What are you reading right now? For 2022

[Jemima]

I am finally finishing Project Hail Mary which I started when it was a book of the month! Well, I got it from the library then, anyway.

Once I started it I was enthralled. Great science, great fiction. Love the concept and enjoying the delivery. Just a little unnerved by the possible ending at present :)

[Trike]

Currently reading Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel, and one character is on a book tour and visits the Cincinnati Mercantile Library.

It’s an attractive library (I used to live in Cincy, so I can vouch for that), but the coolest thing about it is that they have a 10,000 year lease, which Mandel mentions in the book. So when you get to that part, know that it’s a real tidbit.

https://mercantilelibrary.com/history/

[Teresa, Plan B is in Effect]

I’ve been rereading fantasy lately, but yesterday started rereading a space opera A Matter of Oaths by Helen S. Wright.

I do have some new space opera preordered:
May 3: Fair Trade by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. Part of Liaden Universe, in the story arc about Jethri.
May 10: Princes at Ewin by Blaze Ward. #4 in the story arc about Centurion Kosnett, after Jessica Keller has retired.
June 7: A New Clan by David Weber. #4 in the story arc about treecats.

[Teresa, Plan B is in Effect]

Finished rereading A Matter of Oaths. Read several free previews that didn’t hold my attention. Decided it was close enough to May 3 for me to reread Trade Secret which is the book chronologically immediately before Fair Trade, in that Liaden Universe story arc. I’m about 30% along on that.

[Teresa, Plan B is in Effect]

I enjoyed rereading Trade Secret by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. Read several fantasy books, but today Fair Trade was published (sequel to Trade Secret), so now I have space opera to read again!

And the difficult decision of whether to try to stretch it out over the rest of the week or go ahead and gallop through it.

[Teresa, Plan B is in Effect]

I’m about 66% through reading Fair Trade and enjoying it very much. I did pause to reread the short story ‘Out of True’ which gives some background on several characters who were not in the earlier Jethri books (at least not as named characters). Fair Trade does give enough of the back story that it can be enjoyed without having read other books; I was just distracted trying to recall the details from that short story because I had read it before but had forgotten most of it.

[Teresa, Plan B is in Effect]

Finished Fair Trade early this morning. Excellent book, but left a lot of threads hanging to be tidied up in a future book. Back to rereading fantasy until something more interesting shows up.

[Audrey]

I have been working my way through a rather huge pile of assorted fantasy/mystery/sci-fi. However, I am pausing that to read my newest acquisition, Fair Trade by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller.

[Teresa, Plan B is in Effect]

Read some fantasy. Read Escaping Gravity: A Space Opera Adventure by J.D. Sullivan which held my attention (barely) for the first book but the free preview of the sequel didn’t grab me. Too much male adolescent wish fulfillment for my tastes.

Now reading Princes at Ewin by Blaze Ward which is 4th in a series that has some interesting space battles.

[Teresa, Plan B is in Effect]

Princes at Ewin was good. I’ll likely preorder the sequel when it is available. Read some more fantasy. Now I’m starting The Void Within by Carlos R. Tkacz which is free this weekend. No idea whether it will grab me but from the tiny bit I’ve read so far it is definitely space opera.

[Gilles]

Out of the dark by David Weber. To date, very goo.

[L J]

Gilles wrote: "Out of the dark by David Weber. To date, very goo."

Out of the Dark
One of my all time favorite books. Never understood the reviews that complained about lack of foreshadowing what, (view spoiler)[or should I say who, (hide spoiler)] was coming. I thought he foreshadowed the H out of it!
I also enjoyed the next book Into the Light though I was very disappointed in the audio of it.

[Teresa, Plan B is in Effect]

New book just out in the series starting with Bob's Saucer Repair by Jerry Boyd. Title is Hand Jive. I’m about half finished and enjoying it very much.

[Teresa, Plan B is in Effect]

Hand Jive was fun. Read some fantasy after that. Now I’m in an uncomfortable state of not being able to settle down on a book. So what are YOU reading?

[Debrac2014]

The Terran Privateer by Glynn Stewart

[Lizzie]

I love the older characters and the humor.

[Teresa, Plan B is in Effect]

Read some more fantasy. Reread The Long Voyage of the Little Fleet by Mackey Chandler which is the June Limited Pick. Starting to reread its sequel Secrets in the Stars. Not sure whether I’ll binge the rest of the series or not - a fantasy book I preordered is dropping tomorrow.

[Fredrik]

I have not read that much space opera this year. I reread Burroughs' The Chessmen of Mars a few months ago (still brilliant!), and right now I am reading Metropolis, although that is more (true) cyberpunk than space opera, I guess. So far, I like Metropolis, but it feels a bit heavy at times. Hard to say whether it is von Harbou's style or the translation, which sometimes feels like it was not made by a professional. Very interesting to compare with the movie.

