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MockingQuantum posted:Seriously this makes me want to at least add Sword of Truth to our list, except for the fact that there are so many genuinely good books that we want to read. If anyone's mildly curious, our September book is Ancillary Justice, October is Lies of Locke Lamora (and we're actually considering reaching out to Scott Lynch to see if he can grab lunch afterwards, given that he lives 20 miles away and is a friend of a friend), and right now I'm pushing for November to be Bridge of Birds since I'm the only one that's read it. Oh Jesus. Don't add Goodkind to this. If you gotta add Goodkind, do some kind of reverse-book club where all you read is horrible poo poo. Go from Goodkind to Child-Rapist John Ringo to Incest Heinlein to 50 Shades. Then make a thread.
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# ? Sep 2, 2016 09:44 |
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# ? May 30, 2024 13:51 |
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Mandragora posted:Brooks is kind of banal in that he started copying Tolkien before that became a big thing, so the first dozen or so of his books are rehashes of LotR except set in a post-apocalyptic fantasy future where the monsters include malfunctioning cyborgs instead of fel beasts and orcs. Eventually he goes full on JRPG with crystal-powered airships and returning technology and stuff, but his prose doesn't really improve noticeably over four decades, which is almost impressive in a weird way. Dude does not want to change his voice at all and his post-2000 stuff still feels just like his late 70s books. It's inoffensive but also incredibly bland. The Magic Kingdom of Landover books are decent YA.
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# ? Sep 2, 2016 10:13 |
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MockingQuantum posted:Seriously this makes me want to at least add Sword of Truth to our list, except for the fact that there are so many genuinely good books that we want to read. If anyone's mildly curious, our September book is Ancillary Justice, October is Lies of Locke Lamora (and we're actually considering reaching out to Scott Lynch to see if he can grab lunch afterwards, given that he lives 20 miles away and is a friend of a friend), and right now I'm pushing for November to be Bridge of Birds since I'm the only one that's read it. Ironically Legend of the Seeker, the episodic, comedic Xena-style TV series based on his books is really fun, and the wizard is hilarious (played by the skinny heli pilot from Mad Max). coyo7e fucked around with this message at 11:35 on Sep 2, 2016 |
# ? Sep 2, 2016 11:31 |
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coyo7e posted:Sword of Truth isn't bad at all, although it's probably just okay and not good or great. It's just every single other book that is really awful and inexplicably weird. Our Let's Read thread says otherwise. The rot starts early.
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# ? Sep 2, 2016 11:35 |
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Sorry it's 3am I meant to type a novel's title and not the series name vv I'm still confused by the whole thing where Richard hatestabs people to death, or lovestabs them to death, depending on :reasons:. And looking at the first couple pages of that thread, I totally forgot that he murders a crowd of peaceful protestors because they're stopping him from murdering someone vigilante-style.. The whole thing definitely reads like Bill O'Reilly made a sword and sorcery novel where he gets to kill hippies for being stupid and bad guys for being bad and lesbian feminists because - while he still really loves women, they have to die for holding back him from success. coyo7e fucked around with this message at 11:53 on Sep 2, 2016 |
# ? Sep 2, 2016 11:35 |
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coyo7e posted:Sorry it's 3am I meant to type a novel's title and not the series name vv I gathered that, but my point stands. There's some deeply weird, dumb, and unpleasant poo poo in that book.
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# ? Sep 2, 2016 11:48 |
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edit: holy poo poo I forgot that Richard's brother literally hires every
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# ? Sep 2, 2016 11:58 |
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Well now I want to read it
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# ? Sep 2, 2016 13:29 |
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navyjack posted:Oh Jesus. Don't add Goodkind to this. If you gotta add Goodkind, do some kind of reverse-book club where all you read is horrible poo poo. Go from Goodkind to Child-Rapist John Ringo to Incest Heinlein to 50 Shades. Also a little bit of Piers. http://hradzka.livejournal.com/392471.html Reminder that Piers Anthony wrote child molestation apologetics.
