I haven't read Children of the Sky. It's worth reading? Amazon reviews are pretty down on it as a follow up to the first two.
So far it's another step down compared to a deepness in the sky. Again it has interesting ideas though so I'm sticking with it
I'd agree with that. On its own, it's a decent - if oddly young adult in feel - book about a group of people living on a planet of Dickensian dogs. As a sequel to Fire, though, it's underwhelming.
I don't love the idea of Vinge relying again on the Tines, but at least they are one of the most interesting alien races I've read about.
What I liked so much about Fire(and didn't get in Deepness), as well as my recent reads of Aristoi and the Ancillary series, is the exploration of different kinds of minds and consciousness. Are there are books that anyone can recommend which would explore that topic?
The Tines in the sequel felt more like the Spiders than the Tines in the original book to me. As for good explorations of different types of consciousness and what it means to be "alien", I'd say Left Hand of Darkness and Mary Doria Russell's The Sparrow are my favorites.
The Mote in God's Eye.
I'll add the..well, I'll call them spiders and leave it at that, in Adrian Tchaikovsky's "Children of Time" to the others, all of which are spot on.
I haven't read Children of the Sky. It's worth reading? Amazon reviews are pretty down on it as a follow up to the first two.
So far it's another step down compared to a deepness in the sky. Again it has interesting ideas though so I'm sticking with it
I'd agree with that. On its own, it's a decent - if oddly young adult in feel - book about a group of people living on a planet of Dickensian dogs. As a sequel to Fire, though, it's underwhelming.
I don't love the idea of Vinge relying again on the Tines, but at least they are one of the most interesting alien races I've read about.
What I liked so much about Fire(and didn't get in Deepness), as well as my recent reads of Aristoi and the Ancillary series, is the exploration of different kinds of minds and consciousness. Are there are books that anyone can recommend which would explore that topic?
The Tines in the sequel felt more like the Spiders than the Tines in the original book to me. As for good explorations of different types of consciousness and what it means to be "alien", I'd say Left Hand of Darkness and Mary Doria Russell's The Sparrow are my favorites.
The Mote in God's Eye.
I'll add the..well, I'll call them spiders and leave it at that, in Adrian Tchaikovsky's "Children of Time" to the others, all of which are spot on.
Can't believe I forgot Embassytown, although I'll have to be in the mood for dense Mievillian concepts. Blindsight in particular seems like it would be right up my alley, and I've already had many past recommendations for the Sparrow, I just only knew that it involved religious concepts.
I haven't read Children of the Sky. It's worth reading? Amazon reviews are pretty down on it as a follow up to the first two.
So far it's another step down compared to a deepness in the sky. Again it has interesting ideas though so I'm sticking with it
I'd agree with that. On its own, it's a decent - if oddly young adult in feel - book about a group of people living on a planet of Dickensian dogs. As a sequel to Fire, though, it's underwhelming.
I don't love the idea of Vinge relying again on the Tines, but at least they are one of the most interesting alien races I've read about.
What I liked so much about Fire(and didn't get in Deepness), as well as my recent reads of Aristoi and the Ancillary series, is the exploration of different kinds of minds and consciousness. Are there are books that anyone can recommend which would explore that topic?
The Tines in the sequel felt more like the Spiders than the Tines in the original book to me. As for good explorations of different types of consciousness and what it means to be "alien", I'd say Left Hand of Darkness and Mary Doria Russell's The Sparrow are my favorites.
The Mote in God's Eye.
I'll add the..well, I'll call them spiders and leave it at that, in Adrian Tchaikovsky's "Children of Time" to the others, all of which are spot on.
Can't believe I forgot Embassytown, although I'll have to be in the mood for dense Mievillian concepts. Blindsight in particular seems like it would be right up my alley, and I've already had many past recommendations for the Sparrow, I just only knew that it involved religious concepts.
