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?
Restarting Fevered Star by Rebecca Roanhorse. I lost access to the audiobook due to Everand's recent changes (I've since unsubbed) and had to wait until I an Audible credit to buy it. Also was thrilled to find the Houston Public Library has the now-unavailable ebook of Trouble and Her Friends by Melissa Scott that I wanted for my cyberpunk/biopunk reading project and have started that. So far it's great.
Terrific novel in R.B. Lemberg's Birdverse, a dense fantasy storyverse I love: Yoke of Stars
Yoke of Stars...almost five stars!https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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I'm looking forward to reading some character-centred space opera. Derek Kunsken's 'House of Styx' is my current read.
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..."amusingly my 30 year old grandson tried to explain that maybe i should try reading Dune instead of what i read now. I explained that i read Dune when it first came out and twice since then
he has just discovered sci fi and fantasy!!!!!
gave me a good laugh
That's hilarious. I don't know if I shared this story here before, but I first read Dune because the (pretty bad and silly) Iron Maiden song, "To Tame a Land." My older sibling was a huge Maiden fan back in the 1980s and one day he explained to me what the song was about and I went and checked Dune out from the library. I was in the 7th grade or so and had no clue about the book besides a cheesy heavy metal song, lol.
Recently finished Fevered Star by Rebecca Roanhorse and The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer. I really loved both books and am looking forward to the sequels of both. Also reading Trouble and Her Friends by Melissa Scott and...why is this book never mentioned as one of the Wachowskis' sources for The Matrix??? Because I'm pretty sure it was. I already bought a used copy of another of Scott's books from this time period, because I'm mad I haven't read her stuff before now.
And started this morning: Prophet Song by Paul Lynch, who seems to not believe in paragraphs? But actually so far it's pretty cool.
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Stuck a pin in Black Sun before I got too far into it (it felt like cheating, WRT Native American People's Month), and started Pekka Hämäläinen's, The Comanche Empire. It's a dense brick, so I hope it isn't dry!
Brett wrote: "Stuck a pin in Black Sun before I got too far into it (it felt like cheating, WRT Native American People's Month), and started Pekka Hämäläinen's, The Comanche Empire. It's a dense brick, so I hope..."This is a great book. Have you read Empire of the Summer Moon by S.C. Gwynne? It's a biography of Chieftain Quanah Parker.
Delightedly read A Blink of the Screen: Collected Shorter Fiction by Terry PratchettMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Collected short works from 5 decades of Pratchett's career. Definitely a read for the Pratchett completionist.
My review here
Tonight I will start a similar work, A Stroke of the Pen: The Lost Stories. These are more collected works published posthumously.
CJ wrote: "Marc wrote: " it has absolutely nothing to do with Blue Oyster Cult's song of the same name."I saw "Blue Oyster Cult" in your comment and got excited thinking it WAS one of their songs that is ab..."
I should go back and revisit the Elric books from Moorcock, it's been decades!
And yeah, Simon Jimenez's book Spear Cuts through Water, I had issues with. Parts I liked, but it's like, you died and now you're back alive? and what happened?? And it's not explained... He does write well, but needs to work on the getting the stories to flow and when to stop (there was some stuff at the end that was added but did it need to be added?).
Anyhoo, I did finish it, then went immediately to finish Stephen Graham Jones' trilogy the Angel of Indian Lake. It too is set in the same town as the other 2 books in his trilogy, same protagonist too. It was great up towards the ending. I admit I found the bear scene a little over the top and could have been left off.
And also read Never Whistle at Night, a Native American collection of short horror stories. It was great, a mix of good and great stories!
And looking at my read list, realized I also read Alex Van Halen's Brothers. That was a good book as well. I kinda always thought Alex as a jerk before the book. Why didn't he play some Van Halen songs after his brother Eddie passed away? It was a rather short book, it stopped after David Lee Roth left Van Halen the first time. He did mention Sammy Hagar a couple of times, but that was it, leaped from when David left the first time straight to Eddie's passing. Totally skipped over Van Hagar, Gary Cherone, and the reunion tours. He really didn't slag on anyone, praising David and obviously his brother. He did like Michael Anthony's singing, saying he was a nice guy, but that kinda was it.
Also just finished NK Jemison's World We Make. I really liked it!! but do NOT read unless you read the predecessor, the City We Became. It truly is a sequel to that book. She's an amazing writer! loved her broken earth series! I will need to pick up her other book as well
And now, just starting Vonda McIntyre's Moon and the Sun. saw it was also a movie. not sure I've seen it, but I'll go look for it after I read the book!
Marc wrote: "And also read Never Whistle at Night, a Native American collection of short horror stories. It was great, a mix of good and great stories!"Good to hear that! I'm still waiting on my library hold of this that I placed last month, lol.
