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The Republic of Thieves is out?! also other book talk

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  • POKÉMON MASTER WT SHERMANPOKÉMON MASTER WT SHERMAN i can make this march and i will make georgia howlRegistered User regular
    I started re-reading the Malazan series. I remeber enough to see the early seeds of storyline and appreciate where it's going to go, but it's also been long enough that I'm still feeling the impact of some of the bigger moments. Chain of Dogs. Capustan. Coral. Still such insane setpieces.

    And I'd forgotten how utterly unlikable the character in House of Chains was at the beginning.
    "febrile"

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  • Bloods EndBloods End Blade of Tyshalle Punch dimensionRegistered User regular
    I'm reading Night of Knives. I am so in the Malazan world right now and I actually understand what is going on in the books this time around.
    Also, now looking at it Gardens of the Moon has so many inconsistencies.

    Like Taschy being a douche.
    Or Tool counteracting magic.
    Or really Cotillian and Shadowthrone's entire plan.

  • DrijenDrijen Registered User regular
    edited October 2013
    Bloods End wrote: »
    I'm reading Night of Knives. I am so in the Malazan world right now and I actually understand what is going on in the books this time around.
    Also, now looking at it Gardens of the Moon has so many inconsistencies.

    Like Taschy being a douche.
    Or Tool counteracting magic.
    Or really Cotillian and Shadowthrone's entire plan.

    I'm re-reading them as well, just finished Bonehunters and the second Esselmont book and I cannot make sense of him at all. I feel like two very different characters were smushed together under one name. F'rinstance:
    Gardens of the Moon spoiler
    Hairlock easily could have been the mage who turned on the Bridgeburners and was subsequently caught up and still trapped as eeevil puppet.

    So far I'm not a huge fan of the Esselmont books, specifically in the way 'major' characters are treated/changed/?killed?.

    Drijen on
  • Grey GhostGrey Ghost Registered User regular
    Uh so I just finished Republic of Thieves and
    Uh

    Holy shit

  • wirehead26wirehead26 Registered User regular
    Reading ADWD.
    Glad Tyrion's circumstances aren't quite as dire as I expected them to be. Course, I'm only 40 pages in so far so there's plenty of time for his life to turn completely to shit again.

    I'M NOT FINISHED WITH YOU!!!
  • BalefuegoBalefuego Registered User regular
    wirehead26 wrote: »
    Reading ADWD.
    Glad Tyrion's circumstances aren't quite as dire as I expected them to be. Course, I'm only 40 pages in so far so there's plenty of time for his life to turn completely to shit again.

    Oh my sweet summer child.

    Soon, soon you will learn where whores go.

    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • wirehead26wirehead26 Registered User regular
    Balefuego wrote: »
    wirehead26 wrote: »
    Reading ADWD.
    Glad Tyrion's circumstances aren't quite as dire as I expected them to be. Course, I'm only 40 pages in so far so there's plenty of time for his life to turn completely to shit again.

    Oh my sweet summer child.

    Soon, soon you will learn where whores go.
    Son of a BITCH I knew he'd end up as a slave.

    I'M NOT FINISHED WITH YOU!!!
  • ElderlycrawfishElderlycrawfish Registered User regular
    Drijen wrote: »
    Bloods End wrote: »
    I'm reading Night of Knives. I am so in the Malazan world right now and I actually understand what is going on in the books this time around.
    Also, now looking at it Gardens of the Moon has so many inconsistencies.

    Like Taschy being a douche.
    Or Tool counteracting magic.
    Or really Cotillian and Shadowthrone's entire plan.

    I'm re-reading them as well, just finished Bonehunters and the second Esselmont book and I cannot make sense of him at all. I feel like two very different characters were smushed together under one name. F'rinstance:
    Gardens of the Moon spoiler
    Hairlock easily could have been the mage who turned on the Bridgeburners and was subsequently caught up and still trapped as eeevil puppet.

    So far I'm not a huge fan of the Esselmont books, specifically in the way 'major' characters are treated/changed/?killed?.

    Gardens is kind of tough to parse with the rest of the series in hindsight; I hate to say it but it's probably easier to hand wave any Gardens discrepancies and just roll with however the stuff is handled in subsequent books.


  • wirehead26wirehead26 Registered User regular
    edited October 2013
    Oh shit. (A Dance with Dragons spoilers)
    A slave whore.

