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Thanks to this thread I'm finally checking out Rivers of London. It arrives Tuesday!
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Nov 7, 2016 19:22
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A. Beaverhausen posted:Thanks to this thread I'm finally checking out Rivers of London. It arrives Tuesday! Man, you are going to love that series a lot more than Dresden. So many puns and references to things, and great jokes that you might miss if you aren't paying attention like a discussion about not calling evil wizards "black magicians".
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Nov 7, 2016 19:30
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biracial bear for uncut posted:Man, you are going to love that series a lot more than Dresden. I'm really excited for it! It seems like a thread favorite.
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Nov 7, 2016 19:57
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Rivers of London is good and well-written. Audiobook version is also one of the better things I have listened to. If you enjoy Rivers of London, you may want to go for Alex Verus, too. I just finished the first one and enjoyed it.
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Nov 7, 2016 22:27
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Does John M. Ford's The Last Hot Time ever get mentioned in this thread? I imagine not, since it was published in 2001, isn't part of a series, he died ten years ago, and it isn't on Kindle. But it's really quite good. I'd definitely buy a lot of his earlier (non-urban) fantasy back catalog if they ever converted it to Kindle for some reason.
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Nov 8, 2016 22:57
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Number Ten Cocks posted:Does John M. Ford's The Last Hot Time ever get mentioned in this thread? I imagine not, since it was published in 2001, isn't part of a series, he died ten years ago, and it isn't on Kindle.  It's been mentioned a few times, by myself at least twice over the year(s). It really is a darn good book. quote:When Danny Holman leaves the cornfields of Iowa for the bright lights of Chicago, he expects his life to change. He just can't guess how much and how fast. A violent incident on the road brings Danny the favor of a man known only as Mr. Patrise, who gives Danny a job, a home, and a new identity. There is an error-free digitized version, though. Out there. I've read this one, and Dragon Waiting, and enjoyed them both a great deal. Very different stories, though. Is there another of his books you'd particularly recommend? Drifter fucked around with this message at 02:14 on Nov 9, 2016 |
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Nov 9, 2016 02:11
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NerdyMcNerdNerd posted:Rivers of London is good and well-written. Audiobook version is also one of the better things I have listened to. If you enjoy Rivers of London, you may want to go for Alex Verus, too. I just finished the first one and enjoyed it. Still pretty pissed that I can't get the new one until the end of January because I committed the terrible sins of being born in and subsequently living in North America. Fearless fucked around with this message at 15:22 on Nov 9, 2016 |
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Nov 9, 2016 15:16
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Fearless posted:Still pretty pissed that I can't get the new one until the end of January because I committed the terrible sins of being born in and subsequently living in North America. Sure you can, so long as you don't mind a physical copy. You can get a digital copy if you're willing to play around with the regional settings on your Kindle. Same (probably) goes for the audiobook.
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Nov 9, 2016 15:28
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Ornamented Death posted:Sure you can, so long as you don't mind a physical copy. I didn't want to buy a physical copy and I prefer to support an author I enjoy, so thank you for this.
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Nov 9, 2016 15:52
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Okay, I was able to get in the first chapter of Rivers of London (unfortunately Amazon is only selling the mass market version of the paperback, wish I had paid attention to that) and the dry humor is freaking perfect and the writing itself doesn't grate, which works!
A. Beaverhausen fucked around with this message at 19:36 on Nov 9, 2016 |
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Nov 9, 2016 17:28
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I just got current on Libriomancer, and they were great. I don't get the hate they get in here. I think the author well-addressed the struggle of someone being created for a purpose that they despise. I like that the struggle is to be more than you were designed/raised to be. For example, I like things now that I scoffed at when I was younger. In the future, I may stop liking some things I currently enjoy. Do those changes make me bad or wrong? Are we ever really the same person we were last year? Last decade? These are Lena's struggles and they are also humanity's struggles. I'm on the most recent book of Faust, The Castle Doctrine, right now, and so far I don't like it quite as much as the last one, but I'm liking it well enough. Faust books are always over so fast 
Blasphemeral fucked around with this message at 19:09 on Nov 10, 2016 |
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Nov 10, 2016 19:06
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Finished the second London book and I hope he doesn't do the obvious thing of having Leslie become an ethically challenged magician by way of looking for increasingly morally bankrupt ways to fix her face. But I have faith that she'll be a good magic copper.
