Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy discussion

Happy New Year, everyone!

Is it me, or did Goodreads' fonts get smaller today?

So, while you're shivering or sunbathing or just mainlining coffee, what are you reading?

I didn't notice a font change. I'm using a PC with Chrome.

Traitor's Blade by Sebastien de Castell

Hopefully I can get Sword of Destiny by Sapkowski and The Heart of What Was Lost by Tad Williams.

I'm about halfway through Uprooted.

Journey to the Center of the Earth. The story, so far, is about two very proper English gentlemen prancing past the primitive peasants of Iceland and fending off the disgusting wild lepers of that dreary landscape.

Featuring countless paragraphs of unnecessary information about what they packed for their trip, what they ate, and how rude the natives are.

I'm reading:
- Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick
- Uprooted by Naomi Novik
- Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan
- Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey
- A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin

Starting on the group read Dragonflight. Seems like I remembered it more positively than I should have, will see what a reading as an adult rather than a teenager will get out of it.

I decided to slowly start re-reading Forgotten Realms this year in between some other series/books, for nostalgia's sake. Currently I'm about 100 pages shy of finishing The Crystal Shard.

After that I plan to start the year off with Kings of the Wyld and Fools and Mortals. Then depending on where I'm at before the end of the month may move on to Streams of Silver.

I've read Akarnae which was a YA feel-good fantasy which I quite enjoyed reading new years day.

I really need to remember to start group reads before they're due - Dragonflight awaits me.

After that, I might start making my way through some of my Christmas reads.

Re: Dragonflight. Reread that about a year ago and still loved it.
I just finished The Hypnotists by Gordon Korman and found it a very good read. Going to read Motes by Tilmer Wright and one of the Greek legend books by Jane Yolen in between working on my own writing.

Abigail wrote: "Journey to the Center of the Earth. The story, so far, is about two very proper English gentlemen prancing past the primitive peasants of Iceland and fending off the disgusting wild le..."

Are you trying to say we'd be better off watching James Mason or Brenden Fraser prancing around in the bowels of the earth? LOL
To be perfectly honest with you, I read that book as a teenager and liked it, but I am not telling you when I was a teenager. "That" was a very popular word in those days, along with long sentences and lots of adverbs. Amazing how the language has changed in just a couple of generations.

Abigail wrote: "Journey to the Center of the Earth. The story, so far, is about two very proper English gentlemen prancing past the primitive peasants of Iceland and fending off the disgusting wild le..."

I actually read that one in the original French :) Come to think of it, probably the only Verne I've read...

I'm about 1/5 into . It's enjoyable so far, but the first book in the trilogy had all kinds of subtle comics shoutouts which I haven't caught in this one yet.

I can't wait to dive into A Lit Fuse...it the authorized bio of Harlan Ellison from NESFA press...i'll have to give it five stars even if i don't like it tho, else Harlan will sue me...

I'm reading The Lies of Locke Lamora. Tried to read it a few times but couldn't get into it. Now I am determined.

Tanya wrote: "I'm reading The Lies of Locke Lamora. Tried to read it a few times but couldn't get into it. Now I am determined."

Had a similar experience the first time I sat down to read Lies of Locke Lamora. Just couldn't get into it. Then I came back to it about a month later, got totally sucked in and couldn't put it down, haha. Strange how the mind works sometimes.

I'm continuing my Star Wars new canon binge read with Bloodline, then planning on joining the discussion of Altered Carbon which I've been meaning to read for awhile.

Pre-Christmas, I started a re-read of The Song of the Lioness Quartet, which started me on a great Tamora Pierce read/re-read. Some of the editions I read are re-releases with author's notes; interestingly, Pierce writes that the success of the Harry Potter books convinced her publishers it was OK to allow her to write longer volumes -- thus, she's writing fewer quartets. I'm into one of her more recently published series now, the Beka Cooper trilogy, which is interesting as a YA that focuses almost entirely on "beat cop" work w/in its fantasy setting.

I plan on joining the January reads of Dragonslayer of Merebaton & Altered Carbon.

Well my first actual book of the year wasn't even a novel, but a novella: All Systems Red. it was a fun, old-fashioned sci-fi, so the years' off to a good start!
Bonus: robot PoV checks off a Bingo box.

G33z3r wrote: "Well my first actual book of the year wasn't even a novel, but a novella: All Systems Red. it was a fun, old-fashioned sci-fi, so the years' off to a good start!
Bonus: robot PoV c..."

I see that 8 of my GR friends have read it & rated it at 4 or 5 stars. I'll have to get a copy.

Jim wrote: "G33z3r wrote: "Well my first actual book of the year wasn't even a novel, but a novella: All Systems Red. it was a fun, old-fashioned sci-fi, so the years' off to a good start!"

I see that 8 of my GR friends have read it & rated it at 4 or 5 stars. I'll have to get a copy. ..."

Last July Brendan wrote: Everyone will love this book, but I did not.
(Preemptory contrariness is apparently a thing.) That was when I put it on my to-read list :) Also, Rachel & Silvana said nice things about it.

