What Are You Reading?

Tristram

ixoy wrote: »

30% into "Caine: Black Knife", the 3rd book in Matthew Stover's 'Acts of Caine' series.
This book is on a smaller scale than the second and all the better for it (I wasn't a huge fan of the second one which tried an epic scale that didn't work for me). There's the main timeline but also flash backs to a related story twenty five years previously, at the start of Caine's life and it's working quite well so far as the backstory reveals more about the current plot.
I do find Caine's constant swearing a bit irritating, although he is one of the most "hard as nails" characters I've seen in fantasy - some of Abercrombie's guys are wimps next to him!

I'm also reading "Dogs of War" by Adrian Tchaikovsky (39% into it). A short stand-alone novel, it's about bio-engineered animal / human-type hybrids used to fight wars. Chapters alternate between a human's perspective and that of the giant war dog who is gradually coming to understand the world around him. It's a very interesting idea and Tchaikovsky is a master at using animals in fantasy and getting into the mindset. Another strong entry for him.

I finished Justin Cronin's "Passage" trilogy and have to, overall, give it a thumbs down. I liked the core concept but the novel had great pacing flows and the trilogy, as a whole, bugged me with Cronin's political / spiritual views in the end. Oh well.

On the animal perspective, Rock Plaza Central have a fantastic album called "Are We Not Horses" that I highly recommend! (Sorry for the non-book reference!)

Thargor

Reading the new Farseer Trilogy, tough work for the first 50%, really not a gripping yarn so far like any of the other series, very repetitive (she makes the same points about certain characters over and over and over again), very slow. Disappointed tbh but Ill plough on. I see Robin Hobb hasn't lost her love of writing a 3 paragraph intricately detailed description of every strap/lace/boot and tassel that each character is wearing when they enter a scene aswell, I just skip over those bits now.

ha that is a very unfortunate/ironic time to doublepost!

Thargor

Ha, fixed.

coffee_cake

Read:
The curse of chalion.
Enjoyed it. Good writing. Good characters and story.

The lies of locke lamora.
Read one of the sequels ages ago i think but never the original. It was good but some of the fight scenes just went on and on and on. I think i skipped about 5 pages of one of them at one stage.
Might read the next one though

Manach

A light but entertaining series, Michael Sulivan's First Empire series and currently up to Age of War.

Trojan

I couldn't inflict any more Robin Hobb on myself. Shame, I loved the early stuff.

Igotadose

Just started the Strugatsky brothers Definitely Maybe. If you enjoy SF, they're among the greats but not all that well known. Roadside Picnic is probably their best known and a great read.

nhur

Trojan wrote: »

I like PFH, but Reality Dysfunction was so-so. The Commonwealth Saga is far superior IMO. Give Pandora's Star a go.

Read pandoras star years ago. Loved it... Which is why I hoped that the reality dysfunction was gonna be great. I'll read the next one at some stage but I'm not itching to get at it

Tried tigana again... And again put it down...
Reading the storm light series by sanderson atm. Loving them. Waaay better than the mistborn... Which were enjoyable but a bit too straightforward...

aandy

Aha! Found the Sci-Fi reading section, it is not in the Literature section!!!!

Happy to be following this now, reading Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee.

Algorithmic space battles...little hard to get through but interesting enough...

IrishZeus

This thread should be better advertised!

Just finished reading the Autumn Republic (Book 1 of the Powder Mage series) by Brian McClellan and moving on to book two today.

He has a similar style to Sanderson (and actually credits him in the acknowledgments) so they are are a good read for anyone into his stuff.

EDIT: Autumn Republic is book 3. Crimson Campaign is book 2. Promise of Blood is book 1 - getting myself turned around.

Nody

Nody wrote: »

Finished book 3 & book 4 (The Skull Throne) and started on book 5 The Core. Book 4 surprised me in the number of characters killed off going a bit Game of Thrones on the readers. Not in a bad way as it shakes things up quite a bit as well but still unexpected based on earlier books. With this one I should be fully up to speed again on the series and I think among the best part of it all is the information about the world.

