SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Eric wrote: "I finished Seveneves. Four stars if you are a tech geek. Three stars for readability. A bit of a marathon at over 800 pages. Next up [bookcover:Spells..."

I loved the Seveneves storyline that showed up between the info dumps. I think that was the first Stephenson book I read and have gone on to enjoy quite a few more.

im currently reading "ready player one' and loving it. think im too young to get most of the 80's references though :(

Jordan wrote: "But I get you on being disappointed in book locations. I recently read a book set in my city that barely used the city at all. I think there were two namedrops of hometown places in the whole book and that was it."

I especially have a problem with this in the UF I've read. New Orleans seems to be easy mode, with other cities parsing pretty much identically to any other. Some of them talk more convincingly about the character's firearms than they do the city/town they're supposedly living in...

Allison, if you mean Cryptonomicon, I recall being way more frustrated by the treatment of women in that one vs Diamond Age.

err... yes. definitely not learning black magic *nervous laugh*

Livvie wrote: "im currently reading "ready player one' and loving it. think im too young to get most of the 80's references though :("

Then it's a perfect time to familiarize yourself with some classic 1980's movies and music, specifically the stuff mentioned in the beginning of the book. John Hughes made the really good teen movies, though I don't think he made Heathers (that's a pretty vicious take on high school popularity!)

Rise and Fall of DODO was co-written and a lot of the things that made the story ridiculous (in the manner it was in that book) will not be read in the other books. Before I read the book, I was thinking I would have another author to look up and read. Afterwards, I decided that I don't need to read anything written by her. LoL


Beth, let me know how Poisoned Blade goes. I have the audio and stopped about 1/3. No particular reason. It's been a stop & start listening book for me.


Story Locations:

- The Boy from the Woods Just read this and it was pretty good! I loved the characters & setting/time touches. Good example of light touches of setting that feels right. New Jersey/NYC

- The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires - I loved the intro! But the story derailed for me and I didn't enjoy the last half. I grew up in South Carolina. There are a few place/street name drops. Other than that, I could not tell that this story took place in Charleston area.

Dragon Ops by Mari Mancusi

I just finished the second book of the Raksura. I really enjoyed it - I love this author's world building.
My review of The Serpent Sea by Martha Wells
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Phrynne wrote: "I just finished the second book of the Raksura. I really enjoyed it - I love this author's world building."

It was good, wasn't it? What did you think about people living on the leviathan? I can't quite imagine what it would be like but the book gave a good go at describing a few points. I keep thinking about how that would change the way things are made. Buildings, furniture, utensils and that everyone would already have the "sway" walk reinforced.

I thought #2 was a nice transition piece that let us get closer to the Indigo Cloud and general Raksura culture.

Phrynne wrote: "I just finished the second book of the Raksura. I really enjoyed it - I love this author's world building.
My review of The Serpent Sea by Martha Wells
https://www.go..."

The Raksura series has some of the very best worldbuildings I have ever read anywhere in Fantasy and I dearly love the main protagonists. Unfortunately the series unravels in later books. I finished the 5th one last week and it was a disappointment.

I thought the Leviathon was a great idea Soo, but it definitively had practical flaws:)
I saw that on the reviews Gabi. I might just stop at book three:)

Phrynne wrote: "I thought the Leviathon was a great idea Soo, but it definitively had practical flaws:)
I saw that on the reviews Gabi. I might just stop at book three:)"

:D Might be a good idea. She comes up with a great plotline in the last two books, but she doesn't focus on it and the result is somewhat messy. Both books put into one, much tighter plotting and it would have been great.

I've been doing a mix of audio/book for Books of Raksura. Great ideas but meandering in plot has been my take on the first two books. I'm reading the series as a BR with Iain. We're throwing in the books between others when we both feel like it. The audio is nice because it's good to listen to for the overall story, but I depend on skimming the book to get the descriptions for the races & setting.

The Boy from the Woods - I read this yesterday and was quite pleased with my first take at Coben's work. He has a nice touch of creating layered characters, quick brushes of description for setting, and fun dialogue. Totally loved Hester & Wilde.

I think the last two Raksura books are still worth reading for certain plot resolutions and certain characters. But definitely weaker than the first three with some nonsense thrown around. Be ready to skim unless certain POVs are present Id say

Beth wrote: "Jordan wrote: "But I get you on being disappointed in book locations. I recently read a book set in my city that barely used the city at all. I think there were two namedrops of hometown places in ..."

That is always disappointing. If you use a location, make it count. It doesn't have the be like another character, but that is always cool. Homogenous locations with a local name slapped on. Feh. May as well make up a new name.

