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 2024?
Michelle wrote: "I just put my currently-reading books on hold to read Drumindor. It popped up on my kindle with excellent timing!"Thanks for the heads up. I had the release date as yesterday, but don't see it on Amazon yet.
Eric wrote: "Michelle wrote: "I just put my currently-reading books on hold to read Drumindor. It popped up on my kindle with excellent timing!"Thanks for the heads up. I had the release date..."
It was released early from the kickstarter campaign. Amazon won't have it for a bit yet, so that's why you don't see it.
Ambereyes wrote: "I reread Sundiver by David Brin."A friend recommended that series to me back in the 1990s. I still haven't gotten to it yet! I've liked other works I've read by Brin in the past but kind of forgot about him while I was focused on my language studies and other things and neglecting my SFF reading. Then I learned this month the Uplift series is free to listen to on Audible for members so I may get to it soon!
I'm carrying on with my spooky season reading list, and so far I've finished about 10 titles and had only one DNF. I have over 15 other titles on my spooky season list to go--I do not anticipate getting to all of them by Halloween but I'm making a good dent in to my ever-growing list. I'm still working on Dracula which I'm reading slowly because I'm really enjoying the gothic vibes of it all so much, and The Reformatory by Tananadive Due, which I only started last night and it's the first book in this year's horrorfest of mine to get to me enough that I had bad dreams about it.
I found out that Due also has written a vampire book, My Soul to Keep, that's free for Audible members as well, so that's now on my list, but my library holds for Pet Sematary and Let the Right One In came in this past weekend and my library is not generous with digital loan times, so I have get to those 2 after my current reads.
Finished Robert Sawyer's Terminal Experiment. some interesting ideas which haven't yet come to pass. I liked it!Now, I have a book club book to read Jade City, but it's not due till Oct 20, so I'm waiting. In the meantime, I normally read horror in October. Since I'm devoting a little over a week to read JC, gonna start my horror books read now, starting with Joe Hill's the Fireman!
Ambereyes wrote: "Mai wrote: "Alphabet of Thorn by Patricia McKillip"This is one of my favourite books by this author. By the way, have you read The Changeling Sea?"
I have not but it's on the list since you mentioned it. Thanks!
Sleep is optional. Woke up and read the last part of Castle of Wizardry by David Eddings rather than finish my shuteye. My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Can't write much of a review without spoilers, so just consider this one a recommend (but not a solo book). We do get to visit two more countries and see what Eddings envisioned for each of them.
My review here
Completing the series with Enchanters' End Game.
CJ wrote: "Ambereyes wrote: "I reread Sundiver by David Brin."A friend recommended that series to me back in the 1990s. I still haven't gotten to it yet! I've liked other works I've read by Brin in the past..."
As for Uplift, I've read the other books in the series and I must say they're quite good.
But Sundiver was the first book in the series that I read many years ago and I really enjoyed it. It has some very interesting ideas and a lot of humour. It even has aliens that look like broccoli!
As for Tananadive Due, I have heard a lot of praise for this author. The problem is that she writes mostly horror and I prefer sci-fi and fantasy.
Mai wrote: "Ambereyes wrote: "Mai wrote: "Alphabet of Thorn by Patricia McKillip"This is one of my favourite books by this author. By the way, have you read The Changeling Sea?"
I have not but it's on the l..."
I'm not even sure which of the two books I like better. The Alphabet of Thorn has an interesting and unique plot, and The Changeling Sea is a very beautifully written book.
And I'm very honoured that someone here is paying attention to my humble recommendations. :)
Economondos wrote: "Can't write much of a review without spoilers"It's difficult for me, too. :)
Finished Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee last night. I needed to reread the last 3 chapters again to really grasp the conclusion, but it was a great SF read, even if it took a while for me to get my bearing in that universe with all the ideas Lee introduces. Looking forward to the rest of the series. I also read the short story We Travel the Spaceways by Victor LaValle, and I loved it. It shows the kind of expansive imagination in utilizing the genre of SF that one finds in earlier 20th century SF writing but is definitely a contemporary SF story. My short review.