Marc wrote: "I should go back and revisit the Elric books from Moorcock, it's been decades!"
I'm planning on a reread/read of the series for early next year. I'm a bit worried what I will think of them now, if they will hold up, lol. I never read them all and I don't even know what happened to my copies. I had the classic Ace mass market paperbacks from the 1980s with the cool covers, a whole set I bought at a used bookstore in Houston. No idea where they are now. I've noticed some recent interest in Moorcock percolating up in fantasy Booktube circles and such, not sure what started that.
CBRetriever wrote: "Mai wrote: "Eyes of the Void. A lot less fun than the first book in the series. This one had a duller plot, fewer interesting characters, less witty banter, less cohesive flow. Not ..."Good to know, thanks!
The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett. Different, intriguing, a fun fantasy mystery read. The 'Sherlock' and 'Dr. Watson' characters made this book.
The Mercy of Gods by James S.A. Corey. Depressing. This story conveys an overwhelming sense of defeat. The glimmer of hope at the end strikes me as too little too late. It does, however, set the stage for book #2 in the series.
Marc wrote: "CJ wrote: "Marc wrote: "...I also read Alex Van Halen's Brothers..."Alex always seemed relatively quiet. I wonder why he left out such a significant swath of the band's history. The Hagar and Cheronne periods would have been interesting reading! I read Phil Collins' memoir within the last year or two: Not Dead Yet: The Memoir. He had to understandably keep things minimal because of the sheer number of decades involved going back to Peter Gabriel at the helm. But Genesis was around a lot longer than Van Halen. Maybe Alex will write another with more detail.
Along these musical lines, I've been considering Metallica Unbound but haven't picked it up yet. I started listening to Metallica before they were allowed to be played on the radio. It's hard to imagine now that they were once considered too harsh for the airwaves.
Anyway, right now I'm in the middle of The Shattered Realm of Ardor Benn and it's just as good as book one.
I've now decided to go on an Ann Leckie binge. I just finished Ancillary Justice (review coming), and am now onto Ancillary Sword.
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The VBC [https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...] is planning a meeting to talk about that series near the end of the month.
@Jabotikaba: I checked it out of the local library today. I've been avoiding going down the Indigenous rabbit hole for fear I'll never leave it, so I'm limiting this spelunk to the Comanche.
I'm reading a bunch of chonkers right now:Night Angel Nemesis = 838 pages
Jade Legacy = 713 pages
Heritage of Cyador = 528 pages
plus
a re-read of The Dragonbone Chair = 672 pages for a Buddy Read on another forum.
it's going to be a while before I finish a book. I loved the first Night Angel Trilogy, disliked the Black Pyramid series and the latest Night Angel book is reading like it's part of the Black Prism series with the main character acting like a teenager with their hormones in overdrive. The other three books are good though
CBRetriever wrote: "I'm reading a bunch of chonkers right now:Night Angel Nemesis = 838 pages
Jade Legacy = 713 pages
Heritage of Cyador = 528 pages
plus
a re-read o..."
Ahhh The Prism series.. I really struggled there.. :)
I finally pulled the Murderbot Diaries off of my TBR list -- starting with
All Systems Red by Martha Wells,I shouldn't have waited so long; these are great.
My Review - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
CJ wrote: "Recently finished Fevered Star by Rebecca Roanhorse and The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer. I really loved both books and am looking forward to the sequels o..."Read Trouble and Her Friends years ago and thought it was superb. The computer tech would probably feel dated on a re-read today, but the story is still great. I have read a couple of other books by Melissa Scott that I think are terrific and would highly recommend: Shadow Man and The Jazz.
Colin wrote: "Read Trouble and Her Friends years ago and thought it was superb. The computer tech would probably feel dated on a re-read today, but the story is still great. I have read a couple of other books by Melissa Scott that I think are terrific and would highly recommend: Shadow Man and The Jazz."Yes, I bought a used copy of Shadow Man and hope to read others by Scott. I will have to get a copy of this as well--I have been threatening to start a new blog for my thoughts and ideas that I can't cram into other social media posts and this might be to thing that pushes me to finally do it. I've followed Scott on Bluesky and just might go on a reading frenzy of her works next year, as my budget allows.
In other reads, I was hoping to finish Prophet Song by Paul Lynch today but I'll be starting it from the beginning because I bought the audiobook after reading reviews of it--while reading the ebook I've had to hear the text spoken in an Irish accent (basically Colm Meaney doing his Miles O'Brien accent) in my head to get into the flow of Lynch's prose, but now I can let Gerry O'Brien do that work for me!
Also hope to finish Our Hideous Progeny by C.E. McGill and be done with it--I'm not having a good time with this one. There are things in it that as very good, but there are other things that hurt the cohesion and pacing of the narrative that I feel a tough editor could have addressed.
