What Else Are You Reading - May, 2015

[terpkristin]

I've got VE Schwab's A Darker Shade of Magic that I just started, plus this month's pick. And Sea of Silver Light, which I'm close to halfway through and quite enjoying. It's the final book in the Otherland series, which I've quite enjoyed. It was amazingly prescient.

[Sean]

The Devil is a Part-Timer in which Satan is exiled to Earth and has to get a part time job at McDonalds to pay the bills.

[Brendan]

Finished the May group read yesterday, currently reading The Algebraist which I'm enjoying so much it is unlikely it'll take me too long. After that is Who Fears Death. I believe there is a sequel to that book coming out this month.

[Dharmakirti]

terpkristin wrote: "I've got VE Schwab's A Darker Shade of Magic that I just started, plus this month's pick. And Sea of Silver Light, which I'm close to halfway through and quite enjoying..."

I came close to buying VE Schwab's A Darker Shade of Magic the other day, it looks very interesting. Instead, I ended up purchasing Michael Moorcock's first two Eternal Champions books that have been reissued by Titan Books.

[Kristina]

I've currently got from the libary Dead Beat, Origin, Best Served Cold, and Half the World. I also want to sneak in Blameless.

[Dharmakirti]

Brendan wrote: "Finished the May group read yesterday, currently reading The Algebraist which I'm enjoying so much it is unlikely it'll take me too long. After that is Who Fears Death. ..."

It looks like Nnedi Okorafor's new book will be a prequel to Who Fears Death and not a sequel. I'm very much looking forward to it. I found Who Fears Death to be a very powerful novel.

[Brendan]

Oops! my mistake, guess I didn't read closely enough.

[Adelaide]

I am reading A Forest of Stars which is the second in Kevin J Anderson's Saga of the Seven Suns series. It's a pretty old school space opera. There's some issues with the writing (The romances are silly and many of the characters are flat), but his space is populated with all kinds of people and there are lots of women doing lots of stuff. It's fun. I'm also about to start Andre Norton's Witch World for my Classic Trash Goodreads group. I'm reading my grandfather's copy. He died when I was 10 and I always enjoy picking up a book from his stash.

[Michele]

I've recently finished rereading The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man and Expedition to the Mountains of the Moon - the 6th book is coming out in August and I need to get caught up in the series.

Also I read Libriomancer which was fun but weak - does the writing improve in the other books of the series?

Now I'm listening to The Initiate Brother Duology which I've read many times - listening to the audio version is good, it's pretty well done.

And I'm trying again to read Soulless - the main character annoys me some - she's almost a caricature of an upright Victorian society miss, but I'm hoping she gets to be a real person as the story progresses. Only to Ch. 3, gonna just keep plowing ahead because the world seems interesting.

[Alan]

Michele wrote: "...And I'm trying again to read Soulless - the main character annoys me some - she's almost a caricature of an upright Victorian society miss, but I'm hoping she gets to be a real person as the story progresses. Only to Ch. 3, gonna just keep plowing ahead because the world seems interesting."

I liked her and thought she came off as a fully formed person but I don't think her personality changed much throughout the book so you may bounce off again :(

[Sky]

I finished Crux. It was as great as the first novel, Nexus, and I eagerly await the release of the final book in the trilogy, Apex on Tuesday. Crux doesn't introduce many new ideas beyond some environmentalism, and this is generally a good thing, as in many cases of near-term sci-fi the first book is great and believable, and the sequels start to get way too fantastic. I really enjoy the afterward at the end of each book where Naam goes into the current state of the art in the science discussed in the book, and theorizes how we can get from where we are today to the ideas in his book. And I always enjoy reading about studies that administer cocaine to rhesus monkeys or studies titled "The binge drinking habits of rhesus moneys".

Anyways, the ideas in the book have gotten me really interested in the study of computational neuroscience, and it just happens there is a UW course on the topic that that just started on coursera:

https://class.coursera.org/compneuro-003

Next up I am also starting book 4 of Malazan, House of Chains. I finally got a library card after many years and got the print and ebook versions of HoC from the library, and burned an audible credit for the audio.

Comic-wise, I've been taking advantage of the libraries selection of Manga to read Attack on Titan, Volume 1 and GTO: Great Teacher Onizuka, Volume 1. Up next I snagged GTO: Great Teacher Onizuka, Volume 2, Attack on Titan, Vol. 2, Death Note, Vol. 1: Boredom, and No. 6 Vol. 1. I also got Saga, Vol. 2 and a cool coffee table book The Cult of LEGO

[David Sven]

Started The Red Knight by Miles Cameron

[Melissa]

I'm very much behind the eight ball, but I was looking for something new to read and wasn't having any luck. I saw that Leviathan Wakes was today's daily deal on Amazon ($1.99) so I decided to try it. I typically prefer watching science fiction rather than reading it,(epic fantasy is usually my first choice to read), but I thought I'd give it a shot. I'm 5% of the way in, and its pretty good. The techno-babble hasn't overtaken the story, so that's a positive for me. I was already interested in watching the SyFy channel series, The Expanse, so hopefully this will be a good experience!

