SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Beth, I think I might read the next one on the Shadowshaper series to see if the characterization and plot aspects improve. I quite liked this first one, but I agree with people’s main criticisms. They weren’t dealbreakers though. The whole series is on Storytel, so one of these days I’ll probably listen to it.

I just finished Afterland by Lauren Beukes. I liked it, but I felt like it could have been a lot more. I also got a little tired of the sister’s preaching by the end.

Diane wrote: "Beth, I think I might read the next one on the Shadowshaper series to see if the characterization and plot aspects improve. I quite liked this first one, but I agree with people’s main criticisms. ..."

I wish I'd listened to the audio, but the b&w version was what I had.

Faith wrote: "My review of The Original by Brandon Sanderson

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

Really nice review Faith. It sounds really interesting and a nice change-up from what I have come to expect from Sanderson books. I didn't even know this was being released. Already went and pre-ordered it! Looking forward to it.

Allison wrote: "cute, Mason! Lost Boy is one we've been considering for a poll, but it just hasn't made it yet. your praise makes me more determined to find room for it"

Lost Boy is sitting on my TBR for a while now, so I would definitely join in.

I finished Kings of the Wyld a while ago and will rate it either 4 or 5 stars (still have to think about that). Now I'm reading The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling. So far it's great.

I'm still only halfway through The Sol Majestic. Picked it up again yesterday while cooking and I don't know what it is - I like the story, I like the characters, I like how it's written and the audiobook production is good. And once I pick it up I don't have to fight through it or anything, I enjoy it. But then it takes forever for me to pick it up again because I always have something else I would rather read or listen to. I guess I'm just not that into it for no speficic reason.

Mason wrote: "Faith wrote: "My review of The Original by Brandon Sanderson

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

Really nice review Faith. It sounds really interestin..."

Thanks Mason. I hope you enjoy the book.

Just finished the third book in the Green Man series and reviewed it. I like the whole series - gets back to basics on English myth and folklore - and I also like the sense of place.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

@Carro I just started the third Green man book last night, been enjoying the series a lot so far so I have high hopes!

I recently finished The Bone Witch and I enjoyed it enough to read the next two eventually. Right now though I'm reading The Outside and finding the main character relatable in outlook.

Finished a second read-through of All Systems Red. Murderbot cracks me up. And I can also relate to it way too much. Like, I wish I could literally turn my face to a wall when too many people were paying attention to me... but humans don't understand that, do they. (mini-review)

I got the rest of the novellas in tor.com's giveaway a few months ago, and plan to read the second one soon.

My TBR list just keeps on growing on and on. So many books, so little time. Currently I am reading Winter Omens by Trisha Leigh. I m a big fan of fantasy and science fiction so this book is just perfect for me.

The Undefeated was unfortunately a let-down - beautifully written, but very little actual substance - and I've mostly been reading/re-reading non-SFF KJ Charles since. (Elowen, you're not alone in needing some easy comfort reads right now!)

I've made some effort to wrap my brain around Vagabonds (my second attempt) and am still finding it a bit elusive. I feel like it's a book I'll like once I've read and digested it, but it's a challenge to actually read. And I'm nearing the end of After Atlas, but I feel like the increasing darkness of the book is starting to slow my progress - I want to know how it ends, but I don't always want to put myself back into that world when I have free time to listen.

@Kaa: I had the same experience with The Undefeated. After finishing I had no real idea what the intend of the story should be.

After Atlas is super dark, so I completely understand!

I've been listening to MG/YA/adult mysteries with some romance sprinkled in, and the occasional SFF book because I don't want to fall off the bandwagon completely, but I'm totally in the mood for very easy reads. My brain just doesn't want to think, it just wants something to flood through to keep it occupied, but no processing power is available at the moment.

edit: Oh, and I read Undefeated last year for SOS, and I was disappointed because I thought it was an older woman zooming around space, but it was just some past youth reminiscing, if I recall correctly.

