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MockingQuantum posted:Hey fellow Craig Schaefer fanboy(s), how long does Revanche Cycle take to build up to some action? I'm reading Winter's Reach right now, and while the prose is nice and snappy, the "sort of Europe, sort of not" setting already feels really blah to me. I'm not wild on the idea of digging into a 4 book series right now but I'm willing to give this a chance since I love the Faust books, as long as I know what I'm getting into. It's definitely a slower burn than the Faust books; he said he wanted to try writing in a new style to improve himself as a writer, which is cool but it kinda shows. Then right around the middle of book two, there's a sudden cascade of horrible poo poo, everybody's backstabbing everybody, dogs and cats are sleeping together, and the pace picks up. The setting never gets better, it's the Generic Renaissance from start to finish, but the characters and the way the different storylines interweave and pay off is a lot of fun. I'm hesitant to recommend it if the first book isn't grabbing you, but I think the last one is the best thing he's written so far. (And the Owl becomes a major character in book two. The Owl is loving awesome.) For ages I wanted to get Brandon Sanderson drunk at a convention and ask him for his opinion on Rothfuss and Martin, until I found out he doesn't drink. Now I want to do that to Schaefer.
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Jul 30, 2016 14:39
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Neurosis posted:Thank you for this article. This articulates Wolfe's appeal far better than I've ever managed.  You're welcome. You might like this, too, then, though I think the Wizard of Oz stuff is a bit silly: https://web.archive.org/web/20100616151502/http://web.mac.com/paddybon/Site/a_tribute_to_Gene_Wolfe.htmlAlso, there's nothing to  about, you know. Reading is fun! 
I'm the Book Barn IK. Feel free to PM me or email bookbarnsecretsanta@gmail.com if I can help you with anything.
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Jul 30, 2016 15:12
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StonecutterJoe posted:For ages I wanted to get Brandon Sanderson drunk at a convention and ask him for his opinion on Rothfuss and Martin, until I found out he doesn't drink. You can bribe him with Magic cards.
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Jul 30, 2016 17:38
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At the risk of becoming the guy who doesn't like the thread darlings, I'm reading through Three Body Problem right now and I'm not really sure I get the hype. The Cultural Revolution aspects are definitely unique and interesting, and I get that the actual Three Body sections are supposed to read kind of like fables or parables, but I don't really care much for them and a lot of the book reads like a science textbook, to a point where I kind of skip over the heavier scientific explanations because they don't always feel that relevant to the story. Certain sections of the book are great and I really enjoy them, but a lot of it doesn't really engage me that much.
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Jul 30, 2016 18:31
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MockingQuantum posted:a lot of it doesn't really engage me that much. I couldn't really get into either
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Jul 30, 2016 18:43
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I just finished the last book of the Revanche Cycle (which I enjoyed pretty much all of, because I'm more of a political thriller guy than a swords and sorcery guy). I feel like he has really learned a lot about set up and payoff in a way that a lot of other writers never do. Things are resolved rather poetically, but not too neatly, and I loved the extended epilogue so we could see how things shook out. Seriously, Schaefer is worth reading if you don't already. I just think he's going to crack from writing so fast at some point.
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Jul 30, 2016 18:54
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MockingQuantum posted:At the risk of becoming the guy who doesn't like the thread darlings, I'm reading through Three Body Problem right now and I'm not really sure I get the hype. The Cultural Revolution aspects are definitely unique and interesting, and I get that the actual Three Body sections are supposed to read kind of like fables or parables, but I don't really care much for them and a lot of the book reads like a science textbook, to a point where I kind of skip over the heavier scientific explanations because they don't always feel that relevant to the story. Certain sections of the book are great and I really enjoy them, but a lot of it doesn't really engage me that much. That was my impression as well. A good book, nothing great, and it should really have been a stand alone book. The ending made me realize the rest of the series would be different from what I appreciated in TBP and so I have sofar skipped the rest of the series. In general, I am not so impressed by the gooncensus with some exceptions.
