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Author Topic: Return of the Book Thread  (Read 1286185 times)
Viin
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Reply #6300 on: June 30, 2017, 10:48:14 AM

Just finished book one of The Red Queens War series by Mark Lawrence, which has a pretty good (and amusing) first person narrative. The story itself is a fairly typical fantasy quest trope, but I felt it was pretty well executed. Onto the 2nd book!

- Viin
MahrinSkel
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When she crossed over, she was just a ship. But when she came back... she was bullshit!


Reply #6301 on: June 30, 2017, 10:56:39 AM


Just picked it up - for $4 it's good light reading, and I will probably pick up book 2.  I do think there's a lot of missed opportunity in it.  There's options for interesting storytelling that get largely hand-waved away, such as his adaptation to life as a machine and escape from his mechanical/programming constraints.   Instead we get stuff like the whole bob-as-bad-anthropologist sections on Delta, and how awesome their life in VR is.  Also, pop culture dialed to 11.
Yeah, just finished it and picked up the second book. It's "protagonist as excuse to present pop science" in the Niven model (which is lampshaded in the opening chapter), but it scans well and avoids the "all these characters sound the same" problem by making all the characters the same guy.

It's not great literature, but it's decent pulp.

--Dave
« Last Edit: July 01, 2017, 11:05:41 AM by MahrinSkel »

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dd0029
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Reply #6302 on: June 30, 2017, 01:41:50 PM

The second Bob book is unfortunately not as interesting as the first.
lamaros
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Reply #6303 on: July 06, 2017, 11:10:53 PM

Well, I finished Lord of Light.

It was alright. Dated, but ok. I don't know if it was great, though.
Khaldun
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Reply #6304 on: July 07, 2017, 05:38:05 AM

I re-read it a few years ago. I think it holds up pretty well. The flashback structure of the plot is a bit clumsy and the last struggle against Nirriti comes off like an afterthought, but it's pretty impressive overall.
lamaros
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Reply #6305 on: July 11, 2017, 07:59:12 PM

Slowly working my way through all the books I bought, I have now finished The Goblin Emperor.

It was enjoyable. A but drawn out and boring at points, but overall a decent tale. Certainly a lot more enjoyable than Uprooted, more readable but not as good as Station Eleven perhaps.

I think I'll try and finish Last First Snow next, but I got pretty bored and stopped last time around, the first three Craft Sequence books were more engrossing, but I note there's a fifth out now too.
WayAbvPar
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Reply #6306 on: August 22, 2017, 04:51:49 PM

Anyone have the Dark Tower series in e-book format? I borrowed the first one from the library and had to jump through several hoops to strip the DRM so I could convert it into something readable on my Kindle, and I don't have the will to do it again. Not interested in dumping ~$70 on the series, since I wasn't blown away by the first book. Decent, but meh.

When speaking of the MMOG industry, the glass may be half full, but it's full of urine. HaemishM

Always wear clean underwear because you never know when a Tory Government is going to fuck you.- Ironwood

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Khaldun
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Reply #6307 on: August 22, 2017, 07:20:04 PM

Recent reads:

Three-Body Problem. I want to like this so much more than I do. It's really a clunky read, the ideas are interesting.

Pinker, Better Angels of our Nature. Just, fuck, he's such a smug guy that I have a hard time reading even the interesting parts without wanting to slap the smirk off his face. But basically, it's an argument with some merits but also a lot of serious bullshit in the evidentiary arguments that none of his usual cheerleader squad will notice or care about.

Kay, Children of Earth and Sky. Sequel to the Sarantium books. Very good. Like it better than his Viking or China books, which felt a bit off.

Hochschild, Strangers in Their Own Land. Everyone should read this instead of Hillbilly Elegy. More interesting to talk about by far.

Gottlieb, Avid Reader. I should like this but it's way too self-indulgent. Don't understand the great reviews for it.

Mieville, October. Good solid retelling of the Russian Revolution. Thoughtful and well-researched.

Livingston, No More Work. He wanted to call it Fuck Work but his editor wouldn't allow it. It's very interesting. He's a very different kind of leftist, doesn't fit with anyone's orthodoxy.

Beukes, Zoo City. Fucking loved this, but maybe that's because I know the setting so well.

McGuire, Every Heart a Doorway. Loved it.

Seierstad, One of Us: The Story of Anders Breivik and the Massacre in Norway. God. This was one of the most upsetting things I've read in a long time. Just. Fuck.
BobtheSomething
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Reply #6308 on: August 22, 2017, 07:25:37 PM

Anyone have the Dark Tower series in e-book format? I borrowed the first one from the library and had to jump through several hoops to strip the DRM so I could convert it into something readable on my Kindle, and I don't have the will to do it again. Not interested in dumping ~$70 on the series, since I wasn't blown away by the first book. Decent, but meh.

