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Arcsech posted:What does that mean? Where does he come from? What is he Out of? Sharkface also called Mac "The Watcher" and empty. Mac chose to be some sort of extreme neutral party that is completely "Out" of the events of the world/Outsiders/etc. unless they are brought into his neutral ground. treeboy posted:personally i think Mac is Dagda, the Irish All-father and conqueror of the Fomorians At a Turncoat Q/A, Butcher said Mac is neither a god (though the quest was about greek gods) nor a scion of the gods. He also said that we won't see anything about Mac's past until the trilogy. Fried Chicken posted:It is certainly possible Justin was long corrupted and the Black Council had Peabody or someone influence McCoy to pick him. But that particular example isn't all that good. As for all the Justin stuff, we've known for a while that before he went evil, Justin was a very well respected and a powerful Warden who fought Kemmler. And in Ghost Story Harry theorizes that Justin was probably corrupted/turned by He Who Walks Behind. It's possible that He Who Walks Behind was using Justin to gain access to the Starborn and then convert them to the side of the Outsiders. Saltpowered fucked around with this message at 20:50 on May 29, 2014 |
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May 29, 2014 20:45
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Speaking of Schaefer, he put out two books of that cross-over trilogy this year and the final one is out in December. Like all of his stuff, it’s fast-paced, easily readable, and interesting but not amazing. It feels a lot like a comic book crossover without the illustrations. Especially with the loving multiverse stuff. All of his other books are tied together. Important background plot that has been going nowhere for his other books is resolved. Seeing Faust from an outside perspective that isn’t Harmony’s is interesting. Schaefer’s stuff is pretty pulpy but I always appreciate that a few things about his writing: 1) His characters are damaged people with realistic (but exaggerated) flaws. Nessa is not a morally grey character. She’s selfish, power-hungry, and evil. 2) His antagonists are competent and frequently out maneuver his protagonists. The antagonists are also flawed and their flaws often end up bringing them down. 3) He doesn’t appear to be going to a happy ending but he also doesn’t make things miserably dark either. Nessa and Mari are going to go out in a blaze of glory that will shake poo poo up... but they are still going out. Their story will never end happy. Similarly, Faust’s best outcome is an eternity in his own part of hell. There’s no redemption for him, only not being obliterated by the Enemy. He also seemed to be having some second thoughts about siding with hell in the last Faust book so who knows how bad poo poo could end for him if he rebels. Edit: Apparently Schaefer has already turned in the manuscript for the last book in the trilogy and is hoping to have it edited and out by Halloween. And after that he is doing a pseudo-reboot of Harmony Black with a leaner plot after Wisdom’s Grave wraps a bunch of poo poo up. Saltpowered fucked around with this message at 05:07 on Sep 30, 2018 |
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Sep 30, 2018 04:57
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I agree that Lies Sleeping suffered from previous plot bloat. There were a lot of things to unpack and wrap up. Some things deserved a lot more time, some a lot less. There were also just too many subplots with not enough context. Lots of things from outside the main books crept in especially about Abagail and even having reread the whole main series over the last month, I was lost. I do really like the concept behind who the Faceless Man turned out to be and it does make a lot of sense. The execution isn’t the best but I like the character behind it. He’s a rich, entitled, unapologetically racist and classist rear end in a top hat. The whole Little Crocodiles concept is a bunch of entitled, rich boys playing with learning magic as part of their sheltered experience. Martin takes it a step further because he also grew up reading fantasy books and uses magic as childhood wish fulfillment. He cares about nothing except his power fantasy. His bent towards fantasy stories and lack of touch with reality has foreshadowing with the elvish demon traps several books ago and the first real encounter with him was him trying to capture the jazz vampires with his chimera’s and fairies. The obscure fantasy collection and some of the more detailed characteristics were in the last book but they do make sense in context. He was always a bit twisted and out of touch with reality. Magic just amplified all of it. He just came off more with it in the early books because no one had a clue what the gently caress he was up to. As more of his plan has come into focus, the shitshow is revealed. With Skygarden, he didn’t have a loving clue how it actually worked, that’s why he was destroying it. And as each of his quests for power is interrupted (jazz vampires, Skygarden, the ledger, the bell, walbrook) he becomes less prepared and more unhinged. Saltpowered fucked around with this message at 21:21 on Nov 21, 2018 |
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Nov 21, 2018 21:13
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gerg_861 posted:Agreed. I loved the subversion of expectations in the ending. 100% recommend. Subverting expectations really his strength and why I enjoy him more than most other authors in the space. His settings, characters, and worldbuilding is very different. He has strong female characters. His characters are flawed and don’t make objectively good decisions but ones in self-interest or group-interest (which in some cases turn out “good”). The twists are different enough that you can’t see all of them coming but they are also telegraphed enough in retrospect that they don’t see like complete bullshit. His work is pulpy and definitely has its flaws but Lionel felt more like a complete character in one book than most people did in Dresden in 5 books.
