What Are You Reading?

keane2097

Oh god that's so bad!

pixelburp

Started 'Raising Steam' a day or so ago and it's a hard one to enjoy; to me the quality of Pratchett's work really declined in recent years, understandably of course, and it's just as noticeable here as novels such as Snuff. That Pratchett is no longer with us makes it a even sadder story to read, knowing it's the last 'adult' Discworld novel

Thargor

What a random character choice for the cover aswell, they had to skip a few good ones to get to the Trade Guild as the stars of that book...

MudSkipper

White Plague by Frank Herbert... Scientist loses his family to an IRA bomb, goes mad and creates a virus that kills only women. A bleak future and psychological insights by the creator of Dune. Largely set in Ireland. Good read :-)

Thargor

MudSkipper wrote: »

White Plague by Frank Herbert... Scientist loses his family to an IRA bomb, goes mad and creates a virus that kills only women. A bleak future and psychological insights by the creator of Dune. Largely set in Ireland. Good read :-)

Ha I remember that story but never realised it was Frank Herbert, I was just a kid when I read that, I think I was attracted to it by a real pic of a dead rat on the cover.

MudSkipper

Thargor wrote: »

Ha I remember that story but never realised it was Frank Herbert, I was just a kid when I read that, I think I was attracted to it by a real pic of a dead rat on the cover.

There's also 'the rats' by James Herbert, post apocalyptic england with super rats. Great book by favorite horror author.

shrapnel222

Read Armada by Ernest Cline (new book since Ready player one). Very disappointing. very childish and rehashing old material that has been around forever in a trying to be different sort of way. Some good moments but overall poor. Wouldn't recommend.

on a side note, Steven Spielberg is to adapt Ready player One for the big screen (and some studio has already bought the rights to Armada).

darmat123

Just finished queen of fire, last book in blood song trilogy, first one was good, second went down hill a bit, queen of fire, not sure, great ideas, poorly executed. Waiting on last Patrick Rothfuss, hope he doesn't let me down.read dark intelligence by Neal Asher, he's back on form after owner series, I mean wtf was he thinking?

Dan_Solo

I'm approaching the end of Blue Remembered Earth by Alastair Reynolds. Not sure what to make of it really. The planet hopping clue hunting was somewhat exciting at the start, but felt contrived as the book wore on. I didn't get the Evolvarium at all, it just made no sense to me at any scientific level. I also felt little sympathy for Geoffrey Akinya, who throughout the book appears to be a time traveller from 2015 dumped in 2160 who has never heard of a single technological advance from the intervening 145 years.
The proxy/aug/ching etc tech was was well realised though, apart from the proxies appearing to be for all intents and purposes AIs, yet at one point we are told very specifically they are not. The line between AI and non-AI seems fudged throughout the book TBH.
Again, it's an OK read but lately I keep finding myself wishing somebody could just wrap up a story in one book for a bloody change!

mcgovern

Dan_Solo wrote: »

I'm approaching the end of Blue Remembered Earth by Alastair Reynolds. Not sure what to make of it really. The planet hopping clue hunting was somewhat exciting at the start, but felt contrived as the book wore on. I didn't get the Evolvarium at all, it just made no sense to me at any scientific level. I also felt little sympathy for Geoffrey Akinya, who throughout the book appears to be a time traveller from 2015 dumped in 2160 who has never heard of a single technological advance from the intervening 145 years.
The proxy/aug/ching etc tech was was well realised though, apart from the proxies appearing to be for all intents and purposes AIs, yet at one point we are told very specifically they are not. The line between AI and non-AI seems fudged throughout the book TBH.
Again, it's an OK read but lately I keep finding myself wishing somebody could just wrap up a story in one book for a bloody change!

I wasn't a big fan either, but I'll finish the series soon anyway, too many unfinished series already!
I finished Golden Son which was really good again, looking forward to the next one in the series.
I'm about 40% through Words of Radiance by Sanderson. Like the first one, it took a while to get going but is picking up now.

Dan_Solo

mcgovern wrote: »

I wasn't a big fan either, but I'll finish the series soon anyway, too many unfinished series already!

Have you read book 2? I'm only so-so on this one, so if there's any drop in quality I'd rather avoid.

mcgovern

Dan_Solo wrote: »

Have you read book 2? I'm only so-so on this one, so if there's any drop in quality I'd rather avoid.

I thought it was better alright, but not amazing.

ixoy

25% into "Seveneves" by Neal Stephenson. So far it's much better than the (very) disappointing "Reamde", although not as yet up with "Anathem". The guy does the best info dumps in the industry!

Also, among the other books I'm reading, I'm dipping into "Three Moments of an Explosion" by China Mieville. One disappointing short story so far, and the rest have been of his standard fare. It won't win him any new fans but it'll please existing ones.

SpaceSasqwatch

ixoy wrote: »

China Mieville

He is one odd writer.Liked his first few books.

ixoy

SpaceSasqwatch wrote: »

He is one odd writer.Liked his first few books.

