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Steel Frame is, as far as I know, the only answer for “giant robot fiction that is Actually Good.”
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Jan 16, 2023 21:52
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GoodluckJonathan posted:Currently reading "The Years of Rice and Salt" by KSR which seems to be extremely concerned with "what does it mean to be alive, what is the point". It's more historical fiction than fantasy but, IDK, maybe that's fine? The "magic" is mostly (so far) "what if Buddhism was literally real". Only about a quarter in but enjoying the hell out of it. It's actually quite clearly an in-universe historical novel using an in-universe common literary device of having reincarnations of the same characters meet again. The book basically tells you about this later on.
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Jan 17, 2023 00:23
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caspergers posted:Fellas...first off I wanna apologize for the pretentiousness here. But I'm looking for fantasy that's more literary, at least to the extent that either leaves you with a sense of better understanding of the world or with a deeper conviction/love for life; in other words, fantasy that deals with the "human condition". read ursulas leguin
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Jan 17, 2023 00:25
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caspergers posted:Fellas...first off I wanna apologize for the pretentiousness here. But I'm looking for fantasy that's more literary, at least to the extent that either leaves you with a sense of better understanding of the world or with a deeper conviction/love for life; in other words, fantasy that deals with the "human condition". Piranesi, Jonathon Strange and Mr Norrell, Buried Giant, Book of the New Sun, Earthsea Cycle, Deathless, and obviously, without question, the shining star of literary prowess, the Name of the Wind. Less so but imo still great is the Orphans Tales, so maybe check it out. There are some more that aren't coming to me this second though, I'll throw some more in. Less fantasy, but add the Name of the Rose in there. Would also second the Years of Rice and Salt.
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Jan 17, 2023 00:27
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Ravenfood posted:Less fantasy, but add the Name of the Rose in there. Baudolino definitely goes a bit fantasy
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Jan 17, 2023 00:29
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caspergers posted:Fellas...first off I wanna apologize for the pretentiousness here. But I'm looking for fantasy that's more literary, at least to the extent that either leaves you with a sense of better understanding of the world or with a deeper conviction/love for life; in other words, fantasy that deals with the "human condition". Earthsea by Ursula LeGuin and Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. EDIT: Ravenfood posted:Less fantasy, but add the Name of the Rose in there. pradmer posted:The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco - $2.99 My TBR weeps. Dirty Needles posted:Any recommendations for robot/mecha related books/series? Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao and/or Iron Prince by Bryce O'Connor/Luke Chmilenko, depending on your appetite for dark Asian wish fulfilment with extreme, terminally-online Twitter vibes and/or a book that consists more of long, extended training/grind/XP-levelling scenes than anything else respectively. If you want more details, I posted longer thoughts on Iron Widow and Iron Prince in this thread and the KU thread but both definitely fit "giant stompy robot/mecha" though Iron Prince is like...way slower paced so the protagonists haven't really gotten to the full mecha stage by the end of book 1 yet. Leng fucked around with this message at 01:23 on Jan 17, 2023 |
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Jan 17, 2023 01:18
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Read the Mobile Suit Gundam Novelization, it's not very good, but It's still got that Tomino weirdness.
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Jan 17, 2023 01:19
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caspergers posted:Fellas...first off I wanna apologize for the pretentiousness here. But I'm looking for fantasy that's more literary, at least to the extent that either leaves you with a sense of better understanding of the world or with a deeper conviction/love for life; in other words, fantasy that deals with the "human condition". This seems like an excellent time to recommend The Night-Bird's Feather, by Jenna Moran.
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Jan 17, 2023 01:32
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I love Earthsea so much. There are lines from the third book I can still quote from memory.
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Jan 17, 2023 01:34
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Rand Brittain posted:This seems like an excellent time to recommend The Night-Bird's Feather, by Jenna Moran. Enormously seconding this for “literary fantasy” value.
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Jan 17, 2023 01:46
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Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Buried Giant should also count as literary fantasy.
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Jan 17, 2023 01:54
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Rand Brittain posted:This seems like an excellent time to recommend The Night-Bird's Feather, by Jenna Moran. Yeeeeeees
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Jan 17, 2023 02:00
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caspergers posted:Fellas...first off I wanna apologize for the pretentiousness here. But I'm looking for fantasy that's more literary, at least to the extent that either leaves you with a sense of better understanding of the world or with a deeper conviction/love for life; in other words, fantasy that deals with the "human condition". In addition to the Le Guin, Wolfe, Clarke, Hughart, and Peake recommendations already made I'll add Once and Future King by T. H. White, Travel Light by Naomi Mitchison, Okla Hannali by R. A. Lafferty, The Circus of Dr. Lao by Charles G. Finney, Sorcerer of the Wildeeps and A Taste of Honey by Kai Ashante Wilson, Among Others by Jo Walton, Little, Big and Ka: Dar Oakley in the Ruin of Ymr by John Crowley, the Lyonesse Trilogy by Jack Vance, and the Discworld novels by Terry Prattchett which have a lot to say about the human condition despite their comedic nature.
