[Tiste Simeon]

Currently my reading looks like this:

Dead tree - Wayfarers book 1 by Becky Chambers (not started yet just about to)
Ebook - The Princess Bride by William Goldman (about halfway through, it's OK and I'm actually enjoying more then I thought I would)
Earbook - Dark Age by Pierce Brown (I do like this series but it's not half as good as the first trilogy IMO. Maybe I'm just too saturated with it but I'm getting a bit fed up with it tbh)

[Macros]

Salt-Man Z, on 29 April 2022 - 05:14 AM, said:

Abyss, on 29 April 2022 - 01:41 AM, said:

Salt-Man Z, on 28 April 2022 - 05:20 PM, said:

... THESE LIFELESS THINGS ...

SOLD

Honestly, you should probably just grab anything and everything by Premee Mohamed (3 unrelated novellas, plus her BENEATH THE RISING trilogy.) The most normal (non-Weird) thing she's written is THE APPLE-TREE THRONE, where the narrator spends the whole story chatting with a ghost. Her trilogy is full-on "two best friends against an eldritch invasion" (but weirder) the third book of which just came out. (I will probably be rereading the first two soon, so I can get to book three.)

Premee Mohamed and Silvia Moreno-Garcia might just be my two favorite authors at the moment.

I recall we did God's of Jade and Shadow for bookclub a few years ago, how would that rank in Moreno-Garcias bibliography? Basing my thoughts on trying more on wether that's her best, or her worst.

Another aside seeing a lot of Ben Aaronovitch love recently, worth dipping into or is that a Mac will end up spending £100 on all his books situation?

[Salt-Man Z]

Macros, on 29 April 2022 - 03:34 PM, said:

I recall we did God's of Jade and Shadow for bookclub a few years ago, how would that rank in Moreno-Garcias bibliography? Basing my thoughts on trying more on wether that's her best, or her worst.

Honestly, GODS was probably my least favorite thing of hers that I've read, to the point that I remember very little of it 2 years later, beyond just general disappointment.

I would recommend any of the following over GODS OF JADE AND SHADOW (favorites at the top, roughly, though the only easy ranking was putting VELVET at the bottom):

Signal to Noise (contemporary fantasy)
The Beautiful Ones (fantasy courtship drama)
Untamed Shore (noir)
Prime Meridian (near-future novella)
Mexican Gothic (gothic horror)
Velvet Was the Night (historical)

[Abyss]

Tiste Simeon, on 29 April 2022 - 03:28 PM, said:

....
Earbook - Dark Age by Pierce Brown (I do like this series but it's not half as good as the first trilogy IMO. Maybe I'm just too saturated with it but I'm getting a bit fed up with it tbh)

You are exactly where I was going into DARK AGE. IRON GOLD was a mediocre follow up to the original trilo, bordering on disappointing. Dark Age starts kind of slow and almost threatens disappointment.... and then.

[Abyss]

Macros, on 29 April 2022 - 03:34 PM, said:

...

Another aside seeing a lot of Ben Aaronovitch love recently, worth dipping into or is that a Mac will end up spending £100 on all his books situation?

Sorry Macros, but you don't really need that extra kidney more than you need to read this series.

[Dadding]

Nearly finished the first sub-series in the Ender’s Game series. I enjoyed ENDER’S GAME, really enjoyed SPEAKER FOR THE DEAD, but I think the last two books are pretty meh. Thought I’d come here for advice if anyone's read the whole series (Shadow Saga/Formic Wars). I’m wondering if they’re more like the first two books or the last two books, and if it’s worth continuing on with the series.

[amphibian]

Don't read more Card if you can avoid it. There's just so much blah and so much that falls apart when looked at with a half sober eye. There's enormous amounts of better books and writers that you'd have fun reading

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

amphibian, on 01 May 2022 - 08:17 PM, said:

Don't read more Card if you can avoid it. There's just so much blah and so much that falls apart when looked at with a half sober eye. There's enormous amounts of better books and writers that you'd have fun reading

And he's a far right reactionary Trump supporter... who's still alive. He almost certainly uses the profits from his books and films to donate heavily to the far right.

