Thank you very much for the book tips guys! This will be nice for the upcoming summer holiday
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i've been reading my classic award winning sci fi and this time its joe haldeman's The forever war. A military sci fi where humans fight the taurens. The story is narrated by William mandella; one of the few people to live through the entire war. The story covers his early days being conscripted through the elite conscription act and his entire 1000 year spanning career. Where he gets promoted not because of his talent, but simply because of seniority being one of the few soldiers to have being there from the start. What makes the story extra spicy is the severe impact of time relativity the soldiers experience. What might have been a year or 2 to William might be decades. Soon its centuries have passed and William becomes a fish out of water as the Earth he returns is much worse off and so much has changed he's very much a relic of the past and an alien to humanity.
its a well written book, certainly kept me engrossed and interested from start to finish as its interesting how things pan out throughout the centuries, how warfare, social norms etc evolve. its a sort of critism of the Military industrial complex as the war fuels all the actions and events back on earth. Especially the Elite conscription Act taking away humanity's best and brightest to fight and fuels ever forced expansion into the starts. Although i think the idea that Homosexuality is encouraged for population control is a bit far fetched ,sterilization /celibacy might have been more plausible. But doesn't bother me as the main story is about William's struggles to survive and his existence in an ever increasingly alien environment both in space and at home.
Roll on Forever peace. the sequel to Forever war.
its a well written book, certainly kept me engrossed and interested from start to finish as its interesting how things pan out throughout the centuries, how warfare, social norms etc evolve. its a sort of critism of the Military industrial complex as the war fuels all the actions and events back on earth. Especially the Elite conscription Act taking away humanity's best and brightest to fight and fuels ever forced expansion into the starts. Although i think the idea that Homosexuality is encouraged for population control is a bit far fetched ,sterilization /celibacy might have been more plausible. But doesn't bother me as the main story is about William's struggles to survive and his existence in an ever increasingly alien environment both in space and at home.
Roll on Forever peace. the sequel to Forever war.
Kaamos_Llama
Moderator
I just finished The Souls of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration Into the Wonder of Consciousness by Sy Montgomery. She is a naturalist with degrees in journalism, psychology, french, and literature. She has been awarded three honorable doctorate degrees over the years and has written 36 books.
Following up on the philosophy chat from earlier what is interesting about this book is that I found it as a syllabus for a master's degree in philosophy. The reason I thought of looking there is that within a bachelor's degree, you get the framework for understanding the field of study, but within a master's degree you often find books that complement and expand on that theory with interesting and narrow subjects. So even if I do not have the educational framework in place from the get-go, I did find a lot of joy from reading this book, and especially fitting since I recently read a book about animal rights that was written by philosopher, Martha C. Nussbaum.
So, without more blabbering, what is the book about? Well, it is about several giant Pacific octopuses and Sy's meeting with them over several years, mostly in the New England Aquarium but also with trips to French Polynesia and the Gulf of Mexico. While she learns more and more about the octopuses we also get introduced to four completely different octopus personalities - gentle Athena, assertive Octavia, curious Kali, and joyful Karma. She writes splendidly and it is easy to get immersed in what is for most people an unknown world.
There have been a lot of studies about the lives of octopuses and while a lot of info, especially about those who live in the deep, is unknown, what they have learned from engaging with them in deep tanks gives a general consensus that these incredible creatures are indeed sentient. The way Sy Montgomery talks about them also compliments this and one I am 100% sure of myself.
They don't exactly use their brains the same as ours, since octopuses have brains in small clusters with one on each limb and a central brain on its mantle. Remarkably it seems that each brain can communicate both with each other and alone. Each limb has up to 250 suction cups and each can lift at least 15KG, so that is some serious power! Each suction cup can also work as a pitcher, which means they can unscrew stuff with ease and do more micro-adjustments, just like we can with our fingers. One of the more fascinating pieces of info Montgomery shared is that an octopus limb can not only regrow to some extent, but a missing limb also seems to do tasks on its own like moving a fish between its suckers and bringing it towards to head (that is now missing) An octopus can also detach its limbs if it feels that one of the limbs is not working correctly, like it is sick or perhaps just being in the way.
She talks a lot about how they have different personalities and I think she does this without trying too much to anthropomorphize them. I can understand this can be hard when you live so close to the subjects you are studying. Just think about how we often treat our dogs and cats not only as companions but also as part of our own family.
The way she talks about how they behave differently to each person they meet and how they may change colors from white (calm, content) to red (curious, joyful, angry) or a peripheral of other colors depending on the need to hide. In the deep tanks, they will come up when someone makes contact in the water, and with its suckers it will latch on and stay like this for a longer period, using the suction cups as a way to taste and communicate with the human. If the octopus does not like them, a quick jet of water in the face will take care of that.
