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Danhenge posted:It was reasonably enjoyable, but I didn't like it as much as the first one. Typical middle-book problems, I think. I can't believe this guy's output. I just finished the first book in that series a couple months ago, didn't even realize the second was out. I liked it, just solid space opera.
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May 11, 2022 10:26
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GreenBuckanneer posted:I finished The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi I quite enjoyed Kiva. ToxicFrog posted:I read it a few years ago based on recommendations in this thread and enjoyed it a lot; the overall vibe was kind of "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex if every single person in the writing room had just finished a reread of Cyteen", which is to say, extremely my poo poo. Tiny Timbs posted:Can we compromise and say no sex scenes longer than 4 sentences As opposed to: thrust, flop, snore - which I'll grant you, a lot of sex scenes in book do feel like that, and at that point I'd rather take fade-to-black.
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May 11, 2022 11:36
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anilEhilated posted:Okay, I enjoyed the Riddle-master trilogy well enough when I read it a couple years back; what would you suggest next as a more representative book? The popular answer is The Forgotten Beasts of Eld which is acclaimed but still an early work from her. Personally, I think the decade between 2000 and 2010 when McKillip was at her most prolific is when you get the novels that were the product of a fully matured writer. Most of these novels revolve around a very similar storytelling template to the The Forgotten Beasts of Eld, although more clearly developed into something like pre-Tolkein fantasy and folklore. Properly that period (which coincides with Kinuko Y. Craft becoming her primary cover artist) begins with The Book Of Atrix Wolfe in 1995 which a lot of people like. But Ombria in Shadows is, in my opinion, the novel that really showcases all of McKillip's strengths and feels like she's pushing herself the furthest
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May 11, 2022 12:24
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I haven't read deeply enough into McKillip to give an informed opinion about what's her "best," but I had a lot of fun with The Forgotten Beasts of Eld, The Throme of the Erril of Sherill, and Fool's Run.
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May 11, 2022 14:20
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ToxicFrog posted:"More run-on sentences", got it. "Mezzanine" by Nicholson, but it's the thoughts of the main character as he tries not to finish in less than a minute.
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May 11, 2022 19:22
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Mr. Nemo posted:"Mezzanine" by Nicholson, but it's the thoughts of the main character as he tries not to finish in less than a minute. I'm a few chapters into Jonathan Maberry's [url=https://www.amazon.com/Kagen-Damned-Novel-Jonathan-Maberry-ebook/dp/B09CNF9Y8M/ref=sr_1_1?crid=CG9731SVOTE9&keywords=kagen+the+damned+by+jonathan+maberry&qid=1652303506&sprefix=kagen+the%2Caps%2C160&sr=8-1Kagen the Damned[/url] I don't know if I exactly like the book so far. Right now it's very "Good vs Evil" with Evil currently kicking the holy living dogshit out of Good (the book begins with the title character waking up hungover to discover that an evil army is sacking (with plenty of scenes of the aftermath of rape/murder/arson) his city (and it might have been nice if at least part of the invading army had shown enough discipline to avoid burning/slaughtering the city they eventually planned to rule). Also the Cthulhu mythos is a real thing in this book and isn't that maybe a little bit of a cliche at this point in a "you can be Lovecraftian without copying from Lovecraft" way. That said, Maberry has had Mythos stuff show up is his Joe Ledger series. I wouldn't be surprised if the stuff in Kagen links back to some of his other books.
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May 11, 2022 22:31
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Zodiac by Neal Stephenson - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008UX8SNU/
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May 11, 2022 22:45
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Sailor Viy posted:One of my favourite "fight scenes" is in Nine Princes in Amber when the narrator and his soldiers are surrounded, and then he says: "Reader, I'll be brief. They killed everyone but me." I like the part in The March North where the narrating Standard-Captain just says something like 'they came, and we killed them. the men had to dig me out from under the pile of corpses later, since it got too heavy for me to shift'. just a quick aside about cutting down like a hundred dudes like it's a comment on the weather lol
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May 11, 2022 23:06
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Particularly as up until that point the stream of consciousness esque narration hasn't really given any indication that the standard captain really isn't a regular human at all
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May 11, 2022 23:31
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pradmer posted:Zodiac by Neal Stephenson - $1.99 Kalman posted:Zodiac is Stephenson’s best book. I will not be taking any questions.
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May 12, 2022 00:32
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I just read The Riddle-Master of Hed; it's Good. Regret not getting into McKillip before; she and Bujold have both been excellent.
