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Read a [book].

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Posts

  • Grey GhostGrey Ghost Registered User regular
    So y'all were right that harrow is both going harder and more interesting than gideon. Still in it so don't spoil it but spoiler for a joke on the...spoiler.
    at, "so that the nine houses didn't become none houses with left grief"I let out an audible "fuck you!" Like I would for any terrible pun. Just perfectly unprepared for a shit post in the middle of the book. Here for it tho.

    I had to put the book down and get up and go take a walk after that. I'm still not sure I've forgiven her

  • webguy20webguy20 I spend too much time on the Internet Registered User regular
    Grey Ghost wrote: »
    So y'all were right that harrow is both going harder and more interesting than gideon. Still in it so don't spoil it but spoiler for a joke on the...spoiler.
    at, "so that the nine houses didn't become none houses with left grief"I let out an audible "fuck you!" Like I would for any terrible pun. Just perfectly unprepared for a shit post in the middle of the book. Here for it tho.

    I had to put the book down and get up and go take a walk after that. I'm still not sure I've forgiven her

    I had to look that up because I didn't remember it and FUCK. Just goddamn it.

    Steam ID: Webguy20
    Origin ID: Discgolfer27
    Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
  • initiatefailureinitiatefailure Registered User regular
    I loved that and immediately shared it with a friend who was waiting for me to finish so they could ooze spoilers and they hadn't even picked up on it! I was incensed

  • knitdanknitdan In ur base Killin ur guysRegistered User regular
    I started A Memory of Empire and almost immediately was like

    “Yep, this sure reads like it was grown in a vat of stuff that appeals to Hugo voters.”

    Still good though. Does the SF literary thing I find interesting, where they sprinkle bits of cultural errata at the beginning of chapters to enhance the richness of the world.

    “I was quick when I came in here, I’m twice as quick now”
    -Indiana Solo, runner of blades
  • 3cl1ps33cl1ps3 I will build a labyrinth to house the cheese Registered User regular
    knitdan wrote: »
    I started A Memory of Empire and almost immediately was like

    “Yep, this sure reads like it was grown in a vat of stuff that appeals to Hugo voters.”

    Still good though. Does the SF literary thing I find interesting, where they sprinkle bits of cultural errata at the beginning of chapters to enhance the richness of the world.

    Unpack that?

    I'm not being snarky, I genuinely have no idea what this is supposed to mean.

  • LalaboxLalabox Registered User regular
    I read Season of Storms, which is the last Witcher book

    and it didn't hit as hard for me as some of the other ones that were actually in the series, but it was kinda nice to spend some time with the characters again and it's kinda funny that the epilogue is pretty much there to say "yeah, it's nice to spend some time with the characters again"


    it did make me really appreciate one of Sapkowski's stylistic things which is to have sections and chapters from the point of view of people way in the future, talking about events that are going on for the main cast of characters in the present. Details of a battle get told by a veteran of it to their grandkids, or you get people in a pub discussing it as tales of long ago, or competing academic perspectives on why something happened

    it just kinda works

  • knitdanknitdan In ur base Killin ur guysRegistered User regular
    It’s hard to explain exactly, and I’m not being snarky either it’s just like... the empire stuff, and the linguistics and manners stuff that have been major themes in several of the most recent Hugo winners.

    “I was quick when I came in here, I’m twice as quick now”
    -Indiana Solo, runner of blades
  • QuantumTurkQuantumTurk Registered User regular
    I loved that and immediately shared it with a friend who was waiting for me to finish so they could ooze spoilers and they hadn't even picked up on it! I was incensed

    I would like to add
    the coffee, sorry, "bari" that is made by Bari-Stars
    To the same list

  • QuantumTurkQuantumTurk Registered User regular
    knitdan wrote: »
    It’s hard to explain exactly, and I’m not being snarky either it’s just like... the empire stuff, and the linguistics and manners stuff that have been major themes in several of the most recent Hugo winners.

    Looking forward to it as my next read, but I can see how that could come across as kinda oscar/hugo bait, even if sincerely made.

  • JedocJedoc In the scuppers with the staggers and jagsRegistered User regular
    I loved that and immediately shared it with a friend who was waiting for me to finish so they could ooze spoilers and they hadn't even picked up on it! I was incensed

    I would like to add
    the coffee, sorry, "bari" that is made by Bari-Stars
    To the same list

    I think there might be at least one more glorious stinker left in the chamber, and I look forward to your reaction with interest.

