What are you reading at the moment?

Anyways, back on topic, my copy of The Fallible Fiend by L. Sprague DeCamp finally got here. It's not on kindle, which is a damn, because it's a very funny fantasy/social satire and folks who enjoy Pratchett and the like would probably get a kick out of it. DeCamp uses the perspective of a "demon" (actually the resident of another plane of existence) to poke fun at human foibles, while still writing and engaging plot.

The main character is Zdum Akh's son, who on his own plane is a mild-mannered philosophy instructor, but who is chosen by lot to be summoned to the Prime Material plane by a wizard in exchange for iron, which his plane lacks. To humans, Zdim is a terrifying demon - extremely strong, fanged and clawed, covered in color-changing scales, with a tail and catfish-like whiskers that can sense emotions, but he's actually a quiet, polite, intellectual individual. He's eager to do as he is commanded, but the problem is, as a cold-blooded reptile he thinks rather slower than a human being, and he's VERY literal. When his wizard master commands him to devour anyone who enters his chambers and doesn't specifically exclude his apprentice . . . well, Zdim finds himself out of a job, and sold to a traveling carnival, and shortly after that purchased by a wealthy woman as a pet. As it turns out, cannibals from the fantasy version of Australia are coming to stock their larder and Zdim gets tangled up in the political machinations of the city's rulers try to hire an army and save money, especially after he ends up being diplomat to the surrounding countries as he's the only being that can escape the besieged city.

The plot is solid, the characters are colorful, and the dry humor of Zdim's observations of humanity are very amusing. If you can get ahold of a physical copy I highly recommend it (any of DeCamp's books are great, but this one is a special favorite).

 

I'm honestly confused....how did he "earn" the title in the first place? Like did someone use it in an article and he liked it so he grabbed onto it? Or did he just name himself that?

That did bother me too. The MC is supposed to be from like 30-40 years in the future (honestly can't remember) and aside from the occasional hurhur (like mentioning President Keanu Reeves), all he ever used was memes from a decade or more ago. Like at that point, just say he's you. Because he's clearly you. He has your past, your family structure, your race, your ideals, etc. etc. He's just a self-insert. Why bother to tell anyone he's "from the future" when he doesn't even slightly act like it? Granted, I don't expect humanity to be vastly different in 30 years in terms of personality (but hey, I could be wrong) but lord knows they'll have thought of some better memes than "get that cheddar" and "what does the fox say" to name a few.

 

Second Hand Curses by Drew Hayes.

I love this authors work.... which is why I picked up the audiobook against my better judgement.

concept :-

Characters in classic fairy tales try to screw over the protagnist. Example, The fairy godmother wants to turn Cinderella into a slave once her wish is granted. The Pipe Piper is holding the village kids for ransom as he is running a rats extortion con.

who you gonna call? Jack... just Jack... and his gang.

Pay them and the classic tales is back on track. How? Somehow...

Here is the problem, no set up. you see that one line about Cinderella? That's all you get as she is talking to the gang then she goes and hides in the house. a few paragraphs later the fairy is dismembered, the group is paid and off to the next story which starts the exact same way, by some fairytale client looking to employ the mercenaries to get the happy ending. And again, and again. and again.

There is no twist, no overlaying arc to either the mercenaries or the fairytale characters. it's just... boring...

Like seeing a kids cartoon where a random group stumbles into these tales and try to help the characters out so as to introduce children to the classics... only this one comes with gore and barely a few lines of story setup.

I don't know, I'm close to the half way point of the audio and it's just not going anywhere so I'm calling it. would have been nice if he had at least gone with the grimm version but nope, watered down disney plus implied sex and violence. promises, promises lol.

 

I disagree picked up the book recently myself and I enjoyed it.

I think alot of your issue seems to come down to how the book was structured it goes with the more rare style of an already established cast that slowly reveal themselves as the story goes on rather then a big exposition dump at the beginning.

I do agree however the book gets repetitive but once they get the letter it seems to get better I enjoyed it because it gives a different take on fary tales but thats just personal taste.

Theres a pretty clear arc here the whole point of the story is there hunting the fairy generals (probably to capture them as thats what they do)

I dont know how far you got but again the story picks up later on.

So basically all im saying is the book does have alot to offer most of it just is down to personal preference although I will agree its a bit dry its also really strongly sword and sorcery which if you dont like that your not going to like this.

 

I stopped after the Pipe Piper story. From what I gathered the girl is red riding hood / the wolf. Jack I thought might be the one from jack and the beanstalk but he was so generic up to that point that he could be anyone. The last guy I'm not sure about. might be Frankenstein but I lost interest at that point.

