Still reading The Crystal Shard by R. A. Salvatore. First book of The Icewind Dale Trilogy, and The Legend of Drizzt / Forgotten Realms series (publication order).
Book is pretty fast paced and full of action. Really enjoying it.
What about all of you? What have you been reading or listening to lately?
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Just finished the telling, by le guin. With that I finish the novels in the hainish cycle. I’m not sure why but I never quite got into the flow with the telling, though I do think it was good. Usually when that happens to me it’ll only be a part of the book, but for this it was most of it. I ought to give it another go at some point . Probably just the influence of life’s going one on my mood and my adhd.
Next will be four ways to forgiveness and then I’ll start Earthsea
Already made a post on here but I went down a Brandon Sanderson rabbit hole. Still working through the Stormlight novellas, but my library has his secret projects on audiobook and they’re fucking spectacular. (Read Tress and Yumi so far.)
The premium hardcovers look gorgeous, too, but I haven’t convinced myself to pay $55 apiece for them, even though I really want to. (The regular hardcover of Tress isn’t bad, but the Yumi one is really disappointing.)
Currently reading Venomous Lumpsucker and enjoying the hell out of it. It’s ~350pgs of snark sniping at our ecological apathy and “market based solutions” to the problem. It’s so on point it hurts sometimes: Imagine if Wall St financialized species extinction so that the invisible hand of the market could solve the problem, but the solutions all end up being fraud and fraud derivatives.
Recently finished James S.A. Corey’s new Captive’s War books The Mercy of Gods and the novella Livesuit. Both good, though Livesuit was the more engaging. Looking forward to more in the series when main events kick off on the human side.
Finally read Blindsight last month after seeing it endlessly recommended over the last few years. It’s good, definitely worth the read, but I enjoyed Freeze-Frame Revolution and the Sunflowers short stories a bit more. I think I’d have been more impressed with Blindsight if I read it back when it was released, I feel like the shocking big idea has diffused into other works over the last decade and a half so it’s not quite as arresting now as it would have been then.
Read Linda Nagata’s Pacific Storm as a palate cleanser between Blindsight and the Captive’s War books. This one was interesting, Nagata writes a good near future thriller and I’ll probably recommend it to family members who are into those sorts of things.
Read the anthology Shine in an afternoon at some point as well - while I appreciate the optimism it feels forced at this point. It was published just over a decade ago now and it feels distinctly out of place in the current timeline.
I’m currently reading the first book of the 3 body problem series. Still trying to decide if I like it or not even though I’m almost done with it.
I read the entire trilogy a couple of years ago and I’ll say a couple of things about it: the big ideas are great and the plot is interesting but the characters and the actual mechanics of the writing are solidly mediocre at times. I’m not sure if that’s down to the translation between languages (Ken Liu’s two translations are much better than the middle book IMO) or just the style of the novels but it’s definitely a pain point for the series.
Parts of the later books read like bad western SF from the 60s or 70s and some of the later themes are ridiculously reactionary. Like women being incapable of aggressive choices necessary for survival or the decadent feminized men who are incapable of things in general. There’s some large scale human social critique involved later about societal wishful thinking that’s 100% on point but I won’t spoil that for you.
It’s definitely worth reading, pieces of the trilogy are great, but it also goes in decidedly reactionary directions at times as well. It’s sort of like reading Ringworld - lots of neat concepts with some chauvinistic social commentary.
I’ve read the English translations of the trilogy. If you like mystery, high-concept sci-fi, and epic storytelling, the series is pretty terrific. But if your into rounded and compelling characters, especially if those characters are women, your going to have a bad time.
Kinda reminds me of classic authors like Heinlein.
Kinda reminds me of classic authors like Heinlein.
Heinlein or Niven are pretty accurate comparisons IMO
Been wanting to read this, but I’m halfway through book 7 of 8 of the witcher series, and I don’t want to leave the series undone before switching to the next book. The witcher series has been great, but this book is getting slow and hard to finish.
I finally got bored enough on a plane to watch the 3 body problem TV show. Based on liking the TV show, I’m hoping I’m gonna like the book too.
Ah, I set the Witcher books down halfway through but gotta get back to them! Glad to hear you’re enjoying them. At least they’re mostly short-ish.
They’ve been pretty fun reads so far, but this 7th book has been a bit of a slog. I think I finally got over some of the more boring parts last night, so hoping the rest of the book is easier to finish.
I’m currently reading “The Coming Insurrection” by “The Invisible Committee”
How are you liking it?
I am loving it. It is written in a very poetic language and really makes you reflect. In my case, it also generates a nihilistic feeling towards society and the possibility of change. It is a call to insurrection; it shows you, in an aesthetic and philosophical way, that there is no other way out but rebellion.
Ahan, thanks for info. I have become too lazy to work on any kind of rebellion, but it sounds like an interesting read.
I listen to A Night in the Lonesome October every October. It’s the diary of Jack the Rippers dog from October 1’st to October 31’st.
