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Second Quarter 2021 Reading


williamjm

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13 hours ago, Crazy Old Guy said:

Yeah, but I hear that her fantasy books always end with feudalism ending or something. Is that true?

I mean, it’s feudalism beginning, middle and end really.

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6 hours ago, john said:

I mean, it’s feudalism beginning, middle and end really.

I've only read Hobb's first "Assassins" trilogy and the "Liveship Traders" trilogy. But "Liveships" didn't strike me as being set in a "feudal" culture at all, but rather in one more like colonial America of the early 1700s.

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9 minutes ago, Ormond said:

I've only read Hobb's first "Assassins" trilogy and the "Liveship Traders" trilogy. But "Liveships" didn't strike me as being set in a "feudal" culture at all, but rather in one more like colonial America of the early 1700s.

That’s true, although it’s set in the same world so feudalism must still inform it a little. Fitz & co. do go to the Rain Wilds at some point.

There’s the Soldier Son trilogy, which I think was also colonial era or slightly post colonial America, in a different fantasy world, so that could be the exception.

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I'll join my voice to the chorus singing Hobbs' praise. Outstanding author. Her ability to craft interesting, multidimensional characters is second to none in the fantasy genre (I'd say Abercrombie is decent competition though).

Anyway, finished Warrick's book on the Syrian WMD program. Black Flags was amazing, and this book is an excellent follow up, both thrilling and depressing. It was a fascinating examination of the failure of world leadership to do much of anything in response to al-Assad gassing thousands of his people. The Obama administration, though approaching the problem with good intentions, frequently made grave miscalculations that often exacerbated problems in the Middle East (such as setting the stage for the growth of ISIS). Putin seriously outplayed him. But it wasn't just the failing of the Obama administration - Republicans and Democrats, and really the American people as a whole, were complicit in the deepening problems in that area.

The Bush and Trump administrations and their mindless cowboy approach to problems were of course much worse.

But I don't know if there really can be "good" policies in the Middle East. The factionism, internecine and religious and racial violence seems so deeply embedded that any solution to one problem will breed catastrophe of its own.

So in all, good book. I do wish that it got into more technical detail about the engineering efforts by the Syrians to create their chemical weapon factory, and the hydrolysis system the Americans designed to neutralize sarin and VX precursors that were seized.

At any rate, for non-fiction I'm now reading Rare Earth by Ward and Brownlee which goes into the very unique requirements to realize complex organisms; and Ignition!, which is a book that explores the history of liquid rocket propellant (Elon Musk recommended this one).

For fiction, I've briefly put Circe on hold to read The Prince of Nothing by R Scott Bakker. A friend of mine who shares my tastes loves this author. She has been very insistent that I read it as soon as possible. The unbridled enthusiasm has me pretty excited, so I'm going to dive right in.

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3 hours ago, IFR said:

I'll join my voice to the chorus singing Hobbs' praise. Outstanding author. Her ability to craft interesting, multidimensional characters is second to none in the fantasy genre (I'd say Abercrombie is decent competition though).

Anyway, finished Warrick's book on the Syrian WMD program. Black Flags was amazing, and this book is an excellent follow up, both thrilling and depressing. It was a fascinating examination of the failure of world leadership to do much of anything in response to al-Assad gassing thousands of his people. The Obama administration, though approaching the problem with good intentions, frequently made grave miscalculations that often exacerbated problems in the Middle East (such as setting the stage for the growth of ISIS). Putin seriously outplayed him. But it wasn't just the failing of the Obama administration - Republicans and Democrats, and really the American people as a whole, were complicit in the deepening problems in that area.

The Bush and Trump administrations and their mindless cowboy approach to problems were of course much worse.

But I don't know if there really can be "good" policies in the Middle East. The factionism, internecine and religious and racial violence seems so deeply embedded that any solution to one problem will breed catastrophe of its own.

So in all, good book. I do wish that it got into more technical detail about the engineering efforts by the Syrians to create their chemical weapon factory, and the hydrolysis system the Americans designed to neutralize sarin and VX precursors that were seized.

At any rate, for non-fiction I'm now reading Rare Earth by Ward and Brownlee which goes into the very unique requirements to realize complex organisms; and Ignition!, which is a book that explores the history of liquid rocket propellant (Elon Musk recommended this one).

For fiction, I've briefly put Circe on hold to read The Prince of Nothing by R Scott Bakker. A friend of mine who shares my tastes loves this author. She has been very insistent that I read it as soon as possible. The unbridled enthusiasm has me pretty excited, so I'm going to dive right in.

OK, Tazerface will address elephant in room. She? Are you syre this person, is, uh, real?

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4 hours ago, IFR said:

For fiction, I've briefly put Circe on hold to read The Prince of Nothing by R Scott Bakker. A friend of mine who shares my tastes loves this author. She has been very insistent that I read it as soon as possible. The unbridled enthusiasm has me pretty excited, so I'm going to dive right in.

 

 

I'm not saying you won't like it coz Bakker is pretty brilliant, albeit sometimes hard work, but, uh, brace yourself.

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@TazerFace!

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like you're suggesting that women are incapable of liking this author? If that's the case, I'm not personally offended but I am surprised. From what I've seen the people on this forum tend to espouse rather progressive views, and so that appears to be a pretty bold suggestion.

