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[Book]: Rhymes With

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  • MahnmutMahnmut Registered User regular
    So I've read all of the Dread Empire's Fall series that's out so far, and I like it and am eagerly awaiting the next book in the new trilogy.

    I'm still waiting for this shitty empire to fall though.

    Thanks -- I didn't know until now there was a sequel trilogy! Went on a huge WJW kick several years back.

    Steam/LoL: Jericho89
  • Lord_AsmodeusLord_Asmodeus goeticSobriquet: Here is your magical cryptic riddle-tumour: I AM A TIME MACHINERegistered User regular
    edited February 2020
    It's just the one book right now, though there are a couple of standalone novellas that takes place in the time between the first trilogy and the second, the events of which are important to and referenced in the sequel trilogy, but they're not required reading to know what's going on, just helpful.

    Lord_Asmodeus on
    Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if Labor had not first existed. Labor is superior to capital, and deserves much the higher consideration. - Lincoln
  • Fuzzy Cumulonimbus CloudFuzzy Cumulonimbus Cloud Registered User regular
    Quid wrote: »
    Rage of Dragons has an awesome African fantasy setting.
    Just finished. It was a very good book. Did not at all identify with the main character and found him to be a bit of an anti-hero but also really loved the setting and the mythos and the way the battles and training and culture were described. Definitely a formidable new author in Fantasy that I look forward to reading more work from.

  • BogartBogart Streetwise Hercules Registered User, Moderator mod
    Of Men And Monsters was OK. Now reading volume 1 of John Julius Norwich's magisterial history of Byzantium, which is already superb 130 pages in.

  • QuidQuid Definitely not a banana Registered User regular
    Quid wrote: »
    Rage of Dragons has an awesome African fantasy setting.
    Just finished. It was a very good book. Did not at all identify with the main character and found him to be a bit of an anti-hero but also really loved the setting and the mythos and the way the battles and training and culture were described. Definitely a formidable new author in Fantasy that I look forward to reading more work from.

    The main character is not a good person. The one trait that stuck with him throughout the book was being self centered.

    That said, he's also justifiably angry at their society. It's a good balance I think.

  • BrodyBrody The Watch The First ShoreRegistered User regular
    Just read Starsight. I really liked it. Fairly light, relatively interesting. I didn't quite grasp the twist at the end. But holy hell did it end on an aggravating cliffhanger.

    "I will write your name in the ruin of them. I will paint you across history in the color of their blood."

    The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson

    Steam: Korvalain
  • QuidQuid Definitely not a banana Registered User regular
    I forget, what was the twist?

  • BrodyBrody The Watch The First ShoreRegistered User regular
    A mix of crab dude wanting to summon a delver so he could have it to scare up support, and the idea that Cuna was actually supportive of contacting the humans. Also that maybe Delvers aren't an ultimate evil, just very misunderstood galactic sized intelligence.

    "I will write your name in the ruin of them. I will paint you across history in the color of their blood."

    The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson

    Steam: Korvalain
  • PailryderPailryder Registered User regular
    Brody wrote: »
    A mix of crab dude wanting to summon a delver so he could have it to scare up support, and the idea that Cuna was actually supportive of contacting the humans. Also that maybe Delvers aren't an ultimate evil, just very misunderstood galactic sized intelligence.

    the
    smile thing was really well done. i feel like the delvers are going to be machine intelligences that have outgrown our universe and that's another reason the machines are forbidden. they can eventually connect with the delvers.

  • ReznikReznik Registered User regular
    I've been rolling through the Expanse series after getting 3 and 4 for Christmas, but I've hit a serious wall.

    (Book 3)
    And that wall's name is Melba. Or Clarissa. Whatever, I don't even care. Her chapters are fucking painful, like some angry goth kid's livejournal entries. I started skipping them entirely but now she's actually interacting with characters that matter and I am forced to suffer.

    I hate this character so much, but not in a 'ooh great villain' way. What I want more than anything is for her to fuck off, and I have a feeling that instead of her fucking off I'm going to have to suffer through a stupid redemption arc because that always happens with characters I do not enjoy in the least.

    I think I'm in for a rough time with this one.

    Do... Re.... Mi... Ti... La...
    Do... Re... Mi... So... Fa.... Do... Re.... Do...
    Forget it...
  • QuidQuid Definitely not a banana Registered User regular
    I liked Peaches.

