|
I didn't hate Crooked by Austin Grossman. Suffers from the same problem as his other two books - bunch of great ideas and a lot of mediocre writing. It's no Declare, that's for drat sure, but there were bits I really enjoyed. A lot of the comparatively throwaway world building like "the four parts of the legislative branch" and the bits about the Supreme Court was the most interesting stuff, honestly. But for three bucks on Kindle, I have done far worse.
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2016 22:31
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 31, 2024 04:39 |
|
|
ToxicFrog posted:
That's really oversimplifying the KJ Parker stuff. There's some where that's true (The Company, The Hammer), but it's definitely not the case for The Folding Knife (where Basso may be self-interested, but that self-interest works out well for other people. In the short term. As long as they aren't too close to him), Sharps, and to a lesser extent The Engineer Trilogy. The Engineer Trilogy is fun, too, since each book puts a different character in the same situation and goes through how they try to get out of it.
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2016 22:36
|
|
|
DACK FAYDEN posted:I didn't hate Crooked by Austin Grossman. Suffers from the same problem as his other two books - bunch of great ideas and a lot of mediocre writing. It's no Declare, that's for drat sure, but there were bits I really enjoyed. A lot of the comparatively throwaway world building like "the four parts of the legislative branch" and the bits about the Supreme Court was the most interesting stuff, honestly. But for three bucks on Kindle, I have done far worse. I'm in the same boat. The plot was meh and I didn't really feel like Nixon was actually Nixon, he didn't really capture the voice. The premise was the most interesting part and he was able to pull something worthwhile out of it, but if you're drawn in by the premise you're bound to be disappointed because he doesn't take enough advantage of it. A counterexample with a very similar subject matter would be Charles Stross's A Colder War which does way more with far fewer pages.
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2016 22:47
|
|
|
Antti posted:I'm in the same boat. The plot was meh and I didn't really feel like Nixon was actually Nixon, he didn't really capture the voice. The premise was the most interesting part and he was able to pull something worthwhile out of it, but if you're drawn in by the premise you're bound to be disappointed because he doesn't take enough advantage of it. A counterexample with a very similar subject matter would be Charles Stross's A Colder War which does way more with far fewer pages. I've always thought A Colder War was a remarkable display of technical craft. For me, it had a lot of other things, too. I grew up listening to endless hours of NPR broadcasts talking about Iran-Contra, Reagan and Ollie North, and that led straight into Saddam, plus all the Cold War doom and gloom on top of that. Extending the existential despair and paranoia of fear of nuclear war to being a form of cosmic horror made the Lovecraft angle one of those brilliant ideas that seems so obvious in hindsight. That story was the first thing I ever read by Stross, and as soon as I did I was loving sold.
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2016 23:13
|
|
|
Man, I'm having kind of a tough time deciding whether I like Binti or Perfect State better. They're both great novellas, but for very different reasons.
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2016 02:49
|
|
|
Kesper North posted:I've always thought A Colder War was a remarkable display of technical craft. For me, it had a lot of other things, too. I grew up listening to endless hours of NPR broadcasts talking about Iran-Contra, Reagan and Ollie North, and that led straight into Saddam, plus all the Cold War doom and gloom on top of that. Extending the existential despair and paranoia of fear of nuclear war to being a form of cosmic horror made the Lovecraft angle one of those brilliant ideas that seems so obvious in hindsight. That story was the first thing I ever read by Stross, and as soon as I did I was loving sold. I guess my problem is that Stross never really tops that story or even comes close in my opinion.
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2016 03:04
|
|
|
Ugly In The Morning posted:That's really oversimplifying the KJ Parker stuff. There's some where that's true (The Company, The Hammer), but it's definitely not the case for The Folding Knife (where Basso may be self-interested, but that self-interest works out well for other people. In the short term. As long as they aren't too close to him), Sharps, and to a lesser extent The Engineer Trilogy. The Engineer Trilogy is fun, too, since each book puts a different character in the same situation and goes through how they try to get out of it. That was definitely the case for The Engineer, since those are the books I based my description on; I talked afterwards (here and elsewhere) about everything I hated about it and had a bunch of people reply "yeah, that's characteristic of all of KJ Parker's work, you'll probably hate his other books just as much".
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2016 03:11
|
|
|
Buca di Bepis posted:I guess my problem is that Stross never really tops that story or even comes close in my opinion. Agreed. Missilegap is the story that gets mentioned in the same breath usually, but more because it has comparable themes than comparable quality, in my opinion. Colder War is one of my favourite stories, but everything else I've read from Stross has been terribly underwhelming.
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2016 07:30
|
|
|
Missile Gap didn't feel like it was going anywhere with its idea. Palimpsest is similar but I think it had a lot more going for it, even if I'm not sure how a longer version would work.
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2016 13:30
|
|
|
Am I the only one here who was disappointed with Slow Bullets?
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2016 13:37
|
|
|
Solitair posted:Am I the only one here who was disappointed with Slow Bullets? Reynolds can do far far worse.
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2016 15:31
|
|
|
Tomorrow is the eighth day of the sixth moon, Bridge of Birds fans, so if you're in China near a random piece of ancient wall you know what to do.
|
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2016 15:34
|
|
|
Speaking of the style of A Colder War, I would be remiss not to plug thread favourite GeneralBattuta's short Testimony Before an Emergency Session of The Naval Cephalopod Command. I just finished The Fifth Season and while the ending is not terribly satisfying because everything has to be a trilogy these days, it's a very good novel.
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2016 17:10
|
|
|
Antti posted:Speaking of the style of A Colder War, I would be remiss not to plug thread favourite GeneralBattuta's short Testimony Before an Emergency Session of The Naval Cephalopod Command. Yes! More like this, please, GB!
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2016 17:54
|
|
|
Antti posted:Speaking of the style of A Colder War, I would be remiss not to plug thread favourite GeneralBattuta's short Testimony Before an Emergency Session of The Naval Cephalopod Command. General Battuta posted:squid pro quo But seriously though, this was good.
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2016 19:18
|
|
|
Holy poo poo
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2016 19:35
|
|
|
fritz posted:Reynolds can do far far worse. Oh god, that's not good. My opinion on Slow Bullets has actually gone down since my last post, because I realized that the twist at the end makes no goddamn sense.
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2016 20:19
|
|
|
I'll just say I love this in order not to emptyquote.
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2016 20:36
|
|
|
Antti posted:Speaking of the style of A Colder War, I would be remiss not to plug thread favourite GeneralBattuta's short Testimony Before an Emergency Session of The Naval Cephalopod Command. 
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2016 20:55
|
|
|
Solitair posted:Oh god, that's not good. My opinion on Slow Bullets has actually gone down since my last post, because I realized that the twist at the end makes no goddamn sense. Most of his stuff's great, but he's put out a couple stinkers ('The Medusa Chronicles', 'Six Directions of Space', ' Century Rain').
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2016 21:05
|
|
|
Terminal world
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2016 21:38
|
|
|
Terminal World was a blah story but it had a really cool hidden mystery going on with regard to what planet they were on.
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2016 21:58
|
|
|
Finished Queen of the Night, the last book in Craig Schaefer's Revanche Cycle. I want to gift-wrap this fucker and send it to Patrick Rothfuss. In the time it took Rothfuss to NOT write one book, Schaefer started and finished a four-part epic, and stuck the landing. (When he wasn't busy doing two other series, and writing a novella and giving it away for free because he felt bad about making people wait a year for the next Faust book.) It is, in keeping with the rest of the series, a long string of brutal dick-punches wrapped up with a kinda touching ending. Also some shout-outs/hints about the future for the Faust/Black books: This was already set up in book three, but it's all but confirmed that Nessa and Mari are going to be showing up in the modern continuity, either appearing as characters in the Faust/Black books or getting their own series. They are definitely "the witch and her knight" who got mentioned in Killing Floor Blues. I'm down with this, they're fun characters. Also, one of the Sisters of the Noose is heavily implied to be a weirdly humbled and even-more-mutated Lauren Carmichael. And as far as the ending chapters go... "It hurts less when you don't see it coming." Oh, gently caress you, Schafer. In the most loving, buckaroo way, gently caress you.
|
|
#
?
Jul 11, 2016 02:44
|
|
|
StonecutterJoe posted:Finished Queen of the Night, the last book in Craig Schaefer's Revanche Cycle. I want to gift-wrap this fucker and send it to Patrick Rothfuss. In the time it took Rothfuss to NOT write one book, Schaefer started and finished a four-part epic, and stuck the landing. (When he wasn't busy doing two other series, and writing a novella and giving it away for free because he felt bad about making people wait a year for the next Faust book.)
|
|
#
?
Jul 11, 2016 05:08
|
|
|
Antti posted:Speaking of the style of A Colder War, I would be remiss not to plug thread favourite GeneralBattuta's short Testimony Before an Emergency Session of The Naval Cephalopod Command. I like to pretend the narrator is Peter Watts. Edit: Also, jesus, the last Revanche book is already out? What the gently caress, Schaefer, you're making people look bad.
|
|
#
?
Jul 11, 2016 05:13
|
|
|
StonecutterJoe posted:Finished Queen of the Night, the last book in Craig Schaefer's Revanche Cycle, which he started and then finished in maybe two years tops Craig Schaefer is the Grey Hunter of books.
|
|
#
?
Jul 11, 2016 08:18
|
|
|
Hey folks, looking for an audiobook recommendation for the gym again - need something light, page-turny and not big on romance/sex scenes. Last thing I tried was Consider Phlebas and I gave up on that around chapter seven, just felt slow and meandering and frankly boring. Any ideas? The caveat is that I've already read most of the thread's usual favorites so obscure recommendations are better - except they'd have to be available in audio so nothing too obscure. Pain in the rear end, I know. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 10:36 on Jul 11, 2016 |
|
#
?
