quantumfoam posted:Of course it's Apparatchik Magnet blindly recommending Donaldson's Gap series to people. Of course. Aaronovitch is an actual marxist I believe. That said i think the series is deliberately set like 2014 to 16 or so now.
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# ? Feb 8, 2020 17:25 |
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# ? Jun 13, 2024 07:06 |
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I'm looking for stories of a certain kind. A small group of people fight off a metaphorical or literal giant by committing to an all or nothing strategy to win the day. Only to find out that the giant is one of many and the little people are but ants in a world of giants. Stuff like the first Mass Effect or the plot of The Ant Bully, only done in book form. Im kinda craving that "take the first step into a violent world to realize just how small and powerless you really are" vibe.
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# ? Feb 8, 2020 19:16 |
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freebooter posted:I'm glad somebody enjoyed it, because I found it quite the opposite: bloated and sprawling and unimaginative and I was even falling asleep during some of it. It has its moments (the Prague chapter was genuinely good) but it mostly struck me, like its predecessor, as a book written by a famous author whom editors daren't challenge anymore. It was the bloat that really bugged me. 200 pages into Northern Lights and we're already well into the second act, Lyra meeting Iorek Byrnison for the first time; 200 pages into the Secret Commonwealth and we're still faffing about with tedious amateur spy crap in Oxford and there's another 450 pages to go but they no longer seem like something to anticipate. One of the things I noticed when I re-read the series as an adult was how the divergences of Lyra's world were more mundane than fantastic. Witches and talking bears might not be real but Muscovy, Svalbard, and airship expeditions to the North Pole are, even if they seem just as fantastic to an eleven year-old.
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# ? Feb 8, 2020 19:27 |
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Arcsquad12 posted:I'm looking for stories of a certain kind. A small group of people fight off a metaphorical or literal giant by committing to an all or nothing strategy to win the day. Only to find out that the giant is one of many and the little people are but ants in a world of giants. "Muse of Fire" by Dan Simmons (found in the New Space Opera anthology by Dozois) might scratch that itch. A human company of Shakespeare players perform for their alien feudal lords and end up taking their performance all the way up the hierarchy. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muse_of_Fire
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# ? Feb 8, 2020 20:12 |
What's your favorite "scientist sci-fi"? By this I'm talking about sci-fi that takes a scientific, exploratory approach to the plot, in either characters, writing style or both. It would probably involve discovery (see earlier Big Dumb Object discussion), but not necessarily always. In my opinion, what makes a good story in this style is that it conveys the joy and excitement, or even better, terror of scientific discovery without turning into a fictional textbook or writing so dry it'd self-combust. It gives answers willingly, while leaving unexplained mysteries with compelling reasons for why they can't be explained. Blindsight, one of my favorite books and also mentioned in the BDO discussion, is the candidate I can come up with right now.
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# ? Feb 8, 2020 21:04 |
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Black Griffon posted:What's your favorite "scientist sci-fi"? By this I'm talking about sci-fi that takes a scientific, exploratory approach to the plot, in either characters, writing style or both. It would probably involve discovery (see earlier Big Dumb Object discussion), but not necessarily always. Given that science is extremely tedious and repetitive, none. Also, the grant application process is amiss so no immersion for me. As example, Reynolds doesn’t write sci-fi in a particularly scientific manner despite being an actual scientist by training. Speaking of Reynolds, the Revenger series ended in a good way and I consider it one of his better series. I prefer the first book since the bauble hunting parts really brings out Reynolds strongest sides, especially as this part is reminiscent of Diamond dogs, one of his best works. Given the end of the series Reynolds have made it easy for him to get back to this universe and I would easily read an anthology about different bauble hunters and their adventures.
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# ? Feb 8, 2020 21:21 |
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Black Griffon posted:What's your favorite "scientist sci-fi"? By this I'm talking about sci-fi that takes a scientific, exploratory approach to the plot, in either characters, writing style or both. It would probably involve discovery (see earlier Big Dumb Object discussion), but not necessarily always. Once again, Stanislaw Lem's Solaris and Stanislaw Lem's Fiasco come to my mind regarding your favorite scientist scifi question. It's the way that things develop in those two books, Solaris has generations of scientists trying to explore/understand the titular planet while Fiasco has the scientist-explorers run up against constant challenges while trying to keep their scientific detacthment intact.
