[Andorion]

death rattle, on 17 November 2016 - 03:22 AM, said:

Andorion, on 17 November 2016 - 01:47 AM, said:

death rattle, on 16 November 2016 - 09:21 PM, said:

If it's anything like the movie, Gone With the Wind is a 1000-page hate crime wrapped around a decent Americanized Austen-style social satire. Skip it.

I just finished a book called Swamplandia! about a family running a waning gator theme park. It's pretty good, but I wouldn't call it a must-read. The thing about it though is that it was a Pulitzer Prize finalist, and another reminder that genre work gets screwed by these "elite" prizes. If a novel strays anywhere into genre you better be able to call it "magical realism" or else it goes in the trash pile.

Now I'm onto The Gathering Storm. Can't wait to see what kinda rocks Sanderson has RJ's characters chomping on.

Hate crime? I know its a civil war book, so it does not deal well with slavery?

Having recently read a bit of Magical Realism, I have good reason to be sceptical of that label. But Karen Lord's Redemption in Indigo is a great read

To put it mildly, it falls squarely on the pro-slavery side of that particular debate. I wouldn't tell you not to watch the movie -- everyone who made it is dead, so you aren't exactly supporting anyone who shaped its POV -- but I can't imagine reading 1000 pages of that.

I have no qualms with magical realism or those who write it; it's just that imaginary line between "acceptable" fiction and the gutters where we dwell that stood out to me.

Hmm I did not know Wind was that bad...

The battle between genre fiction and "literature" is one I often see and quite frankly some of the literature I have read has failed the quality test spectacularly.

[acesn8s]

For those of you that have read The Red Knight, I have a question.

Spoiler

Is it based on Arthurian mythology? The names have changed (for the most part), but I'm picking up on a lot of similarities.

[Macros]

I don't know enough of the mythology to answer that, I was getting a more chivalric medeval European faux history vibe.

[amphibian]

Briar King, on 16 November 2016 - 11:33 PM, said:

I've never been into classics thanks to school. Reminds me of test or writing out my interpretation in detail for a grade. I barely do this now with many words on my pleasure reads. Doubt I ll ever read one of those again but if I did it would def be Godfather.

The Godfather is not a good book. Puzo was the Dan Brown of his day, except worse. The movie improves on things considerably.

[polishgenius]

acesn8s, on 17 November 2016 - 01:09 PM, said:

For those of you that have read The Red Knight, I have a question.

Spoiler

Is it based on Arthurian mythology? The names have changed (for the most part), but I'm picking up on a lot of similarities.

In part, yeah.

Spoiler

Don't expect an exact re-enactment but a lot of the characters have Arthurian legend as their start-point.

[Abyss]

Finished MAGIC BINDS, Kateamine bk 9.
Damn. That was good.
Comments in the dedthread, but this series is fun and worth the time and money, and with nine books and a bunch of novellas, that's a whole lotta post magicopalyse urbanish fantasy goodness to get into.

[Slow Ben]

amphibian, on 17 November 2016 - 04:05 PM, said:

Briar King, on 16 November 2016 - 11:33 PM, said:

I've never been into classics thanks to school. Reminds me of test or writing out my interpretation in detail for a grade. I barely do this now with many words on my pleasure reads. Doubt I ll ever read one of those again but if I did it would def be Godfather.

The Godfather is not a good book. Puzo was the Dan Brown of his day, except worse. The movie improves on things considerably.

"Considerably" might even be an understatement Amp.

[acesn8s]

polishgenius, on 17 November 2016 - 08:11 PM, said:

acesn8s, on 17 November 2016 - 01:09 PM, said:

For those of you that have read The Red Knight, I have a question.

Spoiler

Is it based on Arthurian mythology? The names have changed (for the most part), but I'm picking up on a lot of similarities.

In part, yeah.

Spoiler

Don't expect an exact re-enactment but a lot of the characters have Arthurian legend as their start-point.

Spoiler

The Red Knight = Mordred. Which gives more meaning to the Traitor's Son Cycle.

I just got to the point where The Red Knight and his men save Gawin and Random's convey.

King = Arthur
Queen = Guinevere
Mage = Merlin
Jean de Vrailly = Lancelot

I'm curious to see where this goes.

[Andorion]

Finished Mark Lawrence's Prince of Fools. Very good book. Different but similar to Prince of Thorns.

Also finished the Prince of Nothing. Awesome writing, excellent story, but very weak female characters.

[Abyss]

Andorion, on 19 November 2016 - 03:06 AM, said:

Also finished the Prince of Nothing. Awesome writing, excellent story, but very weak female characters.

Disagree... physically maybe, but the three main female characters had some fascinating strengths that came thru in interesting ways.

[Andorion]

Abyss, on 19 November 2016 - 04:21 AM, said:

Andorion, on 19 November 2016 - 03:06 AM, said:

Also finished the Prince of Nothing. Awesome writing, excellent story, but very weak female characters.

Disagree... physically maybe, but the three main female characters had some fascinating strengths that came thru in interesting ways.

