Raven
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Posts posted by Raven
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On 8/19/2020 at 4:50 PM, Marie H said:
Re-listening to Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London #1, but boy - I had forgotten just how thrilling and gory it is!
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Gory? Really? I never really thought of it like that, but I suppose it is in a way... (don't ever read Paul Cornell's Shadow Police series!)
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Chadwick Boseman
I still cannot believe I'm typing that.
I only really know him from the Marvel films, but I can understand why he is so important to so many. He bought a quiet strength and dignity to the role of King T'Challa and I suspect he would have been a key player in the next sequence of films. Gone far too soon, but I think he has left a legacy that will inspire many for years to come.
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On 8/24/2020 at 3:59 PM, Hayley said:
I definitely read it differently... I think I actually need to re-read the last two! I thought...
At the end of Lies Sleeping we don't know whether Peter will get his police job back or not. He says something to Beverley about how he could lose his pension, she implies she would actually like him to stop working for the police and reveals that she's pregnant. Then False Value starts with him at the interview for the Serious Cybernetics Company. I thought he was getting that job because he knew he might be losing his old one, but then got drawn into the police investigation into that company when it turned out to have a magical connection.
I've just flicked through False Value and I'm thinking maybe I missed the fact that it goes back in time after the interview? So had Peter already got his job with the police back before he even interviewed for the Serious Cybernetics Company? Maybe that's why I was so confused about why he so seamlessly started doing police work again!
SpoilerYes, at the end of Lies Sleeping Peter is still suspended, but by the time the story gets to False Values he has been reinstated and gone under cover at Serious Cybernetics.
The blurb on the back of the book is misleading, as it implies Peter has got gainful employment outside the Police, and the beginning of the book keeps up that deception, but it doesn't last long and it doesn't really work very well for me either.
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On 8/19/2020 at 11:24 AM, Madeleine said:
As long as it's not the one from a few years ago, which was dreadful.
Oh God no! Why would you even think I would promote that?!OFFENSE TAKEN!
(Just kidding!)
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22 hours ago, Hayley said:
Okay, now you have me wondering whether I read the book right!
SpoilerPeter never worked for Serious Cybernetics; he was undercover from the start! I'm sure there is a piece that explains how he was hired, and that his suspension was actually used as part of his cover story.
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19 hours ago, Hayley said:Spoiler
The way I read it, Peter has been reinstated by the time False Values starts, so he is able to go into The Folly again.
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On 8/8/2020 at 12:38 PM, Madeleine said:
I loved The Force Awakens, haven't seen The Last Jedi though, but I've heard it's not that good.
The Rise of Skywalker must have been even more confusing, if you hadn't seen The Last Jedi!
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5 hours ago, Marie H said:
I’ve still got a couple of the Peter Grant series books, but always seem to falter at Moon over Soho.... I can’t get into it
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If you enjoyed Rivers of London, skip Moon Over Soho and go on to Whispers Underground. If you get into the series, you can always go back and read Moon Over Soho later.
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On 8/13/2020 at 3:53 PM, Brian. said:
Storming the Eagle's Nest by Jim Ring (3/5)
I orginally thought this was a book purely about the final assault on the Eagle's nest but it is in fact about was war in the Alps and Switzerland. It was a solid read and filled in some gaps in my knowledge about WWII as I knew pretty much nothing about the Alpine campaigns.
Band of Brothers, by Stephen Ambrose, and Beyond Band of Brothers, by Dick Winters, both cover the capture of The Eagle's Nest. Both very good reads, and I would read them in that order.
ETA - Forgot to say they are both 99p on the Kindle at the moment!
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I don't think I should have eaten that whole bag of Mango Chutney flavoured Poppadoms...
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Trump
ETA: (hehe, that actually works on more than one level...)
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21 hours ago, Hayley said:
Well a lot of things happened since I updated this! I think it's about time I got back it.
The world done and got sick on us... (in oh so many ways...).
QuoteFalse Value by Ben Aaronovitch - 4.5/5
This series is brilliant and it always feels exciting to meet new characters, find out what's happening with the old ones and discover more about the potential of magic with Peter Grant. I knocked half a start off this for a couple of really small reasons. One contains a spoiler for anybody who hasn't read the previous book, Lies Sleeping, so just in case:
The fact that Peter was no longer going to be doing his old job as a police officer, because it was a dangerous job and he's soon to be a dad, was a big reveal at the end of Lies Sleeping. Wondering how this was going to work and what Peter would be doing instead was part of the excitement going into False Value. But I quickly forgot he was even supposed to NOT be police, he just slipped so easily into the old role. To such an extent that I was confused at one point and I can't actually remember at what point he ends up working with the police again. I'm not sure I see the point of him ever leaving. I suppose it just gave him a reason to be where he was at the beginning of the book?
