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Anyone read and can recommend any translated light novels? I ignored them because my experience through occasional dips into anime shows that the standards of Japanese YA writing is somewhere on the spectrum of "someone actually wrote this?" to outright horrendous and they're crazy expensive relative to traditional novels but it turns out my local library has a huge collection so if there is something worth checking out I may be able to get it from there.
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Feb 1, 2019 01:43
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tokenbrownguy posted:Finished Children of Time last night. 5/5 fun read. Need more giant spider romance in my life. The only other thing of his I've read is Spiderlight and while it wasn't as good as Children of Time it was still a lot of fun.  StrixNebulosa posted:I don't have a book rec for you, but Kenshi (the game) is this. Society has been rebuilt in this ruined world but it's still early Mad Max-y chaotic. Caves of Qud, also.
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Feb 1, 2019 02:19
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nessin posted:Anyone read and can recommend any translated light novels? I ignored them because my experience through occasional dips into anime shows that the standards of Japanese YA writing is somewhere on the spectrum of "someone actually wrote this?" to outright horrendous and they're crazy expensive relative to traditional novels but it turns out my local library has a huge collection so if there is something worth checking out I may be able to get it from there. The Yukikaze short story collection (the first one, not the sequel novel) was pretty good. The sequel novel is unbelievably weird and bad (imo, maybe I missed all the deep meaning).
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Feb 1, 2019 02:38
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nessin posted:Anyone read and can recommend any translated light novels? I ignored them because my experience through occasional dips into anime shows that the standards of Japanese YA writing is somewhere on the spectrum of "someone actually wrote this?" to outright horrendous and they're crazy expensive relative to traditional novels but it turns out my local library has a huge collection so if there is something worth checking out I may be able to get it from there. I heard Gosick was decent. I am really annoyed at how light novels get fast tracked for anime because when actual novels written for a broader audience like Shin Sekai Yori adapted into animation the result is great. Instead all those drawings get wasted on lovely “Guy in an MMO” story. Even a Sanderson book as an anime would be better than 90% of what actually gets made, grumble grumble
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Feb 1, 2019 04:13
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NoNostalgia4Grover posted:Candle covers the Meme war in more detail, which was good/bad. So I see. I thought the explanation was a little underwhelming. So it all comes down to how a couple of people if given the power to run these cycles will have the knowledge to gently caress with the timeline to produce desired outcomes if earned through enough iterations, and the reason the world they created is so hosed up is pretty much because they're two total psychopaths - well, Josh maybe isn't because he seems to show some glimmerings of a conscience, but he ultimately never grows beyond having some vague feelings his actions are hosed up, and indeed contemplates doing some of the exact same things again, albeit he also plans to do a couple of good things for his loved ones. The following is plot sequence sperging rather than comments on the themes or characters: I did have some problems with the logic of how the closed timelike curve is meant to avoid causation issues. Is there one true timeline that can't be hosed with? Clearly the curves created are not closed loops - if they were there'd be no changing the 21st Century to be as desired. What happens at the end of the loop (loops are described as only running for a set amount of years depending on energy into their creation) to people who aren't our protagonists but are affected by their actions and are in this split timeline? The way they describe it makes it sound like they'll be looped back, but it seems like you actually need to physically travel somewhere to go back to the start. And as I understand it there must be splinterings into new timelines with each change - those going back in the curve and doing things differently don't seem to encounter a past self that had also gone through the loop, even though the original Russian singularity is described as making GBS threads out 14,000 little ships. And if it's the same person looping back so many times, surely there's a very high chance, particularly given the two characters we know are doing this are sadists and go to conflict-zones, that they will eventually get unlucky and die? Am I just dumb and not following it, or did the author come up with some hand-waving without rigorous logic to tell the story? Which of course doesn't destroy the value of the story - there are some interesting things with the characters and development of the setting to think about. But I'd prefer him to be vaguer rather than try to explicitly explain the mechanics if that is the case... Again, assuming I'm not just dense. At any rate, about a quarter into Candle, and I'm enjoying it. I actually thought we'd never see more than a glimpse of what being one of the meme-carriers was like because it'd be too weird and hard to write in sustained fashion, but so far I've been proven wrong. Still a loving bleak book.
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Feb 1, 2019 09:20
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nessin posted:Anyone read and can recommend any translated light novels? I ignored them because my experience through occasional dips into anime shows that the standards of Japanese YA writing is somewhere on the spectrum of "someone actually wrote this?" to outright horrendous and they're crazy expensive relative to traditional novels but it turns out my local library has a huge collection so if there is something worth checking out I may be able to get it from there. Seconding "Yukikaze", though that's actually a Big Boy Book not a light novel. I liked the "Faraway Paladin" series. The protagonist is a giant Mary Sue, but what I found pleasantly unusual about them is that he actually reads as being genuinely concerned with the morality of his actions. Come to think of it, they'd be good recs for the ~Positive Books~ thread. Bad covers:  Slime! the only book I'm aware of which features jellyfish attacking a hospital.
