So what are you reading? Part VI

[Fer]

Okay, I'm going into a massive spoiler heavy rant on The Chronoliths, so... if anyone is interested in reading the novel, turn away know. I'm about to ruin what little plot this novel has.

A mysterious structure appears in Thailand. A computer programmer and his family are living there, and our computer nerd Scott just happens to be near this giant obelisk when it lands. He and a buddy are arrested for getting to close to. The government is suspicious of them. Meanwhile, his daughter gets a serious ear infection and has to go to the hospital. His wife can't get in touch with him. SHE LEAVES THE COUNTRY AND DIVORCES HIM. What???? The mysterious artifacts are found to be coming from the future and are monuments of battles won by a faction or a man called Kuin. This never amounts to anything.

Poorly plotted, uninteresting and underdeveloped characters, unneccessary violence towards women, and an unsatisfying ending. An interesting premise is squandered. The first 30 pages are great, but Wilson quickly has no idea where he's going.

Wow, you and I had very different reactions.

Since Thrawn has said he still might read it, I'm marking mine with a spoiler tag.

Spoiler: Chronoliths

As I mentioned before, I really enjoyed it, even though I feel it's more about how the world reacts to the Chronoliths than the Chronoliths themselves. So in that sense, I can see how you'd feel it never amounts to anything. I too went in to it expecting to learn all about who and what was sending the Chronoliths back in time in the first place, but by the time it was over I felt that wasn't what it was really about after all.

With the current economic problems, reading a story where the world just keeps collapsing in on itself was depressing for me, but all in all I love society-changing stories so I still really enjoyed it.

Sorry to hear you didn't enjoy it, but ah well, to each their own.

I'm on a big time travel kick this year, are there any time travel related books you enjoyed more that you (or anyone else) can recommend?

 

[Starbreaker]

Replay by Ken Grimwood is great. Also, 11/22/63 by Stephen King was the one I read right before this one. I loved Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. Time Travelers Never Die by Jack McDevitt. Exultant by Stephen Baxter.

 

[indianatrekker26]

Currently on my plate is Star Wars: Labyrinth of Evil by James Luceno, Off Armageddon Reef by David Weber and Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds.

 

[Thrawn]

I loved Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. Exultant by Stephen Baxter.

to both of these. Can't speak to the others as I haven't read them, but these are awesome.

To Say Nothing Of The Dog, also by Willis and in the same universe, is an absolutely delightful comedy counterpoint to the beautiful seriousness of Doomsday Book.

 

[JD]

There's also a two part novel, Blackout and All Clear, which take place in the same universe as Doomsday Book, and To Say Nothing of The Dog. I haven't read any of the books in the series yet, but they are on my list.

 

[Thrawn]

I haven't read those two, but they're definitely on mine too.

 

[Reanok]

I finally found a copy of Startrek TNG Losing the peace by William Leisner the book is well written the books story paralles the rebuilding of Europe after ww2.

 

[Bones_McCoy21]

Since I've finished Stardust,Coraline, and Mirror Mask in roughly 1 week I've finally started reading TOS-Doctor's Orders By Diane Duane. I've only read the 1st chapter but it's hilarious. My favorite part in that chapter is the comment on Star Fleet...

 

[Fer]

Replay by Ken Grimwood is great. Also, 11/22/63 by Stephen King was the one I read right before this one. I loved Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. Time Travelers Never Die by Jack McDevitt. Exultant by Stephen Baxter.

Well, we definitely agree on Time Travelers Never Die by Jack McDevitt. I absolutely loved that book; I think I finished it in three days, which for me means I'm so sucked in that I'm ignoring feeding and cleaning up after my family.

Thanks for the other recommendations! I'm sure I'll be checking in to them.

 

[C. Cole-Chakotay]

I'm still reading Ark by Stephen Baxter. Too many books; so little time!

 

[F. King Daniel]

I finally got through "Double Helix #4: Quarentine" yesterday. Boring. If it were any other Maquis group other than Chakotay's, and if there was much more of Thomas Riker trying to find his place in the universe, it might have been better.

Up next: "Captain's Table #5: Once Burned"

 

[BrotherBenny]

I finished reading The Fallen by Mark Terry. Good ending to the Fallen Angels trilogy, and I look forward to picking up book four when my bank account is a little healthier.

Just started reading Carte Blanche by Jeffery Deaver and I'm enjoying it. This one is far better than the drek churned out by Sebastian Faulks. Faulks is not a thriller writer and should never have been asked. I was hooked by Carte Blanche within the opening chapter. Kudos to Deaver for fixing the novel part of the Bond franchise. Here's hoping he writes another.

 

[spockrocks]

Just read ST Twilight's End. I thought it was pretty good. Now reading Vulcan's Forge.

