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FastestGunAlive
Apr 7, 2010

Dancing palm tree.

coyo7e posted:

I was never impressed with the prose either, it's very "workmanlike", I guess is the term for when some random veteran writes a bunch of books with arguable skill at writing prose. I see it a lot in pulp military novels, which is why I mention veteran, specifically - I assume their target audience's not too finicky about that stuff most of the time.

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.

Just finished this series last night. Cook really needed an editor or two and maybe some help organizing his ideas and plot because the Black Company is all over the place. The closer to the end it gets the more he rambles and goes off on random loose ends instead of wrapping everything up.

He starts killing off characters at a high rate, and very casually, towards the end but you don't really care because they are rarely fleshed out- In the last book the Prince who once ruled the land the Black Company has been operating in for much of the series is killed. He has been hyped up as potentially reclaiming his throne for two or three books and he is randomly killed by a magic spell/ability/whatever ricocheting off a rock and taking his head off. Everyone else is shocked for 2 pages and then carries on.. These kind of deaths are very common.

This series is not really targeting towards or particularly appealing towards veterans. Only the first book is focused on a group of soldiers fighting in a war, the rest of the series alternates between your fantasy standard (more or less) small group of heroes fighting evil and main characters controlling huge armies. There isn't any particular authenticity to the military aspect of this series nor did I find myself relating to it. In fact, the author blends more modern terms and ideas like "commando", "battalion", etc with your fantasy standard pseudo-medieval Europe armies and technology, which ends up not feeling right.

Read the first book, its a good break from your normal fantasy but don't bother with the rest. And if you do decide to read the rest, do not read The Silver Spike, I could write paragraphs about how that is one of the worst books, of any genre, I've ever read.

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FastestGunAlive
Apr 7, 2010

Dancing palm tree.

Drakyn posted:

Well now, don't just tease us like that. Please, go for it!

I'm going to keep this as vague as possible to avoid spoilers, please advise if there is something that rates spoiler tags.

The Silver Spike, from the Black Company Chronicles, starts with the main character, Tully, being interrupted from what is strongly hinted to be sex with two underage girls (sisters also) by his cousin Smeds. Neither of these characters were in previous books. Neither of them is in or related to the Black Company. They gather up two more random peasants to go treasure hunting At the Dominator's burial site. They manage to outwit a powerful immortal guardian by throwing sticks at it, inadvertently unleashing a terrible evil. That right there tells you all you need to know about this book but I'll keep going.

The evil ends up possessing/reincarnating/whatever The Limper, who is as uninteresting and one dimensional a villian in his third/fourth/whatever reappearance as he was every other time. He's also a giant wicker man now, who rampages numerous towns. He's obviously afraid and vulnerable to fire but no one figures that out for a while. The Black Company (those who didn't go south) join forces with old enemies to defeat him, or do they? Yep, he comes back and there is a big showdown at some city. Also the Black Company suffers from reverse stormtrooper effect; Silent, the White Rose, and everyone's favorite angsty Raven act incredibly out of character, weak, and stupid. They're outwitted/overpowered several times by Smeds et all for example.

In the end they manage to stuff the bad guy into a magic pot (seriously) but still have trouble containing it. Silent decides the best way to handle this is to jump on it from a ledge and he is burned to death. Raven thinks if he can recover the artifact that started all this trouble he will win Darling's love. Instead it possesses him, as expected, and they are forced to kill him. Loveable Smeds goes home with plenty of gold, to live happily ever after, despite the fact that is indirectly responsible for hundreds if not thousands of deaths and directly, hands-on responsible for maybe a dozen more.

I'm sure I forgot quite a bit or made some mistakes but its been 2 or 3 months since I read this and I have no desire to go back and reread it. Like I said in my previous post, read the Black Company, its a great book that is different from a lot of other fantasy. You might even enjoy the 2nd and 3rd books in the series (I didn't). There's a slight chance you'll enjoy some of them beyond that (they have their moments). But the Silver Spike is one of the worst books I've ever read and can be skipped.

