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Finished the Ninefox Gambit (well, finished it last week). I see what others were getting at re: the abruptness of the climax. Though honestly this wasn't just a matter of pacing, or of the climax falling at an odd part of the narrative trajectory. Even prose-wise it felt like that sequence was written more hastily than the rest of the book. For whatever reason it just seemed like a glaring departure in what had previously been a slow, stately piece. You could say this was a deliberate means of depicting the shock of betrayal, but given that even the worst violence had previously been granted an aura of horrid grandeur I don't know that this fits. I got the impression that Lee might have intended a longer single volume, then hurriedly converted an act-break into an ending when he decided to make it a series.
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Aug 6, 2016 10:53
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johnsonrod posted:I'll second that. That book was just a random recommendation from goodreads and turned out to be one of the best books I've read in awhile. Check out his "The Tiger and the Wolf" as well. I like the "Shadows of the Apt" series too, but it got kinda long-winded.
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Aug 6, 2016 11:04
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PupsOfWar posted:Finished the Ninefox Gambit (well, finished it last week). the whole thing felt a little rough so the climax being a bit akilter didn't surprise me. i still liked it though. actually in a way i liked the ending sequence because the plot focused back down to events happening in a smooth temporal sequence, even if the events themselves were jarring.
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Aug 6, 2016 11:59
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Solitair posted:It's not even that I think Polansky is complete poo poo, but I read The Builders and it was just okay. I'll stop talking about this because bringing up other people's opinions to people who disagree is a bad habit I thought I'd broken. His Low Town trilogy is pretty good as variations of fantasy era Crime boss owning a lovely run-down broken Dishonored-clone city with various noirish elements and such. I thought it was pretty good and worth the read. I haven't read The Builders but I just finished Those Above which was ok. a lot of setup and it became a little more interesting at the end, and i almost put it down several times. I'll probably read the next two but I'm not really that enthusiastic about it. His book reviews do come off very goony (the masses! The pseudo intellectual hipster on the l-train! Dan brown is poo poo and so is anyone who likes him!) but he isn't entirely wrong--just very goony about it.
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Aug 6, 2016 18:27
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Holy gently caress, the second book by Graydon Saunders,A succession of bad days, is a slow start. 25% in and sofar they are only building a loving house by magic, which is tedious as hell. No wonder why he is self published. First book was ok, but mostly an attempt to write another version of Black Company. Admittedly some cool features but in severe need of editing.
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Aug 6, 2016 21:11
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Cardiac posted:Holy gently caress, the second book by Graydon Saunders,A succession of bad days, is a slow start. 25% in and sofar they are only building a loving house by magic, which is tedious as hell. No wonder why he is self published. Book three is even worse. Haven't been able to convince myself to get further than halfway through it. Maybe if Trump is elected president, I'll have reached a sufficient state of depression and forced apathy that I'll manage.
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Aug 6, 2016 22:16
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Velius posted:All three are good, but I'm probably least attached to the third one. I've literally just finished the trilogy, and I agree here. The books weren't particularly ashamed about being a vehicle for discussing all the weird consequences of Stack technology, but the first two seemed to weave them into the plot so much better. Aside from the major macguffin, book 3 felt like all those ideas were pushed to the side one we left New Hok, and the actual plot itself was a convoluted mess of factions and people just happening around Kovacs Like, a gene plague inspiring violent riots in your wake while an AI swarm assembles an army for unknown p purposes should have been some of the most viscerally terrifying stuff in the whole series, but instead it happens mostly offscreen. I'd put it alongside Prince of Nothing and Baru Cormorant - I'm reluctant to overly criticise it's handling of its themes, because it's such a delight to see those ideas attempted with such vigour.
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Aug 6, 2016 23:02
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Strom Cuzewon posted:I've literally just finished the trilogy, and I agree here. The books weren't particularly ashamed about being a vehicle for discussing all the weird consequences of Stack technology, but the first two seemed to weave them into the plot so much better. Aside from the major macguffin, book 3 felt like all those ideas were pushed to the side one we left New Hok, and the actual plot itself was a convoluted mess of factions and people just happening around Kovacs The AI swarm isn't unknown by the end of the book tho, it's The martian satellites trying to get rid of the people they've "uploaded" via angelfire by downloading them into weird broken down machines and computers. It's basically central to the plot.