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Jul 30, 2016 19:00
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MockingQuantum posted:At the risk of becoming the guy who doesn't like the thread darlings, I'm reading through Three Body Problem right now and I'm not really sure I get the hype. The Cultural Revolution aspects are definitely unique and interesting, and I get that the actual Three Body sections are supposed to read kind of like fables or parables, but I don't really care much for them and a lot of the book reads like a science textbook, to a point where I kind of skip over the heavier scientific explanations because they don't always feel that relevant to the story. Certain sections of the book are great and I really enjoy them, but a lot of it doesn't really engage me that much. This is basically my experience with Three Body Problem and I don't understand why anybody likes it. Cultural Revolution parts were interesting, the VR game has been done better and worse by a bunch of other authors and was just tedious here, the real-world modern day stuff was boring and the ending evil magic electrons was just idiotic.
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Jul 30, 2016 19:00
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Kesper North posted:I just finished the last book of the Revanche Cycle (which I enjoyed pretty much all of, because I'm more of a political thriller guy than a swords and sorcery guy). I feel like he has really learned a lot about set up and payoff in a way that a lot of other writers never do. Things are resolved rather poetically, but not too neatly, and I loved the extended epilogue so we could see how things shook out. I'm glad I kept with the first Revanche book, it really is starting to pick up. It was good to know that it's more on the political side of things because my expectations were otherwise (can you blame me? I mean, look at the Faust books!) but now that I'm not expecting flashy magic and action cutscenes I'm digging it a lot more.
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Jul 30, 2016 19:00
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Actually, the reference to John Wheeler's half-serious proposal that there might just be one electron in the universe is one of the sickest parts of The Three-Body Problem.
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Jul 30, 2016 19:08
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MockingQuantum posted:FWIW if you (or anyone who has read PSS) haven't read The Scar I really feel like Mieville figures his poo poo out much better and the world of Bas-Lag takes off in that one. It's much more coherent, and he gets deeper into some of the cultures (Remade, Cacti, one other one that doesn't show up in PSS) and the central characters feel more like actual people than plot puppets. I always appreciate it when people take the time to go into personalized recommendations. I'll give it a try some time. Cheers.
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Jul 30, 2016 20:10
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Robot Wendigo posted:I remember reading that Mieville had spent quite a bit of time poring over RPG manuals as a youth and this came through in PSS. A number of the critters (or elements thereof) were pretty recognizeable from D&D and there was that smartass remark about some adventurer-types being "mercenary scum who will do anything for gold and experience".
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Jul 30, 2016 20:23
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TBP was most definitely not a thrilling read, which is fine. There was enough interesting material and world building that paid off in The Dark Forest.
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Jul 30, 2016 21:05
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holocaust bloopers posted:TBP was most definitely not a thrilling read, which is fine. There was enough interesting material and world building that paid off in The Dark Forest. This. I'm about a hundred pages into it, and it reads much better than TBP.
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Jul 30, 2016 21:10
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Yea when I put down TBP, I wasn't jumping at the chance to read The Dark Forest. The book sat for months before I got to it. After finishing it, I'm planning on reading Death's End starting the day it releases.
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Jul 30, 2016 21:18
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holocaust bloopers posted:Yea when I put down TBP, I wasn't jumping at the chance to read The Dark Forest. The book sat for months before I got to it. This is good to know. I remember the furor that happened in the thread as people finished The Dark Forest, so I'll tough it out for that at least.
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Jul 30, 2016 21:35
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Cardiac posted:That was my impression as well. Same thoughts I had. I (maybe wrongly) suspect that people are overly effusive in their praise for an unremarkable novel in order to encourage more translations of Chinese science fiction, which is a worthy goal I guess. I've also had The Dark Forest sitting on my Kindle for a few months. I'll get around to it eventually.
