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Both Cibola Burn and Babylon's Ashes seem a little worse for bookending Nemesis Games.
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Jan 17, 2020 00:06
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Halfway through Cibola Burn and while it's not over yet, uh...Murtry did nothing wrong.
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Jan 21, 2020 23:13
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Cibola Burn was a slog and Babylon's Ashes was a softish landing for Nemesis Games. I'm halfway through Persepolis Rising now and enjoying it.
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Jan 22, 2020 03:45
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Just finished Cibola Burn. That makes 4 novels and 5 novellas/short stories in the past month. I accidentally read The Vital Abyss already. Cibola Burn wasn't bad but boy howdy it was a slog and it does just feel like a sidequest, just like S4 of the show except without the allusions to S5. Looking forward to reading NG and officially becoming a "book person." Also Murtry did nothing wrong until he tried to blow up the Roci several times, and then turned out to be the worst kind of corporate bootlicker. Nail Rat fucked around with this message at 21:04 on Jan 24, 2020 |
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Jan 24, 2020 06:51
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Sorry for the bump, but I finished Nemesis Games. I fall on the side of loving it, but it has some serious issues I can't deny. Mostly with pacing. It can crawl and crawl, and then jump ahead past major events. There was one Alex chapter where there's a flashback in the middle of it to only a few days before, which should have been its own chapter. And Alex really comes off as a creep, which I feel is a disservice to him. It was fun to get inside Amos's head. I think I'll read Babylon's Ashes and then take a break and read other things for a few months (I'm going to end up having read 2 short stories, 3 novellas, and 6 novels in about 2 months in this series). But I happened to see that Babylon's Ashes has nineteen POV characters. Hoo boy.
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Jan 29, 2020 23:04
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Alex is in a really weird place at that time, and to his credit, he realizes how off-base he is.
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Jan 29, 2020 23:16
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Nail Rat posted:But I happened to see that Babylon's Ashes has nineteen POV characters. Many of those of them are basically just intermission characters, though, much like The Investigator in Cibola Burn. It's not their fault that the events they are POV-ing happen to be a boring slog. 
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Jan 29, 2020 23:36
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Defiance Industries posted:Alex is in a really weird place at that time, and to his credit, he realizes how off-base he is. Is that the stuff with his ex-wife?
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Jan 30, 2020 02:25
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That's what I was referring to, though it's possible he could be talking about something else Alex did...? I think it's really intended as him kind of bottoming out.
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Jan 30, 2020 02:50
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I was referring to him having repeated creepy thoughts about Bobbie. The ex wife stuff too though yeah.
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Jan 30, 2020 04:44
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Nail Rat posted:
This is a good point to do it. Book 5 and 6 are wild and you could use a break afterwards.
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Jan 30, 2020 08:44
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7 isn't the best until the very end. The end of 7 loving owns.
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Jan 30, 2020 09:23
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Goons: I love Amos! He's so fun! Also goons: Alex was kind of creepy for finding an adult -- younger than him-- attractive. Sticking just to the text of the novels, Alex briefly was attracted to Bobbie, never acted on it, and shortly thereafter had a brief relationship with an age-appropriate person. Amos has murdered several people, tortured a criminal who wanted chicken, and battered people. I don't want to say too much about later novels since I know someone is working their way there, so I wont say anything after book 6. As far as the novellas, I've only read The Churn so I don't know if Alex does something creepy in one of the other novellas.