The book is getting good reviews but the structure just bored me. I'm too old for fairytales, more so if there is no twist in the re-telling.

 

I suggest you at least read on for 2 more stories as the story really starts to expand and the plot developes i think the first few are just slow world building

As for it not being all that dark trust me it gets darker I had a similar reaction to you at that chapter actualy but since I had nothing else to read I kept reading and realized I had read 4 more stories and i should probably pace myslef

Also it stops being a retelling of fairy tales at the next story if I remember there still used as an inspiration but they dont feel like they are from the same stories

 

Kindda wish you told me earlier. I refunded the audio book ^^;

Oh well. I have other things to read. good to know Drew hasn't lost his touch. I like his stuff.

 

Artemis By Andy Weir

I finally gave in to the hype and got the book... I should stop doing that, I'm at an age where I can tell at a glance if this book is for me or not. This wasn't, it just wasn't.

So what is it? Artemis is a city on the moon, the only one.... because you know use humans, 100 years after we learned we could colonize the moon we would build just one city there right?

Anyway the first quarter of the book is world building, a bit dull since I've actually heard all that before in a 5 year old YA series by Marissa Meyer called the Lunar Chronicles (first book cinder though if my memory is correct it was book 3 and 4 that detailed the lunar world).

The fact that this was a copy / paste of another book was already putting it in the negative. however we soldiered on...

Do you know what happens when a male author tries to write up a woman as a spunky 16 year old that doesn't play by the rules? Annoying, no that's whats happens. She's he's MC from the martian except there the off beat sense of humor was cute and you can tell he is using it to stay positive in a very bad situation. Take all that away and you are left with a very annoying character that is clearly a dude imagining how a girl should act then deciding to graft his own personality on it... oh and she's arab & Muslim. I don't know, the story just completely stops from time to time to remind you of that. It's not really relevant, The author makes it clear she isn't religious, doesn't care about the Muslim community on the moon and is an outsider so... um... yeah maybe to excuse her tea drinking habit?

Also I think the author is getting old, his MC -let me remind you, a 16 year old girl- needs to take frequent bathroom runs during the night to wiz... I'm pretty sure that's not how that part works for most women, or men at that age for that matter. again the author stops everything to bring that up multiple times and all but highlights it for you.

Soldiering on and hoping this gets better. In the second quarter of the book we finally get to the main story and oh my god is it lame. a half assed heist!

To be honest I think the heist thing was just an excuse to keep on world building but again seen it all years back and written better in a YA novel! At first I kindda felt the author was using the MC as an excuse for social commentary since he went out of his way for those but as I read on I decided that no, he's just ignorant and pretty much insulted every single nationality mentioned in this book. fun...

Kenya built the moon city, it's under there jurisdiction however everything about it top to bottom is american.
The girl is a non-practicing Muslim arab yet the whole narrative is directed towards a white none-Muslim audience.

Quote (from the girl that grew up in a traditional Saudi home):-

"Okay, you can stop pretending you know what a niqab is. It’s a traditional Islamic headwear that covers the lower face."

carries on criminal activities then declares pleasantly

"Great way to wear a mask without arousing suspicion.”

Oh honey, you've never been to the market in an actual arab country with that thing on much less outside a Muslim community have you. I actually laughed at the stupidly of that. yes, walking around like a black tent when everyone around you is in tank tops and shorts is totally inconspicuous LOL!!!!

The whole plot is messy and muddled, the point of it is a heist so a girl you have no reason to care about can get some money just have money and then a conspiracy theory arises that you also don't care about. A guy that has all the personal depth of cardboard dies and who cares?

I'd give it one star but I feel like it's too dumb to even deserve that much. Stick to the Martian!

 

Haha

 

Ninja.

 

I'm on Book 7 of the Undying Mercenaries series. Great fun.

 

Hard to put down, isn’t it? It’s so hard to do Xanatos Speed Chess properly, but damn if it’s not brilliantly executed in this series.

 

Currently reading the fourth book in the Viridian Gate Online series by J. A. Hunter, a really entertaining series. I'm also reading Black Hat, the sequel to Domino Finn's Reboot.

 

14 - by Peter Clines.

Nate is a thirty something that's feeling directionless in his life. He works data entry in a magazine and is currently looking for cheap housing.

A friend directs him to a building where the rent is dirt cheap. $550 per month, all utilities included. IN THE HEART OF L.A!

