SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Here is my review for Winter's Heart

Michele wrote: "I read Year's Best SF 16 and gave it 5 stars, but I'm not sure if it's the same editor as this "best of" series."

It's not, but I might try that one if I don't like the 2016 edition of this series.

Kim wrote: "I finished Ilium last night (and it's struggling to overtake Lock In in the poll) and it was good but I don't want to pick up Olympos at this point.

Started..."

I've had Dan Simmon's two series in storage for years , I really need to get round to reading after reading Hyperion over two decades ago.

Just reading an old (1985) fantasy trilogy starting with
Damiano




I've read them many years ago and thought I'd have a quick reread. I've actually forgotten more about these than I remember so its a nice refresh.

Sean wrote: "I've been reading the Philip K Dick omnibuses(omnibi?) that the Library of America put out, really fantastic stuff


Philip K. Dick: Four Novels of the 1960s
Philip K. Dick: Five Novels of the 1960..."

Omnibooze is, I believe, the correct plural for multiple collections of PKD.

Al wrote: "Ryan wrote: "Filipe wrote: "And started today Starship Troopers!!! And cannot wait to end it. Very good. Let's see how it ends!"

Turns out the guy's a Filipino "

He's from Rio deJaneiro, which wa..."

My old memory may be fading, but I'm pretty sure Rico was from Buenos Aires, not Rio. I'm at work, or I would look it up...

I am slowly making my way through Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. I can only read a couple of chapters a night so progress has been slow. I can see where it wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea but I am enjoying it.

I'm just finishing up Gateway and I kinda wish this was non-fiction. I would leave today for a chance to explore uncharted space. Posting the cover also because its as captivating as the story.

Don wrote: "I'm continuing the Comic Book series Fables right now. I think it's up there with The Sandman and Preacher as one of the all time best."

Any opinion on Ex Machina?

Veronica wrote: "I am slowly making my way through Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. I can only read a couple of chapters a night so progress has been slow. I can see where it wouldn't be everyone's cup ..."

Though usually I wouldn't dream of suggesting a filmed version of any book (They are usually nowhere near as good, with exceptions like Jaws), over here in the UK there was a TV adaptation of this.
I'd already read the book some years before and from my recollection the TV adapt looked better and the actors put a bit more life into the two lead characters from the novel, but it missed out some portions of the book.
A case where both medium are good in their own way

There's several books in the old TBR hopper just now:

▪ I started A Darker Shade of Magic back in January, as part of the Read All the Books Challenge. More recent books, and chores and the iPad keep getting set down on top of it, so it is languishing...
▪ The Procrastination Equation was also a January start that got overcome by events (imagine that!!!) My library's February challenge calls for a book with a red spine, so TPE was resuscitated...
▪ Ancillary Justice is a joint TBR Clean-Up Challenge #56 and Read All the Books. I can take my time with it.
▪ Gardening When It Counts: Growing Food in Hard Times is sort of a back-up for TBR Clean-Up (for reasons I will detail over in 2017 TBR Cleanup Challenge. Someday.)
▪ Spark Joy just seems to be stuck there from my New Year's Resolutions...
▪ Back in 2010-ish, I decided to read all the "modern" Batman comics. I bogged down for a while, but keep trying to get caught up. I finally copmmitted to buying a 1990-era collection of Batman: Shaman and reading it.
▪ Our own February 2017 Random Poll, Sabriel on audio.

Veronica wrote: "I am slowly making my way through Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. I can only read a couple of chapters a night so progress has been slow. I can see where it wouldn't be everyone's cup ..."

Ooh, I loved that. The author also has an excellent collection of short stories, The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories.

Simon wrote: "Veronica wrote: "I am slowly making my way through Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. I can only read a couple of chapters a night so progress has been slow. I can see where it wouldn't b..."

I plan on watching the tv adaptation once I'm done with the book. I can understand why they'd have to leave stuff out.

