So what are you reading now? (Part 3)

[DBall]

presently it's Zelazny's "Lord Of Light"

 

[OmahaStar]

I've read Marcus Pelegrimas' "Blood Blade" ... Painful to get through, but it was a book club book, so I finished it. Ugh.

Charlaine Harris' tenth Sookie Stackhouse novel "Dead in the Family" was horrible, weak writing and the plot did not move forward at all.

And now I'm reading Chloe Neal's Some Girls Bite, for next month's book club. Hopefully this one goes better than Blood Blade. It's starting out more entertaining.

 

[RandyS]

Finished the novella The Sorrows of Empire. That was really good. Now I'm going to order the expanded version/novel. From what I've heard, Spock is more morally ambiguous in that one (though personally I think his plan is already very ambiguous from the the ethical standpoint), which can only be a good thing.

Without going into detail (spoilers, and all that), let me just say you are in for some fun.

I loved the novella. I loved the expanded version even more.

 

[JD]

Yeah, same here. It just... well... expands the story with all sorts of new characters, subplots and background.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Mad Norwegian's Time Unincorporated Volume 2: Writings on the Classic Series, a collection of Doctor Who fanzine articles (along with a few new pieces) that look at the original series.

I wish it had an index.

 

[ares93]

just started reading STO: The needs of the many. dunno what i think of it yet, i'll give verdict in a few days.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Today is a great day. I finally caved to that "buying other people's unwanted crap off the internet" thing, and am reading the first two Best of Trek books. I'm loving it. It's dated speculations on the universe of Star Trek are just the sort of thing I love. I've been wanting to read "The Fall of the Federation" for several years. Now I have. It was pretty much Mini-Foundation Trek, as I was told when I posted asking about it years ago, but still awesome. I read a life story of Spock that has elements of the story we know, but takes things in a somewhat different direction. I'm now reading about some very different Klingons (or rather Kazhians). Great!

Add to that: The awesome, unexpected gift from my mother, Star Trek: The Mirror Universe Saga. I've been wanting to read the entirety of this for around twenty years. Now I'll finally know what happens between the random issues I got when I was tiny.

All is good.

 

[Steve Roby]

Mad Norwegian's Time Unincorporated Volume 2: Writings on the Classic Series, a collection of Doctor Who fanzine articles (along with a few new pieces) that look at the original series.

Must remember to order that.

^ Those Hard Case Crime books are like chocolate-covered crack, aren't they?

The only ones I haven't bought are a couple of the reprints that I already owned in other editions. Am I a little bit tempted to buy them again, so as not to be missing any? Well, maybe a little.

Currently reading a George Pelecanos novel that involves Washington, DC, Greek-Americans, African-Americans, references to go-go music and half-smokes, violence, and a lot of stuff about what it means to grow up and be a good man. Doesn't narrow it down much, does it? It's Turnaround, and while it covers familiar territory, it's as well done as always.

 

[ICW]

I just finished the DS9 novel Fallen Heroes. It had potential to be a really cool novel, however, it left me feeling "meh".

Right now I'm reading the TNG graphic novel The Space Between

 

[Thrawn]

It's been a while, but I think I remember it being my least favorite MG book, and possibly even of the whole series. But... some very very major things happen, so no matter how much you do or don't like it, if you've made it that far in the series you pretty much need to read it. Especially if you're a Vaughn and Prynn fan like me.

Where as I thought it was brilliant and the story suited the novel length. And yes, a lot did happen and we find out how Vaughn lost his wife and why his and Prynns relationship is so flimsy.

Hm. You know, for most any other Trek series (except for maybe Vanguard or Titan), this book would’ve been pretty great, or at least totally acceptable; an action-packed thriller with tons of twists and turns, and some pretty emotional side-plots. But I kept having this problem - it’s following the first three Mission: Gamma books, all of which were all that plus incredibly detailed and intelligent examinations of the characters’ emotions and arcs.

This novel boils every arc down to essentially the minimum number of scenes possible, and that’s totally a valid storytelling choice in general, but it’s highly incongruous with what has recently come before. I wanted more scenes of Ro chasing down dead ends, to really show her strength as an investigator; I wanted more scenes of Ruriko coming back to life, or not, to help properly set the morally ambiguous stage on which the shocking end could take place. Stuff kept happening in this novel, and I kept being annoyed; at one point I thought to myself "but everyone hasn't finished talking about the last thing yet!" It felt to me like scenes were missing...not event scenes, but character beats.

