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 2023?
Michelle wrote: "I've read the Riddlemaster several times- it is very good!"Now I'm looking forward to reading the whole trilogy!
CBRetriever wrote: no zombies? I don't like spiders or zombies in books.Different strokes, I guess. ;-)
Ozsaur wrote: "CBRetriever wrote: no zombies? I don't like spiders or zombies in books.Different strokes, I guess. ;-)"
oh so true - I'm just not a big fan of horror books or movies. I love Brad Pitt in movies, but I couldn't watch the mess that they made out of World War Z.
Read
Silver Nitrate by Sylvia Moreno-Garcia. This is magical realism and historical fantasy set in Mexico of the 1990's. It offers a detailed view of Mexican film and TV, a good magic structure, a very different romance, and a Nazi sorcerer. The characters, especially the principal characters Tristan and Montserrat, are very well drawn. You may not like them as people, but they will seem quite real. For all that it can sometimes seem like a graduate course in Mexican film, this is both a mystery about an unfinished film and a tale of the risks of playing with someone else's magic. Take note: this story has a very slow burn at the outset. Once it catches fire, it really moves, but it takes time to build the world and the characters. Recommended for fans of magical realism.
Mod
What three reasons? Talk to me about it somewhere!
Ryan wrote: "Michelle wrote: "I finished Tasmakat, and while reading it I was upset for at least three reasons. Now I'm changing gears to historical fiction taking place around the Hundred Year..."I just messaged my reasons to you ;)
I really loved the writing in The Riddle-Master of Hed, it was dreamlike and magical. Reading the rest of the trilogy will be a pleasure.My review is here ;)
Some sort of recent reads...Atomic Anna. This was on a group poll earlier this year and then I saw my library had the audio version. I enjoyed it a lot, it was more of a historical-fiction, family drama than I was expecting but it was done well.
After Atlas, sequel to Planetfall (on the group shelf). I love a mystery and this was well meshed into the sci-fi world Newman has created. I wish I'd read it sooner after Planetfall, though it was not dependent on that story too much. I'll be reading the next in the series before too long.
Stormsong and Soulstar, finished up the Kingston trilogy, which started with Witchmark (on the group shelf). I enjoyed that each book was from a different perspective, so you saw different elements of the world and segments of the society, particularly Soulstar. The books follow each other closely in the story, so I recommend not waiting several years to pick them up like I did.
Percy Bysshe Shelley might have written some proto-science fiction. . . . I am reading a selection from Queen Mab found in The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Romantic PeriodThe editorial blurb says:
It is an allegorical dream-vision in which the fairy queen Mab takes the mortal maiden Ianthe on an extra-terrestrial excursion to show her the past, present, and future states of the human world.
This work is written during during and after The French Revolution and is very much philosophical.
I haven't had much time to read lately since there's a bathroom renovation going on, and we're about to have another baby...of the kitten persuasion. My daughter works at a veterinarian hospital and she knows that we're suckers for kitties in distress. This little pitiful kitten was abandoned by its mama, and the person who found it can't properly care for it because it needs to be bottlefed. So my daughter called the suckers ;) So we're expecting! Hopefully by early evening.
In the meantime I've been reading Gobbelino London & a Collision of Catastrophes to go along with the feline theme. My gosh it's hilarious!
Cynda wrote: "Percy Bysshe Shelley might have written some proto-science fiction. . . . I am reading a selection from Queen Mab found in [book:The Norton Anthology of English Liter..."Very interesting, Cynda! I didn't know this about Shelley.
Since The Riddle-Master of Hed ended the way it did, I started the second book, Heir of Sea and Fire. I like it a lot, so far. There are female characters with a lot of agency - well done, fantasy book from the 1970's!
I'm currently reading The Endless Vessel. I just started reading The Far Reaches, a collection of six short stories. The first story is How It Unfolds by James S.A. Corey.
So we're expecting! Hopefully by early evening.How exciting! Love kittens! (Of all shapes and sizes and ages.)
Leonie wrote: "So we're expecting! Hopefully by early evening.How exciting! Love kittens! (Of all shapes and sizes and ages.)"
He went to the vet today. It turns out that we had a baby boy 😺. He's only about three weeks old and could fit in a coffee cup. He's still in sad shape from neglect. Once all of his wounds are healed I'll post some pictures. Right now he's asleep in my arm like a tiny baby.