[Rob, Roberator]

Add two more audio books to the read pile, but I largely took a break from reading actual words on a page this week in favor of Broken Age.

Crux was another great read. Looking forward to Apex on Tuesday. Pretty bummed it won't be available in audio for the foreseeable future though. (My Review)

I also did the second Peter grant book: Moon Over Soho and plan to continue on with this series at some point in the near future. (My Review)

[Ctgt]

David Sven wrote: "Started The Red Knight by Miles Cameron"

Wow. David Sven...long time no see!

[David Sven]

Ctgt wrote: "David Sven wrote: "Started The Red Knight by Miles Cameron"

Wow. David Sven...long time no see!"

I've been undercover.

[Marcelo]

I kicked off the month by listening to Inherit the Stars at Scribd to test the platform's audiobook experience.

I don't know if I'm linking the book. It describes a near future that seems dated.

[John (Taloni)]

Um. Inherit the Stars is one of my faves. Granted, I read it some 35 years ago so your description of the dated future is plausible, indeed endemic to older SF stories. If anything, stick it out for a great ending. I don't necessarily recommend other Hogan stories but this one finishes up well.

[Marcelo]

John (Taloni) wrote: "Um. Inherit the Stars is one of my faves. [...] If anything, stick it out for a great ending. "

Thanks, John! I'll believe you and keep on reading.

[Adelaide]

I read Robert Charles Wilson's The Affinities this weekend while camping and enjoyed it quite a bit. Very thought provoking.

[David H.]

Just two for now (my comics will be in the other thread):

I finished Oath of Swords and Sword Brother by David Weber. It kind of boggles my mind why they included the novella "Sword Brother" here, given that it very necessarily needs to go after the 3rd book, not bundled with the first book. Whatever! Bahzell Bahnakson is lots of fun.

Scales and Other Transformations by Tina Connolly--one of the short story collections included in the "Six by Six" Kickstarter. The stories were hit or miss for me, as most short story collections are--it's a rare collection that gets me going.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I think I'm going to set aside Seveneves for a while. I think serious sci fi fans are going to really like it but I'm not sure I'm in the mood to committing to all 700 pages of it right now.

Instead I turned to Agents of the Internet Apocalypse: A Novel by Wayne Gladstone.

[John (Taloni)]

Jenny, have you read Gail Carriger's Steampunk work? I read three of the Finishing School books and they were pretty good YA, lots of dry humor, engaging and relatively short. Haven't read the other Steampunk stuff but it looks pretty good.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

John (Taloni) wrote: "Jenny, have you read Gail Carriger's Steampunk work? I read three of the Finishing School books and they were pretty good YA, lots of dry humor, engaging and relatively short. Haven't read the othe..."

Yes! Soulless and then this morning I finished Etiquette and Espionage.

[John (Taloni)]

I loved Etiquette and Espionage! The second is just as good, the third a little down in quality but not a lot. All still very good.

Gail Carriger came to a ConDor a year or so ago and was very interesting and personable. The convention did some themed contests based on her work - person bingo and at least one dance as I recall. She wore a period dress to her panels, it was great.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

John (Taloni) wrote: "I loved Etiquette and Espionage! The second is just as good, the third a little down in quality but not a lot. All still very good.

Gail Carriger came to a ConDor a year or so ago and was very int..."

Her Sword and Laser video interview is what made me want to try her books. She definitely commits to the persona!

[Joe Informatico]

I'm making my way through Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos series. I read the early books years ago and loved them, and always meant to get back to them. So I'm finally getting to all the omnibus editions I bought last year.

Currently wrapping up the 8th book (Dragon) and about to start #9 (Issola).

[Rikki]

I'm currently reading Seraphina by Rachel Hartman. I am liking it so far, I'm about a third of the way through. It's weird but every time they Mentone the character's age I'm surprised since she seems so much older than 16.

[Camilla]

Just finished King of Thorns and I'm starting Emperor of Thorns soon enough!

I'm also reading The Magicians, although rather slowly as it's more of a: I didn't bother bring my physical books with me, so I'm reading on my kindle on the go - thing.