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May 12, 2022 01:32
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Rand Brittain posted:I just read The Riddle-Master of Hed; it's Good. Regret not getting into McKillip before; she and Bujold have both been excellent. One of Bujold's series that I was kind surprised to like was The Sharing Knife. It's a sweetly romantic story set a long time after what might have been the climactic battle against some Great Evil and people are still cleaning up what remains a considerably dangerous mess.
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May 12, 2022 02:06
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...the number of atoms drug theory line alone justifies the price of admission.
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May 12, 2022 04:01
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Is Quillifer a rec around here? The first chapter has good prose and some interesting if not original situations. However, the detail on a lot of stuff about the city seems unnecessary. Do I really need to know all the major imports and exports, the level of silt that washes into the harbor, and what each and every roof is made of? Do these details become more pertinent later? Like I said, the prose is pretty good (I've just swiped left on three other books for prose related reasons) but the actual content is like the stuff I put into a world building file and then forget about for the good of mankind.
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May 12, 2022 05:12
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MartingaleJack posted:Is Quillifer a rec around here? The first chapter has good prose and some interesting if not original situations. However, the detail on a lot of stuff about the city seems unnecessary. Do I really need to know all the major imports and exports, the level of silt that washes into the harbor, and what each and every roof is made of? Actually, literally all of that comes up later lol. The roofs and the economic utility of the harbor both. I've read the sequel too and it continues to be ftw. Still need to start the third, I forgot it came out already
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May 12, 2022 06:29
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Everyone posted:I'm a few chapters into Jonathan Maberry's [url=https://www.amazon.com/Kagen-Damned-Novel-Jonathan-Maberry-ebook/dp/B09CNF9Y8M/ref=sr_1_1?crid=CG9731SVOTE9&keywords=kagen+the+damned+by+jonathan+maberry&qid=1652303506&sprefix=kagen+the%2Caps%2C160&sr=8-1Kagen the Damned[/url] He's got a good blurb from Michael Moorcock and then one from Kevin J Anderson - the alpha and the omega if you like. Any good?
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May 12, 2022 09:43
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MartingaleJack posted:Is Quillifer a rec around here? The first chapter has good prose and some interesting if not original situations. However, the detail on a lot of stuff about the city seems unnecessary. Do I really need to know all the major imports and exports, the level of silt that washes into the harbor, and what each and every roof is made of? I love Walter Jon Williams but I've never read quillifer. I think it's the only series I've missed apart from his star wars stuff, I'm not into them either.
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May 12, 2022 09:46
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Larry Parrish posted:Actually, literally all of that comes up later lol. The roofs and the economic utility of the harbor both. I've read the sequel too and it continues to be ftw. Still need to start the third, I forgot it came out already I was going to keep reading anyway, but that's good to know!
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May 12, 2022 15:06
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branedotorg posted:He's got a good blurb from Michael Moorcock and then one from Kevin J Anderson - the alpha and the omega if you like. I think so. Right now the viewpoint characters are just trying to get out of the city and avoid getting murdered/raped/eaten/whatever by the evil army. The book seems to be a bit of an inverse/remix of high fantasy. Like there would be an evil plot to attack the head Good city and kill the royal family and the narrative would be how the heroes come together to stop it. Here the book starts with the evil plot completely succeeding. I will say to take the Michael Moorcock blurb with a bit of salt. Kagen isn't Game of Thrones - at least in terms of showing rape-murders. It describes the aftermath but doesn't show the acts themselves so far. Hopefully that continues given that one of the viewpoint characters is a 15 year old girl who's a nun in training.
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May 12, 2022 16:56
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Today's the last day to grab my short story about a team of ultra-masculine, closeted gay space marines trying to blow up a sperm bank on Kindle for free. Assault on Ball's Deep
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May 12, 2022 17:12
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Thanks, got it and I promise it will get read, but I can't promise it will be read soon
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May 12, 2022 19:01
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Tars Tarkas posted:Thanks, got it and I promise it will get read, but I can't promise it will be read soon Thanks!
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May 12, 2022 20:22
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MartingaleJack posted:Today's the last day to grab my short story about a team of ultra-masculine, closeted gay space marines trying to blow up a sperm bank on Kindle for free. Assault on Ball's Deep And... got it. Edited to add that I just sent a link to it to Jonathan Maberry. Assuming your closeted gay space marine will fight and/or gently caress zombies, you might end up in an anthology. Everyone fucked around with this message at 21:02 on May 12, 2022 |
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May 12, 2022 20:57
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Everyone posted:And... got it. That was nice of you, and yeah, there are things like zombie-ish things. More like the sentient suit with the dead marine inside like Ian M. Banks' Descendant.