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# ? Sep 2, 2016 13:33 |
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I don't think real life read-a-bad-book clubs are a good idea because you are going to find yourself running into people who turn out to be really, really into Goodkind.
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# ? Sep 2, 2016 13:41 |
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Strategic Tea posted:Well now I want to read it Yeah, that was a nice read, though I'm still not sure I buy it as more than a post-hoc explanation for/reading too much into a muddy, unplanned world (e.g., all the "philosophy of the Matrix" stuff).
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# ? Sep 2, 2016 13:48 |
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RVProfootballer posted:Yeah, that was a nice read, though I'm still not sure I buy it as more than a post-hoc explanation for/reading too much into a muddy, unplanned world (e.g., all the "philosophy of the Matrix" stuff). Remember that Erikson's a professional anthropologist. The structure of his fantasy world being based on anthropological theory ain't such a huge stretch.
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# ? Sep 2, 2016 14:07 |
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Abalieno posted:Because the magic system in Malazan is anti-mechanical. It's strictly the opposite of science. You won't grasp it if you parse it in a traditional way like a system of fixed rules in a roleplaying game. To explain the core of it I'd have to talk about philosophical concepts like "dualism" and an anthropocentric conception of reality. I'm gonna pick out the bit where I disagree with you: quote:Because the magic system in Malazan is anti-mechanical The use of magic in Malazan is explicitly mechanical - A leads to B leads to C. Fener kicks out Heboric, which leads to his magic handlessness, which leads to Fener getting kicked out by the Obelisk, which leads to Itkovian feeding Rath'Fener to some unknowable demon The climax of MoI is a little russian doll, all the different pieces are picked up, moved around and reassembled. And the explanations given are half-arsed and post-hoc. Edit: will write the full response this deserves when I'm not on my phone.
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# ? Sep 2, 2016 14:51 |
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Abalieno posted:You won't grasp it if you parse it in a traditional way like a system of fixed rules in a roleplaying game. Didn't Malazan start out as a RPG whose group included Erickson and Esslemont?
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# ? Sep 2, 2016 14:59 |
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fritz posted:Didn't Malazan start out as a RPG whose group included Erickson and Esslemont? Yes
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# ? Sep 2, 2016 15:16 |
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coyo7e posted:holy poo poo I forgot that Wizards First Rule posted:His eyes opened partway, the visage of wanton passion burning in them. His breathing was ragged; his hands trembled slightly. He gazed down at the boy. quote:DARKEN RAHL BEFRIENDED A CHILD TO GHOST-RIDE HIS SOUL INTO HELL. coyo7e fucked around with this message at 16:00 on Sep 2, 2016 |
# ? Sep 2, 2016 15:55 |
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MockingQuantum posted:Now my book club is hashing out some fantasy options, and I'm curious, I feel like I've read here that Terry Goodkind books are really not very good... Or Terry Brooks, I can't remember. Which was it, and why? I've talked the group out of doing any Robert Jordan books because frankly I'm not that interested in Wheel of Time, but they turned to Terry Goodkind as an option when I shot down Jordan. Nobody in the group has read any of his stuff, though. Read Carol Berg, or Catherynne Valente, or Sebastian de Castell, or N. K. Jemisin, or Jonathan L. Howard, or Seth Dickinson, or Douglas Hulick, or C. S. Friedman, or Jim Butcher, or Patricia McKillip-- Or literally anyone except Terry Goodkind (and Piers Anthony and John Ringo) unless you specifically want to make fun of bad books. Which doesn't sound like your goal. (I enjoy mockery but personally I'll read the summary of someone else's suffering, I don't want to waste time reading them myself.)
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# ? Sep 2, 2016 16:53 |
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Darth Walrus posted:Remember that Erikson's a professional anthropologist. The structure of his fantasy world being based on anthropological theory ain't such a huge stretch. Yeah, that's totally fair. And just to be clear, I wasn't being snarky at all, that really was a compelling read, and it does make me question whether there was a coherent thing going on (vs being sure there was not!).