    Also I heard that ADWD finally explains Tyrion's weird acrobatic maneuver he pulled in the first book that was never brought up again.

    wirehead26 on
    I'M NOT FINISHED WITH YOU!!!
  • THESPOOKYTHESPOOKY papa! Registered User regular
    edited November 2013
    Grey Ghost wrote: »
    Uh so I just finished Republic of Thieves and
    Uh

    Holy shit

    uh oh

    I'm getting near the 2/3 mark and so far there haven't been any OH NOOOOO moments

    THESPOOKY on
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  • Grey GhostGrey Ghost Registered User regular
    THESPOOKY wrote: »
    Grey Ghost wrote: »
    Uh so I just finished Republic of Thieves and
    Uh

    Holy shit

    uh oh

    I'm getting near the 2/3 mark and so far there haven't been any OH NOOOOO moments

    It should pick up the general pace pretty soon, but the last chapter is the big shit

  • JragghenJragghen Registered User regular
    Drijen wrote: »
    Bloods End wrote: »
    I'm reading Night of Knives. I am so in the Malazan world right now and I actually understand what is going on in the books this time around.
    Also, now looking at it Gardens of the Moon has so many inconsistencies.

    Like Taschy being a douche.
    Or Tool counteracting magic.
    Or really Cotillian and Shadowthrone's entire plan.

    I'm re-reading them as well, just finished Bonehunters and the second Esselmont book and I cannot make sense of him at all. I feel like two very different characters were smushed together under one name. F'rinstance:
    Gardens of the Moon spoiler
    Hairlock easily could have been the mage who turned on the Bridgeburners and was subsequently caught up and still trapped as eeevil puppet.

    So far I'm not a huge fan of the Esselmont books, specifically in the way 'major' characters are treated/changed/?killed?.

    Gardens is kind of tough to parse with the rest of the series in hindsight; I hate to say it but it's probably easier to hand wave any Gardens discrepancies and just roll with however the stuff is handled in subsequent books.

    Yeah, a lot of stuff just kinda get handwaved as GotMisms by the fanbase. I suppose that happens when it's written so divorced from the rest of the series - there's even little details which are blatantly out of sync with the rest of the series, like the number of Jaghut Wars there were. Which is just a number, so you'd think he could keep track of it.

    Late series spoilers (like...book 8, at least)
    Then there's the whole timeline shit where it's literally impossible for the timeline to work because of the ages of Stonny's kid and Karsa's kids, among other things.

    If you want to try to tie it together thematically, you can argue that it's the nature of history where it's reported by imperfect narrators and therefore what we're reading isn't necessarily the actual truth (and that does happen in the series a couple times, intentionally), but really it boils down to "there's two types of authors for epic fantasy - ones like GRRM who keep enormous catalogs of notes and everything fits together in this intricate clockwork, and ones like Erikson who draw broad, vibrant paintings where you kinda have to look at the big picture and not get caught up in the details because they're all a little fuzzy and don't look quite right under scrutiny." Still love those books, but you've got to be honest about what they are.

    As for ICE's novels, NoK is okay, but nothing special. Return of the Crimson Guard is interesting because of what HAPPENS, but is still a little unpolished. Its climax is excellent, though. Stonewielder is probably his best because it focuses so much on his forte - ICE writes some damn fine battles. OST is good and deals with some interesting stuff, but it's probably worse for the "wait, what?" comparisons between the main series and his novels than any other. I haven't read Blood and Bone yet - probably going to pick it up once Assail is out.

  • EndaroEndaro Registered User regular
    I've been in a bookish mood lately and I have been looking for somewhere to keep track of what I've read and a wishlist of what I'd like to read. I ended up finding goodreads.com, which seems passable but I'm open to suggestions. I just finished signing up and it tossed user reviews my way, headlined by someone tanking Life of Pi with 1 star. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but I loved that they based theirs on how they felt the story was too far fetched and unbelievable, what with the protagonist living on a boat with a tiger and a hyena. Surely they would eat him!

  • Dead LegendDead Legend Registered User regular
    I finished up These Mortal Remains by Milton Burton tonight instead of doing my lit review.

    Very good book about a sheriff in East Texas with an unsolved murder and a pack of white supremacists setting up shop in the county.

    diablo III - beardsnbeer#1508 Mechwarrior Online - Rusty Bock
  • THESPOOKYTHESPOOKY papa! Registered User regular
    edited November 2013
    Finished Part 2 of the Republic of Thieves audiobook, which I'm not getting through as fast as I'd like thanks to Black Flag (wherein I have crimson sails, a la the previous book, chyea)

    I'm relieved to find that I don't absolutely hate Sabetha and, in fact, am enjoying the character

    THESPOOKY on
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  • Grey GhostGrey Ghost Registered User regular
    I ended up getting super invested in all the Sabetha stuff, to my own surprise

  • Peter EbelPeter Ebel CopenhagenRegistered User regular
    Gonna read some Raymond Chandler. Not a goddamned thing any of you can do to stop me.

