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Xtanstic posted:Yay! Any mention on the POV? I'm still smarting over the non-Mifanwy POV in Stiletto but I'm sure it'll be better on a re-read with calibrated expectations. Take Flight (The Checquy Files #3) by Daniel O'Malley After a woman discovers she has supernatural powers, a string of murders is committed by someone using those same powers. As she goes on the run she discovers the roots of the mystery lie in the events of London's Blitz in WW2. Paperback, 496 pages Expected publication: March 3rd 2021 by HarperCollins - AU
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Jan 6, 2021 06:45
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Does anyone have any opinions on A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness? The premise and main character sounds interesting which is good but it's most commonly compared to Twilight which is bad. Also I don't know if I should commit to a 700 page book one in a trilogy when I could just watch the tv show etc.
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Jan 7, 2021 13:01
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People who've read the Kitty Norville books: When I requested 5 of them from the library, I accidentally missed Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand. How big a disservice would I be doing myself if I just skipped it until I can get it in February? I'd probably be able to renew the next book, which I have, but nothing is certain.
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Jan 9, 2021 08:46
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I'm reading Dresden Files from the start for the first time. I really enjoy Storm Front. It's a strong introduction, and I like Dresden for what he is. Dusters are cool. What I especially like is the atmosphere of "everything sucks for Dresden". It's just horrible stuff after horrible stuff after horrible stuff. Perhaps my only significant complaint is that I don't quite yet have a good grip on what spells Harry can do. There was a spell he did in the finale that came out of nowhere and is super convenient. It doesn't solve everything, so at least Harry doesn't feel super strong. Fool Moon is just Storm Front, but more. There's more Harry making Murphy mad, everything sucks even more for Harry, it's getting steadily lewder, and the enemies are stronger. There's no super convenient spell appearing just in the finale this time, so really I have no more complaints. Just compliments. I genuinely am surprised at how important the pentacle ends up being. It makes complete sense and I feel like a fool not noticing it. The final fight is great. I want more Murphy action, and I got it in heaps. I like Fool Moon even better than the first book, but it is just Stormier Front. I need something new. The new character, Michael, appears so suddenly and with such a strong history with Dresden that I thought the twist in Grave Peril is that he's a demon or some sort who can manipulate memories. I like Michael in the end, though, so it's all fine. I don't like the mystery plot as much, as I think there's an obvious suspect, but somehow he didn't. My biggest weakness is that now almost every woman is super hot and sexy, with splendid breasts and radical legs. I'm just not used to there being this much sexuality in things I've read. Statistics textbooks aren't this sultry usually. Those aside, the action is really strong and I feel Harry's tragedy especially sharply here. I really, really, like the murder mystery in Summer Knight. I love it a lot. It's fair! Small cast of suspects, clear motive for the murder, and all the clues you needed to solve the mystery is there, even if you never heard of fairies before.The solution is also good. A video I watched before I started reading this series mentioned how Dresden Files grow steadily more epic as time goes, and yeah, I can really see it here. The finale in Storm Front is just Harry man-to-man on the baddie's lair, but this one is an entire battlefield. It doesn't feel like Harry's any stronger though, so I hope he gets a power boost sometime soon. All in all, it's a great experience! The books are quick reads. I'm a third into book 5, so in just 6.5 more books I can finally read the first iteration of this thread, back in 2010. Can't wait to read goons' opinion back then.
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Jan 17, 2021 08:29
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NerdyMcNerdNerd posted:I actually enjoyed Forged an awful lot, warts and all. If nothing else it's the book where we got the most Cinder/Verus time, which is cool and good. There are things I don't like, but the most obvious one is Anne- which is something that drags down a couple of books, really. And I'm not entirely sure what it is about her that prevents her from being a satisfying character, but I feel like if she was, it would have elevated the series as a whole and made a number of the books hit so much harder. Honestly I think the big thing that keeps Anne from being interesting is the Dark Anne thing. It's just not interesting because rather than a coherent character who takes actions based off their personality she just has a Flips Evil Switch who acts basically however stupid-evil the plot demands. Alex is an interesting character because there is no barrier between his personality and his actions. When he does terrible things it is because he has chosen to do terrible things. Anne doesn't have that because there's like three different layers of abstraction between her personality and what she ends up doing. Even if Dark Anne is 'a part of Anne' you're still dealing with an incomplete character who only embodies certain specific emotions. And that is before she got possessed by a world-destroying Djinn so now you have Anne, who is in the backseat to Dark Anne, who is in the backseat to a Djinn.
