[Salt-Man Z]

I finished Claire Legrand's Sawkill Girls over the weekend. It would feel more on the YA side if weren't for the language and (mostly implied) sex and violence. My main complaint would be that the ending was resolved maybe a little too easily, but the characters are great, the story is gripping, and it's all got a good creep factor. Plus, Legrand's bold decision to reveal the book's villain and fantastical nature right off the bat, which I was initially skeptical about, pays off well.

I'm currently reading Caitlin R. Kiernan's Threshold. After a riveting prologue it's rather slowed down, but I loved the distant sequel Daughter of Hounds, so I'm confident this one will pay off nicely.

[worry]

It makes me wonder if you'd like her first series, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms...the first book isn't super actiony (it's not a military fantasy series at all), and has elements of romance (though you like Outlander so it shouldn't be a problem)...but it's got a fairly unique world, active gods, political intrigue, some Mistborny down-in-the-city-slums elements in book 2, and even some epic stakes as it goes along.

[End of Disc One]

Briar King, on 11 December 2018 - 01:01 AM, said:

BAM had an Omni of one of her works I’ve eyed even months before I bought BE but I can’t remember which it is. Thinking Inheritance.

Probably that. It’s massive.

[worry]

Rad, that's actually what I was talking about. I mixed up the first book's title with the series title! Also the omnibus has a sequel-ish novella in it, so you get a lot of bang for your buck with that one (if you like it).

[Andorion]

Briar King, on 10 December 2018 - 10:13 PM, said:

Ima buy everyone of you bitches that reco'd me to buy Broken Earth a few months ago, dinner. Y'all aint getting in my pants afterwards though.

QT I sincerely hope that one day you will consider retrying this. Maybe a dead tree version would work better in taking in the 2nd person? The bleakness and darkness really draw me in but even so despite of a few hard bits to read in book 1 and now again in book 2, it doesn't hold a candle to the darkness of some of the things we read in Outlander.

Raises hand

[Mentalist]

300 pages in, and "City of Ice" is getting good, once Katriona popped up to explain her plotline. Getting a glimpse at Madelyne's motivations helped too, b/c that plot line was going nowhere.

I already bought Book 3, so hopefully this just keeps getting better.

[Zetubal]

T77, on 10 December 2018 - 03:06 PM, said:

Briar King, on 10 December 2018 - 06:15 AM, said:

Finished Broken Earth 1's remaining 135 pgs. This book was utterly fucking stellar! STELLAR! It was such a breath of fresh air to go through. A mashup of Dune, Star Wars(kind of), Mistborn, geomancers of Final Fantasy, with the uniqueness of Grace of Kings, the sexy time of Richard Morgan's Kovacs(though less descriptive), and the prose and floweriness of GGK in his most excellent book that is titled TIGANA!

Fuck me side ways what a read!

Started bk 2 right away!!!

They get better with each book.

I second that. Have fun BK

[Andorion]

I am reading Kill the Queen by Jennifer Estep. The author is mainly known for PNR/Urban fantasy and this book is more in the conventional epic lines and so far its surprisingly good. Nothing pathbreaking but very readable.

[Gabriele]

worry, on 10 December 2018 - 10:42 PM, said:

It makes me wonder if you'd like her first series, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms...the first book isn't super actiony (it's not a military fantasy series at all), and has elements of romance (though you like Outlander so it shouldn't be a problem)...but it's got a fairly unique world, active gods, political intrigue, some Mistborny down-in-the-city-slums elements in book 2, and even some epic stakes as it goes along.

I could never get into that one. Read like chick lit in Fantasy to me and I hated the first person voice*, so I gave up after a few chapters. Never tried anything else by Jemisin.

* Not because it's first person, there are a number of books in that POV which I love, but the particular voice of that narrator.

[Abyss]

Zetubal, on 11 December 2018 - 09:09 AM, said:

T77, on 10 December 2018 - 03:06 PM, said:

Briar King, on 10 December 2018 - 06:15 AM, said:

Finished Broken Earth 1's remaining 135 pgs. This book was utterly fucking stellar! STELLAR! It was such a breath of fresh air to go through. A mashup of Dune, Star Wars(kind of), Mistborn, geomancers of Final Fantasy, with the uniqueness of Grace of Kings, the sexy time of Richard Morgan's Kovacs(though less descriptive), and the prose and floweriness of GGK in his most excellent book that is titled TIGANA!

Fuck me side ways what a read!

Started bk 2 right away!!!

They get better with each book.

I second that. Have fun BK

Thirded. I think you're in for a treat

Gabriele, on 11 December 2018 - 04:16 PM, said:

worry, on 10 December 2018 - 10:42 PM, said:

It makes me wonder if you'd like her first series, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms...the first book isn't super actiony (it's not a military fantasy series at all), and has elements of romance (though you like Outlander so it shouldn't be a problem)...but it's got a fairly unique world, active gods, political intrigue, some Mistborny down-in-the-city-slums elements in book 2, and even some epic stakes as it goes along.

