The Sword and Laser discussion
What Else Are You Reading?
>
What else are you reading - 2024
message 51:
by
Stephen
(last edited Oct 01, 2024 05:14PM)
(new)
Sep 30, 2024 10:27AM
I too am reading A Tide of Black Steel plus his novella series Seven Swords , the sixth book The Road of Storms just got released in eBook version, I already listened to the audio version, but I wanted to re-read it in eBook form too. Plus highlight some passages.
reply
|
flag
I finished reading Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin. The MAX show House of the Dragon is based on about a fourth of this book. I also read Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi. It is a rewriting of the novel Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper using contemporary sympathies. I am reading Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan, book #11 of the Wheel of Time Series. I plan to read Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman next.
The first novella in the new James S.A. Corey's series Captive's War is out. Livesuit is priced appropriately for a short novella which I appreciate,
Finished A Night in the Lonesome October.The perfect October read. Nice doggy! 😊👍
Started To Turn the Tide by S.M. Stirling.
Stephen wrote: "I too am reading A Tide of Black Steel plus his novella series Seven Swords , the sixth book The Road of Storms just got released in eBook version, I already liste..."I need to read that novella series!
I started The Butcher's Masquerade by Matt Dinniman, The Library loan for The Spear Cuts Through Water came in so I hope to read it before my two pre-orders, a new Royce and Hadrian story by Michael J. Sullivan called Drumindor. Then the 3rd book in John Gwynne Norse series The Fury of the Gods.
20% into Hamilton's Exodus on my 20 hour journey. Jammer B convinced Steve Gibson to start it now. Steve is reading Ryk Brown's Frontier series for the 4th time.
I've read the 3 other Kloos Palladium books and they are well done. It just seems like there's no end in sight.
Tamahome wrote: "I've read the 3 other Kloos Palladium books and they are well done. It just seems like there's no end in sight."Heh. I reckon you could say the same for his Frontlines (Lanky war) series. 🧐
But I keep reading them. 😁📚
I finally struggled my way through Rakesfall, from the author of The Saint of Bright Doors. I loved the latter book. This was more like the BotM “How high we go in the dark” - a collection of stories with threads tying them together, two souls intertwined through time. Not a love story like This is How You Lose the Time War because often as not those souls are in conflict. Some of the stories were brilliant - the ones that envisioned humanity millenia from now were fascinating - but many were just too abstract. Hence the struggle. I can’t say I recommend it.
Just finished The Rose Rent by Ellis Peters. It's book 13 in the Brother Cadfael series and the 5th I've read. Brother Cadfael is a monk in an abbey in 1100's England who solves mysteries; kind of a mediaeval Columbo. They're always well written and cozy and sweet in a certain way and this was no different.Next is The Medusa Chronicles by Stephen Baxter and Alastair Reynolds.
I’ve hit a bit of a valley. The last 6 books have all been 2-star reads. A couple are really more like 1-1/2 stars, but I was being generous and rounded up.
Just found out that Michael Flynn sent a new novel to his publisher shortly before he passed. (In the Belly of the Whale) I bought it immediately of course. But, it may have to wait a bit for me to get to it as my already bought TBR pile is getting out of hand.BTW, if you have never read any of Flynn's work, I highly recommend his Eifelheim. It is the most unique first-contact story I have ever read (and a damn good story). 👍
Just finished Desolation Island, which I thought was one of the best in the series so far. The sea battle in the middle of a storm was vividly portrayed (as were the events that followed). When I first started reading this series, I had the impression that it was going to be slightly po-faced, but I am greatly enjoying the humour that is interspersed amongst the derring-do.
I was intending to diversify back into SF&F after this, but found myself dragged straight into the next in the series: The Fortune of War (in which the Americans start getting uppity).
Alongside this I have Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold in my ears...
Just started The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution. It will be interesting to see if Dawkins can make the pilgrimage conceit work as a vehicle for telling about natural history over deep time.
Steve wrote: "Just finished Desolation Island, which I thought was one of the best in the series so far. The sea battle in the middle of a storm was vividly portrayed (as were the events that follow..."Yes the sea battle in the storm is a terrific sequence!
I’m still on my own Patrick O’Brian kick, currently listening to the audiobook of The Surgeon's Mate.
