OT: Sci-Fi and Fantasy Thread - SPOILERS Part Three
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Surrounded By Ahos
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Chinatown88
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Flybynite
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Sanderson has probably published an entire bookshelf since 2011. (when GRRM put out the last published Song of Ice and Fire book)
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TB87
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn
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I thought the 1st season of HOTD was pretty good. The 2nd season was a really long trailer for season 3 lol. Far too much table setting for my liking. A slow burn approach is fine if the storytelling is excellent. Season 2 was not that
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TB87
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn
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Nice! Haven’t felt dread like this from a Terminator property since the 90s. It’s great.
Chicken N Raffls
Here for the chaos and lolz
He should write a post about what went wrong with ASOIAF. Whatever respect I had for him as an author back in the 90's is so far gone its amazing.
They have not. They have called him one of the istari but haven’t given him a name.
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Surrounded By Ahos
Las Vegas Desert Ducks Official Team Poster
SBA reading blog time! I've read a bunch of great books this year. My very brief thoughts on my favorites, in no particular order:
Tehanu (Book 4 of Earthsea) was an absolute delight. Probably the 'smallest' story of the series, but it hits just as hard as the first three. Tenar is such a wonderful character. Le Guin was a master.
Speaking of Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness was also fantastic, but not really delightful. The main character is a male on a planet full of people who have no gender most of the time, but are capable of becoming either male of female during the 'mating season', trying to persuade them to join a galactic civilization of other planets. This leads to several misunderstandings, and almost gets the main character killed. Le Guin uses the setting to explore all sorts of stuff, but mainly gender roles and how they shape the world around us. Very interesting read, and very much worth it's place among the all time sci-fi greats.
The Locked Tomb series (Gideon the Ninth, Harrow the Ninth, Nona the Ninth) is a f***ing trip. Each book is wildly different in scope and tone, although it maintains a very meme-y/internet-y sense of humor throughout. The first book starts us out with lesbian necromancers in SPACE, with a group of nobles exploring a sort of haunted mansion in order to become more powerful necromancers before they start getting picked off one by one. It's a neat blend of fantasy and sci-fi, and the goofy humor helps to balance out just how brutal some of the kills are.
Speaking of lesbians and mixing fantasy/sci-fi, the Book of the Ancestor (Red Sister, Grey Sister, Holy Sister) was also a lot of fun. It starts out a bit similar to Harry Potter (a young child discovers they have magic abilities, and they are sent to a school to hone their talent), but with enough significant differences to keep things interesting. All the students are female, as are all the teachers. The potions teacher is actually a pretty cool person and the snobby upper-class antagonist is much more than meets the eye. Also, it starts out with a pretty badass paragraph that sucked me right into the story:
The Library at Mount Char was super duper extra weird. It's set in a 90s-ish United States, following a family of adopted children who all have supernatural powers thanks to lessons from their abusive adoptive father. One scene involves a man facing down a horde of hundreds of dogs with the aid of two lions. I promise it makes sense in context. You spend most of the book wondering what the hell is going on, then in the last couple chapters everything starts to come together. It's one of those I wish I could read again for the first time.
The Curse of Chalion is a bit more straightforward. It's setting is clearly inspired by medieval Spain, but with a bit more supernatural intervention than real life. The main character is returning home after being betrayed and wrongfully imprisoned following a war. Despite the mistreatment he suffered, he never allows it to poison his disposition. Even after events beyond his control have him face to face with his betrayers, he remains positive. If more people had the moral fiber of Lupe dy Cazaril, this world would be a better place.
Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky is a great sci-fi epic, sort of in the mold of The Expanse. The crew of a spaceship overcomes their differing backgrounds to deal with a galaxy-shaking revelation. It's a fun romp across several planets while several groups attempt to track down the protagonists, with a satisfying ending that leaves you really invested in what comes next.
I'm not 100% sure what I'll read next, right now I'm leaning towards starting either The Black Company or Malazan, but I'm also considering starting the First Law standalones or re-reading Something Wicked This Way Comes, although that could wait a couple weeks.
Tehanu (Book 4 of Earthsea) was an absolute delight. Probably the 'smallest' story of the series, but it hits just as hard as the first three. Tenar is such a wonderful character. Le Guin was a master.
Speaking of Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness was also fantastic, but not really delightful. The main character is a male on a planet full of people who have no gender most of the time, but are capable of becoming either male of female during the 'mating season', trying to persuade them to join a galactic civilization of other planets. This leads to several misunderstandings, and almost gets the main character killed. Le Guin uses the setting to explore all sorts of stuff, but mainly gender roles and how they shape the world around us. Very interesting read, and very much worth it's place among the all time sci-fi greats.
