"Ninefox Gambit" - First Impressions *No Spoilers*

[Allison]

Welcome to 2018 and our first sci-fi read of the year! What do you think so far?

[Meagan]

ok so this was extremely confusing to start. We are literally dropped into the world no context, no backstory no intro. I think it would help if this was classified as a science fantasy book. The world building is definitely complex as hell, but once you get in the groove and the world building starts to click this is an awesome story. It is so unique. IMO Lee is a genius!

The website below explains the different factions that make up the Hexarchate in detail. This is straight from Yoon Ha Lee. I would also encourage you to explore the rest of the site! It helped me understand the book. It really is an interesring book if you can stick with it long enough for it to start making sense.

http://www.yoonhalee.com/?p=836

The website does not contain spoilers.

I can't wait to see what everyone thinks! I loved this book and the underlying themes it tackled! Happy reading!

[Christopher]

One of my favorite reads of 2017

[Trike]

My initial impressions were, “This is weird.”

My final impressions were, “That was weird.”

[Ellen]

Trike wrote: "My initial impressions were, “This is weird.”

My final impressions were, “That was weird.”"

This makes me feel better. I'm a couple of chapters in and I was thinking it must be me.

[Allison]

I chose this BECAUSE people either seem to think it's a masterpiece or just bizarre. I'm hoping that gives us lots to talk about in the full discussion section! And also that I can use us as a sample for an experiment I'm running. I mean...shoot. ;-)

I'm picking it up tomorrow, excited to see what side I'm on!

[Trike]

::: laces up boxing gloves :::

Ready!

[Travis]

I loved the world, loved the relationship (view spoiler)[between Cheris and the general (hide spoiler)], loved the weirdness of all the different factions. Still not a fan of military sci-fi though.

EDIT: placed one thing under the spoiler tag just to be cautious, though it's something you learn if you read the cover copy.

[Jay]

Amazing book of ideas. Really love how it drops you in with no explanation or exposition, simply lets you live in its strange and exciting world ('calendrical swords,' 'invariant ice,' 'cindermoths' and 'threshold winnowers'?!). The story didn't hook me. Cheris and Jedao are great characters and their relationship complex and fascinating, but I feel like the storytelling got obfuscated by all the different angles on the ideas and so parts of the book bored and frustrated me. I don't know that I'll read the sequel, unless the trilogy concludes in outstanding fashion. That said I would read more from Yoon Ha Lee, maybe some short fiction?

also, the author did a really nice Reddit AMA that's worth reading: https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comm...

[Chris]

I read it last August. I don't plan to reread it, but I look forward to the full discussion.

[Allison]

friends, please remember that we are being spoiler free, and spoilers are any particulars about the book.

[Anna]

I couldn't resist a re-read so I started listening today. I can already tell the re-read is getting five stars! I'm enjoying the little things so much more this time around, since I don't have to use all of my brain power for figuring out what's going on.

For those who feel like you don't understand anything, it gets easier, I promise!

[Christopher]

To me, the weirdness was a feature, not a bug. Obviously to each one's own. For me though, all the bizarre lingo and concepts really made it feel like I was observing a society truly alien from our own.

[M.L.]

I'm enjoying it. It's inventive; I love his use of language, the way he incorporates the world; the way he maintains and manages the distance between the reader and the characters. To me it's pure artistry. :) Very glad it is the read this month.

[Francisca]

I read this last month and spent most of the book going “wait what’s going on!?” But in the end I think I fell into the “brilliant” camp. I’m looking forward to the discussion!

[Donald]

I read it after it was romping through awards season and went from "I enjoyed it but I don't know if I'll go out of my way to follow it up" to "Ok, I'm getting a hold of that sequel" very late in the piece.

I am wondering how it can be followed up given the same gimmicks won't work twice, but I guess I'm going to find out this year.

[Allison]

Donald wrote: "I read it after it was romping through awards season and went from "I enjoyed it but I don't know if I'll go out of my way to follow it up" to "Ok, I'm getting a hold of that sequel" very late in t..."

Totally an option! :) We'll be vetting them here and selecting them as a group for buddy reads, so I hope you'll speak up if something piques your interest.

[Donald]

Allison wrote: "Totally an option! :) We'll be vetting them here and selecting them as a group for buddy reads, so I hope you'll speak up if something piques your interest. "

Haha I have a feeling that was a reply to the comment I posted at the same time in the bingo thread?

