September 2016 Reads

[Darth Richard II]

He doesn't seem to get much attention here in the colonies, but now I'm curious to try him out.

[Lady of Long Lake]

I was laid low with pneumonia last week and read Scott Lynch's first 3 books of the Locke Lamora series. They were very amusing and fun to read. I mistakenly thought it was a trilogy and was pretty annoyed when I read the final pages in the third book:)

[williamjm]

I finished Zen Cho's Sorcerer To The Crown. I thought this was an entertaining read without really standing out in any respect. It often falls into a bit of an awkward gap where it is a bit too whimsical to be taken entirely seriously and not amusing enough to work as comedy. The Regency setting and plotline of two mismatched and unlikely sorcerers trying to save English magic and dealing with malevolent fairy creatures inevitable invites comparisons to "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell" but in comparison I thought it was lacking that book's wit and inventiveness and although the protagonists are likeable it doesn't have an antagonist to match JS&MN's Gentleman. On the plus side, the story moves at a good pace and the ending does manage to conjure up a few surprises.

[Iskaral Pust]

Speaking of Stephen Baxter, my dad has been recommending the Long Earth series for ages so I finally just went and bought the first volume on Kindle. 

[polishgenius]

7 hours ago, Darth Richard II said:

He doesn't seem to get much attention here in the colonies, but now I'm curious to try him out.

Yeah, well, the colonies didn't even give Banks a proper shake until a few years ago. You're rubbish at SF.

[Darth Richard II]

Hey i read use of weapons because of this forum and then devoured everything else. And got...at least four others into hi too. This was in 2012 I think too and omg time flies so fast hiw was that four years ago.

 

ahen. 

[mushroomshirt]

Just finished The Call.  Downloaded it this morning.  For some reason the first few paragraphs were a little jarring for me.  Not sure what it was.  It took me a few pages to get used to, but 3 pages in and I couldn't put it down.  

Based on some of the comments / reviews I read I was expecting it to be more grim than it actually was.  

Probably since I'm not in the YA target audience, I don't really dig on the whole romance thing that goes with the genre.  The way the romance was written was my (minor) annoyance with Half a World, the last YA book I read.  I actually thought the romance in The Call was very nicely done since it was much more understated and (IMO) appropriate for the pretty dire setting the characters find themselves in.

Loved how I really had no idea what was going to happen.  I can't remember the last time I read a book like that.  Maybe it was the first time I read A Game of Thrones.

I thought the characterization was great.  Even the "bad guys" had clear personalities and motivations.

Peadar, you clearly have a real talent for this.  Congratulations on your creation.  I hope it brings you many chocolate bars.  

I'm excited to read the next one!

[RedEyedGhost]

On ‎9‎/‎2‎/‎2016 at 2:37 PM, beniowa said:

 

Also read Peadar's new book, The Call.  A great, great read.  World-building, characters, and writing are all well done.  It's grim, grim book, almost a little too grim.  It's self-contained, but there better be a second book!

 

You're in luck!  From the August thread:

On ‎9‎/‎1‎/‎2016 at 6:43 AM, Peadar said:

On ‎9‎/‎1‎/‎2016 at 4:55 AM, unJon said:

Awesome! Just bought kindle version. Is this a standalone or start of series?

Two books only -- at least that's the plan. The second one is already passing through the editorial canal...

 

12 hours ago, mushroomshirt said:

Wow you are right now amazon says "1 to 2 months" to receive.

That's crazy.

@Peadar What's up with that?  It hasn't gone to a second printing already has it?  That would be awesome if it did!  With all those chocolate bars, you'd have to build a house out in the forest.

 

1 hour ago, mushroomshirt said:

Just finished The Call.  Downloaded it this morning.  For some reason the first few paragraphs were a little jarring for me.  Not sure what it was.  It took me a few pages to get used to, but 3 pages in and I couldn't put it down.  

Based on some of the comments / reviews I read I was expecting it to be more grim than it actually was.  

Probably since I'm not in the YA target audience, I don't really dig on the whole romance thing that goes with the genre.  The way the romance was written was my (minor) annoyance with Half a World, the last YA book I read.  I actually thought the romance in The Call was very nicely done since it was much more understated and (IMO) appropriate for the pretty dire setting the characters find themselves in.

Loved how I really had no idea what was going to happen.  I can't remember the last time I read a book like that.  Maybe it was the first time I read A Game of Thrones.

I thought the characterization was great.  Even the "bad guys" had clear personalities and motivations.

Peadar, you clearly have a real talent for this.  Congratulations on your creation.  I hope it brings you many chocolate bars.  

I'm excited to read the next one!

Wow, lucky you.  I had zero time to read today (and will probably have about the same tomorrow), so I'm sitting at like 8%.  Will read more before bed in a bit.

