I don’t know if it’s just my reddit algorithm constantly pumping these kinds of posts to my home page or if it’s just become a mass of these kinds of posts, but it feels like lately this sub is constantly just negative post after negative post about how someone “doesn’t get the hype” over a popular fantasy author. At least 3 times a week I see a “Sanderson’s writing style is so juvenile” or something of the like. I miss the posts talking about your favorite scenes, or favorite anti-heros, or something of the like. Where’s the positivity people??
“Discworld has that!”
I love Discworld. I also think it gets recommended in the wrong threads far more than Sanderson or Malazan. When I’m looking for ____, I’m not looking for a satire of ____, even if it’s done really well.
It’s hard to call out in the same way as Sando or Malazan though, because often the Discworld book recommended fits the technical definition, but (imo) misses the spirit of the request.
When I ask for urban fantasy, I absolutely do not want Guards! Guards! even though I fucking love that book.
I think there are some cases where a Discworld book is the right rec, but not in every. single. thread.
edit- could the people downvoting tell me why they disagree? I’m willing to engage, sorry if the post came off as combative
edit- a lot of people taking issue with the urban fantasy call out. It’s just an example. But basically I’d be very hesitant to recommend Discworld unless someone specifies that they want …
Sword of Truth? Dead.
Witcher? Decimated.
Shannara? Meh.
Game of Thrones? Almost there, but ruined near the end.
Wheel of Time? Trying very hard, but dividing at best (it still has time to recover in s3 though).
I don’t know, maybe it’s just my logical side, but having huge series of books filled to the brim with content should be more than enough to create at least a few decent series, yet for some reason, creators always move in some weird directions, change plot beyond recognition, rewrite the character arcs and just generally ignore source material. I get that sometimes some sacrifices are needed and some content needs to be trimmed. But why trying to reinvent the wheel all the time, when it’s like 99% going to fail? Why they never learn the lesson of so many failed series?
The show also surprisingly holds up, even the CGI isn’t as atrocious as I expected. The cast is brilliant, if a little too one-note in terms of identity, but the characters are really fleshed out. The villains are also very creatively written. I know many books follow this model like Kate Daniels or Dresden but I’d like to see more of this genre. Especially in under-represented cultures. Or something from First Nation or African mythology. As a child my favourite sister was Phoebe. As a grown ass woman, it’s now definitely Prue. These streaming networks are struggling so much to find original content that sticks but if they brought us a monster of the week urban fantasy, it would definitely be a lot of fun, at least for my nostalgia-starved self that doesn’t want remakes or reboots or sequels but TV shows that have the same soul and earnestness of 90s-2000s TV. Yes, I already rewatched Fringe. What else should I indulge in outside of Buffy/Angel
obviously, not cases where the author has died before they could complete a series,
but cases where a writer had tons of creative energy and then just didn’t for any number of reasons and just stopped writing the series with fans poking them with a stick trying to get them to write ever since
To say that Watership Down’s reputation precedes it is an understatement. In Britain, it’s a cultural memory as seared-in as the Daleks. Everyone knows Watership Down as That Movie That Got Rated A “U” Even Though It’s Really Violent.
I have wanted to read the book for a long time, and when I saw that the audiobook was read by Peter Capaldi, a fine actor, I thought I should finally give it a read.
This book absolutely rules. It’s an absolute masterpiece. It’s unrelentingly dark and brutal practically from the first few pages. I jokingly described it to people at work as “Like Game of Thrones, but with rabbits”. I am convinced that, were this not a book about rabbits, it would be considered an adult fantasy classic.
That is not to say that it being a children’s novel takes away from it, however. I absolutely adored all the mythology and folklore, the really imaginative way we are given an insight into how a rabbit or other …
I loved autobiographies, it was the only non-fiction I can read. So when Perry’s book came out I read it immediately and after his death I used an audible credit on his Audibook.
The Friends series was my favourite growing up and it was one of the things that my wife and I discussed on our first date.
I’m shocked that hearing it in his voice has ruined the actor and the book for me forever. It felt like a different book somehow.
It is incredibly sad and even though it’s full of quotes and mantras of the Big Book of AA, nothing he says feels genuine. Unless he was shitting on something or someone. He never really took any responsibility for anything.
I understand he had issues but his hate of actors that did him no harm and his opinions about women in general were quite disturbing and misogynistic. The Jennifer Anniston stuff was quite creepy.
If you’re a fan of Perry or just Friends I believe this will be damaging to your experience of the art in future. …
For me, it’s definitely the Witcher novels. The first two books, The Last Wish and Sword of Destiny, were books with each chapter being its own story. It was just a collection of great and interesting short stories, each focusing on a new character and their problems.