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May 3, 2019 16:53
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Junkenstein posted:Yeah, that's why I was surprised to see The Lady in Red, the King of Lament, the smell of roses..... Similar imagery and archetypes but I don’t think they were actually those characters. Post-Wisdom Graves Spoiler: The Faustverse is heavily Judeo-Christian influenced with only a smattering of characters that might not have come from the Goddess of the Universe or her sad offspring. The enemy and the Rakshasa are the only ones I can think of but they might be easily explained in a future book. Gotham has a very different mythology so far. Magic is abundant and doesn’t immediately appear to be coming from the same tainted (or now pure) source as Faustverse. Hekate and her daughters have strong similarities to the lady and the Cutting Knives but seem to be something else so far. So far we’ve seen more Greek/Roman influences than Judeo-Christian. I don’t think the creature on the other side of the portal was a king either. Just some kind of anti-life being.
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May 25, 2019 00:00
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Avalerion posted:Not weird and supernatural enough, imo. Though hopefully they are just saving the good stuff? The trailer is really light on anything supernatural and what’s there is very mild outside of a few shots. It’s either completely rewritten or all the weird poo poo is being saved for the show to be revealed as Myfanwy discovers it. My guess is completely rewritten though because (casting spoilers): 1. Van Syoc is credited with 5 episodes. 2. No credits for Lord Henry, Alrich, Eckhart, or Gubbins. 3. Paula Patton has been cast as a lead villain (no idea who)? Female grafted lead? Head of the other academy? 4. Producers have said they are spending much more time on who Myfanwy was and who she is now. And refocusing it on female leads and playing up the supporting female roles (Farrier, etc.) The first season is probably going to be a mix of the main plot through Van Syoc’s capture and then the missing kids stuff. Van Syoc will probably be the only grafter we see. Everything else is probably season two (if that). I have no expectations that it will be good. It looks like they picked up most of the world, a few characters, and a really rough plot outline and filled the rest in. It’s just not the Rook without all out weird bollocks all the time. Edit: They also completely reset the show last year after Stephanie Meyer left. They had the first two episodes in filming when she left and the show runner took over as EP. So who the gently caress knows what shape the script and characters are in. Saltpowered fucked around with this message at 03:12 on Jun 10, 2019 |
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Jun 10, 2019 03:03
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Wahad posted:...drat, that sounds kind of bad. I mean, point 4 is decent, but re 2; Maybe the other male Checquy members just haven't been revealed yet? I had hopes but if they're really skipping over all the guys then Grafter plot isn't even going to get started. I guess /maybe/ they can do half the book in season 1 and the other half in season 2? Seems kind of unnecessary though. Yeah, making it a strong female lead show sounds great but it looks like it comes at the expense of all the male characters except Grantchester and Gestalt. Or maybe Season One is less than half the book? Not having the other characters and Ferrier clearly being good is going to make for a weird reveal. Who betrayed me? Every other main character! It could still be good but it definitely seems like it leans more towards Dresden Files TV Show than American Gods or Good Omens. Saltpowered fucked around with this message at 01:12 on Jun 11, 2019 |
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Jun 11, 2019 01:00
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StonecutterJoe posted:Also, unrelated UF blatherings to avoid a double post: Good Omens embraced the ridiculous, offbeat, and fun source material to make a show that was full of life and true to the source material. Changes made to the story only make it that much better for a television audience and fill in gaps. If only every adaptation could be that good. I think we're going to get to see a complete opposite type of adaptation next week with The Rook. A few early reviews that were published and later taken down did not have kind things to say. Sounds pretty heavily rewritten to be a slick and stylish action show rather than a mystery.
