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Book of the Ancestor trilogy by Mark Lawrence {spoiler thread}


AncalagonTheBlack

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I haven't read any Mark Lawrence before this, but Red Sister is now on my to-read list for the setting and concept alone. (As for his other books, comparing one of his protagonists to Lelouch from Code Geass is definitely a NOT a way to get me interested. :D )

I, too, love the idea of a badass nun that can face down an entire army. 

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I haven't read the book yet, but the argument that having a female main character is pandering or SJW is fucking baffling to me. Sure, some books can and do go overboard in making a thematic point but the basis of the argument here appears to be that (1) one can or should only relate to a character of their own gender and (2) only boys deserve fantasy books to relate to. Neither of which argument is in any way sensible.

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7 hours ago, Liver and Onions said:

I haven't read any Mark Lawrence before this, but Red Sister is now on my to-read list for the setting and concept alone. (As for his other books, comparing one of his protagonists to Lelouch from Code Geass is definitely a NOT a way to get me interested. :D )

I, too, love the idea of a badass nun that can face down an entire army. 

Broken Empire opens up with the 14 year old genius protagonist slaughtering a village of innocent people and letting his men engage in war crimes.

He's not what you might call...likable.

Even if you later find out what warped the poor kid into the psychopath he is and whether he can come out of it.

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1 hour ago, Iskaral Pust said:

@C.T. Phipps That review was very helpful, much more so than the preceding "controversy" discussion. 

I think I'll put it on my list, although I haven't yet finished the Jalen series after getting a bit fatigued with Mark's brand of grimdark. 

Thanks, glad I could help.

I enjoyed the book but not quite as much as Red Queen's War or Broken Empire.

Broken Empire's Magnificent Bastardy and Jalan's lovable cowardice really appealed to me.

Nona is a fine character but isn't quite as overthetop as her predecessors.

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6 hours ago, polishgenius said:

I haven't read the book yet, but the argument that having a female main character is pandering or SJW is fucking baffling to me. Sure, some books can and do go overboard in making a thematic point but the basis of the argument here appears to be that (1) one can or should only relate to a character of their own gender and (2) only boys deserve fantasy books to relate to. Neither of which argument is in any way sensible.

Right? It's like the fucking twilight zone here lately.

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On 4/4/2017 at 10:29 AM, SkynJay said:

Meh.  The Empire's Blades had one too and I disliked it just as much.  Torture as training is already over played. 

I think it was already overplayed when The Emperors Blades came out, but I agree. That book went kind of overboard with it. (OF course I bought the second anyway, but have yet to get with it).

I feel like the torture as training thing has been around forever though, just GrimDark sells so you see it more. Which makes no sense when I type it out. Phooey. Brain no make words work.

ANYWAY starting Red Sister riiiight...now!

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32 minutes ago, Darth Richard II said:

Right? It's like the fucking twilight zone here lately.

One of my all time favorite characters is Honor Harrington and calling David Weber a SJW is....a curious claim.

:)

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1 hour ago, Darth Richard II said:

Heh, I actually don't know much about Weber's actual views, but he does write for Baen, so I just assume he's crazy.

Also, There are no Honor Harrington books after, oh, lets say book 7. :/

War of Honor was a great finale to the series.

:)

David actually got less crazy as time went on, oddly enough. Originally, the People's Republic of Haven became a communist dystopia bent on galactic conquest because of the evils of universal wellfare. Things then got a little more nuanced after he became friends with Eric Flint, the communist.

That's the definition of a TV tropes Odd Friendship there.

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22 hours ago, C.T. Phipps said:

Broken Empire opens up with the 14 year old genius protagonist slaughtering a village of innocent people and letting his men engage in war crimes.

He's not what you might call...likable.

Even if you later find out what warped the poor kid into the psychopath he is and whether he can come out of it.

Hah hah, that sounds like Lelouch alright. :) 

I haven't gotten my hands on the book yet, but in your review, you mention that the teen protagonists feel oddly sexless. Do you think this is an effort on the part of the author to avoid a kind of "Catholic school girls," "creepy old man" fetish type of feel for the setting? 

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56 minutes ago, Liver and Onions said:

Hah hah, that sounds like Lelouch alright. :) 

I haven't gotten my hands on the book yet, but in your review, you mention that the teen protagonists feel oddly sexless. Do you think this is an effort on the part of the author to avoid a kind of "Catholic school girls," "creepy old man" fetish type of feel for the setting? 

Well, it could simply be an issue of being unsure how to handle the issue.

There's a reference to crushes the girls get on each other.

But if I'm inclined to guess, I'd say it's to avoid making the book in any way "tainted" by the typical romance or feelings which fill so many YA female-led novels.

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On 4/10/2017 at 4:16 AM, C.T. Phipps said:

Well, it could simply be an issue of being unsure how to handle the issue.

There's a reference to crushes the girls get on each other.

But if I'm inclined to guess, I'd say it's to avoid making the book in any way "tainted" by the typical romance or feelings which fill so many YA female-led novels.

Just finished the book. Really enjoyed it. Great tone and style. Good twists though mostly easy to see coming. Pissed to have to wait a year as I can see this series being awesome with the potential the world building has.

Humans as invading alien species, the natives off screen but hinted at, buried ark ships and nuclear-type power generators that also cause magic, some sort of spaceship coming at the planet with the "Home" star. Some cool potential  

Re above sexless comments, there is at least one girl couple that shares a bed in grey class, so he does deal with relationship/crushes. Also it's pretty explicit that two of the female teachers are in a spousal relationship.

Agree that there isn't a high word count about it. That said, I think Nona's age range in the main storyline is pre-pubesenct the whole time, so I didn't think there was anything out of place. 

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1 hour ago, Darth Richard II said:

Are they a year apart? I know all three boks are written.

Yup indeed they are. Also this isn't the first time for Lawrence since Wheel of Oshiem was finished before Liar's Key was out. However, Mark have a Broken Empire short story collection coming out this summer in the UK.

Edit:link.

 

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Ah yes, I remember that. Man is a writing MACHINE.

So, 1/2 way through Red Sister, loving the fuck out of it. Maybe I;ve been reading too much grimdark lately but the torture as training thing seems really mild to me.

 

Update: Whoever wrote that grimdark review must have read a different book.

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