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One's Gotta Go: A Game
message 501:
by
CBRetriever
(new)
Feb 03, 2022 01:05PM
get rid of number 1 for me
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I think I could lose #3 and not be bothered.
Mod
And I found the spinoff/sequel, The Witness for the Dead, which is about the later adventures of the investigator character (and told from his POV) very good!
"
Great! I'll actually read it now.
Mod
1. Ewan McGregor
2. Emily Blunt
3. Sigourney Weaver
4. Patrick Stewart
I also have to say Ewan McGregor. Though Emily Blunt is the only one that’s been in a SF movie I’m particularly attached to.
Sarah wrote: "I also have to say Ewan McGregor. Though Emily Blunt is the only one that’s been in a SF movie I’m particularly attached to."
While I can't forgive him for the Star Wars movies, Trainspotting was excellent
2. For me. Its too Billy Madison. Plus, #3 seems unreasonable. There is always some method of teaching/training that has to exist and if not at a school it will happen in some training field or persons house etc.
1. Barbarians2. Mages
3. Assassins
4. Thieves
Ooo, that's a tough one. Probably barbarians.
I agree with Michelle. I can’t really think of many books I’ve read with barbarians, so getting rid of them would have the least impact on me. And the others are all fun.
Mod
I'm over it. Boohoo, you had to kill someone and they either weren't bad or shit happened and you now don't want to kill them. Guess what! THAT'S ASSASSINATION FOR YA!
ETA, though I'd change it if we're talking the racially motivated construct of barbarians. I want more books about them as people. But if it's the large, flat-faced people who are criminals at birth, then I fling that into space.
Conan was a Barbarian...Karsa Orlong in the Malazan series
Logan Nine-Fingers in Joe Abercrombie's First Law books
Brak by John Jakes (in my TBR pile)
I'll go with mages for now - I'm kinda tired of the stereo typical mages
Thieves fir me. I’m so over heist stories. I’d be happy to never read another
No mages means no Penric so that’s not a world I want to live in
Mod
Right now I'm reading The Blood Mirror and I think Teia is my least favorite character. So I'm going to say Assassins. I liked Wulfgar as a barbarian. I liked Gandolf as a Mage and I liked Locke Lemora as a thief. But my favorite assassin... Does Arya Stark count as an assassin?
Andres wrote: "Does Arya Stark count as an assassin? "yep
Assassins, just to be contrary. But seriously. Most Assassin's schools and guilds make zero sense in terms of logistics. It drives me insane.
Rachel wrote: "No mages means no Penric so that’s not a world I want to live in"Valid.
Ryan wrote: "@Leticia, I don't think that's always true. For example, in The Goblin Emperor we're stuck in the POV of the King [spoilers removed]"I didn't read the sequel of The Goblin Emperor because I considered the first book quite boring but I can imagine that another POV would probably improve the story.
Ryan wrote: "SFF movies featuring...1. Ewan McGregor
2. Emily Blunt
3. Sigourney Weaver
4. Patrick Stewart"
2. I didn't like Edge of Tomorrow.
Phillip wrote: "1. Barbarians2. Mages
3. Assassins
4. Thieves"
Barbarians, ugh, always the same...
Barbarian: A member of a community or tribe not belonging to one of the great civilizations. I think Barbarians bring a greater purpose to having a civilization in the story. I would think the Parshendi from The Way of Kings would fit this description. Because I usually associate the barbarians with the primitive settlers of a land, their customs and ways tend to clash with the other larger civilization in the book brining interesting but familiar plot points. Another example would be the Dothrakki from A Game of Thrones or the grounders from The 100. So I do not like reading a book about a barbarian but believe they enhance the story if a barbarian/tribal community is present.
Although Arya Stark is one of my favorite characters. I do not think the class is written well enough in other works to justify me deleting one of the other choices. They tend to come out in YA novels too often.
How about shifting the last question to the sci-fi lens?1. Space Pirate
2. Android
3. Smuggler
4. Gentle Giant Alien
Andres wrote: "4. Sounds boring."There are a ton of examples:
Chewbacca
The Iron Giant (although also in Android category)
Groot
Mothra
Martian Manhunter
The list goes on.
1. Jack Sparrow, Mini coconuts in Moana, Sinbad, Robert DeNiro in Stardust, Dustin Hoffman in Hook, plus pirates are just cool.2. Chappie, Johnny 5, Bicentennial man, A.I., The terminator, Ex-Machina
3. Smugglers are basically land pirates...
For the earlier round, I'd take away the 'thieve's guild'. Nobody likes thieves in real life, so having them always be the cool guys who are the only ones with integrity, whom everyone secretly does like, is too far from reality - in the sense that it goes against instinct and history and evolution and so on. Similar for assassins, who are used in the same sort of way. Murder is about the most awful thing possible for humans to do to each other. I don't think you could do it as a job and remain normal or decent - and certainly not as lovely as most assassin characters are made out to be. The 'good guy' ones, that is.
Phillip wrote: "How about shifting the last question to the sci-fi lens?1. Space Pirate
2. Android
3. Smuggler
4. Gentle Giant Alien"
Pirate. Done to death in kid's books and it just peeves me because what's so glamourous about a wooden leg and a parrot? And Somalian pirates. And it's just not a career path I want to see anyone take.
