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Reading at t'moment?

#24981 User is offline   QuickTidal 

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Posted 07 August 2019 - 12:42 PM

View PostAptorian, on 07 August 2019 - 10:33 AM, said:

Yeah but there's weird stuff in there. Like Granny apparently has no real magic until suddenly she's having a magic rap battle with one of the most powerful wizards in the land. Like, how?

It's easy to shrug off because that's what Granny seems to do constantly but it's still weird.

And there's the little girl, who I think it's implied is actually a nascent sorceress, as in an Old Times kind of wizard who can bypass all the laws of magic and just pull stuff out of her ass. But then suddenly that magic disappeared???


Note: There are 5 more "Witch" books, which feature Granny Weatherwax...and another 5 that she features in as a secondary character (Tiffany Aching books). If you want a map to which books belong to which "series" characters:

https://i.imgur.com/hkJR0Dx.jpg

Also, you should to let go of the fantasy and world-building tropes you are used to when you are in the Discworld.

Granny is a different type of witch than Nanny Ogg, who is a different type of witch to Magrat, who is a different type of witch to Tiffany, for example, and they all have different things that can qualify as magic (Granny being able to "not be seen" when she wants to for example; is it magic, or just her standing very still in a shadow) and also not qualify as magic.

The same thing will be true of almost any character in almost any situation in the series. Death is the only GrimReaper in the Discworld universe...until he's not (*Squeak*).

You can pay attention to the character traits and their own internal character depth and building, as those won't change and only enhance over time.

But if you nibble at the "systems" at play you will only find yourself nitpicking and that's no fun.

-----------------

Funnily enough, my post is also about Discworld. Bashing through JINGO at an unrelenting pace and just like most Watch books it's fantastic on almost every level. It's also very timely as the context of the book is very reminiscent of the actual events occurring in the States right now, concerning foreign nations and immigrants. Terry was a genius.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 07 August 2019 - 12:46 PM

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#24982 User is offline   Tiste Simeon 

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Posted 07 August 2019 - 01:35 PM

View PostTiste Simeon, on 07 August 2019 - 07:07 AM, said:

Finished book 4 of Lightbringer and it was a solid entry, if perhaps the weakest of the series so far. Looking forward to the finale in October. No idea what to read next tbh.

My friend brought back my Saxon Stories books by Bernard Cornwell and there's a couple of them I haven't read so will probably read them.

Started WARRIORS OF THE STORM by Bernard Cornwell and raised that there are now 3 Uthred books I haven't read! The latest one is available from my library so my next 3 on the reading list are sorted. :)
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#24983 User is offline   Mentalist 

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Posted 08 August 2019 - 01:16 AM

Long work trips are wonderful when it comes to catching up on reading. I finished the "Dreamblood" duology. I like Jemisin's world-building, but the relationship in book 2 was pretty formulaic and didn't improve the book for me. Now, hopefully we can get the Broken Earth trilogy pre-release as a single volume so I don't have to buy 3 separate books.

Oh, and I also finished the next Kate Daniels book, Magic Triumphs that I bought when I realized I only had 30 pages of "Dreamblood" for a 5+ hour return trip. Fantastic as always, love the series, thanks so much to this thread for introducing me to these.

Next, probably tomorrow I'll start on Asher's 3rd Transformations book "Infinity Engine"n which I also picked up today when I saw it was out of the in mmpb. I think I'll i'll get the next Polity books, "The Rise of Jain" in ebook, but for formations, I wanted to complete the set.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 08 August 2019 - 01:17 AM

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View PostJump Around, on 23 October 2011 - 11:04 AM, said:

And I want to state that Ment has out-weaseled me by far in this game.
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#24984 User is offline   pat5150 

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Posted 08 August 2019 - 02:19 AM

Just collected my thoughts about Joe Abercrombie's A Little Hatred. Second only to Best Served Cold, as far as I'm concerned, and as good as The Heroes, Red Country, and Last Argument of Kings.

You can read my review here​​​​​​​.

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#24985 User is offline   Abyss 

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Posted 08 August 2019 - 05:07 AM

View Postpat5150, on 08 August 2019 - 02:19 AM, said:

Just collected my thoughts about Joe Abercrombie's A Little Hatred. Second only to Best Served Cold, as far as I'm concerned, and as good as The Heroes, Red Country, and Last Argument of Kings.

You can read my review here​​​​​​​.

Lord Grimdark is back!


Serious praise there.
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#24986 User is offline   polishgenius 

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Posted 09 August 2019 - 10:04 PM

See that's very confusing praise because Best Served Cold is the worst in the series by a distance.


IMHO.
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#24987 User is offline   End of Disc One 

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Posted 09 August 2019 - 11:25 PM

This is a rare instance I agree with Pat. Best Served Cold is awesome, my #1 though The Heroes is close.
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#24988 User is offline   Andorion 

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Posted 10 August 2019 - 02:06 AM

Has anyone here read "This is How You Lose The Time War" by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone? Its one of the best things I have read this year.
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#24989 User is offline   Aptorian 

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Posted 10 August 2019 - 03:15 AM

You can't just write stuff like that. You're practically forcing me to buy the book!

