SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion
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What Else Are You Reading?
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What Else Are You Reading in 2020?
I just finished reading the Thrawn Trilogy. I really enjoyed it. May be strange that the "Legends" books aren't "Canon". But comic book fans are familiar with older storylines being taken out of the official "canon". You just enjoy stories that are out there. I found Thrawn to be a very compelling character. I say character, not villain, because the New Republic, in this trilogy did not demonstrate why it was a better alternative to an empire led by Grand Admiral Thrawn.
Finished the Custard Protocol. I wish there were more but at least she has a few other series I have not read yet,My review of Reticence
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Peter wrote: "I just finished reading the Thrawn Trilogy. I really enjoyed it. May be strange that the "Legends" books aren't "Canon". But comic book fans are familiar with older storylines being taken out of th..."Yes, I just see both Legends and new SW as parallel canons, doesn't bother me much. By the way: Thrawn has been brought back into the official canon with a new trilogy: Thrawn - I guess he was just too good to leave in Legends. :-)
I've only read the old Thrawn trilogy so far, and so long ago that I've forgotten everything about it apart from enjoying it.
Michelle wrote: "I think part of the reason is that we remember being young adults and teenagers, too; it wa..."Tamara, have you read Dragonsbane? The two MCs are older. I love that book and have re..."
Thanks, Michelle. From the reviews, it sounds really good and also relatable! I'll check it out.
One book that has a slightly older protagonist (of the two main) is Janny Wurts' 'To Ride Hell's Chasm'. Which was a bit of a mark against it for me when I first read it, being a younger adult then. A really good story that I liked better the second time.
The Long Utopia
by Terry Pratchett & Stephen BaxterLong Earth series #4, not recommended to read as a stand-alone. I have not read the preceding novels in this series so I am reviewing the book on its own merits while ignoring the fact that I was not familiar with the characters or the on-going plot lines. I found the basic ideas interesting, the science absurd, the characters not realistic and the dialogue leaden. 2 stars.
Anna, it the Aardvark"s across the street you need to watch.
I will keep my eyes peeled for any advancing aardvarks!
Eva, I almost posted that exact same pic :D
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I'm really liking God Stalk. It's so very reminiscent of my childhood reads.
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Just like you and Eva, I enjoy both Star Wars Legends and Canon. The first science fiction books I ever read were the Star Wars Legends (then Expanded Universe) books and they hold a lot of memories for me, although they are of ... varying quality. :D
I love the Thrawn Trilogy, read it several times, and I agree that Thrawn is more of an antagonist, not an outright villain. That's probably because the books are so widely beloved, because there are more layers to 'the big evil'.
I finished my reread of Foundation and I guess I won't be recommending this one anymore. Originally I wanted to reread all the Foundation books, as research for a current project of mine, but now I'm not so sure anymore.
Now I started The Sol Majestic and The Devil in Silver.
I enjoy The Sol Majestic so far, it's not quite what I expected, but in a good way. I haven't read much of The Devil in Silver, but Victor LaValle's writing is, again, great. I have been wanting to read more of his work for a long time, and after reading so much science fiction, I am in the mood for some horror/suspense.
Eva wrote: "Peter wrote: "I just finished reading the Thrawn Trilogy. I really enjoyed it. May be strange that the "Legends" books aren't "Canon". But comic book fans are familiar with older storylines being t..."Yes! I want to read the new Thrawn trilogy. I've read the synopsis and it looks like it takes place during the Original Trilogy timeline. And Timothy Zahn is writing it.
Ines wrote: "Peter wrote: "I just finished reading the Thrawn Trilogy. I really enjoyed it. May be strange that the "Legends" books aren't "Canon". But comic book fans are familiar with older storylines being t..."Did you not enjoy Foundation the second time. I cant remember much about it. But I remember really enjoying it when I read it. But it was like 10 years ago.
Read The Strange Bird (goes with Borne and Dead astronauts) and now Zi must decide between Us edgedancer and Network Effect.... so hard!
was reading recursion by Blake Crouch, the last part for me went off into meh! decided on an alternate ending earlier in the book and was satisfied with that.Currently reading "elephant in the kitchen" for something different. the book discusses a couple running a safety preserve in South Africa. I hope there is a special (much worse) hell for poachers.
Hey folks, I'm looking for some fantasy with animals companions/bond animals. Yes, I totally feel like reading something cheesy.
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Damnit XD So sorry! I thought, I WAS posting to the recs folder. Wrong tab messed everything.))
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You're welcome! I've moved my reply to your dedicated thread. :-)
I finished the audiobook of Pandora's Star by Peter F. Hamilton which is a pretty ambitious piece of epic worldbuilding and plot. In the end it only came up to 4 stars, because I wished the structure could have been tighter. The many single plotlines were interesting enough, but they weren't necessary in that overboarding length. In the end I found myself more and more hoping he would go on with the main plot. It is part one of a story that's broken into two novels, so it is necessary to read on asap. Since the second book as well has 40 hours of audiotime I will squeeze in some BotMs first, otherwise I'll be behind on my schedule. But then I will pick up Judas Unchained. It is not up there with Dan Simmons' Hyperion Cantos, but it comes close.
Now I indulge myself in a listen of Cage of Souls by the master himself. I've already read and loved this one, but in another group it was voted as BotM, so I have to take the opportunity to listen to it this time. The audio narrator has a wonderful 'snobbish' British upperclass voice and this fits so perfect to the elitist Victorian vocabulary and voice of the mc who is telling the story as recollection.
