Chris’s
Comments
(group member since Feb 25, 2011)
Chris’s
comments
from the Beyond Reality group.
Showing 421-440 of 934
I just finished The Praxis by Walter Jon Williams. A space opera and the first book of the completed trilogy "Dread Empire's Fall". I almost couldn't put it down, and I'm moving right into the second book.
What a beautiful story! I totally agree with you, Shel, it was refreshing to have a non-scheming bastard prince. And Ducon was such a likeable character. Like many of McKillip's stories, it is dreamlike and misty, with not every loose end tied up. We enter the world of the story, inhabit it for a while, then step back out again wanting a bit more.
This probably wasn't what I was expecting, but I found it an engaging story in the end. I was surprised that the story spent so much time in the past, not least because I didn't realize at first that we were following so many different individuals, each with their own personalities and world views. They were all ingenious in their own ways in dealing with immortality, and it was clear that longevity was not an unmitigated blessing. The most interesting to me was the way society as a whole dealt with immortality and material sufficiency, and how it affected the urge to explore. I am not sure I agree that this would necessarily be true. But I was happy to see our band of immortals still curious, still looking outward at the end.
Welcome to January, the first month of a brand new year. I hope you’ve made a resolution to read some good books and share in our discussions!Books of the Month - For January you selected:
-- Science Fiction: The Boat of a Million Years by Poul Anderson
-- Fantasy: Ombria in Shadow by Patricia A. McKillip
We also have our schedule set for the next two months:
-- February Science Fiction: Inversions by Iain M. Banks
-- February Fantasy: The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu
— March Science Fiction Sea of Rust by C. Robert Cargill
— March Fantasy: Song of the Beast by Carol Berg
Series news: We are currently discussing book 3 of the Daevabad Trilogy, The Empire of Gold. Information about our next series read will be sent separately.
Lastly, don't forget to stop by the "What are you reading in January 2022?" topic to share your reading picks, progress, and thoughts on any genre.
Post here if you are reading or planning to read Ombria in Shadow by Patricia A. McKillip. No spoilers, please!
Post here if you are reading or planning to read The Boat of a Million Years by Poul Anderson. No spoilers, please!
Ooooooooooooh .....
I agree, Meg, a satisfactory conclusion to this adventure-packed series. After nine books, these characters feel like family, and it's hard to say goodbye. If intersystem politics may be too much for humans to manage (as we saw in earlier books), interstellar politics doesn't make things better. Perhaps we're better off getting our own local house in order, first. That may not sound like a hopeful message. But the actions of the Expanse characters do show that there are some shining personalities willing to act for something other than their own interests. A few people do act for the greater good. And now let me go privately cry for a bit.
For a book first published in 1951, I think this held up very well. Yes, all of the characters are male (except for a brief inclusion of a wife in the fifth section), but it appears that the themes of science, religion, technology and trade are universal. Having also watched the recent TV series, I marvel at the way the TV series used the major themes in the source material to tell an almost entirely different yet internally consistent story. The book is very short on action and very long on conversations. Telling the story in a visual medium required converting many of the themes and explanations to actions. Probably the most obvious example is the Emperor, mentioned only briefly in the book, but central in the TV series as a means of understanding the longevity, history, grandeur, and corruption of the Empire.
I read this when I was in high school (NOT in 1951, much later), but it's still been quite a while. I'm glad to revisit it, and I think I may go on to read the rest of the trilogy.
What a romp! A superhero story from the hench's point of view. I loved every superhero and villain name; they reminded me of the clever ship names in the Culture novels. And the idea of having temp agencies for henches seems brilliant. But this novel starts out in a lighthearted way, and then turns dark. Dark. So many superhero movies come with astonishing amounts of collateral damage, but few of them deal with it (the Marvel Segovia Accords an clear exception). Even action movies can have gratuitous wanton destruction: not just overturned fruit stands during a chase, but needless destruction that doesn't advance the plot (I think I'm thinking of Die Hard 5 here ....).
This story doesn't ignore the destruction. It quantifies it, analyzes it, assigns it a dollar value. It's superhero meets data analyst! Totally unexpected.
Yes, Shel, I totally agree about Quantum and Supercollider. Very squirmy.
Post here if you are reading or planning to read Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots. No spoilers, please!
Welcome to December, a month full of holiday cheer for many of us. However you celebrate, I hope that you have plenty of time for friends, family, and good books.Books of the Month - For December you selected:
-- Science Fiction: Foundation by Isaac Asimov
-- Fantasy: Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots
We also have our schedule set for the next two months
-- January Science Fiction: The Boat of a Million Years by Poul Anderson
-- January Fantasy: Ombria in Shadow by Patricia A. McKillip
-- February Science Fiction: Inversions by Iain M. Banks
-- February Fantasy: The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu
Series news: We are currently discussing book 2 of the Daevabad Trilogy, The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty. We will begin discussion of book 3 The Empire of Gold in mid-month.
Lastly, don't forget to stop by the "What are you reading in December 2021?" topic to share your reading picks, progress, and thoughts on any genre.
For Fantasy, I'll nominate Spoonbenders. It's a finalist for the World Fantasy Award, Locus award, and Nebula Award, and was one of NPR's best books of 2015. I'm not going to nominate for science fiction this time. Sea of Rust is already on the list, and on my TBR pile.
I'm reading Wanderers by Chuck Wendig. It's a real tome, but this epidemic-related plotline reads well. I'm almost halfway through, and there are enough twists and subplots that I still don't know where we're going. It's as much a study of how society reacts to the situation as it is a story of the contagion itself.
