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What Else Are You Reading?
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What else are you reading - February 2021
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Rob, Roberator
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Feb 01, 2021 02:51AM
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I'm currently reading Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith, which is terrific, and The Book of Koli by M.R. Carey, which I'm enjoying although it is a bit YA for my tastes.Another month with several group reads lined up:
Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson
I, Claudius by Robert Graves
and possibly The Apex Book of World SF
I’ve overcommitted again:Reading Jade War, The Fires of Vengeance, DC Comics: The Art of Lee Bermejo, and Art of Star Wars: The Mandalorian, with Nophek Gloss paused.
Read The Fold last month. Reading War of the Maps now. Might read other things, but undecided on what.
Almost finished with The Fall of Dragons the 5th and final book of the Traitor Son Cycle Series. Just started the 2nd of the 10 finalist of SPFBO 6 Black Stone Heart by Michael R. Fletcher. Also Embers of War after a nice recommend tweet from James S.A. Corey and it is free due to my Audible membership.
I finished Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor yesterday. I was also listening to the Overdue Podcast episode on The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin, and I'm not sure I'd make the connection otherwise but the emotional journey for the MC is very similar, if not the details. The Okorafor is a novella and not a trilogy that I can see.The publisher sent me A History of What Comes Next, which comes out today, and I will probably fit this one in this month! I loved the Sleeping Giants trilogy.
Tassie Dave wrote: "...Started Heaven's River the latest Bobiverse novel."I've been trying to listen to that on Audible. It's just awful.
Just finished the audio for The Fated Sky. I liked this much more than the first Lady Astronaut book. I also wrapped up the hardcopy version of Ten Arrows of Iron which is the sequel to previous club pick Seven Blades in Black. I also liked this one better than the first book.I'm now starting The Midnight Library in audio and The Dark Archive in text (the 7th book in The Invisible Library Series in which Book 1 is a former club pick).
Still working on book one of The Galactic Milieu Trilogy Jack the Bodiless. Slow going as I constantly have to refer to a dictionary or Google for an obscure word. Even then, some of them don't show in Google without doing a deep dive into the subject matter.
AndrewP wrote: "Still working on book one of The Galactic Milieu Trilogy Jack the Bodiless. Slow going as I constantly have to refer to a dictionary or Google for an obscure word. Even then, some of..."I remember enjoying the Many-Colored Land books back in the day, but never went on to the Galactic Milieu. Maybe a revisit someday?
I finished Rhythm of War and loved it! I think this book has created more of a split opinion than the others. It is long, very long, like all the others. People who did not like this book as much attributed it to the length. But you get to see a lot more how the science and magic works among men and among. The author also spends much more time exploring the mental health challenges of several of the main characters. This added some length to the book, but also added a necessary shade of reality. Also, we get to understand Urithiru finally! Navani's story is used to further world build and explain the magic and science systems. I personally enjoyed and loved this book. It ends like with intensity as the others. I also finished listening to The Girl and the Stars
I have started listening to The Fires of Vengeance. If you haven't started this series yet, I highly recommend it! It is amazing and uses African culture integrated with fantasy! I spent two years in Zimbabwe in the early 2000's so the African setting of the book was particularly enjoyable to me.
I guess technically last month I finished Magic for Liars (I think the GR search is broken because it doesn't show up in search) and enjoyed it. I wished there was more magic but I dug the mystery.Now I'm well into The Fold and I was liking it even when the first crazy thing happened (well the first big one) but now that it's more horror I'm less stoked. But I want to see how they resolve it, so I'll keep reading.
I'll finish that soon and I have no idea what's next, maybe something non-genre.
Jonathan wrote: "I finished Rhythm of War and loved it! I think this book has created more of a split opinion than the others. It is long, very long, like all the others. People who did not like thi..."I’m about 40% of the way through Rhythm of War and tbh I’m finding it a little bit of a slog. I like the stuff about mental health, but the plot seems to be progressing very slowly. I’m hoping things will start to pick up soon and Sanderson sticks the landing.
Jonathan wrote: "I have started listening to The Fires of Vengeance. If you haven't started this series yet, I highly recommend it! It is amazing and uses African culture integrated with fantasy! I spent two years in Zimbabwe in the early 2000's so the African setting of the book was particularly enjoyable to me."I’m currently reading this and also enjoying it. The first one had some of the best action scenes I’ve read in a while, and this one is solid there, too.
