Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy discussion

So, after you've finished celebrating Canada Day, Independence Day, Revolution Day, Constitution Day and Bastille Day, what will you be reading to relax....?

Right now I'm reading:
Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson - should finish Monday
A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge - should be done in the next week or two
The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian - should be done in the next week or two, including all the "extras" at the end
Rama II by Arthur C. Clarke and Gentry Lee - I'm picking away at this one slowly, no end in sight
A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin - also taking it easy, since #6 is not yet scheduled for publication

When I finish the first three above I'm going to throw in a few more for group reads (this group and a couple others), including:
Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman - I already started this and am enjoying it
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. - my first Vonnegut
Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer - my first VanderMeer
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? also known as Blade Runner by Philip K. Dick - I read this 25 years ago and it was my first PKD book at the time, looking forward to a re-read especially with the movie sequel coming out soon
Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames

Oh well, who needs sleep anyway?

Read: The Speed of Dark. Just barely qualifies as a science fiction novel, but very emotionally powerful. Lou is a great unique protagonist, and the book is a good change of pace. ★★★★☆.

Re-read The Left Hand of Darkness for a group. My first read was about seven years ago, and it gets even better the second time. ★★★★★.

Currently reading: Stand on Zanzibar. Getting a Dick/Ballard/proto-cyberpunk feel from this one. Overpopulation stories are always funny to read nowadays because SF authors in the 60s/70s were absolutely freaking out about numbers that we would find actually pretty reasonable.

Brendan wrote: "Read: The Speed of Dark. Just barely qualifies as a science fiction novel, but very emotionally powerful. Lou is a great unique protagonist, and the book is a good change of pace. ★★★★☆..."

Agreed, barely scifi, but Lou is such an engaging character, it's an incredible read. Nothing like anything else Moon has written, too. I go all the way to 5★.


Brendan wrote: "Overpopulation stories are always funny to read nowadays because SF authors in the 60s/70s were absolutely freaking out about numbers that we would find actually pretty reasonable. ..."

I mentioned in our Caves of Steel discussion that Asimov's "overcrowded New York" was actually pretty roomy by current population density.

I'm currently reading Duncton Wood (thanks to those who suggested in the last months 'what are you reading?')

After that I'm planning on getting cracking with The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian, and I need to get to the library to pick up The Lie Tree and The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

I've also read non-SFF Orlando by Virginia Woolf which was decidedly oddball but fun in a literary kinda way

I finished American Gods by Neil Gaiman and it definitely lived up to its reputation, I really enjoyed it.

Struggled to pick the next book, I'm getting close to finishing three different series, but in the end went with The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King because I read Gunslinger nearly a year ago and still haven't gotten back into the series yet. Also I understand the movie will cover more than just the first Dark Tower book and that movie comes out in August I believe.

I am currently reading Bane and Shadow (Book #2 of Empire of Storms) by Jon Skovron. He calls it a kung-fu, pirate, gangster fantasy adventure. I agree and recommend it. I plan to read Old Man's War by John Scalzi (Book #1 of Old Man’s War) and then start The Blinding Knife (Lightbringer #2) by Brent Weeks.

This month I'll be reading the ending to WoT, A Memory of Light. I probably won't finish it by the end of this month, because I'm going on holiday for about 2 weeks to Sweden, and I'm not sure if I will be doing any reading there ...

Andrea wrote: "Struggled to pick the next book, I'm getting close to finishing three different series, but in the end went with The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King because I read Gunslinger nearly a year ago and still haven't gotten back into the series yet. "

What did you think of the Gunslinger? I just finished it as well last week, and I didn't like it at all. Everyone tells me the Drawing of the Three is a lot better however, so I probably should read that one as well before the movie comes out.

I'm tickled that my library just got most of L.E. Modesitt Jr.'s books in audio. I'm getting some now. Not sure where I'll start, though.

Davy wrote: "What did you think of the Gunslinger? I just finished it as well last week, and I didn't like it at all. Everyone tells me the Drawing of the Three is a lot better however, so I probably should read that one as well before the movie comes out"

It's a story of one dude walking through a desert some days behind some other dude...and that's just about it (till the end). So I must admit I didn't get what everyone was raving about. Note that I read the revised edition, maybe the revisions were for the worse and the original was better. But I heard the same thing, this is just an intro and that the rest of the series gets better. I'm enjoying Eyes of the Dragon though, not at all what I expected, what with the middle grade writing style (though there are more adult moments). I'm kind of glad I decided to catch up on the earlier books, though I didn't like the Stand (another book that has a whole lot of nothing till the end) I did like Salems Lot. I think I'll pass on the Talisman since that one seems more hardcore horror.

