[Slow Ben]

Finished Reapers Gale (still one of, if not my favorite). Onto DoD!!!

[Slow Ben]

And the plant monster was fucking awesome.

[Andorion]

Finished Temeraire 3: Black Powder War. Good book.

Finished James Bennett's Chasing Embers. Strange book, very badly written, would not recommend.

[Andorion]

Briar King, on 09 November 2017 - 05:02 AM, said:

Andorion, on 09 November 2017 - 04:52 AM, said:

Finished Temeraire 3: Black Powder War. Good book.

On the whole I did not like these books. I did enjoy 2 but 1&3 no. However I did read these when my mother was battling cancer and was reading 3 when she died so I had lots on my mind. Never opened my copy 4 iirc.

Oh, that must have been a difficult time for you. My sympathies.

I think it depends on what you are looking for in these books. I like the military aspect and the Laurence-Temeraire relationship. So book 3 with all the war was interesting. Lets see how the others go. I will eventually read them all.

[QuickTidal]

Andorion, on 09 November 2017 - 05:05 AM, said:

Briar King, on 09 November 2017 - 05:02 AM, said:

Andorion, on 09 November 2017 - 04:52 AM, said:

Finished Temeraire 3: Black Powder War. Good book.

On the whole I did not like these books. I did enjoy 2 but 1&3 no. However I did read these when my mother was battling cancer and was reading 3 when she died so I had lots on my mind. Never opened my copy 4 iirc.

Oh, that must have been a difficult time for you. My sympathies.

I think it depends on what you are looking for in these books. I like the military aspect and the Laurence-Temeraire relationship. So book 3 with all the war was interesting. Lets see how the others go. I will eventually read them all.

I liked them (so far)...but I will say this...the next three books 4, 5, and 6 are all VERY repetitive of the problems/conflict in the first three. Temeraire is essentially a dragon seeking to make dragons citizens constantly. It's basically the Elf plot line from the Harry Potter books with dragons. The only good thing about 4, 5, and 6 is that they visit some interesting locales (Africa, then back to England....but proper London this time, and then Australia). I've only read up to book 7, but book 7 is SOOOOOOO much better than what 4, 5, and 6 presented. And I hear 8 and 9 finish out the series extraordinarily well, though I've not gotten to them yet. Iskierka is still my favourite character in the books.

[Andorion]

QuickTidal, on 09 November 2017 - 02:13 PM, said:

Andorion, on 09 November 2017 - 05:05 AM, said:

Briar King, on 09 November 2017 - 05:02 AM, said:

Andorion, on 09 November 2017 - 04:52 AM, said:

Finished Temeraire 3: Black Powder War. Good book.

On the whole I did not like these books. I did enjoy 2 but 1&3 no. However I did read these when my mother was battling cancer and was reading 3 when she died so I had lots on my mind. Never opened my copy 4 iirc.

Oh, that must have been a difficult time for you. My sympathies.

I think it depends on what you are looking for in these books. I like the military aspect and the Laurence-Temeraire relationship. So book 3 with all the war was interesting. Lets see how the others go. I will eventually read them all.

I liked them (so far)...but I will say this...the next three books 4, 5, and 6 are all VERY repetitive of the problems/conflict in the first three. Temeraire is essentially a dragon seeking to make dragons citizens constantly. It's basically the Elf plot line from the Harry Potter books with dragons. The only good thing about 4, 5, and 6 is that they visit some interesting locales (Africa, then back to England....but proper London this time, and then Australia). I've only read up to book 7, but book 7 is SOOOOOOO much better than what 4, 5, and 6 presented. And I hear 8 and 9 finish out the series extraordinarily well, though I've not gotten to them yet. Iskierka is still my favourite character in the books.

Yeah I got the feeling that dragon rights were going to become an issue.

Anyway, 240 pages into His Dark Materials.

Spoiler

So, Daemons are what? Metaphors for sexual identity, urges, or to put it broadly, personality? Free Will? And they want to severe demons because...? Probably related to dust.

The bear is awesome.

[QuickTidal]

Andorion, on 09 November 2017 - 02:23 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 09 November 2017 - 02:13 PM, said:

Andorion, on 09 November 2017 - 05:05 AM, said:

Briar King, on 09 November 2017 - 05:02 AM, said:

Andorion, on 09 November 2017 - 04:52 AM, said:

Finished Temeraire 3: Black Powder War. Good book.

On the whole I did not like these books. I did enjoy 2 but 1&3 no. However I did read these when my mother was battling cancer and was reading 3 when she died so I had lots on my mind. Never opened my copy 4 iirc.

Oh, that must have been a difficult time for you. My sympathies.

I think it depends on what you are looking for in these books. I like the military aspect and the Laurence-Temeraire relationship. So book 3 with all the war was interesting. Lets see how the others go. I will eventually read them all.

