2010 SFR Reading Challenge

[Jody]

I've read Old Man's War. It was kind of dry but quite interesting.

[AnnaM]

Thanks! I'm looking forward to it but I've decided to read Nebula's Music next.

[Jacqueline J]

Old Man's War was okay but I would not consider it at all SFR but straight Sci Fi.

[AnnaM]

I was wondering about that. I'll read it anyway since I adore SF.

[AnnaM]

Just finished #23, Nebula's Music!

No idea what I'll read next. I'm so busy this week I probably won't choose until next week.

It'll be short, that's for sure.

[AnnaM]

Okay, so I got bored last night and started reading Taking Liberty by Jodi Redford. It rocks. I couldn't put it down. Read 22 pages in two hours. So far, it has the "feel" of Firefly to me, without the westerns aspects. But if you aren't a fan of that TV show don't let that dissuade you from trying this book.

So far, it's fun, full of action, witty, with good romantic chemistry and good worldbuilding. I love it. I'm bummed it's only about 100 pages or so.

Anyway, I'll let you all know when I finish it. I'm not sure what rating it is but so far there have been cuss words and a few that wouldn't be in one of Linnea's books and some nudity. Nothing graphic so far. So, I suspect it's billed as hot.

And the bad guys are icky.

[new_user]

Oh, Anna, that sounds great! Too bad it's only 100 pages. *pout*

[AnnaM]

I know! I'm now up to page 33 and really, really wish it were 400 pages. It's too short. I hope she writes another sfr in this universe, but her site shows new paranormals instead.

[AnnaM]

Just finished Taking Liberty by Jodi Redford, my #24! And I started reading Star-crossed by Marilynn Byerly as my final book for the challenge. :-)

Taking Liberty rocked. I really enjoyed it.

[new_user]

I read the excerpt. It tdid look good! I recommended it to a friend, in fact.

[AnnaM]

I kept hearing the guy from Firefly as the voice of the hero the whole time. It just had that witty style. The only time that "voice" slipped was during the sex but maybe that's just in 'my' head and someone else would be fine.

It's definitely a universe I'd like to read more about and was an excellent introduction to the author.

[CaliGirlRae]

You guys are giving some great titles here! My shelf is going to explode from this thread alone. :-D

Oh, and Firefly you say? I'm sold!

[AnnaM]

Firefly, yep. Sounded just like it to me. Man flying alone for noble purposes. Smuggler. Outlaw.

Mostly what reminded me was the Voice. The way the dialogue was written and the hero's whole character--the way he spoke, thought, and acted. I'd bet the author was a Firefly fan or fic writer. If not, I'd be really surprised.

[AnnaM]

Yay! I just finished the challenge! Woo hoo!

#25 was Star-Crossed by Marilynn Byerly. It was very different than Taking Liberty. More sex, darker, but more SF and a cool alien called a rab cat.

It was good. There were chases, action, and a nasty sadistic villain.

The editing was not good, though. Chapter 21 of my ebook copy ended in mid-word. Not just mid-sentence, but mid-word. There were several mispelled words throughout and several sentences that read weird because words were missing.

While there were a couple of spots that tried my suspension of disbelief, overall it was a good story and the characters were interesting. I think I liked the rab cat the most. LOL. The very ending was happy and it was satisfying. The Dark Moment just before that...well, maybe a little melodramatic but it was good enough.

This one does have some of the darkness On Screen for the "planet of women needs men" plot. The villain is shown sadistically mistreating the secondary hero in a way that might bother some people sensitive to rape. But that part isn't terribly long and the rest of the book is much lighter.

Overall it wasn't a keeper for me but was fun enough that I'll look for more stories by the author.

[new_user]

That does sound dark. When I saw rab cat, I thought rat cat, LOL! Not a pretty image. What are they?

[AnnaM]

Indigenous alien lifeforms with the intelligence of dolphins. They look like big house cats with, I think, rabbit ears which they use to communicate. But the whole colony of humans didn't bother to learn to talk with them. They can also kill a tiger-like creature single-handedly.

The story has that entire dark "patch" but most of it isn't that dark at all.

[Carolyn F.]

THIS IS AS FAR AS I COULD GET

--The Earth Reading Challenge – Read 5 SFR novels.
The Silver Metal Lover by Tanith Lee *****
Metallic Love by Tanith Lee ****
He, She and It by Marge Piercy *** 1/2
The Time Weaver by Shana Abé ****
Relentless by Lauren Dane ****

--The Moon Reading Challenge – Read 15 SFR novels.
Grimspace by Ann Aguirre ****
Contact by Susan Grant ***-1/2
The Outback Stars ****
Wanderlust by Ann Aguirre ****
Driven by Eve Kenin *****
Killing Time ****
Ghost Hunter ***1/2
Hidden by Eve Kenin ****

[AnnaM]

You did good, Carolyn!

[Carolyn F.]

Not as good as I thought I'd do, but thanks Anna.

[Jacqueline J]

I seem to have read 20 SFR books in 2010. That was way below my goal of 50. Still I did just start in July so maybe I overreached. ;-) I'm going to try again this year and set my goal at 25.