I'm starting the month off with two group reads:

A Fire Upon the Deep, which is slowly growing on me. I was really mad at it when I first started because I was confused.

The Left Hand of Darkness, which is also slowly growing on me. I was mad at it when I first started because I was boring. I also don't love the audiobook narrator. It was hard to distinguish words. It's definitely not an audiobook to accidentally miss a sentence of.

And fingers crossedddddd on any one of the ebooks that I have on hold coming through

Million Dollar Outlines by David Farland

Already finished The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King. Unlike my other experiences with his work, this one moved a decently active pace (The Stand was downright glacial), and to my delight, it wasn't horror at all, in this one Flagg is no scarier than say Voldemort (I guess people shelve it on Goodreads as horror simply by reputation of the author, otherwise Harry Potter and a ton of other kids books with evil wizards should all be labeled horror as well). I'm not sure if King intended this book for younger readers (there were some fairly explicit sexual references near the start) or he was just experimenting with style, but I kinda enjoyed the fairy-tale effect.

Now I'm caught up with all the pre-requisits for reading the Drawing of the Three but first I'll be reading Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman

I'm continuing to read the books I started in June: Changeling: The Dreaming, an RPG rulebook, Ninefox Gambit, A Princess of Mars (long overdue reread) and Dresden Files #13 Changes.

I an thoroughly enjoying Ninefox Gambit, which has a sly sense of humor to it.

I am close to finishing A Princess of Mars and Changes. You can't beat Jim Butcher's storytelling.

I plan to ease off by reading the piles of Asimov's and Analogs I got as a gift. I'd like to read some short fiction.

United States of Japan (2016) stakes out a different approach to the Axis-wins-WW-II alternate history by starting with Japanese troops liberating Japanese-Americans from the infamous "relocation centers". Then jumps to modern-day USJ where, in a clever nod to The Man in the High Castle, there's a search for a man who created not a subversive book (or movie if you're into the Amazon series) but a video game set in a world where the USA won WW II.

Oh, the Japanese have mecha. Because, why not?

I started reading The Stand by Stephen King. He is my favorite author, and I had been planning on getting around to it for awhile now. Most people say that it is his best work, it has been fantastic so far. I also just finished Great Expectations by Charles Dickens a week ago.

Ty wrote: "I started reading The Stand by Stephen King. He is my favorite author, and I had been planning on getting around to it for awhile now. Most people say that it is his best work, it has been fantasti..."

I would like to read The Stand at some point. I am planning on rereading 'Salem's Lot, which I thought was cool.

Dickens is one of my favorite authors. I liked Great Expectations.

I finished The Prey of Gods by Nicky Drayden. My review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I didn't get to read as much as I would have liked in June. So, I'm still trying to get past the intro in Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances.

I'm also at the beginning of Heir of Fire. I'm not into YA right now (comes and goes), so this is a bit of a beast.

I'm halfway through Leap which involves communicating with animals.

AND I just finished Zero Sum which I loved because I'm big into the John Rain series and ninja-like assassins in general.

Currently reading:
The Maze Runner - hoping to finish in the next day or two
Retribution Falls- enjoying it very much so far
Falling Kingdoms- not really enjoying, may end up a DNF

Also planning:
Kings of the Wyld
and
Twelfth Night

Poonam wrote: "I'm starting the month off with two group reads:

A Fire Upon the Deep, which is slowly growing on me. I was really mad at it when I first started because I was confused.

[book:The ..."

I could understand being confused by the early part of the novel. It took me a fair amount of reading to understand what Vinge was getting at.

Peter wrote: "I could understand being confused by the early part of the novel. It took me a fair amount of reading to understand what Vinge was getting at.

That's why I initially found the Tines so much more interesting and was annoyed whenever it switched back to Ravna, but it does eventually start making more sense as you go. I've still got another 75 pages left, and since both it and Conan are on my eReader I don't want to start the Conan stories yet (don't see the point of flipping back and forth between two books on the same device) so I'd better hurry up with Vinge so I don't fall too far behind in the Conan discussions.

At least I'll finish Anansi Boys in time for it's discussion, I'm about two-thirds through.

