thistlechaser: (Cat with book: Toy)
[personal profile] thistlechaser
This may be my worst run of books yet. In my last book review post, I reviewed three books I didn't finish. Here are four more. I've never had seven duds in a row before... (Also, I see I left off some tags in my last post, so if you track my book reviews by the book review tag, you missed that last post.)

Fisherman of the Inland Sea by Ursula K. Le Guin
Rating: Disliked (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)



A collection of short stories. While the author's name is very familiar, I suspect I haven't read anything by her before. Her voice didn't work at all for me. I read the first story, skimmed most of the second, but the third was where the book really lost me (about some tiny creatures on an adventure to scale a 'mountain,' which apparently was a porch step, but it was written as humans scaling a mountain would keep a journal, and it just so very did not work for me).

----

Barsk: The Elephants' Graveyard by Lawrence M. Schoen
Rating: Okay (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)



Man, I came really close to reaching the 50% point on this one, thus would have been able to count it towards my total for the year. There were moments when I actually enjoyed the story, and the writing was okay, but it was so long and wordy, and I kept reading night after night, long after I stopped enjoying it, but just couldn't reach the 50% point.

This was a "furry" book. No humans, every character was an animal-human mix. (And it's not just an anthropomorphic book, the author said he wrote the first chapters of this for a furry club group.) The main characters were Fants (elephant morphs). Apparently they were hated by every other race because they're the only animal morph race that isn't covered in fur. This worked out for them, because they got a whole planet to themselves, one no other race wanted.

The culture of the Fants was interesting enough. The worldbuilding was good. But once the plot got rolling (the quest for a drug that only the Fants knew about), the story lost me.

The whole furry aspect was a challenge for me to accept, too. Some of the names were really silly: fants, the dogs were "cans" (short for canines). All of the animal species' names were based on their scientific names, thus a whole lot of them I had no idea what they were supposed to be. Plus the book never touched upon some basic things: Where were the humans? Did these races evolve from Earth races or somehow just spring into existence, even though they were all based on Earth animals? I suppose we weren't supposed to question that.
----

Behemoth (Apex Predator Book 1) by David Meyer
Rating: Hated (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)



Typical self-published*, poor quality book. (*He lists a publisher, Guerrilla Explorer Publishing, but his books are the only ones they "publish," and it goes through Amazon's self-publishing service.)

The writing in it was just so bad. For example:

For a moment, she lay still in the swamp, inhaling the odors of clay, rotten oranges, and bird droppings.

That made me pause. Bird droppings? What do bird droppings smell like? I'm an animal lover, and I have no idea what bird droppings smell like. The main character lived in a city all her life and hated nature (and seemed to be clueless about everything), so how would she know?

His skin, although darkened from years of sun exposure, wasn't too many shades removed from that of an albino.

Buh?

His waterproof trail-runners slapped the concrete with the lightest of touches.

It's like he keeps using words at random, like he doesn't know what 'albino' or 'slapped' mean...
----

Cobalt Slave by Jon Walker
Rating: Hated (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)



This one was even worse than Behemoth. Self-published, by no one else other than the author and "my future wife, Stephanie, for her tireless editing." He needs to find a new wife and/or editor, as the very first page of the book was full of writing issues, rough wording, poor editing, etc.

I didn't get much more than a page in, it was just that bad.

Currently reading: The Dragons Return (Tales From The New Earth Book 1) which seems good enough that I might stick with it. Fingers crossed!

Date: 2016-04-10 06:11 pm (UTC)
hamsterwoman: (LeGuin quote)
From: [personal profile] hamsterwoman
Aww, sorry to hear that the LeGuin didn't work for you. I actually don't think I've read this collection, and don't recognize any of the story titles (my favorite LeGuin story, and the one that introduced me to her, was "The Rule of Names", which I read in middle school). I really love her Earthsea books (A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore, and there are some later sequels she wrote many years later that I don't love as much, though I appreciate what they're doing), but I do think she's one of those authors where either you click with her and feel her writing as a very deep truth or you don't click with her and it's just dull -- very close friends of mine who otherwise share my tastes in fantasy pretty closely have landed on the "really dull" side of that, and it's just one of those things I no longer even try to predict.

I saw Behemoth on your list of books you disliked and worried it might be Scott Westerfeld's Behemoth, and was relieved to see it was not. (And then I remembered that you'd read the Leviathan trilogy already and loved it -- I think it was actually one of the shared books we bonded over way back when we friended each other :) This Behemoth does sound pretty bad. Bird droppings do actually have a smell that I think I'd recognize -- it's a sharpish ammoniac sort of smell, or at least it is for the birds whose poop I've had opportunity to observe in quantity -- but I agree that a city dweller who stayed out of nature wouldn't be able to identify it, and mostly you need a spot where birds specifically congregate to get enough of the smell going in nature.

