Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy discussion
What We've Been Reading
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What have you been reading this March?
March is the start of autumn for us Antipodeans, but it is usually summer-like. Not this year - we are getting Biblical levels of rain - one area in Queensland has received more than its average annual rainfall in the last 3 days. And there is an amusing video of a football field that has got so much water that some is able to swim in it.https://www.news.com.au/sport/sports-...
Are you sure that's not water polo he's playing there Tony? Either that, or he said to his coach, 'I'll go to any lengths to win this.'
That forward's never going to score, he's out of his depth...
Michelle you're in denial. I thought that guy in Tony's video was in denial... But then I realised it was a football pitch☺☺ comedy drum sting if you please... OK, no more I'm going away now...
Robin wrote: "Michelle you're in denial. I thought that guy in Tony's video was in denial... But then I realised it was a football pitch☺☺ comedy drum sting if you please... OK, no more I'm going away now..."It'll be okay, Robin 😆
No, one more... The news report says the pitch is next door to a sewage farm, so that guy has probably met his Waterloo.☺ ( you may have to be a Brit to get that one) ... There won't be any more now... They have just come to arrest me for crimes against comedy.☺☺
Tony: no more posting of videos where Robin can see them!
Mary wrote: "The Accidental Superheroine by J.R. Rain and Kris Carey"I had forgotten about J. R. Rain! I had read his Jim Knighthorse stories and enjoyed them. I guess I need to add them to my GR shelf.
Michelle wrote: "Mary wrote: "The Accidental Superheroine by J.R. Rain and Kris Carey"I had forgotten about J. R. Rain! I had read his Jim Knig..."
Hope you enjoy it!
Robin wrote: "No, one more... The news report says the pitch is next door to a sewage farm, so that guy has probably met his Waterloo.☺ ( you may have to be a Brit to get that one) ... There won't be any more no..."Us Colonials do get British humour as well. Monty Python was very popular here 😀
Michelle wrote: "Tony: no more posting of videos where Robin can see them!"Agreed, it seems fraught with danger 😛
No one is safe from the Spanish Inquisition.☺
Robin wrote: "No one is safe from the Spanish Inquisition.☺":D
Completed:text:
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Authors:
Daniel Abraham, Orson Scott Card, Max Gladstone, Marlon James, Vanessa Len, Greer Macallister, Aimee Ogden, Gareth L. Powell, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Peng Shepherd, Nicholas Sparks, E. Catherine Tobler
I finished The Past Through Tomorrow. A chunky tome, but a excellent read. Heinlein's future history is more structured (and shows more pre-planning) than Asimov's, although Asimov's does cover a much greater timespan.I am now starting The Steel Tsar, which is the final book in The Nomad of Time - the Oswald Bastable trilogy.
Still reading 'The Fifth Season ' but at the halfway point I began to warm to it somewhat. Now at around 3/4 done I'm quite enjoying it.☺
The End of Everything
by Katie MackKatie Mack, a theoretical astrophysicist and cosmologist, speculates about five scenarios for the end of the universe. Luckily Mack has a wonderful sense of humor, which makes the physics a bit more fun.
Good book. 4 stars
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Robin wrote: "Still reading 'The Fifth Season ' but at the halfway point I began to warm to it somewhat. Now at around 3/4 done I'm quite enjoying it.☺"I think once you get to the reveal behind the three POV's then suddenly things get really interesting. It's one of those books where a second read will be a very different experience from the first time around.
Re-reading Promise of Blood.Just started Mark of the Thief.
Still on Future Tense: Tales of Apocalyptic Vision and The Duke Who Didn't.
Being the Ancient Roman book junkie that I am, Mark of the Thief looks interesting. How is it so far, Audrey?
Michelle wrote: "Being the Ancient Roman book junkie that I am, Mark of the Thief looks interesting. How is it so far, Audrey?"I'm not very far, but it is very good so far! More YA, I think. I have enjoyed Nielsen's other books a lot.
I just finished Enemy of Rome the other night and it was a five-star read. After that, I did a walk-about through my kindle library and decided to re-read Sword-Dancer.
I'm just on the last pages of The Three Body Problem. Unfortunately I'm really not enjoying it. It had such a compelling opening, and such an interesting concept (which you only really hit at the 2/3rd mark), but something about it just isn't delivering for me.I've heard some really good things about Hyperion so that's probably next for me.
Nathan wrote: "I'm just on the last pages of The Three Body Problem. Unfortunately I'm really not enjoying it. It had such a compelling opening, and such an interesting concept (which you only really hit at the 2..."That stinks, Nathan.
I liked the astronomy/physics elements of Three-Body Problem but the rest of it was pretty dull. The characters were so flat. I plan to read Hyperion eventually.
Finished Heretics of Dune, I must admit the second time around I'm enjoying the latter books more than I did the first time around. This is actually the only one of the six Frank Herbert Dune books I couldn't match to a BINGO slot.Now bouncing back to Asimov with my first robot novel - The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov, this one will fill my detective/cop BINGO slot.
On my eReader, I finished The White Invaders, an unfortunate name given the story starts off in Bermuda. Though it was meant to refer to the fact the invaders were inter-dimensional and when they were half here/half there they looked ghostly and could walk through our walls. Plus they had white hair and wore white clothing. This one at least made a bit more sense than The Fire People did. The omnibus has another one in it, The World Beyond by Ray Cummings so continuing with that.