Beren and Lúthien by J.R.R. Tolkien

I listened to the audio book of Artemis by Andy Weir while driving back from visiting relatives for the holidays, now I'm reading The Tiger's Daughter by K. Arsenault Rivera. Not sure what I'll pull from my TBR list next.

I've read Origin, and even though I didn't expect much it managed to left me kind of disappointed. I don't think that I'm going to read anything else from Dan Brown.
Now I'm reading Followed by Frost, and it's like I'm reading Frozen. Book may be interesting because of a man/woman issues (I'll put it in spoiler, maybe unnecessary because good part is given as blurb) (view spoiler)[book is about young woman who refuses to have relationship with a man (wizard btw) and he curses her with dreadful curse. This situation can be easily transferred in everyday world where people are bullied just because of saying "NO" to bullies. One of the reason I'm reading this is to see how author will deal with this issue. (hide spoiler)]

I finished Senlin Ascends by Josiah Bancroft, my review:

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

Michael wrote: "I listened to the audio book of Artemis while driving back from visiting relatives for the holidays, ."

And...? The reviews have been... mixed, let's say... so I'm curious what real people thought of it.

G33z3r wrote: "Michael wrote: "I listened to the audio book of Artemis while driving back from visiting relatives for the holidays, ."

And...? The reviews have been... mixed, let's say... so I'm curious what rea..."

I thought Artemis was just okay, wasn't really that sympathetic to Jazz so I wasn't rooting real hard for her to succeed. In the end what she is getting the money for is good, but she just seems selfish most of the story. I absolutely love The Martian because Watney was just a great character and I was rooting for him to survive, just didn't get that with Jazz.

G33z3r wrote: "Michael wrote: "I listened to the audio book of Artemis while driving back from visiting relatives for the holidays, ."

And...? The reviews have been... mixed, let's say... so I'm curious what rea..."
I really liked the book. In some ways the writing was technically a bit better than The Martian showing some growth as a writer, but the main character was not quite as sympathetic. I loved the world building and the plot idea. Overall, I'd rate it about 1/2 a star below Weir's first book.

EDIT: After looking through the reviews on this book, it appears that the female readers tended to like the book less than the male readers, based at least in part on the characterization of Jazz, the main character. Reading some of those reviews, I think I can understand where they are coming from. More that one stated that Jazz came off as a 15 year old boy instead of a 25 year old woman and I think they have a point.

I got behind on my reviews for some reason.

Short Science Fiction Collection vol. 008 is devoted to Alan E. Nourse. Usually these Librivox collections have as many different authors as stories, so this was a nice change of pace. Nourse had quite the imagination, too. I gave it a 4 star review here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Empire of the East by Fred Saberhagen is a fantasy set in a post apocalyptic SF world, a nice blend & a precursor to his 'Swords' series. I haven't read it for years & thought it aged very well. I gave it a 4 star review here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Finished The Serpent's Shadow by Rick Riordan which I started in December, those books are so much fun, silly, but fun.

Finished Dragonflight, by the end I recovered from the scary near-dystopic beginning and it became an exciting mystery/adventure read. Interestingly I gave it 5 stars when I added it to GR, but that was years after I read it, I'm bringing it down to 4 now that my memory has been freshened up.

Starting The Dragon Quintet edited by Marvin Kaye since Randy got me excited by saying it was good. It has 5 novellas. One from Orson Scott Card which has a note saying he plans to turn it into a book (need to check if he did), one from Mercedes Lackey that definitely turned into a book (Joust), one by Michael Swanwick which by the summary became the The Iron Dragon's Daughter. Finally one by Tanith Lee and one by Elizabeth Moon.

I'll alternate those novellas with other reads, so I'll also start Dragonquest as part of my quest to read all the Pern books this year.

I completed , which was a compilation of all of the Elantris tales. I continue on with my Brandon Sanderson, fantasy binge with Warbreaker.

May the 'Dor' be with you. :)

Starting Artemis and have 3-8 others physically lined up waiting......waiting for my house to be warm and dry enough to live in again.

So far 2018 has been all disaster, no reading.
(A broken furnace, a broken pipe, a broken dryer......equals s flooded freezing house!)

Above the Timberline by Gregory Manchess

Well, seeing how I finished the books I brought with me on holiday, and the only other book nearby was The Hobbit, well....I'll probably be reading it as well

Good!

I gave How Great Science Fiction Works a 4 star review here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I really enjoyed the first 10 lectures or so, but I think SF grew beyond the constraints after that. For instance, his discussion of sex, gender, & feminism was incomplete & muddled since they're squished into one 30 minute lecture. Each could have easily filled their own. Still, it was quite a trip. Highly recommended.

Given up on the Lies of Locke Lamora now. I just was not enjoying the story. The characters were great and I loved the relationship between the Gentlemen Bastards but I was struggling to enjoy the plot. So I have put it back on my half and I will give it another go in the future. Hopefully I will be more in the mood for it. I have started The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson. I have never actually read any his work before so I'm excited.

