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 IT'S OUT!!!! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M18S7PV I'm broke too but god drat I'm half tempted to spend  to sign up for unlimited, to avoid spending 5$ but that's just kinda dumb. Cabal's gotta wait man.
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Sep 27, 2016 12:29
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Drunk Driver Dad posted:I normally like long drawn out fantasy series with tons of books. My main gripe with the first Malazan book was I didn't know what the hell was going on even 50% of the way through it. When I get ready for a new series, I'd like to give it another try. Should I just attack book 1 again, or start with 2? Or maybe read the book 2 prologue and start over with 1 like suggested above? Perhaps theres even a small cliffs notes thing somewhere I can refer to to help me keep track of book 1 as I read through it. I think if I can just get a grasp on the series I would enjoy it. I suggest that you read book 2 because it's one of the most thrilling novels in fantasy, series or standalone. Even if you decide that it'll be the only one in the series you'll read, you won't regret it. However, you will probably want to read more. Then you can go back to book one, and things will make a lot more sense. Reading Gardens of the Moon first, I felt a little bit like a caveman watching Star Trek - yes, the food is coming out of a hole in the wall, but was it prepared on the other side or materialized through some god's act of mercy? Once you get a bit of understanding on what warrens are, how magic works, how people ascend, what is the Empire and so on, GotM becomes an easier read.
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Sep 27, 2016 12:34
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Malazan, as I believe I've said before, is best approached as a puzzle, where it's on you to gradually decode what's going on and how it all fits together. You won't grasp everything immediately, but the feeling as you read and re-read and everything starts to fit together is very satisfying. The way that each novel is geared around a convergence, where all the threads come together at the end in a spectacular manner, really helps with this. It also helps that it's that rare thing, a piece of epic fantasy that doesn't get weird about women, race, or whatever. I mean, there's some strange and sometimes horrifying sex stuff in there, but it's never dwelt on or fetishised, it's just a matter-of-fact part of a strange, sometimes horrifying, and incredibly diverse world. Epic fantasy authors can get pretty juvenile, but Erikson has one of the more genuinely adult voices I've seen in the genre, with the only signs of him unleashing his inner thirteen-year-old being his sense of humour and the sicknasty metal-album-cover spectacles he crafts (set mountain to ramming speed  ).
Darth Walrus fucked around with this message at 13:13 on Sep 27, 2016 |
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Sep 27, 2016 13:02
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Drunk Driver Dad posted:I normally like long drawn out fantasy series with tons of books. My main gripe with the first Malazan book was I didn't know what the hell was going on even 50% of the way through it. When I get ready for a new series, I'd like to give it another try. Should I just attack book 1 again, or start with 2? Or maybe read the book 2 prologue and start over with 1 like suggested above? Perhaps theres even a small cliffs notes thing somewhere I can refer to to help me keep track of book 1 as I read through it. I think if I can just get a grasp on the series I would enjoy it. I honestly don't bother so much about keeping track of every detail, which goes for any fantasy/scifi series. Reading is like going on a trip for me and having everything figured out from the start is kinda boring. Regardless, anything important will be explained in good enough detail that you will keep track of it. As for Malazan, most of the books are on the level that you can just pick them up and enjoy them without having much memory of earlier books. If you are one of those sperpy types that actually need to understand everything directly Erikson is maybe not for you, but Sanderson is apparently more your thing. Edit: Darth Walrus did it better.
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Sep 27, 2016 13:11
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Kindle Deal of the Day is a Nancy Kress novella. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...rd_i=1000677541
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Sep 27, 2016 14:47
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I started reading the Vlad Taltos books last week to pass the time during a business trip, and holy crap these are good.
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Sep 27, 2016 15:57
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Coca Koala posted:I started reading the Vlad Taltos books last week to pass the time during a business trip, and holy crap these are good.
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Sep 27, 2016 17:26
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I'm looking for a recommendation: What are some good primarily fantasy books that have a strong horror element? Specifically horror that doesn't hinge on spooky creatures like vampires/werewolves/undead. I've been digging a lot of sci-fi with heavy horror leanings and I realized I can't think of many straight-up fantasy books with similar leanings. Also to whoever was asking about Kindle Unlimited, I'd say having access to a ton of Craig Schaefer is worth it alone, but if you are at all interested in cosmic/lovecraftian horror or weird fiction there's tons of that available too.
