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Cythereal posted:And all of that bothers me a little. Mortals feel like they have virtually no agency or legitimacy in the Dresden Files, Murphy can't walk down a block these days without some supernatural power offering her a job. With the Fomor kidnapping more and more mortals I wouldn't be surprised if you saw an uptick in counter-magic from the mortals
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Jul 25, 2017 05:20
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My local gamestore got in a few copies of the Dresden card game, anyone have it? And is it worth the money?
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Jul 25, 2017 17:31
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Dreqqus posted:My local gamestore got in a few copies of the Dresden card game, anyone have it? And is it worth the money? I kickstarted it. Its not very crunch and its a light boardgame with a bit of setup time. There are better board games out there but if you like the theme or are a fan of the dresden files series I'd get it. So pretty much if you like euro games, avoid If you like sentinels of the multiverse, get If you want a light game, there are better games out there but get it
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Jul 25, 2017 17:36
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Dreqqus posted:My local gamestore got in a few copies of the Dresden card game, anyone have it? And is it worth the money? I quite like it. It evokes the books very well while also being a fairly tightly designed co-op puzzle. Warning..it is hard. If you don't like losing a co-op a couple times before sinking the win...don't buy it.
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Jul 25, 2017 20:20
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I think the Dresden CG is getting a mobile version this year. Might be a lot cheaper and, depending on whether you have someone to play it with, better. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJS1CNJPFKM
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Jul 25, 2017 21:28
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Megazver posted:I think the Dresden CG is getting a mobile version this year. Might be a lot cheaper and, depending on whether you have someone to play it with, better. Everyone who's backed the kickstarter will get all of the add-ons unlocked for free when the app comes out (but they'll still have to buy the app itself), per the update which announced the app.
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Jul 25, 2017 22:20
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Cythereal posted:And all of that bothers me a little. Mortals feel like they have virtually no agency or legitimacy in the Dresden Files, Murphy can't walk down a block these days without some supernatural power offering her a job. Hmm, actually that does bring up one thing. a lot of supernaturals are able to outright co-opt mortals under their control if not into downright membership. Something more decentralized might be the only things that can work, a powerful MiB group is likely to get infiltrated and subverted to somebody's agenda, especially since if they aren't somebody pawns to begin with they probably won't know enough to be aware of the risks of being vamped/mind-whammied/etc. Doesn't work if ALL the mortals know the supernatural exists (hence the fear of setting them off as a whole or even giving them a target they can vaguely grasp) but for a secretive agency it's too easy to get a few hooks into the right targets. Hell, the Church probably is as close as we get to a major MiB style anti-monster group, and as mentioned the Denarians seem adept at pulling their coins out from them and generally screwing with them, and this is with outright divine intervention on their side. Government agencies probably don't have a prayer of doing better if the head of the White Court can grab a chopper off a navy ship with minimal notice already. It doesn't feel like the supernaturals are the secret rulers of the world for all their power (though the bad guys obviously want that bad) but they are powerful enough and have generally been around longer than most world governments so by default they can probably take on a small part of the mortal world while it's centralizing into a threat against them. If there's no single target to aim at though it's another story; starting to think Paranet might wind up being one of the greatest things Harry has set up in the long run, there's not a lot you can target to wipe the whole thing out without making too many waves.
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Jul 26, 2017 07:20
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I feel like the Oblivion war is probably the natural fit for that kind of organization.