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Nov 10, 2016 23:09
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owl milk posted:Finished the second London book and I hope he doesn't do the obvious thing of having Leslie become an ethically challenged magician by way of looking for increasingly morally bankrupt ways to fix her face. But I have faith that she'll be a good magic copper. Well, you'll get your answer. Prepare for massive disappointment. God knows I was.
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Nov 10, 2016 23:51
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Blasphemeral posted:... I'm on the most recent book of Faust, The Castle Doctrine, right now, and so far I don't like it quite as much as the last one, but I'm liking it well enough. Faust books are always over so fast I finished it last night. While I think I still like the book slightly less than the last one, overall, the ending leaves me REALLY excited for the next one!
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Nov 11, 2016 16:32
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Finished The Hanging Tree.quote:In short I'm going to keep writing them until I'm dead or my son takes over.
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Nov 11, 2016 17:46
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drat, I just started Daniel Faust by listening to the first audio book at work. I'm 25 minutes in (Daniel is talking to a guy down in the storm tunnels under the city) and just got to the line "Nah man, that kid? She's still down here. And she ain't happy about it." and god the willies real hard. I hope the books stay this good, they're making me think of something akin to a grittier, darker Dresden Files.
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Nov 11, 2016 20:38
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Magres posted:drat, I just started Daniel Faust ... I hope the books stay this good, they're making me think of something akin to a grittier, darker Dresden Files. That's basically how I describe them... "Imagine if Dresden didn't necessarily think of himself as the good guy, got into the same kinda throwdowns but was less powerful and had to be more clever as a result and, oh yeah, every book is structured like a heist." Glorious series.
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Nov 11, 2016 21:43
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An actual heist, mind you, not what, say, Jim Butcher thinks is a heist.
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Nov 11, 2016 22:07
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Magres posted:drat, I just started Daniel Faust by listening to the first audio book at work. I'm 25 minutes in (Daniel is talking to a guy down in the storm tunnels under the city) and just got to the line "Nah man, that kid? She's still down here. And she ain't happy about it." and god the willies real hard. I hope the books stay this good, they're making me think of something akin to a grittier, darker Dresden Files. Prepare yourself, the first book has a really bad case of insta-romance, which Schaefer has said he regularly kicks himself over -- he was going for something (something spoilery which becomes a plot point around book four or so), and wasn't a good enough writer to pull it off yet. That gets course-corrected pretty fast, and a few books in, the central relationship is solid (as are all the other ones -- Faust's whole supporting cast is awesome.) And yeah, you're in for a treat, each book more or less gets better than the last one. You can also look forward to body horror, cannibalism, kinky sex, cold-blooded torture (performed on and by the protagonists), heists, more heists, and heroes who will not hesitate to shoot their problems in the face. Weirdly, especially by the most recent book in the series, a Dresden parallel occurred to me: Daniel Faust is almost the guy Jim Butcher thinks Marcone is. Like Harry's always going "that Marcone is such an evil gangster!" but we generally just see Marcone being a polite middle-manager and protecting children. You know Marcone must do some heinous poo poo, considering he's a crime boss, but Butcher keeps most of it off the page (presumably for reader sympathy). Faust explicitly blackmails and murders people all over the drat place. And it's Schaefer, so when you finish the last book, well, you haven't, because he just wrote another one five minutes ago.
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Nov 11, 2016 22:11
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Look at goodreads, it has a Book #1.5 - should I be looking at actually reading that before Book #2 or is it more of a 'prequel to the later books that occurs mid-series, chronologically' kind of deal where I should be reading the books in release order and just enjoying the trip back down memory lane? Also  at when Faust watches a certain set of videos for research. That was real, real hosed up. I'm guessing that stuff is par for the course within the books? Just wondering, it doesn't really bother me, but my fiance and I tend to listen to and/or read stuff together and she's more squeamish than I am.
Magres fucked around with this message at 22:18 on Nov 11, 2016 |
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Nov 11, 2016 22:16
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Magres posted:Look at goodreads, it has a Book #1.5 - should I be looking at actually reading that before Book #2 or is it more of a 'prequel to the later books that occurs mid-series, chronologically' kind of deal where I should be reading the books in release order and just enjoying the trip back down memory lane? It's chronological, it's just not part of the overarching storyline so you can read it whenever; I'd read it after book one. Definitely read it before Castle Doctrine, because two characters introduced in 1.5 (and IIRC aren't in any of the other books) make a reappearance. And yuuuuuuup, welcome to the Faustverse! Wait 'till you meet Naavarasi in book two...
