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What Are You Reading?

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Comments

  • #7832
    Edser
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 398 ✭✭Edser


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123510645#Comment_123510645

    I really liked the Galactic Milieu series, and there is also a linked, 4 book series by the same author called the Saga of the Exiles which is also great (IMHO)



  • #7833
    Igotadose
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 15,097 ✭✭✭✭Igotadose


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123625997#Comment_123625997

    Saga of the Exiles is a must read. The Golden Torc was my favorite in the series but they're all good.



  • #7834
    keane2097
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 17,864 ✭✭✭✭keane2097


    Thank you both for the recommendation.

    I'm going through Diamond Mask at the moment and am very taken with the series as well.

    I'll give Saga of the Exiles a look as well.



  • #7835
    Thargor
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 18,298 ✭✭✭✭Thargor


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123600536#Comment_123600536

    Loved it, read it in 2 days.



  • #7836
    lordgoat
    Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 11,418 Mod ✭✭✭✭lordgoat


    Ripped through the Bobiverse, enjoyed the concept more than some of the stories. Will keep it going when next one comes out.



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  • #7837
    lordgoat
    Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 11,418 Mod ✭✭✭✭lordgoat


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123632060#Comment_123632060

    this was not for me at all, I do hate first person perspective books though, this one reads like 'what I did on my summer holidays' at times

    Not as bad as Becky Chambers Angry planet - needed an editor to delete half of it. got to 50% and called it a day, so little happens for some many words.



  • #7838
    CalamariFritti
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 6,552 ✭✭✭CalamariFritti


    Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson.

    Only about 5% into it and it feels like a mad cyberspace/metaverse romp is developing. It feels like something I should have come across and read a long time ago. I like the language and it absolutely has spiked my interest. Has a feel of a cross between Neuromancer & Ready Player One to it with humorous notes.



  • #7839
    smacl
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 16,135 Mod ✭✭✭✭smacl


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123682865#Comment_123682865

    Really enjoyed 'Long way to a small angry planet' though light enough stuff, loved the sequel, didn't enjoy the third book in that trilogy at all. May favourite of her stuff was 'To be taught if fortunate'.

    Just finished Ursula Le Guin's 'The left hand of darkness' which I found a bit of a slog. Very well written, and I can see why it is much lauded, but I was happy to turn the last page. Also finished 'The city we became' which was good but not as much as I'd hoped for.

    Currently reading 'Service model' by Adrian Tchaikovsky which is really fun romp featuring a robot butler facing some unusual problems. Also just started into 'The Testaments' as an audio book which is feeling a bit stilted but I'll see how it goes.

    @CalamariFritti really enjoyed Snow crash many years ago, have fun.

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  • #7840
    Xofpod
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 898 ✭✭✭Xofpod


    Read The Cautious Traveller's Guide to the Wastelands, Sarah Brooks. Steampunk-ish story set in the mutated wastelands between China and Russia at the turn of the 20th century. Not bad but not brilliant; struck me as a blend of Annihilation and Snowpiercer, but not matching the level of either.



  • #7841
    Xofpod
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 898 ✭✭✭Xofpod


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123706818#Comment_123706818

    Hmmm. Completely agree with you about the Becky Chambers books, The Left Hand of Darkness, and the City We Became. Guess I'm going to have to go and read Snow Crash now…



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  • #7842
    smacl
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 16,135 Mod ✭✭✭✭smacl


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123712944#Comment_123712944

    From me, Snow Crash was an easy, enjoyable and fun read. Nothing earth shattering, but good fun.

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  • #7843
    CalamariFritti
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 6,552 ✭✭✭CalamariFritti


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123714411#Comment_123714411

    Still not quite finished but while overall entertaining it has its lows too.

    Those rather pointless and endless linguistic virus, Mesopotamian cultures discussions between Hiro and The Librarian are really wearing me out a bit.



  • #7844
    Xofpod
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 898 ✭✭✭Xofpod


    Going to give The Devils, Joe Abercrombie, a go. Heard the name bandied around for years and figured this was a good standalone point to jump in. Am I right in thinking there's a bit more humour involved in his stuff rather than pure grimdark?



  • #7845
    smacl
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 16,135 Mod ✭✭✭✭smacl


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123754813#Comment_123754813

    Agreed, Service Model became something of a drag which is first for me for Adrian Tchaikofsky books. Also finished The Testaments which I thoroughly enjoyed and onto The Year of the Flood also by Mararet Atwood and the second of the Maddaddam trilogy. I seem to be in a bit of a dystopian rut at the moment and will definitely try something different next.

    I had been reading a lot of Guy Gavriel Kay over the last couple of years but found the whole Kindath (Jews), invariably cast as good guys, versus Asherites (Arabs), usually bad guys, didn't sit well with me given current world events. Last one I read was All the Seas of the World where this felt just a bit too pronounced.

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  • #7846
    keane2097
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 17,864 ✭✭✭✭keane2097


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123626389#Comment_123626389

    Finished that Galactic Milieu trilogy and thought it was great.

