Jlawrence’s Comments (group member since Mar 08, 2010)

Jlawrence’s comments from the The Sword and Laser group.

I haven't played the card game Munchkin, but I've played and really enjoyed its "big brother" board game version Munchkin Quest. Also enjoy Arkham Horror, but I haven't played any board games in a while. Race for the Galaxy seems really cool, but I've only scratched the surface of it.

Another favorite (that I haven't played in FOREVER) is The Awful Green Things From Outer Space, and Magic the Gathering was very fun the handful of times I played it long ago. Also remember an amusing try of the old Avalon Hill game Stellar Conquest, in which I witnessed another player's single tiny fighter ship blow up a third player's "Death Star" kind of ship on an incredibly lucky roll, emulating the end of SW EP IV and severely pissing off the owner of said exploded battle station.

Speaking of Star Wars-inspired board games, I have unrequited love for the epic space-opera game Freedom in the Galaxy that lets you play a Rebels vs. Alliance-like struggle for galactic control, from space-ship battles, to armies fighting on planets, to individual characters with RPG-ish stats carrying out espionage, planet-loyalty-swaying-attempts and other missions. When I lived in Austin, my roommate and I made it through one of the introductory scenarios (played on only just one of the circular solar system on its Galactic Map, but its complexity (it was developed by SPI, known for its monster-size wargames), set-up time etc kept us from tackling the bigger scenarios. SOMEday....

terpkristin wrote: "Tamahome wrote: "Wow that beats me. At the next S&L Thanksgiving dinner, you get the head chair. "

Yeah, I guess he wins over me since he's read more of the main picks than I have...but I've been here as long as Josh has! ."

You can have the head chair because I'd mess up carving the turkey. ;) Just give this elder extra pumpkin pie.

That's fun to see the list of initial suggestions - we have hit a good number of them - Tigana's even in there! Also made me realize I missed Game of Thrones when glancing over Jenny's list of all the official picks - I'd have to revise my S&L first place to a tie between Game of Thrones & Ender's Game. (see? Sword y Laser!)

Jenny wrote: "Micah wrote: "What about favorite book so far? Mine would have to be Good Omens: the nice and accurate prophecies of Agnes Nutter, witch. Loved that book. And it is one that I now recommend to people all the time."

While I wouldn't call it my favorite book from the list, my favorite reading experience with the group would have to be Shadow & Claw, and I think that's because we spent a lot more time discussing the book!

Woot! Yeah, the discussions here helped me see many things I hadn't before in Shadow & Claw, and re-reading that series for S&L was interesting: I ended up appreciating certain aspects of the the four New Sun books more, but some other reconsidered aspects bumped them a bit out of my all-time-favorite place (though I still find them excellent). And I ended up *loving* the fifth "epilogue" book The Urth of the New Sun during that re-read, I had previously found it mediocre.

My favorite of the other main selections would probably be Ender's Game, with a tie for second place between Daemon and The Windup Girl. Dune is always a favorite, but I leave it out because I've read it like five times (unfair advantage). ;)

I followed along since the ancient, dusty ning-forum beginning, when there wasn't even a podcast. Of the alternate picks, I only read Reamde, but I've read all the main selections with the group except Eye of the World and Once & Future King (both lemmed in weariness) and Elantris (didn't start). I did not lem Lem. :)

Really excited about this one! (Also super-jealous ;) ).

Just finished Fall last night, and despite various flaws, really enjoyed it overall. I thought I wasn't going to like that the narrative was no longer being driven by the personal tales of each Pilgrim, but I ended up being sucked into Keats(2)'s journey/witnessing as well as seeing how all the myriad plot threads came together in the epic finales. Not all mysteries were explained, but enough that it was a satisfying conclusion that convinced me that Simmons had a master plan from the start, which was impressive given the scope of the two books.

I do want to read Endymion, but this was a satisfying-enough conclusion for now that I'm going to put off Cantos # 3 until next year.

Congrats to y'all! First Shannon (snubs) gets proposed to this week, then you - something must have been in the air. :)

This made me day yesterday. Loved them mixing in Christopher Walken and Tracey Jordan as well.

I'm not in the area so I'm not a good choice to be the planner, but I'm definitely going to Dragon*Con and would attend the meet-up!

