What book are you reading...
- Thread starter agnes
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Finished the Bone Hunters and started Reaper's Gale Book 7 of the Malazan book of the fallen series last night, I might even finish all ten by the end of the year
Good luck with that!! Every book from now on gets longer and even more obtuse than before
Just don't read the sequels... (despite what it says on the covers, Clarke had almost nothing to do with them.)
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Ooh, thanks for the tip- I was planning to read more of his books, but will avoid those.
I just finished reading Harry’s Game by Gerald Seymour. Very compelling, but also very tragic particularly at the end. Even though the story was set in 1975 and written in 1982 it conveys a powerful and haunting image of what happened in Northern Ireland, particularly the effect on otherwise normal everyday folk.
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Che Guevara; The Economics of Revolution. Fascinating insight into the political upheaval and incredible work put into changing Cuba into a socialist country.
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Hmm.....just finished Salvation Sequence trilogy by Peter F Hamilton, pretty good sci fi on the whole, not quite Iain M Banks level but pretty entertaining. Not sure it all added up for me and as I turned the last electronic page I was a bit "wait what! that's it....".....otherwise solid books and well worth a read for sci fi fans.
Hamilton does leave the ending open if he wants to continue in that universe, but I think his next book is unrelated. IIRC, he does tied it all up by putting everyone together at the end.
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“City of Windows” by Robert Pobi, it took a little while to get into its stride, but not an overly long time.
It’s a revenge on “The Man” book, and doesn’t telegraph what’s going to happen next, just when you’re convinced that the author has revealed whodunnit, bang, you’re skewed off into another direction.
The final revelation is just that, a revelation, 9/10.
It’s a revenge on “The Man” book, and doesn’t telegraph what’s going to happen next, just when you’re convinced that the author has revealed whodunnit, bang, you’re skewed off into another direction.
The final revelation is just that, a revelation, 9/10.
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Well, I just finished Hornblower In The West Indies, which was a collection of shorter stories, and the last Hornblower book.
I really enjoyed them all. Hornblower is a really well-written character and the stories all rattle along to a satisfying conclusion.
I'll probably read more of Forester's books, if I come across any. I know that Interbooks second hand stall in pontyridd market has at least one, and I'm going there next week.
*rubs hands in glee*
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I just abandoned Earthquake Weather by Tim Powers. I've enjoyed his other books, but this one was just long and confusing.
Now reading an Arthur C Clarke short stories book.
Now reading an Arthur C Clarke short stories book.
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I think I found this series a while back when looking up fantasy books. Is it really dense? I can't recall if I tried the sample or even bought the first book. It sounds right up my alley, maybe I should try again
"Hail Mary", the new Andy Weir book. A man wakes up alone in a space-ship, but he doesn't remember who he is or why he's there. The story is structured by alternating with the main character figuring out why he's there and what he's supposed to do, with the flashbacks that show you how he got to where he is as his memory gradually comes back. It's quite a science based story (just like The Martian), but there's several clever twists, not just as the main story progresses, but also as the main character remembers what his mission is.
I don't want to give away any spoilers, but despite the science based story, it's a more fantastic story than "The Martian", but has that same feel of the first person story (alternated with the flashbacks), as the main character figures his way through many science based problems and reveals more about himself. I enjoyed it as much as "The Martian", but there's a human connection with the main character in "The Martian" that isn't quite there with "Hail Mary", though a suitable substitute is provided. Very recommended.
"Bear Head" (Dogs Of War 2) - Adrian Tchaikovsky. A sequel to Dogs Of War sees Bees exiled/escaped to Mars along with altered humans to build and terraform the planet, pushback from politicians on the subject of uplifted animals moving toward enslaved sentient animals (with people not far behind) and a totally nasty Trump-type politician with bigger, and more awful plans. When a dodgy Mars worker tries to make some extra cash hiding data in his brain implants, he gets more than he bargained for when a cybernetic personality unfolds in his head and accidentally starts a revolution both on Mars and on Earth. A good sequel that expands on the future of the world we saw in "War Dogs", and yet manages to be different and new. The explanation of the "meta-game" makes a lot of sense in the current world.
