Still plodding my way through Corps of Engineers: Wounds, though I'm on the last story. Up next is The War of the Worlds; I'm doing a research project on it this semester, and I don't think I've read it since I was in grade school...
SF/F Books: Chapter Two - What Are You Reading?
- Thread starter Neroon
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Kate Wilhelm: Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang
I'm finally caught up on my Trek/Wars tie-ins for the moment, so I'm reading some books that I picked up at Phoenix Comic-Con. The first is Crystal Doors: Sky Realm. At the halfway point, it's really pretty good. I've seen most of the plot elements and character archetypes used before, but I still find it good, lighthearted fantasy.
I envy you-you get to read it for the first time. A classic tale.
Just finished The Gladiator by Turtledove. Its part of his "youth" Crosstime Traffic series. Good story but he overexplains for his "young" audience. Sad, as the thing is more original than a lot he's put out in the last few years...
Agreed.
My at hand reading in SF is Baxter's Transcendent, Reynolds' Century Rain, Vance's Lurulu, Asimov's Pebble in the Sky, Bank's Inversions, Stross's Atrocity Archives.
I've been looking for a new series to start, so I started on the Discworld books, but I hadn't really got in to the two I'd previously read, so I ordered a few other books yesterday in case I didn't get in to The Light Fantastic (which I'm really enjoying at the minute). The Risen Empire was one of them. Along with Loss Lord, which was recommended by someone I know. The 2 omnibuses of Simon R Green's Hawk & Fisher and the first Deathstalker book, because I've really enjoyed the Nightside books.
I'm back to Jeffrey Ford's Well-Built City trilogy. I read the first, The Physiognomy, a little while back, so I'm currently reading Memoranda and will probably read The Beyond right after it.
It's fantasy, probably, but it isn't generic epic fantasy at all. Much more surreal in feel.
It's fantasy, probably, but it isn't generic epic fantasy at all. Much more surreal in feel.
I'm about to start "The Terror" by Dan Simmons
I've been tempted by that one myself, but haven't bought it yet.
A little more than halfway done with Armor by John Steakley
Richard Morgan's "Altered Carbon"
Richard Morgan's great.
Been reading Faction Paradox novels. Very good stuff.
Been reading Faction Paradox novels. Very good stuff.
Yeah, he is.
However, would anynone try to make a movie out of this book it would certainly be "rated R" for strong violence.
God Emperor of Dune. Finally. I'm gonna make it through this time, I swear. It's been about four years since I last tried, so here goes nothing.
I'm about a third of the way through Empire in Black and Gold by Adrian Tchaikovsky. It's the first in the Shadows of the Apt trilogy, the other two not published as yet.
All the races seen in this novel are humans evolved from insects and such. The ones thus-far are beetles, wasps, moths, spiders, ants, flies, mantids, and so on. Each culture has a specific trait, like the mantids' warrior ethos or the beetles' mechanical aptitude.
The story centres on four students from different backgrounds who are sent by their tutor, a spymaster, to investigate the wasp-empire (in black and gold) which is taking over the world. So far it is extremely well done and a totally different type of fantasy to what I have read in the past.
I would recommend it to anyone, and I haven't even finished it yet.
On another note, I recommend The Magician's Apprentice by Trudi Canavan, the prequel novel to her excellent Black Magicians' Trilogy. I'll be reading that one soon.
All the races seen in this novel are humans evolved from insects and such. The ones thus-far are beetles, wasps, moths, spiders, ants, flies, mantids, and so on. Each culture has a specific trait, like the mantids' warrior ethos or the beetles' mechanical aptitude.
The story centres on four students from different backgrounds who are sent by their tutor, a spymaster, to investigate the wasp-empire (in black and gold) which is taking over the world. So far it is extremely well done and a totally different type of fantasy to what I have read in the past.
I would recommend it to anyone, and I haven't even finished it yet.
On another note, I recommend The Magician's Apprentice by Trudi Canavan, the prequel novel to her excellent Black Magicians' Trilogy. I'll be reading that one soon.
Honor Harrington-At All Costs
On a non-scifi tip, I'm reading Mareen Dowd's "Bushworld"
On a non-scifi tip, I'm reading Mareen Dowd's "Bushworld"
Finished God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert - 5/5
Now reading: And All the Stars a Stage by James Blish
Now reading: And All the Stars a Stage by James Blish
Y the Last Man Book 5 (the trade). I bought the first one a month ago and was hooked. It may seem like a juvenelle idea, Yorick being the last man alive on a planet of women, but it seems very thought out. Brian Vaughan really did his research on how many women worked in each field. For example, the vast majority of commercial pilots are men so when the plague hit practically all of them crashed. Also in 2002 there was only one military in the world that had female combat soldiers. I highly recommend them, although I imagine most on this board has either read them or is at least aware of them.
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