BcAugust Posted July 8, 2008 Report Share Posted July 8, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Anyone read Julian May's Pliocene Epoch series? (Many Colored Land' date=' Golden Torc, et al) Any opinions?[/quote'] Hmm, I started to read the prequal/first book. Started, as in, while some interesting ideas, the characters were completely unbelievable, the world seemed like a shiny happy version of Paranoia(As in, nice on the surface, but any place that has mandatory brainwashing and exile for being a prankster?), and there's a moment in the fifth chapter that's of such utter stupidity and "This is the villian" forecasting I just put it down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sundog Posted July 8, 2008 Report Share Posted July 8, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Anyone read Julian May's Pliocene Epoch series? (Many Colored Land' date=' Golden Torc, et al) Any opinions?[/quote'] Read it in High School. Not bad; she really doesn't get the characterization right until the second book, and seriously gets better as a writer over the series, but it's a good tale well told all up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bozimus Posted July 8, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 8, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I read them (the first three books) a LONG time ago (late 80's). I actually thought gewing was talking about the Julian May "Golden Torc" in his recent post until an Amazon.com check revealed that, yes, Simon Green DID write a book with a similar title! I enjoyed them at that time...and I think I would enjoy them if I re-read them now, but I am not certain of that. Twenty-something Bozimus had a different taste in books than does forty-four year old Bozimus. I will say that I still remember one of the character's names...Aiken Drum, what a magnificent bastard! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markdoc Posted July 8, 2008 Report Share Posted July 8, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Anyone read Julian May's Pliocene Epoch series? (Many Colored Land' date=' Golden Torc, et al) Any opinions?[/quote'] I enjoyed 'em - and it'd make a great roleplaying setting. The books do get off to a slow start: there's a lot of characters to introduce for one thing. I particularly like the way she has treated mental powers. Oddly enough, I've found most of her other stuff all but unreadable. Hmm' date=' I started to read the prequal/first book. Started, as in, while some interesting ideas, the characters were completely unbelievable, the world seemed like a shiny happy version of Paranoia(As in, nice on the surface, but any place that has mandatory brainwashing and exile for being a [i']prankster?[/i]), and there's a moment in the fifth chapter that's of such utter stupidity and "This is the villian" forecasting I just put it down. I think the idea was supposed to be that the future setting was somewhat oppressive - which is why even rational people were prepared to drop through a timegate into the distant past. Given your comment, I think you might be surprised by the plot though: a lot of characters (even major ones) don't make it through the series. Unlike a SoIaF, it's not that hard to work out who's likely to come out on top at the end, but the path to getting there gave me a few surprises, which is a rare pleasure in a fantasy series these days. If you pegged Felice as a major villain, you'd be right, but she carks it a bit over halfway through the series, leaving other people to take up the black mantle cheers, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawnmower Boy Posted July 8, 2008 Report Share Posted July 8, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... The ending is a little anticlimactic, but the Pliocene Exile is a cracking good read. Though I hear a rumour that Julian May actually died just after finishing it, and her other books were actually produced from notes by her son, Christopher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted July 8, 2008 Report Share Posted July 8, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Wikipedia shows she's still alive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BcAugust Posted July 9, 2008 Report Share Posted July 9, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I enjoyed 'em - and it'd make a great roleplaying setting. The books do get off to a slow start: there's a lot of characters to introduce for one thing. I particularly like the way she has treated mental powers. Oddly enough, I've found most of her other stuff all but unreadable. I think the idea was supposed to be that the future setting was somewhat oppressive - which is why even rational people were prepared to drop through a timegate into the distant past. Given your comment, I think you might be surprised by the plot though: a lot of characters (even major ones) don't make it through the series. Unlike a SoIaF, it's not that hard to work out who's likely to come out on top at the end, but the path to getting there gave me a few surprises, which is a rare pleasure in a fantasy series these days. cheers, Mark Well, I started reading it on the advice of people who said it sounded like my game's setting(Ancient Aberrant, I play Artemis and I'm sure lots of people have seen Metaphysician's characters too) And no, it doesn't surprise me. Just...well, the moment was of such utter stupidity and "evil for evil's sake" that I couldn't read further. The bleakness of the world just pushed it in the direction of putting it down. I can deal with a bleak world if the villains are interesting and smart. Hmm, to get back into the spirit of the thread, just read through a bunch of the Dark Hunter