TJT
Mr. Poopybutthole
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What did you just read?
- Thread starter Fippy Darkpaw
- Start date
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Guest, it's time once again for the massively important and exciting FoH Asshat Tournament!
Go here and give us your nominations!Who's been the biggest Asshat in the last year? Give us your worst ones!
Ritley
Bronze Baron of the Realm
- 15,999
- 35,003
Didn't realize you could read epubs on iPhone, looks like it was added awhile back. Thought it was locked down like most everything else on iphone
The format in iBooks is still shit compared to kindle, one of the two books I tried out has huge margins which you can't change.
TJT
Mr. Poopybutthole
- 42,796
- 109,248
File converters are online now and they're really good these days too.
- 1
Campbell1oo4
Ahn'Qiraj Raider
- 1,930
- 6,137
The Mad King by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
An American tourist gets caught up in the politically intrigue of a small European kingdom during the onset of the Great War. In the same vein of the Warlord of Mars, the Mad King follows a red-blooded fighting man in his quest to save a realm inhabited by morally bankrupt Austrians and rescue a princess he falls in love with at first sight. Written during the First World War, the book shows its age with a too heroic protagonist whose honor and honesty result in him landing in far more trouble than is completely necessary at times. He has the chance to defeat his enemies on at least two occasions, but cannot bring himself to do dishonorable thing of simply killing his opponent in cold blood. The story also comes to an abrupt end once the climax exhausts itself.
6/10
An American tourist gets caught up in the politically intrigue of a small European kingdom during the onset of the Great War. In the same vein of the Warlord of Mars, the Mad King follows a red-blooded fighting man in his quest to save a realm inhabited by morally bankrupt Austrians and rescue a princess he falls in love with at first sight. Written during the First World War, the book shows its age with a too heroic protagonist whose honor and honesty result in him landing in far more trouble than is completely necessary at times. He has the chance to defeat his enemies on at least two occasions, but cannot bring himself to do dishonorable thing of simply killing his opponent in cold blood. The story also comes to an abrupt end once the climax exhausts itself.
6/10
TJT
Mr. Poopybutthole
- 42,796
- 109,248
M
Man0warr
Read Sins of Empire and there seems to be some continuity problems with the direction he was going. In the Powder Mage trilogy Kresimir, Brude, and Adom were basically totally unexpected in terms of what they were able to do and without being in a coma Kresimir would have burned Adro to the ground. Hence the plot point of him being forced into sleep mode by Ka-Poel and all of them requiring specific blood sorcery to actually kill (Brude's plot).
Anyway, Sins of Empire mentions that the wars in Gurla that Tamas led 20 years ago killed all the Gurlish, "gods" with cabal Privileged. Meaning they encountered the gods that the Godstones can create before and tanks a lot of what happened in the Powder Mage trilogy.
Hope they can explain that one!
Anyway, Sins of Empire mentions that the wars in Gurla that Tamas led 20 years ago killed all the Gurlish, "gods" with cabal Privileged. Meaning they encountered the gods that the Godstones can create before and tanks a lot of what happened in the Powder Mage trilogy.
Hope they can explain that one!
Springbok
Karen
- 9,406
- 13,945
How Does David Grann Manage to Repackage History So That It Arrives With the Force of a Revelation?
As an oilman and a resident of Oklahoma, I genuinely have no cognizance of this story. Interesting and told in a neat way. I read a lot, maybe one/two books a month (for my circle of pals, that's a LOT!) and this one resonated with me quite a bit. Neat, true story. Going to now read the guys other books as I think he's a pretty cool historical writer and the Lost City of Z seems like a cool story as well
Killers of the Flower Moon
As an oilman and a resident of Oklahoma, I genuinely have no cognizance of this story. Interesting and told in a neat way. I read a lot, maybe one/two books a month (for my circle of pals, that's a LOT!) and this one resonated with me quite a bit. Neat, true story. Going to now read the guys other books as I think he's a pretty cool historical writer and the Lost City of Z seems like a cool story as well
Killers of the Flower Moon
Ukerric
Bearded Ape
- 8,322
- 10,299
Speaking of History, I'm almost finished with SPQR - An ancient history of Rome and that's probably the first time I ever heard about the Social War which blows your mind.
Imagine that an alliance of italian cities decide to declare war against Rome... to force Rome to grant their people roman citizenship.
That's how weird early Roman history can be.
Imagine that an alliance of italian cities decide to declare war against Rome... to force Rome to grant their people roman citizenship.
That's how weird early Roman history can be.
