[Andorion]

Dadding, on 11 August 2019 - 01:14 PM, said:

Andorion, 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.

Yeah.

I feel that a lot of fantasy books stand on three pillars - story/writing/plot decisions, character building/arcs and worldbuilding.

Abercrombie's problem is that his worldbuilding is not the strongest, and his character arcs are subordinated entirely to his "subversive" writing agenda. When you start off with the premise that nothing can ever be good, no lasting change can ever be achieved, then character arcs are going to be a mess.

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

Whisperzzzzzzz, on 29 July 2019 - 11:56 PM, said:

Erikson's Rejoice, A Knife To The Heart.

Just over halfway through this, and it's...okay.

I love the conceit — First Contact with no contact. The way it plays out with traditional structures gasping and grasping to consolidate and reinforce their power is logical. There are a few worldbuilding surprises I like. Yet, as a whole, it just doesn't feel compelling.

When Erikson speaks to the same themes — capitalism, scarcity, compassion, intrinsicality of violence, and more — in Malazan, I feel moved, shaken, and urgently exhorted because it feels natural and because I care about the characters. In this, I just feel like the world and its inhabitants are the glossy surface on Erikson's metaphorical diatribe sword.

I'm hoping the last bit picks it up.

[Aptorian]

Read a bunch of stuff this week. I mixed in some light children's books to make it easier to get through some tedious non-fiction.

I finally finished "Pseudoarbejde" (Pseudo work), a book about bullshit in our workplaces and the culture of businesses and institutions. An interesting and funny book but far too long.

Also read Corinne Maier's "Hello Laziness" which is a short, satirical dissection of the ridiculousness found in most large corporations. Despite it's short length this book was tedious. Too much of the material relates to french current events.

I definitely recognize a lot of the issues these books tackle in my workplace but I think I've managed to steer myself clear of the worst of it.

Read JK Rowling's "The Tales of Beetle the Bard". A funny little companion to the Potter Universe but not a must read.

Read book 7+8 of Jan Kjær's "Taynikma". Still very similar to Avatar the last Airbender.

Finished Terry Pratchett's "Equal Rites" which I mentioned upthread. Still impressed with Pratchett's world building and how effortlessly he writes a simple but entertaining tale.

Finished Kurt Vonneguts "Slaughterhouse 5". A confusingly unsatisfactory read. I don't get why this book is famous.

If anyone here read it and actually liked it, please comment in the Book Club thread. I think we're all at a loss as to why this is a classic.

Started up, Peter Newman's "The Vagrant" on Worry's recommendation. Only 50 pages in but this s promising tale. Demonic invasions and sci-fi tech. Oh yes.

About half way into Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone's "This is how you lose the time war" as recommended by Andorion. It's a very gimmicky premise but it's very entertaining in it's creativity.

This post has been edited by Aptorian: 11 August 2019 - 07:25 PM

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

Whisperzzzzzzz, on 11 August 2019 - 07:12 PM, said:

Whisperzzzzzzz, on 29 July 2019 - 11:56 PM, said:

Erikson's Rejoice, A Knife To The Heart.

Just over halfway through this, and it's...okay.

I love the conceit — First Contact with no contact. The way it plays out with traditional structures gasping and grasping to consolidate and reinforce their power is logical. There are a few worldbuilding surprises I like. Yet, as a whole, it just doesn't feel compelling.

When Erikson speaks to the same themes — capitalism, scarcity, compassion, intrinsicality of violence, and more — in Malazan, I feel moved, shaken, and urgently exhorted because it feels natural and because I care about the characters. In this, I just feel like the world and its inhabitants are the glossy surface on Erikson's metaphorical diatribe sword.

I'm hoping the last bit picks it up.

Erikson did manage to pick it up at the end — I ripped through the end of the book, emerging with an afterglow of optimism and exploration.