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Sep 27, 2016 17:39
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MockingQuantum posted:I'm looking for a recommendation: What are some good primarily fantasy books that have a strong horror element? Specifically horror that doesn't hinge on spooky creatures like vampires/werewolves/undead. I've been digging a lot of sci-fi with heavy horror leanings and I realized I can't think of many straight-up fantasy books with similar leanings. Oldie but a goodie: have you read The Talisman, by King and Straub? Portal fantasy with huuuuge horror elements.
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Sep 27, 2016 17:44
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MockingQuantum posted:I'm looking for a recommendation: What are some good primarily fantasy books that have a strong horror element? Specifically horror that doesn't hinge on spooky creatures like vampires/werewolves/undead. I've been digging a lot of sci-fi with heavy horror leanings and I realized I can't think of many straight-up fantasy books with similar leanings. A Rich, Full Week by KJ Parker.
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Sep 27, 2016 17:45
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StonecutterJoe posted:Oldie but a goodie: have you read The Talisman, by King and Straub? Portal fantasy with huuuuge horror elements. I have not! I always assumed it was more along the line of their typical stuff-- mostly horror with some modern fantastical elements mixed in. It's on my to-read list, I'll have to bump it up!
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Sep 27, 2016 17:46
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MockingQuantum posted:I'm looking for a recommendation: What are some good primarily fantasy books that have a strong horror element? Specifically horror that doesn't hinge on spooky creatures like vampires/werewolves/undead. I've been digging a lot of sci-fi with heavy horror leanings and I realized I can't think of many straight-up fantasy books with similar leanings. Clive Barker is the poster child of that genre.
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Sep 27, 2016 17:52
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I haven't read it but I've heard good things about Beyond Redemption. Don't know how horror-y it is, though.
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Sep 27, 2016 17:55
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MockingQuantum posted:I'm looking for a recommendation: What are some good primarily fantasy books that have a strong horror element? Specifically horror that doesn't hinge on spooky creatures like vampires/werewolves/undead. I've been digging a lot of sci-fi with heavy horror leanings and I realized I can't think of many straight-up fantasy books with similar leanings. Tim Lebbon has a fantasy series with a lot of horror elements in it. The first book is Dusk. It's... ok. The sequel is better, and there are more books after that, but I haven't gotten around to reading them yet.
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Sep 27, 2016 17:54
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Unconventional fantasy-horror? China Mieville's work might float your boat.
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Sep 27, 2016 19:09
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MockingQuantum posted:I'm looking for a recommendation: What are some good primarily fantasy books that have a strong horror element? Specifically horror that doesn't hinge on spooky creatures like vampires/werewolves/undead. I've been digging a lot of sci-fi with heavy horror leanings and I realized I can't think of many straight-up fantasy books with similar leanings. I read Peter Straub's Shadowland a long time ago and remember really liking a lot. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19580.Shadowland You could always read the Ravenloft series - they're like AD&D fantasy horror things. I don't know how well they hold up for an adult. My favorite was the first one, Vampire of the Mists https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/302457.Vampire_of_the_Mists Of course my other favorites were the ones revolving around Lord Soth. There's always Grendel by John Gardner. Greg Gifune's Bleeding Season is supposed to be pretty good. Is something like IT or Heart=Shaped Box fantasy? Like, I can't really think of any horror novels that are like scary versions of Lord of the Rings or anything.
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Sep 27, 2016 19:19
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:
Fun, quick read.
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Sep 27, 2016 19:30
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Drifter posted:I read Peter Straub's Shadowland a long time ago and remember really liking a lot. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19580.Shadowland I guess I wouldn't consider them fantasy, at least not in the context I'm looking for. That said, my initial question was very much a fishing expedition--I have no idea if what I'm looking for really exists.
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Sep 27, 2016 19:45
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Drifter posted:
I read vampire of the mists for the first time last year. Not a bad book. The horror influences are certainly there but I never felt any dread or horror while reading. I'll get around to the others eventually.
