SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Rob wrote: "Allison wrote: "Correction! I had a glitch, either electronic or synaptic, and was in fact listening to another book, though I queued up Six of Crows. The actual narrator for Six of Crows is fine. ..."

Who knows! The beauty of being among the absent-minded academic types is that life is always a mystery. I believe it to have been another book by Leigh Bardugo, as it mentioned "grisha" which I'm just now learning about. If I ever listen to more of her works, I'll do my best to tell you which guy was the mean one I don't like. :-)

Shanna, I've heard good things about the Wind Up Girl, may these get you out of your slump!

I'm reading Midnight Taxi Tango by Daniel José Older. It's along time ago that I read book #1, Half-Resurrection Blues.

Lately I've read & enjoyed The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters, My Favorite Thing Is Monsters by Emil Ferris and Guts: The Anatomy of The Walking Dead by Paul Vigna.

Rob wrote: "I find there are very few narrators that are so bad that it hurts the book. "

The guy that narrated my library's copy of A Dance with Dragons gave Danys T. an Irish accent. Found it hard to take an Empress seriously when she sounded like the Lucky Charms cartoon.

Allison wrote: "Rob wrote: "Allison wrote: "Correction! I had a glitch, either electronic or synaptic, and was in fact listening to another book, though I queued up Six of Crows. The actual narrator for Six of Cro..."

She does have a previous trilogy set in the same world. After how much I enjoyed this duology I considered checking it out, but the reviews don't seem to be as good. It also sounds less interesting to me in general than this series did. Maybe it's that?

It starts with Shadow and Bone

Mike wrote: "Rob wrote: "I find there are very few narrators that are so bad that it hurts the book. "

The guy that narrated my library's copy of A Dance with Dragons gave Danys T. an Irish acc..."

I haven't done those in audio, but there are definitely still bad narrators out there.

In this particular instance my understanding is the guy who did Song of Ice and Fire was really good/popular but for some reason he changed how he did all the voices for A Dance with Dragons and that upset a lot of people. He just died recently so either way the narration will change for The Winds of Winter whenever that finally comes out.

Allison wrote: "I believe it to have been another book by Leigh Bardugo, as it mentioned "grisha" which I'm just now learning about."

It could very well be Crooked Kingdom. I know they mention the grisha in this duology, too. It's been a year, but I'm pretty sure there was either a new narrator for an old character or a new pov in the second book, and it was the worst thing ever.

Rob wrote: "Allison wrote: "Rob wrote: "Allison wrote: "Correction! I had a glitch, either electronic or synaptic, and was in fact listening to another book, though I queued up Six of Crows. The actual narrato..."

It totally could be. If so, I say pfeh! to the narrator.

Anna wrote: "Allison wrote: "I believe it to have been another book by Leigh Bardugo, as it mentioned "grisha" which I'm just now learning about."

It could very well be Crooked Kingdom. I know ..."

This sounds like a likely candidate!

I finally finished:

Is it bad of me to say that I preferred the movie?

Dj wrote: "I finally finished: The Bourne Identity
Is it bad of me to say that I preferred the movie?"

No, I found the book pretty boring. The movie sped things up and made it tolerable.

Likewise. I did see the movie first, then rather plodded through the book. Some interesting extra detail, but not enough. Haven't read the rest of the books, just seen the movies.

Carro wrote: "Likewise. I did see the movie first, then rather plodded through the book. Some interesting extra detail, but not enough. Haven't read the rest of the books, just seen the movies."

Yeah I will probably skip the rest of the books as well. Although I think only two of them were written by the actual author.

I seem to have the same issue with almost any Action/Adventure book. The movie is better than the read.

Read book 4 of Jayne Castle's Ghost Hunter series, Silver Master - review - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2108842657.

Also read book 5, Dark Light, and reviewed it https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2169897988.

J.G. wrote: "Something possessed me to read a 1962 printing of Ivanhoe, which I found in a used book shop near downtown Seattle. Gird your loins!
"

I love old printings of the classics. I picked up a lovely 1930s printing of The Three Musketeers while on vacation earlier this month :)

I am reading Underground Airlines

Awesome! Love to hear what you think about Underground Airlines especially the main character and whether the ending points towards a sequel.

