What you're reading - June 2017

[RedEyedGhost]

After the incredibly boring End of the Day by Claire North, I wanted something light and easy, so I've started Zoe's Tale by John Sclazi.  I'd read The Last Colony years ago, but never read further, because I heard this and that were too similar to one another.  It's been so long that I barely remember what happened, so the perfect time to jump back into this series.

[brunhilda]

Alcatraz 5. Still confused by these books. They're okay but they lack what I normally enjoy in Sanderson

[Darth Richard II]

1 hour ago, brunhilda said:

Alcatraz 5. Still confused by these books. They're okay but they lack what I normally enjoy in Sanderson

Arnt those for kids?

[Starkess]

I've been reading an omnibus of the original Shannara trilogy. Finished Sword of Shannara--it's okay, takes a while to get going but the second half is decently entertaining. Also finished Elfstones of Shannara. One of my favorite books as a teenager--I still remember being in such a gale of tears after finishing it that my mom came into my room very concerned. It of course couldn't live up to that, but it was still an enjoyable read. Now I am working on Wishsong of Shannara, which I hardly remember at all. It's fine so far.

[Damelon]

Busy with my Bakker reread in preparation for TUC,  now nearly halfway through The Thousandfold Thought.

[Andorion]

Finished reading To Say Nothing of the Dog from the Oxford Time Travel series by Connie Willis. Absolutely loved it. 

1 hour ago, Damelon said:

Busy with my Bakker reread in preparation for TUC,  now nearly halfway through The Thousandfold Thought.

I am kind of in a weird position as regards Bakker. I finished reading the Prince of Nothing trilogy in January and then decided to hold of on the Aspect Emperor books so I can read them and jum straight to the Unhily Consult without a pause. And now they are sitting there staring at me

[Damelon]

33 minutes ago, Andorion said:

Finished reading To Say Nothing of the Dog from the Oxford Time Travel series by Connie Willis. Absolutely loved it. 

I am kind of in a weird position as regards Bakker. I finished reading the Prince of Nothing trilogy in January and then decided to hold of on the Aspect Emperor books so I can read them and jum straight to the Unhily Consult without a pause. And now they are sitting there staring at me

Staring at you, huh?

Well. I understand. It was only last year that I read Bakker for the first time, just PON for starters. It took me almost three months to decide and continue reading the Aspect Emperor, for curiosity to win out. The world and its deeper mysteries called out. Originally, I had not planned to do a reread, since it's all quite fresh, however, I do look forward to TUC and I finally figured that the only way to optimize the experience of reading TUC was a reread.

[Peadar]

Reading a YA début, Ink by Alice Broadway. Just starting, but really liking it so far.

[LuckyCharms]

11 hours ago, Andorion said:

Finished reading To Say Nothing of the Dog from the Oxford Time Travel series by Connie Willis. Absolutely loved it. 

I am kind of in a weird position as regards Bakker. I finished reading the Prince of Nothing trilogy in January and then decided to hold of on the Aspect Emperor books so I can read them and jum straight to the Unhily Consult without a pause. And now they are sitting there staring at me

You have about forty days until TUC's release. I figure you could start now. Even if you finished with some weeks to spare, those few days will just up the anticipation factor.

[Iskaral Pust]

The last few weeks have been tough for reading, just a couple of minutes late each night before I crash asleep.  With that in mind, Too Like The Lightning by Ada Palmer is a great book but not the best choice to read in that pattern.  

First the positives: a SF with inventive world-building, complex political/social factions, engaging prose and interesting use of Enlightenment philosophy and history.  It's thematically similar to Stephenson's Diamond Age combined with some of the history & philosophy of his Baroque Cycle, but the style is very dissimilar: less humor, less clunky prose/exposition and less focus on nerdy protagonists & libertarian politics, but more factions and complexity.