FastestGunAlive
Apr 7, 2010

Dancing palm tree.
Has anyone read the Ex-Heroes series? I recently read the first three books and found them to be fun. They are zombie apocalypse books, except on this Earth there are superheroes. I wouldn't really compare it to Marvel Zombies as there are not many zombie heroes/villains. They are quick reads and the writing is nothing amazing but I found them enjoyable and perfect for a plane ride or a lazy day.

I also just finished Promise of Blood which is described as "flintlock fantasy". I've avoided epic, save-the-world, political intrigue fantasy for almost ten years because I was burned out and tired of reading the same thing over and over but I look forward to continuing this trilogy. The author draws on history but avoids simply copy-pasting countries and historical figures as I've seen others do trying to write this type of fantasy.

FastestGunAlive
Apr 7, 2010

Dancing palm tree.
Only one character still wears a costume and hides her true identity after the apocalypse. I'm not a fan of the zombie fad but as a fan of comic books and b-movie cheese I had fun with the books. To each his own though.

FastestGunAlive
Apr 7, 2010

Dancing palm tree.

James Trickington posted:

Actually yeah I loved these books. Next one's due out soon right? It's nothing I've ever recommended, but they are great guilty pleasure books.

Amazon has it listed as Jan 16 2014. Third one was a much better improvement over the second one, hopefully the fourth is better yet

FastestGunAlive
Apr 7, 2010

Dancing palm tree.
Finished reading The Red Knight last night. I wanted to like it, I really did. The author has great potential and I might even give the sequel a chance but it was not a good book.

In the first 50 pages or so the titular character, whose real name we don't learn until half way in, because ~mysterious, dark past~ filled with mommy and daddy issues, hating God, and destiny, uses his magic powers to sneak into a dormitory of nuns and force himself upon the cute nun that was checking him out earlier. When he's done with their long kiss he breaks off and backs away so she "won't think he is a rapist" (that's almost verbatim from the book). Not only is he a powerful magic user, he is also a military genius, an excellent fighter, handsome, and a talented musician all at the age of 20.

The author knows his history and medieval warfighting, which makes for well written fights, but more often detracts from the story. Its great that you know the correct name of every bit of gear a knight would put on, but I don't need to hear about it before every fight. And maybe describe what all those pieces really are because I am not a medieval expert. Also people in this fantasy world speak French and worship a being they call "God" who apparently sent his son "Jesu" down to earth to die for our sins. I believe, based on the acknowledgements, that the world and possibly the plot, are based on a RPG campaign of some sort that the author played.

I mentioned that the fights are well written but there is often not any tension due to the fact that most of the enemies are not serious threats, except for wyverns, trolls and daemons (who don't fight much and are also described as both "angelic" and "alien" looking). The creatures and free/savage men from the Wild (very original) are frequently described as unable to overcome humanity's heavy armor due to their poor weapons and lack of skill. The only way they can win is through sheer force of numbers. They might as well be using nerf weapons for all the arrows and clubs and daggers that bounce off plate mail. The Main Bad Guy is like something out of a saturday morning cartoon; his schemes are defeated due to his sheer ineptitude and bumbling stupidity of his allies.

The amount of POV characters in this book is ridiculous and they are still being introduced up to the half way point. Most of them are flat, uninteresting, and completely forgettable. The Queen is kind hearted and beautiful. The old lady is old, folksy, and reserved (because she is old, you see). The ex-slave never wants to be a slave again. The squire is young and naive but eager. That is as deep as the characterization goes. There are a few I would like to read and learn more about; Sir Gawin, the Lachlans, Master Random and Sauce. Certainly not the Red Knight, Mags, or Peter.

