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Quinton posted:You can pay a little extra ( $20) at or after purchase to *not* have ads on the device (Amazon refers to this "feature" as "Special Offers"). You can buy into no-ads after purchase as well. It's also possible to tinker with the Kindle file structure and eliminate them for free but I suppose the ethics of that are questionable. I haven't done either personally but if my Kindle keeps pushing ads for christian youth lit I might change my mind.
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Mar 15, 2016 14:23
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andrew smash posted:I haven't done either personally but if my Kindle keeps pushing ads for christian youth lit I might change my mind. It's just trying to save your soul, so it means well.
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Mar 15, 2016 16:35
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Kindle ads got me reading Matthew Swift so I don't mind them.
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Mar 15, 2016 17:17
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I don't mind them on my B&W small Kindle but the Kindle Fire ones were more obnoxious--I guess full-color makes a lot of difference. They are usually for total poo poo though. I've gotten ads for 'Alpha Billionaire's Wife' or something like that far more than I care to think about. I assume there's a way for authors or publishers or someone to buy more potential screen time but it's not interesting enough for me to investigate.
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Mar 15, 2016 19:02
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Cardiac posted:BTW, your book is marketed as The Traitor in the UK if I am not mistaken. That page tells me that this is frequently bought together with "A Darker Shade of Magic". Was there some publisher or reviewer deal to link those two? Why would they be bought together?
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Mar 15, 2016 19:22
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That's weird, A Darker Shade of Magic was a pretty unremarkable YA book. I bought it off of someone's recommendations and couldn't really get into it -- neither the setting nor the characters were really used to their fullest potential. If I remember right (it's been a year or so since I read the last one) it has some potential with four 'Londons', each associated with a different color corresponding to the type of magic they have, but instead of the story highlighting the cultural differences between each it's just 'Boring London, Cool London, Evil London, and Super Evil London'.
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Mar 15, 2016 19:43
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General Battuta posted:Huh! That's really cool. And no, I have no idea why certain books pop up and not others — I didn't even know Kindles had ads! I was sad that some of the garbage romance novels have literally thousands of reviews, and it only showed yours as having a few dozen.  andrew smash posted:You can buy into no-ads after purchase as well. It's also possible to tinker with the Kindle file structure and eliminate them for free but I suppose the ethics of that are questionable. I haven't done either personally but if my Kindle keeps pushing ads for christian youth lit I might change my mind. occamsnailfile posted:I don't mind them on my B&W small Kindle but the Kindle Fire ones were more obnoxious--I guess full-color makes a lot of difference. They are usually for total poo poo though. They usually are for "total poo poo" almost literally, which is why I was so shocked to see Battuta's book pop up.
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Mar 16, 2016 17:55
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I recently finished reading Childhood's End. I still need a hug. Talk about hopelessness. Started the audiobook for Revelation Space. I listened to House of Suns and liked that alot. RS has the same narrator, but feels so drawn out. Not sure if I'll make it through all 23+ hours of it. The transitions between which parts he's narrating are so subtle that if you're not 100% paying attention you could totally miss that you're in a different year in a different setting. I like to listen to audiobooks while I'm working out - any recs for a good, fast paced, action sci fi audiobook? edit: Was thinking about checking out some Neal Asher, or maybe listening to Starship Troopers. Altered Carbon? Fiendish Dr. Wu fucked around with this message at 22:31 on Mar 16, 2016 |
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Mar 16, 2016 22:22
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Fiendish Dr. Wu posted:I recently finished reading Childhood's End. I still need a hug. edit: also Germline (I think that was the first one?) which has a fun narrator POV.
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Mar 16, 2016 23:43
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coyo7e posted:Have you tried Red Rising yet? Or maybe Old Man's war? Poor Man's fight? They're all solid and fast-paced. Old man's war has been on my to-read most for some time. Good to hear it's that type of book. (Don't get me wrong I love elaborate ly detailed space operas, I just want something more fast paced) Thanks for the rec!
