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Joramun posted:No, I'm on .com and it shows up as "Kindle edition: $7.84" (see screenshot below for proof). It's pretty strange that it doesn't show up for you even when you're logged out, usually that fixes it. I'm not seeing it as available on the .com site either. Strange. ShutteredIn fucked around with this message at 22:55 on Jun 20, 2013 |
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Jun 20, 2013 22:05
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ZerodotJander posted:That was Promise of Blood, by Brian McClellan. It was a pretty good book too, especially for a debut novel.
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Jun 20, 2013 22:05
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ShutteredIn posted:I'm not seeing it as available on the .com site either. Strange. Neither am I.
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Jun 20, 2013 22:40
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I'm looking for a change of pace from Space Opera, something where the main character(s) are thief's, pirates or something along those lines. If it's fantasy then something where they pick locks, break into rich folk homes etc. If it's science fiction then perhaps ~space pirates~ or something similar to Firefly. I'm honestly not really sure what I'm looking for and am pretty open to suggestions, I'm mostly just after something where the main character goes around robbing poo poo. Can anyone recommend me something?
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Jun 20, 2013 22:40
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Xik posted:I'm looking for a change of pace from Space Opera, something where the main character(s) are thief's, pirates or something along those lines. If it's fantasy then something where they pick locks, break into rich folk homes etc. If it's science fiction then perhaps ~space pirates~ or something similar to Firefly. I'm honestly not really sure what I'm looking for and am pretty open to suggestions, I'm mostly just after something where the main character goes around robbing poo poo. Can anyone recommend me something? You probably want The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch.
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Jun 20, 2013 22:41
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Xik posted:I'm looking for a change of pace from Space Opera, something where the main character(s) are thief's, pirates or something along those lines. If it's fantasy then something where they pick locks, break into rich folk homes etc. If it's science fiction then perhaps ~space pirates~ or something similar to Firefly. I'm honestly not really sure what I'm looking for and am pretty open to suggestions, I'm mostly just after something where the main character goes around robbing poo poo. Can anyone recommend me something? The Stainless Steel Rat.
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Jun 20, 2013 22:41
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Xik posted:I'm looking for a change of pace from Space Opera, something where the main character(s) are thief's, pirates or something along those lines. If it's fantasy then something where they pick locks, break into rich folk homes etc. If it's science fiction then perhaps ~space pirates~ or something similar to Firefly. I'm honestly not really sure what I'm looking for and am pretty open to suggestions, I'm mostly just after something where the main character goes around robbing poo poo. Can anyone recommend me something? The Lies of Locke Lamora if you want fantasy, or The Quantum Thief if you want sci-fi.
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Jun 20, 2013 23:00
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Rurik posted:This needed a new thread? http://www.amazon.com/The-Martian-ebook/dp/B009IEXKXI/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1371767996&sr=8-1 is about an astronaut that gets left behind alone on Mars. Seems to be unavailable on Kindle for some strange reason but I own it and would be happy to loan it to you.
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Jun 20, 2013 23:41
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specklebang posted:Seems to be unavailable on Kindle for some strange reason Amazon posted:IMPORTANT NOTE: The rights to The Martian have been sold to a major publication house. So The Martian will no longer be available for digital purchase after April 30, 2013. A print edition will be coming out in February 2014.
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Jun 20, 2013 23:46
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ShutteredIn posted:I'm not seeing it as available on the .com site either. Strange. I don't see it on .com either as Kindle.
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Jun 20, 2013 23:47
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OK, my offer to loan it still stands as I bought it on Kindle. Just PM me with a "safe" email address and I'll send the loan link, good for one week. I think I can only lend it once so first come...etc. I've always wanted to try lending so please feel free. It's not a great book but its a good book.
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Jun 20, 2013 23:49
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Play posted:Great! If you want more Paolo Bacigalupi, one of my favorites by him was Shipbreakers and its sorta-sequel The Drowned Cities. Windup Girl. 
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Jun 20, 2013 23:52
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Xik posted:I'm looking for a change of pace from Space Opera, something where the main character(s) are thief's, pirates or something along those lines. If it's fantasy then something where they pick locks, break into rich folk homes etc. The Nightrunner series by Lynn Flewelling. Main characters are spies and get into all sorts of mischief breaking and entering. The first three books are great; what follows, not so much. There's also Among Thieves by Douglas Hulick, although despite the title that's less actual thievery and more well-written swordfights. Still a good book, and standalone since the sequel's not out yet.
