What Else Are You Reading - February 2016

[Joel]

I read the entire Leviathan book series, and I liked it. The first book was my favorite of the trilogy. If in the mood for some good steampunk, I would like to recommend the Mortal Engines book series. It gets better and better with each book, and they have been by far my favorite steampunk books.

[Joseph]

Finished The Vital Abyss, which added some interesting Expanse backstory, and started Rusalka by C.J. Cherryh. I read the trilogy many years ago, but now I'm reading the author's revised eBook editions that I purchased directly from her website.

[Jodhan]

I usually have more than one book on the burner. I just finished, Glen Cook's the black company book one. Firefly beach by Meira Penterman. I'm onto Frankenstein, The Martian, The life engineered, and Cold Mountain.

[Sumant]

Here is my review of Hyperion, in Hyperion cantos series. Simply loved it!.

[John]

gardens of the moon

[Rob, Roberator]

I listened to The Bands of Mourning. I enjoyed it a lot more than Shadows of Self. Here's My Review.

[Misti]

Finally finished The Sword of Shannara. Took me longer to read than I like due to a silly case of pink eye. :P Haven't felt like reading much because of that. Almost back to normal, so hopefully, I'll be in reading shape soon. Next on my reading list is Tricked.

[Walter]

Finished reading The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance. Long, but fascinating for its behind the scenes look at the subject and the Morgan family.

Now reading The Very Best of Charles de Lint.

[Dharmakirti]

I've less than one hundred pages remaining in Titus Groan and I'm hoping to finishing reading it today.

I'm also reading and enjoying The Madness Season and The Metamorphoses of Ovid.

[Joel]

I just finished the audio book version of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell read by Simon Prebble. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend it. And Simon Prebble is a fantastic narrator. One of the best I have listened to. If you have the chance to listen to any book narrated by him, take it.

[Stephen]

One from Ann Leckie list of favorite SF novels Foreigner by C.J. Cherryh who was just named a Grandmaster, so my timing was perfect. Now if Tom will make this the March BOM I will hit the trifecta.

[Aaron]

Finished Calamity, it was a solid end to the trilogy and I'm happy with it.

[Ian]

I'm currently reading age of iron by Angus watson. Only just started seems good so far.

[Joel]

Currently reading The Bands of Mourning.

Listening to The Island of Dr. Moreau. I have found that I really like H.G. Wells. quite a bit.

[Maclurker]

Since I'm skipping SoS, I had time for War for the Oaks. My first book by Emma Bull. I really enjoyed it. Shades of my favorite urban fantasy author: Charles de Lint.

Now re-reading In the Garden of Iden. I wish we could do one of Kage Baker Company books in the book club. I like her predictions of the future world. So exaggerated, but fun. Also The Empress of Mars was great.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I'm halfway through The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and really liking it so far!

[Marion]

I'm reading The Peyti Crisis by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. The Retrieval Artist Series is underrated and should be read by fans of sci-fi thrillers.

[Rikki]

Currently, I just finished reading Princeless Volume 3: The Pirate Princess and Princeless: Raven the Pirate Princess Book 1: Captain Raven and the All-Girl Pirate Crew, both by Jeremy Whitley. These books are All-Ages graphic novels in the best sense of the term. I especially loved the latter book, something about the coloring really stood out to me.

And tomorrow, I'm going to the library to pick up City of Blades, which I am really looking forward to because I love the previous book.

[Ju]

I'm in the midst of 'Radiance' by Catherynne M Valente - and it's so amazingly written, but such a hard read too. Also have consumed a bunch of urban fantasy books featuring fae and video games.

[Christopher]

Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "I'm halfway through The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and really liking it so far!"

I enjoyed that book so much. I'm probably going to re-read it since I'm putting together a tabletop roleplaying campaign that takes place in the Wayfarer's universe.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Christopher wrote: "Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "I'm halfway through The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and really liking it so far!"

I enjoyed that book so much. I'm probably going to re-read it since I'm putting together a tabletop roleplaying campaign that takes place in the Wayfarer's universe.
.."

Oh how fun, perfect universe for that.

[Joseph]

And I finished Rusalka and am moving on to Chernevog, again by (newly-announced SFWA Grand Master) C.J. Cherryh.

[Phil]

Just finished The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. I absolutely loved this book. The setting and the characters became very real to me. I would love to see a playable D&D version of Camorr written up.
I did have some minor quibbles with some overly florid metaphors and things like calling glasses optics instead of glasses but overall an excellent book.
Starting WWW: Wake by Robert Sawyer.

[Jessica]

My recent reads: "Lightless," SF by C.A. Higgins, "Illuminae," YA science fiction by Amy Kaufman and...someone else whose name I can't remember right now, and "The Magician's Land," book 3 of Lev Grossman's fantasy trilogy. I read the Vaginal Fantasy book club pick for this month, "Cupcakes, Trinkets and Other Deadly Magic." Next was "Fates and Furies," literary fiction by Lauren Groff, which I was pretty disappointed in. Now reading "The Sleeping Life," fantasy by Andrea K Host, and next up will be Pierce Brown's "Morningstar," final installment of the Red Rising trilogy.

