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What Else Are You Reading?
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What else are you reading - January 2021
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John (Taloni)
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Jan 13, 2021 10:37AM
Finished several books recently, going back to last year. First up, over the holidays I read the "Maggie for Hire" novella A Merry Maggie Messmas. One of Santa's elves has gone rogue and is turning people into Christmas decorations. Maggie and Killian engage in their usual hijinks bringing him back to the North Pole. Maggie's favorite three foot high Brownie, Pipistrelle, takes a center role this time, with shoe repair as an inducement for action. It was a nice piece of fluff for the holiday.
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Next up, The Legacy of the Iron Dragon: An Alternate History Viking Epic by Rob Kroese. I backed the Kickstarter for this series at a high level, expecting a quality followup to the Iron Dragon trilogy. This one delivered in spades.The first series covered the story of time-lost astronauts needing to build a launch vehicle using only what could be found in 10th century Scandinavia. In order to do so the astronauts have to involve themselves in European politics. There's plenty of Viking raids, a siege of Paris, and an alien presence on Earth. That's along with mining, slowly building up technology, and an ongoing need to take action in a subtle way so as to not disturb the timeline.
This book doesn't quite take off where the other trilogy ends. A time loop comes to an end and a secret society can finally speak about the previous travelers. Another group from the future goes to the past, but further back. They wind up in ancient Israel fighting over the Temple Mount. Several Roman Legions come to stop them. The time travelers need supplies and colonists, still without disturbing the timeline. They are able to get them in unexpected ways.
This is the first of a two book series. It could have been three, but the Kickstarter didn't reach that stretch goal. I can say euphemistically that I can't pay this guy enough to write the books, but in this case that is literally true. The $100 I spent on the kickstarter was well spent, but he was about a grand short of the three-book level. I like the stuff, but that's a little much. Well, I can hope for more regardless. Some parts seem ripe for a spinoff....
I started A Peculiar Peril last night to give Jeff VanderMeer another try, as I didn’t care for Annihilation.I didn’t realize this is YA, and I’m wondering who it’s aimed at. It’s something like 700 pages long.
John (Taloni) wrote: "Next up, The Legacy of the Iron Dragon: An Alternate History Viking Epic by Rob Kroese. I backed the Kickstarter for this series at a high level, expecting a quality followup to the..."Wait, is this Fantasy or SF? I’m getting mixed signals here.
Trike wrote: "Wait, is this Fantasy or SF? I’m getting mixed signals here."Those are clearly space vikings, sir.
^ It's SF. Starts off in the future with a space battle / chase and winds up in the past. Part of the crew head to Earth of the 10th century to create a part damaged in the battle. They crash, making the repair much more difficult. The crew of astronauts are slowly picked off during decades on Earth. They have to get to orbit to get...well, that would be too many spoilers, "the macguffin" would cover it. The history is extremely well researched. The description of historical Constantinople made me want to cry.
My first 2021 read was Owl Be Home For Christmas by Diane Duane which tells the true story of Rocky, the owl rescued from the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree.https://www.nbcnews.com/news/animal-n...
Ms. Duane wrote the novella shortly after Rocky was rescued and released it as an ebook after the bird's release. The story is written in her Young Wizards universe which I'm not familiar with, but I didn't need to know anything about that series to enjoy her clever and entertaining fantasy tale.
I'm listening to The Fireman and reading Gardens of the Moon, which I'm taking slowly and started last night for a lighter read Dragons of Autumn Twilight
I've on a bit of a fantasy tear recentlyThe Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley. Victorian London, a Japanese expert in clockwork who might have mystical powers.
Mogworld by Yahtzee Croshaw. I think I put this on my TBR when I was still regularly watching his Zero Punctation videos. I still enjoy his voice and enjoyed this take on a fantasy world where people don't die properly.
Sabriel by Garth Nix This is a pretty good go at a magical kingdom beyond a protective wall story. I enjoyed it but I'm not in a great rush to read the rest of the series
Garth Nix Sabriel
Mood is playing with me right now so I am reading five books at the same time. The SFF ones are: The Pride of Chanur - I hope I won't have to DNF this one like I did with Foreigner. Cherryh's world is cool but I find it hard to get into her writing and prose.
Network Effect - a re-read, but now with e-book format. Maybe I'll enjoy it more.
Tales from the Folly: A Rivers of London Short Story Collection - I am in need of a universe I'm used to. It so happened that I was in a Zoom call last night with Aaronovitch as a guest author talking about the RoL graphic novel adaptation. I guess I need to read those someday.
