SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion
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What Else Are You Reading?
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What Else Are You Reading in 2022?
I am about 2/3 rds of the way through
Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone. Diana Gabaldon has out done herself this time around. Then again, it took her seven years to publish this book nine. And no, I have never seen a single episode of the TV series, "Outlander."
I'm about a third into Revelation Space, by Alastair Reynolds. My sisters are both Reynolds fans, so I have a huge stack of his novels on my shelves that they've foisted on me to read, and since I found the audiobook of Revelation Space in our library's collection, I am starting my sci-fi reading with Reynolds. It's a bit confusing, so far, by I remember Chasm City being equally confusing for the first half before all the bits started coming together into a coherent plot.
Eric wrote: "I am about 2/3 rds of the way through Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone. Diana Gabaldon has out done herself this time around. The..."I've never seen it, either. I read the first book, and I enjoyed it. I partially read the second (?), Dragonfly in Amber, and was disturbed at the treatment of Jamie. It made me wonder if the author dislikes men or something! So I gave up on the series.
I guess I'm binging on David Gemmell again this year. That happens to me sometimes ;) After finishing the three in the Troy series I putzed around in my kindle for two hours and nothing struck my fancy. So Gemmell it is! I'm reading #1 of 2 in the Greek series, Lion of Macedon. It deals with Parmenion and the wars between Sparta and Athens. This takes place a little less than a hundred years after Leonidas vs. Xerxes at Thermopylae.
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I just finished The Sentence by Louise Erdrich. I never thought I'd be saying that (a) I read a COVID novel and (b) I really loved it. But both are true. The ghost story is enough to make it qualify as fantasy, I think, so I may try to nominate it if the occasion comes around. It's also one of those books that is a love song to books, sort of like Among Others by Jo Walton, and was great for many of the same reasons.
Both books look intriguing and I've downloaded kindle samples of both. Thank you Ryan and Travis.
I enjoyed A Plague of Giants - it wasn't at all like the Iron Druid series
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@Travis: Same for me, I loved "The Sentence". Louise Erdrich is a wonderful author.
AMG wrote: "CBRetriever wrote: "I enjoyed A Plague of Giants - it wasn't at all like the Iron Druid series"Good, because I wasn't a huge fan of The Iron Druid series, at least the first two books (all I read..."
I wasn't either. And I really wanted to like it.
I enjoyed the Iron Druid series as light fluff. This new series is not light fluff.
I am here to introduce myself to science fiction and fantasy--two major weak links in my reading practice. Being more familiar and admittedly comfortable reading literature, I picking up
by Voltaire here at the used bookstore. . . . I am glad to have a safe space here to learn and access to more knowledgeable people to learn from.
Welcome, Cynda! I'm sure you will find plenty to pique your interest and many people to discuss them with!My recommendation would be to start with the SFFBC bookshelf and choose a current group read to discuss with us.
Going to complete my re-read of The Dark Tower series by Stephen King And read more educational and mind expanding books! :)
I'm listening to The Blacktongue Thief. It's being read by the author, and I'm enjoying it so far. It's one of the few books I've been able to stick with lately.
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I'm interested in reading Blacktongue Thief, but I'm trying not to start any new series until I've chipped away at some older ones.Now that I say that here comes me finishing the audio for Soulless, the first book of a series. Wait, I can explain! I haven't mucked up my 2022 plan less than half a month in. :D I read the first couple of this series in b&w, then listened to the third, and decided to go back and listen to it all. I also found that Soulless was a SFFBC BOTM (I think while comparing shelves with the mod account, thanks to whoever set it up!) and I'm making those an exception to my rule of not starting series.
tl;dr it wasn't super deep or anything, but the characters and worldbuilding made it fun and engaging. we haven't seen the last of the octopus motif... (review)
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Allison, I'm still listening, and I'm loving The Blacktongue Thief. I love the characters! Even the side characters have so much depth. The world building is top notch Christopher Buehlman knows how to paint a picture with words.
Your comments about the Black Tongue Thief made me curious!
