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What Else Are You Reading?
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What Else Are You Reading - April 2017
Silvana wrote: "I have not watched I, Robot. Should I? I read the book a long time ago and only remembered liking it and full story escapes my memory."It's really just an okay action movie. But, when you consider that it is an Asimov adaptation, especially I, Robot, which is a collection of short stories, and you put Susan Calvin in the movie, that is where it stumbles. It had none of the finesse of Asimov, just another Will Smith action vehicle. That is where I fault it. So, if you want to see Will Smith shooting a multitude of robots, and make quippy one liners, go for it. Just don't expect anything more than that.
Finished The Collapsing Empire and here is my review. Overall, a good, fun read despite what I felt was enough of a flaw to distract me while I read.Back to my reread of The Way of Kings.
Read Revenger by Alastair Reynolds. Wow, what a terrible book. It's some indeterminately long time in the future. Humans live on the remains of past civilizations, usually educated well below the technological level of the world they're on. Worlds that seem to have a surface are held together by small black holes, but the world building is strictly 18th century. Those are "swallowers," with other places being "wheel worlds" or "tube worlds." It's the world of Revelation Space millions of years in the future, with a largely uneducated populace.The space travel is done by solar sail "sunjammers" which also use ion engines and some chemical rockets. Oddly for a society that lives on captured black holes, they don't have fusion.
The book is mostly about space piracy done up with a patina of tech. This could easily be a traditional pirate book, that is, without the coat of paint the tech represents this is just a pirate story.
The book does some of the obviously bad things beginning writers are warned against. Having defined a goal, the protagonist pretty much walks right to it without conflict. There is a ridiculous sequence where the MC makes a gruesome decision to get rid of a tracking device that is just shoehorned in. A parental conflict reaches a silly end. It's at about the level of a first time writer who shows promise but needs a lot of work.
Rather than being the work of a hard SF master, this reads like a tossed off series of vignettes made to satisfy a book contract. I considered lemming it, but it was short enough to finish while routinely shaking my head.
Just finished Death's End ★★★☆☆. There is a good book hidden in here. The characters are there to allow a discussion of ideas, as props. Things just happen to them. The only reason this book made three stars was the brilliant hard SF extrapolations based on modern physics. Definitely the heir to Stapledon, its just unfortunate that his characterisation is absolutely awful.
Better if this book hadn't been written (it colours the rest of the series).
Finished Red Seas Under Red Skies and started The Republic of Thieves, after which I'll join the queue waiting for The Thorn of Emberlain.
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I was lucky enough to get an early review copy of the audiobook for Change Agent. I enjoyed it. It's probably my favorite book of his since Daemon - ★★★★☆ - (My Review)
Finished: Pilot X, Memory of WaterCurrently reading: The Library at Mount Char and wow is it ever good. Wish it had won march madness.
Finished A Gathering of Shadows... and oh wow I loved it. Going to switch it up with Scalzi's The End of All Things.
Finished The Stars Are Legion. I liked it even though it wasn't what I was expecting. More visceral than I thought it'd be. It had some pacing issues throughout and didn't really pick up for me until about halfway to two thirds through. The ending felt abrupt as well. ★★★☆☆About 2/3rds through Cold Days and 1/3rd through The Invisible Library. Enjoying both so far.
Need to start The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are for "homework" purposes... but I'm kind of dragging my feet on that one.
American Gods looks much more tempting. It's not like a television series based on the book is coming out at the end of April or anything.
I must be the only person here who found American Gods to be meh. Not really bad, but not great either. Most of the material in it was covered in old Thor annuals. I also much prefer the "servant leader" gods of Marvel to the sardonic users in American Gods. Hope you enjoy more than I did.
I am due to start American Gods soon. Seems to have a serious amount of hype!
