[yuna_anomander25]

paused for a while Broken Angels. i'm now on part 2, while i tried to read my other unread books in my TRP, just to have a feel of their writing, like Theft of Swords, Red Wolf Conspiracy and A Shadow in Summer, while reading this other books of mine, i got curious on Side Jobs, haven't touched this one since i would like to read this when i already have Changes/Ghost Story and Cold Days, but i gave it a go, and now i'm enjoying it a lot, though most of this is just novellas, it is a good addition to the DresdenCrack,,

one thing i noticed early on, but have never commented, don't know if this counts as a spoiler, just my observation, in the Dresden books, particularly the covers, he's always depicted with a hat, but in Heorot, this is the only time that he commented on himself NOT HAVING a hat, i don't know, i'm sure Mr Butcher sees the cover art, but i sure would like for Harry Dresden to really, i mean REALLY have a hat, it adds to his mysterious persona and it would truly look nice, but since he's always in action, he was more likely to lose the hat, oh well,,

back to Side Jobs, have to pause on Love Hurts, as i have to read first Changes, then back to Broken Angels,, />

[Mentalist]

And I finished Age of Aztec It certainly isn't a novella, Abyss.

It's a weird mix of elements from all the three previous godpunk books, with an Aztec theme. And all that follows--sacrifices, cruelty, etc. The world is ruled by the Aztec Empire--and it's not a happy place.

In terms of characters, there's the Rebel, and there's the Cop. Both are well-written, and the cop elements work to give the book unique theme.

The action isn't as balls-to-the-wall as it was in "Odin" or even "Zeus"--Aztec is definitely more of a slow-burner. There's the Lovegrove "twist"--that thing that the story hinges on--but it's well-executed, and although foreshadowed, it didn't feel hammy. And the ending.... not what you'd expect.

So yeah, this is certainly NOT a novella not woth the time, as suggested elsewhere. It's still pretty brainless fun, but this is a good one.

Not sure what I'll read next. Too many options, as usual.

[Abyss]

 Mentalist, on 11 July 2013 - 02:48 AM, said:

And I finished Age of Aztec It certainly isn't a novella, Abyss.

...

Good. Will watch for it. Zeus and Ra are fairly high up in the TRPFH

[D'rek]

 yuna_anomander25, on 11 July 2013 - 01:38 AM, said:

paused for a while Broken Angels. i'm now on part 2, while i tried to read my other unread books in my TRP, just to have a feel of their writing, like Theft of Swords, Red Wolf Conspiracy and A Shadow in Summer, while reading this other books of mine, i got curious on Side Jobs, haven't touched this one since i would like to read this when i already have Changes/Ghost Story and Cold Days, but i gave it a go, and now i'm enjoying it a lot, though most of this is just novellas, it is a good addition to the DresdenCrack,,

one thing i noticed early on, but have never commented, don't know if this counts as a spoiler, just my observation, in the Dresden books, particularly the covers, he's always depicted with a hat, but in Heorot, this is the only time that he commented on himself NOT HAVING a hat, i don't know, i'm sure Mr Butcher sees the cover art, but i sure would like for Harry Dresden to really, i mean REALLY have a hat, it adds to his mysterious persona and it would truly look nice, but since he's always in action, he was more likely to lose the hat, oh well,,

back to Side Jobs, have to pause on Love Hurts, as i have to read first Changes, then back to Broken Angels,, />

You haven't gotten to it yet, but Harry makes a definitive comment on the whole hat issue at some point.

[Solidsnape]

 Salt-Man Z, on 10 July 2013 - 06:17 PM, said:

It's surprising how similar it feels to Paul Hoffman's The Left Hand of God--while being less irritating in almost every aspect. In fact, I'd assume Lawrence's book was a response to Hoffman's, were it not for the fact that Prince was published only a year and a half after Left Hand.

I'm reading Left Hand now. It is irritating!!

[Serenity]

Finished Blood Song last night. Very good indeed />

 QuickTidal, on 10 July 2013 - 02:51 PM, said:

Having long ago read and enjoyed the 1st book, but never having gone on to read the rest I have re-picked up Conn Iggulden's EMPEROR: THE GATES OF ROME with the intention of continuing with the story this time. So far it's as enjoyable as I remember!

