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Habibi posted:What outrageous sexual assault did Warded Man have? And the magical Arabs...I don't know, they were actually handled pretty well as far as bizarre foreign cultures go through the two books out so far. My main issue was that the books featured some remarkably convenient plot points that just seemed juvenile after books like SoIaF and Malazan. But still pretty good, fast-reading stuff. Maybe not outrageous so much as silly, the female lead gets raped, swears off men forever, meets the Warded Man years later, exchanges two words with him and has sex with him in a mud puddle...what. I have an issue with fantasy races that are basically transplanted from the real world. The fact that the Krasnians were portrayed as scheming, warlike misogynists who ardently followed a holy book and lived in a desert sort of made me sour to the whole experience.
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| # ? Mar 7, 2011 23:07 |
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| # ? May 18, 2013 15:26 |
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:There are two other series I've been wondering about -- has anyone tried the "Tales of the Otori" series or Peter Brett's "The Warded Man" series? They look neat but I've never seen them directly recommended. "Tales of the Otori" is pretty interesting until you get to the end of what I think is the third book where everything just goes to poo poo and I honestly stopped caring about what happened. I ended up going on Wikipedia, spoiling the plot for myself and being glad that I didn't invest the time to finish the series. It just gets so convoluted and weird that it's not worth it. anathenema posted:Maybe not outrageous so much as silly, the female lead gets raped, swears off men forever, meets the Warded Man years later, exchanges two words with him and has sex with him in a mud puddle...what. That's not how the assault happened, it's actually even worse: Leesha and Rojer are assaulted and maybe a day later meet the Warded Man, and she has sex with him maybe a few days after that. I was very weirded out by that part, but it didn't ruin the book for me. I just read it about two weeks ago and I have to admit I liked it and I think it'll make a good series. I wasn't too bothered by the Krasians either. I mean, I knew what they were based on but I don't think the author was trying to be racist or offensive.
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| # ? Mar 8, 2011 02:36 |
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anathenema posted:I have an issue with fantasy races that are basically transplanted from the real world. The fact that the Krasnians were portrayed as scheming, warlike misogynists who ardently followed a holy book and lived in a desert sort of made me sour to the whole experience. How about fantasy nationalities ? Glen Cook's Dread Empire series starts, chronologically, with a young man being rescued by an "angel" and set on the path of being a prophet. It's got a lot of deliberate lifting from our Europe/Asia in the setting. Just get "A Fortress in Shadow" and enjoy.
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| # ? Mar 8, 2011 04:02 |
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Death Hamster posted:Vampire$ certainly was not a Nobel Prize winner, that's for sure, but I found it an amusing diversion. I thought it was hamfisted from start to finish. Way too much telling instead of showing.
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| # ? Mar 8, 2011 04:09 |
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Doniazade posted:I recently finished Manifold: Time and The Forever War and thoroughly enjoyed both of them. Gregory Benford wrote a series (The Galactic Center Saga) starting with In the Ocean of Night covering those topics (at least in the later books), but I really can't remember much of it (which is probably a bad sign). Greg Egan likes this kind of stuff; Diaspora and Schild's Ladder, and arguably Incandescence all qualify (though I would say none of these are quite as good as his Quarantine or Permutation City, but they don't match the topic). Alastair Reynolds' The House of Suns is a recent good novel on the theme. Also perhaps relevant is Vance's The Dying Earth and pretty much anything by Gene Wolfe.
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| # ? Mar 8, 2011 07:18 |
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Doniazade posted:I recently finished Manifold: Time and The Forever War and thoroughly enjoyed both of them. Larry Niven's A World Out of Time may be interesting to you. However, it's probably not as good as the Baxter books and definitely not as good as the Haldeman book.
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| # ? Mar 8, 2011 17:55 |
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fritz posted:I thought it was hamfisted from start to finish. Way too much telling instead of showing. He got over that in a big way for Armor. I'd re-read it a couple of times for FELIX STOMPS ANTS before I picked up on the really, really deep subtext. Hint: the meat of the story is NOT the Ant War.
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| # ? Mar 8, 2011 18:08 |
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anathenema posted:Maybe not outrageous so much as silly, the female lead gets raped, swears off men forever, meets the Warded Man years later, exchanges two words with him and has sex with him in a mud puddle...what. Skutter posted:That's not how the assault happened, it's actually even worse: Leesha and Rojer are assaulted and maybe a day later meet the Warded Man, and she has sex with him maybe a few days after that Huh, I recall this differently from you both. After she got raped, she didn't really 'swear off men,' and it took her quite a bit longer to try and boink the Warded Man (which he ultimately wouldn't even let her do. quote:I have an issue with fantasy races that are basically transplanted from the real world. The fact that the Krasnians were portrayed as scheming, warlike misogynists who ardently followed a holy book and lived in a desert sort of made me sour to the whole experience.