    GDdCWMm.jpg
  • 3cl1ps33cl1ps3 I will build a labyrinth to house the cheese Registered User regular
    edited January 2021
    Jedoc wrote: »
    I loved that and immediately shared it with a friend who was waiting for me to finish so they could ooze spoilers and they hadn't even picked up on it! I was incensed

    I would like to add
    the coffee, sorry, "bari" that is made by Bari-Stars
    To the same list

    I think there might be at least one more glorious stinker left in the chamber, and I look forward to your reaction with interest.

    Oh he hasn't even gotten to the best one yet.

    3cl1ps3 on
  • QuantumTurkQuantumTurk Registered User regular
    Jedoc wrote: »
    I loved that and immediately shared it with a friend who was waiting for me to finish so they could ooze spoilers and they hadn't even picked up on it! I was incensed

    I would like to add
    the coffee, sorry, "bari" that is made by Bari-Stars
    To the same list

    I think there might be at least one more glorious stinker left in the chamber, and I look forward to your reaction with interest.

    If it is
    there would be a goddamn reckoning...I was going to reck her
    Then that one is just a stinker compared to the others. But kind of in a delightful way appropriate to the character.
    fuck oops there goes gravity though.

    Wait. No. Surely this is it .
    I'm dad
    Fuck you.

    And, so some thoughts that are just turbo overall spoilers for both books, for realsies not holding back, I'll even nest them for the weak willed.
    no really, you can turn back if you haven't read it, it wont make much sense otherwise
    So while I immensely enjoyed them, I never really "got" the harrow and gideon dynamic. It really felt like at one point a switch was flipped and they were ready to die for each other all of a sudden. Which made some sense given circumstances, but also it felt really abrupt and I just kind of had to accept "yup, this is the new status quo I guess?" Is this one of those anime tsundere things? Yandere? I dunno and I won't look it up. Tamsyn Muir also seems to have the problem I have with Stephenson, in that all the interesting parts to me are the world building and the character dynamics, and then you make me read long action scenes. Granted, I think Tamsyn does a MUCH better job with those action scenes than Stephenson, but it's still like being served salad at fogo de chao, even if it's good it's not what I'm here for and not in a way that makes me appreciate the rest more.

    Anyway, so with all the planet killing....are...are we the baddies? I think maybe? Obv God killed a whole lotta people in the turbo version of what made Harrow, but it's unclear if that's standard "greater good" villain stuff or actual "no really, suns going out, it was this or complete death" or something in between. It also seems like there are def groups outside of the 9 houses/planets but they come up so little that it's hard to even guess their role in the universe.

    Not a spoiler, Tamsyn Muir also has a short story, "The mysterious Study of Dr. Sex" and uh, yeah I'll go give that a peek. And a glance tells me it's even in universe!
    https://www.tor.com/2020/07/29/the-mysterious-study-of-dr-sex-tamsyn-muir/ Well, maybe not a spoiler, have not read it. Maybe it spoils the books? Who knows!

  • 3cl1ps33cl1ps3 I will build a labyrinth to house the cheese Registered User regular
    Honestly I think she should have ended the book at
    "I'm dad"

  • JedocJedoc In the scuppers with the staggers and jagsRegistered User regular
    Hah. Yep, it was the third one.

    GDdCWMm.jpg
  • QuantumTurkQuantumTurk Registered User regular
    I was so mad.

  • CoinageCoinage Heaviside LayerRegistered User regular
    Thank you for posting these quotes so I can never read this book

  • QuantumTurkQuantumTurk Registered User regular
    Coinage wrote: »
    Thank you for posting these quotes so I can never read this book

    It's legit good and fun though! You can FEEL the author having fun with things, it's delightful. And a lot of really cool world building and character work.

  • JedocJedoc In the scuppers with the staggers and jagsRegistered User regular
    Yeah. I have to say, I would never have expected those quotes to be included in a good book, but the way they're casually dropped in context makes them feel way less egregious than they are on their own.

    GDdCWMm.jpg
  • LalaboxLalabox Registered User regular
    Also i'm a couple chapters in and This is How You Lose the Time War is pretty fun

    i'm also glad that it isn't hetrosexual

    i'd missed that bit when people were recommending it, so it was a pleasant surprise

  • webguy20webguy20 I spend too much time on the Internet Registered User regular
    Lalabox wrote: »
    Also i'm a couple chapters in and This is How You Lose the Time War is pretty fun

    i'm also glad that it isn't hetrosexual

    i'd missed that bit when people were recommending it, so it was a pleasant surprise

    I forgot about this one too, just put a hold at the library for it.

