About 1/3rd of the way through Children of Dune, it's much, much better than Messiah so far. Messiah was a slog that feels like it existed just to set up this book, it could have been reduced to a prologue. Children, while not as good as the first book so far, is hitting a lot of the righ notes for me.
Also reading Salt, as per Jedoc's advice, and maaaaan I had no idea how fascinating a condiment could be historically.
Listen, just everybody read Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky. I know you don't generally read microhistories, but this book is one of the most eye-opening books you will ever read.
You know how if you put the entire contents of your kitchen in a cabinet, they'd be inedible after three days? Except the pickles? Salt is the reason anyone could march an army in any direction for three days. It was like the oil of the ancient world.
And you couldn't make it just anywhere! You either had to drill it out of the ground like the Chinese, who dug the deepest pre-1800s wells centuries BC just to get at salt, or you had to evaporate it out of seawater. Which the French had enough sunlight for and the English didn't. Historical foreshadowing.
Read Salt. It's a super good book.
Timely! If anyone wants to take me up on my lunatic frothing, the Kindle version of Salt is currently on sale for two bucks.
Joe Abercrombie does really good bleak as all hell fantasy
Theres the trilogy that starts off the thing, The First Law trilogy, and a bunch of stand alone books in the same world. The stand alones are somewhat linked and make vague references to characters or events of the previous books, but don't really require you to have any foreknowledge.
So theres not a lot of investment - no massive 8 book series without any resolution.
I like fantasy but god is it hard to find stuff that isn't fairys and rlves and riddles oh my
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel is in this realm, its got fairies in but they're proper unsettling weird devilish fairies. It's also somewhat historical fictiony circa 1800ish
I like fantasy but god is it hard to find stuff that isn't fairys and rlves and riddles oh my
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel is in this realm, its got fairies in but they're proper unsettling weird devilish fairies. It's also somewhat historical fictiony circa 1800ish
Also it is just beautiful if, like me, you adore digressive footnotes.
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StraightziHere we may reign secure, and in my choice,To reign is worth ambition though in HellRegistered Userregular
In a very similar realm to Strange and Norrell is Deathless by Catherynne Valente
I don't know how well it will land if you aren't very familiar with Russian fairy tales and folklore (and Soviet history, I suppose), but it's quite good
I like fantasy but god is it hard to find stuff that isn't fairys and rlves and riddles oh my
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel is in this realm, its got fairies in but they're proper unsettling weird devilish fairies. It's also somewhat historical fictiony circa 1800ish
It's really good except for the middle 150-200 pages.
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JedocIn the scupperswith the staggers and jagsRegistered Userregular
I like fantasy but god is it hard to find stuff that isn't fairys and rlves and riddles oh my
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel is in this realm, its got fairies in but they're proper unsettling weird devilish fairies. It's also somewhat historical fictiony circa 1800ish
It's really good except for the middle 150-200 pages.
Mr. Norrel arranged for Clarke's editor to be kidnapped by fairies.
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HyperBalladA ball of vivid colour and barely contained emotionsSydney. Lost in time and space.Registered Userregular
Been enjoying audiobooks recently- because I can listen to stuff at work. Done American Gods, Anansi Boys, Black Dog and Monarch of the Glen, which you all are familiar with here.
I've also done The Family Law, which is like an Australian Fresh Off The Boat, chronicling the childhood and teenage years of the writer; Benjamin Law, as he navigates being the middle of 5 kids, his lovingly fantastic inappropriate mother, his parent's messy divorce and being gay, all in 90's Australia. It's narrated by the author and its just wonderful.
Currently listening to The Handmaids Tale; with frequent happy pop music breaks on Spotify.
About 1/3rd of the way through Children of Dune, it's much, much better than Messiah so far. Messiah was a slog that feels like it existed just to set up this book, it could have been reduced to a prologue. Children, while not as good as the first book so far, is hitting a lot of the righ notes for me.
Also reading Salt, as per Jedoc's advice, and maaaaan I had no idea how fascinating a condiment could be historically.
Listen, just everybody read Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky. I know you don't generally read microhistories, but this book is one of the most eye-opening books you will ever read.
You know how if you put the entire contents of your kitchen in a cabinet, they'd be inedible after three days? Except the pickles? Salt is the reason anyone could march an army in any direction for three days. It was like the oil of the ancient world.
And you couldn't make it just anywhere! You either had to drill it out of the ground like the Chinese, who dug the deepest pre-1800s wells centuries BC just to get at salt, or you had to evaporate it out of seawater. Which the French had enough sunlight for and the English didn't. Historical foreshadowing.
