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I just finished the curse of chalion It’s a very good fantasy with one of the best protagonists I can remember in fantasy
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Apr 5, 2020 22:32
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Just finished Shiloh, a chapbook by Philip Fracassi. This contains two horror short stories, the titular story focuses on two soldiers of the line, twin brothers, fighting for the south at this, the bloodiest battle of the Civil War. On the battlefield they start seeing demons and angels also engaged in warfare. Sounds corny but he manages to make it not nearly as corny or melodramatic as that sounds. The second story, the Soda Fountain, is really really good. A teen-aged girl not happy with a recent move to a new town, is taken out by a popular local boy to be shown the sights, and it takes a hard turn into, well, that would be telling. I was much more impressed with this than the last chapbook I mentioned on the previous page.
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Apr 5, 2020 23:00
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The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire Vol 1 by Mike Butterworth and Don Lawrence. Originally serialised in a variety of children's magazines from 1965 to 1976, this tale of a faux-Roman empire in space is more than a little bit hokey these days. Its debt to Edgar Rice Burroughs is painfully obvious - one story arc is even a straight lift from the John Carter books - and far too many stories involve an excuse to set up overwhelming odds. What makes it stand out and be worth a revisit 50 years on is the painted artwork by the legendary Don Lawrence. It's occasionally "of its time" - the evil Lokans are straight up yellow peril caricatures in the first arc, and the only nod given to PC after that is their skin being changed to green - but other than that it's nearly faultless. Every page looks like a classic pulp cover painting, and Lawrence was turning out 80 to 100 pages a year. Summary: a classic boys adventure story receiving its first affordable reprint in decades. If you have any interest in the area, and you haven't already read it, then you should.
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Apr 6, 2020 10:00
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euphronius posted:I just finished the curse of chalion I liked it too. Couldn't get interested in the sequel though.
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Apr 6, 2020 16:17
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The curse of chalion guy reminded me of FitzChivalry a whole lot
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Apr 6, 2020 16:32
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Jedit posted:The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire Vol 1 by Mike Butterworth and Don Lawrence. Originally serialised in a variety of children's magazines from 1965 to 1976, this tale of a faux-Roman empire in space is more than a little bit hokey these days. Its debt to Edgar Rice Burroughs is painfully obvious - one story arc is even a straight lift from the John Carter books - and far too many stories involve an excuse to set up overwhelming odds. That's a blast from the past - I haven't thought about that since my childhood where it was serialised in some educational magazine my parents got for me. It was a great read and the artwork was something else. Asa kid, I was struck by the opening scenes where modern day Earth picks up a dead escapee from the Trigan empire, who is carrying with him the comics that we're reading. Add in that all the characters we see are "now" dead and the empire has collapsed and it was a strong tale.
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Apr 6, 2020 17:18
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euphronius posted:I just finished the curse of chalion TheAardvark posted:I liked it too. Couldn't get interested in the sequel though. Try the Penric series - same world, radically different protagonist from the sequel. https://www.amazon.com/Penrics-Demon-Penric-Desdemona-Book-ebook/dp/B0114LJ3BU/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= or https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1982124296/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i3
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Apr 8, 2020 01:07
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Servants of the Wankh by Jack Vance. Unclear why he didn't realize how British readers would react to his naming. Both the humans and aliens seemed China-derived in one way or another..
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Apr 8, 2020 03:24
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nonathlon posted:That's a blast from the past - I haven't thought about that since my childhood where it was serialised in some educational magazine my parents got for me. That would be Look and Learn.
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Apr 8, 2020 10:09
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TommyGun85 posted:Black Swan Green by David Mitchell Black Swan Green is still better than Ghoswritten and Number9Dream, in my opinion.
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Apr 8, 2020 14:06
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My Mitchell opinions are upside down to yours I guess, my favorites are Black Swan Green and number9dream, and I mostly didn't like Cloud Atlas and especially Bone Clocks. Excited for Utopia Avenue, though, just because I've read all his books so it's exciting to finally get a new one.
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Apr 8, 2020 14:33
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Re: Mitchell The only novel of his I didnt enjoy was Slade House. My favorites are probably The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet and Ghostwritten. I enjoyed Black Swan Green a lot, but its just a straight autobiography which wasnt what I was expecting.
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Apr 8, 2020 14:52
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2010: Odyssey Two - This is my second time through this one. Arthur is a master and i also liked the movie.
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Apr 8, 2020 17:08
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On Mitchell: Black Swan Green is maybe my favorite, 1000 Autumns next, then I liked pretty much everything though Bone Clocks felt a little like fan service. His books can be very tonally different though so I expect they will resonate differently. Ball Lightning by Cixin Liu. I read his "3 Body problem" trilogy and really liked it. Ball Lightning was released prior but in what was a really informative afterword he revealed that he was mostly done with the 3 body problem when he banged this out, and wrote this book in more of a "Chinese Science Fiction" style. Ball Lightning doesn't deal with social/global ramifications of new discoveries like his other books do, but the "feel" and tone is really similar. He takes a more fuzzy approach to physics (including some things that were straight up wrong) but he is thorough and internally consistent. I didn't like this book as much, but glad I could revisit his approach to sci-fi again. Some of the complaints I had with 3 body definitely exist here (a lot of 2 dimensional characters, some weirdly structured situations that are awkward) but it's well written. I would read this after 3 body, and it's not at all essential. I saw he had another series coming out but I read the description and gently caress that, I am not reading that right now.