    Steam ID: Webguy20
    Origin ID: Discgolfer27
    Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
  • KanaKana Registered User regular
    Coincidentally I'm rereading Time War right now!

    I'm on record as not liking it all that much the first time I read it, I felt like it was a bit too much brain and not enough heart

    I still think that's true, to a degree, but I'm liking it more this time around. I think cuz I can just relax and not get bogged down in all the details this time.

    A trap is for fish: when you've got the fish, you can forget the trap. A snare is for rabbits: when you've got the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words are for meaning: when you've got the meaning, you can forget the words.
  • KandenKanden Registered User regular
    Hey, I read through Time War in 1 sitting earlier today! I liked it!

  • EnigmedicEnigmedic Registered User regular
    Jedoc wrote: »
    I loved that and immediately shared it with a friend who was waiting for me to finish so they could ooze spoilers and they hadn't even picked up on it! I was incensed

    I would like to add
    the coffee, sorry, "bari" that is made by Bari-Stars
    To the same list

    I think there might be at least one more glorious stinker left in the chamber, and I look forward to your reaction with interest.

    If it is
    there would be a goddamn reckoning...I was going to reck her
    Then that one is just a stinker compared to the others. But kind of in a delightful way appropriate to the character.
    fuck oops there goes gravity though.

    Wait. No. Surely this is it .
    I'm dad
    Fuck you.

    And, so some thoughts that are just turbo overall spoilers for both books, for realsies not holding back, I'll even nest them for the weak willed.
    no really, you can turn back if you haven't read it, it wont make much sense otherwise
    So while I immensely enjoyed them, I never really "got" the harrow and gideon dynamic. It really felt like at one point a switch was flipped and they were ready to die for each other all of a sudden. Which made some sense given circumstances, but also it felt really abrupt and I just kind of had to accept "yup, this is the new status quo I guess?" Is this one of those anime tsundere things? Yandere? I dunno and I won't look it up. Tamsyn Muir also seems to have the problem I have with Stephenson, in that all the interesting parts to me are the world building and the character dynamics, and then you make me read long action scenes. Granted, I think Tamsyn does a MUCH better job with those action scenes than Stephenson, but it's still like being served salad at fogo de chao, even if it's good it's not what I'm here for and not in a way that makes me appreciate the rest more.

    Anyway, so with all the planet killing....are...are we the baddies? I think maybe? Obv God killed a whole lotta people in the turbo version of what made Harrow, but it's unclear if that's standard "greater good" villain stuff or actual "no really, suns going out, it was this or complete death" or something in between. It also seems like there are def groups outside of the 9 houses/planets but they come up so little that it's hard to even guess their role in the universe.

    Not a spoiler, Tamsyn Muir also has a short story, "The mysterious Study of Dr. Sex" and uh, yeah I'll go give that a peek. And a glance tells me it's even in universe!
    https://www.tor.com/2020/07/29/the-mysterious-study-of-dr-sex-tamsyn-muir/ Well, maybe not a spoiler, have not read it. Maybe it spoils the books? Who knows!

    I felt the same way about the action scenes. I wasn't a particular fan. The early stuff in Gideon is fine.
    when it was just super saiyans fighting each other at the end I almost stopped reading the book. There was nothing new to the action, just everyone no longer had weights attached to them. And based on how hopeless she described everything I knew it was going to end with gideon sacrificing herself. Not to mention the next book is titled harrow the ninth, so harrow had to be like a cavalier in some sense. The world building was mostly good. I just didn't like having to try to remember all of the different houses and what they stood for and the people's names. But then people started getting killed and that mattered less.

  • QuantumTurkQuantumTurk Registered User regular
    Enigmedic wrote: »
    Jedoc wrote: »
    I loved that and immediately shared it with a friend who was waiting for me to finish so they could ooze spoilers and they hadn't even picked up on it! I was incensed

    I would like to add
    the coffee, sorry, "bari" that is made by Bari-Stars
    To the same list

    I think there might be at least one more glorious stinker left in the chamber, and I look forward to your reaction with interest.

    If it is
    there would be a goddamn reckoning...I was going to reck her
    Then that one is just a stinker compared to the others. But kind of in a delightful way appropriate to the character.
    fuck oops there goes gravity though.

    Wait. No. Surely this is it .
    I'm dad
    Fuck you.