After having completed "Fuel To The Fire" by David Staniforth I started reading the 2nd book in the Series "Rulers Desire". which I hope that there is more action in this 2nd book then what there was in the first one.

I'm currently listening to The Collapsing Empire (I love the name of the ships) & I'm sloooowly reading The Wise Man's Fear. It's so dang good and yet the size is so intimidating. What happened to the days I would read long books regularly??

Jenny wrote: "I'm currently listening to The Collapsing Empire (I love the name of the ships) & I'm sloooowly reading The Wise Man's Fear. It's so dang good and yet the size is so ..."

Jenny I loved both of those books! I agree, the naming in TCE was a ton of fun :-)

So, for those playing at home:

As a group we're finishing:
-American Gods (womp. I really meant to read this. I still have 2 weeks for a miracle)
-The Girl with All the Gifts (I was surprised at how much I liked this!)

and unofficially, a bunch of us are reading The Way of Kings, because Oathbringer coming out in two weeks just wasn't hype enough and embarking on ~2300 pages of book on a whim seemed like a good idea.

We just officially started:
-Six of Crows
-Six Wakes

because the SFF Club is always at Sixes and Sevens y'all!

and in two weeks we'll begin the reread of:

-Anansi Boys
-Assassin's Apprentice

So...I hope you all don't really have that much work to do or family to visit this month. If you're a motivated type, you're gonna be busy. Hopefully some/one/a few of those sound good to you!

I am...going to try living on coffee so I can do All The Reading.

Out of the 6 for which you've posted, there are two for which interest me and that's "Six of Crows" and "Assasin's Apprentice". I committed to reading 20 this year when I joined the group. a few months or so ago. And surprisingly I'm 1/2 way through #13.

I just finished The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks. Sadly I didn't enjoy it overmuch!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I also finished a reread of Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett and boy did I enjoy that!!!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

MadProfessah wrote: "Awesome! Love to hear what you think about Underground Airlines especially the main character and whether the ending points towards a sequel."

I am about 100 pages in. I am speechless. No words yet.

Phrynne wrote: "I just finished The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks. Sadly I didn't enjoy it overmuch!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/12..."

I'll have to admit that "The Way Of The Shadows" is on my TBR list. Are you generally a fan of the genre?

I am a huge fan of the genre John! Lots of people did like this one, I guess it just didn't do it for me:)

Jenny wrote: "I'm currently listening to The Collapsing Empire (I love the name of the ships) & I'm sloooowly reading The Wise Man's Fear. It's so dang good and yet the size is so ..."

The ship naming is a shout out to the late great Iain M. Bank who used strange names like that for all the ships in his culture books. Elon Musk used two of Bank's ship names for his Space-X landing drones - 'Just Read The Instructions' and 'Of Course I Still Love You' :)

Phrynne wrote: "I am a huge fan of the genre John! Lots of people did like this one, I guess it just didn't do it for me:)"

Well yes, I'll have to agree with you not every book in our favorite Genere will appeal to us. that is why I try to avoid paying $6 plus for a book unless I am sure about it. I won't even pre-order a book. But since joining this group and this site I've done that twice with one author as I love his work. Jeff Wheeler and His Kingfountain series. The last one in the series will be released in two days for which I'm looking forward to. There is another of his series which I bought all 3 of due to the fact that they were on sale for $.99 cents each. And since they were over 4 1/2 stars I figured I'd take a chance on them. Have yet to read them.

There is another series of which I'm currently reading by "David Staniforth" it's a Trilogy The first being "Fuel To The Fire". I will have to admit that at first, I wasn't liking this book at all. and I stopped reading it. and read a couple of other books instead. One being Flowers for Algernon. And I came back to the book and started reading where I left off and found out that it turned out to be better then I had expected it to. Now I'm reading "Rulers Desire" and looking forward to seeing what happens next.