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Jun 21, 2013 00:01
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Ornamented Death posted:You probably want The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. Jedit posted:The Stainless Steel Rat. Srice posted:The Lies of Locke Lamora if you want fantasy, or The Quantum Thief if you want sci-fi. Thanks folks, they all sound interesting and I'll eventually try them all but The Lies of Locke Lamora sounds closest to what I think I want so I'll start with that. Echo Cian posted:The Nightrunner series by Lynn Flewelling. Main characters are spies and get into all sorts of mischief breaking and entering. The first three books are great; what follows, not so much. Nightrunner series sounds interesting. I'm not sure if I'm really into the sword fights of Among Thieves though, I'll see how I get along with the others and might give it a try if I'm still into this thief theme after I have read the others. Xik fucked around with this message at 00:12 on Jun 21, 2013 |
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Jun 21, 2013 00:01
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Never read it myself, but the Ketty Jay books are often described as "Firefly but not quite", so they might be worth checking out.
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Jun 21, 2013 00:22
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I want to recommend something obscure. This would be for fantasy people rather than SF but I thought it was great. It's only on Kindle. http://www.amazon.com/From-Hell-ebook/dp/B0055SXWLG/ref=sr_1_4?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1371783129&sr=1-4&keywords=from+hell quote:This is a monster of a book, and within its pages can be found monsters of many types (not every character is a 'monster', though - there are some rather nice folk along the way - and some are nice but still monstrous). Before beginning this book, I'd suggest parking any preconceived notions about demons, wizards, dwarves, queens princesses, etc., on the doorstep, because while you will encounter all those things in this book, they aren't going to be anything like those you've encountered before. For that matter, I'd suggest forgetting any notions you've already formed regarding any place named Hell, because Fraser's Hell is going to be different from any you've likely even imagined before. I read some of Ian Fraser's other work. It was OK, The Nog Sisters is an adventure about a couple of badly behaved fairies who insist on believing that humans are real. From Hell was definitely his best (IMHO).
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Jun 21, 2013 03:57
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Rurik posted:This needed a new thread? Why wouldn't it? The old thread had a crappy OP, was hundreds of pages long, and was beginning to go into about the 50th cycle of the exact same thing. I'm of the humble opinion that its nice to renew things every once in a while, give people a chance to actually read the thread. As for your request for recommendations, I would put out A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge wherein a expedition to a mysterious star system which has some very unique features faces a lot of challenges and has to adapt in order to survive and continue with their objectives. There's a lot more to it, obviously, but I've read Pushing Ice and the two books are not entirely dissimilar. I'll have a think and see if I can't bring up any more. Ceebees posted:Windup Girl. I've read everything by Bacigalupi; I definitely really liked the Windup Girl but in my opinion Shipbreakers was better. I liked the setting of Thailand as I love that country but the incredibly gritty setting of brutal shipbreaking tribes run by gangs eking out an existence in the Louisiana delta region was just wonderfully realized and really fun, for me. I would put Windup Girl on top of The Drowned Cities, though. Play fucked around with this message at 07:46 on Jun 21, 2013 |
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Jun 21, 2013 06:52
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specklebang posted:I want to recommend something obscure. This would be for fantasy people rather than SF but I thought it was great. It's only on Kindle. Last time I bought a 3 dollar self published book that was hyped in this thread I got Blood Song so I am willing to give this a shot.
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Jun 21, 2013 13:35
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Xik posted:Thanks folks, they all sound interesting and I'll eventually try them all but The Lies of Locke Lamora sounds closest to what I think I want so I'll start with that. I might not be the best authority as to what's good in the fantasy genre (my threads are terrible and my recommendations suspect), but I think you'll definitely like LoLL. At least in that book, the author walks a fine line between flowery and crass language, and he does it with just the right amount of sarcasm and dark humor. The combat porn is also pretty fulfilling. What's more, there's a lovely thread for you to post in once you finish the first (or second, or third which comes out in August) book.
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Jun 21, 2013 17:14
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uh zip zoom posted:I might not be the best authority as to what's good in the fantasy genre (my threads are terrible and my recommendations suspect), but I think you'll definitely like LoLL. At least in that book, the author walks a fine line between flowery and crass language, and he does it with just the right amount of sarcasm and dark humor. The combat porn is also pretty fulfilling. What's more, there's a lovely thread for you to post in once you finish the first (or second, or third which comes out in August) book. I thought the third wasnt due out until October?
