Beyond Reality discussion

Please let us know what you are reading or planning to read in February.

Starting The Last Continent tonight.

All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders.

Currently embarked on Polity Agent by Neal Asher.

I finished City of Blades (really good - I liked it better than City of Stairs) and like Richard, I'm also reading All the Birds in the Sky.

I'm at the tale end of The Ophiuchi Hotline by John Varley - which is so very good and stunningly-overlooked - and plan to move on to Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente next. As Valente's a favorite of mine, I'm really looking forward to that one!

I'm reading Ship of Magic and really enjoying it so far.
On audiobook, I have Sorcerer to the Crown and I'm also enjoying that - it's quirky and rather lovely!
I've just collected The Diamond Age: or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer from the library so hope to get on to that ready for next month's read.

Just finished The Vagrant. It was pretty good and a bit different. I'm still not sure if it falls under SF or Fantasy. Maybe a mixture of both really.

Grabbing the audio version of Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen now

Candiss wrote: "I'm at the tale end of The Ophiuchi Hotline by John Varley - which is so very good and stunningly-overlooked "

A very interesting and unusual tale.

I just finished Dreamer's Pool which I recommend to anyone who enjoys fantasy; I've ordered the sequel from the library. I am now starting Fly by Night

Just finished Schafer's most excellent Shattered Sigil's trilogy, great character-driven fantasy, and no better way to start a new month of reading.

I finished All the Birds in the Sky, which I really enjoyed. I'm now reading Planetfall by Emma Newman.

Christine, I'm glad to hear you enjoyed Dreamer's Pool, I'm looking forward to reading that one myself. Fly by Night is a terrific little book:)

Justine wrote: "I finished All the Birds in the Sky, which I really enjoyed. I'm now reading Planetfall by Emma Newman.

I have All the Birds in the Sky on my tablet from the library; I'll probably read it next

Christine, I'm glad to hear you enjoyed [bo..."

I finished The Last Continent last night. Not one of his best, but still very clever and fun. Just what I needed after the Malazan Book of the Fallen. Interestingly, one of the themes in The Last Continent is gods and their worshippers, which is also a theme through the Malazan books.

Next I am going out of genre with a mystery, The Silent Cry.

I tried reading Fly by Night but just couldn't connect with the main character or story; I have so many books on my shelf, I decided to move on. I'm now about to read All the Birds in the Sky

Just finished The Water Knife. It's as much of a thriller as it is speculative fiction, I think. Got me thinking about how wide a genre SF really is. And, as intended, also got me thinking about water scarcity and how it impacts society. The book mentions another nonfiction book, Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water which is also interesting but of course much drier (pun intended!) in tone.

Chris wrote: "Just finished The Water Knife. It's as much of a thriller as it is speculative fiction, I think. Got me thinking about how wide a genre SF really is."

I've heard and adapted the categorization "CliFi" (Climate Fiction) for it. I really liked it - here is my review for it.

I just finished Central Station which will appear next month. Great characters, exotic atmosphere, zero action, tiny plot. My review is here.

Finished gentleman Jole and the Red Queen.

Started Elysium last night.
So far, it seems very different.

currently reading: A Fire Upon the Deep

i might read: Lord of the Silver Bow, Anansi Boys, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince & Welcome to Dead House

Still out of genre with QB VII. Then I think I may read the Dorsai books by Gordon R. Dickson.

I'm reading Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo.

I'm reading Poseidon's Wake the 3rd book of a trilogy by Alastair Reynolds—wonderful modern space opera.

I finished up Toll the Hounds yesterday. It was good, but not as amazing as some of the earlier books in the series, sadly.

I'm now reading The Armageddon Rag by George R.R. Martin, an older offering that seems more like a murder-mystery than a fantasy book so far. And I've picked up Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen by Lois McMaster Bujold, which I'm very excited to really get into.

I ended up really liking Six of Crows; it is a very well-written fantasy heist with a fast moving story, but is left on a bit of cliffhanger. Fortunately the second and final book comes out later this year.

I'm starting Morning Star, the last book in the Red Rising trilogy today.

I finished Dorsai! and liked it well enough (4/5*) that I will continue reading the Childe Cycle, but with other things in between. Next up is The Diamond Age: or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer for our March discussion. (I've previously read Suldrun's Garden and don't plan to reread it for the discussion.)

You'll enjoy Diamond Age - it's my favorite Stephenson, though I haven't read all of his books (yet).

I'm still picking at the short stories in Otherness - I'm quite enjoying them, but just haven't got a lot of time/energy for reading right now so it's going slowly. One more day of school tomorrow before our February break, I'm SO excited for the week off! Planning on getting LOTS of reading done!

Tani wrote: "I finished up Toll the Hounds yesterday. It was good, but not as amazing as some of the earlier books in the series, sadly. "

Yep, It really disappointed me. Actually turned me off the last two books.