Aha! I was trying to decide what to read next and this was one of the options. Think you might have made up my mind />

[QuickTidal]

 Serenity, on 11 July 2013 - 09:12 AM, said:

Finished Blood Song last night. Very good indeed />/>

Bought this and started it to see how I liked it...WOW...great stuff so far. Will read it next after Iggulden.

 Serenity, on 11 July 2013 - 09:12 AM, said:

 QuickTidal, on 10 July 2013 - 02:51 PM, said:

Having long ago read and enjoyed the 1st book, but never having gone on to read the rest I have re-picked up Conn Iggulden's EMPEROR: THE GATES OF ROME with the intention of continuing with the story this time. So far it's as enjoyable as I remember!

Aha! I was trying to decide what to read next and this was one of the options. Think you might have made up my mind />/>

Sweet, hope you enjoy. Iggulden doesn't disappoint!

[Ukjent]

The Rome series was way better then that with the Khan. Still reading Under Heaven its wonderful, but I really hate the talk about poems and calligraphic.. Its just so far from anything I can relate to.. And Listing to Sid jobs at work.

[Ukjent]

Its on my to be bought list. Its so irritating that you can't find any decent fantasy in this town.

[Abyss]

 D, on 11 July 2013 - 04:15 AM, said:

 yuna_anomander25, on 11 July 2013 - 01:38 AM, said:

paused for a while Broken Angels. i'm now on part 2, while i tried to read my other unread books in my TRP, just to have a feel of their writing, like Theft of Swords, Red Wolf Conspiracy and A Shadow in Summer, while reading this other books of mine, i got curious on Side Jobs, haven't touched this one since i would like to read this when i already have Changes/Ghost Story and Cold Days, but i gave it a go, and now i'm enjoying it a lot, though most of this is just novellas, it is a good addition to the DresdenCrack,,

one thing i noticed early on, but have never commented, don't know if this counts as a spoiler, just my observation, in the Dresden books, particularly the covers, he's always depicted with a hat, but in Heorot, this is the only time that he commented on himself NOT HAVING a hat, i don't know, i'm sure Mr Butcher sees the cover art, but i sure would like for Harry Dresden to really, i mean REALLY have a hat, it adds to his mysterious persona and it would truly look nice, but since he's always in action, he was more likely to lose the hat, oh well,,

back to Side Jobs, have to pause on Love Hurts, as i have to read first Changes, then back to Broken Angels,, />

You haven't gotten to it yet, but Harry makes a definitive comment on the whole hat issue at some point.

There's a quote somewhere by Butcher that it's just something that the publisher came up with and won't stop.

[amphibian]

The hat mafia extends its tentacles everywhere.

I maintain that the dumbest thing in the Harry Potter books, the sorting hat, was created by this haberdashery syndicate to stifle and swindle our youth into believing that they are pre destined to be this or that rigid creature from a young age and that hats have magical powers.

Ok, I kid about the chapeau coterie, but the sorting hat is genuinely an evil thing and was actively bad for the story.

This post has been edited by amphibian: 12 July 2013 - 06:18 AM

[worry]

 amphibian, on 12 July 2013 - 02:23 AM, said:

The hat mafia extends its tentacles everywhere.

So glad Dresden isn't actually one of those guys.

Anyway, finished Alera #6. Those last two really were pretty good. Now I'm reading Bossypants. Better late than never.

[QuickTidal]

 amphibian, on 12 July 2013 - 02:23 AM, said:

Ok, I kid about the chapeau coterie, but the sorting hat is genuinely an evil thing and was actively bad for the story.

Do you have a reason you feel it was actively bad for the story?

[polishgenius]

So having a lot of free time on my hands at the moment and not a lot else to do, I've found myself reading a lot. In the last week I've read:

The Glass God by Kate Griffin, the latest in her Magicals Anonymous subseries, an improvement on the first one and generally up to her very high standards. I think she needs to get a long-term plot rolling if she's going to keep writing these so it doesn't feel too formulaic, but so far she's doing grand.


