Staying at home is the norm... What are you reading?

[Agema]

So that's how you managed to get through Wheel of Time. You just skimmed through the majority of the books.

WoT is also remarkable as one of the few series where you can skim entire books and lose almost nothing. Honestly, the whole thing is so skimmable I'd just change one letter in a verb and recommend readers skip it. I did not complete it. I read the first five around when they came out, and lost the will to go on. I ended up reading six and seven because during a period of unemployment I was incredibly bored and my flatmate had them. The kindest I can say is that those two filled a few hours of time where I literally had nothing better to do.

Just blasted through Age of Myth by Michael Sullivan (the first book of the Legends of the First Empire saga).

Also a great thing about this series is that the writer wrote all 6 books to completions before publishing the first one so you know the story has an end and you can get the books in a timely fashion. Perfect for a binge-reader like myself.

Michael Sullivan apparently kept having his books rejected by publishers, and he was one of the early authors to turn to online publication. It was fairly popular online, so a publishing company relented and offered to put them into print. (Personally, I'm of the opinion the editors were absolutely right to reject his books from a quick flick-through I had of one.)

* * *

I've just finished "The Accidental War" by Walter Jon Williams, which is adequate in an old school SF sort of way, and "Crowfall" by Ed McDonald, which is adequate in a grimdark fantasy way.

I'm currently reading "The Plague", by Albert Camus because every once in a blue moon, I do read something that isn't SF&F.

 

[Dreiko]

Michael Sullivan apparently kept having his books rejected by publishers, and he was one of the early authors to turn to online publication. It was fairly popular online, so a publishing company relented and offered to put them into print. (Personally, I'm of the opinion the editors were absolutely right to reject his books from a quick flick-through I had of one.)

* * *

I think what you read may have been his previous saga and not what I was reading since there wasn't anything about it being online first. I'm very happy he got the chance to publish these books though otherwise I'd have likely never come across em lol.


Also checking on the various sequels on amazon they seem to have won a bunch of awards and not just NY times bestseller. Maybe this is one of those things where an audience is into something that the people in power think isn't popular.

 

[Neuromancer]

WoT is also remarkable as one of the few series where you can skim entire books and lose almost nothing. Honestly, the whole thing is so skimmable I'd just change one letter in a verb and recommend readers skip it. I did not complete it. I read the first five around when they came out, and lost the will to go on. I ended up reading six and seven because during a period of unemployment I was incredibly bored and my flatmate had them. The kindest I can say is that those two filled a few hours of time where I literally had nothing better to do.

I did not manage to finish book 4. Besides the painfully slow pace, I absolutely despise the female characters. Jordan couldn't write women to save his life. The point that I dropped the 4th book and never looked back was where the three girls are on the ship and all they can think of doing is talking about men, and who they like, and blah blah blah. That's all they do. Even after having survived almost becoming slaves, going through the test to become Aes Sedai, revealing a pretty big conspiracy in the middle of their own order's headquarters, all they can think of is the boys.

Meanwhile Rand found another girl to fill his harem with in that warrior woman from where they were going. I just couldn't handle it.

 

[Dreiko]

I did not manage to finish book 4. Besides the painfully slow pace, I absolutely despise the female characters. Jordan couldn't write women to save his life. The point that I dropped the 4th book and never looked back was where the three girls are on the ship and all they can think of doing is talking about men, and who they like, and blah blah blah. That's all they do. Even after having survived almost becoming slaves, going through the test to become Aes Sedai, revealing a pretty big conspiracy in the middle of their own order's headquarters, all they can think of is the boys.

Meanwhile Rand found another girl to fill his harem with in that warrior woman from where they were going. I just couldn't handle it.

I'm only on book 3 in the wheel of time series (have book 4 in my shelf but I kinda blasted through the first 3 back to back so taking a break for a while) but I actually kinda liked all the female chars. It definitely has a harem anime sort of vibe to it but that's kinda what I expect out of an epic fantasy story. You're the hero and you get all the wenches falling all over you and so on. I don't really mind if that's all they talk about as long as they have other aspects going for them. I think it's fun. I mean, it is a fantasy, so I don't mind it being a classic orthodox power fantasy. There's definitely room for that without it inherently being a flaw. Not everything has to be feminist-approved lmao.

My one issue so far was just how Rand seems to be busy running away half the time or just in general travel taking up too much time in the story. It's kinda like meals in fate/stay night but with less funny happenings. You think he'll man up and try and do things but he's busy being emo lol. Ah well, at least the wolf side-story is actually really epic.

 

[zoey]

Reread 'Persepolis'. One of my top faves.

 

[Hawki]

World of Warcraft: Elegy (4/5)

Elegy was one of two prequel novellas written as prequels for Battle for Azeroth. Reading it, it's a bit of a weird experience, as someone who's never really got into WoW, but tried to follow it because WC3 (and to a lesser extent, WC1/2) got me into the setting. Because on one hand, the writing itself is reasonably well done. Horde is invading northern Kalimdor, outnumber the night elves, most of the Alliance is on the wrong side of the world to help them, so what follows is a campaign that utilizes proper tactics, or at least, tactics that are easily recognisable to a ley person. It certainly feels a bit weird in a setting where a lot of what's done seems to be down to the individual rather than the faction - the difference between an MMO and an RTS.

