The Sword and Laser discussion
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What Else Are You Reading?
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What Else Are You Reading - June 2019
Livin' on a prayer!Frak, I am old.
Finished with Witchmark. While it's charming and I enjoyed the writing, the romance was too fast and tropey (reminded me on paranormal romance novels) and the ending abrupt. Don't have any plans to continue the series.
Also finished with The Black God's Drums. The worldbuilding trumps the story and plot. Stories about/set in New Orleans always fascinate me and I just love the mix with steampunk stuff.
Starting my 2nd attempt of reading The Left Hand of Darkness. I think I could finish it this time. Wish me luck!
Currently listening to Saturn Run by John Sandford and CteinIt has mixed reviews on GoodReads but I'm enjoying it at the moment.
Reading, Drachenfels at the.moment. Then The Ember Blade and then The Vinyl Detective: Written in Dead Wax
Rob wrote: "Cue the Bon Jovi cuz we're halfway there..."Half..... since when is 5/12 a half?
Anal retentiveness off now 🤗
Bounced off a couple of books which have gone on the dnf shelf: Godblind was too violent for me, especially after recently reading The Poppy War. While Rosemary and Rue simply didn’t engage me.Currently on Six of Crows and We Have Always Lived in the Castle.
Mod
Half..... since when is 5/12 a half?
Anal retentiveness off now 🤗"
Im thinking it's the 6th month, hence the halfway. I guess I'll just reuse my lame joke in July..
After I started and close a couple of books I was not in the mood for, in Deadtree mass market Forge of Darkness. yes I am ready for the Kharkanas Trilogy, Getting ready for the July release of Age of Legend by doing a re read of the previous 3 books in the series. And I hope to squeeze in the second book in Mark Lawrence's Time Travel series Limited Wish. Mark will finish the series this November.
Silvana wrote: "Livin' on a prayer!Frak, I am old.
"
I was a junior in college when that song came out....
First Year at Uni for that song...Been on holiday for a week and did some reading by the pool so have finished a few books.
Branched out with The Shepherd's Hut which is a short sharp shock of a novel with a very authentic Australian voice. Good short read.
The Only Harmless Great Thing was quick and breezy. Interesting ideas buried here.
The City of Brass is a solid introduction to a new fantasy series. The tropes are familiar which is offset by the middle eastern setting. Enjoyed this.
Autonomous was OK, but I struggled with the violence in this one for some reason.
Struggling along with Semiosis which is a set of linked short stories describing colonisation. The biosphere is well rendered but the story beats are tired.
Iain wrote: "The Only Harmless Great Thing was quick and breezy. Interesting ideas buried here. ..."
Uh... THIS book?
"Now these two tragedies are intertwined in a dark alternate history of rage, radioactivity, and injustice crying out to be righted. Prepare yourself for a wrenching journey that crosses eras, chronicling histories of cruelty both grand and petty in search of meaning and justice."
Finished Heir of Novron which is either book three or books five and six, depending on how you look at it. The book is definitely split into two parts, (view spoiler)All in all pretty well done. Good epic fantasy from start to finish. Oh, it's tropey as all get out, but whaddya want? Lord of the Rings is still the #1 fiction book the last century and in the top 5 of all time. Authors could do worse than to use it as an example and parse out what works.
And a lot of this book works. The battle scenes, the sense of utter desperation, the development of characters, they all work. The twists at the end just keep going and going, and make you think just how far back Sullivan had been planning to make it happen that way.
Of course there has to eventually be a Quest With Diverse Characters Who Don't All Get Along. And in that quest, (view spoiler)
There's even a "Return to the Shire" section where the loose ends get tied up, with a callback to the second book where I honestly didn't remember why the villagers were reacting as they did. (view spoiler)
Two big missed opportunities though. Oh, they don't wreck the book, but it could have been even better. (view spoiler)
Anyhoo, I'm glad I finished out the trilogy. The books definitely got better as we went along, and the ending was one rollicking roller coaster.
