What are you reading in December 2015?

[Michele]

So what are you reading as another year comes to a close?

I read Resident Evil : Code Veronica - this was my favorite of the games, it was fun to read it.

Time and Again - this was interesting but not compelling - a ton of description and the phrase "a love letter to New York" certainly fits.

All 6 books in the Twenty-Sided Sorceress urban fantasy series by Annie Bellet. Now I'm caught up and have to wait for the next one :( Starts with Justice Calling. These are really fun and full of gamer/nerd references.

[[deleted user]]

For those interested in what's coming out new in December:

Tor.com lists:
New Fantasy releases in December
New Science Fiction in December

SFSignal offers:
Cover Gallery of SciFi, Fantasy & Horror releases for December
(includes re-releases &new editions of older titles.)

[Michael]

I'm still working my way through 1633, which is taking a little longer than the first book did. After that, I have on the stack:

Dead Beat
Zoe's Tale
The Princess Bride
The Biology of Luck
The Hunt for Vulcan: . . . And How Albert Einstein Destroyed a Planet, Discovered Relativity, and Deciphered the Universe

[John]

Just finished Double Star by Robert A. Heinlein

[Leo]

I was revisiting Joe Abercrombie's The First Law trilogy and have since dived into The Red Knight by Miles Cameron and it is such a treat. I mean, this guy is either a historian or did some excellent research on medieval warfare, cus it was supremely accurate!

[Leo]

I was revisiting Joe Abercrombie's The First Law trilogy and have since dived into The Red Knight by Miles Cameron and it is such a treat. I mean, this guy is either a historian or did some excellent research on medieval warfare, cus it was supremely accurate!

[Brian]

Sunborn by Jeffery A. Carver

[April]

I'm reading David Eddings' "Belgariad" series. I don't think I've read fantasy in 20 years.....enjoying it so far. :)

[Elí]

I just started with Amy Bai's "Sword". I haven't gotten far, but I'm liking the prose.

[Kivrin]

Leo (Rahien Sorei) wrote: "I was revisiting Joe Abercrombie's The First Law trilogy and have since dived into The Red Knight by Miles Cameron and it is such a treat. I mean, this guy is either a historian or did some excelle..."

I'm rereading The Red Knight (3rd time) right now so I can jump into the newest release in the trilogy (The Dread Wyrm). I agree Cameron's battles are excellent! You just feel exhausted when he's done!

[[deleted user]]

I finished Butcher's The Aeronaut's Windlass. I'm predisposed to like it, not just because of Butcher but because I love flying sailing ships. On the other hand, I'm not really thrilled with talking cats.

Also read Small Town Heroes, the 5th novel in the Wearing the Cape superhero series. Strangely mesmerizing series that I keep reading the same way I keep popping Cheesy Puffs.

Currently reading Boundary Lines, Olson's 5th novel in her urban fantasy setting, with the usual blend of witches, werewolves, vampires + cryptid of the week. She does, however, keep changing protagonists and location to keep things modestly interesting.

Also reading Nagata's First Light (The Red), a futuristic power suit future of earthbound combat among the global corpocracy. Seems to me I read the preview a couple years ago and didn't continue, I'm over halfway through and modestly enjoying it.

So, nothing really awesome, nothing really bad.

Going to start (and I presume finish) Kelly Link's Magic for Beginners today, 'cause it's our Short Story discussion topic for tomorrow.

[Meghan]

I found The Culling- kinda dystopian/alien takeover type deal, by accident on a list of freebies on a blog. it was actually kinda fun. NOT a hurt your brain sci-fi or deeply world built fantasy, but still a fun "quickie"

thinking about starting Yamada Monogatari: The War God's Son or Irenicon but undecided.

[Powder River Rose]

I just finished the 4th book in the John Carter series, Thuvia, Maid of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Will start Chessmen next. Series pretty good but some of the narrators are poor.

[Jim]

I just finished 2 books by David Gemmell: Legend & The King Beyond the Gate. Apparently the Source didn't want me to read them. I found several in my regular shelves - not the TBR shelf - without me having read them. Not sure how that happened or why I haven't read them before now. Very strange, but I really enjoyed them. I gave both 4 stars & reviewed them here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[[deleted user]]

Meghan wrote: "thinking about starting Yamada Monogatari: The War God's Son or Irenicon but undecided. ..."

I enjoyed Parks' previous Yamada & Kenji stories, The War God's Son is still on my to-read, though.

[Andreas]

Just finished writing up my summaries on Meeting Infinity - here is my review.

[[deleted user]]

A.M. Dellamonica's A Daughter of No Nation showed up on a couple of Best of 2015 lists, but since it's the 2nd book of a series, I dutifully set off to read its predecessor, 2014's Child of a Hidden Sea. It breaks out the old "Portal to another World" trope, to a place similar to Earthsea: vast ocean, island nations, sailing ships, magic based on true names. Unlike most portal stories, Sophie's problem isn't getting home, it's being allowed to stay. Messy politics and dastardly conspiracies follow. Entertaining light fantasy but not mind blowing, not sure if I'm going to continue with the 2nd one now.

NK Jemisin's The Fifth Season begins her new Broken Earth series. It offers a really interesting alternate world full of volcanoes and earthquakes and frequent devastations, along with a few people with the hereditary ability to influence the tectonics. Solid worldbuilding, engaging characters. Storytelling jumped around between characters in times, and it took a while to sort things into a reasonable chronology. I especially liked that even though it's the first book of a new trilogy, it didn't mind resolving a few mysteries early on instead of holding everything for the climactic volume. Will definitely have to read The Obelisk Gate when it comes out later this year.

[[deleted user]]

I just finished a forgettable paperback called The Fortec Conspiracy by two guys I never heard of...a book from the late 60's, early 70s, a bad novel, would have been much better at a shorter length....i'm likely going to lay around and be a bum until New Year's, then pick up another book after that...maybe watch some old Star Trek re-runs in the meantime

[Tani]

I'm reading The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan, his new series. I really enjoy the Percy Jackson books as a light and entertaining read, so I was happy to dive into this one. It's a lot of fun so far. I've seen a lot of complaints about the book being formulaic, but I like the formula, so no complaints from me. :)

[Meghan]

Tani wrote: "I'm reading The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan, his new series. I really enjoy the Percy Jackson books as a light and entertaining read, so I was happy to dive into ..."

right! formulas are great if it is your jam. I love The Scam- not at all fantasy or sci-fi, but the formula in the series is delightful. sometimes a little predictability is ok.

[Olivia "So many books--so little time.""]

I just finished reading Artifact by Gregory Benford. It's about an archeologist who finds an unusual artifact in Greece and takes it back to Boston to check it out. It was not bad--I gave it three stars.

[Tani]

Meghan wrote: " sometimes a little predictability is ok."

This is totally true. Sometimes formulas are just enough to cheer you and refresh you for the next big project. :) I'm a fan of Janet Evanovich as well, although I'll admit I'm woefully behind the times on all of her works.

[Andreas]

I liked Spookie's heroic effort to place a BotM read of The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: Volume 1. So, I read two stories from it - Nightfall and The Nine Billion Names of God (links lead to my blog reviews).

[John]

Was psyched after seeing the new Star Wars so just finished reading Kenobi by John Jackson Miller. It takes place on Tattoonie after Ben Kenobi deliveries the baby Luke Skywalker to his aunt and uncle. Ben finds a home not to far away to watch over them. It has a bit of a classic western feel. A remote farming community, a pretty widow, a powerful rancher, and raids by sand people rather than Indians. Ben is the gunfighter trying to hang up his guns.