Highlights and Lowlights - June 2024
( +++ 1/2 ) Trader’s Leap - Lee & Miller [Liaden #23]
Great! This one happens partly in parallel with and partly just after
the awesome, supremely consequential Accepting the Lance [Liaden #22].
It’s slightly smaller in scope, but no less consequential by the end.
Shan, Priscilla, Padi, and the rest of Liaden Trade Ship Dutiful Passage
deal with Shan’s injuries and Padi’s emerging powerful talent while >trying to find somewhere — anywhere — where they can build reliable
trade routes for Clan Korval. Some new and interesting opportunities are >pursued, and the next book should be very interesting.
Now Reading:
Long work - Guards! Guards! - Pratchett [Discworld #7]
In article <v5v1ma$16lb1$[email protected]>,
Tony Nance <[email protected]> wrote:
Highlights and Lowlights - June 2024
( +++ 1/2 ) Trader’s Leap - Lee & Miller [Liaden #23]
Great! This one happens partly in parallel with and partly just after
the awesome, supremely consequential Accepting the Lance [Liaden #22]. >>It’s slightly smaller in scope, but no less consequential by the end. >>Shan, Priscilla, Padi, and the rest of Liaden Trade Ship Dutiful Passage >>deal with Shan’s injuries and Padi’s emerging powerful talent while >>trying to find somewhere — anywhere — where they can build reliable >>trade routes for Clan Korval. Some new and interesting opportunities are >>pursued, and the next book should be very interesting.
Time for me to get back to this series! Have we heard how much is still
in the pipeline, or whether Lee will be continuing them solo?
Highlights and Lowlights - June 2024snip
Books are listed in reverse chronological order from how I read them,
using a very primitive rating system:
“+” are good, and more “+” are better
“-“ are not good, and more “-“ are worse
( +++ - ) Fleet Elements - Williams [Praxis #5]
Good! Lots of intrigue, lots of space action, some unexpected events. An incident near the end is handled in a very puzzling way (imho), and the
way it’s handled will influence book #6 greatly, where the Terran forces
vs the Zanshaa forces will surely come to a head.
Now Reading:
Long work - Guards! Guards! - Pratchett [Discworld #7]
( +++ 1/2 ) Trader’s Leap - Lee & Miller [Liaden #23]> Great! Thisone happens partly in parallel with and partly just after
the awesome, supremely consequential Accepting the Lance [Liaden #22].
It’s slightly smaller in scope, but no less consequential by the end.
Shan, Priscilla, Padi, and the rest of Liaden Trade Ship Dutiful Passage
deal with Shan’s injuries and Padi’s emerging powerful talent while trying to find somewhere — anywhere — where they can build reliable
trade routes for Clan Korval. Some new and interesting opportunities are pursued, and the next book should be very interesting.
On 2024-07-01, Ted Nolan <tednolan> <[email protected]> wrote:
In article <v5v1ma$16lb1$[email protected]>,
Tony Nance <[email protected]> wrote:
Highlights and Lowlights - June 2024
( +++ 1/2 ) Trader’s Leap - Lee & Miller [Liaden #23]
Great! This one happens partly in parallel with and partly just after
the awesome, supremely consequential Accepting the Lance [Liaden #22]. >>>It’s slightly smaller in scope, but no less consequential by the end. >>>Shan, Priscilla, Padi, and the rest of Liaden Trade Ship Dutiful Passage >>>deal with Shan’s injuries and Padi’s emerging powerful talent while >>>trying to find somewhere — anywhere — where they can build reliable >>>trade routes for Clan Korval. Some new and interesting opportunities are >>>pursued, and the next book should be very interesting.
Time for me to get back to this series! Have we heard how much is still
in the pipeline, or whether Lee will be continuing them solo?
At least two, and yes.
Ribbon Dance comes out in a few hours.
