What Else are you Reading - 2025

[BooksandGaming]

Finished the third book in the Heroes of the Empire series by Israh Azizi. Heroic epic fantasy with a classic feel and OG good vs. evil vibes. Actually hard to tell who is the good guy in this one. Kind of liked that.

[Trike]

Just finished How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler, a humorous Fantasy. 3 stars.

1/3 of the way through The Downloaded by Robert J. Sawyer.

[Scott]

And finished Onyx Storm. The expected wild ride. It did not leave hanging until the next book the one plot element that mattered most emotionally to me. I was anticipating it would and struggling to prepare myself. It did leave tons of others dangling in the cliffhanger of an ending, of course. The next book will come at some point. Thoroughly enjoyed this installment.

[Clyde]

Recently finished:
-Toolmaker Koan by John McLoughlin -- Damn good story with an imaginative take on Fermi's paradox.
- The Waking of Angantyr by Marie Brennan -- Pretty good story inspired by Norse mythology with a female MC.
- The Orphans of Raspay -- Lois McMaster Bujold never fails to give a good story.

Just started Old Man's War -- Since a new book in John Scalzi's popular series will be coming out this year, I figure it is a good idea to re-read the first book to get back into that world.

[Trike]

Not digging Romantasy? Orbit books has some Nomantasy for you!

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DFv1uv...

[Tamahome]

Fantasy with no men?

[Stephen]

Thanks Trike. Did not know M.R. Carey has a new book coming out in March 4th. Once Was Willem Look interesting.

[Trike]

Stephen wrote: "Thanks Trike. Did not know M.R. Carey has a new book coming out in March 4th. Once Was Willem Look interesting."

That whole post was bad for my TBR. XD

[Ruth]

Finished Starling House by Alix E. Harrow which was an excellent American Gothic read.

I am now continuing my circumnavigation with Captain Aubrey and Dr Maturin, we have reached The Far Side of the World

[Scott]

In and amidst other reads, also racing through Trish Heinrich Vigilante Universe novels. I do want to note that Kindle and Audible and current print versions of the first trilogy appear to have different titles from what Goodreads has them listed as. And they are published under the T.L. Heinrich version of the author's name.

The characters are pretty well developed. I especially liked Farenheit's Ghost. The fantasy superhero element feels a lot like the Silver Age of comics and the novels are set in the same timeframe. Since I've long had an intense passion for comics and the universes they create, they're a perfect fit for me.

[Minsta]

I started reading The Mercy of Gods by the authors of the Expanse novels - a couple of chapters in and so far very good!

[Scott]

Finished Vicious by Victoria E. Schwab. Definitely recommend for anyone who loves comics-adjacent universes of people with powers. Moving on to Vengeful

[Jerimy]

Just finished the hound of the Baskerville, and am now working on The Willows by Algernon Blackwood.

[Chris K.]

I'm listening to Nghi Vo's The Chosen and the Beautiful. Very good so far.

It's a queer, supernatural retelling of The Great Gatsby from Jordan Baker's point of view.

[Scott]

Finished It Lasts Forever and Then It's Over by Anne de Marcken. It won the 2024 Ursula K Le Guin prize for fiction.

The setting is something like a "slice of life" in the aftermath of zombie apocalypse from the perspective of a particular zombie. In truth it's an often surreal and sometimes humorous exploration of what it means to be human, the things and people we lose, and our eventual decline. It's the sort of book where you have to be willing to let it carry you along and experience the ride. There are echoes of heartbreak and longing and loss that I'm pretty sure would not have landed the same way for me when I was younger.

I appreciated it but it seems like the sort of book that requires a certain willingness by the reader to meet and experience the book on its own terms.

[Scott]

Reading We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson for another book club. Most people probably know her as the author of the short story, The Lottery.

This week we're only doing the first two chapters. It's in first person POV from the perspective Mary Katherine Blackwood (nicknamed Merricat) and there's an immediate gothic feel. It's also pretty clear that Mary Katherine is a ... less than reliable narrator. And her mind is a sometimes intense place to live, even vicariously as a reader. Definitely a fun read so far.

And if by some odd chance you've never read The Lottery, it's available online here.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/19...

[Seth]

Read The Inquisitor's Tale: Or, The Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog, which is excellent upper middle-grade middle-ages tale with dragons and miracles and kids running around France.

Also, took another trip with Miles Vorkosigan in Diplomatic Immunity - another fun entry in the series.

[Scott]

I've finished reading and re-reading, for now, Wild Embers: Poems of Rebellion, Fire and Beauty by Nikita Gill.

I read poetry differently than prose. I'll sometimes race through some poems marking them up. I may read slowly and sit with each poem. I also like listening to Nikita Gill read her poems. I'll go back and read a poem aloud myself.

I highly recommend this book in any format.

[Scott]

This evening I read Lost Ark Dreaming by Suyi Davies Okungbowa. It's ultimately a surprisingly hopeful novella set in a dystopic world. Our vision of that world is limited to a technological tower of human survivors in a flooded world. The tower had originally been built off the coast of Lagos, Nigeria. The novella is poetically prophetic in places. I definitely enjoyed it.

