Hmm missed half a year!
And some more:
K.J Parker: * "A Practical Guide to Conquering the World", the final book in his Siege trilogy. Great KJ Parker humour and it takes, again, a different approach to the same besieged city found in the previous two installments.
Terry Pratchett:
Others:
And finally…
Short stories:
Recently finished the "three body problem" trilogy. Enjoyable, though I do find it difficult to deal with unfamiliar chinese names - easy to lose track of which character is which from the name until context clues fill in the gaps. Especially with a break between books.
Went on to read "ministry of the future" by Kim Stanley Robinson. This is very light "sci-fi" - sort of like a future equivalent of historical fiction, which was set in the next 30 years or so, with no transformative technological innovations. The concept is that a ministry is established by the UN to advocate for future people since their rights are not taken into consideration adequately in terms of climate change etc. It is focussed basically entirely on the climate crisis and potential solutions. Really interesting read, not hugely dramatic, it felt kind of educational. Kind of depressing as well in terms of what the future might hold in store, but I am definitely glad I read it. Main character is an irish woman. Weak finish though, felt like final chapters, after she retired, could just be cut and added very little imo.
Book imagined a heat wave in India with a wet bulb temperature of 35 degrees in the near future. Power failures occurred because of AC demands on the grid. Huge numbers of deaths resulted and afterwards India became the world wide champion of fighting climate change. Apparently with a wet bulb of 35 degrees a fit, healthy person can last about 6 hours. wet bulb temp means 35 degrees with 100% humidity or a higher temperature with lower humidity. Lots of interesting approaches to addressing climate change, slowing sea level rise etc.
Reading books by A.M. Shine recently. Irish author that i knew nothing about but happened upon. All gothic type horror stuff set in Ireland. Easy reading and Ie njoyed "The Watchers" and currently reading "The Creeper". The Watchers has been made into film due for cinema release in June 2024. Worth checking them out if you want something slightly different.
http://www.amshinewriter.com/about
Thanks for the posts guys, this place has been a bit dead since the site migration. I can only say that I have read nothing good in ages. This place was always my go to and hope it picks up again.
Just finished the Saevus Corax trilogy by K.J. Parker. While I enjoyed Parker's recent 'Siege' and Two of Swords series, I thought they weren't quite at the level of his earlier stuff. This Corax trilogy was excellent though, right up there with his best. He has a completely unique writing style.
The Tide Child Trilogy by R.J. Barker, good but not great I'd say. Probably a seven out of ten series for me, some good ideas and creative world building but fell short of fully gripping my interest.
The Hexologists by Josiah Bancroft, very enjoyable, very quick read. Bancroft is probably one of the best new Fantasy authors of the last few years.
Thanks for the Saevus Corax tip, just what I was looking for.
Bit of a drought at the minute no? Havent read any good sci-fi/fantasy in ages. Read Neal Ashers latest Polity, War Bodies, I used to love that universe nearly as much as the Culture but its just mindless pointless crap now, exact same battle descriptions over and over again.
Disagree on Tide Child, loved the world, loved the characters sure it's a bit rough around the edges and the ending could be tighter but overall it's a great fantasy series.
Re-reading Starlight Archive
Found my way back to Tim Powers, who I'd not caught up with in years. Reading "Forced Perspectives," so far it's Power's greatest hits, weird Egyptian mythos, shadowy organizations and L.A.. Just finished 'House of Open Wounds' by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Found that to be fairly predictable but entertaining.
I see they have announced the publish date of book 5 of Stormlight Archives (Phase 1): December 6:
https://read.macmillan.com/torforge/the-stormlight-archive/
They are a fun light read. Especially when coming from the misery-porn that was A Song of Ice and Fire and a couple of others (Thankfully I have zero interest in continuing with GRRMs stuff).
The Cosmere books are quite samey and, I suppose it makes sense as they are in the same universe. But they are easy reads and, for many, a gateway into reading Sci0Fi/Fantasy.
