[Macros]

Nearing the end of Magician and knowing how it ends this bit of stupidity from Macros is 100% the weakest part of the plot.

Spoiler

His justification for tricking Tomas and the elves into attacking the peace meeting. Just wide open to no

[polishgenius]

Read The Bookshop Below, by Georgia Summers, her follow up (but not sequel to) City of Stardust. That was probably my favourite book of last year and this lives up to it. It pulls off the same exact trick- all the charm and whimsy of the fairytale types, your Catherynne Valente and Erin Morgenstein types, but seamlessly crossed with a fast-paced espionage thriller. Guess that's her niche, and she's nailed it.


Before that I read Slow Gods by Claire North, her first go at space opera. Also very good, Somewhat unusual lead protagonist.

[Abyss]

And Just Finished The 13th Paladin bk 12, CALL OF THE ICE FIELDS. While this book takes the series prize for use of the words 'smithereens', 'dastrardly', and 'whooshed', plus a character who "sent his spear spearing through the air" it was a great fun read. The author has refined his art, knows his cast well and bounces them off each other beautifully. The action is clear and intense. And amazingly despite a core plot device that should clothe most of the cast in plot armor, he manages to put them in real jeopardy with a genuine sense of risk and consequences. Also does a lovely job with the titular Ice Fields setting and avoids the usual traps of pages and pages of people slogging thru snow complaining about how cold it is. Great fun, on the the final book, and fairly psyched to see whether he can stick the landing.

[Abyss]

A glance thru Spotify's freebies for a short sf distraction ahead of 13th Paladin bk 13 too me to Una McCormack's THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF KATHRYN JANEWAY, narrated, as it must be, by Kate Mulgrew, now Just Finished.
Honestly this was a flawlessly executed work, the author, who i see has a long history of writing Trek books, completely nails the voice, understands the project, and sticks the landing. She gives us Janeway's pre-Voyager history but keeps it fast and colourful, building on the bits people who only watched the show might remember, the spends the majority of the book walking through key events that reflect Janeway's background... by example the significance of Boothby at the academy and why it was a big deal with Species 8472 mimicked him, or her history with Da Vinci. Ample time is spent on each cast member, and her recollection of their personal journeys through the Voyager series. And then a perfectly lovely epilogue for the entire series, obviously done before the PICARD tv series was ever a thing but irrelevant because it's so enjoyably done. Fun short read, worth a look if you are or were a fan of the show.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Modgod notice of no... just no.

This post has been edited by Abyss: 22 December 2025 - 06:55 PM

[Abyss]

Azath Vitr (D, on 22 December 2025 - 11:52 AM, said:

also no... just no

MODGOD NOTICE OF Azath - i'm going to say/post this once and only once: keep this AI proselytizing/fearmongering/whateverthefuckeryingitis to the threads where it belongs.

[HoosierDaddy]

Fuckery isn’t utilized enough as a term of art.

[worry]

HoosierDaddy, on 22 December 2025 - 07:40 PM, said:

Fuckery isn't utilized enough as a term of art.

Just wait till AI gets its hands on it.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Abyss, on 15 December 2025 - 03:25 PM, said:

And Just Finished The 13th Paladin bk 12, CALL OF THE ICE FIELDS. While this book takes the series prize for use of the words 'smithereens', 'dastrardly', and 'whooshed', plus a character who "sent his spear spearing through the air" it was a great fun read. The author has refined his art

The German originals seem to be much better written than the (currently available commercial) English translations, going by reviews.

At the very least, they don't use the word "smithereens". ("Dastardly smithereens whooshed, sending spears to spear his spear"---is there a single word for that in German yet?...).

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 22 December 2025 - 08:08 PM

[Abyss]

 Azath Vitr (D, on 22 December 2025 - 08:07 PM, said:

 Abyss, on 15 December 2025 - 03:25 PM, said:

And Just Finished The 13th Paladin bk 12, CALL OF THE ICE FIELDS. While this book takes the series prize for use of the words 'smithereens', 'dastrardly', and 'whooshed', plus a character who "sent his spear spearing through the air" it was a great fun read. The author has refined his art

The German originals seem to be much better written than the (currently available commercial) English translations, going by reviews.

At the very least, they don't use the word "smithereens". ("Dastardly smithereens whooshed, sending spears to spear his spear"---is there a single word for that in German yet?...).

It's not terrible, for me at least i just laugh and keep listening. I'm certain there are people who would loudly proclaim it threw them out of the book or broke the spell or whatever but midway through the second or third book i just decided to roll with it because i was enjoying the story, and it hasn't detracted from the series.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Finished A Day of Fallen Night (Priory of the Orange Tree prequel). It had some nice moments; plot was much more meandering and generally seemed less compelling than PotOT, and while I usually like meandering plots across countries and continents with a focus on world-building moreso than traditional narrative, in this case it just failed to be particularly interesting for the most part (with a few exceptions---which ultimately went nowhere interesting either, in this book at least). Last hour or so is an interview with the author in which she confesses that she altered the ending in part so most readers would find it more palatable, which I personally dislike (granted, if people want that and wouldn't read it otherwise, by all means let them choose it as an option, but I wish we had the option to choose the more artistically rigorous or (when warranted) "difficult" rendition---one of several reasons why it would be better if most books were available in different versions of the text (in the same language), especially in cases like this where the plot choice is very unlikely to impact the narrative of subsequent books).

But here are some quotes that I stopped the audio to write down (none of these are plot spoilers, but I'll spoiler tag them anyway):

Spoiler

Quote

"her heart was a crushed moth, just barely fluttering"

"teeth like mountains spearing from his"

"This was a dream within a nightmare."

