SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

I decided to DNF Ready Player Two.

The nostalgia inserts here were feeling more forced (.e.g. naming his robot butler Belvedere.. could go on, but maybe spoilers so won't) and the MC was just a lot less likeable (could change later on of course). I think mostly I'd seen this trick before and I liked it better the first time. Also I think that in the years since Ready Player One we've seen more media embracing this sort of nostalgia over novelty entertainment and I'm a bit tired of it.

Gabi wrote: "Thanks to Alina's comment I sorted a bit through my read shelf, which got quite clattered.

I've now dnf'd
Ring Shout
The First Sister
[book:The Unspoken Name|450465..."

I tried reading Lonesome Dove, I couldn't get through the abject inaction of the first few chapters. Did enjoy the movie though.

MadProfessah wrote: "@gabi I agree with you THE ALGEBRAIST is *awful* but I quite like his Culture books. The only one I have bounced off is “Excession” but “The Player of Games” and “Surface Detail” and “Matter” are f..."

That's very reassuring to know, MadProfessah! I'll definitely read the first two of the Culture series.

Yeah Christopher I can understand where you’re coming from with RPT. The second half gets better once they actually start doing something. It went from maybe a 3 tops to a 4⭐️ read for me in the end.

Diane wrote: "A Kickstarter thread would be awesome! When I back a project it’s most often in publishing. I’d love a place to talk about it here!"

Where do you suppose it should go? Members Chat?

yes! members chat works :)

Allison wrote: "yes! members chat works :)"
Cool! Now to figure out how to start a thread... ;^)
Are KS links allowed?

sure! unless they're for a personal ks, then that should go in the authors folder

Sparrow Knight wrote: "Diane wrote: "A Kickstarter thread would be awesome! When I back a project it’s most often in publishing. I’d love a place to talk about it here!"

Where do you suppose it should go? Members Chat?"

I'm wondering if that thread could become a morass of people begging for help with their KS projects?

CBRetriever wrote: "I'm wondering if that thread could become a morass of people begging for help with their KS projects? "

We'll delete anything promoting someone's own work. Those all have to stay in the Authors' folder.

Thanks, Anna

I finished The Golden Compass trilogy. The finale, The Amber Spyglass, was fantastic!

Thought I'd try The Color of Magic next.

Kate wrote: "Started another Star Trek: TOS book. This time it’s The Final Reflection by John M. Ford."

Is that one of the Klingon based books?

Kate wrote: "Dj wrote: "Kate wrote: "Started another Star Trek: TOS book. This time it’s The Final Reflection by John M. Ford."

Is that one of the Klingon based books?"

It is and ..."

When I was into reading the Star Trek books I found the Klingon-centered books to be a tad better overall than the ones that focused on the Original Crew. Might have been a bit more freedom involved in the writing that did it.

Ah, I went and looked and this is the one Star Trek book I have kept from those days. It was the basis for the Klingons that were used in FASA's Star Trek role-playing game. Something else that pretty much no longer exists.

I hope you enjoy the book as much as I did.

I finished The Knife of Never Letting Go

I have thought about it and I am still not even sure why I picked this book up and started reading it. All the way through I was thinking, I am not sure what the point of this story is but it is very well written. Normally if I am uncertain about what a book is trying to do by the second or third chapter I just toss it aside and call it good, but something about this one kept me coming back to it. Now that I am done with the first book of the Chaos Walking Series, I am very glad that I stuck with it. So glad in fact that I have already started the second book in the series.

No spoilers, but it is a great read, sort of a cross between an end of the world and a running for your life read.

Just finished Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths, an investigation into the women of Greek mythology. For those of us who read Greek myths and wondered why all the women were duplicitous sluts, crazed murderers, or voiceless victims Natalie Haynes has the answer. They Weren’t! By piecing together versions of the stories created by many ancient writers and artists we discover that Helen, Pandora, Medea and others were more multifaceted than the standard images of them we experience today. With wit and humour she shows how these mythological figures have been used in more recent historic times to put women in their place, to titillate the male gaze, and even to express feminist wrath. This is an excellent book, highly recommended.

finished A Fire Upon the Deep which was pretty good and had puppies and pack minds.

still working on The Gray House (70%) which is weirdly different being a book about a school for special children (differentially abled and those with mental problems) that doesn't deal much schooling at all. It has echoes of Lord of the Flies and different timelines and characters that change names, so it's not a quick read.

Sue wrote: "Just finished Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths, an investigation into the women of Greek mythology. For those of us who read Greek myths and wondered why all the women were d..."

I always like Penelope, will have to give this book a look.

