|
ImpAtom posted:The infertile thing I can buy, but the 'it's magically killing her' doesn't make sense to me unless it's an explicit twist which is pretty dumb forced drama. I don't see how this is inconsistent with "the Hunger rears its ugly head in teenagerhood", since it probably lies dormant from birth—kids don't generally develop an interest in sex 'til around puberty, after all.
|
#
¿
May 21, 2016 11:29
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 25, 2024 02:44 |
|
|
Xaris posted:The first two, maybe 3, books are not that well written is mostly the answer. Nothing intentional about it. She gets a lot better (and badass) as the books progress--and a pretty big leap writing wise starting around book 4 if i recall. I'm gonna put it this way: 1. Read Storm Front. 2a. If you like Storm Front, read Fool Moon. 2b. If you don't like Storm Front, read Grave Peril. 3. Continue with Summer Knight. While Summer Knight is when Butcher finally comes into his own as a writer, Grave Peril sets up the first bits of the overarching plot for the rest of the series. (Fool Moon isn't really that necessary, beyond introducing the Alphas.)
|
|
#
¿
Jul 2, 2016 23:11
|
|
|
Wheat Loaf posted:I realise that Larry Correia is a bit of a piece of a work these days with all that Sad Puppies stuff and associating with men like Vox Day, but is his Monster Hunters series any good? I was reading the back cover in the bookshop and it looked like something I might enjoy (I've never really looked before because it had a Baen logo on the spine, and I associate Baen with military SF which I'm a bit take it or leave it on these days). Monster Hunters International was okay. I had a glance at the next one, but learning how much of a piece of work he is kinda turned me off of his writing.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 27, 2016 03:11
|
|
|
I'm interested but don't have platinum, unfortunately.
Aerdan fucked around with this message at 23:59 on Jul 28, 2016 |
|
#
¿
Jul 28, 2016 02:02
|
|
|
Not even Jim Butcher knows when he's going to be done with Peace Talks, so I'd just ignore Amazon.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 15, 2016 10:51
|
|
|
A. Beaverhausen posted:About that, *late Skin Games spoilers* I really hated how Lasch was demoted to just a villian. With how we last saw her before Skin Games we had a Denarian that actually did something really cool. I understand it was because she was in Harry's head for so long, I just wish Jim had done something else with her. There really wasn't any way that Lasciel's coin-self could be influenced by the shadow-self that rode in Harry's head, unfortunately. He kinda wrote himself into a corner, there, if you were expecting or desiring something else.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 21, 2016 17:37
|
|
|
Honestly, I'd say Grave Peril is only important because of how it sets up the rest of the series. If it weren't for that, I'd say jump straight to Summer Knight, since that's really when Jim discovered his voice as a writer. So, if you don't like Storm Front, try Grave Peril and Summer Knight consecutively. If Summer Knight doesn't grab you, stop there.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 8, 2016 23:37
|
|
|
Scorchy posted:I don't know what's suppose to be typical for this stuff but the werewolves seem to be mostly macho violent misogynists, but are also dreamy-looking and compete with each other for the submissive heroine. The one exception happens to be her gay werewolf best friend. So I don't know. I think I'm feeling whatever women feel when they have to suffer through male writers penning lousy female characters, except the other way around. For me, what makes it such a trial to deal with werewolf fiction is that the whole 'alpha male' shitfest is based on bad science—scientists observed back in the 50s how wolves behaved in captivity whenever a new wolf was introduced to a pack, and presumed that that's how wolves work in the wild as well. The reality is, wolf packs are actually a lot closer to the 'nuclear family' ideal than human families tend to be, with a mated pair forming the backbone and a few other adults (either siblings or adult children of the mated pair) and, for a while, the latest litter of pups. So that's my effortpost on why most werewolf fiction is Bad™, I guess. 
|
|
#
¿
Sep 19, 2016 10:02
|
|
|
Grave Peril is pretty bad, yeah. If it weren't the jumping-off point for the rest of the series, I'd start people off at Summer Knight instead, since that's really where the series starts to get good.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 2, 2016 23:22
|
|
|
hangedman1984 posted:You can kinda use the white council as wands(staves), which would just leave cups. The Faeries are the Cup faction, what with the talk of vessels in relation to their mantles settling in.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 3, 2016 15:43
|
|
|
Darkrenown posted:Actually, why does Bianca have such a killboner? If I remember right she thinks Harry killed one of her workers, but why would a rather old vampire care so much about a human - especially when it risks getting into a fight with the White Council which is at this point the undisputed magical heavyweight champion of the world? Now the Red Court are planning to challenge this, but if she knows about the coming war it's all the more reason not to kick it off early and if she doesn't know about it then why is the risking starting something with the Council? Early Installment Weirdness, perhaps; Jim hadn't thought of the Unseelie Accords in Storm Front, I don't think, so there wouldn't have been incentive for Bianca to not rock the boat. That said, even if the human in question weren't of personal relevance to her, Bianca could still have a 'protect my property' attitude, which isn't that uncommon in the supernatural world from what we've seen later on.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 9, 2016 21:57
|
|
|
NerdyMcNerdNerd posted:What does Blood Rites even set up? He-Who-Walks says hi, Mouse and Thomas appear, and Laura ascends to power. I feel like I'm missing stuff, but I'm drawing a blank. I guess... bloodline magic and unusual death curses? Bit of exploration of the vampiric Courts beyond their brief introduction in Grave Peril?
