Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy discussion

So, what are you reading while shivering in the polar vortex?

Ok so I had started A State of Disobedience by Tom Kratman a few days ago and had to stop. And that says something because I almost always push through reading a book. But this one was badly written (if felt like we flip POV or timeline every second or third paragraph), it's got a lot of people blowing each other up, and it's such an extremist case, a "straw man" scenario, where a female democratic president is essentially becomes an evil dictator and creates a police state and all the poor republican good guys are massacred, even their children. I mean sure, Hitler was real, so we know crazy dictators can exist, but at least show a balancec view of the world, one priest tells the kids there was a day back when children weren't ripped from their mother's womb..umm abortion has been around since, well, forever really. This was free from Baen...I guess for a reason (in fact I find most of the free Baen books now are the ones they can't sell, not like Tor that gives away their more recent good stuff).

Anyway, needed to find something else on my eReader so randomly picked Sisters of Glass by D.W. St. John. This might be another Baen one, don't recall where I got it, will see how it goes, they aren't *all* bad :)

Finished the non-SFF book I was reading and picked The Particolored Unicorn by Jon DeCles. This was a used bookstore find from some years ago, out of print now. It's a silly take on classic fantasy concepts, like how it was fashionable to own a white unicorn, but this one prince decides he wanted the one with the crazy colours. Or where dragons are used to heat your castle. Going to use it as my humour slot in my BINGO.

Finally, also on to the next Phoebe and her Unicorn book, number 6

To be seasonally appropriate (not really, it's just coincidence that I turned to these just as it's starting to feel like the middle of a Russian winter), I'm reading The Girl in the Tower, second in Katherine Arden's Winternight trilogy. I read the first book, The Bear and the Nightingale, quickly -- definitely a fairytale story, with fairies (or demons), but almost as much a historical fiction of the 1300s. I thought parts of the second book's opening were a little slower, but now we've had some exciting encounters with bandits and are heading back to Moscow ...

Completed:
Longs:


Shorts:


Authors: Joe Abercrombie, Dale Bailey, Rhett C. Bruno, Pat Cadigan, P. Djèlí Clark, Michael Connelly, Dennis Danvers, Marina Dyachenko, Sergey Dyachenko, Greg Egan, A. T. Greenblatt, Daryl Gregory, Alix E. Harrow, Julia Meitov Hersey, Chi Hui, Victor LaValle, Kirstyn McDermott, Jeannette Ng, Julie Nováková, Delia Owens, Susan Palwick, Sarah Pinsker, Cherie Priest, Nancy Red Star, Alastair Reynolds, Kelly Robson, Lawrence M. Schoen, Hanuš Seiner, Nisi Shawl, Martha Wells, G. Willow Wilson
=======================================

I started Miles Cameron's new Masters & Mages series. First book is Cold Iron . And it's soooo good! But is was just published last year so I'll have to wait forever for the series to play out!

Edited to add that I recently finished The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle (my edition was called The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle but it's the same book) which was fantastic! It's a murder mystery but definitely falls into the fantasy genre! Get it! Read it! Feel your brain explode!

Whoa. Robert Jackson Bennett's Vigilance is one angry, vicious, sarcastic satire. Unlike his Devine Cities & Foundryside series, this isn't some other world fantasy. It's a near-future dystopian US where the hit reality TV show is Vigilance, in which a few contestants, "actives," try to kill as many people as possible in the selected venue (you opt in when you enter such areas, like the mall, sports stadium or airport; the signs at the door tell you so.) The civilians are expected to fight back, of course. So, you have to ask yourself, are you prepared?

The story is mostly the PoV of the showrunner, who's all about the TMA's (Target Market Activations.)

Kind of a mashup of themes from Network, Hunger Games, and The Purge, but so over the top it's funny, too. Makes A Clockwork Orange seem peaceful. Trigger warning for ultramegahyperviolence and naked political opinions.

