|
pradmer posted:The Legend of Eli Monpress (first three novels compendium) by Rachel Aaron - $2.99 This is a bit weird, since it's a five-book series with a single overarching story arc and none of the books are really separable from the others. (They're good books, though.) Not as weird as the omnibus edition of Cherryh's Chanur books, though, which also collected the first three books of a five-book series, but unlike Monpress it's a prologue and epilogue bracketing a very tightly paced trilogy, with each book of the trilogy picking up exactly where the previous one left off -- so it gives you the prologue and then the first two books of the main trilogy and cuts off practically in mid-conversation. IIRC Cherryh ended up calling up the publisher and getting them to stop printing that edition.
|
#
?
Mar 4, 2020 02:24
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 19, 2024 17:16 |
|
|
The trilogy is a single book, cherryh was very unhappy it got broken up. The fifth one is actually p funny in its own gritty sci fi way
|
|
#
?
Mar 4, 2020 02:31
|
|
|
I read Gideon finally. It was very fun and I look forward to seeing where Harrow goes. The meme things were fine and the only one that felt forced was the died on the way to her home planet but its forgiven for being a good reference. some serious first novel syndrome though. way too many characters I could care less about, extremely uneven pacing, overwrought prose. like how many times do you need to tell me this guy has beautiful slate grey eyes. Muir just loves writing about eyes eh. pretty interesting book in that the plot and writing were mediocre but the characters were interesting enough to keep it going.
|
|
#
?
Mar 4, 2020 08:33
|
|
|
If you can't stand authors writing about eyes, do NOT read Michelle Sagara's Cast in Shadow series because every non-human in the series has mood-ring eyes that the protagonist can use to figure out how angry they are. I love the series but it is also genuinely hilarious to be at a dramatic scene and Kaylin's all "his eyes are dark blue, oh no!"
|
|
#
?
Mar 4, 2020 12:56
|
|
|
Murderbot #4 is one of the Kindle daily deals today ($2.99). The only one I haven't managed to grab off of a daily deal is #3, so I may finally read these.
|
|
#
?
Mar 4, 2020 20:20
|
|
|
algebra testes posted:A memory called empire question: book seems to drag like hell in the middle when she is stuck in the apartment, does it pick up again?
|
|
#
?
Mar 4, 2020 21:23
|
|
|
In addition to Exit Strategy (Murderbot #4) above; The Player of Games (Culture #2) by Iain M Banks - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002WM3HC2/ Promise of Blood (Powder Mage #1) by Brian McClellan - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0092XHPIG/
|
|
#
?
Mar 4, 2020 22:42
|
|
|
I really enjoyed the Powder Mage Trilogy. Weird, fun, magical gun fantasy with cool rear end bullet bending.
|
|
#
?
Mar 4, 2020 23:28
|
|
|
Black Griffon posted:I really enjoyed the Powder Mage Trilogy. Weird, fun, magical gun fantasy with cool rear end bullet bending. 
|
|
#
?
Mar 5, 2020 00:20
|
|
|
Khizan posted:Murderbot #4 is one of the Kindle daily deals today ($2.99). You can get that tomorrow... https://twitter.com/marthawells1/status/1235251682042433536
|
|
#
?
Mar 5, 2020 02:28
|
|
|
hell yeah baybeee
|
|
#
?
Mar 5, 2020 13:27
|
|
|
Black Griffon posted:I really enjoyed the Powder Mage Trilogy. Weird, fun, magical gun fantasy with cool rear end bullet bending. There was a sequel trilogy, wasn't there? Anyone know if that was any good? Did it involve the same characters?
|
|
#
?
Mar 5, 2020 14:56
|
|
|
McCoy Pauley posted:There was a sequel trilogy, wasn't there? Anyone know if that was any good? Did it involve the same characters? I enjoyed it as well. The primary characters are a bit different. Instead of Tamas / Taniel / Adamat it's Michel Bravis, Ben Styke, and Vlora Flint. Same world, though.
|
|
#
?
Mar 5, 2020 15:02
|
|
|
Haven't gotten to the sequel trilogy yet, but it's high on my (ever growing, ever expanding) list.
|
|
#
?
