rolling fantasy, science fiction, speculative fiction &c. thread

Hey, has anyone else read Jim Butcher's Codex Alera series? To my surprise, it is as engaging as his Harry Dresden novels (if a little heavy-handed at times)

Are the Harry Dresden novels worth it if I have a low tolerance for sexism? I know nothing about them other than they are popular and a friend whose opinion I semi-distrust (due to his high tolerance for sexism) keeps telling me I should read them.

I don't think they're sexist, or perhaps more accurately I don't think they're problematically sexist.

There are a lot of gender archetype things going on that definitely can scan as sexist, but one thing Butcher does with a good chunk of his cast is to flesh them out and have characters grow across books. It is actually very rare for a book to end without some major change impacting the lives of the main characters.

Really, his biggest weakness is the near-infallibility of Harry and his crew; after about six or seven books it starts to strain credibility a little bit that Harry and his crew can consistently own whatever mystical threat rolls through Chicago. However, Butcher is very smart about he deals with that in how he both adds allies to bolster the "good guys" (note: not all the good guys are actually good guys, which is another interesting thing) and in how the cost paid for each victory escalates. In fact, the most recent books up the scale significantly and really puts the entire cast through the wringer, only to set the stage for a wholly new, semi-terrifying status quo rife with story potential.

Harry as a character is chivalrous to a fault but he also tends to surround himself with awesome, extremely competent allies, both male and female. I think if you go in knowing that some noir stylings are going to occur, you'll be fine.

Awesome. That is a really helpful response. Thank you!

has anyone else been to the British Library exhibition on SF?

I went! I didn't have enough time to really get into it. Exhibitions of books aren't very skimmable.

I had to go to it three times to get it all.

oh ffs i was up near the euston rd on sat, heading for regents park when it started raining, and i was thinking "what can i do nearby that's indoors?"

I just downloaded a bunch of free epub books, jumped into one already and wish I were reading it right now:

Blindsight by Peter Watts, which I'm about 2/3 through and there's quite a lot about neurology and math and topics that I don't even know enough about to know what to call them, but I feel like I'm learning shit? Also it's exciting and mysterious. I'm a sucker for plot.

Mars Girl by Jeff Garrity

My Own Kind of Freedom, Steven Brust

Star Dragon, Mike Brotherton

Wikipedia says Blindsight is about "the nature of identity and consciousness." Also it involves explanations of the Chinese Room scenario and other smarty-pants turing/AI stuff.

That could either be right up my street, or the kind of thing I would end up throwing across the room in disgust.

Where did you get it from? Going on 3 week hol soon, need to gather reading material.

I don't know where it's from, I use the Aldiko reader for droid phones and when I search for things it just sends me to a "store"? But I only download free books from that "store."

http://www.manybooks.net/titles/wattspother06Blindsight.html

great, thanks. think that site might be hidden in my delicious bookmarks somewhere.

That could either be right up my street, or the kind of thing I would end up throwing across the room in disgust.
--ledge

if i hate it, you'll buy it? ;)

my ultimate reaction will probably be "meh, s'ok"

Um, no:)

Blindsight is great, second time round was rewarding too, His Rifters trilogy also available free online is pretty astounding too. He's my favourite modern SF writer.

Yeah, BLindsight is fantastic. All his novels and almost all of his short stories are downloadable from his website: http://www.rifters.com/real/shorts.htm

If you read Blindsight, the multimedia presentation he did about the vampire science is great fun: http://www.rifters.com/real/progress.htm

Hey, has anyone else read Jim Butcher's Codex Alera series?

Read the first and have the second queued up. These were recommended to me before I came across the Dresden stuff (which I quickly devoured), but something in the first chapters of the first book put me off them initially (can't remember what, possibly the slave girl schtick)

http://greatsfandf.com/apologia.php

what a peculiar website.

peculiar = unreadable?