John (Taloni) wrote: "I must be the only person here who found American Gods to be meh. Not really bad, but not great either. Most of the material in it was covered in old Thor annuals. I also much prefer the "servant l..."You are not the only one. I really considered lemming the book in the middle. Overall I am glad that I didn't lem it because I enjoyed the ending. For myself, I think the reason the book didn't work for me is because the protagonist spent lots of the book not protagging and the supporting cast didn't appeal to me.
I've a bit of a backlog--despite listing 7 books here, it's been slow reading for me--some of these took me up to two weeks to read instead of a few days.Cold-Forged Flame by Marie Brennan. A Tor.com novella. This one was good--I really enjoyed the character's "amnesia" and her task. Looking forward to the sequel.
Agents of Dreamland by Caitlin R. Kiernan. Another Tor.com novella. This one was OK... I didn't feel like there was much of a plot here.
Big Mushy Happy Lump by Sarah Andersen. This is the second "Sarah's Scribbles" book--great cartoons. :-)
Everything Belongs to the Future by Laurie Penny. Another Tor.com novella, this had an interesting premise, but the execution just made it feel slightly blah and uninteresting to me.
The Warren by Brian Evenson. Another Tor.com novella. This one was confusing in a good way, but I felt like I had too many questions at the end (and not in the good sense). Apparently this may be set in the same setting as Evenson's earlier work, Immobility. I'm not interested, though--the only other Evenson I've read was Last Days which was creepy enough for me.
Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 127 edited by Neil Clarke. The April issue! A rare Clarkesworld with a novella, "Sunwake, in the Lands of Teeth" by Juliette Wade. This one was real good--not quite a First Contact story, and not from the human perspective. Free on the website (as with all Clarkesworlds). The Fei Dao story translated by Ken Liu (The Robot Who Liked to Tell Tall Tales) was fun, too. The reprinted Adam Roberts story was interesting/frustrating, but I'm honestly surprised Clarke reprinted "Ancient Engines" by Swanwick--it was merely fine, and I could see the reveal a mile away. Heck, I'm surprised Swanwick himself even wrote it. Maybe I'm too harsh on that one, haha.
Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer. This one took me a while, not because it's a tough read (I mean, I guess it can be), but because I had to read 90% of it on the computer screen at work (I can't read my Kindle there), and there are a lot of distractions (like actual work). In any case--the story structure is amazing to me, the narrator really adds something, with plenty left to be revealed. If you're into sci-fi worldbuilding, this series is amazing for it--actually thinking through the implications of things. I'm definitely seeing the potential Hugo-worthiness of this novel.
Just finished the 4th book in Bernard Cornwell's Saxon series Sword Song. Not bad but nothing much new happens so it's just a 3 star. Also reading L.A. Confidential, which is great so far. It's got to be most non-PC book I have read in a long timeAbout to start this months S&L pick The Invisible Library
AndrewP wrote: "Just finished the 4th book in Bernard Cornwell's Saxon series Sword Song. Not bad but nothing much new happens so it's just a 3 star. Also reading L.A. Confidential, whi..."I loved L.A. Confidential, both the book and the movie. I'd recommend reading the rest of his L.A. Quartet as well (The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere and White Jazz) -- L.A. Confidential is actually the third in the sequence. Well, Dahlia could arguably be skipped, but the Ed Exley/Bud White/Dudley Smith plotlines thread through all of the latter three books.
Just finished The Far-Out Worlds of A. E. van Vogt by, oddly enough, A. E. van Vogt. This is a collection published in 1968 of 12 short stories going as far back as 1937. It was a mixed bag as you would imagine but overall it reminded me of watching the old Outer Limits show with my dad which isn't a bad thing. What I found most surprising for stories of this age was a strong thread of anti-racism through many of the stories. On the other hand there was the usual dearth of female characters for the era.Starting The Invisible Library.
Finished Diamond Age (which I mostly enjoyed) and was looking for something uplifting and happy to coincide with spring blooming all around me, so I went with the Swedish crime novel The Crow Girl, which is full of sad people, torture, ruined child soldiers, mutilation, ennui, destroyed psyches, murder, hopelessness, malfunctioning cars, and grey weather. Perfect!
