What Are You Reading?

stesaurus

Deleted User wrote: »

I'm doing a reread of the series but staying far away from Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson abominations. I read quite a few of them years ago and found them to be an insult to Herbert's legacy, finishing off the series with a seventh book is one thing but they've turned it into a cash cow and raped the series for every last cent.

Nody wrote: »

Their finishing two books turned what were beautifully multifaceted characters into one sided morons; a brief 20 page summary of his notes and thoughts would have done it much more justice than the abomination they wrote to conclude it. The "Houses" books are ok but I also tried the Butlerian Jihad series and I stopped mid way through the second book as I got tired of it all (Think juiced up Decepticons taking on unarmed civilians and losing half the time as how bad it was written and we're talking 30m robots controlled by human warlords who lived for thousands of years who have less tactical sense than Hulk).

Oh so should i bother now continuing with 'Paul of Dune'. Im about 15% in so far and nothing amazing as yet

stesaurus

stesaurus wrote: »

Oh so should i bother now continuing with 'Paul of Dune'. Im about 15% in so far and nothing amazing as yet

Life is too short, I'd just read the Frank Herbert books and then find the summary of his ideas for the final book and leave it at that.

david75

ABandoned the second book in the three body problem. Just was not going anywhere or doing anything for me.

Started altered carbon and my pal tells me the audiobook is the best way to do it.
Might give it a spin.

stesaurus

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Life is too short, I'd just read the Frank Herbert books and then find the summary of his ideas for the final book and leave it at that.

Dune Messiah it is so

Trojan

Started Red Rising a few days ago.

Just finished book 3 and discovered that I'm incredibly lucky: book 4 has just been released this week

I had been putting off reading it based on a review I read on Goodreads last year, but it was far better than I expected. Great world building.

Have Three Body Problem on the bedside locker, that'll be next.

ixoy

david75 wrote: »

ABandoned the second book in the three body problem. Just was not going anywhere or doing anything for me. .

The second book had a different translator which might account for some of the differences. However, the third book - back to the same translator as the first - had major flaws IMO so maybe this is for the best.

shrapnel222

just finished "the traitor Baru Cormorant"by Seth Dickinson. all i can say is, impressive debut novel. very well written.

Heroine is a savant accountant, it's set in a foreign land, in approximate medieval times. There's no magic at all, and it's all about empires, power, dukes and war. Really interesting characters well developed.

I can see book 2 of the trilogy is expected Q4 2018.

Buford T. Justice XIX

shrapnel222 wrote: »

just finished "the traitor Baru Cormorant"by Seth Dickinson. all i can say is, impressive debut novel. very well written.

Heroine is a savant accountant, it's set in a foreign land, in approximate medieval times. There's no magic at all, and it's all about empires, power, dukes and war. Really interesting characters well developed.

I can see book 2 of the trilogy is expected Q4 2018.

Thanks for that,just downloaded.

Just finished 'White Wolf' by David Gemmell. Enjoyable bit of heroic fantasy but I seem to have missed out on reading it since it was published. I must check again to see if I have missed any more.

vasch_ro

about 90% through Snakewood by Adrian Selby its undoubtedly one of the best book I have read in a long time. The differing points of view can be a little difficult to follow a first, but great world building and a very dark "grimdark" world.
I for one highly recommend it.

Also just finished a debut by Ed Mc Donald "Blackwing" again a really excellent world, superb ending and great story and characters.

Both two of the best books I have read in a while

keane2097

I picked up the follow up to Senlin Ascends the last day on a whim - enjoying it even more than the original. It's a real page turner!

Xofpod

keane2097 wrote: »

I picked up the follow up to Senlin Ascends the last day on a whim - enjoying it even more than the original. It's a real page turner!

Had never heard of Senlin Ascends until I saw it in a bookshop the other day. I take it you'd recommend it?

Xofpod

Zone One, by Colson Whitehead. Kind of a literary take on the post-apocalypse. Really enjoyed it but I'm done with zombies for the time being.

mcgovern

Xofpod wrote: »

Had never heard of Senlin Ascends until I saw it in a bookshop the other day. I take it you'd recommend it?

It was an independently published book with almost no sales that got recommended by Mark Lawrence and grew legs, winning lots of awards etc, and eventually was picked up by a big publishing company (which is why you are only seeing it on shelves now).
I read the first one and thought it was ok, didn't live up to all the hype for me.

keane2097

Xofpod wrote: »

Had never heard of Senlin Ascends until I saw it in a bookshop the other day. I take it you'd recommend it?

I found it very enjoyable. I didn't see any hype so didn't have any expectations to be disappointed about.

david75

The Gemmell awards are up and voting open.
My vote went to Robin Hobb for Assassins Fate. Some interesting competition in the category though.

http://www.gemmellawards.com/award-voting-2018/

ixoy

67% into "The Tiger and the Wolf", the first book in Adrian Tchaikovsky's "Echoes of the Fall" trilogy.

For this, people have the traits of animals and not insects as well as the ability to shift into them. This is leading to some interesting world building based around the animals. What's missing for me is the modern vs old that was in the Apt series. Here it's in an Iron Age. The cast is fairly small, which works well and it's a good read - just not the same originality as the Apt world had.

Nody

Finished The Truth Machine by James Halperin; it's a very interesting stand alone book about how the world changes when a 100% accurate truth machine is developed by a genius and is implemented everywhere.

DunnoKidz

Awaiting arrival of some Ursula LeGuin novels I ordered.

lordgoat

Really enjoying Joe Abercrombie - First Law series. Halfway through the middle book.