Mod
I also listened to The Silkworm, which I thought was decent, but not fantastic. I'll probably continue on with the series eventually. - ★★★☆☆ - (My Review)
Moved on to Make Room! Make Room! by Harry HarrisonI believe there are major differences with the film Soylent Green
Finished Ones and Zeroes. It was ok. Suffered from middle book syndrome. Also finishedDeath Bringer and it was fantastic! I highly recommend this series. It is fun and fast moving! Currently readingActive Memory and listening to The Well of Ascension.
Finished out The Yiddish Policemen's Union - it felt like a slog for me and I must not be the intended audience for it. I like speculative fiction and this just fell very, very flat. Carrying on with my library's "extreme reader" challenge I read a book suggested by another person doing the challenge (it's a category.) Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore - pretty light fantasy with a great heart-tugging conclusion. Summer reading at its finest.
Red Rising - reading this one for a "literary work" - they had a list of works they considered "literary." I still don't know quite what that means or how this qualifies.
Ready Player One is my other currently-reading for a book from the Great American Reads list. I had a bit of trouble finding things on that list that looked interesting that I hadn't read.
Rob wrote: "Started Fall, or Dodge in Hell in audio. Nearly 32 hours long!"I'm really excited for this one! Please update!
Mod
I'm really excited for this one! Please update!"
I'll have a review once I finish, but it will probably be a few weeks..
Finished with The Left Hand of Darkness. Fantastic.In the middle of The Legend of Korra: Ruins of the Empire, Part One. Back with Team Avatar!
Also starting my reread of Last Argument of Kings. Dang, the paperback is thick.
Still working on TMC and have TLU ordered but am starting a new audiobook. Apparently my libro credit doesn't kick in until the late afternoon so checked out what was on Libby and Educated was weirdly available (last time I checked it had a pretty lengthy wait time). Also put a hold on It which says available soon so it's time to crush some audiobooks. Most of the other notable Stephen King's were massive waits so figured I best capitalize. Will download Heir of Novron once my Libro credit pops up.
Silvana wrote: "Finished with The Left Hand of Darkness. Fantastic.In the middle of The Legend of Korra: Ruins of the Empire, Part One. Back with Team Avatar!
Also starting my rerea..."
I think I need to reread LHoD. I thought it was great but didn't really get a feel for what it was trying to accomplish until a bit in and probably missed some of the nuance early on. It's definitely one of the books I find myself bringing up the most in conversation since reading it too.
And just like that It came through on Libby soooo I guess I'm going to need to find some nominal tasks to get through both of these in 2 weeks. Counting coins? Offer rides to the airport? Take out a bush? Paint my cat (to be clear I mean doing a portrait not just covering the little mongrel in paint)? IDK but 42 hours of audiobook in 14 days is not typically a comfortable pace for me.
So far this month I multi-task-half-listened to Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch in advance of watching the TV show. Unrelated to genre I also listened to The Incomplete Book of Running by Peter Sagal which I must have requested from the library at some point since that's where the copy I listened to arrived from. (Late last month I also finished my listen of Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I liked it well enough, but I think the first book in this world was better: Children of Time.) In "print" I've gotten about 20% into Downbelow Station, which is fine, I'm just not super invested yet. Meanwhile The Stiehl Assassin came in from the library and I'm about 25% through that one now as well.
In audio I'm currently listening to Storm Glass by Jeff Wheeler, which I think I got for free on Audible at some point. It's the last book in my Audible backlog that I actually intend to listen to, so I should start spending my credits again soon.
Just finished NOS4A2 and Aurora Rising. NOS4A2 was pretty good. I'm typically not a horror reader but I am a big fan of bad guys who believe completely that they're the good guys. Plus it was narrated by Kate Mulgrew! Aurora Rising was a little bit of a letdown. I loved the Illuminae Files and this book wasn't quite on that level. It was a cool concept ruined by too many generic POVs. I probably should have picked audio for it. Currently reading The Dazzle of Day, which is some nice slow thoughtful sci-fi, Ancestral Night, which I'm just starting but has me hooked already, and Witchmark which I'm kind of struggling to really get into.
