Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy discussion

Well, the odometer has rolled over once again, and we're off on another year...

so, what are you reading this January to kick off 2017?

I'm starting the year with vampires (and why not?): Blood Oath, by Christopher Farnsworth. For some reason the idea of the president of the U.S having a vampire on call is far more distressing than it was a couple of years ago...

I just finished Catalyst - A Rogue One Novel by James Luceno. It was OK - I gave it 3 stars but you could subtract a star or two if you're not a Star Wars fan like me - you can read my review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Right now I am currently reading (in order of expected finish):
- Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs
- A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
- The Circle by Dave Eggers
- The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2015 Edition edited by Rich Horton

I just finished Akira, Vol. 1 and Akira, Vol. .2. My head hurts.....

I'm reading The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There. It took me a while to warm up to The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, but I did, so I thought I'd read a bit further in the series.

I am currently reading Extinction Edge. I'm reading the whole series so I am going with the assumption that by the end of the month I'll be into Extinction Age. After that I may take a break and read Catalyst - A Rogue One Novel.

Kathy wrote: "I just finished Akira, Vol. 1 and Akira, Vol. .2. My head hurts....."

Akira was my first delve into manga back in the 90's and it is what got me into the genre.

Tore through Blood Oath; next up is Broken Blade by Kelly McCullough.

Finished The New Weird. Currently reading The Three-Body Problem. I enjoyed the set-up of the mystery and how the way its framed within the political climate. Dialogue's a bit shaky in places, a common problem in harder SF.

I just finished Finn Fancy Necromancy by Randy Henderson. And I'm heading into A Tropic of Serpents by Marie Brennan

just finished "invisible planets". its translated Chinese sci fi short stories and its pretty badass. Sometimes its hard to figure out how a name is pronounced correctly and some things translate different but its def worth reading

I'm still working on . For one of my favorite installments in the series, this book is sure taking me a long time. Longer than it did originally, in fact.

I'm going through the third book of Miss Peregrine's peculiar children, Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs, to finish this series

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson has been on my "to do" list for a while now. I was buying some Christmas presents on Amazon and needed a few $$ for free shipping so I threw it in as a present for myself. I'm about 100 pages in and liking it.

I'm working on The Misadventures of Mr. Bunny: Book One: A Foot Away. Yesterday, I took a break from it to read (and finish) Black Butler, Volume 02.

I'm going to need to find something warm and fuzzy next...

So I finished the first book of the Mallorean by David Eddings - Guardians of the West. Took a while for things to happen (and if you think a lot of people die in the first ASOIAF book a big pile of people don't get past the first few chapters here either!) but I kind of enjoyed the relaxed start to the series.

I was planning on starting on Red Mars, but I waited over the holidays till I was back a work since the bookstore was near my office. I check the website and that location is supposed to have 2 copies. I go there and find none. I seek help from someone who works there and they go into another system that says they only have 1 copy...but for all we know some customer picked it up up, walked around with it and dropped it in some random location (we tried some creative things like looking under fantasy or other letters of the author's name). So looks like I'll need to order it online, ah well. Will be late to the party so to speak :) I've been wanting to read that for *years*.

While I wait I started the third Powder Mage book The Autumn Republic

Not currently reading any fantasy or SF. So far this month I have read a cozy mystery and I am currently reading a collection of mystery short stories by Ellery Queen as well as reading Hondo by Louis L'Amour

Garyjn wrote: "Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson has been on my "to do" list for a while now. I was buying some Christmas presents on Amazon and needed a few $$ for free shipping so I threw it in as a present for mys..."

YES! One of my favorites! I'm glad you are enjoying it.

I'm reading Wireless, a collection of short stories by Charles Stross. It is hit and miss for me right now. Next up I'll dive in Saturn's Children. I really like the Freyaverse in which Neptune's Brood takes place, so I'm hoping I will enjoy it. It has good critics and was nominated for an Hugo.

Randy wrote: "Garyjn wrote: "Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson has been on my "to do" list for a while now. I was buying some Christmas presents on Amazon and needed a few $$ for free shipping so I threw it in as a ..."