|
|
#
¿
Oct 12, 2016 22:37
|
|
|
Azuth0667 posted:Nah the plot is good its the white court thats the problem. The whole series would be better off if the white and red courts swaped places. Except the Red Court is just as bad as the White Court, with the addition that they also actually eat their victims instead of psych-vamping them to death. The actual problem is that, with Thomas being Harry's brother, the psych vampires are cast in a sympathetic light.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 15, 2016 02:59
|
|
|
Azuth0667 posted:I dont think they have the same creepy rape vibe the white court does. ... Their saliva is narcotic and has many effects in common with date rape drugs. I'm sorry that you don't feel like chemically-induced date-rape is as bad as pheromonically-induced date-rape.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 15, 2016 19:52
|
|
|
Remember that Harry's talked about the importance of names several times early on in the series, most prominently when he's calling on supernatural critters.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 25, 2016 16:35
|
|
|
In point of fact, He Who Walks Behind talks to Harry about that in Blood Rites, after HWWB kills Madge.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 26, 2016 04:21
|
|
|
I think the one near the end of Skin Game is even better. "Finally. A knight who's worth it." or so.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 27, 2016 03:55
|
|
|
rumble in the bunghole posted:Remember how she put the previous winter knight through unimaginable torture for years as punishment for betraying her? That wasn't pragmatism. The Faerie Courts are driven by very different societal values than mortals are, and they're both very power-dominant. If you aren't powerful, you aren't poo poo. Similarly, Mab cannot allow public displays of defiance because that would imply that she doesn't have mastery over her Court, and therefore that other Unseelie could make a play for her job. Consequently, Lloyd Slate gets tortured for years as an example to not gently caress with Mab. You see this with the Leanansidhe, too, in Proven Guilty. The Leanansidhe is powerful enough that she merits different considerations, however, and so is merely imprisoned.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 27, 2016 13:20
|
|
|
MeLKoR posted:But she makes them that way, she does everything she can to increase those qualities in them. Because pathological cutthroat logic-based power-mongering is kind of necessary for defending the Outer Gates, since that limits what the Adversary can do should it manage to infiltrate someone.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 28, 2016 02:23
|
|
|
Rygar201 posted:Is this in Shadowed Souls too? I closed the kindle tab after I finished Cold Case hah No, "Day One" will be in Unfettered II, to be released on 8 December.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 2, 2016 18:33
|
|
|
ImpAtom posted:Harry soul-gazed Marcone. He knows him better than he knows almost anyone. Marcone is a horrifying sociopathic monster whose goals happen to coincide with Harry's for his own reasons. He is the human version of Mab except even less justified because his primary goals are A) More money and B) gently caress you. To add to this, Marcone's empire-building. You don't do that by treating people who might be potential allies in a manner that will cause them to band together and take you out. ("It's not good business," to borrow from him.) He's introduced into the need for supernatural security in Fool Moon, and pretty much every interaction he's had with Dresden and the supernatural world simultaneously has only reinforced that need. Of the non-Dresden POV stories we've been given, only two (so far) have been from a pure-mortal perspective ("Aftermath" and "Even Hand"), so we don't know how the ordinary mortals feel about Marcone. For that matter, we haven't yet had a Marcone-POV short, so we don't know what he gets up to when he's not dealing with Dresden or other supers (and for this sentence I'm lumping Justine in with the supers by association).
|
|
#
¿
Nov 3, 2016 03:26
|
|
|
Having reread "Even Hand" (and clearly I needed to if I spaced out and forgot it was a Marcone-POV story), it's pretty much exactly an example of how Marcone is a Bad Guy™ despite teaming up with Dresden (or at least not opposing him) in the full-length stories. He has rules, but this is a bit like saying Dexter has rules: they're both still dirtbags.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 7, 2016 18:57
|
|
|
Subvisual Haze posted:I haven't been following for a while, but did Butcher hit a wall on the Dresden Files? I hope he hasn't lost interest in finishing it. Well, we've had a Molly-POV short ('Cold Case', in Shadowed Souls) get published on 1 November and the Butters-POV short 'Day One' was just published in Unfettered II. No word yet on the Luccio-POV short 'A Fistful of Warlocks' (to be published in Straight Outta Tombstone), though. I'm kind of peeved by how low-key Waldo's first day is compared to Molly's, though.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 10, 2016 21:57
|
|
|
EVGA Longoria posted:Iirc he got divorced and remarried since Skin Game, so I don't think it's trouble writing it, just stuff beside that getting in the way Things like having to have his house re?-redone because the previous contractors hosed up and so he was living with his fiancee for a while (and thus cut off from his writing zone).
