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HopperUK posted:I've read two or three of them, I forget now. One of the single most important life skills I learned as an adult is that you don't have to finish books once you've started them.
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Sep 24, 2020 21:31
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pseudorandom name posted:One of the single most important life skills I learned as an adult is that you don't have to finish books once you've started them. imagining spending my afternoon explaining the concept of psychic rape vikings in heat to the amazon support assistant while I request a refund
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Sep 24, 2020 21:39
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Clark Nova posted:imagining spending my afternoon explaining the concept of psychic rape vikings in heat to the amazon support assistant while I request a refund The cover and description make it clear what you're in for sir
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Sep 24, 2020 21:58
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Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie - $3.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002GUK7JQ/ I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JVCHEMU/ Seven Blades in Black (Grave of Empires #1) by Sam Sykes - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079RCCRM6/
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Sep 24, 2020 22:52
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Like I mentioned earlier, Best Served Cold is one of my favorites, just a tight, badass fantasy Italian revenge story. I Have No Mouth, however, does not hold up imo. The monologue about hate is still top notch, but I just didn't like it last time I read it.
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Sep 24, 2020 23:28
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pseudorandom name posted:One of the single most important life skills I learned as an adult is that you don't have to finish books once you've started them. I know? I read em until I didn't feel like it any more and then I stopped. I mean I have untreated ADHD so I can't remember the last time I finished a book lol 
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Sep 25, 2020 00:10
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Man it took me probably 35 years to finally realize I DON'T HAVE TO KEEP READING THIS poo poo. I still find myself fighting it when I keep hate reading some piece of poo poo book and I'll realize I got 2 or 3 more chapters in before I should have bailed. It's a slow learning process.
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Sep 25, 2020 00:53
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If anything I could do with chilling out a bit. I give books hardly any time to charm me these days. If I'd been like this as a kid I'd never have gotten into genre fiction in the first place probably.
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Sep 25, 2020 01:12
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Black Griffon posted:Like I mentioned earlier, Best Served Cold is one of my favorites, just a tight, badass fantasy Italian revenge story. Alternate take: Best Served Cold is the only Abercrombie book I've read and it(Best Served Cold) was the stupidest loving thing I'd read fantasy-wise in 2 yrs. This combined with reading Kage Baker's final Company series book, The Sons of Heaven, around the same time was enough to put me off reading fantasy fiction altogether. Despite the SciFi trappings , no matter what other people say, Kage Baker's Company series is firmly fantasy fiction. Have been working through the SFL Archives Vol 11 readthrough (hit 70% completion today) and just realized why 1987 is split in two SFL sub-volumes (Vol 12a & Vol 12b). It's because of Star Trek: The Next Generation, damnit. And I think the same thing happened when The Best of Both Worlds came out in 1990 (SFL Archives Vol 15a & 15b). Star Trek: TNG aged poorly for me, so I better add that to my "these are my SFL readthrough blindspots" on the off-site blog.
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Sep 25, 2020 01:39
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Rule of thumb for how many pages you have to read before you give up on a book: 100 minus your age in years.
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Sep 25, 2020 02:33
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HopperUK posted:It happens, more or less. Thanks, HopperUK. General Battuta posted:Just read the loving book you Sanderson rear end category havers Thanks, Hieronymus Alloy.
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Sep 25, 2020 02:39
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Mr. Nemo posted:Piranesi, by Susanne Clark. Norrel and Strange has been sittiong on my kindle for a long time due to length. This was a nice way to get a quick taste of what to expect. I honestly don't have much to say, it was a quick read. It's set on a world that's fun to read about, the characters develop nicely enough. Plenty of questions don't get answered, not a negative thing, but if that's what you are looking for you'll get disappointed. I really enjoyed it. It's short, fun throughout. The plot reveals nicely and although it doesn't sit down and explain everything at the end, there was more than enough that I felt there'd been a proper end to the story. I think it's the sort of thing that will get a lot of pondering on and off for a while, which is always a nice thing to have after finishing a book. I think the thing I most appreciated about it is that there's a really good Lovecraftian Mythos vibe going on, without being in any way horrific or tied to that body of work. It riffed off a lot of same beat; other worldly places, cults, psychological trauma, but moves past all the staid 'unfathomable angles' stuff that's now quite tired. I repeat, it's not even trying to be a Mythos piece, it just reminded me of it in a good way.