Tianna wrote: "I'm currently working on Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas"

I just recently added this to my thriller TBR, and will hopefully get to it sometime soonish. I got the impression that it'd be a great read for the fall/autumn season.

Now reading Fleet of Knives

I've read Middlegame by Seanan McGuire against my better judgement :D. I know, she is beloved by many, but her prose and character writing rubs me the wrong way. Yet peer pressure ('it's on the shortlist ... I have to read as much as possible off the shortlists') made me pick it up. .... Well ... I still don't like prose and character. Here I especially had the impression that half of the book could have been edited out without any consequences. I.e. there was a murder scene where the outcome was clear from the get go, but it took over half an hour in the audiobook, cause the murderer had to talk the victim to death - in good old villain tropey way.

I had the tough luck to listen to it and the narrator made things even worse. The baddies already are written like your good old cardboard characters, but the narrator worsened the experience cause she seems to have taken her voicing-the-villains approach from cartoons. ^^'

All in all not my best literary experience, even though the story itself has promise.

That sounds good! 😊

Gabi and Anna, I completely agree with both of your assessments of The Undefeated.

I did finally push through the last couple hours of After Atlas - towards the end, I was finding it impossible to stop listening. So, so good.

Just started The Freeze-Frame Revolution while I'm waiting for Before Mars from the library.

Currently halfway through Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut.
Every paragraph I read, I laugh and almost immediately feel guilty. Dark humor is doing a number on me.
Is it just me??

Pandora, when you finish, check out our spoilery discussion for Slaughterhouse-Five!

Final thoughts *spoilers*

Anna wrote: "Pandora, when you finish, check out our spoilery discussion for Slaughterhouse-Five!

Final thoughts *spoilers*"
Thanks Anna. I will.

I'm currently reading The Last Human by Zack Jordan. I had been wanting to read it for a while, and once I saw that it wasn't going to make the poll for group reads, I just decided to go ahead and read it.

I'm really enjoying it so far, especially the overall concept of it. It has several fun sci fi space opera things in it, but one part feels pretty unique to me, and I'm excited to learn more about it. I'm about two thirds of the way through it right now.

P.S. Allison, you can't read it because (super minor spoiler that is made clear very early on in the book) (view spoiler)[ the main character's mother is a giant alien spider person. (hide spoiler)]

:O Hmm. That is definitely not something to test my psyche with during uh that sort of creature's mating season, occurring now!

I am blowing through this series, going to start the last book today
Light of Impossible Stars: An Embers of War Novel

Jennifer, it's a fun series!

Bobby wrote: "I'm currently reading The Last Human by Zack Jordan. I had been wanting to read it for a while, and once I saw that it wasn't going to make the poll for group reads, I just decided ..."

The spoiler makes me want to read it even more.

lol

*flails arms Kermit style and runs away*

Lol for those without Allison's aversion, I think that aspect of the book is done really well. The relationship is great.

Finished reading The Fires of Heaven by Robert Jordan. I am reading Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie. I plan to read The Trouble with Peace by Joe Abercrombie next.

I just finished and really enjoyed Scythe by Neal Shusterman. It does illustrate that there are some really good YA books out there!
My review
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Michelle wrote: "I've been on an historical fiction binge of late, and my favorite so far is Sharpe's Regiment"

Have you tried any of the Flashman series? They're great fun!

Recently read Kindred for the first time. WOW.

I've read two interesting 2020 releases

The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal is the third novel in her Lady Astronaut series. I have still to read the second one, but the third can be read without knowledge of the second. It is a thriller set on the moon, the character interaction is as lovely as in the first book and I thoroughly enjoyed the middle aged MC with her competence and her struggle to align private life and career.

The 2084 Report: An Oral History of the Great Warming by James Lawrence Powell is an interesting experiment. I'm not sure if it counts as novel. The author extrapolated from the known facts till end of 2019 about climate change into the year 2084 and wrote the book as a collection of interviews of various people from all over the world. The outlook is bleak and extremely sobering, but hopefully a good eye opener. To me the predictions sound horribly realistic.
The style and prose is lackluster, but I deemed the content so important that I still gave it 5 stars.