Just reviewed On the Edge of Gone. Very original, creative, kept me engaged. And it's a 'no bad guys' survival story. I thought I'd set up a thread looking for those but I can't find it. If any of you know where it is, could you please point me to it so I can add this book? I do have a Listopia and have added it there. More submissions always welcome for that list.
I really liked that one, too!You can see all the threads you’ve started here:
https://www.goodreads.com/group/topic...
(Anyone else looking, go to the group’s front page on a browser and there’s a link in the top right area.)
Group Home -> My Group Topics
I finished The Road to Roswell! It was silly and entertaining, if not exactly a masterpiece.Next up is The Kaiju Preservation Society, because I'm still not in the mood for something serious.
Just saw Ann Patchett on NPR talking about her new book. I may have to buckle down and read Bel Canto after all. It's just a little emotional because the copy that we have belonged to my late father-in-law and it has his name inside the front cover. But the NPR article made me curious and I'm kind of at a lull after reading two Le Guin Hainish cycle novels. Maybe I need to take a Bel Canto break before I finish off The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia
@Bobby - Bel Canto is absolutely a wonderful book you should read if it interests you.But it’s pretty emotional/heavy- so if you’re looking for something lighter or less emotional, I don’t know that that’s the one.
Thank you for the feedback Sarah. I like the first 6 pages. I just needed to get started.
Another serendipitous book find today: Maker's Curse, the fourth/last in a series (Millenium's Rule) by Trudi Canavan which I'd forgotten about, was on display at the library today. I'm actually hoping I haven't read it, because it was published in 2020. I guess I'll just have to start. It would be nice if it is the ending I haven't read yet. Also picked up Destiny of the Dead, book 2 in Kel Kade's Shroud of Prophecy this week, which I suggested my other local library purchase. They had the first (Fate of the Fallen), which I read, but didn't get the second, so I fixed that 😎.
I can do two novels at a time, right? Course I can. 😏
Finished Oathbringer Part One last month, and now just need to get in at the right moment for the full book, which has the nice paintings that the divided editions don't (and slightly larger type), to read the rest.
I finished Heir of Sea and Fire. The writing was magical, just like in the first book. I liked what the author did with the female characters - badass women with agency are quite rare in older fantasy (in my experience, at least). I'm looking forward to reading the final book of the trilogy (saving it for later, though).My review is here ;)
Surviving Autocracy, Masha Gessen (frequent author on modern totalitarianism, especially WRT Russia). It's political.
I read Ogres Another example of Tchaikovsky's outstanding imagination. He packs an awful lot into this dystopian novella.My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Just finished CJ Cherryh's final (for now?) novel in her Merchanter universe, Finity's Edge. IMHO, a return to form, a great novel! the other books in the series between Downbelow Station and Finity were good, but she wrapped it up in a great novel! It's about a young man and initially his mother left behind for their safety off a military ship fighting a war between humans on earth vs a relatively new human colony (Cyteen) vs an alliance of star ports, and later, piracy once the war ended. Anyhoo, his mom basically OD'd, and he grew up on one of the starports, a bit of a troublemaker as children can be when a mother ODs (father MIA, but that is what happens if you are on a ship). And his home ship shows back up to bring him back into the fold so-to-speak. In her universe, it's not necessary to read them in order, but I'd recommend reading cyteen first, not that this book has almost anything to do with the events in that novel, but it is more an intro to her universe.Anyhoo, now on to Rebecca Roanhorse's Fevered Star. I read the first book in that series, black sun last year.
Steel Drivin' Man, Scott Reynolds Nelson's book connecting the John Henry legend to a real person.
Read
The Last Heir to Blackwood Library by Hester Fox because I like books about books, but I was not impressed with this one. Basically, it's a conventional gothic ghost story, without being very scary, hence I can't call it horror. The cast of characters are stereotypes, distinguished by making dumb decisions that are necessary to move the plot along. The haunted library is cool, but not enough to save it.
Morning from London everyone. It’s 3am and after coming from Australia yesterday it’s hard to sleep when it’s midday there. We’ll get used to it. So after finishing my second book for the year last week (Thursdays at Orange Blossom House by Sophie Green) I finished 2 whole books on the plane as well as 60% of a third. Finished Catfishing on Catnet and Chaos on Catnet in the 20 something hours on the plane and the one I’ve nearly finished is Pines by Blake Crouch. I’m hoping I have Wayward on my iPad too. I used to have all three of the Wayward Pines books on there but my iPad chucked nearly 2000 books just because and left me with 200 and then wouldn’t restore even though it did twice and then straight away dropped them all out again. I’ll see if my online library app has it if I haven’t.
