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[Skilletor]

Maybe this is a good place to ask. I'm looking for a new fantasy series. Something close to Abercrombie and Martin's books in tone. Any suggestions?

 

[sgossard]

Anyway, as far as condescension goes: I don't think so. It makes use of the omniscient narrator (very Victorian), and this narrator regularly addresses the reader directly, comments on what is happening, and so forth. But the narrator speaks to the audience as if the audience is intelligent, and a lot of the commentary is deconstructive or wry commentary about genre conventions that won't make sense unless you make the connections yourself..

You hit the nail on the head. That's all I needed to know. Thank you.

 

[Mumei]

You hit the nail on the head. That's all I needed to know. Thank you.

Mm, yes. Just remember, the 'audience' is generally presumed to be a child (though it also addresses comments to adults at times, in a sort of knowing aside); it just assumes that the child happens to be smart and doesn't need to be talked down to. But it's still possible that you might feel condescended to if you're sensitive to that, because you're an adult and the presumed target audience isn't.

 

[sgossard]

Mm, yes. Just remember, the 'audience' is generally presumed to be a child (though it also addresses comments to adults at times, in a sort of knowing aside); it just assumes that the child happens to be smart and doesn't need to be talked down to. But it's still possible that you might feel condescended to if you're sensitive to that, because you're an adult and the presumed target audience isn't.

LOL, I'm less of an adult than I should be, I think. Nonetheless, I totally get what you mean. I'm ok with being treated as a kid by a book, just not as a stupid kid.

 

[The English Conquistador]

Gone girl. It's marvellous.

 

[Mr.Swag]

Gone girl. It's marvellous.

I cant wait for the film

 

[j0hnny_385]

I put all of these on hold at the library, and within a week I had 2 through 6 in my hands. I am still, two weeks later, waiting on volume 1. Ugh.

Bought the whole series (Vol 1-6) at a recent Comixology sale.
Really loving to story so far. Disturbing and interesting.

 

[Christoff Yurievich]

Yeah, he has a very interesting imagination. I'm halfway through 20th Century Ghosts and some of the stories...one actually turned my stomach with how vivid he drew his picture. Can't wait to read more.

Hey, NOS4A2 readers: did you know there's a comic? Wraith: Welcome to Christmasland is a comic book miniseries written by Joe Hill, illustrated by C. P. Wilson III and published by IDW Publishing. It is a prequel to Hill's 2013 novel NOS4A2 and is partially derived from material cut from the novel.[1

 

[FUBAR McDangles]

Anybody here read any Brad Thor books?

I'm about to start The Black List, which will be the second book written by him that I have read. I enjoyed the first one. This one going to be any good?

 

[Mumei]

Ohh. I need to check that out. I loved her fairyland books because of how wonderfully bizarre they were. Would love to see how that works in a more "adult" setting.

If this description (she wrote the article and did the embedded video) sounds interesting, you should love it.

 

[Switch Back 9]

So I recently finished this:

Ummm...Might just be because I've never read PKD before, but it was a lot more philosophical and metaphysical than I was expecting.

I'm still rather unclear as to what happened in the last chapter, if anyone wants to shed some light on this for me I'd really appreciate it.

 

[Nezumi]

If this description (she wrote the article and did the embedded video) sounds interesting, you should love it.

Isn’t this a book about a bunch of immortal monsters living in India in 1140 or so, planting cannon-orchards and sheep-trees and messing around with magic stones? Yes, yes it is.

Sold

 

[Mumei]

Sold

<3

It's also so wonderfully quotable.

From the opening pages:

“I am a very bad historian. But I am a very good miserable old man. I sit at the end of the world, close enough to see my shriveled old legs hang over the bony ridge of it. I came so far for gold and light and a story the size of the sky. But I have managed to gather only a basket of ash and a kind of empty sorrow, that the world is not how I wished it to be.”

“We hoped to find so much in the East, hoped to find a palace of amethyst, a fountain of umblemished water, a gate of ivory. Brushing the frost from our bread, we dreamed, as all monks had since the wonderful Letter appeared, of a king in the East called Prester John, who bore a golden cross on his breast. We whispered and gossiped about him like old women. We told each other that he was strong as a hundred men, that he drank from the Fountain of Youth, that his sceptre held as jewels the petrified eyes of St. Thomas.”

