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Sloth Life posted:I'm looking for recs if anyone has them? No worries if not but I'm in a rut if reading books I've already read and it's a waste I don't see The Rook in your list. Most of the thread loved it.
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Feb 18, 2020 20:57
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ConfusedUs posted:There's a whole segment in one of the books about the breakdown of the chess metaphor. It's a perfect microcosm of how much Dumb poo poo happens in and around the Chequay. The duck chapter is amazing. I was able to re-listen to The Rook this summer and I had successfully forgotten most of the book so I was able to enjoy it again. BabyFur Denny posted:I also liked the rook TV series, it was good. I think you're the first poster in this thread to like it honestly
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Feb 21, 2020 05:11
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The worst wolf boinking I read was the unexpected scene from The Magicians... and then it got one-upped by sequel
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Mar 17, 2020 06:09
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:I mean if you're gonna try to cancel Butcher just go with the "I am totally cool with The Gays, folks" monologue from like . . . wait was that just the last book Two books ago. The last book was Dresden Male gaze on overdrive. I am just about finished with a Dresden re-read. I was gonna post in this thread sorta defending the series as a flawed guilty pleasure too because it sure feels like in the last few years the thread has (validly so) critical of the series. Long story short, man the series highs are great. The action remains fun as hell and it was a great comfort re-read during covid confinement. But man the goony Dresden excerpts are sooooo loving goony. Those parts just get so much worse with time. I seriously doubt Butcher will ever outgrow it so my only hope is they don't impede the future books as egregiously but well that is a faint hope if the past two books are any indication. It has been ages since I read Skin Game and I guess I'm not as disappointed with it now as opposed to when it first came out. Managed expectations hooray! I am cautiously optimistic for the next two books. 
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May 28, 2020 04:17
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Welp guess Butcher is another artist to be thrown onto the 'can my privileged self enjoy the work while distancing myself from the author's awfulness' pile.
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May 28, 2020 16:51
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biracial bear for uncut posted:I would like to move that N.K. Jemisin's The City We Became be made the new face of Urban Fantasy and we promote the poo poo out of it. Should I mentally prepare for sadness like with her Broken Earth trilogy or is it more of a fun read?
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May 28, 2020 17:44
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I know we've all gone back and forth in this thread about Butcher's many shortcomings and I fully understand if you've quit on the series, but I need someone listen to me rant about Butcher writing other characters that are not Dresden. I finally read Brief Cases for the first time on my re-read in anticipation for Peace Talks and... man that last short story (Harry, Maggie and Mouse go to the Zoo) and what a clunker. The book is split into 3 PoVs. Butcher writes Non-Dresden Characters like they're Dresden roleplaying them in a D&D campaign. Every adult character has the same male-gazey creepy teenage goony mentality that Dresden has (which my younger self would have brushed off and my older self just eye-rolls at), but the last story is especially bad. Maggie... seems to have a ridiculously complex internal monologue for a 10 year old (maybe I'm not giving 10 year old enough credit) and Mouse's internal monologue doesn't really fit with how he was portrayed in Changes when everyone could understand him. I get that "dog would adopt his owner's mannerisms" but sheesh.
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Jun 10, 2020 03:59
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ConfusedUs posted:As bad as OSC is, Dan Simmons may be worse. Yeah OSC has been on my list for a while. Dare I ask about Simmons...? Hyperion has been on my To Read list forever and I never did get around to reading it.
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Jun 11, 2020 18:37
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ConfusedUs posted:Hyperion is my favorite sci-fi novel of all time. I enjoy the others, too (although each is less good than the one before, and there's some problematic poo poo in the last one). Ah that's a big bummer. 
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Jun 12, 2020 04:24
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Old Kentucky Shark posted:Cowl and Kumori will throw back their hoods to reveal that they are... African American. Sanya and...? I'm drawing a complete blank and I just finished a reread. Rashid?
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Jun 16, 2020 04:09
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Old Kentucky Shark posted:Sanya lives in Russia. Ah of course. the_steve posted:No, he very pointedly refuses to do so, although he dedicates plenty of internal (and external) monologue to pointing out how hot and tempting she is. I swear Butcher is gonna write some awful plot where Harry and Molly finally get together and we're gonna have ten pages of gnashing over how stupid and awful it is. My money is either on Murphy dies and Molly fills the void/was the right one all along or something along the lines of Harry and Molly get together because ~*wInTeR FaE tHinGs*~. Alternatively they finally get together to "escape" the Winter mantles because I dunno the power of love or something.
