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Drone Jett posted:I can’t believe it took me 85% of Dead Lies Dreaming to realize the protagonist’s family name isn’t Stark-ey, it’s Star-Key.  ?
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Nov 23, 2020 04:54
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Forged dropped today and I listened to the first two chapters on my commute this morning. So far, so good. I'm not going to get much done at work today because I'm going to continue listening after eating breakfast. EDIT: Verus is still an rear end in a top hat, and I'm betting The Fateweaver is going to eventually kill him.
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Nov 24, 2020 12:07
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Woke up early and read Forged General take: book good, verus not so much? just torching plot threads left and right in this one.
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Nov 24, 2020 12:52
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Cinder is rapidly becoming my favorite character though.
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Nov 24, 2020 16:32
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Okay, it's that time again: the last Verus I read was the one where the big reveal was that Richard was actually near Alex the whole time, just wearing a motorcycle helmet. Which one is next? I swear the naming scheme is the worst thing about that series. e: Hell, I'm reading that it's supposed to be twelve books long, I'll just wait a year and read the whole thing start to end. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 17:31 on Nov 24, 2020 |
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Nov 24, 2020 17:25
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anilEhilated posted:I swear the naming scheme is the worst thing about that series. Deleo is one of those things that, if you know Latin, never stops being funny.
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Nov 24, 2020 17:35
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What I've always wondered about the Verus books is whether or not the Babylon 5 naming scheme is in-universe or not. Are Morden and Drakh (both villains in B5) named that way as an out of universe homage to the series, or did Morden and Drakh choose those names deliberately based on an old 1990s TV show they were both familiar with? In either case the naming is suggestive because on B5 Morden and the Drakh (Morden was a character, the Drakh a species) both served the Shadows, an ancient and powerful evil that preferred to act through pawns, which in turn suggests that Morden and Drakh in the Verus books are themselves only agents for an evil greater threat that has yet to, ahem, step out of the shadows.
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Nov 24, 2020 17:37
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Old Kentucky Shark posted:Deleo is one of those things that, if you know Latin, never stops being funny.
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Nov 24, 2020 17:37
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anilEhilated posted:Well, I meant book names, but according to wiki, it means "I destroy"? Yeah, that's what i mean. It's a sentence, not a name. The right form would be, uh... Deletor, or Deletus, or something like that. I'm not looking up the conjugation. It'd be like a mobster named Vinny "I Told You To Shoot That Guy" Gambino.
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Nov 24, 2020 17:40
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biracial bear for uncut posted:Cinder is rapidly becoming my favorite character though. As of the end of the most recent book, Cinder is in competition for the most morally upright character in the whole series to date, with his only other real remaining competition Luna/
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Nov 24, 2020 18:26
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Finished the book, and yeah. Glad to see the Deleo problem finally solved; gently caress that Shireen shadow.
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Nov 24, 2020 18:52
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jng2058 posted:What I've always wondered about the Verus books is whether or not the Babylon 5 naming scheme is in-universe or not. Are Morden and Drakh (both villains in B5) named that way as an out of universe homage to the series, or did Morden and Drakh choose those names deliberately based on an old 1990s TV show they were both familiar with? [/spoiler] I think the latter. There are other mages who took names out of real world sci-fi/fantasy sources, namely Barrayar.
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Nov 24, 2020 21:51
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So Verus' Forged notes: Morden is the best character, I'm glad he's going to survive. Four ifrit generals with elemental powers needing hosts, three captures of elemental mages (Barrayar, Caldera, Vari), not sure how Luna was supposed to fit in with the monkey's paw. So who's the fourth? Presumably not Sagash. We still have two pieces of Levistus' treasure to make an impact, the circlet and the vial of glowing liquid. Gonna be dumb if the vial somehow is a super healing potion that let's him survive the Fatebringer. So it's probably not that. I didn't really understand the widespread Anne hate in previous books, but she's really uninteresting in this one. "Dark Anne" was always kind of a dumb implementation of a theoretically defensible concept, I guess. The high standard set for fight sequences in the previous book was maintained pretty well in this one. Is November going to potentially be some sort of Skynet-lite-like threat if unrestrained? Can't decide if Barrayar's warning was sincere. Pro: took extremely over the top measures to eliminate it. Con: might have just been trying to destroy the files and the warning was a means to that end.
