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At this point I'm pot committed. I liked the first three. The fourth was a warning sign. Then it was the sudden time jump, and I didn't enjoy either of the next two, but I told myself it would get better. The 6th one is when he started exploring alternate POVs, and that was just horrendous. It made me believe that Hearne has never interacted with a human woman before. Seven and eight, though, it seems obvious he has no idea how to fill a book anymore, and is just telling boring side stories (in addition to a boring "main plot"). But there's only one more to go. So I'm going to finish it and hate it the whole time.
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May 31, 2016 21:32
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There's eight of them now? I stopped at like #4 and was already sick of it the book before but gave the series one more go. Which sucks because I actually did like a lot of the setting, just... not the main character, or the plot, or many of the side characters 
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Jun 1, 2016 14:18
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Just imagine if the same premise was written by a much better author.
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Jun 1, 2016 17:24
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Russad posted:Seven and eight, though, it seems obvious he has no idea how to fill a book anymore, and is just telling boring side stories (in addition to a boring "main plot"). That was my biggest complaint about the last book- it did 't read as an actual (bad) book, but instead, three separate {bad) novellas that weren't really even sort of interconnected until the last chapter, and even then sort of weakly.
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Jun 1, 2016 18:07
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So the message I'm getting here is "don't read the last one so I can keep somewhat fond memories of Owen".
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Jun 1, 2016 19:08
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I can understand not liking how much of an emphasis people around him place on Verus' willingness to go full murder when he's in self-defense mode, but it does set the series apart as one where actions have consequences and people judge you based on what you do even if you feel you have a good reason. Self-defense not being a blanket excuse to do horrible things is somewhat rare in media. That said I'm really unhappy with the ending of the just-released book, because it feels like something that could and probably should have happened a while ago, and delaying it this long doesn't really make sense. It also goes full Butcher/Changes mode in a way that felt more like a rip-off than an homage. Even though Verus has always had a strong link to Dresden it had really come into its own in the later books and I was sad to see it go straight back to the well like that. I'm really curious to see what happens in the next one, at least.
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Jun 1, 2016 22:27
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Even when Verus echoes Dresden's beats the dance is very different, so I'm pretty okay with it.
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Jun 2, 2016 00:10
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The UK Kindle version of Stiletto appears to have come out 2 weeks early.
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Jun 2, 2016 08:13
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aers posted:The UK Kindle version of Stiletto appears to have come out 2 weeks early. Yeah, it appeared on my Kindle today. Oddly enough it was a version that is no longer sold on Amazon Germany (and cheaper than what you can still buy), the pre-order two years or so ago really paid off in this case!
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Jun 2, 2016 13:00
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AllTerrineVehicle posted:There's eight of them now? I stopped at like #4 and was already sick of it the book before but gave the series one more go. Which sucks because I actually did like a lot of the setting, just... not the main character, or the plot, or many of the side characters So you like Arizona that's about all that's left?
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Jun 2, 2016 21:56
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Rygar201 posted:Even when Verus echoes Dresden's beats the dance is very different, so I'm pretty okay with it. The major thing with Verus (and I admit I'm a bit behind on him) is that while Verus constantly struggles to be the unassuming relatively nice guy he isn't and aside from the first book it isn't really willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that he is. (And the first book retroactively gets darkened by later books.) When Harry sets someone on fire with a quip the book is entirely in his favor. When Verus does it the response is "holy poo poo did you just murder someone and then laugh about it, what the gently caress is wrong with you?" And while Verus isn't as bad as he appears to be people the book is at least, he's also not as good as he likes to be, which I think is the only thing that keeps the Former Dark Wizard thing from being eyerolling. I appreciate that it gives actual meaningful consequences to his actions and that he doesn't get a good or easy solution to the fact he did horrible things and now just wants to be left alone. Too often fantasy authors go "Well, he WAS a shithead but he changed so it's okay now" as an excuse.
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Jun 2, 2016 22:02
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Ugh in Guild Wars the other day I got my rear end beaten by a Druid named Atticus Irondruid and this thread made me doubly bitter that it wasn't even a Druid named after a character from a good series of books. Thanks guys
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Jun 2, 2016 23:12
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Who killed sherlock holmes chapter one spoiler: LOL @ "The force has been with you"
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Jun 2, 2016 23:54
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Nickaroni posted:It gets better when you consider who Kemmler and the last Summer Knight were implied to be. Apart from the implications, it's still amusing to me Jim put literally this guy into his work and Games Workshop hasn't noticed yet. 
