What are you reading in March 2015?

[Candiss]

Please tell us what you are reading, or plan to read, in March.

[Shel, Moderator]

I'm very slowly chipping away at Gardens of the Moon. I *am* enjoying it, but life is so busy that I'm finding it hard to get into since it's such a confusing start. I know enough to have faith that I'll figure out what's going on sooner or later, but I may have to give up on it for now and try again at a less crazy time when I have more energy to read a challenging book. If it hasn't hooked me by the time my library loan is up, I'll just return it instead of renewing it.

[Kathi, Moderator & Book Lover]

Shel wrote: "I'm very slowly chipping away at Gardens of the Moon. I *am* enjoying it, but life is so busy that I'm finding it hard to get into since it's such a confusing start. I know enough to..."

Shel, I hope you stick with it or come back to it--I think you'll enjoy it once you get into it.

I'm starting Deadhouse Gates but I'm on a road trip vacation, so not a lot of reading time.

[Christine]

I'm enjoying Warbreaker; Brandon Sanderson can really write a ggod story!!

[Pickle]

currently reading On the Steel Breeze which i'm enjoying more than the first book.

Then plan to read The Drawing of the Dark, Homunculus & re-read It

[Stuart]

I am reading Karen Memory

[Alissa]

I'm enjoying the Wars of Light and Shadow series by Janny Wurts, and I'm currently reading Peril's Gate; I plan to start Traitor's Knot within the month. Great fantasy!

[Lindsey]

Finished up a re-read of Written in Red and Murder of Crows in anticipation of this week's release of Vision in Silver (c'mon delivery truck!). Started Inhumans: The Origin of the Inhumans while I wait. I'll also be tackling All the Light We Cannot See if I ever make it to the top of the hold list at my library!

[Tani]

Just finished Gardens of the Moon, which I really enjoyed. I felt like it had a slow start but an explosive ending, and I imagine the series only gets better from here on out, so I'm really excited to continue with it.

Right now, though, I'm even more excited to start Dead Heat by Patricia Briggs! I'm a big fan of Patricia Briggs's urban fantasy, and I feel like I've been waiting for this book forever!!

[Shel, Moderator]

Ooh, I didn't realize that was out yet - will have to pick up a copy! I do prefer the Mercy Thompson books over the Alpha & Omega ones, but really all of them are good fun :)

[Ken]

Finished No god but God.
Interesting history of Islam, kinda debunked a couple of preconceptions I had. Good book

Started on Mar book Station Eleven
So far so good. Didnt realise it was written by a Canadian. Wooo

[Katherine]

Not truly SF, but semi-post-apocalyptic, I am reading by Chris Bohjalian. It's the story of a teen who escapes the area of a nuclear power plant meltdown; she must deal with the knowledge that her father, the plant's engineer, caused the catastrophe. Better written that that sentence, for sure.

[Shel, Moderator]

Katherine wrote: "Not truly SF, but semi-post-apocalyptic, I am reading by Chris Bohjalian. It's the story of a teen who escapes the area of a nuclear p..."

I liked everything about that book except the ending. Won't say any more until you finish it :)

[Justine]

I'm halfway through Deadhouse Gates, which I am enjoying, but I'm also one of those Patricia Briggs fans, so I will be reading Dead Heat as soon as I'm finished...I already have it loaded in my ereader. :) After that, I will finally get to Station Eleven.

[Tani]

Shel wrote: "Ooh, I didn't realize that was out yet - will have to pick up a copy! I do prefer the Mercy Thompson books over the Alpha & Omega ones, but really all of them are good fun :)"

I wouldn't have either, but I saw someone post about it the day it came out. I love the Alpha and Omega books just a tad bit more than the Mercy books, but I think that's because they hit my perfect comfort read area, rather than any kind of objective judgment of quality. Charles and Anna just make me terribly happy. :)

Anyway, I sped through Dead Heat yesterday, and started WWW: Wake by Robert J. Sawyer this morning. I should be going back to the Malazan books once I get that one done. I just don't want to get ahead of the discussion. :)

[Juliana]

Just finished Deadhouse Gates reread. It's fantastic every time I read it. Plus three of my favorite characters are introduced in that book. I'm now ahead of the MBotF read so I thought I'd tackle The Magicians. Enjoying it so far.

