Book crew: what are you reading?

[Leah]

I just finished this and loved it. It’s basically a coming-of-age story about a girl who was raised in Florida in the (presumably near?) future when climate change makes shit really hit the fan. I saw it categorized as “adventure fiction” but I’d call it more of literary sci-fi.

 

[silkforcalde]

i already have my next book ready to start, New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson. it's also about climate change and ecological collapse. 118 years in the future isn't that near future though. i read the first chapter and it's already a bit post apocalyptic, new york city is flooded for example and people are living in the skyscrapers with bridges connecting them, farms on the tops.

the last Neal Stephenson novel, Termination Shock, was also about climate change but it was more about an attempt at a solution that started destabilizing weather patterns.

 

[Leah]

Read this recently too and it is FUCKED. I’ve been looking forever for something post apocalyptic that gave me the same grimy, desperate vibe as The Stand and/or Robert McCammon’s Swan Song and this was it.

 

[silkforcalde]

done with Wheel of Time, thank fucking god that's over

never gonna read another Sanderson novel, these three were so poorly written that i have no interest to read anything else he's done

fuck that series. bloated beyond reason. should never have been more than 7 books. i can't decide which culture was dumber, Aiel or Seanchan. both were such stupid ideas. Shara showing up at the end was like "well i guess you gotta have more human enemies in the last battle" but it's amazing how that felt so rushed in a series that was so exhausting. at least the ending was short.

 

[Miesha Taint]

never gonna read another Sanderson novel, these three were so poorly written that i have no interest to read anything else he's done

I feel the same way

what passes for "good" in contemporary fantasy is quite embarrassing

 

[silkforcalde]

I feel the same way

what passes for "good" in contemporary fantasy is quite embarrassing

there's a lot of good stuff out there though. i generally find the most popular books to be the most basically written though, for obvious reasons.

 

[Sphygmo]

Definitely embarrassing that people staunchly stand by this series despite the fact that it becomes readily apparent so quickly that he was padding the books unnecessarily with the most boring minutia and that he didn't have a good idea for the direction of the series


Its honestly insulting that he would have thought his audience would value their free time so little that they would continue on with that dreck. I guess if you read as fast as @amalgamas it isn't as much an issue as it is for most. For most it's a very significant time investment

 

[Sphygmo]

No major character deaths in a series that long with a major apocalyptic event guiding the proceedings


Talk about fuckin plot armor absolutely shameful. What on earth @lowfat how you gonna stand by this garbage

 

[silkforcalde]

compare the ending of Wheel of Time to the ending of the Realm of the Elderlings books from Robin Hobb. there is no comparison. one feels rushed and just totally ignores all these threads, the other combines every element of the different series and has the most perfect, completely earned ending.

fuck Wheel of Time

 

[amalgamas]

I feel the same way

what passes for "good" in contemporary fantasy is quite embarrassing

SOME PEOPLE ENJOY PULP

 

[silkforcalde]

i just don't see the appeal in reading such bland shit when there's so much great shit out there

 

[amalgamas]

done with Wheel of Time, thank fucking god that's over

never gonna read another Sanderson novel, these three were so poorly written that i have no interest to read anything else he's done

fuck that series. bloated beyond reason. should never have been more than 7 books. i can't decide which culture was dumber, Aiel or Seanchan. both were such stupid ideas. Shara showing up at the end was like "well i guess you gotta have more human enemies in the last battle" but it's amazing how that felt so rushed in a series that was so exhausting. at least the ending was short.

I asked Brandon about that at a con, there was supposed to be an entire fucking book about the Shara with one of the big three being whisked away to their continent for a hot minute but by the time they got to that point Robert was on his way out. The problem is that they were so tied to the ending that Robert and his wife had come up with that they couldn't just nix them and honestly what we got was the best of the worst ways they could have been introduced.

Honestly, I don't know what good it does to say it to you, but I feel like you shouldn't judge Sanderson by these three books, they were ghost written with heavy interactions by Robert for the first one and Harriet for the last two.

I'd say give at least Mistborn or Skyward a shot, if you hate those then call him done.