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Jun 24, 2019 00:51
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BabyFur Denny posted:I watched the first episode of The Rook today and it was ... good? Though I never read the book. As someone who was a fan of the book, I absolutely hated it. Most of us speculated there would be some significant changes but it is barely recognizable. About half the main characters are cut, several major plot points are drastically different in ways that will impact both story and character development, and it’s not... fun. The rook is a fun and sometimes silly book which makes the whole supernatural spy agency fun. The show is a super generic spy thriller that happens to involve people with abilities. The best comparison I can give is that it got the DC Superhero movie treatment. It’s Batman vs Superman not Guardians of the Galaxy. For some specifics of what changed: Farrier is King, Grantchester is Queen. Gestalt and Myfanwy are the only other original court characters. Everyone else was written off the show. The opening few days where Myfanwy is trying to find herself are mostly gone and Farrier shows up really early to tell her she knows she isn’t Myfanwy and to help her. Farrier has none of the creepy and controlling persona of the book. Myfanwy’s recordings are kind of a mess and don’t convey anything useful. Myfanwy is a shown to be obviously depressed and even a cutter. Grantchester is shown to be a sleaze but in a really heavy-handed way. Other than that he comes off really boring. Definitely not the ridiculous and self-interested dandy from the the book. Olivia Munn’s new character is as boring as new Grantchester. Gestalt starts to feels close to the book then they reveal Gestalt had sex with Myfanwy. Ingrid is the best and closest character but she’s also had like one scene. Oh, and the Chequey office is a super boring and a generic office building. Really small set, glass offices, no private residences. It got a 33% on Rotten Tomatoes from review so far and that's pretty generous. There's very little buzz, positive or negative, about it anywhere but it is just so generic and forgettable. Edit: This review perfectly captures my feelings about it: https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/25/18744469/the-rook-review-daniel-omalley-book-adaptation-starz-emma-greenwell-olivia-munn Saltpowered fucked around with this message at 04:45 on Jul 1, 2019 |
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Jul 1, 2019 04:35
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As low budget and lovely as the show looks, they couldn't have paid him much for the rights.Ninurta posted:Goddammit Starz, a man in sweats and a sex harness is not good Rook TV. I take back all of the good things I said about episode 1. I gave it a second chance after how much I hated episode one thinking I was just being contrary. Nope, show is complete trash. Grant Chester just stares at people really hard and Myfanwy electrocutes them. And everyone else shift around uncomfortably the whole time and has way too much sexual tension. Saltpowered fucked around with this message at 22:51 on Jul 14, 2019 |
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Jul 14, 2019 22:30
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basement dweller posted:it's impressively bad It’s Dark Tower levels of bad without any special effects budget. They showed a new trailer at SDCC that has clips from the back half of the season. Van Syoc is definitely a love interest and the memory eating kid is just a normal kid and not a creepy genetic experiment. biracial bear for uncut posted:So what you're saying is Stephanie Meyer's influence is clearly visible. As much as I’d like to blame Stephanie Meyer for this abomination, she left it a while ago due to creative differences with the showrunners, one of who... Kchama posted:That's a real shame. It's relatedly why I stopped being unable to stand Bones (the show about the bones expert who works for the police) because the show's primary concern quickly became the bone zone. ... was also the showrunner for Bones. They supposedly redid large parts of the show after her departure. So the well was poisoned from a lot of different people. It’s just amazing that someone could get the rights to weird as gently caress British X-men and decide to make it a spy thriller/romance with as little superhuman/supernatural as possible. Especially with how well superhero properties are doing right now. It doesn’t even make sense from a business perspective.