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Sep 25, 2020 07:45
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StrixNebulosa posted:Anyways hi thread thanks for your thoughtful responses to my hard fantasy question, and I agree with a lot of you. I also can't be mad at Robin Hobb being hard fantasy because that's hilarious to me. I misread it initially too and went 'what?', but it was Robin Hood being id'ed as hard fantasy. Y'know, Sherwood Forest and all that.
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Sep 25, 2020 11:51
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Jedit posted:I prefer to think of the Baru books as Renaissancepunk.  (but nothing will ever top "from a parallel universe where women are better than men at mathematics" or whatever the gently caress that  poo poo was)
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Sep 25, 2020 11:57
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wait what? this I need to read about.
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Sep 25, 2020 12:10
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Black Griffon posted:Like I mentioned earlier, Best Served Cold is one of my favorites, just a tight, badass fantasy Italian revenge story. How does it compare to the First Law? My mates keep recommending the rest of Abercrombie, but I found TFL kind of grimey and unpleasant.
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Sep 25, 2020 12:10
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darnon posted:I misread it initially too and went 'what?', but it was Robin Hood being id'ed as hard fantasy. Y'know, Sherwood Forest and all that. Whaaat? People just writing historical fiction but can't admit it to themselves Speaking of, Robin Hood thread *is* still going, I haven't abandoned it, just taking me a little time to write up the next few chapters (as we get closer to the last page I get more reluctant for it to end) Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 13:05 on Sep 25, 2020 |
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Sep 25, 2020 13:00
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Strom Cuzewon posted:How does it compare to the First Law? My mates keep recommending the rest of Abercrombie, but I found TFL kind of grimey and unpleasant. That's kind of Abercrombie's thing, however I kind of feel like the humor has come out more in later books? That could be my imagination though, I haven't read his older books in years.
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Sep 25, 2020 13:02
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Major Ryan posted:I really enjoyed it. It's short, fun throughout. The plot reveals nicely and although it doesn't sit down and explain everything at the end, there was more than enough that I felt there'd been a proper end to the story. I think it's the sort of thing that will get a lot of pondering on and off for a while, which is always a nice thing to have after finishing a book. [/spoiler] e: Honestly, my biggest problem with it is how much the ebook cost. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 15:34 on Sep 25, 2020 |
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Sep 25, 2020 15:32
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darnon posted:I misread it initially too and went 'what?', but it was Robin Hood being id'ed as hard fantasy. Y'know, Sherwood Forest and all that. Men in tights should be a hard fantasy movie then?
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Sep 25, 2020 20:38
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Kestral posted:The Book of Koli looks like it's extremely my thing, having run a lengthy tabletop RPG campaign in what sounds very much like that setting. I'm concerned by a review on Audible though - spoiler tagged just in case: I've read the 2 books that are currently out and enjoyed them a lot. The bit they're complaining about isn't explicitly a shoehorned romance angle and didn't bother me while reading it, but I can see how that character could be annoying in an audio book depending on how they voiced them. That review makes me think they never finished the first book though, as the "grit" never goes away in my opinion and I'm not sure what they're talking about with daddy issues
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Sep 25, 2020 20:52
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Major Ryan posted:I really enjoyed it. It's short, fun throughout. The plot reveals nicely and although it doesn't sit down and explain everything at the end, there was more than enough that I felt there'd been a proper end to the story. I think it's the sort of thing that will get a lot of pondering on and off for a while, which is always a nice thing to have after finishing a book. Yeah, it leaves some interesting questions hanging, but they don't really need answers. ANd even though I get it's not the point I would've loved a travelogue of different rooms. I'm reading Baru 2 and boy is it dragging. 1 was a very quick read, the plot always progressing, twists and plans coming into being. But around the 60% mark of this and it's like come on get on with it. Flashbacks, different POV chapters, never mentioned before family members, all stuff that wasn't present in book 1 that I'm not really enjoying. I hope the second half goes back to political ploys. Everyone was REALLY happy with Baru 3 from what i could see on this thread, so I'm hopeful.