There is so much more I could have talked about, like how they play, live alone before the last months of their life (they only live 3-5 years) when they mate, got blue blood, use wits to not only steal fish but even try to escape from the deep tanks using their enormous strength. How they can stand on two legs and run on the ocean floor, have venom, a "skeleton" made out of high-pressure water, taste chemicals in the water, have three hearts, and get through the smallest of holes as only the beaks have a hard structure, bring with them cover for protection if they need to hide and nothing is around, be playful and tease, how they can bring divers with them on underwater trips, see much better than we can, and have eyelids that look like open eyes. Colorblind but have beautiful camouflage colors.
Overall, this book was a joy to read and I think Montgomery did a great job of introducing us to this intelligent and awesome being. A few videos, one with Octavia the octopus she talks about in the book:
New England Aquarium clip
New England Aquarium clip 2
Playing with octopus
Octavia
Octopus Camoflague
She also has a new book that I am very much looking forward to be reading called: Secrets of Octopus (2024)
Following up on the philosophy chat from earlier what is interesting about this book is that I found it as a syllabus for a master's degree in philosophy. The reason I thought of looking there is that within a bachelor's degree, you get the framework for understanding the field of study, but within a master's degree you often find books that complement and expand on that theory with interesting and narrow subjects. So even if I do not have the educational framework in place from the get-go, I did find a lot of joy from reading this book, and especially fitting since I recently read a book about animal rights that was written by philosopher, Martha C. Nussbaum.
So, without more blabbering, what is the book about? Well, it is about several giant Pacific octopuses and Sy's meeting with them over several years, mostly in the New England Aquarium but also with trips to French Polynesia and the Gulf of Mexico. While she learns more and more about the octopuses we also get introduced to four completely different octopus personalities - gentle Athena, assertive Octavia, curious Kali, and joyful Karma. She writes splendidly and it is easy to get immersed in what is for most people an unknown world.
There have been a lot of studies about the lives of octopuses and while a lot of info, especially about those who live in the deep, is unknown, what they have learned from engaging with them in deep tanks gives a general consensus that these incredible creatures are indeed sentient. The way Sy Montgomery talks about them also compliments this and one I am 100% sure of myself.
They don't exactly use their brains the same as ours, since octopuses have brains in small clusters with one on each limb and a central brain on its mantle. Remarkably it seems that each brain can communicate both with each other and alone. Each limb has up to 250 suction cups and each can lift at least 15KG, so that is some serious power! Each suction cup can also work as a pitcher, which means they can unscrew stuff with ease and do more micro-adjustments, just like we can with our fingers. One of the more fascinating pieces of info Montgomery shared is that an octopus limb can not only regrow to some extent, but a missing limb also seems to do tasks on its own like moving a fish between its suckers and bringing it towards to head (that is now missing) An octopus can also detach its limbs if it feels that one of the limbs is not working correctly, like it is sick or perhaps just being in the way.
She talks a lot about how they have different personalities and I think she does this without trying too much to anthropomorphize them. I can understand this can be hard when you live so close to the subjects you are studying. Just think about how we often treat our dogs and cats not only as companions but also as part of our own family.
The way she talks about how they behave differently to each person they meet and how they may change colors from white (calm, content) to red (curious, joyful, angry) or a peripheral of other colors depending on the need to hide. In the deep tanks, they will come up when someone makes contact in the water, and with its suckers it will latch on and stay like this for a longer period, using the suction cups as a way to taste and communicate with the human. If the octopus does not like them, a quick jet of water in the face will take care of that.
There is so much more I could have talked about, like how they play, live alone before the last months of their life (they only live 3-5 years) when they mate, got blue blood, use wits to not only steal fish but even try to escape from the deep tanks using their enormous strength. How they can stand on two legs and run on the ocean floor, have venom, a "skeleton" made out of high-pressure water, taste chemicals in the water, have three hearts, and get through the smallest of holes as only the beaks have a hard structure, bring with them cover for protection if they need to hide and nothing is around, be playful and tease, how they can bring divers with them on underwater trips, see much better than we can, and have eyelids that look like open eyes. Colorblind but have beautiful camouflage colors.
Overall, this book was a joy to read and I think Montgomery did a great job of introducing us to this intelligent and awesome being. A few videos, one with Octavia the octopus she talks about in the book:
New England Aquarium clip
New England Aquarium clip 2
Playing with octopus
Octavia
Octopus Camoflague
She also has a new book that I am very much looking forward to be reading called: Secrets of Octopus (2024)
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@Frindis article for you:
www.bbc.com
And a video too—I'm like a mom to you
Octopus vs Underwater Maze 17m
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7__r4FVj-EI
I've always been puzzled by science's dismissal of animal consciousness. Growing up among domestic and farm ones, it's always seemed obvious to me that they are individuals, and respond to different things in 'appropriate' ways. I recall being friendly with some, wary of others etc.
