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Nigmaetcetera posted:I tried reading the first Black Company book but I only got a few chapters in because it was written like a drunk guy's journal. this was my experience as well. The first page of the first Black Company book is good, but it quickly becomes impossible to tell what is going on, who is speaking or where anyone or anything is.
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Jul 13, 2021 02:06
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Malazan borrows more than just the themes let's say
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Jul 13, 2021 02:19
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Applewhite posted:Does anybody else detest Glen Cook's prose or just me? i tried reading the first black company and even though i finished it i had no interest in powering through the rest, i think because the reveal for lady was telegraphed way too hard
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Jul 13, 2021 02:38
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Lady was girl Sauron and that’s all I remember. Oh wait and her ex boyfriend was Morgoth I guess?
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Jul 13, 2021 03:32
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The first Black Company trilogy was good, although it flagged towards the end. The second trilogy was okay, but there were way too many "suddenly this man with a scar shows up and we're supposed to recognize him even though he (allegedly) died two books ago" moments. I'd read more like the first chapter; the only honest mercs in a city full of betrayal and murder. Fantasy needs more stories about ordinary schlubs who aren't Chosen.
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Jul 13, 2021 03:48
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Cobalt-60 posted:The first Black Company trilogy was good, although it flagged towards the end. The second trilogy was okay, but there were way too many "suddenly this man with a scar shows up and we're supposed to recognize him even though he (allegedly) died two books ago" moments. I'd read more like the first chapter; the only honest mercs in a city full of betrayal and murder. Fantasy needs more stories about ordinary schlubs who aren't Chosen. It also needs more books written in parsable language.
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Jul 13, 2021 04:07
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I vaguely remember the prose style changing with who was the chronicler?
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Jul 13, 2021 04:14
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Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke was great, but I adore her more recent book Piranesi. I get a weird feeling of lonely heartache when I think about that book.
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Jul 13, 2021 04:31
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Computer viking posted:I vaguely remember the prose style changing with who was the chronicler? Yeah I think there's a bit where one of the company wizards takes over the chronicle, and he's very bad at writing so that section is really hard to follow. I read the series about a decade ago, but never finished the last book...because my original copy was a misprint that had a chunk of pages missing. I got a new copy but then never got around to reading the rest of it. I'm pretty sure I'd have no idea what's going on if I just picked it up now. Also TIL that Clarke has written another book, I need to check it out!
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Jul 13, 2021 06:49
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Mexican Deathgasm posted:Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke was great, but I adore her more recent book Piranesi. I get a weird feeling of lonely heartache when I think about that book. Magician's Nephew was one of my favorite books growing up so it was awesome to see another author take so much inspiration* from it. *and names, and places, and characters, and lines...
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Jul 13, 2021 16:59
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Nigmaetcetera posted:I tried reading the first Black Company book but I only got a few chapters in because it was written like a drunk guy's journal. I think that's what he was going for at the start, it's literally supposed to be the log book of the Black Company. But the tone changes drastically by even the second book, although I think they keep up the conceit that it is an actual in-universe book for at least a while. Until they obviously need to put in stuff that the company has no knowledge of (even tried getting around this with mysterious dreams that just happen to show things crucial to the plot that the author wants to put in. I think the series goes downhill after the Lady actually joins the Company and becomes the lover of the chronicler guy after being deposed or whatever. So corny. Then they go south to find out their origins and the whole thing starts to fall apart
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Jul 13, 2021 20:42
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Friendly reminder that the Conan comics by Dark Horse have a female character thatis trained by literally getting thrown into a pit to be gangraped by an army of demons each and every day until she manages to kill every last one of them at which point she graduates to "Best Assassin ever".
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Jul 13, 2021 21:05
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It sounds like a firebrand critique of modern colleges 
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Jul 13, 2021 21:08
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I'm just going to pretend you were talking about Ranma Saotome, who as a child was "trained" by having fish sausages tied to him and being tossed into a pit full of hungry cats, giving him a paralyzing phobia of cats that causes him to start acting like one if he's around them too long.
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Jul 13, 2021 21:16
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Maybe that works, i waited for the day that i would forget that part. But it did not come. 
