Book Club

[lewness]

I'm a big sucker for short story collections - I like the idea of instilling a thought provoking story in few pages, with some stories even forming a sort of arc regardless of not having the same character or even setting. I admit I'm not getting any reading done lately because... well... fucking video games haha

 

[Molotov Cupcake]

I'm here because I saw Dune, and everyone knows I am the former Kwisatz Haderach of Destructoid Anime Games.

 

[Queen of Philosophy]

It had been a while since I last read science fiction, especially one in the hard sci-fi category. What a way to return to the genre! The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin is an intelligent, dense and complex reading. Despite the many technological and physics terminology, The top-notch writing delivered a story that won't please only "science people", as it explains the most important scientific elements in ways that are easy-to-digest and never sound pedantic. This, combined with an ever-intriguing plot and relatable characters, composes a story that every sci-fi fan should read!

As one of the characters says:

Spoiler

"I would have never thought that actual fucking aliens would be involved!" Still, the existence of extraterrestrial beings was a pleasant surprise. Liu invented a race that is not summarised into "evil monsters" or "good explorers" while also posing a real threat to Earth and curiosity as to what will happen next.

 

[Xeo]

It had been a while since I last read science fiction, especially one in the hard sci-fi category. What a way to return to the genre! The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin is an intelligent, dense and complex reading. Despite the many technological and physics terminology, The top-notch writing delivered a story that won't please only "science people", as it explains the most important scientific elements in ways that are easy-to-digest and never sound pedantic. This, combined with an ever-intriguing plot and relatable characters, composes a story that every sci-fi fan should read!

As one of the characters says:

Spoiler

"I would have never thought that actual fucking aliens would be involved!" Still, the existence of extraterrestrial beings was a pleasant surprise. Liu invented a race that is not summarised into "evil monsters" or "good explorers" while also posing a real threat to Earth and curiosity as to what will happen next.

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That image looks straight up like the Pyramidion from Destiny 2. A large Vex construct.

 

[Queen of Philosophy]

That image looks straight up like the Pyramidion from Destiny 2. A large Vex construct.

I didn't play enough Destiny to remember such details, so I'll take your word for it - but trust me, the book's story is infinitely better than Destiny's xD

 

[Xeo]

I didn't play enough Destiny to remember such details, so I'll take your word for it - but trust me, the book's story is infinitely better than Destiny's xD

I happen to really like the lore behind Destiny. I don't mean the half-ass shit we get in-game, but the actual story behind the lore in the grimoires. It has surprisingly deep lore.

 

[Yue]

It is finally the weekend! I am hoping I can get some reading done! I have been loving The Two Towers. Hoping I can make some good progress and maybe even just power through the whole book.

 

[Yue]

Poor Treebeard lost the Entwives. I found this paragraph hilarious for some reason.

 

[Xeo]

It is finally the weekend! I am hoping I can get some reading done! I have been loving The Two Towers. Hoping I can make some good progress and maybe even just power through the whole book.

That one was my favorite out of the trilogy. It's been so long since I've read them though. I may have to go through them again sometime soon. It was back in middle school. And I'm old...

 

[Yue]

Here is a better picture of the paragraph I was talking about

 

[Queen of Philosophy]

Indeed, I'm Thinking of Ending Things was a surprising read! I thought I was piecing everything together, but I never imagined

Spoiler

that Jake was the true protagonist and, in a certain way, the only real character we meet besides the police officers.

It gets scarier in the last "act" of the book; the rest is more unsettling than anything else, which is not bad at all. It's great to see how all those philosophical talks connect to the big picture.

I understand how it becomes a new book on a second reading! I'd like to purchase the audiobook as I read some people writing good things about it. Either way, I'm certainly revisiting this story in the near future.

 

[Xeo]

Indeed, I'm Thinking of Ending Things was a surprising read! I thought I was piecing everything together, but I never imagined

Spoiler

that Jake was the true protagonist and, in a certain way, the only real character we meet besides the police officers.

It gets scarier in the last "act" of the book; the rest is more unsettling than anything else, which is not bad at all. It's great to see how all those philosophical talks connect to the big picture.

I understand how it becomes a new book on a second reading! I'd like to purchase the audiobook as I read some people writing good things about it. Either way, I'm certainly revisiting this story in the near future.
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So happy you enjoyed it! It was a delightful read, both times I read it. I love the atmosphere of the entire second half of the book.

Spoiler: Spoilers!

The unsettling atmosphere of the entire scene at Jake's parents house. Especially the basement. And it's only made worse once you revisit it after knowing what you know having finished the book.

