What Are You Reading?

Trojan

Took a break from sf&f and read the first Jack Reacher book, Killing Floor. Not bad at all.

pH

Dades wrote: »

Well, I'll be starting it tonight!

Just over €11 for Kindle, not bad for a new release tbh. That said, the €/£/$ exchange rate is a bitch.

It's bloody £13.99 on co.uk - that and the crap reviews and my complete dislike of book 2 mean this is a miss for me, despite the fact that I like to finish a series, so this joins WoT and Dark Tower in my "I've started and almost certainly won't finish" list

Currently reading Neal Asher's Polity stuff - in chronological order, I'm half way through the agent Cormac books, my overall feeling is that Banks did this so much better, it seems a pale imitation of the culture novels.

shootermacg

Book 3 of the black company, the bridge burners seem to be a total rip off. Liking it so far.

shootermacg

Bits_n_Bobs wrote: »

I'm 90+% through 1Q84 and I've enjoyed it.

It's oddly compelling, oddly written and utterly obscure. I'm hoping for some great reveal at the end where plot clarity will be delivered, but suspect it will just end oddly.

Da fug! Its horrendous from start to finish, if I had to pick one word to describe it I would go for banal, I could add more words but each would be more derogetory.

Zapp Brannigan

I too have been put off finishing The Raven's Shadow trilogy as the reviews do seem quite scathing. Also the second book was nowhere near as good as the first.

ixoy

11% into "A Song for Arbonne" by Guy Gavriel Kay. As is usual, it's based on a period from earth's history (France this time) and, as always, the quality of writing is far ahead of the majority in the field. Not much has happened yet (nor do I expect it to) but I'm still enjoying it.

I also generally read a collection of short stories, slowly, in parallel. Finished "Rogues" recently, for example, and that was a mixed bag - I got it cheaply so it was worth it for the Abercrombie and Lynch entries.
Currently though reading "Academic Exercies" by KJ Parker (which I picked up in a Humble Bundle deal). A must for any of his fans featuring a mix of short stories and essays on various items (military history, maps, etc).

Trojan

Finished Prador Moon in one sitting, that's more like what I was hoping for. Love these Prador guys, about as nice as the Affronters

david75

Just got my hands on a review copy of Fool's Quest, by Robin Hobb...the latest in her Fitz&The Fool trilogy...

it's brilliant so far.

Thargor

Trojan wrote: »

Finished Prador Moon in one sitting, that's more like what I was hoping for. Love these Prador guys, about as nice as the Affronters

Wow I had totally forgotten about the Affronters before I read that post, must give the Culture a reread, cant even remember the basic plot to some of them now.

ElWalrus

Finished Dune which I really enjoyed. Got me thinking about what some other sci classics are like, so started reading Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein.

I understood that its a completely different animal to the film, but liking what I've read so far.

SpaceSasqwatch

ElWalrus wrote: »

Finished Dune which I really enjoyed. Got me thinking about what some other sci classics are like, so started reading Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein.

I understood that its a completely different animal to the film, but liking what I've read so far.

Have a look at some of the books written phillip k dick...excellent reads and a good few have been turned into movies.

mcgovern

Finished Abbadon's Gate which wasn't bad.
Had a week off work so caught up on a bit of reading:
Dragonfly Falling by Tchaikovsky which was really good.
Dark Intelligence by Neal Asher - a return to the Polity and a return to form, really enjoyed this.
Ren of Atikala by David Adams which was different, but not a whole lots happens.
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel - wasn't overly impressed by this, another one where not a lot goes on.
The Darkness That Comes Before by R. Scott Bakker which was a bit heavy for me.

Now reading Golden Sun by Pierce Brown which has continued in much the same vein as the first, a real page turner.

Ciaran_B

I'm about 80% through 'The Grace of Kings' by Ken Liu. I was enjoying it but I'm starting to lose interest with it and seems to have run out of energy. The setting, the Universe and the way the Gods interact with the humans are all really interesting but the plot is a bit thin and is rambling slightly.

reece289

ElWalrus wrote: »

Finished Dune which I really enjoyed. Got me thinking about what some other sci classics are like, so started reading Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein.

I understood that its a completely different animal to the film, but liking what I've read so far.

Read The Forever War.

Oh and the Foundation Series.

reece289

Read The Three Body Problem.

Great stuff, some of the ideas are great. Has a good insight into China also.

Buford T. Justice XIX

Finished 'Six-Gun Tarot' by R.S. Belcher. Really good book. Cowboys and zombies, what's not to like:)

Currently reading 'Hawkwood and the Kings' by Paul Kearney. Starts off slowly but I'm liking it so far. Set in a more modern world than the usual medieval fantasy stuff with some firearms around, there seems to be two story lines. One is a voyage to a reputed land across the ocean, the other a defensive battle against muslim-like invasion into christian-like territory. Looking forward to seeing how this develops.