Read Salt. It's a super good book.
Timely! If anyone wants to take me up on my lunatic frothing, the Kindle version of Salt is currently on sale for two bucks.
I finished reading The Braided Path yesterday. Still trying to work out my feelings on it. It was competent but I don't know if it was actually good in the way I wanted it to be? Definitely got better as it went along, though.
Still, you don't find many books where the primary character is a wizard who's also a woman, so that's cool
Need to figure out something else to read. Still in a pretty strong fantasy mood. Anyone know any good adventure-y fantasy novels with a woman as the main character?
Try the Deed of Paksanarrion by Elizabeth Moon. There's a three book trilogy that's been rereleased as an omnibus that starts with Sheepherder's Daughter and ends with Oath of Gold. Seminole work. There was a sequel novel that she wrote years later but it's trash.
So, after starting The Wheel of Time back in Junior High (1995 baby) I finally finished the whole series in about 10 months starting from the beginning. I really enjoyed the reread picking up on a lot of the foreshadowing and subtleties I missed before. I also read through Sanderson's retrospective on his co-authoring the last three books. I definitely noticed the change in style, and I'm not sure if I'll like Sanderson or not as an author, but I'm willing to give him a chance on his own work. Is Mistborn a good novel to start with? Since buying the Wheel of Time novels on Kindle with their Audible files, I've never been without some narration to and from work or while doing chores. I'm not going to listen to the radio like a pedestrian.
So, after starting The Wheel of Time back in Junior High (1995 baby) I finally finished the whole series in about 10 months starting from the beginning. I really enjoyed the reread picking up on a lot of the foreshadowing and subtleties I missed before. I also read through Sanderson's retrospective on his co-authoring the last three books. I definitely noticed the change in style, and I'm not sure if I'll like Sanderson or not as an author, but I'm willing to give him a chance on his own work. Is Mistborn a good novel to start with? Since buying the Wheel of Time novels on Kindle with their Audible files, I've never been without some narration to and from work or while doing chores. I'm not going to listen to the radio like a pedestrian.
Mistborn is good starting point. Personally the first three Mistborn books are probably my favorite of his
JedocIn the scupperswith the staggers and jagsRegistered Userregular
I'm about midway through At the End of the Day by Claire North, and I think it's going to end up squarely in my "Favorite Books I Can't Recommend" pile. It's about a British dude named Charlie who gets a job as the Harbinger of Death, and it's really beautifully written and strange, and I like it a lot, but if someone couldn't get through the first few chapters and hated it, I'd be like "Yeah, that makes sense."
Just finished up Children of Dune, it was good. Not amazing in the way that Dune was, but it entertained and had some of the politics and twists and turns that made the first Dune fun.
I think I might take a break before going into God Emperor for my next audiobook. I've got an audible token burning a hot little hole in my pocket and a desire to spend it on something.
hey so i'm going away on a three week trip and i was looking for some book recommendations
i'm taking two of the sapkowski novels i haven't finished yet, but i was also looking for a decent scifi book
i've read a few YAish books recently, and I wouldn't mind something a little more substantial. Last series I really enjoyed reading was Ancilliary Justice, and i also had a decent time with Revelation Space a bit ago. A friend recommended Leviathan Wakes, but while i'm pretty interested in that story and world after s1 of the expanse, i realise that I kinda want something that isn't too "white dude protagonist", and has an interesting perspective
Also I still have The Three Body Problem filed away under things i should read after hearing about it at the Hugos a bit ago, but I'd love to hear some more things
I have a deep and abiding affection for CJ Cherryh's Faded Sun Trilogy, which is usually sold in a single volume omnibus. Cherryh is very good at writing alien perspectives, and that book has a lot to recommend it.
hey so i'm going away on a three week trip and i was looking for some book recommendations
i'm taking two of the sapkowski novels i haven't finished yet, but i was also looking for a decent scifi book
i've read a few YAish books recently, and I wouldn't mind something a little more substantial. Last series I really enjoyed reading was Ancilliary Justice, and i also had a decent time with Revelation Space a bit ago. A friend recommended Leviathan Wakes, but while i'm pretty interested in that story and world after s1 of the expanse, i realise that I kinda want something that isn't too "white dude protagonist", and has an interesting perspective
Also I still have The Three Body Problem filed away under things i should read after hearing about it at the Hugos a bit ago, but I'd love to hear some more things
I liked the Three Body Problem quite a bit. It is definitely different from most sci-fi I had read before it. A super interesting take on a first contact story. I don't have anything to compare it to, but it also feels distinctly Chinese. Or at least not part of the English-language body of sci-fi I am used to.
