Together with The Quantum Thief we only need a Quantum Fighter and a Quantum Cleric.
I stick you in a box, and then force the waveform to collapse with a healthier version of you. Granted, its technically not you, as its a healthier version of you, so you kind of die in the process...
"I will write your name in the ruin of them. I will paint you across history in the color of their blood."
Together with The Quantum Thief we only need a Quantum Fighter and a Quantum Cleric.
I stick you in a box, and then force the waveform to collapse with a healthier version of you. Granted, its technically not you, as its a healthier version of you, so you kind of die in the process...
makes more sense as anything in Quantum Thief
They moistly come out at night, moistly.
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BrodyThe WatchThe First ShoreRegistered Userregular
Together with The Quantum Thief we only need a Quantum Fighter and a Quantum Cleric.
I stick you in a box, and then force the waveform to collapse with a healthier version of you. Granted, its technically not you, as its a healthier version of you, so you kind of die in the process...
makes more sense as anything in Quantum Thief
Eh, most of Quantum Thief really wasn't that bad. Its all at least internally consistent, and in service to the story.
"I will write your name in the ruin of them. I will paint you across history in the color of their blood."
I'm now reading Day of the Oprichnik*, a modern Russian scifi-ish book set in the near future in which there's a new Russian monarchy. It is the day in the life of a member of the near future iteration of the secret police (the earliest historical iteration of which was called oprichnina, under Ivan the terrible, but we are more familiar with the terms cheka, nkvd, kgb, fsb...)
It's really vibrantly written and amazingly well-translated by Jamey Gambrell. The immediacy and flow and punchiness of the writing is preserved, including a bunch of rhyming and assonance stuff that really speaks to the translator's competence. It's a short book in first person that just tracks this (awful) young chekist through his day in a near future Moscow where trends of Russian nationalism and conservatism have been taken to the max, so there's this fascinating mixture of traditional Russian food and clothing; state oppression/ultraviolence (...so do not read this if you think you don't want to deal with a fairly explicit rape scene in the first 20 pages); orthodox prudery--there's a governmental ban on cursing, for example; and then some near-future cyberpunkish stuff--both standard and weird future drugs, Chinese political influence, near future communications and news systems, surveillance state methods, of course.
I'm really interested to read more by the author, Vladimir Sorokin, especially if this same translator has a hand in any of his other works. The writing is so good! I've read too much pared down first person stuff recently; I like it when an author doesn't sacrifice imagery and rich style just because he's also creating a voice for the first person narrator.
*I was thinking, 95% chance this is in Russian called Den' Oprichnika, and I am correct, and in that case, why on earth do we go with this really cumbersome and slightly off translation instead of calling it The Oprichnik's Day? I mean, in a way, Day of the Oprichnik suggests, this is a time in which this sort of person thrives, but it loses the meaning of, 'a day in the life of', which is the core setup/concept of the book. That's my only translation quibble here.
Lol there could never be a government ban on cursing in Russia, swears are the national language.
it leads to some exchanges that really made me laugh, like this one in the oprichnina inner circle (Batya is of course their leader/patriarch/yes they call him dad)
Our commander takes us all in with a searching gaze:
"His Majesty's daughter, Anna Vasilevna, has sued for divorce from Count Urusov."
Now there you go! That really is news! His Majesty's family!
"Motherfucker!"
Batya immediately socks me in the jaw.
"Shameless!"
"Forgive me, Batya, the devil made me do it, I couldn't help..."
"Fuck your own mother, it will be less expensive."
"Batya, you know my mother passed away..." I try to get him on pity.
"Fuck her in the grave."
I'm silent as I wipe my split lip with my undershirt.
"I'll beat the brazen, rabble-rousing spirit out of you!" Batya threatens us. "Whoever fouls his lips with curses--will not stay long in the oprichnina!"