I'm a very big fan but I can still see why people might think he's not even just odd but pretentious. Doesn't stop me saying that some of his work, such as 'Perdido Street Station' or 'Embassytown' are brilliant.

About to start into a reread of Dune, been years since I last read it and curious to see if it still holds up as well as I remember. As a kid it was one that I returned to almost every year and would easily be my favorite book of all time. I've deliberately held off on rereading it for a number of years so as to be able to approach it with as fresh eyes as I can.

ancapailldorcha

Found a copy of that just sitting on the pavement on my way home from work one day. Great condition and everything. Haven't read it yet.

Thargor

Reading Queen of Fire, I have absolutely no idea whats going on or who any of these people are or why they're doing what they're doing, its like I jumped into a completely different series!

amen

"The Martian"

Buford T. Justice XIX

Fools Assassin by Robin Hobb. Book 7 of Fitz and the fool. I reckon you either love 'em or hate them but I must admit to enjoying them. But I cannot seem to get into the Liveship series at all.

reece289

Buford T. Justice V wrote: »

Fools Assassin by Robin Hobb. Book 7 of Fitz and the fool. I reckon you either love 'em or hate them but I must admit to enjoying them. But I cannot seem to get into the Liveship series at all.

Have to say I really enjoyed the Liveships stuff.

The whole series is great, even if he is a bit whiny at times. Love the slow world build, really unique I find.

Me I an reading The Stars my Destination. Proper old school sci-fi. Loving it.

Mickeroo

Love all the Robin Hobb books. You're missing out on a lot of stuff by skipping the books not involving Fitz though, I wouldn't really view them as separate at all. The Liveship trilogy sets up a lot of what happened in The Tawny Man. Haven't started the new one yet but I'd imagine Rain wild chronicles will surely have had an influence on events there too.

Dades

Thargor wrote: »

Reading Queen of Fire, I have absolutely no idea whats going on or who any of these people are or why they're doing what they're doing, its like I jumped into a completely different series!

I've had it a while now and it's exactly that that's putting me off!

I've been trying in vain to find a synopsis of the first two books to at least give me a fighting chance of knowing wtf is happening.

Back to reading Pandora's Star after a brief foray into Shark-lit with "Meg".

Dan_Solo

OK, so Blue Remembered Earth is gone and looking at the rota it's old fantasy next... here's one I know divides opinion but it certainly is a biggie and I've never read a word of it: Lord Foul's Bane by Stephen Donaldson.
Couple of pages in and we're still in USA (I think) but it's all a bit bizarre. It'll get more bizarre I'm sure...

SpaceSasqwatch

Dan_Solo wrote: »

Lord Foul's Bane by Stephen Donaldson.

bored the tits of me tbh.Dont know how many times I tried to read the series but gave up.

I've said it before and I'll say it again his 'the gap' series has to be some of the best science fiction I have ever read.If you haven't read it yet put it on your to read list

ixoy

Dan_Solo wrote: »

OK, so Blue Remembered Earth is gone and looking at the rota it's old fantasy next... here's one I know divides opinion but it certainly is a biggie and I've never read a word of it: Lord Foul's Bane by Stephen Donaldson.

Funnily enough I saw somebody reading this this evening while waiting for the DART - was that your good self? I recognised the old cover from when I read it years ago.

I'm not sure how I'd feel about it now. I've tried reading the Final Chronicles and found it to be a bit pretentious with Donaldson overly proud of showing off his large vocabulary. Found the world a bit bland too - which, given it was originally from the '70s merely means the genre has evolved a lot. Not sure I'll finish the final chronicles. Probably worth reading a bit more to form your own opinion.

The Gap series though was fantastic.

Dan_Solo

ixoy wrote: »

Funnily enough I saw somebody reading this this evening while waiting for the DART - was that your good self? I recognised the old cover from when I read it years ago.

Haha, no it wasn't!
I have this rota for a well rounded SF+F education: old fantasy book, new fantasy book, old SF book, new SF book. The "old" fantasy ones are the hardest to find. There just aren't that many of them even from the 70s.

shrapnel222

SpaceSasqwatch wrote: »

bored the tits of me tbh.Dont know how many times I tried to read the series but gave up.

I've said it before and I'll say it again his 'the gap' series has to be some of the best science fiction I have ever read.If you haven't read it yet put it on your to read list

+1 on Donaldson. bores me to death.

who wrote the gap series?

TwoShedsJackson

shrapnel222 wrote: »

+1 on Donaldson. bores me to death.

who wrote the gap series?

Stephen Donaldson

unreg999

shrapnel222 wrote:

who wrote the gap series?

Donaldson wrote them! Haven't read them yet myself but they're on the list! Read the Covenant chronicles years ago when I was a kid and remembered living them... Tried again a few times as an adult but could never get into them again...
Loved his 'Through the Looking Glass' books too... Excellent concepts!

I'm reading 'The Liveship Chronicles' by Robin Hobb at the moment... Really liking them, currently on book 2.

She and Branson Sanders on are my favourite authors right now! Absolutely loved the Farseer Trilogy