I endeavored to include SFFH Latinx authors this month in my reading for Hispanic Heritage month. I read Gabe Cole Novoa's YA fantasy adventure The Diablo's Curse, Gerardo Sámano Córdova's horror novella Monstrilio and Luiza Sauma's dystopian SF novel Everything You Ever Wanted. I have 2 other books I had picked out, but probably won't get to until October: Leopoldo Gout's horror novel Piñata and Valeria Valdes' space SF novel Where Peace is Lost.
SFFBC wrote: "Talk about all the books you're reading! Instead of merely linking to a book/review, please tell us a little bit about the book(s) and how you're liking them to give us something to discuss.
Als..."
"Dune" was a lot better than I expected! I recently watched the movies after finishing the book and they weren't my favorite. The book was great though.
I'm definitely a Dune book>movies fan myself. Granted the novel has been a big part of my life since I was a teen, so I'm biased, and I acknowledge there are criticism of the book that are valid. But it's such a tremendous work of SF, with its worldbuilding and its nuanced presentation of politics and culture that were so groundbreaking and forward-thinking for its time. Just a titan of SF literature.
I'm in the middle of Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio. It starts slowly then morphs into a page-turner. I tire of the main character being such a bumbler and his penchant for playing the victim of circumstance. I like all the foreshadowing though. The rest of the series may or may not go on my TBR list. I haven't decided.
I, because of some of the challenges here and elsewhere, have managed to finish two books I've been avoiding for some time:The World of Ice & Fire: The Untold History of Westeros and the Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
and
The Stand by Stephen King
I am still not a big fan of either book and I really wish Martin had spent the time he took writing the history to finish the next book in his series.
CBRetriever wrote: "I, because of some of the challenges here and elsewhere, have managed to finish two books..."When one of the two books is The Stand, saying 'only two' is quite an understatement. That thing is massive!
Economondos wrote: "CBRetriever wrote: "I, because of some of the challenges here and elsewhere, have managed to finish two books..."When one of the two books is The Stand, saying 'only two' is quite an understateme..."
The Stand has a continuation? I feel so stupid for not knowing about this.
Charlton wrote: "Economondos wrote: "CBRetriever wrote: "I, because of some of the challenges here and elsewhere, have managed to finish two books..."When one of the two books is The Stand, saying 'only two' is q..."
I didn't know there was a sequel, either. I'm a dummy, too :)
Michelle wrote: "Charlton wrote: "Economondos wrote: "CBRetriever wrote: "I, because of some of the challenges here and elsewhere, have managed to finish two books..."When one of the two books is The Stand, sayin..."
there is? I'm not planning on purchasing it
I gave up halfway thru Venomous Lumpsucker by Ned Beauman. The plot wasn't too awful but I hated the main characters.
Completed my Belgariad reread with Enchanters' Endgame by David Eddings this morning.My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A straightforward adventure with good characters, premise, plot and pacing. It isn't exactly YA, but a lot of younger readers probably started with this one.
My review here
Going back to some sci-fi with a reread of Foundation, Foundation and Empire, Second Foundation - in the single volume Everybody's Library edition.
My husband and I just finished reading that edition of the Foundation Trilogy!
I re-read last year. definitely date, but a Foundational text (no pun intended - well actually, intended) of SciFi
You've been saving that one for the right opportunity, haven't you Stephen 😀
September round-up! I have a couple of other books on the go that I won't finish before the end of the month.Nona the Ninth by Tasmyn Muir: this third book shows its origins as the first part of a final book of a series that got expanded into its own novel, mostly in its slower pace. It was nice to have a somewhat more "cozy" story in this series that is about trauma (among a lot of other things, including goofy memes.) (review)
Beware of Chicken 3 by "CasualFarmer" (audio): it's showing its origins as a serial by getting more sprawling and diffuse as it goes along, but thankfully our author hasn't entirely lost the plot. Cute and exciting cultivation/isekai story with some touching moments. (review)
The Path of Thorns by Angela Slatter: I hadn't read anything by Slatter before this was selected for SFFBC this month, and now I've read two. This one has a gothic vibe, and feminist and family themes. (short review)
Beth wrote: "Nona the Ninth by Tasmyn Muir: this third book shows its origins as the first part of a final book of a series that got expanded into its own novel, mostly in its slower pace."You really are a strong reader if you managed to read it. I had a go, but gave up less than halfway through. I think it is one of the worst books I have ever read in my life. But since so many people like it, I guess that's my problem.