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Nov 11, 2016 22:21
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StonecutterJoe posted:Weirdly, especially by the most recent book in the series, a Dresden parallel occurred to me: Daniel Faust is almost the guy Jim Butcher thinks Marcone is. Like Harry's always going "that Marcone is such an evil gangster!" but we generally just see Marcone being a polite middle-manager and protecting children. You know Marcone must do some heinous poo poo, considering he's a crime boss, but Butcher keeps most of it off the page (presumably for reader sympathy). Faust explicitly blackmails and murders people all over the drat place. Eh. Faust also has that whole 'live by the sword, die by the sword' thing going. In the books, you never really see him going after anybody who doesn't actually deserve it. The people he gets into fights with are all various flavors of "criminal scum". Hell, when he sets out to rob Eckho's shop just because he needs money, it turns out that Eckho is some kind of evil super-lich who deserves it. He's a grittier grimdarker version of Vlad Taltos. The better parallel to Marcone is Nicky Agnelli, really. If Dresden got to see Marcone having people tortured with a drill a few times as an example, he'd seem a lot more of the Evil Ganglord and a lot less Goldhearted Gangster.
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Nov 13, 2016 21:59
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Khizan posted:The better parallel to Marcone is Nicky Agnelli, really. If Dresden got to see Marcone having people tortured with a drill a few times as an example, he'd seem a lot more of the Evil Ganglord and a lot less Goldhearted Gangster. This is true. Daniel actually tries to get the Twins to not kill anyone they don't have to. Nicky gives them power tools and car batteries.
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Nov 14, 2016 00:14
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StonecutterJoe posted:Prepare yourself, the first book has a really bad case of insta-romance, which Schaefer has said he regularly kicks himself over -- he was going for something (something spoilery which becomes a plot point around book four or so), and wasn't a good enough writer to pull it off yet. That gets course-corrected pretty fast, and a few books in, the central relationship is solid (as are all the other ones -- Faust's whole supporting cast is awesome.) And yeah, you're in for a treat, each book more or less gets better than the last one. You can also look forward to body horror, cannibalism, kinky sex, cold-blooded torture (performed on and by the protagonists), heists, more heists, and heroes who will not hesitate to shoot their problems in the face. Faust is Dresden in a world with no White Council.
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Nov 15, 2016 04:22
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MeLKoR posted:Faust is Dresden in a world with no White Council. That, or the White Council is just concerned with much bigger things (like directly opposing the Smiling Man) and we haven't seen them yet.
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Nov 15, 2016 13:32
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biracial bear for uncut posted:That, or the White Council is just concerned with much bigger things (like directly opposing the Smiling Man) and we haven't seen them yet. Considering neither Chicago, Las Vegas nor the demon courts have mentioned any council, and Dan pointing out that trying to form a council is the easiest way to get yourself killed in a world where dying comes easily, I doubt there's a council.
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Nov 19, 2016 00:38
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GET INTO DA CHOPPA posted:Considering neither Chicago, Las Vegas nor the demon courts have mentioned any council, and Dan pointing out that trying to form a council is the easiest way to get yourself killed in a world where dying comes easily, I doubt there's a council. IIRC, there's a comment at one point that someone tried to start a council and got found in an alley with their junk cut off and shoved down their throat, so yeah. The closest thing to a White Council is probably Vigilant Lock, which is a very sad thing because Vigilant Lock is loving terrible. That's not a meta-complaint, I'm enjoying the Harmony spin-off so far, but in-universe holy poo poo are they out of their league. Like, the "foremost defense against occult threats" has four teams, and by the start of Red Knight Falling one is perpetually out of the country on shady business, one is embedded inside Appl-- *cough* Diehl Innovations and can't do anything else, and one just got lined up and shot execution-style. And they have so few resources they can't even spend the time or manpower to do anything about it. (And the prologue to Red Knight makes it pretty clear they're either being manipulated for nefarious reasons or just facing bureaucratic meddling on a staggering level.) It's half Delta Green, half Paranoia.