Thanks for that, Rik, that does make me much more interested in books three and four, and I'm currently 25% through Fall and enjoying it.

When we read Eye of the World for S&L a while back, it didn't necessarily feel too slow, but it did feel average and too blandly Tolkien-knock-off-y to me. Didn't finish (made about a third of the way through), but I heard from several people that it got much more interesting right after the part I gave up on (isn't that always the way?).

Hm, it's been forever since I read them (like, since grade school), but of Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising series, I remember being blown away by the second book, (same name as series) The Dark Is Rising, whereas the first book Over Sea, Under Stone seemed much weaker. In fact, I still remember some images from The Dark is Rising, while I can't remember anything about Over Sea, Under Stone at all.

So-Old-He-Forgot-The-War Man's War.

Oh, really! Interesting! *smiling devil emoticon*

It sure seems like this would then exclude you from titles that are US-only? I guess not an issue if you're solely reading Tigana (while changed to 'UK'), and then switch back to 'US' when finished, but not really workable if you're reading multiple titles at once on the Kindle.

Well, I was kinda joking. But I do have other things I want to finish this month first, so I won't be reading Tigana til the 'official time'.

Oh wait, I'm not even here right now. ;)

*denies the existence of this section until June*

kvon wrote: "Jlawrence wrote: "One my favorite obscure books is The Planiverse: Computer Contact with a Two-Dimensional World by A.K. Dewdney...

Thanks, you're the only other person I've met who's read it! I thought that book was much cooler than Flatland. Lots of cool images. "

Ah, cool! Yeah, I agree, much more interesting than Flatland. It's a shame how unknown it is.

When I first read it in high school, I *so* wanted to play with the 2-D world simulation the computer students came up, even if it never contacted Yndred and his world -- I still do, if I'm honest. ;)

Wasn't let-down or disappointed by the end, but I do agree the tone was off.

Previous discussions of the "ending" being a cliffhanger had prepared me for that fact, so that wasn't an issue.

But I agree that bonding after the Consul's confession -- the apparent instant acceptance of Consul as triple-agent spy, the hugging - seemed a off, or at least, not completely earned through what we'd seen of the Pilgrims' interactions thus far.

On one hand, it sort of makes sense because each of the characters has reasons to be at least be very ambivalent towards the Hegemony, and now they're at the point of facing, together, likely death by Shrike or by Ouster tactical strike. On the other hand, Simmons really didn't do any work to show the transition between the Pilgrims mostly being mistrusting of each other and squabbling, and then holding hands to go off to meet the Shrike.

For me, this was one of the few time Simmons mishandled tone in Hyperion, but I'm still impressed enough by the individual stories, their interlocking meanings, and the mysteries of the Shrike to continue with Fall of Hyperion.

Adding to my voice to counter Lem-ment. Thought Hyperion was excellent.

FertileSpade: "what i enjoy most about Hyperion is the mysteries that are being cultivated. it reminds me of the beginning of Lost when i had no clue what the smoke monster was or what was in the buried structure that Locke found. My imagination is running wild with it. i keep ruminating on it trying out different theories in my mind."

Yes, this was a big part of the appeal for me as well.

And I think Simmons did a masterful job blending different genres into the overall science fiction-framework: the priest's tale is a 'stranded in the wilderness with natives' adventure tale that turns into a horror tale; Brawne's tale is a noir, complete with a ravishing stranger with a mysterious past visiting the hard-bitten detective's office in its first scene; Kassad's tale is an action-packed war adventure mixed with the cosmic mystery of Moneta, etc.

Note that I didn't have to like the character telling the story, to enjoy the story itself.

I found each tale well-written and gripping in its own right (except maybe the Poet's, which was a bit tedious), and all the more fascinating for being pieces of a larger Shrike-puzzle, with a looming intergalactic war on top.

Just finished Hyperion yesterday, and started Fall of Hyperion this morning.

With Hyperion, I felt Simmons pulled off an ambitious blend of science fiction, fantasy, horror and mystery. I found each story engaging in its own right and very intriguing as interlocking pieces to the puzzle of "What is the Shrike?".

Like others in this discussion, I've heard that Fall gives some satisfaction as completing the tale started in Hyperion, but that the subsequent books, while giving more (or alternate) answers, are nowhere near as strong. But I'll at least read through Fall.