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Re: new Laundry Files, I wonder if the Iris Carpenter and/or Mandate bits were planned from their initial introduction.
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Jul 12, 2017 19:20
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Number Ten Cocks posted:Re: new Laundry Files, I wonder if the Iris Carpenter and/or Mandate bits were planned from their initial introduction. Very unlikely that these things were planned, since Charles Stross is pretty open about the whole thing not being planned this big at all, more like a few funny satirical short stories. Most of the major world building came after the third book, when the series started to take off in terms of sales and even then real life events threw so many curveballs that made changes in the whole thing necessary, as they made planned events in the book look quaint and cosy in comparison. Decius fucked around with this message at 06:05 on Jul 13, 2017 |
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Jul 13, 2017 06:02
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Tor.com has an article of recommendations for Laundry Files fans by Mr Stross, which may be of interest to folks here.
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Jul 13, 2017 17:38
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Finally took delivery of The Hanging Tree today. I reckon it must have been out in three different formats (hardcover, US paperback, Waterstone's edition) before Gollancz got the properly-sized one I wanted out. I might move on to it next.
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Jul 13, 2017 18:43
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Wheat Loaf posted:Finally took delivery of The Hanging Tree today. I reckon it must have been out in three different formats (hardcover, US paperback, Waterstone's edition) before Gollancz got the properly-sized one I wanted out. I might move on to it next. After Hanging Tree, read Furthest Station too. It's a nice solid little novella. I finished the new Laundry Files book. It was good enough that I thought.about going back and re-reading the earlier books, then decided I wasn't ready to go back to such (relatively) sunnily optimistic works in the same setting, the contrast would be depressing.
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Jul 14, 2017 01:05
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:then decided I wasn't ready to go back to such (relatively) sunnily optimistic works in the same setting, the contrast would be depressing. I remember reading The Fuller Memorandum and thinking "Wow, this is loving dark." I wish I had a time machine, just so I could go back and laugh at my younger, more optimistic self, for thinking that was as dark as the Laundry Files was going to get.
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Jul 14, 2017 08:03
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rndmnmbr posted:I remember reading The Fuller Memorandum and thinking "Wow, this is loving dark." I wish I had a time machine, just so I could go back and laugh at my younger, more optimistic self, for thinking that was as dark as the Laundry Files was going to get. I finished The Last Policeman trilogy recently, so I was well inoculated against this.
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Jul 14, 2017 13:18
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Googling mage names from the Alex Verus leads to some stupefyingly geeky results
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Jul 15, 2017 19:33
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Googling mage names from the Alex Verus leads to some stupefyingly geeky results Oh my god if you find a complete character list somewhere you have to link me. After listening to them on Audible, I tried googling without knowing how to spell their names and couldn't get anything. Also, I just finished listening to Laundry Files 1 and 1.5 which was combined on Audible. I'm pretty underwhelmed? If this is supposed to be 'the best of the rest', I might have to put the genre on break for a bit. Maybe it's because it pales to The Rook while having a similar gimmick, or maybe because I don't care at all about Cthulu mythos? I found the info dumps incredibly boring and the characters were incredibly boring. Is this a symptom of the first book being serviceable but the rest of the series picks up or are the rest of the books more of the same?
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Jul 16, 2017 14:24
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Googling mage names from the Alex Verus leads to some stupefyingly geeky results His grasp of latin conjunctions is not the best. "Deleo" in particular is... not good.
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Jul 16, 2017 14:41
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Old Kentucky Shark posted:Elsewhere's grasp of latin conjunctions is not the best. "Deleo" in particular is... not good.
