[Baco Xtath]

Just finished listening to Larson's Death World. More popcorn Starship Troopers-esque (the movie) goodness. Definitely not going to win any awards but it's fun as hell. About 50% of y'all (Malazanites) would like it - corny, funny, unscientific, action packed, unbelievable as hell, but, I loved it.
Just starting listening to Cixin Liu's Dark Forest - so far it's pretty damn good. I think going from the former to the latter about brain stroked me.

Decided to actually read a book a couple days ago, went with Polish's suggestion and started Generation V. About 50% in and it's awesome. Fortitude and Suzume's interactions are hysterical. Thanks for another great recco.

This post has been edited by Baco Xtath: 11 August 2015 - 10:27 PM

[amphibian]

I read "Wolves" by Simon Ing on a recommendation from a random.

It has one of the better cover arts I've ever seen. But the book is not good. The main subjects - life as an empty person with a broken home, grief, augmented reality through Google Glass etc - are not developed well enough in any particular direction as to be meaningful.

I am ok with the somewhat unsympathetic protagonist or the near-actual reality sci fi (see my like for Alistair Reynolds, Lev Grossman, William Gibson, Margaret Atwood etc), but the story has to move all the way somewhere into a place where what things that went before now matter. Ing doesn't do that here (in my view).

I'm sorry, Mr. Ing.

[worry]

I'm reading Go Set A Watchman. I'll let you know if it lives up to the hype on a scale of 1 to 5 ham costumes.

[Maark Abbott]

worry, on 12 August 2015 - 06:27 AM, said:

I'm reading Go Set A Watchman. I'll let you know if it lives up to the hype on a scale of 1 to 5 ham costumes.

I'm not going to lie, if you wore a ham costume I might worship you as a deity.

[polishgenius]

Baco Xtath, on 11 August 2015 - 10:26 PM, said:

Decided to actually read a book a couple days ago, went with Polish's suggestion and started Generation V. About 50% in and it's awesome. Fortitude and Suzume's interactions are hysterical. Thanks for another great recco.

Heh. I just started Dark Ascension, the latest (possibly last ) book in the series yesterday. I'll be kicking on with it now that I've finished NK Jemisin's latest, The Fifth Season.



The Fifth Season, by the way, the first in a new series, is fucking awesome. I'd say comfortably Jemisin's best work so far, combining the vivid imagination of the Hundred Kingdoms with the greater coherence of both character and world of the Dreamblood duology. Highly recommended to both fans and readers who are a bit unsure of her. But be warned, in places it's really brutal, emotionally. I started Dark Ascension already purely because I just had to take a break after the opening of Fifth Season, and while I've occasionally had to take a few minutes pause to think in reading after harsh scenes from the likes of SE, Bakker and GRRM, I've never done that before.

All in all though, it's Jemisin fulfilling her huge potential as an author.

This post has been edited by polishgenius: 12 August 2015 - 08:34 PM

[Maark Abbott]

Sounds like I'd enjoy it. If it's darker than Bakkake, I'm in.

[Andorion]

Good to lnow that about Fifth Season. It son my TBR for this year. But first I have to read the Dreamblood books.

Reading Six Gun Tarot by RS Belcher. A rather strange book. Pseudo Lovecraftian horror in the Old West.

[polishgenius]

Maark, on 12 August 2015 - 09:32 PM, said:

Sounds like I'd enjoy it. If it's darker than Bakkake, I'm in.

I dunno if 'darker' is the word, it's a different sort of dark, but it's definitely in the ballpark.

[JPK]

I've started reading Tarkin as my travelling book. I'm intrigued to learn more about the Grand Moff.

[Maark Abbott]

polishgenius, on 13 August 2015 - 04:34 AM, said:

Maark, on 12 August 2015 - 09:32 PM, said:

Sounds like I'd enjoy it. If it's darker than Bakkake, I'm in.

I dunno if 'darker' is the word, it's a different sort of dark, but it's definitely in the ballpark.

There are many shades of darkness, but all of them are my home.

