The Book Thread - fiction, nonfiction, reference, etc

[nnodley]

I'm onto book 5 of the expanse. These books always take a bit to get going especially cause the writers usually add totally new character viewpoints, so you have to spend chapters learning about them. Luckily book 5 is all viewpoints from the Roci crew.  But it's a slower start than the other books so far.

[Legend]

Started echopraxia. Sequel to blindsight.

Now we have both zombies and vampires!


These zombies though are what you'd expect from hard sci fi. Not undead, just a metaphor.

[nnodley]

Book 5 of the expanse is SLOOOOOW. Not sure if it's because I've seen the show and these portions of the series are very focused on the sociopolitical aspect of the world and not the Protomolecule stuff, which is easily the most interesting aspect of the books/show.

[nnodley]

Resorting to the audiobook on 1.4 speed cause I just don't want to read it. It's suppose to pick up, but dang almost 200 pages in and it's a tad boring.

[Legend]

Resorting to the audiobook on 1.4 speed cause I just don't want to read it. It's suppose to pick up, but dang almost 200 pages in and it's a tad boring.

That sucks.

Is the audiobook even faster though? I could only find an audiobook for Embassytown so that's what I went with and it was like 12 hours at 1.0 speed.

[the-pi-guy]

That sucks.

Is the audiobook even faster though? I could only find an audiobook for Embassytown so that's what I went with and it was like 12 hours at 1.0 speed.

Just set it at 10x speed. 

[Legend]

Just set it at 10x speed.

Have the first half play in the left ear, and the second half play in the right. Done in half the time!

Or just use AI to remove all the filler.

Spoiler for Hidden:

&nbsp;<br>Crew splits. Naomi → son → Marco → capture → escape.<br>Marco: asteroids → Earth burn, steals Ring, Medina, fleet.<br>Amos: Earth → collapse → Mao → survive.<br>Alex + Bobbie → Mars traitors → chase.<br>Fred dead.<br>Proto missing.<br>Holden → chaos.<br>Free Navy rises.<br>System falls.

[nnodley]

That sucks.

Is the audiobook even faster though? I could only find an audiobook for Embassytown so that's what I went with and it was like 12 hours at 1.0 speed.

The audiobook is 18 hours for it. I listened to some chapters while working. I think the major issue is that I've watched the show and while there are differences it is largely the same. The first 200 pages of Nemesis Games is pretty much the roci crew separating for personal matters. Slow character developments are fine, but this feels too stretched out.  

I'm sure if I read the books before the show, I'd probably love it, but NOT feeling it. 

[nnodley]

Have the first half play in the left ear, and the second half play in the right. Done in half the time!

Or just use AI to remove all the filler.

Spoiler for Hidden:

Crew splits. Naomi → son → Marco → capture → escape.
Marco: asteroids → Earth burn, steals Ring, Medina, fleet.
Amos: Earth → collapse → Mao → survive.
Alex + Bobbie → Mars traitors → chase.
Fred dead.
Proto missing.
Holden → chaos.
Free Navy rises.
System falls.

Yep that's pretty much the gist of the show too and what I remembered. 

[nnodley]

I seriously considered just skipping 5 and 6 and going directly to 7. But I'll power through

[nnodley]

Ok now it seems like the book is gonna pick up. Massive event happening and hopefully accelerating from here. But took almost 250 pages to get going. 

[Legend]

Ok now it seems like the book is gonna pick up. Massive event happening and hopefully accelerating from here. But took almost 250 pages to get going.

So switching back over from the audio book?

Crazy long setup. Hopefully this massive event delivers. Wonder what it could be!?!?

[nnodley]

So switching back over from the audio book?

Crazy long setup. Hopefully this massive event delivers. Wonder what it could be!?!?

Yeah I read with the actual book tonight. 

If you've seen the show you'll likely have an idea. I think it happens in season 5.

[nnodley]

Ok well I skipped the last little bit of book 5 and read a decent summary of book 6 and just went straight to 7. Holy frick the first 30 pages of Persepolis rising is already way better. I'm not even mad about skipping them, I just couldn't find any desire to read them. They were massive BORE.

Why book 5 and 6 couldn't have been condensed into a single book is beyond me.

And and not to mention book 6 had like 18 fricking viewpoint chapters. WHHHHHYYYY!

[Legend]

Haha glad book 7 has hooked you.

As a person that has just gotten into reading, is that normal? Have a couple off books in a series and then get great again?