What Are You Reading, Part 2

[Steeldancer]

I back to reading Isaac asimov

[Sunbird]

16 hours ago, Who Sharded? said:

I wish more people were aware of this when they read the series.  I've seen too many people stop after the 1st or 2nd book.

It actually took me two tries to finish the Dresden Files... First time around I read book 1 and got partway through book 2 before putting it down because I couldn't handle the excessive F-bombs everywhere. I was sad about it for several years, though, because I loved Dresden as a protagonist, and eventually restarted the series after I had begun college. On my second attempt I made it through all the currently-released books, and I'm very happy that I gave the series another try.

[Who Sharded?]

I don't remember that many F-bombs in the Dresden Files.  Maybe 3-4 per book?

[Left]

I actually stopped book 2 for the same reason as @Sunbird . There aren't tons of uses of F's, but there's still a lot if you're already the kind of person who is very uncomfortable with vulgarity. I usually stop reading a book if the author uses more than 2, or if it's obvious that it's going to continue through the series. The one exception I've made is Morning Star, the final book in the Red Rising trilogy. I went ahead and bought a copy so that I could black the words out so I can re-read it whenever I feel like it. I know curses are just a part of life because far more people use them than don't, but I do avoid it with the things that entertain me.

The Witchwood Crown is pretty good so far. I'm about half way through. There are a Lot of PoV changes, which helps with the epic feel, but also means that there are a Lot of characters to remember. There's about 700 pages, but the word count per page feels very large. I wouldn't be surprised if by word count it's as long as tWoK. Tad is definitely setting a lot of foundation for the rest of the trilogy right now, hopefully he won't pull a Rothfuss/Martin and stray from his usually decent writing speed.

[Ammanas]

3 minutes ago, Left said:

 hopefully he won't pull a Rothfuss/Martin and stray from his usually decent writing speed.

I think your biggest worry is him keeping it to three books. He has kind of a reputation of the third book becoming too big and having to split it so its really a four book series. Last I heard he is closing in on completing the first draft of book 2. He has completed over 600 pgs of it (I think he means it will be 600pgs if printed the same as the Witchwood crown, but I am not sure about that). BTW @Left I am new to Tad Williams what would you recommend after I read his Memory, Sorrow, Thorn books (currently on Stone of Farewell)? I was thinking either Shadowmarch or Otherland...

[Left]

41 minutes ago, Ammanas said:

I think your biggest worry is him keeping it to three books. He has kind of a reputation of the third book becoming too big and having to split it so its really a four book series. Last I heard he is closing in on completing the first draft of book 2. He has completed over 600 pgs of it (I think he means it will be 600pgs if printed the same as the Witchwood crown, but I am not sure about that). BTW @Left I am new to Tad Williams what would you recommend after I read his Memory, Sorrow, Thorn books (currently on Stone of Farewell)? I was thinking either Shadowmarch or Otherland...

So I only finished the first two books in Shadowmarch and the first Otherland book. Shadowmarch is great if you want something that's kind of in-between Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn and ASoIaF. It's grimmer than MSandT, but not so much that I couldn't read it. I did give up just because I found other shorter and easier books to read and couldn't bother to jump back in.
Otherland is....incredibly hard to describe. There is the whole computer simulation thing going on, but it's nothing like Ready Player One, SAO, or other stories with a cyber world. It is a LONG burn. It's a sci-fi mystery with fantasy and social studies elements, and...yeah. That's the best I can describe it.
So, if you want a more traditional fantasy, do Shadowmarch. If you want something that really defies genre and can deal with a long burn and uncertain pay off, go for Otherland.

Or, if you're a Dresden fan, you could go for the Bobby Dollar books. I haven't read them because of the large amounts of cursing, but I've heard they're pretty good.

[Briar King]

I think it's likely y'all would go insane in my presence with the language that comes out my mouth lol.

Otherland 1 is a very good book but the series goes down with each book more and more though I only read to about 1/2way into bk 3.

Shadowmarch is really fun in bks 1&2 bk 3 had some slog parts and I never read bk 4 though I will be rereading within the next few years.

[Sunbird]

@Who Sharded? Most of the Dresden books are like that, but Fool Moon is an outlier and has waaaay more than the others.