I don’t know that the setting is Africa so much as the characters are African. It’s clearly a Secondary World, but it takes its inspiration from African sources rather than European ones. That alone is a breath of fresh air. It’s interesting how giving the classic tropes just a slight twist can make them feel new.
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I've been having a lot of issues with searches recently, so it wouldn't surprise me.
I just finished Stormsong. I had some issues where I couldn't remember what had gone on in the previous book in the series (Witchmark), which confused me a bit. I had it all straightened by the end, though. Luckily the conclusion to the trilogy comes out in a few days, so I'll read that right away and not have this problem.Next on my reading pile is The Ministry for the Future.
Rob wrote: "terpkristin wrote: " think the GR search is broken because it doesn't show up in search."I've been having a lot of issues with searches recently, so it wouldn't surprise me."
So what about friends' reviews not appearing? Anyone else finding this? I don't see it mentioned on the Help page.
It's not for every book, but it seems to occur with the more popular books. For example, 'Salem's Lot. My friends reviews do not appear, not even their star ratings. This has occurred with other books as well....
Finished up The Machine Crusade, the second book in the Dune: Butlerian Jihad series, or as I'm now calling it, "Dune: Money Grab." After a series of high quality, involving books, I just wanted a long piece of SF by the yard. This book delivers in longwinded, mediocre fashion. A three at best, but it fit the bill. It's familiar territory that relies entirely on the majesty of the original Dune book for any interesting developments.The series continues with well known names not acting a whit like their later descendants. We have a silly two-book setup for the derivation of "Fremen." Characters make dumb decisions for the sake of even more ridiculous plot points.
Even tho I wanted a long book, this one started to get tedious long before the halfway point. Heroic Harkonnens! Craven Atreides'! The founding of Caladan, delivered with the subtlety of a sledgehammer! There's a decent ending, tacked on as if the end were decided well in advance and the authors just filled in drivel until they reached their desired page count.
Welp, the authors got some money, publishers got a guaranteed hit, and fans of Dune got another book. Everyone wins! Except for artistic integrity, there's precious little of that here. Now at least I will get some of the geek memes about later Dune and the Butlerian Jihad in particular. I'll probably even read the third book, once I've read some better SF. Can't bring myself to do it right now, but completism and an enjoyment of echoes of the original Dune will probably bring me back. Eventually.
Decided to put the audiobook of Rhythm of War on hold for now (though I’ll keep going with the kindle version) and listen to The Fold instead so I’m getting to it before the end of the month.
Joseph wrote: "I remember enjoying the Many-Colored Land books back in the day, but never went on to the Galactic Milieu. Maybe a revisit someday?"Many-Coloured Land was better - but the Galactic Milieu is worth reading. Make sure you include 'Intervention' which is a sort of bridge between the two series. Don't worry about the vocab - just work it out from context, it all makes sense.
I kinda liked The Fires of Vengeance despite itself: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Art of Star Wars: The Mandalorian is really good overall:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Art of Dejah Thoris and the Worlds of Mars is hot garbage for creeps:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I finished Blood of Elves which was amazingly short on action and long on talk (it was like watching Star Trek:TNG). The action was great when it happened. I think I prefer the short stories. Flew through the The Dark Archive which was disappointing. The weakest of the series so far. Now that the big reveal has happened maybe we can have some more character growth rather than running on the spot.
Finished listening to And the Rest is History where Jodi Taylor continues to torture poor Max for crimes against history (this is a great romp). Eight books in and still going strong.
I am now dipping in and out of Tales from the Folly: A Rivers of London Short Story Collection which is a nice return the world of the Rivers of London (lots of Ghosts).
Listening to Terra Nullius which is astonishingly good (and terrifying). The audio book is beautifully narrated. Can't wait to see where it is going.
Started 14 because I have problems with starting on book2 even if it is stand alone :-(
Iain wrote: "I finished Blood of Elves which was amazingly short on action and long on talk (it was like watching Star Trek:TNG). The action was great when it happened. I think I prefer the short..."I just read Blood of Elves too and yeah... too much talking! The short stories were much more enjoyable.
I'm afraid to say that The Fold was yet another DNF for me - I just couldn't get into it. The characters felt flat, the story didn't grab me, and the author has a quirk of constantly referring to characters by monikers like 'the redhead' or 'the athletic woman' rather than their names which I found irritating.