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Jun 3, 2016 09:56
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aers posted:The UK Kindle version of Stiletto appears to have come out 2 weeks early. I enjoyed it, I really hope we don't have to wait as long for the next one though. The crystal guy bits seemed a bit pointless though.
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Jun 4, 2016 15:51
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ImpAtom posted:The major thing with Verus (and I admit I'm a bit behind on him) is that while Verus constantly struggles to be the unassuming relatively nice guy he isn't and aside from the first book it isn't really willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that he is. (And the first book retroactively gets darkened by later books.) When Harry sets someone on fire with a quip the book is entirely in his favor. When Verus does it the response is "holy poo poo did you just murder someone and then laugh about it, what the gently caress is wrong with you?" The thing I like about Verus is that he never really does manage to escape his past. I don't think he's a bad guy, really. I think he was a hosed up teenager who got in over his head and did some dark poo poo, and found out after the fact that that dark poo poo was going to follow him around for the rest of his life. And so he continually finds himself put into places where he's only able to survive by getting his hands a little bit dirtier.
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Jun 5, 2016 09:54
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aers posted:The UK Kindle version of Stiletto appears to have come out 2 weeks early. Is this just a different cover or are they doing some of that "we think Americans are idiots" thing some translations do with the versions?
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Jun 5, 2016 10:21
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Blasphemeral posted:I finished World of Trouble last night. The final book in The Last Policeman trilogy. Holy poo poo, that trilogy is amazing. Just finished the first book and it was great.
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Jun 5, 2016 20:06
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I just finished An Unattractive Vampire last night, and I enjoyed it a lot. I am a sucker for snarky footnotes.
secular woods sex fucked around with this message at 17:01 on Jun 10, 2016 |
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Jun 10, 2016 12:11
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So, I now finished Who killed Sherlock Holmes. After reading it it seems like its doing a significant amount of setup for whatever is coming next, but it feel like it answered that many questions about the otherarching story.
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Jun 11, 2016 16:30
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Ika posted:So, I now finished Who killed Sherlock Holmes. After reading it it seems like its doing a significant amount of setup for whatever is coming next, but it feel like it answered that many questions about the otherarching story. Is it better than the previous one? I really enjoyed the first, but the bullshit with Gaiman really messed with the tone and soured me on the second. Glad to hear about the overarching story stuff though, it certainly has potential there.
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Jun 12, 2016 03:58
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mirthdefect posted:Is it better than the previous one? I really enjoyed the first, but the bullshit with Gaiman really messed with the tone and soured me on the second. Glad to hear about the overarching story stuff though, it certainly has potential there. I'd say its between the first and the second one, but I put aside a half finished iron druid book when this one arrived so maybe I just didn't have high expectations.
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Jun 12, 2016 20:57
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Can anyone recommend any good werewolf-related novels? I'm just getting burned out trying to search on Amazon and only finding Sexy Alpha Werewolf crap. I don't mind a bit of romance, but I'm not really into paranormal romance. There must be something out there... I've read the Pax Arcana series already, TIA!
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Jun 14, 2016 02:25
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newts posted:Can anyone recommend any good werewolf-related novels? I'm just getting burned out trying to search on Amazon and only finding Sexy Alpha Werewolf crap. I don't mind a bit of romance, but I'm not really into paranormal romance. There must be something out there... Animals by John Skipp and Craig Spector Pretty much any of Mike Oliveri's solo work (Deadliest of the Species is great, but OOP) These are horror books, mind you.
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Jun 14, 2016 02:27
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newts posted:Can anyone recommend any good werewolf-related novels? I'm just getting burned out trying to search on Amazon and only finding Sexy Alpha Werewolf crap. I don't mind a bit of romance, but I'm not really into paranormal romance. There must be something out there... Sharp Teeth, by Toby Barlow. It's people who transform into domesticated dogs instead of werewolves, try it out.
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Jun 14, 2016 03:47
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Comedy answer only serious: Howling Mad by Peter David.