  • Fuzzy Cumulonimbus CloudFuzzy Cumulonimbus Cloud Registered User regular
    Bogart wrote: »
    Mojo_Jojo wrote: »
    Somebody here recommended The Migration. I'm going to say it was Bogart.

    I'm only a few chapters in but it's excellent so far. It's like a lost John Wyndham novel

    It was me, and yes it feels exactly like the sort of thing Wyndham would have written if he'd maybe experimented with LSD a little more.

    I have a book of her short stories around here somewhere as well that I need to get around to.
    I just finished The Migration. I really wanted to like it and really enjoyed the first half but the second half fell completely flat for me.

  • Mojo_JojoMojo_Jojo We are only now beginning to understand the full power and ramifications of sexual intercourse Registered User regular
    Bogart wrote: »
    Mojo_Jojo wrote: »
    Somebody here recommended The Migration. I'm going to say it was Bogart.

    I'm only a few chapters in but it's excellent so far. It's like a lost John Wyndham novel

    It was me, and yes it feels exactly like the sort of thing Wyndham would have written if he'd maybe experimented with LSD a little more.

    I have a book of her short stories around here somewhere as well that I need to get around to.
    I just finished The Migration. I really wanted to like it and really enjoyed the first half but the second half fell completely flat for me.

    I can understand this. The way it plays out is strange to say the least.

    Homogeneous distribution of your varieties of amuse-gueule
  • Fuzzy Cumulonimbus CloudFuzzy Cumulonimbus Cloud Registered User regular
    Mojo_Jojo wrote: »
    Bogart wrote: »
    Mojo_Jojo wrote: »
    Somebody here recommended The Migration. I'm going to say it was Bogart.

    I'm only a few chapters in but it's excellent so far. It's like a lost John Wyndham novel

    It was me, and yes it feels exactly like the sort of thing Wyndham would have written if he'd maybe experimented with LSD a little more.

    I have a book of her short stories around here somewhere as well that I need to get around to.
    I just finished The Migration. I really wanted to like it and really enjoyed the first half but the second half fell completely flat for me.

    I can understand this. The way it plays out is strange to say the least.
    I actually enjoyed the strange parts! It was just the teen parts were too much. I would have enjoyed a full transition into
    bird people or body horror or war with bird people or bird people AND body horror or just contemplating the bird people and the transition of a species or mediating on what it means to give into the inevitability of nature but the last few chapters were about her smanging it with Brian and then bleeding everywhere and I was just like.... do you want this to be YA (thats okay, just commit fully please) or do you want this to be climate sci-fi (a new genre you might have just invented).

  • Mojo_JojoMojo_Jojo We are only now beginning to understand the full power and ramifications of sexual intercourse Registered User regular
    Mojo_Jojo wrote: »
    Bogart wrote: »
    Mojo_Jojo wrote: »
    Somebody here recommended The Migration. I'm going to say it was Bogart.

    I'm only a few chapters in but it's excellent so far. It's like a lost John Wyndham novel

    It was me, and yes it feels exactly like the sort of thing Wyndham would have written if he'd maybe experimented with LSD a little more.

    I have a book of her short stories around here somewhere as well that I need to get around to.
    I just finished The Migration. I really wanted to like it and really enjoyed the first half but the second half fell completely flat for me.

    I can understand this. The way it plays out is strange to say the least.
    I actually enjoyed the strange parts! It was just the teen parts were too much. I would have enjoyed a full transition into
    bird people or body horror or war with bird people or bird people AND body horror or just contemplating the bird people and the transition of a species or mediating on what it means to give into the inevitability of nature but the last few chapters were about her smanging it with Brian and then bleeding everywhere and I was just like.... do you want this to be YA (thats okay, just commit fully please) or do you want this to be climate sci-fi (a new genre you might have just invented).
    Oh interesting. I don't think it ever felt like YA for me but I suspect the main character is very much based on the author's own childhood.
    I am 50% sure the author has not evolved into an angel after a plague related incident

    If you want climate apocalypse sci-fi The Windup Girl by somebody or other is the only other example I can think of.

    Homogeneous distribution of your varieties of amuse-gueule
  • BogartBogart Streetwise Hercules Registered User, Moderator mod
    JG Ballard’s The Drowned World is an excellent environmental apocalypse novel.

  • jakobaggerjakobagger LO THY DREAD EMPIRE CHAOS IS RESTORED Registered User regular
    Mojo_Jojo wrote: »
    Mojo_Jojo wrote: »
    Bogart wrote: »
    Mojo_Jojo wrote: »
    Somebody here recommended The Migration. I'm going to say it was Bogart.

