[Andorion]

Tsundoku, on 09 November 2019 - 06:54 AM, said:

Andorion, on 09 November 2019 - 03:46 AM, said:

End of Disc One, on 09 November 2019 - 03:45 AM, said:

Andorion, on 09 November 2019 - 03:32 AM, said:

Finished The Burning White and along with that Brent Weeks' Lightbringer series
Very mixed feelings on this one. Anyone else read it?

I'm reading it at current BK pace so it will be a long time before I'm finished with this brick

Yeah its pretty long. Took me over a week to finish

A book took you over a week?
Must have been a real slog.

It got annoying so I read intermittently.

Come on, I don't read everything fast!

Chance, on 09 November 2019 - 08:04 AM, said:

Currently on Turtledoves How Few Remain which has been on my radar for at least a decade and it is a pretty nice alt-history war story.

Andorion, on 09 November 2019 - 03:32 AM, said:

Finished The Burning White and along with that Brent Weeks' Lightbringer series
Very mixed feelings on this one. Anyone else read it?

Finished it a while ago and was the same.

Some parts where pretty good, some where not. Much more then that would be spoilers.

I did not like the ending and I did not like

Spoiler

the overt religious stuff

about halfway in

amphibian, on 09 November 2019 - 01:52 PM, said:

Andorion, on 09 November 2019 - 03:32 AM, said:

Finished The Burning White and along with that Brent Weeks' Lightbringer series
Very mixed feelings on this one. Anyone else read it?

I too had mixed feelings. I thought the top of tower stuff was honestly stupid. That crushed a chunk of my enthusiasm for the book.

Amph, how did you feel about the overall ending - specially how

Spoiler

Dazen was brought back in? Felt like a literal deus ex machina to me

[Chance]

Andorion, on 09 November 2019 - 03:40 PM, said:

Tsundoku, on 09 November 2019 - 06:54 AM, said:

Andorion, on 09 November 2019 - 03:46 AM, said:

End of Disc One, on 09 November 2019 - 03:45 AM, said:

Andorion, on 09 November 2019 - 03:32 AM, said:

Finished The Burning White and along with that Brent Weeks' Lightbringer series
Very mixed feelings on this one. Anyone else read it?

I'm reading it at current BK pace so it will be a long time before I'm finished with this brick

Yeah its pretty long. Took me over a week to finish

A book took you over a week?
Must have been a real slog.

It got annoying so I read intermittently.

Come on, I don't read everything fast!

Chance, on 09 November 2019 - 08:04 AM, said:

Currently on Turtledoves How Few Remain which has been on my radar for at least a decade and it is a pretty nice alt-history war story.

Andorion, on 09 November 2019 - 03:32 AM, said:

Finished The Burning White and along with that Brent Weeks' Lightbringer series
Very mixed feelings on this one. Anyone else read it?

Finished it a while ago and was the same.

Some parts where pretty good, some where not. Much more then that would be spoilers.

I did not like the ending and I did not like

Spoiler

the overt religious stuff

about halfway in

amphibian, on 09 November 2019 - 01:52 PM, said:

Andorion, on 09 November 2019 - 03:32 AM, said:

Finished The Burning White and along with that Brent Weeks' Lightbringer series
Very mixed feelings on this one. Anyone else read it?

I too had mixed feelings. I thought the top of tower stuff was honestly stupid. That crushed a chunk of my enthusiasm for the book.

Amph, how did you feel about the overall ending - specially how

Spoiler

Dazen was brought back in? Felt like a literal deus ex machina to me

Spoiler

First of all it is a literal deus ex machina of the greek version, a good literary appear in a flying machine and fix everything . At least part of that must be a little joke from Weeks side since its so blatantly obvious.

I had a hard time with the religious stuff in the earlier books but I actually think this book handled it better then he has previously not least because if any god was half as likable as the one Dazen meets maybe I'd belive in one. At the same time it was a bit much when we go by page count.

The book also have problems with stakes & consequences. The color prince really is religated to a side issue while Dazen solves his religious doubt/guilt complex, the assassins do their stupid cult thing (at the same time Tia has a great storyline through the novel) and so on. The consequences that are inflicted on the protagonists are mostly fixed before the end, resurrecting Kip was not a good idea for one but at the same time he should never have ended up there as Andros acted like an idiot with his prism elect. It probably would have helped if not all of Andros back story had ended up in this book as well, it certainly would have prepared the readers better.