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Jun 21, 2013 18:48
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Mr.48 posted:I thought the third wasnt due out until October? August October same thing
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Jun 21, 2013 20:20
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Slavvy posted:Can anyone recommend me hard-ish sf with at least halfway decent characterisation? I've found that when I read cheesy space opera with a panoply of interesting characters, the 'science' makes me cringe. Yet the vast majority of hard sf, and even just plain ol' regular sf, has characters who are barely distinguishable from eachother, let alone interesting unto themselves. LE Modesitt JR is the worst example of this I can think of; I am incapable of reading another of his books because I don't want to read two paragraphs about what sort of sweater vest the guy is wearing and what type of meal he ordered. Have you tried David Drake's RCN books?
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Jun 21, 2013 21:57
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Last week I started reading Chronicles of the Black Company on ebook, an omnibus of the first three novels by Glen Cook. I remember hearing good things about it, and Steven Erikson cites it as a major influence of his for the Malazan series that I love, so I though I'd give it a go - and I couldn't get more than 10% through it before I stopped. It's the way it's written. The first-person narration was really stilted and slightly jarring. The novel skips scenes it shouldn't, such as "Ok we need to go kidnap this important guy and ask him some tough questions" immediately followed by in the text "that was a tough kidnapping and he's answered some of our questions after we worked him," glossing over events that really should be shown, and Cook does this over and over again. It's nothing but lulls; reaction scenes that are telling me what's going to happen, what has happened, but never showing it happening, which is really boring! Maybe it gets better later on but I can't power through it.
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Jun 21, 2013 22:25
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PlushCow posted:Last week I started reading Chronicles of the Black Company on ebook, an omnibus of the first three novels by Glen Cook. I remember hearing good things about it, and Steven Erikson cites it as a major influence of his for the Malazan series that I love, so I though I'd give it a go - and I couldn't get more than 10% through it before I stopped. The story itself was OK but I quickly lost interest when he brought the silly romance stuff in and left it front-center for the following books, and changed the focus of the books a bunch. It just felt like some kind of power fantasy where the author dreams of seducing the queen of the Amazons.
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Jun 21, 2013 23:35
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PlushCow posted:Last week I started reading Chronicles of the Black Company on ebook, an omnibus of the first three novels by Glen Cook. I remember hearing good things about it, and Steven Erikson cites it as a major influence of his for the Malazan series that I love, so I though I'd give it a go - and I couldn't get more than 10% through it before I stopped. I actually read this trilogy and became very frustrated with the constant desires and constant virginity that just seemed unnatural. But characters vary in taste as much as anything else. I love Neal Asher's books because I love AIs with personalities. But not everyone does. I also like Abercrombie's characters because I like anti-heros but again, not everybody feels the same way. I gave it 2.5 stars, slightly less than mediocre.
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Jun 22, 2013 01:35
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My favorite part of the Black Company series is how the first book sets up one character, Raven, as the typical mysterious super-cool badass then the entire rest of the series shows that no, he's a piece of poo poo and lame as hell, accidentally making things easier for the villains several times, loving up regularly, and being a lovely dad. One book is dedicated to doing that, even. The biggest problem with Cook though is he doesn't know how to end his stories. Every single novel of his I've read builds up to a big drawn-out climactic finish which is over in a few pages and that's it, some characters died or something, whatever, book over, go do something else now. Speaking of which, has there been any word at all on the next couple Black Company books? All I've heard is that they're being written and there are two of them. RBA Starblade fucked around with this message at 04:54 on Jun 22, 2013 |
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Jun 22, 2013 04:51
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The last of the Instrumentalities series is done, there's another Garrett novel scheduled... so... next year he'll finish a BC novel maybe. Knowing Cook he'll start another series or tack another novel on the oh I don't know, Starfishers or something. I like Croaker's annals. It turns out he's full of poo poo about a lot of things, but his cynicism has a certain charm. The romance is a bit awful. Keep in mind though, the start of it is written from Croaker's perspective. When Lady is writing, she comes off as sincerely in love with Croaker, which is good. The awkward virgin bits makes a bit of sense when you realize she's a virgin at about 400 and is making a sacrifice of power yet again. That said, sure, it could have been better, but as those two characters telling their story in their own voice, I say it works. Besides, the romance helps set up the long con with Blade in She Is The Darkness, which is a novel I adore.
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Jun 22, 2013 05:03
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PlushCow posted:Last week I started reading Chronicles of the Black Company on ebook, an omnibus of the first three novels by Glen Cook. I remember hearing good things about it, and Steven Erikson cites it as a major influence of his for the Malazan series that I love, so I though I'd give it a go - and I couldn't get more than 10% through it before I stopped. Cook is definitely not for everyone, threadbare characterization and he rarely describes any element in detail. I do get your frustration about telling instead of showing, he does a lot of that in the first book. It improves later on in the series but it sounds like he's just not your bag. I really like Cook but I'm all over the place on the various series hes written, some are great and others are terrible. Cook influenced a lot of authors so sometimes it's nice to see where things originated, there's a character in his Dread Empire series that was the basis of Kruppe from Malazan for example but if you're not enjoying his writing style then it's probably not worth sticking it out.