    I'm only a few chapters in but it's excellent so far. It's like a lost John Wyndham novel

    It was me, and yes it feels exactly like the sort of thing Wyndham would have written if he'd maybe experimented with LSD a little more.

    I have a book of her short stories around here somewhere as well that I need to get around to.
    I just finished The Migration. I really wanted to like it and really enjoyed the first half but the second half fell completely flat for me.

    I can understand this. The way it plays out is strange to say the least.
    I actually enjoyed the strange parts! It was just the teen parts were too much. I would have enjoyed a full transition into
    bird people or body horror or war with bird people or bird people AND body horror or just contemplating the bird people and the transition of a species or mediating on what it means to give into the inevitability of nature but the last few chapters were about her smanging it with Brian and then bleeding everywhere and I was just like.... do you want this to be YA (thats okay, just commit fully please) or do you want this to be climate sci-fi (a new genre you might have just invented).
    Oh interesting. I don't think it ever felt like YA for me but I suspect the main character is very much based on the author's own childhood.
    I am 50% sure the author has not evolved into an angel after a plague related incident

    If you want climate apocalypse sci-fi The Windup Girl by somebody or other is the only other example I can think of.

    Paolo Bagcialupi, who also has another very climate-oriented novel called the Water Knife, although that one is maybe more cyberpunk. Or just a thriller in a near future with a fragmented US.

  • jakobaggerjakobagger LO THY DREAD EMPIRE CHAOS IS RESTORED Registered User regular
    From the 70s SF I used to read in the school library it seemed like the genre was maybe 75% environmentalism at least. Lots of dystopian tales written by worried hippies.

  • flamebroiledchickenflamebroiledchicken Registered User regular
    Speaking of environmental apocalypse, I finished Dead Astronauts by Vandermeer. I liked it! You definitely have to have an appreciation or at least a tolerance for postmodern wankery and poetic vagueness, but I found it completely mesmerizing and unique. My initial reaction was "Mark Z Danielewski meets the Strugatsky Bros" but not as obnoxious as that sounds, though I can definitely see people bouncing off of this. The story is told in an abstract and somewhat roundabout way, from a variety of shifting perspectives and changing realities, giving the whole thing a kaleidoscopic feeling. I may have wanted more of a climax towards the end, but overall it's not quite like anything I've read before.

    y59kydgzuja4.png
  • Lord_AsmodeusLord_Asmodeus goeticSobriquet: Here is your magical cryptic riddle-tumour: I AM A TIME MACHINERegistered User regular
    Glynn Stewart has started another new series and I like it. Another Sci Fi one so I guess Ong other things his sci-fi is just more popular than his fantasy stuff, frankly as much as I love his sci fi stuff I like his fantasy work a lot.

    Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if Labor had not first existed. Labor is superior to capital, and deserves much the higher consideration. - Lincoln
  • Mojo_JojoMojo_Jojo We are only now beginning to understand the full power and ramifications of sexual intercourse Registered User regular
    The Raven Tower was unexpectedly good. I'd not realised it was by the same author as Ancillary Justice (I probably wouldn't have given it a chance if I'd had known given how it didn't work for me at all). I was probably hoping for a little more pay off but I've always liked the model of faith powered gods that sits at the centre of it.

    Homogeneous distribution of your varieties of amuse-gueule
  • BogartBogart Streetwise Hercules Registered User, Moderator mod
    edited February 2020
    John Julius Norwich's first volume of Byzantium history was as magisterial as I'd expected. Next up is Hisham Matar's A Month In Siena, which the wife bought me for Valentine's Day. It's slim and seems to be a love letter to that city, which, considering it was the venue for one of the best meals I've ever eaten, seems fair enough.

    Bogart on
  • SolarSolar Registered User regular
    Finished Stanislaw Lem and I'm a bit done with Mr Lem now. Inventive and funny... In moderation

  • BrodyBrody The Watch The First ShoreRegistered User regular
    Mojo_Jojo wrote: »
    The Raven Tower was unexpectedly good. I'd not realised it was by the same author as Ancillary Justice (I probably wouldn't have given it a chance if I'd had known given how it didn't work for me at all). I was probably hoping for a little more pay off but I've always liked the model of faith powered gods that sits at the centre of it.