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Feb 1, 2019 11:16
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Clark Nova posted:That guy definitely wants to gently caress spiders, but I'm okay with it Don't be rude. He's into all sorts of arthropods, not just spiders. Ants, bees, crabs, beetles - he wants all of that exoskeleton booty.
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Feb 1, 2019 11:31
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tokenbrownguy posted:Finished Children of Time last night. 5/5 fun read. Need more giant spider romance in my life. after i read CoT i went back and bought everything he's released apart from the fall series. i don't think i've found a bad book or novella in that group. some weren't great (spiderlight and some of the tales of the apt spin offs) but a very high standard.
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Feb 1, 2019 11:39
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Neurosis posted:So I see. I thought the explanation was a little underwhelming. KC with it's time-loop fuckery can also been seen as the logical outcome of Crazy Ex Girlfriend season 1, with the protagonist of KC in the Josh Chan role, only the Rebecca Bunch character is armed with a time machine/time-loop device + super-duper off their meds. The closed timelike curve + 14000 loop backs: It's extremely hand-wavey/John Barnes having his cake + eating it to regarding what went down. AKA the mental fugue/amnesia after each regeneration cycle + the wep filled with dozens of conflicting statements. Figure that time-looper Saudi in whatever era worked with the original Saudi or replaced them/killed the original Saudi or earlier time-looped-Saudi to relive "fun bits" and "fix things" more, and so on many many thousand times. Neurosis posted:
My response to the bolded bits is pretty much: "Oh you will see, you will SEE" over and over again, in a increasingly deranged tone. There is also a character named Gregor who I kinda think is the protagonist of KC hiding out waiting for his spaceship ride for another time-loop trip when stumbled across + dealt with. quantumfoam fucked around with this message at 16:30 on Feb 1, 2019 |
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Feb 1, 2019 16:25
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tokenbrownguy posted:Finished Children of Time last night. 5/5 fun read. Need more giant spider romance in my life. Not read that, but I enjoyed Guns of the Dawn, and have just started Dogs of War
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Feb 1, 2019 17:47
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Not quite as good as Children of Time, but his ten-book high fantasy series Shadows of the Apt is pretty enjoyable if you're in the mood for this sort of thing. Very obviously a novelized RPG campaign but there's only a couple of utterly unlikeable characters. Still, you can tell who was the group's min-maxer player.
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Feb 1, 2019 20:31
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anilEhilated posted:Not quite as good as Children of Time, but his ten-book high fantasy series Shadows of the Apt is pretty enjoyable if you're in the mood for this sort of thing. Very obviously a novelized RPG campaign but there's only a couple of utterly unlikeable characters. Still, you can tell who was the group's min-maxer player. Is it the Dragonfly or the half-spider lady?
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Feb 1, 2019 20:39
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I enjoyed Spiderlight. It's a nice little stand-alone novel, nothing complicated but it's quite fun.
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Feb 1, 2019 21:28
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https://www.vulture.com/2019/01/ya-twitter-forces-rising-star-author-to-self-cancel.html So this pisses me off. The book isn't for my target demo as it's YA, but it seems like it was trying to do something interesting with the concept of oppression decoupled from the specific visual signifiers that make oppression easier to orchestrate. Instead some other authors, without actually reading the book, dogpiled on it and got the author to cancel it. Like maybe an immigrant author from China, a place with different dynamics surrounding oppression considering the relative homogeneity of the population, might have some interesting things to say about how that functions. Hmm, nope, they must be disrespecting the American experience, let's throw their career off a cliff.
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Feb 1, 2019 23:00
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Ccs posted:https://www.vulture.com/2019/01/ya-twitter-forces-rising-star-author-to-self-cancel.html Presumably the author felt there was some substance to the complaints, otherwise the story is basically either "person who can't handle that jerks exist realizes problem before it gets worse" or "person who cares way too much about twitter posts takes dumb action".
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Feb 2, 2019 04:37
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nessin posted:Presumably the author felt there was some substance to the complaints, otherwise the story is basically either "person who can't handle that jerks exist realizes problem before it gets worse" or "person who cares way too much about twitter posts takes dumb action". It reads like a mix of #2 and “I’m taking my ball and going home.”
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Feb 2, 2019 11:08
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nessin posted:Presumably the author felt there was some substance to the complaints, otherwise the story is basically either "person who can't handle that jerks exist realizes problem before it gets worse" or "person who cares way too much about twitter posts takes dumb action". She was deeply embedded into the community, trying hard to be as woke as the people who are now participating in recreational outrage, so when it was time for her struggle session, she was in a vulnerable position.
