[End of Disc One]

I can't believe there's an actual consensus on the new ICE book. What is going on here? I had been planning on waiting for the US release, but I'm tempted to import...but I still have other books I need to finish first.

[Maark Abbott]

End of Disc One, on 01 March 2016 - 01:06 PM, said:

I can't believe there's an actual consensus on the new ICE book. What is going on here? I had been planning on waiting for the US release, but I'm tempted to import...but I still have other books I need to finish first.

Yeah, I'm trying actively to find it right now. Everyone is saying how improved it is on ICE's prior novels over on the Mother Group on Facebook.

[Macros]

I still haven't read assail, but this swell of approval for ICE is making me think I should catch up in the malaverse

[Mentalist]

I'm also intrigued. Wasn't gonna hurry with it (still gotta re-read FoD before FoL streets), but now I'm thinking I may have to do 2 new Malaz novels back to back...

Re: Sanderson and SLA. I honestly feel he's designed smth too big to handle. And his way of telling the story is just killing the pacing that made his poor characterization not as noticeable in his earlier works.

[Maark Abbott]

Mentalist, on 01 March 2016 - 03:14 PM, said:

I'm also intrigued. Wasn't gonna hurry with it (still gotta re-read FoD before FoL streets), but now I'm thinking I may have to do 2 new Malaz novels back to back...

Re: Sanderson and SLA. I honestly feel he's designed smth too big to handle. And his way of telling the story is just killing the pacing that made his poor characterization not as noticeable in his earlier works.

That was one thing I felt as well. It was like he decided he needed to do something with the scope of Malazan. It just doesn't work.

[Andorion]

Mentalist, on 01 March 2016 - 03:14 PM, said:

I'm also intrigued. Wasn't gonna hurry with it (still gotta re-read FoD before FoL streets), but now I'm thinking I may have to do 2 new Malaz novels back to back...

Re: Sanderson and SLA. I honestly feel he's designed smth too big to handle. And his way of telling the story is just killing the pacing that made his poor characterization not as noticeable in his earlier works.

The thing with Sanderson is that there are some things he does really well - world-building, magic-system, actions scenes, and some things he is really bad at - characters, humour (always humour). Now usually the good weighs out the bad but since SLA is soooo big, the bad becomes more blatant.

Also while I applaud the sheer scope and size of his Cosmere, I feel that to truly make sense of it, the reader has to retain and process a huge amount of information and most of the info is basically trivia like all those metal combos from Mistborn, that it starts to detract from the simple et visceral pleasure of reading a good story.

I still say WoR is a really good book, but then again I have always preferred SLA to Mistborn. I have never like the Hero of Ages, as I felt that

Spoiler

turning your characters into gods at the end was a bit of a cop-out

Sanderson will always turn some readers off - no conventional swearing, no sex, weak characters, cringy dialogue, but I am curious to see where the Cosmere idea goes. I am not invested in it,but the books do entertain me and scope of him ambition interests me.

[Mentalist]

Yeah, I felt some parts of WoR were significantly improved over WoK. A few things annoyed me *cough* Kal *cough*, but overall his pacing was much better, and the ending shows promise of actually having enough stuff to sustain a 10-book epic. Maybe.

So I'm still not ready to totally give up on Sanderson, but by no means is he a Tier 1 writer for me.

[Abyss]

Morgoth, on 01 March 2016 - 07:16 AM, said:

polishgenius, on 29 February 2016 - 10:43 PM, said:

About halfway through Dancer's Lament, it's excellent so far but

Spoiler

fuck me this is the least intense siege sequence I've ever read. I keep forgetting there even is one. I get that Li Heng is meant to be well-protected but come on.
The effect is exacerbated by the fact that I just finished Legend which of course is allabout how grim and shitty sieges are.

yeah

Spoiler

I didn't react much to the intensity of the siege, or the lack thereof. To me the army turned up out of nowhere. I was like, wait, there's an army outside? Still, that's my only major criticism of the book, and it's not really an important one.

This is sort of the point tho...

Spoiler

That while Li Heng is cut off, the Kanese have zero shot at actually getting inside in any real force, hence why they weren't opposed while marching in.

That said the population suffering point is made pretty clearly through Dorin visitng Ullara.

Good discussion, we should probably move it to the ded-forum.

[Abyss]

Macros, on 01 March 2016 - 01:51 PM, said:

I still haven't read assail, but this swell of approval for ICE is making me think I should catch up in the malaverse

Mentalist, on 01 March 2016 - 03:14 PM, said:

I'm also intrigued. Wasn't gonna hurry with it (still gotta re-read FoD before FoL streets), but now I'm thinking I may have to do 2 new Malaz novels back to back...
...

