Kevin's Watch

Rawedge Rim wrote: those were awesome. Doubt the zeroth law will take though

[[bunch of stuff deleted to avoid spoilers AND cuz there are things I don't recall or amn't sure I recall correctly, AND cuz there are at least 2 books I haven't read that are not on the list so far but might be relevant if I've read the blurbs ABOUT them correctly...someday I'm going to go back to all these and all the Foundation and do them up right...]]

So just say...I loved the zeroth law. My memory of reading at that time: Nothing about it...no hint, potential, question, intuition...ever even tickled my brain until it appeared. And it absolutely should have...cuz I was guessing a fair number of things, and was SURE I was right, and yet was ready to be really pissed off cuz they COULDN't be right as things were without ruining previous things, so I was thinking HARD about how I might be right and yet NOT ruin things...so I SHOULD have had an inkling...cuz it made total, perfect, obvious sense once it did. I love that kind of surprise.
It was EARNED...and I say that loving Asimov for a number of reasons, but NONE of those reasons is his mastery of literary techniques.

But...On topic...cuz I like to pretend I can stay on topic even though most stuff I say most places is at least tangential if not a Great Leap away, or I can fool people into thinking I'm on topic, or I can show how off-topic isn't really off-topic merely a less traveled short-[or long-]cut, or at least salvage some kind of respect for topical fancy footwork...
Very near the end of the 2nd book of Mistborn trilogy...and I'm glad someone here [don't recall who] whose taste I agree with mentioned it.
Not AMAZING...but good. Like Hamilton and his Void and related works has some very cool ideas...then develops them in ordinary ways. Also...I just this second realized...both of them do well IMO...in internal characterizations WHEN those are self-reflective ONLY. But their internals-in-connection-to-others devolve into triteness/cliche. [Same was true of Jordan/WOT, btw...except his self-ies weren't as good, and other-ies were...what's worse than cliche? Hackneyed? is that a degree worse, or just a synonym?...I think it's just a synonym...but I don't want to say anything like hackneyed/hackneyered/hackneyest...though if I did, I'd do that for Jordan in numerous ways, giving him the "est" form of all the [bad/badder/]baddEST...in the sense of bad is bad, so baddest is WORST. Or BEST at being the WORST.]
TANGENT! OFF_TOPIC!
I'm reading "Mistborn" Trilogy! Almost done with book 2! Book 3 next!!!

I guess I just absolutely am NOT a topical solution.

Rawedge Rim wrote: those were awesome. Doubt the zeroth law will take though

[[bunch of stuff deleted to avoid spoilers AND cuz there are things I don't recall or amn't sure I recall correctly, AND cuz there are at least 2 books I haven't read that are not on the list so far but might be relevant if I've read the blurbs ABOUT them correctly...someday I'm going to go back to all these and all the Foundation and do them up right...]]

So just say...I loved the zeroth law. My memory of reading at that time: Nothing about it...no hint, potential, question, intuition...ever even tickled my brain until it appeared. And it absolutely should have...cuz I was guessing a fair number of things, and was SURE I was right, and yet was ready to be really pissed off cuz they COULDN't be right as things were without ruining previous things, so I was thinking HARD about how I might be right and yet NOT ruin things...so I SHOULD have had an inkling...cuz it made total, perfect, obvious sense once it did. I love that kind of surprise.
It was EARNED...and I say that loving Asimov for a number of reasons, but NONE of those reasons is his mastery of literary techniques.

But...On topic...cuz I like to pretend I can stay on topic even though most stuff I say most places is at least tangential if not a Great Leap away, or I can fool people into thinking I'm on topic, or I can show how off-topic isn't really off-topic merely a less traveled short-[or long-]cut, or at least salvage some kind of respect for topical fancy footwork...

Currently very near the end of the 2nd book of Mistborn trilogy...and I'm glad someone here [don't recall who] whose taste I seem to somewhat share mentioned it.
Not AMAZING...but good. Like Hamilton and his Void and related works has some very cool ideas...then develops them in ordinary ways. Also...I just this second realized...both of them do well IMO...in internal characterizations WHEN those are self-reflective ONLY. But their internals-in-connection-to-others devolve into triteness/cliche. [Same was true of Jordan/WOT, btw...except his self-ies weren't as good, and other-ies were...what's worse than cliche? Hackneyed? is that a degree worse, or just a synonym?...I think it's just a synonym...but I don't want to say anything like hackneyed/hackneyered/hackneyest...though if I did, I'd do that for Jordan in numerous ways, giving him the "est" form [bad/badder/]baddEST...in the sense of bad is bad, so baddest is WORST. Or BEST at being the WORST.]
TANGENT! OFF_TOPIC!
I'm reading "Mistborn" Trilogy! Almost done with book 2! Book 3 next!!!

