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The only thing I use Goodreads for is new releases and even then it fails at that because if you've given everything you've ever read by an author one star, Goodreads will never stop telling you about their new books.
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Apr 21, 2021 21:13
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ClydeFrog posted:So how would a good review site work? Thumbs up and down and then people have to actually read your review and decide? I'm curious because I've reviewed some stuff on other sites as a 4 outta 5 kinda thing because whilst I really liked it, I thought it could be better or maybe had a few issues etc. It certainly wasn't because I thought I had to wield my powers of critique wisely, lest too many five star reviews weaken the fabric of the crowdsourced opinion universe. From a reader's perspective there's nothing wrong with how it is now, at least re: star ratings. Four star reviews may drag a book's average down a little from the ultimate goal of being as close to 5 stars as possible, but that's the author's problem, not yours. I have fiction on Goodreads and I'm always happy with three star ratings or higher. (Maybe less so when the review is like "this was really great!!!" and they've only given it three stars, but that's more from a generalised dislike of inconsistency than anything else.") That author who went on a rant on Twitter is a psycho.
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Apr 21, 2021 21:49
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Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City by KJ Parker - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078W5M7DB/
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Apr 21, 2021 22:35
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ClydeFrog posted:So how would a good review site work? Thumbs up and down and then people have to actually read your review and decide? I'm curious because I've reviewed some stuff on other sites as a 4 outta 5 kinda thing because whilst I really liked it, I thought it could be better or maybe had a few issues etc. It certainly wasn't because I thought I had to wield my powers of critique wisely, lest too many five star reviews weaken the fabric of the crowdsourced opinion universe. Effectively you can't have a good review site because either it's open to everyone and you end up with Goodreads and all the toxic poo poo that brings, or it's a closed site and likely not as representative as it could/should be.
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Apr 21, 2021 23:36
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If you're looking for perfection there it's impossible. One of the issues is inconsistency between standards for different genres -- the more literature-like the genre, the higher the standards, and it goes the other way for stuff that's, well, shallower/trashier/whatever. Like, I read some LitRPG's, and it seems like on Amazon it's nearly impossible for them to go below four stars, and you see tons of ones with 4.5+ stars with barely passable writing. And I'm given to understand that harem LitRPG's have even lower standards.
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Apr 21, 2021 23:54
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I've been blowing through some big-name fantasy like LOTR, Ice and Fire, Stormlight, etc. lately and I wore myself out with all of the overbearing worldbuilding so I got a Warhammer audiobook, Trollslayer. It's written like pulp which is just fine with me, but it's also nice to have Felix pick up a lantern without going into a three page diatribe about what country made the lantern and why the bests lanterns all come from that country. I am also entirely sick of dream sequences that exist either to: a) foreshadow a future plot twist b) gaslight me away from guessing a future plot twist.
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Apr 22, 2021 07:05
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bagrada posted:I was going to say Naomi Kritzer but I guess she started in 2000. I never read the Nightrunner series but I really didn't like the Bone Doll's Twin. It's hard to describe, but I really didn't like the relationship between the protagonist and their best friend.
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Apr 22, 2021 07:44
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If you haven't made an author obliquely seethe on Twitter because of your one-star review on Goodreads then, well, can you really consider yourself really having lived?
Milkfred E. Moore fucked around with this message at 08:10 on Apr 22, 2021 |
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Apr 22, 2021 08:05
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Pennsylvanian posted:I've been blowing through some big-name fantasy like LOTR, Ice and Fire, Stormlight, etc. lately and I wore myself out with all of the overbearing worldbuilding so I got a Warhammer audiobook, Trollslayer. It's written like pulp which is just fine with me, but it's also nice to have Felix pick up a lantern without going into a three page diatribe about what country made the lantern and why the bests lanterns all come from that country. Raistilin looked down, he was walking in the footsteps of Fistandantilus, towards the gallows! What could this mean?
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Apr 22, 2021 08:22
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algebra testes posted:Raistilin looked down, he was walking in the footsteps of Fistandantilus, towards the gallows! What could this mean?
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Apr 22, 2021 08:27
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buffalo all day posted:Anyone read an advance copy? Have enjoyed all of them so far but they walk a fine line. Very much in the same vein, although in a small space motel, with characters waiting out a storm.
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Apr 22, 2021 11:20
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Pennsylvanian posted:I am also entirely sick of dream sequences that exist ^ this is me. I honestly just basically skip all of them at this point. It’s usually some heavy handed metaphor which was already conveyed by the plot imo.
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Apr 22, 2021 11:55
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I was a fan of the wheel of time ones, though they're not all actually dreams
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Apr 22, 2021 11:58
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I liked the dream sequence-esque bits in Harrow the Ninth.
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Apr 22, 2021 12:09
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SSJ_naruto_2003 posted:I was a fan of the wheel of time ones, though they're not all actually dreams Yeah they're best when it's actually some person messing with the protagonists head 90s Cringe Rock posted:I liked the dream sequence-esque bits in Harrow the Ninth. That could describe a very wide range of the book.
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Apr 22, 2021 12:44
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It's a book with three moods: Harrow's got vomit on her sweater already, mom's spaghetti; dreamlike (can't wake up); and brutal gorefest. Dad jokes permeate throughout.
