The Book Thread

For the talkin' of jibba jabba.
User avatar
speaker-to-trolls
Posts: 766
Joined: Thu May 22, 2008 12:34 am
Location: The World of Men

Re: The Book Thread

Post by speaker-to-trolls »

^For a limited time only reading Children of Heaven also gets you all of Shrooms... insights into the story :) And the knowledge of just what the hell My Little Echo means.
"Little monuments may be completed by their first architects, but great ones; true ones leave their copestones to posterity. God keep me from completing anything."
User avatar
Shroom Man 777
Global Mod
Posts: 4637
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 7:09 pm
Contact:

Re: The Book Thread

Post by Shroom Man 777 »

:lol:

Few things make me go on and on like My Little Echo, like the only thing that makes me go on like it is Robot River!

^__________^
Image

"Sometimes Shroomy I wonder if your imagination actually counts as some sort of war crime." - FROD
User avatar
Siege
Site Admin
Posts: 2563
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 7:03 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: The Book Thread

Post by Siege »

I'm currently reading Transition, the latest Iain Banks novel. It's written in a particularly interesting way in that it's as if the story's being recounted after the fact, yet even though I'm halfway through I've only the tiniest of an idea where the book is headed. It's certainly quite different from the Culture novels, and in a good way if I say so myself (don't get me wrong, I love the Culture books, but if you ask me this one is better). Anyway, the story revolves alternately around an assassin, a City of London stock broker, a torturer called The Philosopher, and 'Patient 8262' who has hidden himself away in a clinic somewhere in the hopes of eluding his un-named pursuers.

Oh, and it's also about the Concern, an organization which has found a way to let people 'transition' their minds into bodies in alternate realities and is - presumably - up to no good. Fun times, eh? Anyway I have yet to find out what all these threads have in common, but it's all jolly interesting, so unless the ending is a major letdown (and knowing Banks, it probably won't be) I'm giving this five out of five little tanks. It doesn't get much better than this! (Well, unless you really hate non-chronological storytelling I guess.)
"Nick Fury. Old-school cold warrior. The original black ops hardcase. Long before I stepped off a C-130 at Da Nang, Fury and his team had set fire to half of Asia." - Frank Castle

For, now De Ruyter's topsails
Off naked Chatham show,
We dare not meet him with our fleet -
And this the Dutchmen know!
User avatar
Booted Vulture
Posts: 965
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 9:33 pm

Re: The Book Thread

Post by Booted Vulture »

Edit: Frig, no spoilers tags, here. Warning: spoilers ahead

I don't know if anyone here is big into The Order Of The Stick webcomic but here are reveiws reposted from the other board of the two prequel books.


So Anyway, my copies of On The Origin Of PCs and Start Of Darkness arrived early this afternoon and now later afternoon I have read them and posted my thoughts. Not expecting to post massive spoilers for them but just in case I've spoilered them:

On The Origin Of PCs
This book is really quite short but is pretty funny. Elan's, Haley's initial thieving section is good but tails off later for me because given everything revealed in the main strip; it really is superfluous now; though perhaps not as much as when original published. Her wanted poster resume is great though. Durkon's was intriguing in terms of further plot; given the prophecy given in the book and those the Oracle gives in the strip it seems likely the return of Durkon's body is going to cause big problems in the dwarven lands; though in a way it makes the fact he never gets the message carried by Miko a bit less sad.

Elan is, as ever, just good fun; though he seems even stupider when he's with his previous employer his section also nicely introduces one of his uses; recognising tropes and employing them and so forth.

Belkar is even more one note than usual and his section's only real hit with me is the way it dove tailed nicely into V's who is competing in 'Iron Mage' and accidentally fireballs Belkar's prison.

Roy has the meatiest plot as expected; it shows him a nerd in fighter college and then pursuing peaceful solution with trolls (fans of a metal band) in a nifty sequence where he meets Durkon and then finally forming the Order Of The Stick which have a good sequnce fighting kobolds (or rather causing them to die of laughter) which rounds out the book on a positive note.

All in all; perhaps not as good as I'd hyped it to myself. BUt all in all 72 pages of solid OotS but not really noticeably worse of better than the main strip.

In summary: An decent intro to the heroes of the main story and their background but not an epic story in and of itself.

The Start Of Darkness
This one... disappointed me I think. For reasons I think Burlew surmurised quite well for me in his intro: Its about bad people doing bad things and its about bad things happening to good people and there's no karmariffic ending. I quite like Xykon and co in the main strip but I don't think a hundred pages of them went down well. I quite want to feel sorry for Redcloak who really did have a hard lot in life; but still by the end of the book; the only thing that's holding him back and makes him kill his brother is that, as Xykon says; he's a total bitch.