Gabi, if you give it a try, I hope you enjoy it!
Ozsaur wrote: "Gabi, if you give it a try, I hope you enjoy it!"I put it on my TBR for sure - but it is not available on storytel, so it will take some time. This year is dedicated to books I already own or that are availabe to me with no further costs.
I've been reading Shadow of a Dead God, and it's surprisingly fun! Some books make me smile at the humor, (if it's witty), and some make me laugh, (if I'm fortunate). This had me giggling out loud a number of times. It reminds me a little of the Harry Dresden series, although it's in fantasy-land rather than Chicago.
So the end of the Alex Verus series and Benedict Jacka handles it so well. Sad for it to be over though.My review of Risen
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I just got the first one, Fated, from the library, Phrynne! Hopefully I can squeeze it in before I have to give it back (I’ve been waiting for months because they had to buy it, having all volumes except the first one!
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I'm really glad I like them, I haven't found another fantasy book in the last few years that sounded interesting enough to actually read it, and I generally like fantasy. Maybe I was (or still am) just taking a break from the genre.
Phrynne wrote: "So the end of the Alex Verus series and Benedict Jacka handles it so well. Sad for it to be over though.He said on his blog he's going to do a short work set after Risen!
I still need to read Forged and Risen but I keep putting it off because I don't want it to be the end.
Just finished The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. On balance, I liked it. This is an unusual and interesting riff on the Faustian Bargain. The MC is carefully drawn and you can empathize with her. The prose is delicious; it goes down smoothly like a perfect espresso. On the downside, the plot proceeds at a languid pace. I bogged down around the middle of the book and put it aside for a while. (view spoiler). I would recommend this to those who like a romance-oriented story with a long fuse before you reach the firecracker.
Colin wrote: "Just finished The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. On balance, I liked it. This is an unusual and interesting riff on the Faustian Bargain. The MC is carefully drawn and you can empat..."This is a favourite book of mine Colin. I especially liked your comment that the prose "goes down smoothly like a perfect espresso"
A couple of my friends and I started buddy reading this month and I just finished All Systems Red. I have to say I was way more impressed by this novella than I thought I was going to be.
Usually, I am not as prone to science fiction as I am to fantasy, but I really enjoyed this novella.
I really appreciated Wells' for the character development she expressed with the main character. I found myself relating to the character time and time again throughout the story.
I also enjoy that she was able to pack so much character development into a short story. I like that I didn't have to wait for chapters or even books to get a satisfactory idea of what the character was like.
10/10 would recommend. ^^
Yayyy someone else on the “I love Murderbot” train. It’s good on here. We have snacks. And Sanctuary Moon. Hope you enjoy the rest of the books too. And she’s writing more Murderbot.
20 fckn books if I'm lucky enough to have the time. WHICH books are undecided. cause I have 58 currently that I haven't read yet
I was wondering, why it was so quiet in this group ... just to figure out that GR turned off all notifications for me ^^'.Anyways. My reads of the first half of January:
Echoes of the Fall series by Adrian Tchaikovsky - outstanding worldbuilding, but GoT dynamics, which always throw me (I'm no fan of court intrigue), plus the usual killing off of the character I fell for and a weak middle book. A good coming of age story in the first book and a solid last stand, multi POV, battle in the last one.
Words of Radiance and Edgedancer, the next two books in the Stormlight Archive series, that I'm reading aloud with my boys at the moment. Our goal to stretch it over the year has definitely failed, because the boys devour it with such an elevated enthusiasm, that we race through the books.
The best Buddy Read I ever had!
I'm Waiting for You and Other Stories by Bo-Young Kim, a short story collection with one of the most beautiful love stories I've read so far as a starting story. A bit like "This is how you lose the time war", but way better. The last story is the companion piece told in letters from the other half of the relationship. In between there are two creational myth stories that have a great idea but went too long for me and I got slightly bored.
But nevertheless a wonderful new author for me.
