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Happiness Commando posted:Steven Brust wrote his divorce into the Dragaera series as well. He did! And honestly, treated her surprisingly well. Cawti never comes off as a crazy person or awful shrew, and is arguably in the right during the whole thing. And it made me sad, too, other poster, because I liked their relationship.
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Sep 4, 2020 04:33
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Wizchine posted:I guess the soul isn't situated between the breasts. Perhaps if she was a young soul... Anyways. Having finished most of Faust, I gotta say: I like it more than Dresden, with caveats. And I'm going to talk about why so I'm not just a contrarian Butcher-bashing rear end in a top hat. Let me come right off the top with this: I like Dresden Files. I even think that Jim has given some solid advice about writing, and he's one of the first writers that really convinced me that genre fiction can be elevated beyond airport novels about punching. I think he's got real talent for writing set-pieces and fight scenes with energy and dynamic flow, without ever letting it get too congratulatory or self-indulgent. And he understands that fight scenes need to have an emotional component to them, too. Remember when he just blasts Slate with lightning? Remember when Michael gets shot and he goes absolutely livid and without thinking, bores a hole through Tessa? And more than the fights, I think Jim has a good nose for voice. I think he's really good at sewing little tidbits of info into plot and setting things up both throughout individual books and throughout the plot as a whole that feels really rewarding. But I think Schaefer does a very similar style of book, but better. I believe that Vegas is a part of Daniel Faust in ways that Chicago tries to be for Dresden, and isn't, and it goes right down to who Daniel is. He's a gangster, a conman, a viper with a heart of fool's gold. His magic revolves around a deck of cards, slight of hand, magician stagecraft, etc. And I get a sense just as I got in Rivers and Sandman Slim that the character and the author have a thing for the city they're in. One of my main problems with Dresden was that even when Murphy got to do something cool, she'd often get hosed over. It felt like she rarely had the agency or power to really flex or stand apart from Dresden, and just as we get teased that she's a rising power in Cold Days, standing up to Harry, leading, she's again swatted down ( hard ) in Skin Game. Contrast that with Caitlin. Caitlin is a succubus, a demon from hell that Faust sets free, despite knowing the risk and everyone telling him it's a stupid idea. It's later revealed that she influenced him a bit, something she fesses up to, but I'll set that aside for now. I like Caitlin because she's got agency, and it isn't just a matter of power. Is she stronger than Murphy? Obviously. But authors control the story, and agency isn't just a matter of power. Caitlin fights her own battles, for her own reasons. There's give and take between her and Faust, and they don't always agree. But more than that? She gets her own time in the spotlight. In fact, a lot of the characters do, and it's a diverse cast. I really appreciate that Bently and Corman, Daniel's adoptive parents, are gay. And there's no big thing made of it, they just are. Then there's Mama Margaux, who's magic tilts toward voodoo, or Pixie, an ace hacker, Jennifer, a blood wizard with a .357 and a crush on Pixie, etc. The cast is pretty sizable but feels as if they have more dimension to them, and that brings more depth to the relationships they have with the main character. I just think they're really solid, underrated books that, on the whole, feel like a more mature take on what Dresden's doing.
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Sep 4, 2020 18:49
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NerdyMcNerdNerd posted:Perhaps if she was a young soul... A lot of words which effectively make the point that... NerdyMcNerdNerd posted:I just think they're really solid, underrated books that, on the whole, feel like a more mature take on what Dresden's doing. Oh God drat you. Now I'm going to have to check these out. And probably the several other series by the same author which apparently link into them. And my closet/library barely has room for clothes as is.
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Sep 4, 2020 19:55
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NerdyMcNerdNerd posted:I just think they're really solid, underrated books that, on the whole, feel like a more mature take on what Dresden's doing. I've always been a cheerleader for Schaefer overall and Faust by extension, so I'll second all of this. They might not be high art and some folks have posted legitimate criticisms of them, but I think they're solid urban fantasy with fun characters and Schaefer publishes a LOT of drat books, so he's worth following if you like regular publications. I actually tossed him a few bucks to follow his Patreon where he's writing some serialized content with a few chapters a week, and that's proven to be a fun chance to squeeze out some extra reading from him too.