 

[Thrawn]

I'm re-reading the early Star Wars books from Bantam; was really unimpressed with Bakura, Jedi Academy Trilogy, Courtship, and Crystal Star, but I have to admit, I'm totally loving Children of the Jedi. It's got Amazon reviews roughly comparable with all of the others I just listed, but for whatever reason it's totally working for me.

 

[timothy]

the gods of mars by edgar rice burroughs. abd then runing with the demon by terry brooks.

 

[Kertrats47]

Finished Diane Duane's Rihannsu #3: Swordhunt. Review is up! Not too much there, though, due to it being part one of two. I do, however, love Duane's writing, and I'm eager to see how the story wraps up. I've already started on Rihannsu #4: Honor Blade.

Also, I'm currently reading SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner.

 

[Christopher]

Finished Diane Duane's Rihannsu #3: Swordhunt. Review is up! Not too much there, though, due to it being part one of two. I do, however, love Duane's writing, and I'm eager to see how the story wraps up. I've already started on Rihannsu #4: Honor Blade.

The story doesn't wrap up until The Empty Chair. The books that were published under the titles Swordhunt and Honor Blade are actually just one book, Swordhunt, which was part 1 of a duology that was meant to conclude with The Empty Chair. But Duane got severely delayed and couldn't finish TEC on schedule, so in order to avoid leaving a hole in the publishing schedule, her editor split Swordhunt into two volumes. So the two books together are only part one of the story, so don't expect any kind of resolution in HB.

Also, elements of the story as published in S/HB were subsequently revised/contradicted in the version of Swordhunt published in the collection The Bloodwing Voyages and then in The Empty Chair. When Duane wrote her first few Trek novels including the first two Rihannsu books, the chronology of TOS was still fairly vague and she set her books in what seemed to be a conjectural second 5-year mission between TOS and TMP, with a ship and crew that were sort of halfway between the two. By the time Swordhunt came around, Duane and her editor at the time, John Ordover, decided to retcon things and set the book before the end of the TOS 5-year mission, even though Spock's World, which came earlier in the sequence, was explicitly set shortly after TMP. But by the time she finally finished TEC five years later, she was working with a new editor, Marco Palmieri, and they decided that the whole Rihannsu series should be revamped to take place entirely after TMP. So the versions in The Bloodwing Voyages had some rank and chronological references tweaked to fit that new interpretation, and to be consistent with TEC.

So if you read the 2-volume version of Swordhunt and then finish up with TEC, you'll notice some slight inconsistencies.

 

[JD]

I'm re-reading the early Star Wars books from Bantam; was really unimpressed with Bakura, Jedi Academy Trilogy, Courtship, and Crystal Star, but I have to admit, I'm totally loving Children of the Jedi. It's got Amazon reviews roughly comparable with all of the others I just listed, but for whatever reason it's totally working for me.

I couldn't stand CoJ, I tried it twice and both times gave up after the first couple chapters. I remember really liking the Jedi Academy trilogy though, but apparently most people don't.

 

[Kertrats47]

Also, elements of the story as published in S/HB were subsequently revised/contradicted in the version of Swordhunt published in the collection The Bloodwing Voyages and then in The Empty Chair. When Duane wrote her first few Trek novels including the first two Rihannsu books, the chronology of TOS was still fairly vague and she set her books in what seemed to be a conjectural second 5-year mission between TOS and TMP, with a ship and crew that were sort of halfway between the two. By the time Swordhunt came around, Duane and her editor at the time, John Ordover, decided to retcon things and set the book before the end of the TOS 5-year mission, even though Spock's World, which came earlier in the sequence, was explicitly set shortly after TMP. But by the time she finally finished TEC five years later, she was working with a new editor, Marco Palmieri, and they decided that the whole Rihannsu series should be revamped to take place entirely after TMP. So the versions in The Bloodwing Voyages had some rank and chronological references tweaked to fit that new interpretation, and to be consistent with TEC.

So if you read the 2-volume version of Swordhunt and then finish up with TEC, you'll notice some slight inconsistencies.

Ha, that's funny, I just gave that entire history in my review I just posted!

 

[Christopher]

^I read that review, and it seems I still need to clarify my original point. You said:

I feel that Swordhunt does not stand sufficiently on its own to warrant full consideration. Therefore, I think I will reserve final judgement until I've had a chance to finish the follow-up story, Honor Blade, the conclusion to the overall story.

What I was trying to get across is that Honor Blade is not the conclusion to the overall story. Swordhunt/Honor Blade combined is just part 1 of the overall story, with The Empty Chair being part 2. Parts 1 & 2 were meant to be published back-to-back, a single overall story in two volumes, but TEC was delayed and so part 1 had to be artificially split in two and published as those two volumes. So there's no resolution in Honor Blade, just a cliffhanger ending. It brings the story to the middle, not the end. If you want to read the conclusion to the overall story, you won't get it until you read TEC.