 

[amalgamas]

i just don't see the appeal in reading such bland shit when there's so much great shit out there

 

[amalgamas]

Definitely embarrassing that people staunchly stand by this series despite the fact that it becomes readily apparent so quickly that he was padding the books unnecessarily with the most boring minutia and that he didn't have a good idea for the direction of the series


Its honestly insulting that he would have thought his audience would value their free time so little that they would continue on with that dreck. I guess if you read as fast as @amalgamas it isn't as much an issue as it is for most. For most it's a very significant time investment

real talk, even with how fast I read this series broke me, so take that as you will.

I've read the first 5 books so many times my physical copies literally fell apart at the binding, but his success ruined him and the series as a whole.

 

[amalgamas]

No major character deaths in a series that long with a major apocalyptic event guiding the proceedings


Talk about fuckin plot armor absolutely shameful. What on earth @lowfat how you gonna stand by this garbage

ehhhhhhhh, that wasn't necessarily what made it a bad series, and you can't say that they weren't beaten, battered, and changed people by the events of series.

Also you didn't get to the ending, that does NOT stay true as far as the expanded cast goes, in the last two books they start dropping like flies.

ALSO, I feel like major character deaths has become a fucking dramatic crutch for bad authors to lean on thanks to the rise of ASOIAF and it has legit ruined some series IMHO with me straight up giving up on a couple because you can tell the author was running out of ideas so they just started killing off important players.

 

[6SpeedTA95]

Rereading “The Big Fat Surprise”. Been 6 years.

 

[Dylith]

I asked Brandon about that at a con, there was supposed to be an entire fucking book about the Shara with one of the big three being whisked away to their continent for a hot minute but by the time they got to that point Robert was on his way out. The problem is that they were so tied to the ending that Robert and his wife had come up with that they couldn't just nix them and honestly what we got was the best of the worst ways they could have been introduced.

Honestly, I don't know what good it does to say it to you, but I feel like you shouldn't judge Sanderson by these three books, they were ghost written with heavy interactions by Robert for the first one and Harriet for the last two.

I'd say give at least Mistborn or Skyward a shot, if you hate those then call him done.

I dont know why someone would judge Sanderson based on the Wheel of Time. It wasnt his story / world.

 

[silkforcalde]

I dont know why someone would judge Sanderson based on the Wheel of Time. It wasnt his story / world.

His prose was AWFUL.

 

[silkforcalde]

ehhhhhhhh, that wasn't necessarily what made it a bad series, and you can't say that they weren't beaten, battered, and changed people by the events of series.

Also you didn't get to the ending, that does NOT stay true as far as the expanded cast goes, in the last two books they start dropping like flies.

ALSO, I feel like major character deaths has become a fucking dramatic crutch for bad authors to lean on thanks to the rise of ASOIAF and it has legit ruined some series IMHO with me straight up giving up on a couple because you can tell the author was running out of ideas so they just started killing off important players.

Almost no major characters were killed and the few that were almost entirely happened in the last 300 pages of the final book. Makes it feel like there are no real stakes.

 

[Dylith]

His prose was AWFUL.

Have you read any other Sanderson books?

 

[amalgamas]

Almost no major characters were killed and the few that were almost entirely happened in the last 300 pages of the final book. Makes it feel like there are no real stakes.

I mean....it depends on what your definition of "major" is, but I would consider these pretty major characters:

Spoiler: wot

Egwene al'Vere
Birgitte Silverbow
Gawyn Trakand
Rhuarc, Clan Chief of the Taarad Aiel, Nine Valleys Sept. Aethan Dor
Suian Sanche
Gareth Byrne
Davram and Diera Bashere
Alanna Mosvani
Hurin

Sure, only three of them were there from the very beginning of the series, but that doesn't take away from their impact on the story.

 

[Dylith]

I feel the same way

what passes for "good" in contemporary fantasy is quite embarrassing

What Sanderson books gave you read? I certainly have problems with some of them, just curious what you are basing your opinion on.

 

[amalgamas]

What Sanderson books gave you read? I certainly have problems with some of them, just curious what you are basing your opinion on.

I know you didn't ask me but:

I started with Elantris, which to my knowledge was his first published book, and loved it.

Was kind of sad when he decided to go with the Mistborn story instead of continuing the Elantris plotline, at that time.

 

[Menger]

this is why the non-fiction thread is so necessary

 

[meatball]

i think im going to give Gravity's Rainbow another shot, anyone read that?