I'm reading that now!
Tchaikovsky has become one of my favorite current sci-fi authors.
Went through books 1 to 6 of Dungeon Crawler Carl. This the first book of this type I have read, lite RPG, but I have seen many anime series based on the same concept. Basically guy trapped in a world that is run like a video game. Here most of the people of Earth are killed in a instant. The Earth is converted into a 18 level dungeon. The survivors have the option of playing the dungeon that is being televised Mojo style or they can live on what is left of Earth surface.
The books were very imaginative. Many funny moments and some sad moments. You wouldn't think a talking cat could make you emotional. Highly recommend if you like people being brutally murdered for the entertainment of aliens.
Love DCC! The next one should be out before the end of the year. It's definitely a gateway drug to LitRPGs.
Baron Of Hell wrote:Went through books 1 to 6 of Dungeon Crawler Carl. This the first book of this type I have read, lite RPG, but I have seen many anime series based on the same concept. Basically guy trapped in a world that is run like a video game. Here most of the people of Earth are killed in a instant. The Earth is converted into a 18 level dungeon. The survivors have the option of playing the dungeon that is being televised Mojo style or they can live on what is left of Earth surface.
The books were very imaginative. Many funny moments and some sad moments. You wouldn't think a talking cat could make you emotional. Highly recommend if you like people being brutally murdered for the entertainment of aliens.
Love DCC! The next one should be out before the end of the year. It's definitely a gateway drug to LitRPGs.
Yep. Certainly got me hooked on the genre!
I really liked Adrian Tchaikovsky’s most recent novel Alien Clay.
A fascist regime controlling Earth sends all it’s dissidents and prisoners on a one-way trip to a distant planet to work labor camps unearthing an extinct civilization, the only other signs of intelligent life humanity has ever encountered. The prisoners have to survive a harsh and chaotic alien world as well as the representatives of the regime keeping them imprisoned, while simultaneously trying to find ways to fit their unorthodox findings into the regime’s demand for a rigorous adherence to orthodoxy.
That actually sounds pretty cool. I liked the Children of Time series but I didn't go beyond the first Shards of the Earth book.
I have about 100 pages and 4 days left on my loan for Emily Tesh's Some Desperate Glory, which starts out a little like Ender's Game with an even less likable female protagonist, who is a dyed-in-the-wool, true-believer, space-fascist for her unit of humanity. Once it gets moving out of the exposition it is a really great ride. Every time I think I must be close to the end it keeps going with more really interesting rising action. The pacing is great, the world-building is excellent, there are a lot of gay characters that are really interesting, and the story is phenomenal. I hope it sticks the landing.
Went through books 1 to 6 of Dungeon Crawler Carl. This the first book of this type I have read, lite RPG, but I have seen many anime series based on the same concept. Basically guy trapped in a world that is run like a video game. Here most of the people of Earth are killed in a instant. The Earth is converted into a 18 level dungeon. The survivors have the option of playing the dungeon that is being televised Mojo style or they can live on what is left of Earth surface.
The books were very imaginative. Many funny moments and some sad moments. You wouldn't think a talking cat could make you emotional. Highly recommend if you like people being brutally murdered for the entertainment of aliens.
I also finished all of these recently. The new book is out Nov. 11. I can't wait.
I really liked Adrian Tchaikovsky’s most recent novel Alien Clay.
That actually sounds pretty cool. I liked the Children of Time series but I didn't go beyond the first Shards of the Earth book.
Same, could not find it in me to care enough about Shards of the Earth to start the second book. Absolutely loved Dogs of War though. Cage of Souls was good too. Alien Clay sounds interesting enough.
Same, could not find it in me to care enough about Shards of the Earth to start the second book. Absolutely loved Dogs of War though. Cage of Souls was good too. Alien Clay sounds interesting enough.
Just in case you didn't know, Dogs of War has a sequel, Bear Head.
Brand new Kindles announced, including... The ColorSoft! A full-color 7" screen!
If you pre-order today, you'll likely get it Nov 1.
Looks like they didn't address my one beef, the power button on the bottom. It triggers way too easily when I'm at the gym, trying to read on a treadmill.
I wish they’d revisit the design of the Kindle Voyage- it felt better in hand by far than the current Kindles (and the power button was also recessed and not in a place you’d accidentally press it).
Can't you just invert it? It's a choice in settings to be able to change orientation, right?
Stop selling your souls to amazon. Sell them to me instead. I'll give you two books for one soul for limited time only though. Hurry time is running out!
The Colorsoft and the Paperwhite are exactly the same size. If I were to buy a color e-ink device, I would want it a little bigger than a Paperwhite, because my use case would be reading comic books and the like.
The comic and graphic novel thing is making me think about a colour. My kindle is about 5 years old now and I think I could make an excuse for one. However my great dead tree hold it has been things with art on them as I never liked looking at it on a screen of any kind.