Are animals conscious? Some scientists now think they are
A series of experiments have led a number of scientists to say animals may be conscious.
www.bbc.com
And a video too—I'm like a mom to you
Octopus vs Underwater Maze 17m
I've always been puzzled by science's dismissal of animal consciousness. Growing up among domestic and farm ones, it's always seemed obvious to me that they are individuals, and respond to different things in 'appropriate' ways. I recall being friendly with some, wary of others etc.
@Brian Boru Double moms, I am happy! The link to the research from the article you posted was also mentioned by Sy Montgomery. Will be interesting to read about how they did the experiments.
The link to the research from the article you posted was also mentioned by Sy Montgomery. Will be interesting to read about how they did the experiments.Now you go tell them multi-billionaire cattle ranch owners in Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Nebraska about their cattle being conscious
Well that's like making friends with a sports match attendance—when it's a big crowd behaving in a group way, individuality gets lost. Where I was dragged up, most people had small farms and we'd get used to seeing individual idiosyncrasies.
@Brian Boru Martha C. Nussbaum talked about similar in her book (Justice for Animals) about animal rights and she was met with an intricate web of lobbyists, and state/federal/local law to the point that it just got ridiculous. I believe cultivated meat will be the future, so the meat industry will have to follow whether they want it or not, but we are probably a long way from that being a realization.
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Colif
Moderator
Groundbreaking study shows elephants call each other by unique names
A study released this week by researchers at Colorado State University found that elephants identify one another by distinct audio signatures.
www.coloradoan.com
WE are not alone, its just easier to pretend we are. Hate to think what they think of humans
Trying to get Dune books off my brother, he has the first 5. We never bothered getting ones written by son.
I've had quite a few synthetic burgers, they taste just fine—as in:
'Did you like that?'
'Sure'
'It was soy'.
Yeah that was interesting when I read about it. I've seen similar re whales.
Elephants have names for each other, just like humans
A new study has shown that elephants have names for each other, just like humans.
www.bbc.co.uk
The scientists learning to speak whale
In a world-first, scientists had a "conversation" with a whale. Now, researchers are trying to find out what they are actually saying.
www.bbc.com
Colif
Moderator
I wonder when the dolphins leave
en.wikipedia.org
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish - Wikipedia
Another book finished, this time its Forever Free by Joe Haldeman. Its the sequel to Haldeman's previous book, the forever war, William Mandela and Marygay Potter are married with 2 kids and living life in Paxton, a frontier town on the colony planet Middle finger. William is now living as a fisherman/science teacher and is becoming increasingly dissatisfied with peace time living. He decides to organize one last adventure and fresh start away from Man (the human hive mind entity).
The plan? Do what Marygay did: take a space ship (in fact the same ship: the time warp) and make a 10 year journey which would be the equivalent of moving forward 40000 years. Against all the odds, William succeeds in executing his plan, but less then a few months into their voyage, strange, random and unexplainable events start to happen. Things come to ahead when the antimatter fuel starts to literally vanish into thin air defying all reason and logic. Ultimately the expedition crew are forced to the escape pods and flee back to MF.
But when they return to MF (24 years into the future), things get even stranger; everyone (human and alien) have simply vanished like some sort of rapture has occurred. The expedition crew are quite literally the last humans (or man/tauran) in the galaxy. The rest of the story is William and survivors building society, trying to investigate what happened and making the trip to Earth to find answers.
I did find the story quite entertaining as its a sort of story of adventure and voyage spliced in with some mystery. Admittedly, trying to have a philosophical debate about life and the way science works may have been too big a subject and at the breakneck pace the story goes at the end it does fall flat or doesn't do anything insightful beyond
i suppose there is some sort of satisfying ending, but i can understand why some people felt the story was a bit naff especially near the end where various reasons and entities are just randomly thrown in to explain away things or just brings almost everyone back. Would i recommend it? i suppose as a concluding sequel to the forever war, sure. But just don't expect it to be about war or as compelling/outstanding as the forever war book was.
The plan? Do what Marygay did: take a space ship (in fact the same ship: the time warp) and make a 10 year journey which would be the equivalent of moving forward 40000 years. Against all the odds, William succeeds in executing his plan, but less then a few months into their voyage, strange, random and unexplainable events start to happen. Things come to ahead when the antimatter fuel starts to literally vanish into thin air defying all reason and logic. Ultimately the expedition crew are forced to the escape pods and flee back to MF.
But when they return to MF (24 years into the future), things get even stranger; everyone (human and alien) have simply vanished like some sort of rapture has occurred. The expedition crew are quite literally the last humans (or man/tauran) in the galaxy. The rest of the story is William and survivors building society, trying to investigate what happened and making the trip to Earth to find answers.
