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Blasphemeral posted:I finally finished The Rook this weekend. Wow! It was fantastic. I'm eagerly awaiting the sequel to arrive. Is there a third in the works? Yeah. The thing with Skin Game is that I didn't really hate any of it. I liked a lot of the character and interactions. There were some neat things that happened. Some great scenes. I just feel it would have been a better book if it were done without the heist trappings. My big gripe about Cold Days is that Cat Sith won't be a recurring character. "Here kitty, kitty, kitty." ImpAtom posted:I admit I didn't enjoy Cold Days at all but a big part of it was that it was Peak Rape Harry and that poo poo is genuinely awful. I really wish Jim would stop with the questionable sex stuff. I don't think he's being a creepo, and he's definitely nowhere near some of the awful poo poo I've read, but it's still... bad. I don't think he thought it ( Winter Knight, White Court ) through. He strikes me as naive and clumsy about some issues ( like the way he writes about gays, for instance ), so I can't hate him for it. Not all the Winter Knight stuff is bad. It would be perfectly fine and still accomplish its narrative goal without the sex baggage. The territorial stuff, hot temper, predator stuff. biracial bear for uncut posted:That whole "Hey, here is something I totally planned from the beginning" infodump with that code phrase was the dumbest poo poo since dancing with Mab in Arctis Tor to an orchestral version of Shinedown's "45". The Shinedown thing made me laugh. Of all the songs, that? Why? Maybe Mab has poo poo-tier taste in human music. You'd think it would have been something like Snowblind or N.I.B.
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May 31, 2017 03:55
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torgeaux posted:I find him a genuinely likeable and believable character. The ding on him not being ambitious is true at the start, but his curiousity about how magic works, his scientific approach, including his clumsy but fruitful experimentation is a nice, realistic touch. Same, I like him a lot. He is however not the most effective protagonist in "getting poo poo done" and maybe that's what people don't like? Basically they wish he was Nightingale instead of Rookie Police Magician First Year.
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May 31, 2017 07:17
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biracial bear for uncut posted:That whole "Hey, here is something I totally planned from the beginning" infodump with that code phrase was the dumbest poo poo since dancing with Mab in Arctis Tor to an orchestral version of Shinedown's "45". wait it's been a while but did he really dance to a shinedown song with mab
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May 31, 2017 07:21
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Clearly, they should have danced to Front Line Assembly's Iceolate, followed by cevin Key's Frozen Sky for the ballad. That would be in line with the grimdark Winter Fae court.
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May 31, 2017 08:52
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NerdyMcNerdNerd posted:I really wish Jim would stop with the questionable sex stuff. I don't think he's being a creepo, and he's definitely nowhere near some of the awful poo poo I've read, but it's still... bad. I don't think he thought it ( Winter Knight, White Court ) through. He strikes me as naive and clumsy about some issues ( like the way he writes about gays, for instance ), so I can't hate him for it. From everything I've heard about Butcher as a person, he's a nice, well-meaning, incredibly goony dude who literally proposed to his girlfriend after riding up to her on a white horse. I appreciated his extremely clumsy way of trying to say it's okay to be gay in Cold Days and wish there was more LGBT representation in the series (there's one offhand line about two of the Alphas, one of whom is now dead, having had a thing in college), but I kinda think he should stick to writing what he knows. Not every urban fantasy story needs to have a lot of hot'n'steamy stuff.
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May 31, 2017 13:55
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Cythereal posted:From everything I've heard about Butcher as a person, he's a nice, well-meaning, incredibly goony dude who literally proposed to his girlfriend after riding up to her on a white horse. I appreciated his extremely clumsy way of trying to say it's okay to be gay in Cold Days and wish there was more LGBT representation in the series (there's one offhand line about two of the Alphas, one of whom is now dead, having had a thing in college), but I kinda think he should stick to writing what he knows. Not every urban fantasy story needs to have a lot of hot'n'steamy stuff. Weren't both LGBT alphas women, too? So this goes back into the White Court thing where (mentions of) girls kissing is hot, but boys kissing is gross and must only be referenced completely impersonally, or as the punchline to an extended "No Homo, Bro" joke.
