[Abyss]

T77, on 26 February 2020 - 05:52 PM, said:

Abyss, on 26 February 2020 - 04:21 PM, said:

T77, on 26 February 2020 - 04:06 PM, said:

Finished Virtual Light by William Gibson. Loved everything about it, especially the prose. Liked it almost as much as Neuromancer. Currently in the middle of Mona Lisa Overdrive to finish out the Sprawl trilogy and loving that too. I've got his latest, Agency, on hold at the library, should have that soon.

S'funny, VIRTUAL LIGHT was where i stepped away from Gibson. Coming out of the Sprawl set, the change in tone and focus i found so much less interesting, the characters less engaging.

I could see how some might not like it, especially compared to Sprawl. I think the setting - I really liked the Bridge - and his almost poetic prose did it for me. I hear great things about Idoru, the second Bridge novel, which I have on deck.

I stuck with him for IDORU and then stopped. To be clear i'm not saying the Bridge books were bad. I finished each one. Gibson was and is a visionary and his Sprawl remains among my favoritest reads ever. What threw me from the Bridge was that his characters, who in Sprawl were active participants in the story, became effectively onlookers at events around them. Cool events, but they were observers more than participants.

[QuickTidal]

Abyss, on 26 February 2020 - 07:00 PM, said:

T77, on 26 February 2020 - 05:52 PM, said:

Abyss, on 26 February 2020 - 04:21 PM, said:

T77, on 26 February 2020 - 04:06 PM, said:

Finished Virtual Light by William Gibson. Loved everything about it, especially the prose. Liked it almost as much as Neuromancer. Currently in the middle of Mona Lisa Overdrive to finish out the Sprawl trilogy and loving that too. I've got his latest, Agency, on hold at the library, should have that soon.

S'funny, VIRTUAL LIGHT was where i stepped away from Gibson. Coming out of the Sprawl set, the change in tone and focus i found so much less interesting, the characters less engaging.

I could see how some might not like it, especially compared to Sprawl. I think the setting - I really liked the Bridge - and his almost poetic prose did it for me. I hear great things about Idoru, the second Bridge novel, which I have on deck.

I stuck with him for IDORU and then stopped.

IDORU is where I stopped as well. Funny that we stopped at the same place.

[Aptorian]

March 1st, this Sunday, we begin the reread of Memories of Ice AKA the best fantasy book ever written!

You can participate in the discussion and post your thoughts in this thread:

https://forum.malaza...99#entry1397899

[Maark Abbott]

Stylo, on 26 February 2020 - 04:37 AM, said:

This place seems like a banger, so I'm kinda sad to see that not too many threads are active. Makes me wish I was here Back in the Day, maybe when the books were coming out... as much as social media and other platforms like reddit technically exist, led to the death of the Forum, I don't believe they ever actually replaced proper message boards for depth of discussion, and this one seems pretty chill

Come over to the Malazan Discord so I can tell you not to read Stormbad every day.

[QuickTidal]

Maark Abbott, on 27 February 2020 - 08:44 AM, said:

Stylo, on 26 February 2020 - 04:37 AM, said:

This place seems like a banger, so I'm kinda sad to see that not too many threads are active. Makes me wish I was here Back in the Day, maybe when the books were coming out... as much as social media and other platforms like reddit technically exist, led to the death of the Forum, I don't believe they ever actually replaced proper message boards for depth of discussion, and this one seems pretty chill

Come over to the Malazan Discord so I can tell you not to read Stormbad every day.

At some point Maark, you're going to have to get over your hatred of a single book series, or at least stop letting it live rent free in your cerebellum.

Seriously.

------

On my front, finished SONG OF THE BEAST. GREAT standalone fantasy! Berg is the real deal, and I'll definitely be checking out her other work now.

Next up AGE OF EMPYRE or Rawn's DRAGON PRINCE....whichever arrives first (my money is one Rawn as it's already shipped).

[Mentalist]

Finished "Shogun" last night.

