[Cyphon]

 Morgoth, on 15 September 2021 - 07:46 AM, said:

I quite liked Empress, I went into it blind and loved how it went completely off the rails.

I like the off the rails bit. I think Polish Genius might have nailed in the tie back to Earth hindered it a bit.

[Macros]

Wait, there are 6 craft books?

[Tiste Simeon]

Hmm seems the final "Babel" book by Josiah Bancroft comes out in November of this year. Those books are excellent and I definitely want to read the final one but I can't for the life of me remember anything about what happens in them, except for the fact that it's all in the tower. I don't remember the power dynamics, who the characters are (I know he's looking for his wife but IIRC he found her but she was working for someone else? And something about the tunnels and he has become a slave leader? It's been a while and those books have a LOT of stuff in them...)

I need to find a synopsis/breakdown before I get them methinks.

[Cyphon]

I think it's Mark Lawrence who does a synopsis of the previous books at the beginning of each one which I always think is incredibly helpful and all multi-boom series authors should do.

[JPK]

 Macros, on 16 September 2021 - 07:48 AM, said:

Wait, there are 6 craft books?

Yup. THE RUIN OF ANGELS is book 6. It's a return to Kai as pov and set chronologically after FULL FATHOM FIVE.

[QuickTidal]

 Cyphon, on 16 September 2021 - 03:04 PM, said:

I think it's Mark Lawrence who does a synopsis of the previous books at the beginning of each one which I always think is incredibly helpful and all multi-boom series authors should do.

Tad Williams and James Islington do this too. Super helpful.

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

 Abyss, on 16 September 2021 - 03:40 AM, said:

 Raymond Luxury Yacht, on 16 September 2021 - 03:29 AM, said:

I just started prince of thorns and think I'm going to hate it. Anyone read it? Worth giving it a shot?

Read it, enjoyed it, suggest you stick w it a bit longer. Things are not exactly what they seem. Mostly. Sort of.

I’ll give it a bit more on your recommendation then.

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

Just finished reading Apollo 13 by Jeffrey Kluger and Jim Lovell. I bought it for Mr Not a Blacksmith earlier in the year after we watched the film (we're on a Tom Hanks-athon) and he flew through it.

It's brilliant! Carries the feelings of stress and claustrophobia really well and walks the line perfectly between explaining what's going on (including some key concepts like gimbal lock etc) and blinding a layman with too much science. As much as I love space related stuff my grasp of the actual physics involved is pretty much "it's really big, nobody can hear you scream" and I loved it.

This post has been edited by TheRetiredBridgeburner: 16 September 2021 - 06:45 PM

[worry]

 Macros, on 16 September 2021 - 07:48 AM, said:

Wait, there are 6 craft books?

They pretend to be craft but they're owned by Anheuser Busch.

[Tiste Simeon]

 QuickTidal, on 16 September 2021 - 03:47 PM, said:

 Cyphon, on 16 September 2021 - 03:04 PM, said:

I think it's Mark Lawrence who does a synopsis of the previous books at the beginning of each one which I always think is incredibly helpful and all multi-boom series authors should do.

Tad Williams and James Islington do this too. Super helpful.

Yeah Brent Weeks did it at the beginning of Lightbringer 5 and it was so useful!

[Maark Abbott]

Still grinding through Karsa Said No. The marines have finally started doing some things around 3/4 of the way in, though I still much prefer the sections with Rant.

[Tsundoku]

Just finished Miles Cameron's (he of The Red Knight fame, the SFF pen name of Christian Cameron the historical fiction writer) Artifact Space.

It's his first crack at SF and I'd sort of describe it as Peter F Hamilton-lite, which is not necessarily a bad thing as I have read most of PFH's stuff except the last few, which I will get to soon enough.
It seems a bit YA-ish at first but then again so does anything when compared with the focus authors of this forum and the other popular authors.
The protagonist Marca Nbaro is a little bit Mary Sue-ish as well. Her conveniently remarkable abilities and actions could have been spread across two or even three main characters but I guess in the interests of compression it works well enough. Strangely enough I had her in my head as a less abrasive Michael Burnham (Star Trek: Discovery).
It's a fun read, the scifi isn't hard scifi like Reynolds thank goodness, so the necessary infodumps are woven in with the story. The plot is quite interesting and there is quite a lot of descriptions of shipboard life which is interesting enough to hold my attention without becoming a chore, and I found the action scenes fairly well done.

The concluding novel is called Deep Black and I will be reading it, whenever it comes out.

Seven weirdass alien out of ten. Or maybe seven and a half. Thereabouts anyway.

Wert needs to do a review.

[QuickTidal]

Finished Robin Hobb's MAD SHIP. I like the Liveship books a lot...but I think they pale in comparison to the Fitz books. I'm glad I'm finally reading them (I want to do a Fitz re-read but I decided to finally read this trilogy first), but I dunno if I'll ever go back and re-read them as I have the Fitz books.

