[worry]

That's exactly what I thought about Book 1 too (aside from the Mary Sue thing, which doesn't ever bother me -- maybe because I myself am a Mary Sue). Suffice to say the fantasy elements ramp up considerably.

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

Also interested to see thoughts as you read the series - I gave up after Prince of Dogs, just wasn't doing it for me and as above, Liath is a bit too on the nose Mary-Sue (or feels it at least).

[Maark Abbott]

Aptorian, on 27 June 2019 - 05:53 PM, said:

It's over 600 pages so I'm already weary of it.

Weakness disgusts me

[QuickTidal]

worry, on 04 July 2019 - 04:39 AM, said:

That's exactly what I thought about Book 1 too (aside from the Mary Sue thing, which doesn't ever bother me -- maybe because I myself am a Mary Sue). Suffice to say the fantasy elements ramp up considerably.

TheRetiredBridgeburner, on 04 July 2019 - 05:56 AM, said:

Also interested to see thoughts as you read the series - I gave up after Prince of Dogs, just wasn't doing it for me and as above, Liath is a bit too on the nose Mary-Sue (or feels it at least).

That's interesting. I don't get Mary Sue from Liath at all. In fact, if anything she struggles like hell throughout the first book with nothing handed to her until...

Spoiler

Wolfhere comes to get her, and makes her an Eagle, but even after that we go through the entire ordeal outside Gent and during the Eika raids. She barely makes it out. Her father was killed and she gets enslaved, raped, and miscarries the rapists child from a beating...

..and even then. PRINCE OF DOGS seemingly continues this thread.

Spoiler

She kind of has mild feelings for Ivar in book 1, he's taken away and put into a monastery, she gets hardcore feelings for Sanglant, he dies (or so she thinks), she has a friendship with Manfred, he's killed, friendship with a King's Lion, he's killed, and then she's split from the only people she trusts (Hanna, Wolfhere, and her hard earned friendship with Hathui) and is largely on her own until she kind of runs into Rosvita in the King's group.

I can't see Mary Sue in ANY of what I've read so far.

But that may be just me. This series is addictive AF to me.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 04 July 2019 - 01:40 PM

[Abyss]

Abyss, on 28 June 2019 - 12:23 PM, said:

Abyss, on 25 June 2019 - 05:21 PM, said:

... back to HELL DIVERS: WOLVES.
Again, candy, and this is book 4 in a candy sf actioner series. To his credit the author avoids the near video game like structure of the previous three and breaks the story and fight scenes up a little better - less 'story-fight-story-smaller fight-story-REALLY big fight', writes the characters a bit less archetypical (a bit), adds a little more intrigue and spin to the world building. Also, the action scenes are bonkers great and the way the series has gone, anyone can die so the stakes are very real.

About five chapters to go, if you enjoyed the series so far, this is probably the best book yet. Great fun, may jump straight into book five if the next RED RISING hasn't dropped yet.

If post apocalyptic shoot em ups aren't your thing, skip.

Just finished WOLVES .... yeah, that was a tonne of fun. There's a whole 'adventure at sea' element to this book that the author handles well... i can't guarantee he's ever been on a ship, but as with many things in the series, he makes it work well enough that sweating the details isn't worthwhile. Who care how a rudder actually works when giant sea beasties are trying to eat the boat? And why overthink the plot when it turns into a totally gripping gunfight? Still candy, but gooOOOOooood candy.

Went straight to HELL DIVERS 5: CAPTIVES. Four chapters in, i had to relisten to a fight scene once because wtf was that as insane as i think i just heard, twice because yes, yes it was, and again because wow! Plot remains one moustache twirl short of a parody, tho a sideplot just took a turn i wasn't expecting that could get very very cool and if it goes the way i expect (it usually does with this series) i give the author credit for effective foreshadowing.

Abyss, on 01 July 2019 - 02:39 AM, said:

Aptorian, on 29 June 2019 - 08:29 PM, said:

I wanted to read something light so I checked out the Hell Divers series Abyss has been talking about.

First book is an easy enough popcorn read but I'm about 15% in and I don't really want to read anymore. The book is annoying me

It's doing a sorta good job of channelling 80s action films and video game shooters. But it's just kinda underwhelming and lacks the swagger of the action genre. The plot is poorly designed and the action is weirdly low key.

It makes the whole world seem more fraught than is necessary and simultaneously makes the soldiers and command look like amateurs. Like I don't believe these are elite soldiers, nor do I buy that they've been doing hell dives for centuries.

It's like the author wanted to write a cool homage to b-movies, but just wrote a b-movie.

Plot is basic at best, the action scenes get better, and their elite status is because of what they do... not Special Forces training. They actually are amateurs and the world is that fraught because those are the best they have.

