Malazan Empire: Abyss - Viewing Profile - Malazan Empire

LEGACIES OF BETRAYALLLLLL

worry, on 17 September 2026 - 09:02 PM, said:

This is just so we burn down the White House again, isn't it?

Nice try but we'll just shut off your power, aluminum, pothash, rye whisky, comedians, and BC weed instead. Keep pushing and we'll take back Celine Dion and watch you deal with the mass housewives uprising.

Just Finished the back half of the INVINCIBLE comic. I had read the first half, up to the end of the War. I had stalled on resuming the read even after the series ended. Recently watched S4 of the cartoon, which brought the show up to where i was in the comic, so i decided to pick up where i left off.

It's very good, as a complete work and just as a superhero comic. Mark and the other characters' arcs are logical but have some fun swerves, the story is logical but not entirely predictable, and in fine Kirkman fashion not everyone makes it to the end. Coming off the cartoon and a long break from the floppies that art was a little jarring, but it still worked once i was back in the groove. The characters are colourful, the action suitably savage and full of intestines, and the backgrounds and full page splash panels are wild. I also worked in some of the side stories, ATOM EVE, CAPES, GUARDING THE GLOBE, INVINCIBLE UNIVERSE, which were fun little diversions from Mark's core story and did a lot to build out the world for some of the bigger plots.

I could see myself revisiting this for a complete reread in the future.

As a life long comic fan, this was totally worth the read, glad i finally got around to it.

Just Finished PLATFORM DECAY, Martha Wells' latest MURDERBOT book.

I almost did a series reread ahead of this. I didn't bcs after Hawkins' Blacktail i was kind of desparate for something lighter and new, and i'm glad bcs now i have an excuse for a complete reread and then i can listen to this book again.

Yknow those books that make you laugh out loud, or that make you grin, realize you're grinning, and can't stop? This was that. Murderbot is on a rescue mission to an interesting artificial ringworld. The who and why are core and i won't spoil, but the basics of this character, who is slowly becoming more sort of human but doesn't exactly want to but still does, having to save people and not only keep them alive but keep them from fearing it in a situation where if it does what it does best (besides watch media) that's unavoidable, is gloriously written. Wells wrks in some new elements to Murderbot's pov that are nicely new but still consistent w what we know. There are effective refs to the prior books without getting tied up in needing to remember everything... i wouldn't reco someone read this book ahead of the rest, but i suspect that someone who did would still very enjoy it.

The pace is perfect, the action scenes are perfect, Kevin Free's narration is perfect, the book is the bestest entry in the series so far and that's saying a tonne. Worth your money and time and smiles.

Just Finished BLACKTAIL, by Scott Hawkins. Holy furfucks, this book messed me up.

I adored THE LOBRARY ON MOUNT CHAR. The swerves, the weird, the quirky characters who could be funny one second and murderously serious the next, the underlying urban fantasy and sf vibes set up just out of sight of the real world. Hawkins brings all that to this book, about an orphan wolf who decides that he's had enough of humans' crap. The animal world Hawkins sets up her is at once deceptively simple and wildly complicated. The animals aren't simply humans in fursuits, their thoughts and motives are appropriately different, but still very engaging. The interplay w the human world is there, he doesn't try to overexplain it, there's a level of 'just go w it' that will/won't work for some readers, but wow if you can, the overall impact and immersion is pretty stunning.

The book is also brutal. Hawkins mentions in an interview that he has experience w dogs and specifically rescues, and he doesn't shy away from their stories and it's heartbreaking and infuriating and by the time characters start to hit back it's hard not to side w them. Hawkins doesn't make that easy tho... the animals are very much animals and what they do, often, is pretty damn savage.

It's all compelling as hell, and one of the few recent books i can honestly say surprised me repeatedly, seeming to go one way, swerving elsewhere, setting up one thing and delivering a completely unexpected payoff.

Macleod Andrews nails the earbook narration and absolutely broke me, repeatedly, before yanking me back up again.

Great book, a wild return for this author, and his next thing will be an instant pre-order for me.