books(Romance, but some neat gameable ideas, and a treatment of the greek gods that doesn't do any whitewashing). Petshop of Horrors:Tokyo Which is on my list to give people who don't like manga to read. It continues the tradition of the first series of telling stories that can make you laugh or cry, or curl up in a ball. In it's own way, it's a direct descendant of EC comics. Though, if you read the first series, this one is less Gremlins and more....hmm, it's own thing, the change in location seems to have freed up the creator. Currently waiting to read Vampire Hunter D 8 and 9. I'm sure they'll work with the rest of the series, just need to reread seven. Oh, and halfway through Traitor of the Blood. The first few books were really good, even if they felt like the setting was taken from a homebrew D&D world. This one, I don't know, it doesn't feel as genuine as the first ones, though that may simply be that the character motivations are too murky to read at the start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted July 15, 2008 Report Share Posted July 15, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Deamons Are Forever by Simon Greene- Ed Drood is trying to put his family back on the right track. He decides that he needs to set an example to the world that the Droods are still in business. Unfortunately his example is ready for him. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logan D. Hurricanes Posted July 15, 2008 Report Share Posted July 15, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I just picked up Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves based upon the comments here. So far it is... odd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted July 15, 2008 Report Share Posted July 15, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I just picked up Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves based upon the comments here. So far it is... odd. It is very... odd. Also, you don't so much as read it as... experience it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teh bunneh Posted July 15, 2008 Report Share Posted July 15, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Get a copy of Poe's Haunted album and put it on loop while you read. Poe is Danielewski's sister; the book and the album were written together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted July 15, 2008 Report Share Posted July 15, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Get a copy of Poe's Haunted album and put it on loop while you read. Poe is Danielewski's sister; the book and the album were written together. At which point does the SAN loss begin? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logan D. Hurricanes Posted July 15, 2008 Report Share Posted July 15, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Get a copy of Poe's Haunted album and put it on loop while you read. Poe is Danielewski's sister; the book and the album were written together. That sounds frightening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teh bunneh Posted July 15, 2008 Report Share Posted July 15, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... It's a good album. After repeated listenings, you start to hear all the ambient weirdness, masked voices and stuff in the background. It's also got a couple of good dancable songs. Bunneh sez: Check it out. Edit: And of course, it has Hey Pretty on it. :thumbup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted July 15, 2008 Report Share Posted July 15, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... At which point does the SAN loss begin? About when you read about Mr. Truant hearing "Five and a Half Minute Hallway." That sounds frightening. 'Tis, but that's the fun part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logan D. Hurricanes Posted July 15, 2008 Report Share Posted July 15, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... It's a good album. After repeated listenings' date=' you start to hear all the ambient weirdness, masked voices and stuff in the background. It's also got a couple of good dancable songs. [b']Bunneh sez:[/b] Check it out. Edit: And of course, it has Hey Pretty on it. :thumbup: Ok, this is really freaky. I go to watch the video since I've never heard it (nice song; gross video). The monologue in the beginning of the song? It's from the exact page I was on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted July 16, 2008 Report Share Posted July 16, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Ok' date=' this is really freaky. I go to watch the video since I've never heard it (nice song; gross video). The monologue in the beginning of the song? It's from the exact page I was on. [/quote'] Ah, you're at the section with Kyrie. Not my favorite of his encounters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted July 16, 2008 Report Share Posted July 16, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... So I just finished David Brin's Heaven's Reach, which is to say that I finished the Uplift trilogy that includes Brightness Reef and Infinity's Shore. I'd give it a 4.5 out of 5. Brin is not afraid to think big--really, really, megascale epic big--and he's got the chops to pull it off. The one problem, if you can call it that, is that the viewpoint characters and scale change so much that the books are almost standalone. The series begins on a low-tech backwater world and by the end dimensions are being destroyed left and right. In order to do this Brin has to basically leave large parts of his background and story behind--necessary, but disorienting, because you're gradually introduce to more and more viewpoint characters. He does pull it off, though, and I pretty