The Book Lair - all book talk ITT

[Haseo Nanaya]

Just finished Dragonbane. Good entry. I like max's dickish nature and how he can keep it in his pants (withold sex from his mate) very fun. Styxx is still a rank funny bastard like always. God i love him. I'll go buy night play since it was rereleased in hardback a couple years ago but I never got it since i didnt have cash on release day. Until i get it though i'm going to finish Time Untime.

[SeiKeo]

Anyone use Goodreads?

[Highwayman]

Anyone use Goodreads?

I mostly use it to keep a list of books I plan to read in the future. Aside from that, the "readers also enjoyed" sidebar has pointed me in the direction of some interesting works I wouldn't have found otherwise.

Some of the user-submitted reviews are thoughtful and informative; others, not so much.

[eddyak]

I used to use it, but the general clunkiness and lack of ability to retain your logins after you shut down your computer eventually put me off. I only use it now for seeing when my favourite authors are releasing new stuff.

In other news, The Shepherd's Crown is out now.

Anybody know if Terry was the only author of this, or if he passed away halfway through? It'd be interesting to note the change in writing style between him and his daughter.

[Sesto]

Reading Dracula. Little more than halfway through. It's okay. Really good at times, a bit dull during others.

Also reading Norwegian Wood. I've heard mixed opinions about Haruki Murakami and this is the first novel I've read by him, but it's pretty good so far.

[I3uster]

That's a weaker one tbh. He's best when he goes full weird.

[Korburss]

Well. I actually read the books a while back and forgot I'd ever posted in this thread.

I think I got about five volumes into the Black Company series before I halfway lost interest.

I got to six and said, "Oh god, are we really doing this again" and that really sums up everything after the first few books. The author is good but I get the feeling he ran out of ideas and needed money or something.

I think I nearly laughed at the "Shadow" themed villains, nearly quit when I found out who they were, and did quit when the company gets picked apart for the so manyith time. The hinting at some grand new evil just was not enough to make me care.

The second book, Deadhouse Gates, is probably the high-point of the series and can be even read as a complete standalone.

Thank you for getting me to read it. Just wow, the chain of dogs.

This is probably one of my favorite books now and one of the few I will be rereading.

[Korburss]

Oh I will be. I've only had time to read the first bit of Memories of Ice and it's already got me interested.

I've had something like a month to think about the book and I still had trouble trying to explain my feelings on it to a friend. I think one of the things that gets me really into it is that when I can see things coming I don't want most of them to happen and when I don't see it coming it's jaw dropping. The two best examples are probably the Talon's sudden, violent finale and seeing Mallick and knowing what was about to happen.

The authors high point is probably controlling what information you know and using it masterfully. Heck, thinking back to Gardens of the Moon with what I know now makes it better and I think when I reread it I'll probably like it a fair bit more, it really was likely necessary.

Further the left over bits like the Marines, the "maybe" not situations of some things that I can't think of a way to say without massive spoilers, and the general coming storm feeling of the end are excellently done.

Oh and the odd thing about Felisin is that, I don't even think I really feel strongly in anyway about her. Maybe I'm just too gloom and doom but as I read her parts I knew what was happening and could see how her character was developing, I just kind of started reading it with a bit of cold detachment. It was kind of an odd contrast considering Heboric and I constantly thought, "come on, you must know how this goes, back out now man" while knowing he wouldn't and at plenty of points couldn't. It was like watching a train wreak as the saying goes and his bit at the end of the book was... I don't even know.

[Five_X]

I should read more fantasy books!

*goes back to reading more about Alexander the Great*

[Christemo]

Ive found that 1920's occultist theology is way better than most fantasy.

- - - Updated - - -

At least its more fun to read

[Five_X]

I prefer 1120s occultist fantasy tyvm

[Strife ❤️]

I only read the Epic of Gilgamesh.

[Christemo]

Thats not how you spell arthurian mythology and stuff from the colonial days.

[eddyak]

You guys have obviously only ever read from the dregs of fantasy.

[Christemo]

I mean if thats what you call Tolkien that's your business.

[SeiKeo]

realtalk i feel like fantasy is a super deprived nerd genre especially when you compare to scifi

[Christemo]

Fantasy has the issue that it can only ever draw on the past, whereas the future is completely unexplored and therefor the freedom to express a verse or the author's intents is much greater.

And yeah uh its super nerd dominated.

[SeiKeo]

I mean, like, scifi has a bunch of stuff that's been considered fairly heavy-hitting but fantasy has like... what, Tolkien and Harry Potter? Which are popular but are sort of both fairly weak in depth.

[Christemo]

Tolkien can be reasonably deep, I particularly like the whole "Magic is dying out and giving way to the age of man" which he did a lot better than Nasu imo (Since Nasu keeps going for "BUT WE WERE SO COOL AND HAD ALL THE THINGS MANKIND COULD EVER MAKE ONLY MAGIC BACK IN THE DAY" instead of going balls deep).

But yeah most fantasy I recall reading is fairly forgettable. Tales of Malus Darkblade and Tolkien are some of the only I have truly fond memories of, and the former might just be because I was like 12 at the time and loved the edge.

[Lace]

the last sci-fi related thing i heard of was that some right wing idiots tried to mess with a sci-fi book awarding and ended up winning none