melkur
Chancellery Guard
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Post by melkur on Jun 27, 2021 1:22:49 GMT
As one of my local libraries had it, today I've (finally) started to read the Doctor Who book 'A Charitable Earth' for the first time. I'm currently a little over halfway through (I've stopped for the night at the 1990 Interlude) and I am really adoring it, I must say... (The fact that Ace named a cat after Captain Sorin was a nice 'little' touch). Going in 'blind', I will say that it was certainly a surprise when {Spoiler} The 13th Doctor and co showed up
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Post by relativetime on Jul 6, 2021 13:59:29 GMT
Finished Star Wars: The High Republic - The Rising Storm this past Sunday. Overall, I really liked it, but there were some moments the sheer amount of things happening was almost too much. There are so, so many characters to follow and it’s a credit to how interesting they are that I want to follow them, but I certainly struggled to keep track at points. By far, though, the positives outweigh the negatives. When the action gets going, it’s intense. It’s part of the reason I finished this book so soon - I meant to only read five chapters at a time, but once everything hit the fan I couldn’t put it down! I love Bell’s storyline and the new characters like Ty all add something new to the story.. Elzar’s story is also really interesting as well. He reminds me of Anakin in places, with his ability to form quick attachments and keep his emotions in check. Given his short dip into the Dark Side, I wonder if Elzar might follow a similar path? Similarly, poor Bell is put through the absolute worst of the conflict here and the cliffhanger we’re left on leaves me to wonder whether even he will be able to stay on the Jedi path after all the trauma. It’s been a reoccurring theme in the High Republic books I’ve read so far; the Jedi way isn’t always the right way. I think Claudia Grey’s “Into the Dark” has handled this the best so far with the Orla and Cohmac’s tragic backstory, but I’m interested in seeing what the next book with Bell and Elzar decides to do.
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Post by constonks on Jul 6, 2021 18:50:29 GMT
I'm currently making my way through Star Trek TNG and decided to read one of the novels that sounded interesting to me - Peter David's Q Squared, in which Trelane from the Original Series returns as Q's troublesome godson (and ascends to a mega-godhood that spans three alternate timelines).
Currently at the exact midpoint, 217/434 pages.
Decent stuff, all the regular characters' voices are accurate and, as a result, very clear in my head. The book gets a little bogged down in exposition at times (mostly when explaining the backstories of the alternate Enterprise crew) but other than that, it works for me. And it's cool to glimpse the more unfathomable, eldritch side of Q.
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Post by constonks on Jul 6, 2021 18:56:50 GMT
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (...) A short read but an utterly gorgeous one. Recommended. Instantly put a library hold on this one when I read this post. Will let you know how I like it!
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Post by relativetime on Jul 8, 2021 15:16:01 GMT
Continuing my Star Wars book marathon, I’ve just finished Star Wars: Bloodline by Claudia Gray.
It’s probably one of the best Star Wars books I’ve ever read - maybe even one of the best Star Wars stories, period.
I love what Gray does with her characters and how she can turn someone you’re led to dislike into a hero in the span of a single chapter. There’s so much humanity here and so many themes and parallels to real life politics to feel deeply relevant without ever feeling overhanded, misplaced, or too shallow.
I love that this is Leia’s story first and foremost. What she goes through here to become who she is by the sequel trilogy is such a compelling arc while also dealing with the trauma we never got to see resolved on screen from Vader and Tarkin and all she lost fighting the Empire.
I wish so much that this was what we’d gotten onscreen, though I know it could never have been half as nuanced or impactful as it is here - and I generally stick up for the sequels too (except for Rise of Skywalker, that one hurt)!
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Post by project37 on Jul 8, 2021 23:58:44 GMT
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (...) A short read but an utterly gorgeous one. Recommended. Instantly put a library hold on this one when I read this post. Will let you know how I like it! Awesome, and yes, please do let me know!
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Post by relativetime on Jul 12, 2021 12:04:49 GMT
Finished Darth Plagueis last night. It was honestly a bit of a chore to get through. It’s very dry reading at various points and it’s overstuffed with continuity references. It’s tailor-made for those kinds of fans that love making lore videos or those fans who’ve read every single spin-off, tie-in issue set around this time, but absolutely not for someone who’s only dipped their toe into the old EU in passing. At various points I just felt like I was reading about a bunch of names rather than characters.
I also kind of disagree with the very existence of this novel because it’s soul purpose seems to be to explain what the entire masterplan the Sith had in the prequel trilogy, but in the process it robs most of the onscreen characters and the masterplan of most of its bite and mystery. None of the answers it provides are as intriguing as the ones you created in your head before this novel.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 12, 2021 14:56:36 GMT
Sailor Moon volume 4.
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Post by relativetime on Jul 14, 2021 19:32:04 GMT
And now I’ve finished Star Wars: Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn. In short: I loved it! It feels just like watching one of the movies and it was just a whole lot of fun to read!
I’m already a few chapters into the sequel, Dark Force Rising and so far it’s shaping up to be just as intriguing!
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Post by coffeeaddict on Jul 17, 2021 19:59:23 GMT
Just finished the latest Lethbridge-Stewart book, The Haunting of Gabriel Chase. While it was an enjoyable read, I do have one quibble - the editing was atrocious in places, there were a number typos so bad they jumped right off the page.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 17, 2021 23:07:24 GMT
Together We Will Go
Part of a J. Michael Straczynski haul ordered a few months ago, alongside Becoming a Writer, Staying a Writer. The novel is told through a series of first-person diary entries, vocal transcriptions, text and email chains. A group of outcasts, fugitives and at least one retiree, band together on a bus to San Francisco. Indulging in life along the way. Once reaching their destination, they'll find a cliff, gaze out over the scope of the ocean, and drive straight over it. Out of the world. These are their experiences and why they would decide to embark on this final journey themselves.
