The Sword and Laser discussion

Sun of Suns by Karl Schroeder
Abhorsen by Garth Nix

Sean wrote: "Just finished Nemesis Games by James SA Corey and it was really good.

I know S&L did Leviathan Wakes as a group book a long while ago (that got me into the series) so I'm curious to hear who else has read it?"

There are several of us who have read and discussed books 3-5 in another group.

Started Etiquette & Espionage today. Been in a slump for a while and looking for something to break it.

Just finished Nemesis Games and agree it was top notch. The last two have been formulaic. This one was a return to the high level of the first two.

Got a birthday gift card yesterday and picked up Nemesis games with it-- so looking forward to diving in!

Pyramids now, continuing the Discworld kick.

I just finished The Eternal Champion. I can't say I'd recommend it; it was more the sketch of a story than a full-fledged novel. That is to say, all the characters were archetypes, rather than people and the general path and tone is made pretty clear from the start (although the "hero" went farther in the end than I expected). If the book was an argument against heroes, it was interesting but not fun.

Just finished Dragon's Kin by Anne and Todd McCaffrey. It's the 17th Pern book (the 6th or 7th I've read) and apparently the first that Todd co-wrote. I was surprised at how much I liked this one. I think if I could convince my 9 and 12 year olds to read a real book (as opposed to a Pokémon or Minecraft manual) they would love it too.
Starting Elantris.

Tara wrote: "I'm reading Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher. So far I'm enjoying it a lot. For me it's much much better than the Dresden Files."

It starts a lot stronger then Dresden that's for sure, and despite that the first book of Codex Alera is still the weakest of the 6.

I checked your read list and I see you have only read the first 2 Dresden books, I personally recommend starting on either book 3(might as well start here because you are through the worst of it) or book 4 myself, because I personally have a very low opinion of the first 2 books. I gave them a 2 for Storm Front and a 1 for Full Moon, but by the time the series really gets rolling it's straight 4s and 5s.

But by all means finish Codex Alera first it's a darn good series.

I'm just finishing up an awesome series called I Bring the Fire by C. Glockel. It's a great twist with flavors of American Gods, Avengers, and everything I love. I can't recommend it enough!

I just finished reading Tower of Glass by Robert Silverberg. It is the second Silverberg novel in a row from his most prolific period of 1967-1976 that I've read. Tower of Glass was an interesting novel that combines science-fiction, religious (a lot of allusions to the Old Testatment), and philosophical ideas. I must admit I liked A Time of Changes more than Tower of Glass though. However, it is still worth reading. I will be continuing my summer reading of Robert Silverberg and onto Downward to the Earth next.

The Queen of the Tearling - Started -- and stopped -- this one. So many issues in the first chapter that had me rolling my eyes. I may go back to it just because I need books that start with Q for my annual "alphabet list" challenge.

The End of All Things -- Burned through the first section of this, which reads like a decent Larry Niven Known Space pastiche. The second section is a slower boil but I'm 2/3 of the way through that.

Wolf Star: Tour of the Merrimack #2 was a nice lightweight space opera.

I want to read The Three-Body Problem but it looks like a long book and I already have both of my T books for the year.

Paul wrote: "Armada wasn't as good as Ready Player One"

Crikey that's an understatement. It was terrible.

Fezfox wrote: "Paul wrote: "Armada wasn't as good as Ready Player One"

Crikey that's an understatement. It was terrible."

Pretty much. Will probably be the second book I've returned to Audible in several years. Quite disappointing.

Trike wrote: "The Queen of the Tearling - Started -- and stopped -- this one. So many issues in the first chapter that had me rolling my eyes. I may go back to it just because I need books that s..."

You are reading Tour of the Merrimack! Awesome! That is such a fun space opera, it made me laugh out loud. Are you familiar with R. M. Meluch's more serious work, too? Jerusalem Fire is totally brilliant, and so ridiculously under the radar. Great to see the mention, here. Great books.

Trike wrote: "The Queen of the Tearling - Started -- and stopped -- this one. So many issues in the first chapter that had me rolling my eyes. I may go back to it just because I need books that s..."

