SFF Hot from Printers: New Releases discussion

A buddy read for the 2nd volume of Teixcalaanli saga

I've reached about halfway point now; I'll put the book on hold for a week and a half or so to give others who want to join in the BR the chance to read as far.

I’ll be ready to start it today or tomorrow.

I'm looking forward to the comments here. I've already read it.

Oh, cool! I was just about to start this.

I’m about 100 pages in! I’m really enjoying the brief alien POV (the prologue as an example)

I'll start next week.

I plan to join in 3 days, have to finish two other books first

Just barely started, 23 pages in. Going slow at first, taking some time to get back into the universe and the writing style. Trying to finish a couple shorties but will devote full time to this in a day or two.

I’m in chapter 3 and finding this one a little harder to follow. Multiple pov’s again.... haha. I feel like we are just jumping in with new characters I’ve never met before and expected to immediately understand them.

Some folks said they couldn’t get into this one like the previous however I’m not having that difficulty (yet). Re: multiple POVs: bothering me less than some others, still jumping ahead to finish a section with one POV and then going back but not feeling bothered by it

Started it today. So far I like it more than the 1st one...

Remind me - these opponents of the empire are the first truly alien species in this universe? I'm surprised with shooting them to smithereens attitude

I think the Obrekty are also truly aliens? Sorry, I have no idea how it is actually spelled because I’ve been listening to the audiobook. I’m on chapter five and initial relations with them were just referenced.

Kristenelle wrote: "I think the Obrekty are also truly aliens? Sorry, I have no idea how it is actually spelled because I’ve been listening to the audiobook. I’m on chapter five and initial relations with them were ju..."

Yes, later they mention aliens, the Ebrekti, but so far not much info

I'm on chapter 8 now...so approaching half way. I'm feeling like I've "found my sea legs" with the different pov's now. I'm enjoying the alien problem more than the murder mystery in the first book.

Kristenelle wrote: "I'm on chapter 8 now...so approaching half way. I'm feeling like I've "found my sea legs" with the different pov's now. I'm enjoying the alien problem more than the murder mystery in the first book."

I also enjoy this book more

Finished this last night. I didn’t really get a slow-down in the middle the way some friends have reported. I felt engaged all the way through- maybe I also find the aliens a more interesting puzzle that the murder mystery (SF plot vs mystery plot)
I generally got to like the new characters once ai got to know them.
What does everyone think of Eight Antidote?

Rachel wrote: "What does everyone think of Eight Antidote?"

He is smarter than I was at 11 :)

I plan to finish it today. Also had no slowdown in the middle.

I just finished! I liked it about the same as the first, maybe a little more. The ending felt a bit too tidy, but I'm not upset or anything. I like these books and enjoy them a lot, but they aren't favorites.

I also finished it, liked it more than the first, after all a first contact feels more SF than murder mystery. Also the idea of names like Two Stone is great for books with many characters in terms of remembering

My review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I’m a little over halfway and enjoying it. I think I’ve realized why it takes more concentration to get through both books: nested sentence structure. There are many long sentences - which could be kept straightforward and simple, but for the sake of being more “literary” are deliberately nested and lengthy - used to convey information. That’s a little irritating but fortunately the story’s interesting and moving quickly enough to overcome it.

Oleksandr wrote: ".the idea of names like Two Stone is great for books with many characters in terms of remembering"

I commented on your review and realized I should probably have commented here instead. So here you go:

Interesting that you found the naming system easy to remember. I buddy read this with a couple friends who felt the opposite. The numbers and nouns got all jumbled in their minds and they had trouble keeping them straight. Personally, I felt pretty neutral about it.

Kristenelle wrote: "Interesting that you found the naming system easy to remember. I buddy read this with a couple friends who felt the opposite. The numbers and nouns got all jumbled in their minds and they had trouble keeping them straight. Personally, I felt pretty neutral about it.."

Yes, it may be personal. It is just a tradition in both SF and fantasy to use named not (often) used in real world, thus it was hard for me to remember 10+ characters

Finished just now. I liked it, but didn't love it like I loved Memory Called Empire.

First thoughts:
(view spoiler)[
- I would've enjoyed this book more if it hadn't included Mahit and Three Seagrass. Nine Hibiscus and Twenty Cicada were perfectly good characrets who could've supported the first contact side of the story, while Eight Antidote was providing for the politicking side.