The Locked Tomb series (Gideon the Ninth, Harrow the Ninth, Nona the Ninth) is a f***ing trip. Each book is wildly different in scope and tone, although it maintains a very meme-y/internet-y sense of humor throughout. The first book starts us out with lesbian necromancers in SPACE, with a group of nobles exploring a sort of haunted mansion in order to become more powerful necromancers before they start getting picked off one by one. It's a neat blend of fantasy and sci-fi, and the goofy humor helps to balance out just how brutal some of the kills are.
Speaking of lesbians and mixing fantasy/sci-fi, the Book of the Ancestor (Red Sister, Grey Sister, Holy Sister) was also a lot of fun. It starts out a bit similar to Harry Potter (a young child discovers they have magic abilities, and they are sent to a school to hone their talent), but with enough significant differences to keep things interesting. All the students are female, as are all the teachers. The potions teacher is actually a pretty cool person and the snobby upper-class antagonist is much more than meets the eye. Also, it starts out with a pretty badass paragraph that sucked me right into the story:
The Library at Mount Char was super duper extra weird. It's set in a 90s-ish United States, following a family of adopted children who all have supernatural powers thanks to lessons from their abusive adoptive father. One scene involves a man facing down a horde of hundreds of dogs with the aid of two lions. I promise it makes sense in context. You spend most of the book wondering what the hell is going on, then in the last couple chapters everything starts to come together. It's one of those I wish I could read again for the first time.
The Curse of Chalion is a bit more straightforward. It's setting is clearly inspired by medieval Spain, but with a bit more supernatural intervention than real life. The main character is returning home after being betrayed and wrongfully imprisoned following a war. Despite the mistreatment he suffered, he never allows it to poison his disposition. Even after events beyond his control have him face to face with his betrayers, he remains positive. If more people had the moral fiber of Lupe dy Cazaril, this world would be a better place.
Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky is a great sci-fi epic, sort of in the mold of The Expanse. The crew of a spaceship overcomes their differing backgrounds to deal with a galaxy-shaking revelation. It's a fun romp across several planets while several groups attempt to track down the protagonists, with a satisfying ending that leaves you really invested in what comes next.
I'm not 100% sure what I'll read next, right now I'm leaning towards starting either The Black Company or Malazan, but I'm also considering starting the First Law standalones or re-reading Something Wicked This Way Comes, although that could wait a couple weeks.
on book 7 of the Space Team series..love it..so stupidly funny
Surrounded By Ahos
Las Vegas Desert Ducks Official Team Poster
I went with The Black Company, and it was pretty good. A mercenary company sells their contract to a foreign power, only to discover they're in the middle of a power struggle in the midst of a massive rebellion/civil war, and are in WAY over their heads. You can definitely see the influence it had on Abercrombie with The First Law.
Black Company was great..read that years ago...might need a re-read
should give the Belgariad series a try if ya haven't
should give the Belgariad series a try if ya haven't
Surrounded By Ahos
Las Vegas Desert Ducks Official Team Poster
Just finished How High We Go In The Dark. It's an anthology-ish book of short stories full of minor connections that ultimately don't really lead anywhere. It felt like the author wanted to do a Cloud Atlas, but didn't quite have the chops to pull it off. Which is a shame, because it started off really strong. The second chapter in particular had me close to tears. Good book, not great, solid 3/5.
Grabbed the first book, I'll add it to the rather large backlog on my kindle lol
Grabbed the first book, I'll add it to the rather large backlog on my kindle lol
Do you guys take a break from reading a series in the middle of a long series or push on through
Lord Defect
Secretary of Blowtorching
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I make it an issue to not deviate from a series mid way thru if the entire series released and if there’s not something new that I really want to read.
The black company is awesome yet I’ve only read maybe two of its novels. I don’t understand the reading order.
I started the malazan series before my brief exodus here. I’m on chapter two now. Great series.
Surrounded By Ahos
Las Vegas Desert Ducks Official Team Poster
It depends, really. I read most of the Cosmere books by Sanderson back to back after I finished Rhythm of War due to how many little references you'll miss if you forget a minor detail.
I read the first First Law trilogy mostly in a row, but stopped there as it was a pretty natural stopping point before starting the stand-alones.
If you're getting burnt out you could always read a shorter, 'lighter' book.
ajgoal
Almost always never serious
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TB87
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn
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Have you read this author’s Broken Empire series? Loved it and he managed to make a genuinely despicable protagonist likeable.
JojoTheWhale
"You should keep it." -- Striiker
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I re-read a whole bunch of Dragonlance over the last ~2 years. Those somewhat held up minus the romance plots. So did Legends. Chaos War was aggressively fine. War of Souls was a slog and a half.
That Mina plot is distilled torture.
The two best one shots of minor characters are generally considered to be The Legend of Huma and Kaz the Minotaur.
If it's not particularly pulling you in, I wouldn't go further. Or if just someone like Raistlin does, you can go for the Raistlin Chronicles.
