What Are You Reading?

Tigerbaby

I guess I'm reading backwards, but, have finally discovered Robin Hobbs Elderling series.

Slow,

but beautifully slow, gentle.

Dades

Zapp Brannigan wrote: »

On to my first ever sci-fi novel "Old Mans War".

Thargor wrote: »

Do yourself a favour and read The Culture series by Ian M Banks. Then some Peter F Hamilton stuff.

The first "Old Mans War" book is a good start to sci-fi, however. Not too "hard", and a smart and fun read. The first sequel is great too, with diminishing returns after that.

Then you can get stuck into "Player of Games", and go on from there!

mcgovern

mcgovern wrote: »

I'm about half way through and still struggling to figure out what exactly is going on, I guess I'll try not to google anything until I've finished!

So I finished it without googling, but was left very underwhelmed, I think I'll be giving Mieville a break for a good while.

Then started An Empire of Black and Gold by Adrian Tchaikovsky after seeing lots of mentions of the series here. This one I absolutely loved, but I'm going to try pacing myself on the series!

After that it was The Peripheral by William Gibson, not as good as his old stuff, but a decent enough read I suppose.

Now started The Purge of Babylon, by Sam Sisavath. So far, not impressed, seems like a rip-off of The Passage / The Strain etc.

Kewreeuss

Sorry for going a bit off theme here......
All my download books are bought through the AppStore, real stuff is from the local library and hodges figgis.
Now and a gain I look for free downloads and the all seem to end up a site called lilplay and you have to set up an account. So far so good. Then they ask for your credit card details and your csv to verify your address, at the same time saying they will never debit your card unless you sign up for premium service.
Aerlingus, apple and utilities are the only people who have my card details on record-outside of them I'm not very trusting.
So, I wonder if anyone here uses this site, lilplay.com and if I can trust it.
It's for free downloads not paying, I use apple for buying.
Thanks

Currently reading house of suns by AlastairReynolds, great northern road Peter Hamilton. The hypnotist Lars Kepler a Swedish thriler

ixoy

Reading "Shards of Honor" by Lois McMaster Bujold, the first in the long long Vorkosigan Saga. Got it with a Humble Bundle ages ago. It's pretty decent - quite light and it's short, which is a bit of a welcome break when reading 500+ page fantasy books.

Paddy Samurai

Just finished this one and loved it big time. So good that I ordered part two with 50 pages left. Most unusual fantasy that I have read in years but highly addictive once you get into it.

Six Gun Tarot might be an odd sounding name and may seem to be an odd story however it is a gem frankly. An amalgamated gem that manages to blow expectations and showcase amazing skills on the author’s part, and making itself a strong contender for my year-end lists. Very very recommend for those who like epic fantasy, weird fiction, western historicals or basically an amalgamation of all these with a few more twists and turns to make this debut special indeed.

Those yearning for something different, something devilishly outré enough to whet their starved and ever-hungry imaginations, but most especially for those who enjoy dark fantasies suffused with the likes of a seductive, evil goddess, an ancient tome, ichor-oozing zombies, and a cosmic cult of Lovecraftian evil, should enjoy first-time novelist R.S. Belcher's The Six-Gun Tarot. The fact that it's set in the Old West of 1869 in an out-of-the-way semi-ghost town named Golgotha only adds to the initial curiosity factor………………………..


There is more to The Six-Gun Tarot than meets the eye and I recommend it to those with an interest in the dark, macabre side of fantastic literature

Next up Prince of Fools by Mark Lawerence:D

OwaynOTT

Paddy Samurai wrote: »

Just finished this one and loved it big time. So good that I ordered part two with 50 pages left. Most unusual fantasy that I have read in years but highly addictive once you get into it.





Next up Prince of Fools by Mark Lawerence:D

I actually bought that Six Gun Tarot book. I read about fifty pagers of it and it just kinda fell by the wayside. Might give it another shot.

daUbiq

Currently reading Orion by Ben Bova. So far very light reading..

Paddy Samurai

OwaynOTT wrote: »

I actually bought that Six Gun Tarot book. I read about fifty pagers of it and it just kinda fell by the wayside. Might give it another shot.

I found the same at the start and thought about giving up. But I was glad I stuck with it.Let me know what you think if you finish it.

Sleepy

Just finished Will Wight's House of Blades and starting into the second book of the Traveller's Gate trilogy the Crimson Vaults.

Enjoying them a lot.

Zapp Brannigan

Finished "The City and The City" last night. Quite liked it, I really enjoy Mieville's writing style.

