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For people that have read Takeshi Kovacs, is the second book a bit of a letdown? I'm about 85% finished or something, and some big bad thing is about to be perpetrated, but, I don't even really care all that much at this point. I feel like the decision to center so much of the book on the mysterious Martian's was a mistake. The flavors of Earth and posthumanism and whatnot were the real draw in the first novel. Having so much hinging on the incredibly incomprehensible machines of Martians, and their singing not-rocks-not-plants and whatnot blah blah blah. It just seems so whatever. Maybe the book will bring it all together in the end, or in the third installment, but this is definitely a drop off after the awesome first book.
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Jul 5, 2013 17:19
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ed balls balls man posted:I've found the best female characters are probably in the Malazan books. Off the top of my head I can think of Laseen, Shurq Elalle, Yan Tovis, Tavore Paran, Uru Hela/Mayfly (my favorite heavies.), a bunch of the Tiste Andii, Blend and Picker, Adjunct Lorn etc. It's a bit of an investment to read though. Beaten, yup. Malazan is very pro women characters. The division of main/named characters approaches an equitable 50 percent even. Women do everything men do, nobody really even makes a stink about it, and there's about a dozen female characters that have long arcs of growth, change, and impact on the world, with a few being main lynchpins in the whole narrative arc. I don't casually recommend Malazan ever though, huge time commitment, I still think it's the high water mark though.
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Jul 9, 2013 12:42
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That's actually something I wanted to ask, after I made my post I kind of thought about it and wondered how true what I was saying was, because while Malazan does have a lot of significant female characters, they don't really do a whole lot of things that'd identify them as female, their gender for the most part doesn't even matter. I guess I wonder what the feminist take on a piece of media like that is, is it good, bad, neutral?
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Jul 9, 2013 17:12
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Welp. Dunno why I never got around to it until now, been kinda binging on other series and sci-fi stuff, but I finally cracked Lies of Locke Lamora, and at only 10% in, I can tell this is going to be a REAL god damned treat. Whew. I'm stoked 
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Jul 12, 2013 17:11
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:I think you need to warn anyone starting mieville that they're going to find a lot of marxism in the mix. Warn or entice? 
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Jul 13, 2013 19:38
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I dunno why people would pick it apart, since Erikson's word "convergence" is basically what DBZ is. It'd be awesome/funny to ask him if he picked up any of his storytelling cues from DBZ, because the comparisons are casual and broad, but there.
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Jul 17, 2013 20:08
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Hot drat, Locke Lamora was so good. I mean, the plot was great, even if the Gentlemen Bastards might be a little cliche, including Locke himself, but, the world built was just top notch. All I wanted to do was imagine other ways to enjoy it, particularly some type of The Guild type of game. Can't wait to read the next 2.
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Jul 23, 2013 04:02
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Just jumping into Red Seas Under Red Skies, already howling at Lynch's writing. The comedy in the card game was brilliant. Every time a deal happened and he'd talk about how terrible Jean and Locke's hands were slayed me. I think one line was like, "Locke smirked openly as he surveyed his cards, which were an amazing constellation of crap." It's a shame he didn't explore or expand the Capa of Vel Vizarro thread a bit. I was instantly intrigued at Jean starting a little gang of real thieves and taking over the city, but it just got hacked off so fast. Real shame.
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Jul 24, 2013 21:46
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Jedit posted:Yes, it's confirmed for October. We should see more volumes on a less geological timeline, too - one of the biggest holdups with Republic of Thieves was that Lynch realised he'd made a major error in Locke's game and would have to rewrite it from scratch. Oh man, would love to be a fly on the wall during that revelation.
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Jul 25, 2013 16:21
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Finished the second Locke Lamora book, Like someone else said, if book 1 is a masterfully cooked steak, then book 2 is still masterfully cooked however a cheeseburger of some type. My eyes were spinning at sailing terminology about 2/3rds in the book. I dunno if it's a passion for Lynch or he wanted to be as methodically and autistically accurate as possible or what, but if someone shouted "FLIP THE MAIN MAST TACK LARBOURD GIBBERT ON MY MARK!" again, phew. At least Locke and Jean made fun of it themselves, so yeah. Anyone else feel like the Requin game just got cut short? I mean granted he and everyone else did say several times that his vault was impenetrable, so I guess it's not a surprise that it wasn't the actual target, but sealing the office doors shut and cutting a bunch of paintings free and then rappelling down a tower, eh, I thought the pieces mentioned up until then would be the start of it not the extent of it. Kind of anti-climax, which I guess plays into Locke's hands like "Who saw this coming?!". I was a lot more excited for the book when I thought it was going to be about Jean and Locke bilking everyone at a casino in various ways, almost like a fantasy themed The Sting. Then it goes out to sea. Lynch is a bit heavy handed with the emotional stuff, I hope he's grown more confident or subtle with the next book since it seems it'll involve Sabetha in some fashion. It just seems like Locke, Jean, et al have an on/off switch for Merry Theives and Maudlin Melodramatic Asses.
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Aug 1, 2013 04:20
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General Battuta posted:If you're going to start Malazan start with the second book. You'll have no idea what's going on either way and it's a better book. I wanted to cry blasphemy, but it's not actually a terrible idea. Maybe read book 2 and 3, then backtrack into 1 to get the complete picture before pressing on into the rear end end of the series.
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Aug 14, 2013 17:16
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The only reason to time travel is to take a JFK from a dystopian future where he wasn't assassinated and have him go back in time with you to assassinate himself 
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Aug 17, 2013 13:46
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Book 2 doesn't end on much of a cliffhanger, and I thought it was maybe 75% as good as the first, which is spectacular. Worth a read at least.
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Aug 17, 2013 22:45
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I submitted shorts to magazines for awhile years ago. They're really bad and they were deservedly rejected,  I still have about 3 fleshed out and plotted books that I really really want to write, one of them about 10% done even, but I always lose the thread or the inspiration falls away and I just stop. That's what makes me think I'm not really a writer, just someone who likes to dabble in storytelling.
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Aug 20, 2013 19:30
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I definitely almost put 2312 down a few times because of Swan, but I'm glad I didn't, because it was an overall great story with some interesting propositions. Even Swan really came alive during the animal sequences, reading about the animals coming back to earth floating down in bubbles, I just had a big grin on my face from ear to ear, it was an amazingly fantastical idea and done so well. The ending was just kinda bad though, it basically ends like Holy Grail with everyone being duly arrested by the authorities.
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Sep 3, 2013 20:47
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I've devoured Greg Egan and Peter Watts' entire catalogs and am still thirsty for more mindbending sci-fi, anyone got any recs? I also loved The Quantum Thief trilogy and the Takeshi Kovachs books.
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Apr 27, 2017 05:26
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It's weird that Quellcrist Falconer is even a character, from what I remember of the books, she's only sayings in the first novel. I don't think she even appears until the 3rd?
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Apr 29, 2017 10:19
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Just finished Three-Body Problem, thoughts: A sci-fi book that heavily ropes in history from the Cultural Revolution? YES PLEASE. My favorite scenes by far were the game scenes, because they were these beautiful little folly of man morality plays where it always ends with a hilarious cosmic disaster. The syzygy was a particularly hilarious ending. Also the human computer sequence was amazing. Also I love love love Shi Qiang. The hardboiled cop archetype of Asian fiction is so much more enjoyable than the American GI Joe guy, they're gruff, crude, canny, capable guys who don't tolerate nerds. Really excited to read the rest of the series. Loving Life Partner fucked around with this message at 21:46 on Jul 8, 2017 |
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Jul 8, 2017 21:44
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