Also - I hope you don't mind, but why the third person affectation?

@polishgenius

No worries! I have some idea of what I'm in for. I was told the books were hyper violent and grim. It was used as a selling point, in fact. My friend and I like all the shock horror films and games (Dead Alive, Romero's zombie movies, the Mortal Kombat games, etc). We admittedly can be a bit juvenile in our tastes, but it's the simple pleasures that get us through life.

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3 hours ago, IFR said:

 

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like you're suggesting that women are incapable of liking this author? If that's the case, I'm not personally offended but I am surprised. From what I've seen the people on this forum tend to espouse rather progressive views, and so that appears to be a pretty bold suggestion.

 

I'd hazard a guess that TF was being tongue in cheek, but basically the point is that the grimness is of a type that is more likely to put women off.

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I was referring to the fact that Bakker's, um, how do I put this, views and depictions of Women in his books, is, hmm, not progressive. At all. And has turned off A LOT of female readers. I could also get into his outside the book internet drama but that's a whole other thing and really has no bearing.

2 hours ago, polishgenius said:

 

I'd hazard a guess that TF was being tongue in cheek, but basically the point is that the grimness is of a type that is more likely to put women off.

Nah I know plenty of women who read what more gruesome stuff, though not in SFF per se. Hmm. Does Horror fall under the SFF umbrella.

ahem

*gets back into character*

Any, Tazerface is certainly not saying girls cannot like Bakker, Tazerface is just surprised as Taazerface has always been under the impression Bakker has very very few female fans. Tazerface would say try the first book, as Tazerface enjoys them quite a bit, at least until the end. In fact Tazerface is quite keen to see someone's reaction to the ending going in blind.

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29 minutes ago, TazerFace! said:

Nah I know plenty of women who read what more gruesome stuff,

 

Aye, I wasn't suggesting it was the gore that put women off. It's the misogyny I was refering to.

Is Bakker sexist in real life? I know he's defended his right to write the work as it is, but it's definitely not casual sexism for the giggles that he's doing. Whether one thinks the points he's using it for are worth the manner in which he does it is a matter of debate, but he did do it for a reason.

Very weird guy to be fair.

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1 hour ago, polishgenius said:

 

Aye, I wasn't suggesting it was the gore that put women off. It's the misogyny I was refering to.

Is Bakker sexist in real life? I know he's defended his right to write the work as it is, but it's definitely not casual sexism for the giggles that he's doing. Whether one thinks the points he's using it for are worth the manner in which he does it is a matter of debate, but he did do it for a reason.

Very weird guy to be fair.

Yeah, that's the word I was looking for, Misogyny. The whole third person schtick takes way more concentration then it should and my brain isn't working.

As for Bakker in real life, that's a question better left for a different thread, as I've seen reddit posts on that one just go off the rails real quick. 

(My answer: I have no idea, I can't understand ninety percent of his posts)

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On 5/18/2021 at 9:40 PM, IFR said:

I'll join my voice to the chorus singing Hobbs' praise. Outstanding author. Her ability to craft interesting, multidimensional characters is second to none in the fantasy genre (I'd say Abercrombie is decent competition though).

I don't know that I'd put Abercrombie on par with Hobb in terms of characterization. I do think Daniel Abraham is much closer, with his sharp focus on characterization. I'd say they both lean more towards character studies than plot, but they also write great stories in cool worlds. 

I may be biased though because they're my two favorite authors :D

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I'd put Abercrombie on par with Hobb in terms of characterisation but it's a different kind. Hobb (as with Abraham) is generally trying to make them feel like real people, Abercrombie is taking archetypes and then adding the adding depth and layers. His stories aren't so much character driven or even plot driven as trope driven (the first six books at least, the latest trilogy a bit less so). 

 

 

Pratchett was the best character writer in fantasy though.

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18 hours ago, TazerFace! said:

Yeah, that's the word I was looking for, Misogyny. The whole third person schtick takes way more concentration then it should and my brain isn't working.

As for Bakker in real life, that's a question better left for a different thread, as I've seen reddit posts on that one just go off the rails real quick. 

(My answer: I have no idea, I can't understand ninety percent of his posts)

I will be interested to hear what Greg Sadler's broadcast will have to say about this topic in a couple of days:  

 

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On 5/16/2021 at 1:18 PM, Starkess said:

My next audiobook is Black Leopard Red Wolf by Marlon James that I know 0 about but picked up from the library, so we'll see I guess!

Okay so this is NOT a book one should go into unprepared.

It's long as hell (after 4 hours of audiobook I think we're finally seeing what the plot is going to be?) and just insanely graphic. Just about every form of violence you can think of, casually sprinkled throughout every scene.

Haven't decided if I'll finish it yet or not. Leaning towards no but somehow I keep listening to just a few more minutes...

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Finished The Fall of Koli, the final book in the Rampart Trilogy by MR Carey.  An outstanding climax to a wonderful journey through a dystopian Ingland.   Liked both the PoVs carried over from the second book and their separate stories, Koli, with Cup, Ursula, and Monono, dealing with what they find at the end of their search for the Sword of Albion and Spinner dealing with the aftermath of battle with the Half Ax and the impact on everyone in Mythen Rood.  The addition of a third PoV was great, not entirely unexpected, but had some surprising insights.   

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