[worry]

QuickTidal, on 22 November 2015 - 06:06 AM, said:

worry, on 22 November 2015 - 05:34 AM, said:

I'm reading The Dragon Reborn and I just wanted to say

Spoiler

I hate this couple of sentences: "She looked as strong as Mistress Luhhan, and some in Emond's Field claimed Alsbet Luhhan was almost as strong as her husband. It was not true, but it was not far wrong."

What exactly is the point of saying it's not true and then saying it is not far wrong, when the statement was already qualified with "almost"? She's not almost as strong, but she's almost almost as strong. Great. I hope Robert Jordan is resting in peace wherever he is, but I also hope that every once in a while his soul gets attacked by a swarm of mosquito souls.

Oh man, don't let Terez hear you say that...she'll bring some kind of righteous Jordansplaining down on you for such words.

That's okay, I could stand to be taken down a peg or two. AS YOU SURELY KNOW.

That said, I'm right.

[polishgenius]

EmperorMagus, on 22 November 2015 - 04:07 AM, said:

Briar King, on 22 November 2015 - 03:56 AM, said:

Cool. Is it all set on the same world and connected in any way?

No. They are not connected.
Don't listen to Abyss, everybody LOVES Tigana. He is a blasphemer.

Well, several of the books are set in the same world (Lions of Al-Rassan, LLotS, The Sarantine Mosaic, and I believe the Under Heaven/River of Stars pairing), but they're set in wildly different places and times and don't connect (there's a hint that one of the characters from Al-Rassan is a descendant of one from the Sarantine Mosaic, but it's barely there).

And he does nod at them all existing in the same multiverse but that matters even less and is just a little thing he likes to throw in.

[Tiste Simeon]

amphibian, on 22 November 2015 - 06:47 AM, said:

Tiste Simeon, on 22 November 2015 - 05:47 AM, said:

I'm not very far into Ash, but I'm a little bit concerned about the casual mentions of child rape so far. The first time it was, I felt, contextually alright - she is taken advantage of & turns round & kills her attackers. This is written almost as a history book so it shows how she became tough etc. Not pleasant but then medieval Europe was not a pleasant place, I'm OK with it for the sake of the narrative.

But then not much later on she is mentioned as being, what, 9 or 10 years old & being used for butt stuff by soldiers "because there aren't any little boys around so you'll do." or words to that effect? Didn't seem any need for that. And to make it seem like she accepted it, even enjoys it? Not sure about that.

I'm definitely going to keep reading but that kind of took me by surprise and felt a bit unnecessary...

It was/is a big piece in setting Ash's character. This has become normalized to her. She even gets a bit of enjoyment out of it sometimes. It's very screwed up and MG puts it in a way that shows the horror, sadness, and the "get on with it" attitude Ash developed.

The soldiers are her fucked up family and she did what she could to stay alive and with them. Then she got good at doing those things - in an immensely sad and admirable way.

Keep reading. This book will boil the brain at later points.

I thought that was the case. I'm "ok" with it in the sense that I get what she is doing. I was just mildly shocked by the casualness of it... I'm definitely going to keep reading though!

[Andorion]

Struggling through a Feast for Crows. How a series goes downhill this fast after the genius that was Storm of Swords....

[Mentalist]

Andorion, on 22 November 2015 - 03:23 PM, said:

Struggling through a Feast for Crows. How a series goes downhill this fast after the genius that was Storm of Swords....

Too much Brienne and Cersei.

AFfC has its few good bits, but mostly it drags.

[Tiste Simeon]

Mentalist, on 22 November 2015 - 03:45 PM, said:

Andorion, on 22 November 2015 - 03:23 PM, said:

Struggling through a Feast for Crows. How a series goes downhill this fast after the genius that was Storm of Swords....

Too much Brienne and Cersei.

AFfC has its few good bits, but mostly it drags.

Yeah the drags don't really make an appearance til ADWD...

[Chance]

Andorion, on 22 November 2015 - 03:23 PM, said:

Struggling through a Feast for Crows. How a series goes downhill this fast after the genius that was Storm of Swords....

Sounds like your of my mind when it comes to GoT, after Storm of Swords each book incrementaly increase the drag and downhill tumble just a friendly warning.

This post has been edited by Chance: 22 November 2015 - 10:05 PM

[Andorion]

Finished Feast for Crows, comments in the dedthread

[End of Disc One]

I'm a third of the way into Elfstones of Shannara and debating whether or not to continue. I probably would have enjoyed this a lot more 10-15 years ago. But now, I can't think of anything that makes it stand out from any other fantasy. Maybe I'll drop it and just watch the show when it come out, since it at least has great visuals.

[Abyss]

End of Disc One, on 23 November 2015 - 03:28 AM, said:

I'm a third of the way into Elfstones of Shannara and debating whether or not to continue. I probably would have enjoyed this a lot more 10-15 years ago. But now, I can't think of anything that makes it stand out from any other fantasy. Maybe I'll drop it and just watch the show when it come out, since it at least has great visuals.

Gah, that's a tough one.All I can tell you is the first third is setup, and things amp up further into the book. It's still fairly traditional fantasy fare, but acknowledging when it was written, it's really good trad fare, at times pretty great. The series also gets better, but if you're looking for striking originality...Maybe back when it was written, but less so now.
I think it's worth reading once, but not 'suffering' for.

[Baco Xtath]

Started Omega Rising yesterday. It's a 7 hrs listen and I had a little tile job to do so I figured, what the hell - it has 500 reviews and its at 4.8 stars. .......What the fuck are these people smoking? The main character accidentally boards an alien ship, is recruited to first mate within 30 mins. and shenanigans follow. It's just about the dumbest fucking thing I've heard since I learned to hear.