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Feb 2, 2019 11:19
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StrixNebulosa posted:Is it the Dragonfly or the half-spider lady?
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Feb 2, 2019 16:26
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anilEhilated posted:The latter is a good example too, but as far as I can tell and most egregiously it's Tisamon - for gently caress's sake he's a So Tragic Master Warrior with a unique weapon (Do Not Steal, were it a more traditional western fantasy setting it would have been a katana guaranteed) who even keeps barging into the plot from beyond the grave; if that's a faithful recreation of how the RPG went he must've been the most obnoxious player ever. Admittedly, I got fed up with him in book one, the fact Tchaikovsky kept shoehorning the bastard in did not help. Ahh, okay! That cracks me up - I'm about a hundred pages into Empire in Black n' Gold and enjoying it so far. Anyways, the funniest thing about this author is this bit from his wikipedia article: quote:Tchaikovsky still uses Role-playing games to help construct his stories, but now this is Live action role-playing which assist in describing the numerous action and battle sequences in his books. Adrian is currently involved with the LARP game Empire.[14]
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Feb 2, 2019 16:37
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Oh, okay. I'm afraid I might have spoiled something there for you but it's pretty minor all things considered. Hope you enjoy the books.
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Feb 2, 2019 17:06
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anilEhilated posted:Oh, okay. I'm afraid I might have spoiled something there for you but it's pretty minor all things considered. Hope you enjoy the books. No worries! Given the rate I'm reading it by the time I get to your spoiler I'll probably have forgotten it.
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Feb 2, 2019 17:08
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Megazver posted:She was deeply embedded into the community, trying hard to be as woke as the people who are now participating in recreational outrage, so when it was time for her struggle session, she was in a vulnerable position. Yeah, seems like it. Cause from the outside it’s a total “wait why is anyone mad about this book?”
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Feb 2, 2019 18:39
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Just finishing Dancers at the End of Time, which is a book that id bounced off four or five times in the past - “Oscar Wilde dandies IN SPAAAAACE” really didn’t appeal. But also didn’t do it justice. Good Victorian style comedy of manners with a nice bit of farce and romance. For a huge chunky thing it reads quickly and pleasantly, probably worth reading if you haven’t read it yet. Very Moorcock.
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Feb 2, 2019 19:05
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lenoon posted:Just finishing Dancers at the End of Time, which is a book that id bounced off four or five times in the past - “Oscar Wilde dandies IN SPAAAAACE” really didn’t appeal. But also didn’t do it justice. Good Victorian style comedy of manners with a nice bit of farce and romance. For a huge chunky thing it reads quickly and pleasantly, probably worth reading if you haven’t read it yet. Very Moorcock. As a Moorcock fanboy, this is one of my favorites. Was the compilation just the original trilogy (An Alien Heat, The Hollow Lands, The End of All Songs) or did it also include Legends from the End of Time (very good) and A Messiah at the End of Time (not so good)? There's also "Elric at the End of Time," but it's basically one joke stretched out too long.
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Feb 2, 2019 19:15
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Just the OG trilogy - think I’ll go back to the others though. Hard to do a whimsy driven immortality without it being terrible, he’s done a good job on this one.
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Feb 2, 2019 19:21
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Selachian posted:As a Moorcock fanboy, this is one of my favorites. Was the compilation just the original trilogy (An Alien Heat, The Hollow Lands, The End of All Songs) or did it also include Legends from the End of Time (very good) and A Messiah at the End of Time (not so good)? There's also "Elric at the End of Time," but it's basically one joke stretched out too long.
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Feb 2, 2019 19:21
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xcheopis posted:I think these are the only Moorcock books I've ever read.
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Feb 2, 2019 19:41
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Just finished Embers of War by Gareth L Powell - it was decent! Not the best I've ever read, not the worst, essentially fun middle of the road space opera about a rescue crew that gets tangled into something bigger when they try to help out a crashed cruise liner ship. It felt like a nice palate cleanser, honestly - easy to read, no giant themes to explore, just adventure and sentient starships and a dude in an exoskeleton getting welded to the deck. I do wish the writing had been better, but  Back to reading more complex things!
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Feb 2, 2019 19:44
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I have a hundred bucks to blow on dumb fantasy novels, and I would like to get a series of dumb fantasy novels. I'm thinking of getting Black Company, because I can order the whole set of omnibhses for 84 dollars, but I'm open to suggestions! I'd prefer poo poo that's finished. Fake edit I have Malazan
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Feb 3, 2019 08:00
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BENGHAZI 2 posted:I have a hundred bucks to blow on dumb fantasy novels, and I would like to get a series of dumb fantasy novels. I'm thinking of getting Black Company, because I can order the whole set of omnibhses for 84 dollars, but I'm open to suggestions! I'd prefer poo poo that's finished. I liked malazan but did not like black company, I wouldn’t blow that much money on something straight off that I may regret after reading a bit and discovering it’s not my thing.