[Oaken]

Scott wrote: "Finished It Lasts Forever and Then It's Over by Anne de Marcken. It won the 2024 Ursula K Le Guin prize for fiction.

The setting is something like a "slice of li..."
Sounds reminiscent of Zone One by Colson Whitehead. That one is focused on the people in the aftermath where humanity was finally sort of starting to maybe push back the zombie hordes. A major thread running through the book was that every character was damaged, most suffering from and trying to deal in their own way with loss and pretty horrific PASD from what they had gone through (Post-Apocalyptic Stress Disorder.)

(view spoiler)[And then at the end it abandons all of that and turns into YAZB (Yet Another Zombie Story.) (hide spoiler)]

Edit: updated the book title.

[Clyde]

Finished my reread of Old Man's War. Still very good indeed.

Now reading:
-- Picks and Shovels by Cory Doctorow. (Audio, Wil Wheaton
narrator)
-- Red Platoon: A True Story of American Valor by Clinton Romesha (eBook)

[Aaron]

Seth, if you like Adam Gidwitz, then check out his Max in the House of Spies. We listened to it last year and my kids (9 & 6) are waiting for our hold on the newly released sequel (Max in the Land of Lies) to come in.
His podcast, Grimm Grimmer Grimmest, is also required listening in our household.

[Tamahome]

Trying Samuel Delany's 90 page novella Empire Star, which is in a double book Babel-17/Empire Star. There's no ebook version with the novella, but you can borrow it on archive.org. There's imaginative bits along the way, with lots of literary tricks that an English professor would love.

[Trike]

Listened to The Highwayman, my first R.A. Salvatore book. It is okay. 3 stars. GraphicAudio full cast is really good.

Also read The Midnight Plan of the Repo Man which was a lot of fun. 5 stars.

[Tamahome]

Yeah, I guess Empire Star went over my head.

[Seth]

Aaron wrote: "Seth, if you like Adam Gidwitz, then check out ..."

Thank you - I will. I have a 7 year old who is a reading monster and always needs to stuff to read - all the better if I can have a good time while reading along.


In my own reading, I'm having trouble with Somewhere Beyond the Sea - specifically the narrator of the audiobook. He makes it too melodramatic. I might finish in dead tree edition just to see how it resolves.

[Steve]

My Aubrey-athon continues with The Far Side of the World. I have thoroughly transitioned to the audiobooks now, which are most enjoyable. My goal is to try to finish the entire series by the end of the year...

In visual form, I am trying to make a dent in my TBR list by sorting by page length and reading as many of the shorter ones as I can:

- She Wolf and Cub (ok, but betrays it serialized origins)
- Orbital (lyrical)
- Rogue Male (more brutal than I remember from my youth)
- Magic Claims (a quick read; tempted to read the rest of the series)
- The Dead Cat Tail Assassins (short, fast and fun)
- A House with Good Bones (effectively creepy)

[Trike]

Library holds of She Who Became the Sun and How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse came in, so those are on deck.

Currently reading comic Avatar: The High Ground Library Edition.

[Ruth]

Steve wrote: "My Aubrey-athon continues with The Far Side of the World. I have thoroughly transitioned to the audiobooks now, which are most enjoyable. My goal is to try to finish the entire series..."

I’ve just finished The Far Side of the World! I’m now taking a break from my circumnavigation with Captain Aubrey and Dr Maturin and reading some non-fiction: How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States by Daniel Immerwahr

[Trike]

She Who Became the Sun is sooo looong. I’m only 50% of the way through. This book is uphill both ways.

[Clyde]

Recently finished:
—Klara and the Sun. Kinda meh for me, well-written but I couldn't connect with any of the characters.
—The Ghost Brigades. Still very good on a reread. I think I am now ready for Scalzi's new book in the Old Man's War universe later this year.

Now reading:
—Picks and Shovels by Cory Doctorow. Audio version, quite enjoying it.
—Quicksilver by Toni Dwiggins. Also liking this one. Didn't realize that forensic geology was a thing.

And, will pick up China Miéville's The City & the City from the library today.

[terpkristin]

While reading The Will of the Many with my eyes when I'm not too exhausted, I was listening to Be Ready When the Luck Happens but realized that I wasn't particularly enjoying it. I don't know, but I don't think Ina and I would be friends IRL. Anyway, I switched to The Inheritance Games and am enjoying it. I suspect I'll read the series. The audio moves well when I'm driving around.

[Rob, Roberator]

Recently finished Not Till We Are Lost and now I'm listening to Bookshops & Bonedust

[Steve]

After a month of shorter books, I decided to jump to the other end of my TBR and pick the longest, which turns out to be Swan Song - which is decidedly not the book to read at the minute, given the state of the world. Still, the car-crash horror of it all is pulling me through in a "can't look away" kind of way - I just hope there is some sort of redemption before the end...

[Tamahome]

Swan Song is being adapted...