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Jan 30, 2020 17:45
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I'm talking specifically about Nemesis Games, there are some things that really stick out with regards to Alex. This is years after he was "briefly" attracted to Bobbie and there are some creepy thoughts in there, even at very inopportune moments. That's all. Yes Amos isn't a good guy and everyone knows that, even him. If it wasn't obvious to anyone by The Churn, it should definitely have been after. And I definitely agreed with Clarissa about the prepper, for instance. And I thought he should have tried to help the guard from the Pit, though I knew he wouldn't. But I felt the creepy thoughts were a little out of line for Alex especially years after Bobbie had become a close friend. Like, I'm pretty sure close to ten years after (by the time Abaddon's Gate is over, it's close to 2 years after Io I believe, another couple years until Cibola Burn, and Nemesis Games starts 3 years after they head out towards Ilus). That's all. It doesn't make me dislike him as a character, because I felt it was out of character. I mean maybe it won't seem as bad on a reread but I had this thought at I believe 3 instances and the third one was him thinking that he would have expected being held by an attractive woman to be an erotic experience when he hugged a friend of 8-10 years after the greatest mass murder in human history. Seemed a mite unnecessary as commentary. Nail Rat fucked around with this message at 18:04 on Jan 30, 2020 |
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Jan 30, 2020 17:57
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Finished Babylon's Ashes. I enjoyed it, though I feel like having 4 different POV characters for Medina Station instead of 1 was pure masturbation. Also, after finishing this book I feel like the closest analogue to Marco as a villain is The Monarch. Edit: also I hope they keep the battle scene midway through true to the book in season 6, it's the best battle scene of the series so far. Edit: If I had to rank the books so far, I'd actually say: Nemesis Games Babylon's Ashes Caliban's War Abaddon's Gate Leviathan Wakes Cibola Burn NG and BA I could see flopping, same with any of the three after that actually. I really, really enjoyed BA and the high amount of POV characters really doesn't seem that bad because they're mostly familiar. It's the Medina Station work crew that was needless (just pick one of them guys). It's odd that there's not really any dramatic lead into what comes next, the first time in the series I'm pretty sure. I suppose this is a good point to take a break and just make sure I catch up by book 9. Edit 2: I'm a liar, because I finished Strange Dogs this afternoon and it's on to PR. Edit 3: Duarte is really lucky his scary recording to stay out of Laconia worked so well! Really kind of ridiculous really. Nail Rat fucked around with this message at 18:27 on Feb 10, 2020 |
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Feb 7, 2020 14:27
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Thats just insulting to the Monarch
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Feb 8, 2020 02:37
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Just finished Persepolis Rising. PR was great if depressing and dark (and I got sick of all the talking about planning to bust out). But their timeline got all kinds of hosed up in this one. According to Strange Dogs and PR, Singh is: -Like early 30s (7 years old a few years after Duarte's First Fleet arrived at Laconia) -Like mid 40s (somehow was a small child during the Io campaign) -25 (the same age Holden was when he was busted out of the UNN) I went back and read the discussion from last year when the book came out, and I had a lot of the same mixed feelings about the time jump (though I knew it was coming). It made sense for the story they were telling, but the characters didn't feel significantly aged at all. A new set of core characters might have made sense. I also couldn't get around the fact they just left Laconia alone for 30+ years. Excited for Tiamat's Wrath and Auberon. Should have that all wrapped up this weekend. Nail Rat fucked around with this message at 18:07 on Feb 12, 2020 |
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Feb 12, 2020 18:01
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They didn't leave it alone for 30 years. They left it alone during the Starving Years, when they were too busy starving, and then once poo poo was better they started trying to scout through the gate and everything that went through was destroyed the moment it poked its head up. Their mistake was assuming they didn't have the capacity to outbuild them, not ignoring them.
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Feb 12, 2020 19:26
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What they sent through was a few probes when they could have sent battleships. They make a point of it being a major fuckup in the book.
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Feb 12, 2020 20:23
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I still want to know what the ‘prosthetic’ they were gonna mount on that Martian battleship which gate-disappeared back in Nemesis Games was about. Dropped plot thread? Foreshadowing? Maybe they hadn’t planned the time skip and the Laconian super ships were gonna be hasty hybrids.
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Feb 12, 2020 20:25
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General Battuta posted:I still want to know what the ‘prosthetic’ they were gonna mount on that Martian battleship which gate-disappeared back in Nemesis Games was about. Dropped plot thread? Foreshadowing? Maybe they hadn’t planned the time skip and the Laconian super ships were gonna be hasty hybrids. The Laconian tech aspect of things has always been extremely sloppy and poorly thought out. How was the big magic beam gun never tested in the Laconian system (or what was special about using it in the Sol System?), and what similar artifacts did the Laconians have experience with such that they were confident it couldn't destroy the hub's security station? Because (Tiamat's Wrath spoilers) normal railgun shots easily destroyed the construction platforms, so those weren't the comparison point.
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Feb 12, 2020 20:32
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The prosthetic, I'm pretty sure, was a device designed to dock with the orbital construction platform. Except they didn't turn it on for several years until after they got there (they turn it on at the beginning of Strange Dogs) so...I don't know. Laconia doesn't hold up to scrutiny in general. It's a good story but a couple dozen (?) ships and a few hundred or thousand colonists just couldn't put together what they did in 30 years, protomolecule help or no. But it's cool and a logical consequence of the ring network, just twisted to happen close enough to the earlier narrative that the Roci crew can still be part of it.