Intellectuals and Society by Thomas Sowell

Good Day All,
I'm currently reading "Brida" by Paulo Coelho, Margaret Juli Costa.
Paulo explains complexities of life's lessons in such a simplistic manner.

i really dislike challengers. Since i retired a few years ago i read one book every 2 days. but i am too lazy to keep records of them. Then again i read so fast if it is a good book i usually need to re read to pick up all the little details.

i looked forward to this topic to pick up some clues on another book to read. I am lucky in so far the main library for our area is one block away and i can access it via the internet and order stuff

I dared to start the Shadows of the Apts series by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I always shied away from it so far, since I adore his SF and feared that his early work, and Fantasy at that, would not live up to my hype. But I needn't have worried. He managed to create such an adorable band of characters that I highly enjoyed the story, even though it is one of the usual folks-at-war Fantasy series. I'm already onto the second book.

they were my first introduction to him as an author and I adore those books

I'm going to have to add this to my TBR pile.

I finished Planetfall and liked it but thought the ending was a bit different than the rest of the book. I just started The Terror and felt like a complete idiot when I saw the chapter headings and realized it was the same as the show my friends were super into last year. I didn't read the blurb so I had no clue.

I much preferred the book to the show - there were some real differences between the two

I just finished off Kings of the Wyld and it's sequel Bloody Rose by Nicholas Eames. I really enjoyed these, not because they're a masterpiece of literature (they aren't) but because it was just a fun, slightly raucous look at a world overrun by monsters, in which mercenaries are the rock stars. It's chock-a-block full of music references and hat nods to other fantasy works. I found the whole piece to come across as a great relaxation book - not especially deep or thought provoking, but enjoyable (it reads like if D&D were a decent book)

I keep meaning to get to Kings of the Wyld. Maybe I'll have a mo' once I finish this absolutely mammoth book I'm working on right now.

ooh what is it? I need a challenge!

I enjoyed Kings of the Wyld and am waiting for a price drop or the next Kindle Deal to get the sequel

Alabaster wrote: "ooh what is it? I need a challenge!"

I'm chugging along through The Way of Thorn and Thunder that was started as a buddy read. It's quite good so far, but reeeaaally dense. You have to read every word and that's just not my normal reading style.

Y'all, last I heard, the polls for January were neck and neck. I know that doesn't really help, since you don't know what's winning, but if you haven't voted yet, your vote can super-duper count! And if you just like changing votes, time to be chaotic!

https://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/1...

hmmm...not a single public library in MA has a digital copy. Of course, MA is full of heathens, but that's pretty surprising. I'll keep my eyes peeled!

Alabaster wrote: "hmmm...not a single public library in MA has a digital copy. Of course, MA is full of heathens, but that's pretty surprising. I'll keep my eyes peeled!"

It's published through a university press who expressed to me pretty adamant reluctance to make it available to enthusiasts lol. But! It is in Scribd, if'n you wanted to use a free trial to read a book inspired by Native mythology and the Trail of Tears.

Ah. That's unfortunate. I'll finish off Ninefox Gambit, then i'll see what I can do

Finished reading No One's Home by D.M. Pulley and On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction by William Zinsser. I am reading Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson. I plan to read Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordan next.

I'm reading The Hurricane Code fascinating so far...

Gary, that's a lot of hefty books!

Luci, cool! Nice to run into hidden gems!

Finished reading The Poppy War. It was amazing book(gave it 5 stars). Now onto The Dragon Republic. Meanwhile, reading Memories of Ice and The Forever War in parallel.

From All False Doctrine by Alice Degan

I finished Broken Angels
The book has almost nothing to do with the second show that Netflix put out in the Altered Carbon Series. Even though at times the book seems to slow down in places It is still a very good follow to the first book. And despite the fact that he wasn't even in the first book, I miss Poe.
I am moving on to the last book in the series to see how this gets wrapped up.

A highlights update on my zany reading spree. =)

I'll start with a bummer. Between the library & Audible Plus, I've tried several books by Grady Hendrix. For me, he's the type of writer that dangles treasure and delivers fool's gold at best. I grew up in the Low Country area. Charleston, SC area is featured in a few of his books and most of what is written to establish setting for the area or characters leaves me in a quizzical state. I felt let down by all of the books I've read and concluded that I'm just not the right audience for his writing.

Kate Wilhelm - My intro to her was Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang via Audible Plus. An interesting, post-apocalyptic tale that deals with cloning and survival. I enjoyed the story & looked to see if more of her books were on AP. Most of Wilhelm's Barbara Holloway series is on there. It's one of the best, female lawyer series written by a female author that I've read. Between my library & AP, I was able to read the whole series. Great characters, broad range of topics, setting feels like the NW US, fun food bits and a satisfying conclusion in the last book. I liked that one of the sub-plot themes dealt with figuring out how to life your life in a manner that can uphold your ideals. I feel like it's kind of normal for people to make big changes a few times in their lives. There's nothing that says that you can only do ____ in your life. So, it's cool to have a character that gained exactly what they thought they wanted, saw the contrast of what that means, got depressed & bummed, and walked away from it. An achiever will see that as running away and losing. It was refreshing to have a 30+ years old female character dealing with life and trying to make it work.