." He needs to find a new wife and/or editor,

LOL XD

Date: 2016-04-10 06:29 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] thistle-chaser.livejournal.com
I'm willing to try LeGuin again sometime. It's possible this collection of short stories were simply a miss for me, and some book would work better. I've heard such good things about her, I wouldn't want to strike her off the list for just this one thing!

I think you're right, I believe Scott Westerfeld's trilogy was one of our early agreements! :)

The bird poop smeller was an "American princess" -- super model beautiful, super rich (one of the richest people in the world), lived her life in New York City going to party after party with her "besties" (I never realized how much I disliked the word "besties" until it came up over and over in this book).

I felt a little mean about my 'new wife/editor' line, but after reading what little of the book that I did, I wasn't feeling generous at all. Maybe she might make a fine wife... but she sure as hell doesn't make a fine editor.

Date: 2016-04-10 11:51 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] teaandfailure.livejournal.com
Seconding that The Rule of Names is AWESOME. It's one of the ones Lu told someone during my WRA run of storytellin'.

LeGuin also wrote the short story about the ones who walk away Omelas, which you might have read in school.

Date: 2016-04-11 12:25 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] thistle-chaser.livejournal.com
Wow, I haven't read The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, but that looks like something I'd enjoy!

And oooh, I have to read The Rule of Names for sure!

Date: 2016-04-10 07:00 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] bacchuslives.livejournal.com
LeGuin is best known for her "Earthsea" trilogy. The first two: A Wizard of Earthsea and The Tombs of Atuan, are among my favorite books, at least in memory. I tried reading a much later work (Tehanu maybe?) and found it unreadable. I'd definitely recommend the two mentioned above... In the day, they were considered with almost as much reverence as the lord of the rings...

Date: 2016-04-10 11:21 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] thistle-chaser.livejournal.com
With two positive mentions of Earthsea, it seems like I should give them a try once I can get my hands on them. Thanks!

Date: 2016-04-10 11:57 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] bacchuslives.livejournal.com
You're welcome :) There was at least one TV adaptation of the Earths books, very bad as I recall...
Edited Date: 2016-04-11 12:10 am (UTC)

Date: 2016-04-10 09:35 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] resonant.livejournal.com
Thank you for the warning.

Date: 2016-04-10 11:21 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] thistle-chaser.livejournal.com
Happy to help!

Date: 2016-04-10 11:37 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kelen.livejournal.com
Forgive me for being off topic here.. :)

Found a Stardew mod that I absolutely adore.
http://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/236/?

It's so damn helpful!

Date: 2016-04-11 12:28 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] thistle-chaser.livejournal.com
Hahaha look at him go in that gif! I'm tempted to try it, but I don't need to make things faster in game anymore. I'm so bored. Basically I just wait for time to pass now.

Currently I need it to be fall so I can buy cranberry seeds to fill my greenhouse with. (Why do that? Why keep making money when I have nothing left I need to or want to buy? I don't know...)

Date: 2016-04-11 12:32 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kelen.livejournal.com
For me it's not because it's faster, it's because my controller makes it super annoying to harvest single things.

Yeah, I'm in much the same boat. I filled my greenhouse with Ancient Fruit plants, and have more money than I know what to do it.. but I'm still planting. 9.9 Going for the achievements at this stage.

But just wanted to share. :)

Date: 2016-04-11 01:11 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] thistle-chaser.livejournal.com
Yeah, I figured with your arm issue, it would be helpful for that too. I hadn't realized you did it with a controller though, I'm using a mouse.

Ancient trees are my end goal, but for right now I have to wait on seeds. (Would you believe I just planted five of them outside, before I looked into what to do with my greenhouse? Sigh.) So I'm going to do cranberries until then.

Date: 2016-04-11 01:14 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kelen.livejournal.com
Cranberries make good wine money, so it's not at all a waste. :)

What I did was drop ancient fruit into the seed maker, then plant, grow, drop fruit into the seed maker.. repeat until the greenhouse was filled. I grew star fruit in the meantime though. You can buy seeds for that in the desert.

Date: 2016-04-11 01:19 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] thistle-chaser.livejournal.com
Yeah, I have a dozen or so kegs and I'm making more as I get the oak resin. (Silly me had killed off all the oak trees for maples...) I figure in the long run that ancient trees will be less work than cranberries, so money difference aside, that's what I'm aiming for.

Hmm good idea on the star fruit! I should grow those while waiting for cranberry season.

Date: 2016-04-11 01:26 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kelen.livejournal.com
My second playthrough they changed kegs to need that resin, and I discovered it early on. Thankfully! So I tapped a ton of trees during my first spring, and got hundreds of resin. Now I have 160 kegs and like 300 resin left over.

I knew wine was the way to go, so focused on fruits and kegs. The money is insane.

