|
Revelation Space (Inhibitor #1) by Alistair Reynolds - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0819W19WD/
|
#
?
May 3, 2021 22:46
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 16, 2024 18:42 |
|
|
Ccs posted:Did people in this thread like Foundryside? I'm looking for a solid book to read before The Blacktongue Thief comes out and I've enjoyed some of Robert Jackson Bennett's other works, though I always feel he fumbles the endings a bit. I liked it (and the sequel) but I'm a sucker for magic-as-programming, and I particularly liked the hacking spells via logic errors aspect of it. But the general quality of the writing isn't up to City of Stairs etc.
|
|
#
?
May 4, 2021 00:29
|
|
|
pseudorandom name posted:I liked it (and the sequel) but I'm a sucker for magic-as-programming, and I particularly liked the hacking spells via logic errors aspect of it. But the general quality of the writing isn't up to City of Stairs etc. Yeah I bought it and I’m 2 chapters in and it feels a serious step down from The Company Man and City of Stairs in terms of prose. I have grown so tired of magic system explanations, even though I know they’re entirely necessary for narratives like this. But nothing feels quite as fresh as those other 2 stories did. Still, I paid full price for it so I’ll probably read the whole thing. I have absolutely no sense of the main character from the first 2 chapters aside from that she has a job to do any has some unusual abilities. No real sense of her state of mind or broader goals or attitudes aside from “got to achieve thing”. I feel like for how many books Bennett has written he’d have captured how to provide an impression earlier. I don’t know why it isn’t coming across in this one.
|
|
#
?
May 4, 2021 04:50
|
|
|
Groke posted:Some people are just wired that way, I guess. Just think how many you could afford if you hadn't fallen for all those scams.
|
|
#
?
May 4, 2021 12:27
|
|
|
Jedit posted:Just think how many you could afford if you hadn't fallen for all those scams. Nah, my failing was more along the lines of buying useless nerd crap. Not as bad as some.
|
|
#
?
May 4, 2021 16:07
|
|
|
Timothy Zahns Dragonback trilogy is on Kindle sale today. But is it any good?
|
|
#
?
May 4, 2021 19:00
|
|
|
Binti: The Complete Trilogy by Nnedi Okorafor - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DH9QFMY/ Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C Clarke - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XD75HGV/ The Wolf's Hour (Michael Gallatin #1) by Robert R McCammon - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005T54I6I/
|
|
#
?
May 4, 2021 23:10
|
|
|
pradmer posted:
I have fond memories of this. Pity it never got any sequels.
|
|
#
?
May 4, 2021 23:56
|
|
|
Groke posted:I have fond memories of this. Pity it never got any sequels. A real shame there are exactly 0 sequels to that novel.
|
|
#
?
May 5, 2021 00:51
|
|
|
Groke posted:I have fond memories of this. Pity it never got any sequels. Rendevous with Rama and Dune. Landmark books with a deep pool of fanfiction, some authored by the original author.
|
|
#
?
May 5, 2021 02:07
|
|
|
Groke posted:I have fond memories of this. Pity it never got any sequels. But seriously, not seeing a #1 next to its name feels good. Nothings puts me off of reading a book recommended here like seeing that in their name in good reads. I'd hate if someone didn't read Rama because they thought it was part of a cohesive series.
|
|
#
?
May 5, 2021 02:41
|
|
|
Harold Fjord posted:Timothy Zahns Dragonback trilogy is on Kindle sale today. But is it any good? Mid-grade YA sci-fi. I didn't dislike it, but that's about as far as it goes.
|
|
#
?
May 5, 2021 04:33
|
|
|
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XB49BG4/
|
|
#
?