Not to say that I did not greatly enjoy parts of the book I did, but other parts and especially towards the end simply felt like Weeks had no clue how to solve it so he did it the old fashioned way, god appears and all is well.

This post has been edited by Chance: 09 November 2019 - 05:06 PM

[polishgenius]

Reading They Promised Me The Gun Wasn't Loaded, the second in James Alan Gardner's superheroes-meet-urban-fantasy series. This time from the PoV of another of the little superhero team that got set up in the first one. It's a lot of fun, but also deals with some dark matter (which might lead to a bit of mood whiplash for some, I guess). Anyway, really good and I highly recommend this whole series.

However, it has got to get a pithy series title because right now it hasn't got one and recommending that people read 'that series with All Those Explosions Were Somebody Else's Fault and They Promised Me The Gun Wasn't Loaded in' is a tad unwieldy...

[polishgenius]

eta: double post

This post has been edited by polishgenius: 10 November 2019 - 12:55 AM

[Andorion]

BfuckinK, on 09 November 2019 - 05:32 PM, said:

Go to the Lightbringer thread! I don't want to accidentally read anything here.

There's a Lightbringer thread?

[Mentalist]

Finished "The Dark Blood". Chronicles of the Long War is really growing on me. It's got a nice, epic scope, jumping across 3 continents and a whole bunch of PoVs, and it's got the type of plotting and savagery you'd get from GRRM or Bakker, but with really tight pacing, more reminiscent of Butcher. You don't get as much character-building as ASoIaF or Malaz, but the story's entertaining and it delivers a bunch of real epic moments in the most economical fashion imaginable.

I think I'm gonna buy the next 2 books over the holidays, as this is just jumped to a "must finish"-level series.

For my next commute read, i'm thinking of reading "Grey Sister", while "Red Sister" is still somewhat fresh in my mind.

[Andorion]

Reading another David Weber - Dahak trilogy.

Also read Warhammer 40K after a long time - Eisenhorn. its really good.

[Aptorian]

Andorion, on 12 November 2019 - 05:21 AM, said:

Reading another David Weber - Dahak trilogy.

Also read Warhammer 40K after a long time - Eisenhorn. its really good.

Is this the first trilogy?

https://www.amazon.c...4&creative=6738

Sounds good'ish???

[Andorion]

Aptorian, on 12 November 2019 - 09:08 AM, said:

Andorion, on 12 November 2019 - 05:21 AM, said:

Reading another David Weber - Dahak trilogy.

Also read Warhammer 40K after a long time - Eisenhorn. its really good.

Is this the first trilogy?

https://www.amazon.c...4&creative=6738

Sounds good'ish???

Read a bit of the first one, pretty good. But Weber is an acquired taste

[End of Disc One]

I can't see the name Weber without immediately thinking of BK and his journey with Safehold

[Abyss]

The DAHAK trilo is good fun. Not brilliant but a bit better character dev than Weber's usual, a fun sense of discovery in the first book and escalation in the second which effectively concludes the story. A chunk of the third book (which is more or less a novel length epilogue to 1+2) treads on old old ground Weber has done more or less to death (planet where tech suppressed by fanatical gov, brave interlopers must something something yadda yadda), but the first two and the balance of the third are fun character-driven mil sf .

If you're looking for solid Weber may i also suggest the EMPIRE OF MAN series, aka PRINCE ROGER AND THE BRONZE BARBARIANS aka MARCH UPCOUNTRY. Spoiled/misunderstood royal heir and special forces bodyguards crash on primitive planet of four armed barbarian warriors. Must travel across planet, steal spaceship, save empire. Fun and massive sequences of stabby ensue.

[QuickTidal]

End of Disc One, on 12 November 2019 - 04:37 PM, said:

I can't see the name Weber without immediately thinking of BK and his journey with Safehold

A book series that I attempted myself and hit an absolutely brick wall with.

[Abyss]

Abyss, on 06 November 2019 - 07:49 PM, said:

Abyss said:

Currently still in Alex Verus 6 HIDDEN,....
good fun all the same.

