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Wankh vs Wannek
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Jan 27, 2016 15:07
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Darkrenown posted:I actually bought it under the impression that Baru's planet would be annexed by a space empire and she was going to end up as a sector governor or something. I am equal parts sad and happy that that didn't happen.
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Jan 27, 2016 15:19
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General Battuta posted:Also I just started The Folding Knife, my first KJ Parker. I assume everyone is going to continue to be as much of an rear end in a top hat as they are in the first fifty pages. KJP's whole deal is that the protagonists are monsters, and the supporting characters are well-meaning idiots who get used up, destroyed, and discarded by the protagonists.
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Jan 27, 2016 16:22
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I found KJ Parker much more enjoyable to read in short form. (His short story collection's called Academic Exercises. Get it, it's rad.) Less depressing and there's even a positive-ish ending or two.
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Jan 27, 2016 16:28
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anilEhilated posted:That's really what they're called in the original? Card wasn't ever to Britain, was he. I always thought that was entirely intentional.
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Jan 27, 2016 17:33
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I'm reading Parker's Sharps right now and I don't find it relentlessly depressing or bleak. Sure, the characters can be bastards and assholes, but Parker does a great job at interjecting enough endearing traits and dark humor for the majority of them that I like pretty much all of them. Granted, it's been a long time before this book that I've read anything else by Parker, so it could be different in his other works.
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Jan 27, 2016 17:39
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I haven't read that book but if it's anything like his other books they'll all suffer horrible fates in the end.
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Jan 27, 2016 18:09
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General Battuta posted:Tell me what hints you picked up on! I'm still hard at work on the sequel so if there's anything you really liked it might stir me to throw more narrative budget behind it. First off, the title! But really it was the mounting references to her tribadism, unexplored as it may be, as her "second worst sin." The first time it confused me a little, considering how horribly the Masquerade responds to that sort of "sin." The second or third time it started alarm bells jangling. The other one was the mention of the false escapes in Falcrest. I didn't register it at the first mention, but it sowed fertile ground for the other hints to lay in. Those are the hints I meant. Also the ending was stone cold. I am eagerly awaiting the next one. I am just hoping it doesn't go all GoT/Honor Harrington endless wait/endless series on us! edit: Darkrenown posted:I actually bought it under the impression that Baru's planet would be annexed by a space empire and she was going to end up as a sector governor or something. I had that same preconception! The book did slightly remind me of, and it's not an entirely accurate comparison but it's in my brain anyhow, of a book I read about 20 years ago. I cannot remember the title, but the plot as I recall it was about a young woman on a backward barbarian planet (possible post collapse of galactic empire or some such) who was the smartest person around. On the planet. By a lot. So she organized the conquest of the planet in order to flog industrial growth to the point of getting to space in the hopes of going somewhere where she could have a decent conversation. CaptainCrunch fucked around with this message at 20:27 on Jan 27, 2016 |
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Jan 27, 2016 20:18
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CaptainCrunch posted:The book did slightly remind me of, and it's not an entirely accurate comparison but it's in my brain anyhow, of a book I read about 20 years ago. I cannot remember the title, but the plot as I recall it was about a young woman on a backward barbarian planet (possible post collapse of galactic empire or some such) who was the smartest person around. On the planet. By a lot. So she organized the conquest of the planet in order to flog industrial growth to the point of getting to space in the hopes of going somewhere where she could have a decent conversation. ...I want to read this book.
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Jan 27, 2016 23:39
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Combed Thunderclap posted:...I want to read this book. It's by Vernor Vinge but I forget the title.
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Jan 27, 2016 23:43
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:It's by Vernor Vinge but I forget the title. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatja_Grimm%27s_World
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Jan 27, 2016 23:46
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There's also a cool novella by Alastair Reynolds called "Minla's Flowers", about a guy who crashes his spacecraft on an idyllic pre-technology world, and his initial scans of the system show that the star is unstable and will go supernova in just 100 years. So he gives bits of technology and blueprints and so on to the society on the planet, telling them they have to fast-track their way to interstellar travel in the next 100 years... Then he goes into hibernation, waking up every 20 years to check on their progress. Of course, the society subsequently goes through all sorts of wars and other horrible events. The other main character is a young girl called Minla, who grows up to be the bitter and hateful leader of the society, and interacts with the main guy during his wakings. Anyway, the description of the other book reminded me of it.
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Jan 27, 2016 23:57
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That's the one!! Now I can find a copy and re-read it.
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Jan 28, 2016 00:16
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Hedrigall posted:There's also a cool novella by Alastair Reynolds called "Minla's Flowers", about a guy who crashes his spacecraft on an idyllic pre-technology world, and his initial scans of the system show that the star is unstable and will go supernova in just 100 years. It's been a while, but is this also sort of the thrust of Orson Card's book, about the dude who sleeps for hundreds of years and wakes up for one or two at a time? ...uh, the Worthing Saga or something? I remember reading that book in high school and absolutely loving it. I don't remember really anything from the plot, though. 
