Watch two Sci-Fi nerds read a Romance Novel

Discussion in 'Romance' started by Commandante Lemming, Jan 12, 2016.

  1. Commandante Lemming

    Commandante Lemming Contributor Contributor

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    Chapters 5 and 6....

    So, I'l start at the end and work backwards...Cynthie is batsh*t crazy. Like, I'm wondering when she's going to order poor David to start gathering Dalmatian puppies for a new coat.

    We've known for a while that Cynthie the "dating expert" was trying to put together a semi-diabolical plan to try and get Cal back by having David trash talk him to Min's family and friends (that failed) - but now she'd just going straight up comic-book villain....as in she literally showed up at David's office in a red suit, told him straight up that she'd calibrated everything she was wearing in order to turn him on so that she'd go along with her plan, and then showed him her bra to get him to give up the name of Min's best friend (Liza) so that she can manipulate her. Oh - and she's apparently got a dating-advice book deal and her publisher wants a wedding photo for the back cover. Really?

    However, there was a construction element with Cynthie that I thought was fun and which I might even try to copy. Remember I said Cynthie acts as the "scientist character" in the "worldbuilding"? She knows everything there is to know about relationship psychology even if her ideas on how to manipulate it are borderline psychotic. Well, this time they played it backwards. She quizzed both David and Liza very specifically about Min and Cal's interactions, looking for important social cues. Of course, David and Liza told her that none of these things were happening, when in fact we'd spent a tedious chapter-and-a-half watching exactly all of those things happen in private. The effect was a very satisfying revelation that, in exactly the terms I thought it, "This b*tch is so f***ed."

    On the actual relationship dynamics - Cal and Min definitely are starting to gel a little. They have a shared love of good food an her risk-averse personality offsets his high-risk gambler personality - and they're cute together in that they bust each other's chops a lot. However, some of the excuses for them to get together when they were trying to avoid each other felt contrived - one time Cal asked her out to lunch because Tony the idiot lied to Cynthie about Cal's availability for a make-up lunch date, saying he had a date with Min instead and forcing Cal to make it happen. Another time, Tony's restauranteur friend got a take out order from Min just as Cal walked in and pretty much forced Cal to deliver it. The resulting interactions weren't bad, but I didn't entirely buy them and felt they slowed down the plot. However, this probably goes back to my earlier conversation with @LinnyV about how I prefer complex interactions among a large cast, while some Romance readers prefer deep interaction between the main couple. If you're in the latter camp, I'm guessing these would be the best chapters of the whole thing.

    Other than that - some interesting minor notes. They've introduced a mangy stray cat who is making himself at home in Min's apartment. Cute, but I'm not sure I need one more element to keep track of this late in the game...but it's chapter 6 of 17 so I'll roll with it. Also, Tony the idiot is slowly revealing himself to have a soul and even went on a rant about Cynthie's relationship psychology that was surprisingly on-point if inartfully phrased (his contention being that love is Chaos Theory and predicting it is a fool's errand). Also, Cal's lesbian friend Shanna is crushing on Min, which is funny.

    Also, while I don't hate this book, I have noticed that because it's not my thing, it's actually slowed down the pace of my reading. That worked the first two weeks because I got big blocks of open time that I normally don't get. This week I didn't get that and just finished today - and I've actually had to set up a reward system to give myself incentive. I've purchased another audiobook that's in my wheelhouse, and that I'm really excited about. So, I have to finish a chapter of Romance a night before I'm allowed to listen to as much as I want of my reward book. Not a bad system - may tweak it a little - or see if using it encourages me to knock out the reading earlier in the week. For the record, the other book is Seth Dickinson's hit debut fantasy novel "The Traitor Baru Cormorant" - which pretty much set the SFF community's collective hair on fire last year. Fantasy isn't normally my thing, but I'm a politico and the worldbuilding is based entirely on the Economics. Brilliant piece of speculative fiction.

    So, that's all for now. What do you think, @Cave Troll ?
     
  2. VynniL

    VynniL Contributor Contributor

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    Oh, thought I was in trouble again when I was flagged in this thread!

    To re-confirm quickly, yes to deeper interaction. For myself, in a romance, my primary requirement is that I get to know the MCs. I want to know what drives them, their insecurity and desires and then, I want to know what they think of each other and what they do for each. So for most of the novel, I want them hanging out together and if that isn't possible, then they would occupy each other's thoughts constantly. The speed of that would probably kill you with boredom @Commandante Lemming :)

    As far as your large cast ensemble that I actually care about, that would manifest over a series of novels, as secondary characters from one novel get their own happily ever after in another. Successful Romance Authors are clever business women/men. And since the author has dedicated a whole novel to these characters for us to get to know, we love a cameo appearance or learning how parallel love stories might relate to events in another story.