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Feb 3, 2019 08:23
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PlushCow posted:I liked malazan but did not like black company, I wouldn’t blow that much money on something straight off that I may regret after reading a bit and discovering it’s not my thing. I absolutely adore Black Company and I'm going to second the "read the first book at least" advice. Unless this is a one-time deal that you can' re-sell for break even or a small profit.
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Feb 3, 2019 08:34
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mllaneza posted:I absolutely adore Black Company and I'm going to second the "read the first book at least" advice. Unless this is a one-time deal that you can' re-sell for break even or a small profit. I have some store credit at the comic shop I work at and I have nothing to buy at the moment unless I spend it all on rebuying one piece, which is a thing im doing because reasons. It's not really something I can sell or turn into something else, and I figure I might as well buy some books without pictures for a change Fake edit to be clear i mean I have literally nothing, in a store full of nerd poo poo, that I want to buy, but I do have access to a book distributor
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Feb 3, 2019 09:03
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Finished up Infinite by Jeremy Robinson, and it was pretty good. Sort of a weird blend of hard sci fi (FTL limits, etc) and just regular sci fi (AI and whatnot). Story is basically pretty goddamned odd, weird, and a bit strange, but honestly, pretty fun. Worth a read. It's not what you think.
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Feb 3, 2019 10:56
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BENGHAZI 2 posted:I have a hundred bucks to blow on dumb fantasy novels, and I would like to get a series of dumb fantasy novels. I'm thinking of getting Black Company, because I can order the whole set of omnibhses for 84 dollars, but I'm open to suggestions! I'd prefer poo poo that's finished. Hit up local public libraries if possible before pulling the trigger on that $100, but I'd suggest Fritz Leiber's Gray Mouser + Fafhrd series, or if you like insane fantasy mixed with psionics + time-travellers from the future read Julian May's Saga of Pliocene Exile. Recently read a ebook compilation of Mack Reynolds work(cost $0.99, worth a few multiples of that price). Mack Reynolds was a 40's/50's/60's/70's hardcore socialist (in comparison Ken MacLeod is an utter bitch), and it showed. Some of the stories were hilariously dated (mostly the ones taking soviet cold war era propaganda at it's word), or really obvious for modern readers(Ultima Thule), but his short story Stowaway was entertaining + had a plot twist I never saw coming.
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Feb 3, 2019 15:04
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BENGHAZI 2 posted:I have a hundred bucks to blow on dumb fantasy novels, and I would like to get a series of dumb fantasy novels. I'm thinking of getting Black Company, because I can order the whole set of omnibhses for 84 dollars, but I'm open to suggestions! I'd prefer poo poo that's finished. wheel of time also murderbot it's expensive but worth it
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Feb 3, 2019 15:45
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:wheel of time Please don't tell people to read wheel of Time, the series where like a third of it nothing happens Also I binged the first four or five books in college and when I tapped out twas already seeing the writing on the wall Good call tho!
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Feb 3, 2019 16:00
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BENGHAZI 2 posted:Please don't tell people to read wheel of Time, the series where like a third of it nothing happens hey, if you want to blow a shitload of money on crappy fantasy novels, it's right there More substantively, I once ordered a large collection of Terry Pratchett hardbacks on ebay and I've never regretted it, so that's an option or maybe https://www.ebay.com/i/323654814101?chn=ps if you want non dumb actual good books, https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Aubrey-Maturin-Novels-volumes/dp/039306011X
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Feb 3, 2019 16:03
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Ann Leckie has written some of the only sci-fi I've read in recent years that didn't make me fall asleep or didn't have the worst political and social undertones and apparently her next book is a fantasy novel so I have no idea how that's gonna work out.
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Feb 3, 2019 16:14
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:hey, if you want to blow a shitload of money on crappy fantasy novels, it's right there Those are boats not dragons
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Feb 3, 2019 16:37
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BENGHAZI 2 posted:I have a hundred bucks to blow on dumb fantasy novels, and I would like to get a series of dumb fantasy novels. I'm thinking of getting Black Company, because I can order the whole set of omnibhses for 84 dollars, but I'm open to suggestions! I'd prefer poo poo that's finished. People here seem kind of lukewarm on him, but I really enjoyed Daniel Abraham's Long Price Quartet (plus, you can get 2 omnibuses with half of the series in each). His Dagger and Coin series was ok but nothing to write home about.
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Feb 3, 2019 18:02
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