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# ? Feb 8, 2020 21:56 |
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So to be clear, the idea isn't that the subject matter is scientists/doing science, but that the writing/approach to the plot is in a 'scientific style'? I'm not sure if this quite matches it, since it doesn't fit the latter bit as well (and I haven't read Blindsight because I'm a coward), but Children of Ruin (and Children of Time) have sort of a mix of 'first contact' with a few very longitudinal experiments and their results. Both are about how species from experiments evolve, and it takes a pretty birds-eye view of that, particularly in Children of Time. It isn't written like a journal article or anything, but it might be similar to what you're looking for. On a different note, I've been reading the Empire trilogy. It does hit the 'political intrigue' stuff in a way reminiscent of Baru Cormorant, which is what I was looking for, but the way Feist writes the protagonist/describes women is incredible 'men writing women'. Just lots of 'oh she's pretty but she doesn't know it' descriptions and some weird-rear end scenes of seduction/characterization. I just finished a scene where a dude like, was choking her but then felt her boobs on his arm and was like ah, how can I be angry. Otherwise it's good, and the world is cool, but it's getting kind of grating. Is this basically just what I should expect reading through all of his Riftwar stuff? I'm down for the story, and I'd be interested in learning more about the world, but I don't know if I'm up for however many more books of that.
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# ? Feb 8, 2020 22:03 |
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foutre posted:So to be clear, the idea isn't that the subject matter is scientists/doing science, but that the writing/approach to the plot is in a 'scientific style'? Wasn't Empire specifically co written with a woman, Janny Wurts?
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# ? Feb 8, 2020 22:28 |
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quantumfoam posted:Anyway, dipped into the Rivers of London series last month(read the first 4 books). Didn't hate the books, don't blindly love them either. The "UK Wizard Cops" premise kind of aged badly, given all thats gone down in the UK since the series started. Genuinely not quite sure what you mean by this tbh. Brexit made you hate the Metropolitan Police? Afaik theyre no worse (or better) than they always were.
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# ? Feb 8, 2020 22:33 |
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feedmegin posted:Wasn't Empire specifically co written with a woman, Janny Wurts? Yeah. It was pretty much 50/50 Feist and Wurts, at least according to the series' FAQ.
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# ? Feb 8, 2020 22:38 |
foutre posted:So to be clear, the idea isn't that the subject matter is scientists/doing science, but that the writing/approach to the plot is in a 'scientific style'? Nah I'm thinking a subject matter of scientists doing science is very much it. A "scientific style" would far too easily end up dry as kindling, as I alluded to, but the exploration of a fictional scientific discover would by necessity have some scientific flair, I think.
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# ? Feb 8, 2020 23:33 |
Does Embassytown count? e: If you don't mind it being from the seventies, there's also the Giants series by James Hogan, starting with Inherit the Stars; that's basically nothing but scientists trying to make sense of a mystery. It gets away from the science angle in further books (book 2 is about first contact with very, very polite aliens) but reading about the way they imagined what the future will look like in the past is usually funny. I'd say Inherit the Stars at least is definitely worth a try. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 00:16 on Feb 9, 2020 |
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# ? Feb 8, 2020 23:37 |
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Black Griffon posted:What's your favorite "scientist sci-fi"? By this I'm talking about sci-fi that takes a scientific, exploratory approach to the plot, in either characters, writing style or both. It would probably involve discovery (see earlier Big Dumb Object discussion), but not necessarily always. I'd say a lot of Analog stories are like that. Explore a new planet and investigate what's there. Something goes wrong in a Mars colony, scientists go over it until they figure it out. Someone's been kicked out of academia but gets a leg in through having a novel hypothesis. You might be looking for hard sci-fi. Cardiac posted:Given that science is extremely tedious and repetitive, none. Also, the grant application process is amiss so no immersion for me. Strangely enough, quite a few Analog stories deal with the fundraising aspects of science and/or space exploration. I know I promised a big summary of the 2019 Analog output after I summarized it to vote for the AnLabs. Kind of got burned out last week after finishing up the short summaries and putting in my vote just under the wire. I'll see if I can do it later today or tomorrow.
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# ? Feb 8, 2020 23:40 |
It's certainly a variant/subgenre of hard sci-fi, hard to imagine it isn't, though I'd certainly like to see it.
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# ? Feb 8, 2020 23:49 |
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e: For scientist subject matter, definitely try Children of Time/Ruin then.feedmegin posted:Wasn't Empire specifically co written with a woman, Janny Wurts? Yeah, which is part of why I'm worried the other ones would have more of that. Unless it was her addition, I suppose. Just feels kind of dated, and out of sync with the rest of the protag's characterization. It's generally been a good read, just adds some friction for me. Maybe I'm just esp primed to notice it atm having just finished a couple much worse offenders.
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# ? Feb 9, 2020 00:03 |
Black Griffon posted:What's your favorite "scientist sci-fi"? By this I'm talking about sci-fi that takes a scientific, exploratory approach to the plot, in either characters, writing style or both. It would probably involve discovery (see earlier Big Dumb Object discussion), but not necessarily always. Biogenesis by Tatsuaki Ishiguro. Totally unlike anything you've read before, I guarantee it.