    I wish I had captured that one post from Kresley Cole, when she showed a story board to let her readers see how complicated her planning involved for her Immortal After Dark series. That cast keeps growing, as do the species of her Lorekind. Readers are looking for clues in previous books to guess what will happen in the Ascension - a war every 500 years to kill of immortals since they rarely die! Through all this, there is this crazy soothsayer Valkyrie who is the puppet master of all these couples, strategically placing them in situations, as she builds her army for her side of the war. She's a lovable character that is barely lucid most of the time, but it's interesting that she is doing more questionable things as the series goes on. And yes, we're waiting in anticipation to see her HEA too... As well as that of the Valkyrie drowning in an unknown location in the ocean. The poor thing has been re-dying, waiting for her turn, for over 15 novels now.

    I really love Cole because she is a light hearted and funny read, and you can just suspend your disbelief for a while and de-stress. But as usual, I'm going on and it wasn't even quick! And not even about Cruise, still. Sorry, gone again!

    ETA: I realized what I'm trying to say in a long winded way, is that the overarching story arc over the course of a series, probably works best in the romantic genre when thinking of the large cast ensemble. I assume it's more lucrative too!
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 27, 2016
  3. BayView

    BayView Huh. Interesting. Contributor

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    Is it a good audio version, or would it be better as print?
     
  4. Commandante Lemming

    Commandante Lemming Contributor Contributor

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    I'm only two chapters in but I like the narrator. It moves at a pretty good clip because it's relatively short for a fantasy and covers a long period of time. That and be aware there's no magic. It's just an alternate world with alternate cultures. The one thing I do wish I had was a map, but I'm not sure the print edition has one either, and the geography is simple enough that I don't feel like I need one. So definitely a good audiobook. But don't just trust me...

     
    Last edited: Jan 28, 2016
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  5. BayView

    BayView Huh. Interesting. Contributor

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    I love alternate worlds without magic. I'm pretty anti-magic, really!

    So... off to Audible I go...

    (No, this thread isn't helping me with romance novels. But I'll take book recs anywhere I find 'em!)
     
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  6. Commandante Lemming

    Commandante Lemming Contributor Contributor

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    You'll have to let me know what you think :)
     
  7. Cave Troll

    Cave Troll It's Coffee O'clock everywhere. Contributor

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    Technically it was finished on Wednesday at 9:30ish according to the saved audio file. :p Here is my thoughts on Chap.5-6. :p

    https://www.youtube.com/embed/IcwXCooOKxk

    It is pronoun/noun game from hell1 :D
     
    Last edited: Jan 28, 2016
  8. jannert

    jannert Retired Mod Supporter Contributor

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    I looke up the book on the UK Amazon site, where it's called simply The Traitor. However, this edition appears to have a map. I don't know if this link will work, but if it does, it should show you the map. I started reading the 'look inside' version and was hooked. I'll probably buy it on Kindle.

     
  9. Cave Troll

    Cave Troll It's Coffee O'clock everywhere. Contributor

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    Well it looks like my thoughts on Chapters 5-6 don't matter. Sorry I was a little late to posting, apparently that makes my side of this thread irrelevant. Awesome.
     
  10. Commandante Lemming

    Commandante Lemming Contributor Contributor

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    I just got really busy at work and haven't had time to listen to the whole thing. Will do so before day is over.
     
  11. Cave Troll

    Cave Troll It's Coffee O'clock everywhere. Contributor

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    I agree entirely with @Commandante Lemming on the subject of 'Cynthie', she is an evil, evil C. That is the nicest I have put it compared to my actual analysis of the weeks reading. Probably should have put a warning on that one. :p So I have a few choice words regarding both Cynthie and David. The majority is focused on the on/off/whoknows budding relationship of Cal and Min. :D
     
  12. Commandante Lemming

    Commandante Lemming Contributor Contributor

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    I'm still in the middle of the video but I just have to say I love the dramatic background music!
     
  13. Commandante Lemming

    Commandante Lemming Contributor Contributor

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    Dude - your concluding thoughts were EPIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    You're right about the timeline compression and conveniences in the plot - I'd kind of just been rolling with it but stepiing back from it...dang they're moving quick.

    And yeah....we're not giving David the nuclear codes. At least not until his mind gets out of puberty. I'm starting to think that ending up with him is somehow going to be Cynthie's punishment.
     
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  14. Commandante Lemming

    Commandante Lemming Contributor Contributor

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    Thanks - actually the map is cool because the notes are all in Baru's voice.

    ...and if we all end up in this book we'll have to come back and compare notes at the end :)
     
  15. Cave Troll

    Cave Troll It's Coffee O'clock everywhere. Contributor

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    @Commandante Lemming I don't see David as a punishment for Cynthie, unless she can't handle a doormat. Either that or David is actually playing off as a spineless adolescent, when in reality he is really a far better manipulator than Cynthie could hope to be. This will be my 'conspiracy theory', until the evidence totally blows it out of the water. :D

    Yeah as far as my conclusive thoughts on those 2 chapters, I do find it annoying that the author has to deus ex machina a solution for everything. I refrained from making a joke about how cheesy it all comes across as, but I think it is warranted.