Just finished The Purple Cloud by Matthew Phipps ShielWritten in 1901 it's a pretty early example of a "Last Man on Earth" story. It has a lot of attitudes of England in 1901 but I found the world and the motivation of the unlikeable protagonist very believable.
A definite candidate for "Everybody Ought To Read This!" status
Silvana wrote: "It so happened that I was in a Zoom call last night with Aaronovitch as a guest author talking about the RoL graphic novel adaptation. I guess I need to read those someday."I signed up for the zoom session with Aaronovitch but didn't get home in time. I'm hoping it was taped. I've been reading the RoL comics as they come out and they are a lot of fun. Definitely worth reading when you find the time.
Mark wrote: "Silvana wrote: "It so happened that I was in a Zoom call last night with Aaronovitch as a guest author talking about the RoL graphic novel adaptation. I guess I need to read those someday."I sign..."
Ah too bad! It was fun. The Glendale library people said they will provide us with the recording link in two weeks :)
Just finished Jeff VanderMeer’s latest, A Peculiar Peril, which is my first 1-star read of the year. So... congrats?https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I'm right at the end of Ready Player Two. I wasn't as into 80's tv and movies and music as I was video games. It was fine. But moved more slowly for me than Ready Player One.I'm not sure what's next aside from trying to continue with The Marrow Thieves. I picked up Magic for Liars and The Once and Future Witches, so it might be one of those. But I'm afraid to start anything with the next book being announced soon.
Just finished Call of the Bone Ships which is a fun high-seas fantasy adventure, second in the series by R.J. Barker. And today I should finish Blood of Elves, which is either the first or the third book in the Witcher series by Andrzej Sapkowski, it depends who you ask. I read it third, after the two short story collections, and I’m glad I did, because I don’t think I’d have got into it if I hadn’t already been familiar with the characters and world.Next I’m going to take the plunge into Rhythm of War...
Ruth wrote: "Just finished Call of the Bone Ships which is a fun high-seas fantasy adventure, second in the series..."I liked the first one, but missed that the second was out already, I'm glad it sounds like it was good.
I just finished A Deadly Education, which I really enjoyed. I got a preview copy of The Wolf and the Woodsman which I was looking forward to since I really liked books that it was marketed as being similar too: Spinning Silver and The Bear and the Nightingale. Compared to those, however, I was disappointed. I think maybe the structure was more like a YA, dystopian romance, but just with a historical fantasy setting and characters in their 20s instead of teens.
Listened to Ready Player Two over the holidays, finishing after new years with the spouse. Today I finished Rhythm of War which at 57+ hours is a lot of book. Plan to listen to The Fated Sky next which is going to seem super short after the Stormlight Archive volume.So far in 'print' I've read Under the Pendulum Sun by Jeannette Ng which was a different take on fairies, and I'm in the middle of Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor. This sequel to Strange the Dreamer had me engaged much quicker than the first book, but it literally starts up where the previous one ended.
Under the Pendulum Sun was wild and incredibly imaginative. I actually read it slowly because it was so dense with imagery.
Rick wrote: "Under the Pendulum Sun was wild and incredibly imaginative. I actually read it slowly because it was so dense with imagery."I loved Under the Pendulum Sun! The gothic fae fever dream I never knew I needed.
I finished the second book in the Second Chronicles of Amber:
Blood of Amber by Roger Zelazny
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Next I'm going to read another selection from
The Conquering Sword of Conan by Robert E. Howard
before starting on the third book in the Second Chronicles of Amber:
Sign of Chaos by Roger Zelazny
I’ve finished 3 works by H. Beam Piper: Little Fuzzy; Space Viking; and the short story “Omniligual.” Little Fuzzy was great, even if the “future tech” is now outdated. The short story was just okay, and while Space Viking has a good plot, it also has some issues with other characters and views about governments.
Since you liked Little Fuzzy, you might want to check out Scalzi's Fuzzy Nation. It's been a while since I read it, but I believe it's another take on Piper's story.
One of my libraries did, in Libby the ebooks app, a collection of Afrofuturist fiction. Sigh... down the rabbit hole we go... First up, The Liminal People a good first book in what looks to be a series. Can't comment on the ending etc since I'm still reading but it's got that "want to read more" thing which is a definite plus.
OK, finished this last night. Very good, ends in a way that you can stop here or read the next one (it sets up future events but ties up the conflict in this book).
Finished up Wizard of the Pigeons: The 35th Anniversary Illustrated Edition a while back. I've had trouble writing about it because the book is so well done it's hard to express without using superlatives every third word.Wizard is a homeless person living in Seattle who spends his time talking to other homeless in parks as well as people he meets in his daily wanders. Or he's the protector of the people of Seattle who lives by arcane rules, spreading wisdom as he goes.