The Sparrow is interesting because, while it does have a POV that is a priest, I am not sure that it is a religious story. The blindspots created by his faith are as very important to the story. It takes his faith seriously, and he's not a villain by any estimation, but it is ultimately the story about the dangers of projecting onto others based on your cultural beliefs.
Does anyone have any recommendations for books that are similar to Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian? I'm looking for something with the same atmosphere/tone/style/mood to it. It doesn't necessarily have to be a western (though it can be), it just...well I don't quite know how to put into words what I'm looking for. I've read most other McCarthy, so someone besides him.
Does anyone have any recommendations for books that are similar to Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian? I'm looking for something with the same atmosphere/tone/style/mood to it. It doesn't necessarily have to be a western (though it can be), it just...well I don't quite know how to put into words what I'm looking for. I've read most other McCarthy, so someone besides him.
Maybe Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson? I'm riffing a bit on Blood Meridian's taut, masterfully constructed prose with an unrelentingly grim tone.
Does anyone have any recommendations for books that are similar to Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian? I'm looking for something with the same atmosphere/tone/style/mood to it. It doesn't necessarily have to be a western (though it can be), it just...well I don't quite know how to put into words what I'm looking for. I've read most other McCarthy, so someone besides him.
Madison Smartt Bell's Haiti Trilogy game me strong Blood Meridian vibes. His language isn't as poetic - still pretty damned good - but he nails the same "wandering through hell" feeling.
Finished the Magician's Land, the final book in the Magician's Trilogy by Lev Grossman. Quite pleased. It is quite an artistic accomplishment to take a very unlikable protagonist, unlikable on purpose because he's pretty much an immature manchild putz, and turn him into a deep, complicated and likable character.
Double thumbs up.
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lwt1973King of ThievesSyndicationRegistered Userregular
I just read Son of the Black Sword. Nice world building in it and the plot is quite interesting.
"He's sulking in his tent like Achilles! It's the Iliad?...from Homer?! READ A BOOK!!" -Handy
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pyromaniac221this just might bean interestin YTRegistered Userregular
Picked up Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi and the first paragraph is a hell of a way to start a book
Finished State of the Art by Iain M. Banks, a collection of his short genre stories and a novella about the Culture.
Um...best not to read it, really, unless you really must be an Iain M. Banks completionist. Any 10 pages from one of his novels is orders of magnitude better than one of his short stories, which are all little vignettes with no particular plot, setting, or character. The Culture novella features Diziet Sma on Earth in the 70s, but unfortunately isn't particularly interesting and involves some trite moralizing (which he's normally good enough to leave unsaid, or to lampshade) and again has no particular plot.
I'm pretty sad at the low quality of this collection. Fortunately, I started Inversions, also by Iain M. Banks, and it's already great! So that's washing away the bad taste.
Steam, LoL: credeiki
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webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
Wooo "Stiletto", the sequel to "The Rook" was just released. I know what I'm doing this weekend.
Grudgeblessed is the mind too small for doubtRegistered Userregular
edited June 2016
Finished A Shadow in Summer and A Betrayal in Winter by Daniel Abraham, the first two novels in a cycle of four. Maybe they can be summarized as character driven, low-key fantasy set in a kind of ancient fantasy-China. Fairly different to most other fantasy I've read, very slow paced, but avoids a lot of tropes which makes the story interesting and difficult to predict. The world building is interesting and fairly unique, as is the magic system, if you could call it that - the basic idea is that "poets" are able to bind certain pure ideas into physical form - a kind of familiar that is bound to the mind of the poet. These familiars struggle to free themselves, but can be controlled and they possess the magic powers, not the poets themselves. Heavy on political intrigue, far removed from crazy heroics. Not for everyone, I would say, the slow pacing and the subtleties might not work if you're a bit impatient. But I quite like them, and I think will continue reading the series.