This month I'm glad I'm part of the group, not sure when I would have gotten around to Gaiman and I might never have read Vinge.

Finished Anansi Boys, I liked this one even better than American Gods. I kept reading out small snippets to anyone who'd walk by since there were so many funny bits. Will save the rest of my thoughts for the discussion to open up.

Switched to The Clockwork Dynasty, whether or not it wins the runoff poll, I need to give Goodreads a review for having won a copy :)

Starting The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. The hype is high.

Still reading A Fire Upon the Deep (sigh), hectic work kept me from finishing this book.

I've got Way of Kings sitting in my table right now- 1,000 pages per book is a bit daunting once you have kids

I've started the month with Enceladus, then The Ghost Brigades. I really enjoyed both books. Currently reading Dark Run

Still working my way through Duncton Wood, I dunno, epic fantasy with moles for some reason isn't working for me. Very mixed feelings - it's not a bad story, I'm just not feeling the moles as being the right fit for it.

I've gone in for some comfort-reading this month because I've been a bit unwell - so I'm also reading WoT The Shadow Rising. Sometimes it's just nice to read something familiar and that you know you like!

Also reading The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian but I'll leave my comments for the group, so far feeling quite ambivalent.

After all this I'm hoping to get onto The Worm Ouroboros

Edit: Oh yes, I was also going to say, re: Way of Kings - I love Brandon Sanderson, I love all of his other works, but just CANNOT get into Way of Kings at all. I have tried so many times. It sits on my bookshelf and taunts me. I'm pretty sure I have finished it once but it was through sheer force of will and I can't actually remember the plot. I should love it, but I don't, and it makes me both baffled and sad. But good luck to all others embarking on it!

I too am reading Way of Kings. Super excited - just started. Also, still chugging along with Fire Upon The Deep, but I'm too into Way of Kings. Soooo....

Just finished Fire Upon the Deep, really enjoyed it. Normally I don't read on my Kobo at home but I had 20 pages left, was silly to wait till my commute to work on Monday to wrap it up.

Now that my eReader has been freed up I can start on the Conan stories. I'm not reading the same edition as the group, so I'll be missing out on one story, but from what I can see, other than that one story, it's the full collection so I'll be reading several more...in fact when I converted it from HTML to ePub it turned out to be over 1000 pages long!! Will see if I like it enough to slog through all that.

So many people reading Way of Kings...is it a good place to start with Sanderson? I know his series are related to each other and I don't want to start in on a world you're supposed to already be familiar with from his other books. I'm very picky about reading related series in publishing order. I know some people prefer chronological but I prefer to see how the world evolved in the author's mind, not how it evolved over time within that world.

I would generally say elantris, Warbreaker or his first series- mistborn would be traditional places to start with Sanderson. All are good - I LOVED Warbreaker. Mistborn is prettty great too

Yes, I started with mistborn and it really got me hooked on sanderson. I haven't read warbreaker or elantris, yet. I think publishing order might be hard because he didn't finish one and then start the next one.

I would suggest The Mistborn trilogy too. I heard Elantris was YA.
Actually I barely started The Way of Kings since AFutD has picked up its pace. I think I will finish it first before jumping that Sanderson's tome.

Well I just finished Lynch's Red Seas Under Red Skies. Overall really liked the book, but found he still showed the same weakness in the end as he did with The Lies of Locke Lamora. I think he definitely improved on this one when it came to describing action scenes and escapes in a coherent way, but its definitely still a weakness. The end showed that in particular I thought. (view spoiler)[It was like "suddenly let me bring in some random characters that I haven't mentioned even once in the entire book and use them to sloppily tie the whole thing together. I dunno, I just wish that he was as ingenious at tying the ends of his novels together as he is with putting together confidence games and worldbuilding. So detail oriented and smart on those aspects of his books while always rushing the ending into the last hundred pages. I'm definitely never left satisfied with his endings so far. (hide spoiler)] Anyway, he did improve since the first book on that count, so I'm hoping that The Republic of Thieves will improve even more on it. Overall though a really fun and great book. Lynch has an awesome sense of humour that are an added bonus in his books. Loved Drakasha and Ezri's characters too.

Anyway, now I'm back to my Redwall reread, now on Mariel of Redwall.

Silvana wrote: " I would suggest The Mistborn trilogy too. I heard Elantris was YA. ..."