I did find the story quite entertaining as its a sort of story of adventure and voyage spliced in with some mystery. Admittedly, trying to have a philosophical debate about life and the way science works may have been too big a subject and at the breakneck pace the story goes at the end it does fall flat or doesn't do anything insightful beyond
God or something like god (AKA the nameless) was the cause of it. When William tried to head to the edge of galaxy as part of his journey, the nameless perceived it like mice trying to escape the cage and opted to stop it. First by disposing of their fuel so they had to turn back. Then for personal reasons, decided to mess with them further (just to see what happens) by making everyone disappear or just randomly explode in front of them. defying all logic or reason. God decides to bring everyone back and leaves to do something else and come back in a million years to check up on the galaxy.
i suppose there is some sort of satisfying ending, but i can understand why some people felt the story was a bit naff especially near the end where various reasons and entities are just randomly thrown in to explain away things or just brings almost everyone back. Would i recommend it? i suppose as a concluding sequel to the forever war, sure. But just don't expect it to be about war or as compelling/outstanding as the forever war book was.
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Zloth
Community Contributor
I finished Terry Pratchett's Guards! Guards! and enjoyed it. It didn't seem as funny to me as I was hearing, but there were some good belly laughs for sure.
The Kindle version came through slightly odd. I was never able to tell how much was left in the book except at the home screen. One night, I thought the book was just about to wrap up and ended up staying up late to get to the ending - nope! There were no chapters, either, just breaks when the PoV switches to somebody else. That made it a little scary because, if I somehow lost track of where I was in the book, it would be awfully hard to find my place again without accidental spoilers.
That was my first Pratchett book and I liked it well enough to read more from Discworld, but I probably won't be eagerly hunting down every one of them.
The Kindle version came through slightly odd. I was never able to tell how much was left in the book except at the home screen. One night, I thought the book was just about to wrap up and ended up staying up late to get to the ending - nope! There were no chapters, either, just breaks when the PoV switches to somebody else. That made it a little scary because, if I somehow lost track of where I was in the book, it would be awfully hard to find my place again without accidental spoilers.
That was my first Pratchett book and I liked it well enough to read more from Discworld, but I probably won't be eagerly hunting down every one of them.
Kaamos_Llama
Moderator
One of the snippets of reviews often included on the back of the covers was: 'A complete amateur.... Doesn't even write in chapters'
I loved them as a teen. The first maybe 3 or 4 books are not as good IMO, but maybe theyre useful to see the evolution. He subverts sword and sorcery tropes in the first couple which is kind of fun initially. Later on he starts to throw in some more interesting themes, around Guards Guards actually. The Witches books with Granny Weatherwax and Watch books were my favourites as they went on, might be worth treating them as series within the series. I re-read Guards Guards probably last year and still enjoyed it so have to assume the others still hold up for me.
I rarely found them to be laugh out loud funny, but theyre clever and wise. A lot of things in them are puns on real life things that you maybe wont notice straight away or unless you happened to already know. He also never poked fun at people, dwarves, trolls or talking dogs for what they are, so he gets a lot of kudos for being way ahead of the curve there.
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I need to find a new book and now I'm thinking I might checkout this Forever War, suggested by @Johnway. Been about a month since I read anything, having finished All Quiet on the Western Front, a book I was kind of surprised I enjoyed as much as I did. Started reading it on the plane ride back form London and struggled to actually put it down. I had some thoughts about reading the sequel, but figured I didn't necessarily need more dour stuff at the moment, so haven't bothered.
I did try and read Dune next, but honestly, it's pretty boring.
I did try and read Dune next, but honestly, it's pretty boring.
Another book finished, this time the spin off book from the forever war series, Forever peace.
Not really got much to do with the original book, but has similar anti war rhetoric. This time our story involved sgt Julian Class, part time soldier, part time science guy. The story is set in the not too distant future where the western powers are at war with the Ngumi, a rebel faction consisting of poorer nations in south America and in Africa. The haves vs have nots.
The story can be broken down into 2 key areas, Setting the scene for the socket tech and Julian's life as a "mechanic" and scientist at a university, his relationship with amanda and as well as his friends. The second half is using that same tech to achieve world peace by performing a bloodless coup whilst also stopping the Jupiter project, which if conducted, could spell the end of the world. At the same time a shadow group dubbed gods hammer does all in its power to stop them sending assassins and various agents to discredit the research and evidence.
The book was ok, its interesting story with the various tech and such. Not quite as good as the Forever war, but on its own it was alright.
Not really got much to do with the original book, but has similar anti war rhetoric. This time our story involved sgt Julian Class, part time soldier, part time science guy. The story is set in the not too distant future where the western powers are at war with the Ngumi, a rebel faction consisting of poorer nations in south America and in Africa. The haves vs have nots.
