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Yeah I've been pondering a reread of His Dark Materials but was worried they wouldn't hold up. Maybe I'll take the advice here and just read the first one. Polar bears were the best, it's true.
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Feb 16, 2017 14:18
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vegetables posted:As someone who's read almost nothing by any of the authors here, I wondered if anyone could quickly review some of the books in this bundle? Have you read any that are really good, or really bad? I have read Miniatures, and I wouldn't spend 15 bucks on it. The Bigfoot novella collection isn't that great, even if you are a big Butcher fan. I just went in on the dollar option because the Fender Lizard and Purgatory book sounded interesting.
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Feb 16, 2017 16:50
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vegetables posted:As someone who's read almost nothing by any of the authors here, I wondered if anyone could quickly review some of the books in this bundle? Have you read any that are really good, or really bad? Minor works/"might as well squeeze a few bucks out of these" short story collections by some relatively respected authors. Megazver fucked around with this message at 17:23 on Feb 16, 2017 |
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Feb 16, 2017 17:21
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Solitair posted:I guess I'm the only person who thought the whole trilogy was alright. I read it over a decade ago, though. Same. The last one hit me pretty hard emotionally. I knew the religious stuff was obvious and overblown but I really cared about the characters. But like you, this was a decade or more ago.
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Feb 16, 2017 22:23
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I guess if I was like, super emotionally-invested in jesus and stuff it would've hit me in a different way but I felt that things tied up quite neatly at the end - regardless of the nihilist streak. But then again I'm a lapsed Protestant who was forced to attend Catholic High School, so it probably was some kind of internalized schadenfraude in honesty. I really mostly-forgot about the religious stuff though until god flew down in his litter at the end of book 3 and I was like lolwut, where did this poo poo come from
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Feb 17, 2017 00:48
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My issue wasn't that he was critical of religion and/or Christianity, it was how pointedly anti-Catholic it was (and I have no affiliation with the Catholic church), it was how poorly the criticism was done and how it seemed to consume the series by the end of the third book. He sets up this cartoonishly villainous strawman of a church, and then uses it to show how awful and terrible organized religion is.
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Feb 17, 2017 02:43
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I read the trilogy back in 2013 and really enjoyed it. I liked the characters and the world and deicide appeals to me.
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Feb 17, 2017 03:44
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Re: Tchakovsky's Shadows of the Apt: EVERYONE IS BUGS. BUUUUUUGS!  Really though. That was a fairly solid pulp adventure, but the fact that every single person's clan/totem/spirit animal is bugs just repeatedly drifted over into silly for me. I'll get the next one, but stopping at random intervals just to laugh, not at a joke but just at the sheer entomological absurdity of the concept, was... novel.
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Feb 17, 2017 05:36
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Internet Wizard posted:My issue wasn't that he was critical of religion and/or Christianity, it was how pointedly anti-Catholic it was (and I have no affiliation with the Catholic church), it was how poorly the criticism was done and how it seemed to consume the series by the end of the third book. He sets up this cartoonishly villainous strawman of a church, and then uses it to show how awful and terrible organized religion is. My high school was also sorta famous because they fired a teacher for being gay. And because in the late 90s, the teachers would just kind hang around and smoke on campus between classes. I don't give a drat about Catholics because they do not give a drat about anything but tithing and your soul when you punch your ticket.
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Feb 17, 2017 06:04
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I last read it in high school and remember absolutely loving Northern Lights, merely liking Subtle Knife and feeling a bit iffy about Amber Spyglass. When you're a kid you just like or dislike things without realising why, but in retrospect I wouldn't be surprised if he started letting the preachiness come before the story... much like the Narnia series, which is wonderfully ironic. edit; I remember thinking at the time that it was a bit weird that a talking ape, in a country that's meant to be like England, was one of the main characters in The Last Battle and only just now realised, in retrospect, that it's a very clumsy bit of symbolism. freebooter fucked around with this message at 11:56 on Feb 17, 2017 |
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Feb 17, 2017 11:53
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Ceebees posted:Re: Tchakovsky's Shadows of the Apt: He is really into bugs. I've read two other stand-alone novels of his. They're both about sapient spiders. Kek. That's cool, I suppose. Better than more elves.