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Jul 22, 2019 13:37
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Kchama posted:Holy poo poo really? Well that absolutely explains literally everything. I'm officially of the opinion that the Twilight lady was probably a better choice than the person responsible for museum workers literally boning on priceless artifacts every single episode while the lady in charge of making sure they don't bone on the bones fondly approves in Bones. Yeah, the showrunners have previous made a lot of romance drama/thriller only tangentially related to a plot (ER, Bones, Flash Forward, One Tree Hill). Meyer was the only person associated with the project that seemed to actually know or care about the source material. But don’t take my word for it, let’s here from the new showrunner: quote:Speaking at a TCA panel Tuesday afternoon, “The Rook” executive producer Stephen Garrett said Meyer — who was hired as showrunner, before exiting early in production — parted with the show “amicably.” He said Meyer, who adapted Daniel O’Malley’s 2012 novel, had a “different take” than what the other producers decided to pursue. This led to, as you might imagine, a departure over “creative differences.” The current producers intentionally decided to go this direction instead of what Meyer had planned. Now, her plans may have been atrocious and involve Myfanwy being a self-insert that starts banging Alberich who now sparkles. We will never know. But the current direction is definitely on the new showrunners and not her. I hope it gets put out of its misery after this season.
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Jul 23, 2019 00:11
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So I checked back in with the Rook for an episode after writing it off four episodes ago as unwatchable trash. Holy poo poo is it got even worse: Myfanwy’s sister is part of an anti-Chequy resistance. Gestalt is in love with Myfanwy and hurt that she didn’t trust them with her memory loss. And is loving Olivia Munn’s character. Farrier is a villain (sort of, who the gently caress knows the story makes no sense) and has some sort of massive stunning power instead of her dream abilities. Myfanwy tells the whole court about the memory loss after being interrogated by Grantchester who is now “King.” Grantchester is probably going to be revealed as the overall villain planning some coup to take over the Chequy and government. Again poo poo makes no sense. It fully departed adaptation or even reimagining and has landed in completely different story except with a handful of similar sounding or feeling things. I’m still completely perplexed at why they even bought the rights. Parts of Gestalt and the memory loss are the only unique things they really kept from the book. Everything else was scrapped or so heavily changed it is unrecognizable other than a name. Good for O’Malley on getting some kind of royalty off them using 1% of his story.
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Aug 6, 2019 05:52
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Verus book was good. It almost felt like a Schaefer book with the pacing, wtf moments, and twists. Interested to see where the last two books go because it sounds like they will be Alex and Anne’s personal versions of Kill Bill.
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Sep 25, 2019 13:31
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I would guess that this book and the last book were originally outlined as a single story and the got split due to length. Jacka’s original outline was 10 books. I think the last few just ended up being more complex and longer than planned. Everything in this book is way more dependent on the last book than any other books and there is very little recap like there was in past books. I don’t know what a satisfying conclusion to the series looks like either at this point. Richard dead? The Light Council dissolved/reformed? Levistus dead? Anne and Alex living happily ever after? I just have no concept for what a conclusion would look like for this series.
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Sep 25, 2019 14:21
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Inspector 34 posted:Hey did anybody actually watch the full season of The Rook? Curious if they ever actually did anything right, or even entertaining. I stopped my hatewatch when the Gestalt romance poo poo kicked into full gear. Have not revisited it. From searching around, there aren’t even episode summaries on online. No one cares enough about the show to write them. There’s a handful of reddit posts flaming the ending but that’s it. Sounds like it got even more nonsensical. There is zero press buzz about it now and no interviews or statements from Starz. I assume it’s not getting renewed. Edit: Found one series finale recap: https://www.thereviewgeek.com/therook-s1e8review/ Lol, it sounds so bad. Myfanwy chose to get her memories wiped for reasons and there’s a love triangle between Gestalt, Myfanwy and Olivia Munn. No Grafters or anything else interesting. Saltpowered fucked around with this message at 14:11 on Oct 16, 2019 |
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Oct 16, 2019 13:56
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The most interesting part of that AMA is how he is pretty set on nothing after the last book, nothing else in the universe, and no detail about where Richard went and what he did other than him coming back with Djinn.