May 5, 2021 23:19
|
|
|
I ended up enjoying Gideon the ninth. I almost stopped reading it early on, but the middle was rather good even if the ending wasn't great. Harrow though... I just finished it and don't really know wtf I just read. Why the meme references, for example? Was the Emperor a memelord before the resurrection? “If I fought the Resurrection Beast I’d leave my Houses to die,” he said. “If I fought the Heralds, I might well go mad, which would be the same thing. So I’m shut in here—walled in, really—to prevent the Nine Houses becoming none House, with left grief." Later we have "“Yes, well, jail for Mother,” I said." It wasn't as if the books were wall to wall memes, unless there were more I didn't catch, so it was very strange to see these two during the climax. It was certainly a page-turner, but mostly because I hoped at some point things would make sense. Besides almost everything about Harrow's plot, I don't understand why Gideon would be sad about the 8th saint saving God. Gideon loves God, it doesn't make any sense that she'd have been turned against her on the world of some Lyctor she'd just met, who had just tried to kill Harrow and then her. But then I also don't understand why God left the Lyctors to do the lovely version of Lyctordom - did he just want powerful servants who'd still be weaker than him? That didn't really work out well. And even if he's a bit of a bastard I don't see why killing him and with him the entire solar system was meant to be a net good. And then he's not actually scared of the RBs? So he's been running for 10,000 years just for a lark? And why is Harrow apparently not waking up despite defeating the Sleeper? I dunno, in some ways I want to read Alecto when it arrives to see if there's answers to be had, but I worry that there's no good way to wrap this up and it'll just leave me unhappy.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2021 00:24
|
|
|
God is a Millennial or perhaps a Zoomer.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2021 00:40
|
|
|
Darkrenown posted:Harrow though... I just finished it and don't really know wtf I just read. Why the meme references, for example? Was the Emperor a memelord before the resurrection? Yes, he was pretty explicitly a lovely millennial (from New Zealand, hence the hot chips and school gala references, among other things) who grew up on the internet, and because he's been guiding (stagnating) culture for millenia early 2000s meme culture is treated the same way as western culture tends to treat Shakespearean or biblical references. Whether or not that works for you is an exercise for each individual reader, but it's not really out of nowhere.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2021 00:42
|
|
|
Darkrenown posted:I ended up enjoying Gideon the ninth. I almost stopped reading it early on, but the middle was rather good even if the ending wasn't great. cptn_dr posted:Yes, he was pretty explicitly a lovely millennial (from New Zealand, hence the hot chips and school gala references, among other things) who grew up on the internet, and because he's been guiding (stagnating) culture for millenia early 2000s meme culture is treated the same way as western culture tends to treat Shakespearean or biblical references. Yeah, it's almost worth rereading the book with this knowledge to understand what a manipulative sociopath God is 
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2021 01:03
|
|
|
I’m not sure I absorbed much from either book. I can remember very broad strokes about what happened and who is alive or dead at the end, that’s about it.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2021 01:10
|
|
|
Darkrenown posted:Besides almost everything about Harrow's plot, I don't understand why Gideon would be sad about the 8th saint saving God. Gideon loves God, it doesn't make any sense that she'd have been turned against her on the world of some Lyctor she'd just met, who had just tried to kill Harrow and then her. Gideon was paying attention the entire time and has drawn her own conclusions about what kind of person the Lord of Resurrection is.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2021 01:30
|
|
|
Rand Brittain posted:Gideon was paying attention the entire time and has drawn her own conclusions about what kind of person the Lord of Resurrection is. She still seemed super hyped to go see him though, and then she finds out he's also her dad which she doesn't seem upset by. If she'd already concluded he was a bastard I'd have expected her to think that on the way to go see him or when his being her dad was revealed. As far as I noticed her first negative thought about him was when 8th saved him. And again, even if he's the worst monster in history is killing him worth the death of the solar system and all the houses? Like, if it turned out he caused the original disaster that killed everyone to become God, AND the RBs were actually good, AND God was on a crusade to wipe out all life in the universe to stop the actually good RBs from bringing him to justice then year, maybe losing the system is worth it to stop him. If he's just kind of a lying bastard who let the Lyctors kill their cavs without need it seems like massive overkill. I feel like "he brought everyone back from the dead and only his will keeps the bulk of humanity from falling into a black hole" needs a bit more than "lied to a dozen people, half of whom gained eternal life and godlike powers from it" to make killing him seem good. I'm entirely open to necromancy turning out to not actually being a force for good, but it hasn't seemed like the story has made that case yet. Actually, they only seem to have worked out the perfect vs lovely Lyctordom from seeing Gideon's eyes at the end, so Mercymorn/Augustine had to have been plotting to kill God for years over something else. The dinner scene was amazing though. cptn_dr posted:Yes, he was pretty explicitly a lovely millennial (from New Zealand, hence the hot chips and school gala references, among other things) I did not have this impression at all. Are you from New Zealand that these things stood out as a massive New Zealand tell? Darkrenown fucked around with this message at 02:31 on May 6, 2021 |
|
#
?
May 6, 2021 02:01
|
|
|
Darkrenown posted:I did not have this impression at all. Are you from New Zealand that these things stood out as a massive New Zealand tell? The author said he's from New Zealand, OP. The author is from New Zealand.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2021 02:37
|
|
|
Darkrenown posted:
Yep, I am. Grew up in the same suburb as Tamsyn Muir, funnily enough (though she's a few years older than me). But yeah, the books are deeply, deeply New Zealand-y. That sort of bleak humour (which can read as quippy, to be fair) and a lot of the slang and tone are the big ones, but there's quite a few smaller references too (Trentham Military Camp, the fact that Commander Wake has some Te Reo in her full name, and so on). Extra-textually, Tamsyn has been pretty straight up about basically writing everyone to be kiwi, Harrow and Gideon (and God) are explicitly Māori. It's not something that you have to know about to enjoy the books, obviously, but as a New Zealander it's amazing reading a book that's so deeply steeped in our culture that's ALSO insanely successful and popular. cptn_dr fucked around with this message at 03:09 on May 6, 2021 |
|
#
?
May 6, 2021 02:47
|
|
|
Darkrenown posted:Why the meme references, for example? Because the author thinks it's the absolute height of comedy.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2021 03:19
|
|
|
packetmantis posted:Because the author thinks it's the absolute height of comedy. That's not true, and the reason why has just been explained above. 