@Michael: not particularly strong, just stubborn sometimes. :) This was a second attempt after stalling out about 1/3 of the way through a couple years ago.
@Beth: "Stubborn" is good with books! :-)
A couple recently finished reads for the end of September:Dracula - really enjoyed this, it's a classic, it's problematic, it's gothic to the nines. I read the unabridged version and glad I did.
R.U.R. by Karel Capek - a short play, easily read it under 2 hours, I had planned to read this for Banned Book week but got sidetracked, so I read it one day late. I saw a production of this back in college but never read the text on my own. I found it fascinating as one of the earliest predecessors for all SF that contends with ethical and philosophical issues surrounding robots/androids and the like. My short review. Am currently reading Capek's War With the Newts
I started Pet Sematary and quickly regretted that choice as it's reminding me of a lot of little things I don't like with King's writing. I'll try to finish this however.
I also started Andrew Joseph White's Hell Followed With Us. I thought The Reformatory was the one horror book my 2024 horror reading list that would really get to me, but then I started this because I heard about the movie adaptation helmed by Lilly Wachowski (do I need to tell anyone here that The Matrix is my fav movie?). And as an autistic trans person (like White himself), it immediately hit some very deep wounds for me. I'll have to go slowly with this one.
CJ wrote: "I'm definitely a Dune book>movies fan myself. Granted the novel has been a big part of my life since I was a teen, so I'm biased, and I acknowledge there are criticism of the book that are valid. B..."Like you, I read the first three Dune books when I was very young and I still like them very much. As for movies, I really like Dune-1. But I missed Alia in Dune-2. She's one of my favorite characters and was practically non-existent in the movie.
I finished to read Chimeras of Estmer. Although it's a long book, I read it practically in one day. There is a lot of humor in this book, and the unexpected plot twists, and some of the characters seem very unusual. There's a cat who's actually a young man who's been turned into an animal by his mortal enemy, a prince who's actually a children toy who's been turned into a young man by a certain witch, and a barbaric pirate and a beautiful princess who've never been turned into anything but unexpectedly happen to be pretty good detectives and conduct their investigations by communicating via magical version of mobile phones.However, there a couple of things about this book that didn't fit into my review, but that I really like.
First of all, Chimeras of Estmer is a very diverse book. From the descriptions, some of the fictional nations mentioned in the book look like Europeans, some look like East Asians, and there is one nation that semed to me to resemble Native Americans. More importantly, the main characters in the book help each other, no matter how different they are.
Besides, it turns a lot of tired fantasy tropes on their heads. For example, Chancellor Gyrodus seems to be the true twin of Grima Wormtongue from LOTR. He is a cunning statesman who manipulates his king. The problem is that King Ossian is a prize idiot, only interested in court ladies' tits nd hunting, and incapable of ruling his kingdom without Gyrodus' help. But it would take too long to list all the examples of a deconstruction of tired tropes in this book.
Also, I really liked the Son of Water. He started his "life" as a small puddle of sentient water and a doomed tool of Gyrodus, but gradually became one of the main characters. I think he could be really appeal to those who like Martha Wells books with their sarcastic non-human characters. But I feel like I've already written so much about this book. :)
I flew through T. Kingfisher's Paladin's Hope. The characters are adorable, the dangers scary and exciting. The romance is very cute, and the gnoles continue being awesome. There should be more gnoles out there.My review is here ;)
Alexandra wrote: "I flew through T. Kingfisher's Paladin's Hope. The characters are adorable, the dangers scary and exciting. The romance is very cute, and the gnoles continue being awesome. There sh..."She's great. Her speech at the Hugo's was hilarious
CJ wrote: "And started Max Gladstone's Three Parts Dead as prep for reading his new book, Wicked Problems, and it's OK, a bit of a disorganized, overstuffed feel to it like the book equivalent of a clutter drawer. B..."I would not move from Three Parts Dead directly to Wicked Problems. You'll miss a lot of context. Read at least most of the main series (all of them published prior to Wicked Problems). But I also loved Three Parts... if you didn't his series might not be for you
Just finished Alas, Babylon which I hadn't heard of before a few folks here mentioned it. Survivors of the nuclear holocaust pool resources, work diligently and problem-solve with ingenuity to keep their community alive.Quick, easy, read...Check.
Main characters to admire...Check.