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Oct 18, 2019 02:02
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Schaefer has said for a while that the Harmony Black books were heavily influenced by the publisher which pushed him to do a lot with them he didn’t want to. The new book was supposed to be a reboot of sorts. Sounds like it has some issues as well. Harmony probably has too much baggage from the first lovely books to recover and should just be ended. Which would give him more time to write better series (Ghosts).
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Oct 19, 2019 15:20
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Overall it feels a lot like book 3, a season opener for the second main arc of the series. I enjoyed the read as a popcorn book but I felt the same way. This feels like a reset of just about everything that would be interesting 10 books ago. Or an interesting place to start a series. This is just really far in to press the reset button like this. There are also other books that have come out in the interim that do these exact arcs so much better too. Alex Verus does a much better “ok I need to get my own power to save the ones I love” arc. Honest, Verus just does every beat here better. The book as a whole feels like Butcher had writers block, read all of Jacka and Schaefer’s books, and tried to make a darker Dresden by borrowing heavily from them. Murphy very much felt fridged to me through both books though. Harry and Murphy finally get together but that’s not interesting or fun to write anymore because she’s a human which will keep aging and gets hurt easily. So let’s kill her off so Harry can be with the sexy vampire lady that isn’t technically incest but is close enough to feel very wrong. Sure, Harry will object at first but we all know we will get a super uncomfortable sex scene in a future book. They made normal nerdy Butters a ridiculous badass swordsman with a harem of werewolves but Murphy has to die to Harry’s poison dick. If Butcher wanted to write her out, having her pick up the other sword and gently caress off being a Knight elsewhere would have been much better. Maybe I’m just hate reading at this point and shouldn’t even get the next one. Maybe I’d like it more if this was actually the last book or way earlier in the series. Even while writing this post I found more and more things that I disliked about the story.
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Sep 30, 2020 00:18
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I really enjoyed the Verus series previously but I think I’m probably done after Forged. I like Jacka’s writing style. I like many of the characters. I think there are a lot of interesting stories that could be written from the setting. However... The Jinn are just so loving boring. Every series doesn’t need some ultimate inhuman evil that people have to band together to defeat in the end. Richard was substantially more interesting before the whole Jinn angle. Going to another world and learning their magic and coming back had a lot of interesting possibilities. Forged Spoilers Now that almost all the other plot threads are dead I just absolutely do not give a gently caress about the story. I don’t care about the four Jinn horsemen of the apocalypse. I don’t care about Anne. Butcher’s Roman Pokemon series has this problem. As silly as it was, there were a lot of interesting stories to be told in that world. But whatever the creatures were that converted and consumed the whole world were the least interesting option. Shades of Magic was a very interesting world(s) with the same issues with Osaron as the series progressed. Nemesis and outsiders are the least interesting part of Dresden. So far the longterm plot in October Daye has avoided this but I do worry that it will end with a big showdown with the Heart of Faerie being a malevolent super being that is acting through Maeve. I really hope not but it’s a possibility. Same with Rivers, there is no super big-bad and that’s the way it really needs to stay. World-shattering alien evils are just such a cliche in the genre. They are the least interesting way to take a series but the easiest way to ratchet up the tension so everyone goes for it.
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Nov 30, 2020 23:00
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Yup. And those stories can be done well. Like I called out Shades of Magic but that probably isn’t complete fair because it was clear from Book 1 where things were going. I hate that because everything else about that world was way more interesting but I knew what I was getting into. The story is well done for what it is as well. Similarly, the last few Laundry Files haven’t been my cup of tea but there was never any doubt they would get to apocalyptic times. That was clear from the beginning. Verus though? Get the gently caress out of here with that. I’m totally cool with him squaring off against the Light Council or Richard because that’s always been the deal. Forged Spoilers Him killing Levistus and throwing down the gauntlet to the council makes perfect sense in context of the story. Levistus was the big bad behind so many things. Totally onboard with that plot and Verus going off the deep end to achieve it. But with him gone and all the Richard stuff so commingled with the Jinn, I just do not give a gently caress any more. I really related with Morden at the end of Forged. Much like him, I signed up for reading this series with some expectations and goals in mind. Now that poo poo has gone sideways into something that will never be what I want, it’s time to retire and enjoy a different life. Maybe I’m just getting old or maybe the pseudo-apocalyptic state of the world the last year has worn on me. You can have stories that are high stakes for the characters without being high stakes for the world.