Michele wrote: "Veronica wrote: "I am slowly making my way through Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. I can only read a couple of chapters a night so progress has been slow. I can see where it wouldn't b..."


Awesome! I look forward to reading those too. I picked up this book because Neil Gaiman spoke so highly of it. I haven't been disappointed.

just re read Eric Russell's 3 to conquer, very good, I am going to see if I can find more of his works

I just finished The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi which was great!

Now I'm reading Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames which is off to a great start!

On Friday I finished The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu, the second book in the Remembrance of Earth’s Past series, following The Three-Body Problem. I enjoyed it at least as much as the first book, maybe slightly more. My full review is here.

Yesterday I started the final book in that series, Death's End, and it drew me in more quickly than the first two. A confusing start is always a good way to get my attention. :) I’ve only read about 100 pages, but I’m enjoying it a lot so far and hope to have more reading time today.

I recently started The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian, by Robert E. Howard. It's much better than I was expecting. Very impressive.

I'm finally reading Seveneves but finding it slightly hard going. I'm commenting about this on the Seveneves threads. Next read on my list is Revenger.

My review of Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

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

Having finished Seveneves I started The Color of Magic. I then saw Steve Jobs staring at me from my library book stack so I started that also. It is my a friend gave it 5 stars book from the TBR cleanup challenge.

Re-read The Testament of Jessie Lamb (unusual post-apoc), then read Einstein's Monsters (odd but good; lengthy introduction is as good as any of the stories). Now switching back and forth between The Flame Alphabet and Furthermore.

Ryan wrote: "I recently started The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian, by Robert E. Howard. It's much better than I was expecting. Very impressive."

Ah, a classic!

Jen wrote: "I'm just finishing up Gateway and I kinda wish this was non-fiction. I would leave today for a chance to explore uncharted space. Posting the cover also because its as captivating as ..."

Sweet! Gateway is one of my all-time favorites! I need to re-read it someday. I read most of the sequels but I thought the last couple weren't as interesting as the earlier ones.

Randy wrote: "Sweet! Gateway is one of my all-time favorites!"

I genuinely loved it. Among the best sci fi I've read. And I still wish it was non-fiction.

I also have loved Gateway for many years. I was at most 20ish when I've read it the first time, and it's earned a spot on my shelf with multiple rereads :)

Based on all these rave reviews I decided I'd go add it to my to-read list... only to find it was already there :)

David wrote: "Based on all these rave reviews I decided I'd go add it to my to-read list... only to find it was already there :)"

Me too! :0)

My review of The Hanging Tree by Ben Aaronovitch This is such a good series!

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

I just finished reading Metal Fall by Pedro Perry

This is the blurb: The year is 2094, and the world is half way aided by a Multi-trillion dollar company; Sky Knox. Since the invention of Sky Knox’s mad technology; 'The Shield’ which has enabled man to habit other planetary bodies, the world is in turmoil for Earth is scanty; left only with the less privileged people. As almost every Country now has a Planet of its' own aided by the Shield technology
A new dilemma kicks off when Sky Knox’s CEO; Javen Knox inputs a huge tax on every ‘Country Planet’ using his Shield technology and our sun suddenly starts failing.

I finished rereading To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis a few days ago. It's one of my favorite books, it was a delight to reread for my RL book club. (It doesn't hurt that it's on this book group's bookshelf.) Today I finished Shakespeare Makes the Playoffs by Ron Koertge. I like the concept a lot. I read it for my Read Harder Challenge #1, read a book about sports. YA poetry is my speed, if I have to read abut sports.

Now I've started Wildings by Eleanor Glewwe.

Just finished We Are Legion (We Are Bob) this weekend, can't wait for the second one to come out. I listened to the audiobook and really enjoyed the narrator; at times I thought it was Wil Wheaton and his great level of snarkiness.

Doing a listen (aka a reread for the umpteenth time) of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Began listening to Doomsday Book this morning.

Going to have to split my listening time between these two audiobooks. I think Harry Potter at the end of the day to escape from what my work day may have been.