Gotta say, am at the 55% mark and ICE has really brought it.

Maark, on 01 March 2016 - 03:37 PM, said:

Mentalist, on 01 March 2016 - 03:14 PM, said:

Re: Sanderson and SLA. I honestly feel he's designed smth too big to handle. And his way of telling the story is just killing the pacing that made his poor characterization not as noticeable in his earlier works.

That was one thing I felt as well. It was like he decided he needed to do something with the scope of Malazan. It just doesn't work.

It does and it doesn't on various levels.

Overall for me the two books of the SLA worked more than they didn't, but I can acknowledge some of the shortcomings.

That said, Brandon has a specific style and that in itself won<t work for all readers, esp those preferring a darker tone.

[Maark Abbott]

I'll have to be super desperate to touch WoR. I'm fine with more straightforward or heroic fantasy (for instance I really enjoy Kristen Britain despite her work being straightforward and often predictable). What I can't abide is being tugged along by a promise and it being utterly wasted. And as before, the BS I'd read before had been very high on my list (and this is right down at the bottom.

Anyway. Prince of Dogs. I'm really liking this. Liath especially is developing well.

[JPK]

Abyss, on 01 March 2016 - 04:45 PM, said:

Morgoth, on 01 March 2016 - 07:16 AM, said:

polishgenius, on 29 February 2016 - 10:43 PM, said:

About halfway through Dancer's Lament, it's excellent so far but

Spoiler

fuck me this is the least intense siege sequence I've ever read. I keep forgetting there even is one. I get that Li Heng is meant to be well-protected but come on.
The effect is exacerbated by the fact that I just finished Legend which of course is allabout how grim and shitty sieges are.

yeah

Spoiler

I didn't react much to the intensity of the siege, or the lack thereof. To me the army turned up out of nowhere. I was like, wait, there's an army outside? Still, that's my only major criticism of the book, and it's not really an important one.

This is sort of the point tho...

Spoiler

That while Li Heng is cut off, the Kanese have zero shot at actually getting inside in any real force, hence why they weren't opposed while marching in.

That said the population suffering point is made pretty clearly through Dorin visitng Ullara.

Good discussion, we should probably move it to the ded-forum.

Thank you. It's tough seeing these spoiler tags and not clicking then when I know I have three more months to wait. I HATE YOU ALL SO MUCH RIGHT NOW!

Ahem... now that's out of my system, I'm really enjoying Sword of the Lictor. Yes I am. It's definitely the book I want to be reading right now. What? No, my eye isn't twitching. I don't know what you're talking about.

[End of Disc One]

Briar King, on 02 March 2016 - 04:49 AM, said:

Just finished Bands and enjoyed it. Time to look up Cosmere nuggets.

Good to see that you came around on Bands. I'll probably start it next week. I decided to hold it off until after I read Calamity, which was very enjoyable.

[QuickTidal]

UPROOTED by Naomi Novik.

Ugh, what a shitshow.

A few chapters in and so far this is Beauty & The Beast (Grumpy asshole regularly kidnaps young special girls) + She's All That (no seriously, frumpy girl doesn't realize how beautiful she is till it's pointed out to her) + Fairytaleland (minus any real worldbuilding).

As well written as Novik can (sometimes she's great, sometimes she's awful) be, but goddamn I could not be more bored by the story and the plodding nature of everything. Also, take a BIT of a lesson from Harry Potter and if you are going to have spells to use, they should require work....you should not be able to, untrained, just say them and have magic happen. Even Hermione practiced FFS.

Yeah, I'm not feeling it, and may put it down. I'm glad I waited till paperback to try this one out.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 02 March 2016 - 01:39 PM

[Maark Abbott]

End of Disc One, on 02 March 2016 - 01:14 PM, said:

Briar King, on 02 March 2016 - 04:49 AM, said:

Just finished Bands and enjoyed it. Time to look up Cosmere nuggets.

Good to see that you came around on Bands. I'll probably start it next week. I decided to hold it off until after I read Calamity, which was very enjoyable.

What sort of mood/feel do MB 4/5/6 have? I'm interested to read them at some point but given that my last BS experience went so far south, I'm sort of wary about trying them.

[Mentalist]

Finished volume 2 of "10 Years Later". It's less cringe-inducing then when I was younger, though the pacing isn't as good as the other Dumas stuff.
Volume 3 starts off with politics again, which is better, since the main plot (the multitude of teenage love triangles of doom) is a drag + I remember how it all ends, so there's the extra spoiler there.