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Jan 17, 2021 09:25
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Oh boy oh boy 
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Jan 17, 2021 09:27
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toanoradian posted:The new character, Michael, appears so suddenly and with such a strong history with Dresden that I thought the twist in Grave Peril is that he's a demon or some sort who can manipulate memories. Yeah, my first time reading I thought I'd skipped a book or the chapter order was messed up. Please keep giving your impressions as you go along, a bunch of people here like that!
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Jan 17, 2021 11:12
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toanoradian posted:I'm reading Dresden Files from the start for the first time. Glad you we're too put-off by the first two books - by the author's own admission he was not a particularly good author in those days and at every signing I've been to he advises anyone who just wandered in to see an author they might not be familiar with to just start with Grave Peril instead of going through Storm Front and Fool Moon first. Just to address one of your points, knowing what spells Harry can cast -- the way its handled in Storm Front is basically how its gonna go for most of the series. He has a pretty consistent stable of ol' reliables, and then once or twice a book he'll break out something brand new at a dramatic moment. As you've no-doubt noticed from the first handful, the books don't really spend a whole lot of time with Harry in down time between Big drat Events for us to really see him practicing/devising new stuff, but there will be a few moments of that here and there throughout the series.
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Jan 17, 2021 17:05
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Yeah, it'll be interesting to see how they feel about the constant woman-ogling by the time they get caught up. Also I'd suggest that Changes is where people should stop reading, because it's been kinda downhill from there.
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Jan 18, 2021 12:15
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toanoradian posted:I'm reading Dresden Files from the start for the first time. Well, you're either going to have an even better time or the rest of the series is going to suck horribly for you because the first three books of the series (especially #2) are generally considered to be the worst. I will say that I think Book #7 is the best by a pretty good margin.
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Jan 19, 2021 21:25
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I think Changes (#12) is my favorite of all of them, but that's closely followed by Dead Beat (7) and Turn Coat (11). Dead Beat is just plain FUN while actually having stakes, Turn Coat is a good pivot in how the whole series feels to me, and Changes is just Changes. toanoradian posted:I'm reading Dresden Files from the start for the first time. If you're interested, I went through and made a blind Dresden reading order list a few months ago I could send you (or post here if other people want it). It's got all the books, short stories, and microfiction in reading order (as opposed to in-universe chronological order. I did make that list too though if anyone wants it instead) with what book each short story is in and the URLs for all the microfiction. My boyfriend was getting into the series a few months ago for the first time and asked me to make him that reading list and mark all the stuff he could skip since he reads so slow and wanted to get caught up so he could talk to me about it.
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Jan 19, 2021 22:20
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While reading Death Masks, I finally realize I'm a huge sucker for magics based on holy items from Christianity. This novel is a fascinating journey into the realm of Christian mythology, and as a Muslim it's exciting! Sadly I don't like the conclusion too much. The ending for one of the main villains is too flippant, too sudden. The actual final battle feels too safe, the main good team too competent. Not enough deaths among the bad guys, I think. Harry-Susan relationship doesn't work for me, but I can't quite explain why. The best I can say is that while Susan comforts Harry a few times, he hadn't done the same for her. But Harry's not a good comforter anyway. I want more Murphy. I don't want more Murphy after reading what Blood Rites did. I'm sure it will lead to a great development somewhere down the line, but I can't stand what happened to Murphy here. Especially how Dresden treated her just before the final battle. I hate it, I abhor it. The theme of family dynamics, of creating and destroying family bonds, is good. I grew up with soap operas where that's a common theme (especially what happens with Murphy's family) and I was ready to gargle suds, but what sticks with me in the end is just the Murphy thing. If similar things (or worse) happens I think I may just drop the series. I don't want to read that kind of stuff. Dead Beat had lots of things I wanted to read in a novel. A coward gaining courage at the right moment, getting hurt but winning? Nice. The person who had to run away or get rescued most of the novel gaining the upper hand by the end? I love an underdog story. The dog having an important role? Woof. A long-running antagonist growing a begrudging respect for Dresden? I can respect that. A dangerous deal with the dark side to gain extra powers? Inject that straight into my veins, doctor. That bonkers climax? Clever! Clever and fun!! I don't have many bad things to say, really. A bit more on why the villains pair in that way, maybe. I enjoyed Dead Beat a ton, and this is what I expected Dresden Files to be when I read the the first thread. Easily my favourite book out of the first 7, with Summer Knight as the second. Still on this ride, excited to see what's coming next. Soysaucebeast posted:If you're interested, I went through and made a blind Dresden reading order list Yes please. I didn't know there was a reading order, I just read the novels by publishing year. I looked up the short stories on Wikipedia thinking Harry's first meeting with Michael is going to be there, but I got spoiled about Butters being a Knight instead, so now I'm not looking up anything about the series.