Just finished The Ocean at the End of the Lane which turned out to be a pretty appropriate Halloween read. Neil Gaiman is becoming a favorite author or mine. Might have to give American Gods another try which I dnf when I tried it before. I really like the other books of his I have read.
Currently reading Six of Crows.

I'm reading:

- Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold
- Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
- Ringworld by Larry Niven
- Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
- Rama II by Arthur C. Clarke and Gentry Lee

Hope to finish most of those this month, and will also try to read At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft and The Wanderer by Fritz Leiber.

On the back burner I'm still picking away at A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin.

Ellen wrote: "Just finished The Ocean at the End of the Lane which turned out to be a pretty appropriate Halloween read. Neil Gaiman is becoming a favorite author or mine. Might ..."

Have you read Neverwhere? It's his first novel, but one of my favorite books.

Currently reading The One Kingdom by Sean Russell

John wrote: "Out of the 6 for which you've posted, there are two for which interest me and that's "Six of Crows" and "Assasin's Apprentice". I committed to reading 20 this year when I joined the group. a few mo..."

Nice! I also need to get to Assassin's Apprentice, but it's not looking great. Maybe my Time Turner will finally come in. Six of Crows is fun so far.

@Allison, there is audio of Assassins Aprentice. Mine was on hoopla, which I think you said you can reach…. The audio was a good experience; very well read, even at 1.5x speed.

Mike wrote: "@Allison, there is audio of Assassins Aprentice. Mine was on hoopla, which I think you said you can reach…. The audio was a good experience; very well read, even at 1.5x speed."

Oo good tip! I do have some driving coming up...

Yooou siren, Mike.

I am currently reading Nemesis Games by James S.A. Corey (Book #5 of The Expanse) and Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson (Book #3 of the Stormlight Archive). I am reading the Oathbringer preview chapters on Tor.com. The full book comes out on November 14, 2017. I plan to read Blood and Tempest (Book #3 of Empire of Storms) by Jon Skovron next. It will be released on November 28, 2017.

Shanna_redwind wrote: "I recently re-read Queen of Sorcery, and I was glad to find that it held up to my teen memories pretty well. Except that I have a really hard time with the female characters. They really irritate me."

Polgara kicks ass and has a good heart, but I would not want to spend much time around her. The nagging never ends!

Tricia wrote: "Ellen wrote: "Just finished The Ocean at the End of the Lane which turned out to be a pretty appropriate Halloween read. Neil Gaiman is becoming a favorite author o..."
I readNeverwhere (needed a book with a green cover for the tbr cleanup challenge) after I failed with American God's and loved it.
I also enjoyed Norse Mythology and Coraline

Finished:

Fool's Quest and Assassin's Fate which brings the entire FitzChivalry Farseer story to its conclusion. It also involves characters from Hobb's other series set in the same world.

and

The Beautiful Mystery and The Hangman. The last book was written for people learning to read English (simpler words and plot) so it wasn't a real part of the Chief Inspector Gamache series

and currently reading:

Shadowmarch - this is a re-read and is going slower as it doesn't seem as good as I remembered it
and
Survival of the Fittest - another re-read

I tend to read one scifi/fantasy and one other genre at the same time on my main reading device, then short stories on the Kindle in the bathroom (The Very Best of Charles de Lint) and something slower on my bedroom Kindle (William Styron, The Collected Novels: Lie Down in Darkness, Set This House on Fire, The Confessions of Nat Turner, and Sophie's Choice)

Finished AJ Grimmelhaus' Angel's Truth, which I rather liked, and Ancient Egypt on 5 Deben a Day, which is also very good.

Currently reading The Alexiad, which I think is the first history by a woman. It's by Anna Komnene, about her father, Alexios (who was also Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire). Her voice comes through really nicely, and there are some quite wry lines (she refers to someone acting as a demi-god treating another man like a demi-ass).

Allison wrote: "John wrote: "Out of the 6 for which you've posted, there are two for which interest me and that's "Six of Crows" and "Assasin's Apprentice". I committed to reading 20 this year when I joined the gr..."