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Jun 22, 2013 17:48
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I would like to put in a plug for Garth Nix's Sabriel. It's YA fantasy with superb pacing, just enough wold-building to intrigue without dragging things out, decent characterization and a dash of mystery. It just hangs together superbly and is a good 1-2 night read because you will be turning those pages. If you like stories about the undead and undeath that are completely original and have nothing to do with vampires or werewolves or zombies then it's a must-read. It's also very much "all ages" YA, most of the people I've talked to who have read it were adults. Sabriel also has a sequel and a "trilogy" with the last book basically just being the end of the sequel which are good but never quite match the craftsmanship that went into Sabriel. You'll probably read them anyway and enjoy them if you like Sabriel. Nix has a lot of other YA fantasy out there but Sabriel is by far his best work. The only other thing I've really liked from Nix is his Keys to the Kingdom series which has a really interesting premise: It mostly takes place in heaven, which turns out to be a completely messed-up place because God left seven angels in charge, each with one of the seven deadly sins, and the sin eventually takes over their character and their realm of heaven and also the Devil is God's ex husband and the kids got kind of messed up by the divorce aand it's pretty interesting. Unfortunately Nix seems to become unsure about what he wants to do with it after book 3.  I am literally gnashing my teeth over A Wizard of Earthsea not making it into NPR's top 50 fantasy books while Legend of Drizzt gets in.Silmarillion also shouldn't be on any top 50 fantasy list. Arglebargle III fucked around with this message at 19:32 on Jun 22, 2013 |
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Jun 22, 2013 19:17
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Lately I've been wondering wether the Braided Path trilogy (by Chris Wooding) is actually good or if I simply think so becaus it was one of the very first fantasy series I read back when I was 15 and knew little about books. Is there anyone else who read them? What I remember of the plot makes me assume it was actually pretty good, but I've never seen it mentioned here before so who knows. Rough outline: there are a bunch of "weavers", who are some kind of corrupted magicians, that act as spymasters for pretty much all kingdoms (basically, one king employed one and all others had to follow if they wanted to stay alive) despite them being vile, capable of horrible things and worst of all, terribly expensive. The main protagonist belongs to another group who want to replace those weavers. There's quite a bit of political intrigue, backstabbing and mysterious princesses to be rescued. Now that I think about it, those weavers are pretty similar to the mages in the lies of locke lamora.
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Jun 22, 2013 19:28
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I finished Fire Upon the Deep a few days ago, and really enjoyed it. If what I enjoyed most of it was the interaction of humans with an entirely alien society (the way they move, think, behave as individuals and groups) and that it really focused on the aliens themselves as 'people,' would I enjoy A Deepness in the Sky? Pham Nuwen really didn't do much for me in the book but if it's got more crazy alien stuff than I can put up with him. Or any other books that do it. Seriously, my favorite pov chapters were the ones from the Tines, and the ones that focused heavily on the Skroderiders. I think Speaker of the Dead and Xenocide did something similar with the Piggies and buggers and I enjoyed it but then it went all crazy. Is this too broad of a request for sci-fi?
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Jun 22, 2013 19:54
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Leper Residue posted:I finished Fire Upon the Deep a few days ago, and really enjoyed it. If what I enjoyed most of it was the interaction of humans with an entirely alien society (the way they move, think, behave as individuals and groups) and that it really focused on the aliens themselves as 'people,' would I enjoy A Deepness in the Sky? Pham Nuwen really didn't do much for me in the book but if it's got more crazy alien stuff than I can put up with him. Or any other books that do it. You'll love Deepness, the Spiders are just as strange and well thought out. If you want more Tines, there's the direct sequel to Deepness: "Children of the Sky". No one really does aliens as good as Vinge, the closest I've come across were the aliens in Blindsight.
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Jun 22, 2013 20:03
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Snuffman posted:You'll love Deepness, the Spiders are just as strange and well thought out. Oooh, that makes me so happy. I'll have to check out Children of the Sky and Blindsight afterwards. I would like more Tines.