On 7/2/24 1:54 AM, Titus G wrote:snip
On 2/07/24 07:56, Tony Nance wrote:
snip
Highlights and Lowlights - June 2024
Books are listed in reverse chronological order from how I read them,
using a very primitive rating system:
“+” are good, and more “+” are better
“-“ are not good, and more “-“ are worse
( +++ - ) Fleet Elements - Williams [Praxis #5]
Good! Lots of intrigue, lots of space action, some unexpected events. An >>> incident near the end is handled in a very puzzling way (imho), and the
way it’s handled will influence book #6 greatly, where the Terran forces >>> vs the Zanshaa forces will surely come to a head.
I'll put a spoiler for the incident after my sign-off.
- Tony
Big spoiler for Fleet Elements below...
Tony Nance <[email protected]> wrote:
On 7/2/24 7:23 AM, Bice wrote:
On Mon, 1 Jul 2024 15:56:58 -0400, Tony Nance <[email protected]>
wrote:
Now Reading:
Long work - Guards! Guards! - Pratchett [Discworld #7]
Isn't Guards! Guards! #8?
I just recently started reading the Discworld series for (what I
thought was) the first time. Turns out the first two or three were
really familiar - I probably read them back when they first came out.
Just finished Sourcery yesterday. I've got #6-9 on the shelf waiting
to be read.
Anyway, Wikipedia lists the first nine as:
1. The Colour of Magic
2. The Light Fantastic
3. Equal Rites
4. Mort
5. Sourcery
6. Wyrd Sisters
7. Pyramids
8. Guards! Guards!
9. Eric
You are exactly right - thanks. I miscounted while (lazily) using the
list of titles on the pre-title page.
Tony
Let me introduce you to http://lspace.org, the Pratchett wiki. It has
several readings guides, including
https://www.lspace.org/books/reading-order-guides/the-discworld-reading-order-guide-20.jpg
Most agree that the first few written aren't as good as later ones PTerry
was learning his craft.
On 7/2/24 1:54 AM, Titus G wrote:
On 2/07/24 07:56, Tony Nance wrote:
snip
Highlights and Lowlights - June 2024
Books are listed in reverse chronological order from how I read them,
using a very primitive rating system:
�+� are good, and more �+� are better
�-� are not good, and more �-� are worse
( +++ - )� Fleet Elements - Williams [Praxis #5]
Good! Lots of intrigue, lots of space action, some unexpected events. An >>> incident near the end is handled in a very puzzling way (imho), and the
way it�s handled will influence book #6 greatly, where the Terran forces >>> vs the Zanshaa forces will surely come to a head.
Isn't Fleet Elements Praxis #2 ?
The three Dread Empire's Fall books are generally considered to be
Praxis #1 to #3 - consider that #1 is titled "The Praxis".
My favourite William's was the Metropolitan series and I also enjoyed
Dread Empire's Fall which even improved with book three but though I
enjoyed The Accidental War (Praxis #1), I thought it too implausible
I remember thinking The Accidental War was a tough go, and for all the
plot advancement it achieved could have been a pamphlet instead of a
book. Gratefully -- some years later -- I found myself enjoying Fleet >Elements.
and I did not finish Fleet Elements because there was too much
redundancy or repetition and it was too similar to Dread Empires Fall
which I had just reread prior to beginning the Praxis series. So I am
not familiar with the puzzling incident.
I'll put a spoiler for the incident after my sign-off.
- Tony
Big spoiler for Fleet Elements below...
No, really, it's a big spoiler...
Well okay, you've been warned...
Throughout the book, Lamey has been struggling to line up investors for
his financial scheming and has been more and more overtly threatening
Sula (definitely blackmail, and also hinting at physical violence) if
she doesn't come through for him.
Toward the end of the book, Lamey meets with Sula alone, and as the >conversation doesn't go the way Lamey wants, he sucker-punches her in
the gut and reaches for her face/jaw as she's bent over. She shoots him,
he dies, and Martinez is the first one to enter in the immediate aftermath.