[Ju]

I just finished and reviewed 'Love and Romanpunk' by Tansy Rayner Roberts, it was so freaking awesome and rocked my socks. If you're even a little bit a fan of Roman history and don't mind it being twisted a little, this is an awesome read.

[Ju]

Jessica wrote: "My recent reads: "Lightless," SF by C.A. Higgins, "Illuminae," YA science fiction by Amy Kaufman and...someone else whose name I can't remember right now, and "The Magician's Land," book 3 of Lev G..."

I also recently read 'Illuminae' and loved the hell out of it - so freaking awesome!

[Rob, Roberator]

I finished up my reread of The Eye of the World, and enjoyed it just as much the second time as I did the first. (My Review)

[Sumant]

Here is my review of Kushiel's dart, first book in Kushiel's universe.

[Sky]

I finally finished Reaper's Gale. It was awesome. Par for the course, I spent over a month slowly reading the book till it reached critical mass around 50% of the way through, and finished the last half in a week.

Next up is Toll the Hounds.

I think I will stick to short stories and manga/graphic novels until I finish Malazan. At this point I am eager to see how it all ends, and feel starting any other new series before finishing Malazan would be counter-productive.

In that vein, I read Naruto, Vol. 01: The Tests of the Ninja and Vol. 2, Hikaru no Go, Vol. 1: Descent of the Go Master and Vol 2, Locke & Key, Vol. 2: Head Games, and Buddha, Vol. 1: Kapilavastu.

I think I will work in Ghosts of the Tristan Basin, the new McClellan short story that introduces a new character from his upcoming trilogy, and also the Broken Empire short stories Road Brothers : Tales from the Broken Empire.

[Joanna Chaplin]

Today I blitzed through Tooth and Claw, Jo Walton's debut novel. And yes, it very much has that debut novel feel. One more editing pass may have made it spectacular. But it's pretty good as it is. Folks, it's a comedy of manners with dragons.

A comedy of manners. With dragons.

[John (Taloni)]

Read through the Commonwealth Saga (Pandora's Star / Judas Unchained) and was turned off by the tedious length at the time. Now considering the sequels since the setting is interesting and I know what I'm in for this time.

Read two Discworlds after that, the short book The Last Hero and then The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents. Last Hero was fairly interesting. Maurice left me cold. I'm fine with YA but this was just kind of dull. I'm going in publication order so this won't stop me from reading Night Watch, but I'm a little concerned that about half of the remaining books are YA. I might slow way down on Discworld if they are similar to Maurice.

[Minsta]

I had planned on reading SoS this month since it is the pick- really I did - but then City of Blades happened... :)

[Ju]

Minsta wrote: "I had planned on reading SoS this month since it is the pick- really I did - but then City of Blades happened... :)"

Did you see that Tor.com did a podcast interview on Rocket Talk with the author? It was a *very* weird podcast - I got about 15 minutes in before I noped out of it, but apparently it was designed to be related to the book? So maybe something of interest to you :)

[Jeanette]

More Sanderson than I can poke a stick at. Having finished Shadows of Self and Bands of Mourning last month, this month I've already ploughed through Mistborn: Secret History and am yet to start Calamity. I'm almost finishedDragon and Herdsman and have started The Winner's Crime

[Keidy]

Joanna wrote: "Today I blitzed through Tooth and Claw, Jo Walton's debut novel. And yes, it very much has that debut novel feel. One more editing pass may have made it spectacular. But it's pretty good as it is. Folks, it's a comedy of manners with dragons.

A comedy of manners. With dragons. "

You need to bold that last sentence. It should read "A comedy of manners. WITH DRAGONS!"

LOL! I have that book. I think I got it at a recent Kindle price drop or something like that. Anywho, I should go and read it right now! I'm a HUGE dragon geek myself so you kinda just reminded me I have to read it. Thanks! ^_^v

[Tassie Dave, S&L Historian]

I have been on a bit of a Shannara binge this month. So far I have read:

The Original Trilogy
The Sword of Shannara
The Elfstones of Shannara
The Wishsong of Shannara

The Heritage of Shannara
The Scions of Shannara
The Druid of Shannara
The Elf Queen Of Shannara
The Talismans Of Shannara

The Paladins of Shannara (3 Novellas)
Allanon's Quest
The Black Irix
The Weapons Master's Choice

I am currently reading First King of Shannara which will be my last book of the month and a break from the world of Shannara for a while ;-)

[Ju]

Tassie Dave wrote: "I have been on a bit of a Shannara binge this month. So far I have read:"

Which of the books are your favourites?

I have a remembered soft spot for Elf Queen, but I haven't reread and I'm kind of scared to in case the suck fairy has visited.