And then on into bk 7, BURNED, which i Just Finished.

Solid, picked up some of the bits from veiled and escalated nicely. And i appreciate the status quo shift for so much of the cast.
On to bk 8, BOUND.

Verus is so fucked.

BOUND was all good. Fun finale.


On to bk 9, MARKED.

Just Finished. Continues the solid streak, if a little predictable.

May pause w something else or move directly to book 10, FALLEN.

[polishgenius]

Man, I think I was the first person here to read Jacka, having picked up the first book, pre-release, signed when I went to get a Kate Griffin book signed at a joint event.

I kinda stalled out after I can't remember which book even, do need to get back coz I enjoy Verus as a character a lot.



Anyway, I finished They Told Me That Gun Wasn't Loaded, which was very fun, and having got the superheroes-vs-supernatural itch I've also re-read the Milkweed Tryptich. I'd forgotten how damn good a character Gretel is.

[Andorion]

Ok, my current commute read is Felix Castor 1 by Mike Carey
and I am not super impressed. Had higher expectations of Carey. I really don't like Castor as a character. He seems to like making his own job difficult.
Is this Dresden 1 syndrome? Does it get better?

[Tsundoku]

Andorion, on 15 November 2019 - 01:27 AM, said:

Ok, my current commute read is Felix Castor 1 by Mike Carey
and I am not super impressed. Had higher expectations of Carey. I really don't like Castor as a character. He seems to like making his own job difficult.
Is this Dresden 1 syndrome? Does it get better?

Yeah I tried Felix Castor 1 a few years ago and didn't feel it either. DNF.

I just started Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City by KJ Parker because of the blurb and some love it got here a little while ago.
I had previously sworn off Parker after the Fencer trilogy which was well-written but left a bad taste in the mouth because of some of the characters and where the plot went.

So I started warily but the voice of the main character - Orhan - is quite captivating and I am finding it quite engaging. Parker really can write.
Normally I am not a fan of first person narratives but when it is done well I tend not to find it jarring.

[amphibian]

Andorion, on 15 November 2019 - 01:27 AM, said:

Ok, my current commute read is Felix Castor 1 by Mike Carey
and I am not super impressed. Had higher expectations of Carey. I really don't like Castor as a character. He seems to like making his own job difficult.
Is this Dresden 1 syndrome? Does it get better?

Keep going, yes, it does get better. Carey also learns how to pull you in better as well as developing the characters much more.

[Mentalist]

finished "Grey Sister" around 2 AM last night. not the first time I end up binge-finishing a Lawrence book, but I really should know better by this point.

Next up, "Luna: Wolf Moon" by Ian McDonald.

[Abyss]

amphibian, on 15 November 2019 - 03:19 PM, said:

Andorion, on 15 November 2019 - 01:27 AM, said:

Ok, my current commute read is Felix Castor 1 by Mike Carey
and I am not super impressed. Had higher expectations of Carey. I really don't like Castor as a character. He seems to like making his own job difficult.
Is this Dresden 1 syndrome? Does it get better?

Keep going, yes, it does get better. Carey also learns how to pull you in better as well as developing the characters much more.

Seconded. It absolutely gets better.

[Tsundoku]

Fuck you, KJ Parker/Tom Holt.

Brilliant book, shitty ending.

Ok, well not quite shitty, but inconclusive. Dammit.

EDIT
What would have been a good 6 siege engines out of 7, dropped to a 5 or even a 4 because of the ending. Which has been compared to having to dash out to a dentist appointment by some online commenters.
But I thought it was quite deliberate and cute and kind of weirdly ... appropriate(?), just very much not to my liking.

Forgot to mention I recently read Jack Campbell - The Lost Fleet 1: Relentless.

Fairly standard mil-SF space fleet stuff which was elevated by the cool descriptions of the problems of fighting in space with more realistic physics and time lag with approaching-relativistic speeds. Plus the main character John "Black Jack" Geary has the very interesting problem of being a hero from the early stages of a 100+ year war who was thought killed but was actually in hibernation in an escape pod. Found and woken up, he finds he has been elevated to near-mythical status and has to reconcile that with the way he actually does things.

3 living anachronisms out of 5.

This post has been edited by Tsundoku: 16 November 2019 - 12:31 PM