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Megazver posted:How do people about Tim Pratt's Marla Mason series? I loved his short story collections, but haven't tried the series. I read the Marla stuff and laughed but it felt derivative. Don't expect it to change your view of the genre much and you'll be ok.
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May 10, 2017 20:57
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Anias posted:October Daye knows how cruel Faerie can be to its changeling children. Born in San Francisco and carried to the Summerlands by her pureblood mother when she was just a child, she was raised in a world that never seemed capable of understanding her. She ran away the moment the opportunity presented itself, only to find that the human world wasn't any better. This is good. I know who to come to when I need an elevator pitch.
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May 10, 2017 21:02
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flosofl posted:This is good. I know who to come to when I need an elevator pitch. That's a straight quote off of the author's website, so I guess you should go to Seanan McGuire.
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May 10, 2017 21:08
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Khizan posted:That's a straight quote off of the author's website, so I guess you should go to Seanan McGuire.  Explains why it was effective.
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May 10, 2017 21:09
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ConfusedUs posted:Well I have been wanting to make an entirely new thread for like a year, but haven't. Peace Treaty is just around the corner... right? 
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May 10, 2017 21:20
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Xtanstic posted:Peace Treaty is just around the corner... right? Peace Talks is, like, 2018 at the earliest
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May 10, 2017 22:09
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Khizan posted:That's a straight quote off of the author's website, so I guess you should go to Seanan McGuire. I think her publicist wrote it but ya. The bit about Dresden and some formatting change was me.
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May 10, 2017 22:13
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Xtanstic posted:Peace Treaty is just around the corner... right? First half of 2018 is the most likely timeframe I think.
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May 10, 2017 22:16
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Im tyring to remember the name of an Urban Fantasy book, but I really cant remember more than tiny things and I have read so many that Im not sure if I am just attributing parts from other books to this one I dont quite remember. I think it had a male protagonist, possibly set in new orleans, I think there was a shop he went to to get magic things but there was something strange about one of the people and also possibly he tried to help someone who was half dead or had died but not completely, something like that. Even if no one can help (because half of that might be from some other book) If people could suggest anything that it might vaguely resemble I would appreciate it.
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May 11, 2017 00:40
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I don't get the love for Daniel Faust. It's a series about a person who thinks he is a competent sorcerer and criminal yet all his actions indicate that he is none of these things. He just scraps by from one crisis to another and keeps doing the same thing and expecting a different result. Character issues aside the plots are all very predictable and follow the same formula of Daniel fucks up something, in the process of solving the issue the bad guy is always about to win until surprise it turns out this was all Daniel's master plan all along and the day is saved because a, b, c happened off scene. On another note I can't understand why anyone would recommend "The Tome of Bill". This is John Ringo levels of bad except it's about a neckbeard who fits all the internet tropes about nice guys. The whole time Bill is spouting terribly bad one liners and misogynistic crap and he gets offended when women don't respond with praise at his every word. The entire time I was reading this I kept thinking Bill was one step away from becoming a men's rights activist.
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May 11, 2017 00:45
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Faust is greatly overrated, I'd say it's half as good as Dresden is these days. But it's cheap and gets published fast, so I read it. Harmony Black is half as good as Faust, Revanche is at least 50% better.
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May 11, 2017 00:47
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imnotinsane posted:I don't get the love for Daniel Faust. It's a series about a person who thinks he is a competent sorcerer and criminal yet all his actions indicate that he is none of these things. He just scraps by from one crisis to another and keeps doing the same thing and expecting a different result. Character issues aside the plots are all very predictable and follow the same formula of Daniel fucks up something, in the process of solving the issue the bad guy is always about to win until surprise it turns out this was all Daniel's master plan all along and the day is saved because a, b, c happened off scene. Faust is the opposite of "constantly trying the same thing and expecting a different result". Every book ends on a variation on "I love it when a plan comes together". He lives in a universe where human sorcerers aren't particularly superhuman, but he has a group of friends with a very diverse set of skills, and most of the books follow the broad "formula" of "Learn about the Threat --> Research the threat for weaknesses --> Use your available skillsets to neutralize the threat." My problem with Faust is that, until recently, he acted a lot less morally bad than you'd get an impression of from his internal narrative. As far as pulpy urban fantasy goes I like the Pax Arcana series by Elliott James. The characters are pretty interesting (not revolutionary, but I don't care about that) and I'm enjoying the expanding scope of the series and its worldbuilding. I found The Rook to be completely unreadable due to its main gimmick, which is horribly executed expodumps with a twist. Skipped ahead to Stiletto and found it pretty good, although I didn't really find any of the characters all that interesting. Mars4523 fucked around with this message at 02:39 on May 11, 2017 |
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May 11, 2017 02:35
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I thought the dossiers were some of the best parts of Rook and missed them in Stiletto. I just like world building in these novels really, it's probably why I don't mind ones like Iron Druid or Libriomancer - the characters are meh but the setting makes up for it.
