[Whisperzzzzzzz]

Andorion, on 16 June 2017 - 11:55 AM, said:

Whisperzzzzzzz, on 16 June 2017 - 11:48 AM, said:

The Farthest Shore was, by far, the best of the three Earthsea books I've read — and its ending is a great closure point.

I'm now starting Tchaikovsky's Children of Time as my commute read.

Children of Time is the best book Tchaikovsky has written. I absolutely loved it.

It's started off nicely (or, rather, horrifically — but in a well done way).

[worry]

I read The Handmaid's Tale, largely cuz I want to watch the show but have always meant to read it so now seemed like a good time. I know some of the Canadians here don't like it, but I thought it was pretty good, if a lot less overt in its horrors than I expected. It does a lot by implication and as a result the world building is predominant without much in terms of traditional payoff. But the epilogue works so well as a nasty, gallows humor kicker to everything in the main text that it really works in place of a huge climax. And as plausible dystopias go this one feels like something potentially around the corner. It is a bit dry overall, and its protagonist -- a very fine depiction of an "average" person in an awful situation -- does sometimes work as a double-edged sword in her averageness. Like the reader's insight is likely to outpace the protag's in spots, and it is simultaneously entirely natural and also frustrating. Still I think the overall text is rather effective, and I like what it demands of the reader in terms of filling in the whole picture, connecting the dots on these ugly truths.

Next up: The Company Man by Robert Jackson Bennett.

[polishgenius]

Today I started reading Raven Stratagem, the sequel to Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee. Excited for this one.

[End of Disc One]

you've never seen anyone on this forum say Malazan is good on a reread?

[Andorion]

Finished First Man in Rome, it was an awesome book, now 12% into Grass Crown.

Also 7 chapters into Master and Margarita for the forum read.

[Baco Xtath]

3/4 through Sins of Empire. Really enjoying this. Anyone that likes McClellan's powder mage stuff will definitely want to check this one out. Also, 1/4 into Tyrant's Throne. Love pretty much everything about series.

Going on Vacation next week and picked up Valente's Radiance for my travel read.

[Tiste Simeon]

Onto Death of Kings. Loving me some Uthred at the moment!

[Macros]

Just finished The first book of the Moontide Quartet by David Hari, Mages Blood.

once I reconciled myself with the very poor ties to the real world this was a great book with plenty of action and intrigue.

It was the borrowing from culture that jarred, it was the blatantly obvious ties in it. Like the crusade and Shihad being fixed on Hebusalem. I mean just call it a Jihad to reclaim Jerusalem for fuck sake if you're going to be that obvious in your inspirations.
The culture Lahk, that resembles India, that region has another name, Indirana, I mea come on man get your cap on and think of something a bit of a stretch from that.

Blegh.

These irritants aside David Hair does political intrigue and bloody, ruthless action well. This was a strong as an early Ice and Fire book for me, like first 2/3 strong. Im curious to see if he can sustain it for the 4 book cycle and so have ordered book 2.

Starting Kings of the Wyld now, looking forward to it

[worry]

LOL at Hebusalem.

[Macros]

about 160 pgs into Kings of the Wyld.

this is a silly fun book.

really enjoying it so far.

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

Just finished The Handmaid's Tale which was an interesting read - going to give the TV series a go now.

Now re-reading H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald. I read it a few years ago from curiosity and enjoyed it - want to see how it differs now I actually have some bird of prey knowledge of my own to bring to the table!

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

And so my journey with Fitz & the Fool has come to its end...

The ending to Assassin's Fate was a fitting fate. I don't want to spoil anything, so I won't talk about it in this thread. Let it be sufficient to say that I cried both tears of joy and sorrow, and closed the book with a smile on my face.

I'm going to miss Hobb's Elderling realm.

This post has been edited by Whisperzzzzzzz: 19 June 2017 - 12:01 AM

[worry]

I gotta get back into Hobb but the Rainwilds books are intimidatingly long and I knooow that setting is gonna be depressing. The Fitz/Fool tril I can (comparatively) breeze through.

[QuickTidal]

Finished A PROMISE OF BLOOD by McClellan. LOVED it. You can tell he's a Sanderson protégé, but not excessively so. I don't feel they overlap much. Anyways, great book, and I will be getting the rest of the series now.

Started CHILDREN OF TIME by Adrian Tchaikovsky, as I wanted something sci-fi to read before the new Osten Ard book comes out next week, and this one was one $8 on kindle. So far I'm quite enjoying it. An interesting world-building concept.

[Andorion]

QuickTidal, on 19 June 2017 - 12:36 PM, said:

Finished A PROMISE OF BLOOD by McClellan. LOVED it. You can tell he's a Sanderson protégé, but not excessively so. I don't feel they overlap much. Anyways, great book, and I will be getting the rest of the series now.