Finished Quantom Magician. Excellent book overall if a wee bit pulpy towards the end. I also wish there was a bit more exposition at the start. I don’t feel like anything was gained with less understanding of the different human species and their backgrounds.
I am not enjoying the writing in Sunshine at all. It reminds me of Uprooted but with constantly repeated details. I like the concept and main character, but I can only take so many descriptions of just how otherworldly vampires are.
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knitdanIn ur baseKillin ur guysRegistered Userregular
Just started Space Opera by Catheryne Valente and it reminds me a lot of Douglas Adams if Adams had absolutely no restraint with regard to simile and metaphor and analogy.
I like what I’ve read so far but if she doesn’t tone down the purple prose a little after the introductory chapters I’m going to be quite cross.
“I was quick when I came in here, I’m twice as quick now”
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
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jakobaggerLO THY DREAD EMPIRE CHAOS IS RESTOREDRegistered Userregular
Just started Space Opera by Catheryne Valente and it reminds me a lot of Douglas Adams if Adams had absolutely no restraint with regard to simile and metaphor and analogy.
I like what I’ve read so far but if she doesn’t tone down the purple prose a little after the introductory chapters I’m going to be quite cross.
Yeah that's uh, not how she rolls, from my experience. Haven't read this particular one, but the couple of hers I've read (and loved) we're all very. . stylistically distinct is maybe a way to describe it? Like, Speakeasy has a whole lot of 1920ish slang, all through the narrator's voice also.
Since this has 'opera' in the title I would expect a fair degree of overwroughtness tbh
knitdanIn ur baseKillin ur guysRegistered Userregular
Yeah I read Deathless not too long ago and the prose wasn’t nearly as wrought so I’m sure it’s something she adopted for this book. I’m just hoping it either backs off a little bit or my brain adjusts.
“I was quick when I came in here, I’m twice as quick now”
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
Yeah I read Deathless not too long ago and the prose wasn’t nearly as wrought so I’m sure it’s something she adopted for this book. I’m just hoping it either backs off a little bit or my brain adjusts.
The writing styles in Deathless and Radiance were completely different. She really commits and has huge range; it's impressive!
I've been thinking about reading Space Opera, so I'm curious to hear your take on it. I loved Deathless (to no one's surprise) and thought Radiance was very good but not as much something I was into.
The one that always stuck with me was the brain caps line in 3001: The Final Odyssey that insisted no woman ever accepted the appearance of being bald. And that one was published in 1997.
I don't recall any of his work being aggressively misogynist, but it's definitely the work of an old white guy raised in an era where jokes like that were just considered cheeky.
I'm thinking of picking up Mason & Dixon by Pynchon because I'm finally ready to tackle bullshit old-timey eye-dialect and that seems like a super interesting idea for a book
Has anyone read that book or is there a better latter-day Pynchon recommendation
Inherent Vice looks yucky
"and the morning stars I have seen
and the gengars who are guiding me" -- W.S. Merwin
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knitdanIn ur baseKillin ur guysRegistered Userregular
Maybe 10 years or so back, I read about 100 pages before I got bored and dropped it which I almost never do with books. Don’t remember anything at all about it.
“I was quick when I came in here, I’m twice as quick now”
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
You can never be certain because the more accurately you know the number, the less accurate you know how fast its changing. /strainedphysicsjoke
The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it. ~ Terry Pratchett
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Mojo_JojoWe are only now beginning to understand the full power and ramifications of sexual intercourseRegistered Userregular
edited March 2019
Due to my eReader still being out for replacement (I'm happy Kobo offered me a free replacement given that the cause of breakage was toddler related but it's not a quick process) I've had to read physical books again. I'm sure I remember missing them when I first changed to an eReader but now I find them awkward and frustrating.
Anyhow, part of the problem is needing to acquire physical books and so finding myself in the upsettingly small fiction section at the local Tesco or WHSmith. The best I could do at first was Birdbox by somebody or other. I'd recently seen the film on Netflix and really enjoyed it so I thought I'd give it a whirl. It left me thinking about Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. Not for any plot or stylistic connection but just how in both cases you have a book that is fairly good being rendered redundant by a vastly superior retelling in another medium.