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Sep 27, 2016 20:04
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MockingQuantum posted:I'm looking for a recommendation: What are some good primarily fantasy books that have a strong horror element? Specifically horror that doesn't hinge on spooky creatures like vampires/werewolves/undead. I've been digging a lot of sci-fi with heavy horror leanings and I realized I can't think of many straight-up fantasy books with similar leanings. Bakker. As complex as Malazan, but conceptually horrifying in many ways. The horror starts more in the second series though.
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Sep 27, 2016 20:20
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MockingQuantum posted:I guess I wouldn't consider them fantasy, at least not in the context I'm looking for. That said, my initial question was very much a fishing expedition--I have no idea if what I'm looking for really exists. I remember reading Faerie Tale by Raymond Feist and I'd say it was pretty good. I read it in high school and really dug it. It may be somewhat to your liking. Some other searching led to http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/627204.Scar_Night that series. I haven't read it, but the world seems interesting, since we've been talking about Ravenloft.  I actually may check it out in a month or two.Clive Barker's Cabal was pretty impressive back in the day. I'd say his Books of Blood are 'scarier' but those are short stories and I don't know if they have any element of fantasy in them. I remember two Books of Blood stories; one was The Body Politic and the other Rawhead Rex. Check out The Great and Secret Show as well. It's not "scary" per se, but Mark Frost's List of Seven was pretty neato. Also, so the hell labels early western settings as Steampunk? gently caress you, Steampunk, I hate your classification so much.
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Sep 27, 2016 22:07
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I really liked TBP and The Dark Forest, but Death's End was just way more unfocused and kind of all over the place. I think there were some neat ideas but as others have said, it seemed more about getting the authors ideas out than an actual story itself. I'm pretty disappointed in it to be honest, I wanted a cool concept like the dark forest to be the central theme, instead it's just directionless and falls a bit flat.
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Sep 28, 2016 02:34
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It's been about a week since I finished Death's End now, and with that week passing I've come around to really not like Death's End. My initial review said I liked it just a bit less than Dark Forest...but that's not the case anymore. I was really thinking about it, and the ending of Dark Forest actually closes out the story much better than Death's End. Obviously Death's End adds in a ton of time and events and ideas onto the whole thing, but just ending the series after Dark Forest is a more satisfying experience I think.
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Sep 28, 2016 02:53
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There is a very clear and illustrated plot line in Death's End that gets muddied up by so much extraneous detail. There's a fantastic 400 page novel within the book.
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Sep 28, 2016 03:07
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I did like the crisis era and the deterrence era and the expanded telling of other things going on during those periods. But after that I felt it just lost its sense of direction. I kind of agree that I would have preferred it end at the Dark Forest.
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Sep 28, 2016 03:41
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Drifter posted:It's not "scary" per se, but Mark Frost's List of Seven was pretty neato. Also, so the hell labels early western settings as Steampunk? gently caress you, Steampunk, I hate your classification so much. There's a lot of overlap between Weird West and Steampunk.
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Sep 28, 2016 03:59
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Internet Wizard posted:There's a lot of overlap between Weird West and Steampunk. I know. But it honestly feels like either Steampunk is some bullshit fruity-tooty "My telescoping monocle is bolted onto my face and look at me wear this zany hat/corset" shenaniganary, or else people are all, "Man, remember in Back to the Future 3 when Marty and Doc traveled back to steampunk times!" And then everyone labels any non-modern, Victorian Era-esque and American Western stories as such. All of those types of people I swear to god I wish a thousand Piers Anthony's and Terry Goodkind's upon them and their children and/or brony friends. And then they have stuff like 'mannerpunk' and isecretlyloathemyselfpunk or whatever. ugh. None of this is 'punk'. Quit diffusing my words 
Drifter fucked around with this message at 05:13 on Sep 28, 2016 |
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Sep 28, 2016 05:09
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MockingQuantum posted:I'm looking for a recommendation: What are some good primarily fantasy books that have a strong horror element? Specifically horror that doesn't hinge on spooky creatures like vampires/werewolves/undead. I've been digging a lot of sci-fi with heavy horror leanings and I realized I can't think of many straight-up fantasy books with similar leanings. With some precaution, Lynn Flewelling's The Bone Doll's Twin is very much horror-fantasy. I say with precaution because the second book is much less horror (though still present) and the third book of the trilogy is basically an extended denouement of the first two books. That said, the first book--Bone Doll--is very horror, but the more psychological/supernatural sort.
