SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Allison wrote: "Mary, how was it? It sounds charming."

Some lovely artwork. Very suitable, too.

Stone of Inheritance by Melissa McShane

We do ask that people talk a little bit about the book, not just the name of the book and/or a review link. It is much more likely that people will want to engage with you, and your review, if you give them a little something to grab onto :)

Just finished The Briar King and will go on to book two of four. The Charnel Prince. Entertaining!

Oh cool, I've been eyeing that!

Allison wrote: "Oh cool, I've been eyeing that!"

If you mean, , I'm sure others who have completed or nearly completed the series, can give you a better idea. Medieval fantasy. Not bad for the first book.

Started The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden again a few days ago. Left it on the coffee table at the Outback house so I’ll have to get back to it next week when I get back. I’ll find another book when I get back to the beach. Going to be there for 4 days so I can pick up my clothes and more books since I’m living with Hubby again in the Outback. Currently at the Farm and way to wrecked after a long days drive and a late night (daughter went to the local big horse race meeting and then to the pub later and since we live out of town I had to go and get her to save her some money since the taxi is expensive) yesterday to read anything.

I did listen to the audiobook of A Darker Shade of Magic by VE Schwab in the car on the way here. I’m 4 or 5 hours into it. I listened to 3 1/2 yesterday and probably an hour to an hour and a half last time. I think. I thought I’d have to find my place again after taking the thumb drive out of the car but for some reason (and it’s never done it before) it found the spot straight away after I reinserted it into the USB slot. Normally it just starts from the first thing on the drive. If I don’t take it out it starts from where I finished but I’d taken it out of the car for a couple of months and it’s a full 16gb thumb drive and it’s not even the first book on there. Curiouser and curiouser.

Today is a self care day with a facial scheduled around lunch time. Currently drinking lots of tea sitting quietly with our dogs listening to the birds and the frogs. And hoping that my daughter mows the lawn later. A little bit of rain after a couple of years with none and very warm days and the grass is so high the dogs get lost in it. And there are millions of mozzies. And probably lots of snakes hiding in there. When we were here 2 weeks ago it was just starting to come back. So glad Hubby bought a big ride on mower last year even though we didn’t have much use for it at the time. Doesn’t mean the drought has broken but it’s a good start. We just need a lot of follow up rain. The town 10km away is still on severe water restrictions because the dam they get water from is still very low. Our water tanks are full which is a good thing. It takes the pressure off for a while.

Jacqueline, happy to hear the pressure is off for now, you were on quite a ride.

Allison, "going all fainting goat" awesome !

Yes, “going all fainting goat” is a very apt description of what would happen to me reading Watchmen. Total brain overload.

Looking for suggestions, I've read many of the common "Portal Fictions" like
The Illearth War
John Carter of Mars
The Magicians
1632
The Fionavar Tapestry
Outlander
The Oxford Time travel series
Cast under an alien sun

Looking for Portal Fictions books I might have missed

Don, a thread in the Recommendations folder might get a better response!

thanks Allison

For Watchmen are we talking Watchmen by Alan Moore, or something else?

I'm reading Walking to Aldebaran for another group. First thing I've read by Adrian Tchaikovsky. It's interesting enough, so far, but at 4 chapters I'm more curious than invested.

I also recently finished This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab. Definitely a more YA offering (I think she writes under Victoria for YA and VE for adult), and generally predictable - but I still enjoyed the world and the characters well enough. 3-stars and will continue the series.

Yeah thanks Don. Hopefully the pressure is off permanently. It’s been a hard couple of weeks dealing with the emotional crap after the old boy was
coerced into changing his guardian and that but I’m coming out the other side ok. Tomorrow I’m heading to the Beach to give my house a good once over and wash the floors and stuff properly before leaving it for a while like any good holiday house and then going back home to Hubby. Also got to pick up more books. I only took a few with me and they’re not going to go far. My plans for the next few months include a lot of reading and very little else. I do have to sort stuff at my Mountains house so I can sell it but I don’t think Hubby is going to let me out of his sight for a while.

I’ll have to have a think about those portal books and catch you in the Recs post.

In other reading.......Hubby chucked Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie in the DNF pile. No Accounting for taste. It has to be the first time I’ve ever seen him do that. He normally slogs on with reading them no matter how shit they are. And he was nearly halfway through it too. He’s picked up The Martian now. He loved the movie so hopefully the book is more to his taste. I gave him Storm Front to read as well so we’ll see how he goes.

And my daughter has Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine as her sitting around at work with nothing to do Book this week. She works looking after foster kids who they can’t place. They have them in motels and there is someone who is rostered on to live with them when they’re not at school. Once they’re in bed there’s nothing to do except watch TV and she’s decided that reading is probably a better way to spend her time. I’ve lent her a bag of my books and she seems to be enjoying reading again.

There are a couple Laugh out loud moments in Elinor Oliphant is completely fine.

Thanks Jacqueline.

Yes, we’re talking about Moore’s Watchmen, Colleen.

I did really like Eleanor Oliphant but I didn’t love it like a lot of people did.

Allison wrote: "DJ, I have such fond memories of Redwall, hope you're having a fun romp there!

Jonathan, that's a pretty solid list! Let us know how it goes ^^

Jacqueline, that's a great book for right now. Hope..."

I figure I will probably start Mossflower sometimes soon. It being the second in the Redwall series

My eldest read the Redwall series when he was a kid. I still have a heap of them at the Mountains house along with all his Tamora Pierce books and a heap of others that he wants me to find and bring to him. He recently bought his own house so he wants all his stuff since he’s hopefully stopped moving around so much.

