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Post by Calvinball on May 18, 2018 17:49:07 GMT -5
Finished The Three-Body Problem by Xing Yi Quan, it's the first part of the Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy. I stepped out of my comfort zone in two ways with this one, I don't typically read hard SciFi and it's the first book I've ever read that wasn't written by a primary English speaker. Which brings me to my only two little gripes about the book, there are times where it literally reads like a science book, and I had a hard time keeping track of who was who when all the names were Chinese. I don't want to say anything about the plot because it's hard to talk about without getting into spoilers but it was a fantastic plot with a really nice cast of characters. It can get dark at times and it asks some extremely tough questions about humanity.
4/5 enjoyed it quite a bit, would recommend and I can't wait to see where the trilogy takes us after the first book.
Oh yeah apparently Obama loved the shit out of this book too, which is a cool endorsement.
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Post by poembie on May 21, 2018 2:18:14 GMT -5
Finished The Three-Body Problem by Xing Yi Quan, it's the first part of the Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy. I stepped out of my comfort zone in two ways with this one, I don't typically read hard SciFi and it's the first book I've ever read that wasn't written by a primary English speaker. Which brings me to my only two little gripes about the book, there are times where it literally reads like a science book, and I had a hard time keeping track of who was who when all the names were Chinese. I don't want to say anything about the plot because it's hard to talk about without getting into spoilers but it was a fantastic plot with a really nice cast of characters. It can get dark at times and it asks some extremely tough questions about humanity. 4/5 enjoyed it quite a bit, would recommend and I can't wait to see where the trilogy takes us after the first book. Oh yeah apparently Obama loved the shit out of this book too, which is a cool endorsement. Read this last year as well, and was blown away by it. I completely agree on the science part, sometimes it was hard to stay invested in the story. Since I speak Chinese, I don't have an issue with the Chinese names. I still haven't read the second and third book, I hope to start reading soon! Btw, the movie should be in the final stages of completion, I hope they don't fuck it up.
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Post by poembie on May 21, 2018 2:29:26 GMT -5
I've been reading some of Keigo Higashino's books (those available in English) these last few months. I finished Naoko, Malice and Journey Under the Midnight Sun. I highly recommend Naoko and JUTMS, mysteries/crime novels that will leave you contemplating for days after you've finished the story.
Malice was a real page-turner but lacked a real motive and character development imo.
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Post by Calvinball on May 21, 2018 11:23:09 GMT -5
Finished The Three-Body Problem by Xing Yi Quan, it's the first part of the Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy. I stepped out of my comfort zone in two ways with this one, I don't typically read hard SciFi and it's the first book I've ever read that wasn't written by a primary English speaker. Which brings me to my only two little gripes about the book, there are times where it literally reads like a science book, and I had a hard time keeping track of who was who when all the names were Chinese. I don't want to say anything about the plot because it's hard to talk about without getting into spoilers but it was a fantastic plot with a really nice cast of characters. It can get dark at times and it asks some extremely tough questions about humanity. 4/5 enjoyed it quite a bit, would recommend and I can't wait to see where the trilogy takes us after the first book. Oh yeah apparently Obama loved the shit out of this book too, which is a cool endorsement. Read this last year as well, and was blown away by it. I completely agree on the science part, sometimes it was hard to stay invested in the story. Since I speak Chinese, I don't have an issue with the Chinese names. I still haven't read the second and third book, I hope to start reading soon! Btw, the movie should be in the final stages of completion, I hope they don't fuck it up. It's funny I can keep track of crazy fantasy names no problemo but the real Chinese ones I just couldn't gain purchase on. It was mainly the side characters I struggled with like "which one are you again".
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Post by aquafina on Jun 5, 2018 12:07:58 GMT -5
Just ordered Mortal Engines, heard its a pretty solid read.
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Post by SHIRT on Jun 10, 2018 22:59:04 GMT -5
currently making my way to this page getting suggestions from what you guys were reading but I just finished Arthas (world of warcraft book) and want something new.
also just bought a bunch of Vonnegut books that I found for cheap. never checked him out other than slaughterhouse five.
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Post by Calvinball on Jun 19, 2018 19:26:28 GMT -5
Just wrapped up a couple of things.
Best Served Cold By Joe Abercrombie. This is a standalone that takes place in his preexisting First Law Trilogy world and boy oh boy was it fantastic, a whole new cast of characters with a few cameos and it really just takes everything Abercrombie does and puts it on a plate for you, and that is a very good thing. You don't need to have read The First Law Trilogy to read this, but you should because the trilogy is fantastic. 5/5
Sufficiently Advanced Magic by Andrew Rowe. This self published novel is taking the fantasy world by storm and I had to find out why, it's often mixed into the Lit-RPG genre but it's really not one, the thing of it is the magic system and the mana and the powering up will all remind you of systems that you've seen in video games so many times. I could harp on this book for days, but I just wont, I'll just briefly loved NEARLY everything about this book. Would highly recommend, 4.5/5.