[Deedee]

Currently reading:
11/22/63 (2011) by Stephen King
Bitter Greens (2014) by Kate Forsyth

[Christine]

I finished Warbreaker which I enjoyed and highly recommend; I've now started on Fortune's Pawn

[Ken]

Finished Station Eleven. Very good book

Started The Incrementalists

[Sumant]

Here is my review for last book in first law trilogy.

[Sumant]

Here is my review of 2nd book of empire trilogy.

[Lulu]

Currently reading The Strain by Guillermo del Toro & Chuck Hogan. Really enjoying it so far - am at the 20% mark. The whole plane premise isn't exactly original, but I'm enjoying the cinematic, visual writing, and the jumping around of characters and scenarios.

Unfortunately, I've been reading in places that it is a disappointing book altogether. Wish I hadn't read that, but at least I can steel myself for the fall (see what I did there?).

After this, going to try and squeeze Tigerman by Nick Harkaway around my jam packed non-SFF reading list.

[Christine]

I finished Fortune's Pawn which I really enjoyed (a bit irritated by the romance aspect) and have requested the next book from my library. I've started Daggerspell which I understand is the first book of many

[Shel, Moderator]

I gave up on Gardens of the Moon for the time being - life is too stressful right now for a difficult read - though I fully intend on giving it another try when I have more mental energy. Instead I went for some good old YA dystopian fiction...I finished Enclave in a single day (that included an airplane ride - yay uninterrupted reading time!) and am about to pick up the second book, Outpost.

[Justine]

Shel wrote: "I gave up on Gardens of the Moon for the time being - life is too stressful right now for a difficult read - though I fully intend on giving it another try when I have more mental ener..."

Oh no! I'm sorry that you are dropping out of the group read. If it is any consolation, though, I just finished Deadhouse Gates, and while I really liked it, it was definitely not "light reading"...so yes, if you don't have a lot of mental energy, maybe now is not the time for Malazan. :(

[Rachel]

I just finished Chasing Ravens (a gentle fantasy inspired by Russian folktales) and am also reading Playback Effect (near future sci-fi).

[Kathi, Moderator & Book Lover]

Shel wrote: "I gave up on Gardens of the Moon for the time being - life is too stressful right now for a difficult read - though I fully intend on giving it another try when I have more mental energy."

I understand, Shel, and look forward to your comments when you come back to Malazan.

[Kathi, Moderator & Book Lover]

Christine wrote: "I've started Daggerspell which I understand is the first book of many."

It is the first of many. Some of us here are planning to read all the Deverry books when we finish the Malazan Book of the Fallen group read, which will not be for many months. But I wanted to give you a heads up on that.

[Christine]

Kathi, I saw the discussion and hoped that the Deverry series would be chosen as I did not feel like reading what is described a "difficult read".

[Kathi, Moderator & Book Lover]

Christine wrote: "Kathi, I saw the discussion and hoped that the Deverry series would be chosen as I did not feel like reading what is described a "difficult read"."

Christine, I thought you were one of the people in that discussion about which series to take on first, but I didn't look back to see. You will be all set if we read it as a group later!

[Tani]

Just finished The Lascar's Dagger by Glenda Larke. I loved her Stormlord series, but this was a bit of a disappointment. I found the male main character annoying, and that made the book a lot less enjoyable for me. I did enjoy the setting, with the emphasis on the spice trade and marked parallels with our own world, but not enough to not be annoyed at the stupidity of that one character.

I'm taking a quick jaunt out of genre now with Push by Sapphire.

[Sumant]

Here is my review of lord of chaos this was a toil for me.

[Andreas]

Finished Unfettered - only 1 star, read here, why.

[Bill]

Well I finished The Complete Lyonesse, 1000 pages of totally satisfying mythic/legendary fiction. My Review

I stated another older epic fantasy omnibus Legends of the Drenai by David Gemmell. It in includes books 1, 2 and 4 of his The Drenai Saga, a series of 11 books. I may have read the in the early 90's.

