[Tiste Simeon]

Tiste Simeon, on 10 January 2019 - 07:24 AM, said:

About halfway through FIFTH SEASON now and it's really good. My thinking is that actually all 3 women are the same person at different points in her life.

Also, I've realised I like a good magic academy trope. Some of my favourite scenes in Lightbringer are when they're being trained in the capital and likewise here I love all the bits in the fulcrum, whether it's Syenite or Demaya.

Still mildly horrified by the whole forcing compliance through pain concept and even more so by the whole "you need to sleep with that dude to make better orogens..." concept.

Well now...

Spoiler

I was right! Demaya just said she wants her Orogen name to be Syenite! It makes me a bit sad knowing that soon she's going to be used for breeding but it does make what's coming up a bit exciting - how did she get to where she is at the beginning of the book? How does she then become Essun? Also what the Dickens was happening in that room without the door?

This series is amazing. Just under 4 hours left on the first book.

[Andorion]

Re: Imajica
The authoritarian and sexism themes are coming through very well as of chapter 27, but the sex scenes are waaay too long and waaay too detailed.

[Abyss]

acesn8s, on 16 January 2019 - 12:48 PM, said:

Macros, on 16 January 2019 - 07:14 AM, said:

Read Fool Moon last night.

about a 1/4 of the way in the pace picks up and doesn't relent, so I just kept reading. A step up in quality from book 1 I'd say, enough to bring me back for book 3

Butcher does frantic pacing really well, especially with his first person novels.

There was point around book 3 where i found it too much, in the sense that he followed the same kind of beats in each book... Harry gets case, gets the crap kicked out of him, runs around trying to catch a break, catches his breath, things get worse, he gets beat some more, he saves the day. Book 4 steps away from that very nicely tho and he mixes it up for the rest of the series to day so that when he does frantic it feels less like 'i just read this' and more like 'how the fuck is he gonna get out of this one?'.

[amphibian]

Mentalist, on 16 January 2019 - 05:43 AM, said:

Finished "Luna", as expected. Solid book, I wasn't sure how well McDonald would be at mixing up cultures after his sequence of "country studies" books, but it works. The plot is solid dynastic politics, and that ending is brutal and explosive. I'll certainly be looking out for the sequel.

Moving on, I need a new commute read. Before jumping into Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe, I'll got for the second Fourlands book, "No Present Like Time"

At home, still working through "Ships of Magic", but progress stalled somewhat cause I had a busy couple of weeks so unwinding playing Metro seemed like a less taxing option.

There's a Luna sequel already out and a third book coming in March. The Wolf Moon sequel is terrific.

[Zetubal]

Tiste Simeon, on 16 January 2019 - 12:50 PM, said:

This series is amazing. Just under 4 hours left on the first book.

Still a lot of awesomeness ahead of you

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

Abraham and Franck's Persepolis Rising. I hope it's better than Babylon's Ashes was.

[Macros]

Started Elizabeth Moons "Cold Welcome" last night.
only 2 chapters in so have no real opinion on it yet

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

Whisperzzzzzzz, on 17 January 2019 - 03:51 AM, said:

Abraham and Franck's Persepolis Rising. I hope it's better than Babylon's Ashes was.

Just over 100 pages in and it is much better.

[End of Disc One]

Whisperzzzzzzz, on 18 January 2019 - 12:04 AM, said:

Whisperzzzzzzz, on 17 January 2019 - 03:51 AM, said:

Abraham and Franck's Persepolis Rising. I hope it's better than Babylon's Ashes was.

Just over 100 pages in and it is much better.

I agree. It refreshed my interest in the series.

[Andorion]

Virgin of High House Bachelor, on 17 January 2019 - 11:11 PM, said:

Someone please end me. This damn book is such a bitch to struggle through at the 280 pg mark. How will I survive another 500+? The rating is stuck on 3 stars since release.

Ando please hurry up and get this and do your speed reading magic trick to let me know if I'm gonna get my popcorn at all with it.

Probably next week.

