SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Trike wrote: "Beth wrote: "My brother read LotR when he was in jr. high (seems to be a common age for it), and all through high school fantasy was his main casual reading. When he got to college, he reread LotR,..."

Well in a sense it wasn't the first. LotR that is. I have a book of various fantasy that was written before Tolkien and may include books that influenced him. It is called, appropriately enough:
Tales Before Tolkien: The Roots of Modern Fantasy

That's an interesting reading suggestion, Dj. On to my TBR list!

I read The Monster of Elendhaven last night. A quick read with elements of magic thrown in, makes you think about who, or what, is the real monster. Is it one that is created into being by the actions of others or the one that is subjecting others to his will?

I finished listening/reading Red Mars. Had a real love/hate relationship with this book. I was fascinated by the idea of colonizing Mars but damn is the author wordy! I found myself zoning out while listening until it came back to dialogue. Wasn't thrilled with how flat the majority of the characters were but there were a few that had a little more life to them. And were there elements of this book that showed up in The Martian?

Has anyone gone onto Green Mars? Is it the same thing, different color or has there been an improvement?

We have a buddy read for Green/Blue Mars:

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

I haven't read beyond Red Mars but my impression of what others said was that the wordiness and general glossing over of certain things isn't much different, but the world building and a few of the characters get better. Is that a fair summary, recent readers?

Allison wrote: "I haven't read beyond Red Mars but my impression of what others said was that the wordiness and general glossing over of certain things isn't much different, but the world building and a few of the..."

That sounds about right. It had a bit more depth than Red Mars but was about the same stylistically.

Dj wrote: "Well in a sense it wasn't the first. LotR that is. I have a book of various fantasy that was written before Tolkien and may include books that influenced him. It is called, appropriately enough:
Tales Before Tolkien: The Roots of Modern Fantasy"

True — and I am aware of that book — but there is always a “before” and “after” for every genre. Tolkien took all those elements and distilled them into a seminal work that has influenced everyone following after, spawning countless acolytes.

Star Wars is not the first cinematic Space Opera, but Lucas took his influences — Flash Gordon, Hidden Fortress, Dam Busters — and distilled them into a movie that helped kick off the golden age of cinema sci-fi, igniting numerous imitations.

The Beatles weren’t unique in their synthesis of rockabilly and pop by American musicians — their early cover tunes are a Who’s Who of African American music, including Ray Charles, Isley Brothers, Chuck Berry, Smokey Robinson, with stuff from Buddy Holly and Carl Perkins — and that jumpstarted a legion of soundalikes.

J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter did the same for that subgenre, and Brandon Sanderson’s focus on magic systems likewise inspired authors, as did Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code. All of them had antecedents, some going back a century, but for whatever reason they represent pivot points, starting us on very specific paths.

Everything is a remix, true, but there always seems to be that one work that explodes into the public consciousness and changes things forever.

Speaking of remixes, my favorite documentary on that topic is Kirby Ferguson’s “Everything Is A Remix”: https://youtu.be/nJPERZDfyWc

His Vimeo page: https://vimeo.com/kirbyferguson

Gabi wrote: "That's an interesting reading suggestion, Dj. On to my TBR list!"

I have read a few of the stories in them, I have enjoyed most of the ones I have been through so far. I hope you enjoy it as well.

Trike wrote: "Dj wrote: "Well in a sense it wasn't the first. LotR that is. I have a book of various fantasy that was written before Tolkien and may include books that influenced him. It is called, appropriately..."

I find nothing to add or subtract from your presentation. In fact, I might have to borrow it sometime in the future.

Ricochet Joe - Great little short by DK. It's free on KU Read & Listen.

Vallista - Vlad Taltos is one of my fav series. Not all of the books are the amazing but each one adds to the world/characters. Brust likes to jump around the timeline and add different parts of the story as he gets them completed. This one is my absolute favorites in the series! I just read it yesterday and it was a terrific blend of what I love in the series and adding nuances to info I had. Also, it actually had a mystery that felt like a mystery. =D

Revenant (Animus #5) - Fun SF series that features a unique training academy, learning in virtual space & different species. Written by a father & son collaboration that I've come to enjoy.

