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Murbs 8 Mar 2021 08:26:48 25,068 posts
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Mola_Ram wrote:

Murbs wrote:
Anyway, currently reading The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton. He’s the author of The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, my favourite read of last year.
I'd be interested to know what you thought of it. I didn't think it was nearly as interesting as his first one.

Although Seven Deaths is definitely the better book, I really enjoyed The Devil and the Dark Water. Though I'm undecided on whether I was happy with the ending or not, it was still a five star read for me.

Mola_Ram 8 Mar 2021 08:30:02 25,619 posts
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The ending felt a bit dumb/convoluted to me, but I'm interested in the potential for more books with the same characters. (though Seven Deaths had a bit of a sequel hook too, and that didn't really go anywhere)

Decks 11 Mar 2021 08:56:47 29,411 posts
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I'm about 100 pages into Dune at the moment and finding it a bit shit. Is it worth sticking with if I'm not feeling it by now?

Mola_Ram 11 Mar 2021 09:03:05 25,619 posts
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Decks wrote:
I'm about 100 pages into Dune at the moment and finding it a bit shit. Is it worth sticking with if I'm not feeling it by now?

I guess it depends whether you're the sort of reader that appreciates a lot of dense detail in your fantasy/sci-fi, or if you're the sort that says "enough of that, just get on with telling the story".

I'm of the latter sort, and found Dune a bit of a slog. And the main storyline won't win any points for originality either (though it might have been less of a cliche at the time).

PazJohnMitch 11 Mar 2021 09:08:13 16,858 posts
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If I remember correctly it starts relatively slowly and the first quarter / third of the book is scene setting. Then it starts properly and is great.

Decks 11 Mar 2021 09:20:47 29,411 posts
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Mola_Ram wrote:

I guess it depends whether you're the sort of reader that appreciates a lot of dense detail in your fantasy/sci-fi,

I kind of do (LOTR is probably my favourite book) I'm just finding the setting particularly interesting at the minute. I probably would have given up on it by now if it wasn't so highly regarded.

nickthegun 11 Mar 2021 09:26:57 86,026 posts
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The problem with Dune is that its a commitment to read at least four books. You'd want to go up to at least God Emperor to get the story.

Decks 11 Mar 2021 09:43:18 29,411 posts
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Oh. I was only planning on reading the first to be honest, I'd read the sequels were a bit shit.

nickthegun 11 Mar 2021 09:48:45 86,026 posts
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Nah, the first four are the bomb and are pretty much the atreides story.

He then writes two more to start a new 'what happens next' story and, rather selfishly, died. His son kind of plopped out the rest to wrap the story up from post it notes stuck to the fridge.

Decks 11 Mar 2021 10:20:56 29,411 posts
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Cool I'll stick with it. I don't hate it, it's just a bit stodgy and lifeless so far.

robthehermit 12 Mar 2021 13:34:10 8,331 posts
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Yeah, I found Dune to be a massive slog for the first third or so but once it got going I couldn't put it down.

barchetta 15 Mar 2021 07:28:23 3,174 posts
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Just finished The Trials of Koli, the middle book of a trilogy by MR Carey (who I'd read previously with The Girl With All the Gifts).
Despite some reservations over the 'quality' of the story, it has kept my attention so I've gone ahead and pre-ordered the third installment.

The story centres on Koli, a late-teen who lives in a small village in a post-apocalyptic future a few hundred years after a great war, where society has fallen back into pre-industrial, almost feudal, behaviour as is the language used. Readers familiar with the towns of Calderdale will get the locale straight away.

Those that do possess old examples of 'tech' wield much power.

It reads more like a YA novel and rattles along with Koli and his companions and the weird and dangerous world (genetically altered flora and fauna feature heavily).

To be honest, I felt it was written with one eye on a lucrative movie, or more likely Netflix series, contract but it serves as a nice, easy to read book perfect to plough through or read in short 20 minute bedtime sessions.

So far, a 6.5 but certainly paints a vivid picture for me.

Edited by barchetta at 09:24:59 15-03-2021

TechnoHippy 15 Mar 2021 08:21:26 18,913 posts
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I'm currently reading a collection of short stories by Neal Asher and I want my own Gabbleduck :-)

cov 15 Mar 2021 10:21:23 2,494 posts
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Good aren't they (not stalking you)

TechnoHippy 15 Mar 2021 20:23:52 18,913 posts
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One of my favourite of his alien. I do love their nonsense speech as well.

boo 15 Mar 2021 22:56:31 13,777 posts
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Just finished Kolymsky Heights by Lionel Davidson. The cover has a sticker saying 'The best thriller I've ever read.' Phillip Pulman.

From this I have determined two things.

a) Phillip Pulman has only ever read one thriller.
b) I want to dig up Lionel Davidson and punch him in his stupid, dead face.