On to the final book I got for 99p. "Empire of Black and Gold"

Thargor

99p is a bargain to get started on that series. I see he has a new one in the shops at the minute but I just got through 3 books in a row of the extremely bland and repetitive Powder Mage series and this sounds way too similar for that at the minute:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23524779-guns-of-the-dawn

Anyone else find Powder Mage really boring? Reminded me of Mistborn by Sanderson, pages and pages of the same sh1t that an editor could have easily cut down to one book but everything in fantasy has to be an epic multi-novel $$$ saga these days so they wont.

Thargor

Actually this sci-fi by him sounds really good, will put it on the pile:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25499718-children-of-time

ixoy

Thargor wrote: »

Anyone else find Powder Mage really boring?.

Hah - just started "The Crimson Campaign", the second book in the Powder Mage trilogy I actually liked the first. It did remind me of Sanderson a lot but for me that's no bad thing.

Will be checking out Adrian's new books as well as I really liked the Shadows of the Apt series which was refreshingly original.

keane2097

I worked through the first Powder Mage book but had no inclination to seek out a second and can now remember almost nothing about it.

I think it wasn't terrible in terms writing etc but was just pretty bland.

Thargor

I liked the first aswell but do come back and tell us what you think when you're half way through the third, ah its alright, a few years ago I would have been all over them, just a bit fantasy-fatigued at the minute.

OwaynOTT

Thargor wrote: »

I liked the first aswell but do come back and tell us what you think when you're half way through the third, ah its alright, a few years ago I would have been all over them, just a bit fantasy-fatigued at the minute.

Happens to the best of us, I went through s two year period were I couldn't abid the genre.
I try and mix it up a bit now and I definitely try to stay away from too many epic fantasy stuff.

Thargor

Another Long earth novel released, The Long Utopia, reading this next:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23213813-the-long-utopia

Thargor

Actually there has been a load of sci-fi released this month that I want to read:

http://io9.com/the-science-fiction-and-fantasy-books-everyone-s-talkin-1709400214

New Alastair Reynolds in there aswell.

Trojan

And a Scalzi, a 'James S. A. Corey', and another Shannara book (I haven't looked at any of those for 20 years but fair play to Terry Brooks, he knows how to do it). Hmm, wonder if full Shannara is worth a read. About 3 times the Wheel of Time at this stage? Anyone done it recently?

Maybe I'll start on the James S. A. stuff with Leviathan Wakes...

Bits_n_Bobs

Thargor wrote: »

Actually there has been a load of sci-fi released this month that I want to read:

http://io9.com/the-science-fiction-and-fantasy-books-everyone-s-talkin-1709400214

New Alastair Reynolds in there aswell.

Interesting list of new books

Couldn't face another Long Earth, disappointment of the second one turned to irritation by the third...

Was going to buy the Alastair Reynolds one over the weekend however it doesn't seem available for kindle and the two reviews of it that are on Amazon mention that it's a bit rich asking 10 sterling for what is a pretty slight book.

Just finished Apex which is the third in the Nexus trilogy by Ramez Naam - cracking good read and strongly recommend the whole lot of them.

Raging_Ninja

Just started into the latest Expanse book, Nemesis Game. Deep down, I do enjoy them.

Trojan

Still reading Gridlinked by Neal Asher. It's not bad, but hasn't hooked me enough to keep pulling out the Kindle. It's a long time since a scifi took me a month to finish (that said, my tolerance is so low I abandon any that start to drag).

Was thinking about reading The Running Man (Bachman/King) again next, I saw the movie poster somewhere recently. Fun book

Thargor

Stick with Gridlinked, its very good once it finds its feet.

Bits_n_Bobs

Yup - well worth persevering with Gridlinked, gem of a read.

Thargor

The Polity series that is, cant remember if gridlinked was particularly good on its own...

Buford T. Justice XIX

Six gun tarot. Enjoying it but I used read a lot of westerns back in the day. 33% in and flying through it.

Thanks for the recommendation.

mcgovern

The Purge of Babylon became even more of a rip off as it went on, I won't explain more for fear of spoiling some of the books for others, but basically the whole concept is ripped from a few recent popular books.
Having said that, it ended up being an enjoyable read, but I'm not sure if I'll bother with the rest of the series.
Now reading Abbadon's Gate by James S.A. Corey, similar to the others in the series, its a good read, and moves along at a decent pace.

Buford T. Justice XIX

Just started Legend by David Gemmel. Again!

OwaynOTT

Buford T. Justice V wrote: »

Just started Legend by David Gemmel. Again!

Finished it a while back. It was completely over the top in places but likeable all the same.
It was my first Gemmel book.
I have Knights of Dark Renown as well but never read it, any use?