Trojan

Red Rising 1-3 were superb. I started Iron Gold immediately after finishing book 3, but found that it was continuing on with fairly bleak perspective so I'll go take a break with something a bit more uplifting before going back to it.

Re-read Altered Carbon and Broken Angels. (~8/10 and 6/10). Started Woken Furies for the second time, and abandoned it again. I just can't get into it. Read some reviews on it and that's cemented that for me. Is there anything else of Morgan's that's worth looking at?

The Gemmell Awards long list came out, so I picked up a few of the book 1's listed that looked good - have just started The Fifth Ward: First Watch.

mcgovern

I've finished Darth Plagueis, they might as well have named it Darth Sidious as it is much more about him which was disappointing. Not the worst book but not worth a read if you aren't a big Star Wars fans.
Then read a short story collection called Evil is a Matter of Perspective. There were a few good ones in there, especially liked the Apt one by Adrian Tchiakovsky, but most of them were pretty poor. There were a few like Jenny Wurts, that I have bought some of their novels and not got around to reading yet, but after reading this I think they'll be staying on the unread pile.
After that I read Apex by Ramez Naam. It's the third and final book in his Nexus trilogy and I really loved this series, it's near future with post humans and brain nanites. It's very believable (though probably a bit optimistic on how soon we will get there). Would definitely recommend it.
Now reading Vicious by V.E. Schwab. It's kind of a YA super hero/flatliners thing. 26% in and it is mostly flashbacks with not much happening.

Nody

Trojan wrote: »

Is there anything else of Morgan's that's worth looking at?

Market forces & Black Man are both one offs which you may find interesting (they sure are cynical). The Steel Remains is fantasy/scifi which has Conan the Barbarian style guy as lead who's gay in a land where being gay is forbidden. Not the best series out there but makes for an interesting style of hero compared to normal fantasy.

L

Nody wrote: »

Market forces & Black Man are both one offs which you may find interesting (they sure are cynical). The Steel Remains is fantasy/scifi which has Conan the Barbarian style guy as lead who's gay in a land where being gay is forbidden. Not the best series out there but makes for an interesting style of hero compared to normal fantasy.

That pretty much sums it up. Altered Carbon is the best thing he's written followed by Black Man, Market Forces and The Steel Remains - in that order.

The rest I think I'd skip.

Thargor

He's really not that great an author tbh, good ideas but hard work to read, same as Sanderson.

Ave Sodalis

Thargor wrote: »

He's really not that great an author tbh, good ideas but hard work to read, same as Sanderson.

I didn't find Sanderson hard work to read at all. I get sucked into his books pretty much straight away so for me, I'd have to disagree with you there.

coffee_cake

Trojan wrote: »

Red Rising 1-3 were superb. I started Iron Gold immediately after finishing book 3, but found that it was continuing on with fairly bleak perspective so I'll go take a break with something a bit more uplifting before going back to it.

Re-read Altered Carbon and Broken Angels. (~8/10 and 6/10). Started Woken Furies for the second time, and abandoned it again. I just can't get into it. Read some reviews on it and that's cemented that for me. Is there anything else of Morgan's that's worth looking at?

The Gemmell Awards long list came out, so I picked up a few of the book 1's listed that looked good - have just started The Fifth Ward: First Watch.

I wanted to like altered carbon, and he was a good writer, but i won't be reading any more of his work. sets my skin on edge. serious women issues


i took a break from seveneves for altered carbon so i'll be resuming that next chance i get.

Trojan

Trojan wrote: »

The Gemmell Awards long list came out, so I picked up a few of the book 1's listed that looked good - have just started The Fifth Ward: First Watch.

This was a decent bit of light reading. Think murder mystery buddy cop movie, set in Ankh-Morpork, minus the comedy.

I liked it, the world and characters have potential. He didn’t go too deep on the world building, and there were a couple of minor issues with the plot, but I’d definitely give book 2 a go when in comes out.

shrapnel222

Thargor wrote: »

He's really not that great an author tbh, good ideas but hard work to read, same as Sanderson.

Ave Sodalis wrote: »

I didn't find Sanderson hard work to read at all. I get sucked into his books pretty much straight away so for me, I'd have to disagree with you there.

I'm with Thargor on this one. I'm always amazed to see how many fans he has when I struggle to understand how anyone could enjoy his drivel. A real "love him or hate him" kind of writer.

nhur

quick question for the Alistair Reynolds readers.... i've lashed through a lot of the books and i'm wondering if Galactic North is worth reading .. it's a collection of short stories, of which i've read a few... currently contemplating skipping it to get to the Prefect and Elysium Fire... love the complex ones. (then i'm off to read seveneves by stephenson)

Thoughts? am i going to miss anything significant in the short stories?

ixoy

34% into "The Fifth Season" by N.K. Jemsin, the first book in "The Broken Earth" trilogy.
I like the set up - good world building and what seems a fairly balanced magical system that's very relevant to the story. One little niggle is her use of having some chapters narrated in the second person - maybe there's a good reason for this, yet to be revealed, but it's sort of pointless so far.

shrapnel222 wrote: »

I'm with Thargor on this one. I'm always amazed to see how many fans he has when I struggle to understand how anyone could enjoy his drivel. A real "love him or hate him" kind of writer.

I like his Stormlight Archive series and I did enjoy the Mistborn series but the latter is souring a bit in my mind. His ideas are interesting, especially his magic systems, but his writing can be quite weak at times.