"branches rose to strangle the moon"

"a shadow with gore on her teeth"

"the words woke her like a fall through ice"

"reunited with her tongue"

"her heart rolled like a wave"

"lashes flickering in her sleep"

"with a heartbeat like a swallowed bird"

"the mountain ... wearing a tattered hood of snow"

Started the next prequel (Among the Burning Flowers (I like the title at least)) and it was off to a slow and uninteresting start... now bingeing The Devils after discovering my second free multi-month trial of Amazon Music Unlimited comes with choice of one free Audible book to stream / month.

[Mentalist]

Huh, Goodreads tells me that I actually read Causal Angel back in 2017. I have zero recollection of that.

Anyway, starting "The Archimedes Engine" by Peter. F. Hamilton. Which is the beginning of the duology that's part of the expanded Exodus Universe, which is the new IP that Wizards of the Coast is pushing, and whose gaming iteration is suppposed to be the spiritual successor to Mass Effect.

[Tiste Simeon]

Finished my reread of TGINW in readiness for me to start No Life Forsaken. Wasn't sure about returning to Seven Cities but now I'm here, I'm so happy to be back!

[Tiste Simeon]

 Tiste Simeon, on 28 December 2025 - 05:36 PM, said:

Finished my reread of TGINW in readiness for me to start No Life Forsaken. Wasn't sure about returning to Seven Cities but now I'm here, I'm so happy to be back!

Aaaasargh this book was SO FREAKING GOOD I am just in awe once again.

And don't get me wrong, I love, and always will love, the huge ponderous tomes of MBOTF but I truly love these relatively quick, compact novels that manage to pack a whole bunch of stuff in without becoming too dense. It is hitting so many sweet spots right now.

I have both Witness books in my Audible trp as well so once I have finished listening to MBOTF and NOTME I will listen to both of these.

[Briar King]

On pg 142 of reread of Battle Ground. I ll be fresh and ready for 12 Months come the 20th!

[Mentalist]

2 chapters into Archimedes Engine, and Hamilton is tossing out A LOT of weird concepts.

And in the back of my mind I'm constantly imagining how they can be gamified.
I had a similar experience when I read Metro 2033 (which is basically written like an RPG campaign diary, to be fair). But ionno how much it's gonna color my perception of the book.

Probably a good thing I still haven't played Mass Effect, or the comparisons would get even more rabid.

[worry]

Finished book 3 of The Poppy War by RF Kuang, which is called The Burning God. My feelings, as with the series as a whole, are very mixed. If you know anything about the influences for this story, then you know it's really dark stuff, but it's not really the surface subject matter that left me feeling this way. As a finale, it's a very logical end to the story -- both at the micro and macro levels -- so in that sense it's quite satisfying. But in another sense, it's almost never satisfying being in this particular protagonist's head, as you are pretty much the whole way through. It's deeply uncomfortable and often maddening. My copy came with a bonus short story from another character's POV, and it was a breath of fresh air. But I wouldn't say either of those things is non-deliberate. It's all a choice, and it all serves a purpose, whether I liked it or not. The prose is very readable/digestible, not particularly beholden to old-fashioned fantasy phrasing or word choice, and I got through it pretty quickly in 50-100 page chunks, which is pretty good for me lately. Partly because I wanted to know what happened next, partly because I wanted to get it over with because it's exhausting and never really fun to read. I can't imagine writing from this character's POV for so long. Kuang sticks with it, and never really cops out of honestly depicting this character she created. It takes chutzpah and it takes gall. Story-wise, it's got plenty of action, travel, unpredictable twists and turns, all that kind of stuff. Anyway: I don't recommend reading it or not reading it.

[Mentalist]

 worry, on 06 January 2026 - 02:41 PM, said:

Finished book 3 of The Poppy War by RF Kuang, which is called The Burning God. My feelings, as with the series as a whole, are very mixed. If you know anything about the influences for this story, then you know it's really dark stuff, but it's not really the surface subject matter that left me feeling this way. As a finale, it's a very logical end to the story -- both at the micro and macro levels -- so in that sense it's quite satisfying. But in another sense, it's almost never satisfying being in this particular protagonist's head, as you are pretty much the whole way through. It's deeply uncomfortable and often maddening. My copy came with a bonus short story from another character's POV, and it was a breath of fresh air. But I wouldn't say either of those things is non-deliberate. It's all a choice, and it all serves a purpose, whether I liked it or not. The prose is very readable/digestible, not particularly beholden to old-fashioned fantasy phrasing or word choice, and I got through it pretty quickly in 50-100 page chunks, which is pretty good for me lately. Partly because I wanted to know what happened next, partly because I wanted to get it over with because it's exhausting and never really fun to read. I can't imagine writing from this character's POV for so long. Kuang sticks with it, and never really cops out of honestly depicting this character she created. It takes chutzpah and it takes gall. Story-wise, it's got plenty of action, travel, unpredictable twists and turns, all that kind of stuff. Anyway: I don't recommend reading it or not reading it.

Kuang generally doesn't make things easy for the reader, or her characters.

"Babel" was a tough read as well, despite a pretty picaresque intro.

[worry]

I might hold off on more fantasy from her for the near future. I am curious what she can do with a different protagonist for sure, but I am also a little wary now. I'll probably read Yellowface this year though.

[Tiste Simeon]

 worry, on 06 January 2026 - 08:46 PM, said:

I might hold off on more fantasy from her for the near future. I am curious what she can do with a different protagonist for sure, but I am also a little wary now. I'll probably read Yellowface this year though.

Babel is a lot better IMO I didn't enjoy the Poppy War but really enjoyed Babel.