The Dark Forest, book 2 of Remembrance of Earth's Past, and I fucking DNF'd it. I mentioned during the first book that I struggled keeping of track of everyone and this book came out right out of the gates and introduced an entire new cast machine gun fast, couldn't keep track of it and called it a day.
Just started reading the sequel to SAM and another Abercrombie standalone.
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Post by bckwrdschrm on Jun 20, 2018 20:15:29 GMT -5
My friends housemate told me to read The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, struggling to get into it currently - don't know if epic fantasy series are my thing. Just got this in the mail though to flick through while I'm at work
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Post by Calvinball on Jun 21, 2018 17:19:25 GMT -5
My friends housemate told me to read The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, struggling to get into it currently - don't know if epic fantasy series are my thing. What is it about Name of the Wind that is turning you off, if you want to get into epic fantasy I read a ton of it and could maybe offer some alternatives. NOTW is kind of a polarizing book, it's insanely well written and littered with depth that make the rereads better every time but it's not for everyone. A lot of people consider Kvothe to be a bit of a Mary Sue and others don't think it's exciting enough for them. Edit: Thinking back about it more a lot of people put this book down early because it starts off DEPRESSING as fuck.
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Post by bckwrdschrm on Jun 21, 2018 19:09:06 GMT -5
My friends housemate told me to read The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, struggling to get into it currently - don't know if epic fantasy series are my thing. What is it about Name of the Wind that is turning you off, if you want to get into epic fantasy I read a ton of it and could maybe offer some alternatives. NOTW is kind of a polarizing book, it's insanely well written and littered with depth that make the rereads better every time but it's not for everyone. A lot of people consider Kvothe to be a bit of a Mary Sue and others don't think it's exciting enough for them. Edit: Thinking back about it more a lot of people put this book down early because it starts off DEPRESSING as fuck. Hard to say, both people I know that have read it say it's the best book they've ever read so possibly a little overhyped? There's been a few passages that have made me want to keep reading, I'll stick with it.
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Post by Calvinball on Jun 21, 2018 22:03:16 GMT -5
What is it about Name of the Wind that is turning you off, if you want to get into epic fantasy I read a ton of it and could maybe offer some alternatives. NOTW is kind of a polarizing book, it's insanely well written and littered with depth that make the rereads better every time but it's not for everyone. A lot of people consider Kvothe to be a bit of a Mary Sue and others don't think it's exciting enough for them. Edit: Thinking back about it more a lot of people put this book down early because it starts off DEPRESSING as fuck. Hard to say, both people I know that have read it say it's the best book they've ever read so possibly a little overhyped? There's been a few passages that have made me want to keep reading, I'll stick with it. I can buy that it might be overhyped, a lot of people consider it the best thing they've ever read, I don't but I still loved it, and it's because Rothfuss is the most beautiful writer I've ever come across, there's been times where I've read a sentence and had to put my kindle down and say "fuck that was gorgeous". That being said he's not super original and he's not super influential he's just a god damn master at word porn, and he's great at leaving breadcrumbs.
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Post by tao on Jun 21, 2018 22:20:17 GMT -5
Finished “The Demon Crown” by James Rollins and “The Spy Room” by Matthew Dunn; currently, I’m almost finished with another Matthew Dunn book, called “The Soldier’s Revenge”. After that, I have Steve Berry’s latest novel, “The Bishop’s Pawn” to catch up on. Been doing a lot of reading lately, effectively reducing the amount of time I spend playing video games, so I have been chalking this up to be a major win for me.
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Post by Calvinball on Jul 5, 2018 22:38:11 GMT -5
Just finished The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie it's another standalone that takes place in another trilogy he's already written. I've talked about this author enough, but he's one of my favorites and this book was fantastic. My only gripe is with the audiobook which is a shame because the narrator is fantastic. But they took a side character from his previous books and turned him into a POV character in this book, and in doing so they MAJORLY fucked with his voice to the point where it was distracting. All in all I loved this book but the voice change is enough to bring it down to 4.5/5 because it was that weird to me.
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Post by Zeke on Jul 6, 2018 17:46:42 GMT -5
Started re-reading Harry Potter.
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Post by groolfan on Jul 10, 2018 18:01:23 GMT -5
after tons of pressure got my wife to read Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Krake and she loved it. linkThree books saga about genetic engineering/wealth gone wild leading to an apocalypse. Def worth a read if into that stuff, been word about a TV show but it hasn't happened yet
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