- That said, I did enjoy Mahit's and Reeds romance and I love the characters dearly. I just felt they were in a wrong book. Perhaps a novella, that included the Lsel station portions of this story and some other reason why Reed needed Mahit's help?

- Because really, Three Seagrass was MOST irresponsible here. Oh, a first contact situation. Do I enlist xenolinguists? Do I go to the university and alsk them to give me their best minds to handle the situation? No! I'm found to fetch my old flame and take her to negotiate with me, although she has no real qualifications for this kind of stuff! What could go wrong?

- And really, Mahit and Reed didn't do much. It was Twenty Cicada who saved the day, along with Eight Antidote and Nine Hibiscus. Mahit and Three Seagrass mainly watched what was going on from the bridge.

- There were scenes where the characters were sorting through their emotional dramas (like when Darj Tarats came to the Weight of the Wheel) at the same time while war and first-contact negotiations were going on in the background. That didn't feel entirely believable: wouldn't the history in the making kinda distract people from their own little problems?

- Eight Antidote was perhaps a bit too smart for eleven year old, but still, at least he had some frights and couldn't always keep his cool, which was somewhat child-like behaviour.

- Hive-mind aliens aren't the most original idea, but it worked okay, since the idea of sharing minds was a big theme in the book.
(hide spoiler)]

Oh yeah, and I'm a fan of the Teixcalaanli names. Much easier to remember than the Lsel names. I had to look up what was the councillor's name, again. Hell, I'm not sure I remember Mahits surname correctly! At the same time, I can remember the names of all the major Teixcalaali characters easily.

Not finished yet, so haven't read the thread. Just a couple quick questions:

Mahit bought a comic book on Lsel that she brought with her. Later, 3 Seagrass read it. But how could she? I find it highly unlikely that a Lsel teenager would write a book in Texicalaanli, and Seagrass doesn't speak Stationer. Did Mahit translate for her, or do the languages use the same writing system?

I had trouble understanding the interludes from the alien perspectives, particularly the one between Ch 15 and 16. Can anyone explain this?

3 Seagrass has passable stationer language skills.

I believe it was said her stationer skills were very poor. I don't think it would be sufficient to read.

Ryan wrote: "I believe it was said her stationer skills were very poor. I don't think it would be sufficient to read."

She wasn't fluent, but she got by. Honestly, as a second language learner myself, reading is way easier than trying to parse spoken language.

Especially reading comic books, where the pictures help a lot. I can read comics in German, but couldn't read a novel, let alone hold a conversation.

Ryan wrote: "I had trouble understanding the interludes from the alien perspectives, particularly the one between Ch 15 and 16. Can anyone explain this?"

I don't remember what part exactly was between Ch 15 and 16, but I can give it a go. It's a spoiler, so I'll put it in tags:

(view spoiler)[
The aliens are a parasitic/symbiotic fungus that lives in the brain of a mammal-like alien being. I'm not exactly sure if the mammals were sapient before they were infected with the fungus, but my guess is not.

The fungus creates a hive-mind between the aliens, so they don't really see themselves as the bodies they inhabit: they view their bodies like we would see tools or vehicles: useful, but not something you identify with, or would care too much if it was damaged.
(hide spoiler)]

Re: Seagrass's Stationer: A quotation from Chapter 5: "Really, she needed to learn Stationer properly, more than the amateur level of vocabulary she currently had" - the best indication of her ability is "amateur". I guess we are to assume that is sufficient to read for easily-written comic books, particularly with a native speaker right there to help. I didn't consider that comic books are much easier to follow than regular text.

Re: the interlude. Are spoilers required in this thread?
I understood all of that, Antti, but there were some parts that I couldn't interpret well. I'm not going to go back and pick out exactly which parts, though, the main idea will suffice. Thanks!

Just finished it myself, and I found it very close to the standard set by the first book. Different story but similar impact on me. I had no problem with the Tex names, it makes them easy to associate in my mind. The only issue I have with it is the writing style, the overcomplicated, overlong, nested sentence structure the author uses in nearly every paragraph. That required a lot more concentration and made it a book that I couldn’t breeze through - took me three weeks to get through the damn thing (in fairness, I was reading 3-4 other books interspersed in the same period).

