[amphibian]

Aptorian, on 22 May 2020 - 08:30 PM, said:

I can see Martha Wellshas written a lot of stuff. I got the first 3 books in "The Books of Raksura" series she wrote from an older Humble Bundle.

Anyone read them? First one's called the Cloud Roads. Sound sort of YA.

They're not young adult, but the conflicts and resolutions are much more like CJ Cherryh's Foreigner series than an action series. I like them quite a bit and Wells as an author too.

[polishgenius]

I've not read Raskura yet coz they're pretty expensive on Kobo though eventually I'll have to take the plunge. Also the final Ile-Rien trilogy is unavailable in ebook which is infuriating.

But Wells is a great author. Read I think all of her standalones and the earlier Ile-Rien books.

[Macros]

@puck.

Yah I'm struggling with the narrative style a bit. The voice in head of protagonist isn't well done and it's jarring for me

[Aptorian]

Obligatory reminder that we'll be starting a reread of both Night of Knives and Bonehunters next Monday, June 1st.

Here's the dedicated threads in the General Book Topic forum:

2020 Malazan Re-read: Night of Knives

2020 Malazan Re-read: Bonehunters

[Aptorian]

Just read the first three chapters of Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

This is a highly entertaining read though I wonder at these people's mortality if they imbibed just a fraction of this amount of drugs and alcohol on the regular.

Got Fear and Loathing on the Campaign trail lined up as well. I've never read the books but I've always enjoyed Thompson's shorter stories and articles.

This post has been edited by Aptorian: 24 May 2020 - 12:41 PM

[Abyss]

QuickTidal, on 22 May 2020 - 06:26 PM, said:

Aptorian, on 22 May 2020 - 05:34 PM, said:

Started All Systems Red, the first book in the Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells.

So far it's fun and light. It's very barebones, no real world building or attempt at creating a setting directly. It's just days in the life of a murderbot on a research mission that's turning to shit.

I like the Murderbot. It's wonderfully introverted and cynical. I think it's my spirit animal.

I've got the first four queued up on my kindle for future devouring. Glad to hear it's good and fun.

Aptorian, on 22 May 2020 - 08:14 PM, said:

Finished Murderbot 1

Cool little story though I don't really see why this is noteworthy enough to win awards.

Liked the ending. Felt like the right kind of choice for Murderbot.

Ordered book 2 and 3 from Libby. There's a three week wait unfortunately.

They get better, and I think are best read close together. 1 was good enough to get me to 2, which was better. By 3 i was hooked and the end of 4 is awesome. 5 couldn't get here soon enough and was a full novel. I was a little sceptical whether the Murderbot format, so to speak, would work in longer form... it did. What might have been considered padding works really well specifically because of Murderbot's perspective.

amphibian, on 22 May 2020 - 10:43 PM, said:

Aptorian, on 22 May 2020 - 08:30 PM, said:

I can see Martha Wellshas written a lot of stuff. I got the first 3 books in "The Books of Raksura" series she wrote from an older Humble Bundle.

Anyone read them? First one's called the Cloud Roads. Sound sort of YA.

They're not young adult, but the conflicts and resolutions are much more like CJ Cherryh's Foreigner series than an action series. I like them quite a bit and Wells as an author too.

polishgenius, on 23 May 2020 - 06:22 AM, said:

I've not read Raskura yet coz they're pretty expensive on Kobo though eventually I'll have to take the plunge. Also the final Ile-Rien trilogy is unavailable in ebook which is infuriating.

But Wells is a great author. Read I think all of her standalones and the earlier Ile-Rien books.

Good to know. I haven't quite decided to get her fantasy books but am likely to.

[Cyphon]

So I've finished the first two of the completed JILL KISMET series, by Lilith Saintcrow. I picked this up from the tor blog post where Seanann McGuire recommended ten urban fantasy series/books that she liked. This was the controversial one where she didn't include Dresden and the fanboys exploded across social media. I picked up War of the Oaks from that which was ace so I had high hopes for this. The recommendation was based on the character development and that actions have real consequences.

Which I have to say has delivered. Theres the same common beats of urban fantasy in this and the odd repetitive line but it's a gripping read. It did grate that the heroine's car is an orange impala, but I take that as a Dresden influence. It's quite grim dark which is why I've had to take a break and come back to the rest later. There are some ace lines in there but the character development is good and the moral tension between the heroine and antagonist is great, twisted and complicated. The world building comes out slowly and nicely and something's arent explained yet - not entirely show then tell though.

I kind of dont want to make dresden comparisons but I dont have the skill or other examples to outline the hook without that benchmark, imagine Harry

Spoiler

has the winter mantle, or rather the denarian coin from the get go

and is sat in a role of judge dredd style enforcement of the hell infused underworld. Worth a look if the grimness doesnt put you off.

Started THE FIRST FIFTEEN LIVES OF HARRY AUGUST as a change of pace before the Malazan reread double header month kicks off.