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Jul 30, 2016 22:34
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I stumbled across that in the library a few weeks ago and read it. It was decent enough but seemed routine for him. Ending "feel" spoilers Everything seemed to work out a little too cleanly and magically for the protagonists aside from one poor bastard. Almost fairy taleish. Some interesting characters but I remember liking Last Light of the Sun and Under Heaven more when I finished those.
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Jul 31, 2016 01:43
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holocaust bloopers posted:TBP was most definitely not a thrilling read, which is fine. There was enough interesting material and world building that paid off in The Dark Forest. i couldn't take the characters in tbp they didn't seem to act or talk like anything approaching real people. prose was pretty average, for my money, too. the most i got out of it was learning a few things about the cultural revolution, which was admittedly interesting.
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Jul 31, 2016 03:04
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Jesus Christ the opinions are bad ITT. TBT is literally the best sci fi to come along in years and you're pooh-poohing it away. First of all, no one likes it because of some wishy washy desire to see more translated fiction. How facile and pandering. I have literally never read a worse thought. Second, and this is tied to the first point, it's laughable that the only part of any relevance is the Cultural Revolution section. Again this pandering oriental fascination. Read a history book if it's so eye-opening. That said, the historical context of China is well utilised for the plot, and it all comes together so magnificently. It's truly reminiscent of golden age sci fi, with big ideas and lots of science. It's exciting and fresh, and yeah The Dark Forest does just take it to the next level. This isn't a book about loving characters - it's a book about scientists and existentialism (by the way The Dark Forest is a beautiful love story) and it works perfectly for that. There are issues with translation and this is mostly in dialogue, but honestly there was some killer writing in there. But oh no sorry Station Eleven is just so beautiful it made me cry. Give me a break. This is far and above a lot else out there. tl;dr appreciate, fools. Addendum: I went to a seminar in Sydney with Cixin Liu was speaking. I have never seen such a packed event. A university lecture theatre filled with Chinese students (and me and like 5 white dudes). During question time there was a literal stampede of people wanting to ask him questions. And no, not questions like 'how do you find time to write?' or some lame bullshit Western audiences would ask, but deep and meaningful questions about science and the future of China. That day I saw the West die. the_homemaster fucked around with this message at 03:30 on Jul 31, 2016 |
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Jul 31, 2016 03:16
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the_homemaster posted:Jesus Christ the opinions are bad ITT. Nah, its fairly mediocre.
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Jul 31, 2016 03:22
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Other people don't love a book like I do, THEY MUST BE MONSTERS!!
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Jul 31, 2016 03:22
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the_homemaster posted:Jesus Christ the opinions are bad ITT. Antagonizing the thread is a great way to convince all us loving philistines that your subjective opinion is undeniably better than ours.
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Jul 31, 2016 03:22
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the_homemaster posted:Jesus Christ the opinions are bad ITT. what the gently caress Tiny Timbs fucked around with this message at 03:44 on Jul 31, 2016 |
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Jul 31, 2016 03:31
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I mean, the Goodreads quote page alone is pure gold: https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/25696480
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Jul 31, 2016 03:32
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Suddenly I have begun to appreciate the casting of The Great Wall on an entirely different level. You're Matt Damon, aren't you, the_homemaster?
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Jul 31, 2016 03:36
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the_homemaster posted:But oh no sorry Station Eleven is just so beautiful it made me cry. Yeah I read this one last week and it was pretty great. Def in my top 10.
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Jul 31, 2016 03:42
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the_homemaster's post was hilarious. I liked The Three Body Problem almost entirely because of Ye Wenjie. The scene where she talks with the students who killed her father and finds out she can't make them suffer more than they already have is one of my favorite scenes I've read in the last few years. I've been dragging my feet on reading the rest of the series because those books have to be about something else, and I'm not sure they can top the experience.
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Jul 31, 2016 03:46
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The Dark Forest does.
