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biracial bear for uncut posted:Just be ready to put the series down after whichever book it is that Sandman Slim destroys the soul-devouring engine beneath Hell with a simple blood magic spell and damns the universe because that is never resolved. If you’re talking about Tartarus, that gets resolved.
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Nov 5, 2018 14:18
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Reading the Labyrinth index and I cant quite put my finger on who the president is supposed to be... Alec Baldwin? Anyway its quite a slow start and drags for about 2/3 of the book before really taking off. Concorde flies again! Most frustratingly after the virtual cliffhanger ending of the previous book it doesn't really address domestic issues other than some commentary by the PoV character and seems like another book to pad out the time before CASE NIGHTMARE GREEN really kicks off and poo poo gets (even more) insane. One of the interesting takeaways is that the elder gods and various monstrosities seem to all... know each other and have some sort of agreed upon purpose? Like this is far from the first universe they've done the Koolaid man thing through the walls of reality in and they keep getting driven out or fleeing across universes from... something else. The Black Pharaoh explicitly references being at war with some unnamed enemy when bopping Cthulhu's avatar in the face and the whole point of the mission seems to be to tell Cthulhu to stop rattling the cage before the rest of the powers are ready.
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Nov 6, 2018 14:15
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Inspector 34 posted:Well that makes me feel a little better. From a few days ago, but if you have just normal Prime, you can borrow one Kindle Unlimited book a month. So you can keep up to date with Schaeffer's books by only spending money on half of them
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Nov 6, 2018 14:42
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Saros posted:Reading the Labyrinth index and I cant quite put my finger on who the president is supposed to be... Alec Baldwin? Check out Charles Stross' blog for questions like that, he says it's George Clooney "with the serial numbers filed off"
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Nov 6, 2018 17:26
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Saros posted:One of the interesting takeaways is that the elder gods and various monstrosities seem to all... know each other and have some sort of agreed upon purpose? Like this is far from the first universe they've done the Koolaid man thing through the walls of reality in and they keep getting driven out or fleeing across universes from... something else. The Black Pharaoh explicitly references being at war with some unnamed enemy when bopping Cthulhu's avatar in the face and the whole point of the mission seems to be to tell Cthulhu to stop rattling the cage before the rest of the powers are ready. The Black Pharaoh specifically mentions the War Against The Cold Ones, so I'm betting the Elder Gods are an
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Nov 7, 2018 10:35
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Aha I missed the Cold Ones reference somehow, that makes a lot of sense.
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Nov 7, 2018 13:28
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BUTCHER! Nope, didn't work. Thought he might release a book. Spun Dog fucked around with this message at 20:09 on Nov 9, 2018 |
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Nov 8, 2018 01:13
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I think the long gap has killed my interest in the series. At least with ASOIAF there's closure with the TV show and there's only meant to be one or two more books (if they ever come out). If there's this much delay between books in the Dresden Files and we're only 15 books into a 25 book series then we'll never see the end.
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Nov 10, 2018 17:42
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He has a new cosplay wife, give him time to settle in. We'll get there soon enough.
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Nov 10, 2018 22:36
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Just reading Christopher Moore's death books again. Also, he has a nice zombie book, in the stupidist angel, and a few decent vampire books. I avoid his "historical" novels.
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Nov 11, 2018 01:50
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Silentgoldfish posted:I think the long gap has killed my interest in the series. At least with ASOIAF there's closure with the TV show and there's only meant to be one or two more books (if they ever come out). I'm pretty ok if the Fat One doesn't finish the books, the ASOIAF show writers will make a far better job at finishing the series than GRRM would do anyway. Butcher is alone and I'd like to see the Dresden files finished one day, but the situation is not exactly encouraging 
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Nov 11, 2018 01:53
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torgeaux posted:Just reading Christopher Moore's death books again. Also, he has a nice zombie book, in the stupidist angel, and a few decent vampire books. I avoid his "historical" novels. Oh man, if you are including “Lamb” and “Fool” as historical novels, you are missing out!
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Nov 11, 2018 03:38
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Silentgoldfish posted:I think the long gap has killed my interest in the series. At least with ASOIAF there's closure with the TV show and there's only meant to be one or two more books (if they ever come out). I think that time itself isn't the danger, for lack of a better term, that threatens Dresden. The real threat is the pace at which the urban fantasy genre has evolved, leaving the series behind in assorted ways. Butcher was first, but half a dozen authors of similar talent (and a couple who are better) have muscled into his territory and set up shop. That said: Dresden is still incredibly entertaining. Brief Cases reminded me how much I just LOVE the Dresden Files. Other authors write better prose, or pen tighter plots, or approach social issues in a more mature fashion, or posses a better sense of place...but Dresden has this X factor that makes me turn pages like no other series.