Queen Of The Dawn: A Love Tale Of Old Egypt? Queen of Swords? The Quest for Tanelorn? Quicksilver?

Janny wrote: "You are reading Tour of the Merrimack! Awesome! That is such a fun space opera, it made me laugh out loud."

That is good stuff! I'm going to have to go back and make sure I've read them all.

Life as been hectic the last month - We moved into the new house last Sunday, but couldn't unpack because we were getting the house painted and kitchen remodeled. Painting and remodeling is finally done, so I can start to unpack. Work has been crazy because we are trying to get out a new Windows 10 version of our software before MS releases Win10 in July 27. All of this stress + change to my routine has not left much time for reading, and while I am digging Queen of Fire, I can't remember what the hell happened in the last two books so I think I want to at least skim through them/X-Ray characters/find some wiki before I keep going.

In the meantime I needed something fun and light-hearted so I switched to reading The Rebirths of Tao for now. Also, Xanax :)

Lastly, hopefully soon I will get used to the chandelier in the dining room because right now there is no table under it and as I walk through the room looking at my phone or a book I've hit my head on it about 50 times so far and my head has become a giant lumpy scab.

Listened to The Price of Valor. Loved it! It doesn't seem like many people are reading this series for some (It starts with The Thousand Names) and that's a shame. I think it's great. (My Review)

I also listened to Armada, in 2 days. It's fun, but nowhere as good as Ready Player One, but that was expected. (My Review)

I'm continuing my summer reading of Robert Silverberg's work during his most prolific period of 1967-1976. I have read A Time of Changes first and just finished Tower of Glass. I'm currently reading The Masks of Time. I have Downward to the Earth, To Open The Sky, and Shadrach in the Furnace on tap to finish out my summer reading of Silverberg.

Fezfox wrote: "Paul wrote: "Armada wasn't as good as Ready Player One"

Crikey that's an understatement. It was terrible."

Since I'm one of the few people who didn't care much for Ready Player One (I gave it a soft 3 stars), this doesn't instill much confidence.

The synopsis for Armada does read exactly like The Last Starfighter.

Marion wrote: "I'm continuing by summer reading of Robert Silverberg's work during his most prolific period of 1967-1976. I have read A Time of Changes first and just finished [book:Tower of Glass..."

I've read a fair bit of Silverberg but none of these. That guy has a lot of books.

Joseph wrote: "Trike wrote: "The Queen of the Tearling - Started -- and stopped -- this one. So many issues in the first chapter that had me rolling my eyes. I may go back to it just because I nee..."

Queen Of The Dawn: A Love Tale Of Old Egypt? Queen of Swords? The Quest for Tanelorn? Quicksilver? "

Hated it. Doesn't look like my kind of thing. I'll get to that eventually. Are you trying to kill me?

Trike wrote: "Hated it. Doesn't look like my kind of thing. I'll get to that eventually. Are you trying to kill me?"

OK, Quicksilver may be taking things a bit too far ...

Janny wrote: "Trike wrote: "The Queen of the Tearling - Started -- and stopped -- this one. So many issues in the first chapter that had me rolling my eyes. I may go back to it just because I need books that s..."

You are reading Tour of the Merrimack! Awesome! That is such a fun space opera, it made me laugh out loud. Are you familiar with R. M. Meluch's more serious work, too? Jerusalem Fire is totally brilliant, and so ridiculously under the radar. Great to see the mention, here. Great books. "

I've been reading her since Sovereign back in the 1970s. I read the first Merrimack novel when it came out but didn't realize she'd turned it into a series until a few years ago because The Myriad feels like a stand-alone.

Finished up Pyramids and on to Eric. After that I'll head back to hard SF for a while. Probably some non-Revelation Space Alastair Reynolds.

For those who've read all of the Revelation Space books, were you disappointed in the series ender? I found it so anticlimactic as to represent almost no ending at all.

Read the novellas that make up The End of All Things. (My reviews are here). I liked it.