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Jul 31, 2016 03:47
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Kesper North posted:I just finished the last book of the Revanche Cycle (which I enjoyed pretty much all of, because I'm more of a political thriller guy than a swords and sorcery guy). I feel like he has really learned a lot about set up and payoff in a way that a lot of other writers never do. Things are resolved rather poetically, but not too neatly, and I loved the extended epilogue so we could see how things shook out. That extended epilogue made the book. And I loved that the assassin who kills Livia is the little girl who Simon saves, and gives his dagger to, in book two. And how it's foreshadowed from book one that the iron tree is going to have to come down, and it does at the most perfect moment. Everything comes around again. Schaefer posted about going on a trip and I was like "oh good, he won't die." And it was a trip to a writer's convention and to do location research for a book. I'm not sure the dude does anything but work. He probably needs a girlfriend. Or a boyfriend. Or a dominatrix. Still, it's great having an author besides Sanderson (who is like Schaefer's weird mirror, or vice-versa) who reliably brings fun stories without taking two years between each release.
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Jul 31, 2016 03:54
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the_homemaster posted:Jesus Christ the opinions are bad ITT. lmao hooooollllyyy poo poo
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Jul 31, 2016 04:43
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'ah, you see, people reading about the cultural revolution and finding aspects of it interesting is orientalism at its worst, now let me tell you about how deep and meaningful the eastern-influenced thinking of the chinese people i know is compared to the vapid vacuous west'
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Jul 31, 2016 04:56
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I thought the whole boat scene was super cool
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Jul 31, 2016 05:05
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MockingQuantum posted:I'm glad I kept with the first Revanche book, it really is starting to pick up. It was good to know that it's more on the political side of things because my expectations were otherwise (can you blame me? I mean, look at the Faust books!) but now that I'm not expecting flashy magic and action cutscenes I'm digging it a lot more. There is actually more of this from the second half of book 2 onwards! And without spoilers, things get a lot more Faust-like. But it also stays pretty political. It's just a drat good series.
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Jul 31, 2016 05:40
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I like The Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin. It's cool if you don't though.
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Jul 31, 2016 16:03
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Just finished Transformation Book 2 by Neal Asher and really enjoyed it. Ending spoiler below: Penny Royal turning into a "good guy?" Neat. Well probably not a good guy, but at least her motivations seem to have drastically changed since book 1. The whole backstory of Sverl along with his and his childrens' changes was cool. But all that only to be snuffed out in the end to prevent the war felt a little anticlimactic.
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Jul 31, 2016 20:50
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the_homemaster posted:Jesus Christ the opinions are bad ITT. The love story is 100% the worst part of both books, actually. And I really liked both books.
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Jul 31, 2016 22:16
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the_homemaster posted:It's truly reminiscent of golden age sci fi, with big ideas and lots of science. Along with the poor narrative and two dimensional characterization that's reminiscent of that era, as well. I didn't hate TBP or TDF, but both them are at the bottom of my "must read" list. Maybe it's the fault of the translation, but I'd rather see these "big ideas and lots of science" in the hands to someone who has actually mastered writing compelling fiction.
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Jul 31, 2016 22:27
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How's the rest of The Academy series by Jack McDevitt hold up after The Engines of God? I enjoyed the first one but I'm halfway through the 2nd book Deepsix and it's not really doing it for me so far. It's not bad really, it just seems to be following the exact same formula of Engines without any of the cool mystery elements. It's only the second book but they're already on their 5th disastrous expedition.
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Aug 1, 2016 00:01
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The Amazon preview Children of Earth and Sky is delightful, it looks like book has all the Kay-isms down, what with a concerned man going over their life, career, culture, and personal philosophy while on a stressful mission, and then undergoing some shocking revelation that hints at an imperceptible design that rules all things. And I swear that Kay changes what "Karch" represents in every book. Is it Germany or not?
BravestOfTheLamps fucked around with this message at 00:09 on Aug 1, 2016 |
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Aug 1, 2016 00:06
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