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Night Watch, for me, is peak Pratchett. And It's not really trying to be very funny at all. All the little angels...
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May 25, 2021 22:17
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Yeah I love Night Watch. When I first read Discworld as a teenager I had the sense that it was going somewhere, that there was a specific climax focusing on the rulership of Ankh Morpork that Pratchett was building towards. Later I realized that wasn't really the point, and that it was more about using his characters to satirize different aspects of our world. But Night Watch definitely feels like the climax to Vimes' arc.
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May 25, 2021 22:37
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buffalo all day posted:How is it possible that I've been reading this thread for several years and never knew that the Goblin Emperor author wrote a Sherlock Holmes pastiche set in an alt-London that has vampires, werewolves, robotic cerberuses, angels that work as basically the guiding/protective spirit of a place and a trans Watson. Looked this up and it's today's Kindle deal in the UK, I'd never have noticed it otherwise so thanks https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B088KQY...rd_i=5400977031
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May 25, 2021 22:40
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Ccs posted:Yeah I love Night Watch. When I first read Discworld as a teenager I had the sense that it was going somewhere, that there was a specific climax focusing on the rulership of Ankh Morpork that Pratchett was building towards. Later I realized that wasn't really the point, and that it was more about using his characters to satirize different aspects of our world. But Night Watch definitely feels like the climax to Vimes' arc. After having kids, though, I identify the most with late-period Vimes. THAT! IS! NOT! MY! COW!
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May 25, 2021 22:45
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bagrada posted:I'm trying to remember if I've ever laughed at loud at a book as an adult.
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May 25, 2021 22:46
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buffalo all day posted:How is it possible that I've been reading this thread for several years and never knew that the Goblin Emperor author wrote a Sherlock Holmes pastiche set in an alt-London that has vampires, werewolves, robotic cerberuses, angels that work as basically the guiding/protective spirit of a place and a trans Watson. Crashbee posted:Looked this up and it's today's Kindle deal in the UK, I'd never have noticed it otherwise so thanks https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B088KQY...rd_i=5400977031 Ok I feel less bad now that someone else confessed. Definitely worth it at that price (basically free). I feel like it should get more...attention? The Angel dynamic is pretty interesting.
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May 25, 2021 22:49
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quote is not edit taking advantage to add that in addition to including her spin on a number of holmes mysteries (study in scarlet, sign of four, copper beeches) it also has jack the ripper. there's a lot going on. buffalo all day fucked around with this message at 22:52 on May 25, 2021 |
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May 25, 2021 22:49
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Groke posted:Night Watch, for me, is peak Pratchett. And It's not really trying to be very funny at all. And it's still 25 May in some time zones, so today is the proper day to read it.
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May 25, 2021 23:07
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buffalo all day posted:quote is not edit It's gotta be better than Anno Dracula, right?
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May 25, 2021 23:32
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Ccs posted:Yeah I love Night Watch. When I first read Discworld as a teenager I had the sense that it was going somewhere, that there was a specific climax focusing on the rulership of Ankh Morpork that Pratchett was building towards. Later I realized that wasn't really the point, and that it was more about using his characters to satirize different aspects of our world. But Night Watch definitely feels like the climax to Vimes' arc. No, the problem of Vetinari's successor is a very real thread through the back half of the series. It's just that Pratchett never solved it.
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May 26, 2021 00:23
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There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm - $0.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08FHHQRM2/
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May 26, 2021 01:20
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The hardest I've ever laughed at a book was one of Mick Foley's where he and Stone Cold Steve Austin shove chocolate chip cookies in Diamond Dallas Page's bed. I have no idea why it's so funny but I'm laughing thinking about it now and I read the book 20 years ago.
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May 26, 2021 03:13
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I'm 10 chapters into The Blacktongue Thief right now and enjoying it. It's really luxuriating in the world building though, I would have expected the protagonist to be off on the quest with the knight he meets in the first few pages by chapter two or three. Instead it's spending some time on foreshadowing and wandering around a town and getting into minor scrapes that are solved by the Takers Guild being more connected than Kinch assumed. Because of the amount of time Kinch spends worry about his student loans it's hard not to compare this story to the only other fantasy series that spent an inordinate amount of time on school debt. There's certainly a lot of talk of different sorts of coins and cultures. But the stakes are higher here, both for what happens if the debt isn't repaid as well as from the supernatural and encroaching threat to human civilization. It helps that Buehlman is coming to his first fantasy series with 6 novels already under his belt; I have faith he'll deliver a proper story because he's done it so many times before.
