Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy discussion

Through meteorological spring with lions and lambs, the ides and the equinox - What are you reading this transitional month?

in addition to the plethora of my library holds that are rolling in, I hope to finish the rest of the Nebula Award Finalists

Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach by Kelly Robson
Nebula Award nominee. My main reason for not reading this earlier was "stupid title". Actually, it's a very engrossing story, begins in a distant future of very high tech eventually takes us time traveling to ancient Mesopotamia. I added it to my Hugo noms. (Goodreads says 240 pages, which raised my eyebrow. I read the ebook, but it ain't that long. Must be really large type.)

Orconomics by J. Zachary Pike

I'm currently reading Tree of Ages by Sara C. Roethle.

I've got Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson on the go this month. I'm really liking it.

Completed:
Longs:


Shorts:


Authors: Kate Atkinson, A.C. Buchanan, Tara Isabella Burton, S.L. Byrne, Nino Cipri, Seth Dickinson, Nicholas Eames, Vanessa Fogg, Neil Gaiman, Hazel Gold, Rebecca Hanover, Kate Heartfield, Simone Heller, Kij Johnson, Tim Johnston, Stephen King, Richard A. Knaak, Carmen Maria Machado, Melissa Marr, Helen Marshall, Sam J. Miller, Lauren E. Mitchell, Erik A. Otto, C.L. Polk, Richard Powers, A.E. Prevost, Diane Setterfield, Adam R. Shannon, Penny Stirling, Rachel Swirsky, Bogi Takács, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Tade Thompson, Karin Tidbeck, Lavie Tidhar, Cameron Van Sant, Martha Wells, Rae White, Rem Wigmore, David Wong
=======================================

Continuing The History of the Runestaff series from Michael Moorcock, I've finished The Sword of the Dawn, and started the final volume - The Runestaff. After that, I'm not sure. I do plan to read the entire 10-volume Thomas Covenant series by Stephen Donaldson, but that's a big effort. Not because they're badly written - I think Donaldson is a very good author, but because Thomas Covenant is such a difficult protagonist to empathise with. I have read the first 6 when they were released, but I haven't read any of the last 4.

Tony wrote: "I think Donaldson is a very good author, but because Thomas Covenant is such a difficult protagonist to empathise with"

My thoughts exactly. For what it's worth he's more empathetic in the newest four books so it gets easier as you go, but then sometimes the female protagonist takes his place as being the annoying one :) I read all 10 about 3-4 years back. I tried to focus on the other characters and the world, and resisted the urge to take some big heavy object to beat some sense into him and get him to stop complaining already.

While making the important author list, I came across Gardner Francis Fox who I usually think of as a S&S author of such treasures as Kothar of the Magic Sword, but realized that he'd also written similar SF. I dug out Escape Across The Cosmos. It's pure, escapist fun. I gave it a 3 star review here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Jim wrote: "While making the important author list, I came across Gardner Francis Fox who I usually think of as a S&S author of such treasures as Kothar of the Magic Sword, but..."

Gardner Fox was also a prolific writer of superhero comics in the early days of the Silver Age (late 50s through to late 60s), and wrote a lot of the most popular issues on title like the Justice League of America.

Last month I reported reading KIngs of the Wyld; this was a DNF, I lost interest in the story which reminded me of a silly video game. At the end of February I started Pawn of Prophecy, first volume of the Belgariad by David Eddings. This is much more to my taste, the next volumes are already on order and I'll be enjoying that series for a while.

Dune. This is one I've been meaning to read for a long time. By long, I mean about 20 years at this point! Really enjoying it so far. Should have got to it sooner.

Pierre wrote: "Last month I reported reading Kings of the Wyld; this was a DNF, I lost interest in the story which reminded me of a silly video game...."

Kings of the Wyld is an odd adventure-comedy, a sort of "adventuring bands as rock stars" world, and a bit roman à clef, often quite obscure in its references.

Rereading one of my favorites, , and also reading a fairly new one by one of my favorite authors, by Charlie N. Holmberg.

In dead tree format I finished Good Omens and started the final installment of the Broken Earth trilogy - The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin

In electronic format I finished Sisters of Glass....ugh, I think the only place I've encountered such stubborn, dense, frustrating, annoying and sometimes downright dumb characters was in none other than the Thomas Covenant books we mentioned just above. I don't recommend, even though it was free to download, I think from Baen.

Started on the contemporary group read A Shadow in Summer by Daniel Abraham. A bit early but I'm slower to read my e-books since I only do it while I commute to work, so need a head start.

Andrea wrote: "In dead tree format I finished Good Omens and started the final installment of the Broken Earth trilogy - The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin..."