When the book should end, it doesn't, because its dragged out a few more chapters so the sequel can be set up. The book is about 600 pages and desperately in need of some editing because almost half that is worthless. I will try out a sample of the sequel before buying, but I am willing to give this author another chance because I do think he has potential.

FastestGunAlive
Apr 7, 2010

Dancing palm tree.

Walh Hara posted:

Don't read the sequel then, I really liked the first book but the second soured me a bit. Mostly because I somehow assumed that it was set on some alternate europe while reading the first book, which was disproven in the second (and the map). In hindsight this should have been obvious, I attribute it to mental gymnastics to explain the french and the religion (and the place names being similar to real ones in a way that could have made sense). Since it is not set in an alternate earth, I agree that the many references to things from real history and the French grate a lot.

I did enjoy the first book regardless, because although there are too many point of view characters and hence too little characterisation for many, the overall plot is still very enjoyable because of good use of mystery, strategies and very well written fights. The characterization of the cast greatly improves in the second book though, because very few new members are used and everybody from the first book get's more backstory/uniqueness.

My problem with the second book (beyond the language and Earth parallellism stuff) is that it starts a lot of different stories/plots and resolves almost none of them, so my advice for now is to wait and see if the third book resolves some of the plot lines before starting the second book.

To be honest, I'll probably read the third book as well anyway, simply because the backstory is honestly still plenty interesting and because I just don't know many better books in that specific genre (military fantasy).

That's too bad. Like you, I picked up this book in hopes of reading some military fantasy. The only others I've read are the Black Company and arguably Malazan (I've only read the first 2 books). I wish Robert Jordan would have spun off with the Band of the Red Hand instead of 15 books of battle of the sexes because those sections were well written and he was a veteran himself. This book seemed to veer off toward standard fantasy toward the end with the whole, lets visit the dragon, get magic weapons, and learn about the great evil that threatens this world or whatever. Guess I'll just cut my losses.

Any recommendations for East Asian themed fantasy? I've read Master Li and Number Ten Ox, enjoyed it, but looking for more fantasy and less historical fantasy/fiction.

FastestGunAlive
Apr 7, 2010

Dancing palm tree.

homercles posted:

Mag was an old lady who was rape-bait whose only talents were knitting and not reporting traitors, I understand the author desperately wanted to telegraph that the priest was the traitor to Thorn, but doing so in that way makes Mag an unsympathetic character since she's now viewed as being serenely stupid. I don't care if the captain's wearing her knitted underwear or whatever in the final battle, she's already been poisoned by being written as a blithering idiot to advance an obvious plot)

I found the fact that a couple of the soldiers wanted to rape Mags really weird, (besides the obvious fact that rape is disgusting) because she was an old lady. Maybe I was imagining her as being in her 60s when she was actually in her 40s or something but I was still confused as to why they wanted to rape an old lady.

Walh Hara posted:

Almost all of the women in the (first) book are portrayed as independent since they follow their own objectives and decide for themselves what they'll do (regardless what men around them say/want), which is a refreshing change from most books in the genre. The abess and Sauce in particular.

I think all the women were sexualized in one way or another. The Queen is insanely beautiful and is lusted after by every single man, and we get a number of descriptions of how good she looks naked. Sauce was a prostitute at one point in her life. Amica mentions how she is not pure (it was early in so I can't recall if she was raped/a prostitute/or just had taken several lovers before becoming a nun). Mags feels guilty for all the times she got it on with her neighbor after her husband's death. Even the Abbess was the lover of both the old King and Thorn before he became evil. Then there are the Lanthorn girls, beautiful peasants who are nothing more than sex objects. Maybe I'm just a huge prude or something but I didn't feel any of the characters were favorable toward women.

shirunei posted:

The Long Price Quartet by Daniel Abraham might hit that sweet spot.

I will check this out.

FastestGunAlive
Apr 7, 2010

Dancing palm tree.
I felt that the magic was a system with rules that was understood by the characters but never explained to the reader which made it confusing. I also thought trying to make Mags into a major character toward the end was bad.

