development as they do spring fully formed from Zeus's head, so to speak. They're still compelling characters with real intentions and believable motivations, but it stood out to me especially in the context of Baru's growth and change during the course of the book.
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Oct 8, 2015 05:09
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ltr posted:Check out The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson. Goon author, current TBB Book of the Month. While there are a few small issues others have brought up when it was released a few weeks ago, it's a pretty solid book without much physical fighting. Just an accountant doing her accountant thing while plotting to bring down her government. Very good book, read it a few weeks ago I think? Time's a blur. II thought about it, I'd also be interested in any courtroom type things or military politics, and SciFi or Fantasy doesn't really matter to me, bring it all on.
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Oct 8, 2015 05:24
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Evil Fluffy posted:Weren't the books about Drizzt originally written during 2nd edition too? Because 2nd edition high level magic users were basically gods if you didn't ambush them unprepared or have specific anti-magic classes/gear. Even then it was a toss-up and they might still have spells setup to counter your counter and really if they're a crazy powerful magic user by the time you counter the counter to your counter you're likely dead from a lethal dose of meteors or worse.
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Oct 8, 2015 06:38
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EVGA Longoria posted:Looking for some politics and/or planning and/or intrigue books. Reading Goblin Emperor now and enjoying it. Also enjoy the bits of the various Eddings books where they were politicking for votes. CJ Cherryh tends to fit this - Downbelow Station in particular. You might also enjoy Katherine Kurtz's Deryni books. There are battles here and there but the focus is much more on social and political forces.
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Oct 8, 2015 13:23
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EVGA Longoria posted:Looking for some politics and/or planning and/or intrigue books. Reading Goblin Emperor now and enjoying it. Also enjoy the bits of the various Eddings books where they were politicking for votes. Golden Witchbreed by Mary Gentle. Don't be fooled by the erroneous information about a sequel. There is no sequel. It does not exist. No. Definitely not.
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Oct 8, 2015 13:49
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