[Allison]

Sigh. Yes. I had just woken up from a nap and CLEARLY was not as awake as I'd thought...

[Silvana]

A cup of coffee always helps.

Ninefox Gambit is one of my favorite reads from last year. I won't reread this month, instead I will read the sequel just so I could still have that exhilarating 'group read feeling' and be in the same universe with you guys haha

Seriously though, it is one of the best 'show don't tell' story. Don't give up too soon, it will be worth it. Weird concepts, weapons, belief systems etc etc the book is just great, no matter my level of understanding is.

[Silvana]

Jay wrote: "Amazing book of ideas. Really love how it drops you in with no explanation or exposition, simply lets you live in its strange and exciting world ('calendrical swords,' 'invariant ice,' 'cindermoths..."

He writes interesting shorts as well. Some of my favorites:
Extracurricular Activities also featuring a young Jedao
Variations on an Apple

[Rachel]

Yes I’m working my way through ‘Conservation of Shadows’ a short story collection that has ‘The Battle of Candle Arc’ in it.

Also Ninefox was my top read for the year it came out and took my Hugo vote!

[~ Giulia ~]

Currently reading it (I'm at about 40%). It's weird and it's difficult to keep in mind all the different names, but I like it so far. I appreciate all the math references even if it's true it could be science fantasy set in space (not a bad thing).

[Anna]

Conservation of Shadows has some excellent ones in it. I read it right after Ninefox and it helped me wait for Raven Stratagem. Some of the stories are available online:

Effigy Nights in Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 76

The Battle of Candle Arc in Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 73

Flower, Mercy, Needle, Chain in Lightspeed Magazine, September 2010

A Vector Alphabet of Interstellar Travel on Tor.com

And of course, anyone who likes Ninefox should absolutely read Extracurricular Activities

[Ophelia]

Started it in my lunch break today and got some more done in a waiting room this afternoon. I'm on about 15% (chapter four) and still confused. Too much that I don't understand to be enjoying it yet.

I usually like books that don't spoon feed you right from the beginning, but I also don't like inhaling water as I struggle to reach land (which is pretty much how I feel at this point in the book). Hopefully, it'll be worth it!

[David]

I read this a little while ago for my offline book club. Beyond the obvious impression of "this is weird", I felt kind of like I did when I started Gardens of the Moon, in how filled the book was with unexplained weird magical gibberish. It does make you work a bit, and I had to re-read quite a few paragraphs and try to make sense of them and come up with a working theory for what all the gibberish meant.

I really liked it eventually, though.

[Donald]

Silvana wrote: " I won't reread this month, instead I will read the sequel just so I could still have that exhilarating 'group read feeling' and be in the same universe with you guys haha"

If anyone else is wanting to do this, the sequel is on special for Amazon Kindle for $0.99 US.

[Amanda]

I read this book over the weekend. Like many have said, I started off with no clue what was going on in this book. Having finished it, I still don't understand how this universe works, but I found myself sucked into it. I'm hoping things will start to click in the second book!

[Anna]

The sequel feels very different, I'd say it's a "normal" book. I'm hoping the finale brings back all the weird.

[Lowell]

Donald wrote: "Silvana wrote: " I won't reread this month, instead I will read the sequel just so I could still have that exhilarating 'group read feeling' and be in the same universe with you guys haha"

If anyo..."

Thanks for the heads-up. I listened to it, and 99 cents is worth it to me to have the kindle version too.
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and oh boy you guys are in for a wild ride. I'm going to join the crowd of people saying "push through" the weird names and unknown semi-magical effects. Once you start to get a handle on what is really going on with formations and the concept of the calendar, reading gets a LOT easier.

....

Anyone have interest in starting a full discussion thread, with spoilers, for those of us who have already read it? or is it too soon?

[Allison]

I'll be posting a full spoiler thread on the 15th! Hang in!

[David]

Lowell wrote: "Once you start to get a handle on what is really going on with formations and the concept of the calendar, reading gets a LOT easier."

The funny thing is, while I eventually came up with some vague working model in my head about what all that stuff means, I have no idea if what I came up with in my head has anything to do with what the author thought he was writing or what anybody else came up with.

[Allison]

David wrote: "Lowell wrote: "Once you start to get a handle on what is really going on with formations and the concept of the calendar, reading gets a LOT easier."

The funny thing is, while I eventually came up..."

This reminds me of how Wil Wheaton said he knew what all the buttons on his console did, and it pleases me to think we may have a head canon for how ships and battles work in this universe.