Also finished Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer. Very.... Tarkovskij-esque, is the feeling I had. Dreamlike in parts. A bit weird, but not overly so. Again, probably not for everyone, I could see how you really would not like it. I did though, and will probably pick up the sequel at some point.
Now reading Hardwired by Walther Jon Williams. My 15 year-old self would have loooved this one - I adored Neuromancer, and played a lot of RPGs back then (the pen and paper kind, mind you - computer RPGs were barely invented back then), and that 80s machismo namedropping style really brings me back. Maybe not as poetic as Neuromancer, but with more adrenaline. A bit too much style over substance for my current tastes, but very much a child of it's time, which if you like a bit of nostalgia has value of it's own. I'm liking it.
Finished A Shadow in Summer and A Betrayal in Winter by Daniel Abraham, the first two novels in a cycle of four. Maybe they can be summarized as character driven, low-key fantasy set in a kind of ancient fantasy-China. Fairly different to most other fantasy I've read, very slow paced, but avoids a lot of tropes which makes the story interesting and difficult to predict. The world building is interesting and fairly unique, as is the magic system, if you could call it that - the basic idea is that "poets" are able to bind certain pure ideas into physical form - a kind of familiar that is bound to the mind of the poet. These familiars struggle to free themselves, but can be controlled and they possess the magic powers, not the poets themselves. Heavy on political intrigue, far removed from crazy heroics. Not for everyone, I would say, the slow pacing and the subtleties might not work if you're a bit impatient. But I quite like them, and I think will continue reading the series.
Also finished Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer. Very.... Tarkovskij-esque, is the feeling I had. Dreamlike in parts. A bit weird, but not overly so. Again, probably not for everyone, I could see how you really would not like it. I did though, and will probably pick up the sequel at some point.
Now reading Hardwired by Walther Jon Williams. My 15 year-old self would have loooved this one - I adored Neuromancer, and played a lot of RPGs back then (the pen and paper kind, mind you - computer RPGs were barely invented back then), and that 80s machismo namedropping style really brings me back. Maybe not as poetic as Neuromancer, but with more adrenaline. A bit too much style over substance for my current tastes, but very much a child of it's time, which if you like a bit of nostalgia has value of it's own. I'm liking it.
I really encourage you to follow through with the southern reach trilogy. Second one is maybe not as good as first. Third one really great.
Wooo "Stiletto", the sequel to "The Rook" was just released. I know what I'm doing this weekend.
Finished the book.
It was great. Also great to have more great female protagonists out there. Damn I love this guys work.
Loved the Daredevil reference. Loved seeing Shantay in action at the end, that was great. Loved the new main characters and their non-world ending powers (compared to Myfanwy who is definitely towards the high-powered end of the power spectrum). The Chekov's gun was well played.
Finished A Shadow in Summer and A Betrayal in Winter by Daniel Abraham, the first two novels in a cycle of four. Maybe they can be summarized as character driven, low-key fantasy set in a kind of ancient fantasy-China. Fairly different to most other fantasy I've read, very slow paced, but avoids a lot of tropes which makes the story interesting and difficult to predict. The world building is interesting and fairly unique, as is the magic system, if you could call it that - the basic idea is that "poets" are able to bind certain pure ideas into physical form - a kind of familiar that is bound to the mind of the poet. These familiars struggle to free themselves, but can be controlled and they possess the magic powers, not the poets themselves. Heavy on political intrigue, far removed from crazy heroics. Not for everyone, I would say, the slow pacing and the subtleties might not work if you're a bit impatient. But I quite like them, and I think will continue reading the series.
Danial Abraham is also James S.A. Corey, writer of the Expanse.
In any case, the Long Price is one of my favorite SFF series ever.
Civics is not a consumer product that you can ignore because you don’t like the options presented.
Danial Abraham is also James S.A. Corey, writer of the Expanse.
One half, at least. Ty Franck is the other half.
I've been meaning to read some of Abraham's stuff some time.
And on that note, Babylon's Ashes scheduled for a November release.
