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Speaking of lady authors, I'm reading N.K. Jemisin's The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms and its pretty good. Its an interesting setting with all the captive gods running around and the casual use of magic.
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Sep 23, 2016 11:45
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Courtney Schaeffer posted the next installment of "Readers of the lost ARC", this time for the 90s : http://ladybusiness.dreamwidth.org/2016/09/19/readers-of-the-lost-arc-courtney-schafer-explores-the-1990s.html There are a couple of 'gustibus non est' choices but overall it's pretty solid.
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Sep 23, 2016 12:10
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fritz posted:Courtney Schaeffer posted the next installment of "Readers of the lost ARC", this time for the 90s : http://ladybusiness.dreamwidth.org/2016/09/19/readers-of-the-lost-arc-courtney-schafer-explores-the-1990s.html That Greg Bear fantasy book is great, or at least I remember it being great when I read it back in the day.
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Sep 23, 2016 13:05
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fritz posted:Courtney Schaeffer posted the next installment of "Readers of the lost ARC", this time for the 90s : http://ladybusiness.dreamwidth.org/2016/09/19/readers-of-the-lost-arc-courtney-schafer-explores-the-1990s.html The Janny Wurts series sounds pretty interesting. I might see if I can track the first book down.
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Sep 23, 2016 13:24
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cptn_dr posted:The Janny Wurts series sounds pretty interesting. I might see if I can track the first book down. I grabbed that, Star of the Guardians, and the first david sullivan book off barnes & noble for pretty cheap. I know Star of the Guardians is pretty worth it.
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Sep 23, 2016 13:40
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I bought The Dark Forest the week it came out, then decided to leave it until Death's End. Read it last week, and wow, that was really good! And now I'm ignoring Death's End in favour of Revenger. I should be more organised with my reading. For instance, I should actually read Janny Wurts, who I have heard a lot of praise for, instead of letting her sit under a pile of other books. (Revenger is cool so far, the tech feels very clunky and old, but I don't seem to have encountered the plot just yet.)
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Sep 23, 2016 13:50
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Just finished Dark Matter by Blake Crouch and I can say that although I thought I had everything figured out within the first couple chapters, I was wrong about a lot of my speculation as I read on. The book delves into a few philosophical ideas such as the multiverse theory and the meaning of personal identity without being too heavy-handed. I went in completely blind and all in all it was very entertaining and at its root a love story.
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Sep 23, 2016 14:41
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I really liked the last quarter or however much of the book when he really started to dig in to the stuff about how every time the main character travelled to another universe he continued to split into multiple choices. Usually books on this subject completely ignore that possibility.
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Sep 23, 2016 15:03
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My copy of Revenger comes in this week. My backlog grows.
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Sep 23, 2016 15:36
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Argh, I've got both Revenger and Death's End lying there seductively on my Kindle, but I've started on Jerusalem by Alan Moore and that's going to take some time to finish.
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Sep 23, 2016 17:03
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muscles like this? posted:Speaking of lady authors, I'm reading N.K. Jemisin's The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms and its pretty good. Its an interesting setting with all the captive gods running around and the casual use of magic. I read this and its sequel. I started the third installment and it ended up being a skimming finish. The writing was fine, but the story itself just kind of went downhill for me. YMMV, but if any time you find yourself not liking it, you're fine putting it down. There's a 4th book in the omnibus, but I didn't bother.
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Sep 23, 2016 19:59
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Drifter posted:I'm currently reading a book called Mechanical Failure by Joe Zieja, since we're talking about comedy milsci space books, and it reads more like Idiocracy more than Hitchhiker's Guide or Pratchett, and it's actually pretty funny. I finished that last weekend and thought it was pretty good too. It really reminded me of of Keith Laumer's Retief series.
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Sep 23, 2016 21:00
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Drifter posted:I'm currently reading a book called Mechanical Failure by Joe Zieja, since we're talking about comedy milsci space books, and it reads more like Idiocracy more than Hitchhiker's Guide or Pratchett, and it's actually pretty funny. FYI, it's currently $1.99 for the Kindle version. Not sure how long that will last.
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Sep 23, 2016 21:07
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Abalieno posted:words Jesus gently caress stop. Holy poo poo.
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Sep 24, 2016 01:25
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fritz posted:Courtney Schaeffer posted the next installment of "Readers of the lost ARC", this time for the 90s : http://ladybusiness.dreamwidth.org/2016/09/19/readers-of-the-lost-arc-courtney-schafer-explores-the-1990s.html I had never heard of most of these, some of them don't sound to my taste but really I'm just annoyed at how much 'epic fantasy' poo poo like Sword of Truth and Wheel of Time dominated perception/conversation about fantasy for so long.
