What Are You Reading?

coffee_cake

Finally got around to ready player one. I'm only very early in and your man is as smug as kvothe ever was


https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/excerpts-from-my-upcoming-novel-ready-player-two-girl-stuff

shootermacg

Nody wrote: »

Finished the Grey Sister; one complaint I saw online was that the "power level" increased compared to the first book but to me it felt relatively natural ramp up. The book flowed well and while we got a bit more information on the world I feel this one will be much harder to explain. To put that in context in the first double trilogy with Prince of Thorns/Prince of Fools series you learned about the world

that it was based on earth that had been twisted from a nuclear war along with a few other incidents

. In this series I can't see how they would play a similar explanation out. Yes we do have

aliens who landed on spaceships but the cores that were there, the four alien races, the reflective moon etc.

is far far away from the explanation of the first one. And to weave in all of the explanations hence becomes much more difficult (and I really want to know). Still love the series and thankfully the repeating mini chapter from book 1 is gone.

As I've run out of my new books I'll need to go digging around to see what books I can find to read next.

Started these based on your recommendation and my love for the Bleach anime. Really liked Red Sister. The characters are really likeable (possibly because they're girls and girls are likeable). Finished Red Sister and I agree, there's no need for the mini chapters, but they don't ruin the books.

gmisk

bluewolf wrote: »

Finally got around to ready player one. I'm only very early in and your man is as smug as kvothe ever was


https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/excerpts-from-my-upcoming-novel-ready-player-two-girl-stuff

It is imo a crappy badly written book that seems to coast past on its constant pop culture references. I actually preferred the film even with its flaws.

coffee_cake

gmisk wrote: »

It is imo a crappy badly written book that seems to coast past on its constant pop culture references. I actually preferred the film even with its flaws.

Yeah I'm not sure i can hack much more of this. Time to look for another book

Lady Haywire

Lady Haywire wrote: »

Went off on a weird tangent & read the Soul Screamers series. Bit meh, nice concept along the teen 'otherworldly creatures' genre but light reading.

Then read the first Mistborn book. Took me a while but got into it and have the others to read & will get to them after I finish Gaiman's Neverwhere.

I get distracted so easily :pac:
Just finished the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy. Not my usual type of reading at all but it made for a slightly refreshing change. Though the book version would have been easier to keep track of relations as there's a family tree at the start.

Got new books at Christmas too- The Bear and the Nightingale, The Fire Within, a Seabiscuit book and oddly a second book in a Cassandra Clare series, so now I have to find the first one to read before it :pac:

batgoat

bluewolf wrote: »

Yeah I'm not sure i can hack much more of this. Time to look for another book

I

I would say, don't bother. It's entirely overrated. The film actually improves upon the book but still a bad film overall, just enjoyable for the references.

Ave Sodalis

bluewolf wrote: »

Yeah I'm not sure i can hack much more of this. Time to look for another book

Ah, I am trying to get past the first few pages because I thought it might just be a slow burner, but maybe it's just a bad book so...

coffee_cake

Yeah i switched to crazy rich asians, and the hundredth queen. Both good reads. I got CRA on kindle unlimited but would have to buy the sequels..

Hmm

Ave Sodalis

I think I'll switch to Stephen Fry's Heroes and try it again after

mcgovern

Finished The Palace Job by Brent Weekes. It was fairly a enjoyable, light read. Big cast of characters encompassing nearly all the typical Fantasy tropes.
Following that I read Thin Air by Richard Morgan. It's a new series but the main character is very much a Richard Morgan protagonist. He's a violent, highly trained killer with no purpose in life, but still has no problems with the ladies. Nothing necessarily wrong with that of course and I'll read the next one when it comes out.
Now reading Feed by Mira Grant which is a post apocalyptic zombie novel. It has some interesting new ideas about Zombies, but I prefer more Zombies in my Zombie books.

I also bought about 20 books over the Xmas to add to the ever increasing pile of TBR.

Thargor

Ready Player One is one of the worst things Ive ever read and one of the stupidest films Ive ever sat through, I absolutely despised the film in particular. It really baffles me that such badly written crap achieves such massive success these days, everywhere you look, The Martian, Hunger Games, Maze Runner etc, how does this crap get approved? Obviously it makes money but there is actual good stuff out there they could be buying the rights to...

smacl

Thargor wrote: »

Ready Player One is one of the worst things Ive ever read and one of the stupidest films Ive ever sat through, I absolutely despised the film in particular. It really baffles me that such badly written crap achieves such massive success these days, everywhere you look, The Martian, Hunger Games, Maze Runner etc, how does this crap get approved? Obviously it makes money but there is actual good stuff out there they could be buying the rights to...