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Jul 16, 2017 14:52
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Ok, so I read all eight Alex Verus books in about 5 days paying special attention to the "what's up with Richard Drahk" angle since I'd seen debate about it on here. Below I explain it all. 1. Richard Drakh is a diviner. He fights exactly the same way Alex does, just better. Alex fights defensively when he can't avoid it, Richard fights offensively when he has set up conditions where he knows he'll win. Alex just learned to throw things with perfect accuracy, but says he could learn to do the same with guns. Richard did the work and has mastered BOOM! HEADSHOT! Alex occasionally stabs things with foci that disrupt constructs or elemental shields and only carries one at a time. Richard has throwable ones that he doesn't miss with and he carries lots because he expects to have to fight sometimes when his divination, carefully cultivated reputation, and unnatural charisma don't avoid fights he's not seeking out. Alex could be just as deadly if (1) he wanted to be (2) he carried more/better equipment (3) people didn't know he was a diviner. Alex's discussion in Bound with Anne about what makes someone dangerous in a fight is alluding to Richard. Willingness to kill > willingness to get hit > skill > power. Richard is absolutely willing to kill, when necessary is prepared for risks that he can mostly see and avoid in a fight, and his absolutely skilled in both divination and the physical skills that work with divination. He didn't have much power in the traditional sense until he went on his ten year alternate dimension vacation. More on that later. Divination also works narratively, because we've seen Alex bemoan his relative weakness as he consistently destroys people defensively through ad hoc improvisation and short-term divination. Drakh is what you can do if you are aggressive and take a longer term view. But wait, Alex is weak in part because people know he's a diviner and that they can push him around, plan against his gadgets (except the ones they don't know about, like the life ring), and know that he can't shield. Wouldn't people who knew Richard from his apprenticeship know he's a diviner? 2. No one knows he's a diviner because he's not wearing his real face or using his real name. In Bound Anne does a life scan and says Drakh's body is altered in an odd way. Later she talks about how radical combat alterations aren't sustainable because of all the spiraling support systems needed to handle something as simple as add on claws. This is really about Richard. He had a life mage reshape his body so that he's completely ordinary looking and forgettable. But it's all standard human anatomy and function, so it doesn't suffer from the usual third party shapechanging limitations. Few people know what he looks like today (including the chief aide to a Guardian/Crusader senior councilman!), no one knows who he used to be. He looks like any Tom, Dick, or Harry, and picked the middle one as his generic first name. This way he can carry out missions, influence people, and buy top shelf combat/utility foci without people being aware who they are dealing with. When necessary he can play the generic Dark Mage bit as someone like Archon to deal with people who know what he looks like. Drahk, of course, is from an Elswhere inspired trip such as those he inspired among his apprentices. 3. Drakh met a dragon in Elsewhere and received at least one prophecy driving the overall plot. Drakh, of course, brings to mind drake or dragon. And we know he got his name from Elsewhere. And we know from Shireen there are dragons in Elsewhere who can grant absolutely true prophecies. Most likely his prophecy was about how to get supreme power, and he probably got two (possibly related) answers. One was the whole Verus/Anne thing to control the djinn. The second was to go through the portal to an alternate universe where he could learn to use a more powerful version of generic, untyped apprentice-style magic that is effective against elemental mages. That's how he's able (as Archon and later himself) to make gates that aren't gates, shields that don't rely upon a single form of magic but incorporate all of them without being all that strong, and offensive spells that also incorporate several types of magic so that they pierce/avoid single magic type shields without being particularly strong. 4. Drakh might have been Helikaon's apprentice. This is the only part I'm not sure of with 90% confidence. Drakh must have similar long term divination abilities as Helikaon and that other legendary diviner who predicted Alex would give Drakh the djinn item. He's smarter and more experienced than Verus, but is that enough to be so much better a diviner without people knowing who he is? He must have had a really good teacher. We know from Morden in the very first book that Helikaon has worked with and for Dark Mages, so Richard could have learned about their society that way and then done face/body/name change to join them and apply his charisma and some carefully planned and deliberately mysterious assassinations of key Dark Mages to immediately establish credibility. Helikaon is also very close mouthed, extremely paranoid and defensive, and yet has a small soft spot for Alex. My guess is he knows Richard's background, knows Richard could kill him or at least make him permanently on the run if he talked, and by nature really doesn't care to get involved that much. But he cared enough to help out Richard's runaway apprentice. And narratively it works because not only are Richard and Alex both diviners, they both have a link through Helikaon. Other than Richard Drakh stuff, which I was looking for before I began the series, I kept playing will they or won't they as soon as Anne was introduced. I can't decide yet whether I'm glad it never happened and instead turned into a plot where The Power of Love is going to eventually save the day.
