What Else Are You Reading - February 2017

[Kristina]

Gary wrote: "I finished reading Red Country by Joe Abercrombie. It is the sixth book in his First Law Series. It is a grim dark fantasy western tale only he could tell.
I am rea..."

I just finished Red Country also! Loved it!

Moving on to Red Queen. My teen recommended it...

But after 5 chapters, I'm sure it's not for me :P Warbreaker instead, because you can't go wrong with Sanderson!

[Misti]

Just got my Inkshares download of Pilot X. It's by some guy named Tom Merritt. Anybody heard of him?

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Just zipped through Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire, from the Nebula novella list.

[Iain]

Arrrrggggghhhhh...

Reading Dark Forest, and the Library just delivered Death's End. I now have Gateway on my ipad, along with A Conjuring of Light, The Bloodline Feud, Daughter of Eden.

To top it off the Library had The Massacre of Mankind on display when I walked in... No for some 48 hour long days to read them all.

[Jon]

Halfway through Europe in Winter which I am loving. When I finish it I'll move on to either Six Wakes or The Stars Are Legion.

[John (Taloni)]

Finished The Reality Dysfunction by Peter Hamilton. Good opener, solid throughout. The satanism storyline is weird but I am interested to see where he is going with it. Have the other two on hold at my library. I overall like the universe building. It's easy to see where he got the Commonwealth out of these ideas.

Also picked up the next month's book, Gateway and am 10% in. Oof! Depressing. It's short so I'll finish it regardless, but this one has not yet pulled me in. Crossing fingers that it will pick up. I guess overall dystopias turn me off, and it takes a great work (like Canticle for Leibowitz or The Postman) to overcome that for me.

[Stephen]

I read the two Black Widow young adult novels. I needed something I didn't have to think about. I need to start Book 8 of the Wheel of Time series but haven't mustered up the willpower yet.

[William]

John (Taloni) wrote:"Depressing. It's short so I'll finish it regardless, but this one has not yet pulled me in. Crossing fingers that it will pick up. I guess overall dystopias turn me off, and it takes a great work (like Canticle for Leibowitz or The Postman) to overcome that for me. ..."

I read it a while back because I'd seen several authors mention it as a classic. It did grab me around the halfway mark (if I remember rightly). It doesn't have as many memorable scenes as Canticle and I didn't find it *as* depressing, though depressing enough. I think I just got wrapped up in the mystery.

The Postman had a big fat streak of hope running through it's depressing setting, but that's early Brin and why I love that book - at least how I remember it, I just realised that I read it last century. I've seriously got to do a reread!

[David H.]

I finally resubscribed after 15 years to Asimov's, so I read Asimov's Science Fiction, January/February 2017. It's got a Great Ship story by Robert Reed, and a Coyote story by Allen Steele, so that's nice. I hadn't realized that Asimov's had a bunch of poems; I'm not really into poetry, oh well. Definitely a few good stories but others are so-so--as is typical.

I finally got around to read this month's Clarkesworld: Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 125. (This is free online.) I liked most of the stories--Chi Hui depicts an evolved rat people in space, which amuses. Simone Heller's How Bees Fly was also real good, and the Nnedi Okorafor interview is pretty good, too.

The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker. I know Sword & Laser read this last October, but I'm only getting around to it now, so I'm sure I'll listen to what T&V said, and read what you guys wrote about it soon. But definitely one of my favorite books I read this year--loved just about everything.

Interestingly, though, I just started reading Merkabah Rider: Tales of a High Planes Drifter by Edward M. Erdelac, which follows a Jewish mystical gunslinger apparently, which is an odd counterpoint to the Kabbalism in The Golem and the Jinni, haha.

[Joseph]

Finished Women in Practical Armor, which had some great stories in it, and started Naamah's Blessing because I figured it was finally time to wrap up Jacqueline Carey's final Kushiel trilogy.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I finally finished Sisters of the Revolution: A Feminist Speculative Fiction Anthology edited by Ann VanderMeer and Jeff VanderMeer. My review is here.

[Rob, Roberator]

I finished listening to Crossroads of Twilight and yup, it is still pretty much a waste of a book. - ★★☆☆☆ - (My Review)

I also finished The Salt Roads. After a slow start I found it pretty enjoyable, although not really enough fantasy for my liking. - ★★★☆☆ - (My Review)