    "You call these nachos!? They should be by doing the backstroke in a a sea of cheese!" At least that is how much cheesiness that has been in the book so far, but it will probably out do itself.
     
  16. Commandante Lemming

    Commandante Lemming Contributor Contributor

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    LOL - Nachos!

    My conspiracy theory is that after this all falls apart, Cynthie's publisher is going to want that book-jacket photo more than she hates David. We'll see.

    And yeah - there's a liberal helping of cheese - although I do like some of the plot gadgets that have been popping up. I'm not joking about stealing the worldbuilding trick of having the villain drop all the science after the fact so that the reader realizes that said villain is screwed.
     
    Last edited: Jan 29, 2016
  17. Mckk

    Mckk Member Supporter Contributor

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    That's a Chinese trilogy I found out and it's being made into a film to be released this summer it seems :)

    Anyway I thought your dare sounded fun, and I've been trying to improve my Chinese anyway so I might give it a go in the original (if I struggle I'll revert back to the English :p ) It's supposed to be one chapter a week?
     
  18. Cave Troll

    Cave Troll It's Coffee O'clock everywhere. Contributor

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    It is an interesting dynamic to steal the 'science' based villain concept, just to have their evil scheme bite them in the ass. :superagree:

    Will be interesting to see how this concept plays out. But you might be right that it will be good in theory, but not compensated properly for variables so it does come back to bite them in the ass. :p
     
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  19. Commandante Lemming

    Commandante Lemming Contributor Contributor

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    Wow that's ambitious. If you do the original I'll be interested in your thoughts on the dialogue in particular. We're doing two chapters a week for this thread but that totally your call based on how much time you have and how long the chapters are.

    This could be fun! And if you're a romance reader I'll be interested in how it works for you as an experience - I picked it for the dare specifically because it's mostly devoid of romance, works in a non-linear timeline, and has to teach the reader some pretty abstract scientific concepts in order to work (a lot of the worldbuilding revolves around an unsolvable problem in theoretical physics.)
     
    Last edited: Jan 29, 2016
  20. Mckk

    Mckk Member Supporter Contributor

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    That's sounding like I'll need to read the English for sure... stuff in theoretical physics :ohno: Kinda looking for a pirate download but I need it in traditional Chinese and so far I've only managed to find it where you read it online.

    I don't know if I classify myself as a romance reader because I read almost anything - except horror and sci-fi :p But I love romance, have read pure romances, and always feature romances strongly in my own novels. The book I self-pubbed I classify as dystopian romance, although I mostly write fantasy and mostly read crime/drama/YA. I do love a good romance, but can't often stand the chick lits out there 'cause characters and situations are too far-fetched and ridiculous - including, it seems, this book you're reviewing now haha.
     
  21. Commandante Lemming

    Commandante Lemming Contributor Contributor

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    Sounds like you're a perfect reader for the project :) and don't worry the physics isn't half as big a deal as you think. I found it easy and I'm not a huge techy "Hard SF" guy. But there definitely are thing that blow your mind.
     
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  22. BayView

    BayView Huh. Interesting. Contributor

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    Hey, @Mckk, this is nothing personal--it's mostly just part of my personal campaign to de-normalize book piracy.

    That said - I accept that piracy exists, but I think it's pretty disturbing when it's treated this casually on a writers' site. I have no idea about Cixin Liu's attitudes towards piracy, but I'm pretty sure Tor doesn't appreciate it. They went to the trouble of finding a book from a fairly unusual source, getting it translated, distributing it, promoting it, etc. - I think they deserve the profit from that. I'd encourage you to buy a copy of the book rather than pirating it.

    And if you do end up pirating it, I really hope you'll at least not advertise that you're doing so - that goes back to the "de-normalizing" campaign I was talking about.
     
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  23. Cave Troll

    Cave Troll It's Coffee O'clock everywhere. Contributor

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    @BayView There are places on the deepweb that have whole libraries of books that are banned from countries, as well as just average reading material. Though I am not an advocate for piracy, people will always find a way to get things for free whether it is legal or not.
     
  24. Tenderiser

    Tenderiser Not a man or BayView

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    Yeah, but that's not a reason to promote it!
     
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  25. BayView

    BayView Huh. Interesting. Contributor

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    I know. But I think it can be minimized, and I think the best way to do that is to de-normalize it.

    Like, I can remember when smoking was pretty common, and then it got de-normalized, and now way fewer people smoke.

    I remember when drinking and driving was funny - my cousins used to joke about taking their old car out on Friday night because they didn't want to smash up the new one. Then it got de-normalized, and now it's pretty much just complete assholes who'd even think about doing it.

    That's what I'd like to see with piracy. I know there are plenty of non-assholes who pirate now (which is why this is nothing personal about @Mckk) but I can see a future when it would be just as socially unacceptable to pirate as it now would be to walk into someone's house, smoke in front of their kids and knock back a few drinks and then drive home.
     

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