Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy discussion

Let's see what everyone is able to squeeze into the holidays, what with the family get togethers, gift shopping, Star Wars movie watching or simply taking advantage of the weather (whether you're doing some northern skiing or southern beach lounging).

I finished Elegy Beach which took a couple days out of December to finish up. It was also good, and as sequels go, a very nice wrap up. Definitely wasn't tossed in just to take advantage of the success of the first, something the author really didn't want to do.

In December I tend to pick up more positive reads, starting with Stardust by Neil Gaiman. It tends to show up on "unicorn" lists, but while I'm pretty sure this isn't going to turn into a unicorn book (at least not from what I saw of the movie) this has been something I've been wanting to read for a long time now and the "unicorn" part is just an excuse to finally do so.

Completed:

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Authors: Joe Abercrombie, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Yangsze Choo, Blake Crouch, Seth Dickinson, Shaun Hamill, Joe Hill, N.K. Jemisin, T. Kingfisher, Dean Koontz, Veronica Roth, Brandon Sanderson, Rivers Solomon, Amor Towles, Paul Tremblay, Andy Weir

I'm reading Dragons vs. Drones, which I found while scrolling my library's overdrive sff collection. It's not too bad, but not super gripping.

Finished Divided Allegiance yesterday and rated it 4.5/5 stars. Really enjoying the series so far. Have since moved on to Oath of Gold

I’m reading middle game and the raven and the reindeer currently

Image and Imagination: Essays and Reviews by C.S. Lewis

Still reading Last Night a DJ Saved My Life: The History of the Disc Jockey, which I am thoroughly enjoying. But it's a chunky book, so I'm only reading it at home. My commute reading is Nightmare City, which is set in the same universe as The Atomic Sea: Volume One, which I haven't read yet, but it hasn't been an issue so far.

I finished Persepolis Rising, that I had started reading in November. I'll continue with the 8th book in the series later. For a change I started The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch, and after a few pages I can say that I am surely going to enjoy it.

1984 is one of the few books that is worthy of reading once a decade throughout my life. The theme of what is real/true is especially of interest today with 'fake news', weighted searches, & eminently editable text. This is the first time I've read it as an audiobook. That's a great format, but I backed it up with an ebook. My 5 star review is here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Jim wrote: "1984 is one of the few books that is worthy of reading once a decade throughout my life. The theme of what is real/true is especially of interest today with 'fake news', weighted se..."

I plan to re-read that one again this year too.

On my ereader, finished The Hidden Land, tomorrow I'll put the third and final book on my reader so I can hopefully finally figure out exactly what's going on - The Whim of the Dragon

Secondhand Souls by Christopher Moore

This comic novel is the sequel to "A Dirty Job" but can be read as a standalone.

Charlie Archer, who died, now has to live in a makeshift body made of incongruous parts. When demons pour onto Earth from beyond, Charlie and his pals must fix the situation. All kinds of comical/dangerous incidents ensue. 3.5 stars

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

My review of The God Game by Danny Tobey:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

The 6th Extinction by James Rollins

In this 10th 'Sigma Force' novel, scientists are working on solutions to human destruction of the Earth when a doomsday virus gets loose. If not stopped, it will destroy all life on the planet.

Sigma Force is mobilized to deal with the situation. Exciting thriller that works fine as a standalone. 3.5 stars

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Finished Stardust which had a lot of similarities, but also a lot of differences from the movie (like no cross-dressing pirates, awww). I also had borrowed from the library what I thought was a graphic novel version of the book with Charles Vess, but turned out instead to be an illustrated novel, in fact if you don't already own a plain text version, I'd recommend getting the illustrated one, seems as if it was always meant to be read that way.

Starting on my final BINGO challenge novel - Tailchaser's Song by Tad Williams for my speaking animal slot. Oddly, what with all those unicorn books, there weren't any that had animals that really talked that weren't themselves a mythical animal which I felt didn't count. Maybe the cat in The Last Unicorn but I already used the book in another slot :)

Yes, Stardust did start out as the "graphic novel" version -- but it always has been that everything you need to follow it is in the text.

Of course, then you have to catch the allusions in the illustrations.

I'm currently reading Neuromancer and A Darker Shade of Magic for SFF Bingo. I'm hoping to start The War of the Worlds and The Children of Húrin after I finished one of the above.

And I'm working my way slowly through The Stand.

I finished Nightmare City and have now started White Gold Wielder, the final book in the Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant

Angie wrote:

"And I'm working my way slowly through The Stand. ..."

I like The Stand. 🙂

The Edge of America by Jon Sealy.
so good

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

In this sci-fi book, Ender Wiggins is sent to Battle Academy when he's 6 years old....so he learn to defeat an alien species called 'The Buggers.'

Entertaining book. 3 stars

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Latin American Folktales by John Bierhorst

Finished Oath of Gold this evening and rated it 5/5, though kind of bouncing between 4.75 and 5. Either way awesome heroic fantasy. I plan to continue with the two Legacy of Gird books plus the follow-up books in 2020.

Now reading A Christmas Carol and very much enjoying it so far. The old black and white movie has been a favourite since I was a kid and I'm glad I'm liking the book. Great humour too.

Barbara wrote: "Angie wrote:

"And I'm working my way slowly through The Stand. ..."

I like The Stand. 🙂"

I'm really enjoying it so far!

I've been rereading The Final Empire. I love how Vin develops from street urchin to powerful mistborn.