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Nov 11, 2018 04:28
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ConfusedUs posted:That said: Dresden is still incredibly entertaining. Brief Cases reminded me how much I just LOVE the Dresden Files. Other authors write better prose, or pen tighter plots, or approach social issues in a more mature fashion, or posses a better sense of place...but Dresden has this X factor that makes me turn pages like no other series. I'm going through the series again, as audiobooks this time because I gotta do a 6 hour drive twice per week right now and I think I figured out what this is. Dresden Files is [i]consistently exciting/i] in a way that other UF series aren't. The story exists in a near constant anticipation/action/aftermath cycle with almost nothing in between.
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Nov 11, 2018 11:44
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AlphaDog posted:I'm going through the series again, as audiobooks this time because I gotta do a 6 hour drive twice per week right now and I think I figured out what this is. Yeah - this is intentional. Butcher is, by his own admission, an incredibly formulaic writer. He has an old live journal that explains his scene, sequel method as well as his formulation of the three act structure. I think that some people get a bit bored with this, but I'm not one of them.
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Nov 11, 2018 14:11
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navyjack posted:Oh man, if you are including “Lamb” and “Fool” as historical novels, you are missing out! No and yes. Lamb isnt, Fool is. Fool and Sacre bleu and Merchant of Venice. I have all three and cannot get into them. Does Fool get good?
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Nov 11, 2018 14:58
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torgeaux posted:No and yes. Lamb isnt, Fool is. Fool and Sacre bleu and Merchant of Venice. I have all three and cannot get into them. Does Fool get good? I thought it was pretty good. It helps if you're familiar with Lear. Also, you didn't mention Practical Demon keeping, Island of the sequinned Love Nun, or the one with the whales.
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Nov 11, 2018 16:26
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Up Circle posted:He has a new cosplay wife, give him time to settle in. We'll get there soon enough. Why write fantasy when you're living the dream
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Nov 11, 2018 16:51
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Beachcomber posted:I thought it was pretty good. It helps if you're familiar with Lear. I like them all, but zombies, vampires and the personification of death hit this thread a little closer.
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Nov 11, 2018 17:24
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gerg_861 posted:Yeah - this is intentional. Butcher is, by his own admission, an incredibly formulaic writer. He has an old live journal that explains his scene, sequel method as well as his formulation of the three act structure. I think that some people get a bit bored with this, but I'm not one of them. Although I didn't notice it at all in text, it's kinda tiring in audio format. I wouldn't say boring at all, but it's almost fatiguing to listen to because it doesn't really slow down at all. And yeah, for me formulaic is rarely a problem if I enjoy the formula. Although what usually happens is I smash 4 or 5 of these books in a row and then take a month or two off. I might get bored if I tried to go straight through the whole thing without stopping.
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Nov 12, 2018 03:32
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Up Circle posted:He has a new cosplay wife, give him time to settle in. We'll get there soon enough. No. I re-read The Library at Mount Char this weekend and wish there were more books set in that universe. There is a shitload of unexplored material there for prequels I'd enjoy reading, for example. Like how Adam Black came into power.
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Nov 12, 2018 12:47
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biracial bear for uncut posted:No.
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Nov 13, 2018 06:00
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Been aaronovich's new book is out in a few days. I really like the Rivers of London series, does anyone know if this will be the last in the series?
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Nov 13, 2018 13:05
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Sloth Life posted:Been aaronovich's new book is out in a few days. I really like the Rivers of London series, does anyone know if this will be the last in the series? It is potentially the end of the Folly vs the Faceless Man story but I know Aaronovitch has discussed keeping it going for as long as he has ideas and he's announced a few spin-off novellas, including solo stories featuring Abigail, Kimberly Reynolds, Nightingale and I think one set in Roman Britain.
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Nov 13, 2018 14:04
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Wheat Loaf posted:It is potentially the end of the Folly vs the Faceless Man story but I know Aaronovitch has discussed keeping it going for as long as he has ideas and he's announced a few spin-off novellas, including solo stories featuring Abigail, Kimberly Reynolds, Nightingale and I think one set in Roman Britain. Yeah, the way he's set things up, he can "resolve" the main arc and still have plenty of ongoing new cases.
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Nov 13, 2018 14:42
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Yay!!
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Nov 13, 2018 18:25
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Wheat Loaf posted:It is potentially the end of the Folly vs the Faceless Man story but I know Aaronovitch has discussed keeping it going for as long as he has ideas and he's announced a few spin-off novellas, including solo stories featuring Abigail, Kimberly Reynolds, Nightingale and I think one set in Roman Britain. Prediction: Even if the FM arc is resolved, I suspect our new ongoing antagonist will be . . .Leslie.
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Nov 13, 2018 19:38
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I would be most amused to see the fearful visit of the Rivers' hillbilly cousins; Tay, Severn and Lagan.
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Nov 13, 2018 23:57
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Having finished a string of very serious and somewhat depressing books, I decided to give Sandman Slim a whirl. Thoughts: 1. This book is somehow exactly as stupid as you'd think, but not as stupid as you'd guess. 2. About twenty minutes into the book I realized the narrator for the audiobook sounds not unlike the guy who did the dramatization for the Doom comic on Youtube.