Ok, fine...Lamey has been threatening her, he assaulted her, it wasn't
clear the assault would stop, and she killed him. Here's the puzzling part:
Both Martinez and Sula act like she's done the most heinous thing >imaginable, they immediately contrive to hide/destroy the body and all
of the evidence, and of course since she now has the worst cooties ever, >Martinez decides she needs to be assigned to an extremely distant part
of the fleet, certainly nowhere near him, and now he never wants to see
her again.
What? Did I miss something plausible?
I hadn't read any for many years because too much of his humour dulls
it considerably for me but when they were discussed here a few years
ago with agreement for Jibini's claim that Guards! Guards! was the
best from Discworld, I re-read it and loved it.
My favourite William's was the Metropolitan series
Titus G wrote:
My favourite William's was the Metropolitan series
Yeah, it was too bad the third book never happened. Back when WJW was >participating in RASWF some tried to get him to consider
self-publishing it, but that didn't go.
Titus G wrote:
I hadn't read any for many years because too much of his humour dulls
it considerably for me but when they were discussed here a few years
ago with agreement for Jibini's claim that Guards! Guards! was the
best from Discworld, I re-read it and loved it.
Oh. I don't even consider that to be the best of the sub-series it's
in. And of the whole of Discworld, there are many that I consider to be
far better. It's a good book, but not anywhere near the best to me.
On 7/3/24 11:27 AM, Paul S Person wrote:
On Tue, 2 Jul 2024 12:56:50 -0400, Tony Nance <[email protected]>
wrote:
On 7/2/24 1:54 AM, Titus G wrote:
On 2/07/24 07:56, Tony Nance wrote:
snip
Highlights and Lowlights - June 2024
Books are listed in reverse chronological order from how I read them, >>>>> using a very primitive rating system:
�+� are good, and more �+� are better
�-� are not good, and more �-� are worse
( +++ - )� Fleet Elements - Williams [Praxis #5]
Good! Lots of intrigue, lots of space action, some unexpected events. An >>>>> incident near the end is handled in a very puzzling way (imho), and the >>>>> way it�s handled will influence book #6 greatly, where the Terran forces >>>>> vs the Zanshaa forces will surely come to a head.
Isn't Fleet Elements Praxis #2 ?
The three Dread Empire's Fall books are generally considered to be
Praxis #1 to #3 - consider that #1 is titled "The Praxis".
My favourite William's was the Metropolitan series and I also enjoyed
Dread Empire's Fall which even improved with book three but though I
enjoyed The Accidental War (Praxis #1), I thought it too implausible
I remember thinking The Accidental War was a tough go, and for all the
plot advancement it achieved could have been a pamphlet instead of a
book. Gratefully -- some years later -- I found myself enjoying Fleet
Elements.
and I did not finish Fleet Elements because there was too much
redundancy or repetition and it was too similar to Dread Empires Fall
which I had just reread prior to beginning the Praxis series. So I am
not familiar with the puzzling incident.
I'll put a spoiler for the incident after my sign-off.
- Tony
Big spoiler for Fleet Elements below...
No, really, it's a big spoiler...
Well okay, you've been warned...
Throughout the book, Lamey has been struggling to line up investors for
his financial scheming and has been more and more overtly threatening
Sula (definitely blackmail, and also hinting at physical violence) if
she doesn't come through for him.
Toward the end of the book, Lamey meets with Sula alone, and as the
conversation doesn't go the way Lamey wants, he sucker-punches her in
the gut and reaches for her face/jaw as she's bent over. She shoots him, >>> he dies, and Martinez is the first one to enter in the immediate aftermath. >>>
Ok, fine...Lamey has been threatening her, he assaulted her, it wasn't
clear the assault would stop, and she killed him. Here's the puzzling part: >>>
Both Martinez and Sula act like she's done the most heinous thing
imaginable, they immediately contrive to hide/destroy the body and all
of the evidence, and of course since she now has the worst cooties ever, >>> Martinez decides she needs to be assigned to an extremely distant part
of the fleet, certainly nowhere near him, and now he never wants to see
her again.