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Sep 24, 2016 01:48
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Lady Business is a good blog to keep an eye on if you're wanting to expand your reading of female writers; they cover a lot of them both new and old. A little fandom focused for a lot of SA's taste, but the way they organize the site you don't need to pollute your eyes with fanfic recs if you're against that sort of thing.
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Sep 24, 2016 02:40
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occamsnailfile posted:I had never heard of most of these, some of them don't sound to my taste but really I'm just annoyed at how much 'epic fantasy' poo poo like Sword of Truth and Wheel of Time dominated perception/conversation about fantasy for so long. There was so much good stuff that came out back then and then totally sank without a trace. Here's a few: * https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1550091.The_Sword_and_the_Lion * https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16649.The_Queen_s_Necklace * https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/317448.The_Well_Favored_Man * https://www.goodreads.com/series/80029-nimnestl * https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/836592.Point_of_Hopes * https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/440961.The_Stars_Dispose
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Sep 24, 2016 02:59
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cptn_dr posted:The Janny Wurts series sounds pretty interesting. I might see if I can track the first book down. I only ever knew of Janny Wurts from the trilogy she co-authored with Feist (which I've only just now gotten around to reading after having it on my shelves for years). I'm liking it so far.
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Sep 24, 2016 03:48
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Megazver posted:So apparently Peter Watts is having some kind of a health emergency and the doctors are baffled, so he's reaching out to his fans to help with theories. gently caress! Watts already had that horrible necrosis poo poo why does this need to happen?
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Sep 24, 2016 04:43
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fritz posted:There was so much good stuff that came out back then and then totally sank without a trace. Here's a few: I love the Points series (Point of Hopes, listed above) and Melissa Scott has started doing some more after her partner died, though only one so far. I also really liked Armor of Light which is a historical fantasy set in Elizabethan England with fairly low-key supernatural elements.
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Sep 24, 2016 05:04
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occamsnailfile posted:I love the Points series (Point of Hopes, listed above) and Melissa Scott has started doing some more after her partner died, though only one so far. I also really liked Armor of Light which is a historical fantasy set in Elizabethan England with fairly low-key supernatural elements. Melissa Scott owns in general, and I'm kind of baffled that I only heard about her, what, last year?
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Sep 24, 2016 12:15
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New Craig Schaefer book next week! The Castle Doctrine quote:Out of prison and back on the streets, Daniel Faust returns home to a city on fire. The Chicago mob is making their play for control of Las Vegas, with an army of gunmen and a lethal shapeshifter on their side, while Daniel's friend Jennifer marshals the forces of the Vegas underworld. Staying on the sidelines isn't an option, especially when a Metro detective orders him to get the war under control -- and if he can't, he'll expose Daniel's secrets to the FBI.
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Sep 24, 2016 16:31
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Ooh, that sounds nice.
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Sep 24, 2016 18:45
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:New Craig Schaefer book next week! The Castle Doctrine If it's as good as White Gold Score was, I'll be in my happy space. One thing I've liked about the series, and Schaefer finding his narrative voice, is how the main cast becomes seriously awful people. What I mean is, in the first couple of books there was a lot of people saying "Oh, that Faust, he's a real bad dude," but he didn't act all that differently from a dozen other UF heroes. Starting with Plain-Dealing Villain, he and the supporting cast has evolved into straight-up villain protagonists. Caitlin is terrifying, Jennifer's a hippie version of Tony Montana, and Faust will douse you in gasoline and start playing with a lighter if you get in his way. And somehow I still like them. (poo poo, White Gold Score was gleeful in how fast the heroes went from "There's a magical mystery to solve!" to "gently caress that! LET'S STEAL DRUGS! Whee!"
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Sep 24, 2016 18:52
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Anyone who read it have an opinion on Anthony Ryan's new book? I really liked Blood Song, but found the next two in the series pretty disappointing. Also, somewhere in this thread, The Red Queen's War was recommended, and I've been enjoying those recently.
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Sep 24, 2016 23:35
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The Glumslinger posted:Anyone who read it have an opinion on Anthony Ryan's new book? I really liked Blood Song, but found the next two in the series pretty disappointing. I didn't get through the third one. The new one is rather good. I can't tell you if he'll pull off the ending this time around, but surely he's loving learned from the shitstorm. I must admit, I am optimistic.
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Sep 24, 2016 23:45
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The Glumslinger posted:Anyone who read it have an opinion on Anthony Ryan's new book? I really liked Blood Song, but found the next two in the series pretty disappointing. Also yeah Red Queens War is really fun read, glad you're enjoying it. You might want to try Prince of Thorns if you like it, it's a bit different but a parallel story.