I guess I just absolutely am NOT a topical solution.

I am reading The Warrior Prophet. Don't know if I mentioned that before but I am mentioning it now. I am enjoying it immensely and am not quite sure about all the hatred I see of it on certain parts of the interwebz.

Finished a couple recently

• - Cosmopath by Eric Brown
  - Ancilliary Justice by Ann Leckie

Cosmopath is the first Eric Brown book I've read. Smart, crisp detective-style writing. The hero is a bit too clean-cut for my taste. I never really understand why writers do this. Yes, it allows for a clear division between and the good guys and the bad guys, but it narrows the possibility for character development to an ever-diminisheing point.

Ancilliary Justice is an interesting book with some good ideas. It has good pace. Unusually, it is maybe a bit too short. There are a couple of more books to follow which may fill in the gaps left, but I feel that those books are at the expense of the first one. Usually my complaint is that too little happens in the first book; that the story is being artificially stretched over three (or more! ) books. Here, it feels like some of the backstory and exposition were held back. The problem, as I see it, is that the key emotional peak is reached in the first book (which makes it good!) which means it is unlikely that the following books will be able to match it. Still, it's definitely worth a read.

u.

Finishing up The White Dragon, having inserted The Harper Hall trilogy in the appropriate places. Will need to get the next few of Pern on hold from the library soon.

Menolly wrote:Finishing up The White Dragon, having inserted The Harper Hall trilogy in the appropriate places. Will need to get the next few of Pern on hold from the library soon.

I've got about another week or two left of Doctor Who Universe Audios, and then I'll be returning to Pern:

1. DragonSinger
2. The White Dragon (Ch 1-2)
3. DragonDrums
4. Remaining Chapters (Ch 3+) of The White Dragon

I'm really anxious to get to The White Dragon, after the hatching in DragonSong

sindatur wrote:I'm really anxious to get to The White Dragon, after the hatching in DragonSong

Menolly wrote:

sindatur wrote:I'm really anxious to get to The White Dragon, after the hatching in DragonSong

And that's based upon being intrigued by the hatching, as well as titling a book as such. I know zero spoilers

I just finished The Risen Empire by Scott Westerfeld. I think that I started it before and didn't get very far, but this time I fairly flew through it. Good pacey action backed up with enough interesting ideas to keep the brain involved.

u.

A bit stuck, so re-reading Rivers of London again. The next one should be out soon.

--A

Wildling wrote:Currently reading Feast of Souls: Magister Trilogy, Book 1 by C. S. Friedman.


I really hope this is going somewhere. It's really getting tedious.

Well I finished it. I can't really say it got less tedious, but there were flashes of interesting here & there. Not enough to make me bother reading the rest of the trilogy though. Sorry Friedman fans, I won't be joining the club any time soon.


As a change of pace I'm listening to A Bad Spell In Yurt by C. Dale Brittain. It's an old friend. Fun, slightly silly, and in no way deep or meaningful. Though I am disappointed by the voice guy. He just doesn't have the right sound to me.

waiting on the next Honor Harrington book, and the next Dresden Files book.

Finally finished the first six Pern books. Have the next three on hold, as well as Dragonfly in Amber. While I'm waiting for those to come in, I'm launching my Kindle for PC software and starting Crosswind, book one of the Land, Sea, Sky series...

Finished Moon Over Soho and Whispers Underground. Just randomly picking books...reading Card's Ender In Exile now. Set immediately after Enders game and running parallel to the last 3 Shadow books.

(It has spoilers for the Shadow series, so read that first.)

--A

Menolly wrote: Dragonfly in Amber. .

I need to reread the Outlander series as well. Loved those!

Re-reading the Sarantium duology by Guy Gavriel Kay. Enjoying it more the second time!

On deck I have A Dance With Dragons and probably a TLD re-read for the dissections....

Speaker For the Dead.

--A

Ubik

The Last Dark

Xenocide

--A

Finished Ubik. *shakes head, muttering*