Campbell1oo4
Ahn'Qiraj Raider
- 1,930
- 6,137
The Sleeping Dragon by Joel Rosenberg (8/10) - When a collection of DnD hobbyists are sent to a fantasy realm by their Game Master they have to struggle against slave traders, dragons and each other's clashing personalities in order to reach a magical gate that will bring them back home.
The book has very strong characters that are well-fleshed out with emotional depth and equipped with charisma and skills that lead us through an enjoyable adventure.
The climax of the story itself is quite interesting. Since the entire plot is to get back home, there is no central villain to the story and the events that transpire during the climax itself result in a twist that steers the story in an interesting direction.
The book has very strong characters that are well-fleshed out with emotional depth and equipped with charisma and skills that lead us through an enjoyable adventure.
The climax of the story itself is quite interesting. Since the entire plot is to get back home, there is no central villain to the story and the events that transpire during the climax itself result in a twist that steers the story in an interesting direction.
The main characters decide to stay in the fantasy realm - leaving our world behind - in order to revive a dead friend. They also promise each other to defeat the institutions of slavery that dominate their new world.
Points for dropping a structural engineer into a fantasy setting and having him pledge to build suspension bridges, steam engines and gunpowder.
Points for dropping a structural engineer into a fantasy setting and having him pledge to build suspension bridges, steam engines and gunpowder.
Campbell1oo4
Ahn'Qiraj Raider
- 1,930
- 6,137
In my opinion, the later books are better. They evolve beyond being simple fantasy novels and transcend into geo-political thrillers. The people from our world introduce gunpowder, steam engines and democracy to the fantasy world. The fallout of those intrusions is far more interesting than a simple tale of a couple of warriors, wizards and clerics.
I recommend it. They do not suffer from writer's fatigue as they go on.
chaos
Buzzfeed Editor
- 17,324
- 4,839
Finished Elantris. It was... not great. The beginning was downright bad. But it did pick up and ended ok. It was interesting enough to get me to try out Mistborn.
Halfway through the first Mistborn book, way, way better. I don't want to be too down on Elantris, if I had read it instead of audio-booked it I might have liked it more, the guy who read it was super bad, sounded like Jake's dad from Adventure Time the whole way through. The guy doing Mistborn is better.
Halfway through the first Mistborn book, way, way better. I don't want to be too down on Elantris, if I had read it instead of audio-booked it I might have liked it more, the guy who read it was super bad, sounded like Jake's dad from Adventure Time the whole way through. The guy doing Mistborn is better.
Ritley
Bronze Baron of the Realm
- 15,999
- 35,003
His books are better the more recent you get. Elantris wasn't great and honestly I would have told you to skip it. Didn't know the narrator was bad for it though, for the recent mistborn and storm light books the narrators are top notch
- 1
All These Worlds (Bobiverse 3) - Dennis E Taylor
The bobs' efforts to save humanity are getting more difficult after effectively starting a war with a technologically superior and unrelentingly hostile alien species. This one felt like a series end - there's still scope for continuation but pretty much all the major plot threads are cleared up by the end. Good consistent quality from this series, author is definitely on the watchlist for future books he releases.
Wildfire (Hidden Legacy 3) - Ilona Andrews
The hidden legacy series is tending more toward paranormal romance than Andrews' other stuff - it's still good quality and a fun read though, just with unnecessarily explicit sex scenes scattered through it. In this one Nevada investigates the kidnapping of her boyfriend's ex-girlfriend's husband (sigh) while trying to avoid vindictive bullshit from her ruthless and widely feared grandmother.
The Idiot Gods - David Zindell
The life story of an intelligent killer whale I think. It starts with like 30 pages of relentlessly boring preface, after struggling through that I didn't have the energy to actually read the story. Might go back to it at some point, I quite liked his earlier books.
Spellblind (Justin Fearrson 1) - David B Coe
Urban fantasy about a private detective that's a weremyste, basically mage but goes crazy at full moon. He gets called in to consult on a serial killer murder where the most recent victim is a senator's daughter so is suddenly getting a lot more attention. ( I am not sure about the setup here, I suspect an uncaught serial killer with 30+ current victims would probably be met with more than apathy eve if he didn't kill anyone important ). This was decent, may read more in series.
Hot Lead, Cold Iron ( Mick Oberon 1 ) - Ari Marmell
Exiled fae prince decides to become a private detective in 30's Chicago. He gets made an offer he can't refuse from a mob boss's wife who thinks her daughter has been swapped for a faerie changeling and wants her real daughter found. This was good but not great, I liked it enough I will probably read more.