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Dec 1, 2020 00:35
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Darkrenown posted:Forged Yeah, I'm really disappointed with where the story has gone with regards to the Jinn being the driving force as I mentioned in a previous post. There were so many more interesting possibilities for Richard and the whole world. The Jinn just suck everything interesting out of the whole story. If it had been a minor part of Richard's plan that was resolved this book or last book, that would have been one thing. However, swapping to the Jinn as the major antagonists this far through the series just isn't that interesting.
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Dec 8, 2020 07:18
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OmniBeer posted:I could just read October Daye stuff forever- she's created a super comfortable, found-family focused type of fantasy that's equal parts fun and relaxing to read. Completely agree. Her series all feel inclusive but authentic at the same time. And they are just fun as you mention. The books are all just about the perfect length. They don’t overstay themselves but still have plenty of plot. Characters change and grow even 15 books later. I absolutely did not see Julie coming back and them making up but it makes sense considering everything that has happened. I guess after she pulled off Simon’s redemption, Julie’s was no big deal. I also appreciate that her world building actually serves the plot rather than it being there purely for world building sake. The world has progressively gotten larger over the series. We know a lot about some places that are relevant but there are a bunch of people and places that we still have 0 clue about. Tybalt is a really good example of this. We know exactly as much of his history is as relevant to his character, the people he interacts with, and the plot. He obviously has a long history with everyone but even his previous romance with September is reduced to a handful of off-hand comments across a dozen books. I can’t think of any other series that hasn’t poo poo itself at half the length. Verus had a really good run of it until the Jinn. Dresden always had issues but was improving for a while before a lot of weird and awful detours. Schaefer and Briggs are both still quality in a similar way though both significantly darker in tone.
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Sep 26, 2021 02:09
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biracial bear for uncut posted:Well, until he abandoned the original premise and went full into power fantasy and having a Horde enemy as the main threat. Just a really disappointing way for that series to go. I enjoyed the books up until they became that stupidity all the time. There some of that same stupidity in Nemesis but at least he’s used it sparingly thus far.
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Feb 4, 2022 03:21
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Rivers of London is pretty much my ideal level of magic system detail. Almost every detail is directly relevant to the plot. The POV character maybe references 3-5 very specific spells that are generally very plot relevant. The more powerful non-POV character always have their spells described as long or complex or just noted by effects. There some details of how part of the system works when it’s a major plot point but otherwise it’s mostly probably ‘quantum mechanics or some such poo poo.’ The series does a good job of approaching really everything with an essential only level of detail. If it doesn’t make for a better story or isn’t require to understand the story, it happens offscreen. More authors should really take this approach. Nobody likes to reads 73 page manual on a custom magic system.
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Mar 4, 2022 05:08
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After reading the latest Schaefer, October Daye, and Rivers books, I think I’m just done with the Dresden series. Peace Talks was kind of a hate read for me and I don’t think any more books will be better. The genre has evolved so much since Butcher wrote the first Dresden novel and he just sticks out like a sore thumb. I relate it to my group of friends who grew up in the Deep South. We were all pretty rough as kids and grew up around some pretty sexist/racist/bigoted ideals. Many of us left our home towns, expanded our world view, and changed as people. Several of us recently got together with a friend that never left the town and it just got really awkward several times in the evening because he still held all the beliefs he did when we were teenagers. Several slurs thrown out, uncomfortable confrontations about gay and trans people, and lots of awkwardly avoided topics. Butcher has shown little to no growth as a author and is actively awful in a lot of ways. gently caress, even Sanderson has had more growth related to sexuality and accepting and representing other groups than Butcher ever has or will.