In physical book form, I have just started A Murder of Quality by John Le Carré. It’s a George Smiley book, although it’s closer to a murder mystery than a spy thriller.
Ruth wrote: "Steve wrote: "Just finished Desolation Island, which I thought was one of the best in the series so far. The sea battle in the middle of a storm was vividly portrayed (as were the even..."How are the audiobooks? I am a bit concerned that they would make it harder to follow the dense sailing terminology, but I can imagine they might be good with a talented narrator.
Steve wrote: "Ruth wrote: "Steve wrote: "Just finished Desolation Island, which I thought was one of the best in the series so far. The sea battle in the middle of a storm was vividly portrayed (as ..."The audiobooks are really good imho. The narrator (Ric Jerrom) does a great job of bringing the characters to life and he really brings out the dry humour as well. The only thing I wasn’t sure about at first was the voice he does for Stephen Maturin - he gives him a noticeable Irish accent and sounds nothing like Paul Brittany (like most people under 50, I came to the book series via the 2003 film so my mental image of the characters is fixed as the actors). As for the dense naval terminology, I just kind of let it wash over me and don’t worry too much about the details. You usually get a pretty good idea of what’s happening in general, even if you don’t know the difference between a top gallant and a studding sail.
Ruth wrote: "you don’t know the difference between a top gallant and a studding sail. ."One gets spliced along the yard brace and the other is lashed to the poop spinacre. ;)
I've been reading the BOTM as a chapter a day but with the chapters so short I've also dug out my tatty Vampire Genevieve Omnibus to read book three Beasts in Velvet alongside.
It's Oldhammer Noir (or maybe Altdorf Confidential). Not reaching the heights of Drachenfelsso far but I'm enjojing the nostalgia trip it's taking me on.
Got back to Vorkosigan and did Memory which I liked. Exciting the Miles has a sort of new direction to move in by the end of this one.Started The Dead Cat Tail Assassins which isn't bad, but I'm not far enough to judge it yet.
Ruth wrote: "The audiobooks are really good imho. The narrator (Ric Jerrom) does a great job of bringing the characters to life"My library has a different narrator, Patrick Tull. The samples didn’t impress me.
Starting a re-read of The Hunger of the Gods. The last book in this fantastic series by John Gwynne just came out. I will be starting it next: The Fury of the Gods
Finished The Dead Cat Tail Assassins which I ended up thinking was just OK. There's Kill Bill-esque fights against other assassins, there's some cool goddesses that show up at the end, but there's also some pretty insubstantial dialogue which seemed like it tried for humor that didn't really hit. Probably just the vibes didn't really align with me.
Started The Eye of the Bedlam Bride as there is the next installment in the series coming in November. One of the best LITRPG and self-published series going.
I'm listening to A House with Good Bones from the library. Mary Robinette Kowal reads it and I've been enjoying it thoroughly.I'm also a few chapters into Under the Whispering Door in physical book form.
Misti wrote: "I'm listening to A House with Good Bones from the library. Mary Robinette Kowal reads it and I've been enjoying it thoroughly.I'm also a few chapters into [book:Under the Whisperi..."
Both are terrific.
Finished the audiobook of The Surgeon's Mate by Patrick O'Brian and moved straight on to the next Aubrey/Maturin adventure, The Ionian Mission.
After finishing The Fortune of War (good, but our heroes are more bystanders than protagonists as the US and UK square up to each other), I took a break from Patrick O'Brian to first catch up on the one Tolkien I somehow overlooked: The Children of Húrin (but it turns out my toleration for Middle Earth history has dropped off considerably since my The Silmarillion days). Now I have moved onto Skullsworn, which is proving intriguingly good so far...
Just finished The Medusa Chronicles by Stephen Baxter and Alastair Reynolds. It's a sequel to a short story, A Meeting With Medusa, by Arthur C. Clarke, which I don't think I've ever read.It was good, "hard" science fiction following a man named Howard Falcon who is mostly made up of cybernetic parts following an accident. Apparently the short story was about him exploring the upper atmosphere of Jupiter and discovering life there including the kilometers long, whale-like gasbags he calls medusas. The novel covers the next 700 years or so as machine intelligence develops and goes to war against their human creators and takes over the Solar system. Falcon often acts as an agent of the World Government and a go between to the Machines.
