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Post by Stu Venable on May 4, 2016 14:03:32 GMT -8
So I loved the series on SciFi so much I started on the books. I'm almost finished with Caliban's War, and I have some bitches.
Avasarala in the TV series is a heartless awful bitch.
In Caliban's War, she's my favorite character hands-down.
I'd consider her the protagonists of the story and every time a chapter is about her, I get giddy. She's strong, complex, profane. WTF SciFi?!
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Post by Kenigma23 on May 4, 2016 15:35:19 GMT -8
I haven't read the books (yet) but I didn't find her to be heartless or awful in the show. I found her to be strong and willing to make some really hard decisions, even though she had some regrets.
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Post by Stu Venable on May 6, 2016 7:06:04 GMT -8
Torturing belters? Driving long-time friends to suicide? Threatening people's children?
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Post by Kainguru on May 6, 2016 8:05:54 GMT -8
Torturing belters? Driving long-time friends to suicide? Threatening people's children? [far away look in eyes] If only everyday could be like that, one can dream, one can dream . . . Aaron
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Post by Kenigma23 on May 6, 2016 18:51:48 GMT -8
Torturing belters? Driving long-time friends to suicide? Threatening people's children? Hmmm. Yeah, OK… point(s) It has been a while since I watched the show so my memories could (read probably are) foggy…. Torturing the belter was a case of getting information out of an enemy spy who was a threat to her world. You can argue the right or wrong of torture but her intent was defense and to gain intel on what her opponents were up to. I don’t think driving someone to suicide was the intent. She saw someone being weak and knew that this person would not be able to do what needed to be done… so she acted. I seem to recall the threat to the children was just a ploy and not something she would have followed through on… but perhaps I’m misremembering. Maybe my problem is I love Shohreh Aghdashloo and am OK with anything she does. I may be biased…
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Post by archmagezemoc on May 11, 2016 11:20:47 GMT -8
Stu correct me if i'm wrong, its been awhile since I read the books and haven't seen the TV series yet except for a couple of the first episodes, but doesn't she do that stuff in the books?
I don't remember her as heartless, but more like Stanis in GoT, knows when he/she is doing something wrong or painful but if he/she believes that it's the right/most effective/only way to do something they do it.
I mean, Avasarala was no Fred Johnson but I don't remember her as a saint. Also, I can't believe they did the Book 1 finale much justice if it isn't TV-MA.
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Post by Stu Venable on May 11, 2016 13:30:52 GMT -8
The first series of the TV show covers roughly half of Leviathan Wakes. Avasarala doesn't show up in Leviathan Wakes at all. Her first appearance is in Caliban's War.
And I can't like the TV version as much as I do the book version, as she's not allowed to be nearly as profane.
I just started Book 4, and I'm underwhelmed. They changed the guy reading it, and I can't stand him.
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Post by Kenigma23 on May 12, 2016 6:47:18 GMT -8
They changed the guy reading it, and I can't stand him. The reader can really make a huge difference can't it? There are some where I can get used to the books, but I’m actually more likely to listen to a book with a reader I like than a book I want to read/listen too with a reader that I don’t care for. My wife quit a series because of the reader. I'm sure she'll read it when time permits, but who knows when that will be.
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Post by archmagezemoc on May 12, 2016 7:58:15 GMT -8
Book 4 is the one after the portal/trainstation hubabaloo right, cus if so I really enjoyed that one. I don't think I actually finished Book 5 yet, I may reread that soon.
But time for complaints!!!! Muahaha, fake nerd rage abounds!!
If Avasarala doesn't sound like she's stepped out of a Pulp Fiction movie I don't think I can be happy.
Oh, and the Mars Gunnery Srgnt in Book 3, without being TV-MA how can we see just how good at killing people she is.
From what I saw of the show, Amos needs to HIT THE GYM before next season. This dude is supposed to be the typical overly-muscled charicature of what people think Earthers are like and we get some guy who maybe played soccer for a year? Cmon, gimme some Dave Bautista or Stone Cold Steve Austin!
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Post by The Northman on May 27, 2016 22:24:45 GMT -8
I've enjoyed every bit of the series so far, but there are times when one of the author's POV characters is a little weaker than the other. EDIT: You mean audiobook. Disregard.