[Briar King]

6 hours ago, Sunbird said:

@Who Sharded? Most of the Dresden books are like that, but Fool Moon is an outlier and has waaaay more than the others.

Curious to know if you skimmed or skipped the parts in books

5&15

[Sunbird]

@Briar King Skipped the scene in book 5 because I knew it was there ahead of time. I don't recall a similar scene in Skin Game.

[Briar King]

That one in 15 was

only a dream Harry had about Karen and not near as long as the scene with Susan but more descriptive then anything out of Thomas and Justine. I think it would be hardcore for unfans

[AngelEy3]

Back at work. Time for more Reaper's Gale! 

[Ammanas]

9 hours ago, AngelEy3 said:

Back at work. Time for more Reaper's Gale! 

Nice! When you get done give me a p.m....there is something I want to tell you about Redmask that some malazan fans don't understand.

[Who Sharded?]

2 hours ago, Ammanas said:

Nice! When you get done give me a p.m....there is something I want to tell you about Redmask that some malazan fans don't understand.

Can you PM me, just out of curiosity?

[Sunbird]

On 7/12/2017 at 10:46 AM, Briar King said:

That one in 15 was

  Hide contents

only a dream Harry had about Karen and not near as long as the scene with Susan but more descriptive then anything out of Thomas and Justine. I think it would be hardcore for unfans

 

Oh ok... I still don't remember it, so I think I probably skimmed it.

[Hood]

I recently re-read The Lies of Locke Lamora. It is a definite 10/10 in my list. Tbh, I like all Gentleman Bastards books.

Is there any book with a similar level of sarcasm (it was the best part, I just love Chains) and invective ? I don't mind F-bombs. In fact, I find it strangely amusing that some complain of that in this book. I mean, it is a about a society which hangs children for petty crimes (tho finds gentling humans too offensive for their tastes) and gory murders. And out of all these things, the complainants found only the F-bombs offensive !

[AngelEy3]

7 minutes ago, Hood said:

I recently re-read The Lies of Locke Lamora. It is a definite 10/10 in my list. Tbh, I like all Gentleman Bastards books.

Is there any book with a similar level of sarcasm (it was the best part, I just love Chains) and invective ? I don't mind F-bombs. In fact, I find it strangely amusing that some complain of that in this book. I mean, it is a about a society which hangs children for petty crimes (tho finds gentling humans too offensive for their tastes) and gory murders. And out of all these things, the complainants found only the F-bombs offensive !

I mostly chalk that up to religious constructs, myself. "Curse" words are a totem to some people. They stand out because people have been taught to react negatively to them. Often times from birth. What they fail to realize is that words hold only the power that which you give them.

It's how I was personally raised, so I know it to be true (at least to an extent.) Harry Potter was frowned upon in my home because "witchcraft is evil." Yet... LOTR with wizards and magic evil rings was lauded. Chronicles of Narnia got the same treatment as LOTR did, and simply because of the author's personal choice of religion. So... Magic ends up being evil, depending on who writes about it. 

So what we end up with is F-Bombs are bad, but a head taken off in battle doesn't elicit much response at all. Personally, I feel like a character who isn't swearing like a sailor when horrible things happen just isn't that fleshed out or real to me. 

Another thought that just occurred to me is what number of Sanderson fans are fans of his LDS faith first, and which are fans of his works. In the same vein as Lewis to Christianity, how many LDS parents are pushing Sanderson solely because he's an "approved" author? 

Not trying to offend anyone, it's just that @Hood's question gave me an open avenue for thoughts I've been having on the subject recently and how it relates to my own childhood.  

[Ammanas]

@Hood Joe Abercrombie has just as much sarcasm. I also love the The Lies of Locke Lamora! It's my favorite of the series with the other two that are out also being very good.

@AngelEy3 I think its a fair question that I will give my opinion on. Here is the thing: LDS people speaking collective are very uncomfortable with sex being portrayed in movies, books, etc. It is something thats only talked about between a man and wife. Why that is, and some problems it potentially causes, is a long digression. 

They are o.k. with violence, but also feel uncomfortable with bad language. It's hard for many LDS readers to find high quality books that don't have at least a little bit language or innuendo. The story may be apocryphal, but I heard that even Sanderson got upbraided during church, by a member, for a scene on warbreaker! I personally have had a member express concerns to me about Wayne's crudeness in Bands of Morning. 

