May Reads

[The Marquis de Leech]

Finished off The Princess and the Goblin. Definitely works better for a modern audience than At the Back of the North Wind - we are dealing with a overtly fairy tale setting, rather than maudlin Victoriana. Still, I'm coming to the conclusion that MacDonald is one of those authors who is primarily interesting for who he influenced, rather than for his actual work itself - in this case, his goblins are a clear (but far more light-hearted) predecessor to Tolkien's orcs.

Next up is the sequel, The Princess and Curdie.

[C.T. Phipps]

My next month of reading is:

Galefire II by Kenny Soward
Valley of Embers by Steven Kelliher
Shattered Dreams by Ulff Lehmann
The Eighth God by Paul Lavender
Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames
Thrawn by Timothy Zahn
HMS Nightinggale by J.A. Sutherland

Just finished Nightingale and was a bit disappointed due to the depiction of religious people. Will probably do Valley of Embers or Shattered Dreams next.

Albeit, I'm tempted to pick up the next volume of M.L. Spencer's Rhenwars series.

I'm also listening to SIlver by Rhiannon Held in my car.

 

[Iskaral Pust]

After the discussion in the April thread, I returned to Blade Of Tyshalle to give it another chance.  Kindle knew that I stopped at 17% before but I went back to the start and this time, even with deliberate perseverance, had to drop it at 28%.  I just don't see anything to make it worth my time.  Very wooden prose and the plot reads like a Steven Seagal movie.  I accept that others enjoyed it much more -- I'll be taking names and avoiding their other recs.

Now reading Too Like The Lightning, which is difficult to get into in the first few chapters because of muddled perspectives (POV and timeframe), unfamiliar names and words, and world-building that is only slowly revealed.  But I expect it will pay off. 

[brunhilda]

Legion: Skin Deep and then Legion. I know that's out of order but I had the one not realizing it was the sequel, thoroughly enjoyed it, then went and read the first. Legion wasn't as good but still enjoyable. Clever concept, engaging world building. Liked a lot.

[Darth Richard II]

3 hours ago, C.T. Phipps said:

My next month of reading is:

Galefire II by Kenny Soward
Valley of Embers by Steven Kelliher
Shattered Dreams by Ulff Lehmann
The Eighth God by Paul Lavender
Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames
Thrawn by Timothy Zahn
HMS Nightinggale by J.A. Sutherland

Just finished Nightingale and was a bit disappointed due to the depiction of religious people. Will probably do Valley of Embers or Shattered Dreams next.

Albeit, I'm tempted to pick up the next volume of M.L. Spencer's Rhenwars series.

I'm also listening to SIlver by Rhiannon Held in my car.

 

Haha, well, you probably are reading the wrong genre then. Also might want to avoid Cornwell.

[polishgenius]

4 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said:

 I accept that others enjoyed it much more -- I'll be taking names and avoiding their other recs.

I love Acts of Caine, so just make sure you avoid the likes of Daniel Abraham, Terry Pratchett, China Mieville, NK Jemisin, Guy Gavriel Kay and Claire North, coz I think they're brilliant too.

[C.T. Phipps]

2 hours ago, Darth Richard II said:

Haha, well, you probably are reading the wrong genre then. Also might want to avoid Cornwell.

Eh, I'm a big boy really. When I read the 2001 series, I knew I was going to be subject to his "Outgrown Silly Superstitions" speechs. I still enjoy ACC as a writer.

Still, it's not the kind of thing I expected with a Age of Sail in Space/Steampunk thing.

Especially since the novel made a bunch of psychotic terrorist....Amish.

I don't need to agree with author's opinions as a general rule but this one took me by surprise after three books of period appropriate beliefs.

[williamjm]

I finished Iain M. Banks' The Algebraist. I thought it was a good book, it may not be in the Culture setting (and some of the world-building such as the anti-AI crusade is probably a deliberate contrast to the Culture) but it has a similar sort of large scale space opera setting. It's not quite as good as the best Culture books, but I think better than some of them. I particularly liked the gas giant-inhabiting dwellers and their ancient but enigmatic society and Fassin's quest to try to uncover some of their secrets. The final conclusion of Fassin's quest was also well done. It also made good use of flashbacks to fill in background world-building and character development, although I was a little bit disappointed that the crashed alien ship that an adolescent Fassin explores with some of his friends was a plot thread that didn't really seem to tie into the rest of the story despite having seemed important initially.

Sadly, this means I will now never be able to read an Iain M Banks Science Fiction book for the first time

I haven't read most of his non-SF books, so may read some of them sometime.

Next up I'm going to read Adrian Tchaikovsky's second Shadows of the Apt short story collection, A Time For Grief.

[Darth Richard II]

6 hours ago, C.T. Phipps said:

Eh, I'm a big boy really. When I read the 2001 series, I knew I was going to be subject to his "Outgrown Silly Superstitions" speechs. I still enjoy ACC as a writer.

Still, it's not the kind of thing I expected with a Age of Sail in Space/Steampunk thing.

Especially since the novel made a bunch of psychotic terrorist....Amish.

I don't need to agree with author's opinions as a general rule but this one took me by surprise after three books of period appropriate beliefs.