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Aug 7, 2016 07:50
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Grimson posted:The AI swarm isn't unknown by the end of the book tho, it's The martian satellites trying to get rid of the people they've "uploaded" via angelfire by downloading them into weird broken down machines and computers. It's basically central to the plot. Yeah, which is revealed when a guy steps forward and says "this is what's going on". Which is a crap way to do plot. Edit: Less glibly, the actual plot is a pretty straightforward get the gang together for one last heist, and all the world changing events and conspiracies happen when Tak is looking the other way. The previous books did this too (AC is a straight up detective story, so it would be weird if it didn't have loads of offscreen shenanigans that our Hard Boiled Hero is trying to figure out) but BF feels like it has an even bigger disconnect between the action and the story it's trying to tell. Strom Cuzewon fucked around with this message at 09:19 on Aug 7, 2016 |
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Aug 7, 2016 09:09
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Just finished Dark Matter. The book gets really good the further you get, especially as Crouch starts really digging into the implications of having a machine that lets you travel an infinite multi-verse.
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Aug 7, 2016 17:20
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Finished up Moon Dance by J.R. Rain, and it was ok. Pretty much the definition of brain candy though. It's the opening of a series where a lady gets attacked and turned into a vamp, but still has a family and isn't eating people and running around all willy nilly being emo and poo poo. I thought it sounded interesting (plus hey, free on unlimited!) and gave it a shot. It's got romance, but no hardcore sex where vamps are banging and eating people. Basically I finished book one and I'm hoping that it doesn't Blake out in a few books. I was kinda annoyed that the husband went the "Ew" route after 6 years? of dealing with this poo poo, and became LIFETIME MOVIE HUSBAND WHO WANTS TO LEAVE AND WILL TAKE HER FAMILY blah blah blah but that's just kinda expected in the brain candy genre. Least it wasn't a 3 way "Oh but now I'm attracted to THIS man while married to THIS man and OH NO ANOTHER MANS! SO MANY PENII SO LITTLE TIME" sort of a situation. I'd recommend it if you just want something fluffy to read after you go through something hardcore like the Revanche series. It has good and bad moments, it's not exactly written supremely well, but hell, it's a book about a suburban mom vampire. Adjust your expectations accordingly. Next up, a book about not only cloning Jesus, but a RACE to be the FIRST to clone Jesus! MULTIPLE JESUSES (jesii?) CAUSE AMERICAN CAN'T HANDLE A JESUS GAP.
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Aug 7, 2016 17:57
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:
Mutual Assured Eschatological Doom (MAED)
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Aug 8, 2016 00:38
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Strom Cuzewon posted:I've literally just finished the trilogy, and I agree here. The books weren't particularly ashamed about being a vehicle for discussing all the weird consequences of Stack technology, but the first two seemed to weave them into the plot so much better. Aside from the major macguffin, book 3 felt like all those ideas were pushed to the side one we left New Hok, and the actual plot itself was a convoluted mess of factions and people just happening around Kovacs The third book is obviously about identity and such but it was way more about his version of, I don't know, anarchist socialism that he's been beating around the bush about for two books before it. There's a whole lot more political ideology it's wrestling with than the previous Kovacs books, and it's a lot more center to the plot - it reminded me of getting to Iron Council, in that way.
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Aug 8, 2016 02:15
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Man, what the hell. The next Rivers of London book got pushed back again, to January. Edit: no wait, September 2017. Boooo A Proper Uppercut fucked around with this message at 11:25 on Aug 8, 2016 |
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Aug 8, 2016 11:21
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A Proper Uppercut posted:Man, what the hell. The next Rivers of London book got pushed back again, to January. What the hell nooo.
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Aug 8, 2016 15:54
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A Proper Uppercut posted:Man, what the hell. The next Rivers of London book got pushed back again, to January. Brexit strikes again. Stross did the right thing in ending the Laundry timeline before the present day.
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Aug 8, 2016 17:20
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chrisoya posted:Brexit strikes again. Stross did the right thing in ending the Laundry timeline before the present day. I feel like he's been spending his time writing the comics and it's delayed the series itself Looks from his blog like there's a novella I hadnt heard about, "The Furthest Station".
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Aug 8, 2016 18:43
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Just got done with (and really enjoyed) Guns of Empire, the fourth Shadow Campaigns book. It feels like Wexler's been improving his writing and plotting with each book in the series; I barely noticed any of the writing ticks that would periodically break my immersion in the earlier books. Also, the blurb says this GoE 'raises the stakes', and holy hell that does not begin to describe what happens in this one.
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Aug 10, 2016 03:28
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xpost from CD's trailer thread https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwqSi_ToNPs They made an adaptation of Ted Chiang's "Story of Your Life". I know Ted Chiang's short stories are a thread favorite and rightfully so, so I'm pretty excited to see this. I look forward to seeing how they'll get the audience to wrap their head around the central ideas.