I could never get into that one. Read like chick lit in Fantasy to me and I hated the first person voice*, so I gave up after a few chapters. Never tried anything else by Jemisin.

* Not because it's first person, there are a number of books in that POV which I love, but the particular voice of that narrator.

I liked, did not love, KINGDOMS, and have never quite been driven to pick up the second book.
That said i enjoyed the hell out of BROKEN EARTH.

[Abyss]

My last four reads have been Stross's LABYRINTH INDEX, Richard Morgan's THIN AIR, Steven Erikson's REJOICE!, and Ben Aaronovich's LIES SLEEPING.

Whoever i read next is fucked.


So...

Lafferty's SIX WAKES...
Hearn's KILL THE FARMBOY...
Belcher's BROTHERHOOD OF THE WHEEL 2 KING OF THE ROAD...

Thoughts?

[worry]

There's no such thing as "chick lit".

I will say, without spoiling much hopefully, that there are both time jumps between and different protagonists for each Inheritance book, books 2 & 3 aren't nearly so much romances as book 1 (if that's not your thing), and if you love the cosmology stuff from MBotF then you should probably continue with Inheritance cuz it goes there in a big way. End of pitch!

[Tiste Simeon]

worry, on 11 December 2018 - 07:35 PM, said:

There's no such thing as "chick lit".

Ummmm CHICKen LITtle would like to have a word...

[worry]

Revised: there's one such thing as chick lit!

[QuickTidal]

worry, on 11 December 2018 - 07:35 PM, said:

There's no such thing as "chick lit".

I'm curious how aware you are that the phrase and sub-genre was coined by a woman who compiled a book of post-feminist fiction stories...or you just don't like the sub-genre term for some other reason.

Regardless of which, it IS a sub-genre of fiction and has its set of tropes and many authors. And most authors who say they write chick lit (Jennifer Weiner for example) are intensely proud of it, have written about the stigmas that they have to fight to dare to write in the genre, and have the support of noted long time feminists like Gloria Steinem.

Chick Lit is not a derogatory. It's a genre.

[worry]

QT, I wasn't aware of that. Thank you! It appears to be an (initially ironic) reappropriation of the derogatory "chick ____" label you see in phrases like "chick flick", which makes a lot of sense. Fair enough to point it out in response to my blanket statement (especially a literal reading of it), and I'll read up more on all that history. Any authors you like in particular?


That said, as you know, 'Science Fiction' wasn't coined to be derogatory, nor does it have to be anything more than a handy arrow pointed at a literary niche, but I know you also understand quite well that when Margaret Atwood says it, it doesn't necessarily mean the same thing as when you say it. You're keen to the ways language can ghetto-ize literary niches, in addition to and separate from making helpful distinctions, even when the vocabulary is the same. I can definitely understand why a proud (and proudly defiant) cast of "Chick Lit" writers would adopt the phrase, in response and reaction to the previously dismissive connotations attached to "chick ____", and even develop in some circles a 'for us by us' mentality around it, but surely that latter connotation still commonly exists (and is something the genre champions continue to challenge or defy). So your post has me curious! It's aimed at me alone, not me and Gabriele who dropped a book because it was "chick lit", so I wonder: should I infer that you believe I was wrongheadedly responding to someone referencing the formal Chick Lit literary school, as derived from a post-feminist short story compilation and the movement it spawned? Or were we using a more common, informal, often dismissive meaning of the phrase?

(To be clear, because this is text, none of the above should be read as prickly or abrasive, just engaged, even where it's argumentative with you, QT, or where it references Gabriele's post. My original post wasn't suuuper serious and I figured she was just mostly stating a style preference. So like where I'm asking rhetorical-ish questions towards the end, it's to make a point that I hope is getting across, not to be snippy or even presume too much about Gabriele. I did mostly find your post informative, but you know, posting is its own reward, and I've already written this out, so right or wrong I'm clicking that Post button.)

[worry]

Dang, I don't wanna count my chickens before they're hatched, but I think I'm gonna lose this one.

[QuickTidal]

I want you to know that I never find your posts where you are debating points or arguing them in any way except in the interest of calm and reasoned adult discussion. No worries. We’re all friends here.

I have, in fact learned a lot from you over the years.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 11 December 2018 - 11:05 PM

[worry]

Well, the feeling is mutual there. It's just that my reputation for "snark" or whatever precedes me, and early on here I too often really was meaner than I should have been. Hopefully I've mellowed out in recent years, but on top of text just being harder to read for tone, I still might come off sharper than I intend. So since it's my fault, I don't mind pre-emptively clearing up my tone these days.


Also, unrelated, look at this spellcheck. Wth?

[Abyss]

You both smell and yo mommas dressed you funny.