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Mar 17, 2016 01:48
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Fair warning, Red Rising does get kind of "Hunger Games"y at a point, before it progresses back into space battles and politicking. Poor Man's Fight is a great duo with Starship Troopers imho. Germline is Hunter S Thompson having a breakdown in a sci-fi vietnam warzone. Now I wanna read Germline again.
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Mar 17, 2016 04:46
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I'm just finishing Red Rising book 2 actually and it definitely went in the direction I wanted. I was afraid it would just be more hunger games but this time in a space academy. I can't help but feel like the number of plots and allegiances and broken allegiances and fake broken allegiances could have been streamlined though. How's the third (final?) book? Junkenstein fucked around with this message at 15:53 on Mar 17, 2016 |
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Mar 17, 2016 15:38
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I actually got Red Rising as a gift last year, but haven't read it yet because it sounded so Hunger Gamesy / Divergant-y. Good to hear it's not. May actually read it! Also, switched over to actually reading Revelation Space as opposed to just listening to the audiobook. It makes such a difference. drat this is a good story and cool world(s). Also pt 2: Got the audiobook to Old Man's War. It sounds awesome.
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Mar 17, 2016 16:03
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Red Rising is pretty drat Hunger Games but the other two books in the series aren't.
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Mar 17, 2016 17:11
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General Emergency posted:Red Rising is pretty drat Hunger Games but the other two books in the series aren't. That's awfully promising given that I just finished the first book and thought it was drat good. (Note: I've not read Hunger Games or really paid much attention to that whole genre of YA dystopian stuff yet.)
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Mar 17, 2016 19:21
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Junkenstein posted:I'm just finishing Red Rising book 2 ... It's readable but a major step down from the second book in my opinion.
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Mar 17, 2016 21:30
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Here's what I had to say about Germline when I read it:Darth Walrus posted:Gave Germline a go because of the buzz in this thread, and enjoyed it. It was indeed hella dark, but not unrelentingly so - there was (slightly dim, but present) light at the end of the tunnel, and a few moments of decency and humanity to shine the way. The protagonist's plot armour was pretty enormous, but got to the point where it felt like an intentional stylistic choice (not least because of the book's religious elements), and whilst the sexy, tragic all-female Jem'Hadar-alikes were a bit too anime for their own good, it wasn't enough to seriously break the book's tone.
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Mar 17, 2016 22:51
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Groke posted:That's awfully promising given that I just finished the first book and thought it was drat good. (Note: I've not read Hunger Games or really paid much attention to that whole genre of YA dystopian stuff yet.) You missed out, Hunger Games is great.
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Mar 17, 2016 23:57
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If you can get past the weird naming stuff the author did. PEETA IS A BAKER WHO MAKES BREAD! HAH! PITA! FLICKERMAN IS THE CELEBRITY ANNOUNCER WHO WEARS A SUIT WITH LIGHTS ON IT! HE FLICKERS! HAH! Etc.
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Mar 18, 2016 00:06
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less laughter posted:You missed out, Hunger Games is great. It's not as of the boks have an expiration date, I've heard enough good things about that series so I probably will read it at some point. (My own kids are a bit too young yet; well, #1 son is in the process of branching out from Horrid Henry to longer books like old Roald Dahl and recent David Walliams.)
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Mar 18, 2016 06:54
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Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator is some hosed up poo poo for a person of any age.
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Mar 18, 2016 07:02
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Hunger Games: Watch the movie, the books have terrible childrens prose anyway and the movie has Jennifer Lawrence But if you've read Lord of Flies and/or Battle Royale and understand that reality tv is bad, it doesn't offer that much
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Mar 18, 2016 07:13
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General Battuta posted:Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator is some hosed up poo poo for a person of any age. I always loved Roald Dahl, he's creatively morbid. (He also has a special status in Norway and is basically counted as one of ours although he was born and raised in Britain and wrote in English.)
