What Are You Reading? Second Quarter, 2023

[ljkeane]

The Book That Wouldn't Burn was good but fairly convoluted. It felt like quite a lot was crammed into the one book.

Now I'm reading Kate Elliott's Furious Heaven.

[dog-days]

Finished The Broken Crown, the first part of Michelle West's Sun Sword series as recced by Lord Patrek and others, and found in it much to admire.

The style is clear, slightly detached and put me most in mind of Guy Kavriel Kay. Dialogue is on a less high-flown level than, say, the elves of Tolkien; however, the characters – cautious and verklempt by reason of the solid world building, and as bound to the mores of courtly expression as they are to their social position – speak indirectly, and formally; they're a long way from Abercrombie, say. 

The characters – at least those from the Dominion, I was less sold on the ones from the Empire – had a pleasing sense of otherness. They really felt as if they had been brought up in a culture with a strict and different sense of what was valuable and what was not. As regards the former: warrior aristocrats and power. And the latter: everything else, but especially women and slaves. But it never seems as if the author wants you to think that they are just terrible people full stop, or that the people lower down the hierarchy are only of interest as victims. Instead you see them creating their own connections within the limits set for them. Or – as in Teresa's case – using their prescribed role and expected traits as a shield to give them space to pursue their own goals. 

The paperback edition runs to 754 pages, making me glad for the sake of my arms that I read it on Kindle. It was a strange book in that whenever I was reading it, I enjoyed it, but I also rarely felt compelled to pick it up when I wasn't. Will I read the rest of the series? Probably, yes, though not right now. I'm listening to the last book in Hobb's Rain Wild Chronicles, and playing Witcher 3. I feel I'm fantasy-epic'd-out, and will be looking for a shorter, different kind of story in the immediate future. 

[williamjm]

I finished Adrian Tchaikovsky's The Lords of Uncreation, the third book in his Final Architecture space opera trilogy. I thought it was a really good conclusion to the story. While there are certainly elements of the premise that are quite familiar (such as the spaceship crewed by misfits who end up having to save the day), I thought that the series did have some interesting ideas that I hadn't seen in the other space operas I had read. I thought the conclusion of the story was very satisfying and I liked that it was about more than having a big space battle (although there are a couple of big space battles in the book). I thought some of the world-building was also very good, I particularly liked the Essiel, an alien race so different from humans (in appearance they look like giant clams) that it is a struggle to understand them or to even figure out whether they are trying to help or hinder. Some other bits of the world-building are a bit less detailed, we don't really get much of an impression about what life on ordinary human worlds is like in this future. I also enjoyed the characters and thought they all got some interesting things to do in the final book, although it did sometimes feel like there are only a couple of dozen important people in this interstellar civilisation who all seem to know each other. I think Tchaikovsky has perhaps written a few better books, but I still liked this one a lot.

I've now moved on to Leigh Bardugo's Rule of Wolves.

[Spaßvogel]

Just finished the 8 (so far) books of de Castell's Spellslinger series.  Couldn't find a fully likable character in the entire thing. Not a one.  I only kept reading because I had nothing else to read and I read very quickly so it's not much of a time investment. 

Someone suggested I read his other book, The Malevolent Seven, and it's the same thing...not a likable character in the bunch so far.  It's like the author is just being stubborn and not giving in at this point.  I've read many books with anti-heroes before that were 100x more enjoyable to read.  I don't get why his books are pretty much fully cast with a-holes. 

One of the books (Soulbinder I think it was) features the main character's a-hole-ness as its primary plot device.  If he just goes along with other characters (who were trying to help him!) half the book would have been avoided and maybe there would have been a lot less damage porn. 