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Sep 4, 2020 20:21
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It's worth noting that it takes a few books for it to really hit it stride, but I would say that the first Faust book is better than a fair number of other first of a series books I've read. Thanks for telling me about his Patreon. Might get on that.
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Sep 4, 2020 23:06
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Beachcomber posted:
Why did you spoiler the book title but not the spoilers? This seems loving backwards, dude. mod edit: if you're mad about spoilers use the report button not the quote button tanks Somebody fucked around with this message at 00:04 on Sep 6, 2020 |
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Sep 5, 2020 00:50
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Kchama posted:Why did you spoiler the book title but not the spoilers? This seems loving backwards, dude. Obviously because an ancient vampire was psychically influencing them.
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Sep 5, 2020 02:41
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Kchama posted:Why did you spoiler the book title but not the spoilers? This seems loving backwards, dude. Lots of books have vampires. I wanted to make a general statement regarding treating them appropriately. Edit: I see it as the same as posting "Don't assume the monster is dead! Smash it's head in with a rock or something!" Beachcomber fucked around with this message at 03:05 on Sep 5, 2020 |
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Sep 5, 2020 02:59
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Also a huge Schaeffer fan, so I recommend his stuff highly! Harmony Black has... some issues... but he also openly admits a lot of the issues in the story (hi, Strong Woman Meets Strong Male Lead Plotline) were forced by the publisher. Also just a generally good dude, and I'm not worried about him accidentally being a turbo nazi. Anecdote time: I used to play Everquest 2 with him, and showed him this thread at one point and he got very flustered and was delighted that a strange internet community liked his stuff.
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Sep 5, 2020 03:27
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I found Schaeffer a few years back. I'm a Chicago area native from about the same area as he is, and the heist in Naperville was loving DELIGHTFUL and super accurate. I should go check and see if there's more Faust I haven't read. I absolutely agree that the cast feels really balanced, it's not one super powerful dude and his gang of sidekicks.
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Sep 5, 2020 04:01
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I enjoy Faust a lot, but at the same time he doesn't always feel powerful enough to do the things he does. Perhaps Schaeffer is just too good at making Faust afraid of the weird poo poo that happens, but I often find myself thinking there's no way he can get out of his situation with just magic cards and a gun, but then he does, and even directly after reading it I'm not sure how he actually got away with it. When he's doing gangster stuff with a side of magic it feels a lot more plausible for the power level I think he has. I guess it can also feel a bit inconsistent when he goes from defeating princes of hell or ancient wizards to being terrified of the FBI or the city not granting his club a liquor license. But I also love the lore and meta-plot which is very weird indeed, so it's not like I don't want the spooky stuff happening. Faust is a land of contrasts.
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Sep 5, 2020 15:01
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Beachcomber posted:Lots of books have vampires. I wanted to make a general statement regarding treating them appropriately. This makes no sense whatever, sorry dude. If you feel it's a big enough spoiler that you have to spoiler something, then spoiler the loving spoiler, and not the book title. If you only spoil the book title then we have no way of knowing if it's actually safe to look at the book title. And it was very specific, so yeah it was a spoiler. Maybe spoiler that poo poo and unspoiler the title, please. I ask you as someone you spoiled.
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Sep 5, 2020 21:22
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Kchama posted:This makes no sense whatever, sorry dude. I'm very sorry you were spoiled. I personally feel like a spoiler consists of two pieces of information, and if I hide one of them it's no longer a spoiler. The book title was clearly signposted and I thought that was enough. However, I will abide by the normal posting conventions from here on out. Again, sorry I ruined it for you. 
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Sep 5, 2020 23:48
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Beachcomber posted:I personally feel like a spoiler consists of two pieces of information, and if I hide one of them it's no longer a spoiler. The book title was clearly signposted and I thought that was enough. Yeah, but how are you supposed to know what book is being spoiled unless you click the spoiler? There's not enough information there to identify it. There's a lot of books with vampires in them out there and the comment you made could probably apply to a lot of them. If you spoiler tag the comment you made and reveal the title, I know when it's appropriate to click the spoiler. The other way around and I do not.