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May 11, 2017 08:01
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I really like Libriomancer and its sequels. I get why some people don't like them (usually due to Leah's character gimmick), but they're unironically my fourth favorite behind Dresden, The Rook, and Verus. The memoirs were the best part of The Rook. The first couple were info-dumps, deliberately so, but they rapidly veer away from those. Eventually you start getting an idea of the sheer scope of the weird poo poo the Checquay get up to, and it's mostly thanks to those memoir chapters. Somewhere in the second half of the book there are like half a dozen chapters where the memoirs and modern Myfanwy seem to be attempting to one-up each other with just how goddamned crazy things can get. ConfusedUs fucked around with this message at 08:36 on May 11, 2017 |
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May 11, 2017 08:27
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Leah was the dryad? I didn't mind her, thought Isaac was kind of a bore though.
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May 11, 2017 11:04
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Ornamented Death posted:I'm one of the few thread regulars that doesn't like this series. Castor is just too much of an rear end in a top hat for me to find him or his adventures interesting, predominantly because most of the problems he faces, at least through the first two books, are a direct result of him being an rear end in a top hat for no good reason. ConfusedUs posted:I agree with this. It's a series where I see the potential, but can't get past the main character. This is always a very confusing argument for me, since in all Urban Fantasy I've read, the protagonist was always an rear end in a top hat. Felix Castor isn't even that bad. Personally, I think the problem is psychological: Because Castor isn't as super-powerful than other UF-characters, people can't go on a power trip with him as often and are therefore more unwilling to excuse him if he does something lovely.
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May 11, 2017 13:24
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Libluini posted:This is always a very confusing argument for me, since in all Urban Fantasy I've read, the protagonist was always an rear end in a top hat. Felix Castor isn't even that bad. Harry Dresden and Daniel Faust are amusing assholes. Felix Castor is a complete rear end in a top hat. Just for example, there's a scene early in book 2 where Felix needs to go get some information from a thuggish sort of guy. The guy is reluctant to cooperate, which is understandable as that's the stereotype when the private eye sort wants to get information from the thuggish type. That's fine. But then Felix cranks his rear end in a top hat up, blowing past Spinal Tap's "it goes to 11!" and hitting Spaceball's "ludicrous speed!" in terms of ridiculous excess, and for no good reason. The guy probably could have been paid off or bargained with. But no, let's channel the Exorcist and tell him his mother sucks cocks in hell, that'll surely get him to give Felix the info! Libluini posted:Personally, I think the problem is psychological: Because Castor isn't as super-powerful than other UF-characters, people can't go on a power trip with him as often and are therefore more unwilling to excuse him if he does something lovely. Faust isn't particularly powerful, either - as has been pointed out, he's just clever about approaching situations. Peter Grant from the Rivers of London series also isn't very powerful compared to the people and entities he goes up against. Same for Ray Lily in the Twenty Palaces series, or James Stark in the Sandman Slim series. Hell, even Atticus in the Iron Druid books is weak when you consider he's fighting literal gods. In most (good) urban fantasy, the protagonist is usually drastically underpowered compared to what he's up against; they win because they're clever and exploit their enemies' overconfidence. Felix Castor is just written as an unbearable rear end in a top hat, and some of us get tired of that real quick. I, personally, find it unfortunate, because everything around Castor seems really interesting, but I just can't be bothered to care about the main character.
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May 11, 2017 14:18
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Ornamented Death posted:James Stark in the Sandman Slim series. Yeah, going to have to disagree here. Everything after the second book gets steamrolled by him. He gets hurt, but he likes getting hurt.
