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Ninefox is actually built from the short story “The Battle of Candle Arc” which introduced Jedao and the high calendar and all that cool poo poo. Ghostweight is awesome but less closely related.
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Jun 10, 2018 14:37
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NoNostalgia4Grover posted:Read Ninefox Gambit. Interesting call by the author to cram all the character development into the last 50 pages of the book. Overall I would rate Ninefox Gambit as strong not great, would read the inevitable sequel books if I came across them at a public library. Somehow I was HEAVILY reminded of something from the ultra-cheesey Sten Chronicles scifi series when NineFox Gambit finally revealed how the immortality process in it worked. Jedao gets most of his character development... unfortunately in the short stories set BEFORE the first novel. Want to know what he did at candle arc? Want to see how he interacted with his crew and won people's loyalty? What is with his everything? Welp it's side content. The second book is much better about that, it's about a hundred times more character driven since the plot is less about world building dumps and more about ... well, the characters.
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Jun 10, 2018 14:52
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Three Body Problem is some wild poo poo, and I'm not sure how much of that is due to the awkward translation from a vastly different literary culture. 
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Jun 10, 2018 16:31
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THE BEATWEAVER posted:Three Body Problem is some wild poo poo, and I'm not sure how much of that is due to the awkward translation from a vastly different literary culture.
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Jun 10, 2018 16:33
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The plans-within-plans-within-plans of Jeado & the lowkey *HE"S THE REAL MONSTER* reveal about Nirai Kujen throughout Ninefox Gambit both heavily reminded me of the Eternal Emperor from the Sten Chronicles series I have mentioned a few times in this thread. The Sten Chronicles books were terrible, however the Eternal Emperor was the single best thing in the Sten Chronicles series because the Eternal Emperor was pretty much the worlds most interesting man 15+ years before that ad campaign happened. In no way, shape, or form will Lee's Machineries of Empire series become as bad as the Sten Chronicles, just want to make that clear. The Eternal Emperor of the Sten Chronicles maintained his power via plans-within-plans-within-plans and a literal strangehold over the unobtainium resource used to power everything in the galaxy ruled by the Eternal Emperor, similar to Nirai Kujen & his mathematic Calender based gimmicks. Plus the Eternal Emperor had a immortality gimmick similar what both Jeado & Kujen had, the major difference was that genefixed operant conditioned clones of himself were used as the host bodies in the Sten Chronicles.
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Jun 10, 2018 16:45
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Linking for anyone interested: Ghostweight
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Jun 10, 2018 17:22
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NoNostalgia4Grover posted:The Sten Chronicles books were terrible Extreme agreement.
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Jun 10, 2018 17:43
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DACK FAYDEN posted:Given the sequels, a lot less than you may be thinking. Is that a good or bad statement on the sequels tho. Am I gonna be let down after a strong opening?
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Jun 10, 2018 17:55
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THE BEATWEAVER posted:Is that a good or bad statement on the sequels tho. Am I gonna be let down after a strong opening? The second one is far and away the best. The third one has some interesting poo poo.
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Jun 10, 2018 18:16
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General Battuta posted:The second one is far and away the best. The third one has some interesting poo poo. I actually thought the second one was the worst. Among other things it has an extended homage to one of Cixin Liu's worst short stories and I had a really hard time taking that part of the book seriously.
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Jun 10, 2018 18:32
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The premise is so good though! It's a strong enough premise on its own to carry an entire series. Hyper advanced aliens will be here in 300 years, their advance probes can read anything we put down in a computer system, so we've decided to entrust the fate of humanity to a few select people who will be granted absolute authority and thus never have to explain their plan. But the aliens have collaborators on earth, and those collaborators have assigned one person to each of our selected few, meant to learn everything about them, predict their plans, and expose them to the world. Plus, one of our elite was selected only because the aliens tried to kill him, and not even he has any idea what good he could possibly do!
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Jun 10, 2018 19:22
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General Battuta posted:The premise is so good though! It's a strong enough premise on its own to carry an entire series. Hyper advanced aliens will be here in 300 years, their advance probes can read anything we put down in a computer system, so we've decided to entrust the fate of humanity to a few select people who will be granted absolute authority and thus never have to explain their plan. But the aliens have collaborators on earth, and those collaborators have assigned one person to each of our selected few, meant to learn everything about them, predict their plans, and expose them to the world. Plus, one of our elite was selected only because the aliens tried to kill him, and not even he has any idea what good he could possibly do! You're not wrong. That was a tense situation and it had me hooked for most of the book, but there's no one outstanding element like Ye Wenjie from the first book or that fairy tale from the third. I mean, the Curse 5.0 scene where all the electronic stuff went haywire and was trying to kill the protagonist was also outstanding, but not in a good way.