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Sep 6, 2020 00:32
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Khizan posted:Yeah, but how are you supposed to know what book is being spoiled unless you click the spoiler? There's not enough information there to identify it. There's a lot of books with vampires in them out there and the comment you made could probably apply to a lot of them. Figure if it has anything to do with the plot of any book, just spoiler everything. The Good, the Bad and the Undead was originally released January 25 of 2005, so over 15 years ago. Still, it was clearly new to Kchama and it's understandable that they wouldn't want it spoiled. Putting something in spoiler type requires using 17 additional characters aside from what you were going to type anyway. So it's not that hard to not be a jackass about this.
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Sep 6, 2020 15:58
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I usually (when I'm not completely brain-dead about it, I've hosed up before) err on the side of putting things in spoilertext, partly for the obvious reason but mostly because I enjoy posts that look like redacted CIA documents, and also then I can click on the text and it does a thing and that pleases my inner obsessive five-year-old. Clicky.
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Sep 6, 2020 16:24
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Yall -- If.you think something needs to be in spoiler tags, just hit the report button and I'll fix it as soon as I see it. It's probably a good discussion to have every so often but it doesn't need to turn into a derail. It's all good, ill fix it.
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Sep 6, 2020 16:41
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NerdyMcNerdNerd posted:Perhaps if she was a young soul... It's interesting to look at the various "second generation" UF authors and look at how they have tried to improve on Dresden. Aaronovitch has better prose and a more grounded, detailed "reality" about it. Jacka's Verus does a better job of keeping it all dark and gritty and the action at knife-fight pacing, closer to the noir roots instead of Dresden's inflated, videogamesque progression. I've read the first few Faust books and I see why people like them. Personally I just have a really hard time getting past the succubus love interest thing, and the plots always seem a bit special-sunflower-deus-ex-machina to me.
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Sep 6, 2020 17:29
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:It's interesting to look at the various "second generation" UF authors and look at how they have tried to improve on Dresden. Aaronovitch has better prose and a more grounded, detailed "reality" about it. Jacka's Verus does a better job of keeping it all dark and gritty and the action at knife-fight pacing, closer to the noir roots instead of Dresden's inflated, videogamesque progression. One thing about Aaronovitch is that he's actually older than Butcher and was writing TV scripts before Butcher took his first writing class. He's kind of a "second generation UFer" with writing skills that were developed and polished during the first generation. That's one big reason that Midnight Riot really does not feel like a "first book." Because it wasn't one. Edit: I think we could do with a recap/repost of the spoilers policy. I know I don't want to get yelled at because I spoiled that Harry Potter is actually a wizard or something. Everyone fucked around with this message at 20:07 on Sep 6, 2020 |
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Sep 6, 2020 17:48
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Yall -- Really the main issue is how they spoil-tagged it was less than useless. It's fine if they understand now and we don't gotta rag on 'em any more.
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Sep 7, 2020 07:08
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Kchama posted:Really the main issue is how they spoil-tagged it was less than useless. It's fine if they understand now and we don't gotta rag on 'em any more. I do NOT understand, but have already agreed to acquiesce to your demands. I was going to leave it at that, but if the answer to "Do I want to have a book spoiled for me?" was 'No', then why did you click it? I only put it there in the first place to get in front of any posts asking what book it was. Hoping to avoid an extraneous post. (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Sep 7, 2020 08:38
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Beachcomber posted:I do NOT understand, but have already agreed to acquiesce to your demands. You know, usually, when people go "hey lay off the guy it's cool" you don't go "WOW HOW DARE YOU". So I'll lay it to you straight so I hope you understand. The reason why the usual format is because if you know what story is being spoiled, then you have an idea of whether you should look or not. If all you have is a spoiler, and the story title is the only thing censored, then you have no idea whether you should know what's being talked about without spoiling yourself on it. It could be a story you've read, and thus you're fine. Or it could be a story you haven't read, and you've just been spoiled! Happy guessing! If the plot being spoiled is the thing censored, but not the story title, then you can know whether or not you can look at it without being spoiled. I hope that makes it simple enough for you why people do it the way that they do. As for 'why did you click it', well, what you said could actually be any number of stories that I have read. But I couldn't know for sure unless I clicked it. (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Sep 7, 2020 10:26
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I read all spoilers because it doesn't spoil a book/movie/tv show to know. This spoiler was done in such a way to be useless for others. Your acquiescence to the group norms is good. How you can fail to grasp why what you did was thoughtless is the question.
