Hugo & Nebula Awards: Best Novels discussion

Acorn and I will be buddy-reading Armor by John Steakley as a complement to the Old Man's War series challenge. We'll be starting mid-February, so consider this notice to track down a copy if you'd like to join us.

This 1984 book is a important milestone in the development of military SF, in the vein of Starship Troopers, The Forever War & Old Man's War.

I want to add that this is one of the examples, when a novel important for the SFF genre wasn't recognized when it was published but appreciated later

my timing is off as read for a 2nd time just last year. plan to re-read the Forever War series later this year. agree that it was underrated and up there with the others you mention.

I will join you. It looks good.

I will try

Let's say start around the 14th-15th.

I've started the book and so far it is not exactly what I expected but definitely interesting. I have to check the author's bio - was he a war veteran?

I’ll start tonight!

I started tonight.

1/4 thru
There is more than one plot line and it seems not all are military SF. So if you're discouraged with battles then know, there is more.

Also, it has 80s-style flawed heroes, a bit too dark for my taste

Oleksandr wrote: "...a bit too dark for my taste..."

Should be right up my alley then!

About 10% in, good indications in my view. I like the tone and don't mind the action. It's fairly easy reading (on paper), but with some awkward phrasing here and there.

The author is quite interesting with just two novels and several stories, but still has both (!) novels affecting the genres - mil-SF and vampires respectively

I like it so far. Holding my attention

His Vampire$ book looks good too. Seems to have same character in it - Jack Crow.

Cordelia wrote: "
His Vampire$ book looks good too. Seems to have same character in it - Jack Crow."

As I understood it, there are different persons, the same name, almost like John Dow

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

Oleksandr wrote: "My rambling review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."

Good review, doesn't seem so rambling to me. I'm at about 30%, working my way through. Liking it a lot too.

Allan wrote: "Good review, doesn't seem so rambling to me. I'm at about 30%, working my way through. Liking it a lot too."

I mostly meant that I guess I meandered from this book review to other topics :)

Nice review. I'm 70% through and liking it a lot.

Finished. That was great. Gave it 5*

Cordelia wrote: "Finished. That was great. Gave it 5*"

Great!

Reading Armor. I am about 1/3 of the way through. I am still trying to figure out exactly what is going on, so not sure if I like it or not. Is it me? It sounds like it was a fast easy read for most of you.

Kimberly wrote: "Reading Armor. I am about 1/3 of the way through. I am still trying to figure out exactly what is going on, so not sure if I like it or not. Is it me? It sounds like it was a fast easy read for mos..."

the 2nd Part made me check if I maybe missed something, but later it become more clear what's going on

Kimberly wrote: "Reading Armor. I am about 1/3 of the way through. I am still trying to figure out exactly what is going on, so not sure if I like it or not. Is it me? It sounds like it was a fast easy read for mos..."

I paused at 1/3 to knock out The Ghost Brigades, but will pick up in a couple days.

Oleksandr wrote: "Kimberly wrote: "Reading Armor. I am about 1/3 of the way through. I am still trying to figure out exactly what is going on, so not sure if I like it or not. Is it me? It sounds like it was a fast ..."

I found it easy enough once I realised that there were two storylines.
Found it an enjoyable read.

Finished. Wow, what a read! There were some subtle (and not so subtle) hints about where things were going, but they all didn’t come together for me until very near the end of the book. I liked it more than I expected I would.

Kimberly wrote: "I liked it more than I expected I would."

Me too. The break between parts one and two was initially disorienting and I don't usually like when from the start a protagonist is shown as a ruthless brute, but in this case it worked out

Finally finished. Like others, I was disoriented at the second story line & didn't see them coming together till the end, which was not at all what I expected. Now that I can see the whole thing, I really enjoyed it, five stars for me. I liked that it was a more complex story than its predecessors in the "military sf" sub-genre.

Wow! I sure had a different opinion of this book. I was glad when it was over.

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

Kateblue wrote: "Wow! I sure had a different opinion of this book. I was glad when it was over. "

I agree, it wasn't Starship Troopers for sure :) but I haven't expected it to be