Upon being led to a tree that grows books:

“In clusters and alone, books of all shapes hung among the pointed leaves, their covers obscenely bright and shining, swollen as peaches, gold and green and cerulean, their pages thick as though with juice, their silver ribbonmarks fluttering in the spiced wind.”

When about to open one of those books:

“I reminded myself: when a book lies unopened it might contain anything in the world, anything imaginable. It therefore, in that pregnant moment before opening, contains everything. Every possibility, both perfect and putrid. Surely such mysteries are the most enticing things You grant us in this mortal mere -- the fruit in the garden, too, was like this. Unknown, and therefore infinite. Eve and her mate swallowed eternity, every possible thing, and made the world between them.”

On the creatures of Pentexore reinterpreting Genesis:

“Your Eve was wise John. She knew Paradise would make her mad, if she were to live forever with Adam and know no other thing but strawberries and tigers and rivers of milk. She knew they would tire of these things, and each other. They would grow to hate every fruit, every stone, every creature they touched. Yet where could they go to find any new thing? It takes strength to live in Paradise and not collapse under the weight of it. It is every day a trial. And so Eve gave her lover the gift of time, time to the timeless, so that they could grasp at happiness”

 

[Dresden]

Read the Fencer trilogy by KJ Parker this week. Really fine work, absurd, wry, funny stuff.

 

[aidan]

Read the Fencer trilogy by KJ Parker this week. Really fine work, absurd, wry, funny stuff.

Is that the first of Parker's work you've read? I've a couple of friends who *love* Parker, but I haven't read anything outside of a few short stories/novellas.

 

[Dresden]

Is that the first of Parker's work you've read? I've a couple of friends who *love* Parker, but I haven't read anything outside of a few short stories/novellas.

Yep. Might move on to Devices and Desires next.

 

[Ventilaator]

Well, both Alice books fit your description pretty well, so if you haven't, get on those.

Wow. Never thought about them that way, but you're totally right.

 

[aidan]

I've gotten so many recommendations for Parker, but never been able to get into them. I tried Devices and Desires, and it just... ehhhh. I got maybe halfway through the first one. I dunno.

Parker has a lot of standalone novels, which have always seemed like the best way to get into his/her writing. Particularly:

• Sharps
• The Folding Knife
• The Hammer

From my understanding, they're all sort of set in the same world, but with very little overlap in story, characters or setting. I read 50 pages of Sharps and enjoyed it, but things came up and I never got any further.

 

[besada]

Totally unrelated, but I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank you, besada, for indirectly introducing me to Soul Coughing. I googled one of your older tags and got blown away by Ruby Vroom.

I am pleased beyond measure. They are a band (sadly defunct) that never got the attention they deserved.

 

[Tenrius]

I'm still rather unclear as to what happened in the last chapter, if anyone wants to shed some light on this for me I'd really appreciate it.

Spoiler

Hawthorne Abendsen suggests that what's written in The Grashopper Lies Heavy is objective truth, which is meant to make the characters realize that they might be living in a false reality. Furthermore, the same goes for the reader — who's to tell the world we know is real and the world of that novel within novel is not?

 

[TheFightingFish]

I hit a couple of Hunter S. Thompson books recently. They are a bit outside of my usual wheelhouse for reading. I tend to like either genre fiction or scholarly history books, so Hell's Angels and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas were quite the change for me. Usually a reporter who tried to insert themselves so much into the story (regarding Hell's Angels) is a huge turn off for me. But Hunter is enough of a character to make it interesting. However I really have to say that some of the content being witnessed did really bother me about the books. In particular, the chapter about the Hell's Angels sexual practices creeped me out that Hunter was witnessing some of these things and seemed ambivalent about what was happening to the women involved. Seemed to treat pretty clear instances of gang-rape with a shrug and a "well that's what you get for hanging around with the Angels" type of attitude. It put me off reading this quite a bit even though it was very interesting aside from that.

Fear and Loathing was different for me given how the crazy fictional narrative would weave back and forth with the actual autobiographical events from Hunters reporting as landmarks. Given how crazy some of the incidents that happened were you have this continual "wait, did that part actually happen?" vibe that draws you into the novel. Also as someone who has indulged in a bit of mild drinking at the absolute most the descriptions of drug usage in it were really fascinating, kinda makes you want to try some of the stuff, even though I never actually will. Wonder if I should see the film now? Is it recommended GAF?