Edit:

Oh yeah this is the stuff.

Quote

EXCERPT. © REPRINTED BY PERMISSION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
This Is How You Lose the Time War
When Red wins, she stands alone.

Blood slicks her hair. She breathes out steam in the last night of this dying world.

That was fun, she thinks, but the thought sours in the framing. It was clean, at least. Climb up time’s threads into the past and make sure no one survives this battle to muddle the futures her Agency’s arranged—the futures in which her Agency rules, in which Red herself is possible. She’s come to knot this strand of history and sear it until it melts.

She holds a corpse that was once a man, her hands gloved in its guts, her fingers clutching its alloy spine. She lets go, and the exoskeleton clatters against rock. Crude technology. Ancient. Bronze to depleted uranium. He never had a chance. That is the point of Red.

This post has been edited by Aptorian: 10 August 2019 - 03:23 AM

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#24990 User is offline   Abyss 

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Posted 10 August 2019 - 04:43 AM

View Postpolishgenius, on 09 August 2019 - 10:04 PM, said:

See that's very confusing praise because Best Served Cold is the worst in the series by a distance.


This is wrong.

View PostEnd of Disc One, on 09 August 2019 - 11:25 PM, said:

This is a rare instance I agree with Pat. Best Served Cold is awesome, my #1 though The Heroes is close.


This is right.
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#24991 User is offline   Aptorian 

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Posted 10 August 2019 - 05:01 AM

I recall hating the First Law trilogy and loving Best Served Cold. Which is also why I haven't been in a rush to read more Abercrombie just yet.
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#24992 User is offline   Puck 

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Posted 10 August 2019 - 10:59 AM

View Postpolishgenius, on 09 August 2019 - 10:04 PM, said:

See that's very confusing praise because Best Served Cold is the worst in the series by a distance.


IMHO.


Have to agree, never touched another Abercrombie book after BSC. Ugh.


As of now, I am a couple chapters into Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City, K. J. Parker's newest, and I'm enjoying the heck out of it. I love me a wisecrack protagonist like that.
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#24993 User is offline   Aptorian 

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Posted 10 August 2019 - 02:03 PM

16 ways is one of my favorite books this year.
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#24994 User is offline   QuickTidal 

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Posted 10 August 2019 - 05:16 PM

Nabbed the 3rd CROWN OF STARS book, THE BURNING STONE, so I’ll be starting on that soon.
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#24995 User is offline   Macros 

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Posted 10 August 2019 - 09:54 PM

BSC was the worst Abercrombie book for me.

But Apt, yeah what QT said. Discworld is deliberately nonsensical in places, seriously don't try and an attribute any kind of systems to that universe, just enjoy the ride
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#24996 User is offline   pat5150 

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Posted 11 August 2019 - 03:15 AM

View PostEnd of Disc One, on 09 August 2019 - 11:25 PM, said:

This is a rare instance I agree with Pat. Best Served Cold is awesome, my #1 though The Heroes is close.


OMG, repent you sinners, the end of the world is nigh!!! :kallor:
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#24997 User is offline   Andorion 

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Posted 11 August 2019 - 07:39 AM

Unpopular opinion time again.

The initial trilogy felt like it was trying too hard. Honestly, the only memorable part was Glokta.

Best Served Cold started off on a superb note, but midway the book stumbled and fell on its face.

The Heroes is good, but never quite reaches the Great level.

Red Country is the book I really liked.

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#24998 User is offline   Tiste Simeon 

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Posted 11 August 2019 - 08:31 AM

I have never read any Abercrombie but I have The Blade Itself and the following two (First Law?) on Audible so I'm looking forward to experiencing him for the first time.
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#24999 User is offline   Chance 

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Posted 11 August 2019 - 09:01 AM

View PostAndorion, on 11 August 2019 - 07:39 AM, said:

Unpopular opinion time again.

The initial trilogy felt like it was trying too hard. Honestly, the only memorable part was Glokta.

Best Served Cold started off on a superb note, but midway the book stumbled and fell on its face.

The Heroes is good, but never quite reaches the Great level.

Red Country is the book I really liked.


Might be unpopular but I agree, Glokta and Red Country are the high points for me.

Currently reading Empire of Silence and I like it, perhaps a bit slow on occation but it is a fun take on the regressing into a future-past and seem to have a very well developed universe if only we get to see a bit more of it.

This post has been edited by Chance: 11 August 2019 - 09:01 AM

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#25000 User is offline   Dadding 

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Posted 11 August 2019 - 01:14 PM

View PostAndorion, on 11 August 2019 - 07:39 AM, said:

Unpopular opinion time again.

The initial trilogy felt like it was trying too hard. Honestly, the only memorable part was Glokta.

Agreed! The first trilogy isn't great. Book 1 feels like half a book. Book 2 could be cut out and change nothing. And Book 3 is all about characters doing a 180 in "character development" that has no subtlety at all. I stopped reading after that.
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