The Fantasy/Sci-Fi Books Thread Book • Page 133

Thanks for the heads up! I already have the main series in print but nice to have for my next reread and I want to get to the rest as well.

 

btw, if anyone likes to download their Kindle books and do Calibre stuff or whatever tool you use, Amazon is about to shut off that capability.

https://www.howtogeek.com/kindle-discontinues-download-transfer-via-usb/

 

so the person who made this accusation has posted a retraction and DG has posted a video with evidence that makes it seem this was a consensual thing

 

It's been a whole drama - i've refrained from posting more about it

 

I just read a recap and... what.

 

yeah, I'm quite frankly over it and want to stop seeing it in the places I frequent lmao

 

About halfway through Carl 7 and man, this series just keeps surprising me. Book is absolutely ambitious and he's pulling it off. Hays is top tier per usual.

 

I finished the Wayward Pines trilogy. I’d give books one and two five stars! Huge Twin Peaks vibes and excellent mystery and suspense. The third book was just 300 pages of action. There was some plot with a certain character returning, but it was a huge change from what I liked about books one and two. I’m still willing to check out his other works though. Dark Matter, Recurion, and Upgrade look cool.

 

Insane book. Donut is the GOAT. The corners he writes himself into and out of are amazing. It's firmly cemented itself into probably my 3rd favorite series of all time.

 

Dark Matter is excellent. The TV series was really well done too.

 

Currently reading Upgrade right now. Dark Matter is very good. I remember nothing about Recusion.

 

Recursion and Dark Matter rock. I was a bit disappointed by Upgrade, but still dug it. I had a little too high of expectations, I think.

 

"The assumption is the foundation stone of Letherii society, perhaps all societies the world over. The notion of inequity, my friends. For from inequity derives the concept of value, whether measured by money or the countless other means of gauging human worth. Simply put, there resides in all of us the unchallenged belief that the poor and the starving wretches in someway deserving of their fate. In other words, there will always be poor people. A truism to grant structure to the continual task of comparison, the establishment through observation of not our mutual similarities, but our essential differences"

I’ve been sending excerpts from malazan to a friend and I figure while I have them typed out…

 

Recursion is my fav of his books. Dark Matter is great too. Recursion was surprisingly emotional. Maybe I just read it at the right time

 

Well I’m going to catch some shit here for this but I’m halfway through the first dungeon crawler Carl book and I’m contemplating stopping unfortunately. I want to like it and there are parts I do enjoy but I just don’t think I can get past how much of the book is just talking about skill points, item descriptions, loot boxes, notifications, etc etc. I’ve always really skewed towards dialogue heavy books and while there’s some, I’m just not sure it’s enough. If this was a solo book I’d finish it, but knowing it’s like 7 books, I don’t think I can continue.

 

it suffers from what you're talking about in Book 1, but believe me when I say, it's a surprisingly deep series and is very dialogue heavy once characters really get going and relationships start forming. The skill stuff and loot boxes and AI stuff doesn't stop but it's more meaningful once the game is really underway.

 

All this praise makes me want to read it, but I really don’t like reading hardcovers and I guess paperbacks of the series aren’t in print…

 

Not sure if you’re an ebook reader but all of them are available on kindle unlimited. Also think that this series the audiobook is almost essential only because the performance from Jeff Hays is one of the best I’ve ever listened to.

 

I’ve never done audiobooks. Maybe I’ll give it a try.

 

I wondered what the term litrpg meant. That does not sound good to me

 

Dungeon Crawler Carl is character focused. It's funny, exciting, heartbreaking, and more. I've cried more than once reading the series.

That being said, not everything is for everyone. But I think you'd be doing yourself a disservice to judge it based off only this.

 

I’ll just point out that I have literally 0 interest in any other litrpg haha. Carl has been one of my biggest surprises over the last couple of years.

 

if you’re still logged into my Audible, just go ahead and download book one haha

 

I’ve given a few litrpg a chance because of how much Carl caught me off guard. Ripple System is the only other one I’d say is pretty good of the few I’ve tried.

Dinniman using all the stat points/new achievements to basically make the AI’s descent into chaos a character effect while also conveying information… in truly unhinged and hilarious names and ways… is truly masterful writing to me.

I didn’t love all the “New Achievement!” to start, then they became something I looked forward to. Some of them brought tears to my eyes laughing very quickly.

But like @FlayedManOfSF said, as this series goes, man the CHARACTERS and the HEART. Especially by where we’re at now.

I agree not everything is for everyone, but it’s one of those rare cases where I think every book genuinely could be better than the one that precedes it. Dinniman’s ability as a writer and crafter keeps growing. It makes me happy as someone who abandoned a writing dream after years and years of craft research. Dude is learning and improving across the board. I think he’s shocked by the success and popularity of the series.

Now that I think about it, Katia’s introduction is what glues the series together.

 

Iirc he also does a lot of things as he goes, i.e. doesn’t have a formal outline, which is crazy to me.