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Everyone posted:There's stuff Jim Butcher is bad at. Editing. Writing women without sounding like John Cena from Peacemaker. But he's pretty good at logical world-building. In his worlds poo poo makes sense and pays off. That was even true of Roman Pokemon world. Well, until he abandoned the original premise and went full into power fantasy and having a Horde enemy as the main threat.
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Feb 3, 2022 11:41
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Nihilarian posted:I didn't really like the zergs but they were there from the start The origin bits for a singular enemy were there in the first book, but not the zerg aspect (that was added a few books later).
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Feb 4, 2022 16:47
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If you don't frown on reading books intended for YA audiences there are a *lot* of urban fantasy adjacent fantasy books out there by authors like Claribel Ortega (with a novel called "Ghost Squad", plus several other things she's doing) and if you follow her on Twitter she tends to post a lot of links to works by other authors that are along similar lines, even some that aren't YA (when she isn't posting memes about BTS or What We Do In The Shadows or promoting her latest book).
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Feb 16, 2022 14:26
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His Divine Shadow posted:Replace super with billionaire and powers with money. 
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Feb 18, 2022 20:24
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Yeah, we will literally be in the throes of spiraling climate change disasters by then.
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May 2, 2022 01:02
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Ninurta posted:The next Schaefer work on Patreon is going to be a sequel to the Hungry Dreaming. However, Heather will be doing a lot of historical research on it so I'm not sure when it will start popping up. I read that they were going to keep using their dead name as their pen name, so now I'm wondering where the appropriate line is for name referencing on forums like this? Like, unless you're their personal friend or someone they otherwise have a relationship with that isn't "I read their books", using their chosen name almost feels like being rude in a "you're acting too familiar about someone who doesn't even know you" way? Like using a doctor's first name instead of "Dr. Lastname" when they haven't explicitly said "call me by my first name"? Not the best metaphor but the point is avoiding disrespecting a stranger. Some Pinko Commie fucked around with this message at 18:36 on May 5, 2022 |
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May 5, 2022 15:21
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M_Gargantua posted:It's an interesting question in the era of parasocial relationships. The dead name is effectively the corporate entity separate from the person. This has been effectively true for a while as an 'author' byline in publishing is as much the amalgamated entity including the editing, marketing, and other publishing persons as much as the author themselves. If you look at their current Twitter bio that says their pen name is Heather Schaefer. I guess the article I read the other day about this was wrong? Edit: I took a shot and sent a DM since speculation about someone should always takes a backseat to the actual person's preference.  There we go. Some Pinko Commie fucked around with this message at 19:37 on May 5, 2022 |
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May 5, 2022 18:46
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Ninurta posted:There's a Butcher book coming in October!...from his son. Welp, add "My son is humiliating me by writing better books" to Jim Butcher's reasons for never finishing the Dresden Files.
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May 15, 2022 02:04
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I meanimmoral_ posted:It doesn't need to be good, just needs to not be bad.
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May 15, 2022 13:01
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Fighting Trousers posted:I like Peter well enough, but one thing I've realized as I've worked my way through the series is that I have zero emotional investment in him. Rivers of London suffers from the same "the world and its past is infinitely more interesting than the main character" syndrome as the Iron Druid books, except Peter is far less irritating a person than Atticus. Give me a God damned Folly/Nightingale/WWII series of novels.
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May 16, 2022 01:31
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I was ok with Case Nightmare/God Game stuff happening, but really didn't care for the Mhari Sue or Scrum-Vampire guy POV stories. I still haven't read the two most recent books because I keep bouncing off the introduction chapters for the apparently non-laundry metahumans under the New Managment. If Angleton made some kind of triumphant return from his fight with the Elder Vampire I'd be invested again.
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May 17, 2022 09:23
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I think Leslie went completely insane when her face fell off in Book 1 anyway, and Punch's continued influence was always going to mold her into a villain.