Xykon is, as promise, just evil all the way through.

Still a lot of things in this one feel custom to be re-visited in the main strip: that Wizard peer of Xykon's in the evil lair; red cloaks and right-eye's real name also Right-Eye seems to have a surviving daughter out there; which I would have thought important.

The crayon section though was superb. I think I may feel better about this when OotS is finished and it can be taken as a whole with the rest of the storyline; whee Xykon and Redcloak will hopefully get karma'd up.

In summary: The intro of the bad guys- alright but the lack of come-upance for the baddies is not that appealing to me.
Ah Brother! It's been too long!
User avatar
Siege
Site Admin
Posts: 2563
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 7:03 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: The Book Thread

Post by Siege »

After many recommendations (and recriminations along the lines of "you still haven't read 'em?") I have in the past few months finally thrown down the gauntlet and started in on the Dresden Files series of novels by Jim Butcher. I've finished four so far, and I've ordered another two, which should serve as a pretty good indicator of whether or not I like 'em (hint: I do). The most excellent thing is perhaps that there's 11 books in the series so far with another one coming out in April, so if the quality keeps up I'm set for a good while. And the pocketbook versions are cheap as hell too, which is another pro.

So, this being a book thread, let's do a quick review of the first four novels. Obligatory warning: there be spoilers ahead.

Storm Front
First book in the series, apparently written as an exercise for a writing course. We meet our hero, wizard Harry Dresden, special consultant for the Chicago police in all cases involving stuff that the better part of the world doesn't believe actually exists. As we see over the course of the series how utterly blatant the supernatural gribblies often act it becomes increasingly more difficult to believe that this could actually be the case without at least X-Files level cover-ups, but for this novel it works quite excellently. The plot: two people are murdered in a spectacular feat of black magic. Dresden is called in by the Chicago PD who can't make heads or tails of it, but at the same time he has to defend from accusations by the White Council, the Ministry of Magic of this particular universe, who think he's behind it. After all, there's only one wizard in Chicago and Dresden has somewhat of a seedy past (it wouldn't be a noir novel if he didn't, after all).

What I like best about this novel, and the next one in the series too, is that they epitomize the "things can't possibly get any worse... And then they do" school of writing. Things go from bad (our protagonist has to fight demons in the nude) to worse (our protagonist is minutes away from having his heart magically blown out of his chest), and our hero has no choice but to rise to the occasion. I liked it quite a bit. What I also liked is that Dresden is a flawed guy trying to do the right thing. He misses things, he screws up and makes wrong decisions, but when push comes to shove he can still kick your ass and come out on top and when he does the results are pretty awesome. In the end the bad guy gets killed, Harry's name is cleared and he gets the girl, so all is pretty well.

Fool Moon
Second book, and involving (as the name already implies) werewolves. An excellent successor to the first book, although already I found myself wondering why no-one ever noticed three bands of different werewolves running around the city. It's one thing to generally not believe in the supernatural, it's quite another when you've got mauled corpses turning up in the middle of America's third-largest city and crazed wolf-guy gangs roaming the streets. Ignoring that for a moment, the aforementioned "things go from bad to worse" adage is cranked up to eleven here (which is only proper when you're trying to keep three different groups of people from eating you at the same time). This book appeared to me more solidly written than the previous, with the 'noir' elements blending more naturally with the magical nature of the story. Like the first book this one is still pretty self-contained story-wise, although we do meet another character that'll play a role later in the series.

Grave Peril
Third book, involving vampires and ghosts. A plot point from the first novel is brought back, which was nice, but generally speaking I was a bit disappointed with this book. For the better part of the story the pace seems off somehow, and the plot felt cluttered with many elements and events that did not get the attention they deserved. That isn't to say it's not worth reading, but the story works mainly because of the characterizations (of Harry and Michael "I'm a frickin' knight with a holy sword" Carpenter), and despite its convoluted plot. I did like, however, that Butcher is starting to expand more thoroughly the universe the stories are set in, introducing a whole bunch of things that become important later on. Still, some of that leaves the impression that after the commercial success of the previous two books he got offered a multi-book deal and was so eager to get cracking on a longer story-arch (the war with the vampires) that he sort of rushed into it. That's just a theory though. As a whole this is my least favourite Dresden novel so far, but that's not saying a whole lot (it's still better than a lot of other things I've read, and definitely worth reading if only because you miss a bunch of events that you shouldn't).

