[Abyss]

At about the halfway mark THIS BOOK IS FULL OF SPIDERS is enjoyable, but i'm struck by how completely the author ditched the humour of JOHN DIES AT THE END and significantly upped the tension/horror quota.
I'm liking the book, it's holding my interest, but i'm missing the dog-salsa level laughs that the first book had.

[Salt-Man Z]

Abyss, on 24 July 2019 - 02:58 PM, said:

At about the halfway mark THIS BOOK IS FULL OF SPIDERS is enjoyable, but i'm struck by how completely the author ditched the humour of JOHN DIES AT THE END and significantly upped the tension/horror quota.
I'm liking the book, it's holding my interest, but i'm missing the dog-salsa level laughs that the first book had.

Pretty much my exact thoughts, as well. It was fine, but much more straightforward zombie/body-snatcher horror than the batshit zaniness that was the first book. (Also, those spider-alien things are heckin' creepy.)

[acesn8s]

Almost done with To Green Angel Tower. Not gonna lie, it's been a bit of a slog...

[Tiste Simeon]

acesn8s, on 25 July 2019 - 02:27 PM, said:

Almost done with To Green Angel Tower. Not gonna lie, it's been a bit of a slog...

Ooh don't say that I'm only a few hours into the audiobook of The Dragonbone Chair and already finding it slightly sloggy...

[worry]

I didn't find those books sloggy, but they do embrace delayed gratification to a theretofore unheard of degree. It was more like a growing itch (in a good way) than boredom.

[Abyss]

I found them massively soggy.

[QuickTidal]

acesn8s, on 25 July 2019 - 02:27 PM, said:

Almost done with To Green Angel Tower. Not gonna lie, it's been a bit of a slog...

Tiste Simeon, on 25 July 2019 - 08:50 PM, said:

acesn8s, on 25 July 2019 - 02:27 PM, said:

Almost done with To Green Angel Tower. Not gonna lie, it's been a bit of a slog...

Ooh don't say that I'm only a few hours into the audiobook of The Dragonbone Chair and already finding it slightly sloggy...

TO GREEN ANGEL TOWER should not have been split into two volumes/should not be as long as it is. In there is around a 600page EXCELLENT finale...but there's a lot of fluff.

worry, on 25 July 2019 - 09:03 PM, said:

I didn't find those books sloggy, but they do embrace delayed gratification to a theretofore unheard of degree. It was more like a growing itch (in a good way) than boredom.

I agree with Worry for once.

These books very much feel like someone quietly and slowly unravelling a story to you. It's very rewarding, but at times Williams can get overly verbose, or immerses himself a bit too much in the details.

Abyss, on 26 July 2019 - 05:11 AM, said:

I found them massively soggy.

Go read OTHERLAND Vol. 4 again Abyss. It's your favourite after all.

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

QuickTidal, on 26 July 2019 - 12:25 PM, said:

worry, on 25 July 2019 - 09:03 PM, said:

I didn't find those books sloggy, but they do embrace delayed gratification to a theretofore unheard of degree. It was more like a growing itch (in a good way) than boredom.

I agree with Worry for once.

These books very much feel like someone quietly and slowly unravelling a story to you. It's very rewarding, but at times Williams can get overly verbose, or immerses himself a bit too much in the details.

Abyss, on 26 July 2019 - 05:11 AM, said:

I found them massively soggy.

Go read OTHERLAND Vol. 4 again Abyss. It's your favourite after all.

Please, no. I'm already getting flashbacks to book 3's endless slog through the unfinished world...

[T77]

Speaking of Willams' slogs, I just finished Empire of Grass. Similar to what was just mentioned, there was a good story in there that got a bit bogged down by fluff and unnecessary plot lines, specifically anything related to the clans, which bored me. Overall, I did like it though.

[QuickTidal]

T77, on 26 July 2019 - 12:59 PM, said:

Speaking of Willams' slogs, I just finished Empire of Grass. Similar to what was just mentioned, there was a good story in there that got a bit bogged down by fluff and unnecessary plot lines, specifically anything related to the clans, which bored me. Overall, I did like it though.

There is more going on in EMPIRE than there was in WITCHWOOD CROWN which was a lot of setup of the new status quo 30+ years on.