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Feb 17, 2017 12:20
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Ceebees posted:Re: Tchakovsky's Shadows of the Apt: edit: VVV It's mostly bug meat and they use giant bugs as carry animals. Gets mentioned a couple times. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 17:57 on Feb 17, 2017 |
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Feb 17, 2017 12:48
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He's a zoologist, I think, so the animal thing is to be expected. I like it. The reason why it's only bugs is that they either killed or drove away all the other animals. Although I can't remember if they ever mentioned where the meat comes from. The Shadows of the Apt series dragged too long for me, even though I did enjoy every book. I can't explain it, it's like while I was reading everything was fine and interesting but then I'd remember that this was book number SEVEN or NINE and tell myself "Man, when's it gonna ennnnndddddddd???" His most recent series (Echoes of the Fallen) is a trilogy and I like it a lot so far (2 books out, third one in 2018 I presume). The standalone books are good too (Children > Guns > Spiderlight), Children might be the best one he's written. Doktor Avalanche fucked around with this message at 14:26 on Feb 17, 2017 |
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Feb 17, 2017 14:24
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I've been scouring through https://www.kirkusreviews.com/features/author/john-denardo/ for new books to read (thanks whoever posted the link) and I've found a couple of interesting ones. Currently around halfway through Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee. Really liking it. Lots of cool concepts and some good space opera poo poo. The space culture and it's norms and caste-like system kinda remind me of the Ancillary books, but in a good way (don't worry half the book isn't about fine china and tea ceremonies). Blurb: quote:Kel Cheris, a captain disgraced for her unconventional methods in the galactic fight against heretics, is given a chance to redeem herself by capturing a star fortress back from the heretics. However, to do so, she enlists the aid of an undead (that is, resurrected) tactician who went mad in his first life.
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Feb 18, 2017 17:19
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vegetables posted:As someone who's read almost nothing by any of the authors here, I wondered if anyone could quickly review some of the books in this bundle? Have you read any that are really good, or really bad? There are a lot of books in this bundle I haven't read, but they're by authors I like-- Tim Powers, Cherie Priest, Joe Lansdale and so on. The Bread we Eat in Dreams is pure, awesome Valente and well worth reading, though last I checked it's available free. I'm still happy to own it. Basically every author in the bundle is someone with at minimum a competent reputation, and this time there doesn't seem to be any Islamophobic Simmons to taint the well.
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Feb 18, 2017 18:04
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vegetables posted:As someone who's read almost nothing by any of the authors here, I wondered if anyone could quickly review some of the books in this bundle? Have you read any that are really good, or really bad? The Reynolds collection has some good stuff it in but maybe it shouldn't be your first introduction to him, there's a Connie Willis collection and her short form stuff is pretty good.
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Feb 18, 2017 18:56
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I was a raging internet atheist at the time I read His Dark Materials and even I was kinda put off by the religion stuff. Still excited to read the sequels tho ugh.
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Feb 19, 2017 02:20
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HUMAN FISH posted:I've been scouring through https://www.kirkusreviews.com/features/author/john-denardo/ for new books to read (thanks whoever posted the link) and I've found a couple of interesting ones. I enjoyed this a lot. Also recently picked up a book of Yoon's short stories, which I'm enjoying too.
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Feb 19, 2017 02:30
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Have a good laugh, everyone.
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Feb 20, 2017 05:53
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drat! That's a terrible list. Terrible choices and cringe worthy writing too.
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Feb 20, 2017 06:14
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quote:There are lots of top fantasy book lists online, so what makes ours different? And then they list Brandon Sanderson twice. 
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Feb 20, 2017 06:19
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I know, Wheel of Time is obviously #1, am I right or am I rite StrixNebulosa posted:And then they list Brandon Sanderson twice. Three times if you count WoT My favorite fantasy-lists-and-rankings site is http://greatsfandf.com/ because 1) it's obviously just one dude with very strong opinions 2) he especially has very strong opinions about what is and isn't "great" and/or "literature" 3) he's incredibly comprehensive and has rankings for a lot of really obscure authors 4) he writes little mini-essays for why each author ranks where they do in his five-star greatness ranking system 5) he's not dumb Check out this intro: quote:
Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 06:40 on Feb 20, 2017 |
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Feb 20, 2017 06:33
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HUMAN FISH posted:I've been scouring through https://www.kirkusreviews.com/features/author/john-denardo/ for new books to read (thanks whoever posted the link) and I've found a couple of interesting ones. Ninefox Gambit was great. One of the best scifi stories I've read in a while and I'm eagerly looking forwards to the next book.
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Feb 20, 2017 07:27
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ianmacdo posted:drat! That's a terrible list. Terrible choices and cringe worthy writing too.
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Feb 20, 2017 08:12
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I really love 6 of the 10 entries, and really like the authors of those, but none of those are must-reads and definitely not the "best Fantasy books". And I think even the authors themselves would agree. And as much as I like Sanderson's The Stormlight Archive series - there are two books out of a ten book series released. That's surely not enough to put anything at #1, even if it was 10 times better than the two books are.