I'll be the odd one out here so and say I really enjoyed the book, probably for the early 80s retro arcade vibe which I grew up in, though hated the film which managed to lose that entirely.

About two thirds through A long way to a small angry planet and am totally hooked. Not exactly heavy on action or plot but wonderful for all that.

Re movie success, it seems to be the exception that well regarded modern sci-fi ends up as the big screen blockbuster. Even the likes of Star Wars and Star Trek are basically pretty corny space opera.

pixelburp

A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet is the perfect palette cleanser and antidote to the grimmer, more nihilistic tone that pervades a lot of SciFi these days. I'd go so far as to argue that's a spiritual successor to the Utopian ideals of Star Trek, albeit modified to acknowledge the likelyhood that humanity wouldn't be at the forefront of galactic relations.

The sequels haven't quite matched that same spark, but the first book remains a beautiful, empathetic, charismatic book with a gentle heart at its centre.

ixoy

Thargor wrote: »

It really baffles me that such badly written crap achieves such massive success these days, everywhere you look, The Martian, Hunger Games, Maze Runner etc, how does this crap get approved? Obviously it makes money but there is actual good stuff out there they could be buying the rights to...

Well they're generally easy reads with mass appeal - especially 'Ready Player One' which could cash in on the '80s nostalgia appeal that's bringing us other over-rated pieces (such as 'Stranger Things' IMO).

There's been a few exceptions at least - 'Arrival' springs to mind as you could hardly argue that it would have mass appeal. Also 'Annihilation' was an attempt at something very different.

In general though, I'd agree. Hell, when are they going to adapt some of Peter F. Hamilton's work which is fantastic space opera suited for the big screen.

smacl

ixoy wrote: »

In general though, I'd agree. Hell, when are they going to adapt some of Peter F. Hamilton's work which is fantastic space opera suited for the big screen.

Or even a few of Ian Banks' Culture series, which would seem very modern by hollywood sci-fi standards and yet are already a few decades old. More likely we'll get a rework of another 1970s or 80s kid's comic book hero though :rolleyes:

I suspect books will remain the leading edge for some time to come.

ixoy

smacl wrote: »

Or even a few of Ian Banks' Culture series, which would seem very modern by hollywood sci-fi standards and yet are already a few decades old.

But the Culture series is being adapted, albeit for TV.
TV at least is faring a bit better, with 'The Expanse' paving the way (I'm not a fan of the books but I really like the TV show).

Glebee

Picked up a new Kindle Paperwhite for Christmas along with a cheap 3 month sub for Kindle unlimited but the fantasy section does not seem great, anybody able to point me in the right direction on the Unlimited section.... From a quick look im fairly underwhelmed by unlimited so far.. maybe im not looking at it right.

Igotadose

Glebee wrote: »

Picked up a new Kindle Paperwhite for Christmas along with a cheap 3 month sub for Kindle unlimited but the fantasy section does not seem great, anybody able to point me in the right direction on the Unlimited section.... From a quick look im fairly underwhelmed by unlimited so far.. maybe im not looking at it right.

Have used the Paperwhite for years. Old fart here - each of us has one and use them at night when trying to get to sleep. It provides enough light that the room lights can be off so the other can sleep while one reads. The UI is very smooth and easy, the download/syncing is seamless, amazingly fast (on our crappy wifi) and doesn't require much thought. Definitely recommend if you looking to not have a lamp on when reading at night.

nhur

Thargor wrote: »

Ready Player One is one of the worst things Ive ever read and one of the stupidest films Ive ever sat through, I absolutely despised the film in particular. It really baffles me that such badly written crap achieves such massive success these days, everywhere you look, The Martian, Hunger Games, Maze Runner etc, how does this crap get approved? Obviously it makes money but there is actual good stuff out there they could be buying the rights to...