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| # ? Mar 8, 2011 19:01 |
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Adar posted:Black Prism is significantly better written. The trilogy was a first effort and it showed at times. Both are pretty original as fantasy goes, but like I said, the writing in the trilogy was very uneven where BP had decent pacing and better characters. Maybe I'll just wait for the 'Prism' follow-up then. Good novel, some really interesting plot points - even if, for some reason, it sort of felt like reading an anime. And the ending sets up an interesting storyline...
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| # ? Mar 8, 2011 19:02 |
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Hobnob posted:Death Hamster posted:
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| # ? Mar 8, 2011 20:06 |
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Habibi posted:Huh, I recall this differently from you both. After she got raped, she didn't really 'swear off men,' and it took her quite a bit longer to try and boink the Warded Man (which he ultimately wouldn't even let her do. They had sex but didn't "finish". Some thought or other interrupted one of them and they gave up. It was a few days after the surprise sex because they were still near enough to the bandits that raped her that Rojer and the Warded Man were able to seek revenge on them.
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| # ? Mar 8, 2011 22:17 |
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Hobnob posted:Alastair Reynolds' The House of Suns is a recent good novel on the theme. I'd say pretty much all of Alastair Reynolds' books have that theme to some degree. Pushing Ice, the stories in Galactic North, and all the Revelation Space books push it pretty hard. All the space travel is done at relativistic speeds*, so it makes the discussion of entropy and disassociation pretty organic. *House of Suns:I still have no idea why he spent so much energy making believable stories involving relativistic travel and then wrote FTL travel into House of Suns in a way that insufficiently/half-assedly covered the causality problem.
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| # ? Mar 9, 2011 05:58 |
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mllaneza posted:How about fantasy nationalities ? Glen Cook's Dread Empire series starts, chronologically, with a young man being rescued by an "angel" and set on the path of being a prophet. It's got a lot of deliberate lifting from our Europe/Asia in the setting. Just get "A Fortress in Shadow" and enjoy. If you have a fair enjoyment of history both Dread Empire and Instrumentalities of the Night should appeal. Instrumentalities even more so. The set up is pretty blatantly Crusade era not-Europe/Mediterranean as its transitioning into the Renaissance. But definitely goes way off anything history had going on. Empire more just takes more random influences than outright jumping in a history time. The first half is kind of like the rise of the Arab states. The second half is more of OH gently caress as the "west" faces invasion by a highly organized nation run by a pair of sorceror generals with an army somewhere between samurai and the Persian Immortals. Also I don't suggest you read the main series first. A lot of the prequel is obviously spoiled and removes a fair chunk of the impact. While it may or may not be true, I read at some point the order he wrote them and how they got picked up and published didn't line up. I'd buy this because it really feels like you should already know several characters when the first book starts. The short story collection An Empire Unacquainted With Defeat is also really good if you want a taste without jumping into 3000 pages. Alaan fucked around with this message at Mar 10, 2011 around 00:46 |
| # ? Mar 10, 2011 00:44 |
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Hey, I'm looking for something like a Dune or Song of Ice and Fire until the next book comes out (hah). I really like its focus on politics and grittiness, if that helps any.
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| # ? Mar 10, 2011 23:14 |
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Have you read The First Law trilogy? And it's subsequent stand-alone novels? Because those are what you're looking for in terms of ASoIaF politico-gritico. Check the Joe Abercrombie thread for more info, or better still, pick up The Blade Itself as soon as you get the chance. If it helps sell it any I think he's the best fantasy author currently alive.
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| # ? Mar 10, 2011 23:50 |
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Evfedu posted:If it helps sell it any I think he's the best fantasy author currently alive. He's pretty drat good but thats a bold statement to say the least.
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| # ? Mar 11, 2011 00:03 |
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Warded Man and The Desert Spear aren't bad but Leesha becomes a ridiculous Mary Sue in The Desert Spear
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| # ? Mar 11, 2011 01:00 |
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Evfedu posted:Have you read The First Law trilogy? And it's subsequent stand-alone novels? Because those are what you're looking for in terms of ASoIaF politico-gritico. Check the Joe Abercrombie thread for more info, or better still, pick up The Blade Itself as soon as you get the chance. Thanks, I thought of Best Served Cold somewhere else when the question of good fantasy game up. Going to check it out.