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# ? Sep 2, 2016 16:58 |
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Reason posted:I just finished Engines of God and really liked it. It does archaeologists in space pretty good. A lot more interesting than marines or random dudes stumble upon thing in space. Go on with the series. The level is quite solidly good, with two exceptions (for my taste): Odyssey and Starhawk. Specially the later. Chindi is absolutely great.
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# ? Sep 2, 2016 18:50 |
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RVProfootballer posted:Yeah, that was a nice read, though I'm still not sure I buy it as more than a post-hoc explanation for/reading too much into a muddy, unplanned world (e.g., all the "philosophy of the Matrix" stuff). The only difference between the stuff I wrote and the stuff you find in the books is that it's not overly explicit and on the forefront as you'd think if you stick to what I said. But I think every single point of what I said is directly referenced in the books at some point. Of course you have to pay attention to this kind of philosophical layer. It's definitely true that it's not the definition most readers would give, because that mythological discourse is more buried into the text (and you have to wait until book 4 for it to take shape, or start directly with the Forge of Darkness prequel). And, again, it's why I personally love the new prequel trilogy for how this stuff is even more put on the foreground, and why instead some readers found the newer books too dense and not as fun to read as the main series. Otherwise, you read Bakker. Bakker writes THAT. In your face. 100% of the time. If in Malazan these mythological aspects are just one idea among many, as a kind of choir, in what Bakker writes it's the main theme. And it's not just me engaging with this stuff, but simply everyone who reads the books. And while I obviously love Malazan, I also don't think it's perfect (and again, it fits in the same line of LOST or Evangelion, each with its own issues and dealing with an excess of ambition). I compare Malazan to the movies of Werner Herzog, always on the brink between the purest genius and utter failure. Erikson can be very wasteful with his ideas, that is kind of a silly concept considering the 4+ million words of the overall series. But again, I just can't find anything like Erikson or Bakker (and again a bit of Janny Wurts) in Fantasy or Sci-fi that deliver that stuff. There's of course Dune that inspired it all, and those other titles I mentioned already. I get a similar satisfaction from David Foster Wallace, outside the genre. But what else?
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# ? Sep 2, 2016 23:18 |
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You've made a pretty good pitch for me to pick Malazan back up (I only read Gardens of the Moon. It was alright but uneven.). The idea of magic in a fantasy world functioning as a literalization of social and philosophical paradigms is something that's interested me for a while, and I'd like to see something like that in action.
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# ? Sep 2, 2016 23:51 |
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I just found Accelerando on my e-reader and I can't for the loving life of me remember how it got there. Did I get it on the recommendation of this thread? Is it good?
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# ? Sep 2, 2016 23:55 |
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Abalieno posted:Great words about Malazan I feel like you could probably make a similar argument about magic in Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, and I've wanted to write that essay for years, I've just never been able to sit down and find the time.
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# ? Sep 3, 2016 00:00 |
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tooterfish posted:I just found Accelerando on my e-reader and I can't for the loving life of me remember how it got there. I love Stross and gave up on accelerando very quickly. It's a tough sell, since it's basically him trying to do a by-definition-indescribable-to-humans Singularity: the novel. I'll try again sometime.
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# ? Sep 3, 2016 00:14 |
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Amberskin posted:Chindi is absolutely great. I'm just starting Chindi so that's awesome that it stands out.
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# ? Sep 3, 2016 01:19 |
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Abalieno posted:Magic I've read the Malazan main series and am halfway through the Thomas Covenant books right now. This post was very helpful.