The story can be broken down into 2 key areas, Setting the scene for the socket tech and Julian's life as a "mechanic" and scientist at a university, his relationship with amanda and as well as his friends. The second half is using that same tech to achieve world peace by performing a bloodless coup whilst also stopping the Jupiter project, which if conducted, could spell the end of the world. At the same time a shadow group dubbed gods hammer does all in its power to stop them sending assassins and various agents to discredit the research and evidence.
The book was ok, its interesting story with the various tech and such. Not quite as good as the Forever war, but on its own it was alright.
been a few books read, but nothing to really talk about until recently.
So i'm interested in the concepts of good story writing and character development (so i can come up with my own ideas of a good character to draw etc). So i read Creating Character arcs by K.M Weiland I found it pretty informative, at least from a top level perspective of the various character arcs and examples of them etc.
The other thing i read was the graphic novel series The Department of truth by james Tynion. A sort of espionage/horror story where there is a secret branch of government who controls and manages the truth to favour the US. All the conspiracies that you know about? They're true, but the DOT does its utmost to ensure it stays that way ( just a conspiracy), because even if the story wasn't true, enough believe it in it, it will become true.
i dunno about it tbh. Sure the premise is good, there is some plenty of food for thought and it balances the tight rope of horror and spy story ok, as you're not entirely sure who the good guys are and what's fact or fiction and strange monsters get involved. Or are they?
i think the problem is that it takes too long to get started and it just bubbles along willing to fill you with backstory of various branches of the DOT and the main players etc. Too me a long time to read as i had to read over it several times to appreciate and understand the story proper.
lastly, Another WH40K Sci fi book: Belisarius Cawl: The great Work By Guy Haley. Those familar with The gathering storm rule books/ Horus Heresy etc will know who Belisarius Cawl is and his importance to the WH40K universe. The book tries to answer a few unanswered questions especially in the HH series of books: What happened to pharous and what was the beacon in the mountain? what happened to Belisarius Cawl after they escaped and how did he become from lowly techpriest to one of the most powerful (practically) leader of mechanicum of Mars?
The scene is set as Belisarius Cawl arrives on the planet sotha after the tyranids devoured the planet. But All is not lost with Cawl on the case; he promises to not only rebuild the lifeless eco system back to what it was before but also give the space marine chapter the scythes of the emperor, a chance to rebuild and carry on its legacy after they were massacred defending the planet. But Cawl has his own reasons and interests on the planet and its all about the mountain pharous as he plans to acquire a prize of great interest to him. For the surviving scythes of the emperor, they secretly have their own secret agenda on the planet to end the tyranid threat that's very much still present on the planet.
An interesting book. i found it a good read and the characters likeable and interesting. Good to see Belisaruis Cawl in action as the small amount of time in Wolfsbane felt like it could have been much more.
So i'm interested in the concepts of good story writing and character development (so i can come up with my own ideas of a good character to draw etc). So i read Creating Character arcs by K.M Weiland I found it pretty informative, at least from a top level perspective of the various character arcs and examples of them etc.
The other thing i read was the graphic novel series The Department of truth by james Tynion. A sort of espionage/horror story where there is a secret branch of government who controls and manages the truth to favour the US. All the conspiracies that you know about? They're true, but the DOT does its utmost to ensure it stays that way ( just a conspiracy), because even if the story wasn't true, enough believe it in it, it will become true.
i dunno about it tbh. Sure the premise is good, there is some plenty of food for thought and it balances the tight rope of horror and spy story ok, as you're not entirely sure who the good guys are and what's fact or fiction and strange monsters get involved. Or are they?
i think the problem is that it takes too long to get started and it just bubbles along willing to fill you with backstory of various branches of the DOT and the main players etc. Too me a long time to read as i had to read over it several times to appreciate and understand the story proper.
lastly, Another WH40K Sci fi book: Belisarius Cawl: The great Work By Guy Haley. Those familar with The gathering storm rule books/ Horus Heresy etc will know who Belisarius Cawl is and his importance to the WH40K universe. The book tries to answer a few unanswered questions especially in the HH series of books: What happened to pharous and what was the beacon in the mountain? what happened to Belisarius Cawl after they escaped and how did he become from lowly techpriest to one of the most powerful (practically) leader of mechanicum of Mars?
The scene is set as Belisarius Cawl arrives on the planet sotha after the tyranids devoured the planet. But All is not lost with Cawl on the case; he promises to not only rebuild the lifeless eco system back to what it was before but also give the space marine chapter the scythes of the emperor, a chance to rebuild and carry on its legacy after they were massacred defending the planet. But Cawl has his own reasons and interests on the planet and its all about the mountain pharous as he plans to acquire a prize of great interest to him. For the surviving scythes of the emperor, they secretly have their own secret agenda on the planet to end the tyranid threat that's very much still present on the planet.
An interesting book. i found it a good read and the characters likeable and interesting. Good to see Belisaruis Cawl in action as the small amount of time in Wolfsbane felt like it could have been much more.