Finished European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman and looking forward to the release of Book 3, The Sinister Mystery of the Mesmerizing Girl Oct 1st. Our local S&L meetup group have all read BOM The Last Unicorn due to Peter S. Beagle rolling through town a few years ago with the animated version of the book. Took me two years to find a used copy of the book, so we decide to do the alt read of The Library at Mount Char .
Currently listening to The Drawing of the Three by Stephen KingI'm enjoying it (if that's the right word) more than I enjoyed The Gunslinger and will probably keep going with the Dark Tower series
Peeking at descriptions of the next few books, I notice that The Waste Lands contains a figure called Shardik based on the titular character of the book by Richard Adams
We've already done Richard Adams' book Watership Down so it might be too soon to have another book by him but Shardik would make a great "Sword" pick.
Mod
For me, I love the stuff with Roland as a kid so I actually liked Gunslinger quite a bit and my favorite is Wizard and Glass which is largely all flash back. Other people seem to dislike that book for that reason.
His Dark Tower stuff permeates in a lot of his other writing and vice-versa. There is a wiki page the lists all the other books that tie-in some how. I've probably read 15-20 of those too.
For me I'd rank the books in the series as something like this.
5 stars
Wizard and Glass
The Waste Lands
4 stars
The Drawing of the Three
Wolves of the Calla
The Gunslinger
The Dark Tower
The Wind Through the Keyhole
3 stars
Song of Susannah
Erik wrote: "I think I need to reread LHoD. I thought it was great but didn't really get a feel for what it was trying to accomplish until a bit in and probably missed some of the nuance early on. It's definitely one of the books I find myself bringing up the most in conversation since reading it too. I think her books are good reread materials.
I am planning to read the rest of the Hainish cycle - her worldbuilding is so thoughtprovoking.
Finished with Last Argument of Kings - still as good as I remember. The last parts were intense. Still hating Bayaz and loving Glokta.Starting Ancillary Sword. I know people are crazy about this trilogy but I never found the books as page turner...I'll finish it, slowly.
Then I I decided to start The Poppy War today and was hooked. Always a sucker for school tropes. Looking forward to the grimdark parts.
I finished Condomnauts. If you want to deliberately read something pride related for June or feel like supporting an independent press OR want to try a translated science fiction title, this is a good read! I gave it four stars, and my review is here.
Mod
I read Rise of Empire this weekend. I thought the first book Nyphron Rising was much better than Theft of Swords (which I very much enjoyed) but thought the second book The Emerald Storm was my least favorite of the four books. The stuff on the boat was boring, and Sullivan could have moved the story forward without all the filler. Looking forward to the third omnibus!
For those who followed last years capital ships beating the knights in the syfy/ fantasy NHL hockey championships. This year the Blue Skinned Andorians are up 3 games to 2 on the Beastly Bruins, and could finish them tonight, although I suspect it will go to game 7.
Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "I finished Condomnauts. If you want to deliberately read something pride related for June or feel like supporting an independent press OR want to try a translated science fiction ti..."This sounds like a hoot! I purchased it but I'm not sure when I'll get to it. :)
Finished Edgedancer by Brandon Sanderson for the second time. Lift and Wyndle are awesome!Currently reading UnSouled by Neal Shusterman and A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan on audio. Kate Reading is great as the narrator, and I’m thoroughly enjoying it. And I’m reading The Wild Robot Escapes by Peter Brown with my kid. He enjoyed the first one so much he wanted to jump in to the second one. It’s a nice about a shipwrecked robot who learns to live in the wild and adopts and raises an orphan goose. It has a more realistic approach in its depiction of animals which I liked, and it’s heartwarming at times.