[Andorion]

Virgin of High House Bachelor, on 18 January 2019 - 02:54 AM, said:

Looking forward to that then. Barring any explosive development which I'm praying for I wonder if I can even manage 150 pgs in the coming days and the 10 minutes it'll take you to pass me up!

I just want to get Worm done first and I am about 75% there, so thats only about 1800 pages or so. If people let me read properly over the next 3-4 days, it shouldn't be a problem

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

Starting Stephen Fry's Mythos.

[Macros]

Make sure your inner voice is switched to Stephen Fry, I read it in my head in his wonderfully sardonic voice. A really good intro to Greek Mythology for me, light hearted enough to make dealing with the garage of names easy


Eta
I did already review it, interesting to see my take on it now that I've read Heroes as well

This post has been edited by Macros: 18 January 2019 - 09:20 AM

[Chance]

Finished Warmaster and found it pretty good once it got going, much too short however.

Also going through Through Fiery Trials and while Safehold and Weber has their flaws it is pretty damned nice to have such a complex setting to dive back into. I would have prefered a slightly longer timeskip between this and the last book but it is very nice to see the consequences of the good guys winning the war, not all that common.

This post has been edited by Chance: 18 January 2019 - 11:38 AM

[QuickTidal]

Chance, on 18 January 2019 - 11:38 AM, said:

Finished Warmaster and found it pretty good once it got going, much too short however.

The good news is that the rest of the story, ANARCH, and the end of the GG story is out now.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 18 January 2019 - 02:13 PM

[Abyss]

ONE OF US by Craig DiLouie.

I like the core concept of a generation of mutants being created by a plague in the late 60s, with the story taking place as they enter their teens in the early 80s USA.
I like that he's not going full X-men and taking a more 'real world' approach.

I absolutely hate that every. single. supporting. character. is getting long pov background downloads and inner monologues on everything. The main characters are engaging but the rest are just unoriginal tropes written as you would expect and dragging the story away from the interesting parts. I do not need to know why the bad person is a bad person if you're just going to kill him a chapter later. I do not need to know why the overprotective dad is an overprotective dad if all he does is show up, be overprotective so that his kid has something to act out about, and then leave again.

And at the halfway mark i fear his big plot(s) are as predictable as an episode of Paw Patrol.

Am hoping the book will prove this take wrong.

[Zetubal]

Finished Dreams of Steel (aka Black Company 5) couple minutes ago. Unlike Shadow Games, which felt a little stale to me, this was a great entry in the series. Lady is a fun POV-narrator both because it's refreshing to get someone else's introspection and because there's so much going on with her. Whereas Croaker drifts between morose to melancholic all the time, Lady goes through a phase of mourning, then she's a cold-blooded badass, she doubts herself, experiences genuine moments of levity - she's an all around great character. Which makes it all the more engaging when things go her way (or don't). Knowing how she feels and what's going on on her side of things also makes the brief chapters from Croaker's perspective more intriguing. It's hard for me to find anything to complain about, really. I mean, if anything, it doesn't feel much like a Black Company story, inasmuch as it isn't really about the Company. But as a story about some Black Company characters this one is perfectly enjoyable.
On to Bleak Seasons...

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

End of Disc One, on 18 January 2019 - 01:36 AM, said:

Whisperzzzzzzz, on 18 January 2019 - 12:04 AM, said:

Whisperzzzzzzz, on 17 January 2019 - 03:51 AM, said:

Abraham and Franck's Persepolis Rising. I hope it's better than Babylon's Ashes was.

Just over 100 pages in and it is much better.

I agree. It refreshed my interest in the series.

Fuck, this was good! I just turned the last page and was thinking the exact same thing — I had been drifting through the past two books, enjoying parts here and there but feeling like the original spark was missing. And now it's back! I can't wait for Tiamat's Wrath!

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

Bester's Tiger! Tiger!, more commonly known as The Stars My Destination...which I did not know when I bought it.

[Tiste Simeon]

Finished THE FIFTH SEASON and flipping heck I loved it. Got no clue where it's going in THE OBELISK GATE but man I'm excited to start it!

This post has been edited by Tiste Simeon: 20 January 2019 - 07:29 AM