[Abyss]

QuickTidal, on 26 July 2019 - 12:25 PM, said:

acesn8s, on 25 July 2019 - 02:27 PM, said:

Almost done with To Green Angel Tower. Not gonna lie, it's been a bit of a slog...

Tiste Simeon, on 25 July 2019 - 08:50 PM, said:

acesn8s, on 25 July 2019 - 02:27 PM, said:

Almost done with To Green Angel Tower. Not gonna lie, it's been a bit of a slog...

Ooh don't say that I'm only a few hours into the audiobook of The Dragonbone Chair and already finding it slightly sloggy...

TO GREEN ANGEL TOWER should not have been split into two volumes/should not be as long as it is. In there is around a 600page EXCELLENT finale...but there's a lot of fluff.

worry, on 25 July 2019 - 09:03 PM, said:

I didn't find those books sloggy, but they do embrace delayed gratification to a theretofore unheard of degree. It was more like a growing itch (in a good way) than boredom.

I agree with Worry for once.

These books very much feel like someone quietly and slowly unravelling a story to you. It's very rewarding, but at times Williams can get overly verbose, or immerses himself a bit too much in the details.

Abyss, on 26 July 2019 - 05:11 AM, said:

I found them massively soggy.

Go read OTHERLAND Vol. 4 again Abyss. It's your favourite after all.

LALALALALALALALALALALALA THERE IS NO BOOK 4 IT WAS A TRILOGY AND YOU CAN'T MAKE ME BELIEVE OTHERWISE LALALALALALALALA

Whisperzzzzzzz, on 26 July 2019 - 12:40 PM, said:

...
Please, no. I'm already getting flashbacks to book 3's endless slog through the unfinished world...

I wish it had just been book 3 but the entire series is plagued by unnecessary slogs and entire plot-lines that go nowhere or at least nowhere worthwhile after four books and hundreds of pages.

And i only 'care' because so much of the series is really truly great. It was a fun fantasy/sf mashup, with VR back when VR wasn't nearly a thing beyond some early cyberpunk books, some terrific characters who were nicely different from the typical for when it was written... the two leads were both Black, the main lead was a woman of no particular skills... large chunks of the story were set in future Africa... there was so much good going on there.

But there was always one more sidequest, one more new plotline with a new character who doesn't seem to be connected to anything but will be, one more VR world to visit for no particular reason, one more subplot that takes an entire book to reach its conclusion then fizzles out to no significance.

Don't get me wrong, it's a great series, worth reading, but i found chunks of it extremely frustrating.

[acesn8s]

Reread of To Green Angel Tower is finished. It's a typical Tad Williams book... a good story that might have benefited from stricter editing.

I had planned on jumping into The Heart of What Was Lost and The Witchwood Crown, but I needed a break. I started Bloody Rose. Should make a nice "palate cleanser".

[Gabriele]

QuickTidal, on 22 July 2019 - 01:07 PM, said:

Finished Kate Elliott's PRINCE OF DOGS, and it was excellent. There was a TAD bit of lag at points in the story (and not enough Theophanu!), but never enough to really stumble my read. Very excited to get to volume 3, THE BURNING STONE...soon probably.

Spoiler

Fuck you Hugh! Now that Sanglant is back you can't TOUCH Liath, you filthy churchy fucker!

Yeah, I hated that guy.

[worry]

Finished The Seven (last book in the Vagrant series). Absolutely wonderful. It is very pulpy -- high tech post apocalypse fantasy world populated with a variety of great monsters, knights with singing swords, a silent lone wolf protag on a mission, body horror, action, suspense, danger, goats -- it has it all, and that's just the first book. The next two are even better.

Really, it's what Peter Newman does with all these things that is truly special. He's a fantastic writer who balances all that fun pulpy goodness with smart plotting and character work, and more heart than I ever expected. I also love the way this dude names things...if you love The Ten Who Were Taken in the Black Company, there's a whole plethora of instantly intriguing names throughout. And without spoilers, but for those who've read this already, I think Jem is one of the most exemplary characters of just how finely tuned Peter Newman's writing is. Such a truly complicated man who could have gone wrong in any number of ways, but Newman nails him from start to finish. Anyway, very highly recommended, plus the books aren't that long.

