The Sword and Laser discussion
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What Else Are You Reading?
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What Else Are You Reading - July 2018
Wait, the sequel's out? I mean, yes, I had quibbles with the book but I am definitely down for the sequel. *heads off to look for it*
Finished with We (difficult to read) and now continuing the OMW series with The Human Division.Also read two other Hugo noms: Small Changes Over Long Periods of Time (interesting POV - gay trans man - in a typical paranormal romance story) and Children of Thorns, Children of Water (I don't think it serves as a stand alone story)
I've been re-reading A Discovery of Witches since the TV show should be out soonish, but I'll be putting it aside today to start European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman which I pre-ordered (and I never pre-order) because I loved the first one.
Michele wrote: "I've been re-reading A Discovery of Witches since the TV show should be out soonish, but I'll be putting it aside today to start European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman which I pre-ordered (and I never pre-order) because I loved the first one."It was my first ever pre-order too :-)
Finished Sign of the Labrys (it was at best a short novel, if not a longish novella) and decided to go back to Hugo reading with And Then There Were N-One by Sarah Pinsker.
Just finished The Shadow of What Was Lost. It is a decent fantasy story with a lot of potential. I enjoyed it and am looking forward to reading the sequel.
Bored with The Human Division, I decided to switch a while to Blackfish City. I seem to populate my reading list with cities nowadays. S&L tally:
Sword: 27
Laser: 20
A bumper catch-up post. Have been on holiday, with intermittent access to WiFi.Finished Artemis in an airport hotel near London Gatwick. I kinda wish I hadn't read so many reviews of this before reading it for myself. As it was, I could see many of the issues that other readers had experienced as I went, but I think that I would have been a lot more forgiving if I had gone into the read without any preconceptions. I still mostly enjoyed it. It's a heist story! On the moon!
Started and finished All Systems Red, mostly at the poolside of our hotel in Tobago. Loved it. Great novella. Left me wanting to explore further in that universe.
And finally, for now, started on The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal. Her regency-period books don't really grab me, so I'm happy to try something in a slightly different genre.
Finished the D.F. Jones Colossus trilogy. If you can take the 60s sexual attitudes and old computer stuff then I can recommend ColossusI wonder if Rob Reid was inspired by Colossus for his novel After On: A Novel of Silicon Valley
The second two books The Fall of ColossusColossus and the Crab were written (starting) 8 years later and do quite a lot of retcons.
I recently finished reading the last of the Hugo award nominees! (2018 novel, to be more specific). My personal ranking:1. Raven Stratagem *****
2. The Stone Sky ****
3. New York 2140 ****
4. The Collapsing Empire ****
5. Provenance ***
A pretty good list. Based on its Nebula win, and the fact that people really seem to like it, I think The Stone Sky will probably win.
Your thoughts?
Geoff wrote: "I recently finished reading the last of the Hugo award nominees! (2018 novel, to be more specific). My personal ranking:1. Raven Stratagem *****
2. The Stone Sky *..."
Six Wakes?
Myself, I'd put Provenance higher, but it's a very tight race.
I'm currently at about the half way point in Lynn Flewelling's Tamír Trilogy which so far has been a good sad if that makes any sense at all. I think once I finish out the trilogy I'm going to tackle Head On.
And I finished And Then There Were N-One (which was fun) and am starting Home by Nnedi Okorafor, which should be the last of this year's Hugo novella nominees.
On impulse I grabbed The Red Line at the library yesterday. Seems like a throwback WWIII story with Russia as the villain, as it should be.
I finished Circe last week and enjoyed it much more than anticipated. The plot was meandering, but I thought the writing was absolutely gorgeous. I also just finished Grey Sister, a fairly solid sequel to Red Sister, albeit somewhat less compelling. The action got bogged down at a certain point, and I actually found myself skimming ahead, which I rarely do. Starting Jade City next!
I wrote: "...Started and finished All Systems Red. Loved it. Great novella. Left me wanting to explore further in that universe."... And just went to Amazon to take care of that, and ... Is it just me, or is the second volume rather overpriced for a Kindle novella? I'll stick it on a watch list and wait for a price drop instead!
Colin wrote: "I wrote: "...Started and finished All Systems Red. Loved it. Great novella. Left me wanting to explore further in that universe."... And just went to Amazon to take care of that, and ... Is it ju..."
IKR?! Binti series books are all 3.39. JY Yang's Tensorate series are also in that price range. However, other novella series like Murderbot and Seanan Maguire's Wayward Children are mostly above 9 bucks. What is going on, Tor.com?
It is very hard for people with no access to libraries like me and who could only rely on discounts.