It's much more science fiction than horror, but Reid's follow up to this one "Foe" was realy good as well. This guy has a knack for writing unsettling, tight atmospheric stuff. And Foe followed that path as well.

 

[Yue]

Forgot my book while I was at work today, so I grabbed one from the library (I work at a school)

decided to grab One of Us is Lying. Oh man I am only 100 pages in and it is a page turner! It is a mystery novel and I can’t believe I waited this long to read it.

 

[Queen of Philosophy]

Forgot my book while I was at work today, so I grabbed one from the library (I work at a school)

decided to grab One of Us is Lying. Oh man I am only 100 pages in and it is a page turner! It is a mystery novel and I can’t believe I waited this long to read it.

I loved the Breakfast Club inspiration for this book. Will definitely read it someday!

 

[Queen of Philosophy]

The Vampire Diet: Good Enough to Eat: Twilight kinda traumatised me when it comes to supernatural romance, especially when involving vampires. But when I discovered that Jae (author of Shaken to the Core, editor of Finding Ms Write and currently one of my favourite authors) had written/co-written series of supernatural romances and this first volume of the Vampire Diet series was free, I had to read it. And I'm glad I did because it was such an enjoyable story!

The plot follows Robin, a sixty-eight years old vampire who starts attending an AA meeting because she doesn't want to drink human blood anymore. It's there where she meets Alana, a human who appears different from all others and cause these sparks between them. Is it only bloodlust? Something more? Needless to say, it's a far better love story than Twilight!

 

[Yue]

I loved the Breakfast Club inspiration for this book. Will definitely read it someday!

It was amazing!! I could not put it down at all!

 

[Yue]

The Vampire Diet: Good Enough to Eat: Twilight kinda traumatised me when it comes to supernatural romance, especially when involving vampires. But when I discovered that Jae (author of Shaken to the Core, editor of Finding Ms Write and currently one of my favourite authors) had written/co-written series of supernatural romances and this first volume of the Vampire Diet series was free, I had to read it. And I'm glad I did because it was such an enjoyable story!

The plot follows Robin, a sixty-eight years old vampire who starts attending an AA meeting because she doesn't want to drink human blood anymore. It's there where she meets Alana, a human who appears different from all others and cause these sparks between them. Is it only bloodlust? Something more? Needless to say, it's a far better love story than Twilight!
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I will have to give this a try, because I totally feel you on being traumatized with Twilight. I was kind of obsessed with it, until I realized how poorly it was written. Whenever I see teachers or adults reading and raving over Twilight, I kind of judge them because there are so many better books out there than that one.

 

[Xeo]

The Vampire Diet: Good Enough to Eat: Twilight kinda traumatised me when it comes to supernatural romance, especially when involving vampires. But when I discovered that Jae (author of Shaken to the Core, editor of Finding Ms Write and currently one of my favourite authors) had written/co-written series of supernatural romances and this first volume of the Vampire Diet series was free, I had to read it. And I'm glad I did because it was such an enjoyable story!

The plot follows Robin, a sixty-eight years old vampire who starts attending an AA meeting because she doesn't want to drink human blood anymore. It's there where she meets Alana, a human who appears different from all others and cause these sparks between them. Is it only bloodlust? Something more? Needless to say, it's a far better love story than Twilight!
View attachment 835

It's old news in the world of horror these days, but by chance have you read the original "Let the Right One In"? by John Ajvide Lindqvist? It's much darker than things like Twilight, and I'd say is closer to actual horror, but damn was it fantastic. And it's something of a vampire/human love story.

 

[Queen of Philosophy]

I will have to give this a try, because I totally feel you on being traumatized with Twilight. I was kind of obsessed with it, until I realized how poorly it was written. Whenever I see teachers or adults reading and raving over Twilight, I kind of judge them because there are so many better books out there than that one.

lol yeah, I also went through a phase when I liked Twilight. Fortunately, I soon grew out of this little obsession xD I mean, if you like it, that's fine, but man, you have to recognise that the story isn't the most brilliant out there!

 

[Queen of Philosophy]

It's old news in the world of horror these days, but by chance have you read the original "Let the Right One In"? by John Ajvide Lindqvist? It's much darker than things like Twilight, and I'd say is closer to actual horror, but damn was it fantastic. And it's something of a vampire/human love story.

I watched the Swedish adaptation, does that count? I'm not sure how different the two versions are but I really liked the film! It's dark and gory but also so loveable!

Spoiler

When the vampire girl entered the boy's house without being invited and started bleeding... oh, my heart!