Also the whole post nuke armageddon mutants everywhere thing.

But hey, I never said this was MoI.

Just finished HELL DIVERS 5: CAPTIVES.


It was consistent with the rest of the series... great action, mediocre/predictable plot that fails if you think about it. Characters just developed enough to care about as they shoot their way through mutants, killer plants, androids, cannibals, lightning storms, giant sea-creatures, etc.

By book 5 you're either into what this series is doing or you stopped reading. I'm glad i read it, satisfied i got my dollars' worth, even if i did have to read things like
"He slicked back his wet, slick hair." and wonder how a dude carrying a battle axe in each hand grabbed someone by the throat.


Coming off of the two MEG books and this, i'm ready for a little more work for the thinkymeatz... on to the THE MONSTER BARU CORMORANT.

[polishgenius]

Whisperzzzzzzz, on 04 July 2019 - 03:20 AM, said:

Whisperzzzzzzz, on 23 June 2019 - 03:59 PM, said:

Novik's Spinning Silver.

This was enjoyable, especially the rarely seen representation of Eastern European Judaism and folklore. I think Uprooted was a stronger story overall, but this one is absolutely worth the read.

I did like this overall and in some ways it did improve on Uprooted- the slight misjudgement of Polish folklore in Uprooted bothered me a little whereas there wasn't much in this that had the same direct correlation, and I broadly liked the increase in complexity, but

Spoiler

gosh darn does Novik love the Stokholm-Syndromeish trope of woman being captured by man who turns out not to be so bad/have his reasons and then they fall in love. In Uprooted it was acceptable because it was the focus of the plot so you did get to see the reason and why she might actually do so, but in this there's very little reason for Myryem to fall for the Staryk king like that and absolutely none at all for Illyria to fall for her dude as it seemed she does.
Also, regarding the mythology, while it didn't bother me as such the choice of Czernobog as a creature of flame seemed odd. Like very little is known about Czernobog and he did later get an association with Satan if I understand it, but his name means 'Black God', there's no real reason for him to be fire or indication in what I can find out that that was his aspect.

And also generally the villain in Uprooted was much more effective.

Still, good book though.

[Zeto Demerzel]

QuickTidal, on 02 July 2019 - 01:55 PM, said:

Back into PRINCE OF DOGS this morning. Man, I love this series!

worry, on 03 July 2019 - 06:46 AM, said:

You're reading Crown of Stars? I must have missed that. That series improves with each book imo. I didn't love the first one, so if you already love the series, that's a good sign for things to come!

worry, on 04 July 2019 - 04:39 AM, said:

That's exactly what I thought about Book 1 too (aside from the Mary Sue thing, which doesn't ever bother me -- maybe because I myself am a Mary Sue). Suffice to say the fantasy elements ramp up considerably.

Good enough for me. I'm going to re-read King's Dragon and then get into the rest of the series.

[Maark Abbott]

Crown of Stars is good. I got stuck on Book 6 though because I was trying to use that to break the reading slump that I'm in but couldn't. It's been sat at the same page for like six or seven months now.

[JPK]

Just dropped Ada Palmer's Too Like The Lightning.

This book was trying WAY too hard, and the tone was so damn droll.

[End of Disc One]

BfuckinK, on 05 July 2019 - 07:25 PM, said:

Maark Abbott, on 05 July 2019 - 07:24 AM, said:

Crown of Stars is good. I got stuck on Book 6 though because I was trying to use that to break the reading slump that I'm in but couldn't. It's been sat at the same page for like six or seven months now.

Might I recommend Brandon Sanderson’s The Stormlight Archives book 1 The Way of Kings?

All killer no filler

[polishgenius]

JPK, on 05 July 2019 - 07:11 PM, said:

Just dropped Ada Palmer's Too Like The Lightning.

This book was trying WAY too hard, and the tone was so damn droll.

How far in did you get? Coz all that stuff did wind me up the first time I read it but there's a point, about half way into the first book, where certain things are revealed and all the tone and everything makes a lot more sense. So if you're close to that I'd recommend carrying on a little longer, because since then the series has blown my mind.

But it's never not ridiculously melodramatic.

[JPK]

polishgenius, on 05 July 2019 - 10:46 PM, said:

JPK, on 05 July 2019 - 07:11 PM, said:

Just dropped Ada Palmer's Too Like The Lightning.

This book was trying WAY too hard, and the tone was so damn droll.

How far in did you get? Coz all that stuff did wind me up the first time I read it but there's a point, about half way into the first book, where certain things are revealed and all the tone and everything makes a lot more sense. So if you're close to that I'd recommend carrying on a little longer, because since then the series has blown my mind.

But it's never not ridiculously melodramatic.