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Jul 26, 2017 12:23
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MadDogMike posted:Hmm, actually that does bring up one thing. a lot of supernaturals are able to outright co-opt mortals under their control if not into downright membership. Something more decentralized might be the only things that can work, a powerful MiB group is likely to get infiltrated and subverted to somebody's agenda, especially since if they aren't somebody pawns to begin with they probably won't know enough to be aware of the risks of being vamped/mind-whammied/etc. Doesn't work if ALL the mortals know the supernatural exists (hence the fear of setting them off as a whole or even giving them a target they can vaguely grasp) but for a secretive agency it's too easy to get a few hooks into the right targets. Hell, the Church probably is as close as we get to a major MiB style anti-monster group, and as mentioned the Denarians seem adept at pulling their coins out from them and generally screwing with them, and this is with outright divine intervention on their side. Government agencies probably don't have a prayer of doing better if the head of the White Court can grab a chopper off a navy ship with minimal notice already. It doesn't feel like the supernaturals are the secret rulers of the world for all their power (though the bad guys obviously want that bad) but they are powerful enough and have generally been around longer than most world governments so by default they can probably take on a small part of the mortal world while it's centralizing into a threat against them. If there's no single target to aim at though it's another story; starting to think Paranet might wind up being one of the greatest things Harry has set up in the long run, there's not a lot you can target to wipe the whole thing out without making too many waves. The Paranet is great, but it really needs some more people like Harry and Carlos to help bring in the firepower. One of the books talks about how whole cities on it have gone dark, and no one is left who is powerful enough to go in and find out what happened, let alone deal with it. It would work great though for something like I think Harry wants, which is finding Council level talents, telling them about the laws, and passing them on to someone who can train them before they go all evil warlock. Right now it's more of an early warning system that's missing the response portion of an alarm system. Toss a couple of wardens into the mix who can go and deal with some random creature or problem when it's just started, and you could easily have a very, very powerful system.
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Jul 26, 2017 18:49
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seaborgium posted:The Paranet is great, but it really needs some more people like Harry and Carlos to help bring in the firepower. One of the books talks about how whole cities on it have gone dark, and no one is left who is powerful enough to go in and find out what happened, let alone deal with it. It would work great though for something like I think Harry wants, which is finding Council level talents, telling them about the laws, and passing them on to someone who can train them before they go all evil warlock. Right now it's more of an early warning system that's missing the response portion of an alarm system. Toss a couple of wardens into the mix who can go and deal with some random creature or problem when it's just started, and you could easily have a very, very powerful system. For the time being, that is pretty much exactly what the White Court is being used for. Which sucks and I hope Harry does something about it in the next couple books.
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Jul 26, 2017 19:07
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Anyone read Vivian Shaw's Strange Practice? Getting good reviews.
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Jul 26, 2017 20:51
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I finally finished the new Faust, and holy poo poo, it's probably the best one, yet. There were couple places where I think Daniel missed an important point, but he was pretty wrung out, so I can kinda forgive it. They were: Not realizing Circe was the Circe, and the Lady in Red is very likely Hecate. Bentley and Corman would probably be so disappointed that he didn't catch that. Wikipedia posted:Hecate or Hekate... is a goddess in Ancient Greek religion and mythology, most often shown holding two torches or a key[1] and in later periods depicted in triple form. She was variously associated with crossroads, entrance-ways, light, magic, witchcraft, knowledge of herbs and poisonous plants, ghosts, necromancy, and sorcery. --https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hecate and If the princes of Hell have a memory bubble device that is accepted as evidence, his recalled discussion with the archaeology professor should have sufficed. Naavarasi never owned the dagger. He had proof. Alternatuvely, he just met the "dagger's" original owner, right out on the road. If he could remember her name, he could have called her as a witness; heck, it was her own realm, just describing her and mentioning that fact should have the princes recalling who she is instantly. Number Ten Cocks posted:Re: the new Faust book, the retired architect at the bar who gives him romantic advice is probably the missing Lucifer. No idea why, though. Well, both Lucifer and God are missing. It could be either of them. I agree, though, that it seems slightly more likely that it's Lucifer.
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Jul 26, 2017 21:16
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Blasphemeral posted:Faust Spoiler: My impression was that was something Naavarasi had prepared, not something the Princes could just do. As in she specifically recorded that event to use in a later situation and it just backfired on her because Daniel had a pretty clear memory of the same event, so he knew he could use her own tool and words against her.
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Jul 26, 2017 22:11
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Blasphemeral posted:
Having God actually be Lucifer as the ultimate rear end in a top hat would be right up there with the world those books take place in, though.
