Starkess Posted August 8, 2016 Share Posted August 8, 2016 And yep, there's the re-read of Caliban's War finished. Guess it's on to Abaddon's Gate, but damn I need to slow down a bit or I'll finish way too soon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unJon Posted August 8, 2016 Share Posted August 8, 2016 10 hours ago, Starkess said: And yep, there's the re-read of Caliban's War finished. Guess it's on to Abaddon's Gate, but damn I need to slow down a bit or I'll finish way too soon! There are a bunch of short stories you can read also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isildur's Mane Posted August 9, 2016 Share Posted August 9, 2016 Started and finished reading 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child' last week. Finished reading 'The Wind in the Willows' by Kenneth Grahame Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guinevere Seaworth Posted August 9, 2016 Share Posted August 9, 2016 I thought The Dragon's Path by Daniel Abraham was a very good start to a new series. The King's Blood is a step above and unputdownable book for me. Loved every moment of it. The only quibble I have is that Dawson Kalliam is too similar to Spoiler Ned Stark . Up next is Clarissa Oakes by Patrick O'Brian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkynJay Posted August 10, 2016 Share Posted August 10, 2016 Catching up on Vorkosigan, love the audiobooks. I think I said Mirror Dance is my favorite thus far and I still think so but Brothers in Arms was the funniest thus far (read them out of order but ithe didn't affect my enjoyment one bit). I have gone through the first two storise of Borders of Infinity aND should finish the third tomorrow at which point it's on to Memory. Quick question for fans. How important is Ethan of Athos, and how good is it? Not being about Miles is scaring me a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedEyedGhost Posted August 10, 2016 Share Posted August 10, 2016 6 hours ago, Guinevere Seaworth said: The only quibble I have is that Dawson Kalliam is too similar to Reveal hidden contents Ned Stark Can't say that thought ever remotely crossed my mind, what with Dawson being a terrible human being and all. Easier than searching for it through the forum's software I typed Dawson Kalliam Nazi into google and found a great discussion we had here about who Dawson was based on a German aristocrat who did the right thing opposing the Nazi party, but for completely the wrong reason - because he considered them low class The discussion is mentioned on tvtropes, and links to Daniel's post about it here. Beware that thread though, because that point in the thread has spoilers up through The Widow's House. 14 minutes ago, SkynJay said: Catching up on Vorkosigan, love the audiobooks. I think I said Mirror Dance is my favorite thus far and I still think so but Brothers in Arms was the funniest thus far (read them out of order but ithe didn't affect my enjoyment one bit). I have gone through the first two storise of Borders of Infinity aND should finish the third tomorrow at which point it's on to Memory. Quick question for fans. How important is Ethan of Athos, and how good is it? Not being about Miles is scaring me a bit. Ethan of Athos and Falling Free are probably tied for my least favorites. I think you're in for a real treat with The Borders of Infinity novella, it was one of my favorite stories of the entire run. Most people have Memory as their favorite book of the series, but I think A Civil Campaign is mine - it has the funniest damn scene I've ever read in it. That run of Memory, Komarr, and A Civil Campaign is exceptional though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andorion Posted August 10, 2016 Share Posted August 10, 2016 53 minutes ago, SkynJay said: Catching up on Vorkosigan, love the audiobooks. I think I said Mirror Dance is my favorite thus far and I still think so but Brothers in Arms was the funniest thus far (read them out of order but ithe didn't affect my enjoyment one bit). I have gone through the first two storise of Borders of Infinity aND should finish the third tomorrow at which point it's on to Memory. Quick question for fans. How important is Ethan of Athos, and how good is it? Not being about Miles is scaring me a bit. Don't know about Ethan of athos, but the funniest Vorkosigan book for me was A Civil Campaign. I fell off my bed laughing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamjm Posted August 10, 2016 Share Posted August 10, 2016 16 hours ago, SkynJay said: Quick question for fans. How important is Ethan of Athos, and how good is it? Not being about Miles is scaring me a bit. You could skip Ethan of Athos (or read it out of order) without missing anything important for the other books. It's a decent book but not among the best of the series. The lack of Miles is a bit of a pity but I liked Elli Quinn in it (it's a pity she only plays fairly minor roles in the main series), but wasn't so keen on Ethan himself. Don't know about Ethan of athos, but the funniest Vorkosigan book for me was A Civil Campaign. I fell off my bed laughing. Miles' dinner party is definitely one of the highlights of the series. I'd say Captain Vorpatril's Alliance is another challenger for the title of funniest in the series, although it's not as important to the plot as A Civil Campaign. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peadar Posted August 11, 2016 Share Posted August 11, 2016 This evening I shall mostly be reading the graphic novel Monstress by Marjorie Liu (writer) and Sana Takeda (artist). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peadar Posted August 12, 2016 Share Posted August 12, 2016 Monstress was very creepy, very interesting and gorgeous. My one issue is that scenes of violence -- of which there are LOTs -- were usually confusing. That may reflect my illiteracy in the comics genre, of course. Up next, the most recent Saga... Then, back to novels with Adrian Tchaikovsky's Spiderlight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guinevere Seaworth Posted August 12, 2016 Share Posted August 12, 2016 On 09/08/2016 at 9:30 PM, RedEyedGhost said: Can't say that thought ever remotely crossed my mind, what with Dawson being a terrible human being and all. Easier than searching for it through the forum's software I typed Reveal hidden contents Dawson Kalliam Nazi into google and found a great discussion we had here about who Dawson was based on Reveal hidden contents a German aristocrat who did the right thing opposing the Nazi party, but for completely the wrong reason - because he considered them low class The discussion is mentioned on tvtropes, and links to Daniel's post about it here. Beware that thread though, because that point in the thread has spoilers up through The Widow's House. I was thinking more of the genuine and happy marriage, Dawson's inflexible sense of honor, his old and aristocratic background, and not that politlcally savvy that struck me as similar. Yes, Dawson is not nice in that slavery and lesser human beings are normal in his world. And he can be pompous, neither traits which Spoiler Ned Stark has. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guinevere Seaworth Posted August 12, 2016 Share Posted August 12, 2016 On 10/08/2016 at 1:28 PM, williamjm said: Miles' dinner party is definitely one of the highlights of the series. Thirded! I re-read that chapter right away after reading it for the first time as it was so absurd and hysterical and yet somehow believable if Miles is at the centre of it all. Just thinking about it, it makes me grin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Marquis de Leech Posted August 13, 2016 Share Posted August 13, 2016 Finished off Stormrider... I wanted to like this one (it's not every day you encounter fantasy based off the English Civil War), but it was a bit of a letdown after Ravenheart. I think the problem was structural - the real story only gets going half-way through. I also think Gemmell fell in love a little too much with the character of the Moidart. Next up is Handling the Undead, by John Ajvide Lindqvist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRevanchist Posted August 13, 2016 Share Posted August 13, 2016 Finished The Prince of Nothing trilogy, and while I liked it, I didn't find it nowhere as good as this forum suggests. I also found the ooks getting worse. I loved the setting. Despite that it is basically a copy of real world (The main Empire being Byzantine Empire, Maithanet being the Pope, Tusks being Christians with their Prophet apparently having had a similar life to Jesus, the others being Arabs and so on) with added magic, it felt a very good setting. The main problems IMO were the philosophical ramblings (like in Dune books, they get worse with each book) and Kellhus. The problem of Kellhus is that the author tells but doesn't show. You hear everyone masturbating in his/her love for Kellhus, but you barely ever see a strong argument from Kellhus. What you see is some pointless metaphysical rambling that would (probably not) make the God Emperor of Dune proud. In addition I didn't find the Dynaun mysterious, just that the author didn't give any info on that. On the other side, I think that I liked the 'transformation' (if it is the right word) of Kellhy Sue. Despite that it was obvious from the very beginning that he's more some type of Antichrist/Dajjal rather than Jesus/Prophet, it is interesting how at the beginning he looked nice and was making people love him, but by the end he was massacring tens of thousands and was becoming more evil and evil (in reality, he was the same from the beginning, but just his behavior changing). I didn't have problems with the rape happening there (more than in any other books?), neither with women being second class citizens. The society is very similar to Europe a millennia ago, and those things were present there too. I am going to