What have you been reading this August?

[Michelle]

The Three Musketeers is on both my TBR list and my kindle, but I haven't gotten to it yet.

[Georgann]

I read Six Wakes , such a great mystery by clones on a spaceship. If anyone is looking for a genre-blender for our bingo challenge, this'd fit the bill!

[NekroRider]

The Three Musketeers is in my current physical TBR but not sure when I'll get to reading it! I predict I'll probably love it though.

Peony wrote: "The Waking of Angatyr’s writing drops at around 28% and does not pick back up. I’m close to dropping it at 67%."

Who is this by? Not sure if related, but the Saga of Hervor and Heidrek is one of my favourite, if not my favourite, of the Nordic sagas.

[Peony]

The Marie Brennan one.

[Peony]

Huh, Sailing to Sarantium is so small that the prologue completes 10% of it! When was the last time I saw 10 chapters?

So far it’s good. I hope the writing stays like this, and its plot is conclusive. 🥲

[Peony]

I like how sailing to saratium has heaps of daily life lore(at the beginning, at least, i can speak for). There’s people in public offices and there’s shoemakers, there’s sports culture and political scheming, there’s corruption as a career path (lol), factions and networking, the ignorant little guys and the spies, beggars and kings.

[NekroRider]

Peony wrote: "The Marie Brennan one."

Ah, looking at the descriptions seems maybe only loosely attached to the Saga via the names.

Peony wrote: "Huh, Sailing to Sarantium is so small that the prologue completes 10% of it! When was the last time I saw 10 chapters?

So far it’s good. I hope the writing stays like this, and its plot is conclus..."

It's been a while but I've always found it hard to go wrong with GGK, hope you enjoy.

[Andrea]

As a fellow Canadian I'm a bit embarrassed to say I haven't read any GGK yet though I own many of his books.

Finished reading The Book of Ti'ana, which I felt was a bit slow at the start but got really interesting as it went along. Guess I'm a lot more interested in books that can teleport you to different Ages than digging holes through the earth. Although it does include the Myst portal books, I'm not sure they are key enough to the story to count as a Portal BINGO slot. Yeah people popped in and out of them and they played a big role in the end, but no more so than any other kind of resource.

I might use a Locke & Key graphic novel since you could open all kinds of doorways in that one which was a unique take on a "portal" concept, you didn't always travel to another location, the passing through a door could change your shape instead, etc.

Haven't quite decided what to pick up next, probably Vampire Mountain by Darren Shan

[Michelle]

Peony wrote: "Huh, Sailing to Sarantium is so small that the prologue completes 10% of it! When was the last time I saw 10 chapters?

So far it’s good. I hope the writing stays like this, and its plot is conclus..."

Back in the day I really liked that book.

[Peony]

It’s good so far, but I dislike reading about rape, slavery, prostitution, and sex slavery in fantasy, and I really dislike reading about it normalized. I really wasn’t mentally prepared. A character gets introduced with assault and I’m like…oh…I guess that’s happening… every time it happens with a new character I hope that was the last of it, but it keeps getting worse, instead. 💀


Someone should make a “does the dog die” website for books.

[NekroRider]

Peony wrote: "It’s good so far, but I dislike reading about rape, slavery, prostitution, and sex slavery in fantasy, and I really dislike reading about it normalized. I really wasn’t mentally prepared. A charact..."

There was a spreadsheet someone made over on r/fantasy a few years ago, giving info on sexual violence in sff books, if it's "on-screen" or just referenced, if it's graphic etc. It's still publicly available I just don't think the person who made it has updated it to books published the last couple years.

[Peony]

If its public-edit I’ll add to it

[Rachel]

I just started The Magelands Epic, Books 1-4 yesterday and am all ready a third done with book 1. was bit skeptical because amazon packed it as a set of 4 and the to buy price is $10 per set but the writing is so good. there is like 4 storylines so far and the world is so fleshed out with interesting characters and races living on a pangea type continent. one story has a family of frog people migrating out of the only marshland city in their corner of the world because of overcrowding. a second story focuses on a rich senator in the snake-people empire . his people are completely fine with enslaving the ape and human like races because the snakes have longer history and treat those with mage blood better then regular snakes anyway. the senator is gradually becoming more mortally grey on the issue after meeting some ape people and (sort of) saving them from hard labor.then you get chapters from the ape people captives POVs, and finally we have a human like POW rescued from her home country and turning reluctant assassin, not sure where things are headed yet but the writing is engaging and enjoyable and the characters are likeable
if you are looking for a long series to get lost in this is good. Was hooked for the long run by chapter 3

[Peony]

$2.50 per paperback is a steal!

[Andrea]

Just went to the used bookstore and their mass markets are 3.25 and trade/hardcovers are 4.25 so 2.50 is definitely a good deal!

Finish Vampire Mountain, now to work on my BINGO, picked up Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor to fill my taking place in Africa slot.

[NekroRider]

Andrea wrote: "Just went to the used bookstore and their mass markets are 3.25 and trade/hardcovers are 4.25 so 2.50 is definitely a good deal!

Finish Vampire Mountain, now to work on my BINGO, picked up [book:L..."

Will be interested to hear what you think of Lagoon. It's one of her earlier books, isn't it? I personally really enjoyed both the Binti trilogy and Who Fears Death.