FastestGunAlive
Apr 7, 2010

Dancing palm tree.

SquadronROE posted:

Thanks! I just picked up Ghost Brigades and Downbelow. Looking forward to them. I like all 3, but 1 and 2 are my favorite types. I am gonna make a list of those authors. As for 3, my dirty secret is that I read through all of Gaunt's Ghosts.

If you want more in the vein of Gaunt's Ghosts ie action for action's sake I read Rick Shelley recently. I read one of the other books in this series as a kid and wanted to see what it was like now. Nothing spectacular; its relatively conventional warfare. No weird politics/sex/whatever and the author was in the military and so the characters have some authenticity and you can relate to them. I'd compare it to old WWII movies, minus the patriotic oomph

FastestGunAlive
Apr 7, 2010

Dancing palm tree.
I finished The Palace Job last night.

Its a very light hearted fantasy heist story. Two ex soldiers, a shapeshifting unicorn, an alchemist, a monk, an illusionist (expelled from magic school), a priestess with a talking hammer, and a village idiot team up to steal an Elven manuscript. Its fun and the author does a great job introducing each character with a short chapter featuring them in the midst of a crime. Unfortunately, toward the end it becomes a standard "save the world" plot, when I was really hoping for a stylish, Ocean's Eleven conclusion. The world itself is well built and I'd like to see more of it and the characters. Someone was asking for fun/comedy fantasy a few pages back: definitely check this out.

FastestGunAlive
Apr 7, 2010

Dancing palm tree.

Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:

Twas me. I bought the hell outta this book. It sounds fun :)

Awesome, let us know what you think

FastestGunAlive
Apr 7, 2010

Dancing palm tree.

Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:

Finished it up today. Pretty damned good!

A little more violent than I was expecting (was thinking Pratchett levels of violence when I first started), but overall it's a good book.

I fully admit to busting out laughing at the guy's insult during the climatic endgame battle though.

Only real downside is the author threw a LOT of various words around in the book and didn't have any sort of context to them until you had read a lot further. Took me loving chapters to realize what khava was :doh:, although I fully admit that might just be me being slow on the uptake.

Other than the lack of an appendix/footnote for the word salad he sometimes lobs into the story, it was fairly decent. Don't regret purchasing it at all :)

Making up a new word for coffee is one of my pet peeves with fantasy and sci fi. Just call it coffee! Glad you enjoyed it, I hope he writes a sequel.

FastestGunAlive
Apr 7, 2010

Dancing palm tree.
Finished The Scroll of Years last night. Very well written book about two thieves who flee to an China-inspired country to escape assassins. One of them, pregnant with their child, was originally a poet from a noble family. Her POV captures that background; she is very descriptive and artistic and views things for their natural beauty, etc. The other is a common street thief: he is very practical and survival minded, always trying to think a step ahead and very protective of his baby mama. The setting is very fleshed out, giving off some strong wuxia vibes. There's also a character from a West African-inspired country. Again, this is more thought out and detailed than just copy-pasting onto the region like other fantasy writers. The book starts off slow but the finale is very intense, with the lives of mother, father, and child on the line. Highly recommended, especially for those who don't usually like fantasy books.

And now to possibly punish myself by reading some Dennis McKiernan because I'm nostalgic for childhood.

FastestGunAlive
Apr 7, 2010

Dancing palm tree.
Finished Dennis Mckiernan's Into the Forge last night. I liked it as a kid so I wanted to go back and see how it holds up now. Found it very enjoyable although some of the prose is repetitive and the elves' old English is annoying to read. The endearing characters and fight scenes are the main draw of this book. If you can put aside the fact that it's a Tolkien rip off* it's a fun read (he wanted to write a sequel to LOTR but couldn't get the rights so essentially made his own version).

The sequel isn't available on kindle so I'm reading the second Expanse book and then revisiting Mckiernan's other work.