[Ken]

Finished The Incrementalists. It wasnt bad, but it wasnt as good as I was expecting

Starting on The Boys of Summer

[Shel, Moderator]

I finished the Razorland trilogy and enjoyed it, though I'm getting tired of the YA dystopias that HAVE to include a love triangle (I'm not the target audience, I know -- teenage readers love their love triangles, LOL!).

Now I'm back to short stories (Some of the Best from Tor.com: 2014: A Tor.Com Original), seems to be all I have the mental energy for these days

[Christine]

I just finished Daggerspell and have ordered the next book from my library; I'm sorry the group did not go with this series. I did have some confusion with the timeline and many of the words. On my shelf now are The Bone Clocks, Station Eleven, Honor's Knight, and Mars Evacuees. I decided to start the last one as I've had it the longest

[Brian]

I’ve just finished the audiobook of A Good and Useful Hurt by Aric Davis, which turned out to be paranormal, and even darker than I’d expected. Maybe I was in the right mood for it, but I found each character’s introductory vignette to be very moving. The book starts better than it ends, as it finishes swiftly and resolved, but somehow unsatisfyingly.

Thinking about joining the series read for the Malazan, though I’ve only got it in the dead-tree edition, which limits how often I have it on me.

[Deedee]

Rachel wrote: "I just finished Chasing Ravens (a gentle fantasy inspired by Russian folktales) and am also reading Playback Effect (near future sci-fi)."

I was in the mood for a gentle Russian fantasy so I've begun reading Chasing Ravens. Liking it so far!

[Tani]

Christine wrote: "I just finished Daggerspell and have ordered the next book from my library; I'm sorry the group did not go with this series. I did have some confusion with the timeline and many of th..."

I really enjoyed Mars Evacuees. I hope you have as much fun with it as I did!

[Kathi, Moderator & Book Lover]

Brian wrote: "Thinking about joining the series read for the Malazan, though I’ve only got it in the dead-tree edition, which limits how often I have it on me."

I, too, am reading the "dead tree" editions of these books and that does make carrying them around a challenge. Fortunately I usually only read at home.

Join us!

[Ken]

I read the first three in the dead tree version but the font size in the books were too small and reading was a chore. So I picked up the ebooks for all 10.
I have a new perscription for my eyes so I can swing both ways. I think when I resume with book 8 it will be ebook.

[Tani]

Finally finished WWW: Wake this morning, and am starting Deadhouse Gates! I'm excited to continue with the Malazan series. :)

[Richard]

Just started A Fire Upon the Deepand am really enjoying it. This is my first Vernor Vinge book, hopefully the first of many!

[Christine]

Yesterday I finished Mars Evacuees which I enjoyed; I've now started on The Bone Clocks

[Kathi, Moderator & Book Lover]

Richard wrote: "Just started A Fire Upon the Deepand am really enjoying it. This is my first Vernor Vinge book, hopefully the first of many!"

Richard, that was one of our Books of the Month a while back and some of us went on and discussed the sequels. I had not read anything by Vinge either, and I'll be interested in your reactions to it.

Edited to add that I see you already found the discussion! Excellent!

[Ken]

Whenever I see the work Excellent I automatically hear it in Mr Burn's voice.

[Justine]

I finished Station Eleven (which I really enjoyed), and then went on to Annihilation, Authority, and Acceptance...they were strange and creepy, but very well written. I just finished The Dragon's Path, and have started on The King's Blood. I'll be picking up Half Wild by Sally Green when it comes out tomorrow, which I'm really looking forward to reading. :)

[Tani]

I made a detour to the library on Tuesday and ended up getting a couple books out, so I've put everything aside to read them quickly.

Yesterday, I finished Champion by Marie Lu. That series has been one of my favorite young adult reads lately, if you're into the post-apocalyptic young adult stuff, I highly recommend it.

Now, I'm working on reading Medea by Kerry Greenwood, which I'm enjoying. I had to read the original Medea for a class, and now I'm very interested in reading alternate versions of it.

[Terry]

I am currently making my way through the Witcher series, I am finally on the last one "Lady of the Lake" even though I had to find a fan translation of it.