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Sep 28, 2016 05:14
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Drifter posted:It's not "scary" per se, but Mark Frost's List of Seven was pretty neato. Also, so the hell labels early western settings as Steampunk? gently caress you, Steampunk, I hate your classification so much. I thought I was the only one who ever read that  The sequel The Six Messiahs wasn't too bad. Not quite as fun as the original, but I enjoyed it at the time.
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Sep 28, 2016 05:17
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Yea, those books were pretty good. I kinda hate the steampunk idea myself, because they loving add it to anything when there's no reason to use it as a qualifier. I read a novel earlier this year that was set in the wild west, and was sort of a urban fantasy wild west (or west fantasy?) and there was nothing steam, geared, special tech, anything but they still loving genre'd it as steampunk. Just because it's olden times doesn't mean it's steampunk. If there's special tech and whatnot, then yea, obviously it's a steampunk book. If it just takes place in the olden times and is a story, it's just either horror or fantasy or something. You don't see people wandering around calling LOTR Elfpunk, or any David Gemmell book Axepunk. Mainly though, the thing I ~DO~ like about it is if I see a cover with some moron in victorian clothes and a loving top hat with gears or lenses on it, I know to save my money. Yes, I am literally judging a book by it's cover, and I'm ok with that.
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Sep 28, 2016 07:12
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"Mannerpunk" is really just a word for an old literary genre, the comedy (and slash or) tragedy of manners, which is a classic of genre fiction even if not always well implemented. Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner is a fine example, as is A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold. Mannerpunk is a natural antidote to manic pixie, I find.
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Sep 28, 2016 08:19
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Yeah, but "punk" usually implies a social anti-authoritarian aspect.
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Sep 28, 2016 09:55
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Guess who's getting an early copy of the new Old Kingdom book tomorrow? (To be fair, a whole bunch of people got it today.)
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Sep 28, 2016 12:00
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anilEhilated posted:Yeah, but "punk" usually implies a social anti-authoritarian aspect. Alec from Swordspoint is pretty anti-establishment (and everything else), to be fair.
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Sep 28, 2016 14:46
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Krazyface posted:Guess who's getting an early copy of the new Old Kingdom book tomorrow? Wait, gently caress, there's a new Old Kingdom book coming out? Augh
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Sep 28, 2016 15:14
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:
As someone who publishes ebooks, I can tell you that this is an unfortunate necessity of marketing a book. The "smart" thing to do financially is to write the book toward an existing and profitable market--pander toward it--but say you're a publisher who reads a book submitted to you that is very good but doesn't quite hit a market like "Steampunk" on the nose. The marketing people are going to look at what kind of markets are biggest, where the readers are, etc. If the audience for "steampunk" is 8x bigger than the audience for "western," they will grasp at any straws there are and play up how it is in fact steampunk and not just western. No one in marketing cares about the pedantic definition of the genre, especially not "punk" as a cultural movement. You also look at overlaps, so "lovely eldritch horror bullshit" (sorry I hate that poo poo so much) and "nerdy steampunk poo poo" will have a huge overlap in audiences. This book seems to have a lot of the "eldritch horror" type stuff going on, and maybe it has some anachronistic technology elements or something--boom--it's steampunk. With all that said, I don't actually see the marketing for it looking like they are playing up steampunk. The marketing seems to focus more on "urban fantasy" and hints at the eldritch horror poo poo. It seems mostly like the reviewers are the ones bringing up steampunk rather than the publisher.
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Sep 28, 2016 16:53
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What about dieselpunk?
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Sep 28, 2016 17:59
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Doorknob Slobber posted:What about dieselpunk? Is this like the novelization of Waterworld or Mad Max or something?
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Sep 28, 2016 19:04
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Drifter posted:Is this like the novelization of Waterworld or Mad Max or something? It's more like what Fallout should have been; Art Deco and tailfins instead of chrome mirrorshades. Crossposting from the Hot Modrons thread. Lord Frisk posted:Requesting crazy Art Deco dieselpunk stuff
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Sep 28, 2016 19:07
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I know there is an Abercombie thread, but this question kind of fits into the last few posts. I've read the first two stand-alone First Law books, and I'm about to start Red Country. It's not all Steampunky is it? Because it kind of seems like it could head in that direction.
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Sep 28, 2016 19:29
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