The duplicity and the lies in the end did my head in a bit. Overall, good plot. I expected worse for

Spoiler

Mariko

In commute, on the last part of "Elrik: Moonbeam Roads". Portal fantasy featuring the von Bek's granddaughter, and now we're featuring Elrik and Una Persson (the Jerry Cornelius sometimes villain/mastermind)? The crossovers are.... gaaah. There might be more re-reads in my future.

not sure what I'll read at home next. I'll look into the pile over then weekend.

[Chance]

Finished up Bright Steel after having it in physical form for a good while I caved in and started the audiobook, very nice and I hope Cameron writes more in the world even if this sequence is finished.

Started up False Values as I wasn't in the mode for anything heavier then a bit of familiar urban fantasy.

[Stylo]

Aptorian, on 27 February 2020 - 07:45 AM, said:

March 1st, this Sunday, we begin the reread of Memories of Ice AKA the best fantasy book ever written!

You can participate in the discussion and post your thoughts in this thread:

https://forum.malaza...99#entry1397899

Would those not include series-wide spoilers?

Maark Abbott, on 27 February 2020 - 08:44 AM, said:

Stylo, on 26 February 2020 - 04:37 AM, said:

This place seems like a banger, so I'm kinda sad to see that not too many threads are active. Makes me wish I was here Back in the Day, maybe when the books were coming out... as much as social media and other platforms like reddit technically exist, led to the death of the Forum, I don't believe they ever actually replaced proper message boards for depth of discussion, and this one seems pretty chill

Come over to the Malazan Discord so I can tell you not to read Stormbad every day.

Sure, I'll join... might I have directions?

Watch me edit this post as I find obvious answers to all my questions

[Macros]

Series wide spoilers yeah, it's a full series reread.

[Maark Abbott]

QuickTidal, on 27 February 2020 - 02:31 PM, said:

Maark Abbott, on 27 February 2020 - 08:44 AM, said:

Stylo, on 26 February 2020 - 04:37 AM, said:

This place seems like a banger, so I'm kinda sad to see that not too many threads are active. Makes me wish I was here Back in the Day, maybe when the books were coming out... as much as social media and other platforms like reddit technically exist, led to the death of the Forum, I don't believe they ever actually replaced proper message boards for depth of discussion, and this one seems pretty chill

Come over to the Malazan Discord so I can tell you not to read Stormbad every day.

At some point Maark, you're going to have to get over your hatred of a single book series, or at least stop letting it live rent free in your cerebellum.

Seriously.

kishiberohanbutirefuse.gif

It is my solemn and sacred duty to protect the commonfolk from evil. Would you have me abandon my duty, Quick?

Though I suppose I could just expand the hate to also encompass Rush to Awastedopportunity, which should be deleted and rewritten by SE. In fact, buckle up kids, let me tell you why R2A is shit...

Stylo, if you google 'malazan discord server' it should come up. Jade hand as the server icon.

[Stylo]

I just finished Memories of Ice. Is this even the place to say you've been reading a Malazan book?
I've been a bit active in the Malazan reddit, also... as I've mentioned, I prefer an old school forum, but, y'know, more people and activity. Hey, I didn't say quality!

That said, I was considering crossposting the writeups I've sort of been doing; I don't know if anybody would be interested. They've been received pretty well over on reddit; hardcore fans seem to love reliving the series vicariously through a newcomer. I would have just posted them here... although the lines have started to blur in that the one I wrote for Memories of Ice is more or less an essay on how I don't have it in me to sum up my feelings on the book (which was great), and a lot of the discussion ends up going on in the comments... which could happen here too, of course. So I'd feel utterly bizarre posting that in the MoI subforum. And equally bizarre just posting links to the reddit threads...

As an aside, I'm seeing some familiar faces from the TOR Re-read comments, which I've been looking at, creepily getting familiar with the regulars as they were almost ten years ago... Saltman-Z I certainly recognize, possibly also Tsundoku. Whoever used to post there: you don't know me but I love reading all those comments.