I think I shall do a re-read!! Loved this book.

Having finished Hondo I decided I needed a Pratchett fix. Now reading Dragons at Crumbling Castle: And Other Tales

I just finished Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs. My 3-star review is here if anyone is interested: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I'm currently in the process of reading:
- The Dying Earth by Jack Vance
- A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
- The Circle by Dave Eggers
- The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2015 Edition edited by Rich Horton

Currently reading Stone of Tears, absolutely love the series so far even though only read Wizard's First Rule and The First Confessor: The Prequel but gagging for the rest so already got most of the books.

Also currently reading A Scanner Darkly.

I've also finished those this month so far 2312 (great book), A Maze of Death (really like this one was well) and Tropic of Cancer (this one was actually quite disappointing)

nihilisticmadman wrote: "I've also finished those this month so far 2312 (great book)."I really enjoyed the world building Robinson did, but it was a slog to get through it. I understand he wanted to show how long it is to travel from planet to planet, but I was bored out of my mind. The unraveling of the plot at the end was also not very satisfying.

Marc-André wrote: "nihilisticmadman wrote: "I've also finished those this month so far 2312 (great book)."I really enjoyed the world building Robinson did, but it was a slog to get through it. I understand he wanted ..."

Not his greatest work, the Mars trilogy was much better I thought.

Didn't really feel slog to me though but I'll admit the the lists were a bit odd and sometimes broke the flow of the book I thought a bit. I enjoyed the extracts also some of them I wished they included the information in full rather than just, well, an extract.

I think the ending was quite good, leaving them all with not much of a solution to their problem as such, more a running away from it knowing it will probably come back eventually. The slightly confusing part to me that the build up to the end would have make one believe the ending would be much bigger than what it was.

nihilisticmadman wrote: "Currently reading Stone of Tears, absolutely love the series so far even though only read Wizard's First Rule and The First Confessor: The Prequel but gag..."

After watching the Legend of the Seeker tv-series (which I enjoyed), but everyone saying that the books are way better, I also put it on my list. Last year I found a paperback of Wizard's First Rule, so it'll get read eventually.

Marc-André wrote: "I'm reading Wireless, a collection of short stories by Charles Stross. It is hit and miss for me right now. Next up I'll dive in Saturn's Children. I really like the F..."

I really liked Saturn's Children, but then I like Stross's scifi (not his Lovecraftian "laundry" stories, tho.) Neptune's Brood was the sequel.

Still reading The Fires of Heaven, but I've also begun a listen to Stephen Fry's reading of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. He does an excellent job of capturing Douglas Adams' humor.

nihilisticmadman wrote: "Also currently reading A Scanner Darkly."

That's one of my favorite PKD books. I laughed out loud a few times and the ending is so thought provoking. I haven't read A Maze of Death yet.

Randy wrote: "nihilisticmadman wrote: "Also currently reading A Scanner Darkly."

That's one of my favorite PKD books. I laughed out loud a few times and the ending is so thought provoking. I haven't read A Maze..."

Only about a third in but enjoying it so far, now looking toward the end! A Maze of Death is worth reading, quite enjoyed it and it does have an interesting ending too which is not expected.

G33z3r wrote: "I really liked Saturn's Children, but then I like Stross's scifi (not his Lovecraftian "laundry" stories, tho.) Neptune's Brood was the sequel. "

I'm enjoying so far. Neptune's Brood is the superior work though. The expositions feel less like info dumps even if they are info dumps.

The only "laundry" story I read was in Wireless and I enjoyed the universe and tone, even if the plot twist was obvious. I just do not want to start big series out of principale. I'm tired of trilogies that just extend stories over too many books for no good reasons. I've stopped Jean le Flambeur series after the first book even if I loved The Quantum Thief.

