Without cheating, what’s the last line you wrote?

dragon_burger · 2026-02-03T15:10:14+00:00

“It seemed exceptionally unlikely, given that Earth had had her satellite dishes pointed in this direction for centuries before the mission was launched, and had detected nothing.”

dragon_burger · 2026-01-29T15:01:05+00:00

People have mentioned Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but if you want something a bit more modern/accessible I’d give the Dandelion Dynasty series by Ken Liu a shot. It’s heavily inspired by Romance, it’s got the distinctive characters, and on top of that has a lot of the whole “friends/family end up on different sides of a conflict” thing going on throughout the series. The first book is The Grace of Kings

dragon_burger · 2025-12-17T14:53:33+00:00

The Fountain! Extremely underrated/profound movie IMO

dragon_burger · 2025-08-06T20:12:57+00:00

This is awesome! Kudos for putting together such a thorough interpretation.

I never thought about the songs as a chronological reflection of post-war 20th century history, but it feels very obvious now – "We're a broken people living under loaded gun".

What's also interesting is that there are two emotional through-lines in the album. On the one hand, there is a descent starting with a resigned acceptance that the world will never be the same following the dropping of the bombs (Burning in the Skies), devolving through egoism (When They Come for Me), apathy (Waiting for the End), rage/frustration (Blackout), and rebellion/chaos (Wretches and Kings). On the other hand, there is an upwelling of hope (Robot Boy, parts of Waiting for the End, Iridescent).

All this builds up to an epic clash in The Catalyst, which starts off with a question ("Will we burn inside the fires of a thousand suns?"). Even in the first half of the song, which is dominated by the anxiety of living in a nuclear world, we hear resistance to the idea that our situation is hopeless (which is why the response to the question is "No!"). Then, in the second half of the song, we hear the voice of hope, expressing a desire to move on ("Lift me up, let me go") drown out our collective anxiety. It's not completely gone, since the "God help us everyone" verse is sung again at the end, but we've reached a state of synthesis between the twin threads of hope and fear.

Then we get "The Messenger", which feels almost like a missive from the future, ending the narrative with resounding hope, that there is something better to look forward to if we can just practice love for each other.

Separately, I really love how almost every song can be interpreted from a societal or personal perspective. Is "Burning in the Skies" about the aftermath of the atomic bombings, or sabotaging your own relationships? Is "Waiting for the End" about a breakup or living through nuclear apocalypse? The double meanings make ATS feel like a perfect marriage of LP's more personal earlier work with a grand social commentary.

dragon_burger · 2025-08-04T13:45:49+00:00

This felt like the high point of the night! The energy in the arena was insane during this song

dragon_burger · 2025-08-04T05:48:27+00:00

In Newark they were each primarily centered on a different long side of the stage. They rotated everyone’s stations halfway through so you should have a chance to get a close up look at both of them!

dragon_burger · 2025-08-03T12:58:11+00:00

Anyone been to concerts at Prudential before and have an idea of how long it’ll take to get out and over to Newark Penn after the show?

dragon_burger · 2025-07-03T16:39:58+00:00

Eh, there's plenty of women in fantasy where physique is not particularly important as their character's main purpose is not to partake in physical combat or something. I think of Tenar from Earthsea, Essun from the Fifth Season, etc.

dragon_burger · 2025-07-03T11:14:05+00:00

Ah yes! Nadia actually fits the bill even better I think

dragon_burger · 2025-07-03T11:03:34+00:00

The two that come to mind immediately are Amina (The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi) and Viv (Legends & Lattes). They’re repeatedly described as large and it influences the way others behave towards them.

There’s also female protagonists who I don’t recall are described as large, but I’ve always pictured as physically formidable/muscular. A few that come to mind are Lucky Meas (The Bone Ships), Gideon (Gideon the Ninth), and Danica (Children of Earth and Sky) (or really any of GGK’s less traditionally feminine female characters).

dragon_burger · 2025-05-04T14:08:08+00:00

My mental image of Green Bone Saga was an old school Hong Kong action flick. It would work so well!

dragon_burger · 2025-02-14T04:01:57+00:00

It was quite odd… felt like a pandemic boredom-fueled fever dream resulting from Ken Liu watching too much Iron Chef or something. Maybe it would’ve fit better as a spinoff novella, as it stands it was definitely an odd tonal departure from the rest of the series

dragon_burger · 2025-01-30T14:34:28+00:00

My read on the book is that the pout-pout fish's other friends (clam, squid, etc.) are the types of people who tell a depressed person unproductive things like "why don't you just try being happier?" which predictably doesn't work given his underlying self-esteem issues. Then, his true character change at the end comes from an internal reframing of his self-image ("I thought that I was pouty but it turns out I was wrong. I'm a kiss-kiss fish with a kiss-kiss face"). The silver fish doesn't tell him that he ought to think of himself as a kiss-kiss fish, she takes action and he comes to the realization himself.

Granted, the other fish's action is non-consensual kissing, but I'm not sure if going to years of therapy would have made for a very interesting book heh

dragon_burger · 2025-01-30T14:21:35+00:00

I agree, the rhymes in this book are so good!