How so?

Spoiler

The Empress - was presented as a schemer with a very OTT seductive nature

Esmenet - by far the most complex, but I did not like her attraction to Achamian, though this will probably be developed further. Also some of her actions did not make a lot of sense - like giving away the gold coin when it could have helped her finance her journey

Serwe - Withholding judgement - she seems to be caught in a hero-worship thing with Kellhus, but given who Kellhus is, that is understandable. Waiting for her arc to develop.

I would actually like to know more about Bakker's writing of women. Every other part of the book is so well written it seems a bit odd that he would trip up here.

[Abyss]

Andorion, on 19 November 2016 - 05:02 AM, said:

Abyss, on 19 November 2016 - 04:21 AM, said:

Andorion, on 19 November 2016 - 03:06 AM, said:

Also finished the Prince of Nothing. Awesome writing, excellent story, but very weak female characters.

Disagree... physically maybe, but the three main female characters had some fascinating strengths that came thru in interesting ways.

How so?

Spoiler

The Empress - was presented as a schemer with a very OTT seductive nature

Esmenet - by far the most complex, but I did not like her attraction to Achamian, though this will probably be developed further. Also some of her actions did not make a lot of sense - like giving away the gold coin when it could have helped her finance her journey

Serwe - Withholding judgement - she seems to be caught in a hero-worship thing with Kellhus, but given who Kellhus is, that is understandable. Waiting for her arc to develop.

I would actually like to know more about Bakker's writing of women. Every other part of the book is so well written it seems a bit odd that he would trip up here.

Have you finished the PoN trilo or just the first book?

[Andorion]

Abyss, on 19 November 2016 - 08:13 AM, said:

Andorion, on 19 November 2016 - 05:02 AM, said:

Abyss, on 19 November 2016 - 04:21 AM, said:

Andorion, on 19 November 2016 - 03:06 AM, said:

Also finished the Prince of Nothing. Awesome writing, excellent story, but very weak female characters.

Disagree... physically maybe, but the three main female characters had some fascinating strengths that came thru in interesting ways.

How so?

Spoiler

The Empress - was presented as a schemer with a very OTT seductive nature

Esmenet - by far the most complex, but I did not like her attraction to Achamian, though this will probably be developed further. Also some of her actions did not make a lot of sense - like giving away the gold coin when it could have helped her finance her journey

Serwe - Withholding judgement - she seems to be caught in a hero-worship thing with Kellhus, but given who Kellhus is, that is understandable. Waiting for her arc to develop.

I would actually like to know more about Bakker's writing of women. Every other part of the book is so well written it seems a bit odd that he would trip up here.

Have you finished the PoN trilo or just the first book?

First book only. I inted to finish the first trilogy this year, and the second one next year when the last book comes out. Should have typed Darkness that Comes Before in my original post. My bad

This post has been edited by Andorion: 19 November 2016 - 08:45 AM

[Tattersail_]

Love The Dark Tower.

Spoiler

Fun how he has written himself as a character AND mingled other books of his.

[Macros]

going to take a break from Jonhathan Strange to read Flame Bearer or the new traitor son

[Puck]

Andorion, on 19 November 2016 - 08:44 AM, said:

Abyss, on 19 November 2016 - 08:13 AM, said:

Andorion, on 19 November 2016 - 05:02 AM, said:

Abyss, on 19 November 2016 - 04:21 AM, said:

Andorion, on 19 November 2016 - 03:06 AM, said:

Also finished the Prince of Nothing. Awesome writing, excellent story, but very weak female characters.

Disagree... physically maybe, but the three main female characters had some fascinating strengths that came thru in interesting ways.

How so?

Spoiler

The Empress - was presented as a schemer with a very OTT seductive nature

Esmenet - by far the most complex, but I did not like her attraction to Achamian, though this will probably be developed further. Also some of her actions did not make a lot of sense - like giving away the gold coin when it could have helped her finance her journey

Serwe - Withholding judgement - she seems to be caught in a hero-worship thing with Kellhus, but given who Kellhus is, that is understandable. Waiting for her arc to develop.

I would actually like to know more about Bakker's writing of women. Every other part of the book is so well written it seems a bit odd that he would trip up here.

Have you finished the PoN trilo or just the first book?

First book only. I inted to finish the first trilogy this year, and the second one next year when the last book comes out. Should have typed Darkness that Comes Before in my original post. My bad

There's a lot of debating over Bakker's female characters, and there's at least one thread here about the issue. The short version is that it makes sense in the setting but also gets much better in the second trilogy (to which I can attest, although I didn't feel like the portrayal of female characters was bad in the first trilo, those that we did see were well enough developed - I don't need every book to be a feminist victory as long as it makes sense in context).


