What are you reading?

[Malaphax]

On 7/28/2020 at 9:29 AM, Malaphax said:

I've been slow to finish Salvation, it definitely feels like the first book in a series and unfortunately also feels incredibly unfocused.  You have two different timelines and sets of characters, but one of those timelines is basically a bunch of characters telling one another stories of their past exploits, so now you have this anthology on top of the two timelines.  While the characters' individual exploits are semi-connected and mostly entertaining it makes the entire book feel like a well written but meandering mess. 

That's my thoughts from another Peter F. Hamilton book: Salvation - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34068552-salvation

If you're feeling like the story just keeps ping-ponging between different point of view characters and side stories without really moving forward... yea that's what I felt.  I wonder if that's just his personal style. 

[kuhla]

On 7/1/2021 at 9:32 PM, kuhla said:

Now reading  The Dreaming Void (Void #1) by Peter F. Hamilton

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/866136.The_Dreaming_Void

I'm not that far in but I have to say I am feeling a little bit lost. The writing style is fine and plot does not even seem that complicated but there is bouncing between two points in time. I imagine some things will get explained in time but I'm not really enjoying the feeling of floundering with terms that do not mean anything to me (yet).

Finished this. It ended up being 4 different stories that it follows through the book. I was kind of enjoying 2 of the stories but the overall book still didn't really have much of an ending. I feel like the final "moment" of the book ended up being kind of a "that's it?" For the 2 stories I kind of want to move on to book 2 but I'm going to go read something else first and debate pivoting back later.

[Malaphax]

NPR put out a list of Sci-fi and fantasy recommendations from the last decade.  So a significant recency bias which is good, and still long enough that several of these series are actually complete or at least multiple books in. 

https://www.npr.org/2021/08/18/1027159166/best-books-science-fiction-fantasy-past-decade

Skimming this for stuff I've read:

• Imperial Radch Trilogy - It's decent, has a good mix of space opera elements with more "human" aspects.  They specifically play with gender by never mentioning any character's gender. 
• Shades of Magic Trilogy - I enjoyed it, it's a simpler story that almost leans towards Y.A. (the author also writes Y.A.) but all the characters are adults.  Their magic system is also similar to avatar. 
• The Locked Tomb series - It's on my list.  Seems like a weird mix of fantasy and scifi, Very positive reviews. 
• Machineries of Empire series - This is the very odd space opera where math and formations create magic.  There's also weird stuff about calendars.  It's interesting but a bit on the mediocre side. 
• The Masquerade series - Hey look I'm literally reading that right now (towards the end of book 2).
  I'd safely recommend this as a fantasy series with zero magic, there's some spattering of economics (nothing too far past econ101) but it's mostly focused on espionage and spycraft.  Strong recommendation. 
• Murderbot series - Yea these are neat little bite sized stories, that I've enjoyed.  There's a few full novels out at this point and I've enjoyed them.  Imagine an exceptionally sarcastic asshole robot (there's actually more than one) that sometimes has issues with emotions. 
• The Interdependency series - I normally enjoy Scalzi's work and this is one of his better series.  It's a unique take on space operas and impending collapse.  The characters are great, but the overarching story is middling.  Oddly the "main" character is so dull that one of the side POV characters sort of takes over. 

[kuhla]

11 hours ago, Malaphax said:

NPR put out a list of Sci-fi and fantasy recommendations from the last decade.  So a significant recency bias which is good, and still long enough that several of these series are actually complete or at least multiple books in. 

https://www.npr.org/2021/08/18/1027159166/best-books-science-fiction-fantasy-past-decade

Skimming this for stuff I've read:

• Imperial Radch Trilogy - It's decent, has a good mix of space opera elements with more "human" aspects.  They specifically play with gender by never mentioning any character's gender. 
• Shades of Magic Trilogy - I enjoyed it, it's a simpler story that almost leans towards Y.A. (the author also writes Y.A.) but all the characters are adults.  Their magic system is also similar to avatar. 
• The Locked Tomb series - It's on my list.  Seems like a weird mix of fantasy and scifi, Very positive reviews. 
• Machineries of Empire series - This is the very odd space opera where math and formations create magic.  There's also weird stuff about calendars.  It's interesting but a bit on the mediocre side. 
• The Masquerade series - Hey look I'm literally reading that right now (towards the end of book 2).
  I'd safely recommend this as a fantasy series with zero magic, there's some spattering of economics (nothing too far past econ101) but it's mostly focused on espionage and spycraft.  Strong recommendation. 
• Murderbot series - Yea these are neat little bite sized stories, that I've enjoyed.  There's a few full novels out at this point and I've enjoyed them.  Imagine an exceptionally sarcastic asshole robot (there's actually more than one) that sometimes has issues with emotions. 
• The Interdependency series - I normally enjoy Scalzi's work and this is one of his better series.  It's a unique take on space operas and impending collapse.  The characters are great, but the overarching story is middling.  Oddly the "main" character is so dull that one of the side POV characters sort of takes over. 

I will definitely have to take a closer look at that list at some point.

Currently reading The Scar (New Crobuzon #2) by China Miéville.

Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/68497.The_Scar

I did read the first book in this trilogy recently (Perdido Street Station) but these books don't really build on each other. New characters. New story. Same universe. Same city. So far it's ok. It does not quite have the same intensity as the first book but I don't think I am at the half way point just yet so it has some room to maneuver.

[Malaphax]

On 5/15/2021 at 7:39 PM, Malaphax said:

I finished the first book, it was definitely well written and I'll continue the series to see where this goes.  Some of the major focus on economics and monetary policy was surprising but it does shift to a more traditional sword and sandals style fantasy partway through.  I'm also curious about some of the world building elements they're making use of, the main character is clearly working for an 'evil' empire and I'm wondering how they're going to handle that. 

Finished book 2 and I'm moving on to book 3 (The Tyrant Baru Cormorant)

There was one small section that discussed economics, specifically it gave a sort of abbreviated tulip-mania element to the story but it wasn't entirely central to the plot.  The rest of the book was far more focused on spycraft and a very slow introduction of occult elements.  I'm still very interested where they're planning on going, but this book did feel more middling than the first one.  They've leaned very heavily on the morally gray aspects of major characters - I enjoy this, but I can understand how some people wouldn't. 

I've noticed a trend of various trilogy series.  The first book is almost always more self contained, with a teaser for a sequel.  The second seems to suffer under the weight of propping up the middle and almost acts more as a prequel for the third novel - and then the third novel tends to end well (or at least bombastically).  I heavily suspect that authors write the first novel - then write the second and third concurrently, which leads to this feeling like the second novel is almost more of 1/2 of a larger novel than an actual standalone book. 

I also stocked up on a large number of other sci-fi and fantasy books (partly based on the NPR list) so I have a decent sized backlog built up moving forward. 

[kuhla]

On 8/18/2021 at 10:42 PM, kuhla said:

Currently reading The Scar (New Crobuzon #2) by China Miéville.

Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/68497.The_Scar

I did read the first book in this trilogy recently (Perdido Street Station) but these books don't really build on each other. New characters. New story. Same universe. Same city. So far it's ok. It does not quite have the same intensity as the first book but I don't think I am at the half way point just yet so it has some room to maneuver.

Finished this. It did pick up a bit later in the book but I actually think it never was supposed to have the same "intensity" as the first book. Different story. Different character. Not the same. I similarly enjoyed this book compared to the first one. China Miéville sure does know how to build a crazy little fantasy world (I actually would hazard to call it steampunk). I'm not feeling adventurous in my book reading right now so I'm just going to move on to the last book in the series, #3.

[kuhla]

On 9/11/2021 at 4:12 PM, kuhla said:

Finished this. It did pick up a bit later in the book but I actually think it never was supposed to have the same "intensity" as the first book. Different story. Different character. Not the same. I similarly enjoyed this book compared to the first one. China Miéville sure does know how to build a crazy little fantasy world (I actually would hazard to call it steampunk). I'm not feeling adventurous in my book reading right now so I'm just going to move on to the last book in the series, #3.