    Fuck off and die.
  • AnzekayAnzekay Registered User regular
    So I only skimmed the first 7 pages of this thread but I'm going to do my token suggestion of who literally everyone in this thread should read if they have not already:

    Guy Gavriel Kay. Everything he's written.

    Done.

    Currently I'm reading through a bunch of Jasper Fford books (the Thursday Next ones), but I have Children of the Mind (the only OSC book I have yet to read) and the final Wheel of Time book sitting on my shelf looking sad and irate that I have been ignoring them for about 8 months since I bought them. I just... Sort of realised I'm not as interesting in reading either of them than I was when I bought them.

    What I do need to read, though, is the new Scott Lynch because how have I not read it already!

  • Lost SalientLost Salient blink twice if you'd like me to mercy kill youRegistered User regular
    Now that I've finished Medusa's Gaze and Vampire's Bite I must select my next non-fiction book.

    Help help I have so much to choose from.

    RUVCwyu.jpg
    "Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
  • Grey GhostGrey Ghost Registered User regular
    Sandra have you read The Lost City of Z yet
    How about The Monster of Florence

  • StraightziStraightzi Here we may reign secure, and in my choice, To reign is worth ambition though in HellRegistered User regular
    Gentleman's Blood is a good, if simple, history of dueling

    If you've somehow never read Goodbye To All That you should

    Divine Horsemen is a fascinating book on the history and culture of Haitian Voodoo

  • Lost SalientLost Salient blink twice if you'd like me to mercy kill youRegistered User regular
    I...

    I can't tell if you are joking

    Because we have totally talked about both of those books in the past I think?

    Anyway yes I have read both, and I read Monster of Florence at your recommendation even.

    Here is what is on my kindle:

    The Man Who Loved Books Too Much
    Death in the City of Light: the Serial Killer of Nazi-Occupied Paris
    Deadly Choices: How the Anti-Vaccination Movement Threatens Us All
    Boardwalk Empire: the Birth, High Times, and Corruption of Atlantic City
    Eels: An Exploration, from New Zealand to the Sargasso, of the World's Most Mysterious Fish
    The Great Influenza: the Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History
    Crimes of Paris: A True Story of Murder, Theft and Detection
    The Murder of the Century

    But then I also just bought Korea: The Impossible Country, and at home I have like dozens of other options so maybe I should just wait.

    RUVCwyu.jpg
    "Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
  • Lost SalientLost Salient blink twice if you'd like me to mercy kill youRegistered User regular
    Divine Horsemen is going on my wishlist

    RUVCwyu.jpg
    "Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
  • wirehead26wirehead26 Registered User regular
    About 240 pages into A Dance with Dragons. Needs more Roose Bolton and less his sadistic bastard.

    I'M NOT FINISHED WITH YOU!!!
  • lostwordslostwords Registered User regular
    Oh man, I looooved the boardwalk empire book!

    rat.jpg tumbler? steam/ps3 thingie: lostwords Amazon Wishlist!
  • Lost SalientLost Salient blink twice if you'd like me to mercy kill youRegistered User regular
    All of my secret indulgence books go on my kindle which is why that while list is mostly true crime and dumb stuff like that

    My hardcover non-fiction is where my hipster elitism truly shines

    RUVCwyu.jpg
    "Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
  • Grey GhostGrey Ghost Registered User regular
    I...

    I can't tell if you are joking

    Because we have totally talked about both of those books in the past I think?

    Anyway yes I have read both, and I read Monster of Florence at your recommendation even.

    Sort of yes but I also honestly couldn't remember
    Read Death in the City of Lights so you can tell me if it's any good

  • Lost SalientLost Salient blink twice if you'd like me to mercy kill youRegistered User regular
    Okey doke

    I'll start that or Boardwalk Empire

    RUVCwyu.jpg
    "Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
  • UsagiUsagi Nah Registered User regular
    Ooh book thread! I've kind of fallen off my nonfiction joint and picked up Umberto Eco's Name of the Rose

    For a mystery/mystic novel about 14th century monkhood it's remarkably good, if a bit dense

    Going to reread Foucault's Pendulum when I'm done

  • lostwordslostwords Registered User regular
    Book related: got the new hyperbole and a half collection last week, and have read through it twice since getting it, despite having read most of the stuff from her website. Sooooo good ugh. The stuff she's written about depression and that lonely feeling just hits close to home

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  • EndaroEndaro Registered User regular
    Being late to the part is fun, and I just want to say that having recently finished Stardust and gotten in to The Ocean at the End of the Lane, I think this Neil Gaiman guy might be on to something.