[Peadar]

On 5/27/2023 at 10:50 PM, williamjm said:

I finished Adrian Tchaikovsky's The Lords of Uncreation, the third book in his Final Architecture space opera trilogy. I thought it was a really good conclusion to the story. While there are certainly elements of the premise that are quite familiar (such as the spaceship crewed by misfits who end up having to save the day), I thought that the series did have some interesting ideas that I hadn't seen in the other space operas I had read. I thought the conclusion of the story was very satisfying and I liked that it was about more than having a big space battle (although there are a couple of big space battles in the book). I thought some of the world-building was also very good, I particularly liked the Essiel, an alien race so different from humans (in appearance they look like giant clams) that it is a struggle to understand them or to even figure out whether they are trying to help or hinder. Some other bits of the world-building are a bit less detailed, we don't really get much of an impression about what life on ordinary human worlds is like in this future. I also enjoyed the characters and thought they all got some interesting things to do in the final book, although it did sometimes feel like there are only a couple of dozen important people in this interstellar civilisation who all seem to know each other. I think Tchaikovsky has perhaps written a few better books, but I still liked this one a lot.

I'm reading this now. Glad you enjoyed it!

[lessthanluke]

On 5/27/2023 at 10:50 PM, williamjm said:

I finished Adrian Tchaikovsky's The Lords of Uncreation, the third book in his Final Architecture space opera trilogy. I thought it was a really good conclusion to the story. While there are certainly elements of the premise that are quite familiar (such as the spaceship crewed by misfits who end up having to save the day), I thought that the series did have some interesting ideas that I hadn't seen in the other space operas I had read. I thought the conclusion of the story was very satisfying and I liked that it was about more than having a big space battle (although there are a couple of big space battles in the book). I thought some of the world-building was also very good, I particularly liked the Essiel, an alien race so different from humans (in appearance they look like giant clams) that it is a struggle to understand them or to even figure out whether they are trying to help or hinder. Some other bits of the world-building are a bit less detailed, we don't really get much of an impression about what life on ordinary human worlds is like in this future. I also enjoyed the characters and thought they all got some interesting things to do in the final book, although it did sometimes feel like there are only a couple of dozen important people in this interstellar civilisation who all seem to know each other. I think Tchaikovsky has perhaps written a few better books, but I still liked this one a lot.

I've now moved on to Leigh Bardugo's Rule of Wolves.

Just finished Lords of Uncreation.

My thoughts are pretty similar to yours!

I loved the Essiel. 

 

[Poobah]

Just started Yellowface by R.F. Kuang, so far I'm quite gripped.

[Tywin et al.]

My copy of The Iliad and The Odyssey just arrived.  Eaters of the Dead should show up later. But it's not like I've got 20 other books I've ordered that I need to read. 

I've probably doubled the size of my library since the pandemic started. 

[williamjm]

I finished Leigh Bardugo's Rule of Wolves. I did enjoy reading it, but had some mixed feelings about it, particularly in the latter stages. I think there were probably too many plot points, the first book in the duology had been perhaps a bit too slow-paced at times but a lot more happens in the second book, particularly towards then end. The book does feature return appearances for some of the main characters from the earlier Grisha series but for one in particular there's not enough spent on them to really explore the impact of their return. There are a lot of plot twists in the second half of the book with some battles featuring multiple surprise reversals in fortune, with variable amounts of foreshadowing. I think either the series needed to be longer or (more likely) some of the plot threads needed to be trimmed a bit. I think the characters are the strongest part of the series and for the most part they do get some good development here, although there are a few occasions where it feels like the author has something in mind for a character and is determined to force them there even the means to get them there feels a bit implausible.

I've now started Ken MacLeod's Beyond the Reach of Earth, the second book in his current space opera trilogy.

[Ser Not Appearing]

I've mentioned before that I have been reading through (and listening to) the Harry Potter series with my 9 yr old. The series really transitions and picks up somewhere in book 4 and we're well into book 5 now.

Anyway, I'm mentioning it because this is the book where the Ministry of Magic goes into denial about Voldemort returning and they install a teacher at Hogwarts, who starts banning topics, adjusting teaching methods and overall insisting on an alternate reality (all while demonizing Harry Potter) ... and parents who consume their wizarding news from certain outlets are guiled into following along ... meanwhile the students at school are forced to walk the line between the risks that actually exist and the risks they're allowed to acknowledge.