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Sep 7, 2020 14:15
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shhhhhhhh re: spoiler chat If you have questions or thoughts about the spoiler policy, please refer to the rules thread permanently stuck to the top of the forums index. Hieronymous Alloy posted:
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Sep 7, 2020 15:06
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Here's a trailer for Battle Ground: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKsWndEku2Q
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Sep 7, 2020 16:48
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That book better be amazing, because the previous, or should I say Part One. Was not good.
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Sep 7, 2020 17:34
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Weird question, has Aaronovitch had any weird chudy or terfy moments in or outside his books? I'm tired of getting burned by British authors I like turning out to be lovely (not that it's an exclusively British thing, it's just been happening a lot lately it seems).
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Sep 7, 2020 18:35
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Not that I'm aware of. Aaronovitch is a pretty hardcore socialist I believe.
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Sep 7, 2020 18:39
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Not that I'm aware of. Aaronovitch is a pretty hardcore socialist I believe. Very much so. It's honestly surprising he's writing police characters.
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Sep 7, 2020 19:13
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I never got around to putting Peace Talks up on the Dresden shelf in the basement, so I'm planning on rereading it right before Battle Ground. I have (perhaps misplaced) hope that'll it'll function as one good book al together
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Sep 7, 2020 19:15
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The_Doctor posted:Very much so. It's honestly surprising he's writing police characters. But they’re secret police, that’s entirely in line for a hardcore socialist.
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Sep 7, 2020 19:16
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The_Doctor posted:Very much so. It's honestly surprising he's writing police characters.
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Sep 7, 2020 20:02
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jivjov posted:Here's a trailer for Battle Ground: oh my god these are so loving funny
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Sep 7, 2020 20:10
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The_Doctor posted:Very much so. It's honestly surprising he's writing police characters. Even a socialist utopia still needs ways to deal with criminals.
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Sep 7, 2020 20:39
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anilEhilated posted:Fantasy fiction is the perfect place for good cops.  The Folly and co are all very platonic ideal of what the cops should be.
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Sep 7, 2020 20:53
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It has occasionally occured to me that Nightingale, a man whose childhood was literally Edwardian Britain, and whose entire life has been spent in rarified circles is a little too implausibly (for want of a better phrase) woke.
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Sep 7, 2020 21:00
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Not everyone from that time was a monster.
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Sep 7, 2020 21:02
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Deptfordx posted:It has occasionally occured to me that Nightingale, a man whose childhood was literally Edwardian Britain, and whose entire life has been spent in rarified circles is a little too implausibly (for want of a better phrase) woke. I think Nightingale's prolonged exposure to the demi-monde (particularly through Molly) and his work in policing it has made him far broader of mind than a great many of his contemporaries. I don't think it is much of a leap from accepting various kinds of fae to also accepting other perceptions of identity as well.
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Sep 8, 2020 02:15
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Deptfordx posted:It has occasionally occured to me that Nightingale, a man whose childhood was literally Edwardian Britain, and whose entire life has been spent in rarified circles is a little too implausibly (for want of a better phrase) woke. He still needs to be reminded from time to time "don't call it black magic, dude".
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Sep 8, 2020 03:07
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Not that I'm aware of. Aaronovitch is a pretty hardcore socialist I believe. He's helped set up a prize for unpublished British writers of colour, too.
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Sep 8, 2020 04:51
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