I'm in the final chapter of Turn Coat and then I'll be starting Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch for the March classic group read.

This passage from Adam-Troy Castro's latest space opera Draiken novella ("The Savannah Problem" in this month's Analog) caught my fancy:

The reply arrives, and it's nothing they could have expected: a few seconds from an ancient dramatic presentation, culled from Juje knows what obscure archive. Four beings, a human woman and three apparent aliens, or rather, three unmistakable human beings made up to resemble creatures who might be aliens or might be beings out of myth or might just be eccentric dressers, stare up at the sky in horror as some woman piloting a personal transport of some kind uses the vehicles exhausts the right words in the air. It's not any alphabet Draiken knows. It must date back to the era of the original artifact. But from the reaction of the woman on the ground and her oddly-attired friends, whatever those letters spell is supposed to reduce them all to despair.

The image freezes, and two words in a more recognizable lettering of Hom.Sap.Mercantile appear, providing the translation (SURRENDER DOROTHY).

Stang says, "I've got to hand it to you, Draiken. You have some interesting enemies."

Finished The Particolored Unicorn...hmm, wasn't what I expected. The most similar thing I've read is actually The Dying Earth by Vance, in fact I'd bet the author had used it as inspiration as it has a future Earth (though not *that* far future) where technology inexplicably gets replaced by magic, and wizards grow creatures in vats. I was going to use it for my humour slot in my BINGO card...but that'd be like calling the Cugel stories as humour, they kind of are but kind of aren't. I'm sure I've got better matches for that slot. The book also doesn't have a complete ending, there is a HUGE thread left unresolved, wonder if he intended to write more. I did enjoy the fact they were running around a Neuschwanstein castle that was transposed to Bermuda, seeing as I've actually been there and recognized the descriptions :)

*edit*
Found it, something called Storm Wars!, it just wasn't tracked as a sequel in GoodReads so I thought Particolored was standalone. It came out only 13 years after the original...the one review it has says it has even more of a cliffhanger ending, meh.

Anyway, my next book is non-SFF, should be a quick one though.

Ciaphas Cain: Choose Your Enemies by Sandy Mitchell

Grey Sister, book 2 of Lawrence's Book of the Ancestor Trilogy, was an enjoyable, exciting read, if a little slow getting started. I liked the way it started:

THE STORY SO FAR
FOR THOSE OF you who have had to wait a while for this book I provide brief catch-up notes to Book One, so that your memories may be refreshed and I can avoid the awkwardness of having to have characters tell each other things they already know for your benefit.

Now I'm ready for the final book, Holy Sister, when it comes out in April.

Well, I got a bit side-tracked at the start of the month reading a non-fiction history book. But I'm back to fantasy now and continuing my (very slow) re-read of the Wheel of Time series. I'm up to Crossroads of Twilight, and I expect I'll also attempt Knife of Dreams.

I'm planning on joining in on new series group read Furies of Calderon. And I'm also going to read Knight's Shadow for the buddy read.

Otherwise, I'm not sure what I'm going to read this month. I also thought I'd just say that I complete forgot to update the Jan what are you reading - but basically all I read last month was various Redwall books by Brian Jacques which fulfilled my talking animal slot on the bingo and was also just fun, plus the group/buddy reads!

I'm reading a non-fiction science book, but it read like science fiction. It's about the discovery of quasi-crystals, specifically naturally forming five and twenty-sided crystals. They are amazing to look at, and are a real-world version of Penrose tiling patterns. This story of the scientific method is inspiring. And in the end, the scientists don't know if the quasi-crystals they found are relics of an alien spacecraft, a collision between asteroids, or the remnants of a geologic mantle plume.

I'm also going back and reading Iain Banks' Player of Games (p 1997), about a guy who has played every game and seeks a new challenge. There are drones, AI's and a mystery.

Let’s see I read our group read The Warriors Apprentice, and the following novella (?) The Mountains Of Mourning (this one had much more impact than the former.