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Jan 28, 2016 03:49
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CaptainCrunch posted:First off, the title! But really it was the mounting references to her tribadism, unexplored as it may be, as her "second worst sin." The first time it confused me a little, considering how horribly the Masquerade responds to that sort of "sin." The second or third time it started alarm bells jangling. The other one was the mention of the false escapes in Falcrest. I didn't register it at the first mention, but it sowed fertile ground for the other hints to lay in. Those are the hints I meant. Also the ending was stone cold. He re-used this basic plot for a book in 2011, too. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Children_of_the_Sky
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Jan 28, 2016 10:25
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Drifter posted:It's been a while, but is this also sort of the thrust of Orson Card's book, about the dude who sleeps for hundreds of years and wakes up for one or two at a time? Yeah I remember the Worthing Saga, and it's a similar premise. The cool twist in that book was that based on how useful you were deemed to society, you got more time asleep. So a really good teacher would get something like one sleeping year for one waking year. A really good scientist might get two sleeping years for one waking year, and the empress was something like one waking day every ten years (so she basically seemed immortal). The whole system caused all the smartest and most useful people to not be participating in society enough, so it stagnated pretty badly.
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Jan 28, 2016 14:49
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holocaust bloopers posted:Could Baru spend a few pages laughing and playing with a puppy? Baru saves a puppy and plays with it for two pages. Then the puppy runs around to her right(?) side and is never mentioned in the book again. 
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Jan 28, 2016 20:00
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WarLocke posted:Baru saves a puppy and plays with it for two pages. lol
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Jan 28, 2016 20:18
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I'm making a note. E: I think I can seriously troll my editor by writing an email requesting that every other page in the layout be left blank
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Jan 28, 2016 20:37
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 The Reader is Baru
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Jan 28, 2016 21:05
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For max literary points, have the full novel all written up then just don't publish every other page
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Jan 28, 2016 21:39
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Strategic Tea posted:For max literary points, have the full novel all written up then just don't publish every other page This would be hilarious as a gimmick/collector's-edition-type special printing.
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Jan 28, 2016 21:48
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I haven't finished Baru yet but your oblique references made me remember the short story I read years ago! I'm not even angry, I've essentially spoiled myself.
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Jan 28, 2016 21:51
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Drifter posted:It's been a while, but is this also sort of the thrust of Orson Card's book, about the dude who sleeps for hundreds of years and wakes up for one or two at a time? Ok, now THIS is spurring a memory of a book I read back in the mid 80's. Space fighter pilot gets his ship blown through a wormhole or something by a massive detonation and crash-lands on an unknown planet. Finds primitive tribes in his area, gets set up as a god. Needs enough tech to repair his communication gear to send a distress beacon, wonders if the rome-like civilization far away can maybe fab him some decent glass for a telescope at least, sends a courier with a voice recorder containing instructions. Locals kill courier for the crime of "stealing the god's voice" and return the recorder to the pilot. He gives up on the locals and locks himself into his ship, which is buried at the crash site. Opens up his "so you've crash landed" kit which contains a suicide pill and several hibernation pills. He takes one to wait out a century or so to see if civilization advances enough to help him get rescued. He ends up doing this several times when the locals don't advance enough for him. Can't remember much after that, it was very pulpy though. Sorry to turn this into "what's that book."
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Jan 28, 2016 21:57
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Strategic Tea posted:For max literary points, have the full novel all written up then just don't publish every other page Oh for sure man, make sure you stick it to those 'literary' writers
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Jan 29, 2016 11:49
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Strategic Tea posted:For max literary points, have the full novel all written up then just don't publish every other page Sell the remaining pages to Martin Shkrelli.
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Jan 29, 2016 12:54
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Gene Wolfe would actually base a whole book around that concept and make it work
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Jan 29, 2016 13:26
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CaptainCrunch posted:Sorry to turn this into "what's that book." We have a dedicated thread for that where you might have more luck!
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Jan 29, 2016 16:55
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ToxicFrog posted:We have a dedicated thread for that where you might have more luck! Holy poo poo, nice! Thank you.
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Jan 29, 2016 20:23
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edit: never mind. didn't see the identify thread
Capsaicin fucked around with this message at 05:48 on Jan 30, 2016 |
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Jan 30, 2016 05:42
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General Battuta I read Morrigan in the Shadow and Please Undo This Hurt as a consequence of your blog post and they were both so, so good.