Summer Knight
Ah, a rebound! If the third novel is my least favourite, this one probably is its opposite. The plot is a pretty straight-forward "whodunnit", except with faeries and the opening shots of a war between wizards and vampires caused by our protagonist in the previous novel. An agent of one of the two fairy queens has been murdered, and Harry Dresden is contracted to find out by whom in order to clear the name of the other queen. This is made all the more important because if he doesn't, said queen will refuse to aid the White Council, and the Council will in turn eagerly offer up our hero as a sacrificial lamb to the vampires. Like the cover sheet says, "no pressure or anything". Similarly to the third book this one broadens the scope of the stories, introducing more stuff whilst evolving the characters (I especially liked what the author did with Murphy in this book), but it flows a whole lot more naturally than the previous story, takes its time to set up the plot and then follows it to its conclusion. All things considered this made me look forward very much to the next few novels in the series... Which unfortunately will probably take another few days as they have to be flown in from the damned 'States...
"Nick Fury. Old-school cold warrior. The original black ops hardcase. Long before I stepped off a C-130 at Da Nang, Fury and his team had set fire to half of Asia." - Frank Castle

For, now De Ruyter's topsails
Off naked Chatham show,
We dare not meet him with our fleet -
And this the Dutchmen know!
Mobius 1
Global Mod
Posts: 1099
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 11:40 pm
Location: Orlando, FL

Re: The Book Thread

Post by Mobius 1 »

The Dresden Files is easily my favorite series, and trust me when I say they get better as they go along, as the overall metaplot develops and the things Harry goes against get more competent, dangerous, and awesome.
SHADOW TEMPEST BLACK || STB2: MIDNIGHT PARADOX
The day our skys fe||, the heavens split to create new skies.
User avatar
Shroom Man 777
Global Mod
Posts: 4637
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 7:09 pm
Contact:

Re: The Book Thread

Post by Shroom Man 777 »

Sounds pretty interesting. So that's where you're getting the flavor of your latest romp.
Image

"Sometimes Shroomy I wonder if your imagination actually counts as some sort of war crime." - FROD
User avatar
Acatalepsy
Posts: 137
Joined: Thu Oct 08, 2009 2:33 am
Location: America, Fuck Yeah! Or something.

Re: The Book Thread

Post by Acatalepsy »

I'll third that recommendation of Dresden. I can't think of a better modern fantasy.
Anything that can be done to a rat can be done to a human being. And we can do most anything to rats. This is a hard thing to think about, but it's the truth. It won't go away because we cover our eyes.

- Bruce Sterling
User avatar
Dakarne
Posts: 578
Joined: Tue May 20, 2008 5:00 pm
Location: England. :(
Contact:

Re: The Book Thread

Post by Dakarne »

Acatalepsy wrote:I can't think of a better modern fantasy.
Neverwhere, American Gods, Sandman, Hellblazer, Books of Magic, Promethea and Good Omens. But they probably qualify as cheating due to Neil Gaiman and Alan Moore influence.
Image
'For the moment, mortal, they find the thought of killing me more desirable than that of killing you.'
'And what are their chances?'
'The answer to that is evident in how long they've been hesitating, wouldn't you think, mortal?'

-Anomander Rake and Ganoes Paran in Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson
User avatar
Kingmaker
Posts: 126
Joined: Mon Jan 11, 2010 9:01 am
Location: at singularity's edge

Re: The Book Thread

Post by Kingmaker »

In which I ramble and rant about the stuff I've been reading. I've been reading a lot of fantasy in the last year, which is odd since I'm normally a sci-fi-guy.

Chronicles of the Black Company: A series by Glen Cook that can only be described as epic military fantasy. It's about the eponymous mercenary company as they work for various employers over the course of several decades. It is split into three "books" (not to be confused with the actual books), written by various company annalists (mostly just two--Croaker and Murgen), but the series can really be divided into the the company in the North, working for the Lady of Charm to suppress popular uprising, and the company in the south, fighting against a group of wizards called the Shadowmasters, who feel it necessary to append the prefix shadow- to everything. The series has an extremely high character death rate, though relatively few of the main characters die. Thus far I've made it most of the way through the series and I'll say that I prefer the Book of the North to the Books of the South. Some of this is just resentment directed at the author, I suspect, since most of my favorite characters are dead. I really like Cook's writing style. He does a good job of creating the impression that you are reading the fallible accounts of someone writing weeks or years after the fact while avoided becoming too distant.