You may be familiar with Michael Anderle's Kurtherian Universe series. That series was a fun & fluffy space opera but not the best writing. Usually, I'm not a fan of the "write fast & publish" because the stories do not come out as well written, edited, etc. This author has written a bunch on his own and with others. It's cool to see how his collaborations have influenced the way he thinks & writes stories. I've grown leery of co-written books lately because some of them are not true collaborations but one writer doing most of the writing in another writer's created world. Ideas are always cool. Execution could be a lot better. Michael Anderle is one of the few authors that I will try out before dismissing out of hand because the books tend to be good, if not great. I can't say the same for all of Joshua Anderle because that has not worked out as well. Haha

Ashlords - I ended up getting this one because of a line in Niki's Review and I liked it! Nice cast of narrators and solid intro to a new world/series. I loved the phoenix horses and the idea of racing them. Great build on history & characters. I'd like to see how events will unfold in the next book.

I finished The Unreal and the Real: Selected Stories, Volume Two: Outer Space, Inner Lands, which was a really good collection of Le Guin's short fiction.

Also read The Broken Heavens by Kameron Hurley, final book in the Worldbreaker Saga. This was good, though it had been almost five years since the last book and I hadn't done a reread so it wasn't exactly fresh. Also you kinda tell that Hurley stopped working on it at one point and came back later determined to finish it.

The second in the Book of Dust series is very different from the first but just as good.

My review of The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I just finished The Future of Another Timeline, which was often excruciating but also very worthwhile. As hard as it was at times, as a kid who spent the 90s and early oughts going to Sleater Kinney and Le Tigre shows, I did really love all the Riot Grrrl parts.

Now, I'm hungry to start some new fantasy series. I have on hand the first books of Anthony Ryan's Raven's Shadow books, Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus books, and Pierce Brown's Red Rising books. Not to derail this thread, but did you enjoy any of those?

Is tor.com stealing a page from Kaa? And if they are, should we call them Kaapycats?

https://www.tor.com/2020/01/22/introd...

My review of Redemption's Blade by Adrian Tchaikovsky

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

Beth wrote: "Is tor.com stealing a page from Kaa? And if they are, should we call them Kaapycats?

https://www.tor.com/2020/01/22/introd..."

Beth.

Beth.

I am so happy right now, Beth. Perfect pun! 10/10 would ugly laugh again!

Beth wrote: "Is tor.com stealing a page from Kaa? And if they are, should we call them Kaapycats?"

I'm imagining them as a hybrid of capybaras and kittens! ^-^

If someone is looking to read some ULKG this year, this project or otherwise, do check out Kaa's excellent list with links to all the discussions we have in group. There are so many!

Beth wrote: "Is tor.com stealing a page from Kaa? And if they are, should we call them Kaapycats?

https://www.tor.com/2020/01/22/introd..."

Lololol! I was just reading that article this morning to see how their list compared to mine. My list is a bit longer than theirs, but I'm missing Cheek by Jowl, which I suppose I'll add now.

Also, I am so glad to find that analysis of sexual violence in The Dispossessed - as much as I love the book, that one scene has always deeply disturbed me.

Travis wrote: "Now, I'm hungry to start some new fantasy series. I have on hand the first books of Anthony Ryan's Raven's Shadow books, Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus books, and Pierce Brown's Red Rising books. Not to derail this thread, but did you enjoy any of those? "

Blood Song is great! The rest of the series does not hold up well. I'm need to read the last book in that trilogy. This is my fav book out of the ones you mentioned to try.

You won't go astray with Stroud. That's a good, YA trilogy.

The first 3 books in Red Rising were solid SF and action packed. You can read those three and be mostly satisfied. I didn't like the progression or POV for the 4th book and decided I will wait until the whole thing is finished before I return to that series.

Soo wrote: "Travis wrote: "Now, I'm hungry to start some new fantasy series. I have on hand the first books of Anthony Ryan's Raven's Shadow books, Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus books, and Pierce Brown's Red Ri..."

Thanks so much for the great advice!

Have fun! Share what you think of the books when you get to them. =)

Gabi wrote: "I'll be reading "Northanger Abbey" next month with another group. This will be my first Jane Austen."

I just started that one after finishing Emma which was entertaining.