ETA: I just realised that "Pandora's Star" is on the groupshelf. Yeah! One more crossed of the list!
@Gabi - how would rank the Adrian Tchaikovsky works/books? Which is the best one? I am reading Children of Ruin now (60%).
Jordan wrote: "...And I'm planning on finishing The Cybernetic Tea Shop during my slow hours at the desk today. Which has been very cute so far. ..."The Cybernetic Tea Shop was quite charming. Thanks for the pointer.
@Grace: that's a difficult one, since he is such a versatile writer, plus I have yet a lot to read in his Fantasy section.The 3 that have impressed me the most so far are
"Children of Time/Children of Ruin" with its wonderful balance of hard
biological science and psychological depth. And since I'm an arachnophilia this was a dream come true.
"Spiderlight" which starts as a classical D&D Fantasy with all your typical tropes of the genre and then turns them upside down bit by bit.
"Cage of Souls" which is an end-of-civilization story with steampunk vibe told in the typical 'dear reader's style of Victorian authors. (But fortunately he leaves out the 'dear reader' mention as such)
I just finished The Philosopher Kings which i enjoyed a lot. Looking forward to reading the next book soon.
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I, too, loved it when I read it as a teenager. But ... well, some things did not age well and others I view much more critically now than I did back then. I gave it some leeway, because it was written in the 50s, but not every part of my critique can be countered by that.
If you are interested, you can read my review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Grace wrote: "@Gabi - how would rank the Adrian Tchaikovsky works/books? Which is the best one? I am reading Children of Ruin now (60%)."
Even though I'm not Gabi, I'm going to say that I loved the Shadows of the Apt series:
https://www.goodreads.com/series/4589...
it doesn't get as much love here, even though it does have Spider Kinden. I love that series
CBRetriever wrote: "Even though I'm not Gabi, I'm going to say that I loved the Shadows of the Apt series:https://www.goodreads.com/series/4589...
it doesn't get as much love here, even though it does have Spider Kinden. I love that series ..."
It would certainly get more love if I finally got round to reading it :D. He has written so much that I can't keep up at the moment.
has anybody read "to sleep in a sea of stars" by Christopher Paolini ?
Don wrote: "has anybody read "to sleep in a sea of stars" by Christopher Paolini ?"I am waiting to see what people think about it before I commit myself to 880 pages.
I’m curious to know what books besides the two CHILDREN OF ... books one should read by Tchaikovsky. I’m looking forward to his DOORS OF EDEN. He’s impressively prolific...
@MadProf - I’m about to finish Children of Ruin. I’m a bit sad this is about to end, it’s amazing how much plot can be driven by these chosen set of entities/non-individualized characters (aside from the humans). how is this still so engaging?! Keen to look at his other works but wow so many titles!
@cbretriever @gabi sooo a series inspired by another of his own series. Adrian Tchaikovsky inception lol
I think Children of Ruin came about because of his delving into insect kinden in the Shadows of the Apt series which began in 2008first book in series (my link above goes nowhere): Empire in Black and Gold
and I'd like to add that this series is complete/finished/done, so there's no waiting on the next books to come out
30% into The Lathe of Heaven but I found it hard to be interested in the subject ;( Switching to The Rosewater Insurrection.
Ines wrote: "Peter wrote: "Did you not enjoy Foundation the second time. I cant remember much about it. But I remember really enjoying it when I read it. But it was like 10 years ago."I, too, loved it when I ..."
Thanks for sharing your review. I really can't for the life of me remember hardly anything about Foundation, which might be saying something. All that I remember is that I enjoyed it at the time. I think you make a good point that Asimov does not flesh out his character very well. Arthur C Clarke had similarly two-dimensional characters. I think one of the weaknesses of both Asimov and Heinlein is they didn't flesh out many of the details of their stories. How does Hyperspace work? How does the space ship fly? It just does because the author says it does.
Yeah Lathe of Heaven needs a bit of time to get into but once the ball gets rolling on what exactly are the rules of reality it gets quite engaging. Back half was definitely fast for me and it’s short read so not much of a problem. I liked it! But maybe just me, I like this style. Similar to a Philip K Dick vibe.
I just finished "I call him HIM" by Scott W. Kimak. It was AMAZING!
Just finished “How to stop time” by Matt Haig. Tom Hazzard ages very slowly. He is almost an immortal. He is protected by the Albatross Society. How can he have any problems? Soon to be a motion picture starring Benedict Cumberbatch. The book reminds me of “The Boat of a Million Years” by Poul Anderson which followed a group of immortals.
Forest Troutner, That is a world class group of chin hairs !Book looks interesting also.
Started with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (and will continue with it) recently since that seems to be the touchstone of fantasy and maybe even literature in general. Also, I am reading The Kite Runner which is going great except that I am not a big fan of the print which is frustrating at times. Besides that, I have so many titles I want to get my hands on at this moment!!
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I am missing the suspense a little. At 50% in, there were only one or two scenes of that. But I'm getting a quite S. King-like vibe from this book and if I'm correct, it starts slow, builds up and then the horror stuff and action happens in the second half. I love the characters, though.
And the last scene I read - boy, that was hard! Especially in the times we live in right now. The horror was the realness of it.
I enjoyed
The Lions of Al-Rassan. More than a few characters to get your arms around, but certainly worth the four stars I gave it.
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SciFi and Fantasy Book Club
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Recently also finished rereading Gone with the Wind. Problematic, as we all know, but fascinating to re-read right now with all the discussion about Civil War monuments and the heightened awareness of systemic racism. This time through I also picked up on a range of other more subtle things as well. Very interesting.