What else are you reading - December 2021

[AndrewP]

Continuing my, chronological order, read of the Vorkosigan saga with Brothers in Arms. These are all available as part of Audible Plus.

[Trike]

AndrewP wrote: "Continuing my, chronological order, read of the Vorkosigan saga with Brothers in Arms. These are all available as part of Audible Plus."

I did that last year. That series is even better when binged all at once.

[Gaines]

A Memory Called Empire just arrived in the mail, and I look forward to reading it. Looks interesting. I love languages.

Currently, I'm reading The Eye of the World (finally!). Am enjoying it so far, and plan to read at least the first three books in the series before I watch the show that's now out. These books have been on my "to-read" list since I worked in bookstores in 2003-2006.

[Robert]

Saturday I finished Aurora Burning, the second book in the Aurora Cycle. The heroes are on the run, trying to find an ancient super-weapon to fight an alien infection. There’s also rising tensions between humans and another race.

The characters are snarky as before, but they also gain depth. The story has a lot of twists and turns, but towards the end I thought there were a few too many. I did like the book and I will read the third one.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

I finished a book about a virus that is WAY scarier than COVID


Crisis in the Red Zone: The Story of the Deadliest Ebola Outbreak in History, and of the Outbreaks to Come by Richard Preston
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading perhaps the ultimate history book


Asimov's Chronology of the World by Isaac Asimov

[Joseph]

Started Guy Gavriel Kay's most recent, A Brightness Long Ago. I'd forgotten just how good he is.

[Mark]

I read the last installments of two long-running urban fantasy series. Risen by Benedict Jacka and King Bullet by Richard Kadrey. Both authors managed to close out their enjoyable series with some excitement and some grace. Well done!

[HeyT]

That's good to hear about Alex Verus. I still need to read Forged before I can hit Risen though.

[Ruth]

Pausing my audiobook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes to listen to the January book of the month. Fortunately, since each chapter of the audiobook is a separate story, it’s easy to dip in and out.

I DNF’ed City of Lies - I liked the concept (poison! Political intrigue! A city under siege!) but the execution just wasn’t there for me.

I’ve moved on to A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske, an Edwardian historical fantasy romance which I am LOVING.

[Seth]

Ruth wrote: "I DNF’ed City of Lies - I liked the concept (poison! Political intrigue! A city under siege!) but the execution just wasn’t there for me."

Maybe try Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City? Sounds like a similar set up, but I liked the really wry tone of it a lot.

[Ruth]

Seth wrote: "Ruth wrote: "I DNF’ed City of Lies - I liked the concept (poison! Political intrigue! A city under siege!) but the execution just wasn’t there for me."

Maybe try Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City

It’s on my radar thanks, along with A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking

[Sheila Jean]

Sheila Jean wrote: "I'm still plodding through Perhaps the Stars. I've managed to get about a third of the way through so far.

I will put it down immediately when some other books I have on hold at the library come through: Leviathan Falls, Winterlight, the book of the month. I might even finish everything if the timing works since I'm taking the last two weeks of the year off from work.

I'm going to finish up The Thousand Names in audio, but I'm not sure what I'll listen to afterward.

So I've finished Leviathan Falls, Winterlight, A Spindle Splintered, and this month's pick in text. Still need to finish Perhaps the Stars.

In audio I'm almost through Midnight Never Come by Marie Brennan.

Should be able to finish some more books before the end of the year since I'm on "vacation" here in my home until after the new year.

[John (Taloni)]

Picked up Doing Time, the first in the Time Police spinoff from the St. Mary's time travel books. Matthew Farrell, Max's son, joins the Time Police, presumably so he can play with the Time Map that he loves so much. Buuuuut first he's got to do six months of gruntwork as an intro. So he's in a team with rich-boy Luke and shrinking violet Jane. It's kind-of YA as they are dealing with late teen trauma and issues of acceptance, bullying and figuring out what they want to do in their careers.

The book is a light-hearted treatment of some pretty serious topics. Deaths, both individual up close and mass murder in the distance, appear regularly. Intrigue and factional fighting, entitlement regarding sex from both genders, and suicide.

But, all done with a larger than usual helping of Jodi Taylor's trademark wry humor. Of course Max has to show up and overreact. There's a historical event that goes hilariously wrong for the time travelers.

And...some specifics. First, love to see that Jodi Taylor has the taste to be a Pink Floyd fan! There's a reference to an inflatable pig off the dirigible tethering pod of Time Police headquarters at Battersea. That's of course the cover of Animals. Probably an oblique reference to Pigs on the Wing as I think about it...

Next, Trek. "'Dammit, man,' growled Max. 'I'm an historian, not a doctor.'"

And then the obvious, could be spotted coming from the first paragraph. Luke's father confronts him and says "Luke, I am your father." A little too on the nose but I still laughed.

Anyhoo, decent book, some nice twists, I'll cheerfully read the other two. Some Sturgeon up first tho...

[Robert]

Last night I finished Daughter of the Siren Queen. Alosa is back leading the hunt for the treasure of the sirens. Secrets are revealed, battles are fought, and Alosa learns more about who she is.

This is a fast-paced book. Alosa continues to be a great character. The story is good, though it doesn’t shy away from some tough parts. I enjoyed this duology!

[Trike]

I started Neal Stephenson’s latest, Termination Shock, which I probably won’t get done this year due to it being — {flips to back} — 27,000 pages long. It’s pretty good so far, doing his usual progression of Incident > Character Intro > Deep Character Backstory > Side Commentary on Language or History or Biology or Technology or All Of The Above > Incident > Character Intro…

[Ruth]

Just started reading Jade Legacy by Fonda Lee, third in the Green Bone Saga trilogy that started with Jade City.

[Silvana]

Currently reading I'm Waiting for You and Other Stories by Bo-Young Kim. Two stories (halfway) in, I am absolutely in love! The first story is like a more enjoyable version of This is How You Lose A Time War in terms of epistolary narrative. The translation is easy to follow and the audiobook is really good too. The second story is even better, humanity is viewed through the eyes of its creators.

[Mark]

Ruth wrote: "Just started reading Jade Legacy by Fonda Lee, third in the Green Bone Saga trilogy that started with Jade City."

Me too! So has Tom according to his updates https://www.goodreads.com/read_status...

Anyone else?

[Trike]

Mark wrote: "Ruth wrote: "Just started reading Jade Legacy by Fonda Lee, third in the Green Bone Saga trilogy that started with Jade City."

Me too! So has Tom a..."

My pre-ordered copy of Jade Legacy has been on a truck somewhere in California for about 6 weeks, according to the tracking.

I’d be upset, but realistically I know I wouldn’t be able to get to it right away anyway.

[Joseph]

I finished A Brightness Long Ago and decided to end 2021/begin 2022 by just wallowing in epic fantasy, so started rereading Robert Silverberg's 1998 anthology Legends, where he got a bunch of well-known authors (Stephen King, Terry Pratchett, George R.R. Martin, Raymond E. Feist, etc.) to write new novellas in their famous worlds.