Going to dive back into A GRACE OF KINGS by Liu now, as I got WALL OF STORMS on a kindle sale so may as well get these read.

[QuickTidal]

 Briar King, on 21 September 2021 - 05:04 PM, said:

I don’t think I ll ever read them myself.

I’ve said a number of times I would yet I’ve still not bought and I think I probably would have if so. Idk

As a completionist, it was inevitable that I'd get them as a big Elderlings fan, but I get why you may not want to read them.

[Salt-Man Z]

I absolutely loved the LIVESHIP TRADERS trilogy. Still the only Hobb I've ever read, though I do mean to correct that at some point...

[QuickTidal]

 Salt-Man Z, on 21 September 2021 - 05:52 PM, said:

I absolutely loved the LIVESHIP TRADERS trilogy. Still the only Hobb I've ever read, though I do mean to correct that at some point...

That's fair. They are good, I just think they paled in comparison to Fitz for me?

[Abyss]

Just Finished INDEXING: REFLECTIONS, Sienan McGuire's sequel to INDEXING.
These were a lot of fun to read back to back. A very complete story and an entirely original take on the 'fairytales are real' urban fantasy subgenre, where stories are actively pushing into the real world and victims have their lives subverted to the story. Most of the 'agents' are people whose stories are on hold, leaving them with peculiar skills or powers but also serious problems, ie the Cobbler's Elf really, REALLY has to resist the impulse to make shoes, and the wicked stepsister just wants to murder pretty much everyone.
It's very very well written, great pace even when the action slows down. Totally worth your time and money.

[Abyss]

 Abyss, on 09 December 2019 - 07:15 PM, said:

 JPK, on 09 December 2019 - 05:20 PM, said:

 Abyss, on 09 December 2019 - 04:36 PM, said:

 Aptorian, on 09 December 2019 - 02:36 PM, said:

 Maark Abbott, on 09 December 2019 - 08:33 AM, said:

 Morgoth, on 25 November 2019 - 11:40 AM, said:

 QuickTidal, on 06 November 2019 - 06:45 PM, said:

Grabbed THREE PARTS DEAD by Max Gladstone, based on many recco's here by those I trust and because it was only $3 on Amazon, so I figured I'd take a shot at it. I liked the prologue with the chain-smoking priest dude at any rate.

It's wizard-lawyers throwing spells made out of contract interpretations and powered by faith channeled through shell companies. What's not to love?!

If I was on the Malaz discord right now I would post :peepochrist: in response to that.

Hmmm. 15 USD for the first five books in the series? I mean, I'd practically be losing money if I didn't buy that bundle!

It saddens me that i have owned that ebook for ages but have yet to read it.

I do have the earbook of the first book but i keep procrastinating because i suspect i would want to get the rest immediately and earbook prices are silly if you don't have the audible credits.

I'm 4 books deep and can confirm you'll want to get them all immediately.

NOT HELPING.

Am now approx 1/2way through THREE PARTS DEAD... reading this after INDEXING may have been a tactical error, because despite many glowing forum reco's, it's not grabbing me. Too much talking, too many meetings, too much looking and not enough doing....

Fortunately SANDMAN ACT 2 lands tonight, so i will take a break and come back after Gaiman and his absurdly talented audio cast blow my mind out the backs of my eyes.

[Salt-Man Z]

 Abyss, on 21 September 2021 - 06:55 PM, said:

Just Finished INDEXING: REFLECTIONS, Sienan McGuire's sequel to INDEXING.
These were a lot of fun to read back to back. A very complete story and an entirely original take on the 'fairytales are real' urban fantasy subgenre, where stories are actively pushing into the real world and victims have their lives subverted to the story. Most of the 'agents' are people whose stories are on hold, leaving them with peculiar skills or powers but also serious problems, ie the Cobbler's Elf really, REALLY has to resists the impulse to make shoes, and the wicked stepsister just wants to murder pretty much everyone.
It's very very well written, great pace even when the action slows down. Totally worth your time and money.

Really glad you enjoyed these. They're soooo great, and you can find the Kindle versions on sale for $0.99 pretty regularly. (But they're easily worth the full price, too!)

[worry]

Finished Monarchies of God book 1: it was a bit dry tbh, but I gather this is all setup for more explosive stuff to come, politically, militarily, and hopefully fantastically. It definitely got more hook-y in the last 25%. I had other problems with it too, but not like dealbreakers or anything so far. Just the kinda stuff you'd expect from a 90s fantasy series rooted in E***pean history. I'll definitely get to book 2 shortly, with hope for that upswing you've all said is coming.
Gonna sneak in a couple horror novellas before then though: first, Mapping the Interior by Stephen Graham Jones. I really enjoyed The Only Good Indians so wanna dive into his previous stuff, at least the good stuff (he seems, uh, prolific).