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Feb 20, 2017 08:25
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seems like a p legit and well-traveled site though, with 12 total comments since last july and half of them being people going "WOW MY EX-ROOMATE ALWAYS TALKED ABOUT ROBERT JORDAN I SHOULD SEND THIS LINK TO HIM!" or "I read WoT 75 times - can I be ambassador to Andor if I retweet your post?"
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Feb 20, 2017 08:51
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coyo7e posted:The order of ranking is the worst, imho. Wheel of time over first law, and a new series which hasn't even really gotten anywhere yet (despite what 5000-7500 pages or something good lord) , as #1 I couldn't even read that book.  To be fair, if this thread ran a similar poll and rated most popular as "best," it would probably still have most of these. There would be more variety though.
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Feb 20, 2017 08:56
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Echo Cian posted:I couldn't even read that book. It would just consist entirely of Iain M Banks, honestly. Even if we were asking for fantasy books. 
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Feb 20, 2017 08:59
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StrixNebulosa posted:It would just consist entirely of Iain M Banks, honestly. Even if we were asking for fantasy books. The real answer is just Ursula K. LeGuin over and over again.
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Feb 20, 2017 09:24
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ianmacdo posted:drat! That's a terrible list. Terrible choices and cringe worthy writing too. Good Omens isn't a terrible choice.
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Feb 20, 2017 10:14
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Jedit posted:Good Omens isn't a terrible choice. Neither is ASoIaF
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Feb 20, 2017 10:17
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ASOIAF is bad pulp. The TV series in particular makes the franchise's flaws clearer since it's even more transparent on relying on the next Big Shock to keep the story going. Also lol: quote:this is a list created by fantasy fans for fantasy fans. And being as shallow and ignorant of tradition as they are, the fans have not named any series published before the Nineties for this list of greatest fantasy novels of All Time. This is the best part for me: quote:Even after reading [The Kingkiller Chronicle] twice, it’s hard to pin down exactly what makes this series SO GREAT, Because it's so loving exemplary of Kingkiller adulation. Not one critic or fan can actually say what makes the books good. Did you know that it has Literary aspects? BravestOfTheLamps fucked around with this message at 13:10 on Feb 20, 2017 |
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Feb 20, 2017 12:14
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BravestOfTheLamps posted:And being as shallow and ignorant of tradition as they are, the fans have not named any series published before the Nineties for this list of greatest fantasy novels of All Time. If we're gonna go with the best fantasy novel of all time, let's go with the Zimiamvia Trilogy by ER Eddison, if only because it's ancient, thick with prose, and it inspired Lord of the Rings. Hieronymous Alloy posted:The real answer is just Ursula K. LeGuin over and over again. I wish I could get into any of her books. Earthsea didn't take for me, Left Hand of Darkness didn't work...  It's always a bummer when a much-lauded author doesn't work for me. Her writing style just...I bounced off of it in the first chapter and couldn't crack it, so I haven't tried with her others yet.
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Feb 20, 2017 12:27
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Gotta address the elephant in the room: Kingkiller?! e: Oh, right: "Even after reading it twice, it’s hard to pin down exactly what makes this series SO GREAT" Truer words have never been spoken.
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Feb 20, 2017 12:39
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I can't wait til Qkvuothe's school bully ends up as the titular king and gets titular killed in the final instalment of this beautiful poetic literary triumph. You know it's gonna happen.
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Feb 20, 2017 14:43
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Provided he actually ever writes it. Is it just me or is the title for the series kind of oddly picked? I mean, the entire premise of it is that the guy in question is the Best Dude Ever and done every legendary deed Rothfuss could think of, so why focus on this one? Apart from it sounding slightly better than "the fairyfucker chronicles"...
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Feb 20, 2017 14:53
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The king is a metaphor for fantasy fans being able to identify good writing. It's literary. He's mostly dead so it's really more the kingeuthanasia chronicles.
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Feb 20, 2017 14:56
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So they turned down all the crap that snooty critics with their PhDs love, like: - All poetry - All romance, including Icelandic Sagas and anything Arthurian - Lewis Carroll - Lord Dunsany - Robert E. Howard - Jack Vance - Fritz Leiber - Tolkien (!) - Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrless - Little, Big by John Crowley etc BravestOfTheLamps fucked around with this message at 15:56 on Feb 20, 2017 |
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Feb 20, 2017 14:58
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:I know, Wheel of Time is obviously #1, am I right or am I rite Seems like this dude saw the original link and ran as far as possible the opposite direction
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Feb 20, 2017 15:11
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Hmm no Discworld series eh.
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Feb 20, 2017 15:17
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