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The Skystone by Jack Whyte is Arthurian fantasy, not a subgenre I have anything but a passing acquaintance with. As such, I have no real context for this book or its venue. Skystone is set well before the time of Arthur, and instead sets out to tell the story of the origins of Arthur, Camelot, and Excalibur - beginning with the last days of the Roman occupation of Britain. It's an unusual setting, one I've never read about before, and while I have some knowledge of Roman history, Roman Britain is largely a blank spot for me. I enjoyed the setting, it's different from anything I'm used to, and Whyte does a terrific job of evoking an apocalyptic atmosphere. He struck a vibe very similar to any "the end of the world as we know it" Tomorrow AD novels I've read, but the end of the world in question is the end of the Roman world. For all that I enjoyed the setting, the characters in this book are all shallow archetypes. Protagonist Publius Varrus is A Good Man. So is his best friend Caius Britannicus. Claudius Senesca is A Villain. King Ullic Pendragon of the Celts is a Noble Savage. Luceiia is A Good Wife And Mother. Phoebe exists to demonstrate the protagonist's manly virility and then get murdered by the villain to motivate the protagonist. And so on and so forth. There are no surprises anywhere to be had in the book, no one changes or grows as a character, and oh my God aren't Britons special? Maybe all this is par for the course for the genre, but I found it disappointing since I enjoyed the unusual setting.
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Dec 12, 2019 00:38
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Cythereal posted:and oh my God aren't Britons special? I've been tentatively reading a bit of mystery/detective stuff over the past few years (mainly by just picking books at random at the library based on whatever looks interesting and isn't blatant contemporary author self-insert stuff) and I felt the same about this one series about a Roman surgeon/physician who ended up in Londonium and promptly frees and marries a Celtic slave girl while they solve mysteries. I think for a couple of the books they actually went back to Italy/Gaul proper (his wife converts after meeting some Christian slaves, of course) but for the most part it's some Hollywood Romans with overly modern attitudes running around Provincia Britannia solving the sort of mysteries you'd expect.
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Dec 12, 2019 09:39
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Khizan posted:I got the Gideon the Ninth audiobook with a free Audible credit thing that Amazon emailed me a while back, and to my surprise I've been enjoying listening to it in the car despite my long history of not being able to deal with them. I've got another 2 free credits from a trial to spend, and I'm looking for some more titles that are particularly good in audiobook form. I really liked the narration on Spinning Silver, and it's a standalone book too. Edit: Thoughts on the Lightbringer series? Thinking about starting some big rear end fantasy books. A Proper Uppercut fucked around with this message at 12:12 on Dec 12, 2019 |
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Dec 12, 2019 12:09
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C.M. Kruger posted:I've been tentatively reading a bit of mystery/detective stuff over the past few years (mainly by just picking books at random at the library based on whatever looks interesting and isn't blatant contemporary author self-insert stuff) and I felt the same about this one series about a Roman surgeon/physician who ended up in Londonium and promptly frees and marries a Celtic slave girl while they solve mysteries. I think for a couple of the books they actually went back to Italy/Gaul proper (his wife converts after meeting some Christian slaves, of course) but for the most part it's some Hollywood Romans with overly modern attitudes running around Provincia Britannia solving the sort of mysteries you'd expect. I'm enough of a historian to feel a sense of instinctive rage and contempt whenever England comes up in a historical context, and yeah Skystone is really, really Hollywood Roman with all the good guys conveniently having modern attitudes and beliefs. I'm given to understand that this is something of a given in Arthurian fantasy, though.
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Dec 12, 2019 13:21
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Cythereal posted:I'm enough of a historian to feel a sense of instinctive rage and contempt whenever England comes up in a historical context, and yeah Skystone is really, really Hollywood Roman with all the good guys conveniently having modern attitudes and beliefs. Arthurian fantasy should embrace the anachronisms, IMO. Basically all the romances by Chretian de Troyes, etc. projected the customs of the High Middle Ages back into the Dark Ages. TH White’s The Once and Future King has some sort of jokey quasi-alternate history going on where Uther seems to have replaced William the Conqueror, in addition to Merlin being from the future. When people aim for “historical” takes they often end up with a bunch of unintentional anachronisms anyway, while removing interesting elements. Like the 2004 movie. Silver2195 fucked around with this message at 15:16 on Dec 12, 2019 |
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Dec 12, 2019 15:12
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Anyone read Dead Moon by Peter Clines? I liked it, but I'm kinda stuck wondering how it ties into the rest of the Threshold series.
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Dec 12, 2019 15:15
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Silver2195 posted:When people aim for “historical” takes they often end up with a bunch of unintentional anachronisms anyway, while removing interesting elements. Like the 2004 movie. I like that movie.  Not because it's good, mind you.
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Dec 12, 2019 16:29
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:Anyone read Dead Moon by Peter Clines? Hated it. I read and really enjoyed 14 and Threshold. Was bored to tears by Dead Moon. Just completely failed to engage me in any way. Abandoned it halfway through as I couldn't bring myself to slog through another word.