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Jun 16, 2020 18:01
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Ah cyclical thread subject rehashing. It's just like the Dresden thread of yore. I had forgotten what it looked like on the account of it being...6?!? years since a new release. I should probably exit the thread until release since I don't like reading the preview chapters. (but I am dumb so here I am)
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Jun 18, 2020 19:50
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I kinda assumed Lara knew or else years of Harry-Thomas interactions wouldn't make sense. She knows that secret but Harry knows about her and her daddy so they have a truce.
Xtanstic fucked around with this message at 02:14 on Jun 20, 2020 |
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Jun 20, 2020 02:12
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Yeah if the forums die thanks for all the dumb posts about UF over the years (flawed books and all!)
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Jun 25, 2020 04:07
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Finally got through the most recent Rivers of London. I gotta admit, at first I hated the slowburn of Peter's story and how understated and off-screen Nightingale's fights were, but I must say I think it's kinda grown on me. Previously I would have hated that this book barely has any meta-plot progression, but since I forget most of the meta plot in between books I guess I don't mind as much? (also I think the meta-plot only advances every other book anyway). Also I am amused at the slow modernization/technological advancements with magic Peter has made. I am looking forward to him developing Falcon Armor with the piece of magic insulation he got from the warehouse wall at the end. biracial bear for uncut posted:Hopefully that won't be the last, since Benedict Jacka may have the Covid. Welp
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Jul 13, 2020 17:32
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docbeard posted:This is so practically inevitable (he's both described as crazy powerful AND he's Peter's mentor) that I hope it doesn't happen just for the sake of variety. I really hope he doesn't either. The retirement/old WWII files alluded to at the end of the most recent book is an interesting sideplot/premise and it would suck to be deprived of that.
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Jul 13, 2020 19:16
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Ahhh just finished the book. It certainly was an extended prologue to the next book, but I didn't mind it as much? I enjoyed it on first read more than I did with Skin Game. It also felt like a more enjoyable 'table setting' book than Ghost Story and it had a lot of long overdue character beats. The book seems to payoff a bunch of sidestories from so that's nice/annoying if you haven't read Brief Cases. My biggest annoyance with the book is: With all that happened, absolutely no headway was made into why the gently caress Thomas did what he did, nor who was threatening Justine. I'm gonna be upset if ya'll right and she's the one that backstabs him. Re: Butcher writing Dresden being a goony goon: Not as bad (not as frequent?) as usual. The Ivy bit was bad but the Hope bit was baaad. The rest was tolerable teenage horniness I guess. Random thoughts: I agree with whoever said parties are fun and wish we had more scenes of Harry mingling. The conjuritis is a dumb gag and I find it funny. I don't mind it and ya'll theory about him catching it from Maggie is so much smarter than my dumb idea that "Harry is a newborn wizard again becuase he died and came back". I am looking forward to finding out more about whatever the dude contemplating in Demonreach. I sure hope we get a fun and satisfying payoff with Merlin and everything. I am intrigued as hell and will be super mad if it's lame. Is Bonea supposed to be a reference to something or is it just a dumb Bone pun? To take the Wizard Spiderman analogy further, doesn't it seem like Butcher is setting up for a Sinister Six type scenario by dropping Mavra and Genoskwa still being out there? I remain totally underwhelmed by the Fomor as well. They continue to be this supposedly terrible force but we've had all of two short stories and a ton of off-scene description only, and now they're immediately one-upped by someone pulling the strings. Subvisual Haze posted:Butter's sword (with the very detailed explanation of its functions) certainly seems to be the biggest setup moving forward Since the sword doesn't do anything to mortals but is extremely effective against evil, presumably Butters or Harry will just stab Thomas with it to fix his vampirism Ahhh brilliant Xtanstic fucked around with this message at 14:26 on Jul 15, 2020 |
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Jul 15, 2020 14:17
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docbeard posted:Far too many "let's create artificial tension through situations that could be resolved by a quick conversation" moments, particularly when "having conversations to resolve artificial tension is a good and wise thing to do" was arguably the goddamn point of the book. Infuriatingly so. I really hope Harry gets a chance to hash things out with all his Warden bros
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Jul 15, 2020 17:16
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30 TO 50 FERAL HOG posted:That makes sense. I probably would share this reaction if I was super hyped for the book, rather than being cautiously optimistic and tempering my excitement over the series after years of arguing about it in this thread. So thanks goons for properly adjusting my expectations.