His another series, Dagger and Coin, is also finished, and definitely worth reading.
I liked Dagger and Coin a lot, but not as much as the Long Price. I think that it has a much more engaging and accessible story - and it's a world begging to be turned into an RPG - but LP has a lot more ambition and tells a better story.
Civics is not a consumer product that you can ignore because you don’t like the options presented.
Just finished the Crossroads trilogy by Kate Elliott.
Anji is such a bitch. Fuck that guy for real. That was some red wedding asshole shit. And fuck those asshole Qin and their "everything is a demon" shit. I'd definitely be into more books about the Hundred, though.
Finished A Shadow in Summer and A Betrayal in Winter by Daniel Abraham, the first two novels in a cycle of four. Maybe they can be summarized as character driven, low-key fantasy set in a kind of ancient fantasy-China. Fairly different to most other fantasy I've read, very slow paced, but avoids a lot of tropes which makes the story interesting and difficult to predict. The world building is interesting and fairly unique, as is the magic system, if you could call it that - the basic idea is that "poets" are able to bind certain pure ideas into physical form - a kind of familiar that is bound to the mind of the poet. These familiars struggle to free themselves, but can be controlled and they possess the magic powers, not the poets themselves. Heavy on political intrigue, far removed from crazy heroics. Not for everyone, I would say, the slow pacing and the subtleties might not work if you're a bit impatient. But I quite like them, and I think will continue reading the series.
Danial Abraham is also James S.A. Corey, writer of the Expanse.
In any case, the Long Price is one of my favorite SFF series ever.
I picked up 'Shadow in Summer' the other day and I've been burning through it; very nice, I think I can see its shared DNA with The Expanse.
Before that I was on a huge Charles Stross kick; The Laundry Files and Merchant Princes are both fast, fun, clever series.
Finishing up Working God's Mischief here, and... the pacing of this series is really weird. Like I enjoy it, but he'll spend as much time on some momentous, landscape-changing death as he will someone's conversation over breakfast. Bizarre. I guess he's been doing the low-key thing since Black Company, though.
Wooo "Stiletto", the sequel to "The Rook" was just released. I know what I'm doing this weekend.
Finished the book.
It was great. Also great to have more great female protagonists out there. Damn I love this guys work.
Loved the Daredevil reference. Loved seeing Shantay in action at the end, that was great. Loved the new main characters and their non-world ending powers (compared to Myfanwy who is definitely towards the high-powered end of the power spectrum). The Chekov's gun was well played.
I finished it last night, and I agree. While I was a little sad to see less Myfanwy, I fell in love with the new protagonists pretty quickly - certainly by the time of the back-to-back sections with the dossiers. Also, O'Malley is really great for setting up his Chekov's Guns well ahead of time. He packs in a ton of minor world building details that swing around in ways that make a huge amount of sense but aren't pushy in a "hey, this is going to be really important later" kind of way.
Civics is not a consumer product that you can ignore because you don’t like the options presented.
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VanguardBut now the dream is over. And the insect is awake.Registered User, __BANNED USERSregular
i should try the long price quartet
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Grudgeblessed is the mind too small for doubtRegistered Userregular
Finished A Shadow in Summer and A Betrayal in Winter by Daniel Abraham, the first two novels in a cycle of four. Maybe they can be summarized as character driven, low-key fantasy set in a kind of ancient fantasy-China. Fairly different to most other fantasy I've read, very slow paced, but avoids a lot of tropes which makes the story interesting and difficult to predict. The world building is interesting and fairly unique, as is the magic system, if you could call it that - the basic idea is that "poets" are able to bind certain pure ideas into physical form - a kind of familiar that is bound to the mind of the poet. These familiars struggle to free themselves, but can be controlled and they possess the magic powers, not the poets themselves. Heavy on political intrigue, far removed from crazy heroics. Not for everyone, I would say, the slow pacing and the subtleties might not work if you're a bit impatient. But I quite like them, and I think will continue reading the series.
