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Has anyone else here read Trail of Lightning? It’s more paranormal romance than UF, I think, but I was looking to see what other people think about it.
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Oct 17, 2019 02:19
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Reading just the first book of a lot of UF series seems a really weird way to approach it because the first book is almost always the worst book in most of these series. Well, figure that for the most part the first book in any given UF series is also going to be the first thing the author has written professionally. Like any other skill, the stuff you do first is generally the stuff you do worst. Prior to the Rivers of London series, Ben Aaronovitch wrote for Doctor Who and other TV series as well as episodes for a Blake's 7 audio drama. Along with that he also wrote four Doctor Who tie-in novels before starting the Rivers of London series. Practice makes a difference.
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Oct 17, 2019 03:25
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So I just finished up the latest Harmony Black, and it seemed like a decent semi-reset with Cthulhu features. I liked it overall, however The Harmony/Jessie relationship seems to be a recycle of Revanche/Wisdom's Grove with Marie and Nessa. Only now it's the Paladin and...the Wolf? IDK. I am looking forward to the next Faust book tentatively in January as well as the next Peter Grant book. It will hopefully build upon The October Man novella and it's history.
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Oct 17, 2019 07:38
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Ninurta posted:So I just finished up the latest Harmony Black, and it seemed like a decent semi-reset with Cthulhu features. I liked it overall, however The Harmony/Jessie relationship seems to be a recycle of Revanche/Wisdom's Grove with Marie and Nessa. Only now it's the Paladin and...the Wolf? IDK. The next Rivers book has Peter working in the private sector while on suspension from his duties as a cop after the events of the previous book. I kinda doubt that ol' Tobias is appearing in this one.
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Oct 17, 2019 07:59
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Ninurta posted:So I just finished up the latest Harmony Black, and it seemed like a decent semi-reset with Cthulhu features. I liked it overall, however The Harmony/Jessie relationship seems to be a recycle of Revanche/Wisdom's Grove with Marie and Nessa. Only now it's the Paladin and...the Wolf? IDK. That is probably The Owl's doing, actually, for the spoiled bit, given her current status.
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Oct 17, 2019 09:25
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Necrotizer F posted:Well, figure that for the most part the first book in any given UF series is also going to be the first thing the author has written professionally. Like any other skill, the stuff you do first is generally the stuff you do worst. Yeah absolutely, that's 1000% it. Right from the start RoL is written professionally. All the details are cross-checked with "reality," it's paced well, the characters make sense, etc. No rough edges.
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Oct 17, 2019 13:07
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If you started Sanderson with Elantris you’d probably drop him too. You can’t judge an author or a series by the first book alone.
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Oct 17, 2019 14:05
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Daric posted:If you started Sanderson with Elantris you’d probably drop him too. You can’t judge an author or a series by the first book alone. Oh man I wish I'd started him with Elantris, I wouldn't have had to put up with Mistborn. Not my type of book at all.
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Oct 17, 2019 14:17
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DreamingofRoses posted:Has anyone else here read Trail of Lightning? It’s more paranormal romance than UF, I think, but I was looking to see what other people think about it. I enjoyed it, liked the sequel as well
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Oct 17, 2019 15:16
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StrixNebulosa posted:Oh man I wish I'd started him with Elantris, I wouldn't have had to put up with Mistborn. Not my type of book at all. Ninurta posted:So I just finished up the latest Harmony Black, and it seemed like a decent semi-reset with Cthulhu features. I liked it overall, however The Harmony/Jessie relationship seems to be a recycle of Revanche/Wisdom's Grove with Marie and Nessa. Only now it's the Paladin and...the Wolf? IDK.
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Oct 17, 2019 17:38
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Necrotizer F posted:Harry's temptation by power isn't really about "Mu-hu-ha-ha! Now I can finally take over the Tri-State Area! I have the power! I am invincible!" Yeah, but in book 1 where he's standing outside the shadowman's house and feeling the dark power- he muses about the call of the power- and it isn't so much that he seeks to go full Vegeta Dick Dastardly, but that he wants that power. He wants the agency that it'll give him. The way Butcher wrote it was more convincing than any other time in the series, for me- especially because it was at a time where Harry had other options beyond 'take it or die'. He wasn't under anything's influence, either. It was 100% thoughts from inside Harry. And I liked that, especially because the series repeatedly says 'ooo, you're all dark' and Harry goes 'ooo, maybe I'm dark', but seldom does he do anything 'dark' without being influenced or having an out- seldom does he fail in a moment or weakness or whatever. The Laschiel plot should have had more give and take, imho. He seemed to be 100% in control of that, which- eh. Eh. And the Knight mantle would be more interesting if he wasn't 100% backed into a corner. Harry's not (incredibly) stupid. He should have been able to realize he needed more power, and made a willful decision that the price of what he wanted was worth paying. Could have been a fun scene with Michael, him talking about his options. The nature of power. Michael pointing out Shiro's sword was still in his possession- Harry turning away from ( literal ) faith to draw upon power instead. Michael judging. And I guess that's what I like most about the latest Verus book, comparatively. He makes a choice, pays the price, and changes.