On the other hand, every so often, there's an irritating reminder of the quirks of the setting. Night elves act like night elves and have night elf names. Dwarves act like dwarves and have dwarf names. In case you're wondering, this isn't because of the "Not All Orcs!" 'controversy' on Twitter, but it's quite telling, and if anything, does show the drawbacks of having fantasy races, because those races are expected to act a certain way. Also, this is a Christie Golden work, so of course there's going to be romance, even if it's unneeded in the story itself.

Still, it's a decent read. However, the problem is that the longer WoW goes on, the harder it is for me to follow without diving into it, and I really don't want to have to spend hours of my life on a single game, and why I have to rely on Wowpedia for a lot of stuff. But, thanks to the Reforged debacle, WC4 is almost certainly never going to happen, so take what I can get I guess.

 

[Agema]

I did not manage to finish book 4. Besides the painfully slow pace, I absolutely despise the female characters. Jordan couldn't write women to save his life. The point that I dropped the 4th book and never looked back was where the three girls are on the ship and all they can think of doing is talking about men, and who they like, and blah blah blah. That's all they do. Even after having survived almost becoming slaves, going through the test to become Aes Sedai, revealing a pretty big conspiracy in the middle of their own order's headquarters, all they can think of is the boys.

Meanwhile Rand found another girl to fill his harem with in that warrior woman from where they were going. I just couldn't handle it.

Yeah, they're pretty dreadful. I don't remember it so much for outright misogyny as it's too long ago and I wasn't that clued in back 20 years ago. I mostly remember them as just being quite two-dimensional. That one that keeps tugging her braid every time she's annoyed, whch appeared to be every three pages. Drove me up the wall. Tug tug tug, tug tug tug, tug tug tug, book after book after book.

On the bright side, Jordan was light years ahead of Terry Goodkind. Terry Goodkind is just about the most misogynistic (alongside his other numerous dubious beliefs and attitudes) SF&F I've had the misfortune of reading. At least in terms of post-80s SF&F - obviously older stuff can be quite sketchy because everywhere tended to be rather less developed back then.

 

[Dreiko]

Yeah, they're pretty dreadful. I don't remember it so much for outright misogyny as it's too long ago and I wasn't that clued in back 20 years ago. I mostly remember them as just being quite two-dimensional. That one that keeps tugging her braid every time she's annoyed, whch appeared to be every three pages. Drove me up the wall. Tug tug tug, tug tug tug, tug tug tug, book after book after book.

On the bright side, Jordan was light years ahead of Terry Goodkind. Terry Goodkind is just about the most misogynistic (alongside his other numerous dubious beliefs and attitudes) SF&F I've had the misfortune of reading. At least in terms of post-80s SF&F - obviously older stuff can be quite sketchy because everywhere tended to be rather less developed back then.

Nynaeve to me came off like the student council president/class rep with glasses archetype, or rather what they based it off of in modern anime anyhow lol.

That or Touko from Danganronpa who has a crazy side to her too.

So braid, much tug.

 

[Buyetyen]

Recently re-read the entirety of Transmetropolitan and The Sandman for the 5th and 3rd time respectively.

 

[Hades]

Dividing the spoils by Robin Waterfield.

Its a book about the wars between Alexander the great's successors. Its really quite interesting.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

So far this quarantine I've read Timequake, Neuromancer, The Sinaloa Story and one of the Lemony Snicket books.
About to start Flow My Tears The Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick.

 

[Agema]

I just ploughed through Bright Steel by Miles Cameron. Like most books I read, it's "okay".

 

[Hawki]

Like most books I read, it's "okay".

Welcome to my world.

 

[Dreiko]

Books 2-4 of the Legend of the First Empire just arrived, gonna be busy for at least 2 weeks here. Hurray for world-ending pandemics causing my reading time to increase.

 

[Buyetyen]

My roommate got me started on Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye. I'm only on the first volume so far, but I like that they're like, "You have transforming space robots with a planet-god and we're going all in on how weird that is."

 

[Palindromemordnilap]

Do audiobooks count? Because I get a lot of listening time at work and have been getting through the Rivers of London series. For actual reading, probably going to start on Grove of the Caesars by Lindsay Davies

 

[Thaluikhain]

Bulldog Drummond and then the first sequel The Black Gang. In later years, the series got condemned for being rather fascist, and I can see why. But then your rich layabout that also a masked vigilante breaking all the laws can often end up that way at the best of times.

 

[Dreiko]

Bulldog Drummond and then the first sequel The Black Gang. In later years, the series got condemned for being rather fascist, and I can see why. But then your rich layabout that also a masked vigilante breaking all the laws can often end up that way at the best of times.

No idea about these books but such a designation/condemnation feels profoundly anti-intellectual in the context of a book's reception. What is the worry, that reading the book would turn you into a fascist? Because the mark of an educated mind is being able to entertain an idea without adopting it.

I would hope that people would get their experience of fascism and murder and theft and rape and every other evil from books, rather than trying to experience them in real life.

 

[Anti-American Eagle]

I've been reading alot of visual novels. Because I am a terrible person who consumes animu.

Otherwise, I'm reading Alamut again. Fantastic book.

 

[Baffle]

Not reading anything at the moment, just checking in to agree with all the people who think Robert Jordan can't write women. Pretty sure the only woman he ever knew was his mum, and she used to beat him mercilessly while they rolled around on the floor together naked.