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What Else Are You Reading?
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What else are you reading - May 2020
Hmmm don't think I've posted here before....maybe once a couple of years ago. Good time to start I suppose. Anyhoo here goes.....Trying to finish The Outsider by Stephen King so I can start on The Girl and the Stars by Mark Lawrence, Network Effect by Martha Wells and Aurora Burning by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. Three big new releases that I can't decide between for my next read even though I have sort of started The Girl and the Stars. Couldn't wait. I am enjoying The Outsider but I just can't get motivated to read it lately. The only time I've been reading is at bedtime mostly and this definitely isn't a bedtime book.
Recently finished The Consuming Fire by John Scalzi so I could read The Last Emperox. I enjoyed Consuming Fire more than Collapsing Empire. I didn't really give a fig about the characters in book 1 but I came to like them in Book 2. Book 3 will get a look in after I've finished the others.
I also read All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders, Aurora Rising (so I could read Aurora Burning) and The Just City by Jo Walton in the last month. They've all been 4 star reads in my opinion. All completely different though.
Just re-read The Famished Road by Ben Okri. Before I re-read it I was sure if it counted as a"Sword" (i.e fantasy) book but it very definitely is.
Seth wrote: "Finished Finder and really liked it. The main character is a finder, a sort of galactic repo-man, and the book starts out looking like an action-oriented heist book. But there are s..."Based on this post I used an audible credit and picked up this book. Thanks for the suggestion. I really enjoyed the world and the main characters. I'm always a sucker for aliens that are truly alien so that was another good point for me. Didn't notice if she plans to write more books in this world.... But based on this one, I'd give them a try if she does.
Joelle wrote: "Based on this post I used an audible credit and picked up this book. Thanks for the suggestion. I really enjoyed the world and the main characters. I'm always a sucker for aliens that are truly alien so that was another good point for me. Didn't notice if she plans to write more books in this world.... But based on this one, I'd give them a try if she does"Excellent. There is a second book, Driving the Deep, which only just came out. Haven't read it yet, but plan on it too.
Palmer's name sounded familiar and looking at her author page I figured out why - this short in Clarkesworld: http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/palme... which I found utterly charming. Reading comics a lot but I also picked up the 5th in Stephen Blackmoore's Eric Carter series, Ghost Money. Excellent series if you like gritty urban fantasy (Kadrey, etc) but do start with the first one.
Seth wrote: "Joelle wrote: "Based on this post I used an audible credit and picked up this book. Thanks for the suggestion. I really enjoyed the world and the main characters. I'm always a sucker for aliens tha..."I’m about 1/3 of the way through Finder audiobook and I quite like the story. Definitely down for the follow-up.
Finished listening to Children of Ruin which was an awesome science fiction story about octopuses in SPACE!!Now starting Lies Sleeping, the 7th book in the Peter Grant/Rivers of London/ Midnight Riot series.
I finally read The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bolander, which I've had on my Kindle for a couple of years now. Had I known it was a novelette (at just under 100 pages) and that it was as amazing as it is, I would have read it much sooner! I mean, it's depressing as hell, but really excellent.
The Hero's Guide to Saving Your KingdomNovel by Christopher Healy: 4/5
Narration by Bronson Pinchot: 3000/5
I finished The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch and I have to say this is the best book I’ve read in a long while. It was unrelentingly dark, which was a little difficult in these times, but I pushed through it because it was truly great science fiction. It takes some really cool sci-fi concepts and deeply delves into the ramifications, so deeply that it frequently had me thinking about the nature of reality. It was haunting in a way that had me thinking about it even when I wasn’t reading it and even now, days after I’ve finished it. I feel like a lot of sci-fi these days really fails to make you think, and isn’t that the whole point of sci-fi?
To add to my last post, this thing was like a crazy mix of True Detective season 1 and HP Lovecraft in a time travel space opera.
Jessica wrote: "I finally read The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bolander, which I've had on my Kindle for a couple of years now. Had I known it was a novelette (at just under 100 pages) and ..."I read it in last year’s Hugo packet. Absolutely brilliant reinterpretation of history. The setup - radioactive elephants - sounds a bit goofy but the actual story is devastating.
I finished The Aleph Extraction yesterday. I found it fast-paced and entertaining. The characters are great, too. I hope Dan Moren is able to write & get out the rest of the books in this series. I’m curious as to where his “Galactic Cold War” idea goes.
I finished Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How it Changed the World. It was quite good and very timely, but now I am eager to do some more escapist reading.Next up, continuing on Hugo nominees, The City in the Middle of the Night.
Just finished Defy or Defend and, well, that was fantastic. This is a "side book" from the main sequence, featuring Dimity Plumleigh-Teignmott. She's one of the ensemble cast of the Finishing School books now starring in her own novel.As a side work there's a certain form to be observed. Other characters from the main sequence will get at least a mention, and some of the main characters have to show up in a supporting role. We have Lord Akeldama and Connal Maccon make appearances so that's covered.