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May 11, 2017 14:59
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biracial bear for uncut posted:Yeah, going to have to disagree here. Everything after the second book gets steamrolled by him. He gets hurt, but he likes getting hurt. When fighting mooks, sure. But his actual enemies are always like God and devil princes and Cthulhu-esque entities and poo poo. He never beats those guys through strength, it's always through cleverness. Like the ending for the first major arc; he didn't over power anyone, he tricked the Angra Om Ya and...uh...the dude trying to set them loose...through a door and then destroyed the key.
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May 11, 2017 15:12
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Ornamented Death posted:Harry Dresden and Daniel Faust are amusing assholes. Felix Castor is a complete rear end in a top hat. Just for example, there's a scene early in book 2 where Felix needs to go get some information from a thuggish sort of guy. The guy is reluctant to cooperate, which is understandable as that's the stereotype when the private eye sort wants to get information from the thuggish type. That's fine. But then Felix cranks his rear end in a top hat up, blowing past Spinal Tap's "it goes to 11!" and hitting Spaceball's "ludicrous speed!" in terms of ridiculous excess, and for no good reason. The guy probably could have been paid off or bargained with. But no, let's channel the Exorcist and tell him his mother sucks cocks in hell, that'll surely get him to give Felix the info! Well, I have to disagree here, I found Dresden and Faust a lot more unbearable at times. Castor seemed more honest in comparison. I guess it comes down to taste in the end. 
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May 11, 2017 15:20
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Libluini posted:I guess it comes down to taste in the end. Absolutely! I'm very careful to not say something is bad just because I don't like it, I realize people enjoy different things  .
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May 11, 2017 15:28
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Avalerion posted:Leah was the dryad? I didn't mind her, thought Isaac was kind of a bore though. Hell, I liked her gimmick. I thought it was handled well and made for interesting commentary.
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May 11, 2017 23:49
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Kea posted:Im tyring to remember the name of an Urban Fantasy book, but I really cant remember more than tiny things and I have read so many that Im not sure if I am just attributing parts from other books to this one I dont quite remember. I think it had a male protagonist, possibly set in new orleans, I think there was a shop he went to to get magic things but there was something strange about one of the people and also possibly he tried to help someone who was half dead or had died but not completely, something like that. Even if no one can help (because half of that might be from some other book) If people could suggest anything that it might vaguely resemble I would appreciate it. Worked it out eventually, this is "Half Ressurection Blues" Not set in New Orleans but the main character is half dead as is someone he tries to help. There is a magic shop kind of place with a precocious teen too.
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May 12, 2017 12:03
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Kea posted:Worked it out eventually, this is "Half Ressurection Blues" Not set in New Orleans but the main character is half dead as is someone he tries to help. There is a magic shop kind of place with a precocious teen too. Third book in that trilogy came out recently. It's not too bad, altogether.
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May 12, 2017 19:23
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Recently saw this forthcoming book on Amazon. Looks like it might be interesting, just going from the first couple of lines in the product description: quote:Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy meets X-Men in a classic British espionage story. A young woman must go undercover and use her superpowers to discover a secret Nazi plot and stop an invasion of England. But I'm not familiar with the author. Does anyone else know about her?
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May 14, 2017 19:14
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I'm not familiar. However I recognize the name of one of her other books, Bright of the Sky. I vaguely remember it as getting highly praise.
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May 14, 2017 19:43
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RE the most recent Alex Verus: So does this mean Alex was right and Richard is an enchanter? Also is there a big list of magic types of some sort? I manage to lose track of all of them and generalize it as combat or not.
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May 14, 2017 19:54
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ConfusedUs posted:I'm not familiar. However I recognize the name of one of her other books, Bright of the Sky. I vaguely remember it as getting highly praise. I quite liked the Entire and the Rose series when I read it a couple of years ago. Very interesting blend of Science Fiction and Fantasy, some romance novel influences too. Not very heavy on action or quick-paced though. 16 GBP/19 € seems however an incredibly steep price for an eBook.
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May 15, 2017 11:53
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The second book of the Alex Verus series is part of Audible's buy one get one sale. I just got it for myself, so.  Grab it if you've been waiting for a sale.