[Tiste Simeon]

Gave up on War and Peace it was just full. Rich Russians talking about other rich Russians. Read it for a few days, got tons of chapters in, only 10% through. Forget that.

Reading TOUCH by Claire North instead. Love the concept already!

[Tiste Simeon]

Gave up on War and Peace it was just full. Rich Russians talking about other rich Russians. Read it for a few days, got tons of chapters in, only 10% through. Forget that.

Reading TOUCH by Claire North instead. Love the concept already!

[Mentalist]

Whew, finally finished "Fugitive Prince", the 4th Wars of Light and Shadow book. Did the last 100 pages in a single sitting today.

I've got very mixed feelings about this series. Wurts is a great writer, and there's clearly a ton of thought being put into the world, and the plot is complex and intriguing.

But... the writing style is reminiscent of the late Gene Wolfe- I have to work for each little bit of it. Wurts never misses an opportunity to throw in a descriptive adjective or adverb into each sentence, and that makes her writing, while evocative, an extra effort to comprehend and visualize. I always end up having to pace myself through these books, otherwise I just burn out and don't want to expand the mental energy for a several days. She's one of the few writers that makes me appreciate how inadequate my non-native English comprehension can be.

Still, gonna have to order the next one "Grand Conspiracy" sometime soon.

Meanwhile, next on the reading list is the second Liveship Traders book, "Mad Ship"

[Zeto Demerzel]

Aptorian, on 22 May 2020 - 08:30 PM, said:

I can see Martha Wellshas written a lot of stuff. I got the first 3 books in "The Books of Raksura" series she wrote from an older Humble Bundle.

Anyone read them? First one's called the Cloud Roads. Sound sort of YA.

Read Death of the Necromancer a while ago. Found it vaguely Locke Lamora like but perhaps not quite as good. Not a bad read overall. I assumed, at that time, that it was a standalone but just found out it's book 2 in a series

[Zeto Demerzel]

Needed a pick me up after reading Chasm City and All the Birds in the Sky parallelly. Thought the former was a big step down - small in scope and focused on unpleasant (and, frequently, incompetent) little s**** - from the awesome Revelation Space. Just didn't care for the latter.

Reading Red Rising and Rai-Kirah 1 - Transformation now and am enjoying both thoroughly. They both seem to share some odd commonality too.

[Cyphon]

Mentalist, on 26 May 2020 - 02:33 AM, said:

Meanwhile, next on the reading list is the second Liveship Traders book, "Mad Ship"

Such a good trilogy. I'd say it's the best I've read of Hobb's writing.

[Macros]

Just read a superb YA book, some say it's a little over wrought but...

It couldn't be simpler. You've got the academic who survived the Stalinist purges and is now having flashbacks to that time. There's his daughter whose long bitter marriage is falling apart around her and the journalist who's investigated the academic because he suspects he was never in Russia at the time and then he falls obsessively in love with the daughter and sacrifices his career to become a lens grinder in Omsk

[Tsundoku]

Macros, on 27 May 2020 - 06:55 PM, said:

Just read a superb YA book, some say it's a little over wrought but...

It couldn't be simpler. You've got the academic who survived the Stalinist purges and is now having flashbacks to that time. There's his daughter whose long bitter marriage is falling apart around her and the journalist who's investigated the academic because he suspects he was never in Russia at the time and then he falls obsessively in love with the daughter and sacrifices his career to become a lens grinder in Omsk

Why does this sound like the setup to a dad joke?

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

Cyphon, on 26 May 2020 - 07:45 AM, said:

Mentalist, on 26 May 2020 - 02:33 AM, said:

Meanwhile, next on the reading list is the second Liveship Traders book, "Mad Ship"

Such a good trilogy. I'd say it's the best I've read of Hobb's writing.

Seconded - they were always my favourite trilogy

[Aptorian]

I started the Liveship Traders after greatly enjoying the Assassin trilogy but I was just so bored with the first book. After a hundred pages of bla bla living ships, it's hard to be a captain, bla, bla. I gave up.

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

I read them first I think, before anything to do with Fitz - I do wonder if that has something to do with my enduring fondness for them.

[Cyphon]

I think the Liveship trilogy takes longer to warm up, which may explain the 100 page drop off Apt, but then gets a similar pace and drama to the farseer books.

[Macros]

Tsundoku, on 27 May 2020 - 10:08 PM, said:

Macros, on 27 May 2020 - 06:55 PM, said:

Just read a superb YA book, some say it's a little over wrought but...

It couldn't be simpler. You've got the academic who survived the Stalinist purges and is now having flashbacks to that time. There's his daughter whose long bitter marriage is falling apart around her and the journalist who's investigated the academic because he suspects he was never in Russia at the time and then he falls obsessively in love with the daughter and sacrifices his career to become a lens grinder in Omsk

Why does this sound like the setup to a dad joke?

It's a superb book.

So good it had to be burned