Edited July 15, 2017 by Ammanas

[AngelEy3]

@Ammanas Thanks for the insight on that. I can get a little slanted at times and it's nice to be righted so quickly. 

@Hood I'll second on Abercrombie being sarcastic. Say one thing for Joe Abercrombie. Say that he's sarcastic. 

[Briar King]

Where are you in 7?

[mattig89ch]

Currently listening to "Career of Evil" on Audible.  Its an english PI book, which is pretty neat.  Really enjoyed the series so far, though the romance seems very forced.  But thats the only real complaint I have about it, otherwise its rather enjoyable.

And picked up "Vangaurd: The Genesis Fleet" for my next read.  Loved the lost fleet series, liked beyond the frontier, and I loved the midway series.  So I'm looking forward to seeing how the Alliance was formed.

Not sure what I'm going to read after that....any recommendations?

 

[AngelEy3]

@mattig89ch

May I suggest Brandon Sanderson? Perhaps you've heard of him? Lol

These spring to mind as standing out among my recent reads:

First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie 

Lightbringer series by Brent Weeks

The Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson. Malazan is currently vying hard with Stormlight as my favorite fantasy series. 

[Briar King]

7 hours ago, mattig89ch said:

Currently listening to "Career of Evil" on Audible.  Its an english PI book, which is pretty neat.  Really enjoyed the series so far, though the romance seems very forced.  But thats the only real complaint I have about it, otherwise its rather enjoyable.

And picked up "Vangaurd: The Genesis Fleet" for my next read.  Loved the lost fleet series, liked beyond the frontier, and I loved the midway series.  So I'm looking forward to seeing how the Alliance was formed.

Not sure what I'm going to read after that....any recommendations?

 

If you want another PI try out Dresden Files. It's amazing from bk 4 on. 1-3 are short easy reads though.

[Steeldancer]

On 7/15/2017 at 5:10 AM, AngelEy3 said:

I mostly chalk that up to religious constructs, myself. "Curse" words are a totem to some people. They stand out because people have been taught to react negatively to them. Often times from birth. What they fail to realize is that words hold only the power that which you give them.

It's how I was personally raised, so I know it to be true (at least to an extent.) Harry Potter was frowned upon in my home because "witchcraft is evil." Yet... LOTR with wizards and magic evil rings was lauded. Chronicles of Narnia got the same treatment as LOTR did, and simply because of the author's personal choice of religion. So... Magic ends up being evil, depending on who writes about it. 

So what we end up with is F-Bombs are bad, but a head taken off in battle doesn't elicit much response at all. Personally, I feel like a character who isn't swearing like a sailor when horrible things happen just isn't that fleshed out or real to me. 

Another thought that just occurred to me is what number of Sanderson fans are fans of his LDS faith first, and which are fans of his works. In the same vein as Lewis to Christianity, how many LDS parents are pushing Sanderson solely because he's an "approved" author? 

Not trying to offend anyone, it's just that @Hood's question gave me an open avenue for thoughts I've been having on the subject recently and how it relates to my own childhood.  

I didn't know Sanderson was LDS until after I had discovered how brilliant he is. I appreciate that he keeps the books more clean. It is religious, but it also that I appreciate that he spends more time on Worldbuilding and character depth than making his books edgy and modern. 

[Oversleep]

3 hours ago, The Flash said:

I didn't know Sanderson was LDS until after I had discovered how brilliant he is. I appreciate that he keeps the books more clean. It is religious, but it also that I appreciate that he spends more time on Worldbuilding and character depth than making his books edgy and modern. 

... that's ridiculous. Are you seriously suggesting that not keeping out Bad Words™ implies not spending time on characters or worldbuilding? Are you seriously saying that people using words all people use make a book 'edgy'?

Oh, and figuring out the way people curse is part of building a culture and therefore part of worldbuilding; religion-derived curses are one thing that Brandon does well (Almighty! Rust and Ruin! Storms! etc) but all the rest... not so much. I do know it's his personal choice, it just strikes me as odd that you seem to think that making people never use Bad Words™ makes for better worldbuilding.