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I like KJ Parker but man does he have some weird choices for character names.
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Jan 9, 2017 13:07
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Got a chance to read The Goblin Emperor over the New Year break and I'm glad I did because it is the most  thing I've read in a long while. You just want him to succeed so badly and handles the slow integration of entering an unfriendly environment rather well.
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Jan 9, 2017 17:38
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Sage Grimm posted:Got a chance to read The Goblin Emperor over the New Year break and I'm glad I did because it is the most
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Jan 9, 2017 18:30
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I enjoyed TGE without being a huge fan, but I credit it for its realistic depiction of a coup attempt.
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Jan 9, 2017 19:02
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Sage Grimm posted:Got a chance to read The Goblin Emperor over the New Year break and I'm glad I did because it is the most Yep. I was really surprised to learn who the author was, because her other books are, well, grim. TGE and Long Way were the perfect books to read after Traitor Baru last year.
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Jan 9, 2017 20:15
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Are there any fantasy books, aside from Book of the New Sun, with a focus on prose? Would really love something that's as enjoyable to read as that.
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Jan 9, 2017 21:51
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Scent of Worf posted:Are there any fantasy books, aside from Book of the New Sun, with a focus on prose? Would really love something that's as enjoyable to read as that. Check out Catherynne M. Valente.
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Jan 9, 2017 21:54
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Scent of Worf posted:Are there any fantasy books, aside from Book of the New Sun, with a focus on prose? Would really love something that's as enjoyable to read as that. There's something similar but old. The Gods of Pegana.
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Jan 9, 2017 21:55
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I finished Revenger by Alastair Reynolds over the weekend. My initial takeaway is how palpable Reynolds is at building out the world and history without being overt about it. There's a very real sense of time and place to everything with some good characters. There also wasn't much wasted space to the book either. He told his story and got out. No fat.
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Jan 9, 2017 21:56
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Antti posted:Hugo nominations are open for this year. Any good sources for works that are eligible? Probably nothing broad yet, especially since nominations are open until March. Individual authors are still getting their eligibility posts together.
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Jan 9, 2017 21:57
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Scent of Worf posted:Are there any fantasy books, aside from Book of the New Sun, with a focus on prose? Would really love something that's as enjoyable to read as that. The Scar by China Mieville is fabulously written and a great story to boot.
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Jan 9, 2017 22:29
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Scent of Worf posted:Are there any fantasy books, aside from Book of the New Sun, with a focus on prose? Would really love something that's as enjoyable to read as that. Most things by Avram Davidson, M John Harrison, Peter Dickinson, John Crowley, Patricia A Mckillip, Michael Cisco, Ursula Le Guin should meet your demand for prose focussed fantasy.
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Jan 9, 2017 22:29
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Scent of Worf posted:Are there any fantasy books, aside from Book of the New Sun, with a focus on prose? Would really love something that's as enjoyable to read as that. Name of the Wind has a lot of focus on prose.
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Jan 9, 2017 22:51
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Strom Cuzewon posted:Name of the Wind has a lot of focus on prose. It literally has a musician describe the tone of a note as "it was like the instrument said 'sad'".
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Jan 9, 2017 22:59
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To be fair, he didn't say it was good prose.
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Jan 9, 2017 23:10
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Having never read it i'm not sure but i was told that kvothe's dad, the leader of a wandering theatrical troupe, also goes on a screed about how poetry is for retard idiots which is so loving weird i hope it's true.
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Jan 9, 2017 23:19
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andrew smash posted:Having never read it i'm not sure but i was told that kvothe's dad, the leader of a wandering theatrical troupe, also goes on a screed about how poetry is for retard idiots which is so loving weird i hope it's true. Not just Kvothe's dad, but noted bard and Worlds Greatest Musician Kvothe himself also has an abiding hatred of poetry!
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Jan 10, 2017 00:04
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The loving Rothfuss books are the prime example of being legitimately convinced something is bad after reading it and thinking "okay that was decent". That thread and the deconstruction therein totally ruined the series for me and they were correct to do so. And yet I will still read the third book. drat you Rothfuss. Edit: But I will purchase it used! Ha!