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Jul 16, 2017 16:10
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Alex Verus: I think he's more of a fate mage. He seems more about being able to see how he has to set up things to get to a desired outcome than knowing the outcome alone. This would also explain how he was able to set up everything for "all is according to my plan" book after book, while a Diviner like Verus can see all possibilities, but things get so fuzzy so quickly it is only of limited use, especially if all options for alternatives are eliminated. Drakh seems to be able to fo exact that: Seeing what he has to move where to win, like when he was fighting, he waited, took everything carefully and made a perfect shot - but he was unable to predict the fight itself perfectly - maybe because he couldn't set everything up or Verus is a variable he can't set up perfectly because of Alex' abilities.
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Jul 16, 2017 16:25
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Decius posted:Alex Verus: I think he's more of a fate mage. He seems more about being able to see how he has to set up things to get to a desired outcome than knowing the outcome alone. This would also explain how he was able to set up everything for "all is according to my plan" book after book, while a Diviner like Verus can see all possibilities, but things get so fuzzy so quickly it is only of limited use, especially if all options for alternatives are eliminated. Drakh seems to be able to fo exact that: Seeing what he has to move where to win, like when he was fighting, he waited, took everything carefully and made a perfect shot - but he was unable to predict the fight itself perfectly - maybe because he couldn't set everything up or Verus is a variable he can't set up perfectly because of Alex' abilities. Yeah after the last book I'm on the "Richard is a Fate Mage" train.
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Jul 16, 2017 16:46
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Decius posted:Alex Verus: I think he's more of a fate mage. He seems more about being able to see how he has to set up things to get to a desired outcome than knowing the outcome alone. This would also explain how he was able to set up everything for "all is according to my plan" book after book, while a Diviner like Verus can see all possibilities, but things get so fuzzy so quickly it is only of limited use, especially if all options for alternatives are eliminated. Drakh seems to be able to fo exact that: Seeing what he has to move where to win, like when he was fighting, he waited, took everything carefully and made a perfect shot - but he was unable to predict the fight itself perfectly - maybe because he couldn't set everything up or Verus is a variable he can't set up perfectly because of Alex' abilities. People keep saying this, but there's zero evidence that such a thing as a "fate mage" has ever existed. The Fateweaver isn't evidence, anymore than the djinn are evidence there are "wish mages." Imbued objects do odd things. You could probably do something similar by combining chance and divination magic if both were very powerful and fully integrated. Later books introduced rare hybrid mages, but they don't seem as good at any particular field. Burned showed Alex isn't all that great a diviner in some areas. He didn't think the long term prediction about him giving the djinn to Drahk was possible. Not only was it possible, two guys (the two best diviners he knows) were able to do it independently. What about the third best diviner he doesn't know about? And what else might that person be able to do that is beyond Alex? A "fate mage" would also be really awful special snowflake hackery. Richard being all powerful because he's a diviner is a great twist and narratively important. Richard having "LOL I win" magic that no one else has would be stupid. Anyway, Alex saw that he'd have a good chance of taking Richard in a fight. That's because he was at close range where guns wouldn't matter, his short range divination adapted to combat is very good and probably not much inferior to Drahk in that area, and he doesn't rely on shields that would unexpectedly negated by a thrown focus. If Drahk were a "fate mate" he'd just lose. Number Ten Cocks fucked around with this message at 16:51 on Jul 16, 2017 |
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Jul 16, 2017 16:46