I finished Blackfish City. Really liked the world and how the author tied everything together. If you like animals, you'll like this one. There's an orcamancer! I will keep Sam J. Miller in my radar. Maybe S&L should invite him as a guest :DSpeaking of S&L, I plan to start The Salt Roads tomorrow.
S&L tally:
Sword: 27
Laser: 21
Yeah, the Murderbot series is overpriced for novellas. It will go on special and I'll read the second and third ones when that happens.
Joseph wrote: "Geoff wrote: "I recently finished reading the last of the Hugo award nominees!"Six Wakes?
Myself, I'd put Provenance higher, but it's a very tight race.
Oops! Yeah, I did read Six Wakes.. it was great! I say #2 above The Stone Sky.
I may have unfairly rated Provenance a little low, because Ancillary Justice was _so_ good, but it's been awhile since I read it so it's hard to remember exactly. It certainly was worth reading!
And, again speaking of Hugos, I finished Home, the last of the nominated novellas. Again, a pretty fine crop all around.Next up, Jon Sprunk's Shadow's Son, which looks to be some good, old-fashioned fantasy adventure fiction.
Just finished Scalzi's book Lock In. It's a very well done look at a new type of disability: fully functioning brains trapped in totally paralyzed bodies, and how this particular handicapped community deals with the outside world.Great characterization from the getgo, and humor bits that were so laugh out loud funny that I wound up reading them to my wife. The humor didn't detract from the murder mystery or the intricate plot. Characters do a slow reveal over the course of the book in ways that make the stakes even higher. Lock In is almost a primer in how to write a good book.
For me this was a raving, shout from rooftops 5 stars until the end, which took it down to a 4+. And the end wasn't bad, had a number of great parts and multiple layers of reveals that worked well. It's just that (view spoiler)
Anyhoo, highly recommended. This is Scalzi's second best book IMO, after Redshirts.
I am currently reading Prince of Thorns. Loving it so far.
John - read Head On if you liked Lock In that much; it's just as good, possibly better. There's also a short novelette that gives some 'background' on the setting https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...Me: I read Provenance and don't get all the "It's OK, but it's no AJ" comments. I thought it was excellent, expanding the universe past the Radch point of view and giving us a fun, involving story in the process.
^Yeah, I've got Head On tagged. Looks good.For some reason I had mentally tagged Lock In as lesser Scalzi, but that is definitely not the case. Kinda hoping this one gets the movie treatment sometime.
I remember Lock In being optioned as soon as it came out, but then nothing happened. I guess the rights reverted at some time, and I don’t believe anyone else has gone after them. The interesting question would be what gender would they cast Chris as, I can see pros and cons of either.
^Was there any question of gender? I did notice Scalzi was pulling a "Starship Troopers" bit where the MC's ethnicity isn't addressed specifically until near the end of the book. Didn't notice a similar thing for gender though.
John (Taloni) wrote: "Just finished Scalzi's book Lock In. It's a very well done look at a new type of disability: fully functioning brains trapped in totally paralyzed bodies, and how this particular ha..."Wow. For me this was a blazing garbage fire of a book, from its horrible worldbuilding to its stupid plot to its consistently missed opportunities.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
John (Taloni) wrote: "^Was there any question of gender? I did notice Scalzi was pulling a "Starship Troopers" bit where the MC's ethnicity isn't addressed specifically until near the end of the book. Didn't notice a si..."
No gender is given is for Chris, for reasons that are utterly unfathomable. See my rant linked above.
John (Taloni) wrote: "^Was there any question of gender? I did notice Scalzi was pulling a "Starship Troopers" bit where the MC's ethnicity isn't addressed specifically until near the end of the book. Didn't notice a si..."There were two different Audible editions released in order to play on this ambiguity. One male and one female narrator.
Trike, that was hilarious! Also, I may be stealing "blazing garbage fire of a book" at some point. I think I enjoyed your review almost as much as I enjoyed the book itself.Anyhoo, I grant you every one of those coincidences. The only one that really bugged me was the roommate. It read like a standard "police procedural" with its own tropes so I was okay with letting those seeming coincidences go. Some of them appear to me to be less egregious than they were to you, as for instance the dad is a business big shot so other business big shots would indeed come to him. The political run also makes him a magnet for business types.
Anyhoo, I hope you enjoyed hating on that book...loved the review!
John (Taloni) wrote: "Trike, that was hilarious! Also, I may be stealing "blazing garbage fire of a book" at some point. I think I enjoyed your review almost as much as I enjoyed the book itself.Anyhoo, I grant you ev..."
