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What Else Are You Reading?
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What Else Are You Reading - October 2018
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I'm on an Indie kick right now. Read Rob Kroese's The Dream of the Iron Dragon which has space travelers from the 23rd century marooned in 9th century Scandinavia. The history is exceptionally well researched. Setup is a bit "Battlestar Galactica" since humanity is near extinction and being hunted etc etc. Futuristic knowledge helps but only so much, and the marooned people have to find a way back to their spaceship to deliver a weapon that will save humanity. Seems their pursuit is not so lost as it appeared though, so there is enemy on the ground as well.
The idea of building a spaceship with 9th century Norsemen is an intriguing one. The story comes to a relative end at the conclusion of the first book, but there are at least three books, perhaps four, before the entire story concludes. I'll turn up for those as well.
Some of the space travel sections are a little off, as hard SF isn't really Rob's strong suit. In an otherwise great orbital chase sequence, a character experiences one gravity after a burn during which they are in orbit. Er, if you're orbiting it's zero g. Other sections mention time dilation being a concern, which it isn't unless you are getting really close to the speed of light, which they aren't. Probably only a small fraction of people reading the book would even notice these, and it is an otherwise enjoyable time travel romp.
I've been having a bit of reading ennui and my solution has been to read some of my own damn books! So I was zipping through the Kindle books I've purchased whimsically when they were deals and promptly forgot about, and decided to try Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones. It's a werewolf coming of age story and is so much fun.
Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "decided to try Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones. It's a werewolf coming of age story and is so much fun. "You’re the second person to mention that book this week. Must be something in the air... like Halloween, oohhh. 👻 🐺 🎃 🦇 🧛♀️
Started Zeroes for next month. I must say, I'm enjoying it a lot. Chuck Wendig is a fun writer and I think I might be enjoying it even more since I just finished Damn Fine Story: Mastering the Tools of a Powerful Narrative.
I started We Are Where the Nightmares Go and Other Stories for my spooky halloween read and I absolutely love it. Here's why - Story #2 (of the titles sake) features a friendly nightmare-clown named Sigfreid with 2 rows of teeth who rips out his own eyes in order to pay the 'admission' to a hedge maze. Sold
Indie kick continues with M.A. Rothman's Primordial Threat. It's a hard SF book about Earth and the solar system threatened by something left over from the formation of the universe: A solar-mass sized black hole. (Not really a spoiler since this is shown in the blurb.)The science is pretty well handled except for obvious handwaving sections, but then, no one complains at Alastair Reynolds for using zero-point energy which may as well be fantasy.
As an Indie book the novel isn't subject to the usual series of editors. Well, I'm sure Rothman had the book edited but it's not the usual tradpub crowd and their expectations. The book takes risks plot-wise that a tradpub book wouldn't. This means some rough spots in plotting, but also some big payoffs.
The book opens up with a CalTech sequence that feels like a mashup of the start of Niven's Footfall and Bear's Galactic Center novels. Sometimes I ask myself if the author read what I think they're referencing. Here I don't have to wonder. There is a stack of promo reviews from well known authors, and Niven and Bear are in the first three. The rest read like a Who's Who of currently popular SF authors. Quite an impressive list.
Rothman broke into writing making Epic Fantasy novels for his kids. This is his first SF book. He met many of the above while promoting his books and they received his work well.
Overall it's an SFF work that delivers what it promises. The best part is the science. Characterization is a bit lacking. Two characters are introduced early, one a curmudgeon missing his dead wife and lonely, the other a hard charging career woman who feels she's lost something by not having a family. Gosh, think they might get together by the end of the book? It's plotting by sledgehammer, something which might have been smoothed in a tradpub book, but would lose the freshness if it did.
There's also a bit too much genius ex machina saving the day, but why not. Along the way we romp with space elevators, moon colonies, and a hilariously unusual minor character as hero. As for the genius in question, he got a Nobel prize at 19. I think I'd sooner believe in two trunked elephant aliens than the Nobel committee moving that fast!