That said, the COTB have some of my favorite fantasy characters: Goblin and One-eye the wizards, Croaker the physician (one of the primary narrators), the Lady of Charm, Elmo (the Black Company's badass sergeant-major figure), and Bonegnasher (a one scene wonder whose only appearance is him eating a wereleopard alive). It also one of the most epic huge-fantasy-battle-things ever, the Battle of Charm.

I've also been reading the Dresden Files and Codex Alera by Jim Butcher, and the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson, but I can't think of anything to say about them besides 8-). I heartily recommend all of the books I have thus far mentioned.
___________

Lastly, I was recently re-reading Perdido Street Station and the Scar, by China Mieville, and I found myself reminded of why I almost never read another book by him after I read Iron Council. The man is clearly brilliantly creative and has a never-ending deluge of interesting ideas. He also can't write for shit sometimes.

PSS is a book loaded to the brim with novel, creepy, awesome things. Unfortunately, once you get past that you have to deal with the fact that the book basically slowly meanders its way through a bog-standard sci-fi monster horror plot, all masked behind a curtain of some of the most overly-descriptive purple prose I've ever seen. It's even got the standard evil capitalist governocorp trying to weaponize the monster. In essence, the book is a spectacle, and like most spectacles it lacks real depth. PSS is simply better at creating illusions of depth than most. That the story devolves in a bug hunt is all the more disappointing because for the first 30-40% there are the beginnings of potentially interesting plots. And then they're dropped in favor of fighting dream-eating moths. :roll: Still, ultimately, it's not bad, just disappointing.

The Scar is dramatically better in my opinion. The prose, while still purple, is more readable and the excess descriptions have been toned down and rely far less on shit metaphors. It also has one of the most awesome characters ever, Uther Doul. Again, the story is more about the milieu than the plot, though the plot is definitively superior to PSS. The book's greatest flaw is that the primary POV character, Bellis Coldwine, is really unlikeable and lacks any sort of compensating feature, such as the bile fascination of a sociopath or the SoD-stretching feats of a badass. Fortunately, the other characters more than make up for this. The Scar is an awesome book with genuine re-readability instead of relying on spectacle like PSS.

Iron Council, which I read several years ago, is what I consider to be emblematic of everything wrong with Mieville. The plot meanders with no clear goal for hundreds of page doesn't exist, the prose is obfuscating, and the characters are unlikeable. Mieville is a man clearly in love with his own vocabulary, though at least he knows what the bizarre words he's using mean (I'm looking at you, Chris Paolini). It's also the most overtly political of the three bas-lag novels, and considering that I both consider Mieville's political beliefs laughable and hate being preached at, no matter the content of the sermon, this is a real deal breaker for me. Related to that, this novel also shows off Mieville's seeming obsession with being grim and dark and edgy. The story is nothing but one terrible thing after another happening to a crew of unlikeable "heroes". About the only remotely interesting character in this story is Judah Loew the somaturge. Like the other Bas-Lag stories, this appears to have been an idea-vomit, but unlike the other two, the ideas don't really mesh. Mieville's got some brilliant ideas, but they aren't stitched together well at all.

So in conclusion, read PSS because you'll never read anything else like it, read the Scar because it's good, and don't read Iron Council because it's [(PSS + The Scar)*suck]^2.
When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Heading said: "Stick to the Devil you know."
-Rudyard Kipling
User avatar
Artemis
Global Mod
Posts: 392
Joined: Thu May 22, 2008 3:31 am
Location: Savannah, Georgia
Contact:

Re: The Book Thread

Post by Artemis »

As I've told lots of people, Dresden Files really picks up speed during and after Summer Knight. I came in during the middle of the series (Proven Guilty) and read them backwards from there. Trust me, Siege, there's some really fantastic stuff coming your way, as far as Dresden Files goes.

I also can't recommend the James Marsters-read audiobooks enough. Seriously. Best driving audio material ever.
"The universe's most essential beauty is its endlessness. There is room and resources enough for all of us. Whether there is room for all of our passions is the question, and the problem that we work tirelessly to find a solution to."