Also will be starting There, There by Tommy Orange as part of my ongoing Indigenous Writers project and will be getting back to The Will of the Many by James Islington for this group's BotM, which so far is better than I expected (I tend to be disappointed by many big popular fantasy books like this so my expectations were low).
Edit: Forgot to mention--I'm reading Two Truths and a Lie by Sarah Pinsker, which is a novella/novelette available to read here https://reactormag.com/two-truths-and... as it was recently announced that Paramount is developing an adaptation of it.
I've been curious about Our Hideous Progeny, CJ. I believe I've voted for it in some of our polls during the year.
CJ wrote: "Also will be starting There, There by Tommy Orange as part of my ongoing Indigenous Writers project..."CJ, I thought There There was an amazing book (though not an easy read from an emotional standpoint), and the audio version is quite good.
CBRetriever wrote: "I'm reading a bunch of chonkers right now:Night Angel Nemesis = 838 pages
Jade Legacy = 713 pages
Heritage of Cyador = 528 pages
plus
a re-read o..."
Are you also a Ted Williams fan? Have you read the other Osten Ard books?
I'm going to start The Navigator Children very soon.
The Shadow of What Was Lost by James Islington. I gave up on pg. 94 as the story failed to grab my attention. Moving on to the next book in my stack.
Jabotikaba wrote: "Are you also a Ted Williams fan? Have you read the other Osten Ard books?."yes, I am and I have thiese in my TBR list
Empire of Grass (The Last King of Osten Ard, #2)
Into the Narrowdark (Last King of Osten Ard #3)
The Witchwood Crown (The Last King of Osten Ard, #1)
I'm waiting for the The Navigator Children to come down in price before I purchase it and start the series.
The Last King of Osten Ard series is even better than Memory, Sorrow and Thorn, IMHO. Tad Williams is becoming better and better, if that's possible.
Read How to Mars by David Ebenbach, the story of 6 scientists sent on a one-way mission to Mars where they will spend the rest of their lives doing research - and being the subjects of a reality TV show. (The book was inspired, as the author notes, by Mars One, a company that irl took volunteer applications and money for just such a one-way trip. It went bankrupt in 2019.) After two years on Mars, boredom has set in, the TV show has been canceled, inter (and intra) personal issues have developed, and one of the team is pregnant. This is presented as hard sf, with accommodations in science and medicine to allow the design of the story (some of which are a bit off key). Overall, I found it moderately entertaining but underwhelming. The book sets up a number of good potential problems, twists, and dangers, but they resolve too easily and conveniently. If you have read and liked The Martian, this will make an interesting contrast.
CBRetriever wrote: "Jabotikaba wrote: "Are you also a Ted Williams fan? Have you read the other Osten Ard books?."yes, I am and I have thiese in my TBR list
Empire of Grass (The Last King of Osten Ard, #2)
Into the..."
I don't have your patience, so I've already read all the books except The Navigator Children. By the way, there are two more relatively new Osten Ard books, The Heart of What Was Lost and Brothers of the Wind. I think they have already come down in price, so you can buy them.
Udayan wrote: "The Last King of Osten Ard series is even better than Memory, Sorrow and Thorn, IMHO. Tad Williams is becoming better and better, if that's possible."
I totally agree! I read his Memory, Sorrow and Thorn books when I was in my early teens, just because my dad had those old paper books around the house. Then I grew up and Ted Williams started a new Osten Ard series. I don't know how to explain it, but I feel like his fictional world grew up with me. It's become much more complex and a bit darker, but I still really like it.
I'm also very happy that the new series has so many Sithi and Norn episodes. When I read the first series, I was very interested in their culture and history. In my opinion, Ted Williams is only writer who has really managed to create elf-like beings that actually seem strange and alien, not just good-looking humans with pointy ears.
So my dreams (I even tried to write Osten Ard fanfics when I was just a silly schoolgirl) finally came true. Among the main characters in The Last King of Osten Ard are Nezeru, a girl who is half human and half norn, and her norn father Viyeki. But I should probably shut up now, or I'll tell the whole story here and spoil it for other readers.
Anyway, I'm very, very happy.
I have The heart of What was Lost, but not the other one ($12.99) but I'll wait on an even lower price. I have lots of other books to read
After about a month of listening, I finally finished the audiobook for Hild by Nicola Griffith. I very much enjoyed how she made the setting feel so real with all of the details of day-to-day life in the 600s, observations of changes in the natural world, and the use of sights and sounds. I also liked the main character, Hild, quite a lot.This was my second 20+ hour audiobook in a row, though - is there an equivalent word to doorstopper for long audiobooks? While both of the long books I read have sequels that I am interested in, I need a shorter book break, so I'm going to read the relatively brief 6+ hour Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice next.