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Aug 10, 2016 08:12
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I had trouble wrapping my head around it and I read the actual story. That plus having to drum up a three-act structure with global stakes and subplots makes me a little worried because the focus of the story is so personal. It's probably going to be one of those "inspired by" ones.
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Aug 10, 2016 08:16
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Apparently the Doom novels are on kindle now. Not available everywhere - not in the UK, at least - but yes, really, those Doom novels. The Dafydd ab Hugh ones, with the Mormons and aliens and, according to Wikipedia, the IRS "revenue collection" strike force.
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Aug 10, 2016 11:20
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Apraxin posted:Just got done with (and really enjoyed) Guns of Empire, the fourth Shadow Campaigns book. It feels like Wexler's been improving his writing and plotting with each book in the series; I barely noticed any of the writing ticks that would periodically break my immersion in the earlier books. Also, the blurb says this GoE 'raises the stakes', and holy hell that does not begin to describe what happens in this one. It's funny, I've been waiting for this one all year and yet it still somehow managed to sneak up on me. Goes to show what a shitstorm the last couple of months have been, I guess. chrisoya posted:Apparently the Doom novels are on kindle now. Not available everywhere - not in the UK, at least - but yes, really, those Doom novels. The Dafydd ab Hugh ones, with the Mormons and aliens and, according to Wikipedia, the IRS "revenue collection" strike force. This sounds so crazy that I'm almost tempted to read them. Almost.
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Aug 10, 2016 14:07
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Autonomous Monster posted:
They've been a guilty pleasure for years, but I lost my paperbacks. Glad to hear they're in ebook format now, I'd never been able to track down a decent electronic copy. Don't read them.
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Aug 10, 2016 15:34
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mdemone posted:They've been a guilty pleasure for years, but I lost my paperbacks. Glad to hear they're in ebook format now, I'd never been able to track down a decent electronic copy. Then read them.
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Aug 10, 2016 16:07
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Rough Lobster posted:xpost from CD's trailer thread This is one of my favorite stories ever and I can't imagine how you would capture the essence of it in a AAA film. Non-linear storytelling is not one of Hollywood's fortes if you want mass appeal. I hope they have a cool scene talking about Fermat's Principle.
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Aug 10, 2016 16:32
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I bought Chiang's short story collection right after seeing that trailer. Finished Ninefox Gambit last night. Not exactly for me.
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Aug 10, 2016 17:13
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A friend recommended "The Long Journey to a Small, Angry Planet" by Becky Chambers. Sometimes his recommendations are on point, other times not. Has anyone read it? Good/Bad?
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Aug 10, 2016 17:41
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Phummus posted:A friend recommended "The Long Journey to a Small, Angry Planet" by Becky Chambers. Sometimes his recommendations are on point, other times not. Has anyone read it? Good/Bad? I loved it. I'd love more like it and I'm really looking for a Closed and Common Orbit. Don't expect a lot of conflict. It's definitely more about characters and their fun times in space than any real conflict. But it's relaxing and fun and I dug it.
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Aug 10, 2016 17:44
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CaptainScraps posted:I loved it. I'd love more like it and I'm really looking for a Closed and Common Orbit. This exactly. I know some people don't like it because there's no real conflict, but sometimes I'd rather read about some people doing some stuff and their relationships with one another.
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Aug 10, 2016 17:49
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I didn't like it because there was no narrative drive in it for me.
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Aug 10, 2016 17:56
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Didn't care for the book at all. I thought it was aggressively naive.
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Aug 10, 2016 18:09
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Just finished listening to the audiobook version of Dan Simmon's The Terror and I wasn't a big fan. It reminded me of some of the long whaling sections in Moby Dick, and it seemed like Simmons was more interested in sailing and historical minutia than creating a compelling story, though I can understand why people who are into the more historical aspects would love it. The audiobook was abridged too, I can't imagine reading the unabridged novel. Right now I'm listening to Oryx and Crake, which isn't exactly what I was expecting, but I'm still thoroughly enjoying so far. Trying to power through these audible books I got before I canceled my subscription before going back to good old fashioned reading.