*this one isn't too blatant but I believe in the second book the heroes go into an abandoned dwarf mountain with a tentacle filled lake by the entrance.

FastestGunAlive
Apr 7, 2010

Dancing palm tree.
I'd like to hear others thoughts on Dennis Mckiernan per my post on this page lost in all the derailing and complaining about complaining about derailing posts.

I'm also enjoying Calibans War so far although it is early on. Not crazy about the new characters except the gunny.

FastestGunAlive
Apr 7, 2010

Dancing palm tree.
Finished Ex-Purgatory yesterday, the fourth in the Ex-Heroes series. Continues the trend of this series being light, fun reads. I'm not at all into the zombie genre but I like super heroes, and I really enjoy the ones in this series. Recommend it for anyone into either of those genres. My only issue was the lack of big, super powered battles in this one when compared to the others. Also still waiting on the author to flesh out and give more screen time to some of the more interesting non-super humans.

FastestGunAlive
Apr 7, 2010

Dancing palm tree.

VagueRant posted:

I'm just past the first (long) chapter in The Black Company and it's written really weirdly. I still don't know what the hell is going on or what anything is. It constantly feels like there's missing information, like I'm only getting part of the story. The worst part is there are little individual lines that are interesting but I find myself going "but where's the rest?"

Is it just me? Does it get better? Will it eventually all click?

It gets better and will come together by the end of the trilogy. I read the entire series, which I don't recommend unless you really, really, really like them. The first three stand well enough on their own.

FastestGunAlive
Apr 7, 2010

Dancing palm tree.

McCoy Pauley posted:

Who keeps thinking this is a good idea? I mean, jesus, even if they plan to write 9 books, don't say that you're extending your original story to 9 -- say that you're going to wrap it up in 6 (or even better, 3) and then write another trilogy (or two) in the same universe.

Unrelated, I recently finished Promise of Blood and loved it. Haven't picked up The Crimson Campaign yet, but plan to soon. I've noticed there are 2 shorts and novella by McClellan also available in the Kindle store -- is it safe to assume that if I liked Promise of Blood I'll find those shorter works worth my time?

Glad to see someone else liked Promise of Blood. I posted my thoughts on it last year but never saw any other discussion on it. No idea on the novellas but I plan on getting them after I finish the second book. The first book was great and I found it to be a breath of fresh air.

FastestGunAlive
Apr 7, 2010

Dancing palm tree.
Recently finished:
Ex-Purgatory, the fourth book in the Ex-Heroes series. Found this to be one of the weaker books in the series; dragged a lot in the middle and the final battle was short and weak. Still highly recommend this series; standard zombie apocalypse scenario but in a world with super heroes. Light, quick, fun books. I'm not at all a fan of the zombie genre but I like comics and super heroes.

Authority, second book in the Southern Reach series. I liked the narrator but I did not enjoy how the plot evolved. I was expecting some answers (but not all, which is good) to what happened in the first book- those I got weren't very interesting. Still looking forward to the next book.

The Crimson Campaign, second book in the Powder Mage series. Great, large scale battles in this book along with some more world building. My biggest issue- multiple characters are threatened with (but at least not actually victim to) rape. Like most I find rape to be inappropriately handled in fantasy, its basically a tool to make your world seem more grimdark. I hope this doesn't deter people from checking out the series though, I really enjoy the characters, despite their stupid names, and setting. Its been described as "flintlock fantasy" and has a great magic system. If you like military fantasy/scifi or the 17th century combat this book as plenty of bayonet charges, line infantry, and dragoons.

Way too many series there. I'm gonna catch up on my historical reading. Also, I caught the new Three Musketeers show on BBC this past Sunday, got me pumped for some swashbuckling. Of course I've already read most of Dumas' works. Any good fantasy buckle swashing out there? I've read Locke Lamora.