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Oct 17, 2019 19:06
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Benedict Jacka AMA: https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/dj4q7y/im_benedict_jacka_ask_me_anything_episode_4/
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Oct 17, 2019 23:35
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The most interesting part of that AMA is how he is pretty set on nothing after the last book, nothing else in the universe, and no detail about where Richard went and what he did other than him coming back with Djinn.
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Oct 18, 2019 02:02
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Lawlicaust posted:The most interesting part of that AMA is how he is pretty set on nothing after the last book, nothing else in the universe, and no detail about where Richard went and what he did other than him coming back with Djinn. Yeah, the promise of no details on Richard’s history because there’s no reason he’d tell Alex and no other way for Alex to find out, even though Jacka has the answer, is frustratingly impressive.
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Oct 18, 2019 02:05
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Apparatchik Magnet posted:Yeah, the promise of no details on Richard’s history because there’s no reason he’d tell Alex and no other way for Alex to find out, even though Jacka has the answer, is frustratingly impressive. Why would you assume that Jacka has the answer? Or at least has the answer in any significant detail? I'd figure that Jacka's answer, if he gave one would boil down to "Richard went somewhere else to get what he needed to do this stuff he's doing now." And not because Jacka's being an rear end in a top hat, but because he genuinely doesn't know exactly. That said, it's possible that in another five or ten years he might want to write The Autobiography of Richard Drakh and/or The Adventures of Richard Drakh Across the 9th Dimension and we'll learn those answers then.
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Oct 18, 2019 02:46
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anilEhilated posted:I started with Elantris. It's the only book of his I remember enjoying, mostly because unlike everything else he has written it has some sense of pacing. Not quite there yet, however Jessie has an extended BDSM session with a hitwoman who is a Dom...and Jessie uses it to torture information out of her, as well as other things. It's Urban Fantasy at it's most awkward, but not as much as Harmony's crush in this novel.
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Oct 18, 2019 06:51
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Well, now I'm glad I quit Schaefer after Revanche.
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Oct 18, 2019 12:02
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@Ben_Aaronovitch: Yesterday's Word Count = 622 All Abigail 01
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Oct 18, 2019 12:47
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torgeaux posted:@Ben_Aaronovitch: Yesterday's Word Count = 622 Yesssssssss! I flove me some Abigail. One of the neat bits from The October Man is about how the spy part of the German magic cops are aware of Nightingale's "junior apprentice" AKA Abigail and find her to be "terrifying." I admit that the one regret I have is that we don't actually get to see Nightingale's conversation with Abigail's parents about teaching her the forms and wisdoms.
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Oct 18, 2019 16:18
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Ah, Alex, no. The most recent book. I can't listen to this
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Oct 18, 2019 22:45
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anilEhilated posted:Well, now I'm glad I quit Schaefer after Revanche. Not sure what you mean by this. The Wisdom's Grave trilogy and his forays into other genres (Ghosts of Gotham, particularly) have been his best work yet.
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Oct 19, 2019 00:27
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SmokinDan posted:Not sure what you mean by this. The Wisdom's Grave trilogy and his forays into other genres (Ghosts of Gotham, particularly) have been his best work yet. Maybe they think you have to read any Harmony Black books to follow the overarching story? I've read them, but they seem to exist on their own and add nothing to Wisdom's Grave/Revanche/Faust other than Faust always making Black and her team look stupid. Black impounding and then stealing Faust's car was funny the first time it was mentioned, but that isn't worth reading the rest of the book it happens in.
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Oct 19, 2019 13:23
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Schaefer has said for a while that the Harmony Black books were heavily influenced by the publisher which pushed him to do a lot with them he didn’t want to. The new book was supposed to be a reboot of sorts. Sounds like it has some issues as well. Harmony probably has too much baggage from the first lovely books to recover and should just be ended. Which would give him more time to write better series (Ghosts).
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Oct 19, 2019 15:20
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The issue with Harmony is that I’m pretty sure she’s supposed to be the Paladin and therefore integral to the resolution of the Enemy storyline, so he feels compelled to make her a fully drawn character.