Books I Loved
- Caine's Law - The conclusion to the series. I love this series! I hope Stover will write more in future. I have to hunt down the other series he has written and read it. It's only available in used paperbacks. This was wonderful mix of abstract ideas, detailed connections, classic Caine action and comic book style climatic finale.
- Forged #11 - A side of Alex that I've wanted to see for a long time. As a novel, it was great! Jam packed action, easy + relevant transition scenes and lots of key events that tie up stuff from the series. I'm a little concerned on how things will end in #12 because of continuity details, but excited to see how it'll go when it comes out.
- Endymion #3 - One more book to go and I'll wrap up the Hyperion Cantos. I loved the exploratory moments in the story. I think this is one of the best space opera series I've read. I'll decide for sure after I finish the series. The series has a nice balance of exotic settings (ship, station, planets, etc), galactic politics, religious questioning, interesting science and great characters.

Great Fun
- Deathstalker War - (Graphic Audio): It's a tossup on whether or not I enjoy GA adaptations. This one was great! Nice balance between narration, sound effects & etc. Classic weird/absurd touches that Green loves to put into his stories. After reading other space opera wannabe stories, it was nice to go back into the Deathstalker world. It's like reading a Star Wars story. I listened to the toy world part twice because I really enjoyed the themes, ideas and children elements applied to adult themes.
- Spider-Man: The Darkest Hours by Jim Butcher on AP - It was on AP and I wanted to see what kind of Spiderman Butcher would portray. It was a fun story and I thought Spidey came across a lot like the latest one in the movies.
- The Force - My first Don Winslow story. I did a BR for this one and really enjoyed it! Winslow is very clear in how he depicts the character, emotion, action, etc. It's really easy to visualize the story like a movie playing in your mind. This was a great story about a dirty cop.
- Snow Crash - What a zany story! Ha! It's a light cyberpunk tale that has an unlikely hero/Hiro. Am I the only one that imagines Hiro to be the Hiro from Heroes even though the character is mixed color + color person? While one of the least believable stories that I've read by Stephenson, it was one of the funniest and action bombed ones.

Fun MG Books
- Dragon Planet #2 is on AP. A solid followup to Zero G. It's a little science facts heavy in the beginning but turns into a fun adventure story on a planet with low gravity & dragons.
- I Did NOT Give That Spider Superhuman Intelligence! #0.5 a random library find. I hoped that it would be a fun story and it is. Reviews say that the series is better than this prequel tale but I enjoyed it. Young teens coming into their superpowers. What could go wrong? LoL I plan to read the rest of the series.

Good Jump Point
- Cotton Malone series by Steve Barry - I've read 10 of the books and enjoyed them. They are wannabe international thrillers but I like them more for the wacky twists the author uses on things he has researched. I find the way Barry presents political problems and link side characters to events to be weak. I love the range of historical topics: Knights Templar, Alexander the Great, American law, etc.
- The Making of Asian America: A History - A non-fiction book that tries to show how Asians came into the USA. Strong points are the political elements that were a part of how events ran and some of what is shown for the Chinese/Japanese. I recommend reading the book vs listening to it like I did. Any reporting about immigration history will need more than one book to give detailed summaries. Listening to this story made me think about what I would want to read in a historical report.

Dang, what an assortment, y'all!

Got my January SFFBC reads all lined up! The SF in audio (thanks for the heads up, Anna), the fantasy in paper. Looking forward to both.

Palash wrote: "Finished reading The Poppy War. It was amazing book(gave it 5 stars). Now onto The Dragon Republic. Meanwhile, reading Memories of Ice and The Fo..."</i>

Nice! I'm waiting for my copy of [book:The Burning God to get off hold myself.

I just finished off The Girl and the Stars by Mark Lawrence. Suuuuper strange book, but surprisingly enjoyable. It's set in the same world as Red Sister, which I think you've read as a group read.

Note, could anybody tell me how the entire post turned italicized? I haven't intentionally used italics at all.

Alabaster wrote: "Note, could anybody tell me how the entire post turned italicized? I haven't intentionally used italics at all."

Goodreads adds italics when you click “reply” and quote that person’s post. It automatically cuts the quote off at a certain point and, if that cutoff point happens to be in the middle of a book link, it screws up the HTML. If you were to erase everything after that final “and” in your quote, the closing italics tag should kick in properly.

Disney is going to make Megan Whalen Turner's "The Thief"
It should be awesome !

oh snap!

YouKneeK wrote: "Alabaster wrote: "Note, could anybody tell me how the entire post turned italicized? I haven't intentionally used italics at all."

Goodreads adds italics when you click “reply” and quote that pers..."

thank you!

I’m about 4/5ths of the way through Perdido Street Station. I think this is the most exhausting book I’ve ever read. Don’t get me wrong, I’m loving it, but the language is so dense, so intense, that I have to put it down every couple of chapters and come up for air. And now the plot is getting really intense...ack!

I am going to need some serious fluff after finishing this.

I’m also reading Enchantment and Exploitation: The Life and Hard Times of a New Mexico Mountain Range, nonfiction about northern New Mexico where I live. Mostly human history, with a little nod to the actual environment. This came recommended to me when I asked a group about a natural history of the area, and in that regard it’s a disappointment, but otherwise I’m enjoying learning more about the settlement of the area. It’s engagingly written, and compared to Perdido, it’s my light reading. =o)