Insert Ramirez quote from Skies of Arcadia... here.

On the lighter side, I'm about 1/3 into The High King's Tomb and whilst it's darker than the previous two offerings, it's still very much gentle(ish), heroic fantasy.

[QuickTidal]

Maark, on 13 August 2015 - 10:54 AM, said:

On the lighter side, I'm about 1/3 into The High King's Tomb and whilst it's darker than the previous two offerings, it's still very much gentle(ish), heroic fantasy.

Good to hear, it's in my ToRead pile for on deck after MAGIC BREAKS: John Virgo & The Dirty Colonials.

[acesn8s]

Almost done with Shadows of the Apt 6, The Sea Watch. Another solid book in a good series. I'll pick up 7 as soon as I'm done. I'm bummed to see books 8 & 9 aren't available in the Kindle store.

[Mentalist]

On the commute, making my way through REAMDE. Not really SFF, more of a techno-thriller about MMOs, and how they can affect real life. With Chinese hackers, Russian mafiosos, Islamic terrorists and MI6 thrown in the mix. Good pacing, fun action, great break for my brain after work.

At home, I've started my Malaz re-read. Going slow, but making sure to get at least a chapter a night of GotM down. Since my non-working time these days is severely contested between various sports, Witcher 3, news from UA, commitment to spent some time with my grandparents, as well as other social interactions, PLUS reading, expecting it to go slow. Then there's also the fact I've been trying to force upon myself more appropriate sleeping patterns (meaning, no more staying up to ungodly hours of the morning on work nights).

As far as non-fiction goes, I've recently finished Norman Davies' "vanished kingdoms: the history of half-forgotten europe". Overall, I enjoyed the work, although I found the really did not present a very cohesive main point  as his conclusion (plus I have my own, somewhat different understanding of the processes in Eastern Europe, esp in the more modern eras). Still, the parts about the older kingdoms/states are certainly worth a look.

I've recently decided to start actively implementing small good habits in all aspects of my life, in order to actively improve it. One of such undertakings is going to be yet another attempt to improve my French vocabulary by reading novels in French, using a dictionary, then writing out chapter summaries. Going to resume my aborted "Gunslinger" re-read, a chapter a day, commencing Monday. 

[Maark Abbott]

QuickTidal, on 13 August 2015 - 12:35 PM, said:

Maark, on 13 August 2015 - 10:54 AM, said:

On the lighter side, I'm about 1/3 into The High King's Tomb and whilst it's darker than the previous two offerings, it's still very much gentle(ish), heroic fantasy.

Good to hear, it's in my ToRead pile for on deck after MAGIC BREAKS: John Virgo & The Dirty Colonials.

As the series goes on, it seems to get a little darker without becoming GRVMDVRK at any point. Karigan's development is like Paksennarion's, albeit much less goody-two-shoes-2holy4u. The series on the whole has become pretty compelling despite being relatively tropey.

[Baco Xtath]

Finished Generation V; great fucking book. Will definitely continue this series.

1/3 into Dark Forest and it is as good if not better than the Three-Body Problem. Incredibly good stuff. Anyone that likes good stuff should check out this series.

[Andorion]

Finished Six Gun Tarot. Very strange book overall.

Also finished Curse of Chalion. Good book, but thought the ending was too pat.

[Salt-Man Z]

Baco Xtath, on 13 August 2015 - 11:14 PM, said:

Anyone that likes good stuff should check out this series.

Ugh, good stuff is just the worst.

[Lycaenion]

Joe Abercrombie's The Heroes

[Serenity]

Finished Echopraxia yesterday. Loved it. Valerie was fecking brilliant.

Next up is Dan Abnett's First and Only. I only just discovered I could get them in ebook form directly from the Black Library website

[QuickTidal]

Baco Xtath, on 13 August 2015 - 11:14 PM, said:

Finished Generation V; great fucking book. Will definitely continue this series.

Still in my ToRead pile based on PG and my deal (he read Kate Daniels 1). Glad to hear a second opinion on it being great!