[Rachel]

Rachel wrote: "I just started The Magelands Epic, Books 1-4 yesterday and am all ready a third done with book 1. was bit skeptical because amazon packed it as a set of 4 and the to buy price is $1..."
yes :) i meant that the books are cheap and the author is writing fast so i thought the witting quality would be less i guess because i have come across authors like that before but so far i am not disappointed.

[Tony]

Peony wrote: "It’s good so far, but I dislike reading about rape, slavery, prostitution, and sex slavery in fantasy, and I really dislike reading about it normalized. I really wasn’t mentally prepared. A charact..."

You may never come across them - although book 38 in the series was published last year - but if you do, avoid the Gor series by John Norman. I haven't read one for 45 years, I guess, but back then (when there was only about 10) they were heavy on sexism, misogyny, and fairly graphic sexual violence. And apart from all that, they weren't well written - probably about the level of Fifty Shades of Grey.

[Carol]

I'm just starting The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guazon & I"m also reading Chaos Lies by Sophie Gabrielle

[Carol]

This month? Still reading Chaos Lies by Sophie Gabrielle & also started reading The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guazon (a book I saw another author post as part of her reading pile). I tend to read multiple books nearly at the same time. I also still have to finish Forty Thousand in Gehenna. I'm doing multiple readings because a few of them are library borrows.

[NekroRider]

I finished Have His Carcase by Dorothy Sayers, from her Lord Peter Wimsey mystery series. She never disappoints! 👍

I then skipped off for another quick Conan read with The Tower of the Elephant (Conan, #3) by Robert E. Howard. Jewel heisty young Conan in that one, lots of fun!

Now I'm reading R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) by Karel Capek. This is a book (well, play I guess) I've been wanting read for more than a decade now, and I'm so happy to finally be starting it! I had trouble tracking down a copy in bookstores for years, but finally snagged at Indigo this year. Only a few pages in but it's great so far!

[Tony]

NekroRider wrote: "I then skipped off for another quick Conan read with The Tower of the Elephant (Conan, #3) by Robert E. Howard. Jewel heisty young Conan in that one, lots of fun!"

I've also been reading some Conan - only one story to go in Savage Sword of Conan Volume 17, which is the Dark Horse Comics reprint compilations of the magazine published by Marvel in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. This volume has been a bit more hit and miss than usual.

[Gary]

I read Diplomatic Immunity by Lois McMaster Bujold (Book 13 of the Vorkosigan series). Lord Auditor Miles Vorkosigan and his wife Ekaterine face a challenge. I liked how characters from previous books appear in crucial roles in this book like the Quaddies and Bel Thorne. I also read Isles of the Emberdark by Brandon Sanderson. This is an expansion of his novella named The Sixth of Dusk. I liked how the novella was incorporated into the novel by using the content as flashbacks. I am reading Consider Phlebas (Book #1 of the Culture series) by Iain M. Banks. I am also reading Towers of Midnight (Book #13 of the Wheel of Time series) by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson next. I plan to read The Shattering Peace by John Scalzi (Book #6 of the Old Man’s War) next.

[Michelle]

I’m rereading Diplomatic Immunity right now.

[Tony]

I have finished Savage Sword of Conan Volume 17. The Savage Sword of Conan series did tell some excellent Conan stories, and the black-and-white artwork works well for Conan.

I'm about a third of the way through The Moonstone. It's a slow pace, but well-written.

[Pierre]

I finished Echo of Worlds and found it very satisfying. I am now starting Exodus by Peter F. Hamilton.

[Dean]

I just finished The Player of Games by I.M. Banks. Interesting. I liked it a good deal better than Consider Phlebas but it still struck out on some major areas for me. What do others think?
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Dean]

Tony wrote: "NekroRider wrote: "I then skipped off for another quick Conan read with The Tower of the Elephant (Conan, #3) by Robert E. Howard. Jewel heisty young Conan in that one, lots of fun!"

I've also bee..."

LOVE me some Sanderson. Isles of Emberdark was one of his better ones, IMO.

Complicated feelings on Iain M. Banks. What did you think of Phlebas?

[Andrea]

Finished reading Lagoon, not what I expected. I mean 90% of it was aliens land on Earth, humans react badly...but the appearance of various African deities was an interesting mix.

I can't say I loved it, these kinds of post-apocalyptic things where people lose it and just go looting and raping and aren't really my thing, but for something that fills the "takes place in Africa" BINGO slot its perfect. You get the cultures, the languages (be prepared to muddle your way through a fair amount of pidgin-English), their myths and beliefs, and I loved it very much for that.

Next up will take a brain break with something super easy and quick to read with Trials of Death - Darren Shan before I tackle my next BINGO entry.

[Robin]

So, I have finished 'The Sky on Fire' by Jen Lyons and there was a good book in there somewhere but unfortunately it didn't quite work for me and only gets three stars. The main issue I had with it, was the glib, superficial writing style, too shallow and preoccupied with being randomly (and inconsistently) 'sexy' for no particular reason. It undercut the tension at every turn, so the stakes never felt that high, even when they were. I didn't hate it and it was entertaining enough in its way, slick, fast paced and undemanding. The three star rating is more because the book had so much potential and so many good ideas that were ultimately squandered.

Not sure what's next, I'm mulling... Watch this space...