I don't know what happened, it is the same author, but book #3 (Iron Council) just feels very different and it's not just the new character and his story but the whole way the book is constructed. I was just plain bored by the time I got 1/4 of the way in and finally decided to just call it done around the 1/2 way point.

Moved on to Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46756.Oryx_and_Crake

No idea what to expect so far. Worried that it showed up on recommended lists just because of the "star power" of the author.

[kuhla]

On 10/26/2021 at 10:05 PM, kuhla said:

Moved on to Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46756.Oryx_and_Crake

No idea what to expect so far. Worried that it showed up on recommended lists just because of the "star power" of the author.

I feel obligated to give a warning on this. There is a point-of-view section from one of the main characters of when she was very young child and forced into sex trafficking. It is long and very uncomfortable especially because of how mundane it is presented. If this is revisited again in the book I'm just going to drop it.

[kuhla]

On 10/26/2021 at 10:05 PM, kuhla said:

Moved on to Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46756.Oryx_and_Crake

No idea what to expect so far. Worried that it showed up on recommended lists just because of the "star power" of the author.

On 11/8/2021 at 9:14 PM, kuhla said:

I feel obligated to give a warning on this. There is a point-of-view section from one of the main characters of when she was very young child and forced into sex trafficking. It is long and very uncomfortable especially because of how mundane it is presented. If this is revisited again in the book I'm just going to drop it.

Finished this.

It was easy to read, story and characters felt a little different than the norm but it didn't really do anything to really grab me. There is 2 more books in this series but I am just not really interested in finding out what happens next. Maybe I will revisit this in the future but there was enough closure at the end of this book that I can just step away now.

Not sure what I will/can start next.

[kuhla]

On 9/1/2020 at 10:01 AM, Malaphax said:

.....

I moved on to another series from Brandon Sanderson - The Stormlight Archive: Way of Kings
.....

This gets referenced too often. Just started it. Will see where it goes.

[Malaphax]

On 9/9/2021 at 11:00 AM, Malaphax said:

Finished book 2 and I'm moving on to book 3 (The Tyrant Baru Cormorant)

I'm a bit disappointed with this novel.  Partly because I thought it was the finale of a trilogy, there's another book coming, supposedly the final novel.  Also because this really felt like a middle book, there's a big build up of events and the ending of this just doesn't get the payoff it deserves.  I'm still interested in the series but I think this was by far the weakest of the three novels. 

Moving on to Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir.  The author wrote The Martian, which I never read but the movie is supposed to be a solid adaptation.  I'm expecting some hard sci-fi, the first few chapters literally has the main character doing science experiments (simple ones). 

[Malaphax]

On 3/8/2022 at 4:42 PM, Malaphax said:

Moving on to Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir.  The author wrote The Martian, which I never read but the movie is supposed to be a solid adaptation.  I'm expecting some hard sci-fi, the first few chapters literally has the main character doing science experiments (simple ones). 

This was a nice straightforward read.  I would point out that the book is heavily reliant on flashbacks (they're like 40% of the book) which might bother some people, but the plot moves well.  This is very near future sci-fi with plenty of crunch to it, but it never seemed overwhelming when they explain details about technology or science.  The downside is that the main character and some of the plot elements are very similar to the martian - super smart science dude manages to macgyver his way through various problems.  I'd like to see if Andy Weir can step a bit further out of his comfort zone, but I'm sure his publisher is happy if he sticks to a proven formula. 
I fully expect they'll try to turn this into a movie or mini-series at some point. 

Moving on to Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Miur.  The main thrust seems to be a mix of sci-fi and necromancy - I'm getting weird Chronicles of Riddick vibes out of that so I'll see if this is decent. 

[Malaphax]

On 3/20/2022 at 8:48 AM, Malaphax said:

Moving on to Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Miur.  The main thrust seems to be a mix of sci-fi and necromancy - I'm getting weird Chronicles of Riddick vibes out of that so I'll see if this is decent. 