Sanderson's Skyward is his excursion into YA scifi. A human space colony with degenerating technology is harassed by space-based aliens.

Informed by the season, I noticed that this novel has the same plot as Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer. ;)

Jevon wrote: "I've been rereading The Final Empire. I love how Vin develops from street urchin to powerful mistborn."

One of the joys for me in re-reading the Mistborn series is seeing how much of the later surprises Sanderson casually slips in beforehand in plain sight.

Finished A Christmas Carol and rated 3.75/5 stars. Another highly enjoyable classic to add to my list for this year.

I'm now moving on to The Copper Promise, the first book of the Copper Cat trilogy.

My review of Le Crime du golf:-

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Lifestyles of Gods and Monsters by Emily Roberson

Finished Tailchaser's Song. It has a lot of the Watership Down feel, not quite as good though, and a very bizarre villain, very gross and disturbing. On the whole I enjoyed it though.

I also finished the Karen/Poul Anderson anthology Unicorn Trade. There were some good stories, some not so good, and one where a guy tries to kill a kitten in increasing gruesome ways that I will remember forever but not in a good way *shudders* There was a fair amount of poetry, which doesn't interest me much either.

Starting on The Chronicles of Krystonia, this was a surprise find I made in a used bookstore. I have one of the Krystonia pieces (they are figurines you can collect) but didn't know there was a book associated with them so I thought this would be kind of fun.

My review of The Weight of Our Souls:-

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Currently reading the fantasy anthology Heroes Wanted. It's got some pretty good stories in it and authors whose work I now want to check out because of it.

I finished The Lies of Locke Lamora yesterday. I enjoyed that book a lot and I am sure to continue with the other books in the Gentleman Bastard series. Meanwhile I started on the 8th book of the Expanse series, Tiamat's Wrath.

By the way, about The Expanse: is it advisable to read the novellas, do they add much background to the main thread?

Pierre wrote: "By the way, about The Expanse: is it advisable to read the novellas, do they add much background to the main thread? ..."

I enjoyed most of the novellas. They're all backstory — some on the Expanse universe in general without specific character (e.g. Drive), some flesh out supporting characters (e.g. The Butcher of Anderson Station, The Vital Abyss), and some backstory on individual primary characters (The Churn, Gods of Risk.) I suppose it depends on how much you're enjoying the main series as to whether you want to look deeper into that world.

Aside: Sadly, sequels to The Lies of Locke Lamora didn't match the first book. Lynch seems to have writers block on the 4th book, which has been pending as long as The Winds of Winter :)

Finished The Copper Promise (Book 1 Copper Cat trilogy) and rated 4/5 stars. Was a super fun sword & sorcery with pretty cool story lines. Between this and Deed of Paksenarrion reminds me how much I need more sword & sorcery and heroic fantasy in my life.

Today I started Book 2 of Copper Cat trilogy The Iron Ghost Only finished the first chapter, but already intrigued!

I read A Christmas Carol which, although I have seen many adaptations, I had never read. I have now returned to White Gold Wielder

My review of Killer Jam:-

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Utterly Dwarfed by Rich Burlew

Star Trek Movie Memories by William Shatner

William Shatner (Captain Kirk) talks about making the Star Trek movies that spun off the original TV show.

Good book. 4 stars

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I finished reading The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi, Artificial Condition by Martha Wells and Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells. I am reading The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan. I plan to read Exit Strategy by Martha Wells next.

Cloak of Wolves by Jonathan Moeller

Artemis by Andy Weir

Jazz, a brilliant young woman who works as delivery girl and a smuggler, lives in Artemis - a city on the moon. When Jazz agrees to do more serious capers, things start to go badly wrong....... Good story in a fine (moon) setting. 3.5 stars

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Finished A Voyage to Arcturus with a yawn. Very anachronistic and repetitive. It was my second attempt to finish it. Gave it 1 star, but it 's a big zero.

Finished reading Bored of the Rings: A Parody of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. We were discussing it on some thread when I found it in a used bookstore. I didn't have any particular hope that it would be actually funny, and for the most part my expectations were met (meaning the bar was so low it couldn't miss) but there were a few cute things, like the Deus Ex Machine Airline consisting of a bright pink eagle. Anyway, my curiosity satisfied as to this parody, I'm happy to hand it off to the next book fair that is collecting.

Now, I'm going to read Tolkien for real (or at least what his son polished up for publication) - Beren and Lúthien. I've been reading something Tolkien around Christmastime because of the Jackson movies coming out around that time, and now it's become a kind of tradition!

My review of Outgrowing God: A Beginner’s Guide:-

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

It took me three months for what my Kindle claims is only 367 pages, but I finally finished The Silmarillion. It felt like 3,000 pages. While I am glad to have read it, I seriously doubt I'll ever reread it. That was a slog.

I decided to catchup with Sanderson and began Shadows of Self.

It's not a light read.

On the other hand, reading The Lord of the Rings after the Silmarillion is -- interesting.

At Worldcon I was talking to a Tolkien fan who asked whether I preferred The Hobbit or The Lord of The Rings. I said Lord of the Rings, more horses. He asked if there were any horses in The Hobbit. I said there were ponies but they got trapped in a cave in the mountainside and the goblins ate them. He said eh what? He hadn't even noticed.

Doing Christmas shopping last Monday (Dec 23), I found Rise of the Dungeon Master: Gary Gygax and the Creation of D&D, which I knew would be great for one of my brothers. However, it's also great for me, so I bought myself a copy as weel and read it over the next couple of days.