Reading roundup + games

Jan 02, 2016 20:48

First, the books:

My reading list is here, complete with links to goodreads and all ( Read more... )

gaming, books

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Comments 22

hamsterwoman January 2 2016, 22:20:39 UTC
It breaks my heart to say it, but it's Raising Steam, Terry Pratchett's penultimate Discworld novel.

I still haven't finished it (after starting it last year) because I just couldn't bear to be reading a Discworld book that was doing so little for me. Heartbreaking is exactly what it was :(

#2 The Hanging Tree by Ben Aaronovitch. If it won't be delayed another year.

Oh god, it better not be! I'm so pissed about the six months delay at the last minute! >:/

And, of course, rooting for you to read (and enjoy) the Phoenix Guards, too! :D (Although... I'm honestly blanking on the Treville character in it, so that tidbit must've come from someone other than me.) But genderbent!Porthos is great, and the Aramis character is great, too, and it's a very loving homage overall. :)

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asthenie_vd January 2 2016, 22:48:52 UTC
You could try and finish it and then immediately wash it down with your favourite Discworld book? (Although that might end up making things worse, I don't know. It just sad, no matter how you turn it.)

I both need my fix of RoL this year and at the same time I dread it, because Aaronovitch was talking about killing characters at some point and I just couldn't bear losing anyone from that series. ;__;

I'm still deciding which edition of Phoenix Guards to get, they're all a bit expensive over here, but I hope to get it for myself in time for my birthday. I got recced so many "inspired by the three musketeers" books over the last two years, I honestly don't remember. I might even be mixing up books in my mind. XD (thinking about it, I might be confusing elements of what you told me about Phoenix Guards with Element of Fire, but I plan on reading both, so no harm done I mixed them up. *g*)

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hamsterwoman January 2 2016, 23:40:02 UTC
You could try and finish it and then immediately wash it down with your favourite Discworld book? (Although that might end up making things worse, I don't know.

I could try that, I guess... My favorite Discworld book probably -- and my favorite HAPPY Discworld book DEFINITELY -- is Going Postal, so I don't know, it might well make it worse to go from the fairly lackluster Moist of Steam to the Moist I fell in love with instantaneously in Postal...

It doesn't looke like you've read The Shepherd's Crown yet, so just wanted to mention that that book didn't have the effect on me that Raising Steam did, although it also feels unfinished/unpolished compared to PTerry's usual. Of course, it made me very sad for other reasons, but it certainly didn't drag for me the way Steam did.

and at the same time I dread it, because Aaronovitch was talking about killing characters at some point

What? NO! Why did you tell me that?! DDD:

Oh man, I hope he doesn't kill of anybody. I certianly hope he doesn't kill of Nightingale, because mentors, and ( ... )

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asthenie_vd January 2 2016, 23:59:43 UTC
I haven't gotten around to reading any of the Tiffany Aching books yet, that's why I've yet to read Shepard's crown. My end of Discworld is still a couple of years in the future, thankfully.

The new is at least two years old? He tweeted something vague and people freaked out until it was pointed out that it couldn't be about Foxglove Summer, because that was already being edited, so it had to be for something else he was writing, and it might not be The Hanging Tree after all? Maybe Aaronovitch is just messing with us intentionally? *wibbles*

I might not be able to go on if he kills off Nightingale. I love the books, but that'd break me. Mentors are usually among my favourite characters and the heart-break just keeps adding up! (Although, to be honest, I'd likely still have to find out how the story ends in the subsequent books. Damn this series for being so addictive - but I won't enjoy it as much if it comes at that cost.)

I do have an eReader but the ebook is as expensive as the printed book (I've no idea why).

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bm_shipper January 3 2016, 07:46:15 UTC
I seriously need to get into reading again. I mean, I've never been THAT much of a reader - only when i was in High School, I read a lot back then - but I really wanna get into reading more again!

Good luck to you for managing to read more again this year :)

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asthenie_vd January 3 2016, 13:18:25 UTC
You've been so busy last year, it's no wonder you didn't do that much reading.

Thank you. :)

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failte_aoife January 3 2016, 21:48:39 UTC
You know I am about 65% sure I read something by Steven Brust once (something with T? Taltos? *checks GR...apparently this is a book that exists though oddly it is the 4th in the series despite being the first one that was published...whatever) but apart from that I remember nothing about it. But The Musketeers IN SPACE (or something) does sound very awesome XD

(Did you ever get a happy ending in Long Live the Queen? I got frustrated and then distracted, as so often happens with games for me...)

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asthenie_vd January 3 2016, 22:03:59 UTC
Yes, Taltos! The musketeer thing is set in the same universe, which is how hamsterwoman ended up reccing the stuff to me, because she's a fan of the Vlad Taltos series.