I feel much the same, Allan, though I felt the storyline was a bit weaker. The sentence structure bothered me as well: more than a few times I had to look back a page or two to see what a character was responding to in dialogue after a lengthy awkward interruption of internal thoughts.

(view spoiler)[I'm a bit confused as to the motives of each of the Lsel characters. What does Onchu want? In particular, why did Onchu warn Aghavn about Mahit?

Is Eleven Laurel as much of an evil jerk as I think he is? He installs Sixteen Moonrise on the fleet in order to start and prolong a war in the hopes that his ministry will remain relevant, regardless of what's good for Texicalaan in general? (hide spoiler)]

Allan wrote: "The only issue I have with it is the writing style, the overcomplicated, overlong, nested sentence structure the author uses in nearly every paragraph.."

On audio it worked fine for me. E.g. China Miéville is harder to follow, but maybe its a used dictionary issue

About motives (view spoiler)[as I understood it, absolute power corrupts absolutely and Aknel Amnardbat, the Councilor for Heritage, decides unilaterally how to save the Lsel station by brewing a war for the empire to bog into. Dekakel Onchu, the Councilor for the Pilots, thinks that Aknel went to far in her shift to a tyrant, so plays against her. He maybe agrees with protection of the station as #1 issue, but disagrees on methods.

Eleven Laurel wants to be a trusted confidant for the empire's heir, to use in own schemes, but I assumed that he thinks these schemes help the empire, and I guess he installs Sixteen Moonrise initially to counterbalance Nine Hibiscus’s possible attempt of a military coup, even if that coup only in his imagination so far. (hide spoiler)]

I also listened to the audio and didn't have any trouble following along. I didn't even notice the nested sentence structure.

Thanks for the clarification regarding Lsel leaders.

Re: Eleven Laurel

(view spoiler)[It's explicitly stated here in the interlude between Ch 15 and 16:
Of what he has asked his favorite student to die for, all unknowing, in hopes of preserving his Ministry’s history, his Ministry’s successes. Cutting away what might be susceptible to rot—or the suspicion of rot. Sixteen Moonrise is an acceptable sacrifice if she takes Nine Hibiscus with her and wins a victory for War that will keep War relevant in the new Emperor’s estimation for as long as the conflict continues.

I can't help but think of this as incredibly small-minded and self-serving. (hide spoiler)]

I'm just about to start on this one and have the option to choose the audio or e-book from my library, any recommendations? Is the narrator pretty good? Seems like those who have listened liked it and didn't have trouble following the storyline (which I have trouble with at times when listening to convoluted stories).

I liked the audio. It wasn’t super outstanding, but it was perfectly fine and I had no problem following along. Based on some of the comments here I wonder if it actually helped. One consideration is that there is some poetry throughout and interludes which might benefit from eye reading.

Audio was well done, so depends more on how you ordinary prefer to consume books.

Thanks, audio it is!

So far it’s more of the same from the last book, lots of talking about things happening. I’m not a fan of the poems and excerpts even though they are me to provide teasers to what might or did happen.

I'm at 70% and enjoying it, but still not convinced that Mahit and Three Seagrass should be doing this first contact negotiation - they are hardly qualified. But I guess right place, right time? I'm not entirely following all of the politics at the Ministry of War...perhaps that is how it should be, but its made me dislike the Eight Antidote sections a bit.

With both of these books I have trouble deciding if I really like them or am just going through the motions of the story to get to the ending. I like the characters but only slightly invested in what happens to Mahit and the new Emperor, the others are still too distant for me to care about.

I think the rationale is that nobody was really qualified to do the first contact negotiation - it's the first alien species ever encountered. Both characters have some linguistic and envoy experience so they're as qualified as any, I suppose.

The politics are a bit complicated but basically, none of the ministries trust one another. I found it interesting how Antidote was trying to navigate through them at his age.

Ryan wrote: "I think the rationale is that nobody was really qualified to do the first contact negotiation - it's the first alien species ever encountered. "

Actually the second. We hear almost nothing about the first, only their name - Ebrekti and that a contact was established. Quote

There’d been special permission from the War Ministry for using it, during the filming. The current episode he was watching was from the fifth season of six. The fifth season was called Sunlight Dissolves Tendrils of Haze, and it was the part of the story where the Emperor Two Sunspot—having faced down the first-contact negotiation with the Ebrekti and returned through the jumpgate she’d fled through...