Then I worked on the short story/poem/play collection by Jo Walton - Starlings.

Just got my hold for Cherryh’s latest : Alliance Rising

Finished Wonder Light by R.R.Russell, a middle grade unicorn tale where a girl finds a lost herd of unicorns, which might quality for the lost civilization bingo slot, but I'm actually sort of tempted to find the original Dinotopia book after someone mentioning it.

Time to start our series group read, Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher, looking forward to getting into it. As a fan of his Dresden Files I'm interested to see how he does in a completely different genre.

Finished Fool's Errand today. Easy 5/5 and a fast favourite just as the Fitz series is becoming a favourite. As much as I loved the Farseer Trilogy I never considered them emotional books for me...the last 60 pages of this one hit me in the feels though. Specifically for one reason...heh.

Anyways will be jumping to Golden Fool next to continue the series. Am also still slowly making my way through The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales from Zipes. Plan to take the full year to finish this.

I finished:


The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I didn't like it as much as I'd hoped but it was still a solid stand-alone fantasy read.

I have read another couple of stories in the steampunk anthology I'm reading, The Mammoth Book of Steampunk Adventures, made some more progress in a few D&D adventures that I am running for various groups, and have just started Robot Overlords, based on the movie from a few years ago. A movie that I haven't seen and don't even recall noticing at the cinema, so either it was never released in Australia, or it's time in the cinema was really short.

House of Assassins by Larry Correia

Taking a break from the Phoebe comics (not that I have too many left) and reading Here There Be Unicorns by Jane Yolen. As its a collection of short stories and poems for children I read one or two whenever there isn't time to get through a chapter of whatever novel I'm reading.

I just finished listening to How Long 'til Black Future Month by N.K. Jemisin. It featured a wide variety of short stories of the sci fi/fantasy persuasion. Overall, I quite enjoyed most of them. It included a couple of stories that feel familiar from the Broken Earth and Dreamblood universes. I had a personal soft spot for the stories featuring food and/or New Orleans.

Moving on to American Gods next, with the aim to fill either "Fantasy in a Modern World" or "Featuring an Angel/Demon/God" slot on my Bingo card.

I finished reading The Consuming Fire by John Scalzi and The Dispatcher by John Scalzi. I am reading Origin by Dan Brown. I plan to read The Broken Eye by Brent Weeks next.

I rarely give a fantasy book 5 stars since they don't have anything to do with real life, but Endgames, Modesitt's latest (last?) book in his Imager series, is an exception. Rex (king) Charyn faces an industrial revolution with High Holders trying to keep their traditional roles. The emerging middle class (traders & manufacturers) have become a power to be reckoned with while the crafters & laborers are in an economic crunch. It's a messy time, so there is plenty of action & thought as Charyn tries to ride the tiger.

His thoughtful trends & meticulous attention to detail is appreciated. I'm reading another popular fantasy book now that has a neat system of magic, lots of action, & keeps stepping on itself with plot holes & nonsensical actions. None of that in this series. Highly recommended. I even want to go back & read the first 3 books in the series now since they take place 350 years after this one. That's pretty amazing.

Here's my 5 star review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I finished Tigana in January, and liked it a lot. Then, because I was going on vacation, I didn't order a new book, but grabbed the first volume of 'Les Rois Maudits' ('The Cursed Kings') by Maurice Druon, in French. This is romanced history and is said to have been a source of inspiration for George R.R. Martin's ASoIaF. Having just finished that book (which I also liked, I'll be reading the other 5 volumes later), I started on Kings of the Wyld, that I ordered and received in the meanwhile.

I finished Robot Overlords and have now started rereading The History of the Runestaff by Michael Moorcock - part of his eternal champion series. It's 4 volumes starting with The Jewel in the Skull

NekroRider wrote: "Finished Fool's Errand today. Easy 5/5 and a fast favourite just as the Fitz series is becoming a favourite. As much as I loved the Farseer Trilogy I never considered them emotional bo..."