I've not actually read about sf smugglers, maybe?
dunno - Pirates as in those like a privateer (think Sir Francis Drake & Henry Morgan) and corsairs (think Barbarossa for the Turkish empire and various Frenchmen). Even the US had privateers (Jean Lafitte).
That's a distinction that is seldom made, and should be made more often.
1. Star ratings/Reviews2. Sneak peek chapters/look inside
3. Blurb description
4. Reader forums both IRL and online
Which is least useful when adding to your TBR pile? For me, it's the look inside. I never use them.
Mod
I use Look Inside all the time especially to check justification (I can't stand/handle a jagged right edge), so I'd go with Blurb on back of book (I do use the blurbs on Amazon, but those are not usually the back of the book blurbs)
Phillip wrote: "1. Star ratings/Reviews2. Sneak peek chapters/look inside
3. Blurb description
4. Reader forums both IRL and online
Which is least useful when adding to your TBR pile? For me, it's the look insi..."
I don't use reader forums, so that could go.
I do, however, always look at the 'read inside'. There are some styles of prose that I don't enjoy, and I want to check first to see if the author uses one of those styles (or several). If they do, it's a no for me.
Al wrote: "I don't use reader forums"You're using one now?
Anna wrote: "Al wrote: "I don't use reader forums"You're using one now?"
True, true. But rarely. I check my message alerts most days and if a topic looks interesting I'll look. But I don't post often.
I should use look inside more often and blurbs less often. But I also tend to read older books which may not have previews. So I'll 'make go' look inside.
Cheryl is busier irl atm. wrote: "I should use look inside more often and blurbs less often. "Why?
How would you then pick between Disney and Death Porn?
Surely blurbs are the entree.
Adrian wrote: "Cheryl is busier irl atm. wrote: "I should use look inside more often and blurbs less often. "Why?
How would you then pick between Disney and Death Porn?.."
Surely title and cover will give me that cue!
Blurbs are written by marketers who use buzz words that are on-trend to appeal to as many buyers as possible.
For example: A blurb that emphasizes "thrilling" or "adventurous" is appealing to a lot of people, but not to me... so if reviewers talk about world-building and character development, then I'll know that there's more to the book than just the drama.
I know that there are lots of books that I put off reading because the blurb emphasized the aspects of the novel that did not appeal to me, whereas most of the impactful & memorable aspects of the novel were actually dominant... which I didn't find out until all my GR friends had read the book and moved on.
Reviewers are also more likely to give accurate impressions of the tone of a book. For example, uplifting, or melodramatic, or lucidly written.
But. If there aren't enough clear reviews then I must remember to check if there's a 'look inside' or a preview or sample. So much of an author's ability to engage the reader, no matter the content of the book, will be revealed in the first few pages.
Synopses vary, too. Again, the ones that are clearly written by marketing are far too often misleading. And insufficient. I really should read Kirkus Reviews more often, because when I do remember to, generally for Newbery honorees, they help me understand better what is so special about the book, what to pay attention to. A story isn't just "about" something.
For example, in SF: a novel might be described as "about" a ragtag crew on a little ol' battered runabout... or "about" destroying the Empire with luck and pluck... or those might both be referencing the same book. There might even be political intrigue and epic future history and creatively-designed androids in the book. A blurb that explained all those "abouts" would be far too long to appeal to buyers, so what should that salesforce emphasize? If they emphasized Intrigue and Adventure I would not pick it up, but I did quite like, actually, (view spoiler).
(For more discussion, join my too-quiet group More than Just a Rating.)
Cheryl is busier irl atm. wrote: "Adrian wrote: "Cheryl is busier irl atm. wrote: "I should use look inside more often and blurbs less often. "Why?
How would you then pick between Disney and Death Porn?.."
Surely title and cove..."
All of that makes perfect sense, with the exception (from my way of thinking) that title and cover might give very little away (The Midwich Cuckoos for example, with a bird's nest on the cover) so the blurb is a rough indicator as what the reader is in for.
I don't see the point of ignoring a two paragraph precis but instead invest time and provisional interest in the opening chapters.
I would never have finished The Book Thief if basing my interest on the first few pages.
Well I always use a variety of 'tools' of course. Don't you? I'm not proposing skipping blurbs altogether, just using them less often (as my primary resource). We're just playing the One's Gotta Go game, that's all. Which did you pick and why? (Message 536 from Phillip)
1. Smell of a book.2. Feel of a book.
3. Illustrations on covers.
4. ebook/audiobook (aka paper savers)
Smell. I've absolutely no interest in adding another modality to the experience. Plus I get migraines from some scents.
Cheryl is busier irl atm. wrote: "Smell. I've absolutely no interest in adding another modality to the experience. Plus I get migraines from some scents."Oh, Cheryl I do, too! Especially cloying perfumes like rose-scented.
I'd have to pick the feel of the book.
I couldn’t care less about the smell of books.
SciFi and Fantasy Book Club
Books mentioned in this topic
The Galaxy, and the Ground Within (other topics)Star Wars (other topics)
The Way of Kings (other topics)
A Game of Thrones (other topics)
The 100 (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Frank Herbert (other topics)Frank Herbert (other topics)
Isaac Asimov (other topics)
Ray Bradbury (other topics)
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (other topics)