How are you liking it? It was recently recommended to me in another thread, but haven’t gotten around to it yet.
I really like it. This is probably my 10 listen. If you can find the version read by the author it’s better than the other audio book version.
I’ll probably be going for the paperback. Can’t listen to audiobooks.
Fair enough it’s great either way. I usually like to read rather than listen. However Zelazny does write in a style that works best read a aloud.
Memories of Ice by Steven Erikson. It’s the Third book of the Malazan Book of the Fallen series. I just started it but the second book blew my mind. I really enjoyed the first book, Gardens of the Moon but at times it came across as a bit generic fantasy perhaps aimed at a bit of a younger audience but Deadhouse Gates fully flipped that on its head. For a high fantasy series the battles of ‘the chain of dogs’ in Deadhouse Gates particularly stood out to me as some of the best depictions of historical warfare I’ve ever read. While a few battles from the entire wheel of time series stick with me I don’t think I’ll ever forget the chain of dogs. Looking forward to seeing what’s to come from book 3. Highly recommend the Malazan Book of the Fallen if you’re into high fantasy. Don’t be intimidated by the crazy wordcounts, they’re easy reading so far.
I’m planning on doing this at some point but I am slightly intimidated by the length. I like to read a series through as a one shot and it’ll take around 6 months based on the audiobook length and my average rate. I think I might start it after I finish earthsea, but I might start a less hefty series instead
Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky
I’ve been on a bit of a Tchaikovsky binge lately. I read Children of Time years ago and enjoyed it, but for whatever reason, didn’t read anything else by him then. I had a copy of Made Things knocking around though, and I finally read it a few weeks ago and was so impressed I started reading him in earnest. This is the… let’s see… seventh book of his I’ve read lately.
He sort of reminds me of Michael Crichton. He’s not a particularly notable prose stylist - his writing is entirely competent and sufficient, but not in any way really remarkable. But he tells very imaginative stories very well, so he’s a satisfying read.
This one is a sort of political thriller wrapped around a mystery that plays out a bit like a science fiction update of a Lovecraftian eldritch abomination story, leavened a bit with Emily St. John Mandel style misfit spaceship crew slice of life. I’m enjoying it.
I bounced off of Children of Time hard, finished, but hated it by the end. I might not have been so harsh if the praise for it wasn’t so high, but it just didn’t seem to deserve it imo. I think the premise was interesting, and it had good parts (I did enjoy the spider parts, though less towards the end), but things kept happening that eroded my suspension of disbelief for the setup until it collapsed completely. Looking back at the start of the novel, a bunch of the world building and piece setting just seemed silly under scrutiny.
I was thinking it was a 3/5, but when reading reviews it was the more thoughtful 1/5 and 2/5 reviews that reflected my feelings
Not to yuck your yum, and I certainly seem to be in the minority based on good reads
Finished Rhythm of War. The end hit hard, and I’m definitely impatiently waiting for Wind and Truth now.
Rhythm of War Spoilers
Right after Kaladin jumps through the battle for the tower were all super emotional, and I also really enjoyed Eshonai’s last ride with the Stormfather. I had kind of been holding out hope that she was Venli’s spren somehow, but I appreciated giving her that send off, at least.
I have used hard copies of Edgedancer and Dawnshard that should be showing up today to add to my collection, so I’ll probably start into those.
In the meantime I read book 5 of CJ Archer’s Glass Library series, The Secret of the Lost Ledgers. I think I prefer Glass and Steele over Glass Library so far, but that’s partly because magic was more secretive at the start of the arc.
edit: the novellas are itty bitty.
I wish I could experience all of Sanderson’s books again for the first time and agree Rythm of War was great! I can’t wait to get to Wind and Truth either. Being an audio book only guy though I’m going to have to wait a bit longer until I can continue that story!
Have you read Mistborn?
Just finished the latest Jack Reacher novel. Standard Reacher Murder She Wrote with a giant as protagonist plot template. I find the Reacher novels helpful if I’m having a rough week and need a low cognitive load book. Working on Candle & Crowe now, which is the third book in Kevin Hearne’s Ink & Sigil series set in his Iron Druid universe. It’s also good for a bit of cheerful escapism, but not a pulp novel.
I recently started the Jack Reacher series and got the first 3 books (though have only read the first one yet). They are much longer than I expected them to be. Are all books in the series like that?
It didn’t get boring so I don’t mind the length, just curious about it.
I haven’t considered them to be very long, but maybe I’ve read too many Sanderson novels. They all tend to have the same pacing and plot devices. It’s been long enough since I read the first few that I can’t remember if they get shorter or longer. The more recent ones where Andrew Child co-authors seem shorter to me.
Heh, well, Sanderson’s novels aren’t that long, well, not counting Stormlight Archive that is. Specially when you compare them to most books in fantasy genre.
As for Reacher novels, I haven’t read many action / adventure / crime novels, but those that I have read haven’t been very long, mostly around 300-400 page count, so Reacher’s length was a surprise. If it was a fantasy book, wouldn’t even have noticed it probably.