    Yeah, I had hoped for a little more punch in the ending, but at the same time, I felt like it also didn't over reach and end up mushy. Given the two options, I vastly prefer the direction it went.

    "I will write your name in the ruin of them. I will paint you across history in the color of their blood."

    The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson

    Steam: Korvalain
  • Fuzzy Cumulonimbus CloudFuzzy Cumulonimbus Cloud Registered User regular
    I wanted to really like Cast Under An Alien Sun but it was not the Yankee In King Arthur's Court for the modern era that I had hoped. Seveneves levels of info-dumping and the thing is more alt-history than SciFi even though it is billed as such. The author is very Boomer in his writing and this supposed 24 year old Chemistry student loves Bruce Springsteen and thinks about his pregnant girlfriend maybe once the entire book even though he is stranded on an alien planet and will never see his family again. The whole thing was emotionally off and very dated. I enjoyed this as a novelty for half the book but the second half dragged very badly. I won't be reading the other 5 books after it. ):

  • QuidQuid Definitely not a banana Registered User regular
    I don't think I'm going to stop getting angry when I see the title Seveneves.

    The constant info dump didn't bug me. The straight obsession with trying to get geography and physics details right with no regard for the sheer absurdity of his future civilization irks me to no end.

  • knitdanknitdan In ur base Killin ur guysRegistered User regular
    Finished Gideon the Ninth

    Fucking hell.

    “I was quick when I came in here, I’m twice as quick now”
    -Indiana Solo, runner of blades
  • DevoutlyApatheticDevoutlyApathetic Registered User regular
    knitdan wrote: »
    Finished Gideon the Ninth

    Fucking hell.

    Harrow the Ninth comes out in June. The advance readers have been saying even nicer things about it than they did about Gideon.

    Nod. Get treat. PSN: Quippish
  • credeikicredeiki Registered User regular
    I am reading The Man in The High Castle and it’s very good. The characters are nuanced and feel like people and the sociology/culture view is great. The entry point of art collection is odd and works really well. I’ve not seen the tv show and have no idea how plotful the book is or where it’s going.

    I just finished Lies, Inc, also by Dick, which is a solid little sci-fi novel with a 100 page acid trip inserted into the middle of it, and then I read the afterword and it was like ah so the first version of this was the little sci-fi novel but PKD wanted to do more with it and later wrote a big expansion which starts here and ends here—and what do you know, they delineate exactly the start and end of the acid trip. But maybe without the acid trip it would be a bit pat, kind of a plot driven novella around a single central conceit. In any case it is hard to see that the same person wrote this and Man in the high castle and also the realist novel In Milton Lumky territory which I read a few months ago. Crazy versatility. I’m really glad I’ve embarked on a project to read all his books; they are really so good, which yes everyone knew already but I guess I didn’t know already!

    Steam, LoL: credeiki
  • BrodyBrody The Watch The First ShoreRegistered User regular
    I came across a couple of book reviews today on YT, something something algorithm something, and I realized that a more critical look into books. Does anyone have any suggestions for finding groups that are willing to do critical fantasy reviews, or youtube channels that do a good job of it?

    "I will write your name in the ruin of them. I will paint you across history in the color of their blood."

    The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson

    Steam: Korvalain
  • MahnmutMahnmut Registered User regular
    Brody wrote: »
    I came across a couple of book reviews today on YT, something something algorithm something, and I realized that a more critical look into books. Does anyone have any suggestions for finding groups that are willing to do critical fantasy reviews, or youtube channels that do a good job of it?

    This person writes a few different review series on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/quartzen The focus for the last year has been 'It Came From the Backlist' which rounds up older SFF, but more recently 'Cyclical Time' is doing in-depth reviews of more recent books and series.

    Steam/LoL: Jericho89
  • PailryderPailryder Registered User regular
    Finished The Feather Thief. Was a really engaging non-fiction story. I was quite surprised by the end.

  • flamebroiledchickenflamebroiledchicken Registered User regular
    The New York Public Library turned 125 and released a list of 125 books from the past 125 years that "inspire a lifelong love of reading". The criteria seems nebulous, but okay. I've only read 24.5 :(

    y59kydgzuja4.png
  • QuidQuid Definitely not a banana Registered User regular
    That's a pretty good list IMO. I'm honestly a bit surprised at how much sci fi and fantasy made it on to there.

    Most importantly though it has Catch-22.

  • BrodyBrody The Watch The First ShoreRegistered User regular
    I'm surprised to find I've read a full 12 of those books/series. Although a fair few I only read because it was a school assignment.