I'm also currently reading Dzur by Steven Brust and enjoying it

Travis wrote: "Now, I'm hungry to start some new fantasy series. I have on hand the first books of Anthony Ryan's Raven's Shadow books, Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus books, and Pierce Brown's Red Rising books. Not to derail this thread, but did you enjoy any of those?"

I liked the Raven’s Shadow books but agree with Soo that the first book was the best. I rated them 4.5, 4, and 3.5 stars respectively. They started to get tedious toward the end.

I had trouble getting into Red Rising. I thought it was written well enough, but it felt derivative to me. It probably depends on what you’ve read before, how recently, and how much you like the tropes. I thought the original trilogy improved a bit as it went along, finding more of its own voice at least, but it was kind of formulaic. I didn’t always guess what would happen, but I could almost always predict when a plan would work and when it would fail and when there would be a twist. I did enjoy some of the main characters though, which is part of what kept me reading. I didn’t read any books in the newer related series. To echo Soo's comment on this being SF, it might disappoint your fantasy hunger if you're looking for fantasy.

I haven’t read the Stroud books.

I hope you enjoy whichever one you pick!

Northanger Abbey is great - it's a persiflage of the type of spooky, gothic novels that were very popular at the time and so it's obviously much more funny if you've read those and know what she's making fun of in which conversation, etc. But I didn't know anything going in and still had a good time. And Jane Austen's irony and satire is never mean and always has a lot of heart (she's not a cynic, she just makes fun of behaviors that deserve to be made fun of).

I started Pandora's Star. My first Peter Hamilton. This author has some moxie. I'm only about a quarter of the way in. Lots of different story lines, characters and, I suspect they will all merge at some point.

I’m reading Seanan McGuires’s In an Absent Dream and really enjoying the writing and characters in this one! I loved the first two books in the series, but found the third one less to my liking, so I’m very pleased to find myself in the midst of the Goblin Market with this one.

The word I used for "Red Rising" is a Hackneyed Trope Stew. which isn't nearly as good as Brunswick Stew.

Eric, hope you enjoy Peter F. Hamilton. My favorite Hamilton is "Great North Road" lots of fun as long as you don't drop it on your toe at 1100 pages it'll leave a mark.

Don wrote: "Eric, hope you enjoy Peter F. Hamilton. My favorite Hamilton is "Great North Road" lots of fun as long as you don't drop it on your toe at 1100 pages it'll leave a mark."

The Kindle version is way lighter :-)

@Eva, I'm loving Northanger Abbey.

Yay, good to hear that you like it! I love Austen.

I've also recently started Pandora's Star, but fell asleep during the audio book and now have no idea where I left off. :-(

The last thing I remember is them using surveillance tech to overhear last minute re-negotiations of a weapons deal, and discussing what that means. Anyone happen to know in which chapter this happens?

On that note, I wish more modern novels as huge as Pandora's Star had old-fashioned Dickensian chapter headings. E.g. "Chapter 25, in which our heroes overhear re-negotiations and speculate on what this means" It would be so easy to find the right one again!

Jacqueline wrote: "Finished Skyward by Brandon Sanderson. Really loved it. Loved Doomslug and M-Bot."

I really dig Skyward. Just picked up Starsight a week ago and have been trying to work my way through my other TBR shelf before starting it. This was my first time reading Brandon Sanderson's work. He's really, really, good.

If you like his YA work, wait until you read his adult novels! :-)

I have some of Sanderson’s other novels but I’ve never read him before either. Really enjoyed Skyward.

Currently reading Dispel Illusion by Mark Lawrence. I bought it during the week and set A Closed and Common Orbit aside so I could read it. Really enjoying it too. It’s also another sci-fi book by a fantasy writer. It’s the last in the Impossible Times trilogy.

Eva wrote: "Yay, good to hear that you like it! I love Austen.

I've also recently started Pandora's Star, but fell asleep during the audio book and now have no idea where I left off. :-(

The last thing I re..."

I think that's late in Chapter Two. Adam Elvin?

I recently started reading Wool(is it really that short or did I grab the wrong copy?), The Toll(to finish the Scythe trilogy), and listening to The Raven Boys. The Ten Thousand Doors of January is sitting on my nightstand, waiting for me to pay it some attention as is Lies Sleeping which I started but, since I own it, I put it aside when a library book became available.

After reading three chapters of The House of the Spirits I DNF'd it. Just not my thing. Allende does have a way with words but she's an author I would have to take in small doses.