Well I just finished reading "Rulers Desire" which was the 2nd book after Fuel to the fire by David M. Staniforth and will have to admit that it was a great read. Posted a review of the book.

Trying to decide if I'm going to read "Elemental Cascade" By the aforementioned Author or read "Assasins Apprentice". Probably will read Elemental first. After all, I can usually read a book in a few days if it really interests me. Due to my wanting to find out what is going to happen next. Besides that there I've pledged to read 20 books when I joined a couple of months ago and still have about a 1/2 left.

I just finished A Plague of Giants, the first book in a new trilogy by Kevin Hearne. Hearne, best known for his Iron Druid urban fantasy series, is trying his hand at epic fantasy and, if this first book is any indication, he has hit it out of the park. I highly recommend it. I'm also really upset that it didn't get nominated for the Best Fantasy award. It deserve a write-in vote.

Here is my review.

Since my last post, I’ve read:

1. Slade House by David Mitchell. I liked this quite a bit. My review.

2. The Nantucket trilogy, starting with Island in the Sea of Time by S. M. Stirling. This series had a lot of things to like, but also a lot of tedious parts, so I had mixed feelings about it. I enjoyed it enough to read all three books. My reviews: Book 1, Book 2, and Book 3.

3. Hamlet by William Shakespeare, my classic selection for the fourth quarter. I enjoyed it much more than I expected to, especially given my memories of hating our Shakespeare assignments way back in high school. My review.

Now I’m starting (for the second time) the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. I read the first four books in 2012 and enjoyed them, but my schedule at the time was pretty rough and I finally decided to put it aside until I could devote more time to it. I find one needs more than 5 minutes of reading time a day to properly keep up with the plot threads and characters in an epic fantasy series! Hopefully this attempt will go better; my schedule these days is nowhere near as crazy as it was back then.

Just finished The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean I liked it quite a bit. I enjoyed the way she wove her story of interviewing and spending time with surfers with her research about ships.

I'm working on The Windup Girl but it isn't really my type of Science Fiction. It's got great worldbuilding, and the writing is excellent, but it's just not my cup of tea.

Just started The Sword-Edged Blonde. I've read book 2 and three of this series and really enjoyed them and I'm liking this one so far as well.

YouKneeK wrote: "Now I’m starting (for the second time) the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan...."

Enjoy! I could easily do that a third time :-)

Sabrina wrote: "Enjoy! I could easily do that a third time :-)"

Thanks! It feels good to be diving into an epic fantasy series again. It's been a while.

Sabrina wrote: "YouKneeK wrote: "Now I’m starting (for the second time) the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan...."

Enjoy! I could easily do that a third time :-)"

I'm waiting until I have the fortitude to start: The Complete Wheel of Time. That's a lot of reading to do at 12592 pages. It was on sale when i bought it and not the current price.

In the meantime to keep on topic, I've started:

Dawn which I acquired as part of a Humble Bundle
and
The Crypt Thief which is a mystery set in Paris after I finished Survival of the Fittest

CBRetriever wrote: "Sabrina wrote: "YouKneeK wrote: "Now I’m starting (for the second time) the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan...."

Enjoy! I could easily do that a third time :-)"

I'm waiting until I have the..."

$100 for "The Complete Wheel Of Time" it will be a long time if ever I read that book. To rich for my blood.

John wrote: "CBRetriever wrote: "Sabrina wrote: "YouKneeK wrote: "Now I’m starting (for the second time) the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan...."

Enjoy! I could easily do that a third time :-)"

I'm wait..."

You should price the individual books and make a comparison. I am sure buying them one at a time can come up to a tad more than a hundred dollars. I forget, but I think there are twelve or more books in the whole series.

I paid $44.99 for it when it was first released and it was worth it for 15 books and works out to $3 per book

The Complete Wheel of Time

Thomas wrote: "That's not to say I didn't enjoy this but there is a quite a difference between the two Malazan authors, and I cannot skip a single book because I just like this universe so much. "

I am reading The Bonehunters and really enjoying it. This series continues to knock my socks off. I haven't read any of Esslemont's books yet, but I'll get there eventually.