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Jan 17, 2023 02:00
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Oh I wanna recommend Starbook by Ben Okri!
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Jan 17, 2023 02:01
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a foolish pianist posted:Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Buried Giant should also count as literary fantasy. Alan Garner's Treacle Walker should also, but I'm also not sure how well it stands alone — I think the experience really benefits from being familiar with at least some of Garner's other works.
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Jan 17, 2023 02:20
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caspergers posted:Again, sorry if this is pretentious, but I'm so tired of reading books where all the stakes apply only the world the author imagined. What have you been reading that makes you feel that way? Authors you might want to check out for: Paul Park John Crowley Lucius Shepard Samuel Delany Patricia A. McKillip Peter S. Beagle John M. Ford Lois McMaster Bujold
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Jan 17, 2023 02:52
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rohan posted:I think you’d enjoy The Spear Cuts Through Water.
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Jan 17, 2023 03:21
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In the fantasy literature discussion, I would add my voice to Jo Walton, Kazuo Ishiguro, John Crowley and Susanna Clarke. But also add Helen Oyeyemi, Quan Barry, E. Lily Yu, and Marlon James. These may skew more towards the literature side of things and be more strange than fantasy, but they're also really loving good in ways that you don't often see in the stickered genre. And they're all totally different from one another.
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Jan 17, 2023 11:47
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caspergers posted:Fellas...first off I wanna apologize for the pretentiousness here. But I'm looking for fantasy that's more literary, at least to the extent that either leaves you with a sense of better understanding of the world or with a deeper conviction/love for life; in other words, fantasy that deals with the "human condition". If you don't mind fantasy that is really just historical fiction turned one quarter to the fantastical then Guy Gavriel Kay's novels might be what you are looking for. His writing, characterisation and emotive storytelling is incredible and definitely has that aspect of focusing on the human condition. The Lions of Al-Rassan is probably his best work (fantasy Spain in the time of the Reconquista) but I also really enjoyed Under Heaven (fantasy China in the time of the An Lushan rebellion).
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Jan 17, 2023 14:28
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Carrier posted:If you don't mind fantasy that is really just historical fiction turned one quarter to the fantastical then Guy Gavriel Kay's novels might be what you are looking for. His writing, characterisation and emotive storytelling is incredible and definitely has that aspect of focusing on the human condition. The Lions of Al-Rassan is probably his best work (fantasy Spain in the time of the Reconquista) but I also really enjoyed Under Heaven (fantasy China in the time of the An Lushan rebellion). A Brightness Long Ago, though, is one of my favorite books. It's just an exploration of loss and memory and what people live for, but with fantasy chariot racing included too. If you want to read GGK and have bounced off his earlier stuff, I seriously recommend at least flicking through A Brightness Long Ago in a library. It hit me so hard, and was so drat good.
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Jan 17, 2023 15:05
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That's funny, I found A Brightness Long Ago really boring and clunky. It felt like a story about nothing. I liked Under Heaven a bit better but GGK has diminishing returns the more you read, I think
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Jan 17, 2023 19:44
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I read Tigana and I'm frankly not emotionally prepared to let GGK hurt me again
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Jan 17, 2023 20:41
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cardinale posted:GGK has diminishing returns the more you read, I think
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Jan 17, 2023 20:47
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Dirty Needles posted:Any recommendations for robot/mecha related books/series? Do the robots have to be humanoid? If not then Phoenix Extravagant is good. It's an Asian inspired fantasy (fantasy Korea occupied by fantasy Japan) that deals with imperialism, especially the cultural side.
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Jan 17, 2023 21:13
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HopperUK posted:I read Tigana and I'm frankly not emotionally prepared to let GGK hurt me again I got horribly grossed out by the mind control wizard enslavement in that, so I've avoided him from then on...
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Jan 17, 2023 22:10
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I sent my copies of the Terran Trade Authority books to the eBay buyers. I hope they're going to good homes.