Mar 5, 2020 15:07
|
|
|
It took me literal months but I just finished Hunter's Death! (by Michelle West) Here's an explanation of what that is and some rambling about it. Hunter's Oath/Death is a duology and first in the author's mega-'verse: Essalieyan. It's an epic fantasy series with multiple sub-series and she's been contracted by DAW to write the final sequence in the 'verse so hopefully it'll have a proper ending. Essalieyan universe quick guide: Hunter's Oath/Death: start here, chronologically and publishing-wise they're the first, and introduce a bunch of important characters + places. Sun Sword: six books, all of them 400-600+ pages, epic fantasy of immense scope. For some reason the first book starts with like a 70 page prologue about characters who apparently don't reappear in the first volume. I assume they will be relevant later. House War: Eight books, the first three are set concurrent with Hunter's Death and before Sun Sword, the last five are after the Sun Sword. Burning Crown: Projected to be four books, might grow to be more, will be the finale to the entire series. The world is a fantasy world where the gods had their fun, then went back to the heavenly plane and only rarely mess with mortals now. Except that fantasy-Satan keeps trying to come back and make a mess of things. There are three big kingdoms: Essalieyan, Breodanir, and Annagar. Essa is the big titular kingdom where most of the plot happens - it has two kings, two queens, and then ten ruling houses who try to assassinate each other on the regular. Breodanir is a smaller wild kingdom where they worship the hunter god and once a year all the lords go on a sacred hunt where the god hunts one of them and eats him. Annagar is the Middle East, but south of Essa and ready to make war against it again. Essa shows up everywhere, but Breo only gets focus in Hunter's Death/Oath and Annagar shows up in the Sun Sword with a LOT of focus. Hunter's Oath/Death starts with a relatively small scope: the life of a hunt-brother, Stephen. He's adopted into a royal family to be brother to the Hunter Lord, and you get a close-up view on how that culture handles losing a lord every year, while also worshiping the hunt. Then the plot begins to kick off as demons start looking for a special hunting horn, as assassins show up, and a magical seer who lives her life in a random path through time begins to throw a wrench into everything. By the end of Oath everyone is on a trip to Essalieyan's capital, because that's where the heart of the demon plot is. Hunter's Death is massive, and widens the scope so much it took me ages to get through it because it felt like the author decided midway through that she had a LOT more going on than originally planned for. And for the most part it works, but there are parts where I was all "who are these jerks" and had to plow through. You get introduced to Jewel, a street rat who will eventually become a major force as she joins one of the Houses that govern Essa (and apparently she has a big role in the House War series). You get introduced to more mages, more people, more places. Stephen and his brother never really lose the main focus, and the emotional heart of the book remains them, but suddenly you're spending way more time with Essalieyans and mages and such. I would call these books primarily political intrigue, mystery, and some action. Plenty of magic. There's a ton of depth to the worldbuilding, and at points I felt I could compare them favorably to Tolkien's work - the depth of the histories, the way the magical intersects the mundane. I actually paused my Silmarillion readthrough because it made me want to read and finish Hunter's Death. To those of you not into romance: there's some, but it's never a focus and there's no sex on-screen. Now, one caveat: the character of Kallandras. Kall's an ex-assassin bard who is basically the best bard to have ever lived, and he is a tragic snowflake. He shows up in both books and gets a decent amount of screentime because he is special and does special things. Saves Stephen's life, helps get important items to Gil, helps fight demons. I'd almost give him main character status - or at least on par with Elayne (the seer lady who lives weirdly through time) - except that for whatever reason, I just did not connect with him or feel it was his story. He felt too much like the author's pet, and remained that way through the entire duology. Oh, and he shows up early in the Sun Sword as well, because again, author's pet. To be fair: he's not obnoxious, no one really loves him, his tragic past is interesting - it's just that I don't care for him. He's a little too special for my tastes.  I hope my distaste doesn't keep you from reading the books - I just needed to complain about him.Phew! Okay, there. Books good. I can't believe I've been reading Hunter's Death for so long... it's wild to not have it next to me all the time. I'm hoping to start the Sun Sword soonish, but Silmarillion first.
|
|
#
?
Mar 5, 2020 20:59
|
|
|
As prophesied by Fart of Presto, Rogue Protocol (Murderbot #3) by Martha Wells - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0756JSWGL/ Provenance by Ann Leckie - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XW6YTKV/ I like Ancillary Justice, but I don't know anything about this one. Same universe it looks like.
|
|
#
?
Mar 6, 2020 00:23
|
|
|
Ah what the gently caress. murderbot #4 was $2.99 in Norway, #3 is still $9.99. What nonsense.
|
|
#
?
Mar 6, 2020 00:29
|
|
|
I'm about 2/3rds through the first Darwath book and I'm liking it so far, I'm digging the more horror theme to things than you'd expect from the "a wizard abducts a historian and a biker from California to save the kingdom" setup.
|
|
#
?
Mar 6, 2020 01:03
|
|
|
I've finally collected all the Murderbot novellas from Kindle sales and man. Murderbot's loving awesome.
|
|
#
?
Mar 6, 2020 03:44
|
|
|
Finished the two Alistair Reynolds Revenger books. Very solid. I probably hadn't read a book of his since House of Suns ~ ten years ago, which seems to have been an oversight.
|
|
#
?
