Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy discussion

So I read Songs of the Earth, Trinity Rising, and The Raven's Shadow and now I'll have to wait for the next one - really liking this series a lot.

Next I read -

Going Vintage - a little YA book about a girl who thinks thinks might have been better back in the 60s and tries to live a few weeks like she imagines her grandmother did - nice story.

Bruno, Chief of Police - a modern mystery set in the French countryside. Very well done and excellent sense of place. Now I want to visit France.

Reading now - The Weird Sisters - a family tale of three sisters, nothing fantastical. I guess I needed the real world this past week :)

Up next, who knows? What about you?

My TBR for June
C J Cherryh - 40,000 in Gehenna
Milton Lesser - The Star Seekers
Michael Bishop - No Enemy but Time
Isaac Asimov - The Currents of Space
A E Van Vogt - Voyage of the Space Beagle
Larry Niven - The Integral Trees
Roger Zelazny - Isle of the Dead
Marissa Meyer - Winter
from other genres
John Dickson Carr - The Crooked Hinge
Rex Stout - The Rubber Band
Peter May - The Critic
Josephine Tey - To Love and be Wise
Well,this was the plan but we poor refugees from shelfari ,which closed down yesterday,were on the same day informed that Leafmarks ,to which we fled as refugees,is also closing on 1st July.
It took months to transfer all my stuff,shelf,lists etc to LM,and now everything has to be moved again to LibraryThing.I have to set up groups etc and its amazing how time consuming it all is.For starters, I wasnt using my LibraryThing account much,and have to
manually add 70 books to my shelf before they disappear into the ether. lol
So,if I finish 8 of these books,I will be very pleased - but surprised

Oh, shelfari closed@ then leafmarks, now booklikes has been sold..and will possible be closed. Easy come... ;o-

Booklikes too?

LibraryThing I have used. The others I hadn't heard of.

Lynne wrote: "Booklikes too?"
Hi Lynne, yes, I heard it was sold by a few key people on Booklikes. So, I'm hoping they keep it up, but who knows.

Finished the First Law trilogy. Brilliantly cynical. Loved it.

Did not enjoy The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps. Boring read paid me back for slogging through to the end by not having an ending. I'm done with Kai Ashante Wilson.

That's unfortunate, I thought Sorcerer was a great story. The ending was pretty much what had to happen given the genre. (view spoiler)[Doomed romance (hide spoiler)]

I finished Too Like the Lightning, and wow. My favourite book of 2016 so far. Picture Ancillary Justice mashed with The Diamond Age's distributed nation-states and neo-victorianism mashed with The Book of the New Sun. It's a bit esoteric, since almost the entire book is dialogue about political maneuvering and conspiracies but the picture of the future Palmer paints is so vivid and well thought out.

If the prospect of a book filled with tangents about the performative aspects of gender, Voltaire and comparative religion fills you with dread, then avoid. If it fills you with excitement, definitely pick it up.

Going with Geezer's First Law theme, I'm currently reading Sharp Ends and so far its great. Love his modern take on the Fafhrd/Grey Mouser pair.

Almost finished listening to Neil Gainan's new nonfiction book The View from the Cheap Seats: Selected Nonfiction. It is a collection of speeches, interviews, opinions and comments by the author. I am enjoying it a lot.

I came across an old paperback by Clifford Simak in our library called Our Children's Children. It must be fairly obscure because I couldn't find a page on Goodreads. Anyway, I enjoyed it a lot. Imagine the societal impact of a few billion of our descendants immigrating back to our time to escape some really nasty space monsters? Now I need to dig through our paperback shelves to see if I overlooked any other Simak gems.

Brendan wrote: I finished Too Like the Lightning, and wow. My favourite book of 2016 so far. Picture Ancillary Justice mashed with The Diamond Age's distributed nation-states and neo-victorianism mashed with The Book of the New Sun."

Wow. You sold me. I just ordered the book from Amazon.

Maybe you could do a job like that for my book in July when it goes on "Free Read and Review" in the Goodreads group "For Love of a Book." :)

I've posted my review for Peter F. Hamilton's The Dreaming Void - I had some issues with it, but in the end I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the trilogy!