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Jun 14, 2016 05:27
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newts posted:Can anyone recommend any good werewolf-related novels? I'm just getting burned out trying to search on Amazon and only finding Sexy Alpha Werewolf crap. I don't mind a bit of romance, but I'm not really into paranormal romance. There must be something out there... I really love the Kate Daniels books. It goes a bit more romance-y around book 7 or so, but killing poo poo/solving the mystery is always the main drive. It does have a sexy Alpha though. It's just a Werelion. Also gay Wererat-Alphas. The greatest boon is that most of the supernatural stuff isn't you typical Christian/Fae-stuff, but Slavic, Russian, Greek, Arabic, Jewish/Mesopotamian and a dash of Norse. The Mercy Thompson books are interesting too. I'm on my way through the first one at the moment, so I can't speak for all of the series, and how much it stays about Werewolves (since she's a Native American Coyote skinwalker, who was brought up by Werewolves), but currently it is front an center. Does include the sexy Alpha and the sexy son of an Alpha though. And badly researched German phrases.  Despite the covers both series aren't super romance-y, more adding some healthy doses of the genre into "normal" UF. Still, this year's Goodreads reading challenge looks like that of a Twentysomething woman... In other news... Finished Stiletto, and found it really good, although not quite as good as The Rook. It's noticeable, that the book was quite a struggle for O'Malley. It does miss a bit because we aren't in Myfanwy's mind very often, which always provided a lot of fun in The Rook, but the two added characters turn out very well after the initial disappointment, even if not quite as entertaining. Maybe a bit slow as a book overall, but that's something I actually enjoy, although two things seem a bit pointless/drawn out Crystal Guy and the whole thing in Scottland with the monsters in the church. I only guessed 1/3 of the main mystery, which is good enough for me in such a book. Also, I hope we will see more of Ernst von Suchtlen in the future, he's a pretty interesting secondary character. Decius fucked around with this message at 06:11 on Jun 14, 2016 |
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Jun 14, 2016 05:54
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The heroine's love interest in Ilona Andrews' Innkeeper Chronicles is a werewolf, where werewolves are genetically engineered super soldiers from a long dead world (it's a long story). The romance quotient is even less than it is in the Kate Daniels series. Dina is only a vanilla human, however, even if she does have godlike powers as long as she's on the grounds of her inn. The writing isn't quite as good as Pax Arcana, but I enjoyed it well enough.
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Jun 14, 2016 06:49
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Thanks for all the good recs! I think I've read some of these way back when. I know I started the Mercy Thompson series at some point, maybe I'll give it another try. I know I've read Howling Mad and Sharp Teeth - both interesting in different ways. Will search more. Maybe I'll post any good ones I find.
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Jun 14, 2016 14:26
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Managed to find some fairly good urban fiction on Kindle Unlimited. The Dark Cycle by Rachel Marks. First book is Darkness Brutal - https://smile.amazon.com/Darkness-B...darkness+brutal Horrible name aside, it shocked me how much I enjoyed it. quote:Aidan O’Linn’s childhood ended the night he saw a demon kill his mother and mark his sister, Ava, with Darkness. Since then, every three years the demons have returned to try to claim her. Living in the gritty, forgotten corners of Los Angeles, Aidan has managed to protect his sister, but he knows that even his powers to fight demons and speak dead languages won’t keep her safe for much longer. Uses Judeo-Christian mythology kinda like Sandman Slim. It's not paranormal romance. It's not chock full of memes. There's some good mysteries, there's not a ton of world building, and the characters don't frustrate me. Definitely gonna be one of the books I recommend to people on Kindle Unlimited.
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Jun 15, 2016 01:14
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I kind of miss the Thomas POV from The Rook, but so far Stilletto is still pretty good. I'm only up to the new body guard for the Grafter waifu being assigned though.
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Jun 15, 2016 14:47
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Just finished it today and yea it's good. The story itself and the new characters work well, though I miss the dossiers, they were pretty much just exposition but I enjoyed reading about random supernatural crap like that.
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Jun 15, 2016 18:02
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newts posted:Can anyone recommend any good werewolf-related novels? I'm just getting burned out trying to search on Amazon and only finding Sexy Alpha Werewolf crap. I don't mind a bit of romance, but I'm not really into paranormal romance. There must be something out there... I liked Wolf Hunt, if you're up for werewolf as antagonist rather than protagonist.