  • THESPOOKYTHESPOOKY papa! Registered User regular
    "Get the dogshit out of your ears, you witless corpse-fart"

    Scott Lynch, I <3 u

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  • ShenShen Registered User regular
    My favourite Locke line is still "full-on barking madness is a state of rational bliss to which you may not aspire."

    3DS: 2234-8122-8398 | Battle.net (EU): Ladi#2485
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  • DelaneyDelaney Registered User regular
    Anzekay wrote: »
    So I only skimmed the first 7 pages of this thread but I'm going to do my token suggestion of who literally everyone in this thread should read if they have not already:

    Guy Gavriel Kay. Everything he's written.

    Done.

    Currently I'm reading through a bunch of Jasper Fford books (the Thursday Next ones), but I have Children of the Mind (the only OSC book I have yet to read) and the final Wheel of Time book sitting on my shelf looking sad and irate that I have been ignoring them for about 8 months since I bought them. I just... Sort of realised I'm not as interesting in reading either of them than I was when I bought them.

    What I do need to read, though, is the new Scott Lynch because how have I not read it already!

    Kay is awesome. His phrasing is superb and the ending line of one of his books always makes me tear up when I read it. A Song for Arbonne is my favorite of his novels (and would make an excellent movie in my opinion), with The Lions of Al-Rassan and the two books of the Sarantine Mosaic coming close seconds. He's one of the few authors whose new releases I will buy automatically as long as it's his historical fantasy.

    "I will participate in the game. It's a wonderful, wonderful opera, except that it hurts." - Joseph Campbell

    Steam: delaney_a

  • bowtiedsealbowtiedseal Registered User regular
    Usagi wrote: »
    Ooh book thread! I've kind of fallen off my nonfiction joint and picked up Umberto Eco's Name of the Rose

    For a mystery/mystic novel about 14th century monkhood it's remarkably good, if a bit dense

    Going to reread Foucault's Pendulum when I'm done

    I loved that book! I have a bit of a thing for books about books/libraries (name of the rose, shadow of the wind, my name is red) if anyone can recommend good ones!

    lately I have been reading suggestions from felicia day's goodreads group, vaginal fantasy hangout, cause I need ridiculous silly fluff every now and then. totally killed my goodreads goal - I think I've probably read close to 120 books this year and my goal was 100. yaaay

  • Crimson KingCrimson King Registered User regular
    i would like guy gavriel kay a lot better if he wrote straight historical fiction instead of thinly disguised pastiches

    you know, like umberto eco does. but with less of a semiotics boner, presumably

    i read the island of the day before recently, it's really good and perhaps more accessible than the name of the rose

  • AnzekayAnzekay Registered User regular
    I kinda like GGK's historical fantasy over him doing historical fiction because he has a neat chance to play around with the concepts even further and, in some of his books, add straight up supernatural elements in really subtle ways. It's refreshing and very different to similar work.

    That and he backs it all up with such incredible writing that I'm sure I'd love his books no matter what they were, really.

    I think Under Heaven has to be my favourite, followed by the Lions of Al-Rassan and the Sarantine Mosaic.

  • PeenPeen Registered User regular
    @Endaro, I've only ever used Goodreads but I like it and completely ignore user reviews except those that my friends do. Get a bunch of friends that use it and it's cool.

    @bowtiedseal high 5 for pointing out "my name is red," I'd never heard of it and it looks like it's right up my alley. I too have a thing for books about books and libraries (surprise surprise).

  • THESPOOKYTHESPOOKY papa! Registered User regular
    edited November 2013
    Republic of Thieves big ol' fuckin spoilers about Locke
    I always thought Locke was going to be connected to the Bondsmagi from birth somehow, but jesus god almighty he's reincarnated

    THESPOOKY on
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  • Grey GhostGrey Ghost Registered User regular
    THESPOOKY wrote: »
    Republic of Thieves big ol' fuckin spoilers about Locke
    I always thought Locke was going to be connected to the Bondsmagi from birth somehow, but jesus god almighty he's reincarnated

    I'm still not sold on this being true

This discussion has been closed.