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Aug 10, 2016 18:18
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So for all those who got really put off by Mark Lawerence's Prince of Thorns series, you might do yourself a favor by checking out his newer series The Red Queen's War, because it's got the polar opposite of Jorge Ancrath as protagonist - a coward, liar, and generally almost completely inept and ignorant narrator, who's funny as hell. Also the third novel came out recently. The novels are set in the same time period as the Jorge stuff and there are even a couple of crossovers (but they's mainly played straight-faced because the narrator's too dumb to realize who he's crossing, etc), but it's actually very funny a lot of the time, and it's got a suitably vast scope of adventure and politics and stuff as well. My favorite joke so far was the narrator encountering what is literally a holy hand grenade, and Taproot (my personal favorite character from the prince of thorns series) makes an appearance pretty early in the first book as well. But this new series definitely shows that Lawrence was very much making Jorge Ancrath an over-the-top unlikable grimdark character on purpose, and that he can switch gears easily between projects. I think the "I don't like getting angry - it makes me angry" line shines in an entirely different light, after how hilarious the Red Queen's War novels are most of the time. The narrator on the audible version is also excellent.
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Aug 10, 2016 18:39
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Nice recc, I have been erring over his books but he sounds good. New series next year too.
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Aug 10, 2016 20:20
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Holy poo poo the narrator just got hosed over by the Weyland and Yutani corporations in Liar's Key, I'm dying here from all the references and subtle or blatant jokes are slipped into this author's fantasy world - the protagonist being so hapless helps a lot. It's not even that this series isn't dark, it's just that the protagonist in this one doesn't casually rape and murder and esnd those loyal to him to their deaths - instead he gets sort of kidnapped by two vikings who're pretty much Asterix and Obelix. coyo7e fucked around with this message at 21:11 on Aug 10, 2016 |
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Aug 10, 2016 21:07
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the_homemaster posted:Nice recc, I have been erring over his books but he sounds good. New series next year too. I'd recommend them. I agree Red Queens War is definitely much better than Prince of Thorns, its funny as hell and really just a nice "The Hobbit" esque long adventure trilogy. You can really start with either because they're mostly independent (they occur concurrently). I'd maybe suggest starting with Prince of Thorns just because there are a few cameos and if you don't like it, then just move onto Red Queen. Thorns does get better about 1/2 way through the first book and definitely improves by the second book with just some of the writing and Jorg isn't really quite as much as a sociopathic piece of poo poo and does grow as a human.
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Aug 10, 2016 23:39
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bonds0097 posted:This is one of my favorite stories ever and I can't imagine how you would capture the essence of it in a AAA film. Non-linear storytelling is not one of Hollywood's fortes if you want mass appeal. I'm not sure I'd call it a "AAA" film. Doctor Strange and the new Star Wars will be released in the same month, I believe, and those are definitely what I'd consider to be AAA blockbuster types. I'm cautiously hopeful, if only for this reason: if they wanted to make a generic sci fi movie they wouldn't have adapted a Ted Chiang story to begin with. Plus I love first contact stories.
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Aug 11, 2016 01:56
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Rough Lobster posted:I'm not sure I'd call it a "AAA" film. Doctor Strange and the new Star Wars will be released in the same month, I believe, and those are definitely what I'd consider to be AAA blockbuster types. I'm cautiously hopeful, if only for this reason: if they wanted to make a generic sci fi movie they wouldn't have adapted a Ted Chiang story to begin with. Fair enough. I want to watch all those things. I guess I called it AAA on the strength of the case. Forrest Whitaker, yes. I mean, I'll be watching it no matter and I'm sure I'll enjoy it. Speaking of First Contact stories, can we get a loving terrifying as poo poo Blindsight movie please?
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Aug 11, 2016 02:16
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I'm looking forward to Arrival. I love the short story it's based on, and Contact is in my top 10 movies of all time so if this is anywhere near as riveting and thought-provoking as that I'll be happy. Does anyone remember that terrible Keanu Reeves remake of The Day The Earth Stood Still? Well it had a really good first half hour in which we watched a group of characters involved in first contact protocols. Then it went to poo poo when Keanu stepped out of the spaceship. I really wanted a full length movie of stuff like that first half hour, and now it looks like we're gonna get it! Hedrigall fucked around with this message at 02:29 on Aug 11, 2016 |
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Aug 11, 2016 02:27
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Xaris posted:I'd recommend them. I agree Red Queens War is definitely much better than Prince of Thorns, its funny as hell and really just a nice "The Hobbit" esque long adventure trilogy. There's a little more insinuation of HOW the world got to the way it was in PoT, but in all honesty there's better and more interesting worldbuilding in Prince of Fools... Yeah, we're all familiar with far-future fantasy by now, but in this world, WWIII tore holes in the fabric of reality and now the power of belief is slowly and inexorably leading toward the world and possible the multiverse being completely hosed - because if enough people believe in something long enough, or if someone believes in one thing long enough, then anything can happen.
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Aug 11, 2016 03:16
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