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Jul 15, 2020 22:13
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Subvisual Haze posted:Missing completely that there is a middle path of them both living in safer location such as the Carpenter house (which is probably what will happen eventually). Man this is totally reasonable and I would be a bit sad because I was kinda hoping that Harry would somehow finally decide to move in with Murphy or something else but I basically wanted Harry to trick out and see what new home protection wards he has thought up since he last had an apartment. I kinda want to see Bonnie act as his home Siri or something
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Jul 17, 2020 03:52
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Beachcomber posted:I'd really, really like him to get a minute to sit down so he can craft some new focuses, another summoning circle...some kind of magic swag. He keeps saying 90% of wizarding is preparation, so can he please be allowed to power up fully? Yeah. It's been how many books since Changes now? I'm annoyed at the self-imposed nerf for the past few books. Everyone posted:Daughters are the universe's revenge on horn-dog men. Suddenly I will now expect a horribly contrived "I'm a feminist because I have a daughter" speech in the near future.
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Jul 17, 2020 16:33
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My theory is that a lot of the editing problems happened because of the book split which lead to book 1 being padded with a bunch of things (which end up being nonsensical) and not properly edited. Alternatively, Butcher should steal some of Sanderson's beta-readers.
Xtanstic fucked around with this message at 04:56 on Jul 19, 2020 |
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Jul 19, 2020 04:46
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Beachcomber posted:Murphy is small enough to fit in a fridge. Well good to know she'll survive the nukes in the Big Apocalyptic Trilogy then.
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Aug 11, 2020 02:46
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Happy to hear that the new Dresden book is decent. I'm gonna reread Peace Talks (aka part 1 of the new book) before reading part 2.
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Sep 29, 2020 21:27
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hatelull posted:is there a short story or flashback I'm missing of how Harry offed Justin (or why?) It's been forever since I've read those early books and he doesn't get mentioned as much lately. IIRC in Ghost Story, there are flashbacks. Harry tells the story to Lea and we get to see what happened.
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Oct 21, 2020 18:43
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Drone Jett posted:Next Alex Verus (the second to last?), Forged, is out on Tuesday next week. Get your preorders in. Oh boy looking forward to this. I was probably gonna do a Verus re-read over the holidays too.
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Nov 19, 2020 05:22
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I don't remember if there was speculation of Harry's starborn status in this thread. I only read Battlegrounds a few weeks after it came out. Am I the only one getting the impression that the book is setting up a starborn Thunderdome situation or something? If you defeat another starborn, you get their power, so you can Pac-Man yourself to more power. This explains a bunch of things various people allude to, and both explains/illustrates how stupid the WC interactions with Dresden.
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Nov 19, 2020 21:45
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sharknado slashfic posted:Is there still a dedicated Dresden thread or did it get rolled into this? I just started reading the beginning of Battle Ground and had no loving idea what was going on and then found out I somehow missed not one but two books this year? 2020 really has been pretty distracting. Also, so much of Peace Talks falls flat if you don't read the 2nd short story anthology that collects a bunch of Butcher's things in between the long gap between Skin Game and Peace Talks/Battle Grounds. I enjoyed it but yeah the writing is pretty eh. Fun but dumb. I also finally finished Forged. I agree with basically everyone's posts in the past two pages. Give No Fucks Alex is fun and I find that the Fateweaver powerup was an actual better implementation than Cold Knight Dresden. I enjoyed the entire book and tying up the many hanging threads even if I was also kinda disappointed about how Deleo plot was basically handled.. Someone mentioned a Cinder spinoff and boy would I read the poo poo outta that. I am so... whelmed by the setup for the final book.
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Dec 17, 2020 23:35
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Scorchy posted:Was just randomly googling what Daniel O'Malley was up to (The Rook, Stiletto) and saw there's a new Checquy book coming out in March(?), yay! Yay! Any mention on the POV? I'm still smarting over the non-Mifanwy POV in Stiletto but I'm sure it'll be better on a re-read with calibrated expectations.