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May 26, 2021 04:04
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thumper57 posted:The hardest I've ever laughed at a book was one of Mick Foley's where he and Stone Cold Steve Austin shove chocolate chip cookies in Diamond Dallas Page's bed. I have no idea why it's so funny but I'm laughing thinking about it now and I read the book 20 years ago. That's cause imaging DDP losing his poo poo over cookies is, and was, and will always be hilarious. I loved that book. My laugh out loud books have been mostly the story collections of Patrick G. Macmanus. I dunno why, maybe cause he grew up the way my parents did, but some of the stories are hilarious. Carpet Diem had me laughing out loud with the "Nipples!" "No I wasn't!" exchange. Weird that the author followed up a comedic adventure kind of book with a straight up fantasy, but it turned out really good.
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May 26, 2021 04:29
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FPyat posted:Has anyone read The Golden Age by John C. Wright, The Last Legends of Earth by A.A. Attanasio, or the Neverness books by David Zindell? All have lots of enthusiastic and negative reviews, which makes it really uncertain whether I should give them a chance. People throw out Gene Wolfe comparisons a lot, which could either be a good or a bad thing. I'm quite surprised to see it mentioned here, but I really enjoyed The Last Legends of Earth, enough that I went out and found a pretty Easton Press edition; I took my username from it. At the same time, I can easily see why it would have both strong negative and positive reviews. It combines a bold and beautiful high-level sweep with some clumsy low-level bits (although to be fair it's been a while since I last read it and I might feel differently if I tackled it again). I really think it's worth reading if you're adventurous, as there are some wonderful ideas within it. There's a central premise reminiscent of Farmer's Riverworld, but it's really its own book (and despite being sometimes stated as book four of a series, you don't need the other three to understand this one; the linkages are more thematic/conceptual). It's stuck with me for thirty years. Xotl fucked around with this message at 07:43 on May 26, 2021 |
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May 26, 2021 07:40
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MockingQuantum posted:Anybody have any opinions on this one? I feel like I've had Wexler recommended to me a bunch of times, but I don't remember which books or why. It was ok, a brother and sister end up on different sides of a war but can't remember much else. Better than the other recent ya series about wizards trapped on a magic oil tanker (not good despite that sentence) by him.
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May 26, 2021 07:56
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Oh, neat, The Apocalypse Seven by Gene Doucette is out this week. He writes some interesting stuff. Love his immortals series, but his last couple of independent books (meaning not associated with any other "metaverse" he writes) were pretty good. This one sounds fun, at least. Unfiction was pretty unique but I felt it was kinda a weird, out of left field ending.
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May 26, 2021 08:11
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Hi, help identify a book time. From a few years ago. Fantasy novel Two lead characters, bit of a Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser dynamic going on. One of them is a golem like character (that used to be human, but was remade) The other an ex-soldier with a vaguely Janissary type background, including having (if memory serves) a musket. It starts with them travelling with a caravan that's attacked by basically a wyvern. Then they get involved with a plot involving a small kingdom being invaded by a larger power and the main plot kicks off from there.
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May 26, 2021 09:41
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Groke posted:Night Watch, for me, is peak Pratchett. And It's not really trying to be very funny at all. Night Watch is absolutely his best work, and a culmination of everything he built towards in the Watch series about being both a police officer and a citizen; the concept of Vimes as an anti-authoritarian authority figure, in the way he opens up the Watch House to the citizenry on the night of the riots and ultimately has the Watch participate in the revolution - it's really great stuff. The idea that Vimes' loyalty isn't to the badge, or to the Watch, but to the people, and even fully acknowledging how difficult and problematic that is (his quote about "the people" from Night Watch is easily the most widely quoted piece of Pratchett's writing I see). I kind of wish he'd ended it there - Thud is good (or at least has really, really good moments) and Snuff is fine, but they don't begin to compare.
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May 26, 2021 11:45
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Deptfordx posted:Hi, help identify a book time. On my phone so I'm not gonna search a title but that's by Elizabeth Bear.
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May 26, 2021 12:38
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With fritz's info I think I've pinned this down to 'Stone in the Skull' which is part of the Lotus Kingdoms trilogy. Amazon blurb: The Gage is a brass automaton created by a wizard of Messaline around the core of a human being. His wizard is long dead, and he works as a mercenary. He is carrying a message from the most powerful sorcerer of Messaline to the Rajni of the Lotus Kingdom. With him is The Dead Man, a bitter survivor of the body guard of the deposed Uthman Caliphate, protecting the message and the Gage. They are friends, of a peculiar sort. They are walking into a dynastic war between the rulers of the shattered bits of a once great Empire.
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May 26, 2021 13:21
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Thanks!
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May 26, 2021 13:55
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Deptfordx posted:Thanks! No worries:) Also I put it on my wishlist because it sounds good.
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May 26, 2021 14:56
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Finished volume 1 of Two of Swords. It did a good job getting me interested in the set-up, excited to see where it goes over the next 2. Also to read other KJ Parker books 
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May 26, 2021 17:23
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I just finished the first book in his Fencer trilogy, Colours in the Steel. It was pretty good but I'm not sure I want to continue. Reviews say the second book is aimless and there were a lot of moments that felt like missed opportunities for drama or more insight into the characters. Lots of very detailed descriptions of engineering and fencing though.