... and I'll be damned if there aren't significant parallels to recent history of the far right taking over school boards (in the US) to deny a pandemic, to ban teaching of actual American history and to demonize and oppress specific segments of the school population. We're reading along and the familiarity is just absolutely jumping off the page.

Anyway, just my opinion based on my experiences. Hopefully not too political.

[Plessiez]

Not sure when I last posted in this thread (or its predecessors), but since I remember talking quite a bit about the first two books in the series several years ago I feel compelled to note that I’ve (finally!) finished Ada Palmer’s Terra Ignota series.

I enjoyed Perhaps The Stars a lot too, even though (if I’m being honest) I suspect I didn’t really understand a good deal of what was going on.  I’d been planning to reread the first three books before starting this one, but in the end I just reread Too Like The Lightning and then skimmed online summaries of the the next two books in the series to refresh my memory of the plot.  (Rather than preparing by reading the complete works of Hobbes and Diderot and Voltaire, which I couldn’t help but feel was what I was supposed to have done.)

Also finished Kate Elliott’s Furious Heaven this month, which I liked quite a lot (though perhaps not quite as much as Unconquerable Sun), and Django Wexler’s Ashes of the Sun and its two sequels (which were all a lot of fun, with two very engaging POV characters, even if the plot was a bit predictable at times).

 

[shortstark]

On 5/29/2023 at 9:28 AM, lessthanluke said:

Just finished Lords of Uncreation.

My thoughts are pretty similar to yours!

I loved the Essiel. 

 

Wanted more for Idris, bittersweet..

Am content though.. Adrian Tchaikovsky is amazing...

[Madame deVenoge]

On 5/17/2023 at 4:12 PM, Lord Patrek said:

Finished Jacqueline Carey's Cassiel's Servant and enjoyed it. I was afraid that this retelling of Kushiel's Dart from Joscelin's perspective, that of a righteous and unyeilding Cassiline, couldn't be as good as the original. Phèdre has such a singular voice, after all, one that made the first trilogy what it was.

Even though it can't quite compare with the original, this novel made for a totally satisfying reading experience. Kushiel fans will definitely enjoy it.

You can read my review here.

I’m really looking forward to this - I just re-read the whole entire series…not just the original trilogy, but also the Imriel and Moirin books. 

[Poobah]

On 5/17/2023 at 9:12 PM, Lord Patrek said:

Finished Jacqueline Carey's Cassiel's Servant and enjoyed it. I was afraid that this retelling of Kushiel's Dart from Joscelin's perspective, that of a righteous and unyeilding Cassiline, couldn't be as good as the original. Phèdre has such a singular voice, after all, one that made the first trilogy what it was.

Even though it can't quite compare with the original, this novel made for a totally satisfying reading experience. Kushiel fans will definitely enjoy it.

You can read my review here.

Ooh I didn't see this before. I'm jealous that you got to read it so early and glad it lived up to expectations. Very much looking forward to reading this in a few months.

[Fragile Bird]

I have to admit that I’ve never heard of Jacqueline Carey or the Kushiel series until I read these posts. I’ve signed up for the first book and the library says it will be about 6 weeks before I get the audio book.

Right now I’m still immersing myself in Jasper Fforde’s books. I just love the Tuesday Next books for their wry sense of humor.

[maarsen]

On 5/29/2023 at 5:39 PM, Tywin et al. said:

My copy of The Iliad and The Odyssey just arrived.  Eaters of the Dead should show up later. But it's not like I've got 20 other books I've ordered that I need to read. 

I've probably doubled the size of my library since the pandemic started. 

 You can download the Iliad and the Odyssey from Project Gutenberg, if you have an e-reader. I think I read Eaters of the Dead back in the late 70s. Still my favourite book by Michael Crichton.

[Tywin et al.]