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Jun 15, 2016 18:18
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I liked the first 3 books of the "Ghosts and Magic" series that begins with this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KET4TR2 It reminds me of Dresden files in that it's urban magic, the protagonist gets himself in over his head, and he curses a lot. I think Dresden is a superior product but this helps fill the time waiting for the next book. Also thanks for letting me know that Stiletto is out!
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Jun 15, 2016 21:17
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Decius posted:I really love the Kate Daniels books. It goes a bit more romance-y around book 7 or so, but killing poo poo/solving the mystery is always the main drive. It does have a sexy Alpha though. It's just a Werelion. Also gay Wererat-Alphas. The greatest boon is that most of the supernatural stuff isn't you typical Christian/Fae-stuff, but Slavic, Russian, Greek, Arabic, Jewish/Mesopotamian and a dash of Norse. He should try the Alpha and Omega series in the Mercy Thompson universe. Werewolves are the central characters, and the romance is a part of the story but not in the "he thrust in to me like a velvet hammer" type.
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Jun 16, 2016 01:16
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torgeaux posted:He should try the Alpha and Omega series in the Mercy Thompson universe. Werewolves are the central characters, and the romance is a part of the story but not in the "he thrust in Thanks, I will try those  I should probably recommend a couple of things, but most of what I've read has already been mentioned over and over... So these are a little more obscure or at least haven't come up in this thread in the last few pages. Sunshine by Robin McKinley is less urban fantasy, but more of an alternative universe where humans and 'others' - vampires, weres, demons, etc - have been battling. Vampire novel with no sparkly vampires. It can be a little rambly, as the first person narration is kind of stream of consciousness, but I still enjoyed it. The Silent Strength of Stones by Nina Kiriki Hoffman is urban fantasy more in the style of Charles de Lint. This is a sweet coming of age story about a lonely kid who might be something special. Part of a series , but not really connected to the other books, so you don't need to worry about them. Perfect Circle by Sean Stewart is not really urban fantasy but does deal with ghosts and a murder mystery... Sort of. I enjoyed the writing quite a bit.
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Jun 16, 2016 02:43
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I finished Stilletto last night and while it was an enjoyable read, I'm a bit aggravated that Gestalt was used as any sort of plot device in this one. It was just lazy to fall back to in order to bring around the resolution of the story when literally any other character introduced in the book would have been better. I did like that the screamer was used as the method to defeat the Antagonists though.
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Jun 16, 2016 14:18
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torgeaux posted:"he thrust into me like a velvet hammer" type.  Never gonna read a werewolf book.
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Jun 16, 2016 14:50
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Wade Wilson posted:I finished Stilletto last night and while it was an enjoyable read, I'm a bit aggravated that Gestalt was used as any sort of plot device in this one. Yeah, that was a bit disappointing, especially since that was one part of the mystery I basically sniffed out the first time the blonde, female, much-too-friendly Pawn was described hanging around in the lobby. The description of the blond guy, vaguely familiar to Odette, knowing Myfanwy, clinched it. On the other hand I thought the Antagonist was either Frankenstein and his decedents (since he was mentioned as having been defeated somewhere in the Arctic by the Grafters), or the not so decreased co-founder/friend of Ernst. Decius fucked around with this message at 16:22 on Jun 16, 2016 |
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Jun 16, 2016 16:09
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Decius posted:Finished Stiletto, and found it really good, although not quite as good as The Rook. It's noticeable, that the book was quite a struggle for O'Malley. It does miss a bit because we aren't in Myfanwy's mind very often, which always provided a lot of fun in The Rook, but the two added characters turn out very well after the initial disappointment, even if not quite as entertaining. Maybe a bit slow as a book overall, but that's something I actually enjoy, although two things seem a bit pointless/drawn out Crystal Guy and the whole thing in Scottland with the monsters in the church. I only guessed 1/3 of the main mystery, which is good enough for me in such a book. I agree with this, and those two plot threads seemed to be worldbuilding exercises rather than directly relevant to the plot. I have the feeling we're going to be getting a lot more Checquy books.
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Jun 16, 2016 20:57
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