"The Doors Of Eden" - Adrian Tchaikovsky. A serious standalone sci-fi novel where a couple of monster hunters run into something nasty while investigating on Salisbury Plain. One of them seems lost in an alternate reality version of Earth, and the other who escapes finds her life spiralling at the loss. Until five years later, they spot each other on a London street. This is a great story that incorporates mad industrialists, alternate realities, computer gods, government agents, and an adventure to save all of the multiverse. This is as good as "Children of Time", but with an author who's had more time to hone his skills, a more expansive and fantastic story, and yet one that resonates more closely as so much of it happens in London in the present day.
At the same time as I was reading this, I read several other SF books that fashionably had to have LGBTQ characters clunkily forced in there, and this is the book that carried it off well, treating a character's sexuality as simply one aspect of their personality, not the whole be all and end all like a flag-waving exercise to show how woke the author was. Highly recommended.
I don't want to give away any spoilers, but despite the science based story, it's a more fantastic story than "The Martian", but has that same feel of the first person story (alternated with the flashbacks), as the main character figures his way through many science based problems and reveals more about himself. I enjoyed it as much as "The Martian", but there's a human connection with the main character in "The Martian" that isn't quite there with "Hail Mary", though a suitable substitute is provided. Very recommended.
"Bear Head" (Dogs Of War 2) - Adrian Tchaikovsky. A sequel to Dogs Of War sees Bees exiled/escaped to Mars along with altered humans to build and terraform the planet, pushback from politicians on the subject of uplifted animals moving toward enslaved sentient animals (with people not far behind) and a totally nasty Trump-type politician with bigger, and more awful plans. When a dodgy Mars worker tries to make some extra cash hiding data in his brain implants, he gets more than he bargained for when a cybernetic personality unfolds in his head and accidentally starts a revolution both on Mars and on Earth. A good sequel that expands on the future of the world we saw in "War Dogs", and yet manages to be different and new. The explanation of the "meta-game" makes a lot of sense in the current world.
"The Doors Of Eden" - Adrian Tchaikovsky. A serious standalone sci-fi novel where a couple of monster hunters run into something nasty while investigating on Salisbury Plain. One of them seems lost in an alternate reality version of Earth, and the other who escapes finds her life spiralling at the loss. Until five years later, they spot each other on a London street. This is a great story that incorporates mad industrialists, alternate realities, computer gods, government agents, and an adventure to save all of the multiverse. This is as good as "Children of Time", but with an author who's had more time to hone his skills, a more expansive and fantastic story, and yet one that resonates more closely as so much of it happens in London in the present day.
At the same time as I was reading this, I read several other SF books that fashionably had to have LGBTQ characters clunkily forced in there, and this is the book that carried it off well, treating a character's sexuality as simply one aspect of their personality, not the whole be all and end all like a flag-waving exercise to show how woke the author was. Highly recommended.
Its one of the more challenging Fantasy series initially, the first book especially. You're thrown into a world, and the book doesn't handhold you and explain how things work, which many readers find tough. It also bounces between locations and characters a lot in the first half of the series. About 90% of the cast in Book 2 are completely new, and then more of the Book 1 cast return later in the series. It can be jarring and it doesn't make it the easiest story to follow on your first time read-through.
Those are the negatives, but if we're talking positives then it is extremely well written, it for the most part strikes the perfect balance between tension and humor. There are sections of this book that will utterly break your heart, its absolutely brutal in places, but its never brutal just for the sake of it and its always to drive the story forward. It does navel gaze a little from time to time, but this doesn't detract from what an absolutely fantastic read the series is.
I've read a lot of fantasy, I doubt there is a major fantasy series out there that I haven't been through a couple of times and in my opinion this is by far the best, well clear of everything else.
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Just finished the entire Expanse series last week, reading Ender's Game always a great reread. Looking for something more substantial for next week.
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If you want a recommendation, try Earth Abides by George R Stewart. It's one of the first "after the plague" books and is much better than most. It's also beautifully written and conveys a real sense of loss.
It's not particularly long, but has real weight and stayed with me long after I had finished it.