It's almost frustrating that the two versions exist in differing media as it means that with a couple more drafts or the right help from somebody else the book could have been significantly better. The film takes the same general story and hammers out a much stronger plot structure.
I was prepared for this to be the other way round given the challenge of making a film where everybody has to keep their eyes closed. But there we are.
Now we play the terrible game where I have to hope that my next book arrives in the post today and doesn't end up in a parcel collection office. It's The Western Wind by Samantha Harvey which has been getting very good press so I have high hopes
Mojo_Jojo on
Homogeneous distribution of your varieties of amuse-gueule
There was an actual woman on the ship in Rendezvous with Rama, though the sequels with Gentry Lee were more than a bit questionable with the weird sex stuff
My take is that Children of Time was 50% excellent (everything about the spiders) and 50% boring (everything that wasn't about spiders). Still, on the balance, worth reading. But I can't call it very good because to me a good chunk of the book read as uncompelling filler.
Also: I've finally gotten around to the third book in the orogeny series by NK Jemisin. It is maybe the best one? It's certainly not like other trilogies where the third book is phoned in or just counts on playing on your affections for characters from previous books while it just sort of wraps things up. It is really emotionally intense and I have to take it a chapter at a time. What makes it so intense, I think, is that the characters are now overtly discussing genocide and oppression, instead of those factors being a constant in their lives, but also something that they actively repress a lot of feelings about and aren't able to talk about with anyone (which was stressful to read about as well, but not quite as intense--or rather, there were these outbursts of acute intensity but they were mixed in with sections on survivalism fiction, worldbuilding, etc)
The third book is making me upwardly revise my opinion of the first two, which is unusual for me; usually when I look back at a book I decide I like it less than I did originally, not more.
credeiki on
Steam, LoL: credeiki
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Mojo_JojoWe are only now beginning to understand the full power and ramifications of sexual intercourseRegistered Userregular
Was this the one where the spiders drive spider cars or the one where spiders evolve because of human meddling?
Homogeneous distribution of your varieties of amuse-gueule
Quantum Thief is... okay? About halfway through and has lots of neat ideas but it also kinda feels all over the place. Having just read Quantum Magician the setting also feels a bit redundant.
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Mojo_JojoWe are only now beginning to understand the full power and ramifications of sexual intercourseRegistered Userregular
Also: I've finally gotten around to the third book in the orogeny series by NK Jemisin. It is maybe the best one? It's certainly not like other trilogies where the third book is phoned in or just counts on playing on your affections for characters from previous books while it just sort of wraps things up. It is really emotionally intense and I have to take it a chapter at a time. What makes it so intense, I think, is that the characters are now overtly discussing genocide and oppression, instead of those factors being a constant in their lives, but also something that they actively repress a lot of feelings about and aren't able to talk about with anyone (which was stressful to read about as well, but not quite as intense--or rather, there were these outbursts of acute intensity but they were mixed in with sections on survivalism fiction, worldbuilding, etc)
The third book is making me upwardly revise my opinion of the first two, which is unusual for me; usually when I look back at a book I decide I like it less than I did originally, not more.
This is interesting. I found the first 80% of the first book was excellent and the rest was worse to the point where I only read the final book out of a misplaced sense of duty.
Homogeneous distribution of your varieties of amuse-gueule
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BrodyThe WatchThe First ShoreRegistered Userregular
Was this the one where the spiders drive spider cars or the one where spiders evolve because of human meddling?
Spiders evolve because human meddling.
I agree mostly with Credit's assesment, although I would give it 50% awesome, 25% alright, and 25% meh. That said, I'm excited to see where a sequel might go.
"I will write your name in the ruin of them. I will paint you across history in the color of their blood."