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Jan 20, 2021 17:13
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toanoradian posted:Yes please. I didn't know there was a reading order, I just read the novels by publishing year. I looked up the short stories on Wikipedia thinking Harry's first meeting with Michael is going to be there, but I got spoiled about Butters being a Knight instead, so now I'm not looking up anything about the series. For the most part you'll be ok just reading the novels by release year. The reading order is just if you want to get into the short stories too (and some of those are dang important I feel). Here's my Google Docs link to the blind reading order. I've got things color coded (blue for novels, red for short stories I think are important, and regular black for stuff that can be safely skipped) and direct links to the microfiction that Jim puts on his website/his Google Docs. There's absolutely no spoilers in that list, just names, color coding, and where everything is. If anyone wants the chronological reading order I did, it's here. It's basically the same as the other reading list sans color coding, but lists any non-Harry POVs for short stories.
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Jan 20, 2021 22:47
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the short stories are completely irrelevant
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Jan 21, 2021 12:35
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Up Circle posted:the short stories are completely irrelevant Except maybe the ones about Bigfoot since he becomes a more important character later.
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Jan 21, 2021 14:39
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Up Circle posted:the short stories are completely irrelevant A bunch of them are, but I wouldn't say all of them. There's one that shows Ivy firing Kincaid after Changes, and there's one from Morgan's POV where he talks about Harry's mom. And of course you find out about Gard being a valkyrie and see the whole Molly/Carlos thing that gets referenced in the books but never explained. And that's just what I remember off the top of my head. Like I would never say they're mandatory, but some are important because they introduce new factions, include some important backstory, or show how characters react to major plot points that end up shaping things in ways Harry isn't aware of.
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Jan 21, 2021 17:26
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Yeah, I would say the short story involving Molly and Carlos is very much required reading for Dresden once you get to that point. It really helps explain a good deal about why Carlos acts the way he does in Peace Talks and Battle Ground.
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Jan 21, 2021 18:44
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Soysaucebeast posted:There's one that shows Ivy firing Kincaid after Changes, and there's one from Morgan's POV where he talks about Harry's mom. The first of those isn't really worth the time it took to track down and the second one completely breaks the plotline of everything that happens in the books related to Morgan and how he treats Dresden in literally every book published before that short story.
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Jan 21, 2021 19:48
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biracial bear for uncut posted:The first of those isn't really worth the time it took to track down and the second one completely breaks the plotline of everything that happens in the books related to Morgan and how he treats Dresden in literally every book published before that short story. Eh, I disagree, but to each their own. As for them not being worth the time to track down though, I literally have links to all the microfiction in that list I posted earlier. Like the link goes directly to the story, not just to Jim's website, so getting there is literally just two clicks from this thread. I'm sure everyone will have different opinions on what is and is not important, I just tried to put everything in one place so people can decide for themselves.
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Jan 21, 2021 22:05
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biracial bear for uncut posted:The first of those isn't really worth the time it took to track down and the second one completely breaks the plotline of everything that happens in the books related to Morgan and how he treats Dresden in literally every book published before that short story. It doesn't though.
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Jan 22, 2021 00:13
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Just ~10 books until I can read what y'all are arguing. I hope those are good posts!