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Sep 25, 2020 22:52
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Mr. Nemo posted:Yeah, it leaves some interesting questions hanging, but they don't really need answers. ANd even though I get it's not the point I would've loved a travelogue of different rooms. Book 2 is hard. You’re going in expecting the sacrifices she made in book one to lead to power, and instead you get a boat ride and a lot of new characters and conflict. It took me a couple tries to finish but I’m glad I did, and book three is really good and part of that payoff comes from the struggles in book 2.
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Sep 25, 2020 23:24
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Mr. Nemo posted:Stuff Unless I'm direly misremembering, Barus 2 and 3 were originally meant to be halves of one book, so 2 ends at the nadir of all those plot lines, and 3 has the payoff.
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Sep 26, 2020 00:45
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HawaiinYeti posted:I've read the 2 books that are currently out and enjoyed them a lot. The bit they're complaining about isn't explicitly a shoehorned romance angle and didn't bother me while reading it, but I can see how that character could be annoying in an audio book depending on how they voiced them. That review makes me think they never finished the first book though, as the "grit" never goes away in my opinion and I'm not sure what they're talking about with daddy issues Excellent, I'm down to give it a try. Now I just have to decide if I'm listening to it or reading it. People seem to love the narrator, but I'm not sold on him yet based on the Audible preview. How old is Koli supposed to be? If he's supposed to be a young kid this reading might get grating. Mr. Nemo posted:I'm reading Baru 2 and boy is it dragging. 1 was a very quick read, the plot always progressing, twists and plans coming into being. But around the 60% mark of this and it's like come on get on with it. Flashbacks, different POV chapters, never mentioned before family members, all stuff that wasn't present in book 1 that I'm not really enjoying. I hope the second half goes back to political ploys. Everyone was REALLY happy with Baru 3 from what i could see on this thread, so I'm hopeful. Baru 3 is quite a good book, but it was not the book I expected or was looking for, and if I’d known that at the start of the series, I might have set it down after Traitor. Mr. Nemo, below are spoilers about the general shape of things in Monster and Tyrant which might help you decide if you should keep going. The pattern of these books is that whatever is in the title is Baru’s state after the end of the book. Baru never gets to actually Be A Cryptarch and make her moves in Falcrest until the last couple chapters of Book 3, which sets up a fourth book that sounds amazing but has a decent chance of never materializing because the author is, understandably, burned out. Baru does get a lot more proactive in Tyrant after spending all of Monster being abused and deprotagonized, but the focus does shift heavily toward the “stuff that wasn’t present in book 1” and never really shifts back.
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Sep 26, 2020 01:33
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I’m still working on it, I just don’t know if it’ll be done soon or done later. If I get a day job, for example, that might slow things down.
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Sep 26, 2020 05:25
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Jedit posted:Windmill slam buy if you're in the right country. Was back up to $4.99 but I still jumped all over it when I saw M R Carey is the pen name for Mike Carey, author the Lucifer comic series and one of the more high concept X-Men stories.
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Sep 26, 2020 06:02
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Mr. Nemo posted:Yeah, it leaves some interesting questions hanging, but they don't really need answers. ANd even though I get it's not the point I would've loved a travelogue of different rooms. I'd love a map. If nothing else it'd be a great setting for an RPG of some sort.
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Sep 26, 2020 07:11
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:Dale Lucas has a series called Fifth Ward that does have elves and dwarves and whatnot, but as far as I can recall there's no magic or wizards. There might be a spell or two but I can't recall. I know the elves are telepathic, but it's been a while since I read any of them. There's definitely magic and wizards but it's all very police procedural. I liked em too
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Sep 26, 2020 07:57
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Finished Baru 3, and there was so much to love about it, but my very favorite small thing was the reappearance of the dancing seagull.
