Path: news.eternal-september.org!eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail
From: Tony Nance <tnusenet17@gmail.com>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: The thing about finishing stuff
Date: Tue, 7 Jan 2025 19:46:37 -0500
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On 1/6/25 10:53 PM, Titus G wrote:
> On 3/01/25 09:12, Tony Nance wrote:
>> On 1/1/25 10:56 PM, Titus G wrote:
>>> On 2/01/25 04:43, James Nicoll wrote:
>>>> Is that means I have space to start stuff.
>>>>
>>> snip
>>>> The Realized World
>>>>
>>>> A tour of the works of Walter Jon Williams.
>>>>
>>>> https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/post/the-realized-world
>>>>
>>>> Not sure if I will include his historical novels or not.
>>>
>>> I enjoyed his Dread Empire's Fall series with the third book the best.
>>> The Accidental War, Praxis 1, was good but Fleet Elements disappointing
>>> with much redundancy and similarity to Dread Empire's Fall.
>>> Quillifer did not appeal to me at all but Metropolitan and City on Fire
>>> were brilliant four star reads. I do not remember the poster(s) but I am
>>> sure he was recommended to me here.
>>
>> With the exception of Quillifer (which I have not read), my WJW
>> experience matches yours very well. As such, I highly recommend Aristoi
>> (a stand-alone).
> 
> I got a copy the last time you recommended it but didn't get very far
> being annoyed with difficult names and honorifics as well as a lot
> of awkward unexplained names of procedures based on multiple
> personalities inclusive of demons and communications.
> This time, it wasn't till I was about half way through that I started to
> appreciate and understand what was going on. The already negative
> attitude didn't entirely disappear but the story and the responsibility
> of "gods" became a lot more interesting. I was surprised with the
> completely different perspective and content compared to his space
> operas and Metropolitan to the extent that they seem to be written by
> different authors.
> Esoteric medical terminology, (cricothyroidostomy), weird mental powers,
> (swadhishatana chakra), complex musical terminology, (isorythmic
> polyphony) and the nature of the oneirochronic world slowed reading and
> also confused me. 3 stars but I suspect that with a reread it might hit
> 4 because I would have a better understanding whilst rereading the first
> half. Thank you.
> 

Ah - apologies that I did not remember already recommending it to you. 
Glad it went better for you this time.

It is indeed an interesting contrast with his space operas and Metropolitan.

Tony