Chalk up another book finished this time its Belisarius Cawl: Genefather By Guy Haley.
Cawl continues his great work to save the imperium from the warp bleeding into the galaxy. Cawl has a plan and his plan is almost ready to implement. he just needs a few more things to make his dreams into reality and although his resources are vast, the undertaking requires even more. So in a rare occasion, he has asked for help from a handful of his fellow techpriests and invites to meet them on Pontus Avernes.
But in the shadows all is not well, Fabius Bile is preparing to ambush the conference and instigate a heist to steal genetic secrets from Cawl himself. As Cawl is soon to realize that perhaps he has finally met his match and get taken down a peg or 2.
Another cracking book. This one does seem like a story of 2 halves. One of Cawl and Fabius himself and its intentional in many ways. Whilst both are polar opposites (order/chaos) they share many similar traits as well. Both are genius Geneticists trained under the same master, both have a passion for experimenting and creating the next evolution of man so humanity can prevail and both are revered and reviled by their own factions; verging on heretics.
Its pretty well written that i might go and read the fabius Bile omnibus as it seems like fabius bile is a fairly interesting character. Although he technically serves the forces of chaos, he hasn't succumbed to the lure of chaos and abhores it. Humanity in his eyes is weak and needs to evolve to survive. Unfortunately, he was on the wrong side of an immoral war and he has made his own fair share of monsters/mutants to survive and to search for answers.
If you liked the previous book in the series, you might like genefather as well.
Cawl continues his great work to save the imperium from the warp bleeding into the galaxy. Cawl has a plan and his plan is almost ready to implement. he just needs a few more things to make his dreams into reality and although his resources are vast, the undertaking requires even more. So in a rare occasion, he has asked for help from a handful of his fellow techpriests and invites to meet them on Pontus Avernes.
But in the shadows all is not well, Fabius Bile is preparing to ambush the conference and instigate a heist to steal genetic secrets from Cawl himself. As Cawl is soon to realize that perhaps he has finally met his match and get taken down a peg or 2.
Another cracking book. This one does seem like a story of 2 halves. One of Cawl and Fabius himself and its intentional in many ways. Whilst both are polar opposites (order/chaos) they share many similar traits as well. Both are genius Geneticists trained under the same master, both have a passion for experimenting and creating the next evolution of man so humanity can prevail and both are revered and reviled by their own factions; verging on heretics.
Its pretty well written that i might go and read the fabius Bile omnibus as it seems like fabius bile is a fairly interesting character. Although he technically serves the forces of chaos, he hasn't succumbed to the lure of chaos and abhores it. Humanity in his eyes is weak and needs to evolve to survive. Unfortunately, he was on the wrong side of an immoral war and he has made his own fair share of monsters/mutants to survive and to search for answers.
If you liked the previous book in the series, you might like genefather as well.
A quick post on another (comic) book finished. This time its Iron Empires Volume 1: Faith Conquers a space opera series book 1.
Story is nothing special, humanity has conquered the stars but the human empire has been ravaged by Veylan alien brain worms. The story revolves around Warrior/Priest Trevor faith, who has been reassigned to the frontier world at the edge of human space that borders the veylans. Less then a week in his new position he soon uncovers a conspiracy unfolding with the veylans infecting and mind controlling members of humans. its up to trevor to spring into action to end the threat.
its a classic graphic novel series with some impressive artwork and ideas. i kinda picked it up to appreciate similar to reading the classics. Will read the other 2 volumes and go from there.
Story is nothing special, humanity has conquered the stars but the human empire has been ravaged by Veylan alien brain worms. The story revolves around Warrior/Priest Trevor faith, who has been reassigned to the frontier world at the edge of human space that borders the veylans. Less then a week in his new position he soon uncovers a conspiracy unfolding with the veylans infecting and mind controlling members of humans. its up to trevor to spring into action to end the threat.
its a classic graphic novel series with some impressive artwork and ideas. i kinda picked it up to appreciate similar to reading the classics. Will read the other 2 volumes and go from there.
Another 2 books finished.
We'll start with the smaller one. Iron Empires Volume 2: Sheva's War. We focus on another frontier world - bordering the vaylen aliens: Taramai. The Vaylens are mobilizing an invasion force (as previously mentioned at the end of the last book) and have begun attacking. In Taramai's case, strange infiltrators called the Ganasch in large numbers have begun attacking the countryside and destroying villages.
The story revolves around baroness ahmi Sheva, the wife to the leader of the planet and a special warrior with psyker/mind powers (dubbed "psychology"). Having lived on this backwater planet for 20 years, she has long since given up performing her duties of making the military forces (the landwher) a decent fighting force and spends much of her time having affairs behind her aging husbands back.