If I end up liking the author's style, I might have to get into the main series as well, because the premise sounds interesting. :)

I'm reading The Element of Fire first though, which is set in a 1600's Fantasy AU with magic and assassins and fae and stuff - because the ebook for that one is only 3,20€ vs. 18€. D:

(Yes, I did! I eventually used a guide! XD I have since achieved more happy endings on my own, but it's still hard. I've still never managed to stop that one girl from going into the forest where she presumably gets eaten by something nasty, because I've never managed to do a successful play-through with high Lore stats. I've also never done a playthrough with a "cruel" princess. I read up on it on the guide and ... no. It's just too cruel. XD Like, apparently you can [Spoiler (click to open)]avoid the duel against the evil foreign king who kept killing me btw XD - by swearing ... )

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failte_aoife January 4 2016, 10:12:10 UTC
I have the kindle-sample of Element of Fire and enjoyed it but didn't buy the book so far because...well...I have books and I always tell myself I should reduce my tbr-pile before getting new books...which never works anyway...ehem.
(But now I just saw that both Element of Fire and The Phoenix Guard are as unabridged audiobook on Audible and I haven't yet spent my monthly credit...I only had originally planned on either getting Lyndsay Faye's Holmes-hunts-Jack-the-Ripper-book or Der Turm...NOOOO! Desicions are hard)

Noooooooooo...I don't think I could do that either...I can barely bring myself to have nameless rebels executed as some games require :D

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asthenie_vd January 4 2016, 16:49:03 UTC
Ooh, I started Element of Fire by now, so let I'll be eagerly awaiting your review. ^^ (So far I can say that Captain Tr- I mean Captain Thomas is very swoon-worthy. XD And there's a lot of characters and events inspired by history, which amuses me, because some of these scenarios I've been contemplating to use for fic - like the exorcism of Loudun kicks off the plot in this one and it's delicious.)

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nessaniel January 4 2016, 10:54:10 UTC
Yaaaaaaaaaay, Spiele und Bücher! \o/ Oh man, ich versuche seit einem Jahr endlich mal die Zeit und den Kopf frei zu kriegen für die Geralt-Bücher (ich habe die Kurzgeschichtensammlung hier rumfliegen? Und ich mochte sie sehr gerne? WARUM LESE ICH NICHT DEN REST???) UND SIEHE DA SCHON WIEDER EIN VORSATZ FÜR 2016. :D

Mounts let you get around faster but cuts off any interaction between the companions,
Das war mit Abstand das schlimmste, ja. ICH KANN AUF EINEM DRACHENPFERDCHEN REITEN UND DANN REDET NIEMAND MIT MIR??? HALLO, ICH BIN DAS COOLSTE UND LEUCHTENDSTE WAS JEMALS ÜBER THE Dragon Age Setting gewandelt ist, kann mir das auch mal bitte jemand bestätigen? ;__; Ich war im großen und ganzen zufrieden mit dem Spiel, aber ich bin auch jemand, der gerne stundenlang durch die Wüste rennt, um fünftausend total unnütze Bärenärsche Shards of Whatever einzusammeln und da ich auf der PS4 gespielt habe, hatte ich natürlich auch keine Probleme mit andauernden Abstürzen =/ Die einen absolut abfucken können, ne, Sleeping Dogs, WIR HABEN DA NOCH ( ... )

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asthenie_vd January 4 2016, 16:44:46 UTC
Awww, das wäre wirklich zu schön weil ich dich dann volllabern könnte. ;___; Ich meine, sie sind jetzt auch nicht 100% problemfrei, aber trotzdem meine Lieblingsfantasy. Das Worldbuilding ist so ... also man merkt einfach, dass der Autor das europäische Mittelalter studiert hat. Und dabei sind dann hin und wieder geringe Anspielungen drin, allein das ist schon nerdig schön. Aber das Beste sind einfach die märchenhaften Plotelemente, und der flüssige Erzählstil (ganz viel Handlung wird über Dialoge transportiert, dass ist dann schön flüssig, statt infodump, yay!) und die Charaktere. Einfach, die Charaktere. Ich könnte die so durchknuddeln von früh bis spät, vor allem Ciri und Geralt, aah.

Hm, ja, ich kann verstehen, dass Leute, die Spaß daran haben Bärenärsche zu sammeln, DA:I nicht ganz so langweilig finden. XD Und die Companions sind zugegebenermaßen wieder großteils toll. Wenn sie doch nur in einem besseren Spiel wären, oder in einem erheblich kürzeren Spiel. Ich würde dich ja anschreien, die Unendliche Geschichte dann endlich ( ... )

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nessaniel January 7 2016, 12:12:58 UTC
Alles klar, ist gebongt, sobald ich mich an die Bücher gewagt habe, werde ich dir ALL MEINE GEFÜHLE DAZU MITTEILEN! *__*

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asthenie_vd January 7 2016, 18:28:21 UTC
:DDD ICH KANN ES KAUM ERWARTEN! :DDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

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