[polishgenius]

I started reading The Barrow by Mark Smylie, but the writing wasn't pulling me in (descriptions! Descriptions of everything everywhere!)and the uncomfortable tones of the sexuality were pushing me out, so I stopped.

Now reading The Rook by Daniel O'Malley.

[Morgoth]

Jeff Vandermeer guys. Jeff Vandermeer.

His new work might not be as brilliant as his City of Saints and Madmen trilogy, but it's close. Still heads and shoulders above anything else being published within the genre.

[polishgenius]

I love the Ambergris books, but while Southern Reach is obviously really good, I'm not quite loving it. Appreciating and admiring what it does, absolutely, but there's something a bit abrupt about it (and not just because the books are quite short).

Still, that's being a tad harsh, because it is absolute quality. It possibly didn't help my rating that I read Authority just after The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August and, though I love VanderMeer's writing, I love Claire North/Kate Griffin/Catherine Webb's writing more.

[worry]

The books are short? That's the best recommendation I've heard in months.

[Serenity]

 Briar King, on 06 June 2014 - 08:13 PM, said:

@Serenity how many of the Rome books do you have ATM? I ordered 1&2. I kinda hate the covers on them.

I got the first five volumes in the Kindle collection for £15

[JPK]

 McLovin, on 05 June 2014 - 01:34 PM, said:

 The Incredible Kitsu, on 02 June 2014 - 04:44 PM, said:

 McLovin, on 02 June 2014 - 12:07 PM, said:

REDEMPTION ARK by Alastair Reynolds.

Awesome! I have this near the top of my trp right now as well. It's just that it's been around two years since I read the first and I'm trying to figure out if I should do a re-read of the first book or if I'd be safe just jumping headfirst into this one... I'm curious on what you'd recommend once you get a few chapters in. (Of course any other recommendations on the subject would be welcomed as well.)

RS is re-capped for you a few chapters into ARK, so no, you don't need a re-read.

About halfway through, it's good weird fun.

That's good to know. I did follow the suggestions of the others and look up a summary as well, which helped alot. I'll be starting ARK later today. Also, I'm going by the author's recommended order and saving CHASM CITY until after the main trilogy.

[McLovin]

Still reading REDEMPTION ARK. Good but suffers from a Big Dumb Plot Point:

Spoiler

So, the Conjoiners made the hell-class weapons and lost them, then figure it's not worth the effort to retrieve them until the Inhibitors show up. That's like the US losing a bunch of warheads and going oh well, we'll find them eventually. Uh, no, go find them NOW, because those could be used against you if someone else finds them first.

Also started THE MIDDLE KINGDOM by David Wingrove.

[Tiste Simeon]

I think the whole Revelation Space series is on Kindle for about £18 so will be getting that when I go on holiday!

[amphibian]

The Conifers (a pet name I have for the Conjoiners) were actively looking for the lost items the whole time. The thing was that they couldn't openly look for them, due to alerting the regular humans in which they were at war with and/or the enemies out there.

The US and Russia have lost nukes before. They quietly freaked out and spent years at a stretch recovering them. We just aren't alerted to the fact right away if ever.

[rhulad]

Just finished Hyperion by Dan Simmons. And will be starting Skin Game shortly.

[T77]

Finished the last three books in Steven King's Dark Tower series. After book four I was on the fence on whether or not to continue since I liked books one and three. but was meh about two and four, but I am glad I did. I thought they were very good, with only one or two things I did not like. It was a great accomplishment to write a series that mixed, SciFi, fantasy, horror, westerns and post-apocalyptic events. I have added more Steven King books to my TBR pile.

This post has been edited by T77: 10 June 2014 - 03:37 PM

[Baco Xtath]

Almost done listening to Shipbreaker by Paolo Bacigalupi. I've avoided this cause I generally don't do YA but it's actually pretty good and I'd only call it YA because the protagonist is 15. I'll give the Drowned Cities a go next then onto Cibola Burn.

Still reading Ancillary Justice and Faded Steel Heat. Both good.

[amphibian]

Baciagalupi's Wind-up Girl is a pretty good book.

I haven't read his other stuff (beyond the short story yet with the dog and the mecha-people), but he's a talent for sure.

[Serenity]

 Tisteon Simeonus, on 08 June 2014 - 06:35 PM, said:

I think the whole Revelation Space series is on Kindle for about £18 so will be getting that when I go on holiday!

I noticed they've put it back up to £28 at the moment. It's a fantastic collection, though.


I'm currently about 550 pages into the second 'Masters of Rome' book, The Grass Crown. Marvellous stuff.

[Baco Xtath]

 amphibian, on 11 June 2014 - 04:30 AM, said:

Baciagalupi's Wind-up Girl is a pretty good book.

I haven't read his other stuff (beyond the short story yet with the dog and the mecha-people), but he's a talent for sure.

Yeah, I liked the Wind-up Girl. However, I actually like his short story collection, Pump Six and Other Stories, even more. Hopefully, he'll write some more books in these settings.

[Salt-Man Z]

Finished The Last Dark over the weekend. It might be the weakest book in the entire Chronicles, and doesn't quite live up to the First and Second finales, but it really caps the whole series off just about as well as it possibly could have.

I spent the last three days blazing through Skin Game, which was absolutely amazing. I really think the last two books have been my favorites in the entire series.

Currently rereading Jeff Salyards' Scourge of the Betrayer before starting in on the sequel, Veil of the Deserters.

[amphibian]

 Salt-Man Z, on 11 June 2014 - 03:24 PM, said:

Finished The Last Dark over the weekend. It might be the weakest book in the entire Chronicles, and doesn't quite live up to the First and Second finales, but it really caps the whole series off just about as well as it possibly could have.

It's the Dust of Dreams/The Crippled God dynamic at work.

Against All Things Ending set up everything for the end and then The Last Dark took the set-ups to completion. I did a re-read before I got to The Last Dark and it works better that way, rather than the "book by itself" dynamic.

[Salt-Man Z]

 amphibian, on 11 June 2014 - 04:06 PM, said:

Against All Things Ending set up everything for the end and then The Last Dark took the set-ups to completion. I did a re-read before I got to The Last Dark and it works better that way, rather than the "book by itself" dynamic.

Can't really disagree. I just read all 10 back-to-back (-to-back-to-back...) The first three books were more-or-less all individually self-contained. In the second trilogy, each book had its own arc. In the Last Chronicles, the first book is the most standalone of the bunch, and then the first half of the second. But after that, the next two and a half volumes are like one long book. With that said, I enjoyed the non-standalone AATE (and the way it tied its particular plot threads off) much more than I did TLD.

[Baco Xtath]

3/4 of the way through Fortune's Pawn audio; really good space opera. Not as romancey as I was led to believe and some really cool alien battle scenes. Good stuff.

[Chance]

Reading Malice and its really shaping up in the middle part after a slow to boring start. Could shape up to a really good book if it continues to improve over the last half.

Also some pages into Shattered which seems up to what I expect of an Iron Druid book, fun and fast moving.