I do remember when people were getting so obsessed with Game of Thrones. The same people who would have thought "Nerrrrrrrd" as they saw me reading the books prior to the show - Marvelling at how this was not like typical fantasy stuff (Meaning it was not like LoTR). Meanwhile long-term fantasy fans were like "Not typical? Really? Maybe more grimy than others but…"
But anyway, back to Stormlight. They are light, fun reading. DESIGNED to be adapted into a TV series (have they been bought?). There are whole sections where you would think "Ah, THIS is where they will have a post credit sequence at season end" or "OK, that was cool. That's going to be the end of the 2nd last episode of a season leading to an epic end episode"
Edit: I see that I pretty much repeated an earlier post I made so ignore… :)
Finished 'Ogres' by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Nice read, interesting use of a 'present tense' narrative.
Going retro with Caves of Steel by Asimov, who contemplated societal collapse due to overpopulation of 8 billion, in 1953. How quaint.
As a kid I loved Asimov's robot stories (Especially Bicentennial Man - Even that Godawful movie couldn't tarnish that). But, as an adult I just find them fairly clunky. Interesting ideas (Especially when you think of how many future writers used concepts raised in these stories). Interesting ideas but… dare I say it… not as good as I remember.
I mean it's just down to taste. His stories were written sixty to seventy years ago and they have aged better than many others of that time but I suppose styles change. And I suppose he was never really known as a writer of characters: They were there to pretty much move the plot along. I did enjoy the interconnectedness of his stories though. You had The Caves of Steel referencing his robot stories/laws of course and even into Foundation.
…. Maybe I'll give them another look also
I don't consider Asimov a great wordsmith, but he had the 'gift of names' (something a lot of writers struggle with, I'd lump Tchaikovsky in that group), wrote an enormous amount and bridged the post-WWII militaristic SciFi to something more modern and outward looking. His stuff's not 'deep' either, more pop/light thinking unlike, say, his contemporaries like Herbert, Le Guin, Norton. I also just reread Foundation and it doesn't hold up, very little character development and just a 'deus ex machina' plot device, with spaceships. Supposedly the recent filmed version is very good, will try and catch that sometime.
I read the first 3 Stormlight Archives a while back and slowly came to despise them as I read more, especially the female characters that are all bitchy and insulting for no reason, Sanderson always has to have one or two in his books. The humour/wit was absolutely pathetic, fart jokes and bad smells, really childish crap. There was even a character called Wit who was supposed to be witty but again, fart jokes. So repetitive aswell, whole chapters where absolutely nothing happens.
finally finished book 3, and i have to say this has been one of the hardest trilogies to finish. Don't get me wrong, i really enjoyed the story lines, but it was such a hard slog to get through, especially book 2, that i never got round to book 3 before the series came out and i realised there were a lot of gaps which i was missing so finally finished it. Book 3 is great and loved the ending theory (no idea how they'll get to that in the series-don't want to spoiler anything). All in all an impressive 3 body of work
i can't stand him and i don't understand the praise. i've read 2 or 3 books of his and hated every single one of them. pure cheese garbage imho
Read "Red Rising" and enjoyed it. It is kind of YA but well written YA and has reasonably mature themes. It involves a teenager plucked from obscurity and given significant enhancements to enable him to rise to the top of the society, and set in a school where elite teenagers battle with each other to determine their prospects in the society, so it is hard to claim it is not YA. On the other hand there are political machinations between competing houses in the grown up world intruding on the school and the protagonist moves on to enter a real war between those houses in the second book of the series. The conceit is that the society (which is set in a future where humanity has colonised the solar system) has been divided into castes, based on genetically engineered differences. So there are labouring/mining castes, caste engineered to be pilots, soldiers, technicians, servants, merchants, artists, sex workers, entertainers and more. Each designated by a colour which is reflected in teh clothes they wear and their genetically engineered hair colour. As well as genetic engineering the ruling gold caste also employ social engineering to maintain the hierarchy. The protagonist was a red miner on Mars who is genetically engineered to become gold and then excels in the school. I am reading the second book in the series, will probably take a break and read something else next. There are 6 published books and a seventh and final book scheduled to be published next year. So far it is well written, reasonably complex and I would recommend.
After I finish the second book in this series I intend to take a break from it and read "the Wager" which is billed as historical non-fiction (though I assume it is dramatised/"based on real events") which is the story of a crew of a british ship shipwrecked in the 1740s, based on ship logs etc., with allegations and counter allegations of mutiny and murder. Looks very interesting. I like historical fiction and I guess this is historical fiction based on actual events.
Titanium Noir by Nick Harkaway.
Nick Harkaway is new to me and apparently another pen-name for Aidan Truhen, but I havent read anything from him yet either.