Yeah, Starfruit makes some of the best wine. Ancient fruit makes a little less, but I went with it because the ancient fruit doesn't need replanting, so it makes more over the long term. :)

Date: 2016-04-11 01:41 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] thistle-chaser.livejournal.com
One of the things I like about this game is how easy and cheap storage is. You can be as much of a packrat as you want, and often it pays off. I have so many mats and such, so if I suddenly need something, it's likely I already have hundreds of it. Other than oak resin. :P

Yeah, not having to replant is going to be the big thing, since I'm lazy.

Date: 2016-04-11 01:49 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kelen.livejournal.com
You can plant trees. Cut down a few oak trees and plant their seeds where you want. Trees need two spaces around each seed to grow. Then tap the hell out of everything and go to town. :)

Yeah, glad that storage was so easy. You can even put chests damn near everywhere, including the mines.

Date: 2016-04-11 02:05 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] thistle-chaser.livejournal.com
... Haha I hadn't thought about putting them in the mines! Wow, that's a good idea, I always had to leave when I ran out of space.

Yeah, I replanted trees, but it's taking forever for them to grow.

Date: 2016-04-11 12:59 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] teaandfailure.livejournal.com
Man, I am really glad that I went really really slowly, I am definitely never bored waiting for time to pass. I'm still all AAAAAH I HAVE TO GO GIVE A PRESENT. AAAH I HAVE TO GO CHECK THE NEW FISHING POLES. AAAAH IT'S FIVE I FORGOT TO GO SEE CLINT WITH THESE STUPID GEODES.

Also after hearing Kelen's experience I may not get married at all, I don't want to deaaaaaaal with my spouse whining for a sliiiiiime hutch.

Date: 2016-04-11 03:10 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] thistle-chaser.livejournal.com
Sebastian is a surprisingly good spouse. I had expected Mr. Emo to complain endlessly, but other than sometimes going off to sulk spend some time alone, the most he ever asks for is frozen pizza. WHICH IS TOTALLY A REQUEST I CAN GET BEHIND.

And once he said "It's summer, so we'll get flies in the house" which made me frown, but then he went on to say "But don't worry, I'll kill them all for you". HAKEN WOULD APPRECIATE THAT TRAIT IN A HUSBAND

I really did go too fast, but I COULDN'T HELP IT! I noticed that the load save screen has the amount of time you've played, which made me stare for a moment. My current save is almost 60 hours long. HOW IN THE WORLD DID THAT HAPPEN?

Date: 2016-04-12 11:26 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] teaandfailure.livejournal.com
BECAUSE IT IS AN AWESOME GAAAAAAAAAME. Mine is only not that long because I have had a lot going on the past couple of weekends and couldn't just binge farm. This weekend I have a race and am visiting Meej and family to watch a movie, BUT NEXT WEEKEND IT IS GOING TO BE FARM LIKE CRAZY TIME.

Date: 2016-04-13 01:15 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] teaandfailure.livejournal.com
HA HA OH GOD YES MINE IS ONLY THIRTY.
YOU ARE TWICE THE FARMER I AM.
Good thing I didn't attempt to make Embersong a farmer, she would never grow any crops, and would make all her money off foraging and then spend the rest of the time having contests with The Cat to see who could lie there on their face the longest.

Date: 2016-04-13 03:51 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] thistle-chaser.livejournal.com
JUST MEANS I HAVE MORE FREE TIME! I "work" from home most afternoons, which allows for multitasking IMPORTANT things like farming.

When people do second or third playthroughs they do things like no farming or no foraging, so you could totally get a second save going and make her that way!

I read most people put 60-70 hours into the game, so I'm right on track for being done with it. SADLY. I just hit fall, so I cleaned up my farm (WHY IS IT SO VERY TRAUMATIC TO HAVE ALL THE ROCKS AND STICKS ALL OVER IT WHEN THE SEASON CHANGES?) and planted my greenhouse, now I'm basically finished with everything. I have a couple bundles left to finish, but it's really just RNG to them and the only reward is "friendship", so I'm not really feeling much of a need to finish them.

Date: 2016-04-13 10:37 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] teaandfailure.livejournal.com
MAYBE I WILL DO THAT THEN, although I want to play a boy next time, so maybe her brother. He would consider farming.

Hahaha OH GOD I MUST FINISH ALL THE BUNDLES. I MUST PLEASE THE TINY GUMDROP FOREST SPIRITS. But then they will move away and be gone and that will make me sad and then I will probably be done.

Date: 2016-04-14 02:15 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] thistle-chaser.livejournal.com
Didn't you post early on that they came to your farm? NONE HAVE EVER COME TO SEE ME! I wonder why?

I have two bundles in one... main bundle? Room? Whatever it's called left to do. I need three items total, ONE I SOLD BY MISTAKE EARLY ON ARG!

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