Yeah, it’s like Waterworld. I bitched about that movie so much that I feel like I got my money’s worth.
I liked Lock In as a character piece. I thought the mystery aspect was seriously lacking.I decided to re-read The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter before starting #2. It was just as much fun the second time. So I've just begun European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman and I can tell I'm going to blast through this one, too.
^^ Perhaps I am evil because for books that come from a major publisher, I will always try to read the library copy. Indies and selfpub are a different story, they can have my money and gladly.Anyhoo I asked LA Public Library to add this one and they did. Well, I joined a group of people asking - when it was bought I was 15th in line. Looking forward to reading it. Eventually!
Finally caught up on Mortal Engines. (It didn't take long, I was just late starting.)Have started reading The Masked City. Can't quite believe it's been more than a year since we read The Invisible Library ...
I’m reading Incineration by Robert Edward. It’s the third book in his mage war trilogy. The first was amazing, and I can’t wait to see how it all ends.
Finished Four Roads Cross by Max Gladstone. I'm glad it's over. My review.Now reading an easier book, Memories of Ice.
I finished Mortal Engines on my Kindle on Monday. It was just okay for me. It was hard to suspend my disbelief that cities can actually move around. I may check out the movie when it comes out but I don't think I will continue the series.This morning, I finished listening to All These Worlds. Now I'm a little sad that the Bobiverse series has come to an end. It was a fun.
It was tough to choose what to read next as there have been several interesting releases this past month but I'm going with European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman. I'll save my Audible selection until I find out what next month's book club pick is.
Finished with The Salt Roads - I quite liked it. Interesting voice. Will listen to the relevant spoilery episode of S&L now.Also finished with the last novelette for the Hugo noms. Wind Will Rove - liked the premise but dang, it was slow.
Starting Broken Angels. I wonder if this is as good as Altered Carbon :)
S&L tally
Sword 28
Laser 21
One more to 50!
I too am curious if Broken Angels is a good sequel to Altered Carbon! Gonna be following your thoughts on that, Silvana--I think we have similar sci-fi tastes.I think since last time, I've finished
The Hate U Give which was not SFF but was very well done. Can't wait for the movie, the cast looks amazing.
Raven Stratagem was fun--it went deeper into the world than Ninefox, so I could finally catch up. But it had less Jedao, which is a shame. I have Revenant Gun in my possession, can't wait to finish this really inventive series.
Alif the Unseen was really cool. I hated all the main characters and it was still a ton of fun! A very different UF.
Lemmed Sea of Rust. It did not work for me. Between infodump flashbacks and nothing that grabbed me, i was at least as at sea as the brainsick robots.
An Ember in the Ashes was an enjoyable YA. Well told, and it made good use of the tried and true staples. I don't think I'll continue the series, but I really liked listening to the audiobook.
Now reading Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach which is...different. Hoping to finish tonight. Not sure what I think of it right now.
Silvana wrote: "Also finished with the last novelette for the Hugo noms. Wind Will Rove - liked the premise but dang, it was slow."I was absolutely bored silly by that story. Hated it.
I liked Broken Angels, but it's a very different book than Altered Carbon, aside from the fact that Takeshi Kovacs is the narrator.
The Kovacs character in Broken Angels is actually closer to the one portrayed in the Netflix series then the one from the AC book in my opinion. Either way the story type is significantly different between the two. Much more an adventure/ mercenarie story then a detective story.
I too am “reading” the audio book of An Ember in the Ashes. Not bad so far (I like the mysterious augurs and the Masks) although I must confess I’m enjoying the chapters with the male narrator and POV much more than the female ones. Not sure how much that’s the voice and how much the character.Also reading the latest from Naomi Novik, Spinning Silver and the second Southern Reach book, Authority.
Ruth wrote: "I too am “reading” the audio book of An Ember in the Ashes. Not bad so far (I like the mysterious augurs and the Masks) although I must confess I’m enjoying the chapters with the ma..."Agreed, Ruth, Elias' parts were better. I think Lya (sp?) gets better after the beginning, but the shaky, breathy voice got old.
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The Sword and Laser
Books mentioned in this topic
Intervention (other topics)Mortal Engines (other topics)
Roverandom (other topics)
The Astonishing Color of After (other topics)
The Astonishing Color of After (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Douglas Niles (other topics)Catherine Storr (other topics)
Marina J. Lostetter (other topics)
Jacqueline Carey (other topics)
Naomi Novik (other topics)
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I've been waiting for this since finishing the S&L read of The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter, I know not everyone got along with it, but I loved it and I'm really looking forward to seeing what happens next to Mary and the rest of the 'Club'.