I'd also suggest the Mistborn trilogy as the gateway drug to Sanderson. :)

Elantris is not YA, though Sanderson has written a bunch of YA, including Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians series (his attempt at being JK Rowling), The Rithmatist, and Steelheart series (superhero). I recommend avoiding avoid them.

Personally, I think his Hugo Award-winning novella The Emperor's Soul is his best work.

He also did a great job finishing the Wheel of Time series for the late Robert Jordan, but books 11-13 of a long series started by someone else aren't exactly a starting point :)

Reading Sunrunner's Fire and Taltos The Assassin (aka the Book of Jhereg) this month.

Finished Clockwork Dynasty by Daniel H. Wilson but will hold off on comments in case it wins the nomination (doesn't look like it but still a couple days to go). I wonder if it was similar in style to his Robopocalypse which I didn't read, might peek at that discussion even at risk for the spoilers.

Next book on my list is Polgara the Sorceress by David Eddings, second to last in the world of the Belgariad. It will cover the same time period as Belgarath the Sorcerer so hopefully there won't be too much duplication, it's surprisingly long at over 700 pages.

Reading Leviathan Wakes

Finished off Graveyard of Empires by Lincoln Cole last week, working on The Alliance by Jason Letts now.

G33z3r wrote: "
Elantris is not YA, though Sand..."

Right, thanks for the correction. Got mixed up with the Rithmatist one.

I have only reached 8%, there were some repetitive expositions - I don't remember with Mistborn but here Sanderson likes to explain things twice or thrice. Other than that, enjoyable storytelling.

I finished Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. My review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

My copy of Ninefox Gambit has finally arrived (!!!) so I'll be reading this interspersed with TWoK.

I finished A Man of Shadows by Jeff Noon. My review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Finished Mariel of Redwall, the last section of the book was definitely the most exciting but the recycled plots are getting to me much more rereading them as an adult. Think I'll just keep to one book per month on this reread.

After that I read and finished another Nordic mystery, The Mine. I gave it a 3/5 but could be 4/5, undecided. I enjoyed the book but I guess as someone who's interested in mining, its inevitable environmental degradation, and corruption/coverups around environmental disaster, I kind of wish he would have spent more time in the town itself. Anyway still enjoyed it just thought it could have been a bit more fleshed out.

Now I'm reading The Bear and the Nightingale and liking it quite a lot. Just getting into part 2 of the book. Think this will probably be my last book for July but you never know. Sometimes I just get caught up in a book and spend every free moment reading it, which I could see happening with this one.

So this month I finished Winterbirth. I found it a little confusing, but I liked it enough to put the sequel on my list.

I also read Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology. Really enjoyed it. I'm not as familiar with the Norse myths as I am the Greek and Roman ones. Fun. Made me look forward to Thor: Ragnarok.

Just started the Invisible Library Series and the Old Kingdom Series thanks to readers in this group :D. Loving them both!! Also just discovered I can put library books on hold and they will deliver books to my local library for me to pick up. Seriously amazing. Also! Just hit my reading goal for this year's challenge. I will have to up that for next year. ^.^

Rachel wrote: "Also just discovered I can put library books on hold and they will deliver books to my local library for me to pick up. Seriously amazing...."

This reminds me of a scene in Jo Walton's (Hugo & Nebula winning) fantasy novel Among Others when Mori discovers what she thereafter calls "the blessed inter-library loan program".

I don't get books from the library any other way now - and you can usually suspend holds so I'll plan out my reading for a month!!
( of course I'm frequently too ambitious)
And I'm finishing July with a Raven Stratagem and The Girl with All the Gifts

Read: All Systems Red. Everyone will love this book, but I did not. "Robots with social anxiety" is getting to be a crowded genre. 3/5.

Currently reading: The Five Daughters of the Moon. The book's tagline is "Inspired by the 1917 Russian revolution and the last months of the Romanov sisters" so i assume everyone lives happily ever after.

I finished and now I've gotten back to (focusing on it exclusively for a while). I might put Trigger Warning aside again for a bit because I'm feeling the itch to get back to my Wheel of Time reread.

G33z3r wrote: "Rachel wrote: "Also just discovered I can put....

This reminds me of a scene in Jo Walto..."

Hilarious! Inter-library loan surely is blessed. The hold limit for mine is 10. >.>. I typically pick up about 10 - 15 books every two weeks (as many as I can carry in one haul unless I bring my "book cart"). Now I can grab a couple series they have on the other end of the city. Just imagine I am dragon born and my personal hoard is books. Hwa hwa hwa hwa!!!