'Card had been avidly homophobic since long before I knew him. That at the same time we were talking about character development and the shapes of stories, he was railing against marriage rights for same-sex couples and insisting homosexuality was a byproduct of child abuse.

[...] Orson Scott Card is monstrously homophobic; he's racist; he advocates violence and lobbies against fundamental human rights and equates criticism of those stances with his own hate speech.'

Orson Scott Card: Mentor, Friend, Bigot | WIRED

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 01 May 2022 - 09:24 PM

[Dadding]

amphibian, on 01 May 2022 - 08:17 PM, said:

Don't read more Card if you can avoid it. There's just so much blah and so much that falls apart when looked at with a half sober eye. There's enormous amounts of better books and writers that you'd have fun reading

Azath Vitr (D, on 01 May 2022 - 09:24 PM, said:

amphibian, on 01 May 2022 - 08:17 PM, said:

Don't read more Card if you can avoid it. There's just so much blah and so much that falls apart when looked at with a half sober eye. There's enormous amounts of better books and writers that you'd have fun reading

And he's a far right reactionary Trump supporter... who's still alive. He almost certainly uses the profits from his books and films to donate heavily to the far right.

'Card had been avidly homophobic since long before I knew him. That at the same time we were talking about character development and the shapes of stories, he was railing against marriage rights for same-sex couples and insisting homosexuality was a byproduct of child abuse.

[...] Orson Scott Card is monstrously homophobic; he's racist; he advocates violence and lobbies against fundamental human rights and equates criticism of those stances with his own hate speech.'

Orson Scott Card: Mentor, Friend, Bigot | WIRED

Thanks guys - I'd heard about how bigoted he was, so I made sure I wasn't financially supporting him, but it's good to hear that it's not worth continuing for other reasons too.

[Salt-Man Z]

If you've read the Ender Quartet, you've read the best of Card. A few of his early works rise close to the quality of Game/Speaker: I liked Treason, The Worthing Saga, Wyrms, and Hart's Hope a lot.

[Gwynn ap Nudd]

Abyss, on 01 May 2022 - 03:16 AM, said:

Macros, on 29 April 2022 - 03:34 PM, said:

...

Another aside seeing a lot of Ben Aaronovitch love recently, worth dipping into or is that a Mac will end up spending £100 on all his books situation?

Sorry Macros, but you don't really need that extra kidney more than you need to read this series.

I breezed through the first six of these. Really enjoying the humor and most of the plots. Only problem is they are the sort of book I can finish in a free afternoon. Need to pick up something a bit meatier to last me longer.

[Maark Abbott]

QuickTidal, on 20 April 2022 - 12:39 PM, said:

Maark Abbott, on 20 April 2022 - 07:54 AM, said:

Mirror Sight is definitely a weird book - but it's still pretty enjoyable. I also just remembered one of the plot points and, well, I'll wait for you to come back on that with thoughts on it.

I'm about 1/4 into it now and I THINK I've hit the revelation you're talking about, and it's brilliant! Like this is shaping up to be my fave book of the series so far, just for how brave Britain has been going so hard at this fresh concept for a whole book. I can't stop reading it, and I'm loving it more and more each page.

That's not quite the plot point I was referring to - but I know the one you mean.

I really need to get the new volume that came out but I just bought Legends and Lattes and am patiently waiting for orc mommy comfy time due to this.

[QuickTidal]

Maark Abbott, on 03 May 2022 - 07:49 AM, said:

QuickTidal, on 20 April 2022 - 12:39 PM, said:

Maark Abbott, on 20 April 2022 - 07:54 AM, said:

Mirror Sight is definitely a weird book - but it's still pretty enjoyable. I also just remembered one of the plot points and, well, I'll wait for you to come back on that with thoughts on it.

I'm about 1/4 into it now and I THINK I've hit the revelation you're talking about, and it's brilliant! Like this is shaping up to be my fave book of the series so far, just for how brave Britain has been going so hard at this fresh concept for a whole book. I can't stop reading it, and I'm loving it more and more each page.