|
|
#
¿
Jan 6, 2017 06:35
|
|
|
For what it's worth, it's really not that uncommon for people to not interact with people of other races enough to get to know them, particularly if they live in segregated communities (which is increasingly common these days). It would actually be more unrealistic for a white wizard-nerd to interact with a lot of people of colour that he knows well enough to know their names. (I'm also puzzled by the complaints people are having about Dresden's conversation with Titania regarding the single gay men; my interpretation was that he felt the men should be looking for romantic relationships rather than one-night stands.) Does that excuse Jim Butcher from writing mostly white characters? No, not really.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 8, 2017 04:24
|
|
|
The Butters-POV short is a hell of a lot cleaner than that. Also a lot cheesier, but I think that's part of the character of the Knights of the Cross as a whole. e: Also, it seems to me that Winter's Sex'n'Violence instincts are intended to be overcome if the mantle-wearer is going to be at all effective; if the bearer can't, they're not fit for the job and need to be replaced. Aerdan fucked around with this message at 20:50 on Jan 15, 2017 |
|
#
¿
Jan 15, 2017 20:46
|
|
|
Mars4523 posted:Yikes. That looks pretty drat bad. I don't know...it could explain Maeve's psycho-slut act in Summer Knight.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 20, 2017 07:27
|
|
|
SystemLogoff posted:Gail's books are neat, but it has that steampunk issue of whitewashing a lot of the class issues away. I don't think this is really the thread for it (beyond the tangential "Butcher did a steampunk novel" sort of way), but is there good steampunk that doesn't do that?
|
|
#
¿
Jan 21, 2017 12:46
|
|
|
flosofl posted:Not a major plot point, but I'm pretty sure I remember Billy and Georgia going at it in the middle of the battle at Deomonreach because of all the White Vamps during Turn Coat. That was definitely a thing, yes. The thing in Harry's Day Off was too descriptive to have been intended for laughs, frankly.
|
|
#
¿
May 25, 2017 02:38
|
|
|
So I read a few chapters of Revanche, and it kind of confirms something I'd felt after reading through three Daniel Faust novels: Craig Schaefer is a mediocre writer who would benefit a lot from slowing the gently caress down. (Which, of course, he isn't going to until someone forces him to. Unfortunately, that just means he's going to continue to poo poo out mediocrity like clockwork.)
|
|
#
¿
May 30, 2017 15:07
|
|
|
Anias posted:Imagine that instead of being winter knight, harry had been bitten by a werewolf. Fool Moon already did this, it was just imposed reversibly via the hexenwulf belt.
|
|
#
¿
May 31, 2017 21:53
|
|
|
General Emergency posted:Even the White Court is fine outside of the Raith family. Vampires that feed on hate running a country sounds terrifying. I wonder if there are vampires that feed on something relatively benign like "boredom".... No, the White Court isn't fine. Despair-fed White Court translates pretty obviously to abusive relationships. Same for fear. There's no indication that hatred is an emotion that they feed on.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 1, 2017 13:46
|
|
|
ConfusedUs posted:Miami is also on my shortlist. I think it's a great setting. Plus you've got the swamp nearby if you really need it. His love for polka and Oktoberfest? Germanic Jews would be Ashkenazim, and they're generally from areas formerly controlled by the Holy Roman Empire..
|
|
#
¿
Jun 3, 2017 02:11
|
|
|
Remember that there's a Luccio-POV short coming out on 4 July (in Straight Outta Tombstone). We might see those in action there.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 20, 2017 02:29
|
|
|
Khizan posted:Why non-Kindle? Presumably they prefer their ebooks in EPUB format, which I completely understand given that Amazon DRMs their ebooks. (And also, Amazon's hardware feels cheap as gently caress.)
|
|
#
¿
Jun 23, 2017 23:43
|
|
|
Tor.com has an article of recommendations for Laundry Files fans by Mr Stross, which may be of interest to folks here.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 13, 2017 17:38
|
|
|
NerdyMcNerdNerd posted:Maybe the Council isn't telling the whole truth ( again ), because you see people using questionable magic without turning into Kravos, Harry included. It is more likely they reacted as badly as they did because of his mother, and because of all the unknowns. Well...except there are much less ambiguous examples of breaking the laws causing personality creep; see Proven Guilty, as well as Ghost Story.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 22, 2017 22:05
|
|
|
Megazver posted:I think the Dresden CG is getting a mobile version this year. Might be a lot cheaper and, depending on whether you have someone to play it with, better. Everyone who's backed the kickstarter will get all of the add-ons unlocked for free when the app comes out (but they'll still have to buy the app itself), per the update which announced the app.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 25, 2017 22:20
|
|
|
Old Kentucky Shark posted:They mentioned it in the first book. Any mage can make themselves wealthy but because of that the magical world doesn't operate on a cash economy so it's kind of pointless. Excessive wealth just brings attention to yourself and requires upkeep so Verus doesn't bother. He does own a piece of London real estate and a secret country safe house so it's not like he is a pauper. More than that, it also addresses why he doesn't just gamble up some wealth: too many factors go into the result of a die roll (the book's example), such that by the time one can pick a desired outcome the actual outcome's already been decided.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 29, 2017 14:04
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 25, 2024 02:44 |
|
|
Waltzing Along posted:Is book 16 ever going to come out? Yes. When it's done.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 25, 2017 15:20
|
|