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Feb 12, 2020 20:37
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I think they rely on the Laconians being *Martians* with all their pluck, drive, and superior engineering skills to help hand wave how much they accomplish.
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Feb 12, 2020 21:48
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I feel bad making fun of them because they’re decent guys but I know some Poles on a space game forum who love the MCR and see it as some kind of pragmatic-collectivist techno utopia. I told them the MCR led directly to the genocide of billions before realizing they were probably show viewers.
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Feb 12, 2020 21:53
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General Battuta posted:I feel bad making fun of them because they’re decent guys but I know some Poles on a space game forum who love the MCR and see it as some kind of pragmatic-collectivist techno utopia. I told them the MCR led directly to the genocide of billions before realizing they were probably show viewers. Having listened to a lot of My Chemical Romance I can see how you would reach this conclusion.
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Feb 13, 2020 00:32
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PeterWeller posted:I think they rely on the Laconians being *Martians* with all their pluck, drive, and superior engineering skills to help hand wave how much they accomplish. having wierd alien construction goo could acomplish a lot. I like that the protomolecule is on a level of science so advanced it is just plain magic to the general human race in perseopolis. When the ray gun is first used, its mentioned they can't even tell what it was, just that the ship vaporized instantly.
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Feb 13, 2020 03:15
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Just making enough food with hydroponics would be work enough for all the people they had. Edit: not to mention building all the empty buildings the capital city has. The protomolecule isn't growing them... Nail Rat fucked around with this message at 05:15 on Feb 13, 2020 |
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Feb 13, 2020 03:32
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Yes but 'fascism is efficient' is exactly the sort of truism the Expanse is built on. Or the more glaring 'psychopaths are magic apex predators who effortlessly own everyone'
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Feb 14, 2020 08:43
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Strategic Tea posted:Yes but 'fascism is efficient' is exactly the sort of truism the Expanse is built on. Or the more glaring 'psychopaths are magic apex predators who effortlessly own everyone' Especially psychopaths who can't feel pain. That's one of the most annoying common literary tropes alongside 'being a genius means you're good at literally everything ever forever'. I blame Ender's Game for that.
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Feb 14, 2020 20:43
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If you're a doctor in something, you're a doctor in everything
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Feb 15, 2020 05:45
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Obviously, I mean they're sending Dr Okoye, a biologist, to study dead systems. But she's a doctor so it's fine.
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Feb 15, 2020 07:09
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She's an exobioligist, not a medical doctor. They sent her because there was life on the planet to study. I'd assume they sent an md that died in the crash.
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Feb 15, 2020 18:03
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The dead systems she was sent to literally had no life. Including every system she went to in Tiamat's Wrath. Spoilers for post Cibola burn btw.
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Feb 16, 2020 00:09
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Ah, gotcha, thought you meant on Ilus. I guess her encountering Weird poo poo made her qualified as science officer on the Enterprise.
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Feb 16, 2020 00:23
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She has first hand experience in Weird Protomolecule Bullshit which is a pretty good qualification for studying Weird Protomolecule Bullshit.
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Feb 16, 2020 00:45
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SpookyLizard posted:She has first hand experience in Weird Protomolecule Bullshit which is a pretty good qualification for studying Weird Protomolecule Bullshit. Maybe I'm misremembering, but hadn't she shifted her research focus to protomolecule-related stuff even before Laconia showed up?
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Feb 16, 2020 01:12
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Its possible, I dont really remember. She doesnt really pop up again until shes on the Enterprise looking for Weird Protomolecule Bullshit, but switching her field from exobiology to Weird Bullshit I Am Exclusvely Familiar with wouldnt surprise me.
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Feb 16, 2020 01:56
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Now that you mention it I think she did segue her career from Weird Bullshit Nobody Knows Even Exists to Expert on Weird Bullshit I Have Exclusively Witnessed.
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Feb 16, 2020 02:08
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Are they sitting on the last book?
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Feb 16, 2020 16:09
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Toast Museum posted:Maybe I'm misremembering, but hadn't she shifted her research focus to protomolecule-related stuff even before Laconia showed up? She had, yeah. One reason Holden suggests her to Duarte
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Feb 16, 2020 16:28
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