    Started 'Time' by Stephen Baxter pretty much at random, anyone read it?



  • #7847
    Glebee
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,309 ✭✭✭Glebee


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123778407#Comment_123778407

    Have not read The Devils yet but its on my wish list, ill wait for it to drop in price. Have you read any other Abercrombie? I like him alot but dont know would I jump in here if you have not read any others, although I think this is a completely separate book from his other stuff.



  • #7848
    ixoy
    Moderators, Entertainment Moderators Posts: 18,061 Mod ✭✭✭✭ixoy


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123779668#Comment_123779668

    'The Devils' is an entirely new world so in some ways it might be a good jumping-on point. I haven't read it myself though but it seems it's lighter fare and more "quip-y" than his other more grimdark fare. I'm also waiting for a price drop - I got it for the "Age of.." trilogy eventually.



  • #7849
    lordgoat
    Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 11,418 Mod ✭✭✭✭lordgoat


    new Scalzi out later this month. Back to the Old Mans War series too.



  • #7850
    Xofpod
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 898 ✭✭✭Xofpod


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123779668#Comment_123779668

    This will be the first, and the standalone nature was one of the key factors in me dipping my toe in. Doesn't seem too grim or po-faced from the first few chapters.



  • #7851
    RMDrive
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 572 ✭✭✭RMDrive


    Up to book 4 in the Bobiverse - the pace has dropped a lot in this book and I'm not really enjoying it. Stubborness (as usual) will make me finish it out.

    Really enjoyed Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. Just enough hard science to keep me keen, and a good story to go with it. Buoyed by that, I read Artemis by Weir. Not as good IMO but still decent enough.



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  • #7852
    TheIrishGrover
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 6,709 ✭✭✭TheIrishGrover


    I actually didn't find the First Law books (Trilogy and standalones) to be as dark as made out. The standalones were quite a bit darker than the original trilogy. Especially one character

    Shivers

    But not as dark as some others I have read. Well, not as depressing. They definitely got more violent as they went on but again, not totally grim.



  • #7853
    smacl
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 16,135 Mod ✭✭✭✭smacl


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123783520#Comment_123783520

    I enjoyed all 5 books in the Bobiverse series but they were always intended to be audiobooks and made for great light listening while cooking, cleaning etc. Funny enough, the narrator Ray Porter also read which was my next book in this role and hence provided a bizarre continuity. I think Project Hail Mary would probably have been better as a read.

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  • #7854
    lordgoat
    Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 11,418 Mod ✭✭✭✭lordgoat


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123787781#Comment_123787781

    did not realise that and it really would help differentiate the bobs as the series goes on. I enjoyed the last one way more than the beaver-planter.



  • #7855
    shootermacg
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,985 ✭✭✭shootermacg


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123778407#Comment_123778407

    I read it. It wasn't great to be honest. It's a 6 out of 10 type of book. Not anywhere close to his usual quality.



  • #7856
    lordgoat
    Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 11,418 Mod ✭✭✭✭lordgoat


    so where are we all off to after boards dies…

    this being the one useful forum left and all



  • #7857
    smacl
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 16,135 Mod ✭✭✭✭smacl


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123832329#Comment_123832329

    A few useful forums still for me on here and a decent community, one of the reasons I subscribed. I wouldn't be writing boards off just yet, ton of discussion on the topic on the subscriber forums.

    Sad day if it does go, was never really into reddit, don't really use FB much any more and would no way be joining X.

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  • #7858
    smacl
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 16,135 Mod ✭✭✭✭smacl


    Currently reading City of Lost Chances by Adrian Tchaikovsky and loving it. Sprawling urban fantasy with lots characters and plot lines to get one's teeth into. Nice that it's part of a series as well as there's plenty more to look forward to. Easy reading, but nothing wrong with that.

    About 3/4 into The Year of the Flood which is also thoroughly engaging though often grim and bleak. A different point of view of the same societal collapse introduced in Oryx and Crake, where we only come across some intersections with previous characters in the plot quite late on. Looking forward to finishing it and hearing the concluding part in the trilogy, though not expecting any happy endings ;)

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  • #7859
    lordgoat
    Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 11,418 Mod ✭✭✭✭lordgoat


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123832951#Comment_123832951

    It has been run extremely poorly the last 5-10 years. Plenty of other board style forums have a much nice UI UX and also don't take an age to load. I think it's too late to fix this. Also the subscriber disaster doesn't make it look good. I will miss it.



  • #7860
    lordgoat
    Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 11,418 Mod ✭✭✭✭lordgoat


    Books. Just finished Machineries of the Empire - Yoon Ha

    Loved it all.

    Will switch back to murderbot/sanderson or GGK next



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  • #7861
    Thargor
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 18,298 ✭✭✭✭Thargor


    Out of desperation on a last minute holiday I was left with only the Dungeon Crawler Carl series to read, I mean I read 5 books of it in a row so cant say its complete sh1te but if you asked me to write a summary of any of those books Id struggle so al a bit pointless really.



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