Hoping to maintain a steady pace of 50 pages a day to finosh this, and then jump into a FoD re-read.

On the commute, a few chapters into "Sundered Worlds" by Moorcock. 60s sci-fi, which I'm not sure where this is going yet, but reputedly it helps to frame the concept of the multiverse together, so hoping it'll get better. Been dead tired coming from work the past few days, so haven't read that much yet.

[End of Disc One]

Maark, on 02 March 2016 - 01:43 PM, said:

End of Disc One, on 02 March 2016 - 01:14 PM, said:

Briar King, on 02 March 2016 - 04:49 AM, said:

Just finished Bands and enjoyed it. Time to look up Cosmere nuggets.

Good to see that you came around on Bands. I'll probably start it next week. I decided to hold it off until after I read Calamity, which was very enjoyable.

What sort of mood/feel do MB 4/5/6 have? I'm interested to read them at some point but given that my last BS experience went so far south, I'm sort of wary about trying them.

I personally don't like them quite as much as the original trilogy because they're shorter, less meaty, and don't feel as substantial. But given your experience with TWoK, you probably wouldn't care about that. I've seen plenty of people who say that they're more fun than the OT. If you have any problems with Sanderson's humor, these Wax & Wayne books are about as bad as the humor gets.

[QuickTidal]

Maark, on 02 March 2016 - 01:43 PM, said:

End of Disc One, on 02 March 2016 - 01:14 PM, said:

Briar King, on 02 March 2016 - 04:49 AM, said:

Just finished Bands and enjoyed it. Time to look up Cosmere nuggets.

Good to see that you came around on Bands. I'll probably start it next week. I decided to hold it off until after I read Calamity, which was very enjoyable.

What sort of mood/feel do MB 4/5/6 have? I'm interested to read them at some point but given that my last BS experience went so far south, I'm sort of wary about trying them.

Compared to Mistborn: Less broody broody and grand reaching complexity, and more Caper-ish, Oceans 11 mingled with Western and Industrial revolution overlapping. Lots of goofy humour (Wax and Wayne have a bromance that reads like Straightman and Comedian), with a few overarching themes. Basically Sanderson took the world he established and set a completely different type of story in it.

[Imperial Historian]

QuickTidal, on 02 March 2016 - 01:38 PM, said:

UPROOTED by Naomi Novik.

Ugh, what a shitshow.

A few chapters in and so far this is Beauty & The Beast (Grumpy asshole regularly kidnaps young special girls) + She's All That (no seriously, frumpy girl doesn't realize how beautiful she is till it's pointed out to her) + Fairytaleland (minus any real worldbuilding).

As well written as Novik can (sometimes she's great, sometimes she's awful) be, but goddamn I could not be more bored by the story and the plodding nature of everything. Also, take a BIT of a lesson from Harry Potter and if you are going to have spells to use, they should require work....you should not be able to, untrained, just say them and have magic happen. Even Hermione practiced FFS.

Yeah, I'm not feeling it, and may put it down. I'm glad I waited till paperback to try this one out.

This book starts off like it's going to be a fairly cliched beauty and the beast retelling, but then it hits it's stride and subverts all that and is wonderfully written throughout. One of the best fantasy books I read last year, the portrayal of the wild is one of the best done villains I've read in fantasy. Leaps and bounds above Noviks other stuff. Give it a chance.

[Maark Abbott]

I'll check it out. One thing they already have going for them is that nothing could possibly be as bad as TWOK.

[Andorion]

QuickTidal, on 02 March 2016 - 01:38 PM, said:

UPROOTED by Naomi Novik.

Ugh, what a shitshow.

A few chapters in and so far this is Beauty & The Beast (Grumpy asshole regularly kidnaps young special girls) + She's All That (no seriously, frumpy girl doesn't realize how beautiful she is till it's pointed out to her) + Fairytaleland (minus any real worldbuilding).

As well written as Novik can (sometimes she's great, sometimes she's awful) be, but goddamn I could not be more bored by the story and the plodding nature of everything. Also, take a BIT of a lesson from Harry Potter and if you are going to have spells to use, they should require work....you should not be able to, untrained, just say them and have magic happen. Even Hermione practiced FFS.

Yeah, I'm not feeling it, and may put it down. I'm glad I waited till paperback to try this one out.

Give it a chance. I had the same thoughts as you early on, but then the book got better. Novik does a good job of subverting the familiar