On a completely different note, about 3 hrs into listening to God's War by Kameron Hurley - 90 reviews 3.4 stars. Really freak'n good stuff. Everything about this book is cool.

audible:"Nyx had already been to hell. One prayer more or less wouldn't make any difference...
On a ravaged, contaminated world, a centuries-old holy war rages, fought by a bloody mix of mercenaries, magicians, and conscripted soldiers. Though the origins of the war are shady and complex, there's one thing everybody agrees on - there's not a chance in hell of ending it.

Nyx is a former government assassin who makes a living cutting off heads for cash. But when a dubious deal between her government and an alien gene pirate goes bad, Nyx's ugly past makes her the top pick for a covert recovery. The head they want her to bring home could end the war--but at what price? The world is about to find out."



Just goes to show that reviews don't necessarily mean shit.

This post has been edited by Baco Xtath: 23 November 2015 - 12:36 PM

[QuickTidal]

Briar King, on 23 November 2015 - 05:00 AM, said:

Holy shit I'm LOST with this start on Outlander 2....

Yeah, it's completely out of the blue and you're sitting there wondering "What? But last time we left them....what is going on?!"

Don't worry, it will make more sense later...the opening and ending kind of bookend the 2nd novel...the middle chunk is still them in France (which was where they were headed at the end of Book 1).

[Abyss]

Baco Xtath, on 23 November 2015 - 12:36 PM, said:

... about 3 hrs into listening to God's War by Kameron Hurley - 90 reviews 3.4 stars. Really freak'n good stuff. Everything about this book is cool.

audible:"Nyx had already been to hell. One prayer more or less wouldn't make any difference...
On a ravaged, contaminated world, a centuries-old holy war rages, fought by a bloody mix of mercenaries, magicians, and conscripted soldiers. Though the origins of the war are shady and complex, there's one thing everybody agrees on - there's not a chance in hell of ending it.

Nyx is a former government assassin who makes a living cutting off heads for cash. But when a dubious deal between her government and an alien gene pirate goes bad, Nyx's ugly past makes her the top pick for a covert recovery. The head they want her to bring home could end the war--but at what price? The world is about to find out."


Just goes to show that reviews don't necessarily mean shit.

Pretty subjective. I would have given GODS WAR 3 stars at best.

[Macros]

Aeronaughts Windlass was ok, fun, usual Butcher I suppose, a bit childish in places but still a well realised world, and excellent action sequences.

About 40/50 pages into The Throne Above, by Daniel Polanksy, I just really love his writting style, no real.tgoughts on the book yet, clearly a.different scope than Low Toen, which dropped you into the grit straight away

[HiddenOne]

Started "The Thousand Names" by D. Wexler over the weekend. I like the military action, but there is very little fantasy to be found so far. It did keep me up late reading.

Also started "Ex-Communication" by Clines, but too soon to make comments. I have enjoyed the previous two books in the series.

[Macros]

Sorry, that should be Those Above: The Empty Throne book 1.

I like Wexlers shadow campaign books, 3 so far I think, they're not (imo) overtly fantastical, although fantasy elements do play a crucial part in the story, Id put the mythical parts involvement en par with say...Gemmells work, it aids the story and is an essential part, but doesn't take over, you could envision the book being written slightly differently (with similar long term goals for the protagonists) without any and not suffering overly


Eta - that's kind of oxymoronic reading it back, essential yet can be done without.
What I meant to say, the story, as is presented, the fantasy element of the world dictates the actions and goals of many characters, and is an essential component in motive and action, but the overall (as such as I grasp it) arc could likely be twisted a bit to work without the fantasy part. Hopefully this will make more sense down the line.

This post has been edited by Macros: 23 November 2015 - 08:56 PM

[Baco Xtath]

Abyss, on 23 November 2015 - 07:48 PM, said:

Pretty subjective. I would have given GODS WAR 3 stars at best.

Granted. I am listening to this immediately following one of the worst books I've ever listened to. Still, though, I think it's pretty good. I like the setting as a whole though the characters themselves are kind of hard to like. Did you read any more in the series? If so, do they get better or worse?

[Chance]

Finished up Something More then Night it wasn't fantastic but I found it good, with quite a few scenes of near perfection. I can also easily see a lot of people hating it, it isn't likely to be to everyones taste.

Started Night's Master by Tanith Lee mostly because it's been named as a major inspiration of the Exalted RPG which I'm more then slightly a fan off. Seems to have the poetry-storybook-myth thing going so far which I'm not always a fan off but occationally is great.

This post has been edited by Chance: 23 November 2015 - 11:55 PM

[Stalker]

Reading The Fold by Peter Clines. Wasn't sure if he'd be able to do sci-fi considering his main series is the pulpy super heroes vs zombies Ex novels, but I'm really enjoying this one. Definitely one where you don't want to talk about it too much, but it's about a government project on wormholes where despite all appearances to the contrary, something is off. Nearly done and it's been hard to put down.

[Baco Xtath]

Stalker, on 24 November 2015 - 01:02 AM, said:

Reading The Fold by Peter Clines. Wasn't sure if he'd be able to do sci-fi considering his main series is the pulpy super heroes vs zombies Ex novels, but I'm really enjoying this one. Definitely one where you don't want to talk about it too much, but it's about a government project on wormholes where despite all appearances to the contrary, something is off. Nearly done and it's been hard to put down.

Have you read Clines's 14?