I was burned after reading Ancillary Justice. I enjoyed it very much and wanted to continue, so I read the second book and felt Leckie didn't have anything else to say, so I didn't dare touch the third book.

nihilisticmadman wrote: "Only about a third in but enjoying it so far, now looking toward the end! A Maze of Death is worth reading, quite enjoyed it and it does have an interesting ending too which is not expected."

PKD is the best. I would just read nothing but his books but I'm afraid of burning out. I try to read at least one a year. I re-read Ubik last year. This year I'm thinking about going with Time Out of Joint or Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said. Then again maybe I should go with a re-read of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? with the new movie coming out...

Seveneves - let's see if I'm gonna like Neal Stephenson, this is my first time.

Davy wrote: "After watching the Legend of the Seeker tv-series (which I enjoyed but everyone saying that the books are way better, "

Nope. That is what I thought then it turned out to be one of the worst fantasy series I have ever read. If you can stand reading about torture with boring dialogues you might want to give it a shot. The TV series is a guilty pleasure for me but trust me it is way more fun.

Joed wrote: "Gary wrote: "Not currently reading any fantasy or SF. So far this month I have read a cozy mystery and I am currently reading a collection of mystery short stories by Ellery Queen as well as readin..."

The man could flat out write a good yarn.

I'm reading Kingdom Blades by Melissa McPhail

Rachel Bach's Paradox series.

Marc-André wrote: "G33z3r wrote: "I really liked Saturn's Children, but then I like Stross's scifi (not his Lovecraftian "laundry" stories, tho.) Neptune's Brood was the sequel. "

I'm enjoying so far. Neptune's Bro..."

Loving PKD myself, actually got quite a few line up to read, amongst other thing. Quite different from other scifi, sometimes his stories are quite short compare to other sci-fi authors but I found each story I read from him so far leave me thinking which is what I really like in a book. The one I read so far slightly remind me of Isaac Asimov work, also of him I only read The Complete Robot so far.

Finished the Powder Mage trilogy.

I ordered Red Mars but it hasn't arrived yet, so I'm going to skip ahead to the next group read,

Silvana wrote: "Davy wrote: "After watching the Legend of the Seeker tv-series (which I enjoyed but everyone saying that the books are way better, "

Nope. That is what I thought then it turned out to be one of th..."

I agree with you Silvana. I liked the TV series, but I did not like Wizard's First Rule. The torture descriptions and the unlikable characters made me stop at one book.

I am reading Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson and then I plan to read The Dragon's Path by Daniel Abraham

I've just reviewed The Evolutionary Void by Peter F Hamilton, and it's a cracking read with everything I love about a great sci-fi read:

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

Finished Raven Shadow's trilogy and was utterly disappointed with Queen of Fire I gave it a long one star review.

Starting Seveneves, again. Hope this can erase the bad taste in my mouth.

Gary wrote: ".I am reading Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson and then I plan to read The Dragon's Path by Daniel Abraham

How many groups do we have in common? Those are January's books in at least two groups I'm in ;p

I enjoyed both quite a lot and will recommend them to everyone.

Starting tonight on The Book of Skulls, never read a book by Robert Silverberg so looking forward to it.

Currently reading Wool by Hugh Howey. So far it's pretty interesting book!

Silvana wrote: "Finished Raven Shadow's trilogy and was utterly disappointed with Queen of Fire I gave it a long one star review.

Starting Seveneves, again. Hope this can erase the bad taste in my mouth."

Not read Seveneves yet - it's sat on my TBR for a while though.

I reading the The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula Le Guin, really enjoying it too! I think I'm going to like it more than the Wizard of Earthsea.

Started Imager by L. E. Modesitt Jr. Just done some checking and found the 11th book in this series is due out in July! Why is no one writing stand alone novels any more?!

Yeah standalones have become rare, especially in the fantasy genre (imho). However, standalones do still exist, however rare and far between! Off the top of my head: the earlier mentionned Seveneves and Uprooted

Davy wrote: "However, standalones do still exist, however rare and far between! Off the top of my head: the earlier mentionned Seveneves and Uprooted "

I've heard that there may be a sequel in the works for Uprooted. So that may not be standalone for long...