[Whisperzzzzzzz]

Lyons' Memory of Souls. I REALLY like this series. It's super fresh and creative.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Just as I was starting to sour on the main plot, The Wall of Storms had a major shift....

Spoiler

the Northern barbarians come, but instead of horses they're riding dragons. And they don't have metal or much wood so they make extensive use of bones. And while their names call to mind the Mongolic 'Northern barbarians' who conquered China, their appearance makes them seem a bit more like Vikings. There's an interesting treatment of exploration and colonialism.

I'm finding it very entertaining, and it presents some memorable images. Plot is a major strong point. Characterization can be a bit annoying at times---characters being excessively stubborn or acting in irrational and out of character seeming ways that conveniently advance the plot, and some of the characters are arguably too close to standard tropes---but tends to be enjoyable overall.

[Aptorian]

Read A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers.

That was a wonderful short little story about a monk and a robot. Will definitely be buying the next one when it's on sale. Nice to read a sci-fi/fantasy book that's not about danger and strife but instead just a touching personal journey.

Started up the first Warhammer 40K Eisenhorn novel by Dan Annette called Xenos. So far I'm pleasantly surprised.

I wasn't a big fan of the Gaunt books or the first Horus Heresy books. Xenos thankfully seems like a much more competent and fast paced techno thriller.

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

While waiting for the next Lyons book to arrive, I've started Stross' The Atrocity Archives.

[Aptorian]

Oh boy, is this the first time reading the Laundry Files?

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

Aptorian, on 01 January 2023 - 08:59 PM, said:

Oh boy, is this the first time reading the Laundry Files?

Yep! I found a collected edition (On Her Majesty's Occult Service) at an estate sale a few months ago.

This post has been edited by Whisperzzzzzzz: 01 January 2023 - 10:20 PM

[JPK]

Whisperzzzzzzz, on 01 January 2023 - 10:19 PM, said:

Aptorian, on 01 January 2023 - 08:59 PM, said:

Oh boy, is this the first time reading the Laundry Files?

Yep! I found a collected edition (On Her Majesty's Occult Service) at an estate sale a few months ago.

Oh how I envy you right now.

[Chance]

Finished up War for the Rose Throne series by Peter McLean over the new year. Think it was just needed to finish the year with a very uncompromising fantasy. Perfect for people who want a mix of Joe Abercrombie and Daniel Polansky. One of those books where the once "good guy" ends up winning, but only by making compromises and sacrificing pretty much everything that made them better than their vanquished foes. Sometimes the gradual decline of the "good" protagonist makes you stop caring like me with the later game of throne books but I think this one pulls it off to the end when you've been seeing the cliff approaching for a good while you still hope that some kind of ray of sunlight will appear close to the end.

Spoiler

There are no rays of sunlight at the end, except that some of the mad bastards are dead. There are even some indicators that the good guy is going to be far worse than his predecessor, how about a tyrannic-theocratic government and a half-insane mage queen for his eventual successor

This post has been edited by Chance: 02 January 2023 - 11:48 AM

[JPK]

You know what the New Year needs? More pirates! I started On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers and it's pretty good so far even if the narrator is very slightly stiff.

[QuickTidal]

Aptorian, on 01 January 2023 - 07:49 PM, said:

Read A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers.

That was a wonderful short little story about a monk and a robot. Will definitely be buying the next one when it's on sale. Nice to read a sci-fi/fantasy book that's not about danger and strife but instead just a touching personal journey.

All her work is like this. They call it "Cozy Fiction". Very slice of life. This one also benefits from being one of the first intentionally written Solarpunk (Cli-Fi) books that tries to oppose cyberpunk and I for one love that they exist to palate cleanse more grim cyberpunk stuff.

Also, the mood swing from PSALM to WH40K Inquisition EISENHORN must be insane...LOL

[Aptorian]

I took a look at Chamber's bibliography on Amazon and it definitely does seem like a cozy book list. Not surprised to find out I actually own several more books by her, that I must have bought at random during some sale.

Eisenhorn is not that grim. Well 12.000 people die in the opening chapter... But that's not that bad considering.

[QuickTidal]

Aptorian, on 03 January 2023 - 07:05 PM, said:

Eisenhorn is not that grim.

I....well, keep reading. LOL

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

Aptorian, on 01 January 2023 - 07:49 PM, said:

Read A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers.

That was a wonderful short little story about a monk and a robot. Will definitely be buying the next one when it's on sale. Nice to read a sci-fi/fantasy book that's not about danger and strife but instead just a touching personal journey.

Ooo, thank you. I loved her Wayfarers series but haven't tried the short story. On the list it goes!

Still reading Robin Ince's The Importance of Being Interested. It's great but being ill over Christmas (still not really fully shaken it) slowed me down as I couldn't concentrate much.

I had a brief break to read Richard Herring's The Problem With Men which was a Christmas gift. Light, snappy and very funny. International Men's Day is in fact on November 19th - who knew?

Another Christmas gift was Kate Mosse's Warrior Queens and Quiet Revolutionaries, a bit of a whistle stop tour through one hundred women history has largely forgotten about - that's queued up next.

This post has been edited by TheRetiredBridgeburner: 04 January 2023 - 10:01 AM

[Macros]

Chance, on 02 January 2023 - 11:36 AM, said:

Finished up War for the Rose Throne series by Peter McLean over the new year. Think it was just needed to finish the year with a very uncompromising fantasy. Perfect for people who want a mix of Joe Abercrombie and Daniel Polansky. One of those books where the once "good guy" ends up winning, but only by making compromises and sacrificing pretty much everything that made them better than their vanquished foes. Sometimes the gradual decline of the "good" protagonist makes you stop caring like me with the later game of throne books but I think this one pulls it off to the end when you've been seeing the cliff approaching for a good while you still hope that some kind of ray of sunlight will appear close to the end.