    "I will write your name in the ruin of them. I will paint you across history in the color of their blood."

    The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson

    Steam: Korvalain
  • DevoutlyApatheticDevoutlyApathetic Registered User regular
    Huh, 14 or 15, I think. I'm pretty sure I have read Fahrenheit 451 but don't remember much more than you'd see on a dust jacket so I'm not sure.

    Nod. Get treat. PSN: Quippish
  • Jealous DevaJealous Deva Registered User regular
    edited February 2020
    Quid wrote: »
    I don't think I'm going to stop getting angry when I see the title Seveneves.

    The constant info dump didn't bug me. The straight obsession with trying to get geography and physics details right with no regard for the sheer absurdity of his future civilization irks me to no end.

    It actually bothers me more that he puts so much effort into the geography and physics and the end point ends up being so absurd than if he just didn’t bother.

    Like I just read Ninefox Gambit and it’s 2 sequels and the world and way it works is pretty absurd, but it doesn’t bother me that much, because from the first paragraph the book tells and shows you “this is not the world you are used to, things work very differently here. Consistently, but very differently. So if what seems to us like random magic shit happens that‘s because this world doesn’t play by our rules.”

    Stephenson does the opposite in Seveneves. The first half of the book is basically “here’s all this shit that happens exactly like it would in the real world, following all the same rules very exactly, this is a realistic setting”. Then the time skip happens, and all the sudden its “oh after all that realistic stuff happened the underpants gnomes made a future civilization of billions of people using space magic”

    Jealous Deva on
  • DevoutlyApatheticDevoutlyApathetic Registered User regular
    I don't even have much of a problem with the space magic bullshit. I think most of the physics checks out and a civ based on the moon would have easier access to space (though fuck if I know what they use for propellant to get up there.)

    My problem was entirely the human factor at the end of part one.
    Cannibal lady is fine, she's fine. We can definitely trust she won't do anything like hurt any of the remaining 7 people at all. FUTURE: Wow, turns out leaving Canabal lady alive and a perpetual underclass while letting her indoctrinate all her children about how evil everybody else is didn't work out well. Who would have fucking thunk it?

    The stupidest possible outcome from that set up.

    Nod. Get treat. PSN: Quippish
  • QuidQuid Definitely not a banana Registered User regular
    I don't even have much of a problem with the space magic bullshit. I think most of the physics checks out and a civ based on the moon would have easier access to space (though fuck if I know what they use for propellant to get up there.)

    My problem was entirely the human factor at the end of part one.
    Cannibal lady is fine, she's fine. We can definitely trust she won't do anything like hurt any of the remaining 7 people at all. FUTURE: Wow, turns out leaving Canabal lady alive and a perpetual underclass while letting her indoctrinate all her children about how evil everybody else is didn't work out well. Who would have fucking thunk it?

    The stupidest possible outcome from that set up.

    And apparently
    In the confines of a slowly expanding space ring, seven distinct races kept separate lines going for hundreds of years each with their own standard personalities like each woman had created a race for LotR.

    Even accepting that they stuck with cloning for however many decades, eventually people are gonna fuck, and I would sooner believe in space dwarves and space elves than I would in each race staying mostly separate over the centuries.

  • redxredx I(x)=2(x)+1 whole numbersRegistered User regular
    Quid wrote: »
    I don't even have much of a problem with the space magic bullshit. I think most of the physics checks out and a civ based on the moon would have easier access to space (though fuck if I know what they use for propellant to get up there.)

    My problem was entirely the human factor at the end of part one.
    Cannibal lady is fine, she's fine. We can definitely trust she won't do anything like hurt any of the remaining 7 people at all. FUTURE: Wow, turns out leaving Canabal lady alive and a perpetual underclass while letting her indoctrinate all her children about how evil everybody else is didn't work out well. Who would have fucking thunk it?

    The stupidest possible outcome from that set up.

    And apparently
    In the confines of a slowly expanding space ring, seven distinct races kept separate lines going for hundreds of years each with their own standard personalities like each woman had created a race for LotR.

    Even accepting that they stuck with cloning for however many decades, eventually people are gonna fuck, and I would sooner believe in space dwarves and space elves than I would in each race staying mostly separate over the centuries.
    Hey, I wouldn't procreate with person who's entire personality is a single wikipedia article, and who was raised by 2 generation of similar people.

    They moistly come out at night, moistly.
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