Yawlboy

Proxima by Stephen Baxter - about half ways through. I have to say I'm enjoying it.

Thargor

Yawlboy wrote: »

Proxima by Stephen Baxter - about half ways through. I have to say I'm enjoying it.

Yeah I really liked Proxima and Ultima, all his stuff is gold...

Bits_n_Bobs

Thargor wrote: »

Yeah I really liked Proxima and Ultima, all his stuff is gold...

It's been a while since I read them but I do remember feeling a bit disappointed by both, and I have more or less given up on him as an author.

Thanks again to Thargor for the Goodreads link to the order of the Polity universe I galloped through a re-read of Prador Moon, Shadow of the Scorpion and Gridlinked. Have to admit that Gridlinked was a bit meh in comparision to the other two. I suspect Asher developed as a writer in the intervening period.

For a change of pace I read Guards! Guards! which was a delight second time round. Not too sure what's next for me, another Asher might be something of an over-dose....

Kovu

I'm still working my way through the Discworld series. I'm on book no 27 now, reading in the different character series rather than chronological order.

AbusesToilets

Just finished Great North Road by Peter Hamilton and Words of Radiance by Sanderson. Both authors do a great job of building interesting worlds for their characters to inhabit.

Corruptedmorals

Halfway through Book 6 wheel of time- Lord of Chaos. I was pre-warned the series gets slow and ploddy in the middle and there's too many high lords faffing about the place for my liking at the moment but I really love it, it's thrilling to read such a great series.

ElWalrus

Finished Starship Troopers and ended up being enticed into Hyperion by Dan Simmons. Gripping reading so far. Liking the 'Canterbury tales' format even though I'm only 2 stories in. :pac:

Nody

Corruptedmorals wrote: »

Halfway through Book 6 wheel of time- Lord of Chaos. I was pre-warned the series gets slow and ploddy in the middle and there's too many high lords faffing about the place for my liking at the moment but I really love it, it's thrilling to read such a great series.

Repeat those words after book 10... It's ok until about 7/8, 9 starts to slow down, 10 tries to kill you by boredom and even once you get through and finishes up you end with a "Really? Really?! That's it!?" feeling from it over all.

Anyway started on the Jokers series but not a fan of how the short stories are written so decided to jump over to Lost fleet and finish up the follow up series. Should not take long but hey, I knew what I was getting myself into there

Mickeroo

ElWalrus wrote: »

Finished Starship Troopers and ended up being enticed into Hyperion by Dan Simmons. Gripping reading so far. Liking the 'Canterbury tales' format even though I'm only 2 stories in. :pac:

Hyperion is brilliant, read it a long time ago and only got around to reading the Endymion omnibus earlier this year. Would recommend going straight into Endymion when you finish Fall of Hyperion, I had to look up wikis and what not to refresh my memory when I started Endymion.

Trojan

Read Ghost by John Ringo - yeah, the one of "Oh, John Ringo, NO" fame.

I was expecting "Plan 9 from Outer Space" type quality, but although the plot is fairly gonzo the writing isn't bad at all. Reading #2 to see where he goes with this.

SpaceSasqwatch

Mickeroo wrote: »

Would recommend going straight into Endymion

must read them again.Enjoyed the series immensely years ago

OwaynOTT

Nody wrote: »

Repeat those words after book 10... It's ok until about 7/8, 9 starts to slow down, 10 tries to kill you by boredom and even once you get through and finishes up you end with a "Really? Really?! That's it!?" feeling from it over all.

Anyway started on the Jokers series but not a fan of how the short stories are written so decided to jump over to Lost fleet and finish up the follow up series. Should not take long but hey, I knew what I was getting myself into there

Book 11 and 12 are throwbacks to earlier in the series and 13 isn't bad either but the finale is a balls.

AbusesToilets

ElWalrus wrote: »

Finished Starship Troopers and ended up being enticed into Hyperion by Dan Simmons. Gripping reading so far. Liking the 'Canterbury tales' format even though I'm only 2 stories in. :pac:

If you haven't already, you should check out his novels Illium and Olympos. A really enjoyable mash up of Homeric epic, Shakespeare and sci-fi goodness.

ElWalrus

Nody wrote: »

Repeat those words after book 10... It's ok until about 7/8, 9 starts to slow down, 10 tries to kill you by boredom and even once you get through and finishes up you end with a "Really? Really?! That's it!?" feeling from it over all.

OwaynOTT wrote: »

Book 11 and 12 are throwbacks to earlier in the series and 13 isn't bad either but the finale is a balls.

Finished the series not so long ago. One good thing though, is once you do finish it, you'll power through new books like nobody's business. :pac: