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Red Sister (Book of the Ancestor #1) by Mark Lawrence - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IAUG6R2/ The Bone Ships (The Tide Child #1) by RJ Barker - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MPW3GMX/
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May 11, 2020 23:09
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Murderbot 5 capsule review: Book VERY good, but it has pacing problems. The opening kept going from being too slow to being too fast. But then everything else was very very very good and the ending nailed it so it can have five stars. If you like Murderbot you will love this. If you don't like Murderbot, you will not like this. If you don't know Murderbot, start with #1.
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May 11, 2020 23:42
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StrixNebulosa posted:Murderbot 5 capsule review: Book VERY good, but it has pacing problems. The opening kept going from being too slow to being too fast. But then everything else was very very very good and the ending nailed it so it can have five stars. If you like Murderbot you will love this. If you don't like Murderbot, you will not like this. If you don't know Murderbot, start with #1. i just finished it too and it was extremely cute and the transition to novel-length is very appreciated.
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May 12, 2020 00:02
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16 ways to defend a walled city was solid! It is set in basically exactly the later Roman Empire except with some names changed. You also have to be down with the snarky main character who narrates everything/the continuous unlikely success of his unorthodox/irreverent methods. Still would recommend though.
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May 12, 2020 00:08
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Safety Biscuits posted:Yes - it's more similar to the early Discworld book with the great spell that scares all the other magic out of Rincewind's head. That would be because in the early Discworld novels Pratchett was explicitly parodying Vancian magic. (Congratulations, it's not often we see a Reverse Hogwarts in the wild.)
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May 12, 2020 00:12
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tildes posted:16 ways to defend a walled city was solid! It is set in basically exactly the later Roman Empire except with some names changed. You also have to be down with the snarky main character who narrates everything/the continuous unlikely success of his unorthodox/irreverent methods. Still would recommend though. And...it's not like a book has to have that sort of character growth. I just found myself noticing the lack, and wishing that the book had done a little more - then I would have really loved it. It was sort of like the martian in you have this character whos role is to solve problems, and then the book presents some problems, and they get solved, and then the book ends. Much much less annoying than the martian and better written, tho.
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May 12, 2020 00:25
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awesmoe posted:I enjoyed the book but I found the lack of character development or growth was a bit disappointing. That’s a pretty accurate description of it for sure.
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May 12, 2020 00:27
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Also, KJ Parker can usually be relied upon to provide some high-quality ancient/medieval engineering porn.
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May 12, 2020 00:46
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I found 16 ways to have such a bizarre mish-mash of tones, that it just pulled me out of the story entirely. It's a serious, detailed look a siege warfare, where a battle can hinge on whether our heroes can reverse engineer a new type of catapult hinge, and also this ridiculous operatic story where the grand crusade of the wretched of the earth to overthrow their oppressors is stopped short by The Power Of Friendship. And honestly I enjoy both of those, but they don't play well together.
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May 12, 2020 00:50
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90s Cringe Rock posted:Cugel is a complete piece of poo poo even considering that Vance is pretty misanthropic. I always laugh when he confronts the wizard who sent him on his journey. It's not the best time he gets owned, but it is pretty great. Come to think of it, the early Traveller supplements 1001 Characters and Citizens of the Imperium had game stats for heroes from fiction. Earl Dumarest and Kirth Girsen from Demon Princes were in 1001 Characters. CoI had Jame Retief, James di Griz, and Senior Physician Conway amongst others.
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May 12, 2020 01:59
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I thought Murderbot leaned female on the Androgynous gradient because: -the way people treat it leans toward how women are treated. -after ART modifies Murderbot's appearance it gives Muderbot female fake IDs and Murderbot is briefly angry about it but chalks it up to the longer hair and visual changes without explicitly saying what they are -it would be weird for the child of a polyamorous marriage to call Murderbot what she called Murderbot, if Murderbot didn't have at least enough feminine appearance traits for her to think that was ok. Unless the author slipped here and the kid is a sexist and it was meant to insult rather than compliment (the way it read). -Also when Murderbot takes a job on a mining colony as an augmented human the other humans use she/her pronouns when talking about Murderbot. It isn't exactly subtle across the series.
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May 12, 2020 04:55
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biracial bear for uncut posted:-it would be weird for the child of a polyamorous marriage to call Murderbot what she called Murderbot, if Murderbot didn't have at least enough feminine appearance traits for her to think that was ok. Unless the author slipped here and the kid is a sexist and it was meant to insult rather than compliment (the way it read). "what are you, my mother?" is a usual saying in english, so it's got nothing to do with sexism
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May 12, 2020 07:52
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Safety Biscuits posted:Yes - it's more similar to the early Discworld book with the great spell that scares all the other magic out of Rincewind's head. I think u mean slave of the wank
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May 12, 2020 08:27
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Doctor Jeep posted:"what are you, my mother?" is a usual saying in english, so it's got nothing to do with sexism "Okay, third mom" is not.