It's pretty interesting but with a lot of exposition of the "As you know, Billy, during the battle on Mercury fifty years ago..." type.
I'll give it 4 stars.
Next is Island of the Sequined Love Nun by Christopher Moore.
I'm back on Vorkosigan. Didn't really like one of them, I forget the title but Mark was tortured a lot and there were sex-slaves running around. But Memory puts Miles on an interesting new path, and them Komarr is great and reminds me of Shards of Honor, our recent S+L read. I'm going to jump right into the next one which seems to promise to be a little Jane Austen with some sci-fi action and that sounds good to me.
I'm reading Sideways. Learning about wines, and how not to have relationships. I wish Paul Giamatti did the audiobook. My mom also prefers pinot noir.
Been several books since I last posted. The usual combo of fatigue and procrastination kept me from posting so now a bit of a flood. In no particular order...Mickey7: Referenced here by, IIRC, Trike, and a pretty good book. It's a riff on the serial cloning bit in Altered Carbon and the Commonwealth books (and I'm sure a bunch of others that don't come to mind right now) but with a fairly fresh take. Includes humanity reaching to the stars with barely-capable ships. First contact situation and the weirdness of alien minds. All in all worth reading.
Then the sequel, Antimatter Blues. Follows the same characters in a moderately different situation. More exploration of the planet and the extended weirdness of the situation makes for a decent worldbuilding read. The plot is forced along with artificial restrictions on the MCs to the point where it got overly pat and just plain silly in multiple parts. Still led to a pretty decent end.
Further back, The Nagasaki Vector. This is the fourth book in the "North American Confederacy" series. The MC's timeship gets hijacked and they wind up going through the Nagasaki explosion, being then hurled crosstime - which is new for him but old hat for readers of this series. Several Probability Broach characters make their way in as the book wends on.There's also an AI that the MC gradually realizes he has feelings for. It's definitely a Heinleinian riff on the Time Enough for Love AI. And, for my money, Walt Simonson lifted this relationship for Beta Ray Bill's onboard AI. I asked him about it once and he didn't remember - but then, I also asked about the opener of the Surtur Saga for an article I clearly remembered where he had talked about starting with a short poem instead of the awesome "DOOM!" bit with Surtur and he didn't remember that either. It's just the way of the creative process. What may have influenced you gets lost to time.
This book also emphasises Libertarian principles as superior (if naive in the face of authoritarian opponents) and the ending relies on the heavy ordnance the MCs carry or own. Fun action, good story, love the Libertarian slant...in some ways it's more fantasy than SF 'cause this would never work. But it's fun to read.
The next installment of the Dungeon Crawler Carl hit the app on November 11th, it has in the very beginning, a very inventive way to recount the previous book happenings by the use of a child interviewing her uncle for a school project.
Just arrived - I mów, że moja chwała z przyjaciół się bierze. Listy 1972-1984 – a collection of letters between Ursula K. Le Guin and Stanisław Lem, translated by Lem’s son, Tomasz.I probavbly will not read it in one sitting, but a couple of lettters now and then.
I have started the audiobook of Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid and I’m going to try and finish listening to it by Wednesday next week before my BookBeat subscription runs out!
I listened to In the Lives of Puppets. I loved it. My library finally got a copy of The Art of Prophecy and I've been listening to it. It's been a lot of fun.
Just finished Island of the Sequined Love Nun by Christopher Moore. I give most of Moore's books 5 stars but this one took a while to grow on me, mostly because the main character was completely unlikeable. He did have a good redemption arc and the book ended well.
It involves a cargo cult on an isolated Micronesian island and the people who take advantage of them. There is a supernatural element to the story that is necessary but minimal and as usual for Moore's books lots of humor and heart. 4 stars.
Next is Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie.
A quick summary of the last couple of weeks reading:- Skullsworn: Good, solid fantasy (with the added bonus of being standalone).
- Translation State: An interesting story about identity, although the variety of pronouns was a little head-spinning.
- Untethered Sky: A girl has a (very) big bird and goes hunting. Not much more to it than that. It was fine.