I'm going to give this a solid meh.  They set this up as an interstellar empire but 80% of the book is set on a single planet, in a single structure.  This felt like more of a prequel then a first novel. 
I did start on the second book in the series just to see if they would expand the setting, and so far they're doing much more sci-fi/space opera with the second book.  If it doesn't grab me I might just drop it and move on. 

[kuhla]

link - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9359818-god-s-war

Currently reading  God's War (Bel Dame Apocrypha #1) by Kameron Hurley. About half-way in. This is some kind of weird blend of science fiction and fantasy. The setting is one particular planet where there are practicers of magic (illusions, shape-shifting, etc.) but interplanetary travel on spaceships is also occurring. The "technology" in the book seems mostly biological (bio-punk?) that uses insects. It's a strange book and you get thrown into it very quickly. I feel like I'm running to catch up with the heavy islamic-ish religion stuff layered on top of the human breeding and why person xyz matters at all. It's not hard to read but it's very different from a lot of what I read. The second book in the series is the one I actually saw on recommended lists but I will get to it soon since the first book is only 300 pages.

[Malaphax]

On 5/9/2022 at 12:03 PM, Malaphax said:

I'm going to give this a solid meh.  They set this up as an interstellar empire but 80% of the book is set on a single planet, in a single structure.  This felt like more of a prequel then a first novel. 
I did start on the second book in the series just to see if they would expand the setting, and so far they're doing much more sci-fi/space opera with the second book.  If it doesn't grab me I might just drop it and move on. 

Yea the second book was in many ways more confusing than the first.  They do some weird unreliable narrator stuff that I really didn't like and the plot feels so unimpactful. 
This series was pitched as "lesbian necromancers in space" and honestly that's just flat out bullshit.  The lesbian part is there but it's like calling faintly glowing embers a fire, the necromancer part is absolutely a component, and the in space part is almost nonexistent.  I'd recommend passing on this, even if I see it brought up quite a bit as a recommendation. 

Currently reading Fugitive Telemetry (Murderbot #6)
These books are fun little romps and some of the most fun sci-fi I've read over the past few years.  I appreciate that the main character is sarcastic and sassy but also shows competence.  There's also some cool elements regarding their twisted worldview considering they're a construct and were considered property before breaking free.  There's also plenty of evil corpo stuff that brings in dystopian/cyberpunk themes which I enjoy. 
Still a strong recommendation for this series, the first novellas are short enough that you can quickly figure out if this is something you'll enjoy or not. 

[kuhla]

Quote

The chimneys of industry rise over Adua and the world seethes with new opportunities. But old scores run deep as ever. 

On the blood-soaked borders of Angland, Leo dan Brock struggles to win fame on the battlefield, and defeat the marauding armies of Stour Nightfall. He hopes for help from the crown. But King Jezal's son, the feckless Prince Orso, is a man who specializes in disappointments. 

Savine dan Glokta - socialite, investor, and daughter of the most feared man in the Union - plans to claw her way to the top of the slag-heap of society by any means necessary. But the slums boil over with a rage that all the money in the world cannot control. 

The age of the machine dawns, but the age of magic refuses to die. With the help of the mad hillwoman Isern-i-Phail, Rikke struggles to control the blessing, or the curse, of the Long Eye. Glimpsing the future is one thing, but with the guiding hand of the First of the Magi still pulling the strings, changing it will be quite another...

 

Currently reading A Little Hatred (The Age of Madness #1) by Joe Abercrombie. About half-way into it. I have some mixed feelings about this book. The book starts out with what feels like a crazy pace, introducing many different characters in rapid succession, which left me feeling like I spent 100 pages just trying to keep track of everyone's names. Then there are also parts which had so much back-and-forth dialogue that it felt like I was reading a script. I find myself curious about where some of the plot points are moving the story so I will definitely keep reading but if this starts feeling difficult to read then I might drop the series.

