[amphibian]

If you like the first book this much, you're going to have a truly special time when you get ten or fifteen deep.

[polishgenius]

Aptorian, on 11 July 2019 - 07:08 PM, said:

Maybe that shouldn't be such a surprise to me, given there's like 20 of these books but I sort of had an idea of them being a Monty Python'esque satire of fantasy, more gimmick than actual story. Man, was I wrong.

Hah, 20? There's 41 to dig into. And I'm glad you're enjoying this one so much coz hopefully that means you'll fucking flip when you get to the good ones.



Anyway, meself, I recently read Thin Air by Richard Morgan, which was okay but not one of his stronger efforts, and The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie, which is also good but not as good as her SF. And then I re-read Consider Phlebas for the first time since the first time I read it. It's fine, but I'm not surprised it took me a while to try more Culture after that, because it reads as quite generic, though fucking dark, space opera compared to where the rest of the series goes. In hindsight you can see where all the later stuff was built on but to someone coming into it blind that wouldn't be at all obviousl.
Also, it has a couple of seeming GotMisms in it.



Now, alongside Stephen Fry's Mythos, which I'm dipping in and out of in between, I'm reading the just-released debut David Mogo Godhunter by Suyi Davies Okungbowa, a Nigerian post-fantasy-apocalyptic thing (a subgenre that seems to be pretty popular at the mo) that's plenty fun so far. Despite some formatting issues with my kobo which makes the text a mess for a couple of words after every time it uses a particular non-standard-English letter. There's an awful lot of good SF/fantasy coming out of Africa at the moment.

This post has been edited by polishgenius: 11 July 2019 - 10:06 PM

[Aptorian]

I've got Godhunter lined up as well. Couldn't resist that book description. Thousands of gods falling from the sky in an African setting? Sign me up.

[Abyss]

polishgenius, on 11 July 2019 - 10:03 PM, said:

... I'm reading the just-released debut David Mogo Godhunter by Suyi Davies Okungbowa, a Nigerian post-fantasy-apocalyptic thing (a subgenre that seems to be pretty popular at the mo) that's plenty fun so far. Despite some formatting issues with my kobo which makes the text a mess for a couple of words after every time it uses a particular non-standard-English letter. There's an awful lot of good SF/fantasy coming out of Africa at the moment.

Aptorian, on 12 July 2019 - 02:58 AM, said:

I've got Godhunter lined up as well. Couldn't resist that book description. Thousands of gods falling from the sky in an African setting? Sign me up.

Same. the description, and i think it was Pat's review, drew me right in.

[Abyss]

Abyss, on 04 July 2019 - 03:45 PM, said:

... i'm ready for a little more work for the thinkymeatz... on to the THE MONSTER BARU CORMORANT.

Wow... halfway in and this is so much better than the first book.

...and i liked the first book for the most part, but everything about bk2, the pace, the characters, the action, the settings... just everything is better.

[Dadding]

Finally finished my next Wheel of Time book, THE SHADOW RISING... that was a really painful read. The gender dynamics, relationship drama, endless repetition, glacial pace, and the villains being one-dimensional caricatures of evil, ugh. I'm about 5 hours into THE FIRES OF HEAVEN and it's getting even worse. I really wanted to get through this series but I don't know if I'm going to make it.

[Aptorian]

I gave up on book 3 so good for you for sticking with it this far.

[Dadding]

BfuckinK, on 12 July 2019 - 04:52 PM, said:

You totally need to stop it. If some of the absolute best books of the series aren't sitting well then it's your own fault when you get to the crap fest that is bks 8&10.

Just move on.

Ed I just read this. Seems assholish but I don't intend that.

Thanks - I needed somebody to tell me that (no assholishness taken!).

[Abyss]

Dadding, on 12 July 2019 - 06:12 PM, said:

BfuckinK, on 12 July 2019 - 04:52 PM, said:

You totally need to stop it. If some of the absolute best books of the series aren't sitting well then it's your own fault when you get to the crap fest that is bks 8&10.

Just move on.

Ed I just read this. Seems assholish but I don't intend that.

Thanks - I needed somebody to tell me that (no assholishness taken!).

Yeah, if you're losing interest in FIRES it isn't likely to get better with LORD OF CHAOS. And after that, well, even less so.
If you really want to know how things turn out the summaries aren't hard to find.

[worry]

I heard they're making a TV show that will fix all the problematic stuff while adding in tons of nuance.

[Terminus Est]

worry, on 12 July 2019 - 07:28 PM, said:

I heard they're making a TV show that will fix all the problematic stuff while adding in tons of nuance.

#notmyWoT
(Am I doing it right??)

[Tsundoku]

Yeah, I didn't mind The Shadow Rising and my favourite is The Fires of Heaven. So if you don't like them, bail out now. it's only going to get so. Much. Worse. From here on in.

Until RJ's last one - Knife of Dreams - where there is something resembling plot progression - then Sanderson's rescue mission to mostly stick the landing with the last 3.

[End of Disc One]

Tsundoku, on 13 July 2019 - 08:17 AM, said:

Yeah, I didn't mind The Shadow Rising and my favourite is The Fires of Heaven. So if you don't like them, bail out now. it's only going to get so. Much. Worse. From here on in.