Next up I'm hitting this for a fiction break:

I think that I read something by this author as a kid, but I honestly can't remember the name of it, so I'm going in blind here. Just happened to be sitting in the "featured" rack at the library, so I picked it up.

I am pleased beyond measure. They are a band (sadly defunct) that never got the attention they deserved.

I've seen Mike at a solo live show since the breakup and thought that his material was actually pretty good. Not quite on par with the best Soul Coughing stuff, but he has a knack for really catchy yet simple tunes still.

 

[aidan]

I think that I read something by this author as a kid, but I honestly can't remember the name of it, so I'm going in blind here. Just happened to be sitting in the "featured" rack at the library, so I picked it up.

Kay is one of my rainy day authors. Whenever I'm in desperate need of a good book, I turn to Kay.

 

[TheFightingFish]

Kay is one of my rainy day authors. Whenever I'm in desperate need of a good book, I turn to Kay.

It's interesting so far. Seems like it's basically "historical fiction" with the setting being historical China in just about everything but name. I'd guess that making it "almost" historical China he gets to draw on a rich history and setting, but he gets to tweak all the moving bits and characters in a way that other historical fiction novels cannot. Seems like a pretty smart idea to me.

 

[suzu]

Lock In, by John Scalzi

 

[ShaneB]

Lock In, by John Scalzi

....

I was at Chapters today and randomly saw this and wondered how it might be, so I will see what you think of it!

 

[aidan]

It's interesting so far. Seems like it's basically "historical fiction" with the setting being historical China in just about everything but name. I'd guess that making it "almost" historical China he gets to draw on a rich history and setting, but he gets to tweak all the moving bits and characters in a way that other historical fiction novels cannot. Seems like a pretty smart idea to me.

He's described his writing to me as historical fiction with a "quarter turn to the fantastic." Pretty accurate description, really.

 

[EverythingShiny]

Hey, NOS4A2 readers: did you know there's a comic? Wraith: Welcome to Christmasland is a comic book miniseries written by Joe Hill, illustrated by C. P. Wilson III and published by IDW Publishing. It is a prequel to Hill's 2013 novel NOS4A2 and is partially derived from material cut from the novel.[1

No way! I'll have to check that out. I loved NOS4A2. I only have the first volume of Locke & Key so I need to get the rest as well.

 

[AngmarsKing701]

Maybe this is a good place to ask. I'm looking for a new fantasy series. Something close to Abercrombie and Martin's books in tone. Any suggestions?

Try Ruckley's Godless World series, starting with Winterbirth. Added bonus is that it's vikings.

 

[Nakho]

I'm reading Pride and Prejudice, the free version from Amazon in my Kindle.

It is a very well-written book, but one has to wonder if they didn't have any other worry at that time other than try to marry their daughters.

And it is obvious considering the time, but it's still quite shocking how most people didn't really give a crap about their spouse, including Elizabeth's parents.

Regarding her style, I love the colorful descriptions of the characters' personality traits and trains of thought. Her dialogue I find a little shallow in showing different manners of speaking, making every character sound more or less the same (except Lizzy's little sisters, which are just on the deep end of annoying).

 

[Mr.Swag]

Anyone read I am Pilgrim? worth a read?

 

[Tragicomedy]

I'm close to finishing up two books.

Star Wars: New Dawn is exactly what you'd expect. Fun yet pointless tie-in to the upcoming show. There are interesting characters, but little to work with. The scale of everything is so small here. No major space battles, no lightsabres, nothing. For being the first book in the new "approved" SW universe, they sure have played it safe. And safe means boring.

Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend is a complete miss for me and I'm struggling to finish it. The point of view from an imaginary friend who can experience and do things outside of a person's imagination strikes me as a bad choice given that the imaginary friend frequently disagrees with its creator or goes places the human has never visited. What? The topic of a boy struggling with autism is very near and dear to my heart as a parent of a four year old on the spectrum, but the story is only tangentially about the boy. He may be the "focus," but more often then not the author takes us on random outings to gas stations and hospitals where the imaginary friend repeats himself over and over and makes bad judgment calls. Unless there's a massive improvement in the final 50 pages, this is a miss.