It's a romance, so there's certain tropes to be observed, one of which is that the couple is Already Attracted but for some reason Can't Be Together. And of course that has to be resolved over the course of the novel for the Happily Ever After ending.
As for the plot...yes, there's a plot. A framework upon which Gail Carriger works her trademark wit and charm. The male MC, Sir Crispin, starts out in a smashing opener thoroughly unemotional despite a major event in his life, and "since he's English" doesn't want to burden anyone with real emotion. Not even a domestic servant.
He and Dimity have to travel to Nottingham and work undercover to save a Vampire hive that is acting oddly. Given the strength of the Vampire set, "oddly" can turn into mass death rather quickly, so it's get them back into normalcy - well, for Vampires - or the whole hive may face summary execution. Nothing like a little pressure!
There are howlers throughout. Two of my faves:
* Dimity: "Like most artists, I dearly love an interruption."
* During a literary party with readings: "The crowd quieted once more, most of them apparently under the impression that they had just witnessed an allegory so brilliant, it eluded even their intellects."
Gail sets up the whole plot as fashion related and yes, the resolution does involve strategic use of a dress. Gail drops little bits here and there and you don't know where she's going until suddenly the solution becomes clear. You really need to know the other Parasol Protectorate books to fully appreciate this novel, but if you do, this one will leave you laughing.
I started in on Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon. I’m 50 pages in and wondering, does this start getting better? Because so far it’s been very plain fantasy with no hook.
Finished with Her Body and Other Parties. Uneven collection, but some stories were simply striking.Also finished with apparently a non-SFF collection by Ursula Le Guin The Unreal and the Real: Selected Stories, Volume One: Where on Earth. Yeah, guess I'll stick to her SFF for now.
Started Star Wars Omnibus: Knights of the Old Republic, Vol. 1, while the art work was just okay, I am interested to see where the story goes.
Also started Gideon the Ninth as part of my Hugo read. Zero expectation.
I started Witchmark on audio, but switched to reading it because the narration was so poor. The book itself was lovely: a mix of murder mystery and romance wrapped in a blanket of magic. I got the same vibes from The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, but enjoyed this one a lot more. Would definitely recommend if you want a cozy read.
Brad wrote: "I started in on Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon. I’m 50 pages in and wondering, does this start getting better? Because so far it’s been very plain fantasy with no hook."I found it got better as it went on, but I think it was pretty gradual. I don't remember a specific hook, things sort of just intensify as they go along, but it happens pretty slowly. I don't think there's a page number I can point to where things 'get good' or something like that.
I'm currently reading the dead tree version of The Most Fun We Ever Had, and listening to The Night Country when using the treadmill. The former is contemporary fiction about a family, with lots of gems about relationships and parenthood. The latter is the sequel to the YA Fantasy, The Hazel Wood.
I’m reading The Light Brigade finally, and I’m also listening to Cassandra Clare’s Queen of Air and Darkness.
I finished Stormsong, which feels different from Witchmark due to the change in POV. I did NOT finish Shorefall, because I couldn't finish the audio book in two weeks. So I have about 6 hours left and will finish whenever I get another copy from the library.I've decided to move onto Age of Empyre in audio partially because I'm anxious to see how it ends, and also because I have it in Audible so no time limit :) I tried reading the ebook of The Name of All Things (the sequel to Jenn Lyons's The Ruin of Kings) but the footnotes don't work the best in this format - and they seem to be important to the color and feel of the story, so I'm going to try to get the physical book from the library's new contactless pick-up. In the meantime I've started Steel Crow Saga by Paul Krueger.
Finished Lorelei of the Red Mist: Planetary Romances and decided to keep going with Leigh Brackett, so next up is Shannach - The Last: Farewell to Mars.
Finished with Star Wars Omnibus: Knights of the Old Republic, Vol. 1 (love it! I need to read more Legends stuff), How Quini the Squid Misplaced His Klobucar (a fun cyberpunk caper short story), Nevertheless She Persisted: Flash Fiction Project (there are some gems in it), and The Haunting of Tram Car 015 (cool worldbuilding with some detectives, I hope it'll be a series, like the Peter Grant one).Starting another Hugo nom The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick
I just finished The City in the Middle of the Night. A worthy Hugo nominee. The blurb said something about LeGuin, and I see it: fascinating setting, both in terms of science and society. I did find some of the personal drama a bit over-wrought.Next up another Hugo nomination: The Ten Thousand Doors of January.
Just finished The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. I liked it, 4 out of 5 stars, but I have thoughts... It felt a bit rushed in the third act. The main character (no spoilers) seemed to go from 5 to 10 on the irrational scale pretty fast. The 2nd act was the most intriguing, and it was interesting to see the more immediate fallout of the rebellion. I’d like to see the events that lead to the creation of the Capital and the districts.
I've had a breather with some short stories: The Physicians of Vilnoc by Loid McMaster Bujulod (I will never not love a book from her Five Gods world), and The Butcher of Anderson Station from James S. A. Corey. Which I think finishes off all the Expanse short stories for me.
