[Abyss]

Abyss, on 05 December 2019 - 03:59 PM, said:

...On to MURDERBOT, about halfway into ALL SYSTEMS RED and very enjoying so far.

Just Finished RED, went straight into ARTIFICIAL CONDITION, also enjoyed enough to continue into ROGUE PROTOCOL and once done will likely jump straight to EXIT STRATEGY.

Happy to see Wells is doing a full length novel due next year. There's a lot of good writing with the Murderbot character. It brings to mind an 'older' style of sf where the audience is along for the ride with a bad attitude pribvate eye POV character and doesn't get explanations for everything, and partly just gloriously cynical and filed with scathing comments about human stupidity from the pov of a robot trying to keep the humans alive.

The earbook narrator's ability to distinguish inner monologue vs speech is impressive.

[Macros]

Halfway through the Hod King.

Man things took a serious turn quickly there. Stopping for the night but that was 2 holy shits in like 10 pages

[Tiste Simeon]

Macros, on 09 December 2019 - 09:42 PM, said:

Halfway through the Hod King.

Man things took a serious turn quickly there. Stopping for the night but that was 2 holy shits in like 10 pages

I think you've overtaken me, I've not had much reading time of late. I've just reached the part where

Spoiler

Senlin, in disguise as Cyril, has finally caught up with Marya, the Duchess. So intense! Of course she knew who he was, even with the mask on!

[Maark Abbott]

Finished Colfire 1. Really enjoyed that.

Not sure what to move onto next. Locke Lamora 2, perhaps?

[Aptorian]

Finished the first Witcher book "Last Wish" by Andrzej Sapkowski - Surprisingly good. I started out put off by the writing, not sure if it's a quirk of the writer or translator, but the writing felt very wooden at first. But as I continued I really enjoyed it. I love the use of european folklore and fairytales, like Beauty and the beast, snow white, rapunzel, etc. It's also fun to read the background for the story in the Witcher games.

Already ordered book 2 and 3.

Read Yahya Hassan's second poetry collection. A lot less impactful than the first one but still fascinating in the obsceneties he spews and the raw hatred and vehemence he puts down on every page.

Started Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Gods of Jade and Shadow for this month's book club. It's a solid read so far. Pretty standard, young character tags up with ancient being, type of fantasy so far but the setting and history makes it novel.

[Macros]

Tiste Simeon, on 09 December 2019 - 10:16 PM, said:

Macros, on 09 December 2019 - 09:42 PM, said:

Halfway through the Hod King.

Man things took a serious turn quickly there. Stopping for the night but that was 2 holy shits in like 10 pages

I think you've overtaken me, I've not had much reading time of late. I've just reached the part where

Spoiler

Senlin, in disguise as Cyril, has finally caught up with Marya, the Duchess. So intense! Of course she knew who he was, even with the mask on!

Way ahead of you now mate, you have some good reading coming your way!

[Abyss]

Maark Abbott, on 10 December 2019 - 08:42 AM, said:

Finished Colfire 1. Really enjoyed that.

Not sure what to move onto next. Locke Lamora 2, perhaps?

COLDFIRE 2, duh.

[End of Disc One]

Seems risky to buy book 3 of a trilogy without starting book 1. But I guess by buying books with white covers, you like to live on the edge.

[QuickTidal]

End of Disc One, on 10 December 2019 - 06:41 PM, said:

Seems risky to buy book 3 of a trilogy without starting book 1. But I guess by buying books with white covers, you like to live on the edge.

In his defense the books are great! LOL

[Maark Abbott]

Abyss, on 10 December 2019 - 03:42 PM, said:

Maark Abbott, on 10 December 2019 - 08:42 AM, said:

Finished Colfire 1. Really enjoyed that.

Not sure what to move onto next. Locke Lamora 2, perhaps?

COLDFIRE 2, duh.

I'm still waiting on the delivery so can't.

Instead guy. I gavriel you to a kay bar.

[Macros]

Just finished the Hod King, by Bancroft. Tiste get yourself through this one, excellent excellent book.
Eagerly awaiting the finale

[polishgenius]

I'm reading The Dragon Republic, the sequel to the Poppy War by RF Kuang. I'm enjoying it, if you liked the first you'll probably like this, but I am finding myself having a problem with the tone- it's still written largely in the same fairly light, bickery, often bantery tone the schooly bits of the first one were and that just doesn't match the gravity of what's going on and what happened at the end of the first, at all. In some ways it's got a lot of similarities to Red Sister and its sequels but Lawrence effectively mixes the grim and epic tone with the lighter one in a way that this doesn't.



(people will be tempted to call it YA-ish but since the likes of His Dark Materials are clearly YA and don't have this problem, and hell even Hunger Games although far less well written in terms of prose and dialogue does a better job of depicting the pressure and trauma of situations like this, I don't think that's really the issue.

Anyway, it's not a dealbreaker, it's just quite weird to read. The story happening is Bakker-dark and the tone is just not.

[Maark Abbott]

Really? None of you miserable chucklefucks laughed at my GGK joke? I hate you all.

[Tiste Simeon]

Macros, on 12 December 2019 - 06:23 PM, said:

Just finished the Hod King, by Bancroft. Tiste get yourself through this one, excellent excellent book.
Eagerly awaiting the finale

I'm doing my best!

[Aptorian]

Maark Abbott, on 13 December 2019 - 08:08 AM, said:

Really? None of you miserable chucklefucks laughed at my GGK joke? I hate you all.

It was so bad that I'm no longer sorry Britain is leaving the EU.

[Gothos]

Slowly making my way through Tiamat's Wrath. I'm dreading the point when I'll have to _wait_ for the next book.

[polishgenius]

Read most of Grey Bastards today since Abyss was raving about the sequel. It's really good.

[Mentalist]

Finished "The World Raven" yesterday. It's a good ending, though it leaves the world in a ste of new status quo-- the bad guys aren't destroyed, and the proxy war between the gods will continue.. someday.

That last bit threw me off a little, since the story was so focused on a small cast of characters doing what they can to change the world; But overall, it's fitting with the themes. And I admit I'm a sucker for stories where gods take active role in epic conflicts- and Smith gives me a lot of that here.

Gonna start the next Peter Grant, "Lies Sleeping" in commute on Monday, but meantime, based on the recent thread, I think I'll try "Beyond Redemption" at home.

[polishgenius]

Mentalist, on 14 December 2019 - 07:58 PM, said:

Gonna start the next Peter Grant, "Lies Sleeping" in commute on Monday, but meantime, based on the recent thread, I think I'll try "Beyond Redemption" at home.

I hope you don't speak German because it's basically unreadable if you do. Or at least I found it so.

[Mentalist]

polishgenius, on 15 December 2019 - 03:33 PM, said:

Mentalist, on 14 December 2019 - 07:58 PM, said:

Gonna start the next Peter Grant, "Lies Sleeping" in commute on Monday, but meantime, based on the recent thread, I think I'll try "Beyond Redemption" at home.

I hope you don't speak German because it's basically unreadable if you do. Or at least I found it so.

No worries on that front, I'm more into Slavic and Romance languages. Germanic and Celtic are a white spot for me.