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# ? Sep 3, 2016 02:34 |
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tooterfish posted:I just found Accelerando on my e-reader and I can't for the loving life of me remember how it got there. I liked Accelerando a lot as an attempt at writing the Singularity but it does not pause for breath even for a second (it's aply titled I guess) and ends with even its super-advanced proponent of the Singularity being worn-out and overcome by the changes to his life, the world, himself For me it was a good attempt at tackling how the weirdness of our future might end up. Stross definitely thinks AI are sinister--if not outright malignant, at least not very concerned with their creators. Some of this he fairly explicitly blames on capitalism: when you teach a living machine to treat all things as commodities and that maximizing commodities is the way you win, they will eventually begin to see humans as commodities, or even worse, obstacles to trading commodities with maximum efficiency. His characterization of them is distant and fairly alien, they just mostly slowly scrape humans out of their lives rather than starting the Robot Uprising. I'm going generous with the spoiler tag since someone said they were considering reading it. One thing I won't spoiler tag since it's pretty early on: there is a female-on-male rape scene that is not treated as anything particularly serious as a violation of the victim, which annoys me.
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# ? Sep 3, 2016 06:45 |
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Keep in mind that Accelerando is a bunch of short stories stitched together into a novel after the fact, so it is a bit rough.
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# ? Sep 3, 2016 06:47 |
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pseudorandom name posted:Keep in mind that Accelerando is a bunch of short stories stitched together into a novel after the fact, so it is a bit rough. I liked that effect when I read The Martian Chronicles, though.
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# ? Sep 3, 2016 18:30 |
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I read the first two Raven's Shadow books by Anthony Ryan and really enjoyed them, the first especially. I started the third and even a few chapters in it's pretty boring. Is it worth finishing? I've read some pretty not great reviews. Any recs for similar stuff would be great! I've read ASOIAF, a few from Joe Abercrombie. Just looking for something easy and fun to read while I'm finishing my last semester of nursing school.
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# ? Sep 3, 2016 18:40 |
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Iron Lung posted:I read the first two Raven's Shadow books by Anthony Ryan and really enjoyed them, the first especially. I started the third and even a few chapters in it's pretty boring. Is it worth finishing? I've read some pretty not great reviews. Any recs for similar stuff would be great! I've read ASOIAF, a few from Joe Abercrombie. Just looking for something easy and fun to read while I'm finishing my last semester of nursing school. Queen of Fire isn't great. His new book is really good, though. Just read that.
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# ? Sep 3, 2016 18:41 |
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tooterfish posted:I just found Accelerando on my e-reader and I can't for the loving life of me remember how it got there. I thought it was a difficult, but amazing book, and I was concerned about not being capable of enjoying sci-fi as a genre after finishing it, because I didn't think anyone could top the final chapters (I was wrong).
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# ? Sep 3, 2016 19:07 |
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Megazver posted:Queen of Fire isn't great. He has a new book out? I'll have to check it out. I enjoyed Blood Song for what it was, but thought the second book had nothing that made the first book fun and interesting.
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# ? Sep 3, 2016 20:20 |
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ShutteredIn posted:Terry Goodkind is the worst published writer of fantasy fiction and possibly the worst published writer of any type of fiction. You've never heard of Patrick Rothfuss, I see.
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# ? Sep 3, 2016 20:57 |
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Evil Fluffy posted:You've never heard of Patrick Rothfuss, I see.
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# ? Sep 3, 2016 20:58 |
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Megazver posted:Queen of Fire isn't great. Awesome, will check it out! Thanks.
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# ? Sep 3, 2016 21:05 |
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*blows an ancient sex goddess' mind on my first time* why yes I agree
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# ? Sep 3, 2016 21:37 |
Strategic Tea posted:*blows an ancient sex goddess' mind on my first time* Still better than Goodkind.
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# ? Sep 3, 2016 22:08 |
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ringu0 posted:I thought it was a difficult, but amazing book, and I was concerned about not being capable of enjoying sci-fi as a genre after finishing it, because I didn't think anyone could top the final chapters (I was wrong). What topped the final chapters for you?
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# ? Sep 3, 2016 23:23 |
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# ? May 30, 2024 13:51 |
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Ornamented Death posted:Still better than Goodkind. Goodkind is worse, Rothfuss is more annoying.
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# ? Sep 3, 2016 23:28 |