That's not quite the plot point I was referring to - but I know the one you mean.

I really need to get the new volume that came out but I just bought Legends and Lattes and am patiently waiting for orc mommy comfy time due to this.

I have FIREBRAND, and the short fiction collection THE DREAM GATHERER before getting to the latest one, but I'm excited that she's already hard at work on Volume 8.

[Abyss]

Abyss, on 29 April 2022 - 01:56 AM, said:

Next up, a Peter Clines short story collection DEAD MEN CAN'T COMPLAIN AND OTHER STORIES. The first short was a time travel/alt reality story that would do Bradbury, Bloch, or PK Dick proud. The second was a nice little riff on the classic 'Superman Takes Over The World' trope.

Just Finished.

This was really really great. I do not as a general rule like short story collections very much, but Clines just rocks the format each time, gets the reader right into the story regardless of how loud or quiet the opening is, keeps an excellent pace, sets the hook, delivers the payoff, and end.

Great diversity too, in addition to the time travel and superhero takes, he does detective, robot future, magic, and a clever sideways coda to the EX-HEROES series.

Earbook narrators are solid (one of them is also Darkseid so i have to say that. .

If you're a fan of this author this is totally worth your time and moneys. If you're curious, same.

[Gwynn ap Nudd]

Just finished Last First Snow, part of Max Gladstone's Craft Sequence. I hadn't check the boards, so didn't realise it wasn't recommended to read the books in publication order. Was still a great read and answered some questions I had about Caleb, Mina, Temoc and Elayne and DL in general. Just felt a bit like reading a prequel at parts as Two Serpent's Rise reveals some of the events. On to Four Roads Cross.

Open to suggestions for something else to pick up, as the rest of the Rivers of London series will be over a week arriving. Four Roads Cross is the last on my to read pile and it won't take that long.

[Abyss]

Gwynn ap Nudd, on 06 May 2022 - 04:51 AM, said:

...
Open to suggestions for something else to pick up...

From my own recent reads....

Fantasy: Blacktongue Thief

Urbfant: Eric Carter series

SF: Project Hail Mary

[Briar King]

Went to the rebuilt Books A Million. The selection was better before the hurricanes and it was shit then..

[stone monkey]

Currently reading The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman by Angela Carter; which is excellent. Reminds me a fair bit of some of Jeff Vandermeer's earlier work. I should revisit Carter's The Bloody Chamber again, at some point, as it's been at least a decade since I read it.

[Gwynn ap Nudd]

Abyss, on 06 May 2022 - 02:52 PM, said:

Gwynn ap Nudd, on 06 May 2022 - 04:51 AM, said:

...
Open to suggestions for something else to pick up...

From my own recent reads....

Fantasy: Blacktongue Thief

Urbfant: Eric Carter series

SF: Project Hail Mary

Thanks recommendations and for the reminder on Blacktongue Thief, I've been meaning to put a hold on that at my library.

[Aptorian]

Tried getting into The Princess Bride again this weekend and it still isn't clicking with me. I got to the part where Inigo Montoya's father makes a sword for the six fingered bad guy.

Something about the writing style, author voice, just doesn't work for me.

Instead I read These Lifeless Things by Premee Mohamed, which was recommended up-thread. Ehh, it was okay but didn't really live up to my expectations.

There's something about telling a story with Eldritch/Lovecraftian elements that has to be done just right for me to like it. The story can't be too long, because too many pages over exposes the mystery horror element and the protagonist/observer can't be too rational or sane for me to like the telling of the story.

The fact that These Lifeless Things is set in Ukraine is novel given current events but it's neither weird enough or horrifying enough to do its job in my opinion.

Started Never Die by Rob J. Hays. Now this is my kind of book. Fantastical Asian Samurai setting, with cool characters, over the top action and mountains of people getting chopped to death.

This post has been edited by Aptorian: 09 May 2022 - 02:42 PM