SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Xavaqenia, I don't want to get lumped up by the Mods. but I'll throw out one fantasy novel I'd put in the quirk file: "The Ocean at the end of the lane" by Neil Gaiman. Terry Pratchett has many fans in the club also.

I just finished A Dead Djinn in Cairo. I loved it. It was short (48 pages) yet told so much. Also, the prose was topnotch!

enough with the politics until we've got enough drink to make it palatable, Christopher paolini

I'm a little ways into Frank Herbert's The Green Brain
the writing reminds me of 'Dune' and although it's old school Sci-Fi I'm enjoying it. Interesting that he wrote it a few years after 'Silent Spring'. I like his approach to ecological systems.

My review of The Book of Koli by M.R. Carey

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

Of Other Worlds: Essays and Stories by C.S. Lewis

Just recently someone on here mentioned Momo. I had never heard of it but I had read The Neverending Story many moons ago. So I gave Momo a try and it was delightful. And so relevant to today!
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Great to hear that you liked Momo, Phrynne. It has aged so well! I was delighted when my son got it as school reading last term.

Gabi wrote: "Great to hear that you liked Momo, Phrynne. It has aged so well! I was delighted when my son got it as school reading last term."

It has aged magnificently. I work with preschoolers and the way he describes modern toys is so so true. Where did imagination go?

I adored Momo when I read it as an adult about 25 years ago. It’s a beautiful meaningful book.

note to self: Just because Battle Ground, book 17 of the Dresden Files, by Jim Butcher is coming out on the 29th of September (and if it's anything like the previous book, they mean at 12:01 AM EST) does *NOT* mean I should stay up all night reading it (since I have to get up early the next morning anyway).

Being grown up enough to be able to afford all the books I want is a mixed blessing, sometimes.

My review of The Dispatcher by John Scalzi

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

Lowell wrote: "note to self: Just because Battle Ground, book 17 of the Dresden Files, by Jim Butcher is coming out on the 29th of September (and if it's anything like the previous ..."

how true

Just finished reading The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. Good use of literary reference and motif, realised with freshness. A book about books, stories and exploration. Initially the various stories which feature within the overall narrative are easy to follow; however as they become interlocked with each other and the characters, the narrative becomes quite difficult to follow. The back cover poses the question, Are you lost or exploring? I did get a bit lost about two third of the way through. However, toward the end the narrative paths merge, and the ending is quite satisfying.

Just about to start All Systems Red. (#1 Murderbot Diaries)

Very excited!

Ooh!! Have lots of fun! We have a thread about that too you should check out if you'd like ^^

Finished Dust of Dreams by Steven Erikson and on to the last book in the series The Crippled God. I'm very sad that, after looking at the list of characters, that some of my favorites will not be in the book. :(

I started this series back in April 2020 and hope to finish by the end of October. I am reading other books at the same time though

@CBRetriever: those books are sitting on my shelf looking reproachfully at me each time I walk past. I'm still so intimidated by their size ...

they don't look as big on a Kindle :)

CBRetriever wrote: "they don't look as big on a Kindle :)"

Yes, it is really just a psychological thing - I mean I've read the Stormlight Archives, I've read Pandora's star ... but to see an actual physical book in that size really is something else. :D One day I'll be brave enough (or I get them on sale as ebooks XD)

The Complete Malazan Book of the Fallen currently $74.22 which means it's only &7.42 per book....

ah, I like this review:

"I have no idea who the characters are or what is going on. There are too many characters, the story is too complex, and there is insufficient explanation. Just when you start to figure out who one of the characters is, five new characters are introduced, each with their own story arc. If you are looking for something a little easier to follow, I recommend a quantum mechanics textbook. "

LOL! CBRetriever, how fortunate that I've finished drinking my tea. Today there are such great posts here! XD

I thought you'd enjoy that review the moment I saw it. Thankfully most of the Malazan books on Kindle have Xray so I can look up characters making me classify it as more of a Geometry text book (I hated proofs)

CBRetriever wrote: "they don't look as big on a Kindle :)"

Oh, I don't know, the Harvard Classics collection I have is still showing 0 percent and I am just about done with a second book. That can be a little intimidating, although you don't get to find out about the size issue until after you get it. LOL

Yes! This is why I never get kindle omnibus editions unless I can't avoid it. When I'm almost done with a book, I need it to say 80%, not 4%. Unless the omnibus has page numbers, then it's fine. But if I read for hours and hours without the percentage moving at all - nope!