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May 18, 2022 01:04
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Please put spoilers for the Harry Potter books in spoiler tags, I haven't read them yet. Edit: The book events in question were published in 2016 for the most recent thing Leslie did (everything else literally happens in Book 1, which was released 11 years ago). I get spoiler tagging a book released this year but spoiler tagging things from six years ago from the forum that made a meme out of "Dumbledore Dies" is silly. Some Pinko Commie fucked around with this message at 13:08 on May 18, 2022 |
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May 18, 2022 13:01
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Kchama posted:I dunno, maybe be a little kind for the dude currently reading them, instead of being an rear end in a top hat about it. It just seems a little weird coming from the guy that only uses spoilers talking about lesser known books (Like the Library at Mount Char) rather than one of the most recommended series in this thread. The same poster who also has no problem posting "spoilers" about Dresden Files books in this very thread. If we're supposed to spoiler everything regardless of the age of the book, this thread is going to always look like a redacted classified document. Also nothing that Leslie does after book one is treated like a major plot event so much as incidental things that happen alongside the main plot. Hieronymous Alloy posted:https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3875825 I explained the reason for my response above. This is a general Urban Fantasy thread and not a specific Dresden Files or Alex Verus or Peter Grant thread. If it's that hard a rule everybody from the last dozen pages is going to eat probations. Some Pinko Commie fucked around with this message at 13:51 on May 18, 2022 |
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May 18, 2022 13:45
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Nothing I've posted without spoiler tags about Rivers of London is a spoiler-level plot point, though? I wasn't talking about Beverly Brook possibly being pregnant with Peter's child or even the actually plot-relevant act where Leslie executes The Faceless Man with a bullet to the head. By about halfway through book 2 the reader should already be aware that Leslie isn't exactly following what Nightingale would call the Ethical Magician's path. I'm speculating that descent towards being a villain from Peter's POV started when she was a victim of magical assault and violence. That isn't even close to spoiling the series for someone that is still reading it (especially since less than maybe 15 percent of the events so far even concern Leslie, she's kind of a selfish dick character). That's like someone calling a discussion about the violence in The Shire in Lord of the Rings a spoiler. It is something that happens, yeah, but it isn't a plot-critical piece of information that will ruin the rest of the book's journey for the reader. Some Pinko Commie fucked around with this message at 16:12 on May 18, 2022 |
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May 18, 2022 16:09
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Grundulum posted:Granted, I don’t pay as close attention to things as maybe I should, but I left the first book with the impression that Peter was still interested romantically in Leslie, and that Leslie was moving along a similar professional arc as Peter but in a different division of the police force. I did not think it was a given that she would become a villain, though without access to the book I can’t go back and re-read to pick up on any hints (or perhaps outright statements) to that effect. There are some hints before Leslie was attacked in Book 1 with her arguments with Peter about what it means to be a Police Officer in London, but some of that may be lost depending on where you live and what that institution means in your local society. Rivers of London police seem to be idealized Law and Order level fictional cops that actually care about people in addition to being an arm of oppression (as opposed to just being an arm of oppression that gives no fucks about people).
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May 18, 2022 18:13
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Just more evidence of how little importance her arc has in the series! 
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May 18, 2022 19:15
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Sloth Life posted:Felix Castor. I wish this series had gone a little longer.
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May 20, 2022 00:39
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I figured potions went the way of the "pocket of sunshine" hanky in that the ones that would have devastating effects against forces of "evil" would require the wizard brewing them to be fully in the mindset of being "good". Sanderson would have probably come up with some much cooler potion effects that Butcher can't be hosed to even dream about, though. I mean, what did we have before they went out of use? Veil-in-a-bottle, Turn-into-Air-and-Sir-Robin-it, maybe a Restore-Mana potion at some point before that was replaced by the bear charm that was used once?
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May 23, 2022 15:18
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Avalerion posted:The stealth potion made a return in peace talks and I think there have been others even later in the series, just without the elaborate brewing scenes. Yeah, but there were only the three/four effect types, right? Veil/stealth, Turn into Air and Book-It, love potion, what else? The one in Changes was a watered-down flight potion. But I think that was it?
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May 23, 2022 19:47
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docbeard posted:The Supercoffee (which came across a bit more like Wizard Meth when Harry used it). I thought the Third Eye drug was retconned into a Nemesis vector and not actually a drug/potion.
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May 24, 2022 11:01
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I'm just trying to point out that we're talking about potion use as if it was some tool that was as common as the kinetic ring or the blasting rod, when it wasn't even as regularly used as the pentacle amulet to light a dark room.
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May 24, 2022 18:29
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Revanche Cycle/Wisdom's Grave is definitely gay enough to pass that bar I think. Also it rules.
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May 26, 2022 17:58
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Beachcomber posted:But what benefit is that over hardback? Why would I buy any Dresden Files books in Hardback? Edit: Unless they were in a Goodwill book pile and I hadn't read it yet?
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May 27, 2022 14:44
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Harry died at the end of Changes and it was a good ending. This is honestly the best way to look at the series. He fulfilled the gravestone epitaph and everything.
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Jul 12, 2022 20:26
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Beachcomber posted:I...did not remember the fairly detailed sex scenes in Moon Over Soho. Was a fairly awkward section of audiobook to listen to. Jazz Vampires will never not be funny as a concept, though.
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Jul 14, 2022 16:33
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