Have to confess I liked the Ready Player One book though the film was brutal. Same for Enders Game... I think you overlook the target audience for the likes of Ready player one, hunger games, maze runner etc... typically YA afaik.. Teens are the heroes, middle aged people are the baddies are just getting in the way. The hunger games in particular I had an issue with as it is such a close match for other books/films. I didn't like Arrival either... Though I do like the star wars movies (with my brain in the off position) and am keen to read the books. Enough about movies...

I've recently gotten on to the Culture series and after initial skepticism with Consider Phlebas overcome by Player of Games, im certainly getting more into it... On Use of Weapons atm and enjoying it for the most part. Tbh, it really falls short of the Alistair Reynolds stuff and I'm curious to know what people who've read both Banks and Reynolds think about how they compare?

lordgoat

2018 reads

Planetfall Emma Newman 7
Blade Itself Joe Abercrombie 8
Argument of Kings Joe Abercrombie 8
Before the are hanged Joe Abercrombie 7
Old Mans War John Scalzi 8
The Ghost Brigades John Scalzi 8
The Last Colony John Scalzi 8
The Final Empire - Mistborn Sanderson 7
The Well Of Ascension Sanderson 7
The Hero Of Ages Sanderson 6
Gridlinked (Polity) Neal Asher 7
Broken Earth - B1 NK Jemisin 7.5
Broken Earth - B2 NK Jemisin 7
Broken Earth - B3 NK Jemisin 8
Let's Go (So we can get back) Jeff Tweedy 8
The Dragons Path Daniel Abraham 8
The Kings Blood Daniel Abraham 8
The Tyrant's Law Daniel Abraham 8

Jayd0g

lordgoat wrote: »

2018 reads

Planetfall Emma Newman 7
Blade Itself Joe Abercrombie 8
Argument of Kings Joe Abercrombie 8
Before the are hanged Joe Abercrombie 7
Old Mans War John Scalzi 8
The Ghost Brigades John Scalzi 8
The Last Colony John Scalzi 8
The Final Empire - Mistborn Sanderson 7
The Well Of Ascension Sanderson 7
The Hero Of Ages Sanderson 6
Gridlinked (Polity) Neal Asher 7
Broken Earth - B1 NK Jemisin 7.5
Broken Earth - B2 NK Jemisin 7
Broken Earth - B3 NK Jemisin 8
Let's Go (So we can get back) Jeff Tweedy 8
The Dragons Path Daniel Abraham 8
The Kings Blood Daniel Abraham 8
The Tyrant's Law Daniel Abraham 8

Planned 2019 reads - except Scalzi, ready those this year too!

smacl

ixoy wrote: »

But the Culture series is being adapted, albeit for TV.
TV at least is faring a bit better, with 'The Expanse' paving the way (I'm not a fan of the books but I really like the TV show).

Cool, must keep an eye out for it.

pixelburp

nhur wrote: »

Have to confess I liked the Ready Player One book though the film was brutal. Same for Enders Game... I think you overlook the target audience for the likes of Ready player one, hunger games, maze runner etc... typically YA afaik..

Just to be pedantic, but Ready Player One isn't a YA book. Far from it; by dint of the avalanche of 80s pop culture, it always seemed intentionally aimed at that demographic such as myself who grew up in that era. Earnest Cline is certainly of that age bracket.

coffee_cake

Glebee wrote: »

Picked up a new Kindle Paperwhite for Christmas along with a cheap 3 month sub for Kindle unlimited but the fantasy section does not seem great, anybody able to point me in the right direction on the Unlimited section.... From a quick look im fairly underwhelmed by unlimited so far.. maybe im not looking at it right.

if you go to browse the catalogue on the kindle unlimited, then filter fantasy&scifi on the left, there's about 50k results
1-16 of over 50,000 results for Kindle Store : Kindle Unlimited : Science Fiction & Fantasy

i think half of them are probably jeff wheeler!! he seems to have a load of books. they're good reads too


I read CRA book 2 - poorly edited, bad spelling, bad punctuation, the footnotes changed font size every other chapter. it was like it was rushed out or something.
story was okay.
Onto the Hundredth Queen book 2.

I also see Vicious by VE Schwab which i want

smacl

lordgoat wrote: »

2018 reads

Good call, my 2018 sci-fi / fantasy list. Thanks all for the many recommendations from on this forum.