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Jul 26, 2017 22:11
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Blasphemeral posted:I finally finished the new Faust, and holy poo poo, it's probably the best one, yet. Regarding the memory bubble I figure that was something Naavarasi created specially for the event, since if that was a standard infernal thing, either there would be massive ways to get around it, making it useless, or nobody would get away with anything ever and hell's not down with that. 100% agreed on the identity of the Lady in Red. Which raises an interesting take on comparative UF series power levels. An actual goddess showing up in a lot of UF would be "Oh, hey, another deity, they can sit with the others." An actual goddess showing up in Schaefer's setting is grounds for serious alarm and probably mass terror. And it's Hecate, who mythologically speaking, is nobody to gently caress with. And yeah, if anyone slaps his wrist for not catching that, it's gonna be Bentley. Also, baseless speculation as to where her final comments tie in. The Lady in Red commented that nine witches had set out to battle 'nine beasts from the Shadow in-Between'. In Red Knight Falling, it was established unless I'm wildly misremembering that there are nine Kings, which are also on the cosmic threat level and screwing with our world and others, and the Kings are either worshiped by, or ruling, the Network. So everything circles back around and seems to be setting the stage for a fight Faust is nowhere near ready for. So far we know details on four Kings IIRC. Wolves: gives his followers (or unwilling recipients, like Jessie Temple) heightened physical abilities with a side of violence and cannibalism. Worms: Damien Ecko was his last servant, he's granted his gifts to Daniel twice, and he appeared in Killing Floor Blues as a titanic corpse served by zombie nuns. Silence: giant screaming naked man in outer space, currently still in outer space, no other details. Rust: worshiped by the Sisters of the Noose in the Revanche cycle, and they were ALL kinds of hosed up -- the Mourner, from Castle Doctrine, appears to be a renegade Sister who jumped worlds. Oh, if anyone didn't see it, Schaefer announced his new trilogy starting in 2018 (which also explains why he's posted about being in New York every other month for the last year or so). It's a Revanche sequel, and basically exactly what I hoped/thought it was gonna be. Nessa and Mari reincarnate in NYC, and potentially apocalyptic poo poo goes down. (My guess: Nessa is going to loving murder EVERYBODY.) Also, all the major characters from the Faust and Harmony books have at least a cameo, it's a giant crossover event. I need this pretty much yesterday.
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Jul 27, 2017 01:01
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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? You're not alone; I didn't like the Laundry either. It's one of the few books in my entire life that I've put down without finishing it. The Rook/Stiletto is wayyyy better at the office politics meets supernatural stuff. I love those books. I can't wait for the next one. Cythereal posted:The Unseelie Accords ... even the Knights of the Cross and the Denarians are signatories. Cythereal posted:If there's one kind of organization I'm surprised hasn't shown up in the Dresden Files yet, it's a Men In Black sort of mortal government agency dealing with the supernatural. The setting is clearly ripe for it even outside the not unreasonable prospect of wizards, fae, or other supernatural outright working for mortal governments. And such an organization could clearly be a terrifying force in the setting - Harry describes mortal governments and militaries getting involved in supernatural affairs as the nuclear option of the supernatural world. Butcher has said there is one. Something about "Librarians [being] scary". It's not been covered in-universe yet, though.
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Jul 27, 2017 17:36
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So I'm new to the series and just finished Turn coat (11, I think) and loving it. Quick question - where does the Side Jobs book fit in? I'd like to avoid even minor spoilers and even though it's a bunch of side short stories, I could see it spoiling stuff incidentally ("Harry walked in and drew his lightsaber" ... wait what the gently caress, when did he become a Jedi). No spoilers, please, just tell me when it makes sense to fit that one in.
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Aug 4, 2017 22:22
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Each story in Side Jobs has a preface telling you where it fits. The big novella takes place after Changes.
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Aug 4, 2017 22:26
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MagusofStars posted:So I'm new to the series and just finished Turn coat (11, I think) and loving it. Quick question - where does the Side Jobs book fit in? I'd like to avoid even minor spoilers and even though it's a bunch of side short stories, I could see it spoiling stuff incidentally ("Harry walked in and drew his lightsaber" ... wait what the gently caress, when did he become a Jedi). Can you give us a trip report after you finish Ghost Story and the book before that one (I think its Cold Days)
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Aug 4, 2017 23:00
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Exmond posted:Can you give us a trip report after you finish Ghost Story and the book before that one (I think its Cold Days) Cold Days is after Ghost Story, the book before is Changes.
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Aug 4, 2017 23:11
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I would suggest reading through Changes, then reading side jobs as an interlude and retrospective.
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Aug 4, 2017 23:42
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Thanks. Page links to a bunch of different bible version translations. It's remarkable how much more powerful and readable the King James Version is than all the other versions.
