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April 2016 Reads


Garett Hornwood

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20 hours ago, W. Wrycthen said:

 

I love Prydain to death. Very dense worldbuilding with minimal book length.

Indeed! This.

 

I have started Ancillary Mercy. Good so far, but if it wants to get my Hugo vote over The Fifth Season, it'll need to bring a lot of new stuff to the table.

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Just now, LongRider said:

In Kingkillers?  No, nothing as interesting as that yet.  Is it worth reading?

Only if you want to feel seriously embarrassed for the author (the level of authorial wish-fulfilment involved is insane). I won't spoiler it for you though.  

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1 minute ago, Roose Boltons Pet Leech said:

Only if you want to feel seriously embarrassed for the author (the level of authorial wish-fulfilment involved is insane). I won't spoiler it for you though.  

:lmao:      Can't wait now!

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4 hours ago, Roose Boltons Pet Leech said:

Only if you want to feel seriously embarrassed for the author (the level of authorial wish-fulfilment involved is insane). I won't spoiler it for you though.  

Well I won't go on one of my Rothfuss rants, but I wouldn't feel that embarrassed fur the guy. He has legions of screaming fangirls.

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On 4/29/2016 at 2:28 PM, Leap said:

Just finished Soul Music by Terry Pratchett. Really enjoyed it, but I'm not without complaints. Certainly, this was one of the books that was most closely linked with real life (that I've read so far), and I loved all the references to this film or that band, which are often on the nose but no less enjoyable for that. However, I do feel like this is one of the books where Pratchett strays closest to undermining the metaphysics of Discworld, and it gets a little bit less amusing and more ''well, that doesn't actually make any sense even in Discworld'' at times. 

Anyway, Hogfather is up next, then Thief of Time. After that I'll take a break from Discworld for a while. 

Has I read those three in a row as my first Discworld plunge I would have given up rather than be the rabid fan I am.  Soul Music and Hogfather are some of my least favorite.

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Around the middle of last year I read The Mechanical, the first book in Ian Tregillis' Alchemy Wars. I went in as a pretty major Tregillis fan, having read his Milkweed Triptych books and thought they were enormously badass. And yet, while The Mechanical was fine and interesting in many ways, it didn't really sing to me. Now, though, I have read The Rising. Now I'm on the train. Hot damn. That there was mighty good.

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1 minute ago, Maester Llama said:

Around the middle of last year I read The Mechanical, the first book in Ian Tregillis' Alchemy Wars. I went in as a pretty major Tregillis fan, having read his Milkweed Triptych books and thought they were enormously badass. And yet, while The Mechanical was fine and interesting in many ways, it didn't really sing to me. Now, though, I have read The Rising. Now I'm on the train. Hot damn. That there was mighty good.

Yes, it really was. Did your copy include the sample from the next novel? I'm really bugged that mine didn't :( 

Having just finished Milkweed, I think I prefer that series at the minute. But it's a close thing, and obviously the Alchemy Wars isn't over yet. The middle book of Milkweed was also the best, IMO, but the conclusion left me optimistic as to how Tregillis will finish the series off.

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My copy of The Rising does indeed include the sample from The Liberation -- I am sorry that yours does not! That is very strange. I wonder if that's a universal UK copy / NA copy thing? I've resisted reading it so far, but I have glanced at the first couple lines and they already contain big news [which I'm guessing you know already, but which I can certainly figure out how to spoiler tag if you haven't heard and do want to know.] It's gonna be a cool book!

 

I definitely agree that The Coldest War is the best Milkweed book, but that the third one does instill confidence as to Tregillis' ability to end Alchemy Wars in style. More detail would unfortunately need spoiler tags, which don't seem to work for me anymore.

 

Aw, the siege! The explorations of freedom and choice! The clockwork robot-fightin'! Such cool stuff!

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8 hours ago, Maester Llama said:

Around the middle of last year I read The Mechanical, the first book in Ian Tregillis' Alchemy Wars. I went in as a pretty major Tregillis fan, having read his Milkweed Triptych books and thought they were enormously badass. And yet, while The Mechanical was fine and interesting in many ways, it didn't really sing to me. Now, though, I have read The Rising. Now I'm on the train. Hot damn. That there was mighty good.

Hmmm... maybe I should give the second one a go, then...

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12 hours ago, SkynJay said:

Has I read those three in a row as my first Discworld plunge I would have given up rather than be the rabid fan I am.  Soul Music and Hogfather are some of my least favorite.

Funny how tastes differ. For me, not only is Soul Music the funniest, but Hogfather is one of my Big Four of the series (along with Night Watch, Small Gods, and Jingo).

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On 30.4.2016 at 9:30 AM, Roose Boltons Pet Leech said:

I actually consider Soul Music to be the funniest of all the Discworld books. Not the best, and certainly not the most profound, but for sheer unashamed silliness, you can't beat it. I certainly prefer it to Moving Pictures.

But do you think it is funny "by itself" or mainly by references to pop culture and show biz? (I did not dislike the "fifth Beatle" gag in Thief of Time but it was not hilarious.) I am wary of several others I have not read (like Moving pictures and Hogfather) for similar reasons.

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31 minutes ago, Jo498 said:

But do you think it is funny "by itself" or mainly by references to pop culture and show biz? (I did not dislike the "fifth Beatle" gag in Thief of Time but it was not hilarious.) I am wary of several others I have not read (like Moving pictures and Hogfather) for similar reasons.

The funniness primarily comes from the references - actually spotting them is half the fun (they aren't all as straight-forward as The Whom, Lead Balloon, and "we're on a mission. A mission from Glod.").

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Peadar: I'd definitely recommend giving the second Alchemy Wars a shot if you've got the time! I recall finding myself noticeably more engaged than I had been with The Mechanical pretty much immediately; the very best stuff comes later, but the improvement is, for me, clear pretty much right away, and the book moves with a lot more drive out of the gate than its predecessor did. I think it helps immensely that each of the pov characters is in a major predicament they need to solve right away, so everything feels more instantly urgent, and Tregillis doesn't milk these initial predicaments too long, but uses them to spin the characters [especially the two who return from The Mechanical] off on new trajectories that make a lot of sense and start really ripping into the series' mythology / premise.

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2 hours ago, Maester Llama said:

Peadar: I'd definitely recommend giving the second Alchemy Wars a shot if you've got the time! I recall finding myself noticeably more engaged than I had been with The Mechanical pretty much immediately; the very best stuff comes later, but the improvement is, for me, clear pretty much right away, and the book moves with a lot more drive out of the gate than its predecessor did. I think it helps immensely that each of the pov characters is in a major predicament they need to solve right away, so everything feels more instantly urgent, and Tregillis doesn't milk these initial predicaments too long, but uses them to spin the characters [especially the two who return from The Mechanical] off on new trajectories that make a lot of sense and start really ripping into the series' mythology / premise.

Oh, I'm sure I'll have time over the next few months. Thanks for responding in such detail :)

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