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PaperclipPerfector  2d ago (text post)   1431 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for June 5, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Astral Codex Ten 2026 Book Review Contest submissions thread

My top 10:

Honorable mentions:

I used to really love World War Z, but upon returning to it last year, I think it really has not aged well, especially after the last 20 years. In hindsight it seems obvious that certain characters/storylines were included to push Max's political hobby horses. A couple I found especially jarring were the cripple neighborhood watch member, the billionaire pharmaceutical CEO hiding out in the arctic, and the ending. However, it's still charming in its own way. It's almost quaint in how it handles its politics. Were the book written today, I have no doubt that there would be at least a couple of chapters devoted to the usual culture war topics.

To me it's a fun read. The core story is still compelling, but it really shows its age. Part of me thinks that maybe I would have enjoyed it more if I didn't have memories of it being such a great book. I honestly wish I could read it for the first time again today so I didn't have my judgement clouded by my previous expectations. Maybe if I was reading it for the first time today, it wouldn't show its age as much. Overall I'd still recommend it, but nowhere near as heartily as I would have in 2010.

World War Z was released on the upswing of Peak Zombie, and now we're well into the downslop. I loved zombie apocalypse content around high school in 2010 or so, but by the time The Walking Dead was big and the World War Z movie came out, it was just so beaten to death and cliche that I was sick of it all.

As an aside, I believe that is what is preventing GRRM from ever finishing The Winds of Winter, he probably had ideas for how to really play with and subvert tropes around zombies in fantasy/horror...and then a hundred other major zombie properties came out between when he started the series and when he got to TWOW, and a thousand more have come out while he's working on TWOW. My personal theory: Jon Snow is meant to assume the role of the Night King to lead the Others and the Zombies away from the human lands to the South, this has been theorycrafted well in advance. The problem for GRRM is that this is also the ending to the Arthas raid in World of Warcraft Wrath of the Lich King, so it's no longer cool and creative and subverting tropes in the genre, it's merely regurgitating another story. The irony being that both the Scourge's first appearance in Warcraft III and the ending of WotLK were probably inspired by GRRM and ASOIAF. GRRM's subversiveness has been torpedoed by his own success before he could finish his work.

Pretty good theory, makes sense on why GRRM has writer's block. He will probably pass of natural causes before he finishes ASOIAF unfortunately, being obese and physically inactive.

It's a literary debate grenade I throw out every few months when someone brings up Game of Thrones, how GRRM set out consciously with the goal of critiquing or debating or surpassing Tolkien, and ultimately failed because he was unable to write an ending.

Oh, yes it makes sense he would attempt to equal or surprass Tolkien, GRRM wrote about how he thought he could never equal Tolkien in the preface to his short story collection as a young writer.

I like some of his short stories, A Song for Lya is one of my favorites. It has an interesting ending! I bet he wants to land an ending to ASOIAF which is just as good.

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