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Oct 19, 2019 15:25
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I read the Goodman Grey short story from Parallel Worlds last night. Gentleman John Marcone hires him to deal with an LA group's child brothel, and then complains when he takes out the locals who were its customers afterward. What the gently caress, Jim?
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Oct 19, 2019 15:35
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Aerdan posted:I read the Goodman Grey short story from Parallel Worlds last night. Marcone wants the bad thing to stop, but wants to blackmail or control the bad people, I guess. Because Marcone is Actually Bad himself. Sounds typically nuanced for Butcher’s take on this character.
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Oct 19, 2019 17:08
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Apparatchik Magnet posted:Marcone wants the bad thing to stop, but wants to blackmail or control the bad people, I guess. Because Marcone is Actually Bad himself. I mean, I guess, but Goodman Grey had to explain to Marcone that the child brothels were likely to be a recurring problem if the customers don't disappear. It's especially bizarre given that Marcone's "no kids" rule is supposedly ironclad. It just seems out of character for Marcone to prioritize blackmail over removing people who'd target kids.
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Oct 19, 2019 17:17
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Apparatchik Magnet posted:Marcone wants the bad thing to stop, but wants to blackmail or control the bad people, I guess. Because Marcone is Actually Bad himself. Marcone has a super soft spot for children for Reasons, but is also not above having a bunch of paedos under his thumb to torture/use as patsy’s
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Oct 19, 2019 17:18
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DreamingofRoses posted:Marcone has a super soft spot for children for Reasons, but is also not above having a bunch of paedos under his thumb to torture/use as patsy’s Also, remember Butcher played as Marcone in City of Villains, just like he played as Dresden in City of Heroes.
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Oct 19, 2019 17:20
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Also, remember Butcher played as Marcone in City of Villains, just like he played as Dresden in City of Heroes. Good grief, I forgot those games existed.
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Oct 19, 2019 19:25
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Dresden 2 has arrived in the mail! Now it's only a matter of time before my curiosity overwhelms me and I get to read what is reportedly one of the worst werewolf books ever written. I'm ready to be mad and fascinated and secure in the knowledge that with one more Dresden down, I can get closer to the actually good stuff.
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Oct 19, 2019 19:46
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biracial bear for uncut posted:Good grief, I forgot those games existed. He kept getting banned for copyright violation and had to keep explaining, no, he held the copyrights
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Oct 19, 2019 20:01
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biracial bear for uncut posted:Maybe they think you have to read any Harmony Black books to follow the overarching story? it. StrixNebulosa posted:Dresden 2 has arrived in the mail! Now it's only a matter of time before my curiosity overwhelms me and I get to read what is reportedly one of the worst werewolf books ever written.
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Oct 19, 2019 20:18
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:He kept getting banned for copyright violation and had to keep explaining, no, he held the copyrights Amazing.
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Oct 19, 2019 20:19
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:He kept getting banned for copyright violation and had to keep explaining, no, he held the copyrights I met Jim Butcher in City of Heroes  he was playing Harry Dresden, a fire blaster.
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Oct 19, 2019 21:12
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StrixNebulosa posted:Dresden 2 has arrived in the mail! Now it's only a matter of time before my curiosity overwhelms me and I get to read what is reportedly one of the worst werewolf books ever written. I'm ready to be mad and fascinated and secure in the knowledge that with one more Dresden down, I can get closer to the actually good stuff. Storm Front and Fool Moon are probably the two worst books in the generally pretty well written Harry Dresden series. So even they aren't going to be unreadable garbage. Which is good, because if they had been, we likely wouldn't have had a Harry Dresden series.
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Oct 19, 2019 21:26
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:He kept getting banned for copyright violation and had to keep explaining, no, he held the copyrights Wonderful. Finished Midnight Hour/Rivers of London today! Good job on that recommendation, y'all 👍
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Oct 19, 2019 22:39
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I don't typically reread UF books. But I remember liking Fool Moon when I read it. Summer Knight was what I felt was the first really "good" book of the series from what I remember.
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Oct 20, 2019 00:09
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I bought the first three Dresden books back when there were only six of them, at a friends reccomendation, and I didn’t love them, but I picked up the fourth one because I could tell during the police station werewolf fight and the “hands off the fist of god” scene that there was a thread worth following there.
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Oct 20, 2019 18:36
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I think Fool Moon suffers from hitting a lot of the same plot beats as Storm Front, so when I reread them Fool Moon stood out more with its good parts, even though it still has bad parts. The only really memorable good thing from the first book I have outside of the end is the elevator scorpion moment.
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Oct 21, 2019 14:39
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