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

worry, on 27 July 2019 - 07:00 PM, said:

Finished The Seven (last book in the Vagrant series). Absolutely wonderful. It is very pulpy -- high tech post apocalypse fantasy world populated with a variety of great monsters, knights with singing swords, a silent lone wolf protag on a mission, body horror, action, suspense, danger, goats -- it has it all, and that's just the first book. The next two are even better.

Really, it's what Peter Newman does with all these things that is truly special. He's a fantastic writer who balances all that fun pulpy goodness with smart plotting and character work, and more heart than I ever expected. I also love the way this dude names things...if you love The Ten Who Were Taken in the Black Company, there's a whole plethora of instantly intriguing names throughout. And without spoilers, but for those who've read this already, I think Jem is one of the most exemplary characters of just how finely tuned Peter Newman's writing is. Such a truly complicated man who could have gone wrong in any number of ways, but Newman nails him from start to finish. Anyway, very highly recommended, plus the books aren't that long.

This review accurately captures the way I feel about these books. I rate your review 9/10.

[Aptorian]

That's a pretty enticing recommendation.

10 USD on Amazon... But I've got a stack of 12 books on my desk... It sounds pretty great though... But I've already got like 20-30 books waiting on Kindle...

First world litterary problems.

[polishgenius]

So the last few days I read:

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden, an excellent Russia-set fairytale (interestingly despite using different mythic creatures it ended up with a verrry similar story to Naomi Novik's Spinning Silver, but I preferred how it was done here).

The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t With Her Mind, by Jackson Ford (actually a pseudonym for an established author), a light-hearted (mostly) superpowers-based thriller thing, fun though at times a bit too bogged down in description for this sort of a book.


The Border Keeper by Kerstin Hall, a short novel/long novella with a very neat setting that I greatly enjoyed

and am now reading

Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio, a BIIIIIIIG space opera which comes off kind of like Name of the Wind IN SPACE!!!, though I'd recommend it to people who got frustrated with that book too, as although for me his writing and dialogue isn't as slick he also doesn't have Rothfuss's pretentions and, so far, awkward attitude to girls and sex, nor any dragon cows, so there's that. It has so far been very episodic though, I'm about halway through and I'd like it to gain some kind of more complex structure soon.

[Aptorian]

This week I read four books.

The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett. Didn't like this one as much as the first, felt sort of rudderless because of the mysterious plot. Still a funny fantasy book though.

Read a new Danish release of Enid Blyton's first "The famous 5" children's book series - Five on treasure island. I think I read this as a kid but it still holds up. Clearly the language has been modernized from the 50s version but there's something charming about this story.

It's free from the sibling rivalry you'd expect from a modern children's book. In a sense this a book that presents the ideal (upper middle class) child and how they should behave. Innocent, wild and full of wonder.

Read Rutger Bregman's Utopia for Realists. It's a good and positive non-fiction book to recharge your batteries in the depressing political landscape you might be accustomed to. It's full of interesting research and comes with a bunch of solutions to the issues that worry us, like populism, inequality, immigration, etc. Much of it is a pipedream but one can hope.

Finally I read the last of Carsten Jensen's Three books about our modern society, this one named Kældermennesker, which is a play on the Danish title for Dostojevskij's Notes from the Underground. It centers around populisme, Trump and the way our democracies have sort of lost their way. It's depressing reading but well written.

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

Whisperzzzzzzz, on 22 July 2019 - 06:34 PM, said:

Stephenson's Anathem. After only 17 pages, I can tell the worldbuilding will be dense.

This made me think, often and with fervor. This was Good.

I know Stephenson can be hit-or-miss. Which of his other works are in the same quality realm as Anathem?

[amphibian]

Whisperzzzzzzz, on 29 July 2019 - 01:49 AM, said:

Whisperzzzzzzz, on 22 July 2019 - 06:34 PM, said:

Stephenson's Anathem. After only 17 pages, I can tell the worldbuilding will be dense.

This made me think, often and with fervor. This was Good.

I know Stephenson can be hit-or-miss. Which of his other works are in the same quality realm as Anathem?

Cryptonomicon and the System of the World books are as dense.

I think Seveneves isn't that good a book, but it's nearly as dense.

In terms of which books I recommend of his, Cryptonomicon, the System of the World, Reamde, Snow Crash, Diamond Age, and hopefully, Fall when that comes out (it's closely related to Reamde).