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May 16, 2017 04:00
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I'm still working through the last couple Faust books and I just really like them. Harmony Black is good so far too. Haven't read the Revanche stuff. Pax Arcana/John Charming absolutely needs to be in the OP because it's really good and has some of the better humor I've read in Urban Fantasy. Rivers of London is super British but in a good way and I like watching Peter bumble through things, I need to read the latest one still. Part of the charm of RoL is how London is really a character onto itself and I like listening to the little asides about the city. Alex Verus is the most Dresden-like and honestly in some ways better than Dresden recently. Edge of my seat for the next one every time.
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May 22, 2017 02:16
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Sell me on Pax Arcana and I'll put it in the OP.
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May 22, 2017 02:38
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ConfusedUs posted:Sell me on Pax Arcana and I'll put it in the OP. It probably should be there. It's terribly written and clichéd as hell IMO but relatively popular.
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May 22, 2017 13:29
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Nice job selling me on it, man. Real glowing recommendation there. Anyone else want to second that it's terrible but popular?
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May 22, 2017 13:34
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ConfusedUs posted:Nice job selling me on it, man. Real glowing recommendation there. We'll, I think it qualifies for the miscellaneous others. Iron Druid sucks, too, really.
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May 22, 2017 14:15
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ConfusedUs posted:Nice job selling me on it, man. Real glowing recommendation there. I like them. I actually enjoyed reading them as opposed to the Iron Druid or Rivers of London series.
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May 22, 2017 14:59
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ConfusedUs posted:Nice job selling me on it, man. Real glowing recommendation there. It's pretty good actually. The main character isn't overpowered (he isn't even the strongest in his group of friends) and not getting stronger book for book like Dresden, the world building is inventive in large parts, the love relationship isn't some unhealthy pining "G'Day ma'am" bullshit, but quite grown-up. Women aren't treated as objects or damsels, the writing is fun and fast-paced, the villains bastards without it veering into grim-dark. The werewolves aren't some Alpha-glorifying bullshit, the vampires aren't sexy, elves (which are offscreen) are utter assholes. The reason for the hidden Supernatural world is set-up well and the main conflict of the series so far. Decius fucked around with this message at 15:17 on May 22, 2017 |
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May 22, 2017 15:12
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I recommend the Diogenes Club series by Kim Newman, which I like better than Anno Dracula.
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May 22, 2017 22:22
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Well I'd put it in the second segment (good but not as good as.) Lumping it in with Iron Druid is just RUDE. It's much better than that. John Charming was raised as one of the Knight's Templar, a secret society whose ancestors were supernaturally compelled by the Fae to uphold the Pax Arcana, the spell that hides the supernatural from normal people's eyes and memories. He's also a werewolf, which got him thrown out of the order and put on the kill-on-sight list. But nothing's quite that easy, and as perhaps the only person who's ever lived on both sides of the fence, John is soon called on to be a mediator between the Templars and the Supernatural community, even though neither side really trusts him. The series follows him and his friends as they fight monsters, dodge the Templars, and find out that maybe the Pax is finally starting to fall apart... Decius posted:It's pretty good actually. The main character isn't overpowered (he isn't even the strongest in his group of friends) and not getting stronger book for book like Dresden, the world building is inventive in large parts, the love relationship isn't some unhealthy pining "G'Day ma'am" bullshit, but quite grown-up. Women aren't treated as objects or damsels, the writing is fun and fast-paced, the villains bastards without it veering into grim-dark. The werewolves aren't some Alpha-glorifying bullshit, the vampires aren't sexy, elves (which are offscreen) are utter assholes. The reason for the hidden Supernatural world is set-up well and the main conflict of the series so far. Basically all of this. It's also got some really funny chapter titles.
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May 22, 2017 23:47
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I started Rivers of London a few years ago but I can't remember where I was. Any help would be appreciated. At the very end: His disfigured...ex? girlfriend ended up learning how to make the magic orb and showed him at the beach (I think) in the closing scene. I think that was book 2, but I'm not sure
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May 23, 2017 00:47
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Nigulus Rex posted:I started Rivers of London a few years ago but I can't remember where I was. Any help would be appreciated. That was the end of book 2, I believe.
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May 23, 2017 01:05
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