Read Armada (Review). I didn't like it.

Currently reading The King's Blood which is book two of the Dagger and the Coin. Good so far.

John (Taloni) wrote: "For those who've read all of the Revelation Space books, were you disappointed in the series ender? I found it so anticlimactic as to represent almost no ending at all."

This was my least favourite book in the series. It dragged most of the way. The last 15% however, I couldn't put it down until it fizzled at the end. Very little resolution. The book had some very cool characters though.

Have you read the standalones? I liked Chasm City and The Prefect even better than the main series.

Yeah, it definitely fizzled. I read Galactic North next and then realized he shoehorned the ending into one of his previous short stories.

The guy can really hit, though. "Winter" is among the best stories I have ever read.

Oddly, I thought Chasm City was in the main sequence and that Revelation Space was an in-order five book series. So parts of Chasm City left me puzzled. It was okay as far as it went, but I'm not so much into "dark." Probably a 3 on the JT scale.

The Prefect, uneven but great in spots. The use of AI was brilliant. I liked the bit about the coriolis effect when they're rolling to a window, but it struck me that they were comparing to life on a planet, which they'd never lived on. Coriolis should be second nature to them.

I have the same problem with the books in The Expanse. There's all this description of life in the Belt, which is great. But the characters would not be noticing how food tastes different from what it's formed after. They would have grown up with the algae substitutes and gotten used to them. If anything, there would be a snobbery against wasting resources on "real" sources of protein.

Finished The Space Opera Renaissance, which was kind of overwhelming but generally very good (here's a link to the table of contents) and started Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand -- the British folk rock revival reimagined as urban fantasy, or something like that.

John (Taloni) wrote: "The guy can really hit, though. "Winter" is among the best stories I have ever read."

I don't remember a "Winter" - was it one of his short stories?

The Non Rev Space books I liked were House of Suns and then Terminal World which was Steampunk Reynolds style.

Just finished Sun of Suns by Karl Schroeder. It's a combination of steampunk and space opera. I really enjoyed and look forward to reading the rest of the series.

Right now I am starting Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence.

David Sven wrote: "I don't remember a "Winter" - was it one of his short stories?"

Yes, it's in Galactic North. Reveals the secret of the Conjoiner engines along the way.

I'm moving on to Thousandth Night and House of Suns next.

John (Taloni) wrote: "David Sven wrote: "I don't remember a "Winter" - was it one of his short stories?"

Yes, it's in Galactic North. Reveals the secret of the Conjoiner engines along the way.

I'm moving on to Thousan..."

House of Suns is the only Reynolds novel I've read so far, but I liked it a lot. I'll have to pick up some of the others one of these days.

I've enjoyed several of the books in the Revelation series, but the first Alastair Reynolds I read was Pushing Ice and I liked that more. Most of it wasn't as far in the future, and more unmodified human, and I liked it a bit better for it. I've heard he does plan on revisiting that universe at some point, and I look forward to that.

Trike wrote: "Fezfox wrote: "Paul wrote: "Armada wasn't as good as Ready Player One"

Crikey that's an understatement. It was terrible."

Since I'm one of the few people who didn't care much for ..."

You're not alone - I didn't like Ready Player One either.

I cannot be the only one who's reading Ernest Kline's "Armada"; and loving it!

I'm about halfway thru Armada and I'm enjoying it. I'm a sucker for all the pop culture references.

Misti wrote: "I'm about halfway thru Armada and I'm enjoying it. I'm a sucker for all the pop culture references."


Seemed like 80% were Star Wars quotes (some of which didn't sound accurate, but then I'm not a huge star wars fan).

I started Palimpsest today. Ms. Valente's is an insanely gifted writer.

John (Nevets) wrote: "I've enjoyed several of the books in the Revelation series, but the first Alastair Reynolds I read was Pushing Ice and I liked that more. "

That was one of my less liked books- but the good thing about
Reynolds is that he doesn't stick with one style of story - He experiments so he caters for a range of tastes I think.

