What Are You Reading?

mcgovern

Raven Stratagem was quite good, some nice twists and seems to be setup nicely for the concluding book out later this year.
Started Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch, which I bought ages ago but never got around to.

keane2097

bluewolf wrote: »

Yes, i don't even remember books 2 and 3 of Inheritance, but broken earth will stay with me forever. Especially the third book, i felt it was the best. Much better trilogy overall imo

Made a start on this - just a little ways in but it has the immediate sense you sometimes get that you are reading a serious book. I wonder how much that's because of your recommendation!

L

Just finished "The Golem and the Jinni" - It's really quite good. Picked it up on a chance because it's on sale on Kindle at the sec.

Well written and interesting fantasy set in turn of the century NYC. Doesn't over egg the fantastical elements but chooses a few elements to work with. Hoping Helene Wecker writes something else

david75

Got all the Peter Grant /Rivers of London books on audible.

Flying through them. These books are wonderful. Gonna recommend doing it via audiobook. Never heard the narrator nail the character so perfectly and inhabit the character as comfortably.

10/10

vasch_ro

mcgovern wrote: »

The White Rose was quite good, though I feel it was a little rushed at the end. This might be due to me thinking it was the end of the series but looks like there is another 6 books (and some other related ones too)

Now reading Raven Stratagem by Yoon Ha Lee, the follow up to Ninefox Gambit. It is as crazy and confusing as the the first, but something keeps me interested. It is Sci-Fi as there are space ships etc but it is all powered by 'magic' based on calendars and torture.

Thanks read the Ninefox gambit following this post and really loved it, its certainly an interesting and original read. Looking foward to the Ravem Stratagem now

Xofpod

Finished Consider Phlebas. It was a bit underwhelming and definitely overlong. Still, interest piqued for the "real" Culture books, just not immediately.

Next, onto The Curious Case of Spring Heeled Jack, by Mark Hodder.

ixoy

70% into "The Bear and the Serpent" by Adrian Tchaikovsky, the second book in his "Echoes of the Fall" trilogy.
It's.. grand. The series is not grabbing me at all like the Apt series did. The world doesn't have the same richness nor the characters. There's some interesting elements relating to the past, reminiscent of some of the old times in his Apt series but it's still a bit of a pale imitation. Be interesting to see how it compares to the upcoming Tales of the Apt Book 3 for me.

Thargor

ixoy wrote: »

70% into "The Bear and the Serpent" by Adrian Tchaikovsky, the second book in his "Echoes of the Fall" trilogy.
It's.. grand. The series is not grabbing me at all like the Apt series did. The world doesn't have the same richness nor the characters. There's some interesting elements relating to the past, reminiscent of some of the old times in his Apt series but it's still a bit of a pale imitation. Be interesting to see how it compares to the upcoming Tales of the Apt Book 3 for me.

My thoughts exactly, it's like something he wrote years ago that eventually evolved into the Apt series, not a whole new series he wrote after Apt. I don't think I'll even bother reading the third book.

mcgovern

Finished Rivers of London, it was quite enjoyable, but I think series has more potential so I'll definitely give the next in the series a try.
About to start Semiosis by Sue Burke which is about human settlers arriving on a planet with intelligent plants.

nhur

finished the Revelation Space collection by Alastair Reynolds. Cracking read. Working up the courage to purchase Elysium Fire
- reading Seveneves by Neal Stephenson. Its ok but defo not loving it. Interesting premise but waaaaaay too much logistics and not enough story. Still reading it though - about halfway through.

lordgoat

Gonna start Mistborn or Old Mans War later. Looking forward to both of em

Fian

Finished oathbringer last week, excellent as expected.

Just finished "fire and Fury" about the Trump White house. Which is a surrealist work of fantasy in its own way I guess, notwithstanding that it wouldn't be considered as eligible for this forum by the purists :P Also excellent by the way, and a really short/easy/entertaining read.

Just started Empire of black and gold at lunchtime after finishing the above. I am trying to remember if I have read the third of the "5th season" (broken earth) books or not. I know I read the first two. Any chance someone can put a snippit in a spoiler tag that i will remember if i have? I suppose the alternative is to go and dig it out and check. Kindle problems........ this would never happen if I was still doing my reading on paperbacks.

Thargor

Im reading the Fifth Season and its good, very good, but one thing is seriously annoying me, massive spoilers:

At the start of the book, some unknown agents destroy the main city and its a big enough disaster that it triggers the Fifth Season and most of the towns are going to die etc, but only some characters seem to be experiencing this? The little girl seems to have been taken to the main school for people with her power in that city, but I specifically remember the mother whose son was murdered saying that that school died with the city, whats going on there? Are there different timelines in play or different cities or what? Ive obviously missed something but cant figure it out...

ferrigan101

Thargor wrote: »

Im reading the Fifth Season and its good, very good, but one thing is seriously annoying me, massive spoilers:

At the start of the book, some unknown agents destroy the main city and its a big enough disaster that it triggers the Fifth Season and most of the towns are going to die etc, but only some characters seem to be experiencing this? The little girl seems to have been taken to the main school for people with her power in that city, but I specifically remember the mother whose son was murdered saying that that school died with the city, whats going on there? Are there different timelines in play or different cities or what? Ive obviously missed something but cant figure it out...

Spoilers ahead if you haven't finished the book.

From what I remember it's different time lines of the same character. I think, it's been a while since I read it :pac:

quintana76

Just realised I am under the wrong category here.

Xofpod

quintana76 wrote: »

Just realised I am under the wrong category here.

Great books though.

Thargor

ferrigan101 wrote: »

Spoilers ahead if you haven't finished the book.

