DNF roundup

[lightreads]

Natural Twenty by Charlie Novak

I’m deep deep deep in actual play fandom these days, so I broke my rule about not ever picking up a romance novel without a rec for it because this one is supposed to be about a queer romance at D&D group. There is D&D in it, I suppose, but it’s the lightest of set dressing at least by the 1/3 mark when I got bored. This is competently written about the bookshop owner and the flower shop owner, but they had such a notable lack of chemistry that it’s nearly impressive. Not so much as the tiniest spark.

Rats and Gargoyles by Mary Gentle

Late 80’s/early 90’s fantasy about the city where enslaved humans rise up beneath overseer rat people and the creepy gargoyle gods. Intricate and occasionally intriguing, but we were spending way too much time with the nineteen-year-old disguised king’s son (he thought for sure everyone would treat him the same because his superiority is just so apparent) and what his penis thinks about everything. His penis does the vast majority of his thinking. The author is clearly aware of what she’s doing with him, but there’s something about the preoccupation with his sexual fantasies that I don’t have patience for, even if his arc is presumably going to be, you know, growing the hell up.

The Praxis by Walter Jon Williams

This is my third try at WJW. I normally don’t give so many chances, but the problem here is that he’s actually a good writer on a craft level, and he’s interested in giving character development all the time it needs, and I like his ideas. And yet. I viscerally dislike his books, including this one about the civil war over control that erupts after the alien overlords die out, and races held stagnant for thousands of years have to learn to be creative thinkers again. Great idea, right? I don’t know, I hated it. It's not even just the terrible, terrible writing about women (though, Walter. Walter. My dude. Please stop using the word “lush” to describe your protagonist every other page, that word is gross to me now). I mean that certainly doesn’t help. And neither does the thing where we’re told it’s normal for women to join the military, and yet to judge by this book (and I read a lot of it) she is the only one in the entire service. All other women portrayed are concerned only with men and what men want and what men can do for them, by the way. It’s not even that. I just do not like his books. Someone stop me before I try again.

On the Edge of Gone by Corin Duyvis

A good book that I just can’t with. YA about an autistic teen and her mother who do not have a ride off of dying apocalyptic earth, except for reasons they end up tangled with a ship about to depart. I trust this author to be interesting and nuanced and great on disability, but this particular book jumped up and down on a not fun button I didn’t even know I had, so I noped out.

Comments

[thefourthvine]

Ooooh, which actual play fandom are you in?

[lightreads]

All the basic bitch stuff -- mostly Critical Role with forays into Dimension 20, and stabs at other stuff here and there like Friends at the Table or the sky pirates one whose name escapes me (but for real, this hobby takes a lot of time, my god). It actually started with The Adventure Zone, but I never felt properly fannish about that, like I never took it to the ao3, and now I think I'm over the shtick.

Also, hello! I miss you.

Sad to hear re: Duyvis

[jesse_the_k]

I enjoyed her 2020 book, The Art of Saving the World, on audio. I love the conceit of multiple versions of a teen age character, since I remember my adolescence as a blur of different versions attempting to match the Jenga of registers coming from family, school, etc.

And it's a nice bookend to Sarah Pinsker's And then there were n-1

Re: Sad to hear re: Duyvis

[lightreads]

Yeah, I liked another one of her books whose name escapes me. Another multiverse one with great disability rep.

[thefourthvine]

I can't manage Critical Role and I've never tried the others, but we do love Dimension 20 a lot in this house! You aren't kidding about the amount of time it takes -- one reason I can't do CR is that I couldn't manage to watch the whole episode before the next one happened. What D20s have you tried?

And hi! I also miss you!

[lightreads]

So the only reason I (sort of) keep up with CR is that I pay to have no commercials on Youtube and you can watch yt videos at higher speeds (click into the little time slider thingy and hit > for faster and < for slower). Even so, I have barely dipped into prior campaigns because jfc, 4 hours an episode!

I really want to watch more D20 but I made the mistake of subscribing to Dropout for it rather than understanding that I could subscribe to the yt channel (I think I can, anyway) with the upshot that the Dropout app doesn't let me speed up episodes. Crimes! Anyway, I've loved what I've seen -- Tiny Heist because McElroys, and chunks of Crown of Candy, Unsleeping City, and Escape from the Bloodkeep. Brennan's brain is a weird and terriwonderful place. Large chunks of the D20 cast have also appeared on CR so I have many opinions about them, like how Emily Axford is a genius.

[thefourthvine]

We originally subscribed to Dropout for BB, who loved Critical Role but couldn't keep up with it, but the whole family got involved -- the earthling, very much a D&D player, is especially into it. We've watched Fantasy High (first season), Unsleeping City (first season), Escape from the Bloodkeep, Misfits and Magic, Neverafter, and Mentopolis. The earthling and BB are watching Burrow's End right now, and I am not, because -- look, Aabria, I love you, but I absolutely cannot watch stoats dying and whatever horrible thing happened in the first fight that BB and the earthling won't even mention when I'm in the room.

And yes! Many of the CR cast have also appeared on D20 or other various Dropout shows, so I have opinions on them, too, although they're mostly of the "what neat people!" type. And you're right; Emily Axford is AMAZING. They're all great at the role-playing portion, but Emily is also so great at the game part.

I thought you could also speed up playback on Dropout on the web and mobile devices? That's just what I've heard from people talking about it on the Discord, though. (I can't listen to things sped up because my audio processing is frankly not up to the task. It's barely up to normal speed listening tbh -- I need subtitles to get stuff in any kind of complete way.)

[cyphomandra]

I really liked the set up for On the Edge of Gone but the ending was a major let-down, so I don't think you've missed out. You've reminded me that I meant to track down other books by the author.

[lightreads]

I liked her debut a lot.

[kate_nepveu]

Friends at the Table!!!! (which it sounds like wasn't for you, which is totally fine and understandable, I'm just saying: my show!)

I tried the Mighty Nein (as audio only) and stopped somewhere in the first episode when I realized the DM was going to describe the circus (if I recall correctly) for that long. It was very atmospheric! Just not what I was looking for.

I'm halfway through the Unsleeping City (at the urging of SteelyKid, who is a big fan) and enjoying it, though the rhythms of D&D took a little getting used to.

[kate_nepveu]

I got curious so I went looking: yes, it seems so, here's a help link.

[lightreads]

Ha, yes, he does describe a lot of things like that. Most days I'm fine with it, some days I do a lot of 'skip forward by one minute'.

I fully intend to return to Friends at the Table again someday. I got a few eps into their scifi arc and was digging it, but then life happened.

[readerjane]

For some reason, whenever I see Walter Jon Williams’ name I think, “Oh, the red wheelbarrow guy!” And he’s not; that’s the poet William Carlos Williams, a generation or two earlier. Something about their names’ similar symmetry, I guess.

[kate_nepveu]

good to know about Critical Role, thanks!