So, I managed to get half of the Witcher series, so I'll probably be getting into that as soon as I re-read the first half. And I'll be reading The Heart of What Was Lost so I can get into the new trilogy. Re-reading The Hobbit because it's familiar and comfortable and I started it, so now I gotta finish it. Finally, I finally started Theft of Swords after having owned it for nearly a year. A busy month for me!

Tanya wrote: "I have started The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson. I have never actually read any his work before so I'm excited. "

The books of the Mist Born series were my first read of Brandon Sanderson. I've been hooked on him ever since. Hope you enjoy The Final Empire.

Jim wrote: "I gave How Great Science Fiction Works a 4 star review..."

I listened to that last year, enjoyed it as well.

Just finished Empire of Ivory yesterday.

Currently reading Bloodline and Leviathan Wakes.

Also in the plan for this month: Gardens of the Moon and Victory of Eagles

I finished reading 'Blood Song (Raven's Shadow #1) series by Anthony Ryan 3 days ago, and it was from the main character POV. It started off slow, but it increased and the ending was great. Right now I'm reading book 2 'Tower Lord', seen by 4 main character's POV, the characters are great and it's way better than 'Blood Song'. I gave 'Blood Song' 3 stars, but 'Tower Lord' might be looking at 4 stars, since I'm already a little more than half way through the book and it's hard to put down, wanting to see what happens next.

'Mistborn' trilogy Rocks! I want to be able to burn all the metals! : )

So far I've read Uprooted and Touch. As I mentioned, Uprooted had some things I enjoyed, but I don't think I was really the intended audience. Touch was much more my speed. Such a clever book, both profound and action-packed.

I'm now reading Jews versus Aliens, The Tombs of Atuan and Ninefox Gambit and enjoying them all. I'm not far into the Earthsea book, but it's hard not to love this world. Ninefox has grabbed me much harder than I thought. And Jews vs. Aliens I've only read the first story so far as part of a buddy read, but it's an interesting collection and I'm ready for the next one.

Sandman Slim, Full Dark, No Stars, NOS4A2 and I started but was pretty underwhelmed by The Bazaar of Bad Dreams, which is very unusual for me. My favorite Stephen King books are usually his collectionsof short stories but so far, none of these has really grabbed me. Strange. Ah! Not true! "The Dune" I really dug. Hoping for more like that.

Currently alternating between Paladin of Souls and Points of Impact. The later is more interesting for now.

Sarah wrote: "Just finished Empire of Ivory yesterday.

Currently reading Bloodline and Leviathan Wakes.

Also in the plan for this month: [book:Gardens of the Moon|5..."

All are interesting books. I hope you enjoy Victory of Eagle - probably the first or second best Temeraire novel for me. Could not decide which I like better, the first one or this.

Leviathan Wakes is fun. Welcome to The Expanse!

Just finished Blackwing. Gritty fantasy with some nice mythology. Didn't love it, but I liked it.

I've started The Once and Future King and I'll finish this week last book in Alanna quartet Lioness Rampant. After these I'll try to focus on books on my TBR challenge hopefully with some bigger success... somehow other books just pop up out of nowhere :)

Aleksandra wrote: "After these I'll try to focus on books on my TBR challenge hopefully with some bigger success... somehow other books just pop up out of nowhere :) "

They're always doing that! Lol. So far this month I've read Dragonflight and the The Dragonslayer of Merebarton which I had planned for the group read. Otherwise, it's been entirely books that have popped up out of nowhere!

I decided that The Sleeper and the Spindle counted at a graphic novel for me for the bingo challenge, because while it's not a novel, it's the closest I am going to get and the artwork really was beautiful. I picked up A Closed and Common Orbit when I spotted it at the library which was a nice feel-good sci-fi but I don't think it was as good as The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

After having reserved it and waited 10 months (?) for it to be available from the library, I'm finally finishing of Brent Weeks massive Lightbringer series with The Blood Mirror, I have never barracked for so many characters that are at cross-purposes. I just want them all to win, even though it's not possible!

I'm also re-reading Guards! Guards! for some fun. After all that I've got a couple of non-sci-fi/fantasy books to read and then just have to wait and see what pops up next!

Edit: I've just finished Blood Mirror only to realise that the author has decided to extend it to a fifth book. This is both good and very very frustrating

Science Fiction: The Literature Of The Technological Imagination by Eric S. Rabkin was pretty good. It's shorter than Wolfe's How Great Science Fiction Works. The roots of & early SF is traced even better, but once he gets into the 1950s, he doesn't do the subject justice at all. Leaves out far too much, although he covers film better than books.

I gave it a 4 star review here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Finished Frankenstein, which I've actually never read before, for a group read.

Also read Amatka, which was really great. Between this, Ice, and Frankenstein, been doing a lot of reading about cold climates. Have to find a dystopian book that takes place in a volcano to read next.