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Nov 24, 2020 22:30
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I think November is just going to be a better implementation of Bob the skull in that it'll be an Elemental spirit of intellect, but tapped into modern communications systems. Most of the hate for Anne is just because she's a very shallow characterization for what could be a very nuanced plotline. My bet on the Monkey's Paw Djinn is that it's another Marid and the one taking over Anne is just looking for more help. While I like dragging enemies into Elsewhere and letting it destroy them I don't think that's a very good idea for anybody that isn't insane. $5 says Verus uses the Dreamstone to figure out how to free the Djinn in the Monkey's Paw in exchange for it stopping the Djinn in Anne's head from getting what it wants just because that thing has been a gigantic Chekov's Gun since the beginning of the series.
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Nov 24, 2020 23:56
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biracial bear for uncut posted:I think November is just going to be a better implementation of Bob the skull in that it'll be an Elemental spirit of intellect, but tapped into modern communications systems. Anne seems almost more of goal/prize than a real character, to me. There's several characters that pass the "spinoff test" (AKA would you want to read a book/short story featuring this character). Luna, Cinder, Morden. Anne does not pass this test. Hell for all his various other flaws, Jim Butcher actually passes this test pretty well - especially with his female characters.
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Nov 25, 2020 02:35
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Listening to the audiobook and it struck me that the narrator made Morden sound like a mix of Arachne's voice and Morden's voice (where in previous books Morden and Arachne had distinctly separate voices). I wonder if that was intentional.
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Nov 25, 2020 14:11
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Everyone posted:Anne seems almost more of goal/prize than a real character, to me. There's several characters that pass the "spinoff test" (AKA would you want to read a book/short story featuring this character). Luna, Cinder, Morden. Anne does not pass this test. Morden was a really big disappointment for me- I was genuinely hype for the idea of a lawful evil wizard guy who was honest about the dirt he did, and a pretty affable guy otherwise... ...and then in one of the later books they needed to have him torture Verus and be all like "Bwahaha, just because I don't act like a psychotic power-hungry maniac doesn't mean I'm not one." Meanwhile I've been going through the Daniel Faust books, and was there a book or short story linking Neon Boneyard with Locust Job? I just started the latter, and I don't remember the scribe lady dying, or have any idea who Hedy and her coven of apparently dead witch friends is.
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Nov 25, 2020 21:33
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Omi no Kami posted:Morden was a really big disappointment for me- I was genuinely hype for the idea of a lawful evil wizard guy who was honest about the dirt he did, and a pretty affable guy otherwise... ...and then in one of the later books they needed to have him torture Verus and be all like "Bwahaha, just because I don't act like a psychotic power-hungry maniac doesn't mean I'm not one." There's a three book series about the Witch and her Knight that you're missing. I think it's an awesome side story, but some people here did not care for it. Sworn to the Night is the first book.
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Nov 25, 2020 22:15
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SystemLogoff posted:There's a three book series about the Witch and her Knight that you're missing. Alright cool, thanks! Also yeah... I've been largely enjoying the schaefer books for what they are, but it's getting exhausting to track storylines between his series- I really wish he'd been a bit more disciplined and been like "supernatural mob over here, wizard FBI over there, story hijinks over yonder." Oh, speaking of which, are we supposed to know who the Paladin is? I assumed it was Harmony Black, but one of the Faust books referred to them as an alcoholic deputy's assistant, which doesn't match.
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Nov 25, 2020 22:16
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Omi no Kami posted:Oh, speaking of which, are we supposed to know who the Paladin is?
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Nov 25, 2020 22:35
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So maybe halfway through Sworn to the Night and, like, it's not bad, probably 75% of my dislike is just general disinterest in the story, but I'm fundamentally irked that I have to plow through Witch Revenge Fantasy to get the ending to Wizard Mobster Fiction.