The Delirium Brief (Laundry Files 8) - Charles Stross
Public outrage over the poor handling of an extradimensional invasion in the previous book leads to the previously secret government agency ( the Laundry ) being shut down, with operations to be taken over by a suspiciously conveniently prepared external defense contractor. This book maintains the good quality of the series, and is a bit intriguing in that the events of the book really shake up the setting, it's hard to imagine what further books would look like.
Borne - Jeff VanderMeeer
Post apocalyptic scavenger finds a weapon of mass destruction and adopts it as a pet, against the strenuous objections of her mad scientist boyfriend. This was very original stuff with an unusual setting - the city it's set in is terrorized by a gigantic flying bear, for example. ( The flight is courtesy of machinery run by the last bastion of technological society, the Company ). I would rate this really highly except I found the flowery language a bit much at times. Will watch for this author in future.
The Guns Above (Signal Airship 1) - Robyn Bennis
Surprisingly realistic portrayal of airship combat in what seems roughly like an 1800s technology level society. The first female airship captain is sent on a variety of reckless missions in an attempt to get her killed or discredited after she involuntarily publicly embarrasses the general in charge of the war effort. This one was very heavy on the action and I quite liked it, will keep an eye out for sequels.
Cradle, Soulsmith, Blackflame ( Cradle series ) - WIll Wight
Lindon, pitied for his feeble magical skills and lack of affinity for the important skills for society, embarks on the quest for "Real Ultimate Power! ;p" to save his village from a future threat that is way beyond their ability to handle. On the way he finds out that basically everything he has ever been told is wrong. This series reminded me of an anime series, but in a good way. I really liked it and will read any future books in the series.
This Savage Song/Our Dark Duet (Monsters of Verity series) - Victoria Schwabb
Almost, but not quite, post-apocalyptic - the writing is obviously on the wall for the world in general, but currently only the city of Verity is completely fucked, with giant exclusions zones, checkpoints, barriers and the power of denial protecting the rest of the world from what's left of the people there.
The particular apocalypse here is that, for unexplained reasons, various monsters are forming out of the emotional residue of violent acts.
The two viewpoint characters are a teenage girl whose father made a pact with the vampire equivalent monsters, basically trading human sacrifice for a mostly functioning society, and one of the more powerful monsters that formed in response to a school mass shooting, and is allied with the 'no-compromise' faction of humans, fighting the monsters at all costs, and executing any humans that commit violent acts.
These were very very dark for something marketed as Young Adult but I enjoyed them quite a bit.
The Circle - Dave Egger
Woman goes to work for a company that 9/10 lawyers will assure you is not Facebook and then acts like a vapid superficial bitch because that's what all millenials are like, and they are ruining society dammit.
This was basically 800 pages of old man yelling at the dirty millenials to get off his lawn and take their damn social media with them. It had all the subtlety of a jackhammer and was preachy enough that even the bible felt bad for it. I am not sure why I finished it, maybe in the hope there was some plot in there somewhere, but there wasn't. This made me unreasonably angry ;p
The bobs' efforts to save humanity are getting more difficult after effectively starting a war with a technologically superior and unrelentingly hostile alien species. This one felt like a series end - there's still scope for continuation but pretty much all the major plot threads are cleared up by the end. Good consistent quality from this series, author is definitely on the watchlist for future books he releases.
Wildfire (Hidden Legacy 3) - Ilona Andrews
The hidden legacy series is tending more toward paranormal romance than Andrews' other stuff - it's still good quality and a fun read though, just with unnecessarily explicit sex scenes scattered through it. In this one Nevada investigates the kidnapping of her boyfriend's ex-girlfriend's husband (sigh) while trying to avoid vindictive bullshit from her ruthless and widely feared grandmother.
The Idiot Gods - David Zindell
The life story of an intelligent killer whale I think. It starts with like 30 pages of relentlessly boring preface, after struggling through that I didn't have the energy to actually read the story. Might go back to it at some point, I quite liked his earlier books.
Spellblind (Justin Fearrson 1) - David B Coe
Urban fantasy about a private detective that's a weremyste, basically mage but goes crazy at full moon. He gets called in to consult on a serial killer murder where the most recent victim is a senator's daughter so is suddenly getting a lot more attention. ( I am not sure about the setup here, I suspect an uncaught serial killer with 30+ current victims would probably be met with more than apathy eve if he didn't kill anyone important ). This was decent, may read more in series.
Hot Lead, Cold Iron ( Mick Oberon 1 ) - Ari Marmell
Exiled fae prince decides to become a private detective in 30's Chicago. He gets made an offer he can't refuse from a mob boss's wife who thinks her daughter has been swapped for a faerie changeling and wants her real daughter found. This was good but not great, I liked it enough I will probably read more.