When news reaches that monsters are attacking the remote villages, Sheva takes the opportunity to go investigate the issue herself just to find some time stay away from her husband. When it soon becomes apparent that the threat is real, Sheva gets back into gear to prepare for a war that planet is ill prepared for. Its soon slowly becomes apparent that there is someone similar to sheva's abilities controlling the aliens and it turns out to be her former mentor and war hero philippe Karishun!
Another cracking book. This one is much more interesting as sheva develops as a character. I would say that the war is wrapped up fairly quickly (then again they were mindless monsters without leadership). Artwork wise, can't fault it, its every bit as awesome and will be studying it to ensure my characters/artwork to learn from it.
next book: Fabius Bile: Primogenitor by josh reyonds. Book 1 of the fabius bile series, Oleander, a former student of fabius bile, returns to his former master with an opportunity: to attack a poorly defended Eldar craftworld for material to further his research. Fabius biles takes up the offer and makes plans to organize the raid. But when dealing with fellow chaos space marines and many people wanting Fabius Bile dead, he has his suspicions. Sure enough there is a trap to ensnare Fabius Bile that to some would be a dream come true and to others a Gilded cage...
An interesting book. Fabius Bile is an interesting character who is equally revived because of the lack of ethics in his great dream to save humanity. We get insights into the man, the emperors children legion and the precarious wheeling and dealing they have to make to succeed. naturally, plenty of backstabbing and double dealing occurs in the book. it does end slightly on a whimper but i enjoyed the book throughout.
So my next book, i'll probably be doing some quick study. Like reading through a text book.
We'll start with the smaller one. Iron Empires Volume 2: Sheva's War. We focus on another frontier world - bordering the vaylen aliens: Taramai. The Vaylens are mobilizing an invasion force (as previously mentioned at the end of the last book) and have begun attacking. In Taramai's case, strange infiltrators called the Ganasch in large numbers have begun attacking the countryside and destroying villages.
The story revolves around baroness ahmi Sheva, the wife to the leader of the planet and a special warrior with psyker/mind powers (dubbed "psychology"). Having lived on this backwater planet for 20 years, she has long since given up performing her duties of making the military forces (the landwher) a decent fighting force and spends much of her time having affairs behind her aging husbands back.
When news reaches that monsters are attacking the remote villages, Sheva takes the opportunity to go investigate the issue herself just to find some time stay away from her husband. When it soon becomes apparent that the threat is real, Sheva gets back into gear to prepare for a war that planet is ill prepared for. Its soon slowly becomes apparent that there is someone similar to sheva's abilities controlling the aliens and it turns out to be her former mentor and war hero philippe Karishun!
Another cracking book. This one is much more interesting as sheva develops as a character. I would say that the war is wrapped up fairly quickly (then again they were mindless monsters without leadership). Artwork wise, can't fault it, its every bit as awesome and will be studying it to ensure my characters/artwork to learn from it.
next book: Fabius Bile: Primogenitor by josh reyonds. Book 1 of the fabius bile series, Oleander, a former student of fabius bile, returns to his former master with an opportunity: to attack a poorly defended Eldar craftworld for material to further his research. Fabius biles takes up the offer and makes plans to organize the raid. But when dealing with fellow chaos space marines and many people wanting Fabius Bile dead, he has his suspicions. Sure enough there is a trap to ensnare Fabius Bile that to some would be a dream come true and to others a Gilded cage...
An interesting book. Fabius Bile is an interesting character who is equally revived because of the lack of ethics in his great dream to save humanity. We get insights into the man, the emperors children legion and the precarious wheeling and dealing they have to make to succeed. naturally, plenty of backstabbing and double dealing occurs in the book. it does end slightly on a whimper but i enjoyed the book throughout.
So my next book, i'll probably be doing some quick study. Like reading through a text book.
Zloth
Community Contributor
Info on the mighty Cosmere. A tad out of date now, but only a tad.
View: https://youtu.be/JNpSVNBHNag?si=6_GSocQL5MZO2K59
Zloth
Community Contributor
I finished Zahn's Thrawn books, the six new ones, not the old "Legends" books. They're pretty good and come up with clever strategies. One of the key things I loved about the old pre-Disney books was seeing smart tactics being used, which is a fun contrast to the movies that barely think about tactics at all. That's still a strong plus in the new series, too, though I've gotten used to it now, so it isn't as shocking.
Right now, there are two trilogies. The first is just "Star Wars: Thrawn" and tells the story of Thrawn's rise in the Empire. The second is "Star Wars: Thrawn Ascendancy" which tells the story of Thrawn's rise through the ranks on his homeworld.
The first book in the first series was my least favorite. There's a secondary story telling the story of another woman who's trying to rise through the civilian side of the Empire government. Her story is interesting, but it just isn't as interesting as Thrawn's, so I got annoyed every time it switched to her story. The second book is much better, telling the story of Thrawn working with Darth Vader. The secondary story is the story of Thrawn working with Anikan Skywalker, long before events in the main story. The third, well even an outline of that one might be spoilers, and just telling you how it starts doesn't tell you much.