    And, so some thoughts that are just turbo overall spoilers for both books, for realsies not holding back, I'll even nest them for the weak willed.
    no really, you can turn back if you haven't read it, it wont make much sense otherwise
    So while I immensely enjoyed them, I never really "got" the harrow and gideon dynamic. It really felt like at one point a switch was flipped and they were ready to die for each other all of a sudden. Which made some sense given circumstances, but also it felt really abrupt and I just kind of had to accept "yup, this is the new status quo I guess?" Is this one of those anime tsundere things? Yandere? I dunno and I won't look it up. Tamsyn Muir also seems to have the problem I have with Stephenson, in that all the interesting parts to me are the world building and the character dynamics, and then you make me read long action scenes. Granted, I think Tamsyn does a MUCH better job with those action scenes than Stephenson, but it's still like being served salad at fogo de chao, even if it's good it's not what I'm here for and not in a way that makes me appreciate the rest more.

    Anyway, so with all the planet killing....are...are we the baddies? I think maybe? Obv God killed a whole lotta people in the turbo version of what made Harrow, but it's unclear if that's standard "greater good" villain stuff or actual "no really, suns going out, it was this or complete death" or something in between. It also seems like there are def groups outside of the 9 houses/planets but they come up so little that it's hard to even guess their role in the universe.

    Not a spoiler, Tamsyn Muir also has a short story, "The mysterious Study of Dr. Sex" and uh, yeah I'll go give that a peek. And a glance tells me it's even in universe!
    https://www.tor.com/2020/07/29/the-mysterious-study-of-dr-sex-tamsyn-muir/ Well, maybe not a spoiler, have not read it. Maybe it spoils the books? Who knows!

    I felt the same way about the action scenes. I wasn't a particular fan. The early stuff in Gideon is fine.
    when it was just super saiyans fighting each other at the end I almost stopped reading the book. There was nothing new to the action, just everyone no longer had weights attached to them. And based on how hopeless she described everything I knew it was going to end with gideon sacrificing herself. Not to mention the next book is titled harrow the ninth, so harrow had to be like a cavalier in some sense. The world building was mostly good. I just didn't like having to try to remember all of the different houses and what they stood for and the people's names. But then people started getting killed and that mattered less.

    Yeah I still can't quite figure out military house and military house that tends to die in battle. Unless it's just officers and grunts. Some of the Cavs were also a bit hard to keep straight, the necromancers all generally had more of a thing to keep them identifiable. Even if it was just being a teen twin.
    Excited to start memory called empire now, though I worry just from the title it'll fall into my anne leckie hole of "I should like this but don't?"

  • LalaboxLalabox Registered User regular
    I finished This is How You Lose the Time War and yeah, it's just a lovely little gem

    features my favourite trope of
    lesbians defying time and the universe itself for one another

  • CoinageCoinage Heaviside LayerRegistered User regular
    I briefly posted about this in the holiday forum, but I enjoyed it so much after finishing it I am writing a little more.
    ufw99cil.jpg
    Guy on the cover is part of a wandering storytelling-as-religion thing in fantasy Europe. He got into some serious shit with his master Chant in the previous book A Conspiracy of Truths, I haven't read it, but he's not the narrator in it so I didn't feel I missed much, but maybe you should read it first I don't know. Btw lol at these fantasy ass titles for books that don't even have elves or wizards. Anyway, he's on his own and depressed in fantasy Netherlands now. He is hired by a merchant for his strong language skills, and he stumbles into the heart of fantasy Tulip Mania. The book is his journal, which he gave to another character to his explain his role in events. She is, for various reasons, pretty upset with him, and she writes footnotes (and a few chapters) on the manuscript with her opinions and perspective as she read all 400 pages of it in one night. The prose sparkles in a way that genre fiction usually does not, and the meta narrative makes the strong worldbuilding even more immersive. It's a real credit to their skills as an author, in my opinion at least, that I didn't go "woooww you invented New Cultures", "woooww your narrator is young and has Feelings", and "woooww I also post anti-capitalist memes on reddit". I even enjoyed the romance subplot, which I can usually only tolerate at best. My only real complaints feel a bit too spoilery to type, so I'll just say I think they felt pressured by expectations to include things that I think weakened the story.

    But still, 5 stars, very gay, would accidentally financial crisis again

  • PeenPeen Registered User regular
    Lalabox wrote: »
    I finished This is How You Lose the Time War and yeah, it's just a lovely little gem

    features my favourite trope of
    lesbians defying time and the universe itself for one another

    It's funny, until you guys started talking about it I'd completely forgotten that it wasn't a het romance. It's a really good book!