I liked them (so far)...but I will say this...the next three books 4, 5, and 6 are all VERY repetitive of the problems/conflict in the first three. Temeraire is essentially a dragon seeking to make dragons citizens constantly. It's basically the Elf plot line from the Harry Potter books with dragons. The only good thing about 4, 5, and 6 is that they visit some interesting locales (Africa, then back to England....but proper London this time, and then Australia). I've only read up to book 7, but book 7 is SOOOOOOO much better than what 4, 5, and 6 presented. And I hear 8 and 9 finish out the series extraordinarily well, though I've not gotten to them yet. Iskierka is still my favourite character in the books.

Yeah I got the feeling that dragon rights were going to become an issue.

Anyway, 240 pages into His Dark Materials.

Spoiler

So, Daemons are what? Metaphors for sexual identity, urges, or to put it broadly, personality? Free Will? And they want to severe demons because...? Probably related to dust.

The bear is awesome.

You really want to know? Okey dokey.

Spoiler

On Lyra's earth, Dæmons are the external physical manifestation of a person's 'inner-self' that takes the form of an animal. It's why they can feel pain when their daemon is attacked or hurt or when they get too far from their human (pulling). Dameons are almost always the other gender of their humans (but it's never explained why...but we can surmise).

I can't tell you about the point of attempts to separate them without spoiling plot points from the end of the first book, neither simply separation, or what is called intercision...so you'll have to RAFO on those.

But yeah, Daemons are the intimate part of your self that you talk to, confide to, and all that stuff....just on the outside of your body and you can talk to them like they are a real thing.

[Abyss]

QuickTidal, on 09 November 2017 - 02:44 PM, said:

Andorion, on 09 November 2017 - 02:23 PM, said:

...

Anyway, 240 pages into His Dark Materials.

Spoiler

So, Daemons are what? Metaphors for sexual identity, urges, or to put it broadly, personality? Free Will? And they want to severe demons because...? Probably related to dust.

The bear is awesome.

You really want to know? Okey dokey.

Spoiler

On Lyra's earth, Dæmons are the external physical manifestation of a person's 'inner-self' that takes the form of an animal. It's why they can feel pain when their daemon is attacked or hurt or when they get too far from their human (pulling). Dameons are almost always the other gender of their humans (but it's never explained why...but we can surmise).

I can't tell you about the point of attempts to separate them without spoiling plot points from the end of the first book, neither simply separation, or what is called intercision...so you'll have to RAFO on those.

But yeah, Daemons are the intimate part of your self that you talk to, confide to, and all that stuff....just on the outside of your body and you can talk to them like they are a real thing.

More...

Spoiler

There's an id/ego yin/yang thing at work with daemons. Not opposites so much as a 'reflection', hence the different gender. Pullman gets into it more in later books.

It's one of the more interesting elements in the series.

[Andorion]

Abyss, on 09 November 2017 - 03:47 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 09 November 2017 - 02:44 PM, said:

Andorion, on 09 November 2017 - 02:23 PM, said:

...

Anyway, 240 pages into His Dark Materials.

Spoiler

So, Daemons are what? Metaphors for sexual identity, urges, or to put it broadly, personality? Free Will? And they want to severe demons because...? Probably related to dust.

The bear is awesome.

You really want to know? Okey dokey.

Spoiler

On Lyra's earth, Dæmons are the external physical manifestation of a person's 'inner-self' that takes the form of an animal. It's why they can feel pain when their daemon is attacked or hurt or when they get too far from their human (pulling). Dameons are almost always the other gender of their humans (but it's never explained why...but we can surmise).

I can't tell you about the point of attempts to separate them without spoiling plot points from the end of the first book, neither simply separation, or what is called intercision...so you'll have to RAFO on those.

But yeah, Daemons are the intimate part of your self that you talk to, confide to, and all that stuff....just on the outside of your body and you can talk to them like they are a real thing.

More...

Spoiler

There's an id/ego yin/yang thing at work with daemons. Not opposites so much as a 'reflection', hence the different gender. Pullman gets into it more in later books.

It's one of the more interesting elements in the series.

Iiiinteresting. This also explains the no-touching taboo. Very intriguing.

[acesn8s]

The Great Ordeal: 35%. Ishual sub-basement: Suddenly all the atrocities that man has commented do not seem so bad.

[polishgenius]

I finished Gnomon, which was very strange and very good- I didn't personally love it as much as Gone-Away World, though as that's one of my top 5 books all-time that's not a snub, and in technical storytelling senses it's both probably a more ambitious novel and a better one, and certainly a more meaningful one.



Now I'm starting Deadhouse Landing, although as that is a papercopy I'm gonna need something else for my commute.