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Nov 26, 2020 02:35
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Omi no Kami posted:So maybe halfway through Sworn to the Night and, like, it's not bad, probably 75% of my dislike is just general disinterest in the story, but I'm fundamentally irked that I have to plow through Witch Revenge Fantasy to get the ending to Wizard Mobster Fiction. You don't, though? Everything you need to know for the Faust books is in the "story so far" part of The Locust Job and in the first chapter. Scha-- er, Saunders is dead, some poo poo went down in New York, and one of the guests at her funeral is a character you won't care about if you haven't read Wisdom's Grave/Revanche Cycle and doesn't show up again for the rest of the book. Nothing in the rest of the book has anything to do with that trilogy, it's all mainline Faust series stuff.
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Nov 26, 2020 03:12
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StonecutterJoe posted:You don't, though? Everything you need to know for the Faust books is in the "story so far" part of The Locust Job and in the first chapter. Scha-- er, Saunders is dead, some poo poo went down in New York, and one of the guests at her funeral is a character you won't care about if you haven't read Wisdom's Grave/Revanche Cycle and doesn't show up again for the rest of the book. Nothing in the rest of the book has anything to do with that trilogy, it's all mainline Faust series stuff. Ooh cool, thanks- I'd jumped to plow through the witch stuff based on the first chapter of Locust Job being 99% stuff I wasn't familiar with, but if its purpose was to straight-up just recap the other thing that's fine- thanks!
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Nov 26, 2020 03:17
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Omi no Kami posted:Ooh cool, thanks- I'd jumped to plow through the witch stuff based on the first chapter of Locust Job being 99% stuff I wasn't familiar with, but if its purpose was to straight-up just recap the other thing that's fine- thanks! Yeah I figure it's there because it'd be weird if there wasn't some kind of aftermath (given Carolyn was a friend of Daniel's), and the bit with the witch sets up his general issues with taking on a new apprentice after what happened to the last one. But the really important takeaway from the opening is that the twins assume Faust is so lovely in bed that they had a three-way with him at some point and managed to completely forget about it
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Nov 26, 2020 03:33
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StonecutterJoe posted:Yeah I figure it's there because it'd be weird if there wasn't some kind of aftermath (given Carolyn was a friend of Daniel's), and the bit with the witch sets up his general issues with taking on a new apprentice after what happened to the last one. But the really important takeaway from the opening is that the twins assume Faust is so lovely in bed that they had a three-way with him at some point and managed to completely forget about it Yeah, that bit was absolutely amazing, especially since they were so grounded and normal about being concerned for his mental health, because omg that poor guy really thinks he's Vampire Vixen Sex McMagicMan. Oh, one thing- at the funeral they said something about the smiling guy's story having been derailed/changed in some way. Does that actually matter, or was he only involved in the witch stuff in a witch-specific way? I think that was the bit that really threw me, because the Thief/Paladin/Etc stuff has been so Faust-centric that it sounded weird to wrap it up offscreen.
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Nov 26, 2020 04:20
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https://twitter.com/alloy_dr/status/1330142369438715906?s=20
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Nov 26, 2020 16:30
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Omi no Kami posted:Yeah, that bit was absolutely amazing, especially since they were so grounded and normal about being concerned for his mental health, because omg that poor guy really thinks he's Vampire Vixen Sex McMagicMan. Oh, one thing- at the funeral they said something about the smiling guy's story having been derailed/changed in some way. Does that actually matter, or was he only involved in the witch stuff in a witch-specific way? I think that was the bit that really threw me, because the Thief/Paladin/Etc stuff has been so Faust-centric that it sounded weird to wrap it up offscreen. Nope, he doesn't even appear in the trilogy, at all. Wisdom's Grave just shows that (vague ending spoilers ahead) characters in the First Story apparently CAN change their pre-written fate, though it involves literal universe-altering effort and might have been a one-time thing. Implication being that while every world's fate is normally determined by a Paladin/Enemy showdown, Faust and company might be able to find a loophole for our planet.
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Nov 26, 2020 19:45
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StonecutterJoe posted:Nope, he doesn't even appear in the trilogy, at all. Wisdom's Grave just shows that (vague ending spoilers ahead) characters in the First Story apparently CAN change their pre-written fate, though it involves literal universe-altering effort and might have been a one-time thing. Implication being that while every world's fate is normally determined by a Paladin/Enemy showdown, Faust and company might be able to find a loophole for our planet. Huh, cool... thanks! 
