JaymesRS @literature.cafe Nerd; Board, Card, Pencil & Paper Gamer; Avid Reader; to find me in other places: https://lnk.bio/JaymesRS
It’s mostly fine… It kind of suffers similar flaws to the second Hunger Games book by being a “let’s do that again”-style rehash of the first. But the series makes a cohesive whole.
I think one of the reasons Broken works fairly well for me is it doesn’t feel the need to tie off every loose thread by the end. I still end up wanting to return to the world without the story being anti-climactic.
Yep. It takes a certain amount of skill to be able to ramp up the power and abilities of your protagonist without the story getting away from you.  That’s kind of why I described what I could recommend as series because there’s a few where the first few work well HWFWM being one of them but after that, there’s a pretty significant drop off in quality of the overall narrative.
And even one of those that I’d say that I recommend (Ready Player One/Two) works pretty well but more so for a subset of readers that I just happen to be part of (those whose main cultural media experiences were between the 70s and the 90s.) and while the series works moderately well it’s definitely written to a specific subset of readers.
As an aside because I already mentioned two of the three I recommended in the original comment, I should probably also recognize the third just for posterity. It’s the four book trilogy, This Trilogy is Broken by JP Valentine.
Magician by Raymond E Feist (later broken into Magician: Apprentice and Magician: Master and the split works even better)
Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings.
Both are pretty cliché by modern views, but both are pretty well written otherwise. Good world building.
But ooo-boy, if one is the type of person that has trouble mentally separating the very problematic writer from their works (like JK Rowling or Marion Zimmerman Bradley), Eddings probably isn’t the best to read.
Wizard of Earthsea is part of the 3 books that showed me I loved Fantasy.
I’ve been tempted to give a few a go again. They were my jam in middle school.
I’m plowing through the Dungeon Crawler Carl books, I’m currently on book 4. Book 1 was for bingo, the rest are just to boost my numbers for my annual reading goal :).
LitRPG can wildly fluctuate in quality, but if LitRPG interests you at all, this is one of the top 3 series I’d recommend.
Makes sense. That thing was op, they tried limiting it with only holding one shot, but it was an auto kill if you hit with it. Throwing knives was much more fun.
If you can manufacture a multi-trillion dollars advertisement strategy for single payer, go right ahead, otherwise we can wish things were different until we are blue in the face or work with the current environment as it exists.
I could be wrong, but maybe the political and media environment in the 1940s is different than today making it an inaccurate comparison.
That’s exactly it. They don’t like it but they view any alternative, especially one forced on them, as worse. If you want to fix the problem, you unfortunately have to coddle the morons and let them voluntarily change when they find out it’s better.
City government is better than state government is better than federal government until they do something republicans don’t like than larger entities should stop them.
Correct. They are clear in that link as well that BlueSky themselves will not do anything to harvest and/or monetize data for AI. But there’s really no way to stop bad faith actors from crawling any perceivable content for malicious purposes.
Some of this is more just a generic overview of differences in perspective.
- It was inspired by this piece by someone who is now on the board that manages it. Yes they have a CEO, but there is a bigger board collaborating on direction decisions
- They have an explicit policy opposing sharing data for AI usage.
- It was initially the place for a bunch of frequently targeted minorities and the leadership implemented a bunch of changes that — in combination with a attitude of “block don’t engage” because many people aren’t rational actors — significantly make the space safer for users and less susceptible to dog piling and harassment.
- Moderation is handled far better that any other large social media platform in my experience.
- It was created as open source and as an open protocol from the start so in the event of a takeover, it’s relatively easy to spin off a clone (see protocols link).
- They allow more openness to 3rd party moderation tools in a more integrated manner.
- They have been open about discussing funding planning in the future and red lines that are unacceptable to them.
- There is no algorithm in your main feed. You see only what those you follow share. There is a discover feed, but if you hide that it has no impact on your future experience.
We as a society put too much shame on certain book choices. A reader is better than a non-reader* and what you enjoy is valid.
I’m glad you found something you enjoy!
*-for various definitions of reader, including audiobooks
Nah, one of my kids are vegetarian and I cook to support them. I have no issues with vegans. I see how it came across that way though.
I suspect you must have missed the .ml vegan community drama a couple months ago. Take every bad stereotype about vegans and ramp it to 11. Everything was in bad faith. It bled into a couple different communities.
Your comment has been removed for including carnist hate words. We don’t use words that glorify murder like the “b” word.
Pretty enjoyable and a quick read. It’s pretty standard LitRPG fare so far. The humor doesn’t seem forced like it can with some others.