Still going through my Hugo ballot and finished Record of a Spaceborn Few which I thought was okay, but not as good as The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. I've started Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik and she continues with the Russian folklore type of story and in this case I like it even better than her previous book Uprooted I'm really enjoying it.
terpkristin wrote: "Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "I finished Condomnauts. If you want to deliberately read something pride related for June or feel like supporting an independent press OR want to try a ...""A hoot" is exactly the subgenre! :D
Finished book 10 of the Wheel of Time with Crossroads of Twilight and a book on string theory The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory. Now I need to read a few short, less demanding works to give my brain a rest:)Reading The Library at Mount Char as the unofficial SL / official Orange County SL alt pick. After 100 pages it's getting really interesting. The first 50 pages had it on a rocky road to Lemsville so I am glad I persevered.
Just finished listening to Dark State and have concluded that Charles Stross is an utter utter Bas*&d.. Now I have to wait nearly a year before I get hold of the concluding chapter. He just left the series at a cliff edge with the excrement about to hit the air cooling device....(view spoiler)
I love this series!
Finished The Poppy War. While it is a page turner the book has some nagging problems in characters usage.Also finished with Ancillary Sword, well apparently I could finish it rather quickly. Sm would love more plot and fewer trivial stuff, but the AIs and the ships kept me fascinated with their dynamics.
I started reading The Tea Master and the Detective. What is it with Ann Leckie and Aliette de Bodard that tea played such a big role in their books? :P
Finished reading Artificial Condition, which I thought was another good story for the neurotic Murderbot. Have also recently finished two more graphic novels in the Rivers of London universe. Rivers of London: Night Witch & Rivers of London: Black Mould. They're not as good as the novels, but add some extra depth to the series.
Next, going straight into the 3rd Murderbot installment, Rogue Protocol, while I'm in the mood for it.
I finished an audiobook yesterday that I would not originally have thought was S&L but it felt like a combination of other books that some of you might be into. Mix part Reservoir 13 and The Reservoir Tapes by Jon McGregor (sleepy village, child goes missing, multiple perspectives) with The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (small child interacting with the supernatural, in this case Dead Papa Toothwort,) family and Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders (community members with conflicting narratives) and you end up with Lanny by Max Porter. I'm not sure what a print experience would be, so I'll recommend the audio. (It's in Hoopla if you have access through your public library; I was surprised since it just came out in May.)
Finished Artificial Condition. Read a couple more installments in How To Be Dead series which is a novella series that's lightly humorous. Started one I've been wanting for a long time, The Grand Dark by Richard Kadrey. NOT a Sandman Slim book but something different and very good a couple of chapters in. Next up is Empress of Forever by Max Gladstone which is out next week. And then maybe a book by a new to me author, Daniel Polansky
Yesterday I finished Embers of War. Good science fiction novel about atonement. Had a few interesting characters, including a sentient starship.
Still blazing through Daniel Abraham's Dagger and the Coin books; now onto The Spider's War, the last in the series.
Finished up The Warship. It's decent big action space opera, but Asher has come down in quality. He seems to be phoning it in these days. Lots of "interesting characters" that are mostly retreads of other characters doing big space battles or little individual fights. I'll read the end of this trilogy when it comes out but am in no hurry to do so.This was a library read. I returned it fast once done, hope I made another patron happy. I've recently laid my hands on a copy of The Last Unicorn so that's next.
Silvana wrote: "Finished The Poppy War. While it is a page turner the book has some nagging problems in characters usage.Also finished with Ancillary Sword, well apparently I could finish it rather quickly. Sm w..."
Interested in what you say about The Poppy War... elaborate please! I overall enjoyed it although I didn’t find any of the characters particularly compelling, so I’m interested to hear more of your take on it.
I have decided after reading The Tea Master and the Detective that space opera featuring sentient ships and an obsession with tea is my new favourite micro genre.
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The Sword and Laser
Books mentioned in this topic
The Calculating Stars (other topics)Space Opera (other topics)
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August (other topics)
Semiosis (other topics)
Doctor Who: Combat Magicks (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Mary Robinette Kowal (other topics)Catherynne M. Valente (other topics)
C.S. Lewis (other topics)
Nnedi Okorafor (other topics)
Martha Wells (other topics)
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Does that reference date me? Probably. Whatever..
So what are guys reading as we reach the middle of 2019?