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May 31, 2017 15:37
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Mars4523 posted:Weren't both LGBT alphas women, too? So this goes back into the White Court thing where (mentions of) girls kissing is hot, but boys kissing is gross and must only be referenced completely impersonally, or as the punchline to an extended "No Homo, Bro" joke. Yeah, but one of the alphas in question is dead when her former relationship is revealed, and her former partner has since married a dude instead. So LGBT girls are fine, as long as they're stuffed in the fridge or settle down with a guy.
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May 31, 2017 16:22
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I'm pretty solidly in the Peter Grant is pretty likeable camp too. He's absolutely not suited to his chosen career early on, but I don't see him as an irredeemable rear end in a top hat about it at all,and he does get better as he gets more experience under his belt. I agree that the magical side of things could be fleshed our a bit more but I genuinely like the focus on police work with hints of the supernatural in the series, rather than the other way around. (That's also what I loved about Kat Richardson's Greywalker series, though it's got some flaws too.) It's also just occurred to me that my actual favorite urban fantasy is the Beyond Belief episodes of the now ended Thrilling Adventure Hour podcast.
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May 31, 2017 16:44
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Cythereal posted:Yeah, but one of the alphas in question is dead when her former relationship is revealed, and her former partner has since married a dude instead. So LGBT girls are fine, as long as they're stuffed in the fridge or settle down with a guy. I for one am relieved the discussion of misandry/misogyny and LGBTQIA+ has once again emerged in the Dresden Files thread, a discussion about a fictional wizard who fights demons and makes star wars references.
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May 31, 2017 16:45
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Exmond posted:I for one am relieved the discussion of misandry/misogyny and LGBTQIA+ has once again emerged in the Dresden Files thread, a discussion about a fictional wizard who fights demons and makes star wars references. This is a particularly dumb comment when Dresden Files, a book about a fictional wizard who fights demons and makes star wars references, literally has plot points revolving around misogyny, including the protagonist's own. When the protagonist has a conversation with a fairy queen about gay tolerance you can't go "That has NO PLACE in this thread!!!"
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May 31, 2017 16:51
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Up Circle posted:wait it's been a while but did he really dance to a shinedown song with mab Yep. It was really stupid the way it was set up and even James Marsters had a bit of "loving really?" to the tone of his voice when he read it in the audiobook.
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May 31, 2017 17:07
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ImpAtom posted:This is a particularly dumb comment when Dresden Files, a book about a fictional wizard who fights demons and makes star wars references, literally has plot points revolving around misogyny, including the protagonist's own. When the protagonist has a conversation with a fairy queen about gay tolerance you can't go "That has NO PLACE in this thread!!!"
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May 31, 2017 18:19
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cant wait for a scene with molly featuring evanescence
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May 31, 2017 18:31
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Cythereal posted:From everything I've heard about Butcher as a person, he's a nice, well-meaning, incredibly goony dude who literally proposed to his girlfriend after riding up to her on a white horse. I appreciated his extremely clumsy way of trying to say it's okay to be gay in Cold Days and wish there was more LGBT representation in the series Pretty much. Exmond posted:I for one am relieved the discussion of misandry/misogyny and LGBTQIA+ has once again emerged in the Dresden Files thread, a discussion about a fictional wizard who fights demons and makes star wars references. Harry being afflicted by m'lady was fun, because it usually bit him in the rear end. It was a character flaw he ( and/or maybe the author ) grew out of. The other stuff... well. It comes up a lot. Harry has a lot of 'no homo' moments with Thomas, and it is usually played for comedy. It happens a lot- and given Harry's relationship with Thomas and what other people know about it ( not much ), it makes some sense, but it's kind of clumsily played for comedy. Then there's the White Court and the Winter Knight stuff. Those are kind of bothersome because they're both pretty neat concepts, but drat, I wish they'd been adjusted for less sex stuff. These kind of things popping up repeatedly in the body of an author's work will make even his fans pause and wonder why. But really, I think all of that pales in comparison to motherfucking Shinedown Up Circle posted:cant wait for a scene with molly featuring evanescence Nah, Molly would be huge into Nightwish.