Took me longer to finish Lud-in-the-Mist than I hoped. I don’t know that I enjoyed it, but I appreciate having read it.
On to Dungeon Crawler Carl and I’m about halfway through it already.
Hey Canada, can I convince you to adopt us in Minnesota?
It’s Friday, Black Friday, Everybody Go Shop on Friday
ALT: a BlueSky post by Ryan Marino, MD (@ryanmarino.bsky.social); it says “Did you know? Black Friday is named in honor of Rebecca Black, who invented Friday in 2011.”
Jill Stein paid $100,000 to a Republican consulting firm led by a suspected January 6 rioter
The Green Party leader has hired a GOP consulting firm and worked with Trump-affiliated lawyers.
RFK Jr. and star journalist Olivia Nuzzi had ‘incredible’ FaceTime sex, said they loved each other: sources
“Despite claims that it was a casual affair or flirtation, Page Six has learned that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and New York Magazine scribe Olivia Nuzzi had ‘incredible’ FaceTime sex.” … “They had ‘incredible’ sex over FaceTime, according to another source, with Nuzzi noting to pals that the 70-year-old had impressive sexual stamina.”
It’s important to take breaks and observe local flora occasionally.
Description: A picture titled “Russian plants” in a 3 x 3 grid with one of the grid items being Jill Stein, the rest are flora.
Based on a new NBC/Hart research poll, Tim Walz is more popular than Taylor Swift
Of the individuals they inquired about, (see page 10): Tim Walz, Taylor Swift, Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Elon Musk, Donald Trump, & JD Vance; Tim Walz was the most popular person and second only to “capitalism” in the total list.
Minnesota Explainer
With Walz officially the VP now, what things do we need to explain to those who only see MN as a flyover state? The DFL party? Duck, Duck, Grey Duck? Our pride in our confederate flag? Lutheran sushi? Hotdish? Talking about the ‘91 Halloween blizzard? Ice fishing?
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins - $1.99
A missing God.
A library with the secrets to the universe.
A woman too busy to notice her heart slipping away.
Carolyn's not so different from the other people around her. She likes guacamole and cigarettes and steak. She knows how to use a phone. Clothes are a bit tricky, but everyone says nice things about her outfit with the Christmas sweater over the gold bicycle shorts.
After all, she was a normal American herself once.
That was a long time ago, of course. Before her parents died. Before she and the others were taken in by the man they called Father.
In the years since then, Carolyn hasn't had a chance to get out much. Instead, she and her adopted siblings have been raised according to Father's ancient customs. They've studied the books in his Library and learned some of the secrets of his power. And sometimes, they've wondered if their cruel tutor might secretly be God.
Now, Father is missing—perhaps even dead—and the Library that holds his secrets stands unguarded. And with it, control over all of creation.
As Carolyn gathers the tools she needs for the battle to come, fierce competitors for this prize align against her, all of them with powers that far exceed her own.
But Carolyn has accounted for this.
And Carolyn has a plan.
The only trouble is that in the war to make a new God, she's forgotten to protect the things that make her human.
Populated by an unforgettable cast of characters and propelled by a plot that will shock you again and again, The Library at Mount Char is at once horrifying and hilarious, mind-blowingly alien and heartbreakingly human, sweepingly visionary and nail-bitingly thrilling—and signals the arrival of a major new voice in fantasy.
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar, & Max Gladstone - $3.99
Among the ashes of a dying world, an agent of the Commandment finds a letter. It reads: Burn before reading.
Thus begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents hellbent on securing the best possible future for their warring factions. Now, what began as a taunt, a battlefield boast, becomes something more. Something epic. Something romantic. Something that could change the past and the future.
Except the discovery of their bond would mean the death of each of them. There’s still a war going on, after all. And someone has to win. That’s how war works, right?
Cowritten by two beloved and award-winning sci-fi writers, This Is How You Lose the Time War is an epic love story spanning time and space.
Witch King by Martha Wells (The Rising World #1) - $2.99
From the breakout SFF superstar author of Murderbot comes a remarkable story of power and friendship, of trust and betrayal, and of the families we choose.
"I didn't know you were a... demon."
"You idiot. I'm the demon."
Kai's having a long day in Martha Wells' WITCH KING....
After being murdered, his consciousness dormant and unaware of the passing of time while confined in an elaborate water trap, Kai wakes to find a lesser mage attempting to harness Kai’s magic to his own advantage. That was never going to go well.
But why was Kai imprisoned in the first place? What has changed in the world since his assassination? And why does the Rising World Coalition appear to be growing in influence?
Kai will need to pull his allies close and draw on all his pain magic if he is to answer even the least of these questions.