Was this the one where the spiders drive spider cars or the one where spiders evolve because of human meddling?
Spiders evolve because human meddling.
I agree mostly with Credit's assesment, although I would give it 50% awesome, 25% alright, and 25% meh. That said, I'm excited to see where a sequel might go.
Ask again later (I coincidentally opened my post, and, er, here we are).
Also my level of excitement at the arrival of a new K.J. Parker book is....very high. Mind you, I still haven't quite forgiven them for making me read Two of Swords in something like 18 sections at 99p each and then releasing them as two collections for £4 each. But still. Always so weird and good.
knitdanIn ur baseKillin ur guysRegistered Userregular
Started Black Leopard, Red Wolf. It feels almost Gene Wolfian in the way it combines the familiar and the unfamiliar. In the way it makes me feel like I’m missing something, like there’s a grand allegory below the surface that I’m too stupid to understand.
Or maybe it’s just that it’s set in a culture I’m wholly unfamiliar with.
“I was quick when I came in here, I’m twice as quick now”
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
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BrodyThe WatchThe First ShoreRegistered Userregular
I've been trying to read The Last Argument of Kings, and it just feels really boring to me. Or maybe boring is the wrong word, but either way its been just a struggle to keep reading, and I think I might just give up.
"I will write your name in the ruin of them. I will paint you across history in the color of their blood."
I've been trying to read The Last Argument of Kings, and it just feels really boring to me. Or maybe boring is the wrong word, but either way its been just a struggle to keep reading, and I think I might just give up.
The 3 following standalones are a fair bit better IMO. But you won't get the most of out them, especially Red Country if you don't finish the original 3. If Abercrombie's style just doesn't grab you then stop.
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knitdanIn ur baseKillin ur guysRegistered Userregular
If it’s not grabbing you just drop it. It doesn’t get better. He’s a one trick pony and it’s not even that great a trick.
“I was quick when I came in here, I’m twice as quick now”
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
I've been trying to read The Last Argument of Kings, and it just feels really boring to me. Or maybe boring is the wrong word, but either way its been just a struggle to keep reading, and I think I might just give up.
It's hard to tell because I'm not sure what specifically is bugging you about it, but if you've made it to Last Argument of Kings and still aren't feeling it, then it's probably just not for you. By that point a lot of the rough edges of the first two books and the structure that they need to set up for the 3rd volume to work are over with and those are usually the biggest thing tripping people up about The First Law.
But again, it really depends a lot on what's bugging you. Is it LAoK in particular? Is it just that it hasn't ever grabbed you and you are finally giving up? Hard to say either way without knowing.
If it’s not grabbing you just drop it. It doesn’t get better. He’s a one trick pony and it’s not even that great a trick.
Nah. He's nothing like a one-trick pony and there's plenty of interesting things going on in his works. LAoK itself is just fantastic in how it pulls the series together in unconventional ways.
Posts
I stick you in a box, and then force the waveform to collapse with a healthier version of you. Granted, its technically not you, as its a healthier version of you, so you kind of die in the process...
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
makes more sense as anything in Quantum Thief
Eh, most of Quantum Thief really wasn't that bad. Its all at least internally consistent, and in service to the story.
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
it leads to some exchanges that really made me laugh, like this one in the oprichnina inner circle (Batya is of course their leader/patriarch/yes they call him dad)
Best to just buy books without actually reading them
I like what I’ve read so far but if she doesn’t tone down the purple prose a little after the introductory chapters I’m going to be quite cross.
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
Yeah that's uh, not how she rolls, from my experience. Haven't read this particular one, but the couple of hers I've read (and loved) we're all very. . stylistically distinct is maybe a way to describe it? Like, Speakeasy has a whole lot of 1920ish slang, all through the narrator's voice also.
Since this has 'opera' in the title I would expect a fair degree of overwroughtness tbh
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
The writing styles in Deathless and Radiance were completely different. She really commits and has huge range; it's impressive!
