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PaperclipPerfector  6mo ago (text post)   3055 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 2, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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So, what are you reading?

I'm still on The End of Faith. Going through Kuehnelt-Leddihn's The Menace of the Herd, which I can only describe as an oddity, both judgemental and insightful. Backlog is moving slowly.

Mainly because of a brief discussion of this series here a while ago, I'm nearing the end of book 4 of The Stormlight Archive. I'm not fond of fantasy, I'm not fond of Sanderson's writing, but I wanted something of reliable quality rather than risk disappointment like with several previous books. So, I was surprised by how engrossed I was by books 1 and 2. Since then, well, not so much.

One particular thing about Rhythm of War drives me mad, because half of the plot hinges on a specific event. There's this hardass commander* that is noted a dozen times per book to be a stickler for military codes, how the troops under him are visibly more disciplined than others, etc. And yet, when the bad guys launch a surprise attack on the single most important stronghold, they kill patrols and sentries on the ground level and then ascend for hours to the tower itself, without anybody noticing. How could his people have missed the outer perimeter going dark for hours? They have instant communications!

*Don't ask me to spell his name, I'm consuming the series as audiobooks. The irony is not lost on me, this is the only time I say: they should have centered female voices.

but I wanted something of reliable quality

oh no. Do yourself a favour and pick up Lyonesse instead. All three books combined are shorter than one of Sanderson's doorstoppers. Vance is everything Sanderson isn't: excellent prose, effortlessly amusing, briskly paced, tight plots and fun characters.

Thanks for the recommendation, though short length is not a plus in my case, the more chores and travelling can fit in one audiobook, the better, so doorstoppers are preferable. (What would the metaphor be for recordings? Cassette libraries?) And, well, it was "reliable" quality, not "good" quality, I didn't want to gamble. Great writing? Or characters who speak like Tumblr users? An enjoyable story about the Kessler syndrome separating Earth and Luna? Or a story where the population of Earth are pollution-loving chauvinists ruled by a rich criminal that is referred to by the narration as "orange man" (real example)?

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