All in all a good, fun book, well worth the whopping 4 bucks. About 450 pages and a quick read.
Last night I finished A Closed and Common Orbit. Such a lovely read! Not much action or drama, but some excellent characterization. I liked that it filled out her universe, especially with future cultural references, including pop culture. I'm hoping to start on the next novel soon.
Finished The Empire of Ashes which was exhilarating - probably the longest battle scenes I ever read with hundreds of dragons, full carnage on land, sea and air. It was crazy. Also, I need to read more steampunk/espionage novels. Suggestions? Lemmed Blindsight since I could not handle the convoluted mess in it.
Starting my third Halloween read The Haunting of Hill House, finally. Hoping this will be as as good as We Have Always Lived in the Castle.
Finished 3 of JY Yang's Tensorate novellas back to back. Excellent worldbuilding and very interesting gender constructs. The plots could have been a bit more refined, though.
Just finished Gilded Cage by Vic James. Imagine the wizards overthrew King Charles the First and later forced the muggles to serve as slaves for 10 years.
Set in modern day Britain ruled by an aristocracy of people with inherited magical abilities. It is the first book in a trilogy
The world-building is good but it feels to much like an installment rather than a stand-alone novel
Robert wrote: "Last night I finished A Closed and Common Orbit. Such a lovely read! Not much action or drama, but some excellent characterization. I liked that it filled out her universe, especial..."Loved it.
Finished Super Powereds: Year 4 by Drew Hayes last night. I don't think I've ever enjoyed or been so obsessed with a book series in my life as much as I did this one. The last book is 61 hrs on audible yet I finished it under a week. Granted I listen at 1.5 speed. I did the entire 150 hrs of the series in 3 weeks. I'm obviously going to do Corpies by Drew Hayes next as its a stand alone spinoff book set in the same universe featuring a minor side character from the main series.
I cannot recommend this series highly enough. Its like Harry Potter in concept only with superheroes in training at superhero school. You can tell Hayes has a deep love of comic books as he hits many of the tropes from comic books but handles them in a more real world way.
Indie kick continues! This time with a "Maggie for Hire" Halloween short, The Ghost and Ms. MacKay. Thought I had read all of the Maggie books, but this short managed to escape me until Kate promoted it for Halloween. Squee! Unread Maggie, my preciousssss...Usually Maggie Mackay books are vamp-staking, ghoul-hunting, dimension walking fun. I've bought all ten as they came out. This one is a bit different. It's an endearing tale of family connections that takes a twist from supernatural-being hunting about 2/3 of the way through. And it uses Rime of the Ancient Mariner as a riddle. All packed into about 40 pages of fast paced entertainment.
Along the way there's the usual fun with Maggie's mom, hosting a "crossover" party for ghosts on Halloween, and the pixie Pipistrelle cooking and decorating up a storm. Killian the Elf gets drunk on Witches Brew with unexpected side effects.
Short, fast paced, chock full of fun and surprises.
And now back to the hard SF / space opera Indie run...
I finished reading Red Prophet (Book #2 of The Tales of Alvin Maker) by Orson Scott Card and How to Write Best Selling Fiction by Dean Koontz. I am reading Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow. I plan to read The Autumn Republic (Book #3 of Powder Mage Trilogy) by Brian McClellan next.
Mod
I also read Ms. Marvel, Vol. 8: Mecca which was enjoyable as well - ★★★½☆ - (My Review)
Just finished The Creeping Shadow. It was a great read! I cannot recommend this series enough! I am starting Wrath of Empire.
@Silvana : Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear is some recent steampunk I have loved. May want to try it if you haven't already.
