I loved The House on the Borderland. Also read his Carnacki stories. Haven't read The Night Land because I never found a copy though I'd heard it's long, weird and borderline inscrutable.
Staying at home is the norm... What are you reading?
- Thread starter Redlin5
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I'm finishing up Ender's Game. It was....ok. To be honest my gut tells me to call it clumsy objectivist nonsense. There's a lot of small issues. He decided to use the contemporary 1985 world for the setting which I think is a bad idea when writing science fiction because it inevitably forces your audience to view it in that time and space and ruins the mystery and imagination.
He writes as though the Warsaw Pact is still a major power and of course we know it's not which makes the setting quaint rather than interesting, although it's funny that he hints that it falls apart, which isn't some Nostradamus shit. The Baltic states were already fighting to get out.
Ender is an objectivist messiah, that whole "Oh if only someone smarter than everyone else was given total power they save us all." UUUUUUGGGH. Yeah he voted for Trump btw.
The stuff with his sister and brother being genius's who become internet personalities who save the world has some merit, but again it ends up being quaint because we deal with that kind shit today and we've learned the internet ended up just being a cesspool where no one can agree on anything. Of course he couldn't know that rather that internet forums evolving, they devolved into soundbyte shit like tiktok and twitter. Could someone possibly unite large groups on the internet with enough power to create world peace? Sure idk whatever.
I was let down fighting out that Ender's an actual murderer and he downplayed the beatdown he gave the bullies in his version of events. He is a sociopath, whether the book acknowledges it or not.
That said, though it was fine. I liked a lot of the idea's, but I think once you realize that book has an agenda it gets pretty grating.
He writes as though the Warsaw Pact is still a major power and of course we know it's not which makes the setting quaint rather than interesting, although it's funny that he hints that it falls apart, which isn't some Nostradamus shit. The Baltic states were already fighting to get out.
Ender is an objectivist messiah, that whole "Oh if only someone smarter than everyone else was given total power they save us all." UUUUUUGGGH. Yeah he voted for Trump btw.
The stuff with his sister and brother being genius's who become internet personalities who save the world has some merit, but again it ends up being quaint because we deal with that kind shit today and we've learned the internet ended up just being a cesspool where no one can agree on anything. Of course he couldn't know that rather that internet forums evolving, they devolved into soundbyte shit like tiktok and twitter. Could someone possibly unite large groups on the internet with enough power to create world peace? Sure idk whatever.
I was let down fighting out that Ender's an actual murderer and he downplayed the beatdown he gave the bullies in his version of events. He is a sociopath, whether the book acknowledges it or not.
That said, though it was fine. I liked a lot of the idea's, but I think once you realize that book has an agenda it gets pretty grating.
Oh, what are your thoughts? They are on my list of things to read at some point.
I like them generally. I think they are one of the better detective fiction I've read. It escapes a lot of the Mary Sueism of characters like Sherlock Holmes by having Wolfe be fat and lazy and refusing to leave his house. This also gives the viewpoint character, Archie Goodwin, a lot more chances to shine despite not being the genius. Archie is a lot more indispensable than Watson, for sure. The mysteries are in general pretty good too. They are mysterious, but once everything is revealed it all makes sense and doesn't stretch disbelief or feel like the answer came out of nowhere the way I usually felt after reading one of John Dickson Carr's novels. They also feel pretty grounded. The police are thorough and competent and if there's any evidence to be gotten from the scene of a crime or checking alibis or the like it can be assumed they will get it.
They haven't all been perfect but on the whole I like them. Obviously, or I wouldn't have made it through more than 20 of them, pretty much back to back.
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Project Hail Mary
A high concept hard sci-fi premise that doesn't put in too many crazy things, and the premise is really good from a narrative point of view too. The writing is repetitive, though, as the story starts to run out of fuel.
A high concept hard sci-fi premise that doesn't put in too many crazy things, and the premise is really good from a narrative point of view too. The writing is repetitive, though, as the story starts to run out of fuel.
I finished reading Shang-Chi comics from 2020 and 2021. They and The Ten Rings comics from 2022 take place all in the same continuity, with Ten Rings being the grand finale. I went back and reread Ten Rings afterward, and it makes a great ending to the trilogy story arc. These are all a keeper.
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Last thing I read was Arnold’s Be Useful book. Basically meant to be seven tools for life, self-motivational fuel with his own personal stories as examples. Yup, it was an inspiring read but normal life still marches on until a killer plan is formulated to rise above mediocrity. Because, while simply following each step will certainly improve quality of life, anything beyond that will involve the hands of fate stepping in to throw a bone.