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Jan 10, 2017 00:07
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quote:And yet I will still read the third book. drat you Rothfuss.
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Jan 10, 2017 00:13
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Scent of Worf posted:Are there any fantasy books, aside from Book of the New Sun, with a focus on prose? Would really love something that's as enjoyable to read as that. Well, you really need to just go back some more. Lord Dunsany is really loving Whimsical, like in King of Elfland's Daughter: quote:To those who may have wisely kept their fancies within the boundary of the fields we know it is difficult for me to tell of the land to which Alveric had come, so that in their minds they can see that plain with its scattered trees and far off the dark wood out of which the palace of Elfland lifted those glittering spires, and above them and beyond them that serene range of mountains whose pinnacles took no colour from any light we see. Yet it is for this very purpose that our fancies travel far, and if my reader through fault of mine fail to picture the peaks of Elfland my fancy had better have stayed in the fields we know. Know then that in Elfland are colours more deep than are in our fields, and the very air there glows with so deep a lucency that all things seen there have something of the look of our trees and flowers in June reflected in water. And the colour of Elfland, of which I despaired to tell, may yet be told, for we have hints of it here; the deep blue of the night in Summer just as the gloaming has gone, the pale blue of Venus flooding the evening with light, the deeps of lakes in the twilight, all these are hints of that colour. And while our sunflowers carefully turned to the sun, some forefather of the rhododendrons must have turned a little towards Elfland, so that some of that glory dwells with them to this day. And, above all, our painters have had many a glimpse of that country, so that sometimes in pictures we see a glamour too wonderful for our fields; it is a memory of theirs that intruded from some old glimpse of the pale-blue mountains while they sat at easels painting the fields we know. Hope Mirrlees's Lud-in-the-Mist is just pure pleasure, not only for how surprisingly psychologically incisive it is at turns: quote:But after he had heard the Note a more stay-at-home and steady young man could not have been found in Lud-in-the-Mist. For it had generated in him what one can only call a wistful yearning after the prosaic things he already possessed. It was as if he thought he had already lost what he was actually holding in his hands.' Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and Gray Mouser stories are a riot that really transcend the expectations of sword-and-sorcery: quote:In the estate of Duke Danius, the Mouser spied through the spiked wall and now by brighter moonlight ― the air there being cleansed of night-smog by the gentle north seawind ― a snug, trim, well-polished, natural wooden garden house with curvingly horned ridgepole and beam-ends, to which abode he took a sudden extreme fancy and which he even persuaded Fafhrd to admire. It rested on six short cedar posts which in turn rested on flat rock. Nothing then would do but rush to Wall Street and the Marsh Gate, hire a brawny two-score of the inevitable nightlong idlers there with a silver coin and big drink apiece and promise of a gold coin and bigger drink to come, lead them to Danius' dark abode, pick the iron gate-lock, lead them warily in, order them heave up the garden house and carry it out ― providentially without any great creakings and with no guards or watchmen appearing. In fact, the Mouser and Fafhrd were able to finish another jug of wine during their supervising. Next tightly blindfold the two-score carriers ― this was the only difficult part of the operation, requiring all the Mouser's adroit, confident cajoling and Fafhrd's easy though somewhat ominous and demanding friendliness ― and guide and goad the forty of the impromptu porters as they pantingly and sweatingly carried the house. They went south down empty Carter Street and west up Bones Alley (the garden house fortunately being rather narrow, three smallish rooms in a row) to the empty lot behind the Silver Eel, where after Fafhrd had hurled aside three stone blocks there was space to ease it down. Then it only remained to guide the still blindfolded carriers back to the Marsh Gate, give them their gold and buy them their wine ― a big jug apiece seemed wisest to blot out memory ― then rush back in the pinkening dawn to buy from Braggi, the tavernmaster, the worthless lot behind the Silver Eel, reluctantly chop off with Fafhrd's fighting axe the garden house's ridgepole and beam-horns, throw water and then disguising ashes onto the roof and walls (without thought of what evil omen this was, recalling Vlana and Ivrian), finally stagger inside and collapse into sleep on the naked floor before even looking around. The Name of the Wind is a book: quote:They nodded attentively. All in one chapter. One chapter! BravestOfTheLamps fucked around with this message at 01:45 on Jan 10, 2017 |
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Jan 10, 2017 01:08
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I really liked The Slow Regard of Silent Things, but I wish it wasn't part of the Kvothe Cinematic Universe.