  • RoyceSraphimRoyceSraphim Registered User regular
    Tef wrote: »
    Hi all I need a good palate cleansing fiction book!

    I like and read anything. I think I want something sci-fi, something with a twist on the tale. A good anthology would be nice, something I can jump in and out of fairly easily. I really haven’t read much sci-fi apart from Dan Simmons and Starship Troopers

    @Tef
    Falling free
    Louis McMaster Bujold

  • LalaboxLalabox Registered User regular
    also, Season of Storms made me finally look at the witcher tv show and it's neat

    but it really doesn't have enough long philosophical conversations with townsfolk

    it lacks that almost Pratchett like energy that i love so much in the books

  • knitdanknitdan In ur base Killin ur guysRegistered User regular
    Finished A Memory Called Empire, enjoyed it, will pick up the sequel A Something Called Something Else

    “I was quick when I came in here, I’m twice as quick now”
    -Indiana Solo, runner of blades
  • tynictynic PICNIC BADASS Registered User, ClubPA regular
    Finished Ancillary Justice, liked it a lot though i felt a lot of the plot was too pat, but will pick up the sequels because 'tis a Good Jaunt.

  • JedocJedoc In the scuppers with the staggers and jagsRegistered User regular
    A Dessert Called Peas, I think?

    GDdCWMm.jpg
  • RoyceSraphimRoyceSraphim Registered User regular
    Reading Diplomatic Immunity after Falling Free was a very tingly experience.

  • LalaboxLalabox Registered User regular
    Axiom's End was pretty neat

    i enjoyed my time with it

  • LalaboxLalabox Registered User regular
    a couple days ago i ordered Gideon the Ninth, Ninefox Gambit and a book for the parents of trans kids


    today, after some real shit went down with my parents last night, i was in the cbd and decided to do some retail therapy so i picked up Unconquerable Sun (the genderswapped Alexander the Great in Space book that someone was recommending in the holiday forums), Annihilation and Red Seas Under Red Skies, the second of the Gentleman Bastard books. I didn't actually love Lies of Locke Lamora when i borrowed it from a friend a couple years ago. It was often a bit too grim and gruesome for what i wanted out of a thief and con-men story. But i kinda just wanted more books, so i picked up the sequel and maybe i'll like it a bit more the second time round.

  • webguy20webguy20 I spend too much time on the Internet Registered User regular
    Lalabox wrote: »
    a couple days ago i ordered Gideon the Ninth, Ninefox Gambit and a book for the parents of trans kids


    today, after some real shit went down with my parents last night, i was in the cbd and decided to do some retail therapy so i picked up Unconquerable Sun (the genderswapped Alexander the Great in Space book that someone was recommending in the holiday forums), Annihilation and Red Seas Under Red Skies, the second of the Gentleman Bastard books. I didn't actually love Lies of Locke Lamora when i borrowed it from a friend a couple years ago. It was often a bit too grim and gruesome for what i wanted out of a thief and con-men story. But i kinda just wanted more books, so i picked up the sequel and maybe i'll like it a bit more the second time round.

    Red Seas is probably the best Bastards book.

    Steam ID: Webguy20
    Origin ID: Discgolfer27
    Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
  • LalaboxLalabox Registered User regular
    Unconquerable Sun is so fucking cool

    I don't quite know enough about ancient greece to really pick up on those references

    But the most amazing thing is probably that the main character, Sun, has a number of consorts from the various different houses in the empire. And so, for a lot of the book, she's had a team of exceptionally competent and incredibly loyal people by her side. And i've just gotten through a whole multi-chapter action sequence where the book has changed POV multiple times and just balanced all these characters and their expertises and their foibles and they've got their own depths to themselves, all while deeper layers to a conspiracy start to emerge and it's just all expertly done

    Making plans and then revising plans and flying by the seat of their pants

    It's just all really fantastic

  • LalaboxLalabox Registered User regular
    Good news its also really gay

  • initiatefailureinitiatefailure Registered User regular
    I'm interested in loyal consort adventure squad that is also really gay

  • LalaboxLalabox Registered User regular
    so, i finished it and it's just a really really good space opera

    it's got good courtly intrigue, it's got interesting cultures and relationships, it's got people being mature about relationships, it's got interesting tactics, it's got a main character who's heir to an empire and out to prove themselves but then it actually really shows exactly why this person is a great leader and why people would follow her to the ends of the earth, it has arsehole underdogs who are incredibly competent at some things and then get in over their heads completely and have to learn of the fly


    it's just a really really good book and i had a great time with it

This discussion has been closed.