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# ? Feb 9, 2020 03:05 |
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wizzardstaff posted:"Muse of Fire" by Dan Simmons (found in the New Space Opera anthology by Dozois) might scratch that itch. A human company of Shakespeare players perform for their alien feudal lords and end up taking their performance all the way up the hierarchy. Dan Simmons is a pretty awful person and as much as I love Hyperion and Ilium, you shouldn't recommend him. If you must read them buy second hand or steal.
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# ? Feb 9, 2020 03:22 |
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What was the deal with Simmons again? He became a Trump supporter or something? Or was it more alt-right than that?
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# ? Feb 9, 2020 03:38 |
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freebooter posted:What was the deal with Simmons again? He became a Trump supporter or something? Or was it more alt-right than that? Loved - LOVED - to describe pubic hair Also muslims were apparently the devil incarnate
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# ? Feb 9, 2020 03:45 |
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He's been a very long-standing islamophobe/terrified conservative which makes a lot of sense when you look at the portrayal of Fedhman Kassad as "one of the good ones."
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# ? Feb 9, 2020 03:48 |
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Year of Our War: this scene is straight up fantasy EDF as an army tries to stand against infinite giant ants. It's deadly serious but I'm hooting anyways because it's just... it's EDF. Here come the bugs!
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# ? Feb 9, 2020 04:17 |
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Black Griffon posted:What's your favorite "scientist sci-fi"? By this I'm talking about sci-fi that takes a scientific, exploratory approach to the plot, in either characters, writing style or both. It would probably involve discovery (see earlier Big Dumb Object discussion), but not necessarily always. Most of Steven Baxter fits; although he can be on the dry side at times. The episodic format of Evolution helped to overcome that a bit, and the ideas in the Manifold trilogy were big enough to overcome it.
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# ? Feb 9, 2020 05:12 |
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Black Griffon posted:What's your favorite "scientist sci-fi"? By this I'm talking about sci-fi that takes a scientific, exploratory approach to the plot, in either characters, writing style or both. It would probably involve discovery (see earlier Big Dumb Object discussion), but not necessarily always. First place is Blindsight. Second is probably Kim Stanley Robinson's Aurora.
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# ? Feb 9, 2020 05:53 |
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freebooter posted:What was the deal with Simmons again? He became a Trump supporter or something? Or was it more alt-right than that? He wrote a singularly absurd story about a time traveller who goes back several decades to... snidely explain at a guy that Islam will devastate the world and he's a chump for not supporting the Iraq War and Israel hard enough. A Christmas Carol but Ebenezer is haunted by the ghost of hardliner neocons.
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# ? Feb 9, 2020 06:52 |
He also wrote the most boomer-brained screed about how Greta Thunberg was a petulant child with not a single shred of real science after she addressed the UN, and how worthless he thought all the left-leaning-adults (lol what an oxymoron!!!!) were for "genuflecting" to her adolescent temper tantrum over how we're destroying the planet. Dude is a full-on rear end in a top hat.
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# ? Feb 9, 2020 07:37 |
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Black Griffon posted:What's your favorite "scientist sci-fi"? By this I'm talking about sci-fi that takes a scientific, exploratory approach to the plot, in either characters, writing style or both. It would probably involve discovery (see earlier Big Dumb Object discussion), but not necessarily always. Tbh the story of how he lost a Nobel prize by feuding with everyone is pretty good. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2010/oct/03/fred-hoyle-nobel-prize
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# ? Feb 9, 2020 09:41 |
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Black Griffon posted:What's your favorite "scientist sci-fi"? By this I'm talking about sci-fi that takes a scientific, exploratory approach to the plot, in either characters, writing style or both. It would probably involve discovery (see earlier Big Dumb Object discussion), but not necessarily always. Greg Egan's done two versions of aliens discovering an existential threat to their world and rushing to develop science to a level to fix it. Incandescence has real physics in a weird setting, Orthogonal has made-up physics. Could well be too dry though
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# ? Feb 9, 2020 10:18 |
StrixNebulosa posted:Year of Our War: this scene is straight up fantasy EDF as an army tries to stand against infinite giant ants. It's deadly serious but I'm hooting anyways because it's just... it's EDF. Here come the bugs!
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# ? Feb 9, 2020 11:11 |
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Black Griffon posted:What's your favorite "scientist sci-fi"? All mentioned by now, but Aurora and Children of Time/Ruin were what came to mind for me. Talking of the latter, I just got an email from Amazon about Tchaikovsky's new book. Not another Children story unfortunately but a parallel universe mystery on the Bodmin moors(?!).
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# ? Feb 9, 2020 13:55 |
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Exhalation by Ted Chiang is a remarkable short story about a scientist trying to understand the inner workings of their own brain. A lot of Chiang's stories will fit the bill to some extent, really.
