OT: Sci-Fi and Fantasy Thread - SPOILERS Part Three
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Yumi and the Nightmare Painter was a lot of fun. I loved the cyberpunk-ish setting of Painter's world.
I also read Consider Phlebas, which is the first book in The Culture series. It's like an inverse space opera. The protagonist is a shape-shifter who is perfectly willing to murder someone in cold blood and assume their identity and is fighting for the actual bad guys (religious zealots who have no problem genociding the lesser species). Pretty much none of what happens in the book actually has an effect on the wider setting (a decades long war where hundreds of billions die and dozens of planets are destroyed; and that is regarded as a short, small war). Even the main antagonist who is on the side of the explicit good guys is disillusioned with her cause to an extent.
For the first two thirds I was waiting for the plot to really get going, then the final third is just one gut punch after another. I highly recommend it for anybody who wants to feel totally empty inside.
Now I'm reading The Sunlit Man, the last of the Sanderson secret projects, and it also seems like it's going to be pretty grim. I'm only about a quarter of the way in, but this already feels like things are going to go sideways, extremely fast. I figured out the protagonist pretty quickly, and I'm dying to know what happened to Roshar in his (now) extremely distant past. Hopefully Sanderson drops a few more hints throughout the book. I'm also considering having myself cryogenically frozen until December so I don't have to wait too long for Stormlight 5.
I also read Consider Phlebas, which is the first book in The Culture series. It's like an inverse space opera. The protagonist is a shape-shifter who is perfectly willing to murder someone in cold blood and assume their identity and is fighting for the actual bad guys (religious zealots who have no problem genociding the lesser species). Pretty much none of what happens in the book actually has an effect on the wider setting (a decades long war where hundreds of billions die and dozens of planets are destroyed; and that is regarded as a short, small war). Even the main antagonist who is on the side of the explicit good guys is disillusioned with her cause to an extent.
For the first two thirds I was waiting for the plot to really get going, then the final third is just one gut punch after another. I highly recommend it for anybody who wants to feel totally empty inside.
Now I'm reading The Sunlit Man, the last of the Sanderson secret projects, and it also seems like it's going to be pretty grim. I'm only about a quarter of the way in, but this already feels like things are going to go sideways, extremely fast. I figured out the protagonist pretty quickly, and I'm dying to know what happened to Roshar in his (now) extremely distant past. Hopefully Sanderson drops a few more hints throughout the book. I'm also considering having myself cryogenically frozen until December so I don't have to wait too long for Stormlight 5.
CanadianFlyer88
Knublin' PPs
Yumi was the best of the four... Tress was the most fun.
Sunlit Man has the closest direct connection to characters in the Cosmere outside of Wit, but it might have been my least favourite of the four... even though the concept was intriguing.
I finished The Sunlit Man this afternoon. I definitely enjoyed it, but it's probably my least favorite of the Secret Projects (I still need to read the non-Cosmere one, though). I was hoping to get a bit more info on what happened to Nomad between Stormlight Archive and The Sunlit Man, but I do get the need to keep things vague as to not spoil major parts of the last six books.
The setting is so cool though. Flying cities that have to outrace the sun? A villain who sacrifices his enemies to turn them into batteries? Sign me right the f*** up. I hope we get to visit the planet again in future books.
The setting is so cool though. Flying cities that have to outrace the sun? A villain who sacrifices his enemies to turn them into batteries? Sign me right the f*** up. I hope we get to visit the planet again in future books.
I wanted to try something a bit different from my usual, so I picked up This Is How You Lose The Time War. It mostly consists of letters written between two agents on opposite sides of a conflict spanning all of time and space. It was okay. The prose was absolutely gorgeous, but I didn't really get too invested in the relationship between the characters.
I'm glad I read it though, it was a nice change of pace from the huge books I've read recently (Sanderson secret projects, First Law, Traitor Baru Cormorant).
Naturally, I decided to dive into another door stopper in Perdido Street Station. I don't really know too much about it, other than it's weird. I've only read the first chapter so far, but the main character is shacking up with a lady who has a bug for a head, so it's definitely living up to it's reputation on that front lol. I've got tomorrow off of work so I'm hoping to dive into it a bit more.
I'm glad I read it though, it was a nice change of pace from the huge books I've read recently (Sanderson secret projects, First Law, Traitor Baru Cormorant).
Naturally, I decided to dive into another door stopper in Perdido Street Station. I don't really know too much about it, other than it's weird. I've only read the first chapter so far, but the main character is shacking up with a lady who has a bug for a head, so it's definitely living up to it's reputation on that front lol. I've got tomorrow off of work so I'm hoping to dive into it a bit more.
I knocked out a decent chunk of Perdido Street Station this afternoon. I am loving the weird. It's got bird people, bug people, flying semi-intelligent dog things, and blob dudes who roll around in troughs of water. It's so nice to see more fantasy races than your standard Elves/Dwarves/Trolls stereotypes.
