Help offset server costs by donating. This is totally optional. Any overages will go to library fines or new books.
RichardAbbott
About
- Username
- RichardAbbott
- Joined
- Visits
- 6,070
- Last Active
- Roles
- Member, Administrator, Moderator
- Games I like
- Sundry, mostly board
- Books I like
- Science fiction, fantasy, some historical fiction
Comments
-
Not so much about gaming but these are thoughts I had about the world-building. First, I became less and less convinced by the whole silver / translation magic scheme. I think (and others will no doubt correct me if wrong) that a magic scheme in a …
-
Hmm, mixed feelings here. I found the writing itself to be good - fluent, competent, well-researched and so on. Well edited too: I don't recall any glaring typos or grammatical flops. I've already said how I found that the characters became less…
-
Haha I should have read this before rabbiting on about Extinction Rebellion in the last starter! The connection which (I think) you are making with big tech and social media is not one that had occurred to me, but it's an interesting one... thoug…
-
I kind of felt that in the end there wasn't a lot to choose between them. Lovell (and the ruling group that he represented) was prepared to subordinate anybody else's interest, health, life etc to their own... but so was Robin. The whole business of…
-
I kind of got bored with the one-dimensionality of lots of the characters. And it seemed inconsistent - at one stage the main three are saying how they never met an Englishman they liked or trusted, but a very short time later they are both liking a…
-
I found it interesting that the factory workers were the more "professional" in terms of how to conduct a rebellion, and also more realistic when it came to the time to stand down (presumably, for the time being). I wasn't sure what Ku…
-
This was one of the things that didn't work for me.
-
Starting at the end... yes I think the two-part read was a good idea in this case and for longer books in general. The book itself - I found myself disappointed with development after what I thought was a very strong parts 1 and 2. The storyline …
-
All: I have added a category for January's read, A Master of Djinn by P Djeli Clark, and added the blurb and so on to that category. A good time to update notification preferences perhaps...
-
I'm thinking of A Master of Djinn by P Djeli Clark, a kind of fantasy steampunk novel set in an alternative 1912 Cairo. I don't think we've read it before. It won several awards including Nebula in 2021 and is IMHO a lot of fun.
-
(Quote) In that case in terms of the regular rotation we're looking at me in January, @clash_bowley in Feb and @Apocryphal in March
-
> @Apocryphal said: > Richard then Barner, I think. I think so too (unless @WildCard wants to leap in :) )
-
@NeilNjae said: (Quote) Language and translations thereof seem so important to the book, and more generally to Kuang, that I very much doubt she didn't think about this. My bet is the use of modern terms is a conscious choice here.
-
If you'll indulge me, I'll copy in some thoughts from a session I led a few years ago on the difficulties of translating poetry. Here's a piece of English poetic doggerel... The boy stood on the burning deck His feet were covered in blisters: He…
-
(Quote) I really liked this analogy - my reading of it is that in translating from one language to another there are different kinds of fidelity we can use "word for word [or] sense for sense" as Letty put it. Sometimes you come across the…
-
(Quote) Or a lot of inter-university rivalry to set up alternative training centres
-
* Will Robin go back to Griffin and the Rebel Cause? * Will one of the group Robin, Remy, Letty, and Victoire fail an exam and be ruthlessly turned out, and how will that affect the others? * Can folk with good knowledge of languages that have been …
-
I'm with @Apocryphal on this one - it felt longer than it needed to be, but it didn't drag and I'd be hard pushed to outline particular things to delete. But at the same time it is a rich and complex world, and I do feel that we're skimming over thi…
-
I think we have yet to see how she feels about systems of government other than colonial Britain - for example how will she describe (if she ever does) the Chinese government? And I suppose the question behind that is whether idyllic Oxford could …
-
To some extent this is a loneliness that many undergraduates face as they move out from whatever family and friends they might have had in childhood, and move into an environment that can be fun but is also deeply challenging and at times highly com…
-
Particularly with the tension introduced by Griffin, and the unease that Robin feels about him, especially as the demands for more direct action increase
-
Hmmm, two quite different things here. First, did I like the world-building with silver? Yes, actually I did - I felt there was enough of a bridge between the techno-stuff (silver as a good conductor of electricity) and the more mystical (silver as …
-
I am enjoying it - yes, the author clearly has some social and historical points she wants us all to get, and yes she's not always very subtle about how these are presented :) But she writes fluently and well IMHO, and I like the way she draws in ot…
-
I finished book II this morning, and with an effort that might be considered no less than heroic, stopped myself reading further :)
-
Have to say I'm hugely enjoying this one! I'm nearly at the end of book I already - seems to be a quick read even though long
-
(Quote) All part of the fun of the group I guess :) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_MacLeod and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Star_Fraction#Series
-
(Quote) That's a really interesting thought - so far as I recall, the humans in these stories had no form of computer assistance (and certainly no AI) which is a curious omission given the time of writing. Much earlier writers like EE Doc Smith wrot…
-
(Quote) Found it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ultimate_Computer "The Ultimate Computer" is the twenty-fourth episode of the second season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek. Written by D.C. Fontana (based on…
-
There's always the 1983 film War Games response - "the only way to win is not to play" :)
-
Wasn't there a Star Trek ToS episode where a computer took over a starship and refused to comply with orders?