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Jan 10, 2017 01:19
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That hope mirrlees's bit is loving boss. I've just read lord of light.I pretty much ruined my tolerance for average sci-fi forever after picking up the sf masterworks collection haven't I?
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Jan 10, 2017 01:28
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mdemone posted:The loving Rothfuss books are the prime example of being legitimately convinced something is bad after reading it and thinking "okay that was decent". That thread and the deconstruction therein totally ruined the series for me and they were correct to do so. Deconstruction (justifiably) gets a bad wrap quite often for taking things apart and giving them meanings that could never be supported by the full context of the writer and book, but in the case of the Kingkiller Chronicles the dweebish wish fulfillment poo poo you got from considering in a reductionist manner some of the individual elements that made up the superficially passable first book all turned out to be a fair reading and a sign of where things were heading.
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Jan 10, 2017 01:32
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Solitair posted:I really liked The Slow Regard of Silent Things 
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Jan 10, 2017 01:41
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The part I liked was seeing the main character's weird schizotypal way of looking at her surroundings, and how she projected personality onto the objects around her without them actually being characters. The part I hated was her fawning after Kvothe. I got to the end and thought, "You couldn't resist, could you, Rothfuss?" The fact that I thought she was a child for most of the story really didn't help matters.
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Jan 10, 2017 01:50
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Jesus, how did I forget Gormenghast?
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Jan 10, 2017 02:09
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Finished up an ARC of Waking Gods by Sylvain Nueval. It's the sequel to his book Sleeping Giants. Basic gist of Sleeping Giants was girl discovers giant hand, government figures out how to search for other parts, and it's written in diary/log file format. It's not "hard" sci fi, but it keeps the technological limits of stuff (earth stuff anyway) in normal parameters. By that, I mean there's no laser guns or jetpacks or holograms or anything, it's just normal earth tech. Waking Gods is the sequel, and it's still written in the same format (which I do love), and holy poo poo it goes a bit mental. It sort of has tones of Evangelion (giant alien robots), but also a lot of character building and sci fi, as well as just general "What the gently caress?" but all in good ways. It's one of the best sci fi reads I've had in a long time. If you read the first book and dug it, the second one is better. It's honestly hard to think of a comparison to other books to give a fair idea of it. The closest I can think of is Day by Day Armageddon because of the journal/log entry format of the book, but no zombies to worry about. Tighter story as well. Give it a shot when it comes out this spring if you like giant robot sci fi.
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Jan 10, 2017 02:53
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Scent of Worf posted:Are there any fantasy books, aside from Book of the New Sun, with a focus on prose? Would really love something that's as enjoyable to read as that. Zelazny has a neat turn of phrase. Lord of Light, A Night in the Lonesome October, and even as much poo poo as they get, the Amber books.
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Jan 10, 2017 02:55
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Holy poo poo so many recommends. I've been missing out. Thanks everyone BravestOfTheLamps posted:Well, you really need to just go back some more. Excellent. Will be starting with one of these.
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Jan 10, 2017 03:09
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Neurosis posted:Deconstruction (justifiably) gets a bad wrap quite often for taking things apart and giving them meanings that could never be supported by the full context of the writer and book, but in the case of the Kingkiller Chronicles the dweebish wish fulfillment poo poo you got from considering in a reductionist manner some of the individual elements that made up the superficially passable first book all turned out to be a fair reading and a sign of where things were heading. I feel like I was tricked into thinking a mediocre book was actually above-average, and it's mildly upsetting because who knows how many other works have done the same thing to me? That said, he has an out. The full Severian, as it were.