The Delirium Brief (Laundry Files 8) - Charles Stross
Public outrage over the poor handling of an extradimensional invasion in the previous book leads to the previously secret government agency ( the Laundry ) being shut down, with operations to be taken over by a suspiciously conveniently prepared external defense contractor. This book maintains the good quality of the series, and is a bit intriguing in that the events of the book really shake up the setting, it's hard to imagine what further books would look like.
Borne - Jeff VanderMeeer
Post apocalyptic scavenger finds a weapon of mass destruction and adopts it as a pet, against the strenuous objections of her mad scientist boyfriend. This was very original stuff with an unusual setting - the city it's set in is terrorized by a gigantic flying bear, for example. ( The flight is courtesy of machinery run by the last bastion of technological society, the Company ). I would rate this really highly except I found the flowery language a bit much at times. Will watch for this author in future.
The Guns Above (Signal Airship 1) - Robyn Bennis
Surprisingly realistic portrayal of airship combat in what seems roughly like an 1800s technology level society. The first female airship captain is sent on a variety of reckless missions in an attempt to get her killed or discredited after she involuntarily publicly embarrasses the general in charge of the war effort. This one was very heavy on the action and I quite liked it, will keep an eye out for sequels.
Cradle, Soulsmith, Blackflame ( Cradle series ) - WIll Wight
Lindon, pitied for his feeble magical skills and lack of affinity for the important skills for society, embarks on the quest for "Real Ultimate Power! ;p" to save his village from a future threat that is way beyond their ability to handle. On the way he finds out that basically everything he has ever been told is wrong. This series reminded me of an anime series, but in a good way. I really liked it and will read any future books in the series.
This Savage Song/Our Dark Duet (Monsters of Verity series) - Victoria Schwabb
Almost, but not quite, post-apocalyptic - the writing is obviously on the wall for the world in general, but currently only the city of Verity is completely fucked, with giant exclusions zones, checkpoints, barriers and the power of denial protecting the rest of the world from what's left of the people there.
The particular apocalypse here is that, for unexplained reasons, various monsters are forming out of the emotional residue of violent acts.
The two viewpoint characters are a teenage girl whose father made a pact with the vampire equivalent monsters, basically trading human sacrifice for a mostly functioning society, and one of the more powerful monsters that formed in response to a school mass shooting, and is allied with the 'no-compromise' faction of humans, fighting the monsters at all costs, and executing any humans that commit violent acts.
These were very very dark for something marketed as Young Adult but I enjoyed them quite a bit.
The Circle - Dave Egger
Woman goes to work for a company that 9/10 lawyers will assure you is not Facebook and then acts like a vapid superficial bitch because that's what all millenials are like, and they are ruining society dammit.
This was basically 800 pages of old man yelling at the dirty millenials to get off his lawn and take their damn social media with them. It had all the subtlety of a jackhammer and was preachy enough that even the bible felt bad for it. I am not sure why I finished it, maybe in the hope there was some plot in there somewhere, but there wasn't. This made me unreasonably angry ;p
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Void
BAU BAU
- 9,836
- 11,791
V
velk
I just want to say that I greatly appreciate, and look forward to, your "WDYJR" lists. I've picked up several new series based solely on your descriptions and opinions. I hope you keep doing this for years to come so that I don't have to think very much for myself when looking for new books!
Seriously, thank you.
Seriously, thank you.
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Reht
Molten Core Raider
- 1,115
- 317
The Shadow of What was Lost - The Licanius Trilogy: after a little bit of a rocky start (the writing was good but rather it felt like the author lifted soooo many ideas from other books and shoehorned them in and has its fair share of tropes - was actually counting them off in the beginning) it turned into a pretty enjoyable book as it found its pace and the story developed, good enough that I am looking forward to starting the second one today.
chaos
Buzzfeed Editor
- 17,324
- 4,839
Finished the firs 2 books of Sanderson's Mistborn series. So much better than Elantris, like it was written by a different person. And the voice actor on the audio books is good. There are still problems, his dialogue is pretty much atrocious. But the storyline is cool and the magic system is interesting.
It was his first book after all, and I believe he said wrote most of it well before it was even published. Probably when he was still in college.
He re-released it a couple years ago with some fixes - I never read the original version though.
Stormlight is miles better than his first three Mistborn books.
He re-released it a couple years ago with some fixes - I never read the original version though.
Stormlight is miles better than his first three Mistborn books.