The local friends of the library might have the books used for 50 cents each.  There's no reason the series should cost $70.  Even used off Amazon is likely only $28.
Viin
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Reply #6309 on: September 06, 2017, 06:40:28 PM

I accidentally read a Star Wars universe book, Legionnaire, which turned out to be quite good. The whole story takes place from the view point of a legionnaire (aka SEAL) in the Republic military. I didn't even realize it was part of the Star Wars universe until I started to read the second book in the series Galactic Outlaws (hey, wait a minute .. I know those places!). The 2nd book felt disjointed to me, but the 3rd book was much better. There's 4 books currently in the Galaxy's Edge Book series, with the 4th due out Sept 14th.

- Viin
Abagadro
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Reply #6310 on: November 15, 2017, 07:13:19 PM

For you Ready Player One haters, Mike Nelson and one of his Rifftrax crew have a 9 episode podcast taking it apart called "372 Pages We'll Never Get Back."  I'm 4 episodes in and it is pretty entertaining.

http://372pages.com/


"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”

-H.L. Mencken
MahrinSkel
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When she crossed over, she was just a ship. But when she came back... she was bullshit!


Reply #6311 on: November 15, 2017, 07:16:34 PM

Are they all more than an hour and a half long? Because I didn't have strong enough feelings about it either way to listen to somebody bitch about it for an entire day.

--Dave

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Abagadro
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Reply #6312 on: November 15, 2017, 08:52:40 PM

They get longer as they go. Start out at about an hour (after the first 30 min prelim one) and go up 5-10 minutes per ep as it goes. The last one is long at 1:42 it looks like. 

I listen to Dan Carlin's 6 hour episodes in one sitting, so my viewpoint is skewed.

"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”

-H.L. Mencken
Khaldun
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Reply #6313 on: November 16, 2017, 06:05:12 PM

Starting on the new Sanderson. I don't really remember these people that well or what happened at the end of the last one.

I do remember the angry ex-slave Bridge guy, he maybe should be the lead-off, rather than Prince StrongFighter HonestMan.

Chimpy
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Reply #6314 on: November 16, 2017, 06:10:10 PM

Starting on the new Sanderson. I don't really remember these people that well or what happened at the end of the last one.

I do remember the angry ex-slave Bridge guy, he maybe should be the lead-off, rather than Prince StrongFighter HonestMan.



I re-read the first two a couple weeks ago and then saw that the new one was coming out this week. So good timing on my part. Unfortunately I did not get on the hold list right away so I am number 10 in the queue at the library.

'Reality' is the only word in the language that should always be used in quotes.
Viin
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Reply #6315 on: November 16, 2017, 07:40:32 PM

I'm currently reading the Lightbringer series by Brent Weeks. I am enjoying it quite a bit, though it can be a bit trope-y. The magic system is interesting because characters are attuned to different colors and can cast various magic based on the color's properties. For example, if there's no green in a room and you can only cast green, you are SOL. Multichromatic casters are highly regarded because of this.

The Prism is the guy who can cast all colors and uses that ability to regularly "balance" the amount of each color being used throughout the world. If he/she doesn't do this, bad things start to happen (comes up in the 2nd and 3rd books).
« Last Edit: November 16, 2017, 07:42:04 PM by Viin »

- Viin
NowhereMan
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Reply #6316 on: November 17, 2017, 02:02:00 PM

I've made a start on Mike Duncan's The Storm before the Storm covering the period towards the end of the Roman Republic prior to the Triumvirate and Caesar. I'm somewhat familiar with all of it from his History of Rome podcast but it's cool getting things in a lot more detail. Also somewhat timely in terms of any 'rise and fall' narrative you want to crib from Rome for the US would be around this period.

Although if the new Way of Kings is out I'll have to hurry up and get this done with. Been waiting for that for a while!

"Look at my car. Do you think that was bought with the earnest love of geeks?" - HaemishM
Chimpy
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Reply #6317 on: November 17, 2017, 03:32:01 PM

Starting on the new Sanderson....

I re-read the first two a couple weeks ago and then saw that the new one was coming out this week. So good timing on my part. Unfortunately I did not get on the hold list right away so I am number 10 in the queue at the library.

My Library didn't have the eBook when I checked a couple days ago so I hit the "Recommend" link on mymediamall (which they use for ebooks) and it requested they buy it and put me on the hold list. Apparently they bought a copy today and I got it, whee.

'Reality' is the only word in the language that should always be used in quotes.
Morat20
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Reply #6318 on: November 17, 2017, 03:51:12 PM

Starting on the new Sanderson. I don't really remember these people that well or what happened at the end of the last one.

I do remember the angry ex-slave Bridge guy, he maybe should be the lead-off, rather than Prince StrongFighter HonestMan.
I just started Sanderson in general a few weeks ago. The original Mistborn trilogy was solid, the second one was fantastic. Especially Wayne. I then went through Elantris and Warbreaker.