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Number Ten Cocks posted:People keep saying this, but there's zero evidence that such a thing as a "fate mage" has ever existed. The Fateweaver isn't evidence, anymore than the djinn are evidence there are "wish mages." Imbued objects do odd things. You could probably do something similar by combining chance and divination magic if both were very powerful and fully integrated. Later books introduced rare hybrid mages, but they don't seem as good at any particular field. I get the objection of "fate magic is this whole other thing," but he did set it up in the first book, via the fateweaver. I think Diviner is definitely very possible, but there's indications for Fate magic also From blog posts on Benedict Jacka's site: There are supposed to be some branches of fate magic where you can make predictions that are guaranteed to come true. That’s always seemed pretty strange to me, I’ve no idea how that could work. [/quote] http://benedictjacka.co.uk/2014/06/13/ask-luna-30/ Fate and chance magic are similar in the same way that lightning and fire magic are similar – they have similar strengths and weaknesses, and the end result when you use them tends to be pretty much the same, but the way they do it is different. Chance magic works by bending luck, so that something that might happen under very very unlikely circumstances happens exactly when you need it. Fate magic works by selecting a path that you want to happen. They can both do the same sorts of things, but the mindset is different. When I’m using my magic, I often don’t know exactly what I’m aiming for – I just make myself lucky, and I trust that it’ll work out somehow. From what I understand, that kind of thing doesn’t work for fate magic. You have to know exactly what you’re trying to do, and if you pick something that’s too unlikely, it won’t work at all. To be honest, Alex made it sound as though it was a lot weaker than my own kind is, but he claims it’s a lot more precise, which I guess has its upsides. http://benedictjacka.co.uk/2016/10/28/ask-luna-74/ The thing is, though – and I don’t know why – you don’t get human fate mages any more. There are legends that they used to exist, but nowadays they’re either incredibly rare or all gone. So there isn’t much information floating around on how it works, because there’s no-one who actually knows the answers. (Well, okay, there’s the fateweaver, but for obvious reasons no-one really wants to try that.) http://benedictjacka.co.uk/2014/07/11/ask-luna-31/ Number Ten Cocks posted:
These both seem like decent guesses, especially the third. My personal guess is that Drakh probably Harvested some other mages or animals to get that powerful, and that's what Anne was seeing, but I could be wrong. . As to the long range vs short range diviner thing, yeah, Alex can seem remarkably short-sighted. I think this might be the explanation: http://benedictjacka.co.uk/2013/04/12/encyclopaedia-arcana-52-advanced-divination-part-five/ Basically there are multiple "schools" and approaches to divination, Appolonian and Dionysian. It would make sense that Dionysian approaches were better at predicting the long term future but less effective at predicting the short term possibilities in detail. Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 17:00 on Jul 16, 2017 |
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Jul 16, 2017 16:50
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Hey, with all the Verus discussion here - I want to get back into the series but don't really care enough to re-read the whole thing; last book I read had an apprentice murder tournament and Richard showing up for the first time. Which one was it and what's the following books? Jacka's naming scheme really isn't helpful.
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Jul 16, 2017 17:22
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anilEhilated posted:Hey, with all the Verus discussion here - I want to get back into the series but don't really care enough to re-read the whole thing; last book I read had an apprentice murder tournament and Richard showing up for the first time. Which one was it and what's the following books? That's two different books. Apprentice tourney is book 3. Richard shows up in book 5. If you haven't read the one with a bunch of adepts, that's book 4.
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Jul 16, 2017 17:25
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Okay, so I guess I'll start from 4 on. Thanks. I think I remember a scene where Verus is stuck in some kind of parallel dimension with a... talking fox, was it? and encounters Richard? Maybe I'm mixing it up with another series. e: There's eight now? Who does the man think he is, Craig Schaefer?
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Jul 16, 2017 17:26
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anilEhilated posted:Okay, so I guess I'll start from 4 on. Thanks. I think I remember a scene where Verus is stuck in some kind of parallel dimension with a... talking fox, was it? and encounters Richard? Maybe I'm mixing it up with another series. ok yeah that's book 5, I think you're just mixing books together, specifically 3 and 5, maybe you skipped 4 (which would be sad, it's the best one imho) He just finished the 9th too it just won't be published till next year.
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Jul 16, 2017 17:29
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Okay, I'll start re-reading with 4. Thanks again.
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Jul 16, 2017 17:32
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It's always hilarious when a new book in any UF series gets released because this thread starts looking like a FBI FOIA request.
