Kateblue’s Comments (group member since Aug 07, 2020)

Kateblue’s comments from the Beyond Reality group.

I liked Esperance by Adam Oyebanji, though not as well as his Braking Day

I have started, though I am not very far yet. We are having company this weekend, so it will probably be next week before I can read a good chunk of it

Love the beginning with the big reveal about the guardian monster bear. Is this SF or fantasy ? . . . doesn't matter it's just cool.

Cheryl wrote: "(If you know of other books without villains, for example The Martian, please add them to my Listopia: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...)"

I added a book to your list, Nor Crystal Tears. Please do not be discouraged by the fact that it has been inexplicably added to a series as #9. Yes, it occurs in the same universe as many of Alan Dean Foster's books, but it is, for all other purposes, a standalone. And wonderful.

The placement in a series seems to be part of a recent trend that authors and/or publishers like to do these days. Collecting old books and declaring them a series seems to be happening with older authors in SF/F--maybe because there are so many series these days. But it means that people miss great books that could be read solo. Too bad!

Now I am going back to your list and putting Little Fuzzy on it. It is the beginning of a series. The first two are great.

I forgot to say that I don't do audiobooks unless I am in the car. In other locations, I tend to fall asleep

deleted comment . . . talking about the wrong book . . . sorry

I am reading ebooks because
1) small house and
2) don't need readers

I still have paper books around, though WAY fewer than in the past. The missing entries have, alas, gone to that Goodwill in the sky.

Shel, good to know Julian Comstock is a good one. I am about 15% in, perhaps, and I am waiting for it to take off any time. I may go and read How to Survive a Fairy Bargain first because I think it is shorter and an easier read.

Random wrote: "I gave it 5 stars."

Well, then, I will put it back on my list for the end of the month. Don't know if I will get there, though

Kateblue wrote: "I am going to select a title already on my list to read, also, How to Survive a Fairy Bargain, though the first book had an even better title for this challenge, How to Summon a Fairy Godmother"

I am replying to my own message to say that I think that I have read the first book of this fun and light series about fairy godmothers. So reading the second is not based solely on the title. Therefore, I am changing this book in this challenge to Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America. Some people in another group are reading it, and I thought the title was unique and felt like some older books from the 18th or 19th centuries, so I will join in and let you know if it is good

When they ban a book, it makes me just want to read it more. I am keeping these lists, Though I will probably never have time

Dawn wrote: "I think I'm going with Automatic Noodle. I added it to my TBR recently because of it's great name."

It was good. I liked it. I felt that it was worldbuilding that might turn into a series (I hope) but still very cool

Yes, Ken, I stopped reading Dan Brown because the next one, The Lost Symbol, really was dreadful.

Actually, I think his best was Angels & Demons, which was the first in the series, before The Da Vinci Code

1) Penric and the Bandit by Lois McMaster Bujold. 5*. This is like book 12 of the novella series and I love the series and I love Bujold always (almost, there's one early standalone fantasy I was not too crazy about)
2) The Computer Connection by Alfred Bester 4*, much better than I expected. It's got weird worldbuilding that is apparently a skewed forecast of the future from the social milieu of the late '60s/early 70's and ending up now or a bit later. Try it if you like strange but funny and engaging.
3) Tower of Glass by Robert Silverberg. 2* Boring. Didn't like the characters. Race relations with androids v people. I have to live through today's dreary politics, I don't want to read about dreary future politics. Glad it's over. I often like Silverberg, but not this one.

Halfway through Black Company 6. It's next and also Esperance which I am also about halfway through. It's really good so far.

Random wrote: "The nick actually comes from Mostly Harmless, but I get asked about the Amber character all the time. :)."

I feel sure I have read that, because my brain has checked off Hitchhikers Guide as being completed, but I have going to check it out to make sure.

Dawn wrote: "I kinda agree that they were over-hyped, just because they were unusual does not make them automatically hype worthy. But I still liked them. Books 2 & 3 better than the first."

Yes, books 2 & 3 better than the first.

I think the hype for the Handmaid's Tale was for the TV show. I liked the book and never watched the TV show

Shel and Kathi, I have read both of the books you have selected and I think you will like them both. I did, though Jonathan was pretty darn long.

I am going to select a title already on my list to read, also, How to Survive a Fairy Bargain, though the first book had an even better title for this challenge, How to Summon a Fairy Godmother

Because of a discussion going on in another group, I finally found my BEST DISAPPOINTING books. Or WORST DISAPPOINTING, depending how you look at it.

That Ancilliary trilogy by Ann Leckie. Now there was a series I thought was SO overhyped! I SUFFERED through those books. Today I would just DNF them. Life is too short

Reviews, but maybe don't bother, they are long. Or read them and argue with me, that would be fun.

Ancillary Justice https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Ancillary Sword https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Ancillary Mercy https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

At one point, I even say "To me, the books just don't live up to the hype." Ta Da!

Nope, I read it a while back, but I will be around for discussion. Maybe that can remind me what it was about, because I cannot remember