44 minutes ago, maarsen said:

 You can download the Iliad and the Odyssey from Project Gutenberg, if you have an e-reader. I think I read Eaters of the Dead back in the late 70s. Still my favourite book by Michael Crichton.

I wanted the fancy hardcover. And it will be a bit before I read EotD, but I doubt anything from him will ever top the two JP books.

[Lord Patrek]

On 5/27/2023 at 4:09 PM, dog-days said:

Finished The Broken Crown, the first part of Michelle West's Sun Sword series as recced by Lord Patrek and others, and found in it much to admire.

The style is clear, slightly detached and put me most in mind of Guy Kavriel Kay. Dialogue is on a less high-flown level than, say, the elves of Tolkien; however, the characters – cautious and verklempt by reason of the solid world building, and as bound to the mores of courtly expression as they are to their social position – speak indirectly, and formally; they're a long way from Abercrombie, say. 

The characters – at least those from the Dominion, I was less sold on the ones from the Empire – had a pleasing sense of otherness. They really felt as if they had been brought up in a culture with a strict and different sense of what was valuable and what was not. As regards the former: warrior aristocrats and power. And the latter: everything else, but especially women and slaves. But it never seems as if the author wants you to think that they are just terrible people full stop, or that the people lower down the hierarchy are only of interest as victims. Instead you see them creating their own connections within the limits set for them. Or – as in Teresa's case – using their prescribed role and expected traits as a shield to give them space to pursue their own goals. 

The paperback edition runs to 754 pages, making me glad for the sake of my arms that I read it on Kindle. It was a strange book in that whenever I was reading it, I enjoyed it, but I also rarely felt compelled to pick it up when I wasn't. Will I read the rest of the series? Probably, yes, though not right now. I'm listening to the last book in Hobb's Rain Wild Chronicles, and playing Witcher 3. I feel I'm fantasy-epic'd-out, and will be looking for a shorter, different kind of story in the immediate future. 

Glad you enjoyed it The rest of the series is much easier to get into.

I just finished the last volume yesterday and the Sun Sword now stands among my favorite SFF series of all time. Michelle West is a truly gisted author and I wish more people gave this series a chance! Can't wait to read the House War series!

[dog-days]

Loved Children of Memory the second book to follow Adrian Tchaikovsky's 2015 Children of Time. I still haven't read the latter, and must go back to it, if only to encounter Avrana Kern as a human. 

This book is told for the most part from the POVs of Liff, a child descended from the colonisers of a partially terraformed new world, of Miranda a reformed killer fungus, and of Gethli and Gothi, a pair of hybrid crows with a symbiotic mind who decline to be sentient. It's carried along by carefully laid hints at mysteries and by a timeline that starts out vanilla before elaborating. Oh yeah, and by plot, character, engagement with some big concepts, and humour. There's a line I'd love to quote, but it's a bit too spoiler-heavy for the review thread. 

One of the reasons I love Tchaikovsky's science fiction is that it's never only sci-fi: you can pull the threads apart and trace them back to multiple genres. Here he drew hard on Grimm's Fairy Tales and Norse myth. The hybrid corvids Gethli and Gothi come from a species that evolved to have an extraordinary divided intelligence as a result of environmental pressure. And then again, they're Huginn and Muninn, Thought and Memory, riding on the shoulders of a dark god. 

I don't think any writer is going to fill the hole in the sky that Terry Pratchett left, and Tchaikovsky's writing isn't very much like Terry's, but sometimes it seems to shine with a similar radiance. 

Checked Amazon and noticed that Tchaikovsky has no new books scheduled for release. WTF. Man normally writes as fast as if he gets up before dawn and drinks five espressos. Afterwards I immediately went to his Twitter account, and to my relief he does appear to be okay. 

Edited Sunday at 07:17 PM by dog-days

[Jaxom 1974]

Because I'm a sucker for History Channel's "The Food That Built America", I'm now reading a second book written by the talking heads they have on the show...Drive-Thru Dreams: A Journey Through the Heart of America's Fast-Food Kingdom by Adam Chandler