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

That’s the Raksura BR thread 😊

Thanks Anna:)

Jo Nesbø used my town in Australia in The Bat among others I know. Yeah he got stuff so wrong. Lithgow does not have a flashing blue light outside the police station for a start. The head of the station is not called whatever he called them. The boxing tents haven’t been seen since the 60s and this was set in the 90s. Even though I can see why he’d want to include them. Also Nimbin is NOT the Outback. It’s a green, leafy Hippie commune place very close to the coast. I live in the Outback. It’s mostly dry and deserty.

I finished Spellslinger. Four stars. Gotta love the squirrel cat. 😎 Onto book two, Shadowblack.

I’m reading THE LIGHT BRIGADE. Makes me realize how much I dislike our milsf (military science fiction) especially dystopian milSF!

I am reading The Siren Depths and loving every word of it. This is the best of the first three books. I even cried a little bit when Moon was having a really bad time.

I enjoyed Gods of Jade and Shadow a lot. It's a light story, but I thought the mythological narrative was done very well. A great book for people who like (modern) fairytales or mythological stories.
Here's a short review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Now back to science fiction: I just started Space Opera and HOW did I not discover this book earlier? It's Eurovision! IN SPACE! At least I hope it is, I'm only on chapter three. I have a very strong feeling I am going to immensely enjoy this. Also, it reminds me of Douglas Adams, I love the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and one of my fondest book-related memories is connected to this book.
Aaand now I'm a little afraid I am building up too many expectations. But ... Eurovision IN SPACE! ('Spacevision'?)

Space Opera is either amazing but not a lot of people liked it during the buddy read thread. I loved it but then I love Eurovision and it is most definitely a love letter to Eurovision.

I've mostly been listening to romance this month while gaming but the three scifan titles I managed to fit in this month were An Unattractive Vampire, Fahrenheit 451, and Hullmetal Girls.
I got annoyed by the footnotes in Vampire because my ereader made me go to the back every time I clicked the link so I just started ignoring them which took out some of the humor. Hullmetal felt like Mockingjay in space with some of the same plot points but was still entertaining.

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

Space Opera BR thread 😊

Finished The Siren Depths and loved it to bits. What am I supposed to read after that!
My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Just Finished "Team of Rivals" this reread was VERY different than the first. There were many, many facts new to me in the first go round, the second reading I was focusing on the main characters, how they were seen by the world, themselves and each other. It was an emotional ride. Why are books like this so important... Recently I spoke to an educated Woman in her 60's (master's degree) and asked her what caused the Civil War (she's from the South) and gave the common but incorrect answer: It was about States Rights (immediately)
My question to her: What states right except for Slavery, was it about? Her response (less immediate, less clear) amounted to something about taxation, trickled and changed the subject.
So I also will change the subject,
Team of Rivals is a treasure.

Currently reading "Fall of Dragons" by Miles Cameron. there has been much time between reading books I grasping to remember... there's many thing going on in these books.

Still currently reading Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo. It seems ok so far. Has to get better for me to believe that it was better than most of the other books it beat out for its Goodreads win. And its spot on most of the fantasy awards lists. I have not seen Mark Lawrence’s Book of the Ancestor series anywhere on awards lists but it should be. Anyhoo.....

I got "Claim The Stars" (Skyward, 1) finally, and finished yesterday. I really liked it. Not a general SF fan (I'm more the fantasy half), so this was good, as it's light SF. I liked the premise, the mystery is good, and it's quite poignant. I saw a lot of love for M-Bot in comments, and finally understood who/what that was... I found him extra-annoying and very weird, but obviously that's his role. Sometimes he did come out with the perfect thing, though.

'Hello!'... 'You have nearly died, and so I will say something to distract you from the serious, mind-numbing implications of your own mortality! I hate your shoes.'

That was great. The plane itself, though, is very cool, and some of M-Bot's abilities.

Comment below about my disagreement/frustration with the philosophy of why the humans are on this planet: (in spoiler tags)
(view spoiler)[ One thing that didn't fit for me is the philosophy of the galactic community about humans. If they thought humans were too violent/warlike, and insufficiently advanced morally to keep spreading among the stars, how does forcing them into a military culture where they must fight and focus on fighting to survive, directly due to that community, and destroying the civilisation they have left/have re-established, counteract that? Logically, it does the opposite - pushes them into focusing on that very part of their nature that the aliens say is the reason they must be destroyed/kept down. And, then, when they do create some small approximation of civilisation in their remaining habitation, they keep destroying it - and at the beginning of their stay there, destroy their leaders and most historical records, which keep cultural memory intact - obviously causing their civilisation to rewind to something more primitive. So this premise/argument didn't work for me. (hide spoiler)]

* The title thing: it is called "Claim the Stars", at least in the UK edition we have. Perhaps that's different in the US edition? A bit like the first Harry Potter book? "Skyward" is the series name, but is in much larger letters than the title, which is confusing. Like the name of the author.