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May 13, 2022 00:23
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I couldn't get into #1 of the Teixcalaan series, so I never got around to #2 which I've heard a lot of good about. It just seems like there's nothing but technobabble in the first book. I wonder if I can skip to the second book in the series. Thoughts?
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May 13, 2022 00:25
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BlankSystemDaemon posted:I couldn't get into #1 of the Teixcalaan series, so I never got around to #2 which I've heard a lot of good about. I highly doubt it, the second book is very much a continuation of the first and hinges heavily on characters, context, and plot from the first book to have any of its impact. Also tbh, depending on what made you bounce off the first book, you're probably pretty likely to bounce of the second one too, they're very similar in style and tone.
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May 13, 2022 01:00
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BlankSystemDaemon posted:I couldn't get into #1 of the Teixcalaan series, so I never got around to #2 which I've heard a lot of good about. i wouldn't bother, as MockingQuantum said there's nothing in book two that will grab you IMO, if the first didn't
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May 13, 2022 01:15
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I'm glad to know that, I'd been thinking along the same lines about trying book 2. Guess I won't bother then.
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May 13, 2022 03:13
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I appreciate the feedback, as well as learning that I'm not the only one.
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May 13, 2022 08:49
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Everyone posted:I think so. Right now the viewpoint characters are just trying to get out of the city and avoid getting murdered/raped/eaten/whatever by the evil army. The book seems to be a bit of an inverse/remix of high fantasy. Like there would be an evil plot to attack the head Good city and kill the royal family and the narrative would be how the heroes come together to stop it. Here the book starts with the evil plot completely succeeding. Started this tonight. Really digging the lovecraftian weird poo poo he's rolling with. <-minor plot spoilers I'm only a few chapters in. Found myself weirdly upset about the lost knife he mentioned in the first couple pages.
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May 13, 2022 09:57
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Finished Kaiju Preservation Society, felt like the great premise was incredibly wasted here.
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May 13, 2022 15:11
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zerofiend posted:Finished Kaiju Preservation Society, felt like the great premise was incredibly wasted here. Agreed and I found the Trump references kind of cringe too. Considering picking up Deed of Paksenaarion but was advised it is pretty rape heavy. Can anyone confirm or deny for me?
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May 13, 2022 16:40
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^burtle posted:Agreed and I found the Trump references kind of cringe too. Yeah, if rape is a problem for you maybe give it a pass.
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May 13, 2022 17:10
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:Started this tonight. Really digging the lovecraftian weird poo poo he's rolling with. <-minor plot spoilers Chthulhu mythos stuff also pops up in a few of the Joe Ledger books. I would not be shocked if it turns out that the Kagen series is actually an origin story for Mr. Church and/or Nicodemus
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May 13, 2022 17:14
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^burtle posted:Agreed and I found the Trump references kind of cringe too. i would not characterize it as rape heavy but it is a setting where rape happens, and also the main character goes through a lot of awful trauma, most of which is not sexual in nature but is described in more detail because of that. there is a chapter in book 3 that is an extended torture sequence; included therein is rape but it's glossed over a lot more than the rest of everything else going on - you can skip to the end of the chapter and you won't miss anything you can't catch up on.
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May 13, 2022 17:25
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Thanks all, gonna go in a different direction.
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May 13, 2022 19:21
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Just... Don't let that direction be Ash: A Secret History, which is notably worse than the Paks books.
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May 13, 2022 21:38
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zerofiend posted:Finished Kaiju Preservation Society, felt like the great premise was incredibly wasted here. Completely agreed.
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May 13, 2022 23:20
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Eon by Greg Bear - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J3EU5RC/ His Majesty's Dragon (Temeraire #1) by Naomi Novik - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000GCFBQA/ Earthseed: The Complete Series by Octavia E Butler - $3.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072NZBPFG/
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May 14, 2022 00:08
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^burtle posted:Thanks all, gonna go in a different direction. solid call, yeah. the books are really important to me and i dont think any of the stuff I mentioned is gratuitous (even the chapter I mentioned, but thats very much imo)-- i wouldnt call any of it reader or author service, but it's still super heavy about those topics. randomly though it occurs to me that while the books lack the language from having been written in the 80s, Paks is pretty explicitly ace as all hell, which is nice.
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May 14, 2022 01:40
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