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Small-Scale Question Sunday for August 6, 2023

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Just tried to read some newer Orson Scott Card stuff with Wakers and The Last Shadow. The Ender's Game series was great, but both of those books were pretty mediocre. Wakers starts with about 100 pages of nothing happening, followed by another few hundred of exploring a somewhat interesting set of powers in the most boring and inconsistent way possible. Not a great book. After that, I was less charitable towards The Last Shadow, and when it got boring I gave up immediately.

Just started Joe Abercrombie's Half a King which is much better so far.

It's a shame because I liked both Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow. Speaker for the Dead, the sequel to Ender's Game, I remember reading when I was younger -- too young, I think, to understand much of it. I believe I gave up on the Ender series after Xenocide.

As for the sequel to Ender's Shadow, called Shadow of the Hegemon, I was hopeless to comprehend it. I remember it being nearly entirely about the various machinations of warring states, masses of soldiers led from here to there, what this genius kid might be thinking at this time, etc.. It lacked so much of the human drama which made the initial novels good.

I know a guy who was absolutely obsessed with OSC’s Pathfinder series. I never did get around to trying it, though.

I definitely enjoyed that series. Wakers is pretty much just a much worse version of it.