-Qhameio Allir Nlafahn, Commonwealth ambassador, during the signing of the Kriolon Treaty.
User avatar
Kingmaker
Posts: 126
Joined: Mon Jan 11, 2010 9:01 am
Location: at singularity's edge

Re: The Book Thread

Post by Kingmaker »

James Marsters reads the audiobooks? 8-)
Besides, the Dresden Files are awesome because they conclusively prove that Chicago is the most awesomest city in the whole world (my standards for proof are pretty low). Also, the stuff that happens is pretty cool. White Night (one of the later books in the series) gives Dresden the best entrance I've seen anywhere. Makes me wish the TV series hadn't been stillborn.
I agree with your evaluation of the pacing of the series. It pretty much tops itself with each successive book.
When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Heading said: "Stick to the Devil you know."
-Rudyard Kipling
User avatar
Siege
Site Admin
Posts: 2563
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 7:03 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: The Book Thread

Post by Siege »

[oh shit did i really just hit edit instead of quote? ah fuck.]
"Nick Fury. Old-school cold warrior. The original black ops hardcase. Long before I stepped off a C-130 at Da Nang, Fury and his team had set fire to half of Asia." - Frank Castle

For, now De Ruyter's topsails
Off naked Chatham show,
We dare not meet him with our fleet -
And this the Dutchmen know!
User avatar
Shroom Man 777
Global Mod
Posts: 4637
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 7:09 pm
Contact:

Re: The Book Thread

Post by Shroom Man 777 »

Again, so this is where you're getting your inspirations from. ;)
Image

"Sometimes Shroomy I wonder if your imagination actually counts as some sort of war crime." - FROD
User avatar
Invictus
Posts: 1306
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 11:44 pm

Re: The Book Thread

Post by Invictus »

Belatedly finished Unseen Academicals, the latest Discworld novel and the first Terry Pratchett novel I have read in a while. It's not his best, not that (as I sadly conclude) Pratchett is capable of his best any more, but it's a pleasant surprise with a nice spread of new characters and some interesting shakeups of the old cast. The plot itself is also unexpectedly fresh, considering the rut Practhett seemed to have written himself into in the last few novels set in Ankh-Morpork. But that formula isn't much in evidence in the book, which also featured unexpectedly dense writing - I wonder if Pratchett's switch to speech-to-text had anything to do with that.


SPOILERS BELOW


Ankh-Morpork, or more specifically the elderly, rotund wizards of Unseen University takes on soccer, basically; with predictably hilarious results. Pratchett manages to fit a B-plot and half a C-plot in there as well, which is pretty impressive, although neither of them managed as dramatic a conclusion as the one the main plot ended in. Come to think of it, the conclusion of the main plot wasn't that dramatic by Discworld standards (even the obligatory deus ex machina that always follows the introduction of every new concept onto the Disc was relatively inconsequential*) either. But then, this book wasn't about saving the world or even rescuing the city but the very personal triumphs of the ensemble cast. This Pratchett did well, relying less on his one-note weirdos or even one single driving protagonist (Even Nutt, the most well-realized character, plays only a supporting role in the end). There wasn't even a proper villain this time; not your tired band of noble conspirators which had been there since the early Watch novels, nor the barrel-bottom scrapings like what we had in Making Money. It was simply Lord Vetinari flexing his muscles against Popular Sentiment and the effects thereof (and the characters that get caught in the middle of it). As a result, If this is the new direction future Discworld novels are going in, then I welcome the change.

*Well there was Going Postal, where the religion plot seemingly got dropped halfway through the book in favor of Moist van Lipwig saving the day through magnificent bastardry, but I have no problems with that.
"This explanation posits that external observation leads to the collapse of the quantum wave function. This is another expression of reactionary idealism, and it's indeed the most brazen expression."
-
REBUILD OF COMIX STAGE 1 - Rey Quirino Versus the Dark Heart of the Philippines
"...a literary atrocity against the senses..." - Ford

REBUILD OF COMIX STAGE 2 - Advent Rey Returns: REVERGELTUNG
Coming NEVER
User avatar
Heretic
Posts: 1750
Joined: Wed May 21, 2008 4:45 pm
Location: IN AMERICA

Re: The Book Thread

Post by Heretic »

I'm...almost...done...with...ATLAS SHRUGGED.

ARGH!!! That book is so huge, if I throw it down a skyscraper and hit someone, a crater will appear.

Man, Ayn Rand is melodramatic, describing every single freaking thing. Paragraph upon paragraph of emotional purple prose and "CHARITY IS EVILNESS" in it. And I utterly dislike some of the main characters, though I can understand why they do the things they do (I being, of course, a very family-loyal puppy, so Hank Rearden being a jerk to his family while having a relationship with Dagny Taggart angers me to no end, though Lillian seems to be a harpy and Philip is helping cause the downfall of Hank. Still, there's the mother to consider!) And so much sex scenes that could almost borderline as rape....

Still, the book struck a cord in my soul, and what I disliked in Randian Heroes and Ayn Rand's general philosophy, is made up for my agreement with Ayn Rand's views on money and achievement, alongside her economic views.