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Nov 19, 2016 03:21
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPlz_3rbjN4&t=1878s
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Nov 19, 2016 05:12
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I have zero shame, I purchased this: https://thetinkerspacks.com/collections/apparel/products/polka-tee
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Nov 21, 2016 21:51
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Calidus posted:I have zero shame, I purchased this: https://thetinkerspacks.com/collections/apparel/products/polka-tee I'm irrationally annoyed the vertical stroke of the "L" isn't centered on the blade. That being said I would totally wear this just for the confusion it would cause among my friends who fall outside then Venn Diagram of "Knows Star Wars" and "Knows Dresden Files"
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Nov 21, 2016 21:58
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Calidus posted:I have zero shame, I purchased this: https://thetinkerspacks.com/collections/apparel/products/polka-tee I own and wear this shirt regularly  I know like 3 people who get the reference
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Nov 22, 2016 03:01
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That is awesome.
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Nov 22, 2016 03:42
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AllTerrineVehicle posted:I own and wear this shirt regularly Same here, but I don't think anyone I know does.  I got mine back during the initial fundraiser, looks like the price went up a bit. I remember there was a bit of a fuss over someone selling knockoffs.
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Nov 22, 2016 05:19
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I wear that regularly and only one person has got it so far. Better than zero I suppose.
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Nov 23, 2016 01:56
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I just finished the first two Libromancer books. Series is a decent enough romp to tide me over while I wait. Goddamnit Gutenberg is a prick.
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Nov 29, 2016 07:54
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Xtanstic posted:I just finished the first two Libromancer books. Series is a decent enough romp to tide me over while I wait. Goddamnit Gutenberg is a prick. Gutenberg was right.
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Nov 29, 2016 15:53
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So uhh, this might not be the place with it but after my RPG group failed to start up Dresden Files RPG (Lot of effort to make a city) we are starting up Urban Shadows. Kind of has the same urban fantasy premise and the system is more focused on Story rather than mechanics. Has anyone tried it out? Also any urban fantasy novels with a "Deal with the devil" protagonist?
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Nov 29, 2016 17:20
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Not 100% sure what you mean by that, but the Sandman Slim series opens with the protagonist escaping from actual Hell and Lucifer is a character in the books
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Nov 29, 2016 17:23
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Exmond posted:So uhh, this might not be the place with it but after my RPG group failed to start up Dresden Files RPG (Lot of effort to make a city) we are starting up Urban Shadows. Kind of has the same urban fantasy premise and the system is more focused on Story rather than mechanics. Has anyone tried it out? Yes, it's a lot of fun, and it can definitely feel like Dresden Files (or most urban fantasy, for that matter). Trad Games would be more appropriate for the RPG-specific chat, if you like; I think Urban Shadows is covered in the Powered by the Apocalypse thread
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Nov 29, 2016 17:30
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Exmond posted:So uhh, this might not be the place with it but after my RPG group failed to start up Dresden Files RPG (Lot of effort to make a city) we are starting up Urban Shadows. Kind of has the same urban fantasy premise and the system is more focused on Story rather than mechanics. Has anyone tried it out? DFRPG uses the FATE system which people either really like or can't stand. I am in the latter category. What I don't like about Urban Shadows is that like its parent system, Apocalypse World, it's kinda designed for inter-player conflict. Each player is a power player, doing their own thing, growing their own power base and working on their own problems and where their interests and storylines cross, it often puts them in the opposing sides of things. I personally find that deeply unenjoyable in RPGs. You might actually like it, I dunno. And I suppose you could not run it like that, if you wanted to. There are a few more UF RPGs that use AW's framework. Monster of the Week's premise is a more conventional one of a team of badasses hunting monsters, but it's not that great mechanically. Although I haven't played the second edition, they might have fixed poo poo. Monsterhearts is about teenage monsters at a high school loving and murdering each other, I think. Goons seem to like it. Take a look at City of Mist's starter kit and see if that interests you. Actually, everyone check out the link, the graphic design on that one is amazing. You could also check out poo poo like Bloodshadows, Nameless Streets, CJ Carella's Witchcraft, Unknown Armies, The Laundry RPG, Part-Time Gods, any of Abstract Nova's weird-rear end but awesome games, or, if you want to go a bit more horror, the whole huge World of Darkness and Call of Cthulhu/Trial of Cthulhu libraries. EDIT: On the books about the devil, I've read neither, but: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22543948-the-devil-s-detective https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26114229-red-right-hand Megazver fucked around with this message at 21:38 on Nov 29, 2016 |
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Nov 29, 2016 21:24
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