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Mar 18, 2016 07:20
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I finally got around to reading Fool's Assassin after being massively disappointed by the rain wilds books. SUCH melodrama misery porn, but so goddamn good. The unexpected son thing is ludicrous by the end of the book though: Hunters: we're looking for a weird pale child who arrived a few years ago Everyone: we don't know anyone like that!  Fool: yo Fitz I'm looking for a pale unexpected child, I was definitely touching him when you stabbed me, and I know you didn't have any more children in my visions, so it sure would be UNEXPECTED for you to have one Fitz: We'd better go on a quest to find him!! P.S. I left my kid totally unprotected I know she's only mountain pale rather than white pale, and the gender is wrong, but for fucks sake Anyway these books own, read them if you like seeing people get utterly destroyed over and over again Prism Mirror Lens fucked around with this message at 08:56 on Mar 18, 2016 |
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Mar 18, 2016 08:52
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I keep getting Old Man's War and Forever War mixed up. I think I've the latter and not the former, but I can't remember.
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Mar 18, 2016 13:46
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I finished the Brilliance trilogy by Markus Sakey -- really fun page turning read about if autism meant superhero level powers and how that would affect history from the 80s and beyond. Like I said-- really fun page turner, well thought out for a thriller in that genre. Also just finished the United States of Japan which was a inspired by The Man in the High Castle, but set in California under Japanese rule after they invented Mecha and atomic torpedos as the A bomb analogue. Fun alternate history read with some very interesting cyberpunk and other tech elements that stemmed from "if Japan won the war and dictated tech" but I was promised giant robots and there weren't enough giants robots. It followed secret police and a censor in a gumshoe kinda thing.
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Mar 18, 2016 13:46
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A Proper Uppercut posted:I keep getting Old Man's War and Forever War mixed up. I think I've the latter and not the former, but I can't remember.
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Mar 18, 2016 13:57
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Groke posted:I always loved Roald Dahl, he's creatively morbid. (He also has a special status in Norway and is basically counted as one of ours although he was born and raised in Britain and wrote in English.) Haha yes. I'm reading The BFG to the kids for story time. It creeps them out so good. It's a fun book. chrisoya posted:One has old people loving, the other has space marines coming home to find that everyone's turned gay. They're both pretty good, but only one's a classic. Nice. I'm about to start on Old Man's War. I can only hope I chose wisely.
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Mar 18, 2016 14:51
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Fiendish Dr. Wu posted:Nice. I'm about to start on Old Man's War. I can only hope I chose wisely. I have bad news for you.... Old Man's War is fine, but isn't as memorable as The Forever War. Although Forever War is kind of transparent as a Vietnam allegory. Forever Peace also by Haldeman is pretty good and a bit more modern. It's not actually a sequel although I've seen it advertised as such.
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Mar 18, 2016 15:57
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I thought first half of Old Man's War was very memorable, but it might've been because it was one of the first space/military sf books I read. Might not be that great if you're familiar with sci-fi tropes..
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Mar 18, 2016 16:57
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chrisoya posted:One has old people loving, the other has space marines coming home to find that everyone's turned gay. They're both pretty good, but only one's a classic. Haha, okay it was definitely Forever War. I really enjoyed it. I think time dilation gives me a nerd boner. A Proper Uppercut fucked around with this message at 21:23 on Mar 18, 2016 |
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Mar 18, 2016 21:20
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xian posted:I finished the Brilliance trilogy by Markus Sakey -- really fun page turning read about if autism meant superhero level powers and how that would affect history from the 80s and beyond. Like I said-- really fun page turner, well thought out for a thriller in that genre. Seconding Brilliance. It was great.