Diane wrote: "Yes, we’re talking about Moore’s Watchmen, Colleen."

My suggestion for Watchmen is to skip all the insert parts, newspaper articles, etc, and just read the story first. I find it much more bearable that way.

Jacqueline wrote: "My eldest read the Redwall series when he was a kid. I still have a heap of them at the Mountains house along with all his Tamora Pierce books and a heap of others that he wants me to find and brin..."

Well I have only read the first one, so can't say if I will read the whole bunch or not. But I will certainly give the second one a try

I just finished The Fire's Stone by Tanya Huff, and it was just the sort of comfort food I needed. Characters I could easily love and a plot that was just enough to give momentum.

Travis wrote: "I just finished The Fire's Stone by Tanya Huff, and it was just the sort of comfort food I needed. Characters I could easily love and a plot that was just enough to give..."

I've had this on my TBR for years, I'm happy to hear I might actually like it. I should move it higher on my list, I need something fun with great characters!

Don wrote: "Looking for suggestions, I've read many of the common "Portal Fictions" like"

Paul Kearney's first three novels all have some element of portal fantasy in them.
The Way to Babylon
A Different Kingdom
Riding the Unicorn

Kameron Hurley's Worldbreaker saga starting with The Mirror Empire is looser on the definition since it's not to our world, but rather multiple secondary worlds.

Been thinking about portal books too. The Invisible Library maybe and A Darker Shade of Magic by VE Schwab. They go between different Earths.

Jacqueline wrote: "Been thinking about portal books too. The Invisible Library maybe and A Darker Shade of Magic by VE Schwab. They go between different Earths."
When everyone says "portal books" are you saying books where the story takes you through a portal to another world, dimension, time etc.?

Pretty much. Dimension, time, parallel Earth, other planet.

Oh and there’s Dark Matter by Blake Crouch as well. And if you want time travel there’s the Chronicles of St Mary’s as well. I loved Dark Matter but was a bit meh on the folk from St Mary’s.

I just finished and enjoyed the recently released novella Finna. A book written partly around failed relationship angst is often hard for me to plow through but it worked well in the context of their wild multidimensional adventure. I also really liked what the author did with the setting in this book.

I’ve started Ninefox Gambit again as part of my “read the SFFBC logo” personal challenge. I managed to get past page 3 this time around by working hard on my suspension of disbelief regarding the, umm…, “science” and am getting into it with that caveat.

hahaha! i love that mini challenge! also, Ninefox is totally space fantasy. it's math magic and much more enjoyable once calendar = math magic in your head :)

Great idea for a mini-challenge, Raucous!
I've read two of them and own one more.... hmmm...

What were they again? Ninefox Gambit and.....?

Jacqueline wrote: "What were they again? Ninefox Gambit and.....?"

Spin, Foreigner, Alif the Unseen, Ninefox Gambit, and Six of Crows

Thanks mate. I think I only have Six of Crows (on my physical bookshelf in the Outback) and Ninefox Gambit (on my iPad which I believe is also still in the Outback) out of all those. I might have some of the others somewhere on my computer if I look but that will be later in the week because I didn’t bring it with me either. I’m supposed to be taking my clothes and plants home from the beach so I didn’t pack much so I can actually fit stuff in.

Raucous wrote: "I just finished and enjoyed the recently released novella Finna. A book written partly around failed relationship angst is often hard for me to plow through but it worked well in th..."

That is great to hear, Raucous. I bought it to start the read-new-releases-to-have-an-idea-for-awards.

The Sudden Appearance of Hope was, unfortunately, somewhat forgettable for me. Great ideas, needed to kill more darlings.

Blackfish City though blew my ever-loving mind. So so good and smart. Really well executed.

Getting back to group reads and musing which book to listen to next!

colleen the convivial curmudgeon wrote: "I'm reading Walking to Aldebaran for another group. First thing I've read by Adrian Tchaikovsky. It's interesting enough, so far, but at 4 chapters I'm more curious..."

I'm reading this one for the same group and am about halfway through. After that it's back to Sword of Kaigen, which I've only had a short test run with so far.

I just finished How Long 'til Black Future Month? which I read for a discussion on another GR group. I was blown away by the power of "Walking Awake" but I found the anthology as a whole to be a mixed bag.

Elowen wrote: "I'm planning to read Finna soon!"

I'm planning to as well. Heard a lot of good things about it and the price was right!

I finished reading East of Eden by John Steinbeck and The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski. I am reading Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold. I plan to read The Blood Mirror by Brent Weeks next.

A nice mix! What were your impressions, Gary?

I'm just starting The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave and I'm pretty excited for it!

Not genre, but I listened to Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland and HIGHLY recommend it, especially if you want a history of the Troubles that reads like a novel featuring some of the most intriguing and complex characters you've ever encountered.

I've been reading Recursion by Blake Crouch

Finished Walking to Aldebaran. Since I read it with a group and commented as I went along, I'm kind of think-ed out about it, but I enjoyed it a lot. Despite the many friend reviews that used the word "gruesome," I wasn't too troubled by it. Even laughed in some places that might have been inappropriate. (review that is shorter than this post)

I'm gonna have to read Children of Time soon, aren't I.

Beth wrote: "I'm gonna have to read Children of Time soon, aren't I. ..."

You have to, indeed ;-D

Gabi wrote: "Beth wrote: "I'm gonna have to read Children of Time soon, aren't I. ..."

You have to, indeed ;-D"

it's on sale today with a price of $2.99 on amazon.com. The price is for a Kindle book and is the prie US residents see - it may be more or less if you don't live in the US

I have both the ebook and the audiobook from sales, so there really is no excuse. :D