Am now on his Stormlight Archive books (about a third of the way through Words of Radiance).

I understand why he was selected to finish The Wheel of Time (which I have still not done). He's like a more restrained Jordan. He tends to write, naturally, a multi-viewpoint story -- but not nearly as many PoV characters.

Solid writer, all told. I'm glad I picked him up.
Khaldun
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Reply #6319 on: November 17, 2017, 05:53:06 PM

Yeah, he's a solid writer who does some decent world-building.
Chimpy
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Reply #6320 on: November 17, 2017, 06:34:56 PM

He also has about 10 people that work for him proofreading and helping with all the other stuff, which really helps.

Too many sci-fi/fantasy authors barely even have an editor and it shows.

'Reality' is the only word in the language that should always be used in quotes.
Rendakor
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Reply #6321 on: November 18, 2017, 06:32:00 AM

I'm currently reading the Lightbringer series by Brent Weeks. I am enjoying it quite a bit, though it can be a bit trope-y. The magic system is interesting because characters are attuned to different colors and can cast various magic based on the color's properties. For example, if there's no green in a room and you can only cast green, you are SOL. Multichromatic casters are highly regarded because of this.

The Prism is the guy who can cast all colors and uses that ability to regularly "balance" the amount of each color being used throughout the world. If he/she doesn't do this, bad things start to happen (comes up in the 2nd and 3rd books).
I loved his Night's Angel trilogy. The Lightbringer stuff is pretty good too, just suffers from the same problem of slow releases making me forget what happened last time. I think I've read the first two, and then decided to wait until there was an end in sight; is the fifth book supposed to be the final?

"i can't be a star citizen. they won't even give me a star green card"
Morat20
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Reply #6322 on: November 18, 2017, 08:57:58 AM

He also has about 10 people that work for him proofreading and helping with all the other stuff, which really helps.

Too many sci-fi/fantasy authors barely even have an editor and it shows.
TV Tropes calls is "Protection from Editor". But yeah, you can really tell who values editing and who doesn't when they hit it big.
Chimpy
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Reply #6323 on: November 18, 2017, 09:16:38 AM

Honestly, in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy realm I put most of the blame on TOR publishing. They are all about churning out as much stuff as fast as possible to get as many people to buy their books as possible. Very very few books by authors on that imprint are well edited. Whether you liked the books or not, the people who were published by DelRey or a few other publishers at least felt like someone had read over the book and made adjustments.

TOR figured out that if they published a book that had Michael Whelan cover art and 400+ pages so it was thick enough to stand out on a bookshelf at the bookstore they would sell oodles of books to their core demographic (which was/is most of us).

'Reality' is the only word in the language that should always be used in quotes.
NowhereMan
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Reply #6324 on: November 18, 2017, 09:30:54 AM

He also has about 10 people that work for him proofreading and helping with all the other stuff, which really helps.

Too many sci-fi/fantasy authors barely even have an editor and it shows.
TV Tropes calls is "Protection from Editor". But yeah, you can really tell who values editing and who doesn't when they hit it big.

Actually if you ever dip into his blog it becomes very apparent the guy really does approach writing as a craft, something people get better at as they do it and improve on it. He is very open to feedback and very open about his process. One of his earlier books, Warbreaker, is available draft by draft so you can actually see the effects of the editing and revision process. Honestly while his style hasn't radically altered, the quality difference between his earlier and more recent books is jarring down to things like his ability to write characters outside his own immediate experience. The dude just writes a lot and actually seeks out and takes on board feedback. He teaches a creative writing class and I can see him being a great teacher because writing doesn't seem to be something that comes naturally to him and he's so obviously thinking about the process in his own work.

Also the dude writes a lot. If you want to do yourself a favour once you're into his works read the Emperor's Soul. It's easily his best piece of writing.

"Look at my car. Do you think that was bought with the earnest love of geeks?" - HaemishM
BobtheSomething
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Reply #6325 on: November 18, 2017, 10:21:34 AM

I almost blew him off when I read Elantris.  I gave Mistborn a try later and was surprised by how much his writing had improved, especially characters.
Shannow
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Reply #6326 on: November 18, 2017, 01:32:28 PM

Ive enjoyed Sanderson. I feel like he's good, not great but at least he writes and finishes his series. I'm looking at you, Rothfuss.

Someone liked something? Who the fuzzy fuck was this heretic? You don't come to this website and enjoy something. Fuck that. ~ The Walrus
RhyssaFireheart
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Reply #6327 on: November 18, 2017, 05:57:43 PM

Finished Oathbringer (aka the new Sanderson book) this afternoon. Damn, that was awesome as hell, and well worth it. Now I'm going to be picking through sections trying to fig out more about what all went down in this book, because a lot happened.