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| # ? Mar 11, 2011 03:53 |
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It might of been mentioned before but if your looking for decent fantasy series theirs The Riyria Revelations by Michael J. Sullivan. The first book is The Crown Conspiracy and the last one is coming out next month. It's actually a pretty enjoyable read.Wikipedia posted:The Riyria Revelations is a six-book epic fantasy series. All the books were written before the first one was released. It abandons the recent trends in fantasy toward the lengthy, gritty, and dark, and brings the genre back to its roots and traditional elements. The series is centered around two thieves, Royce Melborne and Hadrian Blackwater and contains adventure, humor, and twisting plots. The two are reminiscent of buddy cop movies but set in a fantasy setting. Sullivan style has been compared to David Eddings and early Raymond E. Feist.
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| # ? Mar 11, 2011 04:43 |
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Doniazade posted:I recently finished Manifold: Time and The Forever War and thoroughly enjoyed both of them. Run, don't walk, to pick up Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep - entertaining, decently written, very interesting ideas, great alien cultures. He clearly put lots of thought into how a galaxy-wide network (of which humans are a minor part) would work.
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| # ? Mar 11, 2011 05:24 |
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Justaddwater posted:It might of been mentioned before but if your looking for decent fantasy series theirs The Riyria Revelations by Michael J. Sullivan. The first book is The Crown Conspiracy and the last one is coming out next month. It's actually a pretty enjoyable read. These are surprisingly good. They're nothing fancy, there's no huge plot twists, it's just a handful of pretty cool characters caught in the middle of a bunch of political bullshit. But it somehow works. What should be a ho-hum, pedestrian outing somehow isn't. It's kind of like when Serious Sam came out and didn't really do anything that hadn't been done before, but the game was still stupidly fun. That's these books. All I can say is that there'd better be some huge 300-foot-tall monster at the end of the series, because goddamn I want my Serious Sam analogy to stay true to the end.
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| # ? Mar 11, 2011 05:36 |
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uberkeyzer posted:Run, don't walk, to pick up Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep - entertaining, decently written, very interesting ideas, great alien cultures. He clearly put lots of thought into how a galaxy-wide network (of which humans are a minor part) would work. Cannot wait for October. Children of the Sky is going to own. Vinge's prose has improved a poo poo ton since Fire, so a Fire sequel can only be an awesome thing.
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| # ? Mar 11, 2011 10:04 |
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bigmcgaffney posted:He's pretty drat good but thats a bold statement to say the least.
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| # ? Mar 11, 2011 17:47 |
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Justaddwater posted:Warded Man and The Desert Spear aren't bad but Leesha becomes a ridiculous Mary Sue in The Desert Spear This is true. But as I said, it's the convenient little plot developments that left a sour taste for me. 10 pages in I was thinking why hasn't anyone thought to ward their clothes/armor/paint wards onto themselves/etc... - and for some reason that doesn't occur to anyone until Man, Warded Man comes along?
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| # ? Mar 11, 2011 18:01 |
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Habibi posted:This is true. But as I said, it's the convenient little plot developments that left a sour taste for me. 10 pages in I was thinking why hasn't anyone thought to ward their clothes/armor/paint wards onto themselves/etc... - and for some reason that doesn't occur to anyone until Man, Warded Man comes along? Even when he painted the wards onto his body, I remember there being a scene where he fell in some mud and got a couple new scars for himself. Alot of his real power came from eating the monsters.
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| # ? Mar 12, 2011 02:08 |
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I got Marrow by Robert Reed at a used bookstore today ultra cheap, bought based on the blurb alone because I have never heard of the book or the author before: The ship is home to a thousand alien races and a near-immortal crew who have no knowledge of its origins or purpose. At its core lies a secret as ancient as the universe. It is about to be unleashed. That's the entire blurb. I'm reading & loving Reynolds' Rev Space at the moment, so I thought this sounded good. Anyone read it?
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| # ? Mar 12, 2011 06:40 |
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It's been about ten years since I've read Marrow, so all I can say is that I remembered enjoying it. Sorry I can't be much more help.
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| # ? Mar 12, 2011 14:01 |
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I've read Marrow and really enjoyed it. Based on that I read a lot of other work by Robert Reed and haven't found anything I didn't like. Sister Alice was particularily good too.
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| # ? Mar 12, 2011 14:59 |
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Undead Unicorn posted:Hey, I'm looking for something like a Dune or Song of Ice and Fire until the next book comes out (hah). I really like its focus on politics and grittiness, if that helps any. In addition to Joe Abercrombie, you might like Scott Lynch ("The Lies of Locke Lamora") or Matthew Stover ("Heroes Die") .