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Jul 16, 2017 18:09
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Anyone read the Inspector Hobbes series? Trying to get into it, but rough going early on in book one. Can't tell if the lead is the reporter or the inspector, and the writing is...first book writing.
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Jul 16, 2017 18:23
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Oh, there are some arguments for Richard as Diviner too: 1) Very often, he does things that Alex can't predict -- a lot of his actions, such as intervening in the Vault, seem to come out of nowhere and take Alex by surprise, which would make sense as a multiple- Diviner feedback loop going on 2) he uses items very heavily, so seems to pretty clearly be universal school at least I just think Richard as Diviner would be a little too on the nose and predictable. It's possible and even likely but I'm hoping that's what you're supposed to think, and there's a twist. The big unexplained thing about Richard is the way he zaps himself between dimensions and through gate wards so easily.
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Jul 16, 2017 18:32
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So how many homages are there in Verus to other SF series? 1. Dresden Files, reference to Wizard in the phone book in Chicago within the first page or two of the first book. 2. Vorkosigan Saga, a mage named Barrayar (who doesn't seem to have any memorable or apropos traits, it's just the name) 3. Wheel of Time, Vihaela is a straight up copy of Semirhage in magical speciality, MO, physical appearance, and pant making GBS threads terror she inspires. Lemniscate Blue posted:It's always hilarious when a new book in any UF series gets released because this thread starts looking like a FBI FOIA request. There's no new Verus book, I just want more people to read it (I held off forever and it's really good!) and not have all the breadcrumbs surrounding a central mystery ruined from reading this thread. But it wouldn't be an atrocity not to spoiler all this stuff. Hieronymous Alloy posted:Oh, there are some arguments for Richard as Diviner too: It's basically a choice between whether Richard is Superman (fate) or Batman (diviner). Superman is incredibly boring and unearned (and completely unhinted at as an option in the actual books, so I suspect the blog posts are red herrings ), so I hope to god Verus won't be using his dreamstone to control the kryptonite Fateweaver and defeat Richard that way. (And what does Richard use his dreamstone on in that situation?) I'd much rather have two Batmen using their respective skills and tools to fight for the Macguffin. Richard bypasses gate wards because he doesn't use gates. Alex notes that while they function as gates, they don't feel like gates, which ordinarily use a particular form of elemental magic to force a physical similarity between two locations. Just like his shield and magical attack in the vault showdown don't feel like any particular magic, they're some sophisticated but not particularly strong form of generic magic that feels very similar to what apprentices in this world learn as basic starter spells before they specialize in whatever their particular brand is. Whatever Richard/Archon was doing is a completely different magical paradigm from what standard mages are doing. Alex had never seen anyone do that before, which suggests that Richard couldn't do it before he took his ten year trip through the portal to an alternate/different world. My guess is that world has different or more sophisticated magical traditions and he learned how to use his new tricks there. Tricks which seem very valuable to a diviner who can't use his speciality to directly attack, defend, or travel, but seem less useful to a fate magician who could just will circumstance to keep him safe or defeat his enemies in battle. Presumably Old Richard used gate stones exclusively before he went to Alternate Reality Hogwarts, and presumably he never let anyone see him do it, since all gates, including those done through gate stones, seem color coded to the magical type of their user, although perhaps there's some overlap especially among universal magic types. So perhaps he didn't offer to take Alex through a gate or teach Alex how to use a gate stone in that one book #8 flashback just because he's an rear end in a top hat, but because he didn't want to give away his speciality. If by "between dimensions" you mean how he went to Alternate Reality Hogwarts in the first place, that was just a ritual with the appropriate key in the form of that dead chick. How did he find out about the ritual and the elements necessary? I don't know, maybe he asked a diviner. Number Ten Cocks fucked around with this message at 19:56 on Jul 16, 2017 |
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Jul 16, 2017 19:49
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There are a bunch of wheel of Time references in Verus. The most direct is probably when Luna considers taking Zarine as a mage name and then decides against it. There's also an indirect rivers of London reference in book 7 when the Met police show up to his burned out shop and they talk about how the section name has changed yet again.
