The Sword and Laser discussion
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What Else Are You Reading?
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What Else Are You Reading - March 2019
Jonathan wrote: "Has anyone read a The City of Brass. If so what are your thoughts?"I loved it. I'm not much of a review writer and this is the most useful bit of what I had to say in my review: "Humans, and Djinn, other mystical creatures, and secrets...."
Finished with When Gravity Fails (interesting world, weak ending) and Turtle Recall: The Discworld Companion . . . So Far (not too spoilery, but it's better read as an encyclopedia, not front to back).Trying to cram some novelettes to fill in the empty slots in my Hugo ballot. I am open for recommendations at this point ;p
I finished reading Origin by Dan Brown and Camino Island by John Grisham. I am reading Self-Publishing Boot Camp Guide for Authors, 4th Edition by Carla King. I plan to read The Broken Eye by Brent Weeks next.
The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams: Doing an online read-along for this; first time I've read it.The Demons at Rainbow Bridge, The Run to Chaos Keep, and The Ninety Trillion Fausts by Jack L. Chalker: A reread of an older SF trilogy
Los Nefilim & Where Oblivion Lives by T. Frohock: Rereading the original stories and then reading the newest book. Great historical fantasy set in pre-Civil War Barcelona
Autonomous by Annalee Newitz: Read for a RL book club. Very interesting SF
Jade City by Fonda Lee: Finally got around to reading this one (I read it for my RL book club, but I know Sword & Laser read it last August, which I wasn't able to do at the time).
Silvana wrote: "Trying to cram some novelettes to fill in the empty slots in my Hugo ballot. I am open for recommendations at this point ;p"FWIW I really enjoyed Gail Carriger's Romancing the Werewolf. Steampunk, set in her Parasol Protectorate universe. Features Channing, one of the London pack under Biffy. There's a great and subtle plot point where the outcome of the romance depends on situation where a wolf's reaction is different than a human's.
A'course there's Murderbot as well. I mean, Murderbot is highly likely to win...but it would be nice to see Gail nominated.
The Murderbot stories are novellas, not novelettes, though--I think the Hugo defines novelettes as 7500-17500 words.
Oh...crap. I read that as novellas.
No worries, I found at least one I liked enough to be added. Not going to fill in all the slots, but I am happy with my final list.Now rereading Wolf Moon to prepare for the final book, which is due in a few days: Moon Rising.
Silvana wrote: "Finished with When Gravity Fails (interesting world, weak ending) and Turtle Recall: The Discworld Companion . . . So Far (not too spoilery, but it's better read as an..."what is your Hugo ballot exactly?
Chris wrote: "what is your Hugo ballot exactly?"Did you refer to the whole list of what I have nominated for the Hugo awards? Or just the ones in the best novelette category?
I want to get through a few classics this year that I’ve never read, namely Dune, Ringworld and Foundation. I’m about 50 pages from the end of Foundation and it’s a bit of a dud.
Also very slow going in Red Seas Under Red Skies. I quite enjoyed The Lies of Locke Lamora but this second book seems overlong for the story it’s telling. Not sure if I’ll bother with the third.
Also very slow going in Red Seas Under Red Skies. I quite enjoyed The Lies of Locke Lamora but this second book seems overlong for the story it’s telling. Not sure if I’ll bother with the third.
Finished up Kate Danley's Miss Spell's Hotel. This is an offshot of her Maggie for Hire series, featuring a witch running a hotel in The Other Side, the "wedge" dimension between Earth and the truly nasty Dark Dimension. Magic works in The Other Side and various magical beings exist that aren't too dangerous to humans, with the Big Bads relegated to the Dark Dimension by World Walkers that protect Earth and humanity.The setup is fairly decent. A lot is played for humor, like the starting bit with a Goblin infestation and actual Death as exterminator, but there is a plot as well. The MC has her magic taken away by her Coven for killing a guest - a vampire - that was attacking her, but she doesn't have enough evidence to prove her innocence.
It's got a bit of a slow start and I wondered if I would take to this particular adaptation. It gets better at about the 1/3 mark and by the end I was raving for more. The book is about novella length so I think Kate is testing the waters.
One major character from Maggie for Hire shows up, as does a relative of one of that series' MCs. There's plenty of development of the geography and culture of The Other Side that was mentioned in passing in the Maggie books.
The plot starts with small problems - how to keep a magical hotel running when the witch in charge has no magic - and slowly develops into a plot that threatens Earth as well as The Other Side. Nicely done. I'm game for more of these.
Malcolm wrote: "I want to get through a few classics this year that I’ve never read, namely Dune, Ringworld and Foundation. I’m about 50 pages from the end of Foundation and it’s a bit of a dud.”Classic SF often is. Asimov was not the world’s greatest stylist, but he did have cool ideas. Of the three, Foundation is probably the weakest. Ringworld is great fun. The other two Foundation books are better.
Just finished listening to The Revolution Business ★★★★☆ which just keeps going further over the top. Great fun and have jumped into the sixth book of the series The Trade of Queens.Finished Cause of Death which is a serviceable murder mystery ★★★☆☆..
