SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

I feel like I'm making general reading updates every 3 weeks or so. LOL

The Last Colony #3 ended up being a favorite. I enjoyed the story but the ending was solid and tied together many different elements in the series. I'm glad I took a break between reading Old Man's War #1 and resuming the series. If you go into the rest thinking that the whole series will read like book 1, you'll be disappointed. The overall book vibe changes with the focus of the story taking place & characters involved. I am having fun exploring the different aspects of this particular world & characters. In some ways, it's much tighter world building than Interdependency.

Mage's Blood #1 was interesting? First book I've dropped to 1 star rating after talking about it with a Buddy Read group. The writing is good enough that I wanted the story to make sense within the world the author created.

- The author writes like the reader is dumb.
- It's cool to note where the author pulled his ideas from but it was not reshaped into his own vision. It felt like bad/poorly understood imitation.
- I read erotica and romance novels that are basically erotica. This book could be labeled as a bad romance novel because it had a lot of bad sex scenes.
- Loads of people like the author's writing. I'm not a fan.

Entertaining Series:
- Odysseus One by Evan Currie: Currently on KU + RL, books 1-7. Military SF
- Nick Heller by Joseph Finder: Former Special Forces Intelligence Investigator who becomes a PI. Mystery/Thriller
- Promise Falls by Linwood Barclay: A town with unusual events. Mystery/Suspense - Author wrote a lot of standalone novels that link together via Promise Falls.
- Blackwater by Michael McDowell: Southern Gothic, Dynastic Saga - What would happen if Ariel was a river creature that fell in love with a man on land?
- Valkyrie Collections by Brian McClellan: UF - Half-troll MC with a djinn sidekick/best friend. Episodic books with mini-arcs weaving into a larger one.
- Planetside by Michael Mammy: Military/Investigative SF - Well done, character driven plot.
- Dead of Night by Jonathan Maberry: Zombie Apocalypse - Cheesy but fun. Currently digging into how Joe Ledger is thrown into this madhouse.

Currently Reading:
Audio: Dark of Night - Flesh and Fire, Still of Night, The Skull Throne
Ebook: The Sword of Kaigen
Webserial: The Wandering Inn: Volume 4

Reading Soon:
- Wheel of Time: The Shadow Rising (Re-read)
- Malazan: Memories of Ice (Re-read)
- Sacred Throne: The Killing Light
- The Crafting of Chess (Gamelit)
- Black Company: Shadows Linger

Just about to finish The Unspoken Name, which I've enjoyed so much. Looks like it's labelled as number one of a series here on Goodreads, so hopefully that's true. I've been listening to this one on audio and really liking the narrations.

About a third of the way through Deathless Divide and I'm possibly enjoying it even more than the first book. Please don't let the fact that this duopoly is YA put you off, it's a ton of fun and really good!

And I'm slowly reading my way through the group read The Many-Colored Land. I have so many questions about this book so far, but also I think I like it. At least it definitely has potential at this point.

I finished The Charnel Prince, book two of the four book series. Not bad for a middle book, though it slogged a bit. It ended on a good note, pun intended. It is not easy to describe a musical/opera in words, but Keyes did it with a passion. Onto book three, The Blood Knight.

Finished Kafka on the Shore and rated with 4 stars. It was my first Magical Realism book and enjoyed it very much. Murakami 's take on Oedipus story was refreshing and his view on japanese society was very appealing to me.

Recently finished (1) Moving the Mountain, (2) Eleanor & Park, (3) A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump's Testing of America, and (4) The Rim of Morning: Two Tales of Cosmic Horror. Looking back at the list, it strikes me as a very weird assortment: from modern YA to early feminist utopia to politics to 1930s horror!

I finished:


The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden
Rating: 2 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading:


Arm of the Sphinx by Josiah Bancroft

I just finished Gemina and thought it was much better than the first! As always, the science was still in one ear and out the other, but the action was more interesting to me this time around, and the Die Hard vibes were perfection. :)



My full review is here for those interested:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I brought Gemina back to the Outback with me in my limited book move from the beach. Unfortunately my clothes took up most of the room in the car along with my plants. Couldn’t leave them in the house if I wasn’t going to be there to water them.

Currently reading The Expats by Chris Pavone. Got to have my head in gear when I’m reading this one. Can’t just let it coast in neutral. It jumps around a bit and can get a little confusing but I’m enjoying it. I decided that a Spy book would be good for a bit of a break from Science Fiction. I used to read about a lot of spys. All the Cold War intrigue. So much fun. Not so much Cold War anymore even though it is intriguing.