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May 31, 2017 20:27
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NerdyMcNerdNerd posted:Nah, Molly would be huge into Nightwish. More like god drat TWRP/NSP
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May 31, 2017 21:01
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Imagine that instead of being winter knight, harry had been bitten by a werewolf. Now, how do you feel about the sexy urges that are beyond his control imposed by his beast?
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May 31, 2017 21:43
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Anias posted:Imagine that instead of being winter knight, harry had been bitten by a werewolf. Fool Moon already did this, it was just imposed reversibly via the hexenwulf belt.
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May 31, 2017 21:53
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John Charming has sexy urges that are beyond his control imposed by his inner beast. He responds by screaming and running through the woods in the opposite direction minus his pants. Which ended up saving him a whole lot of trouble later. (And was really funny.) What I'm saying is Pax Arcana is pretty great. I like Peter Grant and his normal-ness because he gets introduced to weirder and weirder stuff as time goes on and he's honestly a good POV character for his normality. He's also an adult who has relationships with women that seem like relationships a normal adult male would have. Which is nice when Dresden is on the other side and every time he has sex is a Big Deal. I got to see Jim last weekend at Comicon, but there wasn't anything cool to report. He's still not writing anything until his house is finished so it's all on pause. Heard a few things about the planned Maggie YA series but not sure if any of it was new stuff.
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May 31, 2017 23:38
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Rivers of London handled sex vampires much better than the Dresden Files ever will.
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May 31, 2017 23:43
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I want to see an urban fantasy series where vampires are incredibly, supernaturally sexy, but only to bats. You can recognize a vampire by how they reflexively duck whenever something flies by overhead.
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Jun 1, 2017 01:04
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Pax Arcana does a good job of playing the sexy werewolf urges for laughs. Like when John realizes that he has been unconsciously carrying out a werewolf mating ritual by presenting his love interest with a very Freudian sausage. It also does supernaturally sexy vampires well: they're not really, but they naturally project a powerful psychic aura around themselves to appear so. The protagonist and others born "of the blood" are naturally immune to such psychic auras and see vampires for what they really are.
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Jun 1, 2017 02:47
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I like that Pax vampires are goony low lifes who start to forget little things like "showering " and "dressing " as they become increasingly detached from humanity.
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Jun 1, 2017 10:50
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Mars4523 posted:Pax Arcana does a good job of playing the sexy werewolf urges for laughs. Like when John realizes that he has been unconsciously carrying out a werewolf mating ritual by presenting his love interest with a very Freudian sausage. The Red Court in Dresden Files are fine in this respect. It's the White Court (who are more succubi than vampires) that's where the problems set in.
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Jun 1, 2017 13:23
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Even the White Court is fine outside of the Raith family. Vampires that feed on hate running a country sounds terrifying. I wonder if there are vampires that feed on something relatively benign like "boredom".... Black Court is also fine.
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Jun 1, 2017 13:35
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General Emergency posted:Even the White Court is fine outside of the Raith family. Vampires that feed on hate running a country sounds terrifying. I wonder if there are vampires that feed on something relatively benign like "boredom".... No, the White Court isn't fine. Despair-fed White Court translates pretty obviously to abusive relationships. Same for fear. There's no indication that hatred is an emotion that they feed on.
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Jun 1, 2017 13:46
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Really? I figured it'd be easier for them to just run a prison or a hospital for despair and fear. We haven't really seen what the other White Court houses get up to. Lust is such an obvious one to go south but even Lara was in porn....
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Jun 1, 2017 14:05
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General Emergency posted:Even the White Court is fine outside of the Raith family. Vampires that feed on hate running a country sounds terrifying. Steve Bannon is a White Court vampire, calling it now.
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Jun 1, 2017 14:21
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Lemniscate Blue posted:Steve Bannon is a White Court vampire, calling it now. The entire Republican party is an alliance of Malvora and Skavis.