This is where the weirdness begins, when something just sounds too good to be true you are faced with one of two choices. Bury your head in the sand and sing la la la I can't hear you my life is great la la la! Or investigate and get to bottom of things.

Nate is the investigate type. His apartment building is weird, it's nothing big or obvious. Peter Clines was very clever with that, making it more about the little things that collect to paint a scary picture. Apartments that aren't the same on the inside. mutant roaches that have an extra leg. A socket that'll shine black light regardless of how often he changed the bulb. a fake door that can't be opened.

All little things and yet it was with the help of all the other tenants that more and more secrets of their building has a light shone on them.

The Build up is the books strong point, every piece of the puzzle is just another puzzle and this keeps you interested.

The character is likeable, Nate is the everyman with the boring deadend minimum wage job (you get that part hammered into your skull!) and the other characters are more or less stereotypes with some backstory attached so as to make them more... ok, not human but maybe an inch deeper then a piece of cardboard.

This book lost me once the mystery was starting to get revealed. It had been so interesting up until that point then turned into diet Lovecraft (no, I mean it literally) with a shift of tone so sudden and unnecessary I have to wonder if the author thought his book was getting boring without action scenes.

I found the last quarter of the book -where the big reveal happens- to be so weak and unsatisfying that I'm actually removing not one but two stars having it go down to 3/5 from the previous perfect score I was planning to give it.

Going from a scooby doo mystery -yes they joke about it which I found endearing actually- to kill, murder and Cthulhu is a bit jarring when your entire story up until then was subtle little things that took effort and a number of people actively looking to notice. Also if I wanted to read Lovecraft I would have gotten Lovecraft. It really is as simple as that.

Would I recommend this book... I'd say it's a mixed bag. Good build up but disappointing payoff, MC relatable the side characters are not (infact they are all but plot devices and mcguffens in the second half). Tone maintained up until the reveal where it was all over the place. You have to take it as a ride not a mystery you can solve since the author designed it in away that the relative facts are ALL hidden until he actively reveals them. It's not that you missed a clue while reading, there was no clue.

 

Diet Cthulhu! Now with 100% more R’lyeh!

 

Started this and loving it. Grim, dark and brutal, an unflinching look at tomorrow written like an attack on all the senses and sensibilities.

"The children are the future.
And someone is turning them into highly trained killing machines.

Straight out of school, Griffin, a junior Investigations agent for the North American Trade Union, is put on the case: Find and close the illegal crèches. No one expects him to succeed, Griffin least of all. Installed in a combat chassis Abdul, a depressed seventeen year old killed during the Secession Wars in Old Montreal, is assigned as Griffin's Heavy Weapons support. Nadia, a state-sanctioned investigative reporter working the stolen children story, pushes Griffin ever deeper into the nightmare of the black market brain trade.

Deep in the La Carpio slums of Costa Rica, the scanned mind of an autistic girl runs the South American Mafia's business interests. But she wants more. She wants freedom. And she has come to see humanity as a threat. She has an answer: Archaeidae. At fourteen, he is the deadliest assassin alive. Two children against the world.

The world is going to need some help."

 

"Tree Mouth" by Chris Jags. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B071D33DRM/ref=oh_aui_d_detailpage_o06_?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This ones takes place in a fantasy world where all the races - human, dwarf, dryand, centaur, fishman and harpy - send a sacrifice to the underworld via the titular Tree Mouth, which is supposed to help the gods continue to suppress the rebellious demons, although the various religions aren't very specific about how this occurs. As the sacrifices discover, there's a good reason for this. Upon arrival they're greeting by a huge, four-armed entity that identifies itself as the human goddess of mercy, who sets them off into the Underworld with the command to be worthy of her, without being terribly specific as to what that entails. As the sacrifices desperately search the Underworld for a way back to the surface, they encounter previous sacrifices slowly being transformed into hideous, cannibalistic monsters by fungal growths, the ruins of vast cities, and gigantic skeletons, and start to piece together what is actually going on with their religion.

The story is through the alternating viewpoints of Jorn, a thieving human with a very high opinion of himself and Kiri, a harpy outcast because she couldn't lay fertile eggs. It would have been interesting to see the viewpoints of the other sacrifices as well, and some of them remain mysterious as to their motives and backstories. None of them are thoroughly likable and although the group reluctantly works together, they bicker and squabble and backstab the entire time, never gelling into a functional unit of fire-forged friends - which I find a refreshing change of pace in a fantasy novel. I also like that the story is standalone, so I don't feel like I have to commit to a lot of time and money to get a complete story.