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Dec 12, 2019 17:01
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Silver2195 posted:Arthurian fantasy should embrace the anachronisms, IMO. Basically all the romances by Chretian de Troyes, etc. projected the customs of the High Middle Ages back into the Dark Ages. TH White’s The Once and Future King has some sort of jokey quasi-alternate history going on where Uther seems to have replaced William the Conqueror, in addition to Merlin being from the future. Agreed. Rewriting things to suit current mores is literally the most Arthurian thing you can do.
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Dec 12, 2019 19:19
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If you dig the Roman stuff, they aren’t fantasy but the SPQR books and the Roma Sub Rosa books are good fun. I know gently caress all about ancient Roman history so I can’t vouch for their accuracy but they’re fun detective stories.
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Dec 12, 2019 20:02
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navyjack posted:If you dig the Roman stuff, they aren’t fantasy but the SPQR books and the Roma Sub Rosa books are good fun. I know gently caress all about ancient Roman history so I can’t vouch for their accuracy but they’re fun detective stories. I read the first one of those and it was indeed good fun. I don't think they're particularly historical but it's fun to see Decius cross paths with like every major figure from the late Republic era.
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Dec 12, 2019 20:04
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I finished reading Steel Frame yesterday and on the whole I really liked it. Although I did feel like the ending was a little rushed and abrupt.
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Dec 12, 2019 21:50
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muscles like this! posted:I finished reading Steel Frame yesterday and on the whole I really liked it. Although I did feel like the ending was a little rushed and abrupt. Same. And an interview with the author said that's basically the end of Rook's story, he has ideas for other books in the universe.
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Dec 13, 2019 00:36
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At least it actually had an ending. I was getting worried that it would cut off without a resolution. Also started reading Blake Crouch's Recursion and I'm digging it. It is a lot like Dark Matter where the story starts at a slow burn but by halfway it has started hurtling down the tracks.
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Dec 13, 2019 01:54
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muscles like this! posted:Also started reading Blake Crouch's Recursion and I'm digging it. It is a lot like Dark Matter where the story starts at a slow burn but by halfway it has started hurtling down the tracks.
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Dec 13, 2019 02:16
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Considering the book deals with people who are all of a sudden flooded with memories of false lives, yeah, there's a lot of mind fuckery.
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Dec 13, 2019 02:43
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navyjack posted:If you dig the Roman stuff, they aren’t fantasy but the SPQR books and the Roma Sub Rosa books are good fun. I know gently caress all about ancient Roman history so I can’t vouch for their accuracy but they’re fun detective stories. If you can stomach comics, the Britannia series are also pretty good. It's about a guy who's the equivalent of a detective during the time of Nero. Despite the name, a lot of the action past the first volume is set in Rome. Some magic. Aside from that, from a historicity perspective some parts, that the writer researched closely, are pretty good; others probably less so. Good stuff either way.
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Dec 13, 2019 05:06
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Silver2195 posted:Arthurian fantasy should embrace the anachronisms, IMO. Basically all the romances by Chretian de Troyes, etc. projected the customs of the High Middle Ages back into the Dark Ages. TH White’s The Once and Future King has some sort of jokey quasi-alternate history going on where Uther seems to have replaced William the Conqueror, in addition to Merlin being from the future. John Cowper Powys' Porius is the best modern arthurian book because there is extensive discussion about the sociopolitical formations of Britain in the year 499 AD but it's also casually mentioned that some of the people in Britain came there as refugees from the lost continent of Atlantis and the protagonist spends like a billion pages thinking about the colour of mist and what it makes him think of.
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Dec 13, 2019 09:52
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Deptfordx posted:Hated it. I read and really enjoyed 14 and Threshold. Was bored to tears by Dead Moon. Just completely failed to engage me in any way. Abandoned it halfway through as I couldn't bring myself to slog through another word. It picked up about halfway through, I was leaning towards dropping it myself but I'm familiar enough with his work to know sometimes it's a slow boil before poo poo gets weird. When it does get weird, oh drat does it get weird.
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Dec 13, 2019 10:10
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Someone recommended The Milkweed Triptych earlier upthread. Picked it up the first book. Really enjoying it so far. It occasionally seems a bit overly verbose or uses seemingly excessive esoteric adjectives for no apparent reason, but it's pretty good otherwise. Hopefully it doesn't get too cringey later on.
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Dec 14, 2019 01:26
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Khizan posted:I got the Gideon the Ninth audiobook with a free Audible credit thing that Amazon emailed me a while back, and to my surprise I've been enjoying listening to it in the car despite my long history of not being able to deal with them. I've got another 2 free credits from a trial to spend, and I'm looking for some more titles that are particularly good in audiobook form. The Lies of Locke Lamora is a great one, very good narrator
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Dec 14, 2019 11:00
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I'm into Alastair Reynolds hard kind of extreme sci-fi, like house of suns, pushing ice, revelation space etc. Apart from Peter Hamilton can someone recommend me a similar author and good starting point?
