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iTrust posted:The first example that comes to mind because of how recent it is is that I felt like Amos’ death was just drowned out by the fact the repair creatures were just constantly referred to and made out as if a huge neon sign was above them saying “these guys can fix anything!!”  Have you read the short stories/novellas? They're pretty good too.
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Aug 18, 2019 16:51
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I can't remember exactly how it's laid out in TW, but I could see that being a surprise if you hadn't read Strange Dogs. It's also pretty convenient that a fan favorite character who died unceremoniously off screen is buried on the same planet with the magic revival robots.
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Aug 18, 2019 18:36
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Lord Hydronium posted:I thought that too, but I've read people who were surprised at that plot point, so The ancillary works are IMHO required reading if you liked the series enough to read the whole thing. Low commitment, just as well executed as the longer works, flesh out the universe that much more. Edit: Lester Shy posted:It's also pretty convenient that a fan favorite character who died unceremoniously off screen is buried on the same planet with the magic revival robots.
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Aug 18, 2019 18:36
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I hadn't read Strange Dogs but I could still tell that something was amiss, given how much attention was being given to the fact that they couldn't find his body, and leaving bodies near repair drones is a big no-no. Also, has Amos been saying "you take care of your tools, they take care of you" throughout the whole series or was it just this book where he started? Pretty long game foreshadowing if it's the former
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Aug 18, 2019 18:46
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Yeah, I imagine she'll have to be specifically resurrected for a (probably nefarious) purpose rather than the dogs just stumbling upon her body. Or maybe it's a big misdirection. Anybody heard any news about book 9? It's been so long since I've read a series that was actively putting out new books, it's a weird feeling.
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Aug 18, 2019 18:50
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IIRC they're on track for a release sometime in 2020, they've been really good about putting them out on a reliable schedule
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Aug 18, 2019 18:58
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Ainsley McTree posted:Also, has Amos been saying "you take care of your tools, they take care of you" throughout the whole series or was it just this book where he started? Pretty long game foreshadowing if it's the former He's said it a few times. In Book 7 they mention he has it on a sign above the door to the machine shop.
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Aug 18, 2019 18:58
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Ainsley McTree posted:I hadn't read Strange Dogs ... My least favorite of the Novellas right up to the context of TW. Strange Dogs just ends so abruptly as soon as it gets interesting. After TW I get the tie in,
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Aug 18, 2019 20:30
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i'm reading the fourth book and i wish i could step into it and strangle havelock to loving death right now
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Aug 20, 2019 03:45
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Yeah turns out Miller was a bait and switch, even space cops are still bastards
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Aug 20, 2019 04:05
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I could see Laconia holding a resurrected Avasaralla hostage or some poo poo. Sounds a bit crass tho.
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Aug 20, 2019 08:22
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so i finished book 4. I ain't read no spoilers. The thing that killed the protomolecule's creators is/was deffo just another faction of protomolecule creators right?
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Aug 21, 2019 02:51
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Lord Hydronium posted:I thought that too, but I've read people who were surprised at that plot point, so Are they only available via e-readers and the like or have they ever been released in print? A cursory search suggests the former. I'd like to read them but I'm not really in a position to read things comfortably unless they're in print. I'm due to get a new phone though so that might change I suppose. Lester Shy posted:It's also pretty convenient that a fan favorite character who died unceremoniously off screen is buried on the same planet with the magic revival robots. I really hope they don't do this. I really liked Holden's internal thoughts in Tiamat's Wrath when he was thinking of her and I feel like the story has moved beyond her ballpark. She was at her best dealing with Sol's politics and even in book 6 had kind of become a caricature of herself. Having her back now would just feel like fanservice rather than anything worthwhile. I'd be happy if they moved her remains back to Earth. Laconia insulting her by having her buried there made me really angry. Which was pretty great, to be honest.
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Aug 21, 2019 03:03
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I think the publisher was planning a short story/novella collection when all was said and done but idk
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Aug 21, 2019 03:16
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NecroMonster posted:so i finished book 4. I ain't read no spoilers. The thing that killed the protomolecule's creators is/was deffo just another faction of protomolecule creators right? Do you actually want an answer to that? It's not explicit, but from the fleeting descriptions of the destroyers in later books, it seems like they were extremely alien to the gate-builders.