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Apr 11, 2022 01:55
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Everyone posted:According to his site Mirror Mirror will be book 19 and book 18 will be Twelve Months. Anybody's guess when it comes out, though. He still hasn’t put out the next Cinder Spires book that he has been working on for 3 years. His website hasn’t been updated since September and that was just a publicist updating about a convention. Butcher’s last update was in the 2020. The likelihood of him finishing Dresden Files is pretty slim at this point unless he drastically changes his pace. He has like 5-6 case files to finish and his big trilogy. At his current pace, that’s 20-30 years.
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May 1, 2022 00:45
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biracial bear for uncut posted: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. He really should just move on from Peter as the POV character for every book. I don't think the Laundry Files did a great job moving on from Bob so don't make that mistake but more of a shared would like Schaefer would be nice. I'd probably enjoy Peter more as a character if he he was only every third released book or something.
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May 16, 2022 06:33
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I recently started listening to Rivers Audio books and also October Daye audiobooks after reading both series. Both narrators are substantially better than most other audiobooks I’ve ever listened to. So much so that I bought the latest Rivers book only on audiobook and will probably do the same for October Daye. Urban Fantasy having the best narrators was an interesting surprise.
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May 19, 2022 03:05
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Soonmot posted:What's out there (audiobook specifically) that's similar to the Craft Sequence by Max Gladstone? I loved how rich the world was in those books. I'd prefer stuff that is light on romance, or at least queer if it's there. I just finished the Dragon Blood audio books by Lindsay Buroker and while I enjoyed those, they were aggressively straight at points. For reference, some of other stuff I've enjoyed have been A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A Brown, and The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton. I guess these are more alternate world than urban fantasy exactly? But the worlds are more modern than traditional fantasy. I've listened to a bunch of Dresden Files years ago and those were fun, but protagonists who aren't straight white cis males would be more interesting. October Daye might fit the bill. There’s more romance as the books go on but it’s pretty light and there’s definitely lots of queer to it the farther it goes along. The books are all light, fast reads. It’s a lot like Dresden but with less lovely characters and opinions.
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May 27, 2022 05:47
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Fighting Trousers posted:Finished Amongst Our Weapons and I have to wonder if Nightengale's bit at the end about retiring and reopening the school might be Aaronovitch's off-ramp wrt his main characters being cops. It’s definitely the off-ramp to Peter being the main POV character. Peter’s character arc feels very near completion even in Amongst Our Weapons. He’s a father now. He’s decided he’s not throwing himself head first into danger anymore. He’s pretty competent as a officer, leader, and wizard. I’d imagine we get one or two more Peter PoV books at most. There’s just not much more to do with him. It would be nice to move outside the police entirely or at least to another location.
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May 31, 2022 19:00
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Finished the new October Daye book. Definitely one of the darker ones after the last few lighter books. Confirmed a lot of things people suspected and really advanced the meta plot. Feels like we’re just a few books from wrapping up the main story. Big Spoilers: It feels like the ending of the series (or at least the Toby storyline) is pretty close. This book was a lot darker and I think the ending of the series is definitely going to be a little darker as well. There are really only a few plot threads I think will be wrapped up due to time and other things(with my predictions): 1) Where is Maeve? Almost certainly Marcia. 2) What’s going to happen with the heart of Faerie? It’s been six years since Toby has been back and the heart of Faerie has to be fed every seven. Maeve has likely been the one doing it with herself to keep the wound from growing but not heal. I would guess that the last feeding was around when October emerged from the pond. The next feeding will probably be a major climax to the series. Probably not the next book but the one after that. I’d guess that Oberon has to end up sacrificing himself to heal it or all of the three have to go. This may or may not end faerie or maybe separate it from the mortal world permanently. 3) When is the Ludaieg going to kill Toby? Either not at all (because Toby unbinds her) or to help heal the heart of Faerie. 4) Toby’s pregnancy and current imprisonment Likely wrapped up in the next book. I think the baby will be fine as will Tybalt. The baby seems like a good way to end the series with Toby and Tybalt getting to be the parents they have always wanted and we’re robbed of being. 5) Tybalt stepping down Probably the next book maybe even offscreen because he’s having to search for Toby and not tend his court. 6) Eira? I hope she isn’t woken up at all and just becomes a big bad for the post Toby universe (if there is one). Nothing else really makes sense to wrap up due to the timeline. So unless there is some sort of 10 year time skip, this is all I see being answered. Maybe 1-2 more main story books unless something really comes out of left field. I have a lot of other thoughts about the book but they will take more time to digest.