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Jan 22, 2021 03:16
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Rygar201 posted:It doesn't though. Morgan literally tries to find an excuse to kill Dresden in every story he appears in except the one where he needs Dresden's help. The tonal shift in Morgan's POV microfiction is so jarring that it is an entirely different character.
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Jan 22, 2021 11:59
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biracial bear for uncut posted:Morgan literally tries to find an excuse to kill Dresden in every story he appears in except the one where he needs Dresden's help. The tonal shift in Morgan's POV microfiction is so jarring that it is an entirely different character. Morgan's whole deal is thinking that Dresden is very likely a dangerous warlock and nothing in that fiction changes that. It recontextualizes it, but it doesn't fundamentally change.
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Jan 22, 2021 13:58
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Beachcomber posted:People who've read the Kitty Norville books: A medium-sized one. All but one Kitty Norville books are a fun read, but they're also mostly self-contained stories. If it where me, I'd wait since I abhorr reading a book series in the wrong order, but the decision is yours.
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Jan 22, 2021 17:02
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toanoradian posted:Just ~10 books until I can read what y'all are arguing. I hope those are good posts! They are not.
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Jan 22, 2021 19:15
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Well last week I decided to see if Peace Talks ever came out and saw that it had and that Battlegrounds was suddenly a thing. They were pretty good, but I atleast had the advantage of reading the back to back, so it mostly felt like a single long book. I hadn't really thought much about Dresden Files in ages, so I spent a ton of time trying to remember who the hell some people were and why they were important. Definitely feel like there was probably a really good 500 page, single novel version of the 2 books, but it kept me from being bored all weekend.
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Jan 25, 2021 23:20
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Verus talk. I’ve on a dozen occasions thought Levistus’ name sounded vaguely familiar, but apparently assumed it was some bastardized Latin inspiration that I wouldn’t be able to Google and didn’t try. Nope, it was a DND 3e Archdevil trapped in ice, communicating through mental projections, mostly dealing through agents and intermediaries, and a patron of vengeance and betrayal. Man, and I thought Vihaelis was a bit too paint by numbers from her source (WoT’s Semirhage).
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Jan 30, 2021 23:11
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I was uncomfortable with the sexual aspects of the series, so the development between Harry and Molly in Proven Guilty had me worried. I love the idea that slasher movie baddies became the villain, so I'm waiting for a Jason vs. Dresden or a Freddy vs. Dresden. In the end it didn't matter. A surprising development here is that the finale wasn't the climactic big battle, but a sort of...discussion. I like it and it really leads to perhaps one of the happier Dresden endings. I...really don't remember much about White Night beyond its ending. I enjoy the reveal of Thomas' secret. I really like how Harry survives in the end, and it's the one time where I enjoy how lascivious these books can be. I love how the development by the end of Death Masks are completed here. I've never seen a 'deal with the devil' handled this way. I think it's about this book that I felt I must be reading Dresden too quickly, because the factions at play is getting more and more complicated. I complained that Death Masks' finale felt too safe. Small Favor is more up my alley. The villains are similar, but I felt the danger so much more. I was worried that Dresden seems too weak against the main protagonists, but the way he out-manoeuvred the final boss is just amazing. I also love how the villains are using, essentially, the human part of an all-knowing superhuman character Dresden's new power seems promising, though I'm never sure how exactly Dresden get this power. What Mab did with Dresden, and how it is unraveled, is fantastic. I didn't come to Dresden expecting strong mystery plots, but sometimes I get surprised. The mystery plot in Turn Coat has a good start, but in the end there's not enough clues on how the murderer did it. I've read that as the series goes Dresden becomes less and less of a detective, but so far I'm not seeing it. Injun Joe is amazing. More of him, please. I always hated Morgan, but this book improved my opinion on him. The monster taken from Native American mythology is a great villain, and I hope there will be more monsters from mythologies I have not read about. Although all four of those are good, none quite reach the fun factor of Dead Beat. But hey, at last I came to the book every Dresden review I've watched hyped to high heavens: Changes! And it did begin with a banger. Harry has a daughter??. Excited to see where this one goes. Now I've read enough books to be able to read the 2010 Dresden Files thread without worry about spoilers, so I'll start reading slower.