For me, as I implied earlier, it's basically a smaller, lighter sub for an iPad. I spend a lot of time in medical waiting rooms and such, so it'll be great for that. 
The 150 DPI for color is more like newsprint quality, but that's fine for my requirements.
I finished reading The Hobbit to my 9YO last night and let me tell you its still brilliant. I think i might prefer it to Lord of the Rings...
Silmarillion all the way, baby. Reminds me of the good old days reading all the begats in the Old Testament.
Kindle: I've seen suggestions that the ColourSoft has worse black and white visuals than the other ones, which is the whole point really. Also, I prefer page buttons and the Oasis's asymmetrical design so I can hold it comfortably with one hand (please insert your own joke here), so I'm not enthralled by the new options.
For me, the ultimate Kindle device has proven to be my Samsung Fold 5. Easily fits in my pocket. Always with me. Nice large screen.
I wish they’d revisit the design of the Kindle Voyage- it felt better in hand by far than the current Kindles (and the power button was also recessed and not in a place you’d accidentally press it).
Oh man, I'm still using my Voyage. Love it. I really appreciate the physical page turn buttons.
But...the new screens are better and larger for a similar form factor. My cover is about to die for the Voyage, and it's really hard to find a good replacement. I'm tempted.
Can't you just invert it? It's a choice in settings to be able to change orientation, right?
Not on the Paperwhite, you can make it horizontal, but not flip it around. It is one of the things I miss from the Oasis is the sensor to flip the layout.
As far as the new Kindles, I am disappointed. The color one uses the same color screens / tech as some competitors and the problems with it are well known. If you mostly read black and white, don't get the color one as the B/W suffers, which is the whole point of a Kindle, and it is too small for comics, so it seems like a pretty dumb device overall to me at least. Apparently there is a newer / better color screen tech out there but it is more expensive.
The non-color models are really just an iteration of the current designs, which is fine, but just typical incremental improvement stuff and higher priced. I am disappointed because they did not bring back a top end reader like a new Oasis or Voyage. I miss page turn buttons.
That said I will get the new top end Paperwhite probably when it goes on sale for the first time. My Kindle is the most used device I own, so even small improvements to the experience are worth the upgrade cost.
ruhk wrote:I wish they’d revisit the design of the Kindle Voyage- it felt better in hand by far than the current Kindles (and the power button was also recessed and not in a place you’d accidentally press it).
Oh man, I'm still using my Voyage. Love it. I really appreciate the physical page turn buttons.
But...the new screens are better and larger for a similar form factor. My cover is about to die for the Voyage, and it's really hard to find a good replacement. I'm tempted.
I went from a Voyage -> Oasis -> Paperwhite after my Oasis battery just got terrible where I was having to charge it every day. The Paperwhite is definitely great and a good upgrade that I recommend it, but there are still things about the old model I miss. My wife still uses her Oasis but her battery is starting to go too. She is putting off upgrading as she likes the Oasis size and form factor much better.
I have about 100 pages and 4 days left on my loan for Emily Tesh's Some Desperate Glory, which starts out a little like Ender's Game with an even less likable female protagonist, who is a dyed-in-the-wool, true-believer, space-fascist for her unit of humanity. Once it gets moving out of the exposition it is a really great ride. Every time I think I must be close to the end it keeps going with more really interesting rising action. The pacing is great, the world-building is excellent, there are a lot of gay characters that are really interesting, and the story is phenomenal. I hope it sticks the landing.
Nailed the landing. Loved this book.
I finished reading The Hobbit to my 9YO last night and let me tell you its still brilliant. I think i might prefer it to Lord of the Rings...
I’ve been trying with my 6yo but he loses interest fast. Maybe things’ll be more fun for him once we’re out of the Shire. My daughter went right to LoTR at 11 and still hasn’t picked up The Hobbit despite my encouragement. Maybe I’ll just re-read it myself.
I’m still gonna take the ColorSoft plunge. Been waiting for one so long. I’ll let you folks know what I think.
I also was hoping to get a new Oasis. I did manage to get a new battery cover for mine, and because the person on the phone could not find a way to order one new, she simply sent me one out of Service spares. Maybe you can charm someone into it? She didn’t charge me for it because she couldn’t lol.
bbk1980 wrote:I finished reading The Hobbit to my 9YO last night and let me tell you its still brilliant. I think i might prefer it to Lord of the Rings...
I’ve been trying with my 6yo but he loses interest fast. Maybe things’ll be more fun for him once we’re out of the Shire. My daughter went right to LoTR at 11 and still hasn’t picked up The Hobbit despite my encouragement. Maybe I’ll just re-read it myself.
I tried it when he was 7 and he bounced right off it so there is still hope!
We are in the middle of reading the Hobbit right now and my 8.5 year old loves it, I read her some at bedtime each night. I think 6 is too young to get it, probably 8-10 is the sweet spot but every kid is different.
I read it to my inner child at age 13.
I wish I'd had the Serkis audiobook back then. It's amazing.
Pages