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Post by Kainguru on May 28, 2016 3:54:03 GMT -8
I've noticed something - AudioBooks I love them but have only recently 'got on board' as they're perfect for my long work commute. Is it a sign of the times that we are all so busy now that 'reading' a book has become synonymous with 'audiobooks' so that we can 'read' and use that empty time to attend to mindless tasks like housework and driving? I've 'read' more books since signing up to audible at the start of this year than I did over the last 2 years reading ink and paper. Still a snob though as I won't touch an audiobook unless it's unabridged. On Stu Venable's recommendation above I'm about half through the first audiobook of The Expanse while re-watching the TV adaptation again. They are still very different from each other, but very complimentary - the themes seem 'just right' even if specific dialogue/events differ . . . As to Avasarala in the TV Series, I really like the character and wouldn't call her a 'cold, heartless bitch'. Especially on my second watching she's more complex and even, I dare say, honorable. Yes she sacrifices a friend, tortures a belter, etc etc but she is so obviously serving a 'greater good': she wants to stop a war, she wants to know the truth about Mars' involvement or not, she acknowledges how unsustainable the current state of affair are and how there are less altruistic and covert interest groups involved, she even acknowledges how the death of her son colours her perception but she keeps going forward with the information she has in the belief that the interests of Earth is in everybody best interests. She comes across as the first person who would say 'yes, the system we have isn't fair or perfect but it's the best one we have to choose from so far' Aaron
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fredrix
Master Douchebag
Posts: 2,142
Preferred Game Systems: Fate, L5R, Pendragon, Gumshoe, Feng Shui
Currently Playing: Pendragon, Song of Ice and Fire, L5R, Feng Shui, Traveller
Currently Running: Fate, Coriolis, Nights Black Agents
Favorite Species of Monkey: 1970's NTV, dubbed by the BBC (though The Water Margin beats it)
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Post by fredrix on Nov 3, 2016 15:23:11 GMT -8
So, this has just appeared on Netflix and I've watched a few episodes. I sampled the first few chapters of the book, but that didn't grab me. POV switches in literature bore me, works fine in TV, but in these books especially the charachters seem very unbalanced. As though they were written by two different people.
But the series on Netflix is compelling. I'm going to say it: it may even be better than Firefly. And OBVIOUSLY based on another Traveller game.
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sbloyd
Supporter
WHAT! A human in a Precursor service vehicle?!
Posts: 2,762
Preferred Game Systems: Storyteller; Dresden; Mage
Favorite Species of Monkey: Goddamnit, Curious George is a CHIMP not a monkey! Stop teaching my daughter improper classification!
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Post by sbloyd on Nov 3, 2016 15:37:41 GMT -8
Better... than Firefly.
HERETIC!
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2017 2:13:28 GMT -8
So, this has just appeared on Netflix and I've watched a few episodes. I sampled the first few chapters of the book, but that didn't grab me. POV switches in literature bore me, works fine in TV, but in these books especially the charachters seem very unbalanced. As though they were written by two different people. There is the possibility that they are, the 'author' of the books is actually the pen name of two authors working together. I've just finished the first book and was about the start the series but am glad I haven't, didn't realise until reading this thread that it incorporates material from the second book and I'd rather read them first before I watch the show.
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fredrix
Master Douchebag
Posts: 2,142
Preferred Game Systems: Fate, L5R, Pendragon, Gumshoe, Feng Shui
Currently Playing: Pendragon, Song of Ice and Fire, L5R, Feng Shui, Traveller
Currently Running: Fate, Coriolis, Nights Black Agents
Favorite Species of Monkey: 1970's NTV, dubbed by the BBC (though The Water Margin beats it)
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Post by fredrix on Jan 3, 2017 7:38:32 GMT -8
So, this has just appeared on Netflix and I've watched a few episodes. I sampled the first few chapters of the book, but that didn't grab me. POV switches in literature bore me, works fine in TV, but in these books especially the charachters seem very unbalanced. As though they were written by two different people. There is the possibility that they are, the 'author' of the books is actually the pen name of two authors working together. aha! I knew it!
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