[Aaron]

Finished Trial by Fire, Really good 4.5/5 like the first one, rounding this one up instead of down though...because...well it's hard to say. Basically this series to me feels like I'm reading an amazing sci-fi classic from the golden age of sci-fi. The only real problem I can point to in this book is the middle part got bogged down a bit with the guerilla warfare in the middle before it got back to political maneuvering which is where this author truly shines. It has a bit of a problem with over explaining things as well, I do enjoy the way the twists were revealed and all of them felt fair and I figured them out ahead of time...however it wasn't like me beating my head against a wall at how dumb the cast was for not figuring it out earlier.

[John (Taloni)]

Finished up Waistcoats & Weaponry and went on to Sword of Rhiannon. Might go retro next. I've been wanting to re-read Olaf Stapledon's Star Maker. It's dated but still interesting.

[Joseph]

I just finished The Grace of Kings, which was epic, sprawling and excellent; and am about to start Sea-Kings of Mars (a.k.a. Sword of Rhiannon) by Leigh Brackett.

Star Maker is great; I should revisit it one of these days.

[Walter]

Carpe Jugulum

[[deleted user]]

I am in a bit of a funk. I finished Lathe of Heaven by Le Guin last week. Amazing. This week I have started 3 different books and just couldn't get into them. I'm waiting for my audible credit for the book of the month so until then I might pick away at the Hugo noms.

[Brendan]

Matthew wrote: "I am in a bit of a funk. I finished Lathe of Heaven by Le Guin last week. Amazing. This week I have started 3 different books and just couldn't get into them. I'm waiting for my audible credit for ..."

The first book by Le Guin that I read, and one of my favourite books ever!

[Joseph]

And finished Sea-Kings of Mars (it was short ...) and started Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie -- I got a supporting membership, so figured I'd get a head start on my Hugo ballot ...

[Geoff]

Finished Blue Remembered Earth. It was okay. review

My library hold for The Grace of Kings came in suddenly so I read that. I liked it a lot. review

Now its back on the Malazan train for me. Reaper's Gale is next.

[Fredrik]

I've heard a lot about Grace of Kings recently. Should bump it to the top of my list, perhaps?

[Rob, Roberator]

Fredrik wrote: "I've heard a lot about Grace of Kings recently. Should bump it to the top of my list, perhaps?"

Reviews among my friends are a bit mixed. I know some that really liked it, and some that didn't. And several seemed to think (like me) that it's just OK.

[Fredrik]

Not good enough; I want to read something fantastic! ;)

[Rob, Roberator]

For all I know you could find it fantastic, but from what I've seen it doesn't seem to be a sure thing.

[Joel]

I just finished Half the World by Joe Abercrombie, and I think it might possibly be one of the best books I have read this year and one of the best out of the fantasy genre I have read in general. I am so excited for Half a War.

[Kristina]

Joel wrote: "I just finished Half the World by Joe Abercrombie, and I think it might possibly be one of the best books I have read this year and one of the best out of the fantasy genre I have read in general. ..."

OOH I just started it yesterday... I can't wait to really get into it!

[Stephen]

I am almost done with Station Eleven, George RR Martin's favorite book of the year, a recent award winner and a " Should Have been a Hugo Nominee " if not for the Puppies shenanigans. Excellent so far.

[Walter]

Have Station Eleven on my to-read list.

[Joseph]

Rob wrote: "For all I know you could find it fantastic, but from what I've seen it doesn't seem to be a sure thing."

I found it pretty fantastic. Maybe check out whatever they offer as a sample on Kindle, just to see if the style clicks for you? I can see how it could be off-putting -- for one thing, there's not a lot of descriptive detail, at least that I can recall.

[Adelaide]

Brian wrote: "Dr. Bloodmoney. PKD doesn't disappoint."

My husband really enjoyed that book, but every time I looked at it, I kept reading Dr. Bloodmonkey. In my mind, it's a much better book.

[Nathan]

Just finished The Vagrant thoroughly enjoyed it. Listened to the audio book, think it might have been more enjoyable to read.

[Lindsay]

Stephen wrote: "I am almost done with Station Eleven, George RR Martin's favorite book of the year, a recent award winner and a " Should Have been a Hugo Nominee " if not for the Puppies shenaniga..."

I will be very interested to see the full nomination list when all is said and done. Personally, I don't think it would have been nominated. Don't get me wrong, it's a great novel, I just don't think it's a very good SF novel. I would characterize the science and world-building in it as "relentlessly wrong", and it's a sign of just how good the story-telling is that you can mostly ignore that.

[Stephen]

Not a stickler for exact science, but "relentlessly wrong " ? Post apocalyptic tales have a long storied history in the genre and Station Eleven has been nominated for both the National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award. Still it is not Nebula nominated so the love in the community may not be there.