Sounds like it's time to check out his back catalogue!  That trilogy is excellent.  He also has a short story collection that has a really cool Fey story.

[Spockydog]

Just finished it, @Peadar.

It's not often a book lives up to the pre-release hype, but this was fantastic. Looking forward to the next one.

 

[Peadar]

4 hours ago, mushroomshirt said:

 

 

4 hours ago, mushroomshirt said:

Loved how I really had no idea what was going to happen.  I can't remember the last time I read a book like that.  Maybe it was the first time I read A Game of Thrones.

Peadar, you clearly have a real talent for this.  Congratulations on your creation.  I hope it brings you many chocolate bars.  

I'm excited to read the next one!

Thanks, Mushroomshirt! Delighted you enjoyed it, and a comparison to aSoIaF, no matter how tangential, is all I could ever want

3 hours ago, RedEyedGhost said:

 

 

 What's up with that?  It hasn't gone to a second printing already has it?  That would be awesome if it did!  With all those chocolate bars, you'd have to build a house out in the forest.

 

I have no idea of that kind of stuff REG. I doubt very much we're into a second printing already. It's very early days and I'm not famous, so, it will take quite a bit of effort to get through the first 25,000 books!

7 minutes ago, Spockydog said:

Just finished it, @Peadar.

It's not often a book lives up to the pre-release hype, but this was fantastic. Looking forward to the next one.

 

Hurray! Glad you enjoyed it Spockydog!

[polishgenius]

6 hours ago, Darth Richard II said:

Hey i read use of weapons because of this forum and then devoured everything else. And got...at least four others into hi too. This was in 2012 I think too and omg time flies so fast hiw was that four years ago.

 

ahen. 

 

 

Oooh 2012, check you out. >_>


If you do try Baxter, don't expect Banksian writing. He's more in the vein of Arthur C. Clarke, although his scope is often on a whole different level (not every individual story is huge but the scope of the Xeelee universe is bonkers).

[HexMachina]

15 hours ago, williamjm said:

I finished Zen Cho's Sorcerer To The Crown. I thought this was an entertaining read without really standing out in any respect. It often falls into a bit of an awkward gap where it is a bit too whimsical to be taken entirely seriously and not amusing enough to work as comedy. The Regency setting and plotline of two mismatched and unlikely sorcerers trying to save English magic and dealing with malevolent fairy creatures inevitable invites comparisons to "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell" but in comparison I thought it was lacking that book's wit and inventiveness and although the protagonists are likeable it doesn't have an antagonist to match JS&MN's Gentleman. On the plus side, the story moves at a good pace and the ending does manage to conjure up a few surprises.

You are not the first to mention Strange and Norrell when talking about Sorceror to the Crown. I'm really going to have to try and read that now. If you are interested, this is the first in a trilogy I think.

I personally loved it though, found the characters very entertaining, loved the world building and magic and fantastical creatures. I also found it funny enough without being too OTT. This was Zen Cho's debut novel I think, so that impressed me even more (although I think she has released short fiction previously. I've read one of her novelettes)

I think there is pretty much just me and @Darth Richard II who adore this book.

 

I finished The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchinson. One of those rare surprises from Kindle First that I really got into and enjoyed. Fascinating central character/narrator. The ending was a bit rushed, and the writing sloppy at times, but I thoroughly enjoyed this one. 

Next up its back to The Race by Nina Allen, which I put down because the Obelisk Gate downloaded. I haven't been wowed so far but I'll keep going

[Darth Richard II]

2 hours ago, polishgenius said:

 

 

Oooh 2012, check you out. >_>


If you do try Baxter, don't expect Banksian writing. He's more in the vein of Arthur C. Clarke, although his scope is often on a whole different level (not every individual story is huge but the scope of the Xeelee universe is bonkers).

Well, I just meant before he got a lot of press for, you know, dying.

[polishgenius]

2 hours ago, Darth Richard II said:

Well, I just meant before he got a lot of press for, you know, dying.

Fair enough.
I know he hadn't been properly published in America till I think around the time you read him (maybe a little earlier), so I was kinda making a joke about that...



 

 

2 hours ago, HelenaExMachina said:

You are not the first to mention Strange and Norrell when talking about Sorceror to the Crown. I'm really going to have to try and read that now. If you are interested, this is the first in a trilogy I think.

Strange and Norrell is badass.
I got Sorcerer to the Crown the other day, and one of the reasons I took the plunge finally is that it does look very much like it'll hit the same sort of notes.

eta: badass is probably the wrong choice of word. But awesome isn't. It's awesome.