As the title suggests its a crime noir thriller and it's set in the not too distant future where a few thousand super rich enjoy some sort of immortality drug that lets you start over just after puberty by resetting your body cells. The downside is that every time you use the drug you grow a bit bigger, so with every treatment you turn more and more into a physical giant. The drug is billionaire expensive so there are only a couple of thousand 'Titans' around and the main police consultant/detective protagonist - who's not a Titan himself, but has deep connections - investigates when one of them gets murdered under murky circumstances.
It's written in the first person and uses noir prose, reminds me a bit of William Gibson even. Despite that it goes down easy enough and it's after catching me as the story unfolds. It's a bit dark and mysterious and very enjoyable. I would absolutely recommend it. Will probably try other books from the author after this.
Sorry for the cross post, but I think this thread is more active than the deals on.
Steven Erikson's Malazon series is on sale under the Kindle Daily Deals. 99p for all the books except book 5 and 10.
A writer my wife glommed me on to, Connie Willis. Amazing record of winning Hugo and Nebula award winners - has won the most major SF awards, and the most dual awards (Hugo and Nebula for the same work.)
Just finished "The Doomsday Book." Wish I'd read it before Covid, kind of prescient though it's about the Black Death. Highly recommended.
I read the trilogy a few months back. Not bad, with a lot of oblique references to actual historical events but the main character was just a bit too miserable for my liking. Fair enough, in that if you read the surrounding history on the opium wars, boxer rebellion and rape of Nanking, there was an exceptional amount of misery and atrocity. Being a big fan of Guy Gavriel Kay's historical fantasy, these were a bit flat by comparison. Also started into 'Babel' by the same author and have put it down for now for similar reasons.
The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch, damn good sci-fi mystery thriller about the US Navy and other agencies investigating a forthcoming apocalypse, loved it.
Haven't been posting here much at all in the last couple of years but read a fair amount of sci-fi and fantasy which I'll break down into a number of posts as I get the time. Looking at my Kindle library, I seem to have read a lot of M.R. Carey and Guy Gavriel Kay, both of whom I find dependable for page turning enjoyment.
Of the sci-fi stuff, Carey's Infinity Gate and Echo of Worlds are great reads, combining a lot of speculation on different types of AI with plenty of plot and action. Having previously read Carey's Koli trilogy (also great fun), I find his books are improving over time though Girl with all the gifts is probably still my favorite.
Hard to know what to say about Gut Gavriel Kay, other than I've enjoyed everything I've read so far (a quick tot shows 13 books to date). Favorite is still Under Heaven and the weakest (though still fun) is the Summer Tree trilogy. Most of his stuff is better described as speculative historical fiction, set in an alternate past universe, with a small amount of fantasy in the mix. I'm surprised film and TV makers haven't latched onto his work as he's a master of complex multi-threaded plots, political intrigue and character development. Far better that G.R.R. Martin in my opinion with a ton of excellent material to work with.
Anyone read the Red Rising series? I'm nearly finished the first one. It's not bad, I'll probably carry on although I would be hoping it could go up a level or two. It's pretty gruesome in a way I don't particularly enjoy is an issue
Yes, loved them, never made the connection with Girl With All the Gifts until you said it, I do see them getting slated in reviews and on Reddit though, I dont understand it.
Reading a Master of Djinn, P. Djeli Clark. Sort of a steampunk detective story set in genie-inhabited Cairo in 1912. Good so far. I liked his Ringshout (KKK as actual demons in the american deep south). Alternate fantasy history seems to be his thing.
I dropped the series about a third into book two. I kept hearing it got much better but I really hated Darrow and didn't find the lauded world building particularly interesting or deep.
I'm about half way through book two now. It's ok. Darrow is still not very likable but there's less of the internal self-flagellation monologues. The world building up to this point is absolutely rudimentary, maybe it will branch out.
There have been a few points where the author has done something I wouldn't expect from a book of middling quality - has a character ask a really smart question or do something tricky. A lot of weak authors (including a lot of the highly regarded fantasy authors, not so much in sci-fi) never have their characters do this sort of thing because it's hard to write your way out of things like antagonists being clever. This is giving me some hope for the series and the pacing is pretty good which is keeping me interested for the moment.
well just reading The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson.
and I see a discussion on the storm light series.
it's not the height of fantasy but readable imho.