90% finished with book of the new sun, get ready for the reading club thread

i would recommend reading that, it is pretty smart

the sf and f website or new sun?

i think it is definitely unreadable in the sense that it wasn't designed to be read on any monitor that wasn't 4:3 and at most 800x600

yeah i meant unreadable in that sense i didnt even try to look @ the words

sf and f website

i particularly enjoyed his thoughts on setting

bacigalupi's windup girl definitely fits that SF-and-F paradigm we were talking about upstairs a little, where you're all impressed with the author's plotting and world-building, and then some deeply gratuitous and unpleasant sexual thing happens, that makes you distrust everything you had previously thought about the author

I know. I was the most let down by the parts involving the otherwise-nice engineer guy who is clearly Our Hero. Maybe it was supposed to make him "complex" and "flawed" or something but fuck that.

And then the rapey angle that is all the other "sex" in that book. Vom.

I probably should have taken the title as a warning instead of skipping over it p much.

Read the first and have the second queued up. These were recommended to me before I came across the Dresden stuff (which I quickly devoured), but something in the first chapters of the first book put me off them initially (can't remember what, possibly the slave girl schtick)

I was about to say "what are you talking about...?" but then I remembered the whole infiltration ruse

although the way that whole situation played out and what happened with that character subsequently pretty much erases that entire gambit IMO

the liveship trilogy ftw, nasty nasty nasty

ha yes, those books were some evil shit

too bad Hobb's Forest Mage trilogy was too fucking gross for me to finish, seems like it was being set up for a similar level of heartbreak

although the way that whole situation played out and what happened with that character subsequently pretty much erases that entire gambit IMO

Yes, agreed! I finished the second one on the weekend. Taking a short break with some steampunk Civil-War-never-ended with zombies Cherie Priest (Dreadnaught), then queuing up the 3rd codex alera.

will always rep for the farseer trilogy though

lol I just blasted through all of the Codex Alera books, am currently on #6

I should really go back and finish off the Black Company books someday

also agree re: Farseer Trilogy

what sort of nastiness are you guys talking about?

eh

No, i'm gonna decline to answer that tbh.

I really recommend reading the trilogy, explaining it spoils the impact a little (actually even hinting at it probably spoils it a little but hey) It's not like super gory or anything like that, more tied into human behavior.

The Forest Mage stuff is gross food porn tho, I don't mind spoiling that at all because it was just nasty.

Is anyone else anticipating the new Vernor Vinge (Childern of the Sky, sequel to A Fire Upon Deep)?

oh shit

I am now

I know! Have pre-ordered, can't wait

taking a sidestep i wanted to recommend sean russell's set of entide sea duologies 'moontide & magic rise' and 'the river into darkness' the first of which im rereading for the first time in a long time. theyre so much less 'dark' than a similar fantasy series would be today but i think theyre much better written and executed than many contemp series and he does some of the best world-building ive ever read. partly because unlike a lot of writers he barely reveals anything abt his world but still manages to make it feel deep and cohesive

the characterization is a little thin and he spends too much time showing off his knowledge of 17th century sailing but i think anyone who likes the political gamesmanship and maneuvering and quasi-historical stuff in a song of ice and fire wld be really into this

'duology' isn't as bad as 'quadrilogy', but it's pretty bad

firefox didnt like it much either tbh

I read Cherie Priest's first in that series, Boneshaker, but wasn't that impressed. Or rather, I was more impressed at the design of the book (pleasingly brown ink!) than the writing, which is not a good sign...

I know I have World Without End and Sea Without a Shore in a box in here somewhere but I can't remember them. Will re-read when I unpack.

Boneshaker, but wasn't that impressed.

She's local (to me), so I don't mind giving her a chance or three. I thought Boneshaker was just okay. This one is more disjointed and action-packed (plus, the undead! and...and...trains!). The main protagonist is fairly plausible, though how she manages all this climbing around up and down train car exteriors in a skirt when she's barely able to get across the platform between cars is starting to annoy me.