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Nov 14, 2018 06:07
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NerdyMcNerdNerd posted:About twenty minutes into the book I realized the narrator for the audiobook sounds not unlike the guy who did the dramatization for the Doom comic on Youtube. They’re dumb as hell, but I actually really like the narrator. He somehow manages to sell Stark as self-aware vs an over-the-top edgelord.
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Nov 14, 2018 06:12
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I just finished the most recent entry into that series, Hollywood Dead. At this point, Kadrey has come full circle with the character and pretty much hit the reset button. Ten books in, and Stark is now pretty much back to how he appears in the first book with maybe a bit more humanity? I don't know. He's not as edgy, but still has the love/hate relationship with LA that apparently one can only truly appreciate by living in LA. I liked it, and it was a quick read. I'm curious to see where he takes it from here since a lot of the board got reset. For those that care, by the end of the book Stark: Is now really alive again, after having died at the end of The Perdition Score and all of The Kill Society playing mad max on the outskirts of hell. He also has access to the room of thirteen doors again (I forget how many books he spent without it), so yeah he can pretty much loving go anywhere and play assassin ninja 24/7. He still has the black knife, so every car in the word is his and it can cut through everything. AAAAAAAAAAAND he still has that goofy hell weapon that does whatever the gently caress he wants it to do (I still don't have a good picture of that in my head). Seriously, with that sort of power scale he should just be an Assassins Creed style video game character.
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Nov 14, 2018 16:59
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What? There are now ten Sandman Slim books? I think I stopped reading them after #4 or so. There was a point where they stopped being over-the-top, ridiculous fun and became simply ridiculous and over-the-top.
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Nov 14, 2018 17:12
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I think someone mentioned it on here (?) but I got the first two professor croft books by Brad Magnarella and they're uh, pretty bad. The dude is a complete idiot who blunders into terrible situations and seems to have a death wish and only survives due to plot armor and protagonist handwaving. Just a spoiler-free example, he ignores a "if you do this, we will literally come and kill you" directive multiple times with absolutely no consideration or repercussions. It's casually mentioned with a one-liner at the end of the book that "things are OK because stuff worked out well in the end". He walks into the lion's den with no plan multiple times. He seems to have absolutely no sense of personal responsibility or self preservation, gets beat up in standard noir fashion a half dozen times, gets in way over his head, and then gets deux ex machina'd out of the fire. I'm partway through the second and the exact same stuff is happening again. Does it get better?
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Nov 14, 2018 18:57
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hatelull posted:I just finished the most recent entry into that series, Hollywood Dead. Ubisoft would never let their main character be in an open relationship 
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Nov 14, 2018 22:16
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OptimusWang posted:Ubisoft would never let their main character be in an open relationship Yeah. I was really surprised Kadrey just didn't go full monty with the potential Stark, Candy, Alessa threesome, but yeah I'm sure the next book will open with a "mutual understanding" between the three of them while Stark tries to maintain something normal with the girl from Donut Universe. Honestly, those "Romance" plot lines are kinda gross fantasy and I never find myself invested in his relationships. I read for the epic story arcs and senseless murder and not the descriptions that they broke a ton of hotel furniture having sex. At least Sandman Slim books come out with more frequency and I can sort of remember who's who and what the overall situation happens to be. If this next Butcher book ever gets released I'll have totally lost the plot. I read Skin Game when it came out but don't remember a drat thing about it now other than a goofy but see I totally paid that guy to be on MY side without you the reader knowing moment. At least, I think that was the last one yeah?
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Nov 14, 2018 22:53
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hatelull posted:At least Sandman Slim books come out with more frequency and I can sort of remember who's who and what the overall situation happens to be. If this next Butcher book ever gets released I'll have totally lost the plot. I read Skin Game when it came out but don't remember a drat thing about it now other than a goofy but see I totally paid that guy to be on MY side without you the reader knowing moment. At least, I think that was the last one yeah? Maybe the reason it takes so long is Butcher now has to come up with an elaborate excuse why Dresden can't hire that guy tos olve every issue.
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Nov 14, 2018 23:44
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Up Circle posted:Maybe the reason it takes so long is Butcher now has to come up with an elaborate excuse why Dresden can't hire that guy tos olve every issue. Goodman Grey's main schtick is going deep undercover in unknown locations for long periods of time, so I doubt it.
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Nov 15, 2018 00:52
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Welp, Lies Sleeping was a badly edited disappointment. And I was so excited too.
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Nov 16, 2018 19:32
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Woof. That bad? That's a shame, does it wrap up the story at all? My main issue with the last couple books have been how empty the endings always feel - never felt like they were progressing
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Nov 16, 2018 19:46
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Sloth Life posted:Welp, Lies Sleeping was a badly edited disappointment. And I was so excited too. Yeah I mostly liked it but it wasn’t up to his usual standard at all :/
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Nov 16, 2018 19:54
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