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Mar 18, 2016 22:40
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The Three-Body Problem is today's Kindle deal in the UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/Three-Body-Problem-Cixin-Liu-ebook/dp/B00S8FCJCQ/
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Mar 19, 2016 01:35
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Oh. Apparently the last book in the Daniel Abraham Dagger and the Coin series is out. I enjoyed the earlier books, surprised this came out with so little notice. http://www.amazon.com/The-Spiders-War-Dagger-Coin-ebook/dp/B00QQQL830/ref=dp_kinw_strp_1
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Mar 19, 2016 02:14
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General Emergency posted:Red Rising is pretty drat Hunger Games but the other two books in the series aren't. I honestly do not know what it is about this series, I mean they are not high literature, they are far from the best books I have ever read, but they exerted some weird kind of addictive stranglehold on my mind and are even weirdly rereadable (I have a crazy memory for novels and cannot normally re-read them for at least a decade). Completely addictive page turners, I actually bought the third book on the day of release then burnt through the entire thing over the course of an evening.
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Mar 19, 2016 04:38
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Hey alpha nerds! Looking for some recommendations. I recently finished Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds and it was pretty sick, it pretty much gave me everything I could want from a book, other than gory action sequences. Since I enjoyed it so much I began reading his other stand-alone book Chasm City and it DOES have a bit more action but tends to drag somewhat. I'd also enjoy more worldly/alien and technical explanations (I get a boner when authors spend a page explaining how the gun firing does its thing  ).I absolutely adored The Quantum Thief(Jean le Flambeur series) books because of the incredibly detailed, visceral, quantum-rear end augmented post-mortal hi tech violence in it, and I've been looking for a book with a badass protagonist character.. getting into brutal fights.. kinda like Mieli in the mentioned series, ever since reading it. So yeah, looking for ultra hi-tech-quantum-augment-post-human brutality in sci fi form! If you could enlighten me I'll let you copy my shitposting Gogol used just now  read sf everyday edit: side note!! a month back or so i met a dude in a bar who also read sci fi and we hi fived like three times as we namedropped books to eachother. it was awesome, i've only met fantasy nerds before but this guy was serious... i think swedish viking genes make us naturally prefer fantasy or something.
AEMINAL fucked around with this message at 05:00 on Mar 19, 2016 |
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Mar 19, 2016 04:56
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AEMINAL posted:Hey alpha nerds! Looking for some recommendations. Hell yeah. TQT trilogy is one of my favorites. I've read it several times (including audiobooks for books 1 and 2 with Scott Brick narrating it). Although it's not as rear end-kicking as you asked for, I'll throw out a rec for House of Suns since you mentioned Alastair Reynolds. It was my first by him and I'm on Revelation Space right now. I really want more Jean le Flambeur in my life. Eagerly awaiting responses to your post. Do you use goodreads? I feel like following goons with good taste like yourself could be cool.
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Mar 19, 2016 05:14
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Hannu Rajaniemi's book of short stories is really good, don't know if you guys are onto that.
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Mar 19, 2016 05:17
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Patrat posted:I honestly do not know what it is about this series, I mean they are not high literature, they are far from the best books I have ever read, but they exerted some weird kind of addictive stranglehold on my mind and are even weirdly rereadable (I have a crazy memory for novels and cannot normally re-read them for at least a decade). Completely addictive page turners, I actually bought the third book on the day of release then burnt through the entire thing over the course of an evening. Battle Royale is nearly 20 years old at this point, and it's getting ridiculous how many YA novels (and movies) are pretty much "dystopian future, kids fight each other - they win. the end"
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Mar 19, 2016 06:39
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xian posted:Hannu Rajaniemi's book of short stories is really good, don't know if you guys are onto that. I still haven't finished quantum thief series because it's so Hardcore, but the short stories had same type of wild ideas in more accessible form, I really liked them Ken Liu also has new short story collection, I've read the hugo winners by him but I had no idea he's so profilic. It's 338 pages, and it's still just " selection", pretty eclectic mix of sci-fi, fantasy and Chinese folklore-based (or made up folklore, I don't know) stories mallamp fucked around with this message at 07:55 on Mar 19, 2016 |
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Mar 19, 2016 07:50
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