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Aug 21, 2019 03:22
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i finished book 5. all i gotta say is "well, poo poo"
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Aug 21, 2019 22:23
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I just finished Book 8 poo poo is getting most definitely weird and I'm curious how they're going to wrap this all up in a neat bow.
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Aug 23, 2019 15:07
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i'm rooting for space empress duarte and her immortal cyborg assassin
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Aug 23, 2019 15:11
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Rebuilt or not, Amos does have a thing for picking up strays doesn't he? Him being the space dog caretaker at the end was one of my favorite little story bits. What I'm really curious about is what exactly is going on with Duarte the elder at this point, and what his relationship to the 'Vandals' is. It sure seems to me like the modifications made to him and the blackouts have made him mostly operate on a different order of perception than other people and is somehow able to interact with reality at that 'level'. Maybe his current behavior is because he's constantly perceiving reality like the people who went Dutchman or went through the 'bullets' did? Could be that his protomolecule-human hybrid brain is allowing him to interact with reality on a different scale without getting vooped out of existence like the 'Romans' did. I'm still not convinced that the 'Vandals' are actually some kind of intelligent entity, everything we've seen so far could just be mechanistic reactions to interacting with reality at a different level than we're used to and everyone's over anthropomorphizing it. I'm also wondering if the authors have read Watts, the whole discussion about Human brains being 'a field combat version of consciousness' reminds me a lot of how baseline Humans in Echopraxia are compared to the transhuman intelligences in that setting: Peter Watts - Echopraxia posted:"[she] called you a roach. Unless I miss my guess you took that as an insult, too.”
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Aug 23, 2019 17:47
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So I'm a little ways through Nemesis games and I'm curious how the series develops from here. With Miller gone, most Ringbuilder tech turned off, and the disappearing ships just getting pirated it seems like it's saying "Ok that's enough crazy all-powerful aliens. Lets get back to Space Risk." Not looking for huge spoilers. Just "Yeah its over." or not.
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Sep 9, 2019 17:13
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Travic posted:So I'm a little ways through Nemesis games and I'm curious how the series develops from here. With Miller gone, most Ringbuilder tech turned off, and the disappearing ships just getting pirated it seems like it's saying "Ok that's enough crazy all-powerful aliens. Lets get back to Space Risk." Not looking for huge spoilers. Just "Yeah its over." or not. It's not.
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Sep 9, 2019 17:18
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Johnny Truant posted:It's not. 
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Sep 9, 2019 17:36
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Gee if the series ends with the ring gates being destroyed and a bunch of colonies all all cut off from easy connection there would certainly be quite an... EXPANSE between them all. I do have to hand it to the authors-- the series has grown quite a bit from the vomit zombies and OMG EVIL CORPORATIONS ARE ALWAYS WORSE THAN GOVERNMENTS of the first book.
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Sep 28, 2019 23:01
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jeeves posted:Gee if the series ends with the ring gates being destroyed and a bunch of colonies all all cut off from easy connection there would certainly be quite an... EXPANSE between them all. It's like real life, the evil corporations and evil governments are working hand in hand to gently caress everyone.
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Sep 29, 2019 04:44
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It's just crazy to think about how as the series has expanded we've all gotten used to the slow zone and ring gates and such. It's come along way from just evil corporate scientists trying to start a war for profit. Nice to see Cortozar get his dues though. He was one of the original Progen dudes from the first book, and seeing his arc to the most recent one was satisfying. Seriously gently caress that guy.
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Sep 29, 2019 06:43
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Its true, my one and only complaint with The Expanse series is that they portray corporations as just so soulless and evil! Nothing like the corporations that uplift us and enrich our lives here today.
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Oct 2, 2019 03:53
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I preferred the beginning of the series, precisely because it was sci-fi that's still on a very human scale. Conflict local to the solar system, no handwavey faster-than-light travel or immortality or other crazy space opera technology to elevate the human race. Just humanity trying to move forward as a whole and yet still getting constantly undermined by political scheming, geopolitical tension and corporate greed. Maybe that makes it a little bit depressing that it's too close to the actual state of humanity, but it did make for good storytelling!