Overall I enjoyed it enough to try one of the author's other novels, "Crow's Meal". https://smile.amazon.com/Crows-Meal-Chris-Jags-ebook/dp/B077L6JDT3/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

The main character, Leif, starts the novel by clawing his way out of his shallow grave in the forest outside the town where he used to live. He's clearly some sort of undead, but he has no idea what kind, or how to function. A clearly untrustworthy crow happens by to give him advice, and poor Leif commences stumbling through a plot where he is manipulated by shadowy characters and unwittingly incites a war between the vampires, elves, imps and other creatures of the dark forest and an Order of paladins led by a madwoman, with the unfortunate townsfolk and Leif caught in the middle. Again, this is a cynical and dark take on the usual fantasy tropes, with a cast of characters mostly out for their own gain and Leif himself alternately sympathetic as his discovers the secrets behind his reanimation and laughably incompetant as he basically fucks everything up.

 

The Fold by Peter Clines

Dear overlord where do I even start with this one...

Ok so after I had mix feelings about the author's other book (14) read somewhere that this one was the unofficial sequel and that is explored similar themes but better.

Where it begans

Our MC is a teacher. not the boring sweater vest type of teacher. Nope this is a teacher that cares about his students and hopes they take something from his class with them as the year ends...

Also he looks likes Professor Snape. Not even a metaphor. this is the author's description.



Oh and he has an IQ of one million.

Oh and he has the memory of computer minus the delete button.

Oh and he has ants in his brain to get the information. You know, like in that Terry Pratchett book? because why steal from just one author right?!

Oh and he has a friend working in DARPA on a top secret project.

Oh and his friends wants him to come along as an observer. Because that's how those things work.

If you thought your brain was about to crawl out of your skull then guess what. This just started!

Where it's goes

So Snape (yes I'm calling him that now, I refuse to use the other nick name he was given which is Mycroft. As in Mycroft Holmes. got shortened to Mike, because my MC is the coolest MC!) goes to the middle of nowhere where they have this portal that acts like a star trek teleporter. They explain it away as place folding in on itself shorting the distances.

Now I might swallow that, if they didn't litter the whole place with Warner Bros cartoon references just to excuse the name. Left turn at Albuquerque. Want to know why that's annoying? Because Snape was apparently the only one that got the reference and didn't need it explained. What alien planet are they on?

His mission? The scientists are hiding something. Keep your eyes open and report to me... but you are totally not a spy or a rat so don't worry about it.

Meet the cast

Scientist numbers one through who cares. They're all walking stereotypes and not only dumb but don't seem to know how science works if a school teacher has to correct them.

Yay... science?

The conflict / Mystery

None. Oh they hate him at first since he's clearly a rat but are more then happy to open their kimonos for him a paragraph or two later.

The last straw for me was the solution for the mystery. The author was so lazy that he decided he didn't need to put any effort into that part. The so called scientists got drunk one day and decided to put in a bunch of equations from an old Sci-fi book and finally the gate worked!

How? Why? They don't know but yay science!

it's so insultingly stupid that your brain will melt.

How does it end

Badly, the last 100 pages are so out of place I wondered if I was still reading the same book.

here's a hint



only these were the predator. Not even assuming it, the author out right says they're the predators and then needs to give a three page long description of one... because you know, just in case you missed the theatrical release!!!

Oh and the solution. a handful of marines.

Don't look at me I didn't write this!

Also I think the author was feeling horny at this point because one of the female scientists finally has a role, her hair colour changes every other page and her dialogue is now narrowed down exclusively to two words. "f**k me!" over and over and over and over and over and over and infinity! Seriously though I counted 5 of them in the same page at one point when I was getting fed up of it. it's not even followed by anything that's all she says!

Worth the read?

Hell no!
14 was a mixed bag for sure but this one is mind numbing stupid. It's a collection of everything the author thinks is "cool" staged together in an awkward manner and just seeing what happens.

There is nothing for the reader to latch on to, the MC is superman with Snape's coolness. The setting is stargate minus the cool and interesting worlds. The side characters aren't even there let alone thin. The plot is as empty as my head after this one.

It did one good thing though. made me want to cuddle up next to a Terry Pratchett book and maybe (big maybe) stream an episode of stargate.

I have no idea how this author keeps getting such positive reviews. he builds up a mystery then instead of following through goes screw it! fan fic time!!!!

 

Wow @Kidlike101 you sure know how to pick them.

 

It's a metaphor... the scientists might have let the predators invade en mass... but in truth, the real predator was already there... (I'm completely guessing that the scientists let the predators in... but it's a trope... and I don't want to read the book now...)
10*/5*