Also started reading Blood Echoes which is basically an anthology of Bloodborne. Nice light reading for the off chance I don’t feel like gaming or Netflix’ing.
Also started reading Blood Echoes which is basically an anthology of Bloodborne. Nice light reading for the off chance I don’t feel like gaming or Netflix’ing.
Will Leave the Galaxy for Good, by Yahtzee Croshaw. It was alright, but I didn't really enjoy it as much as his previous books for some reason. I don't know, maybe he was trying to accomplish too much with making an end to the trilogy, resolving loose plot threads, writing a new plot, and including a few ties to Mogworld of all things. It was fine altogether but just didn't grab me the way the previous Jacques McKeown books did.
The Unaccountability Machine - Dan Davies
profilebooks.com
The Unaccountability Machine - Profile Books
profilebooks.com
Watching Apple TV+ show Dark Matter which is an "adaptation" of a book my daughter loved of the same name so, I read it too. There are deviances but so far, this multiverse hopping tale of a guy trying to get back to his world to be with his own wife and son has been a blast.
This has been,(with 1 show to go) an example of possibly liking an adaptation MORE than the book but the book is a hoot too. I'm glad I read it.
This has been,(with 1 show to go) an example of possibly liking an adaptation MORE than the book but the book is a hoot too. I'm glad I read it.
Just finished Silverwing which was a novel that was really popular when I was in, I want to say, second grade but I never read it. I don't know why I decided to read it now, but I did and, honestly it wasn't that bad (once you get over some very loose interpretations of the physics of echoes, which are pretty much used as bat magic). The thing that surprised me though was that it was actually pretty violent and gruesome at times, with a lot of death and cannibalism. Yes, cannibalism. There was a scene where the protagonist needs to eat a mouthful of a bat of the same species as his companion in order to secretly drizzle some sleeping potion on it as part of a plan to escape his captors, and I just couldn't believe that kids were reading this in second(?) grade.
It was kind of reminiscent of Watership Down (hmm, that might be another one to read as I've only seen the movie) in the whole "horrible things happen to cute animals" approach. It wasn't that long either, I might read the next one after I'm done with another Mark Twain book, Tom Sawyer Abroad, which is also pretty short.
It was kind of reminiscent of Watership Down (hmm, that might be another one to read as I've only seen the movie) in the whole "horrible things happen to cute animals" approach. It wasn't that long either, I might read the next one after I'm done with another Mark Twain book, Tom Sawyer Abroad, which is also pretty short.
Descendant Machine - Gareth L. Powell
Second book in his series about the human race turned into a nomadic, shipborne species (by a deus ex machina, unusually at the start not the end); not a direct sequel to the first. This is better than the first, but... Quick summary of the set-up, a human pilot / scout ship interact with an alien race that are examining a megastructure they believe are part of their origin, causing political ructions in their society. Adventure ensues. It works, but the plot is perhaps too implausibly high impact for the story to sustain, and it contains more than a few niggles. For instance, the author makes the case that humans are particularly good for endurance because they have very good heat removal capabilities where other creatures (basically with fur) can only sustain short periods of intense exertion. I don't know how this squares with a species that humans bioengineered to be workers being covered with fur. Surely it would be better if they could work for long periods? Oh well. Move along.
The Empire's Ruin - Brian Staveley
New series in Staveley's existing universe. The Annurian Empire is crumbling, and a disgraced elite soldier is sent on a quest to capture some giant birds to resurrect their special forces unit. There's also a new threat to civilisation arising, as an ancient enemy from afar mobilises against them. So, standard epic fantasy fare. Spare a thought for poor Staveley, who says his editor canned his last manuscript (a totally different story) wholesale for being not good enough and told him to go back to the drawing board, which Staveley ruefully agrees was the right thing for his editor to have done.
War Bodies - Neal Asher
Asher at his worst. Teen in an oppressive cyborg society is rescued from an accident and promoted to be leader of his society's revolution against the regime. He does of course have special powers, to the degree it almost renders the plot boring, as Asher ploughs through multiple, by-the-numbers action sequences will little sense of threat or drama. It perhaps has something interesting to say about the ills that previous generations inflict on the new and becoming a responsible individual, although not well executed. Asher starts this book with a preface ranting his frustration about how much media is politicised. The hypocrisy of this is staggering, as Asher is himself clearly political, and in fact ten or so years back wrote a whole trilogy about a hero individualist who overthrows and evil socialist world government. (Incidentally that trilogy is quite possibly his nadir, although just because it was over-the-top garbage with a dull protagonist, rather than the politics.) Utterly forgettable.