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Apr 22, 2021 12:53
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90s Cringe Rock posted:It's a book with three moods: Harrow's got vomit on her sweater already, mom's spaghetti; dreamlike (can't wake up); and brutal gorefest. Dad jokes permeate throughout. *reads this, and then crumples up first draft of book, and starts over*
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Apr 22, 2021 13:05
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So I picked up "This is how you lose the time war" on the suggestion of this thread and finished reading it in one sitting, hours later. This book is incredible
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Apr 22, 2021 16:57
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SSJ_naruto_2003 posted:So I picked up "This is how you lose the time war" on the suggestion of this thread and finished reading it in one sitting, hours later. This book is incredible I absolutely adored that book. I love epistolaries, as a rule.
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Apr 22, 2021 19:24
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SSJ_naruto_2003 posted:So I picked up "This is how you lose the time war" on the suggestion of this thread and finished reading it in one sitting, hours later. This book is incredible I did exactly the same thing, started reading it around 8pm and finished at like 1am. Haven't done that in a long time.
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Apr 22, 2021 19:32
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I think I managed to drag it out to two days.
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Apr 22, 2021 19:50
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tildes posted:^ this is me. I honestly just basically skip all of them at this point. It’s usually some heavy handed metaphor which was already conveyed by the plot imo. They're also usually paced differently in whatever books they're written into, too. The non-dream sequences in a given novel will have limited descriptions of actions while the dream sequences will describe every step and breath in excrutiating detail. An extended duel scene will be half the length of "Jaime dreamed his dad was real mean." I've sort of discovered that if you read the first line of every paragraph in these kinds of dream sequences, then you'll more than not understand what's going on. Gotrex and Felix have been a nice pallate cleanser. It's cool to just have characters doing things which seems to be a lofty concept for a lot of fantasy.
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Apr 22, 2021 19:52
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I've got Time War queued up as my next audiobook, I usually only listen on two ~10 minute commutes a day so I'll see how that goes.
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Apr 22, 2021 19:58
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bagrada posted:I've got Time War queued up as my next audiobook, I usually only listen on two ~10 minute commutes a day so I'll see how that goes. Giving yourself time to finish the chapter you’re on before you stop listening on each commute would be a really great way to listen to that book.
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Apr 22, 2021 20:09
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I read every single gotrek and felix omnibus and one of the new books in the Age of Sigmar setting over quarantine and they own. Gotrek gets more and more pissed off that nothing can kill him and then winds up in an entire new setting where he channels everyone annoyed that the company tanked The Old World setting and grumps about how everything sucks and the gods are lying assholes.
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Apr 22, 2021 20:15
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Benagain posted:I read every single gotrek and felix omnibus and one of the new books in the Age of Sigmar setting over quarantine and they own. Gotrek gets more and more pissed off that nothing can kill him and then winds up in an entire new setting where he channels everyone annoyed that the company tanked The Old World setting and grumps about how everything sucks and the gods are lying assholes. Have you seen the two Realmslayer audio dramas starring Brian Blessed as Gotrek? They are... something, as he hams it up and the other voice actors try to keep up with him.
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Apr 22, 2021 21:04
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bagrada posted:Have you seen the two Realmslayer audio dramas starring Brian Blessed as Gotrek? They are... something, as he hams it up and the other voice actors try to keep up with him. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWAu7CQK6Wg
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Apr 22, 2021 21:29
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New Becky Chambers is very good so far.
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Apr 22, 2021 22:51
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Broken Homes (Rivers of London #4) by Ben Aaronovitch - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DYX9OPC/ The King Must Die by Mary Renault - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DCGJ6UO/
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Apr 22, 2021 22:52
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Anansi Boys (American Gods #2) by Neil Gaiman - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FCKENQ/ Empire in Black and Gold (Shadows of the Apt #1) by Adrian Tchaikovsky - $0.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003GK21XK/ The Redemption of Time (Three Body Problem #4) by Baoshu and Ken Liu - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JYZ4G6N/
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Apr 23, 2021 17:05
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Huh wasn't aware there was a fourth Three Body Problem novel.
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Apr 23, 2021 17:50
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Ccs posted:Huh wasn't aware there was a fourth Three Body Problem novel. A different author too.. weird
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Apr 23, 2021 17:57
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Ccs posted:Huh wasn't aware there was a fourth Three Body Problem novel. So one dimension now?
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Apr 23, 2021 18:08
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pradmer posted:The King Must Die by Mary Renault - $2.99 Yesss, thank you! Been wanting to crack into Renault for a while now.
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Apr 23, 2021 18:24
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tiniestacorn posted:Yesss, thank you! Been wanting to crack into Renault for a while now. We did Last of the Wine several years ago now for BOTM, it might be time to revisit her.
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Apr 23, 2021 18:28
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Cardiac posted:So one dimension now? Just like half the characters from the first 3 books!
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Apr 23, 2021 18:38
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Aardvark! posted:A different author too.. weird If I recall correctly it's fan-fiction that was picked up officially.
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Apr 23, 2021 19:54
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Provenance by Ann Leckie - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XW6YTKV/
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Apr 24, 2021 19:27
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Finished reading SFL Archives Vol 20a. It was a quick read, mostly because I am totally burned out on Babylon 5 chat and just started skipping over everything Babylon 5 related. Highlights/lowlights of the Vol 20a readthrough: "I am not a journalist! I do not give blow-jobs to chickens!": Harlan Ellison on journalists Gregory Benford outed himself as a "the South will rise AGAIN" proto-chud type author. Charles Platt came out as 110% racist and hateful that Octavia Butler won a 1995 MacArthur Fellows Program grant....Platt claims Octavia Butler only won because she's black and female.
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Apr 25, 2021 01:03
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pradmer posted:Provenance by Ann Leckie - $2.99 Has anyone here picked this one up? I liked the Ancillary series, but reviews look mixed.
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Apr 25, 2021 01:20
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