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

        I've read Remote Control and Crisis Four, the first two of Andy McNab's Nick Stone thrillers, and I've started Firewall, the third.  I just bought Peter Grant's Brings the Lightning, and borrowed Martin Gurri's The Revolt of the Public.  I'll probably reread Heinlein'sDouble Star and King's The Stand this month, and will definitely read The Seven Basic Plots by Christopher Booker.  Pamela Beeson's The Only Witness is a possibility, and Bob Tarte's Enslaved by Ducks.  Finally, several books by and about C. S. Lewis are in the queue.  That should hold me.

I've just finished The Long Utopia, and despite its flaws I enjoyed reading it, and I'm looking forward to the release of the next book:

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

Currently I'm reading The Locus Awards: Thirty Years of the Best in Science Fiction and Fantasy which is edited by Charles N. Brown and Jonathan Strahan. So far I've been enjoying it.

I'm slowly but sure getting through Mistborn: The Final Empire (hope to finish it up this week) and a reread of The Two Towers (hopefully finished up this weekend).

Also on the agenda for the month are The Aeronaut's Windlass and either Retribution Falls or Six of Crows.

I finished Ubik by Philip K Dick (4 stars) and I'm moving on to Shadow of the Giant by Orson Scott Card

Now that I'm off university for the summer and have much more spare time, I am hoping to get a bit more reading done. I am planning to read A Clash of Kings very soon, and would also like to read Stardust and Treasure Island this month. Finally, I am determined to read The Lord of the Rings and actually finish it, as although I started to read it years ago, I didn't read anywhere near the end. Definitely going to start that this month, too.

Lauren wrote: "Now that I'm off university for the summer and have much more spare time, I am hoping to get a bit more reading done. I am planning to read A Clash of Kings very soon, and would also l..."

Hi Lauren, I recently finished A Clash of Kings and enjoyed it very much. The first 300 pages were kind of slow, but the last 300 pages were so good I read them in just a couple days. I'm reading A Storm of Swords right now and it's terrific too - in fact it starts a lot faster than A Clash of Kings.

Stardust is one of my favorites. I recently bought the illustrated version and will read it when I get a chance.

The Lord of the Rings books were tough for me - I actually preferred the movies which I thought focused more on the action and the characters. I respect them as works of literature but I doubt I'll ever revisit them.

Good luck and happy reading!

Currently reading (and really enjoying) The Last Stormlord. I'm loving the world building and the characters.

Randy wrote: "Lauren wrote: "Now that I'm off university for the summer and have much more spare time, I am hoping to get a bit more reading done. I am planning to read A Clash of Kings very soon, a..."

Thanks for your input, I started reading A Clash of Kings last night before bed, and was surpised at the length of the prologue - 26 pages seems quite long to me, so unfortunately had to finish reading mid-chapter, but will be continuing it tonight. I love the LOTR films too, even the extended editions which are, at times, difficult going.

Currently actively reading 3 books:
Death of a Kitchen Diva by Lee Hollis
Map of Bones by James Rollins
Immortal in Death by J.D. Robb

The latter is set in the future, as is the entire series.

I've just finished reading Drew Wagar's novel Emanation, and while I had a few issues with it, it was a fantastic read - well worth checking out!

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

I just started reading a classic--Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. I read that it had been written in 1931 and was surprised that it was that old. I've been finding it very interesting.

I've started The Falconer. Could be my first Goodreads book to receive 1 star.

Finished Stormlord Rising and have started on Book 3, Stormlord's Exile . I can't remember who recommended this series to me, but thanks so much! I can't stop reading!

Both and are now on the already read shelf. I started to work on a challenge in another group.

I honestly didn't think I was going to finish The Falconer, but I did. One star. I'm about to start Territory with high hopes of a good read.

I plowed through the last half of To Ride Hell’s Chasm by Janny Wurts yesterday, and ended up loving it. Interesting magic and politics, fantastic characters, and epic adventure made for a very entertaining read!

I also finished listening to Seveneves today. I was pretty neutral on it. It was OK, but seemed slow-paced, with too much exposition. I keep wondering if it was the audiobook's length that made me feel that way, or if the book just wasn't for me.