[Durckad]

I just finished Abaddon's Gate last night and, as with Caliban's War, I thought it was a bit of a step down from the prior books. Whereas I really liked Caliban's War quite a bit for the most part (aside from one POV section), Abaddon's Gate I merely 'liked.' I think the major difference between them comes down to the fact that the new POV's weren't as interesting or fun to read as Bobbie's or Avasarala's or even Miller's. I did like Anna, Bull was... okay, good for moving the plot forwards but not terribly interesting, and Melba was interesting though I'm not sure I enjoyed reading her chapters all that much. And, of course, Holden is typical Holden.

Spoiler

I did like the reveals about the proto-molecule and the general sciencey weirdness regarding the station and the slow zone and I thought the book was best when it focused on that, especially the scenes dealing with the massive deceleration and how much shit gets wrecked as a result of it. But the end doesn't deal much with that and ultimately devolves into humans shooting at each other. Which is fine because action and explosions are fun, but this almost felt as if it came out of nowhere. Not only was there very little build up to the coup but Ashford's decent into complete insanity just felt tacked on. He was also the least compelling 'villain' in any of the books so far. At least Mao and Nguyen from CW had fairly logical motivations, Ashford just went crazy because the plot required him to do so. 

So, a good book, but I really hope Cibola Burn is a bit better. I really don't want each book to be a step down from the one prior.

I started on Justin Cronin's The Passage. It's been sitting on my Kindle for a couple of years now so I think it's time to finally read it.

[Darth Richard II]

Yeah I had to order a few of the culture books from Amazon cause the us publishing history is odd, plus I think a few of them are out of print. I know trying to get Inversions at the time was a pain.

@Helena I think there was one other on here who loved it as much as us.  I'm finding I love regency era fantasy or whatever they call it, which I was not expecting. Also Kate Elliott loved it, you should all be reading Kate Elliott dammit! 

[polishgenius]

10 minutes ago, Darth Richard II said:

Also Kate Elliott loved it, you should all be reading Kate Elliott dammit! 

Oddly enough I just read The Spirit Gate, my first Elliott book, last week.

[williamjm]

5 hours ago, HelenaExMachina said:

You are not the first to mention Strange and Norrell when talking about Sorceror to the Crown. I'm really going to have to try and read that now. If you are interested, this is the first in a trilogy I think.

I did see on Goodreads that it was the first in a series, although I think it would have worked fine as a standalone. I liked the book well enough that I'd probably read a sequel at some point, even if I wouldn't necessarily rush out to get it.

I think if you liked Sorcerer then I'd definitely recommend Strange and Norrell to you. Although it's one of my favourite fantasy books, I'm sometimes a bit wary about recommending it because it does have an unusual writing style that isn't going to be everyone's taste and it's undeniably slow paced, especially to begin with (that's one area where Sorcerer definitely does better). I think the writing styles and sensibilities of the two books are similar enough that I think you'd like Clarke's writing if you liked Cho's writing.

Strange and Norrell is badass.

eta: badass is probably the wrong choice of word. But awesome isn't. It's awesome.

A reader might describe the book as "Badass", but a gentleman never would.

[HexMachina]

4 hours ago, Darth Richard II said:

Yeah I had to order a few of the culture books from Amazon cause the us publishing history is odd, plus I think a few of them are out of print. I know trying to get Inversions at the time was a pain.

@Helena I think there was one other on here who loved it as much as us.  I'm finding I love regency era fantasy or whatever they call it, which I was not expecting. Also Kate Elliott loved it, you should all be reading Kate Elliott dammit! 

Yeah I think there was now you mention it. I'll keep waving my little flag here.

Great, another author to add to the to-read list. 

4 hours ago, williamjm said:

I did see on Goodreads that it was the first in a series, although I think it would have worked fine as a standalone. I liked the book well enough that I'd probably read a sequel at some point, even if I wouldn't necessarily rush out to get it.

I think if you liked Sorcerer then I'd definitely recommend Strange and Norrell to you. Although it's one of my favourite fantasy books, I'm sometimes a bit wary about recommending it because it does have an unusual writing style that isn't going to be everyone's taste and it's undeniably slow paced, especially to begin with (that's one area where Sorcerer definitely does better). I think the writing styles and sensibilities of the two books are similar enough that I think you'd like Clarke's writing if you liked Cho's writing.

 

 

A reader might describe the book as "Badass", but a gentleman never would.

Yeah I think it works well as a stand alone too. Not sure how closely connected the series will be, or if it's just going to be stuff set in the same world and time period. I'm interested to see more of this world Cho has created though, I find it very compelling.

Slow paced doesn't bother me at all really, unless there is no pay off and/or the characters are dull. I'll certainly give it a try though

[aceluby]

Just finished Warrior Prophet and am moving on to The Thousandfold Thought.  Everything about this series is just gripping me.