Mar 6, 2020 20:25
|
|
|
gvibes posted:Finished the two Alistair Reynolds Revenger books. Very solid. I probably hadn't read a book of his since House of Suns ~ ten years ago, which seems to have been an oversight. I believe the third book was published about a month ago.
|
|
#
?
Mar 6, 2020 20:35
|
|
|
Vague, pretentious question: as I read the Silmarillion I want to read similar epic fantasy, but not LotR/Hobbit yet. So far I've only encountered two authors who give me the same sense of depth and majesty as Tolkien's works do: Janny Wurts and Michelle Sagara/West. In my opinion no other author hits the same beats without getting caught up in their own styles - too grounded, not grounded enough, not well-written enough, etc. Here's the question: who writes the best Tolkien-esque fantasy? Please do not say Robert Jordan, he doesn't. Zelazny and Gene Wolfe also do not count. Is there anyone, or do I need to go back pre-Tolkien and read Eddison again?
|
|
#
?
Mar 6, 2020 21:19
|
|
|
James Islington's recent trilogy gave me a bit of a Tolkein vibe, but I think you will probably find it falls short, worth a go though, I thought it was decent.
|
|
#
?
Mar 6, 2020 21:35
|
|
|
Off the top of my head, you might enjoy: Le Guin's Earthsea books Patricia McKillip's Riddlemaster trilogy Evangeline Walton's adaptations of the Mabinogion (Prince of Annwn et al) and, of course, Dune, with the usual caveats.
|
|
#
?
Mar 6, 2020 22:37
|
|
|
Selachian posted:Le Guin's Earthsea books The other option would be to go for what inspired Tolkien himself - myths, sagas and the like are usually fun to read, they just don't all come pre-chewed like Walton's Mabinogion. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 23:18 on Mar 6, 2020 |
|
#
?
Mar 6, 2020 23:14
|
|
|
Artificial Condition (Murderbot #2) by Martha Wells - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075DGHHQL/ Hopefully everyone who follows the thread now has the original murderbot quadrilogy. Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DN8BQMD/ Uplifted spiders, generational cryosleep spaceship, and first contact. Very good book.
|
|
#
?
Mar 6, 2020 23:16
|
|
|
StrixNebulosa posted:
Comedy option: Dennis McKiernan. When I was a teenager and wanted more fellowship, dwarves, Moria, etc., The Iron Tower and The Silver Call were exactly what I wanted. Serious answer: Lord Dunsany, not quite the same though, a bit more ethereal and folk-tale-like. I got into his books after seeing Neil Gaiman name drop him in The Sandman a lot. Other than that I third the Earthsea trilogy. Strix have you read Michelle Sagara's The Sundered books?
|
|
#
?
Mar 6, 2020 23:57
|
|
|
Carrier posted:James Islington's recent trilogy gave me a bit of a Tolkein vibe, but I think you will probably find it falls short, worth a go though, I thought it was decent. Unfortunately the premise of this set does very little for me, and the library doesn't have it.  Selachian posted:Off the top of my head, you might enjoy: Le Guin is always at my "I should read that" list, but I never do get around to her. It doesn't help that I hated Earthsea 1 back when I read it in high school. I should try again. I've never heard of Riddle-master and it sounds oldschool in the best ways so I'll seek it out. And woah, I didn't know there was a "modern" retelling of the Mabinogion! Thank you! bagrada posted:Comedy option: Dennis McKiernan. When I was a teenager and wanted more fellowship, dwarves, Moria, etc., The Iron Tower and The Silver Call were exactly what I wanted. Ha, I saw some of McKiernan's works in a local used bookstore and went "...wait. this is lotr." when reading the back. I have an instinctual desire to avoid Lord Dunsany that I'm having trouble understanding as I've never read him and I know he's a huge influence. I should see what my library has of him - aha. Gods Men and Ghosts. Worth checking out. I own the Sundered and haven't started them yet! I know they'll be rough as they were her first books, but they also sound extremely fun.
|
|
#
?
Mar 7, 2020 00:02
|
|
|
I recently went through the Throne Of Glass series and actually enjoyed it quite a lot. How much of a taateless pleb does that make me? The world is conceptualized very well and the political factions and individual characters feel interesting. Just a bit too much love stuff, especially in the first novel, which was honestly kinda awful compared to the rest. I'm sort of impressed how much the quality rose by the second or third book. Overall the fantasy was a tad generic, though. Does anyone else have some impressions of that series?
|
|
#
?