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| # ? Mar 12, 2011 15:56 |
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I read Marrow several years ago and basically loved the premise but found the acual novel very dull, partly because most of the book basically ignores the Ship it's set on, and I don't really remember the point of it. I also thought the sequel was a waste of paper. Hope you disagree!Undead Unicorn posted:Hey, I'm looking for something like a Dune or Song of Ice and Fire until the next book comes out (hah). I really like its focus on politics and grittiness, if that helps any. I'm always plugging them, but try Hugh Cook's "Chronicles of an Age of Darkness" - they're all gritty (but funny and humane) and about half of them involve politics and intrigue quite heavily. Book 9 is available free here: http://zenvirus.com/hugh-cook/free-novels.html, and number 3 is also gritty'n'politicky and easy to find. It's the sort of series you don't have to read in order, by the way.
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| # ? Mar 12, 2011 20:47 |
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OK another question: Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds is brilliant, I am two thirds done with the book and I fully intend to read the other 6 or so books in the series, but I want to know good recommendations for other space-based scifi that is equally dark/gothic/twisted/hosed up. Matching the tone of films like Event Horizon, Pandorum and Aliens would be great too of course. edit: Oh and I have most definitely read Blindsight by Peter Watts, before someone recommends that. Hedrigall fucked around with this message at Mar 13, 2011 around 15:22 |
| # ? Mar 13, 2011 14:43 |
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By the looks of this thread, I have to purchase Revelation Space as soon as I've finished the Spinward Fringe series. 
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| # ? Mar 13, 2011 17:32 |
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House Louse posted:
#4 ("The Walrus and the Warwolf") was just reprinted a few months ago. I don't see #3 much in used book stores, but I see #1 ("Wizard War" / "The Warriors and the Wizards") reasonably frequently, and it's the best one anyway.
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| # ? Mar 13, 2011 17:50 |
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Flipswitch posted:By the looks of this thread, I have to purchase Revelation Space as soon as I've finished the Spinward Fringe series. What's the deal with the Spinward Fringe series ? I see "spinward" in the title and I flash back to the old Traveller RPG setting. How far off am I on that association ?
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| # ? Mar 13, 2011 17:52 |
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Hedrigall posted:OK another question: Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds is brilliant, I am two thirds done with the book and I fully intend to read the other 6 or so books in the series, but I want to know good recommendations for other space-based scifi that is equally dark/gothic/twisted/hosed up. Matching the tone of films like Event Horizon, Pandorum and Aliens would be great too of course.
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| # ? Mar 13, 2011 18:10 |
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mllaneza posted:What's the deal with the Spinward Fringe series ? I see "spinward" in the title and I flash back to the old Traveller RPG setting. How far off am I on that association ?
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| # ? Mar 13, 2011 19:08 |
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fritz posted:#4 ("The Walrus and the Warwolf") was just reprinted a few months ago. I don't see #3 much in used book stores, but I see #1 ("Wizard War" / "The Warriors and the Wizards") reasonably frequently, and it's the best one anyway. As far as my experience of watching eBay like a hawk goes, 1-4 are quite easy to get hold of and the rest are harder, but far from impossible; and Women and the Warlords is the one I think Undead Unicorn was after. The publication history is kind of depressing to read about, though; Wizards and the Warriors sold about 150,000, and the last few about 7,000. Walrus and the Warwolf was split into three by the US publishers (it's long) and sold so badly they never bothered with parts 2 & 3.
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| # ? Mar 13, 2011 20:54 |
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Flipswitch posted:It's a future sci-fi space opera style series, each is titled as a series of 'broadcasts', instead of book one, two etc. They feature the usual affair of space battles and politics but credit to the author they're quite enjoyable to read and stand pretty well as individual books as well as a series. If you have a Kindle you can pick up the first three books for free as a trilogy, titled 'Origins'. The first few are also known as the First Light Chronicles. This sounded interesting so I looked it up and found http://spinwardfringe.blogspot.com/...ard-fringe.html And watched the trailer on that page. My god that is an embarrassing trailer. It's trying to sound serious but it's clearly some Canadian nerd speaking into a lovely headset microphone. I mean seriously at least hire some local actor and a recording studio for an hour or something. If the book is really best selling then they can splurge a little on the advertising, right?
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| # ? Mar 13, 2011 22:33 |
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Hedrigall posted:This sounded interesting so I looked it up and found http://spinwardfringe.blogspot.com/...ard-fringe.html
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| # ? Mar 14, 2011 01:07 |
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| # ? May 18, 2013 15:26 |
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Flipswitch posted:By the looks of this thread, I have to purchase Revelation Space as soon as I've finished the Spinward Fringe series.
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| # ? Mar 14, 2011 15:39 |
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