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Sep 26, 2020 08:57
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Macdeo Lurjtux posted:Was back up to $4.99 but I still jumped all over it when I saw M R Carey is the pen name for Mike Carey, author the Lucifer comic series and one of the more high concept X-Men stories. Being pedantic it's his actual name - he does like Iain Banks did and uses his middle initial only sometimes. But Carey has certainly written a lot of novels that are worth chasing up. Most of them are horror, but The Girl With All The Gifts is SF/horror and the two books he wrote with his wife and daughter (The City of Steel and Silk, The House of War and Witness) are both pure fantasy. And back over in comics, if you haven't read The Unwritten then you're doing yourself a huge disservice because it surpasses The Sandman.
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Sep 26, 2020 09:23
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tiniestacorn posted:Finished Baru 3, and there was so much to love about it, but my very favorite small thing was the reappearance of the dancing seagull. Glad I accidentally clicked this spoiler, it's a glimmer of light to keep me going through the grimmer moments of my Baru 2 reread. I'm enjoying it even more the second time 'round, incidentally. The "oh god everyone's plans are crashing into everyone else's and also everything is on fire" chaos is landing well now that I know I can go straight into the next book when I finish.
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Sep 26, 2020 10:13
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<re-posted from off-site SFL Archives readthrough blog> SFL Archives Vol 11 readthrough update 07 62% completion, 180 bookmarks 14 items of interest. <re-posted from off-site SFL Archives readthrough blog> quantumfoam fucked around with this message at 03:34 on Aug 29, 2021 |
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Sep 26, 2020 14:58
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Flight of Dragons has been a favorite book of mine for decades. Just a great little thought experiment book.
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Sep 26, 2020 15:39
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quantumfoam posted:<re-posted from off-site SFL Archives readthrough blog> Did you mean Flight of the Navigator here? (Unless it was released with a different title at some point?) I've just realized that that movie is probably a big part of what got me into sci-fi when I was a kid (beside endlessly re-watching the taped-off-tv Star Wars VHSs my parents made - there's a Lipton tea commercial still seared into my brain from those). It does seem like a lot of people my age (early 30s) or so have never even heard of it when I've mentioned it. But I probably wouldn't believe it if someone told me there was an 80s Disney movie where a kid gets kidnapped by NASA and then pilots a spaceship with a Pee-Wee Herman AI and a weird (but adorable) tiny pet shrimp-dog alien thing.
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Sep 26, 2020 17:55
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The Dragon's Path (The Dagger and the Coin #1) by Daniel Abraham - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0047Y16LC/
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Sep 26, 2020 19:42
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DurianGray posted:Did you mean Flight of the Navigator here? (Unless it was released with a different title at some point?) [/b] I suspect it was 1986 SFLer's conflating Flight of the Navigator + the 1985 film Explorers into one film. I mention what people post in the SFL Archives, fact-checking all the bizarre-ness posted would have me much further back (literal years) in this readthrough project. e: also updates 08 & 09(already up on the off-site sfl readthrough blog) list out a bunch of the weird tv-shows/tv-movies that SFLer's of 1986 remember watching growing up. And by weird I mean the not bewitched tv show "I married a witch", or "my living doll", or "far out space nuts" or "World of Giants" or etc..... quantumfoam fucked around with this message at 20:15 on Sep 26, 2020 |
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Sep 26, 2020 19:52
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quantumfoam posted:-SFLer's start discussing the Flight of the Dragons TV-movie, and the 1979 book it was based on ( The Flight of Dragons by Peter Dickinson). All this made me retroactively realize where Terry Pratchett got the clever stuff about swamp dragons in Pratchett's 1989 novel Guards! Guards! Hadn't heard of this, but it reminds me a little of 'Dragons, the Modern Infestation' by Pamela Wharton Blanpied 
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Sep 26, 2020 20:09
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I went and read that AE van Vogt story and the best part is the scientist men refer to the last dangerous alien they met as ‘pussy.’ So they’re constantly dropping lines like “We should have anticipated the hostility of pussy” or “we lost a lot of good men to pussy” or “I still blame myself for letting pussy on board.” Incel rear end spaceship
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Sep 26, 2020 21:27
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AE van Vogt’s scientists, meeting an alien, debate which of the two genders it belongs to“The Black Destroyer” posted:“I think we should first decide whether it’s an it or a him, and call it one or the other.”
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Sep 26, 2020 21:34
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