Finished the book of the month, then turned to Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton, which I really enjoyed. She just wrote an article about it on Tor which sums it up and tells you whether you might like it better than I could:https://www.tor.com/2020/05/21/dragon...
I finished: 
The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy, 2019 Edition edited by Rich Horton
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
and I started reading:
The Howling Man by Charles Beaumont
This collection was published in 1992 but most of the stories originally saw print in the 1950s and early 1960s, with a few published posthumously (Beaumont died in 1967). Beaumont was famous for his scripts for the original Twilight Zone series, and many of his stories were adapted as episodes of the series.
RJ from the LBC wrote: "The Howling Man by Charles Beaumont"Looks interesting. I tagged it to read.
Reading the dead tree version of Black Spire. It’s a signed copy I lucked up on at the book store. Started listening to The Tales of Beedle the Bard on Audible yesterday.
I finished a short one but a good one: 
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
Rating: 5 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
and I started reading:
'Salem's Lot by Stephen King
John (Taloni) wrote: "RJ from the LBC wrote: "The Howling Man by Charles Beaumont"Looks interesting. I tagged it to read."
I'll let you know how I liked it.
Finished up The Last Emperox: The Interdependency Book 3 - which was entertaining enough, I guess. Scalzi's style (or this trilogy, at least) was starting to grate on me a bit. It was fast paced and page-turnery when I could be bothered to pick it up, but I wasn't re-arranging my day around finding time to do so, if you know what I mean?Moving my focus onto Network Effect now and will also dive into the audiobook of A Memory Called Empire.
Finished The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick - loved it! recommended for both genre film lovers and of course SFF enthusiasts. Starting To Be Taught, If Fortunate and The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume 11.
I finished The Ten Thousand Doors of January. With the inter-dimension portals and family drama, I was reminded of an adult A Wrinkle in Time.The last of the Hugo nominees is up next: Middlegame
I finished: 
Arm of the Sphinx by Josiah Bancroft
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
and I started reading:
Death's Master by Tanith Lee
Just finished Suzanne Palmer's Finder (at 3am). Discovered her by reading The Secret Life of Bots which is delightful and Finder didn't disappoint. While they're very different, if you liked Velocity Weapon, you'd probably like this book.
Rick wrote: "Just finished Suzanne Palmer's Finder (at 3am). Discovered her by reading The Secret Life of Bots which is delightful and Finder did..."Agree.
Just finished Network Effect, the latest Murderbot book. Well, that was frickin' fantastic. High point of the past few years. In fact I can't remember any book being this good for so long that I think I'd have to dig into classics for one so well done.On a few days reflection I ask myself, why so good? It's because Martha Wells has captured a feeling so common to fandom. The feeling of alienation, of social anxiety regardless of situation, regardless of competence which Murderbot has in spades. The binge consumption of fantastic media, which apparently (and amusingly) persists despite actual space travel.
The plot itself is tightly woven, with many reveals and twists along the way. Old friends show up and grow beyond their previously known roles. It works as a book. It works far better as a reflection of fans.
I started out thinking "in a way not done before" and that's mostly true. This particular expression is genius. But the theme has been addressed before, in a book we've read. Slan covered the alienation felt by those apart from greater society, even to the ability to "pass" if one toned down unusual aspects enough. Slan shows its age though with once-"cool" aspects like naming its MC "Jommy," telepathic tendrils, and the trope that every woman everywhere wants to have his baby.
Nor is Slan the first. Olaf Stapledon took on the theme with "Odd John." The titular character is highly intelligent yet doesn't feel companionship with his fellows.
Where these had influence in their day, the state of the art moves on. Network Effect captures this feeling in today's world about as well as it could be done. There are not enough stars available for me to rate this as I want.
John (Taloni) wrote: "Just finished Network Effect, the latest Murderbot book. Well, that was frickin' fantastic. High point of the past few years. In fact I can't remember any book being this good for s..."The thematic similarities with Slan hadn't occurred to me, but you're right. And it's been decades since I read Odd John. I should revisit it. I also agree that Network Effect is a remarkable novel, a step above anything else I've read lately, and SecUnit's future looks to be fascinating too.
Just finished listening to The Starless Sea which was a terrific maze of a book. Sophisticated story telling with compelling characters. The audio book is terrific with different narrators for each of the narratives. Finished reading the Murderbot novellas gratefully downloaded from Tor. Will eventually get around to Network Effect.
Also read To Be Taught, If Fortunate which is a strangely uplifting view of exploration of nearby planets.
Recent reads in May that I highly recommend:Crown of Feathers
Frankissstein: A Love Story
The Last Mortal Bond - recommend this trilogy as a whole!
The House in the Cerulean Sea
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The Sword and Laser
Books mentioned in this topic
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The Last Emperox (other topics)
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Ben Aaronovitch (other topics)Michel Faber (other topics)
Neil Gaiman (other topics)
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Suzanne Palmer (other topics)
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It’s the Mad magazine version of Asimov’s Foundation.
I liked that one of his spaceship names this go-round was inspired by The Clash: This Indecision’s Bugging Me.