Tawny man trilogy is amazing but wait until you read The Fitz and the Fool trilogy; now that is an emotional journey.

I'm steadily going through the Malazan series. I've just finished the 7th instalment Reaper's Gale and now moving on to Toll the Hounds

Finished Furies of Calderon, it was ok and I'll keep reading, but it certainly had it's flaws. I think I like the Dresden files better.

Now for my unicorn theme - Rampant by Diana Peterfreund

I just finished Rogue Protocol, the third installment of Martha Wells' Murderbot series. As usual, great fun. I gave it a 4 star review here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

A Green and Ancient Light by Frederic S. Durbin

Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse. Supernatural thriller. Audible's been trying to sell me this for months, so naturally I bought the ebook :)

Post flood (global warming on steroids?) world in which Navajo nation has closed itself off from the rest of the chaos (not that it's not chaotic in its own way.) This clifi event has also ushered in the return of the old Navajo spirits, for good or ill. The heroine is a professional monster slayer, knows a surprising number of immortals. She's also a messed-up sociopath, making her hard to like. I got a little lost at the ending — apparently a lot of folks needed killing, more than I could account for from my understanding of the plot.

I finished UNJU - The Jump.

I just finished Gang Girl/Sex Bum by Robert Silverberg which he wrote as "Don Elliot". I'm posting the review because a LOT of big SF & mystery names come up in the introduction & afterword. Tough times & soft core porn was good money which both explain well. I tried to outline the main points in my 4 star review here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Have now finished Golden Fool and rated it 5/5...I could easily rate it even higher than that tbh! I have seen some complaints that the Fitz books are too long and repetitive, boring etc...I could not disagree more with that if I tried. I absolutely adore Fitz as a character and enjoy every minute of journeying along with him. Even when it seems "not much is happening" there is more than enough to keep me closely connected to the character and riveted to the plot and various sub-plots. With her Fitz books, Hobb has written such a cozy world that I truly enjoy being in.

Anyway, I'm next jumping right into Fool's Fate. Kind of sad that there will be "only" 3 more Fitz books after I finish this one.

I just finished my ebook read, Earth Abides, which I found to fill my pre-1950 spot for SF/F Bingo. Overall, I found it a fascinating window into the 1940s and also fairly optimistic for post-apocalyptic fiction. Taking a break from sci-fi for my next ebook read, though I am still working on American Gods on audiobook.

Jim wrote: "I just finished Gang Girl/Sex Bum by Robert Silverberg which he wrote as "Don Elliot". I'm posting the review because a LOT of big SF & mystery names come up in the in..."

Like the world's oldest profession, sexy stuff sells. Or can sell.

Sex certainly does sell, John. I'm reading Great Balls of Fire by Harry Harrison now. He started out as an illustrator & is pointing out how the promise of sex on the covers of the pulps was empty. The censors wouldn't allow it in the text, but the artwork was something else.

Never realized that, Jim, but now that you point it out ... the pulps did some bait and switch!

Chronin: The Knife At your Back, graphic novel from Tor. Set in 19th century Japan at the start of the Meiji Restoration.

I was really glad I didn't read the GR description, or the back cover, or the description in the article that recommended this as a February release, because discovering the story's multiple surprises was a lot of fun. (Page 65 in particular was a real What? moment that changed everything.)

In a related opinions: the Kindle edition is unreadable on the Kindle, since it insists on double-page landscape presentation, making the whole thing way too small. I read it on my desktop. I've never bought a graphic novel on the Kindle before, and am not likely to do so again (the Gahan Wilson cartoon collection doesn't really count, since it's single-panel self-contained cartoons, not a story.)

I started State Tectonics, the conclusion of Older's near-future Centenal global political drama, but quickly realized I didn't remember enough about parts 1 & 2 to jump in without at least skimming previous books again. So, I put it aside after 3 chapters to get started on Glasshouse instead.