I'm also close to finishing Jhereg by Steven Brust. It took me a little bit to get into the story, but I am enjoying it now - it's much lighter than the other things I've been reading lately, which is nice.
Read A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher in which an evil, scheming sorceress plots to marry both herself and her much-abused 14-year-old daughter (Cordelia) to rich men and get her hands on their money. The story is set in an idealized Victorian-style countryside. I liked that the good guys in the book are neither young (other than Cordelia), nor beautiful, but capable of resolute action and love. The tension and danger build smoothly as the story goes along as this sorceress is - forgive me, I can't resist - not "horsing" around. I would recommend this to lovers of low fantasy, cozy fantasy, and T. Kingfisher books.
Colin wrote: "Read A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher in which an evil, scheming sorceress plots to marry both herself and her much-abused 14-year-old daughter (Cordelia) to rich men and..."Nice to hear! I really like T. Kingfisher's books and this one is on my radar :)
Moon of the Crusted Snow snd its sequel were both rare 5 star reads from me. I hope you are listening to it!
Rachel wrote: "Moon of the Crusted Snow snd its sequel were both rare 5 star reads from me. I hope you are listening to it!"I need to read the sequel. Unfortunately I cannot access it through my libraries on Libby or Boundless so I will have to wait until I can get it another way. I listened to the audiobook of Crusted Snow so I hope to get the audiobook for the sequel too.
Rachel wrote: "Moon of the Crusted Snow snd its sequel were both rare 5 star reads from me. I hope you are listening to it!"I am listening to it - I really like it so far (about an hour in at this point). :-)
CBRetriever wrote: "I have The heart of What was Lost, but not the other one ($12.99) but I'll wait on an even lower price. I have lots of other books to read"The other is a prequel that tells the story of how Hakatri and Ineluki went to slay a dragon, and how Hakatri began to suffer from his severe wounds, and Ineluki began to suffer from his severe humanophobia.
It's a good book, but I liked The Heart of What Was Lost better. My favourite character was General Suno'ku. It's such a shame that she died!
Kaia wrote: " is there an equivalent word to doorstopper for long audiobooks?..."Earbanger?
Read a strange book: The Employees by Olga Ravn. It can be categorized as SF because it involves a spaceship, a distant planet, and manufactured humanoids, but I think literary fiction and philosophy might be closer the mark. It does not have a plot, in the conventional sense (except maybe right at the end), nor do we meet named characters (there is one individual referred to by a name). What we have is a series of notes taken in meetings with unnamed characters that illuminate human feelings, culture, human/humanoid differences, relationships to "objects" from this planet, and human and humanoid interpersonal conflicts. It has a very existential vibe, and it is thought-provoking. If you like thinking about how human culture works - especially in a workplace, and philosophy with an existential view, this is worth a read, Also, I guess, if you like Kierkegaard.
Finished up A Stroke of the Pen: The Lost Stories by Terry Pratchett yesterday.My rating: 4 of 5 stars
These are the stories Pratchett wrote under the pen name Patrick Kearns. A strong recommend.
My review here
Went to a book I somehow missed by another favorite author, Governor by David Weber.
The Water Outlaws by S.L. Huang. An action-packed Chinese legend about a gang of female bandits fighting for justice. The plot and cast of characters need to be thinned out to improve focus and flow. As in there's so much extraneous stuff it detracts from the story.Starting Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse.
Finished Vonda McIntyre's Moon and the Sun. It's set in the time of the French Sun king (the sun in the title!). A quite enjoyable book about what if the French had discovered mermaids. Her mermaids aren't Ariel (beautiful human top half, fish bottom half), but in a way, I guess Creature of the black lagoon top half... But functional. And dealing with that period in history, Catholics v Protestants (no religious warfare, but it was mentioned), are these sea people (never called mermaids), are they beasts, beasts being unintelligent, soulless? trained to be pets? or haha human-like? haha because these sea people aren't christian, how could they be, they mostly stayed out of human's way. And the protagonist is a young woman, who, at that time, were expected to behave in a certain way, some banished to convents, and were treated as lower than men. Her brother was the one who captured two of the sea creatures, one of them who died, and was conducting science on them, at least science of that time.I did enjoy the book, still haven't seen the movie...
Anyhoo, now starting Adrian Tchaikovsky's Children of Time
A bite-sized read is A Magical Girl Retires by Park Seolyeon. A 29-year-old woman, unhappy with her life and unable to pay her credit card debts, is ready to throw herself from a bridge in Seoul when she is rescued by a woman all in white, who tells her that she is destined to become the most powerful magical girl. The task ahead of her: save the world. If you like cozy fantasy, this is a sweet, very fast read. It is also perfect for fans of Sailor Moon.
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SciFi and Fantasy Book Club
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And I just bought Ancillary Justice, which I've been meaning to read for a few years now.