I've been thinking about reading Space Opera, so I'm curious to hear your take on it. I loved Deathless (to no one's surprise) and thought Radiance was very good but not as much something I was into.
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
I don't recall any of his work being aggressively misogynist, but it's definitely the work of an old white guy raised in an era where jokes like that were just considered cheeky.
Has anyone read that book or is there a better latter-day Pynchon recommendation
Inherent Vice looks yucky
and the gengars who are guiding me" -- W.S. Merwin
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
You can never be certain because the more accurately you know the number, the less accurate you know how fast its changing. /strainedphysicsjoke
Anyhow, part of the problem is needing to acquire physical books and so finding myself in the upsettingly small fiction section at the local Tesco or WHSmith. The best I could do at first was Birdbox by somebody or other. I'd recently seen the film on Netflix and really enjoyed it so I thought I'd give it a whirl. It left me thinking about Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. Not for any plot or stylistic connection but just how in both cases you have a book that is fairly good being rendered redundant by a vastly superior retelling in another medium.
It's almost frustrating that the two versions exist in differing media as it means that with a couple more drafts or the right help from somebody else the book could have been significantly better. The film takes the same general story and hammers out a much stronger plot structure.
I was prepared for this to be the other way round given the challenge of making a film where everybody has to keep their eyes closed. But there we are.
Now we play the terrible game where I have to hope that my next book arrives in the post today and doesn't end up in a parcel collection office. It's The Western Wind by Samantha Harvey which has been getting very good press so I have high hopes
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
Noted
I feel I have to shout out that there's a sequel, Children of Ruin coming out in May.
Goodreads
SF&F Reviews blog
Also: I've finally gotten around to the third book in the orogeny series by NK Jemisin. It is maybe the best one? It's certainly not like other trilogies where the third book is phoned in or just counts on playing on your affections for characters from previous books while it just sort of wraps things up. It is really emotionally intense and I have to take it a chapter at a time. What makes it so intense, I think, is that the characters are now overtly discussing genocide and oppression, instead of those factors being a constant in their lives, but also something that they actively repress a lot of feelings about and aren't able to talk about with anyone (which was stressful to read about as well, but not quite as intense--or rather, there were these outbursts of acute intensity but they were mixed in with sections on survivalism fiction, worldbuilding, etc)
The third book is making me upwardly revise my opinion of the first two, which is unusual for me; usually when I look back at a book I decide I like it less than I did originally, not more.
Spiders evolve because human meddling.
I agree mostly with Credit's assesment, although I would give it 50% awesome, 25% alright, and 25% meh. That said, I'm excited to see where a sequel might go.
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
Ask again later (I coincidentally opened my post, and, er, here we are).
Also my level of excitement at the arrival of a new K.J. Parker book is....very high. Mind you, I still haven't quite forgiven them for making me read Two of Swords in something like 18 sections at 99p each and then releasing them as two collections for £4 each. But still. Always so weird and good.
Goodreads
SF&F Reviews blog
Or maybe it’s just that it’s set in a culture I’m wholly unfamiliar with.
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
The 3 following standalones are a fair bit better IMO. But you won't get the most of out them, especially Red Country if you don't finish the original 3. If Abercrombie's style just doesn't grab you then stop.
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
It's hard to tell because I'm not sure what specifically is bugging you about it, but if you've made it to Last Argument of Kings and still aren't feeling it, then it's probably just not for you. By that point a lot of the rough edges of the first two books and the structure that they need to set up for the 3rd volume to work are over with and those are usually the biggest thing tripping people up about The First Law.
But again, it really depends a lot on what's bugging you. Is it LAoK in particular? Is it just that it hasn't ever grabbed you and you are finally giving up? Hard to say either way without knowing.
Nah. He's nothing like a one-trick pony and there's plenty of interesting things going on in his works. LAoK itself is just fantastic in how it pulls the series together in unconventional ways.