Ha, I was thinking of a totally different book. Also that does sound...odd.

[The Marquis de Leech]

Finished off The Princess and Curdie. This one was a chore - none of the comic-relief goblins from the previous book, and a whole heap of nineteenth century Christian preachiness (alcohol is evil, and it is a privilege to be poor...). The most that can be said for it is the clear influence on Narnia - especially Prince Caspian. Heavy-handed Christianity, "pure" child protagonist aided by beasts against evil men, and a bizarre esoteric ending? No wonder Lewis loved it.

Next up is Death in Sunset Grove, by Minna Lindgren. 

[unJon]

13 hours ago, polishgenius said:

I love Acts of Caine, so just make sure you avoid the likes of Daniel Abraham, Terry Pratchett, China Mieville, NK Jemisin, Guy Gavriel Kay and Claire North, coz I think they're brilliant too.

This. Also Robin Hobb, Ada Palmer (might as well put down Too Like The Lightning right now), KJ Parker. The list goes on. 

[LongRider]

12 hours ago, williamjm said:

Sadly, this means I will now never be able to read an Iain M Banks Science Fiction book for the first time

I haven't read most of his non-SF books, so may read some of them sometime.

I've read many of Banks non-SF books and overall enjoyed them.  His first; The Wasp Factory, is quite a bazar story and actually I liked it for it's weirdness.  The second one, Walking on Glass has some SF elements to it, and one of the best scenes of psychosis meets bureaucracy that I've ever read. 

[Peadar]

3 hours ago, Nasty LongRider said:

I've read many of Banks non-SF books and overall enjoyed them.  His first; The Wasp Factory, is quite a bazar story and actually I liked it for it's weirdness.  The second one, Walking on Glass has some SF elements to it, and one of the best scenes of psychosis meets bureaucracy that I've ever read. 

The Crow Road is also wonderful, IMHO. 

[Plessiez]

2 hours ago, Peadar said:

The Crow Road is also wonderful, IMHO. 

Seconded.  It's been a good few years since I last read it, but I remember really liking The Bridge, as well.

[Starkess]

I finished Fool's Quest on Saturday. I just couldn't make myself read slow enough! But it is almost tomorrow and soon now I shall have the last book in hand!

On 5/7/2017 at 10:08 AM, Roose Boltons Pet Leech said:

Finished off The Princess and the Goblin. Definitely works better for a modern audience than At the Back of the North Wind - we are dealing with a overtly fairy tale setting, rather than maudlin Victoriana. Still, I'm coming to the conclusion that MacDonald is one of those authors who is primarily interesting for who he influenced, rather than for his actual work itself - in this case, his goblins are a clear (but far more light-hearted) predecessor to Tolkien's orcs.

Next up is the sequel, The Princess and Curdie.

I used to love those books when I was a kid! I wonder if they would hold up at all.

[ljkeane]

I finished Fool's Quest over the weekend too. I'm tempted to just start Assassin's Fate but I think I'm going to stick it out and wait till I'm on holiday next week. I might look like a bit of a weirdo if I end up breaking down on the plane or something though.

While I'm holding off on reading Assassin's Fate I'm reading The Obelisk Gate which I expected to be fairly dark given the previous book but, still, the start of the book is pretty brutal.

[D_P]

I am currently making my way through Guards, Guards, Survivor by Palahniuk and A Star-Reckoners Lot by Darrell Drake (He is a reddit poster and this book came rec'd by a couple of buddies).  It is surprisingly engaging so far but Guards, Guards and Survivor are re-reads.

I decided to break it up some by reading the Expanse novellas...What is the consensus on these?  I plan to start with The Churn because of the TV show but maybe I shouldn't?  I've only read the main series through Caliban's War, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

[HexMachina]

3 hours ago, ljkeane said:

I finished Fool's Quest over the weekend too. I'm tempted to just start Assassin's Fate but I think I'm going to stick it out and wait till I'm on holiday next week. I might look like a bit of a weirdo if I end up breaking down on the plane or something though.

While I'm holding off on reading Assassin's Fate I'm reading The Obelisk Gate which I expected to be fairly dark given the previous book but, still, the start of the book is pretty brutal.

That's a rather heavy couple of weeks reading-wise. Ouch. I hope you emerge in tact  

I'm almost 3/4 through Assassin's Fate, which I love as much as I expected to. I also started Les Miserable but set it aside because of other things cropping up. I'll co,e back to it when I finish Assassin's Fate though

[LongRider]

3 hours ago, D_P said:

 I plan to start with The Churn

I haven't seen the TV show and have read The Churn and would say reading where you're at would be just fine.  The Churn is the only one I've read so far.

[D_P]

51 minutes ago, Nasty LongRider said:

I haven't seen the TV show and have read The Churn and would say reading where you're at would be just fine.  The Churn is the only one I've read so far.

Thanks for the reply   I've really enjoyed Amos' character; especially as fleshed out by the TV show and this seemed like the logical place to start.  There is another called the Butcher of Anderson Station, which I assume is going to fill us in on the details of Johnson's infamous decision to eradicate said station that has also piqued my interest.