The Sword and Laser discussion

Finished Rise of Empire. The series is getting better with each book. Book 4 ended with a pretty big cliff hanger, so I'll be splitting my time between City of Stairs and Heir of Novron next.

I just finished Stephen King's Wizard and Glass.
My review.

Not certain if I'll pick up something new, or just stick with what I'm already reading.
I spose time will tell...

Kurt wrote: "I finished The Robots of Dawn by Isaac Asimov. "

How did you like it? I'm a huge fan of the original works, less so of the later ones. But I've heard some people prefer the later works.

Rob wrote: "Time for another weekend round-up:

I also listened to:

plus the Stephen Fry versions of the first two Harry Potter books,..."

So envious that you have access to those. I love Jim Dale, but Stephen Fry is SO funny and talented...

I'm not sure which version I like better. I've decided I don't really care. I think both are different, but excellent. I did Dale first, so it's cool to try the Fry versions.

BTW, if you really want them, I think you can buy them from Pottermore.

Rob wrote: "I'm not sure which version I like better. I've decided I don't really care. I think both are different, but excellent. I did Dale first, so it's cool to try the Fry versions.

BTW, if you really want them, I think you can buy them from Pottermore. "

I think you can buy them as a gift from Pottermore. If you try and buy them directly it says "You cannot buy this from your current location."

Stephen Fry is great. Anybody see the TV show he starred in called "Kingdom"? That was filmed in my home town :)

Kinda sorta lost track and ended up finishing Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban before everyone else in Rob's group.
Here's my review.

So far this month I have finished The Late Starters Orchestra, The One(meh), Mademoiselle: Coco Chanel and the Pulse of History and Violin(it was ok). I am also reading right now Adulthood Rites (and loving it) and World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War.

Rob wrote: "BTW, if you really want them, I think you can buy them from Pottermore. ..."

Ooh! I think that means I could "gift" myself the UK editions with the Philosopher's Stone and all the extraneous U's and other Britishisms left intact ...

AndrewP wrote: "I think you can buy them as a gift from Pottermore. If you try and buy them directly it says "You cannot buy this from your current location...."

I bought from Amazon UK, and didn't have any troubles. This was a few years back though, so perhaps restrictions have changed?

Anyone reading Lauren Beukes's latest horror Broken Monsters?

I just finished "Nexus" by Nicolas Wilson. It was OK, but not something that I would recommend.

As one reviewer put it the book was like "Douglas Adams on Viagra with the Parental Guidance filter turned off".

I read "Broken Monsters" a while back and it was good. Sort of reminded me of Dean Koontz.

John wrote: "I just finished "Nexus" by Nicolas Wilson. It was OK, but not something that I would recommend.

As one reviewer put it the book was like "Douglas Adams on Viagra with the Parental Guidance filter..."

LMAO. Now I'm probably going to end up reading that.

Just Finished Soda Pop Soldier by Nick Cole. Great Popcorn Sci-fi in the mold of Ready Player One. My goofy arse review here https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Going to Work on Acceptance, And The Crying of Lot 49 soon this month.

Listening to Wheaton do Scalzi's Lock In as well, the book is way different than I expected after reading the short story prequel

John wrote: "I just finished "Nexus" by Nicolas Wilson. It was OK, but not something that I would recommend.

As one reviewer put it the book was like "Douglas Adams on Viagra with the Parental Guidance filter..."

Sold!

Rabindranauth wrote: "The only reason I can't call City of Stairs the best book of the year for me is because of Words of Radiance"

Sold. Checking it out.

Finished listening to The Legend of Drizzt: The Collected Stories this morning and quite enjoyed it. It was definitely worth the price. ;)

I then started listening to Curtsies & Conspiracies.

I finished Lock In and enjoyed it.

Currently, I'm reading the last book in Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone series--Dreams of Gods & Monsters.

I also decided to FINALLY get to the Dresden books and am listening to Storm Front. Why did I not start this series sooner? By the way, I'm seriously swooning over James Marsters as narrator. That guy gives good book! ;)

I got through a reread of the Percy Jackson series pretty quickly. I'm ready for something with a little change of pace now though. I figured I'd give Scott Sigler a try, so I picked up Nocturnal finally. It's been on my to-read list for ages now.

working on The Widows House by Daniel Abraham, and listening to Sleepy Hollow, narrated by Tom Mison.

Finished The Skybound Sea and decided to revisit Elizabeth Bear's Eternal Sky world with a couple of short novels from Subterranean Press -- Bone and Jewel Creatures (finished), Jewels and stones, a chapbook published with it (also finished) and Book of Iron (just about to begin). She is so good ...

I am currently reading-

Just finished Stardust. Gaiman never disappoints.
Here's my review

I'm reading The Dragon's Path.