Were you planning on starting a buddy-read topic for that?

Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space by Carl Sagan was wonderful as an audiobook. I originally read it as HB shortly after it came out. That was back in the mid 90s, so it's been a while. When I saw it in audio format, I jumped on it & got to love it all over again. I gave it a 5 star review here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Son of a Liche by J. Zachary Pike

Really getting into Theory of Bastards

I started reading


Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Already time for the next group read! As I was getting close to the end of The Stone Sky I pushed my way through and finished it all last night.

Starting on Academ's Fury by Jim Butcher. Hopefully didn't lose too many group readers after the first book.

My current read is A Clash of Kings ~

Man oh man. Just finished Fool's Fate, third book of the Tawny Man Trilogy. What a quest of a book! Definitely not in a bad way, makes me feel like I've adventured the world over haha. Rated it 4.5/5 stars. I think the first two books of the trilogy were still the most powerful of the whole series so far for me, but this one was still very good!

Anyways that one took me a while to read. So much story and worldbuilding to digest! So now I'm in the mood for a few quick reads before I dive into the Rain Wilds. So my next book will be with my ol' pal Indridason for another Detective Erlendur mystery Arctic Chill

I finished The Runestaff which brings to an end the History of the Runestaff series. I have now started on Black Hand Gang which is the first book in the No Man's World series by Pat Kelleher - a series about a military unit taken from the trenches of the Western Front in World War One to an alien world.

I just finished The Ruin of Kings. Intricate epic fantasy complete with gods, reincarnation, and nasty family politics. Good read.

Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds

Complex sci-fi story about an archaeologist who's living on an alien planet and studying it's extinct civilization while various factions are searching the galaxy for him. Includes several side plots.
Plenty of techno-speak and science jibber jabber in this compelling story. 4 stars

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

Finished Arctic Chill and rated 3.5/5 (3/5 by GR ratings). Now moving on to another mystery, Don't Look Back by Karin Fossum

I finished Pawn of Prophecy yesterday, and started immediately on Queen of Sorcery. This suits better my conservative taste, than some recent books that I read lately.

Pierre wrote: "I finished Pawn of Prophecy yesterday, and started immediately on Queen of Sorcery. This suits better my conservative taste, than some recent books that I read lately."

They're fun books. I'd suggest just reading these 5 & then stopping. I didn't find the Mallorean as good, but it's not awful. A minor disappointment. Belgarath & Polgara were a waste of time, IMO.

I also really liked his Elenium trilogy. Again, I found the follow up trilogy, the Tamuli, weak. Not bad, just not as good.

Jim wrote: "Belgarath & Polgara were a waste of time, IMO"

I recommend doing two things with those
1 - Wait several years after reading Belgariad and Mallorean, and pick only one, it makes for a nice recap once you start already forgetting things, but if it's already fresh it frustrating to go over things you already know
2 - Wait many more years before reading the other, since they cover the exact same timeline so a lot of duplication, even when the characters aren't together, the world events are the same and they still kind of keep in touch. Plus the two characters have the same "voice", Polgara grew up to be just like her father in personality so even that comes off the same.

Well after reading some naff books recently I feel the need to recap on brent weeks the blood mirror. I flew through it when it first came out and now is the time for a slower digestion before he brings out his next.

I finished reading Origin by Dan Brown and Camino Island by John Grisham. I am reading Self-Publishing Boot Camp Guide for Authors, 4th Edition by Carla King. I plan to read The Broken Eye by Brent Weeks next.

I also started reading:


Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams

I just finished From Russia With Love by Ian Fleming and I began The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson.

Finished Don't Look Back by Karin Fossum, 3/5 stars. Good mystery and feel like got out of it what I wanted to so overall satisfaction with it.

Now gonna read The Marrow Thieves shifting to a bit of dystopian fiction.

NekroRider wrote: "Man oh man. Just finished Fool's Fate, third book of the Tawny Man Trilogy. What a quest of a book! Definitely not in a bad way, makes me feel like I've adventured the world over haha...."

Man oh man is right! Hobb is severely emotionally exhausting.

Finished Dragon Champion - enjoyed, but didn't blow me out of the water.
Pretty excited to start The Redemption of Althalus tomorrow! Got no plans other than snuggling up and getting my Eddings fix :)

Going Rogue by Drew Hayes is the third in the Spells, Swords, & Stealth series, a D&D world from the NPC (non player characters) point of view. The series is really hitting its stride. I gave it a 4 star review here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I've been really speeding through my books this week! I finished The Marrow Thieves late last night. GR rating doesn't really work for the way my brain rates books so my rating was 3.5/5 stars, but on GR that translates to 3/5 stars.