Had to shelve Dracula for the moment. My library hold on Firefight came in. It's looking to be a quick read. I'm having trouble putting it down. ;)
Finished Jade City (I'm very behind). I thought it was great and am looking forward to the next one. Still need to get to Slan and Lovecraft Country. That being said I'm probably starting Cloud Atlas because I'm doing a mini book club with a friend where instead of reading the same book, we read a book recommended by the other person (every 2 months). Since I already owned CA and it was a former S&L pick I had no objections. She is reading The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures which I read in college and is fantastic. It also happened to be the case that this was on her TBR as well so round one of picks were very convenient.
ATalkingDogMovie wrote: "That being said I'm probably starting Cloud Atlas because I'm doing a mini book club with a friend where instead of reading the same book, we read a book recommended by the other person (every 2 months).."If you like Cloud Atlas, it has some level of connection to his other works, since he sees them all as part of one übernovel. You can read more about that in this article on the Bone Clocks if you're interested. (I think it's amazing!)
Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "ATalkingDogMovie wrote: "That being said I'm probably starting Cloud Atlas because I'm doing a mini book club with a friend where instead of reading the same book, we read a book recommended by the..."Thanks I'll check it out!
I finished Zeroes by Chuck Wendig. I really loved it (which probably means the group will hate it). My review.Now diving into The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal.
Rik wrote: "Finished Super Powereds: Year 4 by Drew Hayes last night. I don't think I've ever enjoyed or been so obsessed with a book series in my life as much as I did this one. The last book ..."Oh man, I think I started Super Powereds when it was in Year 2, got me hooked on web serials. Really looking forward to what he ends up doing with the Blades and Barriers book.
Have you tried out his Spells, Swords, & Stealth series, starting with NPCs? Lots of fun.
ATalkingDogMovie wrote: "Finished Jade City (I'm very behind)."Stupid squirrels.
Finished with The Haunting of Hill House which is not scary but more psychological. I guess that's typical Jackson. Also read A Human Stain - a horror novelette (free!) and this one is scary and downright disturbing.
My last horror book this month, a palate cleanser if you will since it's middle grade: The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray.
Udayan wrote: "@Silvana : Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear is some recent steampunk I have loved. May want to try it if you haven't already."
Ah yes, it has been in my maybe-list for a while. Thanks for the rec.
Trike wrote: "ATalkingDogMovie wrote: "Finished Jade City (I'm very behind)."Stupid squirrels."
They aren't going to chase themselves *sigh*
Also besides Cloud Atlas I am also starting Nobody Cares because it arrived in the mail yesterday and I wanted to a non-SFF in currently reading as well. She was a favorite of mine when I used to follow a lot of humor accounts on Twitter and after hearing her on a recent pod I made sure to get a copy of her book. Very open and honest collection of essays about anxiety, failures, growth, etc., and I love her writing style.
Ending the month with The Labyrinth Index by Charles Stross, the latest Laundry Files book which arrived on my Kindle two nights ago.
I'm a few chapters in to this volume of Sword Art online. TekLab because why not? And am debating whether to start my final readthrough of The Wheel of Time, or try to chase down some of the Goodreads Choice nominees.
Was kind of down at the end of October so reread the core of the Lensman series, I really wish Netflix would do this... with some minor reworking this would be amazing...Listened to Body of Evidence and have started Zeroes which you cannot find using a goodreads search... grumble...
Protip: It's stylized with 0 (zero) for the o (oh) when you search for it, but it's still displayed with the latter letter. Zeroes
Julie (RadiantPages) wrote: "Protip: It's stylized with 0 (zero) for the o (oh) when you search for it, but it's still displayed with the latter letter. Zeroes"That is just f’d up. A crime against type setting.
What’s really annoying is they give the other spellings. Pages of zero but no zer0es.
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The Sword and Laser
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Charles Stross (other topics)Chuck Wendig (other topics)
Mary Robinette Kowal (other topics)
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Before that, I read The Blood Mirror by Brent Weeks. I liked it, but I don't have very much to say about it... Waiting for the conclusion of the series!
Before THAT, I read The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin, and I still find myself thinking about it a lot. I think it's one of those books that will stay with me for a long time.