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The "What Are You Reading" Thread
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I was just coming in here to talk about this. I've recently started going through them and while the first wasn't particularly impressive, the series overall goes from the general Napoleonic adventures in the beginning to strong themes centered around slavery, person hood, duty in the face of atrocity, etc. It is definitely not where I expected the books to go.
They also cease being historical retelling with the inclusion of dragons and move in to full on alternative history.
So really i'm less interested for the dragons than just another story styled after that era.
Mary Gentle is one of my favourite writers, though she doesn't publish much nowadays and she was never famous, so she gets ignored nowadays.
Rats and Gargoyles is another one you should try.
It's the premise that's cheesy, but the writing and thought behind the books makes it work.
Yup, and the feminist stuff with the female aviators, and Temeraire's whole 'Thomas Mann wrote for dragons too' thing.
Excellent really.
I knew at least one other person in the world was reading her work. And now I know who it is. Hurrah! Yes, I can only say good things about Rats&Gargoyles as well, though I got it in her White Crow collection, because...italics. Though it is a bit...esoteric, I suspect, for many people. Cartomancy is rather good as well, and Ilario, and...look, if you're reading this, go get a used copy of Ash off Amazon for under $1, and you'll (probably) consider it money well spent. Goodness knows my copy is heartily worn out from repeated lendings and re-reads.
Small warning: Gentle's work isn't for everyone. It can get a bit gruseome, a bit graphic, and a bit rude. But that's life.
@poshniallo : I didn't know this, but apparently she's doing a new book for 2012, "The Black Opera". It looks...interesting.
I just love Laurence's personality. He's cool and awesome and dutiful and brave without being brash, arrogant, fearless, headstrong or a Gary Stu. He's the ultimate Napoleonic British Naval Gentleman Officer, and then everything he believes proper and adequate is chalenged on a very visceral and basic level, and he's willing to not only evaluate those new truths, but also to keep the older values he deems still worthy. Hes open minded and open hearted without being spineless and inconsistent.
Meh, I guess the luck thing is either something that bugs you or not. I can't think of any instances of him being lucky that seemed more egregious than the lucky shenanigans that nearly every fictional character gets up to.
And while modern-Kvothe, 'Kote' or whatever his name is, isn't a braggart, he was raised as a story-teller and entertainer, which is the life that he drops back into when he's telling his story. The bit with fighting in the bar during the interlude was, I think, meant to illustrate that. He briefly forgets that he's not the man he used to be, then either remembers or is reminded. While telling the story he's the same guy who (to one extent or another) pulled off all of the ridiculous feats of bravado and bullshittery that he's describing. Bast even calls him out on embellishing how hot all the women in his life were at one point. He's not exactly an unreliable narrator in that we aren't given reason to doubt that the things he's describing happened, but it seems safe to assume that he's describing them in the best light possible while still maintaining the tone of light self-deprecation necessary to make telling tales of his own heroism not immediately sound like boasting to the listener.
1984. I've read it twice, and my roomie already owns it, but it is such an important book, I need it for my collection.
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. Kinda got it on a whim. I've been reading HG Wells and this seems to fit. I'll be reading Frankenstein at some point as well.
And finally James Clavell's Tai-Pan. I recently re-read Shogun and loved it. And even though I'm currently reading like 4 books already, I couldn't help but read a bit into Tai-Pan. Its great so far. It is also extremely informative and interesting; I suspect I'll come out of this book with not only more knowledge of the Opium Wars, but also China and the region in general.
It's like a recovering alcoholic hanging out in a bar.
Book 12 was not nearly as painful as I remembered it being.
Onwards to anticipation!
You have to fight through some bad days, to earn the best days of your life.
I rather liked Richard Morgan's fantasy debut, The Steel Remains. Haven't read part 2 yet.
Yeah. Morgan does excellent sci-fi, and The Steel Remains was a nice bit of genre-subverting fantasy. Can be a bit graphic here and there though. I'll also second The Lies of Locke Lamorra, because it is excellently done.
Also might be worth checking out (darker, gritter side), Joe Abercrombie's The Blade Itself, which is also very good at breaking up your expectations in a genre which seems more..defined than others a lot of the time.
For pure adventureous swashbuckling fun, Chris Wooding's Retribution Falls and Stephen Hunt's The Court of the Air would be excellent options.
Jesus, yes. Go forth and do this thing, Echo!
Actual Play: Mage: the Awakening - At the Edge of All Things
I'm a big fan of The Heroes, but I think that whilst it's a solid self contained text, it works so much better if assessed in the context of the work that precedes it. If nothing else, there's spoiler potential - some of the events and characters in Heroes spoil the preceding trilogy a little if you haven't read it previously.
As @SniperGuy indicated a preference for Mistborn/Name of the Wind, I figure another trilogy won't hurt...though really, you can't go wrong with Abercrombie.
Alternatively, check out The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett.
Guild Wars 2: Entriech.3507 | Scythe Gearsnap, Phlork, Irenic
I quite like Kristin Cashore, and I don't think she gets mentioned much around here. Graceling and Fire, with Bitterblue coming out next month, as I recall. Interesting world (without dedicating half the book to it, Sanderson-style), strong characters, plot that moves quickly. Highly recommended, especially the first novel.
Also, I recently read Melina Marchetta's Finnikin of the Rock, and Jay Lake's Green. I spent both of these books cringing at the actions or circumstances of the main characters (for various reasons), which was definitely something different in ostensibly YA fantasy. On the one hand, it makes it hard to recommend either, but at the same time, it speaks to the quality of the storytelling that I was drawn in enough to care. So, while I won't say "read these books", I will say "give them a look and see if they sound interesting".
I actually re-read my mid-90s Swedish copy of Count Zero a while back and oh god.
MH3U Veggie Elder Ticket Guide
MH3U Veggie Elder Ticket Guide
animalsdragons. So it's nice to see I'm reading a book written by an Aubrey/Maturin lover.Also it made me laugh twice that he describes watching the Orient get burned by a dragon at the Nile. 1) because the Orient burned and exploded at the real battle of the Nile, and 2) because goddamnit I'm such a nerd and I remembered that off the top of my head.
Uuuugggh can't help myself
Surprisingly in depth in some areas, slightly lax in others. Pretty hefty, and quick, read so I suppose it's not terrible that he didn't bog it down with minutiae.
Huh, really? Guess it's one of those archaic expressions where people forgot the original meaning and change it to something they feel makes more sense (I forget what the term for this is). Care to explain the phrase? I'm guessing it has something to do with the navy paying prize money to the crew that captured the ship.
Not to mention what ships would and wouldn't get 'bought into the service' and how much they were appraised for was often more about the political pull of the people who would profit from it than the actual usefulness of the ship.
Shit got really crazy early during the Napoleonic wars when England was at war with Spain and their treasure galleons.
Have you read any Wodehouse?
Interesting. Guess someone got very rich when almost our entire fleet was captured.
Maybe. The institution of Prizes certainly was an important part of the overall remuneration package for sailors during conflicts, which would have been helpful given the lack of a pensions system, half pay outside of conflicts, badly delayed pay being common and the like.
In addition to what has been said with regards to Abercrombie and Lynch, I'd heartily recommend Chris Wooding's Ketty Jay series, which is about a small band of Steampunk air pirates; Retribution Falls being the first of three.
So much fun to read.
What with all the Gibson talk here lately.