Now the negatives: (1) It's excessively complicated in the number of plots and political factions.  The first quarter of the book dragged as it labored to introduce so many characters in so many factions while the author also played with an unusual style of narration voice.  I have high hopes that the many threads will be resolved well, but even so it was too many.  (2) Poor structural editing.  It ends abruptly and promises a resolution in a sequel.  It looks like a single novel got bisected arbitrarily.  Thankfully the sequel is available already. (3) It's hard to suspend disbelief at the behavior of the faction leaders: their trust of Mycroft is only slightly more improbable than their mutual openness/collaboration and apparent dearth of competition.  It seems like reality would encourage more power-hungry and self-interested leadership of at least one faction. 

Overall, very highly recommended and I look forward to reading the sequel very soon. 

[Garett Hornwood]

I started the month with about 20% left to read in Rogues, the short story collection edited by Martin and Gardner R. Dozois.  I finished the book earlier today and overall the stories were above average with a few stinkers and several great stories.

My next read will be Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck.

[SkynJay]

Finishing up Godblind, a debut by Anna Stephens.  It is enjoyable enough but I can't find anything unique about it that would make it stand out among other dark high fantasy tales.  Maybe the last fifty pages will blow me away.

Also listening to Consider Phlebas by Banks.  If it was my first Culture novel I am not sure I would have continued on.  It is so sporadic.  But I started with Use of Weapons so I know Culture is mostly worth reading and will continue on. 

[williamjm]

I finished Robert Jackson Bennett's City of Miracles. I think it's been an excellent trilogy, and this was a fitting conclusion to it. If City of Stairs felt a bit like an espionage novel in a fantasy setting and City of Blades was at least partially a war novel, this feels a bit like a Western, specifically the type of Western where the ageing gunslinger looks back on life with many regrets but still isn't quite ready to give up yet. I thought the book did a good job of picking up plot threads from the earlier two books and extrapolating from them - I don't know to what extent Bennett did plan this in advance, but it all seems to come together quite neatly. There is a bit in the middle where the plot momentum stalls for a bit, but it definitely picks up when the story approaches it end.

Next up I'll probably try to read some more of the Hugo nominees, starting with Ninefox Gambit.

15 hours ago, SkynJay said:

Also listening to Consider Phlebas by Banks.  If it was my first Culture novel I am not sure I would have continued on.  It is so sporadic.  But I started with Use of Weapons so I know Culture is mostly worth reading and will continue on. 

I did the same thing and had read a couple of other Culture books before CP, and I was a bit disappointed in it by comparison, the first half in particular was clumsy, introducing a huge cast of characters we don't really care about. I thought the second half did improve a lot and the plot became much more focused.

[Darth Richard II]

23 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said:

The last few weeks have been tough for reading, just a couple of minutes late each night before I crash asleep.  With that in mind, Too Like The Lightning by Ada Palmer is a great book but not the best choice to read in that pattern.  

First the positives: a SF with inventive world-building, complex political/social factions, engaging prose and interesting use of Enlightenment philosophy and history.  It's thematically similar to Stephenson's Diamond Age combined with some of the history & philosophy of his Baroque Cycle, but the style is very dissimilar: less humor, less clunky prose/exposition and less focus on nerdy protagonists & libertarian politics, but more factions and complexity.

Now the negatives: (1) It's excessively complicated in the number of plots and political factions.  The first quarter of the book dragged as it labored to introduce so many characters in so many factions while the author also played with an unusual style of narration voice.  I have high hopes that the many threads will be resolved well, but even so it was too many.  (2) Poor structural editing.  It ends abruptly and promises a resolution in a sequel.  It looks like a single novel got bisected arbitrarily.  Thankfully the sequel is available already. (3) It's hard to suspend disbelief at the behavior of the faction leaders: their trust of Mycroft is only slightly more improbable than their mutual openness/collaboration and apparent dearth of competition.  It seems like reality would encourage more power-hungry and self-interested leadership of at least one faction. 

Overall, very highly recommended and I look forward to reading the sequel very soon. 

I believe it was one book the publisher split in two. Not sure how much say Palmer got in where it was split.

[Cithrin's Ale]

Over the past week, I've finished Robert Jackson Bennett's City of Stairs, Christian Cameron's Killer of Men and Michael Livingston's Gates of Hell. I also reread The Darkness That Comes Before. Hooray for summer vacation!

City of Stairs was great. I look forward to City of Blades.