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Jun 10, 2018 21:52
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NoNostalgia4Grover posted:The Sten Chronicles books were terrible, Um, excuse me, 14 years old me really loving loved Sten Chronicles
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Jun 10, 2018 23:00
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Lt. Lizard posted:Um, excuse me, 14 years old me really loving loved Sten Chronicles 
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Jun 11, 2018 00:02
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Major Isoor posted:Welp, I went ahead and bought The Books of the South; the next thrilling chapter in The Black Company annals, after you all recommended The Silver Spike and suggested continuing until the series stopped being good. (I also ordered The Alexiad, seeing as I've always intended on reading it. Hardly sci-fi, though!) I assume I should start with TSS, despite it being listed as the third BotS? Or will it potentially ruin some aspects of the later books, somehow? The Silver Spike is set after The White Rose and has no connection to the later books in the series, so you can read it at any time after the first three books, and immediately after The White Rose is probably the best time. Personally, I enjoyed the whole series and felt that Soldiers Live was a satisfying conclusion. I'm surprised to see that Wikipedia describes A Pitiless Rain as "the conclusion of the series" because I thought Soldiers Live wrapped stuff up quite nicely. But it ends very differently from how it began, so I can see why people might want to get off before the end. quote:But yeah, assuming I like this omnibus, I think I'll probably leave it at that. Since part of the reason why I even got it is because someone mentioned loose ends at the conclusion of the original trilogy, which TSS clears up...and well, the whole BotS omnibus was discounted, so why not? (Although I suppose I might also get Port of Shadows, since I did enjoy reading about the shithole they call Juniper) Wait, poo poo, there's a new Black Company book coming out? aaaaaaaaaa
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Jun 11, 2018 00:20
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Anyone know of some good stories that take common historical myths then take them in crazy directions (I'm thinking something like Child Thief by Brom) or retell them in new ways (like Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller)? Bonus points for the Robin Hood theme because seeing a trailer for the new movie is what triggered me trying to find something.
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Jun 11, 2018 01:37
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nessin posted:Anyone know of some good stories that take common historical myths then take them in crazy directions (I'm thinking something like Child Thief by Brom) or retell them in new ways (like Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller)? Bonus points for the Robin Hood theme because seeing a trailer for the new movie is what triggered me trying to find something. Maybe Tim Powers' stuff? Though it's not taking place in times as old as your saying, there are books involving people like Mary Shelley or Blackbeard or Lord Byron that go in weird directions.
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Jun 11, 2018 03:05
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nessin posted:Anyone know of some good stories that take common historical myths then take them in crazy directions (I'm thinking something like Child Thief by Brom) or retell them in new ways (like Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller)? Bonus points for the Robin Hood theme because seeing a trailer for the new movie is what triggered me trying to find something. There's a lot of YA stuff like this, if that's what you're after. Rick Riordan's Olympians stuff is probably the best known (though I haven't read it), the Cinder series by Marissa Meyer is a sci-fi interpretation of bunch of fairy-tales that my wife likes, and there's a ton more in that vein. I'm not sure what to recommend for something aimed more at adults, though.
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Jun 11, 2018 03:25
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nessin posted:Anyone know of some good stories that take common historical myths then take them in crazy directions (I'm thinking something like Child Thief by Brom) or retell them in new ways (like Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller)? Bonus points for the Robin Hood theme because seeing a trailer for the new movie is what triggered me trying to find something. Lord Dunsany & Jack Vance are what you want. Dunsany's stuff is so old, literal generations of fantasy genre writers have copied him. Vance tends to have hyper-competent main characters who also fall for the dumbest and most obvious traps outside of Roadrunner cartoons.
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Jun 11, 2018 03:34
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nessin posted:Anyone know of some good stories that take common historical myths then take them in crazy directions (I'm thinking something like Child Thief by Brom) or retell them in new ways (like Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller)? Bonus points for the Robin Hood theme because seeing a trailer for the new movie is what triggered me trying to find something. If you are really really good at separating the art from the artist, Marion Zimmer Bradley's Firebrand is a nifty retelling of the Trojan War.
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Jun 11, 2018 04:38
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Solitair posted:I actually thought the second one was the worst. Among other things it has an extended homage to one of Cixin Liu's worst short stories and I had a really hard time taking that part of the book seriously. I liked the whole series myself although most of the characters were kind of two-dimensional in the end.