This post has been edited by Stylo: 01 March 2020 - 04:59 AM

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

Stylo, on 01 March 2020 - 04:58 AM, said:

I just finished Memories of Ice. Is this even the place to say you've been reading a Malazan book?
I've been a bit active in the Malazan reddit, also... as I've mentioned, I prefer an old school forum, but, y'know, more people and activity. Hey, I didn't say quality!

That said, I was considering crossposting the writeups I've sort of been doing; I don't know if anybody would be interested. They've been received pretty well over on reddit; hardcore fans seem to love reliving the series vicariously through a newcomer. I would have just posted them here... although the lines have started to blur in that the one I wrote for Memories of Ice is more or less an essay on how I don't have it in me to sum up my feelings on the book (which was great), and a lot of the discussion ends up going on in the comments... which could happen here too, of course. So I'd feel utterly bizarre posting that in the MoI subforum. And equally bizarre just posting links to the reddit threads...

As an aside, I'm seeing some familiar faces from the TOR Re-read comments, which I've been looking at, creepily getting familiar with the regulars as they were almost ten years ago... Saltman-Z I certainly recognize, possibly also Tsundoku. Whoever used to post there: you don't know me but I love reading all those comments.

Feel free to post them as threads in their respective book sub-forums. You'll get replies, and maybe some good conversation (or sarcastic responses from Worry).

[amphibian]

Yes, it's always nice to see a fresh take on these books. I'm glad you're able to match up some re read comments with people here.

[Mentalist]

Finished "Elric and the Moonbeam Roads" omnibus.

Well, at least now I know who John Daker that Erikose keeps referring to is. So that's something.

For real though, it does clear up things... somewhat. But in order to understand if I'm understanding things correctly, I'd need to reread most of "Von Bek", bits of " Stormbringer" as well as "War Among the Angels"- which is arguably one of the most confusing books I've ever read. But I think that one is supposed to take place after this one.
Oh, and the Jerry Cornelius books; because a few of the characters in those I now see in a totally new light.

Damn, Moorcock's multiverse is complicated

[Maark Abbott]

Finished Realist Hero 1 and moved onto Torture Princess 1.

Halfway through Rejoice.

[Macros]

Started A meeting at Corvallis. Book 3 of the change series by Stirling.

[Aptorian]

Read Ben Aaronovitch's False Value. Excellent addition to the Peter Grant series. Thought it was going one way, ended up going a completely other. Good Cops and Robbers fantasy.

Finished The Seven, the final book in Peter Newman's Vagrant trilogy.

It's a strong ending to a series that I didn't like very much. The series had a lot going for it but I hate the tense the books are written in, I disagree with almost every direction the story takes and many of the characters are loathsome.

Cool goats though.

[Abyss]

Aptorian, on 02 March 2020 - 07:29 PM, said:

...Peter Newman's Vagrant trilogy.

It's a strong ending to a series that I didn't like very much. The series had a lot going for it but I hate the tense the books are written in, I disagree with almost every direction the story takes and many of the characters are loathsome....

Ok, i'll bite... why keep reading all the way thru three books where you hated the writing, the plot AND the characters?

[Aptorian]

First of all the first 100-150 pages of the first book is some of the most evocative dark and gritty man with no name knight behind demonic enemy lines fiction I've ever read and bought a lot of good will from me.

Second of all the premise is a extra dimensional hell mouth spilling out demons into a wasteland overrun by cartoonish monsters, in a world controlled by a high tech military theocracy that serves seven demigods who were born to destroy the invasion.

That's fucking cool. I could wait three books to get to see what happens when shit collides.

Third there's this strange thread of both humor and hope in a bleak and depressing world that I appreciated.

Still I wouldn't recommend the books unless you like really well written goats.

[Mentalist]

Started Marc Turner's "Red Tide" as commute read. Feels good to be back in the world of the Exile, and all the previous storylines are being picked up at once.

At home, decided to continue with Moorcock and read the last of the Eternal Champion books- "Hawkmoon: Count Brass"