Reading in dead tree format Shadow Captain which is heavy going at the start.
Not sci-fi or fantasy, but if you love music and behind the scenes of a band (even a fake one) Daisy Jones & The Six was absolutely fantastic!
Starting my reread of Chronicles of the Black Company. I wonder whether I'll still like it the second time.
Reading Empire of Sand, a fantasy book based on the Mughal Empire. Which should make a nice change from the usual medieval Europe setting. So far it’s reminding me a bit of something like The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms.
I just finished The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson, historical fantasy around the Alhambra. A little bit of magic, a little bit of Arabic fantastical creatures, a journey and a quest.
I just finished up Revenant Gun, the last in the Trilogy that started with Ninefox Gambit. I've really enjoyed the whole series - even if there is a distinct difference in style between the first and following volumes. Will definitely look out for more from Yoon Ha Lee.Next up for me are Broken Homes, another in the Rivers of London series, and (in audio) The Player of Games - a re-read about 25 years after the first time. Will be interesting to see if any of it comes back to me.
Just finishing up listening to The Complete Stories of J.G. Ballard by (unsurprisingly) J.G. BallardAt 60+ hours, it has felt like a bit of a slog sometimes but it hasn't put me off Ballard and has given depth to my understanding of the novels of his that I've already read.
Finished The Magician's Land. I loved it and this series. My review.Now I'm reading Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers Who Helped Win World War II.
TRP wrote: "Just finishing up listening to The Complete Stories of J.G. Ballard by (unsurprisingly) J.G. BallardAt 60+ hours, it has felt like a bit of a slog sometimes but it..."
Wow, did you go back to back stories? When I did that with Flannery O'Conner I really started to notice tropes and themes and the humor... anything you noticed with Ballard?
Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "I just finished The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson, historical fantasy around the Alhambra. A little bit of magic, a little bit of Arabic fantastical creatures, a journey and a quest."Oh, I loved that one.
My hold for The Priory of the Orange Tree came in and I am so excited.
Trike wrote: "Bill wrote: "Whew -- after a month I finally finished Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James. Anybody else reading this? I notice it got kicked in the first round of...I just got my copy from the library this afternoon"
...and my cataracts have gotten so bad I literally can’t see the print on the page.
I’m going to try using an extra-warm light and two magnifying glasses, maybe that will work. If not, the wait for the audiobook is 28 weeks (!!).
Trike - Sorry about your eyes! Any plans to get your cataracts removed?
Dara wrote: "Trike - Sorry about your eyes! Any plans to get your cataracts removed?"Thanks. Yes, my first surgery is scheduled for May 19. I’m on the cancellation list, so I’m hoping it will happen sooner. It’s gotten so bad that I have to zoom in to a ridiculous degree on my iPad. Books are missing a trick by not having this feature.
Trike wrote: "Thanks. Yes, my first surgery is scheduled for May 19. I’m on the cancellation list, so I’m hoping it will happen sooner. It’s gotten so bad that I have to zoom in to a ridiculous degree on my iPad. Books are missing a trick by not having this feature."I'll cross my fingers that someone cancels and you get in. I feel like you're too young to have cataracts.
This is why iPads, Kindles, and audiobooks are great. They make reading accessible.
Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "TRP wrote: "Just finishing up listening to The Complete Stories of J.G. Ballard by (unsurprisingly) J.G. BallardAt 60+ hours, it has felt like a bit of a slog some..."
From what I can see many of the tropes and themes seem to lead to or from tropes and themes in his novels.
Here are a few tropes.
Lots of mysterious women (real or in visions) leading men astray.
A depopulated world.
People losing increasing amounts of time by blacking out.
People living in seaside tourist areas and taking over places.
People inhabiting the desolate areas around a derelict or polluted Cape Cape Canaveral after the Space Race has been abandoned.
Currently reading "Kill The Queen" (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...)really like the world building and pacing.
Trike wrote: Thanks. Yes, my first surgery is scheduled for May 19. I’m on the cancellation list, so I’m hoping it will hap..."
Get well soon!
John (Taloni) wrote: "^^ For US residents, living anywhere in a state usually allows you to get a library card for a big city library in that state. You only need one in order to get a big Overdrive selection.I live i..."
Thanks for the prompt to sign up for an LA county library card. Really happy about the big selection of audiobooks they have on Overdrive...
Because having two books in progress just wasn't enough, I've also started reading Cory Doctorow's new release - Radicalized. It's a collection of 4 new novellas into one volume. The first one, at least, covers topics that will be familiar to readers of his non-fiction output - extrapolating an all too believable, just around the corner, future from current technological and economic trends.
Finished listening to Age of Assassins. Love this series! started listening to Theft of Swords for the 2nd time.