Eva wrote: "Yes! This is why I never get kindle omnibus editions unless I can't avoid it. When I'm almost done with a book, I need it to say 80%, not 4%. Unless the omnibus has page numbers, then it's fine. Bu..."

but they're usually so cheap.... Plus they do have location numbers which do change. I use a spreadsheet to track which books in an Omnibus I've read. Ex: I read the Edgar Rice Burroughs John Carter books for a recent challenge here, but I haven't read the Tarzan ones yet.

The E-book should have a feature that allows they reader to select their reading goal and give the % based on that.

just finished "To Sleep in a Sea of Stars" by Christopher Paolini.
Very decent Science Space Fantasy. Lots of tentacles, ichor and carnage. It's a good long read that starts and ends well but lags a bit in the middle.

I always have my brooks on bigger writing so I end up with twice as many pages as there actually are. I do a percentage calculation so I can fill in the % part of the progress thing.

Finished Gideon the Ninth last night. Gave it 4⭐️. I really liked it. Some bits got a tad confusing while I was reading them but I went back and read it slower and it was ok. The ending shook me a little. Just as well I have Harrow the Ninth on my iPad.

Don wrote: "The E-book should have a feature that allows they reader to select their reading goal and give the % based on that."

That's such a good idea! Please quit your job and start working for Amazon, they need people like you.

especially since I tend to rapidly skim some of the offerings in those omnibus editions like 3 different biographies of the author...

Eva wrote: "Yes! This is why I never get kindle omnibus editions unless I can't avoid it. When I'm almost done with a book, I need it to say 80%, not 4%. Unless the omnibus has page numbers, then it's fine. Bu..."

I am six of one, half dozen of the other. There are some that I get because they are free. Like the Women of Fantasy one, the Havard Classics was one I got on purpose due to what it was. The Havard Collection is along the lines of 108 books, some of which aren't really all that available elsewhere. And My Kindle always tosses up page numbers so that is a plus, mostly, seeing a number like 17k pages is a bit of an eye opener.

yep

Delphi Complete Works of Mark Twain = 15014 pages
but
Delphi Complete Works of Virginia Woolf = 7079 pages

I just finished a fun one - Magyk by Angie Sage. Not sure why I have not read it before but it was a nice easy read with an entertaining magic system.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Eva, No Way! I'm holding out for the Ketchasco Sause job... you know ketchup & Tabasco together.

Julia's House Moves On by Ben Hatke

Starting Finder which would be the first full novel I read for the author. Really enjoyed her shorter works.

Updated: Ditching Wintersmith and picked up A Beginning at the End in audio. The narrator is Emily Woo Zeller, one of my faves.

Battle Ground was great! Ironically, I read the last two books for Malazan right before the release for Battle Ground. Of the two extended battle books, I liked this one more for a handful of reasons.

Planning to re-read Battle Ground in a few days. A TON happened and it'll be nice to get another swing at it to make sure I have them all.

As a bonus, the Christmas Eve short story was at the end of the audiobook. Another fun short to the series.

I just read All Systems Red by Martha Wells! I liked it quite a bit. It’s not exactly my taste, in that it’s a bite-sized story and doesn’t cover a lot of ground, (it isn’t “epic” is what I’m trying to say) but it’s genuinely entertaining and I’ll definitely continue on in the series.

I went to the book store today and picked up We Ride the Storm by Devin Madson, and I’m really excited! It appears to be a military high fantasy with cover quotes by Mark Lawrence, John Gwynne, etc. and it looks like it’ll be fun. Military fantasy is a sub genre that I’ve been wanting to get into for a while now, and this book along with The Rage of Dragons will introduce me.

Finally, I just received The Seventh Perfection by Daniel Polansky from Amazon, which is a book I’m massively pumped for. All I know is from the blurb and that we follow Manet, who is trying to discover a secret about her past, but we only actually hear the people she converses with as she is trying to uncover the truth. This means that we never actually hear what she says or thinks. It’s a novella, so I’m expecting to burn through it, and because of the interesting premise and GORGEOUS cover art, (seriously, go check it out) it’ll be a shame if I don’t enjoy it.