BobtheSomething
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Reply #6328 on: November 19, 2017, 09:38:22 PM

I'm thinking about getting back into his stories.  What is the suggested reading order after the Mistborn Trilogy?
Morat20
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Reply #6329 on: November 20, 2017, 07:52:24 AM

I'm thinking about getting back into his stories.  What is the suggested reading order after the Mistborn Trilogy?
The second Mistborn Trilogy, perhaps?

Frankly I read all the Mistborn books, then struggled through Elantris and Warbreaker, then picked up The Way of Kings.

Elantris and Warbreaker were decent, but for some reason a struggle to read. I kept finding myself getting distracted while reading it to do something else, but also kept coming back to it. (More with Elantris than Warbreaker). A problem I really didn't have with his other works.

I think because his "snapping around between viewpoints, building up tension and various threads" went on seemingly forever and I was getting a bit impatient for something to actually happen to progress the plot. I mean it was, it just didn't feel that way.
Chimpy
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Reply #6330 on: November 20, 2017, 09:57:58 AM

Elantris was literally the first thing he wrote. It is really not a good example of what he can do.


'Reality' is the only word in the language that should always be used in quotes.
Reg
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Reply #6331 on: November 20, 2017, 10:46:31 AM

Have you guys read his "Reckoners" trilogy? It's a fun story about a world where superheroes are real and evil.
K9
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Reply #6332 on: November 20, 2017, 04:34:13 PM

I'm enjoying Oathbringer but I'm in the camp with the rest of you who read the other books a year or more ago and can't remember a lot of the fine detail about who what and where for some of this stuff, particularly sub-plots.

Still really enjoying it though. The Stormlight Archives are clearly his labour of love and they are good to read. His prose isn't going to win him any awards, but he's a solid storyteller, and yeah he genuinely seems to care about his craft and engages with his fans (he's very active on reddit as /u/mistborn). I think the only thing that bugs me is how he has a tendency to create things for the sake of them existing. Like one of the social norms in the Stormlight books is that women from a certain nation always cover their left hand for reasons of modesty. It's a point that comes up a lot and it always feels like a contrivance, and never actually adds anything to the story. But this is just me nitpicking.

Also the original Mistborn trilogy is fab; book two is the weakest but they're fun and the setting is really interesting and well thought-out. Warbreaker was painful to read though, on a bunch of levels. I wouldn't recommend it.

I also just read the first Malazan book which was interesting enough to keep me going until the end. Might try the next couple in due course.


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NowhereMan
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Reply #6333 on: November 21, 2017, 08:16:49 AM

I'm thinking about getting back into his stories.  What is the suggested reading order after the Mistborn Trilogy?

Mistborn trilogy, then then second one. Then the hidden histories (which takes place between the first mistborn book and the second trilogy but contains spoilers for the second trilogy). His other works are pretty separate, Elantris and the Emperor's Soul happen in the same world but apart from that they're all separate worlds. Reckoners is a series I haven't ready yet, so far I've only really read his Cosmere stuff.

Some of the quibbles with his writing, the major one is pacing (which he is getting better with). The 'Sanderson Avalanche' where it feels like 3/4 of the book is setting up plot points or pointless filler and then suddenly there's a series of about 5 plot twists that had been obliquely hinted at among the filler and all the various strands get resolved. Cleverly plotted but felt like someone planning a trilogy getting told to wrap it all up. His contrivances, I think they're very much someone who's not a natural writer trying to do something interesting. He's got a lot of Mormon baggage and I think the arbitrary religious conventions thing is something he wants to put into fantasy societies. It feels weird if you don't really have a cultural background where they're prevalent but, growing up with tales of life in Catholic Ireland, I don't feel to jolted out that this fantasy society takes some odd rules super seriously. I suspect there's also some future plot point or revelation that will show how there's some actual substance behind it, again Sanderson does sometimes suffer from setting up something way in advance and refusing to hint towards its importance other than mentioning it a lot.

The original Mistborn trilogy really suffers from the fact that the first book works way too well as a stand alone novel. It doesn't finish with any natural threads beyond following the characters into their future lives, it doesn't set up any of the future conflicts. It ends with the bad guy defeated and heroes victorious.

"Look at my car. Do you think that was bought with the earnest love of geeks?" - HaemishM
Shannow
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Reply #6334 on: November 21, 2017, 01:23:21 PM

I read the first Mistborn trilogy recently and can't remember how it ended. So went back and reread the Wikipedia page and went 'oh yeah that's right, it got silly and make little to no sense'


So before I dive back into rereading all of Book 1 and 2 of the Stormlight trilogy (please tell me this is a trilogy right?) does the final book answer all the damn riddles from the first two books?

Someone liked something? Who the fuzzy fuck was this heretic? You don't come to this website and enjoy something. Fuck that. ~ The Walrus
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