Dreams and Shadows by Robert Cargill, an urban fantasy/fairy story debut. Not bad at all, some absolutely sterling ideas in his take on various mythologies, but held back from real greatness by feeling a touch mechanical at times. I'd recommend it to fans of Neil Gaiman, though.


Caine Black Knife- posted some more detailed thoughts in the ded-thread. As I said there, obviously good, but a tad disappointing.

Darker Angels by MLN Hanover. The second in Daniel Abraham's (for it is he) take on urban fantasy. I think some people are avoiding this (I certainly would have) because of the surface resemblance to the most stereotypical kind of paranormal romance, but at the end of the day this is Daniel Abraham and that was never going to be the case. What's interesting about this, on top of his interesting-though-simple take on the supernatural etc, is that unlike every other urban fantasy I've read, even the good ones, where all characters are somehow remarkable, this focuses somewhat on their normalcy. It makes it feel a bit lower key than standard but is interesting nonetheless. Plus, Abraham can write, though a couple of weird stylistic choices are minor annoyances.


And now tearing into Saladin Ahmed's Throne of the Crescent Moon. So far it's not the genius debut it was hyped up as in some circles, but it is bloody good, just a simple rollicking good yarn of the highest order.

[QuickTidal]

Hit the halfway point of Conn Iggulden's EMPEROR: THE GATES OF ROME, and sweet merciful jeebus I don't recall it being this damned good when I read it years ago. AS someone mentioned it's a good shade better than the Khan books (those are still good though), but damn I'm glad I have a few more books to look fwd to in this series (including the last one coming out later this month which is about the aftermath of Caesar's death, and Augustus/Octavian's subsequent revenge).

Great, great series. Anyone who likes historical fiction, Iggulden does not disappoint.

[amphibian]

 QuickTidal, on 12 July 2013 - 10:55 AM, said:

 amphibian, on 12 July 2013 - 02:23 AM, said:

Ok, I kid about the chapeau coterie, but the sorting hat is genuinely an evil thing and was actively bad for the story.

Do you have a reason you feel it was actively bad for the story?

If you read a book in which an adult with a crystal ball told hundreds of eleven year old children arriving at a boarding school that they were being segregated into groups based on the bullshit predictions by the adult that the kids would conform to four completely unpredictable character traits that have somehow fully developed within eleven year old children, what would you say?

What would you say if the houses the kids are being segregated into are clearly organized as congregations of "the golden children", "the brains", "the average ones" and "the evil bullies"? And once in the houses, the kids don't leave - they're stuck there and perhaps stuck for life in the pre-conceived roles that the crystal ball asshole shoved them in.

The biggest fix with the story would have been to put Harry in Slytherin. The Tom Riddle stuff would then make way more sense, Voldemort's interest makes more sense and the dramatic tension with the Slytherin environment/kids would have eventually broken up the rigid and stupid organization of children along those lines.

[QuickTidal]

 amphibian, on 12 July 2013 - 03:59 PM, said:

 QuickTidal, on 12 July 2013 - 10:55 AM, said:

 amphibian, on 12 July 2013 - 02:23 AM, said:

Ok, I kid about the chapeau coterie, but the sorting hat is genuinely an evil thing and was actively bad for the story.

Do you have a reason you feel it was actively bad for the story?

If you read a book in which an adult with a crystal ball told hundreds of eleven year old children arriving at a boarding school that they were being segregated into groups based on the bullshit predictions by the adult that the kids would conform to four completely unpredictable character traits that have somehow fully developed within eleven year old children, what would you say?

What would you say if the houses the kids are being segregated into are clearly organized as congregations of "the golden children", "the brains", "the average ones" and "the evil bullies"? And once in the houses, the kids don't leave - they're stuck there and perhaps stuck for life in the pre-conceived roles that the crystal ball asshole shoved them in.

The biggest fix with the story would have been to put Harry in Slytherin. The Tom Riddle stuff would then make way more sense, Voldemort's interest makes more sense and the dramatic tension with the Slytherin environment/kids would have eventually broken up the rigid and stupid organization of children along those lines.

Ah okay. I was curious, as I didn't read it as such.

I can see that read on it I guess. In a broad scope.