I know that you aren’t supposed to have high expectations when you begin a story but I can’t help it!

Diane wrote: "I’m with all of you on Neuromancer. It did nothing for me. I read it about 10 maybe more years ago and it was already dated. And agree that the writing was not wonderful."

Extremely belated reply: add a checkmark to the "read it not long after it came out and enjoyed it, tried again much later and bleh" entry on the Neuromancer tally, for me.

As for current reads: Harrow the Ninth and The Last Wish in b&w, and Blameless in audio!

Battle Ground by Jim Butcher

Impulse reads:

Anna's Buddy Read: A Night in Lonesome October (at least that means I will finish a book this month for sure).

BOTM: Recursion

Currently On-hold:

Cage of Souls - at the end of Part 1. I am a bit sad because I maybe not like Biopunk. I read Borne Jeff V, earlier this year and it was just okay. Also how does Cage of Souls read so different from Children of Time and Children of Ruin.

False-started but will pick-up later when I have full attention for The Doors of Eden (feels like this reads like Children of Time and Children of Ruin). Maybe a bit more my vibe.

Cage of Souls is more like Adrian Tchaikovsky Tales of the Apt series. The author is just very versatile and can jump genres with alacrity

I've read (listened to) The Way of Kings for the third time. It was meant as a 'slow' re-read in preparation for November, but again I was glued to it. I'm fascinated how a book can command my full attention even though I know exactly what's gonna happen (in this case even my horrible memory can't be invoked since I remember this series very well).

Now I will put in some BotMs (Recursion, The Dawnhounds, Blindsight, The House in the Cerulean Sea, The Doors of Eden) - and after that it is back to book 2 of the Stormlight Archive - Yeah, Shallan!

Grace wrote: "Cage of Souls - at the end of Part 1. I am a bit sad because I maybe not like Biopunk. I read Borne Jeff V, earlier this year and it was just okay. Also how does Cage of Souls read so different from Children of Time and Children of Ruin."

As CBRetriever said: a hallmark of Tchaikovsky is that he is able to write in a relatively rare width of spectrum (at least I can't recall another author who does this). So you can perfectly love the style of one of his books while completely hating another one. I had my first bummer with Redemption's Blade, a post war Fantasy novel, where I couldn't get into for the love of it.

"The Doors of Eden" certainly is the one that's most like "Children of Time".

Haven't read Redemption's Blade yet, but as I liked the Tales of the Apt series, I'll probably like it.

I'm about 20% into The Crippled God and only have one gripe with it. The list of characters does not contain all of the main characters in the book. I was bummed by Shurq not being in the book according to the list, but she is

Grace wrote: "Impulse reads:

Anna's Buddy Read: A Night in Lonesome October (at least that means I will finish a book this month for sure).

BOTM: Recursion

Currently On-hold:

Cage of Souls - at the end o..."

I love a Night in the Lonesome October. I generally don't read it though. I got hooked on the audio version read by the author. He has such a Laconic delivery it is perfect for the main character.

I recently finished:
Bad Astronomy


Now, normally when I finish a book I am going to do a review for I just drop the review in here and call it good. Making sure not to include any real spoilers. Well, this book felt the need for a change.

It is not Science Fiction it is Science as such it addresses issues that might arise when you are writing your own Science Fiction tales.
I found this particular author through his website, which interestingly enough is called Bad Astronomy as well. On the Website, he has a section that goes over errors in movies. It was a great joy to read those so I knew I had to read this book.
This book could well help avoid some pitfalls in Sci/Fi books any of you are thinking of writing and might answer some questions about why things work the way they do.
And for parents, it has the added bonus of giving the real reason the sky is Blue. Man, I wish I had that when My Kid was asking that question.
Another real bonus is that he doesn't really get too down on people that use Bad Astronomy unless they fall into one of two categories. Armageddon, and organizations that tell or imply they are officially changing the name of a star to anything you want for a fee. He doesn't even come down hard on UFO enthusiasts. Explaining that it is easy to mistake something when you are looking at something you are not familiar with.
An excellent book and well worth the read.

My review of Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots

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

Faith wrote: "My review of Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots

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

Ah, good to see that I apparently didn't miss something important. I dnf'd around 40% (I think), cause I couldn't bring myself to care about anything.