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Aug 30, 2022 17:33
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I’m looking for a recommendations of a new book or series to start (preferably series or an author with several books). What I’ve read recently in a rough good to bad order: Good Rivers of London October Daye Mercy Thompson Everything by Schaefer Alpha and Omega Alex Verus Incryptid Rook Series Okay Charming Magic for Liars VE Schwab (very hit or miss) - I loved a darker shade of magic and did not like the rest of the series. Sanderson Bad Dresden Magicians Iron Druid (jumped the shark really hard) DNF (but might be good) Felix Castor Anything that sticks out that I should check out?
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Jan 23, 2023 08:08
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Thanks for all the recommendations. I’ll pick up Eric Carter and Twenty Palaces to start. The romance aspect doesn’t bother me as long as it’s no more than you see in Seanan McGuire or Patricia Briggs books: A relevant subplot that has some short easily skippable sex scenes. There’s a lot of UF that I’ve not even considered or put for too much or really poorly written romance that impact enjoyment of the rest of the book.
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Jan 24, 2023 13:12
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Masonity posted:The Laundry Files by Charles Stross series is definitely good but straddles the UF/Horror line so it's hard to know if it's disqualified or not. I should have put this on the list. I fell off this series pretty hard when the super hero book came out. Really enjoyed most of the books up until that point and the setting. I think the book after the super hero book wasn't bad either but the super hero book just really soured me on the series. Maybe I should look at the other books that came out after.
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Jan 24, 2023 16:41
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Edmond Dantes posted:Do I "need" to read the rest of the Harmony Black books to get the most of what this seems to be setting up? I really enjoy the Faust books but kinda hated the Black one. If I recall correctly, Schaefer had a different publisher at the beginning of the series and they gave her a lot of really bad feedback and had requirements for the books that were bad. Such as Harmony's loving terrible love interest in the first book. Once Schaefer moved away from that publisher, everything improved greatly. The last two books have been very good. Harmony's appearances in Wisdom's Grave and the latest Faust book were also good.
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Mar 31, 2023 03:37
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torgeaux posted:Just realized the latest Aaronovich dropped a week + ago. Starting it tonight. The latest October Daye dropped today as well so it’s a good week for reading. The audiobook released simultaneously too. It’s quite a trip so far.
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Sep 5, 2023 23:20
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DreamingofRoses posted:I’m not even an hour in and I’m enthralled I was really skeptical about this book because the last few have been so good and I wasn't sold on the premise. I was completely wrong. Really brilliant book not just for the story itself (which was the best written amnesia story I've seen in genre. It really improved the overall narrative, answered many outstanding mysteries and moved the metaplot forward. Seanan McGuire is just very good a plotting a book and her long-term story. She's knocked out as many October Daye books as Butcher has of Dresden in half the time with tighter plots and less inconsistencies across the series. I need to read the new Rivers of London book now.
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Sep 17, 2023 03:09
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Incryptid has a Tanooki (small raccoon dog) in a relationship with a waheela (giant loving werewolf that stands on 2 legs). Speaking of Incryptid, the last few books have been pretty dark. Aftermarket Afterlife spoilers: Jane and Dominick both killed in rapid succession. Artie effectively dead as his brain is fundamentally broken and poorly reconstructed. Sarah spiraling towards a dark phoenix moment. The series seems like it’s heading for a conclusion soon and it probably won’t be a happy one.
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Mar 15, 2024 15:55
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