Just finished A Conjuring of Light ★★★★☆. A fun read and a suitable end to the series. Now to read The Invisible Library.
I'm about 4 hours into the 14.5 hour audiobook of The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and feel like nothing has happened and it's going crazy slow. I'm about to list it as DNF, but wanted to ask here first -- is it worth continuing?
I haven't even started American Gods and I've gone and bought The Invisible Library and Neverwhere.I just can't help myself. I walk into Waterstones (UK) and I want my house to look like their shop.
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I really enjoyed the book, but the pace never really picks up imho. It's definitely the type of book that's not for everyone.
Rob wrote:"I really enjoyed the book, but the pace never really picks up imho. It's definitely the type of book that's not for everyone. "Thanks Rob. This is helpful. I'll go a little further and see how I feel.
I thought TLWtaSAP was pretty medium. A fast read since its very breezy language but spending 14 hours with it would make me sad.
FWIW I enjoyed the ending and its commentary on the limits of how far a civilized society should go to welcome others. Don't know if others would enjoy that though. It was a fair read, slow, dull in many places, but succeeded in being what the writer wanted it to be.
Adrian wrote: "I'm about 4 hours into the 14.5 hour audiobook of The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and feel like nothing has happened and it's going crazy slow. I'm about to list it as DNF, bu..."I thoroughly enjoyed that book, but if you don't like it then move on to something else.
I had a long drive to and from a board meeting today and finished listening to Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel. I read the first book in print and far preferred the audio experience because of the format and multiple narrators. One voice is annoying - they try to affect a stutter but it just sounds like static. (But this voice is infrequent, otherwise highly recommended.) ALIEN ROBOTS COME TO EARTH.
Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "I had a long drive to and from a board meeting today and finished listening to Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel. I read the first book in print and far preferred the audio experience b..."The audio productions of both Waking Gods and Sleeping Giants are simply amazing. Not only are the narrators just good at reading the books, they really seem to be voice actors. It completely made the books wonderful!
Adrian wrote: "Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "I had a long drive to and from a board meeting today and finished listening to Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel. I read the first book in print and far pre..."Audible just lists 'full cast" but I felt I recognized a few voices. I'd like to see a list!
Mod
The Aussie Audible store lists the cast. I assume it's the same people on all versions.
Waking Gods:
Narrated by: Andy Secombe , Adna Sablyich , Laurel Lefkow , William Hope , Charlie Anson , Christopher Ragland , Roy McMillan , Sarah Wells , Karina Fernandez , Madeleine Rose
Sleeping Giants:
Narrated by: Andy Secombe , Charlie Anson , Christopher Ragland , Eric Meyers , Laurel Lefkow , Liza Ross , William Hope , Adna Sablyich , Katharine Mangold
http://www.audible.com.au/pd/Sci-Fi-F...
http://www.audible.com.au/pd/Crime-Th...
Just started reading the near-future Science Fiction novel The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi and he has a character make this cuttingly pertinent observation early on: "If I could put my finger on the moment we genuinely fucked ourselves, it was the moment we decided that data was something you could use words like 'believe' or 'disbelieve' around."
Adrian wrote: "I'm about 4 hours into the 14.5 hour audiobook of The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and feel like nothing has happened and it's going crazy slow. I'm about to list it as DNF, bu..."I read this and it did one of the worst things a book can do for me: I didn't feel anything about it. I didn't like it, didn't hate it. I can't remember anything that happened in it. I was left wholly unchanged and indifferent about it. So if you're not enjoying it, I'd say to lem it. Read something that makes you feel something.
The Long Way is all about the characters and their interactions. If you are the type of reader who wants a clear through plot, it's likely not for you. It's very Firefly-ish to me in that what made that series for me weren't the plots of the episodes but the characters as acted by the cast (i.e. the combination of the characters as written AND as brought to life by those particular actors). I actually don't think the audio would work for me at 14 hours. It's an easy actual read and took me under half that time in book form.