Jul 11, 2016 10:33
|
|
|
Antti posted:Speaking of the style of A Colder War, I would be remiss not to plug thread favourite GeneralBattuta's short Testimony Before an Emergency Session of The Naval Cephalopod Command. Battuta, that is brilliant!
|
|
#
?
Jul 11, 2016 10:40
|
|
|
anilEhilated posted:Hey folks, looking for an audiobook recommendation for the gym again - need something light, page-turny and not big on romance/sex scenes. Last thing I tried was Consider Phlebas and I gave up on that around chapter seven, just felt slow and meandering and frankly boring. Any ideas? How about Stephen R. Donaldson's Lord Fouls Bane? There's a little sex but no romance at all, and it's from the seventies so maybe you haven't read it yet.
|
|
#
?
Jul 11, 2016 13:50
|
|
|
Velius posted:How about Stephen R. Donaldson's Lord Fouls Bane? There's a little sex but no romance at all, and it's from the seventies so maybe you haven't read it yet. That sure is one way of describing it.
|
|
#
?
Jul 11, 2016 14:05
|
|
|
I'm... not a fan of that series. I don't mind the protagonist but I find Donaldson's fantasy hopelessly unoriginal and boring; if I haven't managed to finish that book in text, it probably wouldn't fare better as audio. Thanks for suggestion, though.
|
|
#
?
Jul 11, 2016 15:02
|
|
|
anilEhilated posted:Hey folks, looking for an audiobook recommendation for the gym again - need something light, page-turny and not big on romance/sex scenes. Last thing I tried was Consider Phlebas and I gave up on that around chapter seven, just felt slow and meandering and frankly boring. Any ideas? The Cycle of Arawn by Edward W. Robertson is a decent fantasy with no sex scenes. It's also 65 hours for 1 audible credit. Worth it.
|
|
#
?
Jul 11, 2016 18:11
|
|
|
anilEhilated posted:I'm... not a fan of that series. I don't mind the protagonist but I find Donaldson's fantasy hopelessly unoriginal and boring; if I haven't managed to finish that book in text, it probably wouldn't fare better as audio. Thanks for suggestion, though. You realize that LFB is nearly 40 years old, right? The perception that older fantasy is unoriginal frequently comes from reading new stuff that does the same things, then reading the older stuff. Some people think LotR is boring and unoriginal for much the same reason.
|
|
#
?
Jul 11, 2016 20:42
|
|
|
Corvinus posted:You realize that LFB is nearly 40 years old, right? The perception that older fantasy is unoriginal frequently comes from reading new stuff that does the same things, then reading the older stuff. Some people think LotR is boring and unoriginal for much the same reason.
|
|
#
?
Jul 11, 2016 21:05
|
|
|
Doing my daily check on Kindle Daily Deal, I noticed that Perdido Street Station by China Mieville is on sale today for $1.99. Having never read anything by him before, this would be a good starting point, right?
|
|
#
?
Jul 11, 2016 22:16
|
|
|
Fart of Presto posted:Doing my daily check on Kindle Daily Deal, I noticed that Perdido Street Station by China Mieville is on sale today for $1.99. It was an amazing starting point for me! anilEhilated posted:Hey folks, looking for an audiobook recommendation for the gym again - need something light, page-turny and not big on romance/sex scenes. Last thing I tried was Consider Phlebas and I gave up on that around chapter seven, just felt slow and meandering and frankly boring. Any ideas? Well, I just finished The Aeronaut's Windlass and thought it was pretty good. It fills all the requirements you listed... except it's not obscure, since Jim Butcher wrote it and I think everyone here knows who he is. Solitair fucked around with this message at 22:24 on Jul 11, 2016 |
|
#
?
Jul 11, 2016 22:21
|
|
|
So I decided to start reading Pratchett in publication order. Finished Color of Magic last night. God drat, for a first effort, the amount of imagination that man has is incredible. I also thought he did a very, very good job of actually describing these ridiculous things, something I've had trouble with with other authors.
|
|
#
?
Jul 11, 2016 23:15
|
|
|
A Proper Uppercut posted:So I decided to start reading Pratchett in publication order. Finished Color of Magic last night. God drat, for a first effort, the amount of imagination that man has is incredible. I loved, loved that book. The next one was ok, and then it all went rapidly downhill for me.
|
|
#
?
Jul 11, 2016 23:52
|
|
|
A Proper Uppercut posted:So I decided to start reading Pratchett in publication order. Finished Color of Magic last night. God drat, for a first effort, the amount of imagination that man has is incredible.
|
|
#
?
Jul 11, 2016 23:52
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 31, 2024 04:39 |
|
|
mcustic posted:I loved, loved that book. The next one was ok, and then it all went rapidly downhill for me. How come? You're literally the first person I've seen who thinks this. Edit: I just had my exposure to Catherynne Valente, and I want to high five everyone who recommended her because "Planet Lions" is loving awesome. You guys should read it. Solitair fucked around with this message at 00:18 on Jul 12, 2016 |
|
#
?
Jul 12, 2016 00:04
|
|