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Oct 2, 2019 04:52
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adebisi lives posted:It's like real life, the evil corporations and evil governments are working hand in hand to gently caress everyone. More like evil corporations tell the government the best ways everyone except the corporations can and should be hosed; the governments, of course act on that advice, because the governments know whose interests are really important. The only mistake people make in dismissing this is assuming corporations are monolithic in terms of power and influence, and do not get that some corporations are more equal than others. ZombieLenin fucked around with this message at 15:11 on Oct 4, 2019 |
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Oct 4, 2019 15:08
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The most unbelievable thing in The Expanse is that the evil CEO is held accountable for his crimes and dies in prison
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Oct 4, 2019 23:41
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Communist Walrus posted:The most unbelievable thing in The Expanse is that the evil CEO is held accountable for his crimes and dies in prison We thought the Expanse was science fiction but it was fantasy all along.
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Oct 5, 2019 02:48
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Communist Walrus posted:The most unbelievable thing in The Expanse is that the evil CEO is held accountable for his crimes and dies in prison 
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Oct 6, 2019 17:02
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1994 Toyota Celica posted:i'm rooting for space empress duarte and her immortal cyborg assassin Basically this, but space Dishonored pretty much I just got caught up on the books and i'm just completely loving astounded at pretty much how everything has played out. The massive balls of these authors to gently caress the status quo sideways at basically any opportunity has been fantastic to read.
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Oct 8, 2019 08:42
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I do admire the books for shaking things up (especially 5) but I’ve been trying to articulate a sense of dissatisfaction for the last couple books and I think it’s, basically, that no matter where they go or what changes, it always comes back to people doing the same kind of stuff and having the same kind of conversations in roughly the same kinds of places. Which is the point of the series: wherever we go we bring human problems and human habits. So it’s formally defensible. But I guess it just doesn’t light my brain on fire with delight to have everything feel kinda pro forma. Turning our heroes’ first interstellar trip into mud slug adventure might be the peak of this habit. General Battuta fucked around with this message at 22:26 on Oct 8, 2019 |
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Oct 8, 2019 22:23
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General Battuta posted:Turning our heroes’ first interstellar trip into mud slug adventure might be the peak of this habit. I just started Persepolis Rising and I've been loving it so far, but I felt the same way about that. I was disastered out by the end of that book too. First the planet's reactor explodes. Ok that's bad, but we can work through this. Then fusion gets turned off (Extreme bonus points for characters worrying about the sun going out). Then the defense moons activate and shoot down supply ships. Then the ship's orbits start degrading. Then the death slugs. Then everyone going blind. Then Murtry goes full pants-on-head insane. Then the insanity trying to pull the Barbapiccola up and save everyone. I mean goddamn. I still have a ways to go but Miller mentioned that the aliens were a hive mind and the anomaly on Ilus kills anything that is connected to what touches it. Maybe it wiped out the whole race/planet at once? Travic fucked around with this message at 17:00 on Oct 9, 2019 |
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Oct 9, 2019 16:55
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I've been reading through the books after watching the first three seasons, and it's pretty cool how all the titles of the main books are in some vague way an allegory for the books plot, and then I get to Strange Dogs, and it's about some... dogs that are strange?  To be fair Drive is about the Epstein Drive and The Butcher of Anderson Station is about that as well, I just didn't expect this one to be so on the nose. Good book though, I'm fully ready to plough through the rest of the series (then wait for the ones that aren't out yet) to figure out just what the gently caress happened to poor lil Xan.
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Oct 13, 2019 05:55
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Speaking of novellas, there's a new one out next month. It's named Auberon and it's set between books 7 and 8. No points in guessing the topic.
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Oct 13, 2019 07:35
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Defiance Industries posted:Speaking of novellas, there's a new one out next month. It's named Auberon and it's set between books 7 and 8. No points in guessing the topic. I actually don't remember what Auberon is, so what's the topic 
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Oct 13, 2019 18:42
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its about auberon
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Oct 13, 2019 20:21
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General Battuta posted:I actually don't remember what Auberon is, so what's the topic https://expanse.fandom.com/wiki/Auberon_(Novella)
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Oct 13, 2019 21:20
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Would have been more interesting to see the aftermath of the system that lost its gate, but maybe they are saving that one.
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Oct 13, 2019 23:57
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