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Apr 8, 2020 17:39
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Jedit posted:That would be Look and Learn. That's the one. In reflection, it was full of urban legends, rah-rah imperialism, and "heroic" tales, but I loved to read it and it gave me a good general knowledge for a kid.
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Apr 8, 2020 19:24
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Leviathan Wakes ( Book1 of The Expanse) Started this series after enjoying the TV adaptation. I wasnt expecting much, but I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed it. The TV adaptation is pretty faithful, but to be honest I enjoyed it more (so far) than the novel. The novel is told from the POV of Miller and Holden, who are probably my least favorite characters. I expect the next in the series to be more enjoyable when more POVs are introduced. Another thing that the novel felt it was 'missing' was the political perspectives of Earth and Mars during these events, which are present in the show and feature some great characters. I am looking forward to Caliban's War (Book 2).
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Apr 8, 2020 22:14
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There's been a lot of discussion about The Expanse, my take has always been somewhat similar to Game of Thrones. Some of the books are good or even great, others are just really trash, and both TV series elevated the quality of the material that was there.
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Apr 8, 2020 22:29
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oops
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Apr 8, 2020 22:36
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Ubiquitus posted:There's been a lot of discussion about The Expanse, my take has always been somewhat similar to Game of Thrones. well lets hope The Expanse TV Series does not end up like GOT. I read ASOIF but hated the writing. Endless descriptions of armour and food and name dropping a million characters that dont matter just didnt do it for me. Im hoping Leviathan Wakes is one of the weaker ones in The Expanse. I know the shows 3rd season was great so I am looking forward to those novels and the ones beyond what has been adapted. Hopefully, there arent too many duds in there. I am looking forward to new POVs for the next book since Holden is pretty boring (show and book).
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Apr 8, 2020 23:05
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TommyGun85 posted:Leviathan Wakes ( Book1 of The Expanse) Milkfred E. Moore and Omi no Kami are doing an excellent Let's Read of the Expanse series, going chapter by chapter. I think it's worth checking out if you are enjoying the books (and probably the show, too).
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Apr 9, 2020 01:07
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TommyGun85 posted:well lets hope The Expanse TV Series does not end up like GOT. I read ASOIF but hated the writing. Endless descriptions of armour and food and name dropping a million characters that dont matter just didnt do it for me. My experience with both book series was very similar: amazing settings and worldbuilding in the first few books, then sucked a fatty
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Apr 9, 2020 01:53
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A Kayak Full of Ghosts: Eskimo Tales - Got this after seeing the following excerpt. The rest of the book is in the same vein, was not disappointed. https://twitter.com/incunabula/status/1232033394357395456 Circe - Madeline Miller - Didn't like it as much as Song of Achilles, the pacing was worse and I didn't get as invested in the protagonist. Still, wasn't bad. Fires - Raymond Carver - Didn't care much for the poems, enjoyed the essays and short stories. Kings of the Wyld - Finally broke my bad habit of getting the whole set when starting a new series and boy am I glad of that. The main selling point of the book is supposedly its humor, and boy is the humor grating. It's a horrible mix of references to modern things and bad slapstick. The only redeeming point was that the pacing is decent, reading it wasn't a slog. This is How You Lose The Time War - There was some nice prose at the beginning but the rest of the book fell flat for me, presumably since I didn't get invested in the protagonists and their struggle.
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Apr 9, 2020 08:35
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The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers. I always wanted to read this. In doing so I found myself immediately rewarded with various expressions of 'I don't want to be alone'. There's more, of course, but in that statement there's a real and natural human desire that's overwhelmingly beautiful. God(s) help us all.
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Apr 9, 2020 13:06
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COOL CORN posted:Let's Go Play At The Adams' by Mendal W. Johnson I’m assuming you’ve read Jack Ketchum’s The Girl Next Door? That book is currently the closest I’ve ever come to not finishing a book out of disgust and horror. The book obviously has its flaws, but it’s stuck with me for over a decade as the only piece of literature that’s evoked such a visceral reaction.
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Apr 9, 2020 22:05
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The last few books I read: The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski. It's the first Witcher book. Pretty mindless but engaging. A lot of baseline misogyny. Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters. Waters writes a lot of neo-victorian lesbian novels. This was her debut book and it's not very good. It's pretty clearly a self-insert, and even ends with the main character delivering a rousing speech. Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe by Thomas Ligotti. I enjoyed this way more than Teatro Grotesco. It's a series of disconnected horror short stories.