I'm now reading Glamour in Glass and listening to The Man in the High Castle.

Just started reading (today) Tales of Engines and Demons by Matthew Parker who asked in the reviews section if anyone was interested in a copy;

About 40% through it and haven't been able to put it down. It currently has no reviews to go off so I took a chance and am pleased I have.

Has slight steam-punk feel tied with a final fantasy-Esk setting, epic battles with beastly (leviathan type) siege engines, a little romance, demons which creep the shit out of you and love/hate characters all which really appeals to me.

Well worth a shot if you have the time. I'm looking forward to finishing and writing a review.

I've just finished Neal Asher's latest release War Factory and it's a cracking action sci-fi read:

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

I've just started reading Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. So far it has been very good.

Olivia wrote: "I've just started reading Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. So far it has been very good."

I must read that at some stage.

Michele wrote: "So I read Songs of the Earth, Trinity Rising, and The Raven's Shadow and now I'll have to wait for the next one - really liking this series a lot.

Ne..."

I like Elspeth Cooper's series as well. However, Book 4 is overdue by a few years.

Olivia wrote: "I've just started reading Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. So far it has been very good."

It's great as an audio book read by Wil Wheaton.

Stiletto by Daniel O'Malley
I hardly expected the sequel to The Rook to be as entertaining as its predecessor. The first book was an urban fantasy with a unique approach to its storytelling, and one that really couldn't be repeated. Instead of the single protagonist this time, O'Malley opted for two new characters two alternate points of view, and although Myfanwy still makes an appearance, she's not the main character now. Stiletto was still a fun read, and O'Malley still an entertaining writer.

Somewhere along the line, Forging Divinity by Andrew Rowe made it onto my to-read list, and a recent $1.99 sale bumped it up a bit. It was probably this book's misfortune that I read it immediately after finishing Abercrombie's First Law trilogy. By comparison it seemed very ordinary.

The Space Elevator: A Bobby Blinx Adventure by John Sylvain was on one of Randy's recent free space opera books for Kindle lists, and recommended by Clare. It's an okay start to a juvenile adventure series.


Michele wrote: "The Bullet-Catcher’s Daughter which I really liked.... I'll probably read the next one...."

I just started reading that next one, Unseemly Science. It seems the Republicans and Royalists are working on a Treaty, including extradition, which is going to be awkward for Elizabeth, because she is technically a runaway slave to the Royalists. I'll get back to you when I finish. :)

[ooops - I previously posted this in the wrong topic. Those responsible have been fed to the Balrog.]

I've just finished reading Jason K Lewis's story Paradise, and while it's well written, it's really the first few chapters of a book that isn't out yet:

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

Well, as June has ended, let me wrap up the end of the month...

Unseemly Science Unseemly Science by Rod Duncan
I thought the 2nd book in the Bullet Catcher's Daughter series was more entertaining than the first. I think I have to call this anti-steampunk, since in this alternate history, thanks to the victory of the Luddites, there are no steam engines. On the run for most of the book, private detective Elizabeth investigates a couple of mysteries, hoping to a couple of friends.


The Thousand Names by Django Wexler
Entertaining military gunpowder fantasy, mostly enjoyable characters, interesting storyline. I guess I'm going to have to read the rest of the series now.


Boundary Born by Melissa F. Olson
Latest installment in Olson's "Old World", Colorado subbranch, was an entertaining read up to the really disappointing, contrived ending.


I'm going with Stiletto as my favorite read of June.

Last night I finished A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin. To sum it up: a bunch of people quarrel over the throne, and there's plenty of illicit sex. Not so different from the upcoming presidential primaries, is it?

To take its place in my reading pile I've chosen Jack of Shadows by Roger Zelazny. I have only read Zelazny's first Amber quintology so I'm looking forward to it.

I'm still working on Shadow of the Giant by Orson Scott Card.

In the next few days I'm probably going to also start plugging away at The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2015 Edition ed. by Rich Horton.

I just ordered Mike Ashley's Science Fiction Rebels from Amazon...it covers the history of SF mags from 1981 to 1990...the 4th volume in his history...set me back a stiff $120, but if it's as good as the first three volumes it'll be worth it...can't wait to get started on it!!!