FastestGunAlive
Apr 7, 2010

Dancing palm tree.

ravenkult posted:

Not only does Notes from the Internet Apocalypse suck, it even turned into a hilarious social media situation.






Internet/meme humor references the book. With a character named after the author. How could it not be good?

FastestGunAlive
Apr 7, 2010

Dancing palm tree.

McCoy Pauley posted:

I just finished The Crimson Campaign, the second book in Brian McClellan's Powder Mage trilogy, and it was excellent -- I liked it even more than Promise of Blood. The world development is good, the three main storylines being advanced were interesting, the characters are all enjoyable, and McClellan writes great battle scenes. The only downside was it ends on something of a cliffhanger, at least as to one of the three storylines, and it's going to be a tough wait until the final book is out.

Great series, Haven't gotten into fantasy books this heavy since WOT when I was a teen (this series is nothing like WOT, potential readers). Fortunately he has a lot of novellas and short stories that pre date the current events and help shape the world and characters more. I haven't checked them out yet but I'm sure there as good as the full length books.

FastestGunAlive
Apr 7, 2010

Dancing palm tree.

LASER BEAM DREAM posted:

I read the Riverworld series when I was in high school. Awesome premise, but the latter books start getting weird. I'd read until your done and not really worry about leaving it unfinished.

E: I finished Leviathan Wakes a few days ago and just started Caliban's War. The first good, enough for me to continue, but Caliban's War has started off awesome. The parts with Holden and crew are like Firefly in our solar system.

I really enjoyed that as well- although the fun banter/interactions vs. the surprisingly lethal combat was really odd. I know a lot of people are worried about the series being extended, but I'll keep reading if it stays fun like that- it'll be easy to just stop reading them if/when the quality really drops off.

FastestGunAlive
Apr 7, 2010

Dancing palm tree.

CaptainScraps posted:

Yeah, I had a lot of fun with it.

The Palace Job got a sequel out this week. I just started it.

The Palace Job was a fun read, looking forward to reading the sequel.

FastestGunAlive
Apr 7, 2010

Dancing palm tree.
While we are on the superhero topic- "Ex-Heroes" series, which is superheroes versus zombies. I hate the zombie genre but enjoyed these books.

A couple quick reviews from my last two reads:

"Dead Sea" by Tim Curran- a freighter is transported... somewhere else when passing through the Bermuda Triangle and the crew has to survive and find a way out. Pretty long read that drags in the beginning, but a lot of cool set pieces for anyone in a horror mood. There's a lot going on- haunted ships, cosmic horror, prehistoric wildlife, aliens, which all doesn't really mix well but the individual scenes are very tense and creative. One of the more antagonistic characters is very vulgar and homophobic, so warning for that.

"The Darwin Elevator" by Jason Hough. Set in the near-future where a hidden alien civilization has placed a space elevator in Darwin for some reason. It provides a small aura that protects the remnants of humanity from a disease that turns you into a feral subhuman. The rich and intelligent live on space stations orbiting the elevator and trade food for water and air with the poor masses crammed below. The protagonists happen to be some of the very few people who are immune, and they scavenge the world for supplies. Its a space elevator so don't expect anything deep or ground breaking. Its very much a light read, an airplane book, with good action scenes. :spergin:s be ware, apparently in the future firearms use clips instead of magazines.

FastestGunAlive
Apr 7, 2010

Dancing palm tree.
It is, I think we discussed it a few months ago as well. Have you read anything else by Curran? And if so what would you recommend?

FastestGunAlive
Apr 7, 2010

Dancing palm tree.
I read WoT non stop in high school and college, re reading the previous books every time a new one came out but it eventually began to bore me as the plot slowed and the characters all became obnoxious idiots. I haven't read the last two or three nor will I ever. I truly did enjoy my time with the characters when it was good though. So my advice would be-

Read WoT until you can no longer handle the slog, the war of the sexes, and the repetitive writing (so many skirts smoothed). Then put it down and never look back and spend the rest of your life thinking how much cooler it would be if it was just mat and his band of mercenaries running around fighting battles and other hi-jinx.