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Apr 10, 2020 04:41
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Finished The Black Legion by Aaron Dembski-Bowden. I have never played Warhammer, but I have a fondness for these books, particularly ADB's. This volume was part of the Black Legion series, detailing the grimdark exploits of selfsame legion and their plans for revenge against the Emperor, who is gonna get what's comin' to him, you'll see. The Warhammer books are what you get when you mix about two tons of 2000 AD back issues with black metal and Monty Python, all finished with a cover usually featuring someone who looks to be permanently constipated.
Robot Wendigo fucked around with this message at 02:54 on Apr 11, 2020 |
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Apr 11, 2020 02:52
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Just finished True Grit by Charles Portis. I had only seen the 2010 movie. The book is one of the more delightful experiences I've had reading lately. I stayed up all night reading it. It's a western about a young girl who teams up with a Marshal and a Texas Ranger to capture the man who killed her father. It's narrated by her and has a very dry and deadpan wit.
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Apr 13, 2020 07:08
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Dark Reflections (Delany). What Delany always does really well, and what I love in fiction, is recontextualisation. You follow the main character, the gay black poet Arnold Hawley, through decades of his life, different ages - so people he thought were old become young looking back, the young become old with the shifting of the light, minor personal events spiral out and become historical and cultural ones, major personal events come to look trivial. And everything is reflected on by the other works of literature dropped throughout the novel, by the similarities to Delany’s life and his own autobiography, and by Hawley’s own poems, none of which we get to see (except for, fittingly, one typo’d word) but which he himself revisits over time and re-evaluates the meaning of. Delany always writes palimpsests. If you ever tried Delany but gave up because of his quirks, this one is a lot more accessible in content and language than his sci-fi. Ok, it still has some inexplicably horny dudes, but uh... it’s toned down a lot.
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Apr 15, 2020 08:21
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Foundation by Isaac Asimov Fun science fiction that is effectively some Decline and Fall of Roman Empire wish fulfillment. I enjoyed the book a lot, political maneuvering and slow world-(galaxy-)building is exciting to me. I’ve heard every other book in the Foundation series is substandard compared to this one though, are literally any of them worth reading? The Hari Seldon Psychohistory thing is a fun thread to follow.
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Apr 16, 2020 21:53
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Sandwolf posted:I’ve heard every other book in the Foundation series is substandard compared to this one though, are literally any of them worth reading? What I assume you're thinking of is the sequels and prequels that Asimov wrote in the '80s. They definitely have a lesser reputation, but I've never heard anyone say that they aren't worth reading at all. The main issues that people point out (relative to the originals) are his distracting efforts to connect them with the setting of the robot stories and to bring them up to speed with the development of computers in the intervening decades. Sham bam bamina! fucked around with this message at 01:02 on Apr 17, 2020 |
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Apr 17, 2020 00:58
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Son by Lois Lowry was the last book in a quadrilogy. Given that I read only the first book up to this point, I thought that there might be too much of a gap for me to enjoy the book but the book was still enjoyable. However, how the antagonist was defeated was a bit...too easy? too simplistic?
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Apr 17, 2020 04:34
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And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. Pretty ridiculous plot but it's the best-selling mystery novel of all time for a reason. It's extremely gripping, though I'm not sure how I felt about the solution.
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Apr 17, 2020 04:45
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PsychedelicWarlord posted:And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. Pretty ridiculous plot but it's the best-selling mystery novel of all time for a reason. It's extremely gripping, though I'm not sure how I felt about the solution. I remember reading this and feeling wildly cheated by the reveal
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Apr 17, 2020 20:44
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nut posted:I remember reading this and feeling wildly cheated by the reveal It's a very stupid twist/solution.
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Apr 17, 2020 23:13
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Agatha Christie's most famous mysteries are always absurd cop outs and I have no idea why she is so famous
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Apr 17, 2020 23:55
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Its pretty unfair to criticize a book written in the 30s under todays bias. It would be like saying The Turn of the Screw isnt scary and you dont understand why people thought it was. Different times folks; the ending is only ridiculous now because it is derivative of itself. That original title though.....yikes.
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Apr 18, 2020 01:18
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You are making some offensive presumptions there
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Apr 18, 2020 01:31
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They were stupid twists even back then. I love them so much because I'm always left guessing, even if the chain of logic is wildly out of left field. So in a sense they're kind of like thrillers? Anyways y'all should read John Dickson Carr instead, he writes cool mysteries.
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Apr 18, 2020 01:40
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Mel Mudkiper posted:You are making some offensive presumptions there such as? StrixNebulosa posted:They were stupid twists even back then. Kinf of my point though. Were you alive in 1939? How can you judge if they were stupid back then? For the record, Im not defending the twists, just saying its not unreasonable to understand why its the most popular mystery of all time and why Christie is highly praised. TommyGun85 fucked around with this message at 02:02 on Apr 18, 2020 |
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Apr 18, 2020 01:59
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Mystery stories had been published regularly for almost a century before Christie, it's not like she was a pioneer in an unexplored genre
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Apr 18, 2020 02:06
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