What Else Are You Reading - February 2018

[AndrewP]

The 'jargon' is the part of Anathem that really got me hooked. But then again, if you know your Geek and Latin prefixes it's very logical and understandable jargon.

[Colin]

Time for a novella, I think. Starting on A Long Day in Lychford which is the third in Paul Cornell's Witches of Lychford series, part of Tor's big push on novellas.

[Trike]

AndrewP wrote: "The 'jargon' is the part of Anathem that really got me hooked. But then again, if you know your Geek and Latin prefixes it's very logical and understandable jargon."

Which Geek prefixes are those? Boolean? Klingon? Superhero? :p

[Joseph]

Finished Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch and set the Wayback Machine for the 1920s with The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane by Robert E. Howard.

[Scott]

Currently reading Maplecroft by Cherie Priest. Will probably finish it tomorrow

[Misti]

Scott wrote: "Currently reading Maplecroft by Cherie Priest. Will probably finish it tomorrow"

This is what I'm reading next.

I finished A Wrinkle in Time last night. It was just a meh for me. If I were 13, I would have probably enjoyed it more.

[Maclurker]

Having finished A Wrinkle in Time, I have now moved on to The Fifth Season. It's my first by N.K. Jemisin and I'm really enjoying the world she has created. Especially the magic system is fascinating and so well done. I want to finish & see what happens. But I want it to last too.

[Julie]

Maclurker wrote: "Having finished A Wrinkle in Time, I have now moved on to The Fifth Season. It's my first by N.K. Jemisin and I'm really enjoying the world she has ..."
I'm finally getting around to that trilogy too. (It took me about three tries to get through the beginning of the first book, but I'm glad I stuck with it.) Going to start The Obelisk Gate soon.

[Rick]

I might be leaving my reading slump... currently into Pandemonium which is an odd cross of alternate history and UF.

[Jessica]

Just finished this month's Vaginal Fantasy pick, Air Awakens. The writing and lack of sufficient editing made it hard for me to get through that one, but I persevered. I can see why some people really enjoy the overarching story, but I couldn't get past the aforementioned issues in addition to what I perceived as thin world-building, flat characterization, and a handful of tropes (including a special snowflake who doth protest too much).

Now moving on to The Girl in the Tower.

[Robert]

Earlier today I finished Dan Moren's The Caledonian Gambit. It was a good science fiction novel of espionage with two interesting POV characters. I've heard Dan on a number of podcasts, mainly "The Incomparable." I'm glad I enjoyed his first novel. Probably back to fantasy for my next read.

[Silvana]

I am reading Daniel Abraham's first published novel, the first of the Long Price Quartet, titled A Shadow in Summer. Very slow burn, more politics and character study than fantastical action.

[Rob, Roberator]

Silvana wrote: "I am reading Daniel Abraham's first published novel, the first of the Long Price Quartet, titled A Shadow in Summer. Very slow burn, more politics and character study than fantastical action."

That series picks up a lot as it goes on. I didn't like it as much as his dagger and coin series, but still pretty good. I recall one of the characters in the first book reminding me a bit of Avasarala.

[Silvana]

@Rob: Amat is not as sassy as Avasarala but yes she did remind me of her. I like it when authors have an old(er) woman as the or one of the main POV characters.

Also finishing the illustrated edition of Fantastic Beast and Where to Find them. Really nice collectible item with lots of additional beasts. Too bad the brush-stroke (?) illustrations are not as defined/sharp as the illustrated novels...

[David]

Just started Neil Gaiman's "Ocean at the End of the Lane" and its fantastic. Though I think all of Neil Gaiman's work is amazing.

[Rick]

Detoured a little and read James Sallis's Drive which is short and pretty damn cool. Not SF tho.

[Gary]

I finished reading Murder by Munchausen by M.T. Bass (Murder by Munchausen Mysteries Book #1). I am reading Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection by Brandon Sanderson (Stormlight Archive 2.5). I plan to read The Darknet: Murder by Munchausen Future Crime Mystery by M.T. Bass (Murder by Munchausen Mysteries Book #2) next.

[Jessica]

I finished The Girl in the Tower, and I have to agree with a previous poster here that it was a bit of let down after its predecessor. You can read my review here

I have a load of books out from the library right now and I'm having a hard time deciding which to read next! I've read 6 Sword books so far, versus 4 Laser, and so I kind of feel like I should pick a SF book next (which would be Bitter Seeds or Central Station). But Jade City just sounds more interesting to me, based on back cover blurb alone. I also have Vicious checked out. The book I am MOST excited to read is The Immortalists, but it's still waiting at the library for me, and they're closed on Sundays.

Hmm, decisions, decisions!

[Joseph]

Finished The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane and, for something completely different, started Yoon Ha Lee's Raven Stratagem.

[Rob, Roberator]

I listened to The Land: Founding, which wasn't great but was entertaining - ★★★½☆ - (My Review)

I also read An Unkindness of Ghosts already, because I greatly overestimated how long it would take me to get a copy from the library. I ended up enjoying a lot more than I expected to - ★★★★☆ - (My Review)

[David H.]