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Jun 11, 2018 05:02
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nessin posted:Anyone know of some good stories that take common historical myths then take them in crazy directions (I'm thinking something like Child Thief by Brom) or retell them in new ways (like Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller)? Bonus points for the Robin Hood theme because seeing a trailer for the new movie is what triggered me trying to find something. One of Tanith Lee's specialties was putting dark spins on fairy tales -- see Red as Blood and White as Snow for example. As for Robin Hood, well, there's a portion of The Last Unicorn that involves Robin that you might find interesting.
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Jun 11, 2018 05:49
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Major Isoor posted:Welp, I went ahead and bought The Books of the South; the next thrilling chapter in The Black Company annals, after you all recommended The Silver Spike and suggested continuing until the series stopped being good. (I also ordered The Alexiad, seeing as I've always intended on reading it. Hardly sci-fi, though!) I assume I should start with TSS, despite it being listed as the third BotS? Or will it potentially ruin some aspects of the later books, somehow? Since I have a different answer, I would recommend reading the first Book of the South, and then the Silver Spike. The first of the BoTS and Silver Spike overlap, and it gives some closure to people left behind by Croaker and the Company. Partially because for a chunk of the book, they are somewhat behind Croaker and Company, and some background stuff in the first book of the south is explained in the Silver Spike. However you can read it before or after depending on how much more you want to see Raven/Darling etc. vs Croaker/Lady/Goblin/One Eye ToxicFrog posted:The Silver Spike is set after The White Rose and has no connection to the later books in the series, so you can read it at any time after the first three books, and immediately after The White Rose is probably the best time. Yeah its a interqual? during that big gap between the original book and Shadows Linger. I also agree, I have no idea why there is supposed to be a book after Soldiers Live, it pretty well ties up the series and I don't see where they go from there. Soldiers Live is also imo one of the few endings that I liked, even if its a sad as gently caress book. Jack2142 fucked around with this message at 08:18 on Jun 11, 2018 |
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Jun 11, 2018 06:52
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David Drake borrows a lot of Greek/Roman history and legends for his stuff. Like just off the top of my head the Hammer's Slammers story "Counting the Cost" is based off the Nika riots, "The Warrior" was described as being about "the madness of Achilles" in one of the intros to the collections, and the two spinoff novels "Cross the Stars" and "The Voyage" were inspired by him rereading The Odyssey. And most of the RCN stories have an authors note about whatever historic events or naval battle he was borrowing from for it and the historic context. (And the entire series is basically his Patrick O'Brian but Space Opera fanfics)
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Jun 11, 2018 07:04
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C.M. Kruger posted:David Drake borrows a lot of Greek/Roman history and legends for his stuff. Like just off the top of my head the Hammer's Slammers story "Counting the Cost" is based off the Nika riots, "The Warrior" was described as being about "the madness of Achilles" in one of the intros to the collections, and the two spinoff novels "Cross the Stars" and "The Voyage" were inspired by him rereading The Odyssey. And most of the RCN stories have an authors note about whatever historic events or naval battle he was borrowing from for it and the historic context. (And the entire series is basically his Patrick O'Brian but Space Opera fanfics) He did a whole Norse thing with Northworld, too
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Jun 11, 2018 07:13
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navyjack posted:He did a whole Norse thing with Northworld, too And IIRC the Lord of the Isles series is Sumerian themed, but I haven't read any of his fantasy stuff so I can't personally comment. (for those who have, this is the perfect time to tell me what is good)
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Jun 11, 2018 07:28
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C.M. Kruger posted:And IIRC the Lord of the Isles series is Sumerian themed, but I haven't read any of his fantasy stuff so I can't personally comment. (for those who have, this is the perfect time to tell me what is good) I liked Northworld quite a lot, but the trilogy doesn’t really stick the landing but who cares cause it has Vikings in power armor, Valkyries riding interdimensional hover bikes, and clone Loki doin Loki poo poo. Lord of the Isles blows goats don’t read it
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Jun 11, 2018 07:36
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Groke posted:I liked the whole series myself although most of the characters were kind of two-dimensional in the end. Ye Wenjie was the only one who wasn't.
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Jun 11, 2018 07:48
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nessin posted:Anyone know of some good stories that take common historical myths then take them in crazy directions (I'm thinking something like Child Thief by Brom) or retell them in new ways (like Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller)? Bonus points for the Robin Hood theme because seeing a trailer for the new movie is what triggered me trying to find something. The Ivanhoe Gambit by Simon Hawke, if you want an outlandish answer.