I shall add this book to one of my top ten favorites.
Computers are like Old Testament gods; lots of rules and no mercy.
-Joseph Campbell
User avatar
Dakarne
Posts: 578
Joined: Tue May 20, 2008 5:00 pm
Location: England. :(
Contact:

Re: The Book Thread

Post by Dakarne »

I wouldn't agree too much with Ayn Rand. The woman was in fact an outright sociopath and worshipped a serial killer who murdered and dismembered little girls.
Image
'For the moment, mortal, they find the thought of killing me more desirable than that of killing you.'
'And what are their chances?'
'The answer to that is evident in how long they've been hesitating, wouldn't you think, mortal?'

-Anomander Rake and Ganoes Paran in Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson
User avatar
Somes J
Posts: 377
Joined: Tue Feb 17, 2009 4:04 am
Location: Berkeley, California

Re: The Book Thread

Post by Somes J »

A recent discussion on cannibalism on SDN sparked my curiousity and lead to do some internet research on the subject, leading to me finding Consuming Grief: Compassionate Cannibalism In An Amazonian Society by Beth A. Conklin, about the funerary cannibalism of the Amazonian Wari people. It's kind of interesting in giving you a window to a culture with very different ideas about proper conduct (in this case respectful treatment of the dead). It might be interesting for people who are into worldbuilding; I've often found real life cultures to often be weirder and more interesting than a lot of fictional ones. Unfortunately, as is normal for Google books, only parts of the book are available online.

I've thought for a while that I'd like to do a fantasy/SF/alternate history story where one of the characters dies and his buddies honor him by eating pieces of his corpse, and this is treated as a completely normal and respectful funeral custom and not remarked upon. I can just imagine a ton of reading reaching that part and being like "wait, WHAT?!?"

I also found The Buried Soul: How Humans Invented Death by Timothy Taylor to be interesting reading on the subject.

-------

As far as fiction I've read recently, I read Charles Stross's Accelerando and Singularity Sky a few months back and found them both to be made of win. Especially Accelerando. My head almost exploded from the sheer awesome of Accelerando. It's everything I think SF should be. My only quibble with it is the timeline; I remember reading the beginning chapter and totally loving all the awesome and hard science fictional stuff in there and then I read that this was all supposed to be happening in the second decade of the twenty-first century and my suspension of disbelief crashed and burned. Other than that it was totally awesome though. Singularity Sky was pretty good too. I have to admit that, being heartily sick of "the future will be just like the present or the past, but in space, with lasers" sci fi I've been having guilty pleasure fantasies of what would happen if a typical soft SF star empire ran into a group with similar technology but that actually used it to its full logical potential (superintelligent AI, transhumanism, Von Neumann machines, robot armies), so watching the New Republic get totally creamed by the Festival was definitely a bit of a vindictive pleasure for me, especially as the Republic really came off as a deconstruction of that whole school of sci fi, showing what a dismal vision it actually is and what sort of society would probably be necessary to maintain such a state of affairs (a repressive hellhole run by insufferable jerkasses). I'm probably making is sound way preachier than it actually is though, it's pretty good with making a lot of the New Republic people sympathetic. Even as a part of me was eagerly salivating at their curbstomping another part couldn't help feeling really sorry for people who were basically like a bunch of Midaeval Crusaders marching off to attack the modern US without even having a real idea of how horribly outclassed they were. The one thing I really didn't like was the nanowank; nanobots as a doom weapon against spaceships is pretty silly. Although at least it was against a drastically technologically inferior foe, and it was a relatively intelligent application of the technology (attack sensitive components as opposed to try to eat through the whole ship), so it wasn't as stupid as it could have been. I definitely plan to read the sequel, Iron Sunrise, sometime, but I'm probably not going to do it for a while as I have a fairly hectic semester and I think it would probably be more prudent to wait with my personal pleasure reading until I have more time for it.

I've also read SM Stirling's In the Court of the Crimson Kings. It was pretty cool, I really enjoyed the fusion of hard SF and old-style pulp sci fi, and Stirling's alternate Mars was a pretty interesting world (much more interesting than his alternate Venus in The Sky People - I found that book to be pretty meh). The one thing I really disliked about it was the ending, which I thought was a totally unnecessary Deus Ex Machina, and which I honestly resented because it ruined the way the rest of the series could at least be creatively interpreted as hard SF (though, author's intent, it was pretty obvious the Lords of Creation were meant to have magitech - but up to that point a lot of their stuff could be explained away as hard science technology that just looked magical because it wasn't explained, like the Invisible Crown is invisible when worn because it's actually made of nanobots that go into the person's body).