So I've returned the audiobook to Audible after only a few days and about an hour and a half of elapsed listening time, and I'll be returning to the audiobook of Rhythm of War. Hoping to get it finished before my pre-order of A Desolation Called Peace arrives in March. I very much enjoyed A Memory Called Empire when we read it as a Sword & Laser pick last year, although I found the author's excessive and apparently random use of italics annoying so I'm switching to audio for the second book in the series.
Recently finished The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey. This won the 2020 Costa Book Award for Best Novel.I liked the setting and the use of language. It's more a book about a small piece of mythology intruding into the real word than high concept fantasy.
Also I read The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North. This won the John W Campbell Award in 2015,
I enjoyed this book but agree with some of the criticisms about characters. The overall story about a group of people who live their lives again and again, is well thought out.
It provided an interesting contrast with Life After Life by Kate Atkinson which is a more literary approach to the story of somebody repeating their life and won the Costa Award in 2014.
I'm going to keep reading Claire North and will try to read her book The Sudden Appearance of Hope at about the same time that I read The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab. They look like two different approaches to the same idea.
Been reading lots of 2020 short stories from Locus list and other recs, here are some faves and their authors:Emma Törzs https://uncannymagazine.com/article/h...
Tlotlo Tsamaase https://www.thedarkmagazine.com/the-r...
Vajra Chandrasekera http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/chand...
Clara Madrigano http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/madri...
Baoshu http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/bao_1...
Arula Ratnakar http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/ratna...
G.D. Angier http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/angie...
Vida Cruz http://strangehorizons.com/fiction/ha...
Finished Crown of Stars -- really great series, albeit quite the commitment -- and decided to follow a 5,000 page multivolume epic with some vintage short stories in Appendix N: The Eldritch Roots of Dungeons and Dragons.
Finished As She Climbed Across the Table. Delightful! It's a short book sending up academia in a thinly disguised UC Berkeley. The MC deconstructs language, while his love interest deconstructs reality.Nominally the book is about the Lack, a new universe created in the physics lab. The Lack will either accept or reject objects offered to it based on...well, figuring that out takes most of the plot of the book. Along the way the silliness of academic intrigues comes in for a vicious but amusing lashing.
Someone here recommended it, can't recall who, and I tagged it at the time. I wholeheartedly second that recommendation. In many cases with a lengthy SF tome I think about how the book would be served by cutting at least a hundred pages out. For this book I would gladly have had another hundred.
John (Taloni) wrote: "Finished As She Climbed Across the Table. Delightful! It's a short book sending up academia in a thinly disguised UC Berkeley. The MC deconstructs language, while his love interest dec..."I feel like it was either Brea or Mallory because they had talked about it on Reading Glasses as well.
I went through a Jonathan Lethem reading binge in 2007 or 2008 but haven't done a good job keeping up with him lately. I need to remedy this!
Finished with Silver in the Woods (short but sweet, very forest-y if you enjoy that setting) and starting War Girls
Just finished Exhalation: Stories by Ted Chiang.I loved it. The stories here are more philosophical musings with a thin narrative but they worked for me. They reminded me of those late night discussions you have with your friends when you're university age and you think you're having profound thoughts that no-one has ever had before. The themes are similar to the Black Mirror show on Netflix but done better.
Finished Appendix N: The Eldritch Roots of Dungeons and Dragons (very nice collection, although I'd already read about 80% of the stories in it elsewhere) and, for something completely different, decided to dip into some nonfiction: Great Cities of the Ancient World by L. Sprague de Camp.
Yesterday I finished Diving into the Wreck. It’s an intriguing SF novel about “divers” going into old spaceships thousands of years in the future to look for treasure and tech. The main character finds one such ship where it shouldn’t be, and uncovers secrets about the ship and about her.It’s a terse but interesting book full of twists and reveals. The main character is flawed but never gives up, no matter what mistakes she makes. I’m going to try to get the next book in the series soon.
Robert wrote: "Yesterday I finished Diving into the Wreck. It’s an intriguing SF novel about “divers” going into old spaceships thousands of years in the future to look for treasure and tech. The m..."Nice, I have this on my unread shelf for too long.