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Jun 11, 2018 09:31
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nessin posted:Anyone know of some good stories that take common historical myths then take them in crazy directions (I'm thinking something like Child Thief by Brom) or retell them in new ways (like Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller)? Bonus points for the Robin Hood theme because seeing a trailer for the new movie is what triggered me trying to find something. Neil Gaiman has done a few common myths in modern times. American Gods and Anansi Boys for set in America, Neverwhere for set in London.
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Jun 11, 2018 11:14
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nessin posted:Anyone know of some good stories that take common historical myths then take them in crazy directions (I'm thinking something like Child Thief by Brom) or retell them in new ways (like Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller)? Bonus points for the Robin Hood theme because seeing a trailer for the new movie is what triggered me trying to find something. Depending on what you mean by 'historical myths', how about Gene Wolfe's 'Soldier of the Mist' / 'Soldier of Arete'?
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Jun 11, 2018 14:08
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Groke posted:I liked the whole series myself although most of the characters were kind of two-dimensional in the end. Holy gently caress 
General Battuta fucked around with this message at 14:13 on Jun 11, 2018 |
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Jun 11, 2018 14:08
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General Battuta posted:Holy gently caress Glad to be of service.
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Jun 11, 2018 14:59
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nessin posted:Anyone know of some good stories that take common historical myths then take them in crazy directions (I'm thinking something like Child Thief by Brom) or retell them in new ways (like Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller)? Bonus points for the Robin Hood theme because seeing a trailer for the new movie is what triggered me trying to find something. If you want historical fiction about mythological figures, the best thing you're going to find is The King Must Die by Mary Renault (reworking of the Theseus myth as first person narrative historical fiction). It was written in the 70's though so I'm not sure it counts as "new". Otherwise Neil Gaiman has a bunch of short stories in this vein; try "Snow, Glass, Apples."
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Jun 11, 2018 15:03
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The Troy series by David Gemmell is a retelling of the Trojan war, which I liked when I read it although that was a few years ago.
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Jun 11, 2018 15:07
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nessin posted:Anyone know of some good stories that take common historical myths then take them in crazy directions (I'm thinking something like Child Thief by Brom) or retell them in new ways (like Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller)? Bonus points for the Robin Hood theme because seeing a trailer for the new movie is what triggered me trying to find something. Thread title might be of interest.
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Jun 11, 2018 15:52
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nessin posted:Anyone know of some good stories that take common historical myths then take them in crazy directions (I'm thinking something like Child Thief by Brom) or retell them in new ways (like Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller)? Bonus points for the Robin Hood theme because seeing a trailer for the new movie is what triggered me trying to find something. This might not fit, but if you're down for manga, try: Dragon Ball (a twist on the Journey to the West) and/or Olympos (for a neat take on the greek gods).
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Jun 11, 2018 15:57
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Jack2142 posted:I also agree, I have no idea why there is supposed to be a book after Soldiers Live, it pretty well ties up the series and I don't see where they go from there. Soldiers Live is also imo one of the few endings that I liked, even if its a sad as gently caress book. It is but I actually found the conclusion kind of upbeat -- everyone who survived gets a nice retirement, so to speak. Croaker gains an eidetic memory spanning basically all of recorded history to rummage through at his leisure, and an immortal body to give him infinite time to do so; the Lady gets to chill out with Croaker doing whatever the gently caress she wants with her newly-regained infinite magical power; and the Guardian gets to go out and explore the world and, eventually, die.
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Jun 11, 2018 16:01
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Aston posted:The Troy series by David Gemmell is a retelling of the Trojan war, which I liked when I read it although that was a few years ago. It's a straight retelling, though, which is not what the OP was looking for I think?
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Jun 11, 2018 16:05
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fritz posted:Depending on what you mean by 'historical myths', how about Gene Wolfe's 'Soldier of the Mist' / 'Soldier of Arete'? Another thing that springs to mind is Tim Powers' Dinner at Deviant's Palace which is a post-apocalyptic take on Orpheus. Powers' historical fantasy stuff is mostly worth looking into. Oh, oh! And I finally get to recommend that! Avram Davidson's Vergil Magus books are crazy dense and chock-full of historical/mythological references; the basic idea is that it is ancient Rome as imagined in the Middle Ages. Fantastic read although somewhat harder than your typical genre fiction. e: Also, might be really obvious but - Lord of the Light? anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 20:37 on Jun 11, 2018 |
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Jun 11, 2018 20:35
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