What did you just read?

Yeah, if Butcher doesn't do it, then Pratchett's estate should sue on the basis of that neighbor character alone, then there's NCIS...

But bloody hell, 3 books? You're a stronger man than me, I'm still struggling through the first one, and only the laughs at her complete lack of originality and self awareness are getting me through.

Edit* Jesus christ. People always bitch about how there's there is no good strong lead women parts written because most writers are men.

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haha yeah, but we all know that's BS - you look at the awesome female fantasy authors like Robin Hobb or Susanna Clarke, and they write primarily about male characters - certainly Hobb's best work is the Fitz and Fool trilogies, and while the female characters in it are for the most part strong and realistic, few of them play a major role except for Kettricken and, in the second trilogy, Nettle.

Then there's the Dresden Files, one of the series which gets the most praise for it's badass female characters, and it's written by a man. The Scar by China Mieville is another fantasy(ish?) book with an excellent female lead, and again, written by a man. The only female author I can think of who writes strong and interesting female characters is Kate Forsyth, and she's definitely a notch or two below the aforementioned authors, although still pretty good (not sure if they publish her stuff in the US, but I recommend checking out her first Eileanan series, especially if you like Celtic mythology and folklore or fantasy books with a strong military aspect to them).

On a side note - did you realize her brother was her brother and not her son until it was outright stated? That really did my head in.

I thought we had a generic recommendation thread, but I can't seem to find it... I've just finished up a bunch of Sci-Fi, and am looking to switch gears to something else. Usually I go back and forth between swords/wizards and space ships/lasers, and would like to switch it up a bit.

I think a bunch of you have read God's Demon (and if not, you should! It totally kicks ass.):

God's Demon by Wayne Barlowe - Reviews, Discussion, Bookclubs, Lists

Anyone have a recommendation for something like it? A lot of the Goodreads recommendations for similar books are just other books with Hell in the title.

Azrayne_sl said:

On a side note - did you realize her brother was her brother and not her son until it was outright stated? That really did my head in.

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She was too young to be a 15 yr olds mom, but she did take her time to get to the mom's death subplot. Which only gets more convoluted by the end of book 3.

These 300 pager typically only take me 90 minutes, 2 hours at most if I really want to focus. If anything I spend more time looking for the next book to read than actually reading them. When I get too frustrated looking I'll just re-read a long series. You'd be surprised that I still find new thoughts about FotME every time and i'm nearing half a dozen reads on that universe.

One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer by Nathaniel C. Fick.

Have you seen Generation Kill? Remember Brad Colbert's Lieutenant in the Marine Recon platoon? This book is written by that guy, and it's awesome.

It starts out with him graduating college. He joins the Marine Corps because he believes there is no place left in society for a young man like himself who wants adventure and excitement. After 9/11 he gets sent to Afghanistan, then he joins Recon. He then participates in the invasion of Iraq. Very good. Extremely well written for a soldier (he graduated from Dartmouth with a degree in Classics, I believe).

This book may for the Iraq War what "Helmet for my Pillow," was for the War in the Pacific.

Campbell1004_sl said:

Have you seen Generation Kill? Remember Brad Colbert's Lieutenant in the Marine Recon platoon? This book is written by that guy, and it's awesome.

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I loved his character in Generation Kill. I was always fond of the goofy driver because he was from Missouri but Brad was a true Iceman.

I just finished Candide by Voltaire.

The best way to describe it is to imagine a loved one, maybe even a child, just died a horribly painful drawn out death due to cancer or something awful. You are grief stricken and your obnoxious religious friend says something along the lines of, "It's okay, everything happens for a reason! It's all part of God's plan!"

When you grit your teeth and roll your eyes at them, about a million thoughts go through your head in one second. This book is those thoughts.

Vlett_sl said:

She was too young to be a 15 yr olds mom, but she did take her time to get to the mom's death subplot. Which only gets more convoluted by the end of book 3.

These 300 pager typically only take me 90 minutes, 2 hours at most if I really want to focus. If anything I spend more time looking for the next book to read than actually reading them. When I get too frustrated looking I'll just re-read a long series. You'd be surprised that I still find new thoughts about FotME every time and i'm nearing half a dozen reads on that universe.

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Was her age outright stated? At first I figured maybe she got knocked up late teens/early 20's and was going for an amazingly undramatic reveal when she blows our mind by letting us know that he's the son of that property developer ex. Then she drops "brother" into the dialogue somewhere and I'm "wait what."

I love that all the Arcane Anonymous people drink constantly - not sure if that's a shot at people in 12 step programs smoking and drinking heaps of coffee, but I think it's more likely she doesn't realize the absurdity of an addiction support group who's members regularly gets drunk together.