I considerably enjoyed all three books and would recommend them to others.
Participate in my hard SF worldbuilding project: The Known Galaxy. Come to our message board and experience my unique brand of terribleness!

"One is respected and judged only as a human being. It is an appalling experience."
Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness.

"Open your mind and hear what your heart wants to deny."
Samuel Anders, nBSG, Daybreak, Part 2.
User avatar
Heretic
Posts: 1750
Joined: Wed May 21, 2008 4:45 pm
Location: IN AMERICA

Re: The Book Thread

Post by Heretic »

Well, I'm a little cautious, looking at that website, but if this was true (and I don't doubt your intelligence, Dak), yikes. I never thought Ayn Rand had fantasies about serial killers who actually dismembered little girls. And she admired him for not considering others, ignoring what others thought while he ripped up that poor victim? Well, luckily I wasn't a huge fan of Ayn Rand to begin with. Thanks Dakarne for showing me that piece of info. Still, the book itself is interesting and it's just a breath of fresh air from all the other books I read. It just hit a part in my soul that I needed.

Edit: FINISHED! I actually finished Atlas Shrugged. It was breathtaking and when I finished, I felt an exhilaration, an accomplishment that made me more human.

On a lighter note, alongside Ms. Psychopath's awesome book, I'm reading StarHawk:The Fourth Empire. A cheesy over the top soft sci fi book where HAWK HUNTER(!), our hero, deserts the evil Empire and goes out to find his past, having only a red, white, and blue pin, and finding himself flying a jet-plane spacecraft. Though I picked up the series on the 3rd book, the author was kind enough to give newbies a recap on the events. After deserting the Empire's Solar Guard ranks, HAWK HUNTER finds PLANET AMERICA (Fuck yeah!) and liberates it and the surrounding planets from its reality prison. There, the United Free Planets is formed and they go out to liberate more planets from the evil Empire. The third book picks up after the Battle of Planet America, where the UFP fleet goes to Xronis Trey, an outpost planet and takes over in order to find Memory Rings, which Hawk Hunter hopes to use to find information on what happened to real Earth. That is as far as I got right now, and it's pretty cheesy (I said that, I know), with a Head Mechanist and his crew going into a panic over a leaking pipe because it's so ancient that they forgot how to fix it.

Here is the cover: Image
Computers are like Old Testament gods; lots of rules and no mercy.
-Joseph Campbell
User avatar
Siege
Site Admin
Posts: 2563
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 7:03 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: The Book Thread

Post by Siege »

Is there actually a Planet America in those books? Because if it's really called that way that's pretty awesome.

Too bad that space plane fighter thing on the cover of the book looks fucking terrible. What the shit is that thing, an F-16 in space? How utterly awful.
"Nick Fury. Old-school cold warrior. The original black ops hardcase. Long before I stepped off a C-130 at Da Nang, Fury and his team had set fire to half of Asia." - Frank Castle

For, now De Ruyter's topsails
Off naked Chatham show,
We dare not meet him with our fleet -
And this the Dutchmen know!
Mobius 1
Global Mod
Posts: 1099
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 11:40 pm
Location: Orlando, FL

Re: The Book Thread

Post by Mobius 1 »

Vipers versus Star Destroyers! I could dig it.
SHADOW TEMPEST BLACK || STB2: MIDNIGHT PARADOX
The day our skys fe||, the heavens split to create new skies.
User avatar
Malchus
Posts: 1257
Joined: Wed May 21, 2008 7:05 am
Location: In a chibi-land, eating the brains of H. P. Wuvcwaft.
Contact:

Re: The Book Thread

Post by Malchus »

Wait a minute... Hawk Hunter? Mack Maloney? The Wingman series?!

Holy shit, I actually know what this is about! I used to borrow my classmate's Wingman books in high school because of the so bad it's good Cold War-era cheesiness.

For those unaware, HAWK HUNTER is an ex-US Air Force guy in a dystopian, divided post-nuke war America that lost to the Soviets. He has the last F-16 in existence as the victorious Soviets demanded that all the NATO nations destroy all their high-end air craft. Of course, the Soviets themselves barely scraped by WW3 and end up with old 60s era equipment, giving HAWK HUNTER the advantage. Oh, and did I mention [strike]GRAY STU[/strike] HAWK HUNTER has ESP? And that his F-16 has been modded so much it can carry over 20 missiles without any decrease in performance?