Danial Abraham is also James S.A. Corey, writer of the Expanse.
In any case, the Long Price is one of my favorite SFF series ever.
Exactly, that's how I "found" him - I've read all the Expanse books published so far. I can't really say that I see many similarities though - I actually expected the Long Price to be more like the Expanse, but it was very different (in a good way though). Different tone, different pacing, different characters.
I got the first Dagger and Coin book btw, thanks for the recommendation, guys. To have something new before continuing the Long Price and the Southern Reach - I try not to read a full series back to back, there is always a risk of burn out, and that would be a shame if the series is good.
Finished A Shadow in Summer and A Betrayal in Winter by Daniel Abraham, the first two novels in a cycle of four. Maybe they can be summarized as character driven, low-key fantasy set in a kind of ancient fantasy-China. Fairly different to most other fantasy I've read, very slow paced, but avoids a lot of tropes which makes the story interesting and difficult to predict. The world building is interesting and fairly unique, as is the magic system, if you could call it that - the basic idea is that "poets" are able to bind certain pure ideas into physical form - a kind of familiar that is bound to the mind of the poet. These familiars struggle to free themselves, but can be controlled and they possess the magic powers, not the poets themselves. Heavy on political intrigue, far removed from crazy heroics. Not for everyone, I would say, the slow pacing and the subtleties might not work if you're a bit impatient. But I quite like them, and I think will continue reading the series.
Danial Abraham is also James S.A. Corey, writer of the Expanse.
In any case, the Long Price is one of my favorite SFF series ever.
Exactly, that's how I "found" him - I've read all the Expanse books published so far. I can't really say that I see many similarities though - I actually expected the Long Price to be more like the Expanse, but it was very different (in a good way though). Different tone, different pacing, different characters.
I got the first Dagger and Coin book btw, thanks for the recommendation, guys. To have something new before continuing the Long Price and the Southern Reach - I try not to read a full series back to back, there is always a risk of burn out, and that would be a shame if the series is good.
The biggest similarity I see is in the character work. Even horrible people are treated as people with motivations and you can almost be sympathetic with them and then you remember the horrific things they've done.
So if you bought any ebooks between Summer 2010 and Summer 2012, check your account on your online retailer of choice. I now have $142.06 in Amazon gift card due to the Apple price-fixing thing.
Daniel Abraham is also M.L.N. Hanover, the pen name under which he wrote a 5 book urban fantasy series. It's as excellent as everything else hes ever published, but unfortunately it apparently wasn't selling well enough to continue. So a lot of the various plot questions raised are never answered. I keep hoping that he'll go back to it, maybe using the attention he might be getting from The Expanse to help promote it a bit more.
Thanks for pointing those out but wow are those covers cheesecake. I know authors don't get a whole lot of control over that until they are very well established but geez, I would totally skim past them on a book shelf just assuming they're horrible because of that.
They are supposed to be selling the book to the "Urban Fantasy" audience, which is large and largely female and basically wants dangerous but vulnerable women who fuck vampires.
Daniel Abraham is also M.L.N. Hanover, the pen name under which he wrote a 5 book urban fantasy series. It's as excellent as everything else hes ever published, but unfortunately it apparently wasn't selling well enough to continue. So a lot of the various plot questions raised are never answered. I keep hoping that he'll go back to it, maybe using the attention he might be getting from The Expanse to help promote it a bit more.
I picked the first one up before I knew it was Daniel Abraham.
I didn't like it.
I went back to it after I discovered that M.L.N. Hanover was Daniel Abraham. I thought "Maybe I was too hasty? Maybe I was in a bad mood when I read it? Maybe I was tired? Maybe it was steak when I was expecting hamburger?"
On reading it, I still didn't like it.