Finished the series with The Core; honestly not sure how I feel about it. His writing has definitely improved over the series moving away from leaving the larger story moves happen in the last 50 pages only. On the other hand it felt a lot of story lines that were open and active were deux ex machina closed simply to wrap up the series. Still inclined to recommend it simply because it's a new world & magic system done interestingly but it's not a OMFGWTFBBQ read series.

Moving on now to yet another first time author with Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames.

Neames

Friend Request

Too early to call. Picked up ebook on Amazon for small money.

kirk buttercup

got "old mans war " john scalzi . going to give this a bash

ixoy

48% into "Stone Sky" by N.K. Jemsin, the final book in her Broken Earth trilogy. It's just after picking up the Hugo and I can see why - strong characters, very original and well written it's deserving of its hype unlike some other accolade-heavy writers (hi Anne Leckie). The pacing is strong and the mysteries are still unfolding, against both a personal and epic scale. A strong series.

smacl

ixoy wrote: »

48% into "Stone Sky" by N.K. Jemsin, the final book in her Broken Earth trilogy. It's just after picking up the Hugo and I can see why - strong characters, very original and well written it's deserving of its hype unlike some other accolade-heavy writers (hi Anne Leckie). The pacing is strong and the mysteries are still unfolding, against both a personal and epic scale. A strong series.

This trilogy has to some of the best sci-fi I've ever read. I see they're making it into a tv series, which I'd say is going to be extremely hard pushed to live up to the books. Here's hoping I'm wrong.

bolgbui41

kirk buttercup wrote: »

got "old mans war " john scalzi . going to give this a bash

It's a good read. I finished the third in the series ("The Last Colony") today. Found it slower going at first than the previous two, but it accelerated after the first third and I ended up really enjoying it

Buford T. Justice XIX

Legend-David Gemmell. An old friend come back to visit again.

Nody

Buford T. Justice V wrote: »

Legend-David Gemmell. An old friend come back to visit again.

I've read that book multiple times and it has yet to disapoint; it's a wonderful book.

Nody

Nody wrote: »

Moving on now to yet another first time author with Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames.

Finished Kings of the Wyld and honestly it was a very good debute book. Now let me put that in perspective; it feels very much like Legend by Gemmell and it's definitly not to deep meta going on etc. but it's a fun, quick paced, humour packed romp about a famous warband who 20 years later need to rejoin to take on an impossible mission to save someone's dauther. It's not traditional fantasy with dwarfs, elves etc. but you do have kobolds, goblins, orcs, giants, cyclops, wargs, giant spiders etc. and for a first debute novel I'd honestly highly recommend it. It sets of quickly and once it gets going it never slows down noticeably; I will look forward to reading more from him and this new world.

Now starting up a new series from a favourite author of mine with Red Sister by Mark Lawrence.

coffee_cake

There's a new peter hamilton book out if anyone is a fan. Will hopefully pick it up next week

Thargor

bluewolf wrote: »

There's a new peter hamilton book out if anyone is a fan. Will hopefully pick it up next week

Just came in to post that but when I went to get a link I see its the start of a new trilogy so didnt bother, stuck a reminder in my calendar for 3 years from now, it sounds amazing like 99% of his stuff.

Neal Asher is one book into a new Polity trilogy aswell, The Soldier.

mcgovern

bluewolf wrote: »

There's a new peter hamilton book out if anyone is a fan. Will hopefully pick it up next week

I'm about 15% in. So far it seems very similar to a lot of his other work. Portals (and inventor is rich and famous), alien infiltrators, humanity expanding and terraforming etc.
It hasn't got going yet but it's not bad so far.

