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Harrow posted:I haven't read The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, but from what I understand people consider the Broken Earth books to be much better and more maturely written. I can't speak for that myself, though I can say she plays around pretty heavily with PoV and narrative voice. I've read both and I liked HTK but the Broken Earth trilogy is her best work yet by far.
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Aug 21, 2017 16:49
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Neurophage posted:I've only finished The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, but I found Jemisin's prose flat and the dialogue uninspired at best. It read like an above-average YA novel. Are her later books better?
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Aug 21, 2017 17:47
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SulphagneSocialist posted:I've read both and I liked HTK but the Broken Earth trilogy is her best work yet by far. ...but yeah those are her best books 
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Aug 21, 2017 20:12
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Neurosis posted:book 3 and 4 are loving weird. 1 and 2 are fairly easy to follow. they're all enjoyable in different ways. The weird is there in Blade of Tyshalle, just in later books it doesn't just go off the rails, it sort of dispenses with the concept of rails. When I finished BoT, I knew exactly two things: one, that I had no idea what I had just read, and two: this was a seven hundred and fifty page book that I read in a day and a half because I could do literally nothing else. I was on the phones in conversation at work and I couldn't stop reading. That said the latter two being weird as gently caress still worked for me; I wasn't going to read them because I heard they were bad but someone here encouraged me. Recommend trying to anyone on the fence but they are the height or YMMV. But how they were written, and how well they accomplished what they were trying to do (and didn't) were really affecting to me on a personal level.
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Aug 21, 2017 20:33
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Jedit posted:Obligatory shout out for Gemmell's Troy trilogy. His wife's City novels are good, too, but I don't know if it's a series or if it's finished. I actually started the Drenai Saga and thought the first book was a decent read. Haven't continued it yet. BravestOfTheLamps posted:Kingkiller Chronicle, which is as good as Bakker's books. I haven't started the Stormlight Archives or Kingkiller since they aren't finished or close to being finished. Bhodi posted:Bunch of good recommendation... Ya I have devoured all of the First Law books and even read the graphic novels for some of his work. The spinoffs for the First Law are so freaking good. I haven't read Red Country yet. Also I am not interested in his YA work but I have heard it is basically like lighter fantasy instead of full on YA. Lots of good suggestions I will add them to my list, thanks. I will check out Acts of Caine next since lots of people suggested that.
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Aug 22, 2017 02:46
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NoneMoreNegative posted:What did I read last year where magic was controlled by swallowing a small sample of a pure metal, different metal for different power? That was light fun, though obv. not enough for me to remember the title California Bones was going to be my guess before I noticed your edit has the answer. More of an urban fantasy book; people use fossils for magic.
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Aug 22, 2017 03:21
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I actually somewhat enjoyed kingkiller chronicles when people were still recommending it unironically but I can't really remember much of what actually happens in it besides that awful fifty-something page fairy sex romp from the second book. Also i think kvothe got thrown out of a window once by the one teacher he couldn't outsmug, and I appreciate a well-earned defenestration.
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Aug 22, 2017 03:21
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Xarbala posted:Also i think kvothe got thrown out of a window once by the one teacher he couldn't outsmug, and I appreciate a well-earned defenestration. It's almost as good as Kvothe being defenestrated. The teacher is one of those insufferable eccentric mentor types, and Kvothe wants to learn wind-magic from him. They get up on a roof and he tells Kvothe to perform a leap of faith off it. He does so, and ends up injuring himself. The teacher declares it the stupidest thing he's ever seen and refuses to teach someone who's a big enough dumbass to actually go through with it. It's not well-written, and if that makes anyone want to read the book, don't. BravestOfTheLamps fucked around with this message at 10:21 on Aug 22, 2017 |
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Aug 22, 2017 10:12
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Ulio posted:I haven't started the Stormlight Archives or Kingkiller since they aren't finished or close to being finished. But you have read GoT? 
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Aug 22, 2017 10:26
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Harrow posted:I'm about halfway through The Obelisk Gate and it really only gets more and more fantasy, which is fine by me. I went in expecting something closer to science fiction, with orogeny treated sort of like psionics in some soft science fiction, justified with pseudo science, but it really is treated more like magic. Aside from what others have mentioned: Ian McDonald Philip Reeve David Mitchell Margaret Atwood (Oryx & Crake is really underrated) Kim Stanley Robinson William Gibson, obviously Michel Faber Mervyn Peake China Mieville (probably leans into what you mean by "overblown" though)
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Aug 22, 2017 12:02
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I really enjoyed the wordcrafting in Vandermeer's latest, Borne. I've read a few of his other works and always liked his authorial style, but Borne felt like a stepping up of his game; Put me in mind of Cormac McC in places.