Bad guys get what they deserve...Check
Leaves me feeling optimistic about the future of humanity should catastrophe strike...Check.
Stephen wrote: "She's great. Her speech at the Hugo's was hilarious"Couldn't agree more! :)
Mai wrote: "Just finished Alas, Babylon which I hadn't heard of before a few folks here mentioned it. Survivors of the nuclear holocaust pool resources, work diligently and problem-solve with ingenuity to keep..."Ha! Glad you found it worthwhile. I need to reread that soon.
Rick wrote: "I would not move from Three Parts Dead directly to Wicked Problems. You'll miss a lot of context. Read at least most of the main series (all of them published prior to Wicked Problems). But I also loved Three Parts... if you didn't his series might not be for you."
I'm not. I am planning to read Full Fathom Five and then Dead Country, following advice from others in another GR group who selected Wicked Problems for an upcoming BotM. I found Three Parts Dead interesting enough, just the writing was rough and I can forgive that since I know Gladstone can write excellently and it was an early book of his.
I read up on the whole deal with the ordering of the books in the Craft series, and if I like the next two enough I will eventually go back to the ones I'm skipping over, but at the moment I just what enough background to read Wicked Problem with the other group.
CJ wrote: "Mai wrote: "Just finished Alas, Babylon which I hadn't heard of before a few folks here mentioned it. Survivors of the nuclear holocaust pool resources, work diligently and problem-solve with ingen..."Hmm. Five is fine I suppose. It's just that a lot of detail in the ending trilogy that starts Dead Country introduces characters and settings from the earlier books. For example, a huge bit of the plot and several characters in Wicked Problem uses things that are central to Two Serpents Rise.
And the entire premise of the ending trilogy is really setup by the world built in the earlier books. It will be interesting to see what you think not having read most of them (If you do read others, skip Ruin Of Angels which has no bearing on the ending trilogy, at least not yet).
Just finished Joe Hill's the Fireman. An interesting take on an outbreak, not viral, not bacterial, but fungal. And infected people can combust into flame, a strong hot flame, and can set other infected people to also combust. A long book, but an interesting story! horror? kinda...Anyhoo, now on to a collection of stories by Joe Hill, namely Strange Weather.
I’m currently about half way through book 5 The Scarab Path of The Shadows of The Apt series of books by Adrian Tchaikovsky and I’m really enjoying it.I’m also listening to The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. It’s good fun randomly laughing out loud and scaring anyone nearby..!!
On the non-fiction side, as the sub-title tells you, read Alien Earths: The New Science of Planet Hunting in the Cosmos by Lisa Kaltenegger. This is written in a chatty, conversational style and is more about the progress of the search for exoplanets, and the author's career (equally fascinating) in being part of it than a detailed examination of exoplanet findings. A bit superficial on the science, but a pleasant read.
Beginning Donovan X. Ramsey's, When Crack Was King, an oral history of the drug's spread in the 1980s.
Finished Legends & Lattes. Author Travis Baldree delivers a light-hearted story that brought me smiles. An overwhelming desire to consume coffee and pastries accompanied my reading. Coincidence???
Mai wrote: "Finished Legends & Lattes. Author Travis Baldree delivers a light-hearted story that brought me smiles. An overwhelming desire to consume coffee and pastries accompanied my reading. Coincidence???"Mai, I also really liked the next book (which comes chronologically before Legends & Lattes) Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree. Similar pastry cravings with added bookstore vibes.
I didn't realize that we were getting Arcane Ascension #5, When Wizards Follow Fools, this year. With two years between books, I realize that I've forgotten a lot of details so I'm rereading the whole series. Currently about halfway through On the Shoulders of Titans.
Mai wrote: "Finished Legends & Lattes. Author Travis Baldree delivers a light-hearted story that brought me smiles. An overwhelming desire to consume coffee and pastries accompanied my reading. Coincidence???"I completely understand this! Maybe Travis Baldree has shares in coffee plantations...
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SciFi and Fantasy Book Club
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Even though it's the first book in this series and a prequel to much of the author's Revelation Space work, I remember thinking back when I read it that it seemed to assume some familiarity with world building concepts in the existing Revelation Space stories. They're not required, but they help. It had been a while since I'd read them and so I had a bit of that same struggle when I started. I did end up liking The Prefect quite a lot after I got past that.