Before that I read The Massacre at Yellow Hill which is a fairly short western fantasy/vampire story. It's ok for an indie novel but could have done with tighter editing.
Then read The Tangled Lands by Paolo Bacigalupi and Tobias S. Buckell. It's 4 novellas set in the same world. The first was really good and one of the others was also good. The other two were not great though.
After that it was The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. The plot here is not great and is pretty predictable but the character development more than makes up for it. Would recommend this one.
For something lighter I read Sourcery by Terry Pratchett, it seemed to me to be one of the weaker Discworld novels and was fairly forgettable.
I listened to Allow of Law by Brandon Sanderson. It was better than the previous Mistborn trilogy (though I wasn't a fan of those).
The read The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. It was a little creepy for a few pages, but apart from that it was quite bland and not at all unsettling.
Lastly I read Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding, book 1 in his Ketty Jay series which is fantasy with flying ships. It wasn't fantastic but good enough that I'll keep reading, some of the characters were interesting and the world has a lot of potential.

As well as reading Salvation, I'm also listening to A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab, the final book in her Shades of Magic trilogy. So far I'm not pushed on it, most of the details from the previous books seem to have been left by the way side and we have a new big bad, who is quite similar to the previous one.

coffee_cake

Oh i liked that conjuring of light series by schwab. I thought the world was very interesting

mcgovern

bluewolf wrote: »

Oh i liked that conjuring of light series by schwab. I thought the world was very interesting

I liked the first two but not the last one. Maybe it's because I read the first two but listening to the third on Audio book. It's a bit strange having alternating sex narrators - one chapter all the characters are narrated by a man, including Delilah for example, and the next they are all voiced by a woman, including Kell.

coffee_cake

Just read 'daughter of smoke and bone'.
Excellent read, would recommend it.

I already ranted about this elsewhere, but the non-american character based in Prague talking about 'tylenol' twice bothered me a lot - shouldn't have got past an editor. or the typos and possible missing line.

Just got the next one in the trilogy now

dudara

Read two books over the weekend.

Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfar. This was shortlisted for the Arthur C Clarke award, but I honestly thought it was just a mess.

Sea of Rust by C Robert Cargill also shortlisted for the Arthur C Clarke award. Really enjoyed this one, set in a post-apocalyptic world inhabited only by robots and AIs.

Fian

Nody wrote: »

Finished Kings of the Wyld and honestly it was a very good debute book. Now let me put that in perspective; it feels very much like Legend by Gemmell and it's definitly not to deep meta going on etc. but it's a fun, quick paced, humour packed romp about a famous warband who 20 years later need to rejoin to take on an impossible mission to save someone's dauther. It's not traditional fantasy with dwarfs, elves etc. but you do have kobolds, goblins, orcs, giants, cyclops, wargs, giant spiders etc. and for a first debute novel I'd honestly highly recommend it. It sets of quickly and once it gets going it never slows down noticeably; I will look forward to reading more from him and this new world.

Now starting up a new series from a favourite author of mine with Red Sister by Mark Lawrence.

I have this in calibre since last night, will transfer to my kindle in teh coming days - it is next on my "to read" list. Mainly from recommendations here plus my brother happened to be reading it on his kindle when he stayed with me last night.

Fian

mcgovern wrote: »

I'm about 15% in. So far it seems very similar to a lot of his other work. Portals (and inventor is rich and famous), alien infiltrators, humanity expanding and terraforming etc.
It hasn't got going yet but it's not bad so far.

Before that I read The Massacre at Yellow Hill which is a fairly short western fantasy/vampire story. It's ok for an indie novel but could have done with tighter editing.
Then read The Tangled Lands by Paolo Bacigalupi and Tobias S. Buckell. It's 4 novellas set in the same world. The first was really good and one of the others was also good. The other two were not great though. <snip>.

Is the inventor Nigel sheldon or is it a different universe?

Also - thanks for pointing me towards that Bacigalupi book, love all his stuff and hadn't heard about it.

mcgovern

Fian wrote: »

Is the inventor Nigel sheldon or is it a different universe?

Also - thanks for pointing me towards that Bacigalupi book, love all his stuff and hadn't heard about it.

It's a different universe, inventor not as an important a character at Nigel Sheldon was but still mentioned a lot.