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Jan 31, 2021 09:16
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I'm reading the latest Laundry files book and I got very angry around page 100 when I realized what he was doing.
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Jan 31, 2021 11:12
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Beachcomber posted:I'm reading the latest Laundry files book and I got very angry around page 100 when I realized what he was doing. what's that? I haven't read it and probably won't but put it in spoiler tags for those who will.
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Jan 31, 2021 11:43
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toanoradian posted:I complained that Death Masks' finale felt too safe. Small Favor is more up my alley. The villains are similar, but I felt the danger so much more. I was worried that Dresden seems too weak against the main protagonists, but the way he out-manoeuvred the final boss is just amazing. I also love how the villains are using, essentially, the human part of an all-knowing superhuman character Dresden's new power seems promising, though I'm never sure how exactly Dresden get this power. What Mab did with Dresden, and how it is unraveled, is fantastic. I didn't come to Dresden expecting strong mystery plots, but sometimes I get surprised. Which power do you mean?
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Jan 31, 2021 11:54
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Soulfire. I get that Uriel gave it to Harry during his fight with Spinyboy, but I don't get how, mechanically, an Angel gave a human the power to mix his soul with his magic to create something stronger. The book explained it as a 'tiny but critically timed nudge', so I'm guessing the power comes as a form of divine inspiration. Now, I need to emphasise that I don't mind there being no technical explanation. I'm ready to accept any power-ups as long as it's not like Harry having a special form because he, unbeknownst to anyone, descends from a mighty divine lineage.
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Jan 31, 2021 12:21
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Doctor Jeep posted:what's that? I haven't read it and probably won't but put it in spoiler tags for those who will. Peter Pan figures into the plot, but then you realize that this book is loosely Peter Pan also, with a protagonist named Wendy Deere, and another protagonist leading a group of Lost Boys, though they haven't been specified as such. It gets more blatant from there.
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Jan 31, 2021 13:57
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toanoradian posted:Soulfire. I get that Uriel gave it to Harry during his fight with Spinyboy, but I don't get how, mechanically, an Angel gave a human the power to mix his soul with his magic to create something stronger. The book explained it as a 'tiny but critically timed nudge', so I'm guessing the power comes as a form of divine inspiration. Now, I need to emphasise that I don't mind there being no technical explanation. I'm ready to accept any power-ups as long as it's not like Harry having a special form because he, unbeknownst to anyone, descends from a mighty divine lineage. When he talks to janitor Uriel at the end it's implied he was given it because Lucifer had been helping Nick in this book via the super-hellfire pentagrams, so Uriel was able to balance things out again by giving Harry this power: quote:“You gotta think that maybe there’s a matter of balance, here,” he said. “Maybe one archangel invested his strength in this situation overtly and immediately. Maybe another one was just quieter about it. Thinking long-term. Maybe he already gave you a hand.” My right hand erupted into pins and needles again. Harry also doesn't really understand Soulfire for a while, you'll get some more info in Changes and onwards.
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Jan 31, 2021 14:08
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Up to chapter 37 of Changes, and everything is going wrong with Dresden. It rules! Toot-toot remained my favourite non-human creature of all time. 42 now: Mouse can speak? I love that Molly uses Japanese for her unveiling spells. toanoradian fucked around with this message at 08:04 on Feb 1, 2021 |
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Feb 1, 2021 04:16
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Remember what I said about stopping at Changes because it will rapidly go downhill from there? I hope you listen to me and enjoy the series for what it was up to that point and move on to something else.
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Feb 1, 2021 14:03
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I enjoy the series after Changes, don't listen to that guy.
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Feb 1, 2021 14:27
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M_Gargantua posted:I enjoy the series after Changes, don't listen to that guy. You can enjoy it post changes and acknowledge it is literally "changed" as a series after that and you may well hate the post changes books.
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Feb 1, 2021 14:37
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toanoradian posted:42 now: Mouse can speak In retrospect, this moment is the beginning of the end.
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Feb 1, 2021 14:56
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I view Changes as the end of the storyline I was invested in. I like some of the stuff that follows, but it doesn't always hold my interest.
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Feb 1, 2021 15:09
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