TL;DR: This is more of a rant than anything, as I know there are lots of threads about this. I read the first book of Malazan and the beginning of the second one and will probably call it quits because I’m bored.
Oh boy. I wish I liked Malazan. I’ve been reading fantasy for a long time, but I never got around to reading the “big epics” that are Wheel of Time and Malazan. It doesn’t help that I have always had a hard time focusing on things for a long time due to my ADHD, but I’ve learned to just DNF books that I don’t like or can’t focus on by now.
I jumped into Gardens of the Moon after hearing about its density, prepared to be overwhelmed and confused. However, I was really just bored. I didn’t really understand what was going on, I didn’t care about any of the characters or storylines (though some of them were really cool, and I did actually enjoy the prose). A huge cast of characters is fine with me, as long as all of …
I’m almost 200 pages in and obsessed with this book. At first it was a little rocky to familiarize myself with Muir’s prose and world-building, but now I can’t get enough of it. The dark humor is great and I love the vibes Muir has created. The relationship between Gideon and Harrow is great and I can’t wait to see where it goes. Lesbian necromancers in space with a murder mystery plot and the vibes of The Hunger Games is what I didn’t know I needed in my life until now! Definitely recommend it.
The ring worlds of Halo. The Maze runner labyrinth, Minas Tirith and Khazad dum from Lord of the Rings. I have a taste for huge fantasy places, those constructions so big that it would take days or years to walk through them, those places so huge that take your breath away with their presence. So big that one wonders how that could have been created by mortal hands.
Places of natural origin, although I also like them, must have something special to attract my attention.
What are the gigantic constructions worth mentioning?
It’s been a long time since a book actually made me laugh out loud. This book does it often, and splices it with some pretty hard-hitting moments of introspection that make me feel things.
I don’t want to finish it because then I won’t have any more to read 😢
Bravo, Mr J Zachary Pike. Bravo!
DISCLAIMER: I am about 200 pages into the book. The main plot I think is just starting to unravel, Melissande has just revealed the deal between Albas and King’s sister to put King’s (grand?)nephew on the throne, dethroning the King’s granddaughter as the heir. So, spoilers for everything before that and please no spoilers for the rest of the book or the series. This is a call for discussion and a chance for me to put my thoughts in order. And also, when I speak of our societies, our context, I mean the western world. I have very little idea of cultural norms of the rest of the world, so can’t speak for those.
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TL:DR: Kushiel’s Dart is pretty cool and interesting so far.
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So, I have been reading Kushiel’s Dart and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. On one hand, it is lauded as the “hidden gem” of epic fantasy with amazing character work, strong court intrique and sex-positivity rarely seen in it’s …
What fantasy works, in your opinion, handle elves the best and what do said works do in that regard? I like the Discworld take, for example, which gives them a cool reason for avoiding Iron.
Dillon Helbig’s 81-page graphic novel— written by “Dillon His Self”—captured the hearts of his local librarians and their patrons.
City officials argued that the building was not compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act and other laws.
All of us may have been guilty of it at some point. At what point did you break out of it?
For the unversed, I’ve pasted it here -
Men always say that as the defining compliment, don’t they? She’s a cool girl. Being the Cool Girl means I am a hot, brilliant, funny woman who adores football, poker, dirty jokes, and burping, who plays video games, drinks cheap beer, loves threesomes and anal sex, and jams hot dogs and hamburgers into her mouth like she’s hosting the world’s biggest culinary gang bang while somehow maintaining a size 2, because Cool Girls are above all hot. Hot and understanding. Cool Girls never get angry; they only smile in a chagrined, loving manner and let their men do whatever they want. Go ahead, shit on me, I don’t mind, I’m the Cool Girl.
Men actually think this girl exists. Maybe they’re fooled because so many women are willing to pretend to be this girl. For a long time Cool Girl offended me. I used to see men – friends, coworkers, strangers – giddy …
I got the recommendation for Declare from one of the posts on this sub, it was about Cold War-themed books. The book started off a bit slow, and the writing style was at first somewhat difficult, i.e. sentences that run for half a paragraph.
I had no actual idea what the book was about, but there were some very subtle hints at the beginning that kept me intrigued, a slow burn, if you will.
But when things started rolling, my god, what a terrific book it is! I won’t go into spoilers, but if you like the Cold War setting, espionage, suspense, and the supernatural - and everything neatly packed around actual history and actual historical figures - this is your book.
The best thing I’ve read in a very long time!
If you have any recommendations on similar books (by other authors) or other good stuff by Tim Powers, please let me know in the comments.
I read this whole book thinking Alaistair Reynolds was Peter Hamilton. Don’t ask me why they just in my mind merged into the same person for some reason. (And as I read it, I thought it was much faster paced than his other stuff. )
I thought this was a great book. Then I was checking Reynolds wikipedia (that’s when I realised he was a completely different guy) and i recall the title “revelation space” I attempted to read it once but many years ago and never got into it. Now I’m thinking of giving it another try.
I was surprised there was only one other short story set in the House of Suns universe. It is such a well crafted timeline I think it deserves more books!
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EDIT: I forgot to mention, I’m not entirely sure of the point of the Palatial sub plot.
Also we never hear about any of the other lines in the book. We know that there are more and the Gentian is not the first. Do the short stories go into these or is it all …
SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL
The Kaiju Preservation Society, John Scalzi (Tor; Tor UK)
FANTASY NOVEL
Babel, R.F. Kuang (Harper Voyager US; Harper Voyager UK)
HORROR NOVEL
What Moves the Dead, T. Kingfisher (Nightfire; Titan UK)
FIRST NOVEL
The Mountain in the Sea, Ray Nayler (MCD; Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
NOVELLA
A Prayer for the Crown-Shy, Becky Chambers (Tordotcom)
All award winners and nominees here: https://locusmag.com/2023/06/2023-locus-awards-winners/
I’ve been reading Science Fiction for more than 50 years. Mostly good books; occasionally a few really bad books. There are several authors, who for me, wrote a “jump the shark” book that meant that I gave up on that particular author right there and then and never read anything new by them again (in some cases I never read anything old by them again either).
I’m curious whether other readers have the same experience with authors they once liked and now no longer read.
My (highly abbreviated) list of “jump the shark” authors and books are:
Arthur C. Clarke - The Last Theorem: Clarke co-wrote this with Fred Pohl, and at the time I read it I had never read anything by Fred Pohl at all. After this book I never touched either author ever again, not even re-reads of Clarke’s books.
Greg Bear - The City At The End Of Time. I found this to be just *BAD*.
Stephen Baxter - Galaxias. It’s not often I don’t finish a book I’ve …
I’m a sucker for stories with a good twist. What is your favorite twist in SF?
Don’t spoil the twist! Just give the name of the book/story so others can check it out and experience the twist for themselves!