- Service Model: Bleakly funny, with hints of HHGTTG and The Wizard of Oz. A brisk read.
- The Surgeon's Mate: The usual derring do, this time in the Baltic Sea.
- Just Stab Me Now: Underwritten romance story, with a gimmick. Less than the sum of its parts. Has the temerity to compare itself to Pratchett, which is egregious.
Now:
- Listening to Godkiller, which is intriguing so far.
- Reading: The Left-Handed Booksellers of London, which is a little too much tell-don't-show at the minute and very sub-Rivers of London, but I am withholding judgement for the time being...
Finished The Fury of the Gods, final book in the trilogy that started with Shadow of the Gods which the group read last year. It's great. It doesn't deviate much from the formula of the first two, but it does deliver the epic conclusion that those first two books promise. It ends with about five straight hours of stabbing.
Giving up on Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie.The writing is sometimes beautifully poetic on a sentence by sentence basis but as a whole I'm finding it dull and tedious. It's taken me 6 days to get 10% in and I don't want to spend anymore time with it when there's other books I'd rather be reading. I saw the movie about 6 months ago and that's good enough for me.
Next is Going Postal by Terry Pratchett.
Going Postal is just plain awesome. It was one of the first Discworld books for me, before I decided to do the whole series in order.Are you reading in order or selecting as you go? There's early gems and late gems, and this is one of the later gems.
I finished reading Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. The novel was adapted into the first season of the Amazon show named Good Omens. It’s humorous take on the coming of the biblical Armageddon. I am reading Assassin's Quest by Robin Hobb. I am also reading All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders. I plan to read Wind and Truth (Book #5 of the Stormlight Archive) by Brandon Sanderson next. I also plan to read The Gathering Storm (Book # 12 of the Wheel of Time) by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
John (Taloni) wrote: "Going Postal is just plain awesome. It was one of the first Discworld books for me, before I decided to do the whole series in order.Are you reading in order or selecting as you go? There's early..."
Over the years I've bought a random assortment and I read those more or less in publication order. If my count is right this will be the 16th I've read. The first I read, many years ago, was Men at Arms and I fell in love with the world. One day when I've finished what I have I'll start filling in the blanks.
FWIW I don't own a single one. My local library had all of them on ebook. If they didn't, both the nearest big city library (Los Angeles Public Library) and the LA County Library had them all as well.
Recently finished:- The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy -- a classic
- The 5th Wave -- Meh. Really didn't care for the writing style and the story pushed my WSoD past the limit at times.
- In the Belly of the Whale -- Mike Flynn has passed. He is missed. This is his last book -- and a good one it is.
- Griffin & Sabine: An Extraordinary Correspondence -- A quirky and interesting little book, half artwork & half story. Something I never would have bought, but fortunately my local library has it.
- Brothers in Arms -- Another good read in the Miles Vorkosigan series. Lois McMaster Bujold never fails to give good value. There is a reason she has won so many Nebula and Hugo awards.
- Livesuit -- A new James S. A. Corey novella. For me this story feels like Old Man's War and The Forever War got together and had a love child.
Now reading:
- Directive 51 by John Barnes
- A Taint in the Blood by Dana Stabenow
Steve wrote: - ... The Surgeon's Mate: The usual derring do, this time in the Baltic Sea. ..."One of my favorites in the series. (OMG -- has it really been 20 years since I read it! Time for a reread.)
Clyde wrote: "Steve wrote: - ... The Surgeon's Mate: The usual derring do, this time in the Baltic Sea. ..."One of my favorites in the series. (OMG -- has it really been 20 years since I read it! Time for a reread."
By all means join us! (there are a small, but determined, group of us working our way through the series, with the end goal of staging a coup and renaming the group Sword, Laser and Carronade...)
The Sword and Laser
Books mentioned in this topic
Too Like the Lightning (other topics)Heavenly Tyrant (other topics)
Wind and Truth (other topics)
Time of the Cat (other topics)
Midshipman's Hope (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Brandon Sanderson (other topics)Marko Kloos (other topics)
Andrea Stewart (other topics)
Neal Stephenson (other topics)
Patrick O'Brian (other topics)
More...