Finished Rampant, YA novel with killer unicorns and virgin unicorn hunters. I thought it'd be a silly concept but I actually liked it by the end. At least the heroine didn't have me pulling my hair out as she pined over a boy. There was of course some of that but somehow it was less annoying since it was more about whether to make love to the boy but then lose your ability to be the hunter, or use it as a way to live a normal life. It was more a difficult life choice than "oh, I'm not good enough for him, whimper, whine, he's too perfect for the likes of me"

Anyway, with the next group read looming I'm starting on Glasshouse. Going to be a bit weird since by random chance the book I'm about halfway through on my eReader is turning into a cyberpunk book too (Sisters of Glass...what is with cyberpunk and "glass"?) And based on the first 20 pages of Glasshouse, I can see they are similar in that the main character is an aggression male who solves problems by killing a bunch of people. The reasons behind the aggression are different but the end result is that there's a lot of blood and wounds in both. Will see how reading them in parallel goes, may need to put the eReader one on hold or try to get through it quick to focus on Glasshouse.

I'm having a very exciting February.

I read:

Preludes & Nocturnes - finally! This is the medium I think is best suited to Gaiman's work.

Witches Abroad - utterly delightful.

All Systems Red - great fun! Except I listened to it and that was a mistake. From now on, I shall eye-read these.

Brown Girl in the Ring - A sort of UF dystopic horror? I loved it.

Check, Please!: #Hockey, Vol. 1 - a super sweet palate cleanser. If you're into slice of life graphic novels, this one was adorable.

Halfway to the Grave - *rubs face.* I just...don't like romances. I don't like them. I need to stop reading them.

So I did stop reading them, and read three pieces of "contemporary fiction" afterwards to clear my head.

Ntozake Shange is quickly becoming a favorite author. Read For colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf (a sort of poem/play) and Sassafrass, Cypress and Indigo (a slice of life book about sisters and womanhood.) Both were flipping excellent.

And also Valeria Luiselli's "Faces in the Crowd" which for some reason I can't link to but was too uh...experimental for me, let's say.

Now trying to finish Deadhouse Gates and Reaper Man. Hoping to start Black Leopard, Red Wolf and A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe this month, too.

Allison wrote: "Halfway to the Grave - *rubs face.* I just...don't like romances. I don't like them. I need to stop reading them..."

That's the title of a romance?

G33z3r wrote: "Allison wrote: "Halfway to the Grave - *rubs face.* I just...don't like romances. I don't like them. I need to stop reading them..."

That's the title of a romance?"

Ha! Well, a paranormal romance anyways. I thought it was going to be urban fantasy (mystery A plot, maybe a romance subplot) but it was the other way around.

Ah the key difference between urban fantasy and paranormal romance strikes again?

Rachel wrote: "Ah the key difference between urban fantasy and paranormal romance strikes again?"

It continues to bite me in the behind. Which, incidentally, was something mentioned often in this book.

Great Balls of Fire by Harry Harrison is subtitled "A history of sex in Science Fiction illustration". I hadn't realized Harrison started in comics or was an illustrator. I've only known his work as an SF author, so I was really looking forward to this. I was somewhat disappointed, but it was still a good & fun read. I gave it a 4 star review here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Jim wrote: "I rarely give a fantasy book 5 stars since they don't have anything to do with real life, but Endgames, Modesitt's latest (last?) book in his Imager series, is an exception. Rex (ki..."

Thanks to a recent sale, I have most of the series on my Nook. Now just have to find time to read them all. Also took advantage of a recent sale on the Recluse series and have all but the 2 most recent and the short story collection on my Nook.

Allison wrote: "G33z3r wrote: "Allison wrote: "Halfway to the Grave - *rubs face.* I just...don't like romances. I don't like them. I need to stop reading them..."

That's the title of a romance?"

..."
I loved that series.