Finished up both "Lady Astronaut" books, The Calculating Stars and The Fated Sky plus all the shorts. I've already discussed at length in the TCS folder so won't recap here, but...they're great! If you haven't already, go read them! *waves both hands at books* Go read them!Also completed Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I've never understood the appeal of this series. Stock characters, stock English boarding school situation, stock fairy tale "discovered prince" situation, even some of the tropes of portal fiction. I noticed the "ending action starting" section and looked up, yep, right at the 80% mark so by the numbers throughout.
Of course I'm aware of the popularity of the series and the vast amounts of money Rowling earned writing it. More power to her, but I found the book just meh. I am glad Rowling inspired so many to read, but my emotions stop at the abstract level. Perhaps the most fun of the book for me was the description of Uncle Dursley selecting "his most boring tie" but after that the wordplay went downhill as well.
I'm reading "The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman.I finished the volume 1 and now on the volume 2. Got the books on the Libby( overdrive) public library.
Mod
For old farts like us ;-) the tropes are old and we've been there before (and seen it done way better), but for the age group it was aimed at, this was a gateway book into fantasy and everything was new and shiny ;-)
My gateway book was reading LOTR in the 70s. Before that I was just a sci-fi nerd.
Philosopher's Stone is aimed way younger than the rest of the series. It is a good book, but it isn't a great fantasy story.
Tassie Dave wrote: "John (Taloni) wrote: "Also completed Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I've never understood the appeal of this series. Stock characters, stock English boarding school situation, stock fairy t..."The tropes are old for sure, but I'm one of those people who read Harry Potter and THEN read Earthsea and The Dark is Rising... Which one do you think seemed fresh?
Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "Tassie Dave wrote: "John (Taloni) wrote: "Also completed Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I've never understood the appeal of this series. Stock characters, stock English boarding school situ..."I read Earthsea a decade+ after Harry Potter, and it's most definitely a fresher and more interesting take.
(As is Vita Nostra, which everyone should drop whatever they're doing right now and go read. No, I don't care if you're driving a car or flying a plane. Go read it.)
Tassie Dave wrote: "John (Taloni) wrote: "Also completed Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I've never understood the appeal of this series. Stock characters, stock English boarding school situation, stock fairy tale "discovered prince" situation, even some of the tropes of portal fiction."For old farts like us ;-) the tropes are old and we've been there before (and seen it done way better), but for the age group it was aimed at, this was a gateway book into fantasy and everything was new and shiny ..."
I’d high five you guys but my arthritis is acting up.
So, I'm with Taloni and others here. I think had I read this at the target age or close to it, I'd have loved it. I read LotR when I was 15 and re-read it several times over the next decade, so I get that reaction to a book. But the book is trope-ish on both plot and character and I can't come to it fresh, both because I'm much older than the target and also because I've seen several of the movies, etc. I imagine it would be very very different if I'd made up the world in my head first, etc. That said, I was expecting something less well written. Yeah, I can pick it apart but for a book that's following a formula, it's still competently done. I know I'm being manipulated to dislike the Dursleys and their over the top treatment of Harry but... I really DID dislike them.
I'll not continue but I'm glad I finally at least read this one so I could see what the fuss was about all those years ago.
Just finished listening to The Trade of Queens. Wow did that get dark at the end. I am really glad there is a sequel to this one (although now I will have to wait for extended periods between my fixes). It starts in book 1 with Miriam Bextein finding out that she is a "princess" from a world which you get to via "magic". And quickly turns into a twisted realpolitik fight for survival in the post 9/11 landscape. Not sure how Charles Stross manages to keep raising the stakes but he does. This has now become an addiction.
Brendan wrote: "As is Vita Nostra, which everyone should drop whatever they're doing right now and go read...."Never heard of it - and no link provided, but I searched. Amazon.co.uk currently says "Not available for purchase" in any form. What goes on?
Finished with Moon Rising. What. A. Ride. Everyone should read this trilogy.Starting Ms. Marvel, Vol. 1: No Normal.
^^I found Vita Nostra easily on LA Public Library and tagged it. I'm #2 on 8 copies so should have it soon. Looks interesting.EDIT: Aaaand...it's in! Will likely start in on it later tonight. Currently reading the Gail Carriger novella Romancing the Inventor and it is going quickly. Good development of Genevieve LeFoux and an interesting (for once positive) look at Hive life. Queen vamp Nadasdy is of course nasty (naming rather on the nose.) Nice pop ins from Alexia, Connal, even Major Channing.
Nadasdy,
Alan wrote: "Brendan wrote: "As is Vita Nostra, which everyone should drop whatever they're doing right now and go read...."Never heard of it - and no link provided, but I searched. Amazon.co.uk currently says..."
https://www.goodreads.com/work/editio...
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The Sword and Laser
Books mentioned in this topic
The Other Side of Time (other topics)The Pride of Chanur (other topics)
The Kif Strike Back (other topics)
Chanur's Venture (other topics)
Tiamat's Wrath (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Charles Stross (other topics)J.G. Ballard (other topics)
Marlon James (other topics)
J.G. Ballard (other topics)
J.G. Ballard (other topics)
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Let us know what you think! It's been on my tbr list for a while."
I thought it was excellent. It also uses multiple POVs, Following this in audio required some effort.