Mar 7, 2020 03:45
|
|
|
I like them! Not tasteless imo. Pretty much agree re: the trajectory of the series. A Court of Thorns and Roses felt pretty similar - real heavy on romance book 1, to the detriment of the rest of the story/scope, and then opens up after. The series really left me wanting a book that focuses on the witch covens. I feel like the Manon stuff could so easily be it's own trilogy, and I 100% want more coven infighting and politics etc.
|
|
#
?
Mar 7, 2020 04:40
|
|
RIP ZEEZ
|
Question about Foreigner: who does Bren actually shoot at the beginning? I can't tell if I'm having massive brain fart, or if it's never confirmed.
|
|
#
?
Mar 7, 2020 05:12
|
|
|
pradmer posted:Provenance by Ann Leckie - $2.99 Same universe, it explores the setting from a non-Radch perspective. It's a pretty fun story! Basically three mini-mysteries woven together.
|
|
#
?
Mar 7, 2020 06:33
|
|
|
StrixNebulosa posted:Here's the question: who writes the best Tolkien-esque fantasy? Please do not say Robert Jordan, he doesn't. Zelazny and Gene Wolfe also do not count. Is there anyone, or do I need to go back pre-Tolkien and read Eddison again? Watch Babylon 5. it's not fantasy, but it's an incredibly sincere homage to LotR. It's also chock full of all the stuff the creator thought was cool about LotR. Rangers. Their B5 equivalent is central to the story.
|
|
#
?
Mar 7, 2020 07:54
|
|
|
TheAardvark posted:Question about Foreigner: iirc the conservatives who ilsidi is grouped with at the time got spooked by what you find out at the end (dunno if you've finished the book so i won't spoil it) and sent an asassin to merk him
|
|
#
?
Mar 7, 2020 09:46
|
|
|
foutre posted:I like them! Not tasteless imo. Pretty much agree re: the trajectory of the series. A Court of Thorns and Roses felt pretty similar - real heavy on romance book 1, to the detriment of the rest of the story/scope, and then opens up after. I agree about that. I am sort of glad the final book acknowledged in universe what a stupid name Lord Lorcan Lochan is. Some fantasy stories would just ignore that and act like that's normal. I hadn't thought about that, but a prequel about Manon would be quite rad. I guess Manon would be a bit of an unthinking killing machine in the past, but there could be some glimpses of more there. Especially, if Asterin influences her.
|
|
#
?
Mar 7, 2020 09:54
|
|
|
TheAardvark posted:Question about Foreigner: Doctor Jeep posted:iirc the conservatives who ilsidi is grouped with at the time got spooked by what you find out at the end (dunno if you've finished the book so i won't spoil it) and sent an asassin to merk him I don't recall that they're ever named either, just some assassin who's luck came up short that day. Sadly the series doesn't seem to have Vorkosigan-grade obsessed fans that write detailed wiki articles about everything mentioned in the books. Something really stupid that just jumped into mind: 
|
|
#
?
Mar 7, 2020 10:46
|
|
|
C.M. Kruger posted:Something really stupid that just jumped into mind:  Ilisidi.
|
|
#
?
Mar 7, 2020 13:00
|
|
|
StrixNebulosa posted:Vague, pretentious question: as I read the Silmarillion I want to read similar epic fantasy, but not LotR/Hobbit yet. So far I've only encountered two authors who give me the same sense of depth and majesty as Tolkien's works do: Janny Wurts and Michelle Sagara/West. In my opinion no other author hits the same beats without getting caught up in their own styles - too grounded, not grounded enough, not well-written enough, etc. Maybe check out Guy Gavriel Kay if you haven't already. He helped work on the Silmarillion back in the day - here's a Guardian interview. I say this with reservations because his most 'Tolkien-ish epic fantasy' books are his first three novels, the Fionavar Tapestry, and while I loved them years ago I'm not sure whether they would hold up as well now.
|
|
#
?
Mar 7, 2020 13:01
|
|
|
Redshirts by John Scalzi - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0079XPUOW/ The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie - $3.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DHJT92Q Red Moon by Kim Stanley Robinson - $3.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079L5PTZS
|
|
#
?
Mar 7, 2020 18:13
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 19, 2024 17:16 |
|
|
StrixNebulosa posted:Vague, pretentious question: as I read the Silmarillion I want to read similar epic fantasy, but not LotR/Hobbit yet. So far I've only encountered two authors who give me the same sense of depth and majesty as Tolkien's works do: Janny Wurts and Michelle Sagara/West. In my opinion no other author hits the same beats without getting caught up in their own styles - too grounded, not grounded enough, not well-written enough, etc. If you’re looking for Silmarillion vibes Ken Liu’s The Grace of Kings felt similar to me in tone.
|
|
#
?
Mar 7, 2020 21:19
|
|