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Dec 14, 2019 11:02
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Ms. Chanandler Bong posted:I'm into Alastair Reynolds hard kind of extreme sci-fi, like house of suns, pushing ice, revelation space etc. Apart from Peter Hamilton can someone recommend me a similar author and good starting point? You will probably like Stephen Baxter and his Xeelee sequence. Raft is a stand alone and a good starting point to see if you like his style IMO Take the plunge! Okay! fucked around with this message at 11:42 on Dec 14, 2019 |
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Dec 14, 2019 11:15
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Also I really like Baxters authorised sequels to HG Wells, The Time Ships (Sequel to The Time Machine) and The Massacre of Mankind (War of the Worlds).
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Dec 14, 2019 11:20
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Ms. Chanandler Bong posted:I'm into Alastair Reynolds hard kind of extreme sci-fi, like house of suns, pushing ice, revelation space etc. Apart from Peter Hamilton can someone recommend me a similar author and good starting point? Go read Blindsight.
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Dec 14, 2019 13:45
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I had forgotten to post earlier but am now reminded that Alastair Reynolds said earlier this month that he’s in the middle of writing a new Revelation Space novel. No release date yet, though.
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Dec 14, 2019 15:41
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Ellison's Shatterday $2 on kindle. A classic collection of great short stories https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J90EME...d_i=11552285011
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Dec 14, 2019 16:44
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dog nougat posted:Someone recommended The Milkweed Triptych earlier upthread. Picked it up the first book. Really enjoying it so far. It occasionally seems a bit overly verbose or uses seemingly excessive esoteric adjectives for no apparent reason, but it's pretty good otherwise. Hopefully it doesn't get too cringey later on. It's pretty consistent, no worries there.
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Dec 15, 2019 03:45
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Neurosis posted:It's pretty consistent, no worries there. Consistently bad! gahahaha! (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Dec 15, 2019 04:13
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Ms. Chanandler Bong posted:I'm into Alastair Reynolds hard kind of extreme sci-fi, like house of suns, pushing ice, revelation space etc. Apart from Peter Hamilton can someone recommend me a similar author and good starting point? Quantum Thief is amazing.
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Dec 15, 2019 04:44
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Cythereal posted:The Skystone by Jack Whyte I liked that series. It had some rather bizarre plot decisions, but in ways that actually worked for me. One thing I particularly respect is his open admission in about the fourth book that "all my friends called me out on how terrible my female characterizations are, and they're right and I'll fix that". The apocalyptic theme really works for me, as does the doomed rebuilding of civilization from Camulod. They aren't the best books, but for airport style "Roman stuff is badass" novels they're thoroughly entertaining, and they get much better as the series goes along.
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Dec 15, 2019 04:45
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Uncle Lloyd posted:I had forgotten to post earlier but am now reminded that Alastair Reynolds said earlier this month that he’s in the middle of writing a new Revelation Space novel. No release date yet, though. Betting it's going to be a Prefect series sequel/prequel. Each Revelation Space sequel dropped the hard-scifi angle more and more. RIP lighthugger ice-shields.
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Dec 15, 2019 04:46
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Phanatic posted:Quantum Thief is amazing. The first one is a really good space opera heist book with some hard SciFi. The second is also good, dealing with paradox and time loops but just didn't excite me as much. Still pre-ordering the next one.
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Dec 15, 2019 05:56
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Looking for some recommendations on a kinda specific premise but if anybody has some books/series that start off with a dragon teaching the MC and gifting them ancient magic/weapons in a setting where they are supposed to be legends/been hunted to extinction I'd appreciate it.
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Dec 15, 2019 07:19
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That's the b-plot in Feist's Magician, isn't it?
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Dec 15, 2019 07:48
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Iron Dragon's Daughter is kinda the first 2/3 of that and also a very good book
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Dec 15, 2019 08:12
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Hear me out here....Earthsea?
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Dec 15, 2019 08:56
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branedotorg posted:The first one is a really good space opera heist book with some hard SciFi. Are you talking about the quantum thief or the quantum magician?
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Dec 15, 2019 15:57
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Amniotic posted:That's the b-plot in Feist's Magician, isn't it? Sort of. Ashen-Shugar is a dragon lord, which is basically Tolkien's Valar with the serial numbers filed off.
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Dec 15, 2019 17:07
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New kindle deals today. The Poppy War by RF Kuang - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072L58JW6/ A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K Le Guin - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008T9L6AM/ The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07L2VKFP5/ Traitor's Blade by Sebastien de Castell - $0.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TV2K5NC/ Underground Airlines by Ben H Winters - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017RQP41O/ This is the same author who did the Last Policeman series. No idea if this is as good. To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07L2Z4DBK/ Never heard this one mentioned here. Anyone know if it's good? There's a bunch more but I've mostly never heard of them.
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Dec 15, 2019 19:51
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