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May 26, 2021 17:35
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Ccs posted:I just finished the first book in his Fencer trilogy, Colours in the Steel. It was pretty good but I'm not sure I want to continue. Reviews say the second book is aimless and there were a lot of moments that felt like missed opportunities for drama or more insight into the characters. Lots of very detailed descriptions of engineering and fencing though. Hmm. That leaves me torn. The first thing you say makes it sound not that interesting to me, but "detailed descriptions of engineering" sounds exactly like one of my two favorite things in a Parker novel. I don't suppose there's anything about the Studium or the Rooms in that book, is there?
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May 26, 2021 17:51
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McCoy Pauley posted:Hmm. That leaves me torn. The first thing you say makes it sound not that interesting to me, but "detailed descriptions of engineering" sounds exactly like one of my two favorite things in a Parker novel. There is a magic system, rare for a Parker novel. It's not the Studium but the Order, where they study something called "The Principle" which involves reading a lot of natural philosophy and trying to figure out some very obscure concepts. What the actual magic involves is basically dreaming of something that will happen in the future and changing the outcome. There are also "naturals" who can influence fate without consciously meaning to, things just seem to go their way. The magic system plays a fairly pivotal role in the book but it comes at the detriment of character arcs. You're never quite sure if things are happening because of fate or because the character really meant to do something. Also one huge missed opportunity happens during a pivotal fencing match where more words are spent talking about whether magic is influencing the outcome instead of what the characters are feeling. I got really annoyed at that part, it was like the climax of the book was happening at a distance. All that said, it's still good. I have other quibbles with character motivations but to say them would be a spoiler.
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May 26, 2021 18:14
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Senlin Ascends (Books of Babel #1) by Josiah Bancroft - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074M62D7Y/ The Novels of Samuel R. Delany Volume One: Babel-17, Nova, and Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand by Samuel R Delany - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075KWTQNG/
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May 27, 2021 00:05
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pradmer posted:Senlin Ascends (Books of Babel #1) by Josiah Bancroft - $2.99
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May 27, 2021 03:35
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DACK FAYDEN posted:I enjoyed the first two of these books but not enough to spend money on the third, so I can't say if I really recommend it or not I was already formulating this exact post in my head before I read down to your post. They were fun and ok, but I just stopped caring around the end of book 2 and I can’t explain why very well.
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May 27, 2021 03:46
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I've never read it but I've always though it's the most aesthetically (phonetically?) pleasing title I've ever heard.
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May 27, 2021 12:44
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freebooter posted:I've never read it but I've always though it's the most aesthetically (phonetically?) pleasing title I've ever heard. It always makes me think of Conrad Aiken's "The Morning Song of Senlin" -- which might be where Bancroft got the name, for all I know.
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May 27, 2021 13:03
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freebooter posted:I've never read it but I've always though it's the most aesthetically (phonetically?) pleasing title I've ever heard. I know the name from 'Morning Song of Senlin' which is I think extracted from a longer poem called 'Senlin: A Biography'. Notable for containing quite a few scifi book titles in it. e: beaten soundly but here's the poem in case you wanna see it Conrad Aiken posted:IT is morning, Senlin says, and in the morning
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May 27, 2021 13:06
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lmao at the authors note at the end of angel of crows usually you have an authors note at the beginning of the book. but here the authors note says basically "true fanfic lovers know wingfic is an offshoot of the form that gives all the characters wings. this book started off as wingfic of sherlock holmes" so they put it at the end of the book. they tricked me !!!
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May 27, 2021 14:19
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buffalo all day posted:lmao at the authors note at the end of angel of crows
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May 27, 2021 14:36
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I really wanna change my username to Weird Fanfic Goblin. So I went back and dug into The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart because I guess I should finish things I conspicuously dropped without reason. Hoooooooly poo poo man. Whoever said it goes places, you weren’t kidding. I did not expect bad trips on ergot, mouth covered homunculi, and shifting POVs. I can’t wait to see the bros get hosed. They’ve established quite a rogues gallery of enemies at this point.
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May 27, 2021 14:48
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90s Cringe Rock posted:That owns and I'm glad to see more authors open up about being weird fanfic goblins. I mean Taz Muir has made no secret of it.
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May 27, 2021 15:09
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Finally the crossover we've all been waiting for: https://twitter.com/FortniteGame/status/1397975897744027651?s=19 Fortnite and Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn series together at last.
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May 27, 2021 21:42
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Aardvark! posted:Finally the crossover we've all been waiting for: Can't turn out worse than the Fortnite/Star Wars crossover did!
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May 27, 2021 21:48
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Alright that's gonna be kind of funny to see Sanderson characters killing me in fortnite.
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May 27, 2021 21:58
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