Illuminae Files were good fun. =)

RJ, you are not encouraging me to continue the Winternight series, and I think I have to finish it for Hugos this year. Sigh.

I really mean to read the Illuminae files...I NEED MORE TIME!!

Traitor's Blade was quite the romp and I had fun with this masculine ideal of a main character. Just not, I don't think, as much fun as he had with himself.

Every Heart a Doorway was a nice, sweet treat. I love discussions of mental health mixed with fairy tales and myths.

Now listening to Heart's Blood, which is, I think, Juliet's take on more Lovecraftian horror and I am HERE for it.

Allison wrote: "I had fun with this masculine ideal of a main character. Just not, I don't think, as much fun as he had with himself."

Eugh. Allison! Eugh.

And I was going to read Heart's Blood, but how can it be Lovecraftian?! Marillier? No Juliet, no.

Anna wrote: "Allison wrote: "I had fun with this masculine ideal of a main character. Just not, I don't think, as much fun as he had with himself."

Eugh. Allison! Eugh.

And I was going to read Heart's Blood, ..."

haha! What? You don't want to hear about romps with main characters who are happy to romp solo?

I shouldn't have said Lovecraft, now you're gonna be weird about it. I mean that it works with eeriness and lingering dread. It's not ACTUALLY about elder gods or anything.

I just didn't really need that image in my head!

And you bet I'm gonna be weird about it, but I'll forget soon enough, and go into it happily unaware of the lurking tentacles.

So far, tentacle free!

There are no tentacles in Heart's Blood. LoL

Quote from chapter 1 "Establishing Normal" of my current read:

... she was about to see more tentacles.

Oh ho, but *I* am the one with bad book-choosing abilities =P

Oh I went into this one *for* the tentacles! :D

Sigh.

It wasn't spiders? =D

lol

Allison wrote: "RJ, you are not encouraging me to continue the Winternight series, and I think I have to finish it for Hugos this year. Sigh...."

Don't be in any hurry. ;-)

I finished:


The Edge of Running Water by William Sloane
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Edge of Running Water is the second book in this collection:


The Rim of Morning: Two Tales of Cosmic Horror by William Sloane
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I’m reading by Fred Saberhagen

Soo wrote: "I feel like I'm making general reading updates every 3 weeks or so. LOL

The Last Colony #3 ended up being a favorite. I enjoyed the story but the ending was solid and tied together m..."

The Evan Currie series is great fun. It has broken off into other threads now. Still well written and a fun read.

Allison wrote: "Anna wrote: "Allison wrote: "I had fun with this masculine ideal of a main character. Just not, I don't think, as much fun as he had with himself."

Eugh. Allison! Eugh.

And I was going to read He..."


What you mean I can't order Yog Soggoth Omlets? Dang that was one of my favorite HP Lovecraft reference ever

heehee!

Dj, you should check out Planetside. Evan Currie is good but he has a problem with getting too excited with the world and not actually tying up the plot well. I know about the spin offs but I'm not sure if he will cover the main points brought up in Odyssey One. I grew to enjoy OO and didn't have to work for it for Planetside. Aftershocks is another good one for SF. I was surprised because it's different from the other series I've read by Kloos.

Krystal wrote: "I just finished Gemina and thought it was much better than the first!"

Gemina was my favorite of these, mostly because of the characters.

Allison wrote: "Now listening to Heart's Blood, which is, I think, Juliet's take on more Lovecraftian horror and I am HERE for it."

I've read Heart's Blood, and I'm not sure how far you've gotten with it, but horror wise it isn't Lovecraftian, it's more of a (view spoiler)[ghost story (hide spoiler)].

Beth, yeah, I've settled into it now, and agree, Lovecraft might be the ambiance but it isn't the mythos whatsoever. Super very much enjoying it though! Just what I needed.

I'm currently reading Our Dark Duet - sequel to This Savage Song.

I'm not getting into this one, as of yet, as much as the first, but I'm thinking part of that might be because (view spoiler)[Kate and August are separated again (hide spoiler)], but I'm hoping that changes soon.

It's also not the book I wanted to be reading, which I'm waiting for the library to get... so it could just be that, too.

I had a busy reading week last week in that not only did I finish the last three books of the Wheel of Time I also managed to finish Dune which I enjoyed more than I thought I would but decided not to go farther in the series. I also read Mirage which has been sitting on my shelf for over a decade now. It was a slow starter but I really enjoyed it by the end.

Dang, HeyT. Well done!

Was WoT worth hanging in for?

HeyT wrote: "I also managed to finish Dune which I enjoyed more than I thought I would but decided not to go farther in the series."