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# ? Feb 9, 2020 14:29 |
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BurgerQuest posted:I need more space opera... good or bad? The Shoal Sequence by Gary Gibson (Stealing Light, Nova War, Empire of Light, Marauder) Spiral Arm by Michael Flynn (The January Dancer, Up Jim River, In The Lion's Mouth, On The Razor's Edge) Succession by Scott Westerfeld (The Risen Empire, The Killing of Worlds) Xenowealth by Tobias Buckell (Crystal Rain, Ragamuffin, Sly Mongoose, The Apocalypse Ocean and short story collection Xenowealth: The Collection)
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# ? Feb 9, 2020 14:45 |
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BurgerQuest posted:I need more space opera... good or bad? This may be verboten to say, but the Star Wars sequel trilogy written by Timothy Zahn is pretty good. He also wrote another series of space opera, not Star Wars, which was.. okay. The first book was good but then you figure out what's going on and it just drags on forever - the Conquerors Trilogy. Though I read his stuff close to 20 years ago so I might be more critical if i Reread it with older eyes.
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# ? Feb 9, 2020 15:11 |
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freebooter posted:What was the deal with Simmons again? He became a Trump supporter or something? Or was it more alt-right than that? He is one of several authors who’s minds were broken by 9/11.
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# ? Feb 9, 2020 16:00 |
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mllaneza posted:Speaking of which, I read and liked Alliance Rising. It has some traces of the outline-itis you get when a big name writer and a relative newcomer collaborate on a book, but not as bad as some I've read. This book covers the founding of the Merchanter's Alliance and the last gasp of Earth Corp to maintain power before the FTL route to Sol is opened up. Good plot, solid characters. Fancher isn't really a newcomer (IIRC she has 6+ published novels and has been an uncredited collaborator on a lot of Cherryh's stuff for years), but I don't think she nearly as much experience as her wife, no. Cherryh's record is a hard one to match. I am looking forward to reading it (more so than the next few Foreigner books, honestly), but what I really want to see more than anything else is more Compact Space, with a sequel to Cyteen (a proper one) being a close second place, and it doesn't look like she's particularly interested in returning to either. feedmegin posted:Wasn't Empire specifically co written with a woman, Janny Wurts? Yeah, and I honestly liked it more than any of the ones written by Feist alone, although it's been a while since I read them. IIRC (but my recollection may be faulty) the original four books avoid this problem by not really having any female characters at all. I believe this was also pretty much the case in the Serpentwar books (but it's been even longer since I read those). ToxicFrog fucked around with this message at 16:33 on Feb 9, 2020 |
# ? Feb 9, 2020 16:26 |
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quote? edit? why not both
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# ? Feb 9, 2020 16:32 |
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anilEhilated posted:Does Embassytown count? One of my old favourites. Unfortunately Hogan was an advocate of Velikovskyism so the plot in the sequels gets kinda crazy, but the first one is good. H. Beam Piper's short story "Omnilinqual" (free on Project Gutenberg) hits some of the same notes, with a team of scientists trying to decipher the ruins of an ancient martian civilization. It's more biased towards engineering than pure science, but George O. Smiths The Complete Venus Equilateral is a collection of stories mostly about exploring new technologies, and really goes places considering it was written in the 40s. I find Greg Egan's stuff can be pretty dry most of the time but in particular Permutation City is worth trying.
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# ? Feb 9, 2020 16:43 |
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Not sure if it qualifies as the kind of scientIfic story you're talking about, but I have always liked "The Electric Ant" by Phillip K Dick, in which a man discovers he's a robot and then experiments with his reality by manually tinkering with the punch cards that control his perceptions.
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# ? Feb 9, 2020 16:48 |
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pseudanonymous posted:This may be verboten to say, but the Star Wars sequel trilogy written by Timothy Zahn is pretty good. It doesn't hold up well to adult eyes. It's so unambitious and afraid to raise the stakes. You're told a lot that Thrawn and C'Boath present existential threats to the New Republic, but it doesn't ever really feel that way. It's like Zahn was operating under the rule that nothing the heroes do in his books can be more exciting or significant than what they'd already done in the movies. It especially suffers in comparison to the roughly contemporary Dark Empire comics that just go for broke and try to be as bonkers as possible.
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# ? Feb 9, 2020 17:15 |
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# ? Jun 13, 2024 07:06 |
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quantumfoam posted:Anyway, dipped into the Rivers of London series last month(read the first 4 books). Didn't hate the books, don't blindly love them either. The "UK Wizard Cops" premise kind of aged badly, given all thats gone down in the UK since the series started. I enjoy the Peter Grant series, but they're kind of hampered for me by knowing that when Ben Aaronovitch wrote the first book he'd never actually been to Russell Square. (Source: Aaronovitch, B.)
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# ? Feb 9, 2020 18:02 |