What? Did I miss something plausible?
I have no idea.
Perhaps their culture is very strict about killing people for personal
reasons and does not recognize an ongoing assault as an excuse. Is
Lamey, by any chance, her superior officer in a military organization?
Or is the "fleet" some non-military entity? Are there other factors
(is the culture sexist, with males in charge, for example)?
Not in this case - this book being #5 in this series, we (the readers)
know that Lamey is a devious civilian with a sketchy past, and Sula is a >military hero[1] with a sketchy almost-buried past - Lamey being
probably the only character that knows Sula's past, hence the threat of >blackmail.
Tony
[1] Possibly the only military person more heroic and esteemed than Sula
is Martinez.
On 04/07/2024 08.13, Tony Nance wrote:
On 7/2/24 10:11 PM, Cryptoengineer wrote:
Most agree that the first few written aren't as good as later ones PTerry >>> was learning his craft.
...I found this to be the case for me as well. Combined with thefacts that I need to read humor novels differently (can't read too many
pages at once), and space them out pretty far apart, here I am only
finishing my 9th Discworld book.[2]
Back in the early 1990s, I heard (right here in rasw) about this amazingly >funny British author. Not Adams, but Pratchett. I eventually got around to >picking up a couple of his books, and found that they were, for me at least, >mildly amusing.
Watching the occasional Pratchett thread, I got the impression that it was >only his early work that was hilarious. I haven't encountered any of it on >the shelves yet, although I do keep half an eye peeled. Now, I'm seeing
folks say that his early work wasn't that good.
So, what's the verdict? Are his early works funny but not very good? Are his >recent works as funny as he gets? Something else altogether?
On 04/07/2024 08.13, Tony Nance wrote:
On 7/2/24 10:11 PM, Cryptoengineer wrote:
Most agree that the first few written aren't as good as later ones
PTerry
was learning his craft.
...I found this to be the case for me as well. Combined with the facts
that I need to read humor novels differently (can't read too many
pages at once), and space them out pretty far apart, here I am only
finishing my 9th Discworld book.[2]
Back in the early 1990s, I heard (right here in rasw) about this amazingly funny British author. Not Adams, but Pratchett. I eventually got around to picking up a couple of his books, and found that they were, for me at
least,
mildly amusing.
Watching the occasional Pratchett thread, I got the impression that it was only his early work that was hilarious. I haven't encountered any of it on the shelves yet, although I do keep half an eye peeled. Now, I'm seeing
folks say that his early work wasn't that good.
So, what's the verdict? Are his early works funny but not very good? Are
his
recent works as funny as he gets? Something else altogether?
In article <v65204$2j3ll$[email protected]>,
Default User <[email protected]> wrote:
Titus G wrote:
My favourite William's was the Metropolitan series
Yeah, it was too bad the third book never happened. Back when WJW
was participating in RASWF some tried to get him to consider self-publishing it, but that didn't go.
I heard recently that he had begun the third book.
On 4/07/24 14:45, Default User wrote:
Titus G wrote:
dulls >> it considerably for me but when they were discussed here aI hadn't read any for many years because too much of his humour
few years >> ago with agreement for Jibini's claim that Guards!
Guards! was the >> best from Discworld, I re-read it and loved it.
Oh. I don't even consider that to be the best of the sub-series it's
in. And of the whole of Discworld, there are many that I consider
to be far better. It's a good book, but not anywhere near the best
to me.
Well, I would be interested to hear your favourites. I have close to
40 Pratchett books and have re-read eight since I started rating
books. Agnes Nutter's brilliant epic and the following Discworld
titles: 2 stars (Pot Boilers) Going Postal, Moving Pictures,
The Colour of Magic.
3 stars (Very Enjoyable) Mort, Hogfather.
4 stars (Brilliant) Small Gods, Guards! Guards!
So, what's the verdict? Are his early works funny but not very good?
Are his recent works as funny as he gets? Something else altogether?
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