Also started reading Ancillary Mercy. Yes! A series I will actually be able to finish this year! (Please ignore the fact that I just started working on a brand new series...)

Yesterday I finished Death's End by Cixin Liu, the final book in the Remembrance of Earth’s Past series that began with The Three-Body Problem. I enjoyed this series quite a bit. It did have its issues, but I thought it had an interesting plot and presented a lot of cool ideas. I also enjoyed the glimpse into Chinese culture and history, although there’s less of that as the series progresses. I gave all three books a four-star rating. Here’s my review of the final book.

I started the next book on my Discworld list, The Truth, which is the 2nd book in the Industrial Revolution subseries. I read about a third of it yesterday and I’m enjoying it pretty well so far.

I finally finished Spin, which through no fault of its own took me entirely too long. I really enjoyed it. Its premise was sci fi but it read a lot more like a coming of age or "adult fiction" book...like YaYa Sisterhood Plus Aliens And Also I'm A Doctor. That maybe doesn't do it justice, but I enjoyed it and will be reading the next in the series.

Next up is The Night Circus, which I actually wasn't intending to read until fall, except that the 15 interceding books on my list weren't immediately available for e-rental through my library. I will have to go to a physical location to borrow my free books. How did we do this regularly pre-internet?! ;-) I've only just started Night Circus, but the second person is going to take some getting used to. For whatever reason it seems more invasive than the use of this POV in The Fifth Season.

The second person aspect is used very sparingly for a couple of brief flash-forward scenes. Most of the book is written in third person. I say that as someone who hasn't read most of the book, so it might change.

I loved the second person scenes. It made it feel very dreamlike to me.

I don't dislike it, I just feel like I will need to fall into it more.

Good to know, Ryan! I look forward to seeing the rest of this book.

Finished The Flame Alphabet. Deeply weird. Now reading Fangland -- yay vampires!

The Sailweaver's Son

I finished listening to Crossroads of Twilight and yup, it is still pretty much a waste of a book. - ★★☆☆☆ - (My Review)

I also finished The Salt Roads. After a slow start I found it pretty enjoyable, although not really enough fantasy for my liking. - ★★★☆☆ - (My Review)

Allison wrote: "I don't dislike it, I just feel like I will need to fall into it more.

Good to know, Ryan! I look forward to seeing the rest of this book."

Me too! I'm about a third of the way through.

My February reading included Lock In (3), Seveneves (4), and Tricked (3).



I just started Doomsday Book.

Finished listing to Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. A fun book . Much better than the movie which I had seen on TV.
Now Listening to Leviathan

My review of A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab

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

Rob wrote: "I finished listening to Crossroads of Twilight and yup, it is still pretty much a waste of a book,.."

I seem to recall that my review of one of his books consisted only of "JUST FINISH THE STORY FOR GOD'S SAKE" lol

Finished Fangland. Far better than I expected -- more complex and in a way quite heartbreaking.

Now reading The Other Boleyn Girl, because I ♥ the Tudor era :)

No sci-fi or fantasy this time. I'm reading Seven Brief Lessons on Physics,The Nightingale, and A Rulebook for Arguments.

I have just finished On Basilisk Station.
The treecat thing and the info-dumps made me regret my choice at first but the last 1/3 was very exciting and I may well continue the series.

I'm glad I finally read the first one in the Honor Harrington series but I didn't really feel like o needed to read any more.

I don't see how it's really sci-fi or space opera by merely repeating and updating all the tropes from British military naval adventures into space.

MadProfessah wrote: "I'm glad I finally read the first one in the Honor Harrington series but I didn't really feel like o needed to read any more.
I don't see how it's really sci-fi or space opera by merely repeating..."

I haven't read much about naval escapades so I don't pick up on the repetition but I agree that almost all the explanations were too long and complicated. For me the detail was totally unnecessary and detracted from the effectiveness of the world-building.
But the narrative bits in between were enjoyable and I became quite involved with the characters even though there were quite a few of them.