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Aug 22, 2017 12:10
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Cardiac posted:But you have read GoT? Once bitten, twice shy, I presume.
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Aug 22, 2017 12:15
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got is better than the other two to be fair. even last couple aren't awful even if they're a definite step down from anything else in the series, especially after a storm of swords owning. so there's more reason to read them even unfinished.
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Aug 22, 2017 12:40
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I just finished reading The Broken Sword and I really loved it. It really captures the atmosphere of Norse mythology, but also has a fresh take on it. The war between the Aesir and the Jotun is portrayed as a cold war between superpowers, and the races of Midgard are pawns stuck in the middle and played by both sides as proxies. Probably my favorite part is that the story gives equal time to both the hero and villain, which makes their inevitable confrontation even more dramatic. It's not perfect though, it's biggest problem is that it feels like it sort of runs out of steam in its third act, and honestly the climax the whole story builds up to felt like it could have been done better, especially considering how amazing the stuff preceding it. Still, I don't think I've had as much fun with a fantasy novel since like Bridge of Birds or The Black Company.
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Aug 22, 2017 14:52
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Loutre posted:Super loving weird, but I liked it a lot when I read it 5 years ago. Wikipedia says there's another book coming out, but with zero word anywhere else, I have trouble believing it. I don't think anyone up to and including Michael Stover knows when or if Michael Stover will publish a sequel until the manuscript has been submitted.
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Aug 22, 2017 23:59
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Finished reading The Stone Sky earlier--lots of time in airports and planes means lots of time for reading. I'm really impressed with the trilogy all around. I wasn't thrilled with some of the pacing towards the end--I felt like Jemisin wanted to get too much done with Essun in Stone Sky, meaning that she had to nearly-literally teleport everyone to the big final showdown at the end. Obviously it's a method of transportation that's already established in the previous book, but contrasted with Nassun's journey, I thought "Essun does a bunch of unrelated things, then zaps to the climax" was a little clunky. I see the thematic resonance, but from a pacing standpoint, eh. Aside from that, though, really satisfying conclusion. And also, I'm really surprised at how attached I got to Schaffa, of all characters. Now to look over everyone's recommendations for other fantasy/science fiction with good prose!
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Aug 23, 2017 03:38
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Edit: wrong Stover, I'm not familiar with any works by that dentist
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Aug 23, 2017 07:10
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I didn't listen, and I tried reading Ready Player One despite all the negative opinions I've seen. I don't get the appeal of the book, and I think I'm gonna drop it about half way through. I've had people tell me it's great if you get the references or love 80's culture, and both of those things are true of me, but it's just not a good book. Oftentimes the references feel like they're there to meet a quota. One dimensional characters and a pretty bare story don't help. I get that it's very in vogue to hate on RPO right now, especially with the movie on the way, but man, I bounced off this one hard.
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Aug 23, 2017 16:42
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There's a difference between references that accomplish something (humor, nostalgia, grounding a setting) and references that are just "hey, remember <thing>?" Well, I'm name-dropping <thing> now." RPO is "hey, remember <thing>?", the novel.
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Aug 23, 2017 16:45
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Harrow posted:There's a difference between references that accomplish something (humor, nostalgia, grounding a setting) and references that are just "hey, remember <thing>?" Well, I'm name-dropping <thing> now." Yeah it feels like Cline doesn't have any goddamn idea what it is about 80's culture that people find appealing and nostalgic. Also I don't buy for a minute that a world so tied into Wikipedia wouldn't have thought of putting every combination of words from the first poem into a search engine. How could it take years for people to figure out Tomb of loving Horrors?
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Aug 23, 2017 16:57
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MockingQuantum posted:How could it take years for people to figure out Tomb of loving Horrors? Because they weren't real nerds.
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Aug 23, 2017 18:43
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C.M. Kruger posted:Because they weren't real nerds. But... but... search engines! Y'know what, screw this book, I'm gonna go read Terry Pratchett for the first time ever.
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Aug 23, 2017 19:09
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That's the spirit. Completely unrelated - the sequel to Son of the Morning came out and competely slipped under my radar; anyone read it yet? I loved the first book but apparently it went pretty much unnoticed.
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Aug 23, 2017 19:19
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MockingQuantum posted:I didn't listen, and I tried reading Ready Player One despite all the negative opinions I've seen. I don't get the appeal of the book, and I think I'm gonna drop it about half way through. I've had people tell me it's great if you get the references or love 80's culture, and both of those things are true of me, but it's just not a good book. Oftentimes the references feel like they're there to meet a quota. One dimensional characters and a pretty bare story don't help. I'm on the "wasn't impressed" bandwagon as well but I have to say the first movie trailer was kind of interesting.