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Jul 13, 2021 21:32
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Nae posted:Magician's Nephew was one of my favorite books growing up so it was awesome to see another author take so much inspiration* from it. Clarke obviously loved the Magician's nephew and references it in a few places, but IMO Piranesi is far, far better in pretty much every way. Then again, they are so vastly different it is hard to compare them.
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Jul 14, 2021 04:52
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I also enjoyed piranesi
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Jul 14, 2021 06:57
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cake bunny posted:No, the Kushiel series is absolutely intentionally porn, or at least the first book is. I never read more. I read the first one because someone adamantly insisted they were super great books and not all all pervy despite the main character being a sacred pain-based prostitute. She literally receives physical pleasure from pain because she was born that way. So you can imagine where things go from there. that reminds me of Orson Scott Card's Songmaster, in which the titular character is a teenage boy that older men literally can't stop wanting to gently caress, and at one point the main older guy either almost or just barely starts to gently caress the Songmaster and OSC describes how the pleasure is so intense it literally drives the guy insane or something. It's a... fascinating look into the mind of a closeted gay man. We read it in a Psychology class in Uni haha
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Jul 15, 2021 15:33
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I'll also offer up Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson. EDIT: Also anything by Ellen Kushner, specifically the Riverside series. Dementropy fucked around with this message at 03:13 on Jul 17, 2021 |
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Jul 16, 2021 00:57
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I just started Elric of Melniboné yesterday, and I'm not hating it so far.
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Jul 16, 2021 03:16
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sad question posted:Bakker deserves to be on two lists: He’s also the most ‘tell don’t show’ fucker in existence. I liked the setting and the overall narrative arc but yeah the grimdark and presentation of female characters is inexcusable.
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Jul 21, 2021 12:14
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Applewhite posted:My bother is rereading the Sword of Truth series because he heard Terry Goodkind died. He described Goodkind as “one of the greats” and ranked him with Tolkien as one of the most influential names in fantasy fiction. I found one of the sword of truth books at the dollar store. I still have two illustrations to finish for my edit of it before sending it to my best friend. 
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Jul 22, 2021 07:37
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anyone read the Rampart Trilogy? seems to be scifi/fantasy and i'm thinking of buying the first one i'd highly recommend Jeff Vandermeer's Ambergris books, which imo count as fantasy while his other stuff is more scifi
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Jul 22, 2021 11:38
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I'm sure I've read a few genre books with sex scenes that were actually relevant and good for the plot, but the only truly great example I can think of is in Quicksilver (vol. 1 of the Baroque Cycle, by Stephenson) It's set in the 1800s. There's a character who had an unfortunate injury and long story short half his dick got burned off. He meets a young courtesan and falls for her. He's told her about his condition and how he hasn't nutted in like 6 years. One day they're in a hot springs and she finally starts to like him, and she gives him an orgasm by stimulating his prostate. The whole scene is done with dialogue, and it's pretty funny but not overly jokey. It comes off as genuine and it definitely advances their relationship. But now I'm remembering that there's a bit in Cryptonomicon that talks about Randy having prostatitis from drinking too much coffee and now I'm convinced that Neal Stephenson is into butt stuff
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Jul 22, 2021 14:46
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Simone Magus posted:I'm sure I've read a few genre books with sex scenes that were actually relevant and good for the plot, but the only truly great example I can think of is in Quicksilver (vol. 1 of the Baroque Cycle, by Stephenson) The first time I read that passage I laughed so hard that I couldn't breathe. On a plane. Over the Atlantic. God I love those books.
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Jul 23, 2021 01:02
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Giggle Goose posted:The first time I read that passage I laughed so hard that I couldn't breathe. On a plane. Over the Atlantic. God I love those books. The way the audiobook narrator does that segment is truly a thing of beauty. Best audiobook narrator I've ever heard.
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Jul 23, 2021 16:36
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Dementropy posted:I'll also offer up Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson. At first I read that as Alf the Unseen and I was ready to be way into it Just sneaking around in the shadows, eating cats, someone must stop him
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Jul 23, 2021 18:06
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Hankering real bad for some cozy fantasy that makes me feel like the first few chapters of The Hobbit or Lord of the Rings make me feel. Are there any books out there that are just "Oops all tavern scenes?"