[Morgoth]

JPK, on 29 October 2017 - 05:09 AM, said:

Andorion, on 29 October 2017 - 01:43 AM, said:

JPK, on 28 October 2017 - 05:00 PM, said:

Alright guys, I give up on The Core and I will not be coming back to it. I imagine the book ends with the demons winning and eating everyone's brains, because that's the only ending I'd be even remotely happy with at this point. I will not be buying another book from Peter V Brett and I think I'll be selling and/or donating all of the books from this series. Possibly to a dumpster fire. I give it 1 star and cannot in good conscience recommend to anyone. In case I wasn't clear enough, I hate this book so fucking much.

I'm gonna go read Vallista by Steven Brust as a palette cleanser now.

Lol that sounds bad. Are all the books like this?

I loved book one, it's very story driven and very personal with the characters that it follows. I thought book two was stl pretty good, but books 3 and and were definitely weaker, but potentially worth the read as long as it had a strong payoff with the lost book. Unfortunately, this last book didn't deliver for me. At all. I'm fairly smashed atm, so if you want more info PM me and I'll expand further after I sleep this off.

I remember being annoyed at the Painted Man for the incredibly poor execution of the very overused "Rape as the pivotal point of character development" trope. Then came book two and it made me realise that Brett, more than just being a cliche writer, just really likes to write rape scenes. I never felt the need to read the third book.

This post has been edited by Morgoth: 10 November 2017 - 11:43 AM

[QuickTidal]

polishgenius, on 09 November 2017 - 10:05 PM, said:

Now I'm starting Deadhouse Landing, although as that is a papercopy I'm gonna need something else for my commute.

Wait. PG. Where TF did you get a copy early you bastid!?

[Mentalist]

Finally finished the "War of the Angels" omnibus. I'm sure this is partially due to my overall being rather busy and almost chronically tired, but this one felt like a slog. Gonna try to give more detailed opinion in the Eternal Champion review thread, but this one felt quite "literary" , and as someone with only passing knowledge of the English/British classics, I'm doubting I got all I was supposed to out if it.

I tossed the "metatemporal detective" into my bag as the next commute book, but there's supposedly a lot of overlap with the second part of the omnibus I just read ("Fabulous Harbours" was basically a short story collection"), so not sure how much actual new material will be in there.

At home, likewise kinda stalled on "Fortunes of Africa" due to lack of time. I'm about halfway through, and the author's already into the 1870s, so I suspect the rest of the book will be focused on the Scramble, which I find to be the least interesting part of the historical period covered, so my enthusiasm is kind of ebbing.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 10 November 2017 - 02:56 PM

[polishgenius]

QuickTidal, on 10 November 2017 - 02:06 PM, said:

polishgenius, on 09 November 2017 - 10:05 PM, said:

Now I'm starting Deadhouse Landing, although as that is a papercopy I'm gonna need something else for my commute.

Wait. PG. Where TF did you get a copy early you bastid!?

Berlin. They often drop books early in English-language shops here. Although I'm fairly I saw somewhere that it's already out somewhere in the world? Though if it's not the UK and it's not the US and Canada I'm not sure where that would be.

[QuickTidal]

polishgenius, on 10 November 2017 - 05:30 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 10 November 2017 - 02:06 PM, said:

polishgenius, on 09 November 2017 - 10:05 PM, said:

Now I'm starting Deadhouse Landing, although as that is a papercopy I'm gonna need something else for my commute.

Wait. PG. Where TF did you get a copy early you bastid!?

Berlin. They often drop books early in English-language shops here. Although I'm fairly I saw somewhere that it's already out somewhere in the world? Though if it's not the UK and it's not the US and Canada I'm not sure where that would be.

I have been keeping my eye out for an early CDN release. Glad you got it early. Enjoy!

[worry]

But Deadhouse Landing is coming out in a few days. What are you gonna do then?

[polishgenius]

Deadhouse Landing isn't a book, it's an explosion of awesome.

[Andorion]

Finished The Last Adventure of Constance Verity.

Moderately funny.

Reading Wilful Child 2: The Wrath of Betty.

Extremely funny.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, I finished the first book of His Dark Materials.

Woah... that was a much much darker ending than what I had imagined.

Spoiler

After the shock that was Roger, when Asriel and Mrs Coulter were hugging I was totally expecting Asriel to snap her neck.

This post has been edited by Andorion: 13 November 2017 - 03:36 PM

[QuickTidal]

Andorion, on 13 November 2017 - 03:34 PM, said:

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, I finished the first book of His Dark Materials.

Woah... that was a much much darker ending than what I had imagined.

Spoiler

After the shock that was Roger, when Asriel and Mrs Coulter were hugging I was totally expecting Asriel to snap her neck.

Yeah, that book has one hell of an ending.

Just wait, the next book is going to throw you for a loop to start.