[caladanbrood]

 

Ain, on 01 March 2010 - 11:30 AM, said:

Is The Scar similar to PSS?

Depends what you mean by similar... the structure of the books is similar, the writing quality is excellent in both, and obviously it's based in the same world, but that's about the limit of it. It's not based in New Crubozon, for a start, although there are some quite blatant similarities between the cities in either book. Definitely worth a read if you enjoyed PSS.


Also, try and work out where the main character has been mentioned before

[teholbeddict]

Bauchelain the Evil, on 01 March 2010 - 04:58 PM, said:

Finished Meomories of a bitch by Francesca Petrizzo. Basically Helen of Troy tells her story in first person. A very good book, I was impressed.

Ooh this sounds good! I'll have to pick it up next time I'm at the book store. I'm always a fan of things like this. Sounds a bit like Cleopatra's Memoirs or the Red Tent.

Edit: Damn it! I just looked it up, guess I'll either have to wait for the English translation to come out or learn Italian. I'm so disappointed

This post has been edited by teholbeddict: 02 March 2010 - 03:02 PM

[polishgenius]

caladanbrood, on 02 March 2010 - 11:54 AM, said:

Also, try and work out where the main character has been mentioned before

To be fair, she tells you.


As for the books, the chief difference I think is that the plot of PSS is quite slim, so there's a lot of setup before the main bulk of story happens in a fairly short bit at the end, whereas The Scar has more of a solid throughline, which means there's a more regular, cohesive progress through it.

[Use Of Weapons]

There are really two main characters in The Scar -- Bellis, and the ReMade guy who swims around, with the tentacles on his chest. Can't remember his name, but 'John' rings a bell.

[Salt-Man Z]

Last night I got about halfway through H. P. Lovecraft's story, The Mound. It's the second story he co-wrote with Zealia B. Reed which takes place in 19th century Oklahoma. I'm really digging their work together; their first story was The Curse of Yig and it was fantastic.

[polishgenius]

jitsukerr, on 03 March 2010 - 03:03 PM, said:

There are really two main characters in The Scar -- Bellis, and the ReMade guy who swims around, with the tentacles on his chest. Can't remember his name, but 'John' rings a bell.

John is the dolphin. Tanner Sack is the name of the guy.

Bellis is definitely the main character though. The majority of the PoV is hers and you get her letters as well. Tanner's the main support, with Sheckel third.

[Fist Gamet]

Pandora's Star - Hamilton's usual, reliable mix of brilliance and tedium...I mean, there is no other author who makes me feel this way. There are whole swathes of the story that grip me which are followed by pages of numbing boredom. The tech is great, as always, and so nicely balanced with the human touch (dudes have wormholes that span the galaxy and ftl technology but when they get to other planets they still eat panini and fish and chips and rhubard jam, and watch porn. It was the same with Night's Dawn where some characters were terrific and others were dreadful or even pointless.

Still, generally I like Hamilton's style and the payout is always worth the effort.

[caladanbrood]

polishgenius, on 02 March 2010 - 04:19 PM, said:

caladanbrood, on 02 March 2010 - 11:54 AM, said:

Also, try and work out where the main character has been mentioned before

To be fair, she tells you. 

She does? Oh, that's cheating

[polishgenius]

I do love Mieville's bits like that, and some are a lot more subtle. Like re-reading PSS, one line

Spoiler

in the sequence about the embassies

foreshadows a good third of Iron Council.
On the other hand, I've encountered a fair few people who didn't pick up, in Iron Council at the start,

Spoiler

who the scarred man helping Jack Half-a-Prayer die

is.

Spoilers to make it harder for the people who've not read them yet to pick it up... Unless you choose to uncover them, of course.

[caladanbrood]

I haven't read Iron Council for such a long time. To be honest, not so motivated to re-read that as the other two  And no, I didn't pick that up at the time either! Craziness




There are quite a few very very subtle links between the books, actually.

Spoiler

Toro, for example, is mentioned by Isaac in PSS in a random comment about grotesque remakings.

 

This post has been edited by caladanbrood: 04 March 2010 - 10:56 AM

[polishgenius]

I caught that the first time I read IC without a PSS reread, because I was pretty freaked out by the idea when I first read it.

Yeah, there's lots - what happens to the Construct Council is mentioned in IC, for example. I've not reread IC fully yet, but I imagine at some point I will, and I'll be looking out for any links to The Scar in it...

[caladanbrood]

According to Wikipedia,

Spoiler

Tanner knows Spiral Jacobs.

I've just realised, Bellis' connection to PSS is the reason she's in the book in the first place... so it's not too subtle a link, heheh.

[polishgenius]

Ooo, I'll have to look out for that. Actually, I think I might know where he mentions it, if it's on Tanner's side -

Spoiler

When Bellis asks him to think if he wants to lose New Crobuzon.

I'll have to check that later. Heh.

[MTS]

Not to but in or anything , but at the moment I'm reading The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. God, I hope it's got the same flair as Shadow of the Wind - that was such a good book.

[QuickTidal]

MTS, on 04 March 2010 - 12:41 PM, said:

Not to but in or anything , but at the moment I'm reading The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. God, I hope it's got the same flair as Shadow of the Wind - that was such a good book.

It is a significantly darker tale, and doesn't have as much of the whimsy the first one had. I had trouble at first adapting to this, but once I accepted that, then I was off and running. That said, some familiar characters, and Zafon's ability to weave an unputdownable tale are still very present. I look forward to more volumes in the "cemetery of forgotten books" line.

[MTS]

Yes, I see what you mean. I'm about a hundred pages in at the moment, and it's definitely less 'whimsy'. That said, it's very intriguing. I'm looking forward to reading more of it.

[Thalraxal]

I found a copy of Erikson's The Lee's of Laughter's End at my local public library. Reading that right now.

[Mirthmonkey]

The books I'm reading or have lined up to soon read are unusually eclectic for me.

I'm about halfway through Dust of Dreams and enjoying it.

I just started Why Evolution is True by Jerry Coyne after reading The Greatest Show on Earth by Richard Dawkins and reading a lot of praise about Coyne's work from multiple sources.

Picked up Shalimar the Clown by Salman Rushdie from the library recently. I've never read Rushdie. Not sure if I should have gone for Midnight's Children or Satanic Verses instead, but Shalimar was the one on the shelf at the time.

I'm also way behind on some magazines and should check out the Dale Carnegie book I picked up. I never read self-help stuff, but I saw a really cheap omnibus of Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People and How to Stop Worrying and Start Living and thought, eh, what the hell, there's probably a reason those books are so highly regarded after all these years.

[QuickTidal]

Currently re-reading THE GENESIS OF SHANNARA: THE GYPSY MORPH, as I really enjoyed it the first go round, and I am jonesing for the next one in the series (coming out in August) BEARERS OF THE BLACK STAFF. Can't wait! I find that Brooks' new stuff is WAY better than his old stuff.

[MTS]

My local library finally succumbed to my request polite insistence incessant nagging demand and ordered a copy of Fool Moon. I have it in my hands. It's glorious. And the rest are on their way.

Hello, addiction!

This post has been edited by MTS: 06 March 2010 - 02:48 AM