I didn't realize Waking Gods was out - need to pick that up but I'm in the middle of Aliette de Bodard's The House of Binding Thorns
Just finished the Invisible Library ★★★★☆ (will comment in the appropriate threads). I really enjoyed this mash-up and will look for the sequels. Now on to some History for a break, The Silk Roads
Trike wrote: "Just started reading the near-future Science Fiction novel The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi and he has a character make this cuttingly pertinent observation early on: "If I could..."This is a good, if bleak, book. I "enjoyed" reading it. It is very close to home.
Slowly slogging my way through The Snow Queen. I'm just having trouble caring about it. I'm not attached to any of the characters and the plot is glacially slow. I'm reading it for my Hugo winners challenge so I'll stick it out to the end.Also listening to Shadowshaper as an audiobook. It's fantastic so far, and I love the narrator.
Shadowshaper is a fun book. If you've not, check out his other stuff.
Rick wrote: "Shadowshaper is a fun book. If you've not, check out his other stuff."I've definitely got his Bone Street Rumba books on my tbr list.
Finished That Hideous Strength. It's quite a slog. Has some interesting parts but is overall less interesting than the other two.The book starts off with a tedious slog through the politics of a small university in an English village. Lewis is making points about lying through omission, but the point is exceedingly small. Later on it matters, if the reader makes it that far.
There's the usual struggle between forces of good and evil with a barely disguised scifi take on Christianity. Perhaps the most amusing parts to me were how the politics of the Satanists closely resembled the company where I work.
As for the rest....spoilers, I guess, if there can be spoilers for a 70 year old book...
(view spoiler)
The whole thing ends not in a big showdown, but a bizarre dinner party. It's Monty Python before Monty Python existed. As part of the denouement Venus visits and everybody gets it on. Er.....what?
The points Lewis is making here were far better done in Narnia, and less heavy handed there as well. Lewis idolizes small town English life, but that's better exemplified by the King with the "doggy hands" just in from the kennel in Narnia than the heavy handed plot points here.
It's yet another Lewis book I'm glad to have read, even though the reading wasn't very fun. It does pick up about 2/3 of the way through the book, if any modern readers make it that far.
Currently reading Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb and will pick up on the Foundation series after this.
Jordan wrote: "Rick wrote: "Shadowshaper is a fun book. If you've not, check out his other stuff."I've definitely got his Bone Street Rumba books on my tbr list."
Excellent. Don't pass up his collection mostly set in that world, Salsa Nocturna: Stories
Jordan wrote: "Slowly slogging my way through The Snow Queen... the plot is glacially slow."I see what you did there.
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More recently I finished The Invisible Library, which had a bit of a similar vibe. I probably liked it about the same. - ★★★☆☆ - (My Review)
Finally I listened to The Warrior's Apprentice which I enjoyed quite a bit. - ★★★★☆ - (My Review)
Finished The Republic of Thieves and, while I wait for The Thorn of Emberlain, and despite all of the Hugo reading I should be doing, I decided to revisit Stephen King's It for the first time in -- well, for poetic, It-related purposes let's say this is the first time in 28 years. That's at least approximately accurate.
Not reading a scifi book at the moment although it has connections to James S A Corey and is full of the fantasies of its hero Don Quixote
Joseph wrote: "I decided to revisit Stephen King's It for the first time in -- well, for poetic, It-related purposes let's say this is the first time in 28 years. That's at least approximately accurate"It was the book that cured me of ever reading a King novel again. It's been 30 years already. Wow.
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Part 2 took all the good work of Part 1 and ruined it completely.
The ending was garbage.
It never put me off Stephen King. He has always been hit and miss for me.
TV rarely does his books justice. "Under the Dome" is a perfect example.
Good book. Laughingly bad TV show.
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The Sword and Laser
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(Something slightly similar with "Blade Runner"--Ridley Scott bought the rights to the title of a 1974 book by Alan E. Nourse solely to use as the new title of "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?")