[Malaphax]

I finished Three Parts Dead (Craft Sequence #1)
This has a modern fantasy vibe, although the world itself is completely unique and is a bit more early industrial than truly modern.  It's a hard comparison when you have stuff like a god being used to power steam turbines next to "driverless carriages" but the tone is much more modern than most fantasy.  The magic system is very loose, with some magic users basically drawing power from stars in the night sky and living long enough to become liches / undead kings.  There's also the aforementioned gods and various worshipers that are granted a sort of pseudo-magecraft that allows them to channel their gods powers for certain uses.  You also get a weird bit of fantasy tropes like vampires and gargoyles but they handwave them as being "magically created".  The book was interesting enough to keep my attention but not particularly great.  I've heard the author gets better the further you go in the series and I did download more of his work but I decided to move on to something else. 

[Malaphax]

Didn't get as much reading done on vacation but I'm mostly done with 2 books in a sequel trilogy to the mistborn series (more Brandon Sanderson fantasy stuff). 

I'd read the first mistborn series (books 1-3) a while back and the magic system seemed interesting but having certain characters will all the powers did eventually get dull.  This time around the main characters have 1-2 powers that they utilize in a more limited fashion to make some of the action sequences a bit more interesting.  They've also moved the timeline along a fair bit going from more traditional fantasy to early industrial with guns and cars.  There's also more of a focus on a detective/mystery elements with the main character often being referred to as a 'lawman' which does change up how the plots get introduced and resolved. 
It's a solid series that you can probably read without having gone through the first 3 books, since any callbacks are mostly explained - with little things like some of the heroes from the first books being deified. 
 

[kuhla]

On 8/1/2022 at 12:08 PM, kuhla said:

 

Currently reading A Little Hatred (The Age of Madness #1) by Joe Abercrombie. About half-way into it. I have some mixed feelings about this book. The book starts out with what feels like a crazy pace, introducing many different characters in rapid succession, which left me feeling like I spent 100 pages just trying to keep track of everyone's names. Then there are also parts which had so much back-and-forth dialogue that it felt like I was reading a script. I find myself curious about where some of the plot points are moving the story so I will definitely keep reading but if this starts feeling difficult to read then I might drop the series.

Finished the whole The Age of Madness series from Joe Abercrombie....

1. A Little Hatred - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35606041-a-little-hatred
2. The Trouble with Peace - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40701777-the-trouble-with-peace
3. The Wisdom of Crowds - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40701780-the-wisdom-of-crowds

....and it was OK. I'm not sure I would recommend it. I have plenty of criticisms. Many of the characters did not really interest me partially because I did not feel like they developed much throughout the series despite a lot happening in the wider world. A few of the interesting ideas (wizard) presented in the book did not get developed.

Also, while I do think drawing some inspiration from the real world can sometime be a cool way to add a dose of realism, I really did not enjoy that one of the characters borrowed multiple characteristics from current politics even going so far as to say "We need to make the union great again."

After that I moved on to Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim (part of a series with the same name) which I just finished. It was short and simple but I found it satisfying an would recommend it for some light reading. Felt very "mythical" in the fashion and taken from ancient heroics. I see it has been tagged as "young adult fantasy" which I would disagree with. The main character is a young adult but many of the normal YA tropes are missing. This is supposed to be a series but I might be satisfied with just the first book (bullshit).

No idea what I will read next.

[Malaphax]

On 9/6/2022 at 7:55 AM, Malaphax said:

I'm mostly done with 2 books in a sequel trilogy to the mistborn series (more Brandon Sanderson fantasy stuff).

Finished the 3 sequel books available, but I believe there's a 4th coming soon and no idea if there will be more afterwards.  At least the author is prolific and I won't have to wait long for a release. 

The good is that the novels continued strong elements of worldbuilding and the neat magic system.  I was very pleasantly surprised to enjoy the romance element of these novels, it feels like an actual relationship that built up over time between two adults, and felt far more genuine than typical romantic elements in scifi/fantasy works.  In general this entire series has felt far more focused on adult characters, everyone at least in their mid to late 20's and the main character is in his mid to late 40s.

I'd say this is a solid series to read if you're interested in something slightly different in the fantasy genre.  Downside is that they've made far more references to the first mistborn trilogy which kind of gates the series, unless you're comfortable with weird references you won't entirely understand. 

