[Abyss]

polishgenius, on 23 July 2020 - 08:03 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 23 July 2020 - 07:27 PM, said:

polishgenius, on 23 July 2020 - 07:02 PM, said:

I started a debut from earlier this year, The Unspoken Name by AK Larkwood. Really quite good so far. It's another young-lady-coming-of-age-in-strenuous-circumstances type dealio of the kind we've seen a few of lately, albeit in this one she doesn't go to a magic school or anything. Bit of Planescape: Torment (it's got a very cool world/s setup), bit of personal-political maneuvering, bit of Indiana Jones weirdly enough, tightly written with engaging characters.

Looked this up...this sounds fucking dope...I'm gonna grab it. I's only $14 on kindle...let's see if we can give this the double stamp, shall we PG?

Fingers crossed. The rarest of the rare.

I hope I've not gone too early since I'm only like a third of the way through but yeah it's a very promising start.

Not helping my TRP here, a$$hole$.

[Abyss]

Just finished PEACE TALKS, will dedthread that.

Resumed EMPIRE OF GOLD yesterday...

Yknow that feeling when even tho you're familiar with an author and are 100% certain the crash is coming, they do it in a way that knocks you sideways... and then they do it again, and again.

Well, that. Chakarabortay has this lovely talent for steadily engaging the reader in the characters and then abruptly catapulting us kicking and screaming back into the bigger fantasy story to blow our minds.

[Abyss]

Chance, on 20 July 2020 - 07:10 AM, said:

Abyss, on 20 July 2020 - 04:13 AM, said:

Chance, on 19 July 2020 - 07:08 PM, said:

Nearly done with Dark Age and well, I'm not sure I really like it. Some sections are awesome in a way few series ever are but others depend too much on stupidity and technological gimics, can't really decide if it was good or not.

Which parts depend on stupidity?
...use spoiler blocks pls...

Lots of parts really and individually sure but basically everyone of the main characters get hodwincked into the horrendous places they end up by being really really stupid.

Spoiler

There is so much but one which stands out is you have a syndicate that helped in book 3 to smuggle in nuclear weapons into your capital and blew them up, what do you do over the next ten years answer A let them get bigger and more influential, B use your counter terrorism elite badasses to shoot them up a lot? (I might buy it if they where based in another equally powerful country but in your own country they wouldn't exist in a least treatening way a year after their support of nuclear terrorism.) So you knew all this time that your main weapondealer and industrialist was fucking over millions/billions of the people you say your all about giving rights and decent lives to an even worst extent than the slave lords you've replaced and you have done zilch nada and nothing to fix it for 10 YEARS!!!! and your wondering why current arrangements arent working and why the hell aggrivate that industrialist when you've already alienated all those poor working folk and you need every ally you could get? Using a senate as supreme commander with no one to tell them their joint political decisions make no military sense and put millions of soldiers in danger so we are not going to pull our fleet away. Knowing that you have a leak, that you have tratiorous senators and then going to a senate meeting where you are going to crush their entire plan, some sensible precautions (like a small army a block away) or putting that senator in your mind reading device sounds like a good idea, because you know they might fight back. If your going to use an exentric genius to build your doomsday device and you have fucked him over for the entire book perhaps have a death squad looking over his shoulders. Also that doomsday device he is building why don't you have someone near it who can stop it by say putting a rail gun slug into it if it should kinda be an obviously bad idea and a trap. If you've captured the most badass genocidal murder machine ever to live (the fear knight) A dont trust the guy who served him up on a platter, aced the lie detector test, is obviously too harmless to live and when that guy goes into a place where he cant be listend to with your exentric genius who hates your guts shoot him and B shoot the genocidal murder machine at the first sign that he could get free like a blackout. Also why are your high tech magic/power swords working when any other tech more modern then the 19th century doesn't after the EMP? I don't even know what to say about the Obsidians and Ephraim that was such a cluster fuck of stupidity that it beggars belief (the only reasonable assumption is that Sefi was lobotomized between books) or the Red Hand it shouldn't exist in its portrayed form, if there is a dozen military star ships in orbit it litteraly can't exist (it would go something like Traffic Control: Hello there unidentified suspicious vehicle leaving an supposedly unused mine, would you mind telling us who you are? Unidentified Terrorist Vehicle: Not really but we are honest miners promise. Traffic Control: Nah we kind of have to check that out redirect to airfield X where we will check that out. Unidifientified Terrorist Vehicle: Don't think so wroom in a different direction. Traffic Control: Our ships in orbit will kind of kill you if you don't comply unidentified flying vehicle. Unidientified Terrorist Vehicle explodes from orbital ordonance and a team is sent to check that suspicious unused mine.) (those ships in orbit would also kill any infiltrating Obsidians from beyond space and time that are not protected by magic cloaking fields which somehow hide their TORCHSHIPS from being noticed by anyone with half a brain at ridiculous distances.) I can buy a lot of this shit but not all of it together, it felt kinda good to write it down however so YAY

Just my nsho, but complete answer to your points amounts to
'a. Bribes, b. Politics, c. Underestimating clever opponents'... but ok, that's your take, it's not wrong. If a-c didn't come into play it would have been a pretty boring book, i think.