As much as I love the Long Price, and enjoyed the Spider War, and appreciate the Expanse, I think that the Hanover books achieved pretty much the level of success that they merited.
Civics is not a consumer product that you can ignore because you don’t like the options presented.
So if you bought any ebooks between Summer 2010 and Summer 2012, check your account on your online retailer of choice. I now have $142.06 in Amazon gift card due to the Apple price-fixing thing.
My fiancée has something along the lines of $60 in credit. She showed me the email and said "That tells you how many books I buy."
Daniel Abraham is also M.L.N. Hanover, the pen name under which he wrote a 5 book urban fantasy series. It's as excellent as everything else hes ever published, but unfortunately it apparently wasn't selling well enough to continue. So a lot of the various plot questions raised are never answered. I keep hoping that he'll go back to it, maybe using the attention he might be getting from The Expanse to help promote it a bit more.
I picked the first one up before I knew it was Daniel Abraham.
I didn't like it.
I went back to it after I discovered that M.L.N. Hanover was Daniel Abraham. I thought "Maybe I was too hasty? Maybe I was in a bad mood when I read it? Maybe I was tired? Maybe it was steak when I was expecting hamburger?"
On reading it, I still didn't like it.
As much as I love the Long Price, and enjoyed the Spider War, and appreciate the Expanse, I think that the Hanover books achieved pretty much the level of success that they merited.
I've heard a lot of praise for them actually. In large part because they apparently aren't just thinly disguised erotica with disturbing gender politics, which is a rarity in that genre.
Also might explain why they sold poorly compared to his other work.
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knitdanIn ur baseKillin ur guysRegistered Userregular
Nice thing is the Amazon credit doesn't have to be applied only to e-books.
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I'll add the..well, I'll call them spiders and leave it at that, in Adrian Tchaikovsky's "Children of Time" to the others, all of which are spot on.
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Can't believe I forgot Embassytown, although I'll have to be in the mood for dense Mievillian concepts. Blindsight in particular seems like it would be right up my alley, and I've already had many past recommendations for the Sparrow, I just only knew that it involved religious concepts.
The Sparrow is interesting because, while it does have a POV that is a priest, I am not sure that it is a religious story. The blindspots created by his faith are as very important to the story. It takes his faith seriously, and he's not a villain by any estimation, but it is ultimately the story about the dangers of projecting onto others based on your cultural beliefs.
Does anyone have any recommendations for books that are similar to Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian? I'm looking for something with the same atmosphere/tone/style/mood to it. It doesn't necessarily have to be a western (though it can be), it just...well I don't quite know how to put into words what I'm looking for. I've read most other McCarthy, so someone besides him.
Maybe Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson? I'm riffing a bit on Blood Meridian's taut, masterfully constructed prose with an unrelentingly grim tone.
EDIT: Effing auotcorrect.
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Getting started with BATTLETECH: Part 1 / Part 2
Madison Smartt Bell's Haiti Trilogy game me strong Blood Meridian vibes. His language isn't as poetic - still pretty damned good - but he nails the same "wandering through hell" feeling.
Double thumbs up.
Um...best not to read it, really, unless you really must be an Iain M. Banks completionist. Any 10 pages from one of his novels is orders of magnitude better than one of his short stories, which are all little vignettes with no particular plot, setting, or character. The Culture novella features Diziet Sma on Earth in the 70s, but unfortunately isn't particularly interesting and involves some trite moralizing (which he's normally good enough to leave unsaid, or to lampshade) and again has no particular plot.
I'm pretty sad at the low quality of this collection. Fortunately, I started Inversions, also by Iain M. Banks, and it's already great! So that's washing away the bad taste.
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
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Also finished Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer. Very.... Tarkovskij-esque, is the feeling I had. Dreamlike in parts. A bit weird, but not overly so. Again, probably not for everyone, I could see how you really would not like it. I did though, and will probably pick up the sequel at some point.