Killer of Men was incredible. It felt like a marriage between  Bernard Cornwell's work and Gemell's Troy trilogy. I really want to read Cameron's other historical works now and almost want to revisit the Traitor Son series. Unfortunately, teaching makes it very hard to give Traitor Son the commitment it needs. It is summer break, though; maybe I should pick up Fell Sword again?

Gates of Hell improved upon Shards of Heaven in that it took more narrative risks, but I continue to view the series as quick, pulpy fun more than anything else.

This is my third time reading The Darkness That Comes Before. I was most impressed by Bakker's prose this time around. When I started the book, I was hoping to reread the series in prep for Unholy Consult. I will probably be scrapping those plans. While I am fond of the series, rereading it for a third time just takes too much time away from new books.

I will now be slowly working my way through Garden of the Moon for a friend. I already read Deadhouse Gates, but I find this book a slog in comparison. I just want to start Memories of Ice already...

 

 

[redeagl]

9 hours ago, Cithrin's Ale said:

Over the past week, I've finished Robert Jackson Bennett's City of Stairs, Christian Cameron's Killer of Men and Michael Livingston's Gates of Hell. I also reread The Darkness That Comes Before. Hooray for summer vacation!

City of Stairs was great. I look forward to City of Blades.

Killer of Men was incredible. It felt like a marriage between  Bernard Cornwell's work and Gemell's Troy trilogy. I really want to read Cameron's other historical works now and almost want to revisit the Traitor Son series. Unfortunately, teaching makes it very hard to give Traitor Son the commitment it needs. It is summer break, though; maybe I should pick up Fell Sword again?

Gates of Hell improved upon Shards of Heaven in that it took more narrative risks, but I continue to view the series as quick, pulpy fun more than anything else.

This is my third time reading The Darkness That Comes Before. I was most impressed by Bakker's prose this time around. When I started the book, I was hoping to reread the series in prep for Unholy Consult. I will probably be scrapping those plans. While I am fond of the series, rereading it for a third time just takes too much time away from new books.

I will now be slowly working my way through Garden of the Moon for a friend. I already read Deadhouse Gates, but I find this book a slog in comparison. I just want to start Memories of Ice already...

 

 

Stick with it.It begins a little slower than the rest but it is 10000% worth it.

[Paxter]

I finished Tim Winton's Cloudstreet yesterday. I enjoyed this without loving it as much as I thought I would. The prose was excellent and Winton certainly has a unique, almost poetic, way of showcasing Australian culture and vernacular. But I found the meandering story to be disengaging and ultimately not that impactful. Overall, I would say that if you are interested in trying Winton, you should check out Breath or Dirt Music first.

Now on to Bronte's Wuthering Heights. I may revert to some SFF afterwards, having recently woken from the coma induced by Elantris.

[Queen of Procrastination]

Just finished Joe Abercrombie's The Heroes and I enjoyed it a lot. Only starting reading Abercrombie half a year ago and he has already become one of my favourite authors. While I enjoyed the book, I still liked Best served cold and the First Law Trilogy more. The characters in the Heroes where interesting, but none of them fascinated me the same way Glockta or Monza did. 

Now, I'm reading The Fate of the Tearling by Erika Johansen. I liked the first book, but didn't enjoy the second one, so I hope that the last book will be better again and bring the series to a satisfying conclusion.

With my reading group I'm also readint Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's tale. This book is depressing and horrifying, but it is one of the best books I've ever read. I would like to read other books written by Atwood in the future. 

[Isildur's Mane]

Finished reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw by Jeff Kinney. It's a kids book, I know, but good. Easy to read and relatable.

Still reading Mostly Harmless by Douglas Adams - I'm not finding it as easy to read as the other Hitchhiker's books.

I'm also at the start of Metro Winds by Isobelle Carmody [ 6%] and at the start of Joan of Arc: The image of Female Heroism by Marina Warner [6%] 

[YoungGriffIsAegonBlackfyre]

I'm currently reading The Mystery Knight novella, The World of Ice and Fire, The Woman in White, Tess of the D'Ubervilles, Bleak House, and Northanger Abbey.