Ian McDonald's Rivers of Gods will probably always be one of my favourite SF books. Adam Roberts is an author I tend to pick up when I want something unpredictable and possibly challenging, he tends to attempt more unusual perspectives. Plus Yellow Blue Tibia is kind of fun, if you wanted something lighter.
Unfortunately this rec does not veer away from the white-dude protagonist, but The Petrovich Trilogy (Simon Morden) is good times. Little bit post-apocalyptic, little bit cyberpunk, quite a lot of fun. And at least it's a white russian dude.
Mistborn is super entertaining so far. I think Sanderson's pacing and sharp-witted back and forth dialogue just didn't suit the Wheel of Time, but in his own work it's great. If the rest of his work is this good I'll pick it up. Micheal Kramer also narrated the Wheel of Time audio books, so it feels right at home.
I always thought Mistborn might make a good game or movie or something, but encouraging kids to swallow metals for magic powers probably wouldn't be a very good idea.
I always thought Mistborn might make a good game or movie or something, but encouraging kids to swallow metals for magic powers probably wouldn't be a very good idea.
Kids are gonna swallow metals anyway; might as well give them a little hope to go alongside it
I always thought Mistborn might make a good game or movie or something, but encouraging kids to swallow metals for magic powers probably wouldn't be a very good idea.
As I'm reading it I keep thinking what control scheme I'd use. Obviously right trigger/left trigger for steelpushing/ironpulling and right bumber/left bumber for tin and pewter respectively (tap to enable, hold to flare). Copper and Bronze I think are just digital pad toggles. Soothing/rioting might be just relegated to the dialogue wheel. Obviously there'd be some kind of skill point system with multiple trees for each of the metals as well as the fight/exploration/interaction trees. Ubisoft, are you listening? I've got a game for you: you can even put in those freaking towers you love so much!
飛べねぇ豚はただの豚だ。
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JedocIn the scupperswith the staggers and jagsRegistered Userregular
Mistborn is super entertaining so far. I think Sanderson's pacing and sharp-witted back and forth dialogue just didn't suit the Wheel of Time, but in his own work it's great. If the rest of his work is this good I'll pick it up. Micheal Kramer also narrated the Wheel of Time audio books, so it feels right at home.
Do so! He's doing kind of a Stephen King thing where he's slowly linking all of his books together, but actually planned from the beginning and (so far) without the jarring self-insertion.
I really liked the whole Mistborn trilogy, and the sequel/companion novels are some of my favorite books ever. Even his YA stuff is good, and highly recommended for anyone who needs some good popcorn sci fi.
Also if you want to know more about his multiverse stuff, he's got his own epic series (will be ten books total) going called The Stormlight Archives. People from the different books show up in it, but he doesn't actually name them so you have to figure out who they are by their personality, appearance, and dialogue. So far there's The Way of Kings as the first one, then Words of Radiance as the second, and the third is due out relatively soon.
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JedocIn the scupperswith the staggers and jagsRegistered Userregular
It's really promising so far. It's essentially medieval feudalism with the occasional suit of magical Brotherhood of Steel power armor to screw things up.
Brovid Hasselsmof[Growling historic on the fury road]Registered Userregular
I thought I'd read The Way of Kings, but I just looked up a synopsis and while I recognised names I have zero recollection of that plot. So now I have no idea if I have.
Also if you want to know more about his multiverse stuff, he's got his own epic series (will be ten books total) going called The Stormlight Archives. People from the different books show up in it, but he doesn't actually name them so you have to figure out who they are by their personality, appearance, and dialogue. So far there's The Way of Kings as the first one, then Words of Radiance as the second, and the third is due out relatively soon.
I had no idea any people from his other worlds appeared, until suddenly there was Friend Computer cheerfully asking if someone wanted to kill commies, and I broke out in the biggest grin.
Before following any advice, opinions, or thoughts I may have expressed in the above post, be warned: I found Keven Costners "Waterworld" to be a very entertaining film.
Also if you want to know more about his multiverse stuff, he's got his own epic series (will be ten books total) going called The Stormlight Archives. People from the different books show up in it, but he doesn't actually name them so you have to figure out who they are by their personality, appearance, and dialogue. So far there's The Way of Kings as the first one, then Words of Radiance as the second, and the third is due out relatively soon.
I had no idea any people from his other worlds appeared, until suddenly there was Friend Computer cheerfully asking if someone wanted to kill commies, and I broke out in the biggest grin.
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Timely! If anyone wants to take me up on my lunatic frothing, the Kindle version of Salt is currently on sale for two bucks.