He’s not going to like the answers.
WITCH KING is Martha Wells’s first new fantasy in over a decade, drawing together her signature ability to create characters we adore and identify with, alongside breathtaking action and adventure, and the wit and charm we’ve come to expect from one of the leading writers of her generation.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton (Hollow Kingdom #1) - $2.99
S.T., a domesticated crow, is a bird of simple pleasures: hanging out with his owner Big Jim, trading insults with Seattle's wild crows (i.e. "those idiots"), and enjoying the finest food humankind has to offer: Cheetos®.
But when Big Jim's eyeball falls out of his head, S.T. starts to think something's not quite right. His tried-and-true remedies—from beak-delivered beer to the slobbering affection of Big Jim's loyal but dim-witted dog, Dennis—fail to cure Big Jim's debilitating malady. S.T. is left with no choice but to abandon his old life and venture out into a wild and frightening new world with his trusty steed Dennis, where he suddenly discovers that the neighbors are devouring one other. Local wildlife is abuzz with rumors of Seattle's dangerous new predators.
Humanity's extinction has seemingly arrived, and the only one determined to save it is a cowardly crow whose only knowledge of the world comes from TV.
What could possibly go wrong?
On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers - $1.99
If you’re doing Book Bingo, this completes any of the following squares (possibly others as well; 1B, 1C, 1D, 4A.
The remarkable Tim Powers—who ingeniously married the John le Carrè spy novel to the otherworldly in his critically acclaimed Declare—brings us pirate adventure with a dazzling difference. On Stranger Tides features Blackbeard, ghosts, voodoo, zombies, the fable Fountain of Youth…and more swashbuckling action than you could shake a cutlass at, as reluctant buccaneer John Shandy braves all manner of peril, natural and supernatural, to rescue his ensorcelled love. Nominated for the Locus and World Fantasy Awards, On Stranger Tides is the book that inspired the motion picture Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides—non-stop, breathtaking fiction from the genius imagination that conceived Last Call, Expiration Date, and Three Days to Never.
The Hidden Palace by Helene Wecker - $1.99
Chava is a golem, a woman made of clay, who can hear the thoughts and longings of those around her and feels compelled by her nature to help them. Ahmad is a jinni, a restless creature of fire, once free to roam the desert but now imprisoned in the shape of a man. Fearing they’ll be exposed as monsters, these magical beings hide their true selves and try to pass as human—just two more immigrants in the bustling world of 1900s Manhattan. Brought together under calamitous circumstances, their lives are now entwined—but they’re not yet certain of what they mean to each other.
Both Chava and Ahmad have changed the lives of the people around them. Park Avenue heiress Sophia Winston, whose brief encounter with Ahmad left her with a strange illness that makes her shiver with cold, travels to the Middle East to seek a cure. There she meets Dima, a tempestuous female jinni who’s been banished from her tribe. Back in New York, in a tenement on the Lower East Side, a little girl named Kreindel helps her rabbi father build a golem they name Yossele—not knowing that she’s about to be sent to an orphanage uptown, where the hulking Yossele will become her only friend and protector.
Spanning the tumultuous years from the turn of the twentieth century to the beginning of World War I, The Hidden Palace follows these lives and others as they collide and interleave. Can Chava and Ahmad find their places in the human world while remaining true to each other? Or will their opposing natures and desires eventually tear them apart—especially once they encounter, thrillingly, other beings like themselves?
The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker - $1.99
The sequel The Hidden Palace is also on sale
Chava is a golem, a creature made of clay by a disgraced rabbi knowledgeable in the ways of dark Kabbalistic magic. She serves as the wife to a Polish merchant who dies at sea on the voyage to America. As the ship arrives in New York in 1899, Chava is unmoored and adrift until a rabbi on the Lower East Side recognizes her for the creature she is and takes her in.
Ahmad is a jinni, a being of fire born in the ancient Syrian desert and trapped centuries ago in an old copper flask by a Bedouin wizard. Released by a Syrian tinsmith in a Manhattan shop, Ahmad appears in human form but is still not free. An iron band around his wrist binds him to the wizard and to the physical world.
Chava and Ahmad meet accidentally and become friends and soul mates despite their opposing natures. But when the golem’s violent nature overtakes her one evening, their bond is challenged. An even more powerful threat will emerge, however, and bring Chava and Ahmad together again, challenging their very existence and forcing them to make a fateful choice.
Compulsively readable, The Golem and the Jinni weaves strands of Yiddish and Middle Eastern literature, historical fiction and magical fable, in a wondrously inventive tale that is mesmerizing and unforgettable.