[Betsy]

Currently reading Fair Trade, the latest full length book in the Liaden Universe. I'm having a little trouble getting into it, probably because it's been so long since I read the last one that I'm not remembering much about it. But I'm sure it will get better.

[Teresa, Plan B is in Effect]

Got about halfway through rereading Secrets in the Stars before getting distracted by shiny new books. Read the fantasy I had preordered. I’m now reading Luna and the Balaru by Laura Jo Phillips which is the latest book of a series that I’d class as space opera adjacent: SF romance, with a pulp feel, completely implausible but I enjoyed the first two books enough to reread them and so far this third book is pretty good.

Edit: first book of this series is Luna of Earth.

[Teresa, Plan B is in Effect]

Finished Luna and the Balaru, which might be the final book of that series - it wraps things up nicely. Read a new fantasy, and now I’m back to trying to finish rereading Secrets in the Stars before I’m distracted by another new book. I have A New Clan by David Weber preordered and it should show up Tuesday.

[Chrissy]

Teresa wrote: "Got about halfway through rereading Secrets in the Stars before getting distracted by shiny new books. Read the fantasy I had preordered. I’m now reading [book:Luna and the Balaru|6..."

I’m glad you mentioned this because I didn’t realise that the third book had been released in the Luna series. Time for a quick re-read I think.

[Teresa, Plan B is in Effect]

Finished rereading Secrets in the Stars. Now reading A New Clan by David Weber which is the newest treecat book, and has a lot of the flavor of A Beautiful Friendship. The timing is the autumn after the fire season, still in danger from wildfires, with new characters who have heard about treecats but not much in the way of details and they aren’t sure it’s true.

[Geetha]

I'm reading Shockwave by Lindsay Buroker and thoroughly enjoying it! I love finding books I relish reading - it gives my day a lovely glow. I hope others enjoy this book as well :)

[Teresa, Plan B is in Effect]

A New Clan by David Weber finished. Some new characters, all the ones that already had treecats, quite a bit of action. I gave it three stars. It doesn’t advance the treecat history and if a fifth book is written this fourth one is likely to be one that can be skipped over, but it held my attention.

Now tackling the mound of free books and free previews of books that has accumulated in the past week or so.

[Teresa, Plan B is in Effect]

Didn’t find anything that held my attention in my pile of free stuff. I returned to rereading the Family Law series. Currently on #5 Friends in the Stars. This the one with the hilarious scene in the storage locker.

I have a preordered fantasy that comes out tomorrow which will distract me from rereading.

[C. John]

Only books I have going right now are a collection of the old Metamorpho comic book and a collection of Poul Anderson stories. Have mostly been reading shorter works, though I did recently read an interesting book on British War Comics, first of a series it seems, which makes sense as it was reviews of various British picture libraries and some series from the weekly comics.

[Teresa, Plan B is in Effect]

My preordered fantasy didn’t hold my attention. I finished rereading the rest of the Family Law series, then started reading The Mages of Starsea by Kyle West. Not sure whether I’ll finish that one.

Just noticed #26 in the series that starts with Bob's Saucer Repair by Jerry Boyd is out. Here’s hoping I can get enough sleep tonight to pay attention at work tomorrow. Title is Fort Scratchy.

[C. John]

I know that feeling. The other night I finally got the table light by the couch working. Figured I would test it out by reading a chapter of the Gideon of the Yard book I was reading. Ended up almost finishing the book instead. At least I know I can curl up there and read at night if I want.

[Teresa, Plan B is in Effect]

Fort Scratchy was good. I gave up on The Mages of Starsea. Back to reading that new fantasy book but keeping my eyes peeled for interesting other books.

[Betsy]

I just finished A New Clan, the fourth installment of the David Weber/Jane Linskold YA series. It was meh. Okay, but not as good as the first three books.

Next, I have to decide between trying Fair Trade again or To End in Fire, the latest installment in the Honorverse Crown of Slaves series, which I just learned about.

[Debrac2014]

Gravity Storm: Age of Expansion Fun read!

[Betsy]

I just finished To End in Fire, the latest in the Honorverse series, just published in October 2021. I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected to. Although it's advertised as the fourth in the Crown of Slaves subseries, it feels more like a continuation of the main Honorverse series. Here is my review.

[Ilya]

I am reading Seveneves by N. Stephenson - it is interesting but not sure I would qualify it as space opera - at least not the first half of the book (didn’t get tot he ends yet) since it’s not grand enough in scale… but I can’t get over PFH’s Salvation ending - so so good…. And I am looking for suggestions to more like it - the only two I am aware of are PF Hamilton and N Asher - so if anyone can recommend more like it…. I’d be ever so grateful!