Karen wrote: "I recently started reading Wool(is it really that short or did I grab the wrong copy?), The Toll(to finish the Scythe trilogy), and listening to [book:The Raven Boys..."

Sounds like you picked up the first Wool novella rather than the Omnibus, which I'm currently listening to.

I am on a quest to listen to all of Discworld's books before the end of the year. Yesterday I finished Eric :D

I just started The Priory of the Orange Tree and it's pretty meh so far. Not sure if I'll finish it but I'll at least give it through the weekend to pick up a little. At least I might get some stuff done this weekend, if I don't have a book I'm desperate to get back to.

Don wrote: "Eric, hope you enjoy Peter F. Hamilton. My favorite Hamilton is "Great North Road" lots of fun as long as you don't drop it on your toe at 1100 pages it'll leave a mark."

Thanks! I'll add Great North Road to my list.

Wow ! "The Stormlight Archive #4" is available for pre-order now, it doesn't release until November. I for one am not buying until May or June. But I can't wait.

I started and then pretty quickly gave up on The House of the Spirits - I am just too tired to even attempt it right now.

Fortunately, in my flailing around for something else to read after putting that down, I found A Matter of Oaths, a fantastic space opera first published in the 1980s. It has a diverse cast (one of the MCs is a female spaceship commander nearing retirement age and the other two are queer men), no homophobia or sexism, hand-wavy but entertaining spaceship "science", and a fun twisty plot. I can't believe this book isn't better known, especially given how well it's held up over time.

Don wrote: "Wow ! "The Stormlight Archive #4" is available for pre-order now, it doesn't release until November. I for one am not buying until May or June. But I can't wait."

I would love to pre-order out of sheer enthusiasm, but I'm used to this series on audio. Meanwhile for me the narrators belong to the story like the characters, so I have to wait till publication date.

Just finished Tigana, wow what a read!!! Not a single page was boring or out of place. I was mesmerised by the narrative style and the switching between thrilling action scenes and passionate internal monologues. Tigana is now one of my all time favourites!

Stratos wrote: "Just finished Tigana, wow what a read!!! Not a single page was boring or out of place. I was mesmerised by the narrative style and the switching between thrilling action scenes and pa..."

I feel you. At moments I felt actual physical shudders while reading it.

Tigana was a buddy read a while back, Stratos, and it was super well-received there, too! I'm glad you enjoyed it ^^

Stratos wrote: "Just finished Tigana, wow what a read!!! Not a single page was boring or out of place. I was mesmerised by the narrative style and the switching between thrilling action scenes and pa..."

It’s so great to find a book like that. That’s the sort of thing that makes life worth living.

Last week I've read:

- Made Things by Adrian Tchaikovsky: this was further down my TBR list, but after I've read the prequel short story Precious Little Things in the tor.com fall collection and was enchanted by it, I had to bump it up. It turned out to be one of his comfort reads, utterly likeable characters, cute story and as always a well considered world-building (here puppets made from wood, metal, paper, cloth, candle and bones come to life and are the small big heroes)

- said Tor.com Short Fiction Fall 2019 collection, wherein I found some good stories by Greg Egan, E. Lily Yu, S.L. Huang, K. J. Kabza and aforementioned Adrian Tchaikovsky

- Tracks and Four Souls by Louise Erdrich made me put everything written by her on my TBR list. What a wonderful poetic and witty author.

- The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury was a mix of rather strange and dated short stories as well as great, timeless ones. The collection got better towards the second half of the book. His writing style, though, is very enjoyable.

- And now I'm listening to Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. It is next month's BotM in one of my groups and since it is on a lot of books-you-have-to-read-before-you-die lists I anxiously jumped into the cold water. 1400 pages or in my case 58 hours of audiobook time is a bit intimidating.
But, alas, what sublime author, what a powerful work! (ahem … that's to say - I really, really enjoy it and am quite surprised at that)

lots of social commentary history (sometimes unnecessary it seems), etc in Les Misérables. I read it last year or the year before for the TBR challenge that year.

Gabi wrote: "Last week I've read:

- Made Things by Adrian Tchaikovsky: this was further down my TBR list, but after I've read the prequel short story”

That sounds cool, and that cover is totally amazing.

it's on my TBR pile too