JK redeems herself a bit in the epilogue where Harry tells his eldest boy that the Sorting Hat takes his desires into account.

Though I'm wary of the traits being as bland as you laid out, as "average ones" or "brains" or "evil"....just cause Ravenclaw and Slytherin produced as many heroes as Gryffindor did. Cedric was a Ravenclaw, Snape and Regulus Black were both VERY heroic Slytherin's (Snape arguably being more heroic and good hearted than anyone else in the whole series). I think there may have been stigma's attached to those houses that might break down to those trait labels...but digging deeper into the various students who populated those houses kind of disproves it as a point. And the founding members of those houses certainly didn't subscribe to those traits. If anything, I think JK sets out to show that not only do the Sorting Hat's choices not really matter (including that final scene with Harry and Albus Severus Potter), but that students actively fight against being labelled in such ways by breaking out and succeeding. If Ravenclaw was all "brains" then shouldn't Hermione have been in there? And if Hufflepuff is all "average ones" then shouldn't Neville have been stuck in there?

So I think the minute you begin to break it down by student in those houses, it becomes something very not so segregated. And houses in private schools are rather common...I myself belonged to one in military school.

Just my two cents, and not to derail the "reading" thread.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 12 July 2013 - 04:16 PM

[Salt-Man Z]

So Prince of Thorns was pretty awesome.

Yesterday I lucked into a cheap copy of Borges' Collected Fictions--all of his short stories in a single volume--and immediately dove into that, mostly reading stories from The Book of Sand. (Aaaah! Borges wrote a Lovecraft pastiche dedicated to HPL?!! So. Cool.)

[amphibian]

 QuickTidal, on 12 July 2013 - 04:13 PM, said:

Ah okay. I was curious, as I didn't read it as such.

I can see that read on it I guess. In a broad scope.

JK redeems herself a bit in the epilogue where Harry tells his eldest boy that the Sorting Hat takes his desires into account.

Though I'm wary of the traits being as bland as you laid out, as "average ones" or "brains" or "evil"....just cause Ravenclaw and Slytherin produced as many heroes as Gryffindor did. Cedric was a Ravenclaw, Snape and Regulus Black were both VERY heroic Slytherin's (Snape arguably being more heroic and good hearted than anyone else in the whole series). I think there may have been stigma's attached to those houses that might break down to those trait labels...but digging deeper into the various students who populated those houses kind of disproves it as a point. And the founding members of those houses certainly didn't subscribe to those traits. If anything, I think JK sets out to show that not only do the Sorting Hat's choices not really matter (including that final scene with Harry and Albus Severus Potter), but that students actively fight against being labelled in such ways by breaking out and succeeding. If Ravenclaw was all "brains" then shouldn't Hermione have been in there? And if Hufflepuff is all "average ones" then shouldn't Neville have been stuck in there?

So I think the minute you begin to break it down by student in those houses, it becomes something very not so segregated. And houses in private schools are rather common...I myself belonged to one in military school. />/>

Just my two cents, and not to derail the "reading" thread.

All of the characters above displayed creativity, bravery, hard work and resourcefulness. Which house do they truly belong to then - if the house system as set up in the books has any credibility?

Also, half of the founders of the houses very much were jerks and wanted their houses to reflect their own personal ethos. Gryffindor and Slytherin were those two. The school actually helping children to learn and be good people was more Dumbledore + Ravenclaw than anything else and Hufflepuff caught whoever was leftover.

[QuickTidal]

 amphibian, on 12 July 2013 - 05:56 PM, said:

All of the characters above displayed creativity, bravery, hard work and resourcefulness. Which house do they truly belong to then - if the house system as set up in the books has any credibility?

See, I don't think the House System is really meant to mean much more than what it is. Like the houses we were put in when I was in school. They had names, supposed traits, symbols, founder's ect...but behind all that students were their own people. I don't think JK's houses go much beyond that same system.

I agree that the Sorting Hat is a silly affectation in the books, but I think JK created it just so they could have that scene with it in the first book...seeing as how it rarely turns up in any real way after that until it's needed as the place for Godric's Sword.

Anyways, interesting thoughts Amph, as I'd never looked at it that way.