LitRPG sounds boring.

[Rob, Roberator]

David wrote: "LitRPG sounds boring."

Yeah. I suspect not going to appeal to many people.

[David H.]

I liked Ready Player One a lot, if that apparently counts as LitRPG, but if we're delving down to the level of stats and character sheets, it seems almost like that overeager dude I'm trapped in a conversation with telling me about some game that I'm never going to play and I have to make noncommittal noises while I figure out how to fake my death to get out.

I won a free copy of some litRPG novel last year, and it just sits unread on my e-reader while I skip past it to read something else.

[Rob, Roberator]

I have no idea if RPO counts. Id guess no.

[Rick]

So an indy author I discovered in Author Promos, Stephen Renneberg, has a new book out, The Riven Stars. Classic space opera with a twist (humans aren't all that in this universe). This is 3rd in a series (or 5th, depending how you order things) and scratches that space opera itch nicely. If this sounds interesting don't start here, start either with The Antaran Codex or the first in the series chronologically, The Mothership (This book is 3rd in a linked series set about 2000 years from now but The Mothership and its sequel are set in the same universe in our time and provide a little context).

That reminds me, I need to do a thread on authors we've discovered that we feel should get more attention.

[Laura]

I finished Artemis, which I thought was a lot of fun. I started Crucible of Gold, am still plugging away at Oathbringer and am reading Armada for the podcast 372 Pages We'll Never Get Back.

[Travis]

It's been a shamefully long time since I've updated here. So, I'll be quick:

Finished Lynn Flewelling's Tamir Triad and still wondering why more fantasy fans aren't reading this. Seriously, it's crazy cozy good!

Read Brandon Sanderson's Warbreaker, which was very enjoyable, but, for me, sort of pales when compared to The Stormlight Archive books.

Finished the second series in Tamora Pierce's Tortall universe: the one featuring the amazing, lovable, and fantastic Daine. My kids and my nieces and nephews can ask for any gift they want, but they'll basically just be receiving Tortall box sets for the next many years. Because: so damn good!

A Wrinkle in Time was a momentous book for my 11-year-old self, and I wish I'd let that memory rest untainted, but, alas, rereading tainted.

In non-SFF:

I just finished the audio to Smith Henderson's Fourth of July Creek. I'm from the rural, white, economically struggling west of the U.S., and this is the novel that captures that world better than any I've ever read.

Fiona Mozley's Elmet is also amazing and also set among rural whites, but in the north of England, and is a surprisingly fascinating readalong with Fourth of July Creek.

And, finally, I, along with many other fantasy fans, loved Sigrid Undset's Kristin Lavransdatter trilogy -- like, really, really loved it -- but the translation for her The Master of Hestviken quartet, which I started, was so clunky that I'm going to wait for a new translation before progressing.

[Maria]

Just finished The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin. I liked it a lot, definetly one of my favorite scifi books! China and China's history as a setting in a scifi story was a refreshing change from the usual. I also liked how the story unraveled bit by bit for the reader: with scenes from the past, from the present and from somewhere altogether different. The only thing I didn't like was the sudden "exposition" at the end, I felt it was a bit clunky and out-of-place. It's difficult to describe the book without giving away too much... even the blurb on the book contained major spoilers, wtf is up with that... If you're planning to read this book and want to be suprised, don't read the blurbs :D

I highly recommed this book! I'm planning to read the other books (The Dark Forest and Death's End) of the trilogy as well.

[John (Taloni)]

^ The other books are good, lots of hard SF along with freaky alien psychology. I will note that there is one plot point that is so hilariously, ridiculously sexist that I wondered if it were a trope of Chinese fiction. Parts of the trilogy are downright depressing. But still a good read.

[Maria]

John (Taloni) wrote: "The other books are good, lots of hard SF along with freaky alien psychology. I will note that there is one plot point that is so hilariously, ridiculously sexist that I wondered if it were a trope of Chinese fiction."

Haha, looking forward of reading this "ridiculously sexist trope of Chinese fiction" :D

And yeah, I figured rest of the trilogy would be depressing as well... Still, if it's as good as the first book, I'm cool with that. It's curious though, I've noticed that most of the modern scifi seems to be depressing, pessimistic and even apocalyptic about our future... Older classic scifi is often much more optimistic.

[Iain]

Maria wrote: "John (Taloni) wrote: "The other books are good, lots of hard SF along with freaky alien psychology. I will note that there is one plot point that is so hilariously, ridiculously sexist that I wonde..."

The trilogy goes down hill. The characters are 1-dimensional and the science gets more and more ludicrous as the books go on. (view spoiler)[ we are all completely fucked (hide spoiler)].

[John (Taloni)]

Iain wrote: "The characters are 1-dimensional"

^ spoiler...