On topic: Currently reading The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers, which is suprisingly good for its age (published 1895) and it's short-story time for me atm. Unfortunately, I had to put Bakker's White-Luck Warrior on hold for now because I've no time for fun reading and I love it too much to just pick at it bite-sized on train rides. Even more unfortunately, I have to read Jane Austen's Mansfield Park right after King in Yellow, and after the classics debate earlier in the thread I am looking forward to it even less than before. Bleh. Hoping to finally be able to finish the already published Aspect Emperor books after that, FINALLY.

This post has been edited by Puck: 19 November 2016 - 03:09 PM

[Baco Xtath]

Finishing Ken Liu's Wall of Storms, sequel to Grace of Kings. This duo surpasses Kay's Asian trilogy imo. I'm really surprised it doesn't get more love/notoriety. It's wonderfully original and I'd suggest it to, well, everyone on this forum.

[Mentalist]

Wrapped up "War of the flowers" last night... enjoyed it. But, as I've said earlier, not a whiff of urban fantasy- rather a fairly original take on portal fantasy with an imaginative and well thought-out world on the other side. I was a tad surprised by just how the ending turned out- after that opening, it felt like Williams pulled a few punches. But then again I suppose that was Theo's "redemption" for all the early hell.

Next i'll probably go back to my re-read of "Shriek" before reading the Southern Reach trilo.

In commute, chugging along with the second Pyat novel, "Laughter of Carthage". Post-war Europe in the roaring 20s does not make for a particularly engaging plot, I must say. Though right now I'm interested to see just when Pyat's gonna do the next epically terrible thing, and how he'll try justifying himself, so that's keeping the pages turning. Still, given the Pyat Quartet is the most "literary" of his works (besides the London novels), its understandable why it's not a super-fast book.

Baco Xtath, on 19 November 2016 - 04:46 PM, said:

Finishing Ken Liu's Wall of Storms, sequel to Grace of Kings. This duo surpasses Kay's Asian trilogy imo. I'm really surprised it doesn't get more love/notoriety. It's wonderfully original and I'd suggest it to, well, everyone on this forum.

trilogy? what'st the third Kay Asian book?

I loved Grace of Kings but waiting for Wall to hit mmpb

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 19 November 2016 - 04:58 PM

[Baco Xtath]

Mentalist, on 19 November 2016 - 04:56 PM, said:

Wrapped up "War of the flowers" last night... enjoyed it. But, as I've said earlier, not a whiff of urban fantasy- rather a fairly original take on portal fantasy with an imaginative and well thought-out world on the other side. I was a tad surprised by just how the ending turned out- after that opening, it felt like Williams pulled a few punches. But then again I suppose that was Theo's "redemption" for all the early hell.

Next i'll probably go back to my re-read of "Shriek" before reading the Southern Reach trilo.

In commute, chugging along with the second Pyat novel, "Laughter of Carthage". Post-war Europe in the roaring 20s does not make for a particularly engaging plot, I must say. Though right now I'm interested to see just when Pyat's gonna do the next epically terrible thing, and how he'll try justifying himself, so that's keeping the pages turning. Still, given the Pyat Quartet is the most "literary" of his works (besides the London novels), its understandable why it's not a super-fast book.

Baco Xtath, on 19 November 2016 - 04:46 PM, said:

Finishing Ken Liu's Wall of Storms, sequel to Grace of Kings. This duo surpasses Kay's Asian trilogy imo. I'm really surprised it doesn't get more love/notoriety. It's wonderfully original and I'd suggest it to, well, everyone on this forum.

trilogy? what'st the third Kay Asian book?

I loved Grace of Kings but waiting for Wall to hit mmpb

I misspoke. Meant to say duology.

[Abyss]

Andorion, on 19 November 2016 - 08:44 AM, said:

Abyss, on 19 November 2016 - 08:13 AM, said:

Andorion, on 19 November 2016 - 05:02 AM, said:

Abyss, on 19 November 2016 - 04:21 AM, said:

Andorion, on 19 November 2016 - 03:06 AM, said:

Also finished the Prince of Nothing. Awesome writing, excellent story, but very weak female characters.

Disagree... physically maybe, but the three main female characters had some fascinating strengths that came thru in interesting ways.

How so?

Spoiler

The Empress - was presented as a schemer with a very OTT seductive nature

Esmenet - by far the most complex, but I did not like her attraction to Achamian, though this will probably be developed further. Also some of her actions did not make a lot of sense - like giving away the gold coin when it could have helped her finance her journey

Serwe - Withholding judgement - she seems to be caught in a hero-worship thing with Kellhus, but given who Kellhus is, that is understandable. Waiting for her arc to develop.

I would actually like to know more about Bakker's writing of women. Every other part of the book is so well written it seems a bit odd that he would trip up here.

Have you finished the PoN trilo or just the first book?

First book only. I inted to finish the first trilogy this year, and the second one next year when the last book comes out. Should have typed Darkness that Comes Before in my original post. My bad

Yeah, that's what I figured. You have some surprises ahead of you, tho some of them are subtle. Bakker does start with 'traditional' roles for his female characters, and perhaps he doesn't let them break free as much as some might wish, but when he has them develop it's pretty impresssive.