I just started it! I have no friggin' idea what's going on! I think the language is very pretty though.

[Hank, Hankenstein's Modster]

I liked it enough to buy the sequal and start reading that. The second one is much less dense as others have noted but it still has the weird flavour imo.

[Ann]

I've started this book and at first I was SO confused -- and I'm okay with some confusion, but too much confusion and I'll put a book down. Happily, it wasn't so much that i couldn't grasp some elements, and I kept reading. By the end end of chapter two or so I was fascinated. I hope I keep that feeling to the end, but this I'm loving the read so far. (I've already bought the sequel and pre-ordered book three, betting it's not going to crash and burn before the end...)

[Ellen]

Finished it. Started off with this is weird and I don't know what the heck is going on. Finished with wow that was great.
Will be very interested in the spoiler post. Plus Amazon teased me with buy the sequel for 0.99 when I finished so I did.

[Meredith]

I am enjoying it so far. I like puzzling through the different new terms to figure out what is meant (not always successfully, of course). The reading is going a bit slowly because of the complexity of the world and having to process a lot. Plus when the author drops a bit more information, I keep having to go back and see where the term was first used so I can understand that part better.

I like the main character, she interesting and smart and I feel like there's going to be more to learn about her which I am looking forward to.

[Ophelia]

I'm reading this daily in the sliver of time I have once I get to work and before I start. I have to say I'm enjoying it quite a lot now. Looking forward to finishing and then poking my nose in the spoiler thread!

[Allison]

I'm about 30% in and enjoying it. The mystery of it is spicing up an otherwise fairly standard (so far) military sci-fi. I am having fun trying to picture what everything would look like.

[thalassic]

I just started this and I'm completely lost. At about 10% I feel like so much is just washing over me without any comprehension and that's frustrating. I can't even begin to picture anything in my mind because there isn't even any slight frame of reference.

It's not the first time I've had to force myself to keep slogging through a book to get to the brilliant part. I remember one in particular that I complained about how much I was disliking it for almost half the book. Complained a lot. Then I suddenly realized that I couldn't put it down and stayed up most of the night to finish it. lol Hopefully this one starts to draw me in soon.

[Anna]

Liz, if it helps, just think of all the weird stuff as magic. You don't need to understand how and why things work, just trust that they do.

[Silvana]

Which pin do you want?
(It's a pin, right?)

Check out @motomaratai’s Tweet: https://twitter.com/motomaratai/statu...

Anyone finds it anywhere please let me know, I want the Kel one. And Shuos too.

[Anna]

Obviously everyone should get the pin for their own faction, which you can find out here.

I'm Liozh all the way, but wouldn't mind having Shuos and Nirai stuff as well. I actually retook the test just now and this time I was Shuos, that's a bit surprising. But it's fine, because I love the ninefox!

[Allison]

I can't wait to find my faction. Those pins are awesome and I want them.

Agreed with Anna about imagining it as magic. Anything calendrical translates to "magical" in my head so far. But also it did take me a little bit more than 10% to be comfortable with how much I didn't know.

[Christopher]

Thanks for the link, looks like I’m also Liozh. Cheers to calendrical heresy! Would be curious to see the breakdown of the group by faction.

[Hank, Hankenstein's Modster]

Nirai for me, I always love these group assigning questionaires from Harry Potter to The Black Prism

[Anna]

When I read Ninefox for the first time, my computer science trained and mathematically/logically aligned brain kept thinking of the Kel as a program getting new parameters. Or as the parts of a human body, like inside a cell, responding to new chemical situations, etc. It helps to give your brain some familiar context you can compare things to, at least it helped me.

The faction test isn't spoilery, if someone wants to try it before finishing.

[Ophelia]

Ooh! I love those little quizzes. Liozh for me also. Was hoping for Shuos but oh well...

[Chris]

Anna wrote: "When I read Ninefox for the first time, my computer science trained and mathematically/logically aligned brain kept thinking of the Kel as a program getting new parameters. Or as the parts of a human body, like inside a cell, responding to new chemical situations, etc."

Funny. I just thought of the Kel as Marines or any career soldiers.

[Anna]

Chris wrote: "Funny. I just thought of the Kel as Marines or any career soldiers."

I hope that most career soldiers don't have formation instinct and that calendrical doctrine isn't real. But I don't know much about the military, so it's entirely possible I'm wrong. Anyway, I meant that the calendrical effects felt like programming.