I don't find any of the sequels/prequels to be anywhere near as good as the first book - you're not missing anything

First third of March:

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde was a lot wordier than I thought it would be. I wasn't really convinced.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro was a beautifully written thought experiment. Alas, there was a premise that I just couldn't follow as blindly as I should to really appreciate the book.

The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich was as great as everything I've read by her so far. She has a masterful way to bring her indigenous communities to life with humor and respect but without downplaying the harsh fate of the tribes. By and by I will read everything by her that I can get my hands on.

Perihelion Summer by Greg Egan was a disappointment. Great ideas for a climate change end-of-the-world scenario but executed in such an amateurish way that it left me flabbergasted.
I was told that Evan is usually quite good, so I will give him another chance and call this one a 'Monday'-book.

The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie took about half the book to get me invested, then I loved it, until it became too rushed in the last chapters. A very unevenly written mix of Hamlet and Small Gods, yet I liked it way more than her 'Ancillary Justice'.

The Lost Book of Adana Moreau by Michael Zapata turned out quite different from what I thought it would be when I picked it up. A lost Science Fiction manuscript serves as golden thread for a narration of family drama, displacement and general human cruelty. This one was quite hard at times.

Uprooted by Naomi Novik took me some time to finish, but not necessarily because I didn't like it. I enjoyed the fairytale narration quite a lot.

Nevertheless She Persisted: Flash Fiction Project was my first foray into flash fiction. I liked it better than I would have thought - and the collection is free.

Current Futures: A Sci-Fi Ocean Anthology also is free online. A beautiful collection of stories about the future of the oceans and original artwork. Highly recommended.

Oh good, Uprooted was resurrected from the graveyard! :D It's still buried for me, for now.

I read A Great and Terrible Beauty
It was beautifully written, and the characterization was so well done. I will go on reading this series for sure.

I just started The Rage of Dragons and the prologue did a great job of world building and making me excited for the story.

Finished up the last few minutes of The Warden in audiobook this morning. The more things change, the more things stay the same! A complex question is oversimplified by the press, the public indulges in outrage based on its limited understanding of the issue, individuals get buried under "causes," and the solution is worse than the problem. (review)

Started abbadon’s gate by James s.a. Corey yesterday .

The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi

Old Man's War #2. Labeled as #2 in the Old Man's War series, in fact this book has almost nothing to do with the 1st in the series. The lead character in #1 was absolutely fascinating, as was the world created around him. This one? Not so much. I quit halfway through, which I seldom do. Not recommended.

I just finished The Rage of Dragons. It was an amazing tale of revenge, hatred, and systemic oppression, and I cannot wait for the sequel. I talk about it more in my review here: https://youtu.be/tumdCNMrzPg (non-spoiler and then spoilers after a warning)

Though it does have graphic violence in it, and if that's really not your thing then I'd stay away. Otherwise, this African-inspired fantasy is absolutely worth a look.

Shifting Loyalties by Melissa McShane

I finished:


Apex by Ramez Naam
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading:


All These Worlds by Dennis E. Taylor

Sands of Memory by Melissa McShane

Mary_Catilla, I’ve never heard of McShane or this series before, but they have high ratings! Can you tell us more and why you like them?

They're a series set in fantasy world where scrappers venture forth in a monster-filled land to recover magical objects and spells from the ruins of disaster. The wizard Sienne fled her home after conflict with her parents and manages to get a job with experienced scrappers. At the end of which (the first book) they have forged a team and also learned that one of the members is on a quest of grave importance.

The adventures unfold from there.

Thank you, Mary!

I have finished reading The Dragon's Egg. As a fan of both dragons and magic, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and am looking forward to part two of the trilogy.



I grant this book four stars.

Olin, I started Rage of Dragons and then found I wasn't in the mental space so I paused it. I'm looking forward to getting back!

RJ, did you like the previous books in Bobiverse? I thought you were lukewarm on them. I'm still unsure about whether I want to join in on them.

Grady, that looks fun!

Elowen, hugs! This is a terrible time for anxiety. I've been doing audiobooks a lot because I'm doing other things which helps me stay ahead of my brain weasels. Sigh. At least you have something soothing to fall back on!!

I finished Heart's Blood which was sweet and did a lot of what I like most about Juliet's writing. Tried The Way of Shadows but noped out like 3 chapters in. Exit West was really fantastic--I'm glad it wasn't as sad or sappy as I feared, but very human.

Almost done with Guards! Guards! which is exactly what I needed!

Finished a re-read of The Martian Chronicles so I could discuss with my mom :) Now I can't decide whether to start Antisocial: Online Extremists, Techno-Utopians, and the Hijacking of the American Conversation or The Library of the Unwritten