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Nov 7, 2021 03:44
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Lil Swamp Booger Baby posted:Make him read Dhalgren then tell him he is a basic bitch Idk why I have this thread bookmarked but yeah read Dhalgren that is my favorite book ever after The Long Patrol
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Nov 7, 2021 07:21
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Lol oh I already posted that lol
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Nov 7, 2021 07:22
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Also check out the @ ZEN - HELL END lp for some sick rear end writing similar to Dhalgren kinda and probably a ton of other dope poo poo
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Nov 7, 2021 07:23
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The Moon Monster posted:I read one of her Foreigner books because I liked Cyteen and saw it in a bookstore with "first book of the blahblahblah trilogy" written on it. Turns out that despite being the first book of a trilogy it was still like the 20th Foreigner book, and while it did a pretty solid job of explaining itself I just wasn't very invested in anything that was happening. Tea services are pretty serious business to aliens, apparantly. I adore cherryh but have never read a foreigner book because they seem tedious, idk. The Morgaine trilogy is an excellent way in, and she does a great series of Traveller-style gritty sci fi with space cats, the chanur books.
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Nov 7, 2021 07:35
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Applewhite posted:Hankering real bad for some cozy fantasy that makes me feel like the first few chapters of The Hobbit or Lord of the Rings make me feel. The early works of Terry Pratchett don't really dive into the deep end, it's mostly jokes and pratfalls. The Colour of Magic, The Light Fantastic, Pyramids, Guards! Guards!, Moving Pictures and Witches Abroad. edit: the best one of those is deffo Witches Abroad, that's a drat fine book. StoryTime fucked around with this message at 07:48 on Nov 7, 2021 |
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Nov 7, 2021 07:37
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Simone Magus posted:But now I'm remembering that there's a bit in Cryptonomicon that talks about Randy having prostatitis from drinking too much coffee and now I'm convinced that Neal Stephenson is into butt stuff He spends the entirety of Reamde referring to toilet paper as "bumwad"
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Nov 7, 2021 08:28
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I’ve been reading the Erekose books and the Elric books and the Hawkmoon books and the Corum books and a bunch of other books by Michael Moorcock. I’ve finished the Erekose books, the first Corum trilogy, and I’m about 80 pages from the end of The History of the Runestaff, which I’ll probably finish tonight. What should I read next that’s not Michael Moorcock?
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Nov 7, 2021 08:41
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Applewhite posted:Hankering real bad for some cozy fantasy that makes me feel like the first few chapters of The Hobbit or Lord of the Rings make me feel. Name of the Wind fits that bill pretty well. Too bad it will never be finished.
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Nov 7, 2021 12:35
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Comfy fantasy is not a field I am aware of, but I would not be surprised if it exists somewhere in the wild world of self publishing and ebooks.
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Nov 7, 2021 13:00
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StoryTime posted:The early works of Terry Pratchett don't really dive into the deep end, it's mostly jokes and pratfalls. The Colour of Magic, The Light Fantastic, Pyramids, Guards! Guards!, Moving Pictures and Witches Abroad. I've read most of those already. You're right though he is very cozy. Nodelphi posted:Name of the Wind fits that bill pretty well. Too bad it will never be finished. Yeah I read that one too.
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Nov 7, 2021 14:17
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I remember reading and enjoying Brent Weeks's assassin trilogy. Whoever said he overuses short sentences was exaggerating, but there is a bit of theReal UK Grime posted:there's some interesting stuff going on, but it feels like every female character gets to pick three from princess/prostitute/raped/murdered. One of my friends recommended Malazan after I finished that trilogy and I bounced off the first one hard. Impenetrable is the right word. I couldn't penetrate it.
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Nov 7, 2021 15:05
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Applewhite posted:I've read most of those already. You're right though he is very cozy. How about Lem? Cyberiaid, Peace on Earth and The Star Diaries are classic light sci-fi reading.
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Nov 7, 2021 15:51
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