Galaxias by Stephen Baxter, he used to be my favourite sci-fi author because of all the Xeelee books but I just cant read him anymore, its always the same smug character explaining stuff ad nauseum, just so boring, hated it.
The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, Becky Chambers.
Enjoying it so of far. Reminds me of the old comic strip Ace Garp Trucking Co., for those with long memories.
Read the " KJ Parker's "The Siege" trilogy based on @ixoy description and liking Parker as an author in general and highly recommended. I liked how they were stand alone yet tied together.
"Babylon 5 - Dark Genesis" after watching a Babylon 5 in depth review which simply made me fall in love even more of the series. Hard to get trilogy but covers the foundation of the Psi core force (this is book 1, waiting on the other two to arrive).
Re-read the "Theirs is not to reason why" series by Jean Johnson; love the series fast pace and picked the prequel trilogy of "First Salik War" to my reading list.
A little bit into book 2 and there must have been a short story or novella in-between. Bit of a jump in the storyline.
Starting to struggle with the lead character. To really enjoy a story I need to like my main protagonist a bit or else not get too attached. But this is opulent writing in first person narrative and the guy seems to turn more and more into a whiny arsehole. I'll give it another few chapters but I'm a bit turned off atm.
Just finished the Bone Ship's Wake, the final book in RJ Barker's Tide Child Series.
A really satisfying finish to a great series. Engaging characters with believable development arcs, great world building and kept me wondering how they would wrap the various threads up for a good while.
Next is the Wind Up Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi, this was recommended here and in a list of recent cyberpunk novels on reddit, so I'm looking forward to it.
I'm on Book 4 and think the series gets better as it goes along. Really enjoying it.
Reading Sun Eater trilogy by Christopher Ruocchio, just finished 1st book 'Empire of Silence' and its really quite good.
Classic space opera with a bit of a Dune vibe as in feudalism and 'houses' and certain technology restrictions due to dogmatic hardcore religion. Lead character not necessarily the nicest guy ever but easy to stay with him all the same.
Hooked in any case and will march on to the 2nd book.
I blitzed through a load of SF classics that Id missed a while back, I am Legend and a load of others, A Canticle for Leibowitz was one of the ones I was most looking forward to and the biggest disappointment, just pure... pointless? It was so boring.
If you want something in a similar vein, monks keeping humanities knowledge alive through civilization rise and collapse, give Anathem by Neal Stephenson a go, I know his tech descriptions get on some peoples nerves and there are some architecture descriptions in this that go on for entire chapters but just skim that and enjoy the story, one of the best pieces of SF you'll ever read.
"Redshirts" by John Scalzi.
I'm banned from reading it in bed late at night, as my laughter is waking up my wife. Painfully funny in parts. Great read.
A Canticle for Leibowitz: Been on my reading list for a while now so decided to give it a go because id seen it recommended before. About 40% through entirely sure what to make of it.
I read white sand as a novel - much better this way, even with annoying typos (it was on his website for free).
Also I'll not have a bad word said against Murderbot!
Scalzi - Locked In
It's been a while!
* "A Little Hatred" & "The Trouble With Peace" by Joe Abercrombie, the 1st and 2nd book in his 'Age of Madness' trilogy. Very much back on form - lots of bloody violence, betrayals, twists, spitting on concepts like honour and of course some great dark humour with cutting lines. It's all so very cynical. It takes a look at the world of 'The First Law' as it enters the industrial age, powered on the backs of the poor and how various characters play out in the setting. The first book is probably stronger as the second sags a little in the first half but ramps up very strongly towards the end. Need a bit of a palette cleanser before the third one in this grimdark world.
* "Demon in White" by Christopher Ruocchio, the third book in his Sun Eater series. Thought this was excellent, as I did the last one. True sense of epic scale that I've rarely seen outside of the likes of 'Dune', some fantastic battles and a sense of great events. I enjoy the characters even more now and very glad I continued past the first book as it's shaping up to be one of my favourite sci fi series. Onwards to book four!
* 'The Witness for the Dead' by Katherine Addison, a short novel set in the world of 'The Goblin Emperor'. I enjoyed this, albeit the main character was a little bland at times next to the Goblin Emperor. What made it good was Addison's writing and world building, albeit I still get confused with the titles of the various characters! Will definitely read the next one.
* "The Halfling's Gem" by R.A. Salvatore, the third book in his "Icewind Dale" trilogy. It's very old school (and, to be fair, it's over 20 years old) but has a certain charm. A very easy read, and Drizzt is a pretty decent character. I've loads more of these courtesy of some Humble Bundles so I'll pick away at them over time.
* "A Time of Dread" by John Gwynne, the first book in his "Of Blood and Bone" trilogy, the sequel to his previous quartet and set 100 years on from it. The storylines are much more classic than a lot of modern fantasy - there's more clearly good vs bad but there is a nice touch of a theme on how far you might go to protect others from evil. It rotates around four characters (I had a clear favourite but none of them bored). I find Gwynne writes well even if the world he's created is fairly unoriginal. Plus you get to read demonic chants in Irish (which the author nicked for the language of some of the races) so that's always a bonus.
* "White Sand" by Brandon Sanderson. I don't normally post about the graphic novels I read, but since this comic book trilogy ties into the wider Cosmere universe I'd just like to be able to say: Don't bother. The main story is bland and the artwork varies, as it switches between authors. The world building is confusing and it's all a bit too dialogue heavy. Definitely would have worked better fleshed out into a novella.