(view spoiler)[Eventually, yah.... (hide spoiler)]

[Jessica]

I finished Jade City, which was pretty great. My review is here

(Or for the same review with pretty pictures, go https://jessicacrawfordwrites.com/201...)

I think I'm moving on to Vicious next.

[Scott]

I just finished The Black Tides of Heaven by J.Y. Yang. This was a short but absolutely fantastic read, I really loved it and am moving right on to the next one, The Red Threads of Fortune. If you want to read more from LBGTQ authors, I highly recommend this one.

[Joseph]

Finished Raven Stratagem which, wow, and started The Tower of Swallows, the penultimate book in Andrzej Sapkowski's Witcher series.

[Rob, Roberator]

I listened to The Land: Forging. Much like the first it was fun, but little else. ★★★☆☆ - (My Review)


I also finally listened to Prince of Thorns after owning it for several years. I didn't like it nearly as much as Red Sister, but well enough to continue the series - ★★★½☆ - (My Review)

[Rick]

The Feb nominations thread is stuff with suggestions so I looked though it and realized I'd never read any of the Vlad Taltos books so I read and like Jhereg and am into Yendi (there's an omnibus of the first 3). Fun, not serious stuff.

[terpkristin]

I'm not reading anything except the occasional paragraph of A Wrinkle in Time. I thought I'd get to read while I was in South America for work, but that ended up being a significantly busier trip than any of us expected. Then the rocket put the satellite into a very wrong orbit, so I came home from working 12's in South America to working 12's every day here back at home.

I miss reading. Hopefully March is better. I've got travel to Minnesota, then Florida, and then in early April to Boston....maybe I'll get to read more then. I think the last time I was on a plane (coming home from South America), I got a lot of reading/listening done with Frankenstein and Oathbringer. Alas, that was in January...

[Iain]

Just finished Dogs of War which was brilliant.

[Dara]

Been working my way through Anathem. Neal Stephenson has sneakily become one of my favorite authors. I've read 3 books by him in the past 12 months.

[Stephen]

Halfway through OLd Man's War #5 The Human Division which is super funny and enjoyable. Part of my New Years resolution was to finish all the series I started the previous years. John Gwynne's newest hit the kindle app, A Time of Dread

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

terpkristin wrote: "I'm not reading anything except the occasional paragraph of A Wrinkle in Time. I thought I'd get to read while I was in South America for work, but that ended up being a significant..."

Admittedly, I think you win the award for best reasons the dog ate your homework you didn't read.

[John (Taloni)]

^ Yeah, I realize every job has its frustrations, but terkpristin's job sounds really cool.

[John (Nevets)]

Dara wrote: "Been working my way through Anathem. Neal Stephenson has sneakily become one of my favorite authors. I've read 3 books by him in the past 12 months."

I know a lot of folks don't like that one as much, but it is my second favorite after Cryptonomicon. To me it's actiony with out being overdone, and not as laborious as the The System of the World series. I hope you find it enjoyable as well.

[John (Nevets)]

terpkristin wrote: "I've got travel to Minnesota, then Florida, and then in early April to Boston....maybe I'll get to read more then."

So, are you re-watching Fargo to make sure you have a handle on the accent while you are in MN? Funny enough, I will be in that state for the first week of March, but since I'm from WI, it is not as big a deal. But there is a good chance it will allow me to catch up on listening to Persepolis Rising, so that is a plus.

[Jessica]

I just finished Vicious by V.E. Schwab and DAMN, can that woman write! Each of her adult novels I’ve read strikes me as “compulsively readable”. I’m fairly certain she’s on her way to taking over the world, and that would be okay with me.

[Joseph]

John (Nevets) wrote: "terpkristin wrote: "I've got travel to Minnesota, then Florida, and then in early April to Boston....maybe I'll get to read more then."

So, are you re-watching Fargo to make sure you have a handle..."

Yah, sure, we really don't talk like that, don'tcha know?

[Phil]

Finished The Hidden City by David Eddings. This is the third book of the second Sparhawk trilogy. Of this books 500+ pages, the last 100 were a lot of fun but the first 400 crossed the border into tedium. It was never-ending traveling and witty banter of a dozen or so heroes who are indistinguishable from one another. They are all super competent and handsome (or beautiful) and royal and incredible fighters and it all gets to be a little much after a while.
This is my 20th Eddings' book in about 35 years and although I've loved some of them, particularly The Belgariad, I'm kind of glad I'm done with them.

Starting An Unkindness of Ghosts.

[Dara]

John (Nevets) wrote: "I know a lot of folks don't like that one as much, but it is my second favorite after Cryptonomicon. To me it's actiony with out being overdone, and not as laborious as the The System of the World series. I hope you find it enjoyable as well."

I'm loving Anathem! I'm about halfway through and I look forward to picking it up and reading it every day. It's thoroughly engrossing and a solid #2 behind Seveneves for me so far.

[AndrewP]

Finally finished Oathbringer :) Now on to a few smaller books to catch up with my reading goals.