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Jan 17, 2023 22:17
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Do folks here have thoughts on the Elric series in publication order vs chronological order? I get the impression the author preferred chronological and that's what the new omnibus editions present the material in, but that's not necessarily the Actually Good order for a new reader.
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Jan 17, 2023 22:25
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anilEhilated posted:He keeps writing the same book. Over and over. I liked Ysabel not least because the contemporary content felt like he was at least trying to do something new.
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Jan 17, 2023 22:51
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Kestral posted:Do folks here have thoughts on the Elric series in publication order vs chronological order? I get the impression the author preferred chronological and that's what the new omnibus editions present the material in, but that's not necessarily the Actually Good order for a new reader. It's been twenty years since I sat down and read it all but going from memory it didn't really feel like a series at all, just a collection of loose stories vaguely connected with one another. I'd probably say read in publication order. It's very rare that internal chronology makes more sense than publication order, usually only when the entire series was first planned in order and then written nonsequentially like the Sharpe novels, and that almost never happens.
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Jan 17, 2023 23:06
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Hallucinogenic Toreador posted:Do the robots have to be humanoid? If not then Phoenix Extravagant is good. It's an Asian inspired fantasy (fantasy Korea occupied by fantasy Japan) that deals with imperialism, especially the cultural side. Yesssss. Phoenix Extravagant has some of the most culturally interesting magic I have read, and I normally loving despise reading about "magic systems". It's so well done, I adore that book.
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Jan 17, 2023 23:36
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Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch #1) by Ann Leckie - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BAXFDLM/
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Jan 17, 2023 23:43
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Kestral posted:Steel Frame is, as far as I know, the only answer for “giant robot fiction that is Actually Good.” sleeping giants
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Jan 18, 2023 01:38
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Rand Brittain posted:This seems like an excellent time to recommend The Night-Bird's Feather, by Jenna Moran. I'm not entirely sure why Russian flavored modern fairy tales have become a thing lately, but I loved this and also Naomi Novik's forays E: spinning silver in particular is just a glorious trainwreck of like six initially seemingly largely unrelated fairytales that slam into each other at speed Goatse James Bond fucked around with this message at 01:48 on Jan 18, 2023 |
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Jan 18, 2023 01:39
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Kestral posted:Do folks here have thoughts on the Elric series in publication order vs chronological order? I get the impression the author preferred chronological and that's what the new omnibus editions present the material in, but that's not necessarily the Actually Good order for a new reader. I'd go with publication order. The Gollancz omnibus editions strike me as weird: making you go through the script for the Elric: The Making of a Sorcerer comic before getting to the original stories seems like a good way to turn off new readers.
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Jan 18, 2023 01:48
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Just…. just read the new Saga Press version’s order. You’ll drive yourself loving insane trying to read Elric in publication order.
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Jan 18, 2023 03:15
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I've got the three Saga Press omnibuses. The first one was good enough, the second one was just a slog, I barely made it past The Revenge of the Rose, and I just took a break somewhere in the middle of The Bane of the Black Sword a few months ago, not sure when I'll go back to it.
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Jan 18, 2023 03:22
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ShutteredIn posted:Just…. just read the new Saga Press version’s order. You’ll drive yourself loving insane trying to read Elric in publication order. I’ve spent the last half hour trying to reconstruct the publication order out of the material presented in the Gollancz volumes, and yeah, this is ridiculous. I’ve never seen any body of fiction chopped up and reorganized to quite this extent before. Publication Order Elric is actually something I think I’d like to do, but I was looking at this for my audiobook slot, not my physical-book slot, and the amount of jumping around within and between audiobooks that publication order would entail is, uh, prohibitive.
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Jan 18, 2023 03:32
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Kestral posted:I’ve spent the last half hour trying to reconstruct the publication order out of the material presented in the Gollancz volumes, and yeah, this is ridiculous. I’ve never seen any body of fiction chopped up and reorganized to quite this extent before. Publication Order Elric is actually something I think I’d like to do, but I was looking at this for my audiobook slot, not my physical-book slot, and the amount of jumping around within and between audiobooks that publication order would entail is, uh, prohibitive. The first volume of the new collection has pages of bibliography going over the various publications and republications of the Elric stories. It's wild!
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Jan 18, 2023 03:35
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Just read it in the order of whichever dogeared lurid-covered paperback you've managed to find in a second hand bookshop for $2 as is traditional
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Jan 18, 2023 04:07
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sebmojo posted:Just read it in the order of whichever dogeared lurid-covered paperback you've managed to find in a second hand bookshop for $2 as is traditional 
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Jan 18, 2023 04:11
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