Review Link: https://beforewegoblog.com/movie-review-dungeons-and-dragons-honor-among-thieves/
Serious Guardians of the Galaxy energy.
DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS: HONOR AMONG THIEVES made me tear up a bit at the end. It was an involuntary reaction, I certainly didn’t intend for it to happen, but it’s something that occurred nevertheless. Against my better judgement, I came to care about these characters and whether they managed to make it through the end of the movie. So, in the words of Rick and Morty, “You son of a bitch, I’m in.”
The movie isn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination but it is recognizably and explicitly Dungeons and Dragons. Which is a harder thing to embody than many people might think. Dungeons and Dragons isn’t a setting by itself but a method of creating and playing a setting. This is the problem of previous adaptations because you can play any fantasy setting with D&D rules but you can’t just say, “Dungeons and Dragons is the setting.” Here, it’s …
I’m obviously a bit late on this, but this is coming from someone who’s heard great things about Discworld on reddit and elsewhere. This week I just finished my first book, Guards, Guards! and I’m already hooked. The references and humour were amazing and I even sent some friends pictures of the excerpts with no context (and they haven’t read Discworld either).
I loved how dragons were portrayed in the book, and carrot might be one of my favourite non-serious characters of any book I’ve read
Unfortunately I have University exams coming up soon-ish but I suspect as soon as I have free time I’m going to read more Discworld books
I regularly reorganize my bookshelves as I acquire more books and I am obsessive about getting matching printings of any series I am reading. So, when a publisher decides to change the dimensions of book — like Del Rey seems to have done for the final book in the Founders Trilogy — it irks me to no end… Which is why if there is a printing that matches the other two books, I will pick it up.
Just reread the book for the first time in years, and it really struck me how everything is basically John Hammond’s own fault for trying to save a penny. I’m not talking about his God-complex or inability to recognize that anything bad could possibly happen (although both are major contributors to JP’s downfall). I’m specifically talking about his cost-cutting. The line “We spared no expense” is so iconic that it appears in both the book and the movie, and yet everything that happens at the park is a direct result of John Hammond “sparing the expense.”
1 - It’s mentioned that the staff on the island wanted to install a new dock that would have offered ships greater protection from storms. When a storm comes, the ship is forced to leave early before all their supplies are offloaded because John didn’t want to pay for the more expensive weather-proof dock.
2 - Scientist Henry Wu is nervous because the dinosaurs are too real (too fast, too deadly, etc) and wants to scrap them all in …
Mine has to be The Gray House by Mariam Petrosyan. It’s a beautifully huge Russian novel, a slice of life book about kids with physical disabilities living in a group home, with just a dash of magic realism, enough to make you go “what the fuck?” and want to read it all over again. Apparently it’s quite popular in Russia, even more so than Harry Potter, but /r/thegrayhouse only has ~300 members.
Obviously that’s facetious, I’m reading “the road to Jonestown” because I know the outcome, but didn’t know any of the history. Dude genuinely seems fantastic at 20% through the book, succeeding at integrating many aspects of Indianapolis and providing respectful food banks, clothing, and geriatric care to all people. The clues that his ego will outpace him are there, but damn, Jim Jones of 1957ish seems like someone I’d strongly admire.
History is weird.
With all the “top sci fi” and “favorite sci fi” books posts of late I’ve been shocked to see how little Kurt Vonnegut is mentioned here. “Slaughterhouse-Five” is an obvious contender for one of the greatest science fiction books of all time, though I prefer “Cat’s Cradle” myself. But any of his books could easily make a best-of list.
I read/listen to Anathem 4-5 times. It’s a wonderful over world I can get lost in. I would call it a “boarding academia with a lot of nerdy historic detail” vibe. Neal Stephenson’s book’s protagonists are very hit and miss. Some I can’t even finish a book one time. But this one is great.
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I read Gibson’s Neuromancer and The Peripheral both a few times. While Peripheral is a lesser book I just want to highlight its “realistic decaying rural American future” atmosphere. I think Gibson totally nailed it, both the detail of the daily lives and the family relationship. I think the Amazon show only did a bare minimal recreation of the book setting.
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Anyway, I would love to hear yours.
I have found this list of the top science fiction novels.
https://vsbattle.com/battle/110304-what-is-the-greatest-science-fiction-novel-of-all-time
The top books on there are:
For me, Dune should be number 1!
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, but I can’t quite put my finger on why. Perhaps because it was a relatively simple read with great character development and a simple, yet effective story driven by relationships.
After trying several other sci fi novels (offerings by Reynolds, and Tchaikovsky for example) and finding them difficult to get through, I may have learned that I just prefer stories that are more driven by the characters as opposed to the world building.
I’m starting Barrayar today and can’t wait.
I finally got around to reading Hyperion after years of seeing it somewhere near the top of just about every “best of” science fiction list, but I just don’t see it. It was an enjoyable enough read, don’t get me wrong - an interesting science fiction-y take on The Canterbury Tales, but I walked away feeling pretty “meh” about it. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not always the best at picking up subtext, so maybe that’s what’s happening here. Maybe to fully enjoy it I would need to continue with the series, or maybe it’s just not for me. I’d be interested to hear others’ thoughts.
Edit: Thanks everyone for your thoughts and input. Very helpful!