Goodreads is always so helpful! :SI've been meaning to read that collection, I've had it on my Storytel shelf since before it came out, but it's gotten buried under all the millions of other books. Happy to hear it's good, I'll bump it up the list, and hopefully it'll stay there long enough for me to get to it!
Finished Empire in Black and Gold by Adrian Tchaikovsky a couple days ago. I wasn't sure what to expect from the series, but I wouldn't have guessed at what it actually turned out to be. Both more and different from what I would've expected. Certainly engaging, and I'll be looking to continue it.Currently reading The Constant Rabbit by Jasper Fforde. I just now realize that this seems thematic, but I just happened to see this one on the library's homepage. (Or maybe it caught my eye because of having just read the above? Who knows how the brain works.) Anyway, it's an interesting enough book. Intended as satire, but maybe a bit darker and a bit more on the nose than one might expect at first shake.
Jacqueline wrote: "Yayyy someone else on the “I love Murderbot” train. It’s good on here. We have snacks. And Sanctuary Moon. Hope you enjoy the rest of the books too. And she’s writing more Murderbot."
Thank you so much Jacqueline! I honestly would love to watch Sanctuary Moon. XD
I can't wait to read more from the series!
Anna wrote: "Murderbot <3 buddy read!
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/..."
Thank you for sharing the link! I will have a look at the topic! ^^
Kaili wrote: "Usually, I am not as prone to science fiction as I am to fantasy, but I really enjoyed this novella. ..."You might want to checkout Wells' Raksura books, then. They start with The Cloud Roads
I read Cloud Roads ages ago. Quite enjoyed it. She’s really a very good writer. I’ll have to get onto the rest of that series at some point. So many books and so little time.
I wasn't very impressed with the Raksura books - I read 3-4 of them and gave up
Jacqueline wrote: "I read Cloud Roads ages ago. Quite enjoyed it. She’s really a very good writer. I’ll have to get onto the rest of that series at some point. So many books and so little time."The Raksura books have one of the best worldbuilding in Fantasy. Only comparable with Adrian Tchaikovsky's Fantasy worlds. They start strong, but tend to get repetitive with time. But the characters are very likeably.
Chris wrote: "Finished Empire in Black and Gold by Adrian Tchaikovsky a couple days ago. I wasn't sure what to expect from the series, but I wouldn't have guessed at what it actua..."
The following books get even better! There is one in the middle that I didn't like that much, but the rest was great meandering towards brilliant.
I finally am recovered enough from my marathon Sanderson audiobook week last week, so I'm moving on to start a new-to-me series, beginning with A Darker Shade of Magic, by V.E. Schwab. I read a Jose Saramago ebook, and most of a print novel by John Banville, to cleanse the palate a bit, and now hopefully the library actually has the whole series in audiobook format so I can listen to Schwab's books while crocheting for a few days. I also finished Before the Coffee Gets Cold last week, a lovely bit of magical realism/fantasy that I know has its sequel available on our library's online system in audio format. :)
I started reading A Darker Shade of Magic on audio as well but the voice the narrator uses for the female MC and one other secondary character completely turned me off so I quickly switched to kindle. But I hope you enjoy it, I had fun reading the first two books!
Jamie wrote: "I finally am recovered enough from my marathon Sanderson audiobook week last week, so I'm moving on to start a new-to-me series, beginning with A Darker Shade of Magic, by V.E. Schw..."I enjoyed that book.
I've finished up all of Murderbot to date (less the short stories) with Fugitive Telemetry. Feeling less bereft than I would have if I didn't know there were more of these coming.This sixth story slots in between the events of books four and five, and gets us more familiar with some of the characters on Preservation Station, as well as the station itself. (I didn't remember that (view spoiler). That was an interesting touch, and some of the tech there was integral to part of the story, too.) (review)
I've not read the rest of the Raksura books, but the world building in The Cloud Roads is great and the story, while setup to be typical, undercuts that nicely. (I agree with N.K. Jemisin's review here https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...). Note that this is NOT Murderbot but in a fantasy setting. Murderbot is self-deprecating, sarcastic and very different from anyone in this book.
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