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Jul 16, 2017 19:58
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:There are a bunch of wheel of Time references in Verus. The most direct is probably when Luna considers taking Zarine as a mage name and then decides against it. I'm super confused by the status of magic in society in these books. There seems to be no secrecy. They run around blowing poo poo up and getting in gunfights and having big meetings on fancy dress in visible London landmarks, but I don't recall any discussion of hiding out from the normies?
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Jul 16, 2017 20:41
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navyjack posted:I'm super confused by the status of magic in society in these books. There seems to be no secrecy. They run around blowing poo poo up and getting in gunfights and having big meetings on fancy dress in visible London landmarks, but I don't recall any discussion of hiding out from the normies? Around book 5 or 6 there is eventually mention that the Light Council has a Keeper Order of the Cloak devoted to hiding magic from normies. Book 6(?) has an ex-Cloak mage who is the only Illusion Mage so far, which makes sense. Additionally, hiding blatant magical use from normies is also a key component of the Compact, and there are later mentions of Keeper liaisons with the security services and police. So the powers that be know about magic, and there are norms and institutions at play to prevent disclosure and cover it up when it happens. Why the mundane leadership plays along is not made clear yet. How reasonable this set up is, with a (book 8) estimated population of 5,000 mages and 5-20x as many adepts in Britain is questionable.
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Jul 16, 2017 20:52
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Number Ten Cocks posted:Around book 5 or 6 there is eventually mention that the Light Council has a Keeper Order of the Cloak devoted to hiding magic from normies. Book 6(?) has an ex-Cloak mage who is the only Illusion Mage so far, which makes sense. Additionally, hiding blatant magical use from normies is also a key component of the Compact, and there are later mentions of Keeper liaisons with the security services and police. So the powers that be know about magic, and there are norms and institutions at play to prevent disclosure and cover it up when it happens. Yeah, presumably there's a bunch of mind mages going around just locking down the media,and then the small stuff is taken care of by skepticism and denial. The met police order in book 7 is very clearly Council-affiliated.
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Jul 16, 2017 21:03
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The pocket dimension with the castle by the sea and the shadow creatures was also a reference to Ico I thought.
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Jul 17, 2017 11:19
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Xtanstic posted:Also, I just finished listening to Laundry Files 1 and 1.5 which was combined on Audible. I'm pretty underwhelmed? If this is supposed to be 'the best of the rest', I might have to put the genre on break for a bit. Maybe it's because it pales to The Rook while having a similar gimmick, or maybe because I don't care at all about Cthulu mythos? I found the info dumps incredibly boring and the characters were incredibly boring. Is this a symptom of the first book being serviceable but the rest of the series picks up or are the rest of the books more of the same? The first and second Laundry Files books are funny romps through this mashup of cthulu and IT. Around the third book, they start getting a bit darker. If you're not interested in the cthulu portion of them, then you can probably safely stop, because that's where the series is going (at least as far as I can tell, halfway through the Rhesus Chart). If what turned you off was the weird humorous aspects of the book and how it seems like Bob is too smart for his own good and just kind of coasting along, that will stop after like the second book.
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Jul 17, 2017 23:04
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Coca Koala posted:The first and second Laundry Files books are funny romps through this mashup of cthulu and IT. Around the third book, they start getting a bit darker. If you're not interested in the cthulu portion of them, then you can probably safely stop, because that's where the series is going (at least as far as I can tell, halfway through the Rhesus Chart). If what turned you off was the weird humorous aspects of the book and how it seems like Bob is too smart for his own good and just kind of coasting along, that will stop after like the second book. Hmm. Now that you put it that way, I think it's more the latter than the former. I'll go read some other stuff then give the series another shot.
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Jul 17, 2017 23:21
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Just got into book 5 of Alex Verus. I love Caldera.  I kind of want to read one of these series as told by a Warden-type. "Warden's log, October 31st. Some jackass tried to call down a ghost tornado and another jackass rode a dinosaur through the middle of the city to foil his plans... or something. I don't even know anymore. I was too old for this job three hundred years ago."