I got to a little under 20%. I fell asleep reading the introduction of the Blacklaw three different times and got frustrated.

[Aptorian]

Haven't read much the past week been busy at work but I finished 16 ways to defend a city by KJ Parker last weekend.

Great book. I'd call it a must read if you like story's about sieges where our hero has to defend a city. Only in this book instead of a big bastard with an axe like in Legend, it's a colonel with a legion of engineers with a chip on his shoulder.

It's made more impressive to me how much I liked the story, considering I absolutely hated the only other book I've read of Parker's, the first engineer trilogy book.

Read Ayn Rand's Anthem. It was free on Amazon I think and it's less than a hundred pages.

It's a classic kind of dystopian story. It's simple in it's execution, which makes the book more effective when it deliveres it's punchline. One can see why objectivism could be attractive to some people, especially in an age where socialism or communism seemed like a threat to the individual.

It's sort of insidious though. I'm not sure I'd let a teenager read this with out having a proper debriefing about moral philosophy afterwards.

Towards the end it delivers these sermons which I feel like are down right cultist with what we know about Rand's later publications.

Try and read some of this:

Spoilers for the ending of the book:

Spoiler

Quote

I am. I think. I will. MY HANDS... MY SPIRIT... MY sky... My forest... This earth of mine.... What must I say besides? These are the words. This is the answer. I stand here on the summit of the mountain. I lift my head and I spread my arms. This, my body and spirit, this is the end of the quest. I wished to know the meaning of things. I am the meaning. I wished to find a warrant for being. I need no warrant for being, and no word of sanction upon my being. I am the warrant and the sanction.

It is my eyes which see, and the sight of my eyes grants beauty to the earth. It is my ears which hear, and the hearing of my ears gives its song to the world. It is my mind which thinks, and the judgement of my mind is the only searchlight that can find the truth. It is my will which chooses, and the choice of my will is the only edict I must respect.

Many words have been granted me, and some are wise, and some are false, but only three are holy: “I will it!”


Whatever road I take, the guiding star is within me; the guiding star and the loadstone which point the way. They point in but one direction. They point to me. I know not if this earth on which I stand is the core of the universe or if it is but a speck of dust lost in eternity. I know not and I care not. For I know what happiness is possible to me on earth. And my happiness needs no higher aim to vindicate it. My happiness is not the means to any end. It is the end. It is its own goal. It is its own purpose. Neither am I the means to any end others may wish to accomplish. I am not a tool for their use. I am not a servant of their needs. I am not a bandage for their wounds. I am not a sacrifice on their altars. I am a man. This miracle of me is mine to own and keep, and mine to guard, and mine to use, and mine to kneel before!

I do not surrender my treasures, nor do I share them. The fortune of my spirit is not to be blown into coins of brass and flung to the winds as alms for the poor of the spirit. I guard my treasures: my thought, my will, my freedom. And the greatest of these is freedom.


I owe nothing to my brothers, nor do I gather debts from them. I ask none to live for me, nor do I live for any others. I covet no man’s soul, nor is my soul theirs to covet. I am neither foe nor friend to my brothers, but such as each of them shall deserve of me. And to earn my love, my brothers must do more than to have been born. I do not grant my love without reason, nor to any chance passer-by who may wish to claim it. I honor men with my love. But honor is a thing to be earned.

I shall choose friends among men, but neither slaves nor masters. And I shall choose only such as please me, and them I shall love and respect, but neither command nor obey. And we shall join our hands when we wish, or walk alone when we so desire. For in the temple of his spirit, each man is alone. Let each man keep his temple untouched and undefiled. Then let him join hands with others if he wishes, but only beyond his holy threshold. For the word “We” must never be spoken, save by one’s choice and as a second thought. This word must never be placed first within man’s soul, else it becomes a monster, the root of all the evils on earth, the root of man’s torture by men, and of an unspeakable lie.

The word “We” is as lime poured over men, which sets and hardens to stone, and crushes all beneath it, and that which is white and that which is black are lost equally in the grey of it. It is the word by which the depraved steal the virtue of the good, by which the weak steal the might of the strong, by which the fools steal the wisdom of the sages.

What is my joy if all hands, even the unclean, can reach into it? What is my wisdom, if even the fools can dictate to me? What is my freedom, if all creatures, even the botched and the impotent, are my masters? What is my life, if I am but to bow, to agree and to obey?

But I am done with this creed of corruption. I am done with the monster of “We,” the word of serfdom, of plunder, of misery, falsehood and shame.

And now I see the face of god, and I raise this god over the earth, this god whom men have sought since men came into being, this god who will grant them joy and peace and pride. This god, this one word: “I.”

Like, fuck me, I understand the perspective but if every person lived like this, we'd be like Jaghuts living solitary lives in our towers.