In other books, finished the second book in the Space Elevator series. One of the new characters really annoyed me but there was plenty of action and exploration. Third book is out but I decided to take a break and read...

Steel World. If you want military sci fi without the usual weird politics agenda pick this up. Plot and characters are paper thin but that's okay when your premise is "regenerating space marine mercenaries go to war with space raptors and t-Rex so that the galactic council doesn't destroy earth". I'll keep reading this series.

About half way through the Prophecy Con. Not as funny as the first but just as enjoyable. Bonus points for taking a jab at reddit nice-guy types.

FastestGunAlive
Apr 7, 2010

Dancing palm tree.

Kalenn Istarion posted:

You're missing out actually because the last three books get their poo poo together again and resolve most of the straggling mess of poo poo Jordan left undone before he got too sick to continue.

I've heard that from a lot of people and maybe i will eventually but I just can't bring myself to put it high on the priority list.


Amberskin posted:

Hah, the undying mercenaries. When I read anything by Larson I feel myself a little bit guilty, just because I feel that enjoying something so UTTERLY BAD is not a Good Thing. Is a little bit like enjoying a lovely meal at a burguer place just because. Meh.

Try the StarForce series. It is basically the same, but instead of that terribad galactic powers you'll find your hero fighting giant robots.

Ha that's a great comparison. Definitely guilty reading, I burned through It on a flight. Thanks for the recommendation i like the idea of him doing cheesy robot fighting.

FastestGunAlive
Apr 7, 2010

Dancing palm tree.
I read the first Dagger & Coin book and found it was not very ambitious for most the story- and I found that very refreshing. Have been tired of the epic fantasy focus on world politics with dozens of viewpoints. I also enjoyed Cithrin's analytical personality. I would read an entire book of Geder just exploring the wilderness and deciphering history but he seems to be going down a dark path. Going to continue reading the series. Would love to hear others opinions on this series.

FastestGunAlive
Apr 7, 2010

Dancing palm tree.
On the subject of sci fi and fantasy books (?). I finished up the second Dagger & Coin book which was just as great as the first one.

I read Theft of Swords, from the Riyria series next, which was a fun read. The writing itself didn't impress me and I found the world building uninspired but the characters are great and there a tinge of humor throughout.

Now I'm reading Sabriel, from the Abhorsen series. I don't typically read these type of books so it's been refreshing and unique. Plus I'm a sucker for necromancy. A young woman raised in the "normal world" travels to the old kingdom to search for her necromancer father while learning and improving her own powers. Also her talking cat is actually a bound, powerful magic creature thousands of years old.

FastestGunAlive
Apr 7, 2010

Dancing palm tree.
Sabriel by Garth Nix is about a young woman who is last in a line of necromancers. She crosses from the "real world" (vaguely early twentieth century Britain) to the "old kingdom" to find her father and stop evil undead. Just under five hundred pages. I really enjoyed it. Have not got to the rest the series yet but the first book can stand alone.

FastestGunAlive
Apr 7, 2010

Dancing palm tree.
Finished off the third the Dagger & the Coin book, series remains enjoyable although I'm not a fan of Clara (or the Killiams in general). Looking forward to finishing off the series and then checking out the third Powder Mage book which has been out a month or two now.

Also checked out two indie books for free on Amazon, thought I'd leave some brief thoughts:

Forgotten Soldiers: Standard fantasy setting, basic premise is after the end of a long and brutal war a group of soldiers returning home finds they aren't all that welcome by society. Interesting concept but the execution isn't that great; the war was ten years long and hundreds of thousands died but nearly every town they visit they are hated by everyone- no one had any relatives that served or served themselves? If you're looking to scratch that Black Company mil-fantasy itch this probably won't do it to be honest. The writing is serviceable and the characters grew on me so I'd likely read the sequel in order to throw the cash the author's way.