Then I moved onto the novels, and I have never been this disappointed in a book series. In fact, I hated them so much, that it absolutely killed my drive to read for a year. The first book was okay. It was pretty boring, but I didn’t expect much seeing as it was setting up the story. Then I realised that all his novels are like that. Every novel contained about 15% of relevant story, while the rest was focused on random name drops or characters that were never relevant again. For example, a 40 page chapter would go on and on about a random King or location and what has happened there, never actually revealing what the event was. Imagine someone coming up to you and discussing the last chapter of a book series without …
I was talking with someone about the lord of the rings books vs movies recently and my friend said he had always struggled getting through the books because of how much walking, singing, and descriptions of mountains there were. I hear similar criticisms with Moby dick: the only action happens in the beginning of the book and the last few chapters; the rest of it is just a dude musing about rope and the nature of the sperm whale’s tail while sitting doing nothing on a ship.
But I’ve recently gained some more perspective on this. Having started volunteering for peace corps in Africa several months ago, my American friends have this idea that this must be a never ending adventure and I’m so lucky to be out here seeing this exotic part of the world while they’re stuck in their corporate entry level jobs. And yes, it has been an adventure in a lot of ways. I live in a village of mostly mud huts; have eaten freshly slaughtered rabbit and more whole fish than I can count; have had a …
My contenders are…
The Count or Monte Christo - Long, enjoyable and also topical.
The Lord of the Rings - Shut up, Tolkien considered it one book, it’s one book. Also it’s a comfort read.
Gravity’s Rainbow - Lots to unlock, and after a year of only having that to read, I might understand it by the end. Possibly at the expense of my sanity.
Thus Spoke Zarathustra - I can see how a poetic, meaning affirming text could help with being incarcerated.
Minor rant I guess. I’ve been reading Martha Wells’ MurderBot series and enjoying it. Definitely recommend for anyone a fan of sci-fi. My only complaint is that a book that I can finish in a couple of hours max, costs 12 dollars. I’m used to 1000 page epics for that price. Is there a reason they are so expensive?
Edit: I guess I gotta sign up for my local library. I just like being able to read where/when ever I want and not have to lug a book around.
Christopher Priest has passed away.
I’m sure a lot of people here love his books. Inverted World in particular is very important to me.
My thoughts go out to Nina Allan and everybody who knew him.
First line of the book is a quote by Ted Bundy. TED BUNDY.
I don’t want to read in first person. I don’t want to read about vampires. Y’all keep hammering this book FOR YEARS to me on this sub.
I downloaded the epub, read the first chapter. Now I’m going to get a physical copy and read it once I finish foundation.
Gotta find out why he’s in that coffin. Gotta find out more about the Synthesis project and the Theseus ship.
LFG
I asked this same question a few months ago, got about 30 recommendations, and loved almost all of them. I think there is something really special about this approach to writing. Hoping for more?
I am looking for stories that has gone past the dystopia, past the scarcity, past civilizational bickering, and comes to whatever the new thing is.
Dune being 20,000 years into the future makes an interesting case for a post-scarcity universe. Moving on from Artificial Intelligences and autonomous technologies and come to Biologics and the Human condition and consciousness and the ecology of the universe itself. The heights of civilization has gone past survival to full control of it. Like, instead of mystifying the concept of prophecy, humans themselves weaponize the prophecy and savior archetypes to explore more.
And great recommendations in this vein?
Yeah it isn’t perfect, but hell we get an incredible fight scene between the Spino and Rex not even an hour into the movie, while in World you get pretty much the same fight scene at the END of the movie AND on top of that the whole fight gets cockblocked by the Mosasaurus in the end anyway, and in the most unsatisfying way possible. I know it’s like 2024 like why tf am I talking about a threequal thats 20 years old, but I’ve just been on a Jurassic Park binge lately and it’s just hitting me how much better III is over any of the World movies, yet it’s rated like a 5⁄10 across the board, while all the World Movies are rated like 6.5-7⁄10 it just boggles my mind, they’re all trash compared to 1 and 3. Lost world is good, but it’s also a mixed bag it has some of my favorite scenes and some of my least favorite in the whole series.
I was watching The Truman Show last night with someone who had never seen it. Before the ambiguous reveal in the first act, I realised they would have forgotten a few ingenious details if they never ended up watching it a second time.
It got me thinking: What other movies really shine when watched a second time? It could even be for impact rather than picking up hints and cool details.