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Xiahou Dun posted:Personal favorite of his, arguably even more than how much he loves Ian M. Banks. Largely one offs, the odd sequel, but I assume he's read all of Greg Bear's books then Also - pure fantasy not "urban", but try Robin Hobb's stuff? It's all connected so you should start with her first book. ookiimarukochan fucked around with this message at 23:28 on Dec 7, 2022 |
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Dec 7, 2022 23:25
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ookiimarukochan posted:Largely one offs, the odd sequel, but I assume he's read all of Greg Bear's books then Yuuuuup, already read at least enough of them that he seems good. This is the guy who handed me the Fafhrd and Grey Mouser books when I was 8 along with something I only later realized was a syllabus. He’s read a lot of nerd books. But thanks! It’s still appreciated!
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Dec 8, 2022 02:56
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Xiahou Dun posted:Yuuuuup, already read at least enough of them that he seems good. I mentioned these several pages back on the sci-fi/fantasy book forum, but there's also a two book series that Brian Daley did: The Doomfarers of Coramonde The Starfollowers of Coramonde Despite being written in the 70s neither are all that problematic in terms of gender or race. Daley was also the guy who did a trilogy of early Han Solo novels for Star Wars.
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Dec 8, 2022 03:21
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anilEhilated posted:It's okay, you were his target audience. Show me in the book where Piers Anthony touched you.
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Dec 8, 2022 23:37
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Xiahou Dun posted:Mount Char we both read and thought was good but forgettable. However, Scholomance is new to me so I double-checked his kindle and he's never heard of Novik it seems. Was a little turned off when I read "magic school", but the summary seems much more engaging than that phrase would lead you to believe. Looks certainly good enough to try. If magic school puts you off and since your dad doesn't like series, maybe try Spinning Silver or Uprooted by the same author. They are stand alone and really good. Not urban fantasy though, just straight up fantasy. Edit: Also Scholomance trilogy is a YA series and while good has a lot of YA in it. Spinning Silver and Uprooted are aimed at adults. KellHound fucked around with this message at 01:02 on Dec 9, 2022 |
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Dec 9, 2022 00:58
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Calidus posted:Is Butcher’s kid’s book any good? As someone who has made their hatred of Jim Butcher's books clear... It's actually good enough so far. I haven't gotten to finish it due to unrelated reasons, but I actually don't mind reading it. I can't give a full grade yet, and I made fun of it a little, but like, compared to Jim? A breath of fresh air.
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Dec 9, 2022 06:12
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Haven't read any Dresden Files since 2015. Stopped with Skin Game. Turns out that was a great place to stop!  Huh, what are they going to do with Murphy now that she and Harry have accepted their relationship and she's accepted that she's outclassed? Killed by everyone's least fun character, Randolph, in a friendly fire incident. How's Marcone, a notoriously slick operator who's managed to remain stock human but powerful in the otherworldly scene going to help in the Fomor war? Ehh, he's been coined for books, don't worry about it. And we put Thomas in an LOZ crystal and his True Love has been subverted by Nemesis. No we don't know what that is still! But it's SCARY!
Bogart fucked around with this message at 05:10 on Dec 11, 2022 |
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Dec 11, 2022 03:49
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Bogart posted:Haven't read any Dresden Files since 2015. Stopped with Skin Game. Coined? I can't tell if this happened in later books or if that's just slag I don't know.
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Dec 11, 2022 05:34
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Xiahou Dun posted:Coined? I can't tell if this happened in later books or if that's just slag I don't know. It presumably happened in or right after Small Favor but there was no indication about it despite Dresden having The Sight and "Even Hand" which was written from Marcone's first person viewpoint and set between Turn Coat and Changes AKA the two books that came right after Small Favor. I'm wondering if Butcher's plotting is now manatee-based.
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Dec 11, 2022 07:39
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Everyone posted:It presumably happened in or right after Small Favor but there was no indication about it despite Dresden having The Sight and "Even Hand" which was written from Marcone's first person viewpoint and set between Turn Coat and Changes AKA the two books that came right after Small Favor. No, the word. That’s not even usually a verb. I don’t understand anything you just said, even less than the post I was asking about. I haven’t touched a Jim Butcher book since he found out he had a long lost sex vampire brother. I came for a noir pastiche, drat it.
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Dec 11, 2022 07:57
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Coined as in, took up a Denarius and the demon within it. It's a pretty weird step given how much Marcone has done to acquire power in his ways without touching a drop of magic. He'll hire Gard and Odin, but before now, he's just been a fit, healthy guy. No, sorry, now he's demonpowered, and we spend about a page thinking about it. Noir has been dropped from Dresden Files since, like... which was the one where he was working for a porn studio? That or the one where he resurrects a dinosaur with the power of polka.
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Dec 11, 2022 08:54
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Bogart posted:Coined as in, took up a Denarius and the demon within it. It's a pretty weird step given how much Marcone has done to acquire power in his ways without touching a drop of magic. He'll hire Gard and Odin, but before now, he's just been a fit, healthy guy. No, sorry, now he's demonpowered, and we spend about a page thinking about it. O yeah those dudes…. Yeah that was just as I petered out. That was my second try through, after the RPG came out. I get it if people like that kind of tone, I’m not arguing against some schlocky fun, but if I come to a dance I’m gonna want to swing my partner. Shame about Marcone. That’s a much less interesting character and a big loss of stakes.