The Traitor - Anthony Ryan
Third and final installment of the saga of Alwyn Scribe, bandit-turned-scribe-turned-soldier, who is continuing to follow his increasingly piously-unhinged innamorata Evadine Courlaine's crusade against evil. Although by now, Alwyn's beginning to get a little uncomfortable about how things are going. Obviously, this is going to end in a lot of bloodshed and a battle of... not exactly good and evil exactly, but close enough. Anthony Ryan is definitely one of the top fantasy authors working these days, and this is right up there in terms in quality and a fitting conclusion to a high standard trilogy.
Saevus Corax Deals With The Dead - K.J. Parker
Fantasy comedy. Saevus Corax runs a team of battlefield scavengers in a world where scavengers are contracted teams to clear up after wars and make money selling the gear on. Like many Parker heroes, Corax is a rogueish double-dealer, who is far more cunning, smart and skilled than he ever gets the rewards for, who both does awful things and yet retains enough of a moral core to keep our sympathies, tossed around by the waves of fate and in many ways just working to keep his head above water. He has some (improbable) connections to powerful people, and they do insist on dragging him unwillingly into their political disputes and plots...
The Book That Wouldn't Burn - Mark Lawrence
Adventure / romance story about a girl and a boy stuck in an immeasurably vast, eternal library that carries on going whilst civilisations rise and fall around it. Except they're in different time periods. Wild, eh? Wonder how they're going to make that work. Usual quest, peril, derring-do. It's on the verge of YA, probably is YA. But maybe it's not quite YA enough such that I was able to tolerate it.
The Tyranny of Faith - Richard Swan
Highly superior fantasy, second in series, about an empire wracked by political and religious discontent. Our protagonist is Helena, assistant to a judge called Vonvalt, with it written as a sort of story of his life. Here, the justices have some magical powers that they use to investigate and try crimes. Vonvalt is investigating a threat to the throne and empire posed by a rising priest, Claver. The characters are well written - full of personality, balanced and flaws: Vonvalt for instance may be in many ways heroic, but is also smug, arrogant, inflexible. Helena is likewise moral, but often naive, short-tempered and bratty.
The Saints of Salvation - Peter F. Hamilton
Third and final book about a human diaspora, driven from Earth by enslaving aliens fulfilling some obscure religious crusade, attempting to turn the tables and fight back. The book, as per the previous two, is split across two time points - Earth during the fall and the culture of the far future as the two intertwine to a conclusion. If I'm honest, the way that it resolves the fightback is... kind of implausible. Nevertheless, otherwise it's an entertaining space opera ride from one of SF's best known and reliable names, and it's certainly a decent end to a decent series.
Second book in his series about the human race turned into a nomadic, shipborne species (by a deus ex machina, unusually at the start not the end); not a direct sequel to the first. This is better than the first, but... Quick summary of the set-up, a human pilot / scout ship interact with an alien race that are examining a megastructure they believe are part of their origin, causing political ructions in their society. Adventure ensues. It works, but the plot is perhaps too implausibly high impact for the story to sustain, and it contains more than a few niggles. For instance, the author makes the case that humans are particularly good for endurance because they have very good heat removal capabilities where other creatures (basically with fur) can only sustain short periods of intense exertion. I don't know how this squares with a species that humans bioengineered to be workers being covered with fur. Surely it would be better if they could work for long periods? Oh well. Move along.
The Empire's Ruin - Brian Staveley
New series in Staveley's existing universe. The Annurian Empire is crumbling, and a disgraced elite soldier is sent on a quest to capture some giant birds to resurrect their special forces unit. There's also a new threat to civilisation arising, as an ancient enemy from afar mobilises against them. So, standard epic fantasy fare. Spare a thought for poor Staveley, who says his editor canned his last manuscript (a totally different story) wholesale for being not good enough and told him to go back to the drawing board, which Staveley ruefully agrees was the right thing for his editor to have done.
War Bodies - Neal Asher
Asher at his worst. Teen in an oppressive cyborg society is rescued from an accident and promoted to be leader of his society's revolution against the regime. He does of course have special powers, to the degree it almost renders the plot boring, as Asher ploughs through multiple, by-the-numbers action sequences will little sense of threat or drama. It perhaps has something interesting to say about the ills that previous generations inflict on the new and becoming a responsible individual, although not well executed. Asher starts this book with a preface ranting his frustration about how much media is politicised. The hypocrisy of this is staggering, as Asher is himself clearly political, and in fact ten or so years back wrote a whole trilogy about a hero individualist who overthrows and evil socialist world government. (Incidentally that trilogy is quite possibly his nadir, although just because it was over-the-top garbage with a dull protagonist, rather than the politics.) Utterly forgettable.