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Jan 30, 2016 09:25
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Finished City of Blades and I'm feeling... ambivalent about it. Most of it is a thoroughly enjoyable and engaging magical mystery but holy hell, does it poo poo the bed near the end. One of the villains' motivations is straight out of a comic book supervillain story (and is obvious as such the moment the character is introduced) and the other is so retarded it doesn't even get the insanity excuse. Then there's a magical macguffin that resolves the story in a way that most of what passes for deus ex machina in the genre nowadays seem natural. It's not all bad. Unlike City of Stairs it's got a thoroughly likeable protagonist - we really need more books about angry old ladies - and it deals with its pacing issues in a better way so you don't get a climactic battle in the middle of the book and everything after that seeming as an afterthought. I liked it a whole lot more before getting to the end though. I really feel Bennett improved the parts that were lacking in City of Stairs, sadly he also managed to miss out on a lot of what made it good. I definitely wouldn't say City of Blades is better but I'm not really sure it's worse, it just hits and misses different things.
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Jan 30, 2016 13:26
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anilEhilated posted:It's not all bad. Unlike City of Stairs it's got a thoroughly likeable protagonist - we really need more books about angry old ladies I'm in the middle of blitzing through Caliban's War since I need to return it on Monday and I find myself in agreement although Avasarala isn't really "angry."
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Jan 30, 2016 13:48
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I rather suspect Avasarala is the reason why people are willing to put up with Holden. Corey knows how to do likeable characters, they just... don't.
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Jan 30, 2016 13:54
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anilEhilated posted:I rather suspect Avasarala is the reason why people are willing to put up with Holden. Corey knows how to do likeable characters, they just... don't. Well, Bobby and Amos are great too, and Alex and Naomi aren't bad. But yeah, Holden's kind of a wanker.
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Jan 30, 2016 16:52
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anilEhilated posted:I rather suspect Avasarala is the reason why people are willing to put up with Holden. Corey knows how to do likeable characters, they just... don't. IMO those guys have a lot more trouble doing bad guys. With the exception of Murtry, all their baddies are just old-fashioned cartoonish moustached evil characters.
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Jan 30, 2016 17:43
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chrisoya posted:Graydon Saunders' The March North is a different take on military fantasy, and the sequel, A Succession of Bad Days, is about some young wizards being trained not to kill themselves and everyone around them. James Nicoll has some reviews, and even when I disagree with him, he's a pretty interesting reviewer. Do it...I loved these books. ...IIRC Graydon is Canadian, and the payment methods from Amazon etc. are more of a pain in the rear end than he wants to deal with. Book 3 went to copyedit sometime around October 2015 (expected release April 2016), with Book 4 basically complete. Author's blog here: http://dubiousprospects.blogspot.com/ Right, here's the bit about Kindle: quote:The bad news is that there won't be a Kindle edition; Amazon only cuts cheques when the sales-per-territory goes over $100 USD, and that's not likely to happen. (To get electronic funds transfer I need a bank account at a chartered bank, which is well over 100 CAD/annum.) So it's not even vaguely economically rational for me to put the book up on Amazon.
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Jan 30, 2016 17:43
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muscles like this? posted:If you like Stormlight you'll probably like his earlier Mistborn series. It takes place in a fantasy world 1000 years after the "Hero of the Ages" saved the world from a great disaster. I just finished the Mistborn series. I really enjoyed the first book and would recommend it to anyone but the second two - I only got into the final fifty pages where everything finally happened. The rest of it was such a struggle. Every other chapter a teenage romance, 'Oh I don't deserve him. He doesn't love me anymore.' 'Oh I don't deserve her. She doesn't love me anymore', at the consequence of with what felt like an agonisingly slow advance of the plot and page after page of the exact same character traits being pounded into me, along with the painstaking explanation of allomancy/feruchemistry over and over. I know about every coin pouch, every metalmind, every soothing every rioting. There are only so many "I steelpushed and then ironpulled the coin and after several attempts my enemies died by their dozens" that are actually enjoyable to read. The first book was so fast paced, every chapter brought a new challenge or event. But for the second two I think I would have enjoyed them almost as much purely through reading the epigraphs. It doesn't help that the blundering political intrigue of this series can not match up to Baru Cormorant. There, actions had consequences. In Mistborn, it feels like nobody actually acts on their moves. I think this is because the enemies in Mistborn are so one dimensional - whereas Baru fails and reminds herself that her opponents are alive and working against her as she works against them. There are plenty of cool bits though. The Kandra are very cool. And the idea behind the whole thing is enjoyable.
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Jan 30, 2016 20:02
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The second two Mistborn books should've been one book that's about 3/4 the length of the first one. The first book was a fun heist story, but Sanderson can't write intrigue or politics to save his loving life.
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Jan 30, 2016 22:23
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Today's history lesson: after publishing Involution Ocean, Bruce Sterling also published his Dungeons & Dragons rules for Samurai in a fanzine: http://playingattheworld.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/the-samurai-in-d-via-bruce-sterling.html#more (read the comments)
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Jan 31, 2016 23:10
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