Binti 1 Nnedi Okorafor 7
Binti 2 Nnedi Okorafor 6
Binti 3 Nnedi Okorafor 6
Zoe’s Tale Joe Scalzi 6
The Windup Girl Paolo Bacigalupi 8
The Stars My Destination Alfred Bester 8
Snow Crash Neal Stephenson 6.5
Black Dog Neil Gaiman 5
Under Heaven Guy Gavriel Kay  9
Legend David Gemmell 7
The King Beyond the gate David Gemmell 7
The consuming fire Joe Scalzi 8
Brilliance B1 Marcus Sakey 6.5
Brilliance B2 Marcus Sakey 6
Brilliance B3 Marcus Sakey 6
A long way to a small angry planet Becky Chambers 9

Nody

smacl wrote: »

Good call, my 2018 sci-fi / fantasy list. Thanks all for the many recommendations from on this forum.

Binti 1 Nnedi Okorafor 7
Binti 2 Nnedi Okorafor 6
Binti 3 Nnedi Okorafor 6
Zoe’s Tale Joe Scalzi 6
The Windup Girl Paolo Bacigalupi 8
The Stars My Destination Alfred Bester 8
Snow Crash Neal Stephenson 6.5
Black Dog Neil Gaiman 5
Under Heaven Guy Gavriel Kay  9
Legend David Gemmell 7
The King Beyond the gate David Gemmell 7
The consuming fire Joe Scalzi 8
Brilliance B1 Marcus Sakey 6.5
Brilliance B2 Marcus Sakey 6
Brilliance B3 Marcus Sakey 6
A long way to a small angry planet Becky Chambers 9

You are dead to me; dead I tell you! :P

coffee_cake

oh i thought the windup girl was awful!


did you guys store these lists on goodreads or something? i would have to go through my kindle unlimited and purchases lists

smacl

bluewolf wrote: »

oh i thought the windup girl was awful!

Very mixed reviews on goodreads as well, mostly either four stars, five stars or one star. I really enjoyed it.

did you guys store these lists on goodreads or something? i would have to go through my kindle unlimited and purchases lists

Message search on my order history from amazon, cut and paste in and out of excel to get the tabs for a table.

coffee_cake

Ok i'll go through mine. i'll skip all the jeff wheeler ones though, there's about 15 of them. he gets a big thumbs up from me

Right i'm not listing each book in a series on a separate line because there's too many. I'm terrible at numerical ratings so here's bluewolf's ratings. Based on a combo of how much I enjoyed them and how well written i thought they were


The Brilliance Trilogy, books 1 -3 Marcus Sakey great
The Hundredth Queen Emily R. King great
Muse of Nightmares: the magical sequel to Strange the Dreamer (Strange the Dreamer 2) Laini Taylor great
Everything Jeff Wheeler has on kindle Jeff Wheeler v good
The Last Wish Andrzej Sapkowski v good
Witcher books 1 - 7 Andrzej Sapkowski, David French v good
Daughter of Smoke and Bone Trilogy Books 1&2 Laini Taylor v good
The Tomorrow Gene, books 1 & 2 Sean Platt (author), Johnny B. Truant (author) v good
A Discovery of Witches - All Souls 1-3 Deborah Harkness good
We Have Always Died In The Castle Elizabeth Bear, Melissa Gay good
The Bear and The Nightingale: (Winternight Trilogy) Katherine Arden good
The Curse of Chalion (The Chalion Series Book 1) Lois McMaster Bujold good
Extracted Trilogy RR Haywood  meh
Gardens Of The Moon: Volume 2 (The Malazan Book Of The Fallen 1) Steven Erikson meh
The Lies of Locke Lamora: The Gentleman Bastard Sequence, Book One (Gentleman Bastards 1) Scott Lynch meh
Altered Carbon: Netflix Altered Carbon book 1 (Takeshi Kovacs) Richard Morgan terrible
Ready Player One Ernest Cline didn’t finish
Seveneves Neal Stephenson didn’t finish
A Fire Upon the Deep (S.F. MASTERWORKS) Vernor Vinge didn’t finish

Dades

Amazed at the recent hate for Ready Player One!

It was what it was. An 80's pop culture medley with some sort of characters involved. I can see though that it may not appeal to those for whom that era doesn't resonate.

Thought the movie was pretty OK. The opening race through NY was spectacular. It wasn't Arrival or Event Horizon but it wasn't trying to be.