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Aug 5, 2017 16:48
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Beefeater1980 posted:Thanks. Page links to a bunch of different bible version translations. It's remarkable how much more powerful and readable the King James Version is than all the other versions. There's a half-baked theory that Shakespeare worked on the commission that produced the King James translation. By everything we know it's extraordinarily unlikely, but if you just go by the text, it's surprisingly believable.
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Aug 5, 2017 16:50
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Just finished binging through the Revanche Cycle and I think it was a much better series than Faust. Now I have to read through Faust again to refresh my memory about which characters popped up where in each series.
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Aug 10, 2017 14:38
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Coca Koala posted:I remember when I was reading the Fuller Memorandum, I thought to myself, "hmm, it seems like poo poo is starting to hit the fan". And then I read Apocalypse Codex, and I thought, "Hmm, poo poo is really starting to hit the fan". And then last night I finished the Rhesus Chart and thought "Man, things are really starting to get hosed up now". And now I'm about fifteen percent into Annihilation Score, and I love the Laundry Files novels, but somehow I'd missed The Nightmare Stacks, so when people here started talking about the Delirium Brief I was confused. After finishing both books in the last week, I'm more than pleased with where Stross has taken the series. I've always been a big Cthulhu Mythos fan, so this was finally getting to the real payoff that was being promised. The one thing that really bugs me is that it seems like one eater outbreak in central London would be unstoppable. If it just requires one skin-to-skin touch to transmit the little eaters, then I can't see how that hasn't happened already if the big boys are waking up. It would overwhelm their basilisk gun cameras pretty fast. I do wonder a bit about where the series can go from here though? It doesn't feel like it can go anywhere except for full on Code Nightmare Green.
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Aug 13, 2017 19:58
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I started reading Magic Bites series and its... okay? It's probably my fourth series that I've read in the urban fantasy genre. I'd rank it a bit below October Daye since it blends Urban Fantasy and Romance genre but it hasn't gotten gratuitous yet. There is a bit of humor in the book (Akin more to October Daye dry wit than Harry Dresden's pop culture references) but the main character's stich get used a bit too often. Shes headstrong and aggressive like dresden and she too often charges into a problem with her fists and swords. The second book has me a bit worried as i see more romance stuff getting thrown into the plot. Has anyone read the series and does it get better?
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Aug 14, 2017 20:35
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Exmond posted:I started reading Magic Bites series and its... okay? It's probably my fourth series that I've read in the urban fantasy genre. I'd rank it a bit below October Daye since it blends Urban Fantasy and Romance genre but it hasn't gotten gratuitous yet. There is a bit of humor in the book (Akin more to October Daye dry wit than Harry Dresden's pop culture references) but the main character's stich get used a bit too often. Shes headstrong and aggressive like dresden and she too often charges into a problem with her fists and swords. The romance absolutely gets worse- it has a horrible, horrible case of "STRONG ALPHA SEX SCENES", but honestly, it's a series I still really enjoy reading because of the evolving overall plot and some great character interactions. But seriously, if the romance stuff ruins books for you, it might be best to give the series a skip. I like it, but I know some people have less tolerance for that sort of thing.
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Aug 14, 2017 20:41
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OmniBeer posted:The romance absolutely gets worse- it has a horrible, horrible case of "STRONG ALPHA SEX SCENES", but honestly, it's a series I still really enjoy reading because of the evolving overall plot and some great character interactions. It's normally confined to a couple short sections per book and I find it easy to skip over. I actually like their relationship, too. The sequence/book where they're pranking each other is awesome.
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Aug 14, 2017 21:10
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navyjack posted:It's normally confined to a couple short sections per book and I find it easy to skip over. I actually like their relationship, too. The sequence/book where they're pranking each other is awesome. I definitely agree, I just find it worth warning folks that if they roll their eyes at generic paranormal romance stuff, those little confined sex scenes are gonna be an issue. Also, I'd totally forgotten the prank war- thank you, you're right, that was amazing. Don't get me wrong from my initial comment, this is a series I really enjoy. The worldbuilding/concept is fun, and I think they actually do some interesting stuff with vampires and shifters more than the average book.