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Dec 11, 2022 09:08
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I didn't realize it, but the new Eric Carter book dropped in late October. I haven't finished it yet, but so far it's a fun read as always.
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Dec 11, 2022 09:50
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Xiahou Dun posted:O yeah those dudes…. Yeah that was just as I petered out. That was my second try through, after the RPG came out. You could argue that the stakes are even higher because Marcone's actual soul is on the line but I won't. Really at this point I think I'm going to peace out on continuing the series. There's stuff I've been willing to tolerate for the sake of Friendly Neighborhood Wizard Spider-man. The sometimes less-than-woke attitude toward women and minorities, which did seem to get a little better in his last two books. The power/stakes creep of Dresden and thus his enemies. Almost everything about Thomas. But the last two full books (which was really one big-rear end book that got split in two) had genuinely crappy editing. Plus it's been over two years since then with not even a "we're hoping to get Book 18 out by ??/??/202?" I'm a way-too-fat 54 year old Type II diabetic with high blood pressure. If new normal of this series is a full book every 3-5 years, there's a decent chance I'll be dead before it finishes and screw that.
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Dec 11, 2022 14:45
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I’m glad that bouncing off of Cold Days like a dozen times let me end Dresden for myself at Changes. Seems like a much stronger ending than whatever 31-Book Epic Arc Butcher is trying.
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Dec 11, 2022 14:56
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drat, it's been two years since those books? I could have sworn they were just a few months ago.
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Dec 11, 2022 15:32
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The initial long delay in the last two books gave my interest a break. Reviews here and elsewhere did not reignite my interest in Dresden. Oddly, haven't gone back and done a reread in 5+ years now, and my interest is still low. My normal reread was pre-release, so that delayed it, but I figured I'd have gone through it by now. I think the genre just got better and my expectations are higher.
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Dec 11, 2022 17:27
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Him accepting Uriel’s offer to Go On in Ghost Story (or rather, the narrative respecting that choice) would’ve been a fine end. Or just at the end of Changes. Hang up the hat, leave behind a few characters who could take it up, and say “the adventure continues!” But I guess the stakes have to always get higher.
Bogart fucked around with this message at 22:25 on Dec 11, 2022 |
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Dec 11, 2022 21:49
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There’s definitely a diminishing returns in stake raising, specifically when it’s the D&D style “these guys are more powerful than anyone I’ve fought before!” It’s actually one of the things I appreciated about the mid-series Sandman Slim books, things got more complicated for Stark instead of more dangerous.
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Dec 11, 2022 22:21
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My biggest issue with Dresden how is Butcher won’t tell the most interested story of how Harry gets out from under Mab’s thumb. All the other plot arcs just aren’t that interesting.
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Dec 11, 2022 22:56
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Bogart posted:Him accepting Uriel’s offer to Go On in Ghost Story (or rather, the narrative respecting that choice) would’ve been a fine end. Or just at the end of Changes. Hang up the hat, leave behind a few characters who could take it up, and say “the adventure continues!” But I guess the stakes have to always get higher. For real. I'd have read the poo poo out of Murphy's Laws or The Carpenter Cases
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Dec 12, 2022 01:01
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Xiahou Dun posted:Dude loves Tim Powers. He woke me up to translate the French in On Stranger Tides when I lived in Taiwan because it was apparently that important. I don't see you mentioning having read the Craft Sequence, but that may be covered under stuff he would have heard of from the nerd community.
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Dec 12, 2022 14:09
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Xiahou Dun posted:Dude loves Tim Powers. He woke me up to translate the French in On Stranger Tides when I lived in Taiwan because it was apparently that important. Actually what you need to get this guy is, I should have thought of it, Graydon Saunders. The March North.
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Dec 12, 2022 18:18
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Actually what you need to get this guy is, I should have thought of it, Graydon Saunders. The March North.
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Dec 12, 2022 20:41
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Thanks, folks! His birthday is technically Wednesday but we had the family get together this weekend so my sisters and I each gave him books y'all recommended. Today I found out he's already killed The Devil and Dark Water. Took him about one 24 hour period of time, a bit less ; liked it a lot, much more than 7 1/2 Deaths and he's leant it on to me. (Book communism. It's understood that if I get him a good book it'll filter to me and vice versa, with the speed of the transfer proportional to book quality.) Dude's getting a lot of books and he seems pretty happy, so just great job all around. Thanks a mill! Hieronymous Alloy posted:Actually what you need to get this guy is, I should have thought of it, Graydon Saunders. The March North. Well now you tell me lol. Yeah, this looks pretty his poo poo. I'm just deciding if I want to add more Christmas presents to his pile (more likely) or be smart and save this for next year. (Unlikely ; he'll probably find it in the interim and I'm not the best with delayed gratification anyway.) Still probably gonna loaf around this thread though ; I used to post here 10 years ago when it was just Dresden Files, but this seems more my jam now.