Plus it seems really tonally inappropriate to end the giant Mission Gamma Exploration Saga on such a personal note. It makes this not feel like a finale to the four books, but rather a side-story. It’s exacerbated by the parasite invasion ending on a bit of a cliffhanger; it turns this whole miniseries into setup for the next thing, without the sense of scale that would really have made this feel like a conclusion at the same time. It’s oddly anticlimactic, despite the serialization generally being one of this series’s real strengths, and ends up really unsatisfying.

That all said, I loved O'Brien and the Siskos. That was hilarious and absolutely perfect.

Definitely the worst DS9-Relaunch so far, though.

Next up: Mirror-Scaled Serpent, from Obsidian Alliances.

 

[JD]

Oooo, I really liked that one, so good luck.

I forgot to mention the other day that I set aside the Boune Identity. I realized the other day that I hadn't worked on it in a couple weeks, and I had no desire to go back to it, and since I really like everything else I'm reading I decided to set it aside. I might go back to it later, but if I do it probably won't be for a while.

 

[Reanok]

I plan on reading the Gary Seven novel Assignment Eternity by Greg Cox after I finish reading, The needs of the many by Micheal A. Martin.

 

[Smiley]

I love how Lesser Evil has a different style from those that came before it in the miniseries. It needed to have the page-turner aspect as all of the people and plot threads came together. I'm a fan of exploration and character moments, but at the climax of an arc, they have to take a backseat to the action. Rising Son returns us to a character-focused novel, so take heart.

 

[TheAlmanac]

Today is a great day. I finally caved to that "buying other people's unwanted crap off the internet" thing, and am reading the first two Best of Trek books. I'm loving it. It's dated speculations on the universe of Star Trek are just the sort of thing I love. I've been wanting to read "The Fall of the Federation" for several years. Now I have. It was pretty much Mini-Foundation Trek, as I was told when I posted asking about it years ago, but still awesome. I read a life story of Spock that has elements of the story we know, but takes things in a somewhat different direction. I'm now reading about some very different Klingons (or rather Kazhians). Great!

The Best of Trek does make for interesting reading...

I bought the later editions as they were coming out--so some of them are in terrible condition now from lots of rereading--then went back and picked up some of the earlier ones at used bookstores. (No online purchasing necessary...for whatever reason, Winnipeg has no shortage of copies around.)

I've looked up stuff in them to answer questions on here, but otherwise, I haven't looked at them in detail in quite a while. The glimpse into Seventies fandom is definitely interesting--I remember thinking the tone of address towards "Gene" seemed overly familiar--but even the later books barely make it into the first couple of seasons of TNG (even though they were published well into the Nineties), so all of it is a TOS-only view of the Star Trek universe...

Despite that, the articles never even got as far as ST VI.

 

[LightningStorm]

I just finished the DS9 novel Fallen Heroes. It had potential to be a really cool novel, however, it left me feeling "meh".

Wow, I think that's the first non-glowing review I've ever seen about Fallen Heroes.

 

[Dancing Doctor]

I've finally gone back to Sword of Damocles.

 

[RonG]

As *new* Trek novels are not that easy to come by in Israel (used / older books are a different story), it was a nice surprise to find The Needs of The Many yesterday

I'm almost on the halfway mark, and (political issues aside) I'm finding it to be an interesting *alternate* take on 24th and 25th century Trek..

I do have to say that I didn't know what to make of the winks towards the "prime" Trek Lit line:

Spoiler: why would MAM choose to reference this?

The Typhon Pact members being the Gorn's "Trade Partners", and Jake Sisko's question about "what if the Borg had invaded in force" being a reference to Destiny..

 

[Dancing Doctor]

I'm switching between Sword of Damocles and Margaret Thatcher's Downing Street Years.

 

[Joel_Kirk]

In my reading 'queue' are 'Mudd's Angels' and 'The Adventures of Eddie Fung'....

(TAEF is kinda required reading...but I don't think it would be as bad as I think....)

I finished 'Somebody Owes Me Money' by Donald Westlake, and I was impressed...(Maybe it was because of the lead heroine who wears a skirt and go-go boots throughout the book... but I think if the story sucked, I would have stopped midway)....

 

[Amaris]

I have just started re-reading "The Devil's Heart" by Carmen Carter. This book holds many fond memories for me, and to me, it encompasses the fantasy of Picard finding the ultimate artifact of legend and it's subsequent effect on him. I love the cross between cultures, and how the Heart finds itself from place to place in history. Great novel, in my opinion, and well worth another re-read.