The Gaming Den

Josh_Kablack wrote:I read the whole series last year. It didn't hit my "couldn't finish it" terriotory like Sword of Truth or the Great Gatsby did, but there's a bunch of stretching things out in the middle books and a serious downhill turn into straight romance novel territory where Mare gets to be a helpless prisoner for a whole book and the continuation of the two princes fighting over becomes really perplexing as Mare's character goes ever flatter. I just kept asking why would either prince be remain obsessed with this plain commoner rebel girl when the other superpowered princesses from actual noble houses and/or foreign lands with useful assets are all repeatedly described as more attractive and when Mare spends so much time moping?

Choking down Twilight brought my tolerance levels down to nil when it comes to moping protagonists. If there is nothing redeeming about you except a DNA mystery (that you don't even care enough about to try to solve), you're not worth my time. C, A, T, G or magical accidents do not make a character.

And I've really had it up to my eyeballs with the way relationships are portrayed. I'm just kind of sick of two people in a relationship spending all the time finding themselves (or whatever) and not working together. This whole I-will-lose-myself-if-I'm-with-someone-else thing... I'm just over it. I don't want magical fairy tale happily ever after, but it seems like it's either that or alone. Which is a stupid false dichotomy.

Not a book, but I finally caught Creed II after it returned to the cheap 'last chance' theater in town. One thing I thought it handled well was the relationship between Adonis and Bianca. Adonis 'likes who is when he's with her' better than when he's not. And that's okay!

You may not want to completely subvert your identity to accommodate a love interest, but ideally your love interest will have you striving to be your best possible self.

erik wrote:Sorta book related. Another book series that I’ve never gotten around to is Altered Carbon.

I read the first one, and it was...alright. A few interesting ideas, cyberpunk and transhumanism. Then I read the second one - it was less alright. Not so many ideas, it was mostly "look at the new scifi gadgets/weapons I can talk about". I've heard the 3rd book is the worst of the bunch, but I haven't read it yet.

(talking about the show: I've come to not be able to stand the main actor, Joel Kinnaman? I liked him in the first thing I saw him in (The Killing?), but now every time I see him it really feels like he just can't act very well...)

Iduno wrote:If you're going to read the book and watch a show, watch the show first.

Seconded! And the same goes for movies too. I think the only movie-from-book that I've enjoyed has been when I see the movie before the book.

The main actor mostly isn’t great. He has like one or two moments that I felt he did a good job channeling Byron Mann and I was like 😲 since by and large his portrayal is bland af. It was the interesting setting and helper characters and his mentor flashbacks that made me like it. I love the hotel mostly.

I was hoping that Takeshi would switch back to Mann’s body when it became available and they could have Ryker back in his body. Woulda made a nice ensemble team at the end.

Maj wrote:It was like the author had a cheat sheet for the characters: Name, Power, Defining Trait/Theme.

Yeah, one of the reasons I don't read much sci-fi or fantasy anymore is that oftentimes the hook used to sell genre enthusiasts on the series is actually just an excuse to shuffle characters around and keep cashing checks well after everyone has stopped developing.

Aposimz, reading it as new chapters come out

Just started into Leigh Bardugo's King of Scars so far it is doing a great job of reminding me of both how much I loved her Six of Crows and how uninspired and predictable I found her Shadow and Bone trilogy.

Just finished Trail of Lightning, which I really liked. I almost never just sit down and read for fun.

Hey... I'm watching Good Omens, and I'm loving it. But I realized while laughing my butt off in front of my very confused progeny that my son is missing huge swaths of Christian mythology. Not just Bible stories, but ancillary myths like the war in heaven and the casting out of Lucifer, and on and on. Is there a good reference/compendium that would help me teach him these things?