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Jan 10, 2017 03:22
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If you can find it, the Lord of Light audiobook is a real pleasure. The narrator has a knack for the pomp of the titles and forms of address of the gods. I'm not sure where you can get it anymore though; it's an Audible Frontiers imprint recording, but it's no longer available on audible's store.
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Jan 10, 2017 04:26
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BravestOfTheLamps posted:Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and Gray Mouser stories are a riot that really transcend the expectations of sword-and-sorcery:
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Jan 10, 2017 08:17
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CJ Cherryh: the more I read Regenesis, the more I see the influence of Foreigner in it: Cherryh's near obsessive love with extensive house staffs, her well-off characters living like lords and ladies complete with major domos and personal chefs, and - frustratingly - how she keeps making classes of people/aliens who are perfectly content to be servants. It's gone from being interesting to mildly disturbing how black and white it is, how idealized: the atevi love serving their lords with no turmoil, they're always near helpless outside of their domains - and the azi are as well, literally programmed into it. It's...making me wonder if she's quit writing other things so she can settle into this comfort food writing, with perfect servants, rich, flawless geniuses as main characters, and interesting tangles to unravel without her having to take on the work in resolving them. See: the latest novel in the atevi series and how - while it was fantastic, she did omit a key scene and summarize it, and essentially have the main character say "this is not part of my plot so you can go away and be part of your story", so to speak - In other words, reading everything an author's written in a, what, forty year span really reveals a lot about what they like and don't like. P.S. I am enjoying Regenesis anyways because the dynamic with Jordan is absolutely appealing, and I'm hoping this book has a better ending than Cyteen did.
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Jan 10, 2017 10:30
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navyjack posted:Zelazny has a neat turn of phrase. Lord of Light, A Night in the Lonesome October, and even as much poo poo as they get, the Amber books.
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Jan 10, 2017 12:00
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I have a few books I've read recently that I liked, but not sure if I liked them enough to read the sequels. I've gotten helpful answers here before, so I'm trying again. 1. The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin 2. The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth, #1) by N.K. Jemisin 3. Downbelow Station (The Company Wars #1) by C.J. Cherryh How do the sequels/series stack up to the first books here?
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Jan 10, 2017 12:35
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Sjonkel posted:I have a few books I've read recently that I liked, but not sure if I liked them enough to read the sequels. I've gotten helpful answers here before, so I'm trying again. Downbelow Station is essentially a standalone - all of its 'sequels' are basically new stories set in the same universe. Hence: they're all baseline good (Cherryh does not write bad novels, Hestia being the exception that proves the rule) but it all depends on what you're looking for. My two cents on titles: Merchanter's Luck is good and short. Tripoint was tough, but fascinating psychology. Finity's End is my favorite of that lot - And I'm still reading Hellburners and Rimrunners. (It's crazy how much quality she's written, I will be reading her for the rest of my life.) I will say this: Downbelow Station was okay. It ranks slightly above Hestia, and honestly everything else she's done is better, so enjoy the ride.
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Jan 10, 2017 12:49
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navyjack posted:Zelazny has a neat turn of phrase. Lord of Light, A Night in the Lonesome October, and even as much poo poo as they get, the Amber books. This is one of my favorite bits from the Chronicles of Amber (and it's on page two of Nine Princes in Amber, so no real spoilers here): quote:Some natural skepticism as to the purity of all human motives came and sat upon my chest. I'd been over-narcotized, I suddenly knew. No real reason for it, from the way I felt, and no reason for them to stop now, if they'd been paid to keep it up. So play it cool and stay dopey, said a voice which was my worst, if wiser, self.
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Jan 10, 2017 18:06
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Sjonkel posted:I have a few books I've read recently that I liked, but not sure if I liked them enough to read the sequels. I've gotten helpful answers here before, so I'm trying again. Just read C.J. Cherryh.
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Jan 10, 2017 18:10
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Sjonkel posted:1. The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin
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Jan 10, 2017 18:52
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There's one name I'm missing in the prose-focused fantasy recs, Avram Davidson. Especially his Virgil Magus books are positively loaded with associations and references; they remind me a lot of (good) Wolfe that way.
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Jan 10, 2017 19:18
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