Nate > Recent Status Updates

Man...I think it’s been about eight or nine years since I read Dune Messiah. Starting this really had the feel of coming home after a long trip, made even more potent with familiar and awesome characters like Stilgar, Gurney Halleck, Jessica, Alia and Duncan Idaho. The intrigues are already thick as paste.

I gotta admit, I do get kinda tired of Abercrombie constantly forcing in pithy little slogans and reflections on life. If he cut them down by like 80% they'd be much more remarkable.

Been saving this baby for a rainy day...Abercrombie hasn’t let me down so far! It’s hard to go wrong with any book with Shivers in it.

I really don’t get why Fortunato gets so much hate (most annoyingly on the official Wild Cards site.) You couldn’t come up with a weirder, grosser Ace and at his worst he’s still leagues more interesting than that whiny copper-haired alky alien fuck Dr. Tachyon. Also kinda hoping Puppetman shows up again in this one ‘cause that guy gives me the fucking willies so good.

Never thought I'd say this, but that was some romantic DP right there.

If this ends in any kind of NASCAR-set car chase set piece I'm throwing this motherfucker out in the rain.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN...THE KALAM MEKHAR SHOW

The way Erikson cheesed the two protagonist armies back up to fighting strength was obnoxious. Still, as I'm sure he knows from his tabletop origins, sometimes the DM (or whatever the fuck you call it in GURPS) has to help the players out a little. Doesn't keep this book from making me want to pee from excitement.

I forgot what a horrible, boring Debbie Downer Ghost Hands is throughout this entire book. Every time his POV rolls back around I get so bummed.

The scene where Keneb realizes the shit is about to hit the fan is megachill inducing.

This kinda reminds me of that old movie Duel. Anyone see that? I think it was actually Spielberg’s first movie.

It’s seriously hilarious how Clavell insists on a scene in every one of his books wherein an Asian female servant sees the protagonist’s huge European dick and giggles/admires it. I’m sure that’s historically accurate stuff and not at all tied into the author's personal fantasies/kinks.

PIRATE FIGHT! Also, what the fucking hell is a “fighting iron”?

Not super surprisingly, this book is reminding me a lot of IT. They share several things in common (long as fuck, centered on a single small town with a long and dark history, superlong cycle of bad shit happening, big cast but smallish group of main protagonists that band together, etc.) Given that dudes worked together this one had to have influenced the other. Man...now I wanna reread The Talisman.

Every time I think this book has reached a peak of absurd awesomeness it just keeps getting better. Pirates, boat chases, one-eyed antagonists who talk like the Sea Captain from The Simpsons, proto-corporate intrigues and backstabbing...and the classic Clavell staple; grown men having to be taught that stuff like not wiping your ass is a bad thing.

This has been extremely tasty so far, as it’s been pretty much wall-to-wall conspiring, plotting, intrigues and straight up warfare, also known as The Good Shit.

Been stuck in a bit of a reading rut lately, so I’m hoping a book featuring both a setting I love and an author I’ve really enjoyed in the past might break me out of it. I do love how people are still divided over which family was in the right on this stuff; it feels like Iggulden is gonna stick with the Yorkists-as-bad-guys thing but Sharon Kay Penman made them convincing protagonists in her book on Richard III.

Giving this another quick run-through before I start The Player of Games because I forgot a ton of detail about the Culture. It’s still ridiculously entertaining the second time through. Everything is just so big and over-the-top and gnarly. When it comes to cool, huge space opera stuff you just can’t fuck with Banks.

Haven’t read a single page in the past few days, all due to stupid Netflix and their awesome Daredevil show.

https://i.imgur.com/KqQDLJD.gifv

Not entirely sure how I feel about Hopkins yet. He’s certainly hard to like, what with his off-putting demeanor, constant philandering, and (as per usual for Ellroy cops) overt racism, homophobia, etc. All that said, I have a weak spot for the “obsessive, gifted homicide detective” cliche and so that wins him points. But who fucking hates music?!

I’m kinda bummed that Maddox isn’t the main character in the next book. I really enjoy getting to chill in her head and watch her work, which is something that goes really far in detective fiction. I’ve enjoyed plenty of crime/detective shit where the MC was a fucking dick but it can make it hard to really empathize. Also, you could mount some of this prose on your wall.

I'm really hoping for a thorough, ambiguity-free resolution with this one...I remember parts of the ending of the first book were left agonizingly unresolved, which was effective but also kind of a kick in the balls.

Can you imagine what it’d be like if Erikson wrote a Malazan All-Stars novel where the cast of characters only consisted of Greyfrog, Iskaral Pust, Kruppe, Telorast & Curdle, Gumble & Ormulogun, Tehol & Bugg, and Harlest Eberict? I’d probably kill myself after like two pages.

The scene where Corabb eats the desert toad and starts tripping balls while he’s in the middle of discussing strategy with Leoman is funny as shit. Love that guy.

Gotta have a chuckle at the cover to this edition...the goofily-crashing Trygalle sled makes it look like some Pratchett-type shit, then you start the book and by the end of the prologue you’re immersed in dread and darkness.

The scenes with the Crimson Guard peeps are really tempting me into trying Return of the Crimson Guard again, which is saying something because I thought that book was poorly written as hell. They’re just fucking cool.

It’s only on this second read that I’m realizing that I kinda fucking hate Feather Witch.

Tana French has a real gift for coming up with murder mysteries that make me think “Well...that’s fucking creepy.” I like it!

I love Kettle. Easily my favorite "creepy dead child that kills people and stuffs them into the ground" of all time. Also, the scene where Brys watches the terrifying effects of the Chaining is pure fucking gold.

The Sengar brothers’ quest is definitely another one of my favorite parts of the series. Love the atmosphere of the icy wastes, the stuff about the Jheck and the scene in the sea bed caverns under the ice.