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Dec 12, 2022 20:49
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Xiahou Dun posted:Thanks, folks! His birthday is technically Wednesday but we had the family get together this weekend so my sisters and I each gave him books y'all recommended. Today I found out he's already killed The Devil and Dark Water. Took him about one 24 hour period of time, a bit less ; liked it a lot, much more than 7 1/2 Deaths and he's leant it on to me. (Book communism. It's understood that if I get him a good book it'll filter to me and vice versa, with the speed of the transfer proportional to book quality.) What books did you give him so when this comes again next year we can check back to avoid suggesting them again. Yeah, nobody's actually going to do that, but I admit that I'm curious and might end up checking some of them out myself if I haven't read/bought them already.
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Dec 13, 2022 02:13
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This forum is the only place I've ever seen Greydon mentioned, and that series seems to spread entirely through word of mouth advertising, so it's probably the one thing you could hold back to gift later.
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Dec 13, 2022 15:26
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I haven't seen it mentioned but I think it's really good and a good fit in this thread: the case of the toxic spell dump, H Turtledove I am so mad it's a one off / standalone book. The author does a lot of alt history stuff if that grabs you
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Dec 27, 2022 13:44
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Sloth Life posted:I haven't seen it mentioned but I think it's really good and a good fit in this thread: the case of the toxic spell dump, H Turtledove Oh, drat, that takes me back. That book was great. It's a decent little alt-bureaucracy fantasy, but then you realize that there's some alt-history in there because the judge who gives out the search warrants is a version of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
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Dec 27, 2022 19:17
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Just abandoned The Atlas Six around page 200. It's the first book I've DNF'd in a while. It's definitely for someone but it is not for me.
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Jan 4, 2023 02:39
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Strange Cares posted:Just abandoned The Atlas Six around page 200. It's the first book I've DNF'd in a while. It's definitely for someone but it is not for me. Yeah, I fell off around that point as well. I found it became a slog when everyone got together.
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Jan 4, 2023 05:06
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I’m looking for a recommendations of a new book or series to start (preferably series or an author with several books). What I’ve read recently in a rough good to bad order: Good Rivers of London October Daye Mercy Thompson Everything by Schaefer Alpha and Omega Alex Verus Incryptid Rook Series Okay Charming Magic for Liars VE Schwab (very hit or miss) - I loved a darker shade of magic and did not like the rest of the series. Sanderson Bad Dresden Magicians Iron Druid (jumped the shark really hard) DNF (but might be good) Felix Castor Anything that sticks out that I should check out?
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Jan 23, 2023 08:08
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Ok, so there's a thing I remember reading that I thought was Rivers of London, but I'm really not sure anymore as we've listened to the audiobooks and I feel like we've entered books that I haven't read. So I think I'm thinking of a different series. Anyway, the big bad of the previous books has been hunted down, and the narrator goes on about how real police work is running down every lead and it was forensic accounting that finally pinned him down . And then they catch him and it went onward to what I thought was 'theres still Leslie'. I put that book down because it became clearer and clearer that I'd missed a book somewhere and I hate that. Is that still to come? We're on the October Man novella and next is False Value. Alternatively, does anyone know the series I'm thinking of? Edit: ok, it's definitely not Rivers of London because I forgot that He got killed. I kept forgetting to make this post before I knew that. Beachcomber fucked around with this message at 09:14 on Jan 23, 2023 |
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Jan 23, 2023 09:06
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Paul Cornell writes the Shadow Police books. Which are also London Police based. I haven't read them, but could it be them you're thinking of?
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Jan 23, 2023 09:46
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Saltpowered posted:I’m looking for a recommendations of a new book or series to start (preferably series or an author with several books). What I’ve read recently in a rough good to bad order: Richard Kadrey's Sandman Slim series Stephen Blackmoore's Eric Carter series (but read City of the Lost first, it's a fun romp with a different protagonist that takes place in the same universe and predates the Carter series)
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Jan 23, 2023 11:54
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If you’re going to read Sandman Slim, I highly recommend the audiobooks by Macleod Andrews. His narration sands some of the edge off.
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Jan 23, 2023 13:43
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Saltpowered posted:I’m looking for a recommendations of a new book or series to start (preferably series or an author with several books). What I’ve read recently in a rough good to bad order: The Matthew Swift series. Possibly the most "urban" fantasy series out there.
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Jan 23, 2023 14:05
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Deptfordx posted:Paul Cornell writes the Shadow Police books. Wrote - it ended abruptly after 3 books because the sales weren't what he wanted.
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Jan 23, 2023 14:26
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Saltpowered posted:I’m looking for a recommendations of a new book or series to start (preferably series or an author with several books). What I’ve read recently in a rough good to bad order: I’ll second the Matthew Swift books, and I’d add Leigh Bardugo’s Ninth House books.
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Jan 23, 2023 14:26
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So I’m probably going to get ragged for this because they’re *technically* romance, but the Hidden Legacy series by Ilona Andrews really hits the urban fantasy itch for me.
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Jan 23, 2023 14:39
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