What else are you reading - July 2021

[Dara]

Trike wrote: "I really liked Mexican Gothic."

I saw that one a kindle deal a while back but didn't get it. Now I wish I did.

[Dara]

I'm reading The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden. I'm enjoy it so far. It makes me long for winter more than I already am.

[John (Taloni)]

Whole lot of time travel has been on my plate. After finishing Vinge's "Marooned in Realtime" I wanted something less technical. Two books of the St. Mary's series fit the bill nicely.

First up, A Second Chance. There's the usual Anthology-style short pieces, including a visit to Isaac Newton. The main meat of the book includes observing the fall of Try. Jodi Taylor comes up with an interesting take on the Trojan Horse. There's plenty of humor and snark along with occasional brutal violence. Well, it is the fall of Troy after all. Plenty of twists, one of which was exceptionally well done, (view spoiler)[the fate of Helios. (hide spoiler)]. And of course more on the "starcrossed lovers" theme. It's my least favorite part and this one got a little gagworthy in its demonstrative descriptions. But not worse than, say, a lengthy data dump in a more hard SF book. Overall these are 4 star reads and this one continues the trend.

Next on to A Trail Through Time. This seems to be a soft reset of St. Mary's universe. It's somehow an alternate universe and not an alternate universe. I'm sure this will be explained later. More time hops for stories in Anthology style. Includes a defense of St. Mary itself from outsiders, with plenty of well done if gruesome battle scenes. I think Jodi Taylor realized she had a big winner on her hands and wanted to bring back some elements she'd disposed of. Puzzling in parts but still a solid read.

And then, the Indie book mentioned above, Crazy Foolish Robots by Adeena Mignogna. It's sci fi humor, apparently YA since the MC is nineteen and stuck between technical age of majority at 18 and willingness of other institutions to take her seriously at 21. A robot civilization needs help and seeks it in odd ways, as their algorithms have become damaged and incomplete. Plenty of chuckleworthy moments. I don't want to spoil any of them so I'll say the author follows in the tradition of Douglas Adams in space traveling silliness.

A few bumps along the way. The author is a physicist so I expect the space travel to be solid. On visiting the alien planet a ship docks in a parking orbit, following which the travelers are immediately on the surface. That might work for an orbiting space station, or might fit if the ship docked at a space elevator. I couldn't figure out what was supposed to be happening so stopped trying. It's fine for a humor SF book, just a bump along the way.

While reading I noted that the book is refreshingly free of typos, which usually plague Indie books. The author thanks her copyeditor at the end, with good reason. The book has fewer typos than most tradpub books. Stylistically the book has a few issues as when sentences. Suddenly stop in the middle. Nothing too significant, just a bit odd. The book is about 150 pages long. The author has thoughtfully placed the book in Kindle Unlimited, so if you have that it's a free read. Or $3.99. Support Indies! Read this book!

Finished up the time travel run with Chronoliths. I think this book was suggested in this thread a few months ago. Monuments made of exotic matter start appearing, celebrating martial victories in the future. The book follows a divorced dad as he tries to make sense of his life after he royally screws up. He's quantum-entangled in events in a way that even the science figure of the book doesn't understand. It's dystopian as the Chronoliths are causing instability across the world, leading to economic chaos. The plot is more implied than stated. I felt like it could use a big battle scene but I think that's exactly what the author didn't want to do. The characters are painfully well done and events filter through their POVs. That includes some, well, painful family events that are so realistic they hurt to read. I wasn't sure if the author was writing fiction or revealing events in his own life. In any event, a solid read.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I read The Past Is Red by Catherynne Valente. Half of this is a revision of her story "The Future is Blue" and is about a girl and some others who live on the only land left on earth - the garbage patch. I watched Home, the 2015 animated film, with my new three year old on Friday so it was a weird synergy of those visuals with her words in my head.

[Iain]

Finished The Book of Koli which is the first third of a trilogy and it shows. Based on the title I thought I was getting a fantasy read but its more post apocalyptic shenanigans from M.R. Carey...

Took a long while to get into the book as it has its own pidgin that gets in the way of the story and it took a long while to get through that and the story setup for the plot to start moving. The characters are OK but there is far too much setup.

Still finishing Plan for the Worst (Minoans!!! Volcanos!! Tea!) and started Heaven's River which so far is pretty ordinary.

[Iain]

Finished Plan for the Worst which wound up the latest story line and tied even more knots into our heroes time lines. Timey-Wimey doesn't even start to cover it... Minoans, The Princes, That bastard Ronan... What Next!!!

Started listening to Empire in Black and Gold for some fantasy minutes... (Now listening to Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds - does that count as a read ;-))

[John (Taloni)]

Iain wrote: "Finished Plan for the Worst which (snip)"

Glad to hear it! Was just about to dive into book 5 when the book of the month came in. That's next, and probably book 6 shortly after.

[Joseph]

Can't imagine what put it into my head, but decided to start Consider Phlebas. I know I read it (and several other Culture novels) previously, but it was probably 20+ years ago, so my recollections are fuzzy.

[John]

Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "Ruth wrote: "Ok, I’m hearing loud and clear that I need to bump the Parasol Protectorate books up my TBR... are the audiobook versions good?"

They are great, Moira Quirk is amazing."

I second the Moira Quirk is an amazing storyteller vote - she did the audible narration for Gideon the Ninth and did a fantastic job

[Geoff]

I just finished Mexican Gothic. I thought it was OK but it's a very faithful take on the gothic form, which isn't really my thing.

This means I finally read all of the Nebula award nominees for 2020 (Network Effect won). Network Effect was really good but I probably would have picked Piranesi. Mexican Gothic seems like a weird nominee, honestly. The Hugo hasn't been awarded yet but I would also pick Piranesi.

Next I'm reading The Thief based on a strong recommendation by Lois McMaster Bujold. I'm a little worried that it will be too much of a kid's book for me, but I guess it will be a quick read, at least.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

I finished the "Planetary Sci-Fi" anthology


Old Venus edited by George R.R. Martin and the late Gardner Dozois
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Geoff]

RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: "I finished the "Planetary Sci-Fi" anthology


Old Venus edited by George R.R. Martin and the late Gardner Dozois
Rating..."

That's a shame... good editors and many good authors make that look intriguing. Mediocre is a disappointment.