Spoiler

There are no rays of sunlight at the end, except that some of the mad bastards are dead. There are even some indicators that the good guy is going to be far worse than his predecessor, how about a tyrannic-theocratic government and a half-insane mage queen for his eventual successor

Mid Point of book 3 at the moment.

Was fairly sure it was heading towards where you say (haven't read spoiler, just in general)
solid stuff, and you've nailed the Abercrombie/Polanski shout

[Chance]

Currently going through the end of The Blacktongue Thief and it's been steadily growing on me from annoyance at the language to strange facination, still I'm not entirely sold but it certainly is something different. All these randomly appearing things encounters along a quest journey however make it feel old school.

Macros, on 04 January 2023 - 11:32 AM, said:

Mid Point of book 3 at the moment.

Was fairly sure it was heading towards where you say (haven't read spoiler, just in general)
solid stuff, and you've nailed the Abercrombie/Polanski shout

Will be interested in what you think about it once your done. Thought it was a very interesting series and one of my favorit recent reads.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Chance, on 04 January 2023 - 02:29 PM, said:

Currently going through the end of The Blacktongue Thief and it's been steadily growing on me from annoyance at the language to strange facination, still I'm not entirely sold but it certainly is something different. All these randomly appearing things encounters along a quest journey however make it feel old school.

In the audiobook a lot of the pronunciations sound like reconstructed Elizabethan English, though the overall accent definitely sounds like they were trying to do some sort of Irish---not sure if they were going for a specific regional dialect or what. It's narrated by the author, who's from Florida, so I'd guess the pronunciation is intentionally archaic. (Personally I like it, since listening to and performing Elizabethan songs and poems in various reconstructions of so-called 'OP' ('Original Pronunciation') has been an interest of mine for years now---I especially like the Boston Camerata's 'What Then Is Love?', where 'love' is pronounced 'loo-ve'.)

[polishgenius]

Read Blacktongue Thief a while back, I enjoyed it but it does suffer a little from 'a string of incidents' syndrome. Always a risk in a quest novel, but a bit compounded by the author not really building on any characters apart from the main (and I swear he forgot a couple of them were even there for a good quarter of the story. Hell, I did). Loads of cool ideas, though.


Most recently I read A Storm of Echoes, the final part in Christel Dabos' Mirror Visitor quadrilogy. I absolutely loved the first one of these and the second two were nearly as good. While I still enjoyed this one, it does unfortunately fall into a not-entirely-dissimilar trap: although it's not a quest, Ophelia is shunted from situation to ever-crazier situation so quickly it starts to tumble by. It's an odd choice because the first three function very much on her being put in a single particular situation and the book really exploring it: there's at least one set-up here that could comfortably have carried a whole book in that way and several more that could potentially, or at least a couple hundred pages, and a storm of revelations or massive plot turns that just didn't get time to breathe as the next one came along.


My overall feeling of the series is a bit similar to the Senlin books by Josiah Bancroft. First book putting a socially-awkward protagonist in something of a theatrical parody of high society, second book shifting on to some high adventure, third one starting to reveal some of the true weirdness behind it all, and the final one really leaning into the weirdness (and having quite a surprising ending) but also just... having too much action for where the series started from, for me.

Still, it's recommended overall, really good series. My qualms are mostly qualms in comparison to just how much I adored the first book, which was a lot.


Now I've leapt into Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao, which appears to be a cross between anti-patriarchy revenge fantasy, Chinese myth and history, and Pacific Rim. Only just started but it's both fun and absolutely furious so far.

[Gwynn ap Nudd]

polishgenius, on 06 January 2023 - 12:04 AM, said:

Read Blacktongue Thief a while back, I enjoyed it but it does suffer a little from 'a string of incidents' syndrome. Always a risk in a quest novel, but a bit compounded by the author not really building on any characters apart from the main (and I swear he forgot a couple of them were even there for a good quarter of the story. Hell, I did). Loads of cool ideas, though.

I noticed the exact same thing about missing characters when I read the book. There were a couple times where it was like "oh, you're still with them?"

[polishgenius]

polishgenius, on 06 January 2023 - 12:04 AM, said:

Now I've leapt into Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao, which appears to be a cross between anti-patriarchy revenge fantasy, Chinese myth and history, and Pacific Rim. Only just started but it's both fun and absolutely furious so far.

Absolutely tore through this. It's a ride. It's a ton of fun about giant magic mecha-type things kicking magic alien arse, but also it is a furious book with things to say, so it's an odd balance. I suppose part of that is just that (even though I've read a few in recent years) I'm still a bit unused to cathartic wish-fullfilment that isn't just by and about women but directly about women's experience (as opposed to the rage of authors like Matt Stover or Richard Morgan, which never felt that odd to me despite riding the balance just as much).

In any case, I'm not saying that as a negative. It's a cracking read.

[Abyss]

Gwynn ap Nudd, on 06 January 2023 - 04:09 AM, said:

polishgenius, on 06 January 2023 - 12:04 AM, said:

Read Blacktongue Thief a while back, I enjoyed it but it does suffer a little from 'a string of incidents' syndrome. Always a risk in a quest novel, but a bit compounded by the author not really building on any characters apart from the main (and I swear he forgot a couple of them were even there for a good quarter of the story. Hell, I did). Loads of cool ideas, though.

I noticed the exact same thing about missing characters when I read the book. There were a couple times where it was like "oh, you're still with them?"

Did not notice this, am curious.
In spoiler blocks can you say who?