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Jan 6, 2021 05:22
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Finally got around to finishing the last Verus book. It stuck the landing for me even if it didn't hit the highs I was hoping for. The good news is it didn't ruin the series for me and I would absolutely re-listen to my audiobooks somewhere down the line in the future. I guess there's no new hotness around given how slow this thread has gotten.  Guess I'll patiently wait for the next Rivers of London and Dresden books. I'm glad to hear a third Rook book is coming as well though.
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Feb 16, 2022 04:11
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I don't mind YA, but sometimes I bounce off them if the beginning is uneven. Glad to hear that I only have to wait until April for a new Peter Grant book though.
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Feb 16, 2022 22:42
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Finished the new Rivers of London book. It's more of the same; if you like the previous books in the series and want more of that, this is that. Ninurta posted:So, I recently finished up both Amongst Our Enemies (Rivers of London) and Suicide Kings (Eric Carter.) I found both enjoyable, but felt that the latter did a good job of expanding it's universe, showing off more hosed up Mage politics, and generally just having a bit more fun. I'm looking forward to the next books in both series, as well as the next Daniel Faust when it's released. Finally finished the new Rivers of London book. What a fun "run of the mill" series book after series ending Verus and the continuing chaos that is Dresden. I like how there's all this background meta development that is just a thing now (mainly the foxes and various cameos of characters I definitely barely remember from past books). Am I the only one that gets a mid series Stargate-ish vibe? Peter is no longer plucky guy out of his depth and his slow accumulation of things is starting to come together. Anyway, I could keep listening to a bunch more of these chill books before I get bored of the lack of high stakes big bad I think.
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May 8, 2022 05:28
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Everyone posted:I love the foxes for being spies who can be compromised by cheese pastries and lap cuddles. I admit that I really missed Abigail Kamara in this book. Yeah I was pretty ambivalent on any standalone Abigail story, but if it involves foxes in any shape I may have to rethink my position Ninurta posted:
Oh it's a short story collection. I definitely thought Butcher was now 'lending' his name to ghost-writters to further the series ala all the MilFic airport books. I guess if his son is now writing, maybe we'll eventually see Dresden finish even if Jim can't finish the job. Echo'ing the hope that he has a better editor than the most recent Dresden books though.
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May 15, 2022 19:22
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Grundulum posted:I’ve only managed to read the first Rivers of London book. Can people add spoiler tags to discussion of later events in the series? No problem. In exchange, you have to post your thoughts and theories after each book as you make your way through them. It's been a while since we've had someone make their way through one of the big UF series. Old Kentucky Shark posted:Mostly it’s evidence of how many people listen to the (excellent) audiobooks. They're so great and I always laugh at the narrator's terrible American accent
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May 19, 2022 00:53
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We'd also have a 20 chapter dissertation on how exactly the magic works at Demonreach.
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May 23, 2022 05:25
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ConfusedUs posted:I’m gonna read this soon but first I have to read Blitz, the third Checquay novel, following after The Rook and Stiletto. Ah fuuuuuck yes I didn't know a 3rd is coming. fake e: oh it's been out for 4 days already. Time to re-up my Audible sub
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Oct 23, 2022 02:35
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ConfusedUs posted:My favorite individual book in the genre remains The Rook. I don't even know how to describe a theoretical book that would top it. The Rook is basically perfect, and its most perfect chapter is the one about the Oracular Duck. Speaking of The Rook, I finally finished the 3rd book of the series (Blitz). Part of it sorta captures the magic of The Rook : new member of the Checquy, fish out of water, and the absurd backdrop of magic world coupled with mundane bureaucracy (god I love that genre. I had hoped Laundry Files would hit those notes but I've bounced off that series). At times I didn't particularly care about the parallel POV/timelines and honestly the payoff felt kinda weak. I don't think I liked the second half / ending as much. I don't remember much of the second book (Stiletto) besides really not loving it as much as The Rook, but I swear at the very least the 2nd book sticks its landing better. Still, if you liked The Rook, thought Stiletto was okay, you should think of Blitz as okay as well. I want more of the series. I want more books that have mundane absurdity worldbuilding (any other series that hit similar notes?). Also, re: the ending of Lynette Did I zone out during the exposition while listening to the audiobook? When Lynette was being debriefed, her and the dead cousin share the same mother? Is this explicitly a mistake by the Checquy? Was it not Nazi lightning guy knocking up multiple wartime prostitutes?
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Jan 25, 2023 04:42
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