Seriously, though, those books were my favorite cheese supplement in high school. Now you're telling me that he somehow ends up IN SPACE? IN THE FAR FUTURE?! With his trusty uber-wank F-16 modded into a space fighter?!!! :lol:

Now I have got to go to one of them used book stores and find me a copy.
Image
I admire the man, he has a high tolerance for insanity (and inanity - which he generously contributed!). ~Shroom, on my wierdness tolerance.
User avatar
Heretic
Posts: 1750
Joined: Wed May 21, 2008 4:45 pm
Location: IN AMERICA

Re: The Book Thread

Post by Heretic »

Seriously, though, those books were my favorite cheese supplement in high school. Now you're telling me that he somehow ends up IN SPACE? IN THE FAR FUTURE?! With his trusty uber-wank F-16 modded into a space fighter?!
In the 73rd century, to be precise.
Is there actually a Planet America in those books? Because if it's really called that way that's pretty awesome.
Yes, and it is the leader of all the United Planets. Planet France, Planet Germania, etc. all bow before SPARTAFREEDOMERICA!
Computers are like Old Testament gods; lots of rules and no mercy.
-Joseph Campbell
User avatar
Somes J
Posts: 377
Joined: Tue Feb 17, 2009 4:04 am
Location: Berkeley, California

Re: The Book Thread

Post by Somes J »

I have recently ordered and read the novelization of the movie Species by Yvonne Navarro.

Before I review the book I want to say a few words about the movie, to establish the expectations against which I was measuring it. I knew about this movie but didn't watch it for quite a long time. I thought I knew pretty much what it was going to be just looking at the back cover. A cheesy, crappy, probably at least vaguely offensive sexploitation flick that ran mostly on shallow tittilation and gore. Then one day I caught a little bit of it on TV and thought it looked rather interesting, so I got it on DVD, and I was surprised at how good it was. What saved it, to my mind, was the portrayal of the creature. While she was undoubtedly dangerous I really felt empathy for that thing; lost in a hostile world she didn't understand, compelled by instincts she had no control over, unable to feel safe and in control even in her own body (remember that bit with the cocoon?), and really basically just trying to survive and reproduce like virtually all animals do. Maybe it's my fascination with the Other in its many forms, but I found her much more interesting than any of the human characters, who mostly seemed to me like your standard cookie cutter cast there mostly to provide opponents and victims for the monster. I thought it would be fascinating to get an inside view of the mind of that creature, which is most of the reason why I bought this book.

As such, I mostly found the book a disappointment. The characterizations mostly seemed flat, rarely really feeling alive, and Sil's was mostly not an exception. Most of the way I had the feeling of reading through the book to get through it rather than actually enjoying it. It didn't help that the author frequently tried to feign knowledge about science she obviously didn't understand very well, so you get some scenes in the book that really made me roll my eyes. In fairness, now that I think about it I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of that was actually stuff in the original script that was mercifully edited out, so it may not be Navarro's fault.

There was a little bit at the beginning where I really felt sorry for a minor character, but mostly the only part I really enjoyed was the ending. The book seemed to sort of hit its stride there, you got more of a sense of tension and the same sense of Sil as an empathizable but alien and dangerous character that you got in the movie.

Maybe it's just me but I notice in both the movie and the book I sort of liked the little monster (Sil's offspring) and a part of me was sort of sorry to see him get killed. It's partly that, yeah sure he was a horrible xeno abomination and tried to killfuck that black guy with his tentacles, but on the other hand it's pretty easy to feel sorry for a newborn child getting murderized with napalm. I think it also has to do with the fact that I found the question of what a male version of Sil would have been like pretty interesting and would have liked to see that explored in a sequel (yes, I have seen Species II, I meant one that didn't suck).
Participate in my hard SF worldbuilding project: The Known Galaxy. Come to our message board and experience my unique brand of terribleness!

"One is respected and judged only as a human being. It is an appalling experience."
Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness.

"Open your mind and hear what your heart wants to deny."
Samuel Anders, nBSG, Daybreak, Part 2.
User avatar
Shroom Man 777
Global Mod
Posts: 4637
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 7:09 pm
Contact:

Re: The Book Thread

Post by Shroom Man 777 »

I always liked Species and felt very partial to Sil's character. It helped that she was very sexy. And, yeah, she was kind of the ultimate victim in the movie. Artificially created, and then sentenced to execution for a wrong she never committed? And then, lost in the outside world and with nothing to guide her but her brutal killy alien instinct? Then she gets burned alive, along with all her babies? Poor girl. :(
Image

"Sometimes Shroomy I wonder if your imagination actually counts as some sort of war crime." - FROD
Post Reply