Ken wrote: "Yep, It really disappointed me. Actually turned me off the last two books."

Please give the last two books a chance. They were amazing, especially The Crippled God.

I finished the Poseidon's Children trilogy by Alastair Reynolds, a wonderful modern space opera.

I started Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen, the newest novel in the Vorkosigan Saga (#16). I need to go thru all my book boxes again. so I can re-read the series again while there's time.

Kathi wrote: "Please give the last two books a chance. They were amazing, especially The Crippled God."

I intend to. I got this far. Just a few thousand more pages

I finished The Enemy Papers. I thought the whole thing was pretty good. It was a collection of the whole Enemy series. I felt the last book lost its way.

Starting a Star Trek book that has been collecting dust on my shelf
The Eugenics Wars, Vol. 1
So far I am just not into it.

Here is my review of Hyperion, in Hyperion cantos series. Simply loved it!.

Justine wrote: "I ended up really liking Six of Crows; it is a very well-written fantasy heist with a fast moving story, but is left on a bit of cliffhanger. Fortunately the second and final book c..."

Oh, that's good to know, I'm not big on cliffhangers, and I'm eyeing Six of Crows for my next YA fix...

I'm currently reading The Complete Tawny Man Trilogy: Fool's Errand, The Golden Fool, Fool's Fate, after a little interlude with Tamora Pierce's Alanna series, which I liked very much though it's clearly meant for young readers, and Kings Rising, the last book of the Captive Prince trilogy.

Ken wrote: "Kathi wrote: "Please give the last two books a chance. They were amazing, especially The Crippled God."

I intend to. I got this far. Just a few thousand more pages"

Oh, good!

Sumant wrote: "Here is my review of Hyperion, in Hyperion cantos series. Simply loved it!."

An all time favorite series which I must read again. Nice review!

Kernos wrote: "Sumant wrote: "Here is my review of Hyperion, in Hyperion cantos series. Simply loved it!."

An all time favorite series which I must read again. Nice review!"

Thanks!

Christine & Justine, I also recently read Dreamer's Pool and Tower of Thorns. Definitely looking forward to book 3 later this year!

I finished The Watchmaker of Filigree Street (fun but not great) for my book club and To Rule the Waves. Currently working through Star Wars and History and The Queen of the Tearling, which is better than I anticipated. So far it reads like an improved version of The Goblin Emperor.

Lindsey, I now have Tower of Thorns from the library and look forwaard to reading it

I just finished All the Birds in the Sky which I recommend

Now off topic to read Second Nature

Oh Dreamer's Pool is getting such good feedback:) I can't wait to read it - it's on my list for March.

Just finished Morning Star, and it was agreat finish to the series. Next up are Rapture by Kameron Hurley and Caliban's War, the second book in The Expanse series.

You're all reading such great stuff! I finished Otherness, stories were hit or miss for me. Now out of genre with a classic I've never read, Wuthering Heights.

Lindsey wrote: " Currently working through Star Wars and History ."

So how is this?

I just finished listening to Sorcerer to the Crown which I thought was utterly charming. Next I'm going to listen to The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making which I also have on Kindle, so a chance to try out the whole Whispersync thing.

I am also about halfway through All the Birds in the Sky which is certainly living up to expectations!

Well I gave up on the Star Trek book. Just wasnt into it.
I found myself looking out the window or checking my phone

After some give and take I decided on Iron Council

Ken wrote: "Well I gave up on the Star Trek book. Just wasnt into it.
I found myself looking out the window or checking my phone"

lol:)

That's a really good way of deciding whether or not to DNF something!

I'm reading The Widow's House by Daniel Abraham at the moment. I've tried to spread the books out since the last book in the series, The Spider's War got the publication date pushed back a couple of times. I'll be all caught up when it finally comes out next month though:)

I finished the newest Vorkosigan novel Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen. An intriguing look into the lives of Cordelia and Jole. I need to read the entire series again.

I'm just starting Not on Fire, but Burning by Greg Hrbek. Unlike most of the books I pick up, I don't know anything about it, so I don't have any idea of what to expect:)

I'm tackling A Fire Upon the Deep (my third attempt, this time aided/supplemented by the audiobook version).

Austin wrote: "I'm tackling A Fire Upon the Deep (my third attempt, this time aided/supplemented by the audiobook version)."

I hope you get into it. I read it and its related books and thought they were very good, but it can be hard to get into the first one. I read it back in 11/2014 when it was Book of the Month for our discussion. There is a folder of past discussions, if you want to check it out at some point.

I just finished Second Nature and was disappointed so will not read further books by this author. Now back in genre with City of Blades

I am reading Dust of Dreams; also, All the Light We Cannot See for my local book club