[Tassie Dave, S&L Historian]

Ju wrote: "Which of the books are your favourites?

I have a remembered soft spot for Elf Queen, but I haven't reread and I'm kind of scared to in case the suck fairy has visited. "

I had read the first 7 books before back in the 80's and 90's. I enjoyed them just as much re-reading them.

Wishsong is still my favourite, just ahead of Elfstones. Mainly because I liked them as stand alone stories. They didn't drag on too much.

I liked the Heritage of Shannara books, but I felt Brooks stretched the story out a bit much to get it to last 4 Books. But they were good solid stories and I enjoyed "Elf Queen", which was pretty much just Wren's story arc.

[Ju]

Tassie Dave wrote: "Ju wrote: "Which of the books are your favourites?

I have a remembered soft spot for Elf Queen, but I haven't reread and I'm kind of scared to in case the suck fairy has visited. "

I had read the..."

Thanks for the detailed reply! If my to-read pile wasn't already so long I'd consider doing more of a reread in the series, but I think I'm too excited about all the new-to-me books!

[Keith]

About halfway through Nemesis Games. Holy crap. Did not see this stuff coming. And so, so happy to finally have Amos, Naomi, and Alex POVs

[Jodhan]

I have gone back to The High Druid's Blade book 1. I was away for a year and never finished it. The third book is due in May so I am wanting to catch up. Once I am caught I am wanting to go back to SoS and read the series through again.

It will likely take longer than I plan but as Ju said, "If my to-read pile wasn't already so long" I'm a bout 5 books deep on that pile, on top of working through my last revisions for my own novel i'd be through a book every few days. Not sure I want to go back to that... the hit to wallet is one of the reasons I slowed down on my reading, lol.

[Joseph]

Keith wrote: "About halfway through Nemesis Games. Holy crap. Did not see this stuff coming. And so, so happy to finally have Amos, Naomi, and Alex POVs

"

Yeah, that book's really an inflection point for the series.

[Trike]

I'm a couple chapters in to The Last Exodus which starts off in the aftermath of an alien invasion that's ruined the ecosystem to the point where Earth can no longer sustain life.

It's okay so far. Unless he either has something amazing or terrible happen later, it'll probably end up as three stars.

[Phil]

Just finished WWW: Wake by Robert Sawyer. Once again an excellent job by Sawyer. I think this is the best of his I've read since The Terminal Experiment. It actually brought me to tears a couple times. The protagonist is a blind teenage girl who has her sight technologically restored. She finds she can "see" the Web and becomes aware of something else there.
There are unresolved plot points at the end but this is the first of a trilogy.
Starting All the Birds in the Sky.

[Silvana]

Currently reading The City Stained Red by Sam Sykes. A fast paced one but I still don't know exactly what's going on. Pretty scary demons though.

Listening to Felicia Day's memoir too. Still in the early chapters, I hope I can keep up with all the gaming references since I am no gamer. Interesting account on her home schooling experience, though.

And I'm still plowing through Jules Verne's Robur the Conquerer. I know his works involved lots of travelogue but gosh it is so tiring at times.

[Marion]

I'm about halfway through Station Eleven. If there's such a thing as a understated and genteel post-apocalyptic novel, than this book fits the description.

Here's a question for those of you have read this novel: Will art (in any of its forms) be the only thing to survive in a post apocalyptic setting? If so, why would it be?

[Minsta]

Ju wrote: "Minsta wrote: "I had planned on reading SoS this month since it is the pick- really I did - but then City of Blades happened... :)"

Did you see that Tor.com did a podcast interview on Rocket Talk ..."

Thanks Ju! I had the same reaction you did to the Tor podcast (nope nope nope!) and instead listened to the interview of Robert Jackson Bennett on The Author Stories Podcast.

[Sky]

Marion wrote: "I'm about halfway through Station Eleven. If there's such a thing as a understated and genteel post-apocalyptic novel, than this book fits the description.

Here's a question for t..."

I think the need for mindless entertainment would survive the apocalypse. With the huge spike in illiteracy and lack of electronic entertainment, i'd imagine verbal story telling would become quite popular.

Granted, the people in the book were out of work Shakespearean actors and classical musicians. I'm more imagining a huge spike in the popularity of post-apocalyptic grunge metal (unplugged!) and base comedies.

[Ju]

Minsta wrote: "Ju wrote: "Minsta wrote: "I had planned on reading SoS this month since it is the pick- really I did - but then City of Blades happened... :)"

Did you see that Tor.com did a podcast interview on R..."

I think that poor Justin wanted out of that podcast episode too tbh :P

[Christopher]

I just finished Ancillary Justice and that was just an amazing book. I tend to take breaks between books in a series, but I'm tempted to jump right into the next once I can get it from the library.

In the meantime I've decided to jump into yet another series and quite the doorstopper of a book, The Way of Kings. I've read Elantris and Warbreaker and enjoyed both tremendously so I figure I may as well jump right into what I've heard is Sanderson's best work.