Empire of the Worm:Vaguely sandals and sorcery pulp-y setting, which was a little different from the norm. The protagonist is the young ruler of a large civilization that has seen a long period of prosperity and peace. He has to make a tough choice and unleashes what may be the apocalypse. Humanity has the choice of serving one of two elder gods; the protagonist decides thats no choice at all and wants freedom for humanity. Dark without getting stupidly ~grimdark~, draws heavily from Lovecraft influences while also going its own way, pretty interesting take on religion. Writing is basic, which isn't bad, but would like to see some more detail and fleshing out of characters and places without trying to get flowery. Again, I will buy the sequel in order to support the author.

They're both cheap for kindle, or you can rent them, so I would encourage people to check them out- Emperor of the Worm is a little more interesting than Forgotten Soldiers if you can only choose one.

FastestGunAlive
Apr 7, 2010

Dancing palm tree.

Hedrigall posted:

Q: What's good in recent (last 2-3 years), non-grimdark fantasy? I'm nearly finished The Goblin Emperor, and it was a delight!

I've never read Goblin Emperor so I don't know the tone but the Palace Job is a light hearted Oceans Eleven style fantasy heist

FastestGunAlive
Apr 7, 2010

Dancing palm tree.
Looking for some dystopian and/or post/apocalypse scifi. Been on a bit of a movie kick of that lately- from the Purge to the Running Man to Escape from New York, Equilibrium, so I'm looking for something more on the action side of the house. Recently read through the Darwin Elevator series, which is basically a summer popcorn flick in book form. Would like to avoid the weirdo, mary sue prepper, anti-government what-if fantasy wanking that I imagine makes up most this genre.

FastestGunAlive
Apr 7, 2010

Dancing palm tree.

Crashbee posted:

The current humble book bundle is post-apocalypse themed: https://www.humblebundle.com/books

Thanks for this. Never done humble bundle before but I'll check this out. Interested in opinions on any gems or avoids in this.

FastestGunAlive
Apr 7, 2010

Dancing palm tree.
Thirding or fourthing the Powder Mage series.

FastestGunAlive
Apr 7, 2010

Dancing palm tree.
Not a big zombie guy but enjoyed World War Z. Found Day by Day Armageddon and its sequels to be a snooze, same with a similar series set in England (something about autumn in the title?). Brian Keene wrote some popular zombie stuff several years ago, it's quite gruesome and the outbreak is demonic rather than viral but some of the sex stuff wasn't for me (zombie-human sex and some rape I think).

FastestGunAlive
Apr 7, 2010

Dancing palm tree.

I don't follow or fully understand gamer gate but the comments on that article are amazing. One guy is angry that Amazon recommended him Scalzi as he was shopping for Gibson and another guy starts talking about the ACA and how Obama lied about keeping your insurance

FastestGunAlive
Apr 7, 2010

Dancing palm tree.

anilEhilated posted:

If it's anything like his other stuff it's decently written but utterly generic fantasy.

I've not read any of his other stuff but this is accurate. However It's entertaining enough that I intend to read the sequel eventually.

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FastestGunAlive
Apr 7, 2010

Dancing palm tree.
The Red Knight is very mary-sue and boring. One of the early chapters features our hero, who besides being the genius military commander of a renowned mercenary band at age 20 is also a peerless fighter with a dark, mysterious past, uses his magic powers (oh yes he is one of the few people with magic powers) to sneak into a nunnery and steal a kiss from a cute nun because she was checking him out from a window. Don't worry though, he breaks off after a minute of deep kissing so she won't think he is a rapist.

forgot to mention- I like historical books with fantasy elements. I like fantasy books that draw on history. But a book where the people worship God, who sent his son Jesu, yes, his name is Jesu, down to earth to die for their sins... come on.

FastestGunAlive fucked around with this message at 04:22 on Apr 6, 2015

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