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May 12, 2020 10:12
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I found the first Murderbot novel fine but forgettable but it sincerely pleases me to see lots of people really enjoying something, corona madness is making me sentimental
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May 12, 2020 10:24
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StrixNebulosa posted:fake edit 2: I think the Cassandra Kresnov novels also count in this genre, as does Murderbot when it has to save the day. So it doesn't have to be a dude! I was just thinking today that Murderbot reminds me of Kresnov in a lot of ways. They they both have that "extremely competent killbot goes rogue and tries to pass for human in a society that is rightfully scared of autonomous killbots" thing going. Similar pasts with the League and the company, similar "charge in and take hits" combat styles, inability to recall their earliest past, the governor and the killswitch, the fact that they both started to 'free' other killbots, etc.
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May 12, 2020 10:48
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freebooter posted:I found the first Murderbot novel fine but forgettable but it sincerely pleases me to see lots of people really enjoying something, corona madness is making me sentimental
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May 12, 2020 12:13
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biracial bear for uncut posted:I thought Murderbot leaned female on the Androgynous gradient because: This all checks, and I would be interested to see if the author has Murderbot ever decide to take a different pronoun. Like, not to say that I'm not enjoying Murderbot as nonbinary, but I would love to see a genderfluid person explore their gender identity over time to the point where they're comfortable claiming another pronoun. I don't think I've ever seen that in sci-fi/fantasy fiction.
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May 12, 2020 14:32
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StrixNebulosa posted:This all checks, and I would be interested to see if the author has Murderbot ever decide to take a different pronoun. Like, not to say that I'm not enjoying Murderbot as nonbinary, but I would love to see a genderfluid person explore their gender identity over time to the point where they're comfortable claiming another pronoun. I don't think I've ever seen that in sci-fi/fantasy fiction. Yoon Ha Lee (a trans author)'s machineries of empire series (Firefox Gambit et al) go into gender identity quite a bit although it's not exactly what you're talking about here. I'd be interested to read an analysis of the books from a trans perspective as a lot of it deals with a character dealing with a male consciousness that's been put inside her head.
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May 12, 2020 14:46
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Khizan posted:I was just thinking today that Murderbot reminds me of Kresnov in a lot of ways. They they both have that "extremely competent killbot goes rogue and tries to pass for human in a society that is rightfully scared of autonomous killbots" thing going. Similar pasts with the League and the company, similar "charge in and take hits" combat styles, inability to recall their earliest past, the governor and the killswitch, the fact that they both started to 'free' other killbots, etc. I read 200 pages of Kresnov 1, loved it, and then dropped it for months because my brain demanded fantasy. Picking it back up in the middle of an action sequence has been... interesting. I remember enough that I don't have to reread the book, but I need to start the action over as I have no idea what they're doing.
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May 12, 2020 14:55
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StrixNebulosa posted:... I would love to see a genderfluid person explore their gender identity over time to the point where they're comfortable claiming another pronoun. I don't think I've ever seen that in sci-fi/fantasy fiction. I’m working on a scifi series that does exactly that
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May 12, 2020 15:39
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buffalo all day posted:Yoon Ha Lee (a trans author)'s machineries of empire series (Firefox Gambit et al) go into gender identity quite a bit although it's not exactly what you're talking about here. I'd be interested to read an analysis of the books from a trans perspective as a lot of it deals with a character dealing with a male consciousness that's been put inside her head. I read an interview with YHL once where he said something like "after I figured out I was trans I promised myself that I would never write a book About Being Trans. Then I finished the first draft of Ninefox Gambit, went back over it, and went 'well, poo poo'."
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May 12, 2020 15:57
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buffalo all day posted:Yoon Ha Lee (a trans author)'s machineries of empire series (Firefox Gambit et al) go into gender identity quite a bit although it's not exactly what you're talking about here. I'd be interested to read an analysis of the books from a trans perspective as a lot of it deals with a character dealing with a male consciousness that's been put inside her head. ToxicFrog posted:I read an interview with YHL once where he said something like "after I figured out I was trans I promised myself that I would never write a book About Being Trans. Then I finished the first draft of Ninefox Gambit, went back over it, and went 'well, poo poo'."  Ninefox Gambit is very very good, and someday I will read the vastly different sequel. Also this amuses me because writing is an act of catharsis and touching your inner self and such, and you show yourself in the book, intentionally or not. And it's making me think of what David Drake wrote on Redliners and how he's mentioned in other places about how writing was his own therapy for coping with being a veteran. quote:Redliners is possibly the best thing I’ve written. It’s certainly the most important thing, both to me personally and to the audience I particularly care about : the veterans, the people who’ve been there, wherever ‘there’ happened to be. And this isn't to say that being trans is like being a veteran, but there is a common element of going through massive change, and realizing where you've been and what you've done and who you are now. Stuporstar posted:I’m working on a scifi series that does exactly that Hell yeah! e: To be clear, I'm neither trans nor a veteran. I'm only speaking from what I've learned about both things, not from a place of authority. StrixNebulosa fucked around with this message at 16:10 on May 12, 2020 |
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May 12, 2020 16:06
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https://twitter.com/RoanhorseBex/status/1260220494432870405
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May 12, 2020 16:42
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I've got to get around to reading her stuff at some point. Native American folklore is criminally underrepresented in fantasy so every bit counts.
anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 21:46 on May 12, 2020 |
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May 12, 2020 21:40
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StrixNebulosa posted:This all checks, and I would be interested to see if the author has Murderbot ever decide to take a different pronoun. Like, not to say that I'm not enjoying Murderbot as nonbinary, but I would love to see a genderfluid person explore their gender identity over time to the point where they're comfortable claiming another pronoun. I don't think I've ever seen that in sci-fi/fantasy fiction. The webcomic El Goonish Shive has heavy elements of that mixed in with the transformation magic, even if it is a rather slow burn. The author even makes it a point to clarify pronouns in the commentary later on for one particular character.
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May 12, 2020 22:01
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Murderbot: I had realized about forty pages before it came up that we never knew the name of Murderbot's company and then felt super clever when it did come up. That's all.
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May 12, 2020 22:24
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I'm nearly done with Ash: A Secret History. This author describes armor like GRRM describes food. Good story, though strange. I wish there had a been a bit more setup that priests could do minor miracles in the previous history, that doesn't come up until the point that the author needs it to so that right after it can disappear when they enter Burgundy.
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May 12, 2020 22:36
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biracial bear for uncut posted:"Okay, third mom" is not. there's another phrase - "alright, mother" - used in the same way
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May 12, 2020 23:53
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A Fire Upon the Deep (Zones of Thought #1) by Vernor Vinge - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FBJAGO/ Blood Song (A Raven's Shadow #1) by Anthony Ryan - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ABKGG0C/ I liked this book just fine but I was warned off from reading the sequels.
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May 13, 2020 01:41
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pradmer posted:A Fire Upon the Deep (Zones of Thought #1) by Vernor Vinge - $2.99 anyone who HASN'T read the book about superintelligent telepathic puppies...now is your chance (it's good!)
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May 13, 2020 03:19
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buffalo all day posted:anyone who HASN'T read the book about superintelligent telepathic puppies...now is your chance (it's good!) hollywood, if you're listening... give us a prestige tv show about these good hivemind pups
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May 13, 2020 03:23
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buffalo all day posted:anyone who HASN'T read the book about superintelligent telepathic puppies...now is your chance (it's good!) I'll be honest, I got bored about halfway through and haven't returned to it. And I'll usually finish about anything.
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May 13, 2020 03:31
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Grimson posted:I'll be honest, I got bored about halfway through and haven't returned to it. And I'll usually finish about anything. I didn't even make it halfway through.
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May 13, 2020 03:36
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Grimson posted:I'll be honest, I got bored about halfway through and haven't returned to it. And I'll usually finish about anything. Riot Carol Danvers posted:I didn't even make it halfway through. Best way to get through Fire Upon the Deep is to just focus on the one storyline in it (steampunk hive-mind telepathic dogs or the scifi out of bounds 2) that interests you and skip the other storyline completely until the two storylines start merging together around the halfway point of the book. The Hive-mind Telepathic dog storyline in Fire upon the Deep starts off slooooow and doesn't really get going until both the human leads in it are acclimatized to being around hive-mind dogs. The same trick "focus on one storyline" works for a cold reading of Steven Erikson's Malazan book 1, Gardens of the Moon, which is a rough read with 4 disconnected storylines, one of which contains Kruppe in all their bloviating glory. quantumfoam fucked around with this message at 04:17 on May 13, 2020 |
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May 13, 2020 04:02
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I liked the dog storyline but I was bored to tears by the high concept space stuff. Which one do the sequels lean toward, or is it still a mix?
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May 13, 2020 05:23
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StrixNebulosa posted:
Ninefox was in my opinion mediocre, where especially the characters felt bland. Interesting concept but failed in execution. Took me a while to read the second book in the series and that one threw out all the interesting things from the first one and replaced it with palace intrigue. I really don’t like palace intrigue cause most of the times it is basically just one step above a harlequin novel.
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May 13, 2020 05:24
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wizzardstaff posted:I liked the dog storyline but I was bored to tears by the high concept space stuff. Which one do the sequels lean toward, or is it still a mix? deepness in the sky, the second book which is a thousands-of-years-before prequel, is very heavy on space stuff (but with less of the insane space god magic stuff, because they're not in that part of space and no one involved knows about it). Children of the Sky, the third book he wrote in that universe, is a direct sequel to the first and is very Dog Heavy
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May 13, 2020 05:30
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Cardiac posted:Ninefox was in my opinion mediocre, where especially the characters felt bland. Interesting concept but failed in execution.
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May 13, 2020 09:24
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quantumfoam posted:Best way to get through Fire Upon the Deep is to just focus on the one storyline in it (steampunk hive-mind telepathic dogs or the scifi out of bounds 2) that interests you and skip the other storyline completely until the two storylines start merging together around the halfway point of the book. Ehh, I got about that far I think (both human leads were in communication with the dogs) and that's when I concluded I wasn't going to get any more interested.
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May 13, 2020 17:12
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