What book are you reading...

potatolord · 24 Jan 2024 at 09:52

I just finished The Queen Of Air And Darkness, by Poul Anderson. 50s/60s scifi short stories.

One of the six stories was good, the others were either passable or annoying. It suffered from the 50s/60s cold war style, where the humans/ goodies were better in every respect than their opponents. That gets a bit tedious as it robs the story of suspense.

zom247 · 24 Jan 2024 at 16:15

My Effin' Life by Geddy Lee. Only about 6 chapters in but enjoying it. Heartbreaking to read the chapter about his parents and the camps they were in during WWII, something we should never ever forget.

Mint8 · 24 Jan 2024 at 18:26

The Silver Wolf - J C Harvey. 1st part of a trilogy.

Very well written revenge story set during the 30yrs war in Europe.

mingeroonie · 27 Jan 2024 at 12:00

Just finished The Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin.
Hard to get into, but after about 20% I couldn't put it down

leemk · 27 Jan 2024 at 19:18

The Expanse books 7,8 and 9 after watching the TV series decided to find out what happened after season 6 , have not read books 1-6 and dont think i will bother as i thought books 7 & 8 where ok but not book 9 his writing style is not for me.
would be good if they ever did film them though.

on another note noticed they are going to film Robert McCammon's Swan Song one of my favourite books.

Meridian · 27 Jan 2024 at 21:22

leemk said:
The Expanse books 7,8 and 9 after watching the TV series decided to find out what happened after season 6 , have not read books 1-6 and dont think i will bother as i thought books 7 & 8 where ok but not book 9 his writing style is not for me.

Their style. It's two writers writing under one name.

I'm re-reading Robin Hobb from the beginning. I recently read her latest set which finishes off both Rain Wild and Fitz story lines, but the constant mentions of earlier stuff made me read them again because it's about ten years since I read them the first time and I've forgotten most of it. I know her style is not to the liking of some here, but I'd say she is one of the three or four best writers in Fantasy.

Shamikebab · 27 Jan 2024 at 21:25

Hobb is definitely one of my favourite writers. The Fitz series is one of the best in books and one of the few books that has genuinely brought me to tears multiple times.

leemk · 27 Jan 2024 at 21:35

Meridian said:
Their style. It's two writers writing under one name.

I'm re-reading Robin Hobb from the beginning. I recently read her latest set which finishes off both Rain Wild and Fitz story lines, but the constant mentions of earlier stuff made me read them again because it's about ten years since I read them the first time and I've forgotten most of it. I know her style is not to the liking of some here, but I'd say she is one of the three or four best writers in Fantasy.

learned two things there , one about the expanse being written by two writers and Robin Hobb being a women , thought it was a bloke

The Liveship Traders is one of my favourite trilogies.

AndyCr15 · 28 Jan 2024 at 06:46

About halfway into 'Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker', an autobiography by Kevin Mitnick. Very interesting so far.

djcj · 28 Jan 2024 at 15:07

Meridian said:
Their style. It's two writers writing under one name.

I'm re-reading Robin Hobb from the beginning. I recently read her latest set which finishes off both Rain Wild and Fitz story lines, but the constant mentions of earlier stuff made me read them again because it's about ten years since I read them the first time and I've forgotten most of it. I know her style is not to the liking of some here, but I'd say she is one of the three or four best writers in Fantasy.

I've yet to read anything by Robin Hobb, but once I finish the wheel of time series I plan to read pretty much the entire Hobb back catalogue.

j.col · 31 Jan 2024 at 11:31

Just finished Legends and Latte's by Travis Baldree.
Its not my usual type of fantasy, but I quite enjoyed it.
It's about an Orc who opens a coffee shop, and her trials and tribulations.
No action so to speak, but an enjoyable read nonetheless

Earth[Tera].bin · 31 Jan 2024 at 21:03

Started reading 'Act of Oblivion' by Robert Harris, seems an interesting read so far but I'm not totally feeling it. Lacking the motivation to continue reading.

hood1971 · 1 Feb 2024 at 11:05

Reading Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo. The first 20% of the book was hard work, it felt like I had missed a large section of the plot, not quite understanding what I was reading. But slowly the world is taking shape and I am really enjoying it.

The premise is that Yale was founded and run by secret societies who have access to magic. After a few accidents, Lethe was founded to police and assist in rituals. Lethe selects potential Yale students and offers them scholarships in return for work. Alex is unique in that she can see ghosts, but in every other way would be unsuitable for Yale and Lethe, and as usual things go awry.

The world building in the book is intriguing and hopefully has a decent conclusion.

Edit.. finished the book and would recommend it. It does end setting up the next in series with an Eastenders doof doof note, but otherwise enjoyable.

potatolord · 2 Feb 2024 at 23:28

I just finished A Forger's Tale, by Shaun Greenhalgh. He faked works of art (paintings, sculptures etc) and scammed bolton museum out of £400k for one item.

It was pretty poor. Most of the book was him.claiming he never intended to scam people, and it was their own fault anyway for not spotting the "deliberate mistakes" he had included. Hmm.

mid_gen · 4 Feb 2024 at 09:00

Just finished Adrian Tchaikovsky's Children of Time trilogy.

I'll put it in the good, but not great, category. It's not really a trilogy at all tbh, just three books set in the same universe. I like his ideas and overall enjoyed it, but I wouldn't go back and re-read any of it like I would Ian M Banks novels.

Starting his Lords of Uncreation trilogy now, quite different.

Shamikebab · 4 Feb 2024 at 09:20

Back to 40k, discovered there was a different Inquisition trilogy that I haven't read, Vaults of Terra. Interesting to see an author that isn't Abnett take them on. Chris Wraight is another of the 40k authors that I quite like and his take on the Inquisition is really good too, maybe a little more plot focussed than Abnett, it moves along at quite a pace but I enjoyed the first one. I think it did a great job at describing Terra and the different parts of it.

j.col · 4 Feb 2024 at 12:34

Shamikebab said:
Back to 40k, discovered there was a different Inquisition trilogy that I haven't read, Vaults of Terra. Interesting to see an author that isn't Abnett take them on. Chris Wraight is another of the 40k authors that I quite like and his take on the Inquisition is really good too, maybe a little more plot focussed than Abnett, it moves along at quite a pace but I enjoyed the first one. I think it did a great job at describing Terra and the different parts of it.

Are these any good?
Despite my being an avid fantasy fan, I have never heard of this series of books lol

Shamikebab · 4 Feb 2024 at 12:45

j.col said:
Are these any good?
Despite my being an avid fantasy fan, I have never heard of this series of books lol

If you're into the 40k world sure, if not then probably not

Kyo · 4 Feb 2024 at 13:20

Almost finished book 4 of the Wheel of Time - The Shadow Rising. Very good , the tv show doesn't do the story or characters justice at all.

melmac · 4 Feb 2024 at 14:01

j.col said:
Just finished Legends and Latte's by Travis Baldree.
Its not my usual type of fantasy, but I quite enjoyed it.
It's about an Orc who opens a coffee shop, and her trials and tribulations.
No action so to speak, but an enjoyable read nonetheless

That book is on my short list. Was deciding between it and the Wandering Inn and went with the Wandering Inn at the time. Which I am really enjoying.

Good to hear that Legend's and Latte's is an enjoyable read. Might take a break from the Wandering Inn books and give it a read.

What book are you reading...

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