In the words of River Song, spoilers:
SpoilerPeter was suspended from duty at the end of Lies Sleeping, following Lesley shooting Martin Chorley whilst he was handcuffed to Peter, and as part of that he had to move out of The Folly whilst it was being investigated. This also tied in with him finding out he was about to become a Dad, so it makes sense he would move in with Beverley anyway (if memory serves, Peter makes a comment at the beginning of Lies Sleeping that he is spending most of his time living at Beverley's house anyway). With regard to his reinstatement, I think you are right; I don't think Aaronovitch did a very good job of explaining what happened between the two books - it all feels a little fudged and rushed in the need to get on with the current story - but it is explained, albeit briefly. I think it would have been very difficult for the series to continue without Peter still working for the MET on some level, as once sacked from the MET there would have been no way back to The Folly as Nightingale's apprentice, so I wasn't expecting him to lose his job when I started reading the book (although I couldn't work out how he came to be working for his new company until it was explained).
QuoteThe one other very slight thing, which I've heard a few people mention, was all the references to The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. There are always 'geeky' references in the Peter Grant books and usually they're quite funny, like sharing an 'in-joke' with the author. There were so many references in False Value though that if you aren't familiar with The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy you would be very confused. I have spoken to someone who read the book and didn't understand the references and it just made it seem to them that there was some kind of weird clue that wasn't ever being explained. I understood the references (only because I've seen the film!) but by the end I had started to think they felt a bit silly and (I'm aware this might sound a bit hypocritical when I'm reading a book about wizards in London) made things feel less realistic. I think the latter issue is probably because they act as a constant reminder of the author's presence, which isn't what you want when the narrative is first person, from Peter's perspective.
I may have said this in my review (can't be arsed to go and look!) but I found all the Hitch-Hikers references a massive distraction and, as you say, unrealistic. Someone would have thrown the copyright hammer at the company for such flagrant commercial use of the IP, if nothing else! If the company had to be a bit geeky, he could have gone with names of computer pioneers, like Babbage, Lovelace and Turing etc.
Although I enjoyed it, I think with distance I would mark False Values down as well, and give it 4/5 (though that might go up again on a re-read!).
At the end of Lies Sleeping it felt like there was going to be a massive change in direction for the series, but that never really happened. False Values feels like a side story before what comes next, although I think there may be parts of it that will prove to be very significant later...
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^ It is still very muggy though; the walk home from work left me as tired as on any other day this week.
My flat is the top floor of an old house that has very thick walls that retain the heat very well, so I will need a couple of days at this temperature before the flat fully cools down again.
Joy!
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*gasp*
Really surprised someone has gone to the length of remastering this, given the BBC seem to put very little out on Blu-ray, but I'm not complaining!
If anyone hasn't seen it, this is by far the best adaptation of Triffids anyone has done.
Release date Monday 7th September.
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It's too damn
HOT
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Dreadful film, as was The Last Jedi.
I quite liked The Force Awakens; it reinvigorated the franchise after the kack-handed prequels, but the last two films just didn't hang together, either story wise or emotionally.
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4 hours ago, Hayley said:
Oooh I need to charge my kindle! Have you read any yet?
I've not actually bought it yet.
I'm knee deep in an Iain M. Banks book that is talking me an age to read and I don't want the distraction! (I suspect I have also read several of the stories before, so it's not as high on my to-read list as it would otherwise be!).
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Tales from the Folly: A Rivers of London Short Story Collection, is published tomorrow as a e-book.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tales-Folly-Rivers-London-Collection-ebook/dp/B08BW6LCPH
I think this may be a collection of the Waterstones exclusive short stories plus some others and some new ones.
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And no frickin' circles!
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I have watched so many films over lockdown, I'm getting bored of them.
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I wouldn't claim to be as up on sci-fi news as I was a few years ago, but I've not heard anything about an adaptation.
I've not read any of the books though, so if I have seen anything about this it may have just passed me by.
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4 hours ago, Hayley said:
I finished it yesterday. It's definitely the kind of book that stays with you!
I read it quite a few years ago now, and don't remember it all that well, except for the idea of handing on stories by an oral narrative.
QuoteNow I'm back to not knowing what I feel like reading...
I know that feeling!
What kind of story are you in the mood for? (if any).
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On 11/07/2020 at 10:11 PM, Hayley said:
I finished Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (while I was waiting for the hosts to email me about our disaster restore!) and it was so good. Now I can't decide what I want to read!
I have a copy of that to read.
On 12/07/2020 at 9:02 AM, Marie H said:I'm started with Half a King by Joe Abercrombie
And that.
9 hours ago, Hayley said:I decided to read Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and that’s brilliant so far too.
Have read that one, though...
Overheard in the Street
in Quiz Room / Thread Games Jokes etc
Posted
Two older women (late 50s/early 60s) in the street yesterday morning (this is deep in well-to-do Radio 4 country) who I think were discussing a relative's new girlfriend:
Woman One: Well, she is English...
Woman Two: Good, good...
Woman One: But she's from the North, so I cannot understand a word she's says...