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Aug 14, 2017 21:24
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OmniBeer posted:I definitely agree, I just find it worth warning folks that if they roll their eyes at generic paranormal romance stuff, those little confined sex scenes are gonna be an issue. On a scale of "And yes I didn't need a love potion" allusion in Storm Front to Skin Games sex scene how bad does it get?
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Aug 14, 2017 21:59
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I hate it. IMO the heroine goes from "capable magic mercenary" to 'mate of the alpha werelion millionaire packlord' once the relationship is established. H's always bailing her out of poo poo by being muscular and unstoppable and she's always going ~~~he's so alpha~~~.
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Aug 14, 2017 22:39
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I didn't really care for the first book, for an investigator she does an astounding lack of investigation and an unbelievable amount of 'run in the front door with no planning and just badass/bluff my way through'
Bhodi fucked around with this message at 22:48 on Aug 14, 2017 |
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Aug 14, 2017 22:45
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Bhodi posted:I didn't really care for the first book, for an investigator she does an astounding lack of investigation and an unbelievable amount of 'run in the front door with no planning and just badass/bluff my way through' ... I mean we're in a thread about the Dresden Files to be fair.
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Aug 14, 2017 22:47
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ImpAtom posted:... I mean we're in a thread about the Dresden Files to be fair.
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Aug 14, 2017 22:49
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Bhodi posted:sure, but at least he gears up and plans before he charges in, and it does seem to end badly for him (also the first few books where he does this are bad as well) And to be fair, Dresden usually gets his rear end kicked a couple of times in the story when he tries to bull his way through. Then he sits back, thinks, prepares, and pulls it off the next time.
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Aug 14, 2017 23:00
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I like the Kate Daniels world more than the Kate Daniels stories. That said, the novellas and short stories about Julie? are hilarious. Sadly for them to make sense you'd have to at least make it through the main series till she's introduced. Definitely skip them if you can't deal with Romance Tropes showing up in your fiction though. (I find Romance Tropes no more irritating than any other Tropes) The authors are unapologetic about writing books that sell, and it's hard to blame them.
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Aug 14, 2017 23:25
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Bhodi posted:I didn't really care for the first book, for an investigator she does an astounding lack of investigation and an unbelievable amount of 'run in the front door with no planning and just badass/bluff my way through' I think we share the same gripe but I have a different perspective. She always runs in or runs her mouth that we don't get to see another side of her personality or much depth. Dresden might do the same thing but you get to see other sides. I think I'll keep with the book and skip the super sexy alpha wolf parts.
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Aug 14, 2017 23:54
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Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw was okay. It's not amazing, but it is a decent enough read. I could see the author improving, the world seems fun. I need to find other authors to follow, I'm out of books in this genre again. I've moved into the urban superhero genre with Lexie Dunne's Superhero Books, but that's finished now as well. 
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Aug 15, 2017 00:09
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SystemLogoff posted:Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw was okay. It's not amazing, but it is a decent enough read. I could see the author improving, the world seems fun. There's a lot of overlap between "urban fantasy" and "superheroes." There are a lot of superhero books that would be right up this thread's alley. The Rook straddles that line. It's basically "What if the X-Men were a top-secret British government agency?" Other notable superhero works include Brandon Sanderson's Reckoners series (beginning with Steelheart, and the online serial Worm. Steelheart is YA as gently caress, but it's a great concept where the author, after a fit of road rage, asked himself "what if every superhero was a gigantic self-serving rear end in a top hat with a short fuse?" The first 8-10 "books" in Worm are some of my favorite re-reads. Just be aware of the the cliche "bullied girl gets superpowers" origin. Worm continually raises the stakes, alternating between personal and physical threats, and the main character continually makes all the wrong decisions for all the right reasons. ---- I don't really wanna derail this thread too much into those specific works. Visit the Brandon Sanderson thread if you wan to talk about Steelheart, or the Web Serial (wildbow fan club) thread if you want to talk Worm. But I'm totally down with talking about the increasingly fuzzy line between superheroes and urban fantasy, and recommending more of each. 
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Aug 15, 2017 00:21
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SystemLogoff posted:Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw was okay. It's not amazing, but it is a decent enough read. I could see the author improving, the world seems fun. Thanks, that one was getting interesting reviews but they seemed to be more about the idea of the book than the book itself.
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Aug 15, 2017 00:34
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