Azrayne_sl said:

Was her age outright stated? At first I figured maybe she got knocked up late teens/early 20's and was going for an amazingly undramatic reveal when she blows our mind by letting us know that he's the son of that property developer ex. Then she drops "brother" into the dialogue somewhere and I'm "wait what."

I love that all the Arcane Anonymous people drink constantly - not sure if that's a shot at people in 12 step programs smoking and drinking heaps of coffee, but I think it's more likely she doesn't realize the absurdity of an addiction support group who's members regularly gets drunk together.

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Her age is never stated, I was going off a feeling and doing napkin math with the information that was provided. At most she'd have to be 15 when she started being a waitress.

I don't think the author is deep enough to care about the substance abuse inconstancy. Not in her writing anyway. She'd probably say "booze won't make people turn purple" since her her whole trip is that all magic has consequences. Yawn.

Is there any actual magic later in the series? I'm about 40%ish into the first book and it's all just potions, which are basically magical PCP. Does it get to a point where people throwing lightning bolts and summoning demons and all that cool shit that makes magic actually interesting, or is it just chemistry using fantasy terminology all the way through?

Azrayne_sl said:

Is there any actual magic later in the series? I'm about 40%ish into the first book and it's all just potions, which are basically magical PCP. Does it get to a point where people throwing lightning bolts and summoning demons and all that cool shit that makes magic actually interesting, or is it just chemistry using fantasy terminology all the way through?

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Magic Chemisty.

I'm reading through the Frostborn series now. Up to book two and this will be a good change of pace from the previous cluster. ;-)

So i got up to the last two Vlad Taltos books and just couldn't read them anymore. Good stories and all, but the 2nd to last one goes back into the past again and fuck me if I want to sit through that again. It just got tiring. I want to know what happens to the character, not hear about stories of the past.

In any case, I discovered after reading a website somewhere that the author is actually a character in the book that hands Vlad a recorder for him to recite his stories in. Some neckbeard wrote all this shit down somewhere and it was referenced in a book with a link. Shit is deep.

Anyway, I decided to reread the Foundation series.

edit:
Went back and read Grimm's recap on all the books. He fucking hated Tiassa too. Heh. I got 20 pages in and just said fuck it. Wish I was reading an actual book and not a kindle so I could throw it against the wall in disgust.

Just finished Lost to the West: The forgotten Byzantine Civilization
Lost to the West: The Forgotten Byzantine Empire That Rescued Western Civilization: Lars Brownworth: 9780307407962: Amazon.com: Books

Great overview of the history of the Byzantine empire, from Constantine all the way to the Ottoman's. He simplifies quite a bit and tends to just go with what he believes to be true when there is some historical doubt, but this ends up being a good thing, as it makes it very enjoyable.

This is my 3rd book I have read on the Byzantine Empire, but for some reason the ending of this one really hit me hard. Really enjoyed it.

Vlett_sl said:

Magic Chemisty.

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Zzzz. Why does she even call them wizards if they can't throw a damned lightning bolt or two?

Draegan_sl said:

edit:
Went back and read Grimm's recap on all the books. He fucking hated Tiassa too. Heh. I got 20 pages in and just said fuck it. Wish I was reading an actual book and not a kindle so I could throw it against the wall in disgust.

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If it's any consolationI really liked the latest onewhen I read it recently. It takes place in the "present". It's all about Vlad. It's back in the city. And he's pulling off a huge scheme with a little assassination thrown in. Plus he's even working with all his old friends. It was very much a return to the best books of the series. While still advancing Vlad's story in a huge way.

Maybe I'll push through it.

I would skip Tiassa(and never ever touch the Khaavren books) and just jump to Hawk.

Edit:Apparently there's a thread for terrible Japanese manga things.

Taking it old school. (1970s). Karl Edward Wagner ~ Kane. Darkness Weaves is the first book and I'm about half way through it. Can't believe I'm just finding these and it's a great change of pace from the urban-fant that's so popular atm. Before Act 2 it may have a lot of room to be a pretty dark series.

Reading The Age of American Unreason, by Susan Jacoby. It's...I'm...ambivalent. 300 pages of a snooty intellectual bemoaning the destruction of 2000 years of cultural inheritance wrought by every millenial ever born. She also blames liberals, republicans, fundamentaliats, junk science, the 60's, TV, the internet, etc etc. I certainly wouldnt want to have a conversation with her or any other professionally nonplussed intellectual, but i did find mysepf comparing my leisure time to that available to people in the past. If I was a child on a tuesday in the 1850's I'd be lining up at the docks to get whatever installment of whatever book Charles Dickens was writing.

My childhood was way better. On tuesday mornings, I'd chat in the Rathe chatroom while fiendishly checking server status. I do wonder what a childhood of forced intellectual pursuit - on account of nothing else aside from brute labor being available - would have done for me, though.