 

[AngmarsKing701]

Kay is one of my rainy day authors. Whenever I'm in desperate need of a good book, I turn to Kay.

It's interesting so far. Seems like it's basically "historical fiction" with the setting being historical China in just about everything but name. I'd guess that making it "almost" historical China he gets to draw on a rich history and setting, but he gets to tweak all the moving bits and characters in a way that other historical fiction novels cannot. Seems like a pretty smart idea to me.

He's described his writing to me as historical fiction with a "quarter turn to the fantastic." Pretty accurate description, really.

Kay is amazing. Huge fan.

River of Stars is his second book set in the Chinese universe. Under Heaven was the first (though you don't need to read UH first to enjoy RoS).

 

[ShaneB]

Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend is a complete miss for me and I'm struggling to finish it. The point of view from an imaginary friend who can experience and do things outside of a person's imagination strikes me as a bad choice given that the imaginary friend frequently disagrees with its creator or goes places the human has never visited. What? The topic of a boy struggling with autism is very near and dear to my heart as a parent of a four year old on the spectrum, but the story is only tangentially about the boy. He may be the "focus," but more often then not the author takes us on random outings to gas stations and hospitals where the imaginary friend repeats himself over and over and makes bad judgment calls. Unless there's a massive improvement in the final 50 pages, this is a miss.

=( Well it can't be loved by everyone I suppose. Really hoped you would like it. We'll talk about it when you finish. Will rebuttal a few of the things you mention at that time.

 

[Skilletor]

Try Ruckley's Godless World series, starting with Winterbirth. Added bonus is that it's vikings.

Sold.

 

[Switch Back 9]

Spoiler

Hawthorne Abendsen suggests that what's written in The Grashopper Lies Heavy is objective truth, which is meant to make the characters realize that they might be living in a false reality. Furthermore, the same goes for the reader — who's to tell the world we know is real and the world of that novel within novel is not?

Ahh... Thanks !

 

[fakefaker]

Finished up The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi after a marathon reading session tonight. The story lost me at times, but man if I didn't love every second of it.

Now onto some fantasy with The Mirror Empire by Kameron Hurley.

 

[Tragicomedy]

I might be late posting this, but Audible has a lot of audio books on sale for $5.

 

[O.DOGG]

*high five*
I'm gonna pretend it was my recommendation that set you over the edge.

It absolutely was. I just finished it and I feel I need some time to digest it before deciding on what to read next. Thanks for the recommendation. The book is exceptional.

 

[Messofanego]

William S. Burroughs stuff is some weird ass shit. Never read something this unconventional and weirdly awesome, then again I only ever read the centuries old classics (Dickens, Daniel Defoe) and Roald Dahl.

 

[Jag]

I've gotten so many recommendations for Parker, but never been able to get into them. I tried Devices and Desires, and it just... ehhhh. I got maybe halfway through the first one. I dunno.

Yep. I struggled through Devices and Desires on a friend's recommendation and gave up halfway through the second book. Great concept, just very long winded. I rarely quit a series in the middle.

Maybe this is a good place to ask. I'm looking for a new fantasy series. Something close to Abercrombie and Martin's books in tone. Any suggestions?

Black Company by Cook.
Malazon by Erikson.
Wheel of Time by Jordan.
Kingkiller Chronicles by Rothfuss (not finished).
Stormlight Archive by Sanderson (not finished)

 

[Cade]

Looks like 1Q84 is on sale at Amazon for Kindle for $3.25: Link.

Sidenote: What's the best place to start with Murakami's stuff? Never heard of the books before these threads, but every other person in here's reading 'em so I should sometime. Lemme know

EDIT: Never mind, library had digital version of 1Q84 available so I checked that out. Will give it a shot

 

[aidan]

Finished up The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi after a marathon reading session tonight. The story lost me at times, but man if I didn't love every second of it.

Now onto some fantasy with The Mirror Empire by Kameron Hurley.

Great choice! I've got The Mirror Empire ready to go on my Kindle as soon as I finish my current read. Early reviews have been very, very good.

 

[Jag]

Great choice! I've got The Mirror Empire ready to go on my Kindle as soon as I finish my current read. Early reviews have been very, very good.

Let us know what you think.