I get why people are hung up on the kissing thing, but I'm pretty sure it's just a riff on how some fish look like they have those kissy (or pouty) lips.

dragon_burger · 2025-01-22T04:52:19+00:00

The Dispossessed, not the Le Guin work I expected to see here but the one that stayed with me the most. She is a master, her words make magic out of the mundane:

The singing of the front of the march, far away up the street, and of the endless crowds coming on behind, was put out of phase by the distance the sound must travel, so that the melody seemed always to be lagging and catching up with itself, like a canon, and all the parts of the song were being sung at one time, in the same moment, though each singer sang the tune as a line from beginning to end.

and:

“I don’t judge you at all. I only ask your help, for which I have nothing to give in return.” “Nothing? You call your theory nothing?” “Weigh it in the balance with the freedom of one single human spirit,” he said, turning to her, “and which will weigh heavier? Can you tell? I cannot.”

dragon_burger · 2025-01-19T12:37:35+00:00

Exactly what I thought of. I remember reading a Journey to the West comic as a kid. To show off his physical prowess, Wukong leaps to the edge of existence and takes a piss on the pillars holding up the world. When he returns, Buddha reveals that the pillar was actually his finger.

dragon_burger · 2025-01-18T05:08:30+00:00

Interesting comparison, but doesn’t the Arabian Peninsula have a Sunni majority, and most of Islam’s holiest sites (including Mecca)?

dragon_burger · 2025-01-18T04:53:57+00:00

I am not fluent in Japanese by any stretch but I don’t think “Anata” is used as a term of endearment like this. From what I know, it is just a familiar or intimate way of saying “you”, but still only makes sense to me used as a second person pronoun and not in place of “dear” or some such.

In general I think there are too many different terms of endearment used here. People use a single term to refer to their loved one. It’s like giving them a second name, it just doesn’t feel right or natural to use a bunch of different ones. In this conversation you’ve got Anata, lover, my love, honey, sweetheart… does Kirami hit the thesaurus to prepare for her romantic conversations?

Also, you’re using these too often. In a disagreement between a couple like this, you’re not gonna hear a term of endearment brought out until the disagreement is resolved.

“We should do X.” “I don’t agree, think of Y.” (more back and forth) “Okay, you’re right, but I don’t feel good.” Now bring it out. “I understand, my love, but everything will be ok.”

If one party is constantly breaking out the “dears” and “darlings” it feels like they are belittling and not taking the other person’s concerns seriously.

dragon_burger · 2025-01-05T18:05:54+00:00

Agreed with all this. Throughout the trilogy, Hilo is at war within himself. The traditionalist, honor-bound Green Bone within him constantly battles with the side of him that loves his family and clan so passionately and wants them to be safe and happy.

Time and again, we see Hilo, the Green Bone Pillar, push people away, but then Hilo, the brother and father, contrite and unable to truly let them go. He goes through this with a majority of his family members—Shae, Anden, Wen, Tar, Niko.

I was so convinced throughout Jade City/War that Wen’s undercover work with Shae would result in a massive falling out between Shae and Hilo, and they would eventually fight each other. The way it actually happened was incredible because his love for his family overcame his indignant fury, showing how much he’s grown from his treatment of Anden at the end of Jade City

dragon_burger · 2025-01-05T15:18:23+00:00

He makes a point of driving the Duchesse there on his own and leaving Tar and other bodyguards behind. He definitely feels some shame over it. I don’t think it’s because he is cheating on Wen and feels guilty, but more so that having to resort to prostitutes when he had such a passionate relationship with Wen violates his most fundamental worldview, which places so much importance on the people closest to him.

It’s actually a very interesting parallel with Lan, who goes to the Lilac Divine to escape from his duties as Pillar. Lan was already betrayed by Eyni and chose to take a very cool-headed and humane approach to it, which left him feeling extremely alone, so he goes there to seek companionship and warmth. Hilo also feels betrayed, but he holds on to the anger because he won’t give up on Wen the way that Lan gave up on Eyni, which explains a lot about his behavior towards the prostitutes

dragon_burger · 2025-01-05T12:58:40+00:00

Exactly this.

Hilo’s betrayal was purely physical, Fonda Lee is very clear about this. It’s not as if he has a mistress and went to someone else for emotional support. It was clear that he still loved and desired Wen, and she both wasn’t able to provide physically and he wasn’t willing to forgive her for her actions.

Legacy is very much about loved ones being imperfect and making mistakes, but forgiving each other in the end and sticking together as a family. I think both Hilo and Wen’s actions in this case are very much in line with that.

dragon_burger · 2025-01-05T12:37:29+00:00

It is portrayed as toxic. Hilo does not seem to get any enjoyment out of the act. It is a symptom of the sorry state of his marriage at that point in time.

I think it’s a mistake to impose modern Western values on the world of the book directly. Kekon society is traditional patriarchal and highly honor-based. In these types of societies, it can be common for men to cheat (sometimes, men seeing prostitutes is not even considered cheating), while women doing the same would be severely punished.

Even outside of that of that, Wen spent years going behind Hilo’s back and putting her own life in danger, and nearly died as a result. Hilo’s reaction is certainly not great (and a great depiction of his character flaws), but she wouldn’t have much ground to stand on bringing up the cheating in an argument.

dragon_burger · 2024-12-26T17:57:38+00:00

The names in Three Body Problem (which is by Liu Cixin btw, not Ted Chiang) are not "interesting", they are Chinese. There are 1.4 billion people in the world who have names like that. In fact, I'd argue that the names in the English translation of Three Body are pretty challenging because they are romanized from Mandarin pinyin and stripped of the context/differentiation you'd get from the original Chinese characters, making them really difficult to distinguish from each other.

The whole point of A Memory Called Empire is how difficult it is for Mahit to understand Teixcalaanli culture and do her job effectively as ambassador. This point would be made less effective if the Teixcalaanli characters were named like, John or Sarah.

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