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Nov 26, 2020 21:01
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Sad to see Stross say on Reddit that his next two books are sequels to Dead Lies Dreaming. This was a merely ok book with underwhelming characters.
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Nov 27, 2020 17:03
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Drone Jett posted:Sad to see Stross say on Reddit that his next two books are sequels to Dead Lies Dreaming. This was a merely ok book with underwhelming characters. I need more overpowered Bob
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Nov 28, 2020 01:27
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Yeah I bounced off Dead Lies dreaming on my first attempt because I give zero fucks about the characters introduced.
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Nov 28, 2020 01:47
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Forged Spoilers Have to say I am a bit cold on this one. The Rachel plotline ended on a wet fart for something that got more screen time than anything else. It felt more like the author got bored. Evil Djinn Anne is like a negative charisma villain. She has no personality beyond Generic Evil. Sort of bored with the "How Dare You Not Die!!!" Arguments between Verus and everyone else. They never actually change and it only serves to weaken otherwise interesting characters I am not looking forward to Anne recruiting her four mind controlled Horsemen to be generically evil
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Nov 28, 2020 01:55
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biracial bear for uncut posted:Yeah I bounced off Dead Lies dreaming on my first attempt because I give zero fucks about the characters introduced. There were some interesting ideas and world building with the family magical tradition and especially their patron's specialty, but the characters were not great even by Stross's usual standards. ImpAtom posted:Forged Spoilers Yeah, I wonder if this was really always supposed to end this way, with Hard No Fucks Given Verus snuffing her to deliberately subvert our expectations, or he just couldn't see a way to convincingly reform her and make it reasonable and matter. The HNOFGV solution was consistent with his character development through the series, maybe it just wasn't adroit enough. One thing I did appreciate in this book was how not everything was solved by Verus' new powerup. Things like bypassing the Keeper rearguard in the shadow realm and getting rid of Levistus' mercenary team were very much old school Verus planning, relationship building, and thoughtful bullshitting. There was also a tinge of how Drakh approaches some of his showdowns that he gets through without violence. The entrance to Morden's shadow realm and engagement with the adept apprentices was also a very close copy of how Richard dealt with Crystal and Sagash's apprentices in Sagash's shadow realm. Deliberate/unconscious mirroring, or is this just how dark mages being dark mages always bluff and posture?
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Nov 28, 2020 04:25
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I... really liked Dead Lies Dreaming. The characters really grew on me.
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Nov 28, 2020 17:20
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Masonity posted:I... really liked Dead Lies Dreaming. The characters really grew on me. I'm having a hard time finishing it. It just doesn't flow and I've just got to the point where the one that likes to drive fast now totally wants to have sex with the not a cop in some terrible meet cute an hour after meeting. I've absolutely devoured previous volumes in this and kept who is who clear in my head and this is just a mess by comparison. And so far the trans character seems only defined by his thoughts about being trans, like he's non-boobily titting down the stairs everywhere. Feels very clumsy compared to some amazing fiction I've read by trans people before, detailing the additional complications of existence they endure that doesn't reduce their lives to checklists of evil parents and wearing a binder and no to dresses There are flashes of brilliance that make me sad it could have been so much better. I really enjoyed the book that focused on Mo - as a middle aged woman myself, I found a lot of what he wrote was amusingly well observed so I'm disappointed in the clumsiness here.. I'm halfway through and put it down last night - and I've just realised I don't know a single character name. ClydeFrog fucked around with this message at 08:45 on Nov 29, 2020 |
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Nov 28, 2020 23:45
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Drone Jett posted:Yeah, I wonder if this was really always supposed to end this way, with Hard No Fucks Given Verus snuffing her to deliberately subvert our expectations, or he just couldn't see a way to convincingly reform her and make it reasonable and matter. The HNOFGV solution was consistent with his character development through the series, maybe it just wasn't adroit enough. Forged spoilers: I liked it. Basically, Verus has done everything he's done through being backed into a corner and refusing to give up, but at this point he has more than justified all of the Light Council's hate for him and attempts to kill him, and he's still kinda screwed...which is backed up by the reveal that Alex always was Richard's chosen and can't get away from fate no matter how he weaves it.