I could complain that this book felt like only the beginning to a story. That Erikson opened the garage door, only to leave us waiting at the end of the driveway. And yet, this feels like the whole point — this is the start of humanity's journey to become itself anew. We don't know how it will end, how we will be changed, what wonders we will appreciate (or exploit). But, we know there is hope, and a chance for something grand.

That's an unwritten story I'm happy to read the start of.

[Aptorian]

I should get around to reading Erikson's space stuff. Soon. Maybe later. Perhaps. Eventually.

[Aptorian]

Argh! I am reading "This is how you lose the time war" and the characters discuss a book by Naomi Mitchison "Travel Light" and of course it's not available on Amazon. Seems old too, like maybe a kind of school book?

[Salt-Man Z]

Aptorian, on 12 August 2019 - 05:39 PM, said:

Argh! I am reading "This is how you lose the time war" and the characters discuss a book by Naomi Mitchison "Travel Light" and of course it's not available on Amazon. Seems old too, like maybe a kind of school book?

It's from 1952, but Amazon US and Canada both have a Kindle version: ( US | CA )

[Aptorian]

Unfortunately there's often a problem with the US/Canada shop in Denmark. It's just listed as unavailable.

[Aptorian]

Andorion, on 10 August 2019 - 02:06 AM, said:

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.

Just finished it. I concur this is a great book.

It's heavily relliant on the gimmick of the telling and at times it lays it on a bit thick, but what a book. What a scope, what amazing visages it paints.

I'm usually not one to stop and admire prose but this was like reading a sensory cascade of colors, tastes and textures.

Also towards the ending:

Spoiler

When Red visits the Garden's domain upthread. Whoah. That's some chthulhu'ish cosmic awesomeness.

Check this book out. It's a relatively short 200ish pages. It's a love story and a war story with an awesome sci-fi backdrop.

This post has been edited by Aptorian: 12 August 2019 - 08:04 PM

[Tiste Simeon]

Suggest it for a book club read? It's the right kind of length.

[Aptorian]

But I already read it!

[Mentalist]

Abyss, on 10 August 2019 - 04:43 AM, said:

polishgenius, 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.

End 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.

I concur, BSC did the "Count of Monte Christo" thing well, and since that is one of my favouritest books ever, Best Served Cold is good.

I do concur With Puck that the original trilogy tried too hard. When the McGuffin in Book 3 turned out to be

Spoiler

A magical nuke

I essentially stopped taking the universe seriously.

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

Brust's Vallista.

So far, this is one of those more metaphorical, metaphysical, metaplot-ical Taltos books. Very good, and especially refreshing when Vlad enjoys the fountain.

[Aptorian]

A hundred pages into Peter Newman's The Vagrant.

This is a heck of a grim dark grim heroic grim fantasy grim apocalyptic grim man with no name grim book.

It's grim.

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

Aptorian, on 13 August 2019 - 07:24 PM, said:

A hundred pages into Peter Newman's The Vagrant.

This is a heck of a grim dark grim heroic grim fantasy grim apocalyptic grim man with no name grim book.

It's grim.

Is it a grimoire?

[amphibian]

Goatmoire

[Andorion]

Aptorian, on 13 August 2019 - 07:24 PM, said:

A hundred pages into Peter Newman's The Vagrant.

This is a heck of a grim dark grim heroic grim fantasy grim apocalyptic grim man with no name grim book.

It's grim.

With a goat

[Aptorian]

I really hope the goat survives. It's a champ.

[acesn8s]

I finished Bloody Rose last night, I found it a fun follow up to Kings of the Wyld. There were time where I wish Eames would have been a bit more thorough and serious with his world building. I think if he wanted to write a more epic series, he could. Overall though, it was a fun, fast-paced read and I enjoyed all the rock and metal references throughout the story. It makes me want to dust off my Xbox 360 and play Brutal Legend again.

[Maark Abbott]

Still nothing. Haven't finished a full book that wasn't a manga or light novel in over a year now. The damage seems irreversible at this stage.