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Jun 22, 2013 20:41
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Arglebargle III posted:The only other thing I've really liked from Nix is his Keys to the Kingdom series which has a really interesting premise: It mostly takes place in heaven, which turns out to be a completely messed-up place because God left seven angels in charge, each with one of the seven deadly sins, and the sin eventually takes over their character and their realm of heaven and also the Devil is God's ex husband and the kids got kind of messed up by the divorce aand it's pretty interesting. Unfortunately Nix seems to become unsure about what he wants to do with it after book 3. He has a short story collection that has a pretty good Old Kingdom novella and a brilliant parody of choose-your-own adventure/fighting fantasy gamebooks in it. That’s worth looking into. I’ve never gotten into his other novels as much as Sabriel and its sequels. He has a really bad habit of throwing a lot of interesting ideas and the kitchen sink into the mix and then not developing them. His pacing can get a bit too manic for my taste. And he has trouble trouble with endings. The last couple of books in the Keys series become an exhaustive series of And Then’s and from what I remember from most of his other books they all start blitzing through plot points in the final stretch and just cut off abruptly. Neil Gaiman has a new book out which is getting a lot of good buzz. Has anyone checked it out yet? High Warlord Zog fucked around with this message at 22:03 on Jun 23, 2013 |
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Jun 22, 2013 22:37
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The Gunslinger posted:Cook is definitely not for everyone, threadbare characterization and he rarely describes any element in detail. I do get your frustration about telling instead of showing, he does a lot of that in the first book. It improves later on in the series but it sounds like he's just not your bag. I really like Cook but I'm all over the place on the various series hes written, some are great and others are terrible. Cook influenced a lot of authors so sometimes it's nice to see where things originated, there's a character in his Dread Empire series that was the basis of Kruppe from Malazan for example but if you're not enjoying his writing style then it's probably not worth sticking it out. I have finally made peace with Cook (and Erikson, really) and realized this myself. With how often people go on about both Black Company and Malazan as fantasy standards, I keep forcing myself to try them over and over. I never get far before I just kind of sigh and eventually start making excuses not to read them and then ultimately give up. At this point, I'm fine with saying I prefer high-energy, character-driven stories over vast reaching plots of epic proportions.
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Jun 22, 2013 23:21
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High Warlord Zog posted:Neil Gaiman has a new book out which is getting a lot of good buzz. Has anyone checked it out yet? I read it in one sitting today. With the caveat that I've been a huge Gaiman fan since I was a mopey teenager and stumbled into Sandman, I think this might be his strongest novel yet. It isn't broad and sweeping like American Gods and that's really to its benefit, it's an extremely intimate and personal tale and I love how it's told from the perspective of a child, but by that child as an adult reminiscing. Short read but totally worth picking up if you've enjoyed any of his previous work. It's equal parts whimsy and horror, and since it's approached from a childlike perspective I found that the horror had a lot of weight to it (that crushing sense of absolute helplessness you get when you're a kid and you know no one is going to take you seriously on something), but so did the sense of wonder and awe and acceptance at all the fantastic stuff happening over the course of the story.
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Jun 23, 2013 03:24
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PlushCow posted:Last week I started reading Chronicles of the Black Company on ebook, an omnibus of the first three novels by Glen Cook. I remember hearing good things about it, and Steven Erikson cites it as a major influence of his for the Malazan series that I love, so I though I'd give it a go - and I couldn't get more than 10% through it before I stopped. You know it's funny, because I couldn't disagree with you more. I actually adored the very beginning of the black company series, because of its brusqueness. Often I really appreciate writing that is a bit aloof, where things happen quickly and there is little unnecessary exposition and description. In contrast, I feel like over time the Black Company books became more like an infinite number of other mediocre fantasy series. I am one of those who always will highly recommend Passage At Arms as Glen Cook's finest book, but then I'm a sucker for sci fi and naval battles and submarine epics and when they're all combined, so much the better (:
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Jun 23, 2013 06:53
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Cook's talent for plot is readily apparent in the first few books of the Black Company series. How does this sound for a novel: A mercenary company investigates an insurgency, puts down a rebellion, plots with a foreign wizard to betray their employer, hunts a were leopard, assassinates their employer, fights their way out of the city, and takes service with a dark wizard of formidable power and subtlety. That's chapter one of The Black Company.
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Jun 23, 2013 08:06
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mllaneza posted:Cook's talent for plot is readily apparent in the first few books of the Black Company series. How does this sound for a novel: So it's a bad book, then. Condensing the plot of a whole novel into one chapter is as bad as stretching out one chapter's worth of plot into a whole novel.
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Jun 23, 2013 09:14
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Jedit posted:So it's a bad book, then.
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Jun 23, 2013 10:43
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