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Jun 1, 2017 15:12
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Aerdan posted:No, the White Court isn't fine. Despair-fed White Court translates pretty obviously to abusive relationships. Same for fear. There's no indication that hatred is an emotion that they feed on. Well, there might be. We've seen three White Court families so far, feeding on lust, fear, and despair respectively. Quite possible that there's more that feed on other emotions, they're just not politically prominent/have any influence in Chicago.
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Jun 1, 2017 15:14
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One of the rpg books mentions a family that feeds on anger.
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Jun 1, 2017 15:18
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The most recent Verus book was fantastic. I'm going to need the next Dresden or Cinder Spires book ASAP though.
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Jun 1, 2017 16:14
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Rygar201 posted:The most recent Verus book was fantastic. Like...I know he's going to write at his own pace, and I know he doesn't work for me, and I know he's been through some poo poo recently, and I know I want the book to be good more than I want it to be out fast...but Skin Game is over 3 years old now. If he's going to write 8 more books, I'm starting to worry about not getting to finish the series for another 20 years. And that's presuming something terrible doesn't happen. Reading The Wheel of Time kind of broke me. I'm worried the authors of all the book series I read are going to die before finishing.
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Jun 1, 2017 16:27
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General Emergency posted:Even the White Court is fine outside of the Raith family. Vampires that feed on hate running a country sounds terrifying. I wonder if there are vampires that feed on something relatively benign like "boredom".... How does "different families, different food" work anyways? Is it a magic biology thing? Tradition? What happens if two families crossbreed? If there were a Romeo and Juliet between an adolescent Raith and, say, a Malvora, is there a mechanism by which the latter can purge him/herself of their vampirism, like the Raith do? Am I just putting more thought into this than Jim Butcher did at the time?
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Jun 1, 2017 16:55
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Mars4523 posted:Although it's super convenient that the female White Court vampires seen are all Raiths Nope, the head of Malvora was female before she was brutally killed in the Deeps when a bunch of super ghouls came thru the gate.
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Jun 1, 2017 17:21
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My best guess is that it's a territory thing, so that the different families aren't at odds, they partition resources that way and could feed on different emotions if they set out to.
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Jun 1, 2017 17:25
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thrawn527 posted:Reading The Wheel of Time kind of broke me. I'm worried the authors of all the book series I read are going to die before finishing. Ah to be young again. At some point that worry will flip, and you'll wonder if YOU are going to die before a series ends.
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Jun 1, 2017 17:27
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Mars4523 posted:How does "different families, different food" work anyways? Is it a magic biology thing? Tradition? What happens if two families crossbreed? If there were a Romeo and Juliet between an adolescent Raith and, say, a Malvora, is there a mechanism by which the latter can purge him/herself of their vampirism, like the Raith do? Am I just putting more thought into this than Jim Butcher did at the time? The different families don't actually have different requirements, they just have different preferences in tastes from how it's described. We know that the non-Raith White Courts can still do the sexy mojo thing. The "Succubi can be redeemed" thing is never brought up again even when it should be though. Like the Bigfoot story where the major threat is that babby vampire is going to kill her bigfoot lover except that makes no sense at all with the way anything is described previously.
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Jun 1, 2017 17:29
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If you want to read urban fantasy that's actually beautifully written, there's nothing nearly as good as Kate Griffin's Matthew Swift series. Great prose and great characters. The London setting is actually better used than the Rivers of London books.
Neurophage fucked around with this message at 17:51 on Jun 2, 2017 |
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Jun 2, 2017 17:48
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Neurophage posted:If you want to read urban fantasy that's actually beautifully written, there's nothing nearly as good as Kate Griffin's Matthew Swift series. Great prose and great characters. The London setting is actually better used than the Rivers of London books. The short sample I read of (I assume) Matthew Swift's internal narrative voice made me roll my eyes at how far up his own rear end he is. Is it entirely as though he is narrating the book or just portions of it, because the last thing I want to read is Iron Druid - Stuck Up British Person Edition.
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Jun 2, 2017 18:21
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That's EXACTLY how I feel about Matthew Swift too
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