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2021 03:31
|
|
|
Speaking of Tamsyn Muir, I just read Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower, her fairy tale novella about a princess stuck at the top of a tower. It's about as dark as The Locked Tomb, and maybe slightly less gay (though still quite gay). I really liked it, it has that sort of fairy tale cadence that you find in stuff by Cat Valente or Colin Meloy, but is much less insufferably twee.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2021 03:45
|
|
|
My limited understanding of why god sucks is that humanity hosed up the solar system and left to live happy successful lives elsewhere, the necrolord prime turned the sun undead and resurrected a bunch of people and declared war on everyone else, and massive ongoing atrocities were involved, like murdering planets and so on. This is based on fan theories I only half read, though. Also you missed a hell of a lot of memes, but also more cultured references, because poo poo's written in darmok.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2021 07:32
|
|
|
pseudorandom name posted:God is a Millennial or perhaps a Zoomer. There's a loving Homestar Runner joke at one point. I laughed.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2021 12:19
|
|
|
Kesper North posted:The author said he's from New Zealand, OP. The author is from New Zealand. In the book? If so I missed that. I'm not doubting that the author says he's from there, especially with what cptn_dr has said, but I wondered if it was explicitly stated in the book or if it's just something you pick up on by having detailed knowledge of NZ culture and/or the author just stated it on her blog etc. cptn_dr posted:Yep, I am. Grew up in the same suburb as Tamsyn Muir, funnily enough (though she's a few years older than me). But yeah, the books are deeply, deeply New Zealand-y. That sort of bleak humour (which can read as quippy, to be fair) and a lot of the slang and tone are the big ones, but there's quite a few smaller references too (Trentham Military Camp, the fact that Commander Wake has some Te Reo in her full name, and so on). That's cool! Thanks for explaining.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2021 13:30
|
|
|
I think this explains a lot of why I didn't gel with this book. Even when explained very few of these memes even work for me - I can only assume I'm an irredeemable old fart, or just not really the intended audience which is of course absolutely fine. I recommended it to a younger friend who bloody loved it. TLDR - me old
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2021 18:08
|
|
|
Kesper North posted:Yeah, it's almost worth rereading the book with this knowledge to understand what a manipulative sociopath God is Harrow the first or the Bible?
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2021 18:53
|
|
|
The memes were very jarring for me even as the target audience but I loved the books so 
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2021 19:01
|
|
|
I'm a sucker for characters like the Necrolord Prime who seem like such pleasant benefactors at first. Spoilers for The First Law, The Unspoken Name, and maybe Baru: Bayaz, Cairdine Farrier, Sethennai, can't get enough of these types. Still waiting for Abercrombie to have the guts to knock Bayaz down a peg in the last book of his current trilogy. He probably won't, his pattern is to always have Bayaz be triumphant, but I would really like to see someone do some lasting damage to his empire.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2021 19:08
|
|
|
Darkrenown posted:I'm not doubting that the author says she's from there, I cannot read Kesper North fucked around with this message at 20:23 on May 6, 2021 |
|
#
?
May 6, 2021 19:30
|
|
|
Kesper North posted:Fixed that for you I did a double-take on that at first too, but it's referring to a character (the same one in the quote) and not the author, who is correctly gendered later in the sentence.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2021 19:36
|
|
|
wizzardstaff posted:I did a double-take on that at first too, but it's referring to a character (the same one in the quote) and not the author, who is correctly gendered later in the sentence. Oops. I have corrected my original reply.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2021 20:24
|
|
|
ClydeFrog posted:I think this explains a lot of why I didn't gel with this book. Even when explained very few of these memes even work for me - I can only assume I'm an irredeemable old fart, or just not really the intended audience which is of course absolutely fine. I recommended it to a younger friend who bloody loved it. Judging by the stuff written here, about 95٪ of the meme references flew over my head, but I still liked the books. Perhaps I would have liked them less if I did recognize the memes, there's a good change I'd find them grating. As it was I smiled wryly at the few I got, giggled at a fairly obscure molesworth reference in Harrow, and generally had a good time.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2021 20:41
|
|
|
The Killing Moon (Dreamblood #1) by NK Jemisin - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005SCS4IK/
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2021 00:01
|
|
|
Hobnob posted:Judging by the stuff written here, about 95٪ of the meme references flew over my head, but I still liked the books. Perhaps I would have liked them less if I did recognize the memes, there's a good change I'd find them grating. I missed that one, which one was it?
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2021 10:23
|
|
|
Finished The Outskirter's Secret last night (which got intense), and I am now hazarding a guess: In the first book, I was thinking post-apocalypse, but now I'm leaning towards terraformed planet?)
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2021 15:20
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 16, 2024 18:42 |
|
|
I just finished Steerswoman book 1, I am on the fence about continuing I feel like nothing really happened.. I don't know if I can take multiple more books of "get it? the magic is technology" if there isn't any major payoff
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2021 15:31
|
|