Finished War Dogs and Doctor Who: The Blood Cell and am now reading The Falcon Throne Almost halfway done, but the book is really 150 pages more than the Goodreads page says. 528 on GR, 674pp in my hand. Next will probably be Lock In or Doctor Who: Silhouette.

A Picture of Dorian Gray now, followed by a much-anticipated reread of Tau Zero by Poul Anderson. May follow that up with the next four books in the Revelation Space series by Alastair Reynolds.

Finished Book of Iron and am about to start The Troupe by Robert Jackson Bennett. Hooray for creepy traveling carnivals! (Or something along those lines.)

Reading Gone Bitch: A Parody of Gone Girl

after reading

Tamahome wrote: "Anyone reading Lauren Beukes's latest horror Broken Monsters?"

Broken Monsters is great, I am bout two thirds done with it

Just devoured Joe Abercrombie's Best Served Cold.
My review.

Finally finished my classics fling through the Dumas books: Three Musketeers and Man In The Iron Mask plus the less well known in-between D'Artagnan books, Count of Monte Cristo, and a quick stop with Oscar Wilde (Picture of Dorian Gray.) Now finally back to SF with a true high point of the genre: Tau Zero by Poul Anderson. An out of control Bussard Ramjet unable to slow down, getting closer and closer to the speed of light as the centuries, millennia and finally eons pass.

Reading Zoe's Tale. Since it basically is telling the events of The Last Colony from Zoë's POV it is a bit strange to read a book when you already know what is going to happen to some of the characters.

Pat wrote: "Reading Gone Bitch: A Parody of Gone Girl after reading Gone Girl"

How is it? I loved Gone Girl and now I am wondering if I should give this one a try.

Working through some classics as well. Recently finished The Maltese Falcon. Currently reading Moby Dick for the first time. The first chapter blew me away with its complex, nuanced sentence structures. I'm getting through it rather slowly because it's so long and dense, but so far enjoying it.

I finished City of Stairs and really enjoyed it (My Review).

Just finished On Basilisk Station. Now I'm jumping back into the Dresden Files series with Summer Knight.

So I finished City of Stairs (brilliant) and Pay Me in Flesh (not good) that I mentioned in my last update.

After all that fantasy stuff (bordering on fantasy overload really) I wanted some solid SF so I read the first of Ann Aguirre's new Dred Chronicles series: Perdition. Good solid adventure SF with romantic elements, not dissimilar to the Sirantha Jax books. (It's actually set in the same universe plus 70 or so years, so that's unsurprising).

Then I read Peter Watts's Blindsight. It's about a group of misfits sent on a first contact mission to potentially hostile aliens about half a light year into the Oort cloud. The crew are weird, the aliens are really alien and all of it is horrifying.

I'm just about to start reading the second one in the duology, Echopraxia which only recently came out. (If you're interested in these books, there's an omnibus edition with a fantastic cover coming out this week called Firefall.)

I just read the Blankets graphic novel from 2003. It was about a 3 hour read for me. Those kids had it rough. 4 stars. My review. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Finished The Narrow Land by Jack Vance. A nice collection of short stories and Vance is always good.
Starting How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe.

Finally reading Gardens of the Moon

Continued my Gaiman binge with The Graveyard Book. Much more different from his other stuff, but still signature Gaiman.
Here's my review

John wrote: "Finally finished my classics fling through the Dumas books: Three Musketeers and Man In The Iron Mask plus the less well known in-between D'Artagnan books, Count of Monte Cristo, and a quick stop w..."

Have you read Arturo Pérez-Reverte's The Club Dumas? It is about a book dealer/thief who comes across a rare Dumas manuscript and in the course of authenticating it, get's drawn into an obsessed man's quest for a book that can summon Satan.

Just Finished Robopocalypse. And Started Dragon Age: Masked Empire.

Finished The Dragon's Path over the weekend. Meh. My review. Now reading The Last Light of the Sun.

Dara wrote: "Finished The Dragon's Path over the weekend. Meh. My review. Now reading The Last Light of the Sun."

I really enjoyed Last Light.....but I am a Kay fanboy. I'll be interested to hear what you think.

I've been slowly working my way through Star Wars Expanded Universe books I never got to. Finished Outbound Flightlast month so now I'm getting going on Survivor's Quest

Ctgt wrote: "Dara wrote: "Finished The Dragon's Path over the weekend. Meh. My review. Now reading The Last Light of the Sun."

I really enjoyed Last Light.....but I am a Kay fanboy..."

The only other Kay book I've read is Tigana but I loved it.

I'm finally getting around to Red Seas Under Red Skies. I was leery at first about starting it because I adored The Lies of Locke Lamora and had heard the second book wasn't as good. But I'm about 100 pages in and I find I'm liking it just fine.

I just finished The Dirty Streets of Heaven, which was good fun even if I had a couple issues with it. my review