Genre-wise I would call it near future dystopian/apocalyptic low fantasy. It was definitely written with more middle school and high school audiences in mind, which I don't read a ton of so that may be why I was having trouble getting into the story at first. I found it a difficult book to rate. In the first half of the book I found it more mediocre and there were a lot of inaccuracies and inconsistencies that detracted from the story for me. But by the second half I felt completely sucked into the story and I really adored the ending. Strong themes of family, community and inter-generational relationships, not to mention resilience and resistance against Canada's ongoing colonialism and genocide of Indigenous folks.

Next I'm going to read Moon of the Crusted Snow which is more near future apocalyptic fiction taking place in Ontario (Marrow Thieves did as well) and also written by an Indigenous author. My partner read it not long ago and loved it, so I'm pretty excited to start.

I'm still working my way through the current Codex Alera book but I'll squeeze in a short story distraction The Mountains of Mourning by Lois McMaster Bujold which is part of the Vorkosigan Saga and is usually bundled in the Young Miles omnibus that included our recent Warrior's Apprentice group read. In fact I'll be reading the entire Analog magazine that contains that particular short story, maybe one story a day or something like that.

Tried to listen to Everfair on audiobook, but had a hard time keeping track of everything that was going on and ended up putting it on hold for now. Still like the idea though, so I might give it another go in ebook form at a future time.

Finished reading Crucible, which is not marketed as a sci fi book, but would probably be interesting to anyone interested in stories about artificial superintelligence. It was fairly well researched and put AI conundrums into a relatable context.

Next I'll be working on Reincarnation Blues and The Calculating Stars.

Finished Codex Alera, as well as Mountains of Mourning (though I'm still working my way through the rest of that Analog magazine issue). Mountains of Mourning seems like a rather key piece to the history of Miles, at least it will drive his motivations in later books/stories.

Starting on another unicorn book - Ascendant by Diana Peterfreund. Unfortunately this looks like a trilogy where the author never wrote, and doesn't look like ever will write, the third book :(

Re: mountains of Mourning- I read it immediately after our group read and found it so different in tone! Much more serious and philosophical.
Let me know if you’re planning on doing The Vor Game which I hope to get to next month or so

Rachel wrote: "Re: mountains of Mourning- I read it immediately after our group read and found it so different in tone! Much more serious and philosophical.
Let me know if you’re planning on doing The Vor Game wh..."

I am, though my library lost it's copy of Young Miles (the omnibus). I later noticed that they have placed an order for it The Vor Game standalone. I've got it on reserve but it's been that way since December, not sure how long it will take to get into my hands!

A Closed and Common Orbit was good. Not as good as The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, the first of the series, but that's a tough mark to make. I was disappointed not to spend time on the Wayfarer, but I loved reading Pepper's back story. I gave it a 3 star review here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Jim wrote: "A Closed and Common Orbit was good. Not as good as The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, the first of the series, but that's a tough mark to make...."

I actually liked it more than the first book in the series, even given only one character was carried over from the first book, and even that not completely. Fewer characters made it more focused.

G33z3r wrote: "...Fewer characters made it more focused. ..."

Pepper's story/thread was excellent. The other was just too long & repetitive, IMO. Also, Chambers' tool/tech descriptions were even worse, if that's possible. They wouldn't be so bad if the rest of her writing wasn't so good. As it is, they stand out like a sore thumb.

How was Rosewater Insurrection, SA? I have high hopes :)

The Belgariad is one I have a fondness for! I'm not sure how well it ages but it's what cemented my love of epic fantasy.

I'm having a slow month because I chose ponderous tomes.

Early Riser was interesting and quirky but didn't quite solidify for me. As a somewhat runny flan of a story, it was still fun.

Almost done with Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell and really enjoying it. The audio narrator is great, and it's a nice break from the action-heavy books I've been reading lately. I love Regency literature and eerie, atmospheric faerie stories so this is really made for me.

DNFed A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe. Too nonsensical for me and the characters were all jerks.

Starting A Stranger in Olondria and trying to decide whether Memories of Ice is worth a 40+ hour investment or if I should cut my losses.

Allison wrote: "How was Rosewater Insurrection, SA? I have high hopes :) offbeat, quirky, deviant... I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thompson uses idioms and turns of phrase in a shockingly blunt way but it worked for me.

Just finished Moon of the Crusted Snow and rated it 5/5 stars. Excellent apocalyptic fiction taking place on a fictional Anishinaabe reserve in northern Ontario. Really enjoyed this and kind of wish it was longer.

Now I'm in the mood to switch back to a fast-paced mystery so going for The Couple Next Door since we already have it around the apartment.