Nathan wrote: "I'm just on the last pages of The Three Body Problem. Unfortunately I'm really not enjoying it. It had such a compelling opening, and such an interesting concept (which you only really hit at the 2..."I felt the same about the start... really wanted to be absorbed by it. But I wasn't and didn't manage to finish the book. I always feel guilty when I give up on a book....
Just finished the audio version of To Sleep in a Sea of Stars voiced by Jennifer Hale. I have to say it is a mammoth thing that I might not have managed as a book-read but this audio version is good. I can see it is a book that divides opinion and I haven't read Eragon. I found bits of "To Sleep ..." over heavy on the "tributes" to other sci-fi authors/fantasy authors... for me this meant I could pick out Iain M. Banks and Tolkein!... And in this context I did balk at one of the final scenes.
BUT overall I was absorbed in the action of what I would call a space opera, absorbed by the central concept of the main character's dilemma vis a vis her relationship with an alien life form and enjoyed this audioversion - all 30+ hours of it.
I finished off the Oswald Bastable trilogy - The Nomad of Time, and the I read the very short, and quite funny, Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex - a humorous look at the physiological problems that might be encountered in a relationship between Superman and Lois.
Lynn wrote: "Just finished the audio version of To Sleep in a Sea of Stars voiced by Jennifer Hale. I have to say it is a mammoth thing that I might not have managed as a book-read but this audi..."Eragon was not good -- super cliched -- so it's killed any interest in this new book for me.
Tony wrote: "I finished off the Oswald Bastable trilogy - The Nomad of Time, and the I read the very short, and quite funny, Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex - a humorous look at th..."Those look interesting -- will have to check them out!
Lynn wrote: "Just finished the audio version of To Sleep in a Sea of Stars voiced by Jennifer Hale. I have to say it is a mammoth thing that I might not have managed as a book-read but this audi..."I like To Sleep in a Sea of Stars; I thought it was a pretty good blend of sci-fi/fantasy. (Very long, as you say.)
Barbara wrote: "Lynn wrote: "Just finished the audio version of To Sleep in a Sea of Stars voiced by Jennifer Hale. I have to say it is a mammoth thing that I might not have managed as a book-read ..."Phew! Glad to have some company on this one :)
To Sleep in a Sea of Stars was an amazing book.
I liked the first two Eragon books, but the last two should have been a single book, they were so dragged out. And the climax, though it had such a big build up, just sorta fizzled, and then there was practically another novel's worth of denouement which just dragged.For a moment I thought my friend had given me To Sleep in a Sea of Stars but in fact it was The Starless Sea :) Haven't gotten around to it yet.
I have started reading The Reckoning: The Day Australia Fell - a military thriller about an Indonesian invasion of Australia. I'm a few chapters in - like many books in this genre, the pace is pretty quick, but it does require some suspension of disbelief. It's fun so far.
Currently reading Warbreaker by Sanderson and still not entirely sure what I think of it. As always, the magic system is quite cool. I'm also enjoying the plot now that it's starting to develop more. But I find the two sisters, who are two of the main characters, to be a bit annoying. Kind of the same issue I had with Elantris where the characters felt a bit like caricatures. So far I like Vasher and Lightsong though. I had hoped to keep rereading a few more of Bernard Cornwell's Saxon Stories books before diving into this one, but I've hit a snag since I can no longer find my copies of Sword Song and Burning Land. I'm thinking my mother may have borrowed them at some point, so I'll try to search at her place before rebuying those two. I really dislike losing/misplacing books though, so hoping I can find them.
Oh no! Never, EVER, lend out your Bernard Cornwell books :). Speaking of whom, I started Death of Kings last night.
How is that, Jim? Or is it too soon to know yet?
Michelle wrote: "How is that, Jim? Or is it too soon to know yet?"It's good, but slow. The start was particularly slow since it's the first book of a series with an entirely new world. He's also gotten wordier as he's aged. For instance, he's taken to describing food & clothing a lot more than I like.
My wife is reading the hardback while I'm listening to the audiobook. She's not as happy with it as I am since she prefers straight fantasy. I'm about 3/4 of the way through & I'm ready for it to wrap up, but I am enjoying it. I own at least one copy of all his books, often both a HB & a PB with the audiobook, if it is available. I have quite a few as ebooks, too. I read his first book back in the late 70s or early 80s, so some formats aren't readily available.
This one is kind of steam punk (not as much as his Ghosts trilogy) with empaths making up a small, but significant portion of the population. He's exploring political issues, censorship by state security, corruption, & such. There's some action by the hero who is a body guard & assistant to a political leader who is targeted for assassination several times. The political systems are different enough from ours that it never feels like he is preaching any of our particular brands, but he certainly favors the hero's over the others, so spends some time looking at why.
There are certainly plenty of parallels with our system. For instance, the congress is elected, but there is no record of individual votes, just votes by the parties of which there are 3: commerce, guild/artisan, & landowners. There is a resistance movement they're battling which wants individual votes & accountability reported with arguments as to why not doing so works best. Considering our current partisanship, it's an interesting thought experiment.
Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy
Books mentioned in this topic
The Last Flight (other topics)Folktales of Chile (other topics)
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The Massacre of Mankind (other topics)
The Einstein Prophecy (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Yolando Pino-Saavedra (other topics)Aimee Ogden (other topics)
Peng Shepherd (other topics)
Matthew Pearl (other topics)
Max Gladstone (other topics)
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I've got the last two Frank Herbert written Dune books planned for this month, starting with Heretics of Dune