It also gets strangely sexist towards the end where the "eve" of the story is weirdly submissive to the protagonist and viewed more as a trophy and a receptacle for the sons the protagonist will send out in the world.

Weird for a woman author, who lays the foundation for objectivism, to dismiss the woman of the tale so.

This post has been edited by Aptorian: 06 July 2019 - 11:21 AM

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

QuickTidal, on 04 July 2019 - 01:40 PM, said:

worry, on 04 July 2019 - 04:39 AM, said:

That's exactly what I thought about Book 1 too (aside from the Mary Sue thing, which doesn't ever bother me -- maybe because I myself am a Mary Sue). Suffice to say the fantasy elements ramp up considerably.

TheRetiredBridgeburner, on 04 July 2019 - 05:56 AM, said:

Also interested to see thoughts as you read the series - I gave up after Prince of Dogs, just wasn't doing it for me and as above, Liath is a bit too on the nose Mary-Sue (or feels it at least).

That's interesting. I don't get Mary Sue from Liath at all. In fact, if anything she struggles like hell throughout the first book with nothing handed to her until...

Spoiler

Wolfhere comes to get her, and makes her an Eagle, but even after that we go through the entire ordeal outside Gent and during the Eika raids. She barely makes it out. Her father was killed and she gets enslaved, raped, and miscarries the rapists child from a beating...

..and even then. PRINCE OF DOGS seemingly continues this thread.

Spoiler

She kind of has mild feelings for Ivar in book 1, he's taken away and put into a monastery, she gets hardcore feelings for Sanglant, he dies (or so she thinks), she has a friendship with Manfred, he's killed, friendship with a King's Lion, he's killed, and then she's split from the only people she trusts (Hanna, Wolfhere, and her hard earned friendship with Hathui) and is largely on her own until she kind of runs into Rosvita in the King's group.

I can't see Mary Sue in ANY of what I've read so far.

But that may be just me. This series is addictive AF to me.

Hmm. I vaguely remember those plot points so I wonder what gave me that feeling.

Damnit, may as well grab a copy of the first one and see what I think - it was probably about 15 years ago after all!

[Puck]

polishgenius, on 05 July 2019 - 10:46 PM, said:

JPK, on 05 July 2019 - 07:11 PM, said:

Just dropped Ada Palmer's Too Like The Lightning.

This book was trying WAY too hard, and the tone was so damn droll.

How far in did you get? Coz all that stuff did wind me up the first time I read it but there's a point, about half way into the first book, where certain things are revealed and all the tone and everything makes a lot more sense. So if you're close to that I'd recommend carrying on a little longer, because since then the series has blown my mind.

But it's never not ridiculously melodramatic.

This. I even posted on here about how much I hated the beginning. But after certain revelations it really clicked into place and it's one of my favourite series now. I did like all the Blacklaw stuff and such, though, I was just mainly annoyed by the drollness and wokeness. Which gets better as the story progresses because it's part of the problem instory.

[Aptorian]

Did a bunch of reading this weekend.

Finished Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. A Very overrated book I think. Sorta random, meandering story that tries to be witty with the Apocalypse but very little of the humor works in my opinion.

Then I read the first volume of Calvin & Hobbes that's being rereleased in a nice new package. Awh man the nostalgia. This is the pinnacle of litterature and art. I especially like these early strips where Watersons style hadn't quite solidified.

Also read a book by a Danish author Carsten Jensen, called Hovedspringere (head divers).

It's a book that discusses the nature of refugees and Denmark's relation to refugees. It's a scathing attack on how inhuman we and the rest of the world act in the face of an exponentially growing refugee crisis. The dehumanizing bureaucracy, the stripping of identity and human worth, the washing of hands, etc.

It's a book that makes you angry at society and yourself for silently standing by while this catastrophy continues day after day.

[Aptorian]

Assuming this is directed at me, I watched the excellent mini series with Richard Chamberlain.

Why?

[Aptorian]

I actually wouldn't mind reading it. There's just so much else. I read Taipan by the same author decades ago and really liked it. I think.

[Aptorian]

The backlog is endless. I work in a library.

I have a couple of King books on the list though. The Dark Tower stuff. That JFK book. There's also some books in our libraries crime/thriller section I've been eyeing, Mercedes Man I think the first one is called in English.

Edit: As for my opinion of King I've read most of his classics from the 80/90s when I was a teen. It, Pet Cemetery, Needful Things, Thinner, etc. I wouldn't say he's an amazing author quality wise but he writes great characters that you love to hate.

I remember being more fond of Dean Koontz.

This post has been edited by Aptorian: 07 July 2019 - 06:26 PM

[Aptorian]

I remember giving up on the stand, it was ridiculously long. Green Mile is another good one though.