Moving on to more of the Craft Sequence, which is also modern(ish) fantasy.  Looks like they're mostly standalone stories so far which is a nice change of pace. 

[kuhla]

https://www.goodreads.com/series/233352-teixcalaan

I've been reading the Teixcalaan series by Arkady Martine. Finished book 1 and working on book 2. Not much to say but it's going OK. Mostly political maneuvering drama and some exploration of some seemingly unnecessarily complicated alien civilizations. It is easy to read so it's going by quickly and I'm not sure what I will move on to next.

[kuhla]

On 10/21/2022 at 10:19 AM, kuhla said:

https://www.goodreads.com/series/233352-teixcalaan

I've been reading the Teixcalaan series by Arkady Martine. Finished book 1 and working on book 2. Not much to say but it's going OK. Mostly political maneuvering drama and some exploration of some seemingly unnecessarily complicated alien civilizations. It is easy to read so it's going by quickly and I'm not sure what I will move on to next.

Finished this. I guess I just kind of had fun with it. 2nd book had quite a bit more "action" but still focused on a lot of in-universe politics.

Currently reading "The Empire's Ruin" (Ashes of the Unhewn Throne #1) by Brian Staveley.

Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39863316-the-empire-s-ruin?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=NAD0NrX8ZQ&rank=1

I'm not far enough in yet to give much of an impression. For some reason I cannot read this fast. Writing style makes me slow down.

[kuhla]

On 11/20/2022 at 6:57 PM, kuhla said:

Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39863316-the-empire-s-ruin?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=NAD0NrX8ZQ&rank=1

I'm not far enough in yet to give much of an impression. For some reason I cannot read this fast. Writing style makes me slow down.

This is going OK. Not really too much for me to say. I'm deep into it but still feel like I'm waiting for the plot to present itself. All the characters so far seem to be just kind of aimless. It is entertaining enough to keep reading for now though.

[Malaphax]

Finished the 2nd age mistborn books.  The last book really starts to push some of the meta-narrative of multiple planets and different gods/beings attempting to gain control.  I don't know if we're going to see a shift in Sanderson's books being more open about connecting the cosmere, because I have a feeling that could get very old, especially if you only like some of his work.  It could potentially make all of his books 'required' reading in order to get it.  

Speaking of Sanderson, I also finished Tress of the Emerald Sea.  This was far more whimsical than his other stuff and while there was still magic with rules this felt far more loosely defined.  There's a big cosmere connection in this as well and I have some questions regarding where this sits on a timeline but it was mostly enjoyable.  

The Poppy War - I hated this book.  The first half was mostly ok, with an almost YA style premise of a gifted kid getting into a prestigious school, but it turns ugly quickly.  The author is basically writing a fictional version of China/Japan during the Sino-Japanese War and decides to dedicate a few chapters to a graphic depiction of the rape of nanking.  Normally I don't mind a darker tone, but this felt like cheap shock value made even cheaper since the author is basically writing fanfiction based on real historical atrocities.  It's also very odd how the author (a chinese american woman) somehow manages to push what I found to be rather racist tropes about both China and Japan.  The magic was super odd and poorly thought out, there could have been some cool elements but instead it felt threadbare and tired.  

Half a King - I've seen Joe Abercrombie's books come across my recommendations, so I'll give this a shot.  

 

[Malaphax]

On 3/13/2023 at 1:44 PM, Malaphax said:

Half a King - I've seen Joe Abercrombie's books come across my recommendations, so I'll give this a shot.  

The first book was solid, there are some similarities to Game of Thrones or more "dark fantasy" that isn't afraid to kill off character or make point of view characters suffer, rather than more escapist heroes journey types of fantasy.  I'll continue reading through the trilogy since it's fairly easy to read - but the series isn't exactly doing anything new or unique.  I do appreciate that there's no magic (so far) and it's more basic on the nordic or early english setting, with viking style raids and multiple kings competing for power.  They don't go into detail but there's some references to capitalism or unified currencies being used as levers of power - this was much better described and explored in the Baru Cormorant series.