[Brian]

This morning I started The Light Chaser by both Peter F Hamilton and Gareth L Powell. I'm a long time Hamilton reader and, having read and enjoyed Silversands to the point I intend to read more of his work, I'm looking forward to getting stuck in to this one.

[Teresa, Plan B is in Effect]

I’ve been reading fantasy while waiting for something new in space opera to catch my eye, or for something old that I’m ready to reread.

[P.R.]

I recently finished Walter Jon Williams's first three books in the Dread Empire's Fall series (The Praxis, The Sundering, and Conventions of War), combining Mil SF and space opera. I'm waiting for the last book to drop before continuing on. Fans of Williams's work won't be disappointed.

[Betsy]

I've been reading the Starship's Mage: Omnibus series and enjoying it. Nothing really creative or thought producing, but it's fun, rollicking good space opera. I'm currently on the third book, Voice of Mars and jonesing to get back to it.

[Ally]

Thanks P.R. I didn't know this author.

I managed to climb back from the rabbit hole that is LitRPG especially on RoyalRoad.com which is a good website for new authors for those who don't know it yet. A lot of the good stuff ends up on KU. There is Space opera too not just LitRPG.

I read Red Moon by Kim Stanley Robinson and I was very disappointed. It's so politic there is no Science fiction in it anymore.

I tried Wild Space: Onslaught but dropped it as it was too predictable.

I read Oasis (nos space opera) , it was ok but a bit too YA for my taste.

I read some Urban fantasy: the Rivers of London series, it's quite good .

There is also Far from the Light of Heaven wich was a bit space opera and a lot of murder investigation but good.

And then some Adrian tchaikovsky :
One day all this will be yours which was fun (but not space opera, time travelling)
Shards of Earth was great

Now I'm reading Nexus (not Space opera)

[C. John]

Been wondering about the Rivers of London series. Will probably give it a try for sure now.

[Betsy]

C. John wrote: "Been wondering about the Rivers of London series. Will probably give it a try for sure now."

I read the first three or four of these, then lost interest. It was an interesting idea at first, but then they seemed to get kind of repetitive.

[Leonie]

C. John wrote: "Been wondering about the Rivers of London series. Will probably give it a try for sure now."

I love the Rivers of London series!

[Teresa, Plan B is in Effect]

I’ve been rereading fantasy but reached a point where I really needed space opera so now I’m rereading Can You Take a Juke? by Jerry Boyd.

[Teresa, Plan B is in Effect]

Finished rereading Can You Take a Juke? and about halfway through rereading Don't Give Up the Shop by Jerry Boyd. Next in line is rereading Prostho Plus by Piers Anthony for the first time in decades. It’s finally out as ebook. I have fond enough memories of it that I purchased without reading a free preview, and hope it’s as amusing as it used to be. It has multiple alien races, and the main character is a dentist from Earth.

[P.R.]

Ally wrote: "Thanks P.R. I didn't know this author."

Walter Jon Williams never gets his due. If you enjoy cyberpunk (and I mean the real cyberpunk, not LitRPG, which has nothing to do with the genre despite squeezing itself into the category), you should check out "Hardwired" and "Voice of the Whirlwind." If you squint a bit, you can see the early roots of "Altered Carbon" in the latter book.

[Teresa, Plan B is in Effect]

I’m about a third into Prostho Plus. I still haven’t reached the parts of the story that I remembered so vividly. It has a similar flavor to Hospital Station by James White. Fits our loose definition of space opera without being any of the standard tropes. Lots of alien races many of which are about as far from “human in a fur costume” as you can get. I’m not racing through it or laughing out loud but it is amusing.

Edit: and finished. I had forgotten most of scenes but did find the ones I had remembered so vividly. I won’t be rereading it regularly but it was worth rereading.

[Shawnie]

Ally wrote: "Thanks P.R. I didn't know this author.

I managed to climb back from the rabbit hole that is LitRPG especially on RoyalRoad.com which is a good website for new authors for those who don't know it y..."
I read Nexus this year and really liked it. What did you think, Ally?

[Shawnie]

I'm doing a buddy read, re-read for me, of The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet with three work friends. I'm hoping to cultivate this small group for future space opera buddy reads. :D

[Shawnie]

Teresa wrote: "Finished Fair Trade early this morning. Excellent book, but left a lot of threads hanging to be tidied up in a future book. Back to rereading fantasy until something more interesting shows up."
This series has been on my To Read for a long time. I should get to it soon.

[Teresa, Plan B is in Effect]

I’ve been rereading fantasy lately. Finished the series so now I’m working on a stack of free previews and free ebooks that had accumulated. Too soon to tell whether any of them will be worth reading all the way through.