*Network Effect" by Martha Wells, the first Murderbot novel and the fifth in the series overall. As much as I like Murderbot itself and its internal thoughts, I found the plot of this one a bit dull. It felt stretched out and I sort of lost thread of it. I think the series works better in novella form, which I see the next installment is.
Probably his weakest series IMO. Meant for YA IMO.
Norylska Groans
by Michael R. Fletcher, Clayton W. Snyder
I came to this as Fletcher is becoming one of my favourites.
Top notch grimdark fantasy ( currently my favourite genre) for me .But extremely violent with some gruesome torture scenes.Set in a soviet era type dystopian society with a interesting magic type system( trait stones).
Definitely not for everyone.But if you like grimdark and are not put off by the gruesome it’s well worth reading.
Saved The Book of the New Sun as a Summer read seeing as it's regarded by some as the best sci-fi ever written. Couldn't be more disappointed, started out okay then turns into a load of random nonsense to the point you don't have a clue what is supposed to be going on. I absolutely hate when authors do that, don't know if I want to force myself to read the rest now.
if you haven't read Tigana by guy gavriel kay, get it. it's a single volume and an absolute joy to read
Hello random recommender friends!
Have a few flights and work nights away coming up would love a couple of light series to read so recommendations welcome.
Have the current trilogy from Feist ready to go. So that's what I'm after. Not an Erikson or a Sanderson huge world or 10 book series. Something good story wise. Scalzi or Murderbot on sci fi and Tide Child on fantasy would be what I'm after.
Thanks
Also - I tried to re read Terry Pratchet recently and am struggling with books I loved when younger. And Netflix Sandman is fantastic.
just finished a brightness long ago and all the seas of the world by Guy Gavriel Kay, and absolutely loved them.
i'm a huge fan of his and have read everything he's written, and whilst i can't say i enjoyed them all, and have found a couple terrible, all in all i love his work.
These 2 are set in the same world as children of earth and sky (mainly in Italy during the renaissance), and whilst they don't correlate directly with the first one, they are very closely related and can be viewed as a pair.
there are some brilliant characters in them and whilst the main story line of a brightness long ago isn't that strong, it's still a great story with some superb moments, and all the seas of the world is just a joy to read with some awesome new characters and a much stronger storyline.
highly recommended
Well Children of Time was great.
I'm not a massive fan of Adrian Tchaikovsky usually, as I tend not to like his characters. I tried to get in to the Shadow of the Apt series previously, but dropped it after 3 books as I found the main character too annoying.
It was similar this time round, however his use of multiple similar characters to tell a multi generation story means it doesn't matter as much.
And whatever else I may think of his work, Tchaikovsky is amazing at building well realised worlds and alternative societies.
This was great scifi.
Moving on to Gideon the Ninth now.
Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City: The Siege, Book 1
How to Rule an Empire and Get Away with It: The Siege, Book 2
Typical KJ Parker stuff: fast-paced, dislikable protagonist, unreliable narrator. A solid 4/5 for both.
Just finished first 2 books of RJ Barker's Tide Child trilogy. Really enjoying the series, I like that the protaganist is not the hero or a Mary Sue for the series and has an interesting character arc.
https://www.goodreads.com/series/258685-the-tide-child
Minor Spoiler:
Instead, they have a truly awful series of experiences. Seriously, there should be a meme about what could possibly happen next to Joron Twiner. He literally starts at the bottom of a drunken barrel and proceeds to get put through the wringer.
Next up is Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovskyfor a change of pace, before coming back to the final Tide Child book.
Don't bother after book 1 of Foundryside - turns into a romance novel.
I don't see how one gets through 11 Will Wights. Fair play to you but after the first two, even though they were free they were junky teen fantasy. To each their own.
Finishing up Fonda Lee's "Jade War" series. O.K. writing with an obvious Asian setting and characters. Not great, not a deep think. Did rekindle my love of Asian food which I desperately miss living in Ireland :)
'Dreadgod' by Will Wight, the 11th book in his Cradle series. This one didn't quite grab me as much as the previous works, mostly because of the absence of one character as well as how we got too little insight into Lindon. There's a sense now that everyone is almost too over-powered, lessening the threat. There were a couple of fun pairings in the book and I loved one of the Dread gods themselves but it just lacked a little something.
'Howling Dark' by Christopher Roucchio, the second book in his Sun Eater series. For me, this was a big step up from the first book. Whereas that was a Roman fusion of the Kingkiller Chronicles framework set against a Dune-esque universe, this book drops heavy Gothic-darkness reminiscent of Warhammer 40k. The grim universe was far more interesting for me and there was a much better sense of the vastness of the empire and the epic back drop. Whereas I hesitated reading this after book one, this was good enough to make me immediately move on to book three.
The Last Watch by J.S. Dewes - book 1 of The Divide Series.
Interesting premise, I've started reading book 2. There's massive potential in the world being built, this could be a 5 or 10 book series if she decides to go that way.
Yep. I've never paid for a single title - got 9 free in various offers and the latest 2 via Kindle Unlimited. I suspect he makes his money from Kindle Unlimited if he's able to do that, where he gets paid by pages read.
He's done this a few times now, Ive never seen an author give away the majority of their work like this over and over again.
Wow! Great value.
First 9 Cradle books are free in 3 volumes, that's the best deal you're going to get this year, a great addictive read:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B7KTKNFH