read the following books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted August 13, 2016 Share Posted August 13, 2016 9 hours ago, TheRevanchist said: Finished The Prince of Nothing trilogy, and while I liked it, I didn't find it nowhere as good as this forum suggests. I also found the ooks getting worse. I loved the setting. Despite that it is basically a copy of real world (The main Empire being Byzantine Empire, Maithanet being the Pope, Tusks being Christians with their Prophet apparently having had a similar life to Jesus, the others being Arabs and so on) with added magic, it felt a very good setting. The main problems IMO were the philosophical ramblings (like in Dune books, they get worse with each book) and Kellhus. The problem of Kellhus is that the author tells but doesn't show. You hear everyone masturbating in his/her love for Kellhus, but you barely ever see a strong argument from Kellhus. What you see is some pointless metaphysical rambling that would (probably not) make the God Emperor of Dune proud. In addition I didn't find the Dynaun mysterious, just that the author didn't give any info on that. On the other side, I think that I liked the 'transformation' (if it is the right word) of Kellhy Sue. Despite that it was obvious from the very beginning that he's more some type of Antichrist/Dajjal rather than Jesus/Prophet, it is interesting how at the beginning he looked nice and was making people love him, but by the end he was massacring tens of thousands and was becoming more evil and evil (in reality, he was the same from the beginning, but just his behavior changing). I didn't have problems with the rape happening there (more than in any other books?), neither with women being second class citizens. The society is very similar to Europe a millennia ago, and those things were present there too. I am going to read the following books. This has been debunked hundreds of times, even by the author himself. No, medieval Europe was never actually that bad, Bakker made it much, much worse on purpose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jo498 Posted August 13, 2016 Share Posted August 13, 2016 Quote The problem of Kellhus is that the author tells but doesn't show. You hear everyone masturbating in his/her love for Kellhus, but you barely ever see a strong argument from Kellhus. This is also one of the things that I disliked most about those books. One of the worst scenes I remember is that some characters are rolling on the floor around a campfire with laughter because Kellhus is so funny. But the jokes that are told or the behavior referred to is not funny at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuckyCharms Posted August 13, 2016 Share Posted August 13, 2016 3 minutes ago, Jo498 said: This is also one of the things that I disliked most about those books. One of the worst scenes I remember is that some characters are rolling on the floor around a campfire with laughter because Kellhus is so funny. But the jokes that are told or the behavior referred to is not funny at all. This has always been an interesting criticism to me, because I've never expected any characters in fiction to have the same sense of humor as myself—especially if they are from a completely different world and culture or an archaic time period. Does the humor in Aeschylus have to appeal to me as a modern person not in Classical Greece? What about Plautus or Terence? It's something I've struggled with writing my own fantasy fiction: should one pander to your audience's sense of humor or try and write something that would be funny to the characters but not necessarily the audience. Hard line to walk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jo498 Posted August 13, 2016 Share Posted August 13, 2016 It is not mainly about humor. It is more like an extreme case of "tell, because author cannot show". And of course it is hard and very easy to fail at conveying humor. There is nothing archaic about Kellhus. He is a pure projection figure of uber-human awesomeness, although mainly awesome in a fairly juvenile RPG way... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted August 13, 2016 Share Posted August 13, 2016 Oh snap B&N here put The Obelisk Gate out early. Time to lock myself in my room for the next 24 hours or so! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iskaral Pust Posted August 14, 2016 Share Posted August 14, 2016 I finished The Last Days Of Jack Sparks, by Jason Arnopp, a very good read and a good rec by SpockyDog. It's smart and funny, with lots of unreliable narrator, tension and suspense. It has more horror elements than I would like, but I'd love to find more with this style of writing (just less horror). Now reading The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga, another Booker prize winner. Pretty good so far. Obelisk Gate should be available soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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