The second trilogy is also good. It takes place out closer to the galactic rim, where hyperspace is a more difficult to navigate through. The empires out there have nothing to do with the Rebellion and Empire of "lesser space" and use different ships with different weapons, too. If it weren't for the description of hyperspace travel, you wouldn't know this was set in the Star Wars universe at all! Of course, that means summaries aren't going to mean much to you, either: Thrawn gains the rank of something something and is given command of the "Whatever," a something-class ship. But can he face down the mighty Whatsit Consortium?? (Of course he can, there's another trilogy coming!) Have no fear, you'll learn the names and understand just how much of a threat the WC really is.
I think it would be fine to read the Ascendancy series first, if you're more curious about life out closer to the rim.
Right now, there are two trilogies. The first is just "Star Wars: Thrawn" and tells the story of Thrawn's rise in the Empire. The second is "Star Wars: Thrawn Ascendancy" which tells the story of Thrawn's rise through the ranks on his homeworld.
The first book in the first series was my least favorite. There's a secondary story telling the story of another woman who's trying to rise through the civilian side of the Empire government. Her story is interesting, but it just isn't as interesting as Thrawn's, so I got annoyed every time it switched to her story. The second book is much better, telling the story of Thrawn working with Darth Vader. The secondary story is the story of Thrawn working with Anikan Skywalker, long before events in the main story. The third, well even an outline of that one might be spoilers, and just telling you how it starts doesn't tell you much.
The second trilogy is also good. It takes place out closer to the galactic rim, where hyperspace is a more difficult to navigate through. The empires out there have nothing to do with the Rebellion and Empire of "lesser space" and use different ships with different weapons, too. If it weren't for the description of hyperspace travel, you wouldn't know this was set in the Star Wars universe at all! Of course, that means summaries aren't going to mean much to you, either: Thrawn gains the rank of something something and is given command of the "Whatever," a something-class ship. But can he face down the mighty Whatsit Consortium?? (Of course he can, there's another trilogy coming!) Have no fear, you'll learn the names and understand just how much of a threat the WC really is.
I think it would be fine to read the Ascendancy series first, if you're more curious about life out closer to the rim.
i was going to wait a bit before posting, but what the hell, i have time. This time its the 3rd book in the iron empires series volume 3: Void
We move away from the frontier worlds and another sector of human space - Comoran worlds. This time we cover the story of Decorated space captain Vasa Sunder as he recounts events to his son Raidu in a written letter before his abdication.
The story starts with Sekaman Udulor inheriting the throne from his father and declaring a Crusade against the outworlders - a bunch of space pirates who have been attacking Comoran worlds. Sekaman Udulor is Vasa Sunder's brother in law and relations go bad from the start. Sunder although a capable captain isn't too good at the political game as he is too proud and frequently goes against sekaman's bad decisions by either at best using loop holes or at worst downright ignores them. its not helped that in his home life, Sundar is shacking up with an outworlder/freeworlder (pria rohon).
As the crusade continues, sekaman's patience is tested to the limit as Sundar continues to undermine sekaman's authority or straight up taking decisive action behind his back or showing up Sekaman during briefings. The story continues recounting the crusade and how it ends.
Whilst the artwork is good, i don't think it was as good as the second one. Too much political thriller and space theory then story. There's little development in characters as Sundar doesn't grow as a character other then he doesn't want to be anything more then a space captain. There is a (good) story here, but i had to read it several times before i truly appreciated it.
We move away from the frontier worlds and another sector of human space - Comoran worlds. This time we cover the story of Decorated space captain Vasa Sunder as he recounts events to his son Raidu in a written letter before his abdication.
The story starts with Sekaman Udulor inheriting the throne from his father and declaring a Crusade against the outworlders - a bunch of space pirates who have been attacking Comoran worlds. Sekaman Udulor is Vasa Sunder's brother in law and relations go bad from the start. Sunder although a capable captain isn't too good at the political game as he is too proud and frequently goes against sekaman's bad decisions by either at best using loop holes or at worst downright ignores them. its not helped that in his home life, Sundar is shacking up with an outworlder/freeworlder (pria rohon).
As the crusade continues, sekaman's patience is tested to the limit as Sundar continues to undermine sekaman's authority or straight up taking decisive action behind his back or showing up Sekaman during briefings. The story continues recounting the crusade and how it ends.
Whilst the artwork is good, i don't think it was as good as the second one. Too much political thriller and space theory then story. There's little development in characters as Sundar doesn't grow as a character other then he doesn't want to be anything more then a space captain. There is a (good) story here, but i had to read it several times before i truly appreciated it.
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