Until RJ's last one - Knife of Dreams - where there is something resembling plot progression - then Sanderson's rescue mission to mostly stick the landing with the last 3.

This 100%

[Terminus Est]

I side with the majority on this, of course: the first 5 books are fun, 6 and 7 have their moments, but the rest are to be avoided. I will say, though, that I haven't read Sanderson's efforts, which are apparently quite good, so you might even want to read those, filling the gaps with online summaries, as others have suggested.

[Aptorian]

Got a lot of reading done this week.

Finished Terry Pratchett's Color of Magic. Really happy with this first Discworld book so I've made an order for the next two.

I like how Color of Magic is seperated into 4 smaller stories. It gives the tale a feeling of openness. Like it's a land of endless adventure.

Also I love Twoflowers sentient luggage. That thing is tenacious.

Read a couple of non-fiction books but wasn't particularly happy with any of them.

One is Rødder (translates to roots or hudlums) by Marie Louise Toksvig. It's a biography about a former gangster from Copenhagen, Nedim Yasar, who became a popular radio host and spokes person involved in getting kids out of gangs. He was killed on the eve of the books release.

It's a tragedy made more so by how pedestrian and shallow the biography is. There's no edge to the book. No real surprises or secret insight into the secret underbelly of Copenhagen's gangs. Reads more like PR vehicle.

Also read Zygmunt Bauman's Wasted Lives. This book is the first really heavy academic litterature I've read since graduating. Felt a bit out of shape mentally but I also think the book repeats itself too much

It's a book about human waste and the human lives we waste. It was recommended litterature from the other book "Hovedspringere" I read last week that discusses refugees. Wasted Lives gets much more academic though, thoroughly analysing and dissecting what's happened the past couple hundred years that's lead us to this age of mass consumption and human indifference. How the production of waste and discarding of waste is a mirror of how globalization makes us use and discard the less fortunate.

It's eye opening but it also just makes the same arguments again and again from different angles. Ran out of stamina.

Started up Suyi Davies Okungbowa's "David Mogo Godhunter". It's pretty cool so far. Not particularly innovative, it's basically just urban fantasy bounty hunting but the African setting lends it an unfamiliar flavor that's most welcome.

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

Aptorian, on 14 July 2019 - 02:21 PM, said:

Got a lot of reading done this week.

Finished Terry Pratchett's Color of Magic. Really happy with this first Discworld book so I've made an order for the next two.

I like how Color of Magic is seperated into 4 smaller stories. It gives the tale a feeling of openness. Like it's a land of endless adventure.

Also I love Twoflowers sentient luggage. That thing is tenacious.

Read a couple of non-fiction books but wasn't particularly happy with any of them.

One is Rødder (translates to roots or hudlums) by Marie Louise Toksvig. It's a biography about a former gangster from Copenhagen, Nedim Yasar, who became a popular radio host and spokes person involved in getting kids out of gangs. He was killed on the eve of the books release.

It's a tragedy made more so by how pedestrian and shallow the biography is. There's no edge to the book. No real surprises or secret insight into the secret underbelly of Copenhagen's gangs. Reads more like PR vehicle.

Also read Zygmunt Bauman's Wasted Lives. This book is the first really heavy academic litterature I've read since graduating. Felt a bit out of shape mentally but I also think the book repeats itself too much

It's a book about human waste and the human lives we waste. It was recommended litterature from the other book "Hovedspringere" I read last week that discusses refugees. Wasted Lives gets much more academic though, thoroughly analysing and dissecting what's happened the past couple hundred years that's lead us to this age of mass consumption and human indifference. How the production of waste and discarding of waste is a mirror of how globalization makes us use and discard the less fortunate.

It's eye opening but it also just makes the same arguments again and again from different angles. Ran out of stamina.

Started up Suyi Davies Okungbowa's "David Mogo Godhunter". It's pretty cool so far. Not particularly innovative, it's basically just urban fantasy bounty hunting but the African setting lends it an unfamiliar flavor that's most welcome.

For Discworld, keep in mind that there are several different storylines within the universe. This graphic illustrates each one and the books in each line. My favorite line is the Watch books.

[Aptorian]

Yes I noticed something like that when I was looking at Pratchett's bibliography.

Is there an overarching narrative or events in some books that would be spoiled by not following the chronological publishing order?

[End of Disc One]

Aptorian, on 14 July 2019 - 03:53 PM, said:

Yes I noticed something like that when I was looking at Pratchett's bibliography.

Is there an overarching narrative or events in some books that would be spoiled by not following the chronological publishing order?

There are some recurring jokes and characters that make more sense in publication order. Not a huge deal, just depends how much you care about that sort of thing.

[Aptorian]

We'll see how much stamina I have 40 books or many there are is a lot of reading.

[Macros]

I'd say you will, the quality doesn't really dip until the very end (for me)(excepting Monstrous Regiment, which I really didn't enjoy very much) when he was suffering from dementia and had to alter his writing program to dictation, the very last book felt rushed or something.