[polishgenius]

Abyss, on 24 July 2020 - 01:55 PM, said:

polishgenius, on 23 July 2020 - 08:03 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 23 July 2020 - 07:27 PM, said:

polishgenius, on 23 July 2020 - 07:02 PM, said:

I started a debut from earlier this year, The Unspoken Name by AK Larkwood. Really quite good so far. It's another young-lady-coming-of-age-in-strenuous-circumstances type dealio of the kind we've seen a few of lately, albeit in this one she doesn't go to a magic school or anything. Bit of Planescape: Torment (it's got a very cool world/s setup), bit of personal-political maneuvering, bit of Indiana Jones weirdly enough, tightly written with engaging characters.

Looked this up...this sounds fucking dope...I'm gonna grab it. I's only $14 on kindle...let's see if we can give this the double stamp, shall we PG?

Fingers crossed. The rarest of the rare.

I hope I've not gone too early since I'm only like a third of the way through but yeah it's a very promising start.

Not helping my TRP here, a$$hole$.

Well I finished up and it was a lot of fun and you should read it, if that helps.

[Abyss]

polishgenius, on 24 July 2020 - 03:47 PM, said:

Abyss, on 24 July 2020 - 01:55 PM, said:

polishgenius, on 23 July 2020 - 08:03 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 23 July 2020 - 07:27 PM, said:

polishgenius, on 23 July 2020 - 07:02 PM, said:

I started a debut from earlier this year, The Unspoken Name by AK Larkwood. Really quite good so far. It's another young-lady-coming-of-age-in-strenuous-circumstances type dealio of the kind we've seen a few of lately, albeit in this one she doesn't go to a magic school or anything. Bit of Planescape: Torment (it's got a very cool world/s setup), bit of personal-political maneuvering, bit of Indiana Jones weirdly enough, tightly written with engaging characters.

Looked this up...this sounds fucking dope...I'm gonna grab it. I's only $14 on kindle...let's see if we can give this the double stamp, shall we PG?

Fingers crossed. The rarest of the rare.

I hope I've not gone too early since I'm only like a third of the way through but yeah it's a very promising start.

Not helping my TRP here, a$hole$.

Well I finished up and it was a lot of fun and you should read it, if that helps.

[polishgenius]

To be fair since Baco Xtath left most of y'all never seem to have the same taste in books as me so I'll take the shot at getting you to read something I rave about.


(I know I know, I exaggerate)

[amphibian]

polishgenius, on 24 July 2020 - 08:08 PM, said:

To be fair since Baco Xtath left most of y'all never seem to have the same taste in books as me so I'll take the shot at getting you to read something I rave about.


(I know I know, I exaggerate)

Are you the person who reads Nick Perumov in Russian and can thus progress past Godsdoom (the only English translation yet)?

[polishgenius]

Yeah it's not me. I'm the guy who could read Sapkowski and Lem in Polish but for some reason never have (well, I've read some Lem).

[Chance]

Abyss, on 24 July 2020 - 03:14 PM, said:

Just my nsho, but complete answer to your points amounts to
'a. Bribes, b. Politics, c. Underestimating clever opponents'... but ok, that's your take, it's not wrong. If a-c didn't come into play it would have been a pretty boring book, i think.

I agree that it would be a boring book and a lot of it can be explaine through a-c just can't really find it in myself to find it plausible that some supposedly intelligent people get into the situations they do, they simply make Sefi, Darrow and Virginia seem like idiots which they shouldn't be because the plot requires it to work its kinda of sloppy writing.

And I still enjoyed large parts of the book just not to the extent of the earlier installments.

This post has been edited by Chance: 24 July 2020 - 09:10 PM

[Abyss]

Chance, on 24 July 2020 - 09:07 PM, said:

Abyss, on 24 July 2020 - 03:14 PM, said:

Just my nsho, but complete answer to your points amounts to
'a. Bribes, b. Politics, c. Underestimating clever opponents'... but ok, that's your take, it's not wrong. If a-c didn't come into play it would have been a pretty boring book, i think.

I agree that it would be a boring book and a lot of it can be explaine through a-c just can't really find it in myself to find it plausible that some supposedly intelligent people get into the situations they do, they simply make Sefi, Darrow and Virginia seem like idiots which they shouldn't be because the plot requires it to work its kinda of sloppy writing.