I read Pushing Ice and found it ultimately unsatisfying. It reminded me of the later Rama books in its basis in Stapledon's Star Maker and shared inability to come to a point. That said, I would read a sequel, if only to see how he does with the concepts he introduced.

Dustin wrote: "Misti wrote: "I'm about halfway thru Armada and I'm enjoying it. I'm a sucker for all the pop culture references."


Seemed like 80% were Star Wars quotes (some of which didn't sound accurate, but ..."

I remember thinking that in Ready Player One it was impossible for the guy to have seen all the things he had seen and memorized them all, given the time frame. But I can't hold it against the book because it's so adorably dumb. It's kind of like eating cotton candy and being mad that it's purple. It's not even a flavor, let alone a meal.

Trike wrote: "I remember thinking that in Ready Player One it was impossible for the guy to have seen all the things he had seen and memorized them all, given the time frame. But I can't hold it against the book because it's so adorably dumb. It's kind of like eating cotton candy and being mad that it's purple. It's not even a flavor, let alone a meal."

It has purple! Purple's a fruit!

I mentioned earlier that I started Palimpsest today. I'm also reading The Hum and the Shiver. I'm 69% completed and I'm really enjoying it.

Last week, I finally finished last month's book, City of Stairs and while I enjoyed a lot of the themes and I liked the story and characters, I was left wanting in the execution department. I felt the tone and the pacing were inconsistent and I felt that the world building was a bit "make it up as you go along." These things impacted my reading experience. That being said, I will be reading the sequel. Also, I think it would make a great film or tv series. Ideally a tv series where they could dive deeper into things.

I finished Station Eleven (review tomorrow maybe) and was solidly meh oh it. I wanted more stories like the story of how the airport came to be what it was. The writing was beautiful but I was underwhelmed.

I'm about 80% through Archangel in audio and I'm still not sure I get what's going on. I guess a lot of it is setup for a series but I still have 2 hours left so we shall see.

I'm making progress through Game Over: How Nintendo Conquered The World and enjoying it, still. I'm reading Silicon Sky and am seeing how much like SpaceX Orbital was in the mid-90's.

I have some other books in the queue, including a short story from Michael J. Sullivan that I didn't realize was available. Not sure where my next fancy will strike, reading-wise...

Finished The Martian. Loved it. I should have read it when it was the S&L pick but I am wary of the Lasers. Listening to it was a better experience (for me) than reading because I didn't have to understand any of the maths. I am excited to see how the movie will turn out.

Next up is Bill Bryson's The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way because I picked it up as a Kindle Daily Deal a while back, and still going with Jordan's The Shadow Rising

Reading Bane of the Dead, I'm almost done...and really torn on the book, I love the plot I love the characters, I love the concept...but I just can't feel the characters, I can't really get in their head I almost half to imagine too much extra. Probably still going to give it a weak 4, but dang if this had some good action writing this would be an easy 5. This is a self-published authors like first work...sooo there is hope he can get better I guess.

Finished Spice & Wolf, Vol. 4, not as good at Vol 3 but better then 1 and 2.

Other then that just sucked into the vortex of webnovels and beta reading for people. Maybe I should get AlterWorld as I'm a dumb sucker for LMS style stories...which really needs a subgenre, instead of just being thrown in whatever style of portal fantasy it is. Progression Portal Fantasy?

Dara wrote: "Trike wrote: "Fezfox wrote: "Paul wrote: "Armada wasn't as good as Ready Player One"

Crikey that's an understatement. It was terrible."

Since I'm one of the few people who didn't ..."

And I was just starting to work up the courage to grab Ready Player One, but my strong allergic reaction to nostalgia and reviews like this make me wary.

Aaron wrote: "And I was just starting to work up the courage to grab Ready Player One, but my strong allergic reaction to nostalgia and reviews like this make me wary. "

If you don't like nostalgia, do not read RPO. It's 80% nostalgia and infodumps with 20% plot.

Well, as has been said, I recently finished Armada. Then started Promise of Blood. Will probably pick up Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell so that I'm ready for the Mythgard lectures in a month.