[Phil]

Finally finished Termination Shock by Neil Stephenson. I loved it like I do all his books but this one just took me forever to get through. Partly it was me not feeling well for a while (COVID) and partly it was the book being too long with patches of "not much happening". As far as I was concerned it could have lost 2 to 3 hundred pages from the middle and still told the story. It was personally cool to see the mentions of B.C., where I live, and a character who is a Sikh practitioner of Gatka as I have a good friend who also fits that description.

Next is The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley.

[Tamahome]

Started Ian Douglas' Center of Gravity with giant gas bag aliens.

[John (Nevets)]

Phil wrote: "Finally finished Termination Shock by Neil Stephenson. I loved it like I do all his books but this one just took me forever to get through. Partly it was me not feeling well for a w..."

I understand what you are saying, and I don't disagree. But I also think that is sort of what you sign up for with a Stephenson novel. I also really liked that one a lot. I liked the premise and the characters, and even the plotting.

The 2 books of his that were hardest for me to get through were DODO (not sue if it was his, or partners writing on that one), and FALL. DODO I just never warmed to. I made it through, but it was a slog the whole way. FALL was one where parts of it worked for me, since I really did like Reamde, and other parts just dragged.

[Phil]

Yeah John, Fall, Reamde, and Quicksilver all could have been a little more vigorously edited for my tastes. I still enjoyed them, just a little too long.

[Aaron]

I really enjoyed Stephenson’s latest Substack post.

https://open.substack.com/pub/nealste...
It remains to be seen if having this outlet for his research rabbit holes will free his mind to make his traditionally published work more streamlined.

[Seth]

Phil wrote: "Yeah John, Fall, Reamde, and Quicksilver all could have been a little more vigorously edited for my tastes. I still enjoyed them, just a little too long."

It really depends for me. When I'm sucked into a book I don't care about page count at all - or sometimes I wish it was even longer. I loved Quicksilver and the whole Baroque Cycle. There could have been another three asides about banking or currency or whatever and I'd have been happy.

Another example is Kim Stanley Robinson. He rambles a bit, but when it works, it just works. I thought the Mars books were sometimes too long, but didn't mind all the asides in 2312 that didn't add at all to the plot.

[Papaphilly]

The Lost Tomb: And Other Real-Life Stories of Bones, Burials, and Murder and it is lots of fun.

[Phil]

Just finished The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley. Yes, I know that most of you read this a couple months ago so I won't bother with a summary.
My feelings towards this book are kind of "Meh". Once in a while there was a nice turn of phrase and other times it seemed that the author was in love with her own overblown metaphors. I didn't really like the main character or identify with her in any way.
I know there was a discussion here about what was the story reason for bringing the expats through time but I didn't see any while reading it.
Overall I'll give it a 3.

Next is Scatterbrain by Larry Niven.

[Seth]

I read the most recent Emily Wilde book - Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales - where she and Wendell return to claim his kingdom. Pretty good, but I haven't liked either of the sequels quite as much as the first one which was just a bit more charming.

I Lem'd The Book of Doors at 75% or so, which seems like it should have been unreasonable since I'd listened to so much already - but it seemed like it was building to some crescendo and I found that I didn't really care about the outcome anymore - and I hadn't really enjoyed it much up to that point anyway.

And, I read The Tomb of Dragons and loved it, but I'm so in the tank for books in the Goblin Emperor world that I shouldn't be relied upon as a fair judge. Old characters return, there's plenty of action, and Celehar is maybe almost OK for a little bit. Great.

[Scott]

I'm thoroughly enjoying CB Lee's Lambda Literary Award nominated Sidekick Squad series. I've finished "I'm Not Your Sidekick!" and plan to continue the series. Lee is working on the final novel in the series after a bit of a break for life events like having a child. It's superheroes in a future setting with some dystopic elements. I find the series fun escapism.

https://cb-lee.com/books/sidekick-squ...

https://cb-lee.com/2025/01/26/on-rewr...

[Papaphilly]

Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering. I am thoroughly enjoying the read.

[Clyde]

Recently finished:
- The City & the City by China Miéville (Library paper, interesting but not really my jam.)
- Not Till We Are Lost by Dennis E. Taylor (eBook, good as usual, the Bobiverse continues to expand!)
- Quarantine by Greg Egan (Audio, Okay but pushed my WSOD a bit too far.)

Now reading:
- Listening Woman by Tony Hillerman (Library paper, crime)
- Embers of War by Gareth L. Powell (eBook, One of our March madness final four.)
- Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman (Audio)

[Stephen]

Started Once Was Willem by M.R. Carey

[Scott]

Finished Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke for another book club. It's a surreal tale told completely through slack messages in a company's slack instance. One employee starts the book with their consciousness upload or transferred into the company's slack. It's a really fun read and the medium shapes the story.

[Tamahome]

I'm reading a book with an alien culture and language. The pictures and endnotes help. In this world, you can only inherit father's house if you marry your cousin. (“Entail”)

The Annotated Pride and Prejudice