This book is from the early 1980s. Wizard is an aging veteran of the Vietnam era. Or perhaps he didn't go. Nothing is clear at first, or really throughout. The author trusts you to figure it out. The narrator is unreliable, except that what he tells you is completely true. It's the events themselves that are unreliable. He could be just a homeless person feeding pigeons from a popcorn bag - a bag that never seems to run out. One character appears as different people. Either she is the magical being she appears to be, or Wizard is hallucinating coherence out of random encounters.
Seattle features as a character, with expressive locations from the magical to mundane. A dumpster is as important as an artistically designed plaza. There's an alternate Seattle - not an alternate reality, but a Seattle of magic. It's a magic that could be explained away for almost the entirety of the book.
Wizard has to confront his past and reconcile to what he has done. A great evil seeks to use that past to destroy him. Or perhaps he is just hallucinating the whole thing.
Robin Hobb (Megan Lindholm's other pseudonym) writes that she did the book as an early career writer. That may be literally true, but this book reads like a capstone masterpiece. The elegant use of language, the subtle development of events, all speak to great skill.
This is perhaps my fifth reread of the book, first in several decades. As I mentioned elsewhere, my aging eyes can no longer read the small print of the paperback copy I have. The book is now out on Kindle, making this readthrough possible. It's even more amazing now that I have more life experience to bring to the material.
I read the book in small chunks to savor it as much as possible. It's from an earlier era, when SF books were about 200 pages. Even reading it as slowly as possible I still got through it in four days. A wonderful, painful, poignant experience.
This sounds awesome and as a native Seattleite, I think I need it.
After the rave reviews of the audiobook for The Marrow Thieves, I downloaded the Kobo app and procured it. I haven't started listening yet, though, because I picked up this book from Audible about the DC sniper and well, despite how freaking crazy it was at the time, I really want to know how they tracked them and how they caught them. But man oh man this book is reminding me of how crappy it was in the DC area in 2001 and 2002. The book is Call Me God: The Untold Story of the DC Sniper Investigation. I started during my workout today and had to stop before it got too late. Last thing I need is to relive that in my sleep.
Ended up lemming The Pride of Chanur. Tried Flyaway via audio, but it did not work so I lemmed it too. It's the year of the lem! Anyway, still enjoying Tales from the Folly: A Rivers of London Short Story Collection even though Ben is not really good in writing endings - but hey, Peter's adventures are almost always fun. Starting When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain with super high expectation since the previous book was magnificent.
I finally got to The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and I think those who loved The Ten Thousand Doors of January would also be into this one. It's by V.E. Schwab who is more known for A Darker Shade of Magic, which we read, I think?
Back in earlier January I also finished the latest Invisible Library book, The Dark Archive. To my amusement it rated third of the four books I read over the extended Holiday period. That's not due to any lack of quality, but rather that Legacy of the Iron Dragon was high quality and Wizard of the Pigeons just plain superb. The Maggie for Hire book was excellent as well even tho it ranked fourth. A great month for reading.Spoiler protecting to be polite, not really a spoiler for this book but spoilers for the series if you haven't read...
(view spoiler)
After that great period, time for some lesser books. I picked up the Butlerian Jihad. 600 pages of fiction expected to be mediocre, and it was. The good part is that the later Dune books aren't works to savor, but rather to plow through. I didn't mind reading half-lidded during an insomnia period. Charitably I could have skipped 50 pages at any time and not missed anything important.I decided to read this book rather than ones on deck that I know I will like better, just to get this piece of SF history behind me. Plenty of references to the Butlerian Jihad in geek media. It's eminently mockable with multiple silly plot points. The third grader in me wants to call it the Buttfacian Jihad. Well, it was an easy read, if rather predictable with ridiculous plotting.
Getting up to date, I read the very short Seanan McGuire book Across the Green Grass Fields in two days. It's the usual Wayward Children poignant look at childhood's friendships and betrayals. The MC loves horses and winds up in a horse-dominated fairy tale situation. Seanan McGuire makes excellent use of language and brings a harsh look at the trials of childhood. She says that adults have largely forgotten just how fraught with anxiety that period of life is, and thinking about it I would agree.This is an entirely new tale with none of the characters of the other books. Just an alienated child with a Door and a choice.