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Jul 18, 2017 03:54
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Coca Koala posted:The first and second Laundry Files books are funny romps through this mashup of cthulu and IT. Around the third book, they start getting a bit darker. If you're not interested in the cthulu portion of them, then you can probably safely stop, because that's where the series is going (at least as far as I can tell, halfway through the Rhesus Chart). If what turned you off was the weird humorous aspects of the book and how it seems like Bob is too smart for his own good and just kind of coasting along, that will stop after like the second book. I think my first inkling we weren't in goofy IT nerd does magic land any more was that bit in one of the middle books where he is talking about how his "God is coming back...and I'll be waiting...with a shotgun. And I'm saving the last shell for myself. Which makes it all the more heartbreaking that (spoilers for last book) Bob and Mo are probably going to have a kid. When they're having their makeup sex and the condom breaks and Mo says something about getting Plan B. I think things went off the rails about that time, and I wonder if she ever did. It would be weird to put Checkov's Rubber on the table and never have it "go off", as it were.
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Jul 18, 2017 09:58
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I haven't read the last couple of Laundry books because they'd gotten a bit too miserable for me. I am sure I will finish it one day, though.
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Jul 18, 2017 10:05
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Wheat Loaf posted:I haven't read the last couple of Laundry books because they'd gotten a bit too miserable for me. I am sure I will finish it one day, though. I can get behind that, especially if you're not a usual fan of Lovecraft Mythos stuff which is *all* about the madness and despair with no salvation. Personally after the Laundry dealing with NIGHTMARE CASE RED and getting into the starting moves of NIGHTMARE CASE GREEN, we're finally arriving at the plot I've been waiting for. But yeah poo poo is getting bleak. I also really like how Bob and Mo's relationship is handled in the books. They're a real couple with that have some major issues that need to be dealt with between them, and by god they work to save what they have with each other. Sometimes they take a step forward, sometimes backward, but I've come to appreciate them both as a couple who love each other deeply and their relationship is at risk for reasons other than "Oh, I heard half a conversation and now I'm gone" or "I just won't tell my partner about this problem and maybe I won't pay for it down the road".
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Jul 18, 2017 15:11
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Finished off Verus book 5 today. The ending was... something. I kept expecting that at some point, Verus was going to have a little bit of an out, some kind of opportunity for a redeeming moment, however small. Nope. It's just one hammer blow after another. I kind of have to wonder about Richard's appearance. Since the death of Catherine allowed Richard to depart, did Will's death play a part in his return? Did Richard set all of that up? This is good stuff.
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Jul 19, 2017 05:50
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navyjack posted:I think my first inkling we weren't in goofy IT nerd does magic land any more was that bit in one of the middle books where he is talking about how his "God is coming back...and I'll be waiting...with a shotgun. And I'm saving the last shell for myself. I just finished it today myself. And my two word review is "god drat". It seems they got rid of the tiger by setting fire to the house. Yeah, the tiger is gone, but now they have a house fire to deal with. I'm almost certain Mo is pregnant. And Stross didn't even resolve the big is she/isn't she state of her mind/soul. Remember the SA says they aren't even sure if Mo is Mo or something that thinks it's Mo. Which reminds me of something I tend to forget. Bob is not Bob Howard. He's actually the Eater of Souls that has an overlay of Bob's memories and personality in Bob's resurrected corpse. If Mo is the same way, that baby has a 50/50 chance of being someone fantastic or something dire. On the other hand, if Mo is still Mo that means that Nyarlathotep consciously shielded her from his battle with the Sleeping God. Which implies that he has plans for her or the just conceived child.
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Jul 19, 2017 07:00
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Just started a reread of Dresden Files and there a bit in Storm Front that strikes as a little ironic.Storm Front posted:A vampire even a Camp sorcerer couldn't have pulled something like this
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Jul 19, 2017 16:07
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| # ? May 29, 2024 20:38 |
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Rumda posted:Just started a reread of Dresden Files and there a bit in Storm Front that strikes as a little ironic. The nice thing about Dresden is that Harry's such a dumbass that Butcher can quietly retcon it as "man, Harry is so loving dumb."
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Jul 19, 2017 16:12
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