SF/F Books: Chapter Two - What Are You Reading?

[PointyHairedJedi]

'Matter', the new Culture novel.

You mean, the new Banks novel.

I'll be interested to know what you think of it.

 

[2of1million]

Just started Phantom by Terry Goodkind.

 

[Lowdarzz]

I ust started reading The Gunslinger: The Dark Tower I by Stephen King. I've heard from several other people that it is a good series.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I will be starting The Incredible Hulk novelization by Peter David (it seems like he writes all the major Marvel blockbuster movies) along with "Silverfin" by Charles Hoggins which is the third book in the Young Bond Series which I'm loving.

 

[Mistral]

I just finished Caliphate by Tom Kratzman. It was a chilling and all too possible setting for a story, although his explanation for how that came about was a tad implausible. If you can stomach right-wing preaching its a good book that looks at how our own near future might go.
I'm starting on The Plague Year next by Carlson(?). I'll let you know.

 

[Klaus]

Finished stage one of my re-reading Donaldson's Thomas Covenant books, moving on to The Wounded Land... it's interesting how many references there are in the First Chronicles to things like the Elohim and sandgorgons. He had a lot more of it planned out than I thought back then, obviously.

 

[Mistral]

The Plague Year is good in a gruesome sort of way. Its about a nanotech plague that eats living tissue to fuel its reproductive imperative. Sick and twisted but so far, a good read.

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

In the last month or so I've read:

American Gods by Neil Gaiman - a very good read; very Gaiman-esque, with a little tweaking it could have been a Sandman story arc.

The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett - amiable and richly imagined, although I didn't find them as funny as some do.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis - elegant in its simplicity and certainly deserving of its classic status.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Actually its not "Silverfin" that is the second book in the Young Bond series. I'm currently reading "Double or Die" and its really good. I'm enjoying the series quite a bit...the next one "Hurricane Gold" just came out and I think touches on Bond being kicked out of Eton as noted in one of the Bond films.

I will be reading the Incredible Hulk novelization by Peter David next and then Star Wars: Invincible by Troy Denning, the grand finale to the Legacy of the Force novels.

 

[Steve Roby]

Back to skiffy territory after reading a very good unskiffy book (The Collaborator of Bethlehem by Matt Beynon Rees, a mystery novel set in Palestine).

I read the first volume of Death Note to see what all the fuss is about. Interesting, but seriously lacking in terms of characterization. It seems to be all about the ideas, doing very little to explain why Light decides to do what he's doing or how it might affect him. There may be more exploration of that in future volumes, but I don't know if I'll buy any more.

Just started the second Terok Nor novel, Night of the Wolves by Perry and Dennison.

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

A couple of days ago I finished Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke, an absolutely brilliant novel. I thoroughly enjoyed it and give it the highest possible recommendation to anyone who might be interested in a novel of this sort (it's not only set in the early 19th Century, but is also written in the style of a 19th Century novel - complete with spelling forms used at the time and an omniscient narrator who sometimes directly addresses the reader). It's a big doorstopper of a book and I thought it would take me a while to get through it, but it drew me in so much that I finished it in just over a week.

 

[S. Gomez]

^I loved that book. I've been meaning to pick it up again, as well as her collection The Ladies of Grace Adieu, and Other Stories.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

I finally started reading Terok Nor: Night of the Wolves. It's starting off a bit slow, but so did the last one.

 

[Steve Roby]

Just started the KRAD-edited Doctor Who anthology Short Trips: The Quality of Leadership. All I've read so far is John S. Drew's framing story and Peter David's story inspired by the Seventh Doctor episode "Battlefield." Generally competent so far, but not seeming like anything really special just yet. But there's a lot yet to come.

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

I just finished "Ilium" and will start with "Olypmus" soon (both Dan Simmons).

 

[Bob The Skutter]

I've been reading Coyote for what seems like ages now, I just can't really get in to it, I like the story, but it's just not drawing me in. So it's going slowly. So yesterday I started Nightingale's Lament, book 3 in Simon R Green's Nightside series. Which is going a lot better.

 

[Mistral]

Coyote is not an action book-but it is a good read. The author thinks out what he's writing and develops his ideas very logically. Give it a chance.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Coyote is not an action book-but it is a good read. The author thinks out what he's writing and develops his ideas very logically. Give it a chance.

Oh, I am. As I said, I like the story it's telling and how everything isn't unfolding nice and easy, but it's just not dragging me in. I've been reading it for almost 2 months now and I'm about 2/3 through it.

 

[Maestro]

I've just started the third Honorverse book, The Short Victorious War. Is it me, or is Honor Harrington the ultimate Mary Sue?

 

[Australis]

Just finished Matter, the new Culture novel. Didn't much enjoy it. When it talked about Culture stuff it was good, but the main setting a Shellworld (like a Dyson sphere with layers) was a really Big Dumb Object, and the first half of the book dragged with huge slabs of info dump, pages at a time. The action ramped up toeards the end, the characters grew and changed... but most of them died, and the ending felt a bit rushed.

In short, I'll reread other Culture novels, but probably not this one.

Next will be some history books, research.