Started CHILDREN OF TIME by Adrian Tchaikovsky, as I wanted something sci-fi to read before the new Osten Ard book comes out next week, and this one was one $8 on kindle. So far I'm quite enjoying it. An interesting world-building concept.

I really hope you like Children of Time, I loved it.

[QuickTidal]

Andorion, on 19 June 2017 - 01:19 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 19 June 2017 - 12:36 PM, said:

Finished A PROMISE OF BLOOD by McClellan. LOVED it. You can tell he's a Sanderson protégé, but not excessively so. I don't feel they overlap much. Anyways, great book, and I will be getting the rest of the series now.

Started CHILDREN OF TIME by Adrian Tchaikovsky, as I wanted something sci-fi to read before the new Osten Ard book comes out next week, and this one was one $8 on kindle. So far I'm quite enjoying it. An interesting world-building concept.

I really hope you like Children of Time, I loved it.

I bought it on your recco Ando. I trust your judgement. It's great so far!

[polishgenius]

I like Children of Time a lot, but it couldn't help but remind me of Deepness in the Sky, which is an all-time classic. And its time-skippy structure reminded me of Helliconia, also an all-time classic and a fixture of the genre. So while the comparison doesn't embarrass Children of Time, it's not quite as good.

Have to say that Tchaikovsky did a better job conveying the alien-ness of the spider-creatures than Vinge did with his, though.




I've cottoned on to what Yoon Ha Lee's series reminds me of. If you took the weirder parts of Faith by John Love and built an entire interstellar empire on those principles, Machineries of Empire is a lot what it would look like. Excellent second book so far. Anyone who likes deviousness and epic (but weird) space battles should give this a shot.

[Abyss]

polishgenius, on 19 June 2017 - 03:26 PM, said:

...
I've cottoned on to what Yoon Ha Lee's series reminds me of. If you took the weirder parts of Faith by John Love and built an entire interstellar empire on those principles, Machineries of Empire is a lot what it would look like....

SOLD.


...related aside, still annoyed at what a mess Love's second book Evensong was....

[Andorion]

polishgenius, on 19 June 2017 - 03:26 PM, said:

I like Children of Time a lot, but it couldn't help but remind me of Deepness in the Sky, which is an all-time classic. And its time-skippy structure reminded me of Helliconia, also an all-time classic and a fixture of the genre. So while the comparison doesn't embarrass Children of Time, it's not quite as good.

Have to say that Tchaikovsky did a better job conveying the alien-ness of the spider-creatures than Vinge did with his, though.




I've cottoned on to what Yoon Ha Lee's series reminds me of. If you took the weirder parts of Faith by John Love and built an entire interstellar empire on those principles, Machineries of Empire is a lot what it would look like. Excellent second book so far. Anyone who likes deviousness and epic (but weird) space battles should give this a shot.

I loved Tchaikovsky's ending more in the sense that he went in a very unconventional way I absolutely did not expect. Vinge focussed more on the weirdness of the planet and the strange behaviours it encouraged, but Tchaikovsky went deeper into biology and social psychology and his long term approach really elevated the book.

[polishgenius]

Abyss, on 19 June 2017 - 03:33 PM, said:

polishgenius, on 19 June 2017 - 03:26 PM, said:

...
I've cottoned on to what Yoon Ha Lee's series reminds me of. If you took the weirder parts of Faith by John Love and built an entire interstellar empire on those principles, Machineries of Empire is a lot what it would look like....

SOLD.


...related aside, still annoyed at what a mess Love's second book Evensong was....

Ha, I thought you might like that description.

Lee does dump you into a chaotic and extremely weird world with very few explanations, but I can't imagine a Malazan fan will be bothered by that. I don't think it's as obtuse as, say, Quantum Thief's world, if only because while the means and motivations behind doing certain things are obscure, the actual things themselves are a bit more straightforward (to whit: space battles! Also: ground battles!).

I appreciated Evensong as a flawed-but-worthy attempt to do a twist on the cyberpunky-noir-agent thing but looking back it did meander and the very ending was unsatisfying (although the climactic bit just before that very ending was fine).

Andorion, on 19 June 2017 - 03:51 PM, said:

I loved Tchaikovsky's ending more in the sense that he went in a very unconventional way I absolutely did not expect. Vinge focussed more on the weirdness of the planet and the strange behaviours it encouraged, but Tchaikovsky went deeper into biology and social psychology and his long term approach really elevated the book.

If you haven't read it, I urge you to read Helliconia. It's not quite the same because (1) it's centered on humans, on a very alien world (orbiting a binary star, leading to century-long seasons, the central principle behind it) and (2) it's not tracking the evolution of anything from the start, but it has a similar epically long-term structure and deep focus on scientific exploration of what life in a place like that would mean.

I've been meandering through a re-read actually, mostly because I never quite finished the third book (it's a monster as a complete cycle, and I didn't take enough breaks, so I sorta burned out). Good stuff.