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Nov 29, 2020 01:39
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ulmont posted:Forged spoilers: My big issue with it is that the Rachel plot spent so much time spinning its wheels and so much screentime on what it was doing that it ending with no fanfare might be surprising but it makes everything up until that point feel like a bit of a waste of time. I don't mind the anticlimax of "no, Verus decides to save himself instead of sacrifice himself for another" because that is exactly the character he is and that's interesting. I just think it feels unsatisfying and I'm sure if I reread the books I'm going to be bored stiff during the chapters that are basically dedicated to Rachel and her plotline knowing it will end that way. Admittedly while I like Verus as a whole I'm pretty comfortable in saying the author's idea of what is most interesting isn't mine because god knows I don't think I could be less interested in the Big Djinn War they are setting up.
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Nov 29, 2020 01:49
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ImpAtom posted:My big issue with it is that the Rachel plot spent so much time spinning its wheels and so much screentime on what it was doing that it ending with no fanfare might be surprising but it makes everything up until that point feel like a bit of a waste of time. I don't mind the anticlimax of "no, Verus decides to save himself instead of sacrifice himself for another" because that is exactly the character he is and that's interesting. I just think it feels unsatisfying and I'm sure if I reread the books I'm going to be bored stiff during the chapters that are basically dedicated to Rachel and her plotline knowing it will end that way. I liked it, was a good subversion of the healing power of friendship or love or whatever. Rachel was hosed up by some deeply groody soul magic, and Verus did not have the power to fix it. I think it points to Anne not being the focal point and Verus ultimately coming to side of the djinn, because frankly everything we see shows the mages have it coming to them; it's pretty clear that 'redeeming' Anne is not going to defuse anything. Instead of a tired retread of a love conquers all situation, I think we'll see Verus come down on the side of the magical creatures.
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Nov 29, 2020 04:11
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Brain Candy posted:I liked it, was a good subversion of the healing power of friendship or love or whatever. Rachel was hosed up by some deeply groody soul magic, and Verus did not have the power to fix it. I don't think that necessarily follows. If anything I think it says the opposite. The Djinn are portrayed as having been driven insane by the cruelty of what was done to them which is actually pretty dead on for Rachel as well. If anything they are a more extreme form of Rachel. I don't think Alex is going to go to war 'for the mages' but if he is confronted with an unstoppable, insane and completely malicious entity, even if that entity was the result of being abused and used, he will kill it if it threatens him. The big question is going to be if he can do that without killing Anne or not. At this point the biggest question will be if Alex is willing to kill Anne to protect himself. He's already proven that he absolutely will murder others to do so, including someone he considered a friend. Right now Alex is holding on to the idea there is a way to remove the Djinn or break its hold on Anne and it really depends on how dark the series wants to end if that is true or not. There are obvious hints towards it (they seemed to be getting through to Anne at the end) but it's not particularly clear now. I will say it's a credit to the book that "Will the protagonist kill his possessed love interest in order to preserve his own life" is actually now a question on the table. Right now Luna and the crew (including, oddly, Sonder still) are absolutely people he is unwilling to hurt but they have not (again, except Sonder) been in a position to directly threaten him so he's never had to deal with that. However he has been shown to be perfectly willing to kill former friends in cold blood. And a bigger question is would he be willing to let Anne kill one of his other friends, especially with her all-in on kidnapping and shoving a Djinn into them.
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Nov 29, 2020 04:27
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Finished Dead Lies Dreaming. The end was a rushed hodgepodge with some great moments but ffs I am so over oh look it's London so of course Jack the Ripper... yawn. And the ending being a complex offshore tax wheeze to power a curse based on ownership with the main bad guy just disappearing stage left was an anti-climax (I assume to return at some point). The descriptions of vast wealth and things read like outtakes from American Psycho. Much more interesting were the parts that dealt with their childhood and their mother or mentions of the horrors the Black Pharoah had brought to government Of course I'll read the next one because i like the series as a whole, but I won't be paying the premium and excitedly pre-ordering for day of release.
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Nov 29, 2020 08:55
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