The Traitor - Anthony Ryan
Third and final installment of the saga of Alwyn Scribe, bandit-turned-scribe-turned-soldier, who is continuing to follow his increasingly piously-unhinged innamorata Evadine Courlaine's crusade against evil. Although by now, Alwyn's beginning to get a little uncomfortable about how things are going. Obviously, this is going to end in a lot of bloodshed and a battle of... not exactly good and evil exactly, but close enough. Anthony Ryan is definitely one of the top fantasy authors working these days, and this is right up there in terms in quality and a fitting conclusion to a high standard trilogy.
Saevus Corax Deals With The Dead - K.J. Parker
Fantasy comedy. Saevus Corax runs a team of battlefield scavengers in a world where scavengers are contracted teams to clear up after wars and make money selling the gear on. Like many Parker heroes, Corax is a rogueish double-dealer, who is far more cunning, smart and skilled than he ever gets the rewards for, who both does awful things and yet retains enough of a moral core to keep our sympathies, tossed around by the waves of fate and in many ways just working to keep his head above water. He has some (improbable) connections to powerful people, and they do insist on dragging him unwillingly into their political disputes and plots...
The Book That Wouldn't Burn - Mark Lawrence
Adventure / romance story about a girl and a boy stuck in an immeasurably vast, eternal library that carries on going whilst civilisations rise and fall around it. Except they're in different time periods. Wild, eh? Wonder how they're going to make that work. Usual quest, peril, derring-do. It's on the verge of YA, probably is YA. But maybe it's not quite YA enough such that I was able to tolerate it.
The Tyranny of Faith - Richard Swan
Highly superior fantasy, second in series, about an empire wracked by political and religious discontent. Our protagonist is Helena, assistant to a judge called Vonvalt, with it written as a sort of story of his life. Here, the justices have some magical powers that they use to investigate and try crimes. Vonvalt is investigating a threat to the throne and empire posed by a rising priest, Claver. The characters are well written - full of personality, balanced and flaws: Vonvalt for instance may be in many ways heroic, but is also smug, arrogant, inflexible. Helena is likewise moral, but often naive, short-tempered and bratty.
The Saints of Salvation - Peter F. Hamilton
Third and final book about a human diaspora, driven from Earth by enslaving aliens fulfilling some obscure religious crusade, attempting to turn the tables and fight back. The book, as per the previous two, is split across two time points - Earth during the fall and the culture of the far future as the two intertwine to a conclusion. If I'm honest, the way that it resolves the fightback is... kind of implausible. Nevertheless, otherwise it's an entertaining space opera ride from one of SF's best known and reliable names, and it's certainly a decent end to a decent series.
Masters of Doom
Despite the title not really about Doom, but the story of John Romero and John Carmack, from their disfunctional youths to around 2003, when the former had formed Monkeystone, and the latter was creating the engine of Doom 3. I find it mildly amusing that the book ends roughly around the last time both men were truly relevant as developers. That's not a mark against them, very few of the greats from those days still are. Anyway, I would call it essential reading for anyone interested in the history of first person shooters. By the end I came to understand pretty well why id's games turned out the way they did, from Commander Keen to Quake 3, but especially Doom of course, or why Ion Storm was the disaster it was. Also kinda surprised at how cutthroat they both could be. Not so much Carmack, I knew he's pretty much a robot, only interested in tech and the advancement thereof. But Romero had always struck me as an easygoing goofball, but he too was not above ditching and/or backstabbing friends for the sake of his ambition.
Despite the title not really about Doom, but the story of John Romero and John Carmack, from their disfunctional youths to around 2003, when the former had formed Monkeystone, and the latter was creating the engine of Doom 3. I find it mildly amusing that the book ends roughly around the last time both men were truly relevant as developers. That's not a mark against them, very few of the greats from those days still are. Anyway, I would call it essential reading for anyone interested in the history of first person shooters. By the end I came to understand pretty well why id's games turned out the way they did, from Commander Keen to Quake 3, but especially Doom of course, or why Ion Storm was the disaster it was. Also kinda surprised at how cutthroat they both could be. Not so much Carmack, I knew he's pretty much a robot, only interested in tech and the advancement thereof. But Romero had always struck me as an easygoing goofball, but he too was not above ditching and/or backstabbing friends for the sake of his ambition.