Theres the trilogy that starts off the thing, The First Law trilogy, and a bunch of stand alone books in the same world. The stand alones are somewhat linked and make vague references to characters or events of the previous books, but don't really require you to have any foreknowledge.
So theres not a lot of investment - no massive 8 book series without any resolution.
Read everything by Walter Mosely, he's still crankin em out too, I just finished the latest
Night Watch, Terry Pratchett.
You want dark? That's pretty dark.
The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman by G Garcia Marquez, if you like "magical realism" that's also horrifying.
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel is in this realm, its got fairies in but they're proper unsettling weird devilish fairies. It's also somewhat historical fictiony circa 1800ish
Also it is just beautiful if, like me, you adore digressive footnotes.
I don't know how well it will land if you aren't very familiar with Russian fairy tales and folklore (and Soviet history, I suppose), but it's quite good
It's really good except for the middle 150-200 pages.
Mr. Norrel arranged for Clarke's editor to be kidnapped by fairies.
I've also done The Family Law, which is like an Australian Fresh Off The Boat, chronicling the childhood and teenage years of the writer; Benjamin Law, as he navigates being the middle of 5 kids, his lovingly fantastic inappropriate mother, his parent's messy divorce and being gay, all in 90's Australia. It's narrated by the author and its just wonderful.
Currently listening to The Handmaids Tale; with frequent happy pop music breaks on Spotify.
2DS/3DS Friend code 0361-7385-2366
Twitter: @PoeticGecko
I just did, you brigand.
Try the Deed of Paksanarrion by Elizabeth Moon. There's a three book trilogy that's been rereleased as an omnibus that starts with Sheepherder's Daughter and ends with Oath of Gold. Seminole work. There was a sequel novel that she wrote years later but it's trash.
edit: @Wyborn + link
Mistborn is good starting point. Personally the first three Mistborn books are probably my favorite of his
I'm towards the middle and the pacing seems a little off now. It's gotten kinda hard to push through some of it.
I think I might take a break before going into God Emperor for my next audiobook. I've got an audible token burning a hot little hole in my pocket and a desire to spend it on something.
i'm taking two of the sapkowski novels i haven't finished yet, but i was also looking for a decent scifi book
i've read a few YAish books recently, and I wouldn't mind something a little more substantial. Last series I really enjoyed reading was Ancilliary Justice, and i also had a decent time with Revelation Space a bit ago. A friend recommended Leviathan Wakes, but while i'm pretty interested in that story and world after s1 of the expanse, i realise that I kinda want something that isn't too "white dude protagonist", and has an interesting perspective
Also I still have The Three Body Problem filed away under things i should read after hearing about it at the Hugos a bit ago, but I'd love to hear some more things
Steam // Secret Satan
I liked the Three Body Problem quite a bit. It is definitely different from most sci-fi I had read before it. A super interesting take on a first contact story. I don't have anything to compare it to, but it also feels distinctly Chinese. Or at least not part of the English-language body of sci-fi I am used to.
Unfortunately this rec does not veer away from the white-dude protagonist, but The Petrovich Trilogy (Simon Morden) is good times. Little bit post-apocalyptic, little bit cyberpunk, quite a lot of fun. And at least it's a white russian dude.
Steam - Talon Valdez :Blizz - Talonious#1860 : Xbox Live & LoL - Talonious Monk @TaloniousMonk Hail Satan
Kids are gonna swallow metals anyway; might as well give them a little hope to go alongside it
As I'm reading it I keep thinking what control scheme I'd use. Obviously right trigger/left trigger for steelpushing/ironpulling and right bumber/left bumber for tin and pewter respectively (tap to enable, hold to flare). Copper and Bronze I think are just digital pad toggles. Soothing/rioting might be just relegated to the dialogue wheel. Obviously there'd be some kind of skill point system with multiple trees for each of the metals as well as the fight/exploration/interaction trees. Ubisoft, are you listening? I've got a game for you: you can even put in those freaking towers you love so much!
Do so! He's doing kind of a Stephen King thing where he's slowly linking all of his books together, but actually planned from the beginning and (so far) without the jarring self-insertion.
I really liked the whole Mistborn trilogy, and the sequel/companion novels are some of my favorite books ever. Even his YA stuff is good, and highly recommended for anyone who needs some good popcorn sci fi.
PSN/Steam/NNID: SyphonBlue | BNet: SyphonBlue#1126
I had no idea any people from his other worlds appeared, until suddenly there was Friend Computer cheerfully asking if someone wanted to kill commies, and I broke out in the biggest grin.
When I read that bit my response was "Oh shit."