Picked up the Tripods trilogy by John Christopher. It's been on the back burner for me for a few years as I've tried to identify a series I read in grade school.These books fit the bill for most of it. Well, the obvious part is the tripods themselves, but I also recalled (view spoiler) Also the grotesque fondling that the aliens do, treating the humans like pets, that's even more gross now that I understand about child molesters grooming their victims. Some I remembered but partly incorrect, as (view spoiler)
Parts of this are amusing, as when the author says in a foreword that he only realized after drafting the book that he'd cribbed from War of the Worlds. Really? I was ten when I read it and I knew. Is he covering, or was he really that out of touch? Older-me also thinks he's stealing from the Lensman series with the non-gendered aliens that reproduce by budding. Nothing wrong with that, especially in a work intended for younger readers, so long as you put your own twist on it - which Christopher did.
I also read the prequel, which hits about the low level of acceptable for such a work. A whole lot of silliness and twisting events to fit what is known to come later. Plus the way the tripods take over humanity doesn't quite jell with the explanation from the second book. I won't blame the author for taking the large sums of cash he must have been offered to revisit a popular work twenty years after the last one.
As for my memories, it seems I've combined two works. The Tripod trilogy definitely fits much of what I recalled. But I also recalled another boy's adventure, post apocalyptic, with radioactive cities. The MCs look for unopened cans and refer to them as "Eats." They stay away from glowing areas. The two boys don't speak the same language but they are similar enough as to easily learn each others' speech. Ah well. If that's enough for anyone here to ID, please feel free.
Just finished The Ministry for the Future. Struggled with a rating for this one; at times it read too much like a science magazine article, other times I was engrossed.Next up: Soulstar, to finish the trilogy.
Read a few that I enjoyed. Charles Yu's Interior Chinatown isn't as speculative as How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, but just as good, and garnered much more mainstream praise. And I liked Phoenix Extravagant by Yoon Ha Lee too. Cool title, cool cover, cool story. Has a very unheroic protagonist, which is nice for a change, and a mechanical-magic dragon, and an interesting setting (a fictionalized historical Korea under Japanese occupation).
Just finished The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. AuelAlthough I thought it was well written and the world-building was very good, I didn't enjoy the book overall
Just started reading a new dead-tree format book, The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay which I’ve had on my shelf for over a year - I’m gradually getting through my TBRs!In audiobook AND ebook, I’m still grinding my way through Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson. I’m at 60% now and tbh it’s feeling like hard work!
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I've been trying to listen to that on Audible. It's just awful."
I finished it today. I loved it and gave it 4 Stars.
Tassie Dave wrote: "... I finished it today. I loved it and gave it 4 Stars."Yup. Good book, that. Dennis E. Taylor is on my autobuy list.
Mod
Now I'm looking forward to the next one.
Just started Walkaway by Cory Doctorow, an author I haven’t read before.(And I’m still reading Rhythm of War!)
Ruth wrote: "Just started Walkaway by Cory Doctorow, an author I haven’t read before.(And I’m still reading Rhythm of War!)"
Pictured: Ruth and Sanderson’s book.
Rob wrote: "I wasn't sure I wanted a 4th Bobbiverse book. I thought he left things in a good place with the 3rd, but I did enjoy Heaven's River once it got going (thought it was a bit of a slow start)."
I just finished a tedious Dune sequel and went on to Heaven's River. Now about 10% of the way in. It's true, the Bobiverse as it was is done. This represents a departure with (view spoiler)
Yet even a few pages in I could feel the sheer joy the author has in writing. It shines through in the story. What a great change of pace from the "for the money" Dune book.
As a longtime Niven fan I'm amused that Dennis E. Taylor has decided to take his shot at the (not much of a spoiler, but... (view spoiler) There's plenty of handwaving at the science but it's still fun. To steal from both the Simpsons and this book, *steeples fingers* Excellent...
I’m about 1/3 of the way through Elatsoe. For a debut novel it’s really good.If I were to summarize it, I’d go with “Native American Nancy Drew-type living in a world where ghosts and monsters are commonplace.”
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The Sword and Laser
Books mentioned in this topic
Elatsoe (other topics)Silver in the Wood (other topics)
Walkaway (other topics)
Rosewater (other topics)
War of the Maps (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Emily Tesh (other topics)Cory Doctorow (other topics)
James P. Hogan (other topics)
Anne Rice (other topics)
Clive Barker (other topics)
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