John (Taloni) wrote: "Getting up to date, I read the very short Seanan McGuire book Across the Green Grass Fields in two days. It's the usual Wayward Children poignant look at childhood's friendships and betrayals. The ..."I read that one yesterday. I had a best friend who loved horses and we would "play unicorns" on the playground, so... this tracked. :)
Wine Dark Deep short entertaining hard sf. The author on youtube describes it as "Star Trek as done by Carl Sagan".
Tamahome wrote: "Wine Dark Deep short entertaining hard sf. The author on youtube describes it as "Star Trek as done by Carl Sagan"."For a moment I thought you meant Star Trek: Year Five - The Wine-Dark Deep ;-)
Silvana wrote: " It's the year of the lem!"Good for you! I know I'd read more and be happier if I developed the ability to put a book down, but I can't bring myself to do it consistently.
Luckily, a lem wasn't needed on my latest read, Outlawed, a really excellent alternate-history western featuring a band of mostly-female outlaws. It works as a western adventure and it works as a dystopian, feminist novel (a la The Handmaid's Tale ). It's the Dakotas, 1894, and after a flu pandemic a reverence for children (to repopulate) takes over religion and culture. Women who cannot conceive are run out of town, or worse, burned as witches. After a year of marriage, Ada isn't pregnant and flees town ahead of the posse, eventually falling in with a notorious gang of other society cast-offs. Adventure ensues. Sometimes books that are on the more literary end of the spectrum sacrifice plot to dive into characterization and description, but there's plenty of action here too.
Mark wrote: "Tamahome wrote: "Wine Dark Deep short entertaining hard sf. The author on youtube describes it as "Star Trek as done by Carl Sagan"."For a moment I thought you meant [book:Star Trek: Year Five - The Wine-Dark Deep..."
I heard that on Discord too. The title is from Homer's The Odyssey.
I finished Call Me God: The Untold Story of the DC Sniper Investigation. I think I forgot how crazy 2001-2002 was in the DC area.I tried The Marrow Thieves in audiobook and couldn't get into it. My mind kept wandering. It's been a really hectic week at work (well, months) that are kind of wrapping up as we just finished a major design review. Maybe I'll try TMT again when my mind is in a better place.
Not sure what's next. Maybe Magic for Liars for my morning workout. And probably February's pick after.
I finally read Rogue Squadron, 25 years late. It’s good. I bash JJ Abrams in my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...Also read The City We Became. Also good. I bash JJ Abrams in my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... (jk, I don’t.)
Very early on in The Fold. Picked up The Tindalos Asset which is spooky and disorienting. Kiernan is very good.
Savoring War of the Maps which has the most gorgeous prose I've read in a long while.
Starting Black Light with quite a high expectation since I really enjoyed Wylding Hall and in the mood for some horror.Seth wrote: "Silvana wrote: " It's the year of the lem!"
Good for you! I know I'd read more and be happier if I developed the ability to put a book down, but I can't bring myself to do it consistently.
Luckil..."
Thanks, Seth! Too many books, too little time :)
I am glad you enjoyed Outlawed - I was looking for a better version of Upright Women Wanted so that book might be it.
I just finished Ready Player Two. I enjoyed it as a light read. More of the same, really.Next up, Stormsong.
I'm about halfway through 14 on Kindle and really enjoying it so far. I'll wait until I finish before starting this month's pick on Audible. I'm just listening to a few Audible originals that I downloaded last year that I need to catch up on. Most of them are pretty short. This week I've listened to The Golden Orchard and this morning I finished Junkyard Cats. I think I'll listen to Once More Upon a Time next.
Ended up disliking Black Light, messy confusing, and rapey.Finished When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain, one of the best novellas I read in year.
Starting another one Riot Baby and in a few days hopefully, Finna.
The end is in sight! Moved on to In the Ruins, the sixth (of seven) in Kate Elliott's Crown of Stars series.
I finished:
Books of Blood: Volume 5 by Clive Barker
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
and I started reading:
Books of Blood: Volume VI by Clive Barker
I finished up the last of the first four murderbot books this morning. I had been reading them while traveling, but I thought it best to finish the last bit while not in public, not knowing exactly what way it was going to go. All the praise it gets around here is well warranted. And I also agree with the one complaint everyone seems to have, they just end too quick. ;-) Not sure what is next up, but I’ll find something. Might pick up book 8 of the expanse, but maybe I’ll change up gears as well.
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The Sword and Laser
Books mentioned in this topic
Remote Control (other topics)Books of Blood: Volume 5 (other topics)
Books of Blood: Volume VI (other topics)
In the Ruins (other topics)
Riot Baby (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Clive Barker (other topics)Kate Elliott (other topics)
Robert E. Howard (other topics)
Roger Zelazny (other topics)
Laini Taylor (other topics)
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