much had to read the last half of the last book in as few sittings as possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawnmower Boy Posted July 16, 2008 Report Share Posted July 16, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... So I just finished David Brin's Heaven's Reach' date='[/i'] which is to say that I finished the Uplift trilogy that includes Brightness Reef and Infinity's Shore. I'd give it a 4.5 out of 5. Brin is not afraid to think big--really, really, megascale epic big--and he's got the chops to pull it off. The one problem, if you can call it that, is that the viewpoint characters and scale change so much that the books are almost standalone. The series begins on a low-tech backwater world and by the end dimensions are being destroyed left and right. In order to do this Brin has to basically leave large parts of his background and story behind--necessary, but disorienting, because you're gradually introduce to more and more viewpoint characters. He does pull it off, though, and I pretty much had to read the last half of the last book in as few sittings as possible. It was a remarkable piece of storytelling. And yet I couldn't touch Earth and feel no desire to read Kiln People or --that other one. Should I give Brin's other work a chance? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teh bunneh Posted July 16, 2008 Report Share Posted July 16, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Ok' date=' this is really freaky. I go to watch the video since I've never heard it (nice song; gross video). The monologue in the beginning of the song? It's from the exact page I was on. [/quote'] There is no coincidence!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
proditor Posted July 17, 2008 Report Share Posted July 17, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Soon I will be Invincible The Good: On the plus side, it was an engrossing read. I liked the homages and the subtle or overt nods to the conventions of the genre. The supers were actually cool, and were characters I'd want to see in a comic book or play in a game, unlike some other super related literature I've read. The story was good, the plot was solid. The bad: The character voice wandered a little bit. Usually it was pretty clear who you were reading, but every now and then Fatale and Doctor Impossible start to sound a bit too much like each other. That may have been intentional on some level, but it can be a bit jarring to realize that the "voice" that sounded like Fatale, was actually the Doc talking to Baron Ether. There seem to be some timeline issues with the universe as well, but I'm really just picking nits at this point. The book is a fun read, and very well done. As one of the reviewers said "This would make a great comic book, and I intend that as the highest of praise." I agree, I'd like to see more of the world of Doctor Impossible and the Champions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted July 17, 2008 Report Share Posted July 17, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Soon I will be Invincible The Good: On the plus side, it was an engrossing read. I liked the homages and the subtle or overt nods to the conventions of the genre. The supers were actually cool, and were characters I'd want to see in a comic book or play in a game, unlike some other super related literature I've read. The story was good, the plot was solid. The bad: The character voice wandered a little bit. Usually it was pretty clear who you were reading, but every now and then Fatale and Doctor Impossible start to sound a bit too much like each other. That may have been intentional on some level, but it can be a bit jarring to realize that the "voice" that sounded like Fatale, was actually the Doc talking to Baron Ether. There seem to be some timeline issues with the universe as well, but I'm really just picking nits at this point. The book is a fun read, and very well done. As one of the reviewers said "This would make a great comic book, and I intend that as the highest of praise." I agree, I'd like to see more of the world of Doctor Impossible and the Champions. I just picked this up... but haven't started it yet. I was wondering if it would be good fodder for a character sheet or two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
proditor Posted July 17, 2008 Report Share Posted July 17, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I just picked this up... but haven't started it yet. I was wondering if it would be good fodder for a character sheet or two. I found myself thinking in character sheets A LOT while reading this, and normally, I don't do that. I think you could mine a lot of stuff out of the book/setting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logan D. Hurricanes Posted July 17, 2008 Report Share Posted July 17, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I just picked this up... but haven't started it yet. I was wondering if it would be good fodder for a character sheet or two.I challenge you to NOT make character sheets upon reading this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted July 17, 2008 Report Share Posted July 17, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I just picked this up... but haven't started it yet. I was wondering if it would be good fodder for a character sheet or two. Susan of Narnia as a Wonder Woman homage was sheer genius. I've thought several times about writing her up. Unfortunately, we never get to see her in action; we only know that she once had a powerful magical artifact, but that its power has faded now, forcing her retirement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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