I've also read:

Unholy Land by Lavie Tidhar. If a book is advertised in comparison to other books I'm quite cautious, but this time the comparison was spot on. It is a mix of "The Yiddish policemen's union" (but way better imho) and "The City & The City" (reaches the same level of quality and overtakes it in weirdness). It is about an alternate reality where a Yiddish state was founded at the beginning of the 20th century in central Africa. Even though WWII happened the holocaust never did, cause European Jews settled to Africa. But now realities start to cross over and the reader gets a strange story where one never quite knows where one is. Three POVs distinct in 1st, 2nd and 3rd perspective.

I have Lavie Tidhar books in my TBR for sure Gabi.


I was reading Sisters of the Vast Black for Space Opera September. It was a five star book for me. This is my review:

This was a bit slow paced the first two thirds of the book, but perhaps this was due to the contemplative nature of nuns who would think all ramifications of their actions towards religion, God and the greater good?

The characters were very interesting and multi-layered and you get to know and relate to each of them closely. I especially liked to read about the Mother Superior.

This Novella also had very important themes which made it to transcend the space opera conventions into a deeper contemplation of politics, freedom and society.

Gabi wrote: "The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal is the third novel in her Lady Astronaut series. I have still to read the second one"

How ?! And why on Earth did you jump from one to three? Gabi! :D

I can't wait for the fourth one, I was surprised to see it's from Elma's POV again. I'd thought maybe we'd get a third lady astronaut.

Beyond the Clouds, Tome 2 by Nicke

Anna wrote: "How ?! And why on Earth did you jump from one to three? Gabi! :D."

Sorry ^^' ... I lost sight of the series after the first book. Yet since I've bought a Worldcon membership for next year I want to read through as many new releases as possible and as I looked up comments for this one they all said, book 2 is not necessary for book 3. So I will read book 2 later, when the read-new-releases-read-new-releases pressure is gone.

I understand, I just can't fathom doing it that way myself :D

finished Toll the Hounds and now on to Dust of Dreams.

also finished Ironclads by Adrian Tchaikovsky. This was pretty interesting even though the ending (view spoiler)[had a bit of anti-American feeling . (hide spoiler)]

I'm halfway into Toll the Hounds. I was thinking about the contrast for the series in how a lot happens and yet not that much happened in the eight books. We get to experience a variety of minor plot lines that tangle together. There's a lot of that. On the flip side, the pivotal sequences are a handful and I'm not sure if I'm on board with the main plot arc. To be determined. =)

Esther wrote: "The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson. The writing style, the character portrayal, the world building and the p..."

One of my libraries just alerted me to this. Seems like it's a good fit for the group - is anyone else reading it?

Bannerless by Carrie Vaughn

Science-fiction mystery set in a post-apocalyptic world. Gentle story, almost a cozy, following a future sort-of cop as she tries to determine was it an accident or murder. I liked it, 3 stars.

Finished with The Trouble with Peace - I had super high expectation for this but at the end only four stars. It was quite a page turner, still.

No SFF book until Sept 22 when another awaited sequel will be out, Cypher.

Cheryl, that does look neat, please let us know if you get to it!

Arych, glad you enjoyed it! I've heard mixed things about Bannerless, so I'm glad it worked for you.

Sil, your "disappointed" rating is 4 stars??? Man, your expectations must have been sky high!

Allison wrote: "Cheryl, that does look neat, please let us know if you get to it!

Arych, glad you enjoyed it! I've heard mixed things about Bannerless, so I'm glad it worked for you.

Sil, your "disappointed" rat..."

Well, I did try to rate the first book six stars but GR won't let me :D

Gary wrote: "Finished reading The Fires of Heaven by Robert Jordan. I am reading Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie. I plan to read [book:The Trouble with ..."

I love the Wheel of Time Series. I recently finished the third one. Can't wait to get to the fifth.

I've just finished Network Effect. Let's just say that I really love Murderbot.

Murderbot! ❤️