Really enjoyed the Catnet books. Purrrfect plane reading.
I rather enjoy the Amazon Originals on Netgalley. This one by the author of Less Andrew Sean Greer is Homer's Odyssey set in space. What will they think of next?My review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Books I've finished recently:Ancillary Mercy I'm enjoying this series, the world and its mix of humans and AI is interesting.
Harlem Shuffle Not sci fi/fantasy but I would recommend, it's written well and happy that it's a series.
The Stardust Thief this is an adventure story in a world of Jinn magic, fun read and nice short chapters
Ann wrote: "Books I've finished recently:Ancillary Mercy I'm enjoying this series, the world and its mix of humans and AI is interesting.
Harlem Shuffle Not sci fi/fantasy bu..."
Oh, the Imperial Radch books are wonderful! I loved them so much :) Maybe a reread is due...
The Stardust Thief is on my tbr ;)
I just discovered Blake crouch and tore through Dark Matter and Recursion in just a few days. Does anyone have any other sci fi recommendations since I like those two novels? Thanks! :)
Just finished
Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher. This is a re-telling of Sleeping Beauty but it's a very different story. Along with Kingfisher's wonderful prose, there are two unconventional and unlikely heroes and a curse that goes wrong in a very weird way. This is a delightful book and can be swallowed in a day. Even better, in the end (view spoiler)
I also enjoyed Thornhedge. I love her two different takes on the same idea, the other (Sleeping Beauty style) "unexpected curse" retelling being Harriet the Invincible :)
Finally digging into Stone Blind (Natalie Haynes' novel about Medusa).
Anna wrote: "I also enjoyed Thornhedge. I love her two different takes on the same idea, the other (Sleeping Beauty style) "unexpected curse" retelling being Harriet the Invincible :)"Now I'm intrigued. Still, I'm pretty certain that Harriet the Invincible has better illustrations.
Harriet is definitely more fun to look at! :D
I also blew through Thornhedge. I'm in agreement with the end author's note that I find it very sweet. Oh, what do you mean about fae horrors? Well, yeah... But no, it's sweet! Really!Spontaneously started rereading Paladin's Strength for more Kingfisher vibes. Flirtatious hilarity! ... Oh. What? Are there any decapitated corpses? Well, yeeeeesss... but it's rom-com! I promise!
I may also be in the middle of yet another reread of Paladins :DWe can use the Kingfisher thread as a Thornhedge discussion thread if needed! :)
Just starting the 6th Volume of the Sandman graphic novel series, Fables and Reflections
by Neil Gaiman
The Kate Daniels' adventures continue with the surprise release of
Magic Claims by Ilona Andrews.This is the second story in the Wilmington trilogy. Chronologically,
it follows after the main series of 10 novels and before Blood Heir.
For those who have never read the UF Kate Daniels series, a new reader could start with the Wilmington trilogy to get a taste for Kate & team.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I completed
Mistress of the Empire: "The Empire Trilogy." Feist and Wurts are a dynamic writing duo. Solid five stars. This trilogy occurs during the same time of the "Riftwars."
Eric, I forgot to tell you! Janny Wurts had this on her forum about the books picked up for a television series:https://forum.urizone.net/t/empire-se...
Michelle wrote: "Eric, I forgot to tell you! Janny Wurts had this on her forum about the books picked up for a television series:https://forum.urizone.net/t/empire-se......"
Thank you, Michelle. I just joined Wurts' Forum.
Finished Philip Jose Farmer's Magic Labyrinth. If you ever read To where your scattered body goes, which is a future where nearly every human whose ever walked the earth finds themselves on a planet with an superlong river, where if you die in that world, you resurrect somewhere else along the river, and wonder, why? what purpose did some advanced alien civilization did such a thing, well, the answer is in this 4th book in his series. Starts off with Sam Clemens (yep, Mark Twain!) vs King John Lackland, younger brother to Richard the Lionhearted. It was an interesting concept, there's one more book in that series I haven't yet read. I'll get to it later.Still working my way through Rebecca Roanhorse's Fevered Star. I'll move faster now!
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SciFi and Fantasy Book Club
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Yesterday..."
I've read the Riddlemaster several times- it is very good!