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Sep 25, 2016 00:29
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Xaris posted:Is Blood Song worth reading even if the next two are awful? Blood Song will function happily as a standalone, yeah.
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Sep 25, 2016 03:23
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Hi. I like books. I don't know why I haven't wandered in here before. I'm into Fantasy more than SF, but I'm gonna lurk for a bit.
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Sep 25, 2016 04:59
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Megazver posted:I didn't get through the third one.
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Sep 25, 2016 05:06
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Echeveria posted:Hi. I like books. I don't know why I haven't wandered in here before. I'm into Fantasy more than SF, but I'm gonna lurk for a bit. Welcome friend, if you have any requests recommendations feel free to speak up.
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Sep 25, 2016 05:18
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Echeveria posted:Hi. I like books. I don't know why I haven't wandered in here before. I'm into Fantasy more than SF, but I'm gonna lurk for a bit. If you like or dislike something, don't hesitate to speak up. I get a lot of my dis/recommendations from this thread. It's always nice when somebody comes in with a name or title I've not heard of, or talks about something I've already read. Some random, popular recc's I'd give range from Paksennarion to Discworld to Xanth (lol stay away from Piers Anthony, though, for serious) to the Book of the Dun Cow to Peter Beagle to Diane Duane to Le Guin over to Walter Moers' Zamonia to the Malazan Books of the Fallen to a billion others. drat, everytime I type one I remember a dozen more. Gotta stop. When you're done lurking, have you got a couple books you remember as having particularly enjoyed?
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Sep 25, 2016 05:34
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Echeveria posted:Hi. I like books. I don't know why I haven't wandered in here before. I'm into Fantasy more than SF, but I'm gonna lurk for a bit. Expect your backlog to grow ten-fold. Welcome.
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Sep 25, 2016 07:54
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Any opinions on Death's End yet?
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Sep 25, 2016 14:27
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Junkenstein posted:Any opinions on Death's End yet? angel opportunity posted:Death's End (Book three in the Three Body Trilogy) just came out in English a few days ago and I've now finished the series.
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Sep 25, 2016 15:24
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Junkenstein posted:Any opinions on Death's End yet? 2/3 through right now. I'm enjoying it quite a bit.
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Sep 25, 2016 15:47
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ToxicFrog posted:Melissa Scott owns in general, and I'm kind of baffled that I only heard about her, what, last year? Trouble and Her Friends is some classic cyberpunk. Melissa Scott is a good writer.
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Sep 25, 2016 18:34
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Just finished up Immortal Remains by Sean Cummings. Was 99 cents at amazon. IT's honestly a pretty good book. I was a bit surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I wasn't really expecting a lot for less than a buck, but it was a great read. Basic plot is main character is a grim reaper kinda spirit who got booted out of the reaping business for loving up rather spectacularly, and he's been living in and among humans for a long time. He isn't a detective, he doesn't have very many amazing magical abilities and he doesn't fight vampires or werewolves (at least not in the first book). It's pretty heavy on the christian mythology, so if you get your panties in a knot because someone says there's a God and Angels and Demons, well this won't work well for you. Something has started killing Angels, and he's basically been tasked by the big man to figure out why, and how to stop it, because otherwise it's apocalypse time. Starts out a bit kinda meh but picks up. I'm definitely grabbing the next book in the series.
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Sep 25, 2016 18:44
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Junkenstein posted:Any opinions on Death's End yet? I preferred the first two books to Death's End, but thought the ideas in it were inventive and consistent with what was revealed in The Dark Forest. Death's End had uneven pacing, and felt to me like the author had a bunch of pet ideas and scenes he didn't want to leave out of the book. There was a lot more telling versus showing than in the previous books, and some of the big reveals just landed matter-of-factly on the page. With a more fleshed-out set of characters reacting to them, i think they could have had more impact. Definitely a thought-provoking trilogy, though, and one that I would recommend. As for the very end, as soon as the Returners gave their ultimatum, the first thing I thought of was: Coordination Problem. Collectively, everybody benefits by cooperating, but individually each civilization has an incentive to hold back. Cixin Liu didn't give an explanation as to why everybody cooperated to the degree they did, just told us that they cooperated. This contrasts with how he talks about human decision making throughout the trilogy: we focus on our own lifespans and don't think beyond, leading to overall mood changes for each time period. I think it would have been interesting to encounter how other civilizations differ, leading to the ending we got.
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Sep 25, 2016 19:47
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I am in absolute agreement that Death's End tosses so much poo poo against the wall. The book feels like a series of wildly different vignettes lending it a very inconsistent tone and pace. Not totally cohesive.
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Sep 25, 2016 19:57
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