Not for the faint of heart, it doesn't flinch from its subject of suicide/assisted suicide, but it's really damn good. As much a fantastic insight into what makes life worth living as why people want to escape it.
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Post by fitzoliverj on Jul 18, 2021 16:07:47 GMT
"The Lost Adventures of James Bond" by Mark Edlitz, whcih details unmade films (e.g. the third Dalton movie) and stuff that's difficult to get hold of (such as comics). Interesting interview with DW's very own John Peel, who wasn't happy with what happened while he was novelising "James Bond Jr" - and it STILL wasn't his worst experience working on a licenced property.
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Post by relativetime on Jul 18, 2021 16:30:03 GMT
Star Wars: Dark Force Rising
Good, but maybe not quite as good as Heir to the Empire. It’s still plenty fun to read though.
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Post by Tim Bradley on Jul 19, 2021 8:14:20 GMT
Star Wars: Dark Force Rising Good, but maybe not quite as good as Heir to the Empire. It’s still plenty fun to read though. My feeling exactly!
Tim.
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Post by shallacatop on Jul 20, 2021 13:20:56 GMT
"The Lost Adventures of James Bond" by Mark Edlitz, whcih details unmade films (e.g. the third Dalton movie) and stuff that's difficult to get hold of (such as comics). Interesting interview with DW's very own John Peel, who wasn't happy with what happened while he was novelising "James Bond Jr" - and it STILL wasn't his worst experience working on a licenced property. I found this quite difficult to read. Informative, but I think due to the nature of a lot of it being reliant on notes - particularly the Dalton films - it took a lot of effort to get into it.
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Post by relativetime on Jul 22, 2021 19:38:26 GMT
Just finished the Thrawn trilogy. I thought the climax was a little too rushed and sloppy, but still a solid book overall.
I’m planning on dipping my toe back into canon Star Wars for a bit and then maybe back to Legends once I get my hands on physical copies of a few books...
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Post by shallacatop on Jul 27, 2021 20:03:30 GMT
Colonel Sun - Again, another Bond continuation novel that I didn’t think I’d read! Was 99p on Kindle last week, so took the plunge. The first 30% and last 20% are good, but it’s that middle 50% that drag it down; it’s quite dull, frankly. It follows the beats of Fleming, but without any of his flair; Bond soaking up the culture, the descriptions of the environments he’s in, the food he’s eating, the many beverages he's consuming, etc. Bit of an odd one considering this was released only 4 years after Fleming’s death. One thing that Amis didn’t omit was the racism and prejudice, which is unfortunate.
Interestingly elements from the book are used in at least three films. The most notable being the torture scene in SPECTRE.
Devil May Care was 99p too, which is the last of the Fleming era continuation novels I’ve yet to read (until Horowitz’s new novel next year), so naturally I bought that!
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Post by doctorkernow on Jul 30, 2021 21:01:36 GMT
Hello again
I'm currently reading the books I haven't read in the Tiffany Aching sequence written by Sir Terry Pratchett as part of the Discworld series. They are really charming and thoroughly engaging. His imagination is extraordinary, I love the Wee Free Men, the blue men in kilts are hilarious. Each tale featuring Miss Tiffany Aching, has its own focus and individual story. My favourite is Wintersmith which also has its own concept album featuring music inspired by the book performed by folk band Steeleye Span.
Also read the Ken Follett World War Two thriller Eye of the Needle, really interesting and full of twists and turns with memorable characters.
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Post by shallacatop on Aug 2, 2021 14:40:38 GMT
Devil May Care - Enjoyed this much more than Colonel Sun. It really is Sebastian Faulks writing as Ian Fleming and I feel he succeeds more than Kingsley Amis did. Julian Gorner is a fantastic villain, up there with the best of Bond’s rogue gallery, the book rattles along at a great pace and it almost signals a new era for Bond; I’m surprised we never got any more.
It has a camp flair and a couple of set pieces that are more reminiscent of the films than literary Bond, but none of it was a complete disconnect or felt out of place.
Arguably there’s nothing completely new here, but it’s a nice big mission for Bond after the events of the Blofeld trilogy and The Man with the Golden Gun.
And just to prove I don’t do anything but consume James Bond media, I also read Grace Dent’s Hungry and Jay Rayner’s The Last Supper in recent weeks. Both very funny and touching food memoirs from two people I greatly admire and adore their respective podcasts.
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Post by Kestrel on Aug 3, 2021 0:18:09 GMT
Hello again I'm currently reading the books I haven't read in the Tiffany Aching sequence written by Sir Terry Pratchett as part of the Discworld series. They are really charming and thoroughly engaging. His imagination is extraordinary, I love the Wee Free Men, the blue men in kilts are hilarious. Each tale featuring Miss Tiffany Aching, has its own focus and individual story. My favourite is Wintersmith which also has its own concept album featuring music inspired by the book performed by folk band Steeleye Span. Also read the Ken Follett World War Two thriller Eye of the Needle, really interesting and full of twists and turns with memorable characters. I love the Tiffany Aching books! I got into Pratchett last year and have already gone through maybe half his books, but other than The Monstrous Regiment the Tiffany Aching books have definitely been my favorites so far. (Though TBH they're all pretty excellent, aside from the first boom which I found a chore to get through.) I just finished The Wintersmith a few weeks ago... I've been going slow, postponing the next booms in the sequence, to better savor them. It really sucks knowing there are so few... but man, I can't wait to read the next one--each book in the sequence has been better than the last.
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