From what I remember it's different time lines of the same character. I think, it's been a while since I read it :pac:

That doesnt make any sense though unless she changes her name a lot, I dont want to spoil the whole thing looking it up.

Thargor

Okay having read a bit further it makes total sense now, nevermind...:o

smacl

Thargor wrote: »

Okay having read a bit further it makes total sense now, nevermind...:o

Makes even more sense once you finish the trilogy :}

Hadn't been reading much of anything other than technical material of late so picked up the Binti novellas by Nnedi Okorafor which were something of a disappointment for Hugo and Nebula winners. While entertaining, very much young adult and very short. That said, I reckon Okorafor could be a fantastic author in the future as the story telling is engaging and would try her again.

nhur

read half of Seveneves - not sure if it's crap by comparison with the Alastair Reynolds Revelation Space stuff or whether it's just too heavy on logisitics and light on story. Either way - I've ditched it in favour of the latest Alastair Reynolds book Elysium Fire.

coffee_cake

nhur wrote: »

read half of Seveneves - not sure if it's crap by comparison with the Alastair Reynolds Revelation Space stuff or whether it's just too heavy on logisitics and light on story. Either way - I've ditched it in favour of the latest Alastair Reynolds book Elysium Fire.

Oh thank goodness, i really wanted to like it and i love the concept and characteristics but there's just soooo much DID I MENTION I HAVE STUDIED ORBITAL MECHANICS. DID I. BECAUSE I HAVE. STUDIED ORBITAL MECHANICS.

Trojan

Finished The Red Knight:

The Red Knight is very much "military fantasy" equivalent to a space marine platoon level book in the military sf genre.

It takes place over the course of about a month, and describes a siege of a abbey in a fortress town. The main character is the commander of a company of medieval knights and their supporting men-at-arms, archers and squires, who have been hired to defend the siege. Despite being written in an alternative history style, this is full on "sword-and-sorcery" fantasy, with magic and fantastic creatures.

Early on in the book I had considered abandoning as there were a lot of irritations in the writing. A huge number of different character points-of-view, and it felt like new characters were getting added ad infinitum.

After the first third of the book, there are no new characters getting added, and the info-dump style exposition slows down, and the story settles into a better rhythm.

There are a lot of little things that detract from this book. For one thing, there's a lot of confusing archaic terminology, and I'm glad I read on Kindle app where I can get the dictionary entry by selecting the word. It's set in an Earth-like world with Christianity as the religion, and I can see why some folks wouldn't be keen on that. The growing number of viewpoints early on in the book does slow down and stop.

As it developed, it grew on me and although I had considered abandoning earlier, I started to enjoy it more and more. By the end, I was hooked, and immediately bought and started the sequel - which I'll talk about in another review!

Overall I recommend The Red Knight - try the free sample and see if it's for you.

lordgoat

Finished Old Mans War by Scalzi. Loved it. Prob go for book 2 and see how that goes as well.

juke

Just finished the Farseer Trilogy, Robin Hobb. Loved them.

I've now started The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - for the first time

keane2097

juke wrote: »

Just finished the Farseer Trilogy, Robin Hobb. Loved them.

I've now started The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - for the first time

I would recommend for anyone who hasn't come across them to seek out the old radio show version of HHGTG which so far as I know is the original incarnation.

The books are great but the radio show is out of this world.

Nate--IRL--

keane2097 wrote: »

I would recommend for anyone who hasn't come across them to seek out the old radio show version of HHGTG which so far as I know is the original incarnation.

The books are great but the radio show is out of this world.

Absolutely the correct advice!

EDIT:- Just dug it out and put on the phone for playing in the car, haven't listened to it in years.

Nate

keane2097

Might have to do the same myself.

ixoy

61% into "Mother of Eden" by Chris Beckett, the second book in his Eden trilogy. It's a quick, easy YA novel that has an interesting premise if not a whole load of depth. A nice distraction.

nhur wrote: »

read half of Seveneves - not sure if it's crap by comparison with the Alastair Reynolds Revelation Space stuff or whether it's just too heavy on logisitics and light on story. Either way - I've ditched it in favour of the latest Alastair Reynolds book Elysium Fire.

I liked it and it was a massive improvement on "Reamde". I expect long, diverting technical asides from Neal Stephenson be it mathematics / philosophy (Anathem), financial history (the Baroque cycle), cryptography (Cryptonomicon), etc. It wouldn't feel like a Stephenson novel without this indepth research.

Trojan wrote: »

Finished The Red Knight:

..
Early on in the book I had considered abandoning as there were a lot of irritations in the writing. A huge number of different character points-of-view, and it felt like new characters were getting added ad infinitum.

After the first third of the book, there are no new characters getting added, and the info-dump style exposition slows down, and the story settles into a better rhythm.

There are a lot of little things that detract from this book. For one thing, there's a lot of confusing archaic terminology, and I'm glad I read on Kindle app where I can get the dictionary entry by selecting the word. It's set in an Earth-like world with Christianity as the religion, and I can see why some folks wouldn't be keen on that. The growing number of viewpoints early on in the book does slow down and stop.

Thanks for that. You articulated why it's on my "on-hold" Goodreads list - too many characters and I didn't like the pseudo-Earth world, looking for something more fantastical. Good to hear though that it picks up so I might now have to revisit, after the billion books I have lined up in front of it.

Dades

juke wrote: »

I've now started The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - for the first time

You lucky thing!

Be interested to see how it stands up in the 21st century. And how it plays with vintages who don't remember when digital watches were cool...

keane2097

Dades wrote: »

You lucky thing!

Be interested to see how it stands up in the 21st century. And how it plays with vintages who don't remember when digital watches were cool...

Digital watches will always be a pretty neat idea.