Tamara wrote: "I got "Claim The Stars" (Skyward, 1) finally, and finished yesterday. I really liked it. Not a general SF fan (I'm more the fantasy half), so this was good, as it's light SF. I liked the premise, t..."

I'm in Oz too. The one I have has Skyward in big letters and then Claim the Stars under it but it's actually called Skyward not Claim the Stars. Then my copy of Starsight has Starsight in large letters with "the sequel to Skyward" under it the same as Claim the Stars was written. Skyward is the series name and the name of the first book. That does happen a lot. I think Claim the Stars is probably what she wants to do.

Tamara, please hide any spoilers inside spoiler tags! We also have a buddy read thread for Skyward, if you want to discuss it in more detail.

How to use spoiler tags:

(view spoiler)[ (hide spoiler)]

Click on "(some html is ok)" in the top right corner of the text box (on desktop version) as you're typing your post to copy/paste the code. Or go to this help page if you're not on the desktop version.

I won a copy of Unconquerable Sun in a giveaway, so I'm... stopping in the middle of another Kate Elliott book to start this one. :D Enjoying it so far!

I just finished Heads You Win and wrote a review. What the hell was this?

I'm confused. To say the least.

I finished Shadowblack and will start book three of the series, Charmcaster. I would call these books humorous fantasy. Light reading; little thinking required. Just go along for the ride. Four stars each for the first two books of the series.

Popcorn reads are sometimes exactly what we need!

and sometimes the heavy stuff takes it out of you. I'm about 80% through Memories of Ice and I think I'm going to need to take a break from the series for another AF&F book that's a tad bit lighter. Perhaps Smoke Bitten will do the trick.

On the other side of the tracks I did finish all of William Kent Krueger's Cork O'Connor series (books 1-17) while reading the first three Malazan books. plus a bunch of short stories

Jacqueline wrote:
Sure, but on the library list it's "Claim The Stars" as the title. So I'm taking it as having two titles, in my mind! Otherwise it's confusing.

Allison wrote: "Popcorn reads are sometimes exactly what we need!"

Definitely a break from Seveneves.

I'd pretend SevenEves is Two books.

Atleast! In some sense SEVENEVES is really 3 books? I liked it most than most people who read it (admired its ambition and I’m a sucker for survival of the species narratives).

Book 1: everything until the “coup” (involving the former POTUS)
Book 3: everything after the huge time jump
Book 2: everything between Book 1 and Book 2.

I thought Book 1 was brilliant. Book 2 was quite good, and Book 3 was unnecessary!

@MadProfessah agreed on Seveneves. I felt like that last section didn't add much, but the beginning was really compelling and the middle was interesting (if sometimes bogged down in long sections of info-dumping about the physics of space travel and orbits).

Just finished my thriller lite Shelter in Place and, while it held no real surprises, it was a well paced plot.

I started Bannerless immediately after and had to make myself put the book down to go to sleep. Looking forward to spending a quiet afternoon with it.

I'm about 75% of the way through The Obelisk Gate. I had put off listening to The Fifth Season but once I started it and wrapped my head around this fantastical new world I knew I would need to continue the series. I already have The Stone Sky in my queue.

I just finished VALIS by PKD. Not sure if I should read Man in the High Castle or The Divine Invasion.

How is BANNERLESS? I am a sucker for genre mashups (mystery and sci-fi, specifically).

The Android's Dream by John Scalzi

Human diplomat kills alien diplomat and Harry Creek, ex-soldier and all-around fixer is tasked to prevent interplanetary war. Wacky light-hearted space adventure. Scalzi's a real professional and it shows. I really like it, 4 stars.

MadProfessah wrote: "How is BANNERLESS? I am a sucker for genre mashups (mystery and sci-fi, specifically)."

Wasn't able to spend much time on it but what I've read is interesting and well-paced. Hopefully I'll get to finish it this weekend.

I just preordered Peace Talks. Only a few weeks away now. At last. I thought it was never going to happen.

Minimum Wage Magic by Rachel Aaron

Two books I am happy to have borrowed from the library & read this week:

- An Absolutely Remarkable Thing #1 by Hank Green - Recommended for those that enjoyed Sleeping Giants. This one was light SF that had an interesting use of current social media outlets, internet & technology within the story. I don't think the characters are very deep except one, but I thought the reasoning for that was well explained within the story.

- Lexicon by Max Barry was an interesting SF/Thriller. Don't go into the story thinking that it will have complex look into language and words. This is one of those stories that's good to read without reading the blurb. Jump into the story and see where it goes. On the surface, it's an action packed thriller about a secret organization. Dig in a bit and there's lots of fun topics like psychology, behavioral science, ad perception manipulation and all that jazz.

Both books had good narrators for the audio. I was only tempted to read Lexicon and listen to it because there a few parts that would have been better read vs listened.