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Aug 23, 2017 19:50
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Ready Player One is honestly one of the worst books I've ever read. Although it tries to distinguish them a bit, this slate review of that authors second book is a pretty accurate description of Ready Player One as well. http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2015/07/armada_by_ernest_cline_follow_up_to_ready_player_one_reviewed.html
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Aug 23, 2017 19:57
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Ulio posted:I actually started the Drenai Saga and thought the first book was a decent read. Haven't continued it yet. Which first book? There's two, three if you want to be super-pedantic.
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Aug 23, 2017 20:01
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MockingQuantum posted:Also I don't buy for a minute that a world so tied into Wikipedia wouldn't have thought of putting every combination of words from the first poem into a search engine. How could it take years for people to figure out Tomb of loving Horrors? RPO sounds exactly the like kind of book written to make dumb nerds feel smart, written by a dumb nerd trying to sound smart.
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Aug 23, 2017 20:20
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https://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/Pizza-Man-Audiobook/B074ZSZT45?ref_=a_newreleas_c2_7_tquote:Pizza Man: Or, the Pizza That Crawled out of My A-Hole 
ShinsoBEAM! fucked around with this message at 20:23 on Aug 23, 2017 |
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Aug 23, 2017 20:20
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So It Goes posted:Ready Player One is honestly one of the worst books I've ever read. Although it tries to distinguish them a bit, this slate review of that authors second book is a pretty accurate description of Ready Player One as well. Jeb Lund's review of RPO is also pretty fantastic: http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/ready-player-one-finds-the-bleak-limits-of-nostalgia-1797497066
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Aug 23, 2017 20:23
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taser rates posted:Jeb Lund's review of RPO is also pretty fantastic: The main issue is that this review was written very recently, after it became cool to hate on. I really wonder if most of the people who would of properly trashed the book just kind of ignored it like I did for a while because it didn't sound like their thing and just kinda thought, yeah it's probably pretty good it just doesn't sound like something I would enjoy. ShinsoBEAM! fucked around with this message at 20:29 on Aug 23, 2017 |
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Aug 23, 2017 20:25
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anilEhilated posted:That's the spirit. I loved the first book, but the second one isn't out for me yet (US). It comes out here tomorrow, and I can't wait.
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Aug 23, 2017 20:48
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anilEhilated posted:That's the spirit. !! it's on my to-read list but i didn't notice the release either. the first was fun as hell (notwithstanding the tone was pretty inconsistent), so once i'm done with what i'm reading...
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Aug 23, 2017 23:05
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Stuporstar posted:RPO sounds exactly the like kind of book written to make dumb nerds feel smart, written by a dumb nerd trying to sound smart. ah, so it's for this forum then
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Aug 24, 2017 00:38
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MockingQuantum posted:Ready Player One
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Aug 24, 2017 07:12
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Gene Wolfe is very very good at prose style but very bad at plotting coherently. I have a bad habit of writing down context-less recommendations from this thread, which led me to read the fifth head of Cerberus. I have no idea what is happening. And to whoever was asking whether to bother with the fifth season after hundred thousand kingdoms, I too thought hundred thousand Kingdoms was bad. Fifth season is much better.
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Aug 24, 2017 07:15
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I'm reading Groundties by Jane Fancher, and I'm so tickled by how dated it is: a starship crew doesn't have comms, doesn't have trackers, no: the crew all have beepers installed in their heads so they can be called back to ship when leave's over. Beepers. 
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Aug 24, 2017 10:10
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StrixNebulosa posted:I'm reading Groundties by Jane Fancher, and I'm so tickled by how dated it is: a starship crew doesn't have comms, doesn't have trackers, no: the crew all have beepers installed in their heads so they can be called back to ship when leave's over. That's one of the things I love about reading old SF. Computers, data storage, and communications in particular seem to be common blind spots; we have superluminal drives, but the computer to operate them fills half the ship and use magnetic tape...
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Aug 24, 2017 17:59
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Master Li looking swoll. https://twitter.com/spacedotcom/status/900431708054487040
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Aug 24, 2017 18:35
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ToxicFrog posted:That's one of the things I love about reading old SF. Computers, data storage, and communications in particular seem to be common blind spots; we have superluminal drives, but the computer to operate them fills half the ship and use magnetic tape... I was tickled recently when I was reading Use of Weapons and came to a scene where the protagonist is in what’s essentially a near future society, and comes upon a group of tourists carrying what seem to be smart phones (the tourists have communications devices, and one person is using theirs to play a game while another person is listening to music). Seemed pretty prescient for a book written in the mid-eighties. Of course the thing Banks got wrong was thinking that only half of the near future people would be carrying phones.
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Aug 24, 2017 18:45
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Number Ten Cocks posted:Master Li looking swoll. Oh MAN I wish he'd written more!
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