And I still enjoyed large parts of the book just not to the extent of the earlier installments.

Not idiots, but faced w intelligent opponents in complex difficult situations. Part of what I enjoy in the Red Rising series is that the 'bad guys' are damn effective.

We're really just arguing degrees of enjoyment tho even if I'm right and you're wrong.

[Aptorian]

Finished Jim Butcher's 16th Dresden Files book, Peace Talks. As always a fast paced, well written book full of action and great characters. I enjoyed it greatly but after a five year pause a lot of flaws are now more apparent.

It seems like most of the suspense and plot revolves around Dresden either not being told vital information or Dresden withholding information because he thinks ignorance is protection.

It's also yet another book in many where Dresden remarks he just hasn't had time to do this or that, or study this or that form of magic because reasons.

He's also super powerful now but not really actually because plot, etc.

I feel like Butcher created a formula early on that he really should have broken Dresden out of by now.

Still, great to return to the series and I can't wait for for part 2 this fall.

Back to Return of the Crimson Guard.

[QuickTidal]

I’m fucking behind on the reread...almost done HoC...I’ll be skipping the ICE parts though, so I should be able to barrel through MT and BH before the end of August...wish me luck.

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

About 2/3 done with The Bonehunters.

Taking a quick break to pick up Ball & Enjeti's The Populist's Guide To 2020. It's gotten positive reviews from Andrew Yang AND Tucker Carlson AND Glenn Greenwald. I don't know anything about it beyond that, but if it can bring such opposing forces together, then I want to check it out.

[QuickTidal]

Finished my HoC reread, still love it,

Rolling right into MT trying to catch up the re-readers.

[T77]

QuickTidal, on 29 July 2020 - 01:54 AM, said:

Finished my HoC reread, still love it,

Rolling right into MT trying to catch up the re-readers.

You're ahead of me. I just started GotM. Like the 3rd or 4th time I've read it. It gets better with each read. And Erikson is so good he ruins all other fantasy for me.

[Andorion]

I am currently reread TtH
It really does get better every time

[QuickTidal]

T77, on 29 July 2020 - 02:11 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 29 July 2020 - 01:54 AM, said:

Finished my HoC reread, still love it,

Rolling right into MT trying to catch up the re-readers.

You're ahead of me. I just started GotM. Like the 3rd or 4th time I've read it. It gets better with each read. And Erikson is so good he ruins all other fantasy for me.

Andorion, on 29 July 2020 - 06:06 PM, said:

I am currently reread TtH
It really does get better every time

Yes, very much agreed on the ones I've re-read before...

And hell, MT is a completely different book when you know WTF is going on and how it connects to everything else. My full Malazan re-reads before this always stalled out around HoC so this is probably my first real time re-reading MT and beyond...so this is a new experience for me...but yeah, just being clued into how everything works and how everyone is in the grand scheme makes this SO rewarding. I recall the first time reading it being like "WTF are all these people, why is everything different?" and for whatever reason not clueing in to Trull basically ending HoC telling this story...

Anyways, yeah, 100pages already and it's solidly great of course.

[Tiste Simeon]

Man every time I've read Malazan it gets better. Even the bits I previously hated, in now love.

In other news I've started rereading the entirety of Dresden. I'll hopefully be finished in time for Battlegrounds and I can read Peace Talks and that one together.

[End of Disc One]

Everyone says the books get better on a reread, and I wish I could relate. I've never read a book that got better on a reread, except possibly Deadhouse Gates which I didn't really enjoy the first time. I think a lot of my enjoyment comes from imagining the potential of where the story might go, and that's all gone on a reread.

[QuickTidal]

20 Days of Sheep, on 29 July 2020 - 09:02 PM, said:

Yep but Malazan is full to the brim with finger snap moments you can't pick up on a 1st read. So you know where the story is going already but you get to really see how it gets there.

Indeed.

The bit from MOI where

Spoiler

inexplicably Quick Ben and Co. find a bloated, dead Edur body is one good example of this. They have no idea where it came from, and they don't even really know what it is since Edur were essentially still supposedly extinct to the rest of the world other than in Omtose Phellacked Lether. That pays off in MT as one of the Edur Mael (Bugg) sends away after they assault Tehol (I forget which one)....but this explains why it washes up on the shoreline (Mael being a god of the seas)...so yeah it's a little thing, but reading the end result first in MOI and having it be a mystery for two books is super awesome.

There are a tonne of those moments in the series.

This post has been edited by Abyss: 30 July 2020 - 04:08 AM
Reason for edit: SPOILER... yes, i know, but even so....