 

[aidan]

Let us know what you think.

I shall, I shall. In fact, I have plans to write a fairly lengthy review of it, too.

 

[Skilletor]

Black Company by Cook.
Malazon by Erikson.
Wheel of Time by Jordan.
Kingkiller Chronicles by Rothfuss (not finished).
Stormlight Archive by Sanderson (not finished)

Read both Wheel of Time and Stormlight archive. I haven't been able to get into Malazon. I've started Gardens of the Moon like 4 times. I always lose interest about 100 pages in.

Haven't heard of Black Company. I'll check that out. Thanks

 

[fakefaker]

Great choice! I've got The Mirror Empire ready to go on my Kindle as soon as I finish my current read. Early reviews have been very, very good.

It looks awesome, hope you enjoy it too!

 

[Jag]

Read both Wheel of Time and Stormlight archive. I haven't been able to get into Malazon. I've started Gardens of the Moon like 4 times. I always lose interest about 100 pages in.

Haven't heard of Black Company. I'll check that out. Thanks

Black Company is great. It's more military epic fantasy, so it has that part of the GRRM feel without as much political intrigue. It's told mostly from the viewpoint of the soldiers in the mud.

I also started Gardens of the Moon several times and never thought I would get into the Malazon. For some reason the 5th time finally hooked me and I blew through the entire series in a row and loved it. Persistence pays off!

 

[EviLore]

Read the Mistborn trilogy.

So many problems. It's at times very brisk and engaging, especially in the first book, but the overall quality of the writing is atrocious, and declines sharply as it progresses. Maybe 75% of the word count in the second and third books is reiteration of already explained concepts and events. Every time someone uses a power, it is explained all over again. Every time a character has a thought molded by an event at some time prior in the trilogy, the event is described all over again. I have rarely seen such blatant disregard for the reader's ability to retain information.

Beyond that, the author's mormonism rears its ugly head more and more as the trilogy progresses, culminating in full on proxy mormon creation myth with accompanying preaching. Before that point the author's background was just lightly entertaining with the prose's complete absence of profanity and grade school cheek-kissing and sleeping-in-separate-beds romances between adults.

I'm shocked by how popular Brandon Sanderson seems to be, and the near-universal praise of these books on Amazon.

 

[aidan]

Read the Mistborn trilogy.

So many problems. It's at times very brisk and engaging, especially in the first book, but the overall quality of the writing is atrocious, and declines sharply as it progresses. Maybe 75% of the word count in the second and third books is reiteration of already explained concepts and events. Every time someone uses a power, it is explained all over again. Every time a character has a thought molded by an event at some time prior in the trilogy, the event is described all over again. I have rarely seen such blatant disregard for the reader's ability to retain information.

Beyond that, the author's mormonism rears its ugly head more and more as the trilogy progresses, culminating in full on proxy mormon creation myth with accompanying preaching. Before that point the author's background was just lightly entertaining with the prose's complete absence of profanity and grade school cheek-kissing and sleeping-in-separate-beds romances between adults.

I'm shocked by how popular Brandon Sanderson seems to be, and the near-universal praise of these books on Amazon.

The final two volumes could've been combined into one 500 page novel and it would have been a great duology. The first half of both of those books is an absolute slog.

Spoiler

And this is coming from someone who likes the series.

 

[Mumei]

Read the Mistborn trilogy.

So many problems. It's at times very brisk and engaging, especially in the first book, but the overall quality of the writing is atrocious, and declines sharply as it progresses. Maybe 75% of the word count in the second and third books is reiteration of already explained concepts and events. Every time someone uses a power, it is explained all over again. Every time a character has a thought molded by an event at some time prior in the trilogy, the event is described all over again. I have rarely seen such blatant disregard for the reader's ability to retain information.

Beyond that, the author's mormonism rears its ugly head more and more as the trilogy progresses, culminating in full on proxy mormon creation myth with accompanying preaching. Before that point the author's background was just lightly entertaining with the prose's complete absence of profanity and grade school cheek-kissing and sleeping-in-separate-beds romances between adults.

I'm shocked by how popular Brandon Sanderson seems to be, and the near-universal praise of these books on Amazon.

If you think of it as shounen-anime-as-fantasy-trilogy, the repetitiveness and condescension suddenly makes so much more sense.