A terrible, terrible book.

CosmicFuzz 15 Mar 2021 22:59:39 32,601 posts
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Aw what? I loved Kolymsky Heights!

kentmonkey 15 Mar 2021 23:00:51 24,224 posts
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I thought it was ok when I read it. But far from the best thriller I've ever read. And I've only read about 10 of them.

RichDC 18 Mar 2021 18:42:40 9,067 posts
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Roadside Picnic - Arkady and Boris Strugatsky

Enjoyed that. A short, fun, easy read with some interesting ideas.

TechnoHippy 18 Mar 2021 18:54:47 18,913 posts
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RichDC wrote:
Roadside Picnic - Arkady and Boris Strugatsky

Enjoyed that. A short, fun, easy read with some interesting ideas.

I second this emotion.

GrandpaUlrira 18 Mar 2021 23:00:14 3,871 posts
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Loved Roadside Picnic when I read it years ago, and even now the mood and vibe of it has stuck with me.

Rodney 19 Mar 2021 06:40:05 4,947 posts
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This is a bit low brow compared to some of the books suggested on here but I just finished reading Arnold Schwarzenegger’s autobiography, which is of course called “Total Recall”.

I’m a big fan of his because I’m into weight lifting and gymnastics. but I probably wouldn’t have read this if it wasn’t a birthday present. Any way I’m glad I did, because he’s had an interesting life. In fact he met so many famous Hollywood legends, sports stars, political figures and presidents that it reminded me of Forrest Gump.

It’s also impossible not to read with his voice/accent in your head.

Tonka 19 Mar 2021 09:18:47 31,725 posts
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RichDC wrote:
Roadside Picnic - Arkady and Boris Strugatsky

Enjoyed that. A short, fun, easy read with some interesting ideas.

Is it the new translation? First time I read Roadside Picnic it was a Swedish translation of the old (and censored) english translation. I thought the main character talked like a bad parody.

Then, last summer I read a new, straight from the uncensored Russian, translation (the one with an introduction by Ursula Le Guin) and thought the main character sounded like a bad parody. This time (thanks to the introduction) I got that it was intentional.

I'd also read Hard to be a God, by the same brothers, so I knew that they were able to write characters with different voices. Roadside Picnic is one of those books that stays in my mind. I can think back on scenes in it at weird moments. I think I like it more now, than after just having read it.

Tonka 19 Mar 2021 09:22:46 31,725 posts
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Null States by Malka Older
"I write for the people whose names get underlined in red by Microsoft Word" – The author

Well, my names isn't underlined but I still like her books. Part two in a trilogy that is set in a not too distant future, and centered about a radical new form of democracy.

It's a quite different kind of book. Rather slow, the main plot driver isn't really the thing, at times very exiting things happen. Mostly people are hopping the globe from one place I've no idea where it is to another.

Well worth reading

dominalien 19 Mar 2021 09:29:18 10,402 posts
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@Tonka As I was growing up, anything by the Strugatskys was a guaranteed gem, even though there was always the underlying hostility because Russia and all that. I haven't read anything in a long time, I need to put them on my to-read list.

In a similar vein, Kir Bulytchov (not sure about the English spelling) is excellent.

nickthegun 19 Mar 2021 09:52:52 86,026 posts
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Tonka wrote:

RichDC wrote:
Roadside Picnic - Arkady and Boris Strugatsky

Enjoyed that. A short, fun, easy read with some interesting ideas.
Is it the new translation? First time I read Roadside Picnic it was a Swedish translation of the old (and censored) english translation. I thought the main character talked like a bad parody.

The version I have is an SF Masterworks one from 2007, fwiw

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SF_Masterworks

RichDC 19 Mar 2021 09:58:34 9,067 posts
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I had the SF Masterworks version and can't recall any issues with the translation (except the very end), though I guess I may have just excused it as part of the narrative and hadn't really thought about it.

Tonka 30 Mar 2021 06:24:58 31,725 posts
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RichDC wrote:
I had the SF Masterworks version and can't recall any issues with the translation (except the very end), though I guess I may have just excused it as part of the narrative and hadn't really thought about it.

My poster was 100% about the swedish translation, sounding off. As of the book was transcribed from some really hammy acting.

The newer translation was better, bit the main character is a bit of a parody tough guy.

I didn't remember the censored version will enough to spot any differences. Great book either way.

Nazo 2 Apr 2021 16:57:58 1,754 posts
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Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson

Been meaning to read this for a while but now I have I'm a bit disappointed. It's got some interesting ideas but the style grated on me quite a bit and the humour didn't really land making it feel unnecessarily bloated. The story path and characters didn't feel particularly well fleshed-out and I often lost track of who was doing what and why (possibly because I fell asleep so often while reading it).

2.5 / 5

Rate the last book you read • Page 102