Now reading Hardwired by Walther Jon Williams. My 15 year-old self would have loooved this one - I adored Neuromancer, and played a lot of RPGs back then (the pen and paper kind, mind you - computer RPGs were barely invented back then), and that 80s machismo namedropping style really brings me back. Maybe not as poetic as Neuromancer, but with more adrenaline. A bit too much style over substance for my current tastes, but very much a child of it's time, which if you like a bit of nostalgia has value of it's own. I'm liking it.
yessssss
his dragon and coin set (5 books) is also pretty good although I like the long price better
he's one of my fav fantasy authors
I really encourage you to follow through with the southern reach trilogy. Second one is maybe not as good as first. Third one really great.
At times I felt like I was reading a fancy narration of a long, rules heavy, drawn out lands and trade based board game, ha.
Finished the book.
It was great. Also great to have more great female protagonists out there. Damn I love this guys work.
Danial Abraham is also James S.A. Corey, writer of the Expanse.
In any case, the Long Price is one of my favorite SFF series ever.
One half, at least. Ty Franck is the other half.
I've been meaning to read some of Abraham's stuff some time.
And on that note, Babylon's Ashes scheduled for a November release.
His another series, Dagger and Coin, is also finished, and definitely worth reading.
I could have sworn I saw it slated for Summer at one point. I wonder if this author side or publisher side to take advantage of the TV tie in.
I liked Dagger and Coin a lot, but not as much as the Long Price. I think that it has a much more engaging and accessible story - and it's a world begging to be turned into an RPG - but LP has a lot more ambition and tells a better story.
Shitty Tumblr:lighthouse1138.tumblr.com
I picked up 'Shadow in Summer' the other day and I've been burning through it; very nice, I think I can see its shared DNA with The Expanse.
Before that I was on a huge Charles Stross kick; The Laundry Files and Merchant Princes are both fast, fun, clever series.
Finishing up Working God's Mischief here, and... the pacing of this series is really weird. Like I enjoy it, but he'll spend as much time on some momentous, landscape-changing death as he will someone's conversation over breakfast. Bizarre. I guess he's been doing the low-key thing since Black Company, though.
I finished it last night, and I agree. While I was a little sad to see less Myfanwy, I fell in love with the new protagonists pretty quickly - certainly by the time of the back-to-back sections with the dossiers. Also, O'Malley is really great for setting up his Chekov's Guns well ahead of time. He packs in a ton of minor world building details that swing around in ways that make a huge amount of sense but aren't pushy in a "hey, this is going to be really important later" kind of way.
Exactly, that's how I "found" him - I've read all the Expanse books published so far. I can't really say that I see many similarities though - I actually expected the Long Price to be more like the Expanse, but it was very different (in a good way though). Different tone, different pacing, different characters.
I got the first Dagger and Coin book btw, thanks for the recommendation, guys. To have something new before continuing the Long Price and the Southern Reach - I try not to read a full series back to back, there is always a risk of burn out, and that would be a shame if the series is good.
The biggest similarity I see is in the character work. Even horrible people are treated as people with motivations and you can almost be sympathetic with them and then you remember the horrific things they've done.
I picked the first one up before I knew it was Daniel Abraham.
I didn't like it.
I went back to it after I discovered that M.L.N. Hanover was Daniel Abraham. I thought "Maybe I was too hasty? Maybe I was in a bad mood when I read it? Maybe I was tired? Maybe it was steak when I was expecting hamburger?"
On reading it, I still didn't like it.
As much as I love the Long Price, and enjoyed the Spider War, and appreciate the Expanse, I think that the Hanover books achieved pretty much the level of success that they merited.
My fiancée has something along the lines of $60 in credit. She showed me the email and said "That tells you how many books I buy."
I've heard a lot of praise for them actually. In large part because they apparently aren't just thinly disguised erotica with disturbing gender politics, which is a rarity in that genre.
Also might explain why they sold poorly compared to his other work.
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades