Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy discussion

Hi all, it's the beginning of September and the year is entering its final sprint to the finish line.

I'm about half way through Wolves of the Northern Rift. It has been excellent so far.

Reading The Last Emperox

On Assassin's Apprentice

I finished Funeral Games and continue to love this series. Many changes in this book compared to the first two, but an interesting focus on the politics of the successor wars following Alexander the Great's death.

I'm very excited to continue the series but don't have the last 3 books yet. They aren't readily available in stores. I've contacted a local bookstore about ordering them in though, so hopefully they can get them and they come soon.

In the meantime am temporarily switching gears with What Have You Done?

I am open to new stuff. I really like SYFY, wizards, traveling through time stuff; fiction. But I’m relatively open… I try to find the better stuff here, with all your suggestions!

Jerri wrote: "I am open to new stuff. I really like SYFY, wizards, traveling through time stuff; fiction. But I’m relatively open… I try to find the better stuff here, with all your suggestions!"

Have you tried Off to Be the Wizard or Kings of the Wyld?

Starting Words of Radiance

I confess: I am the target audience for the terrible B syfy movies runs made by Asylum. I know, I know, just laugh at me. I don't care! And I just read the book! It is the first in the Pendergast series by Preston and Child. Relic I am going to be loving this series!

Georgann, it's not too late to get help...

The Asylum presents... C Thomas Howell in...you see that and it's just, the mark of quality isn't it...

Not

If I see an Asylum picture listed and there is a name I recognise in the cast list I say to myself 'Oh, poor man/woman, they must have made some really bad investments, or maybe they have a drink problem."

There is the notion of 'so bad it's good' which I am happy to apply to many a cheesy hit of yesteryear. Then there is the Asylum... so bad it's bad... :-) So bad it's even worse than you thought ;-)

in other news, I finished 'Embers of War.' It took me a little while to get into it, due to the way the book is constructed. It bounces rapidly between various first person POVs which takes a little getting used to and a little while to get all the characters straight in your head. Once I was into the rhythm of it, I rather enjoyed it. It is in many ways, old school space opera. 'Star wars' between rival factions, mysterious lost civilizations, enigmatic massive ancient structures etc. Fast paced too, which I liked.

I decided to pick up the next book in the trilogy and push on with it while I still have the hang of it's whizzy, fizzy format, rather than having to get back into it later.

So, I am now reading 'Fleet of Knives,' by Gareth Powell :-)

Oh, one thing I haven't gotten used to... Please can Gareth Powell, when describing something that jolts violently, refrain from the phrase, '(it) lurched like a gut shot dog.' It's annoying... :-)

Robin wrote: "Oh, one thing I haven't gotten used to... Please can Gareth Powell, when describing something that jolts violently, refrain from the phrase, '(it) lurched like a gut shot dog.' It's annoying... :-)"

I'll bet!

Robin, your opinions of the Asylum movies are just like my husband's! Ha ha! He does indulge me and watches one with me occasionally. My sister, however, will "watch" them with me. She lives away, and so we watch it at the same time and text comments and predictions to each other. It's so fun!

I needed an extra day to finish Bold, couldn't make it in August.

This morning I read Ruth Longknife's First Christmas which was a short story taking place shortly after Bold finished.

Now on to making a dent in my BINGO with The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern Looking forward to this one.

My husband made me sit through "The Guyver" this weekend. Came out in the 80s, I think. So bad.

I hope you like The Night Circus; I did not. I'm someone who needs a plot in books.

Enjoy your guilty pleasure Georgann. :-)

For me personally it is not that they are made on a mini budget with actors you have never heard of, or even that they just rip off well known films or assemble their plots from pure cheese. The thing I hate is their sheer incompetence. No budget, C List actors and a dodgy plot can all still be entertaining but woeful dialogue that makes no sense and contradicts itself, incoherent storytelling, characters who are set up as important in the first ten minutes then never seen again and multiple abandoned plot lines are all avoidable.

I think Ed Wood made better films than The Asylum. :-)

But you know, apart from that they are great. :-)

Still, if people like them and get enjoyment out of them and they spread a little happiness then great. Don't mind this crotchety old Brit. :-)

Watch and enjoy Georgann. :-)

Robin wrote: "Oh, one thing I haven't gotten used to... Please can Gareth Powell, when describing something that jolts violently, refrain from the phrase, '(it) lurched like a gut shot dog.' It's annoying... :-)"

What a weird descriptor to use... And especially if it gets repeated more than the one unnecessary time!

It makes one wonder how he came up with it. Personal experience? It's awful.

I have finished Wolves of the Northern Rift and I quite enjoyed it. It was a good mix of steampunk and fantasy.

Tony wrote: "I have finished Wolves of the Northern Rift and I quite enjoyed it. It was a good mix of steampunk and fantasy."

Then I guess I can trust my younger self's rating! This time, anyway 😁

I am happy to report I have not encountered any 'gut shot dogs' so far in book two and I am hoping not to. :-)

I suspect it was just an attempt to sound 'gritty and real' and give the battle scenes a visceral edge. Didn't work for me though...

Finished Unfettered III and the latest fun installment of Louie Stowell’s Bad God (Loki) series. Now on to the second book in Shadows of the Apt.

The "gut shot dog" thing just makes me think of Where the Red Fern Grows which I read in school. I was quite traumatized by the ending, though I enjoyed the book otherwise. That is a very disturbing description of something that isn't in fact describing a dog, just a way someone walks. Ugh.

I've heard lots of good things about The Night Circus, guess I'll see how much plot matters to me :) I always thought myself as a plot person till I started caring about character growth.

I used to be more into plot and worldbuilding, but now I prefer character-driven stories more.

Night Circus is all about setting. Characters have no personality, let alone growth.

I finished the mystery book What Have You Done? and enjoyed it quite a bit.

I'm now just starting A Maze of Death by Philip K Dick. Only into the second chapter but enjoying it so far. I like Ben Tallchief's character so far. I liked how psychedelic/wacky A Scanner Darkly was when I read it earlier this year, and A Maze of Death is following in the tradition up to this point.

Breaking the Chain: The Guard Dog Story by Patrick McDonnell

The Story Collector by Evie Gaughan (Evie Woods)

This charming novel revolves around Irish folklore, superstitions, and fairies. An American woman goes to Ireland on a whim and finds the diary of a 18-year-old girl written a century ago.

4.5 stars

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

Priory of the orange tree!

Entombed . Is actually a MG book, but I wouldn't want too young MG'ers reading it. It was every bit as gory and gruesome as the first two. Did you ever see Starship troopers where they battle these giant bugs? Gross like that. Squish.

The Apothecary Diaries Manga, Vol. 12 by Nekokurage

I read Strange Planet, Stranger Planet, The Sneaking, Hiding, Vibrating Creature. These were really cute, I particularly loved the last one since I've owned several cats and yeah, they are definitely sneaky and like to vibrate :)

Also as Tony pointed out, we're heading into the final quarter of the year, had to start trimming books from my planned to-read. I knew I had more than I could tackle in the year and now I have a clearer idea which ones I'll get to and which I won't. I'll need to do more trimming since I've still got close to 90 left.

Our whole family LOVES the Strange PLanet series!! He is so funny and clever! His versions of The Itsy Bitsy Spider and Take Me Out to the Ball Game are a couple of my favorites. Plus Death Blades!

I finished A Maze of Death earlier today and really enjoyed it a lot. The two Philip K Dick books I read this year (A Maze of Death and A Scanner Darkly) fall into that weird zone of having a ton of things I loved about them and then a couple things that knock them down a bit. Theyve cemented me wanting to continue to explore his books though. I'd only read one other of his books several years ago (Androids), but the wackiness of these last two really hooked me.

I'm now reading a short story that has been on my to-read list since joining GR in 2016, The Machine Stops So far definitely living up to expectations! I just finished Part 1, but very cool story and ahead of its time.

I'm about halfway through Complete Stories of Oz - I have read 7 of the 15 stories.

I have started reading Wrath of N'Kai, one of a series of books based on the Arkham Horror boardgame, although I believe they are all standalone.

Not surprisingly, I finished The Machine Stops pretty quickly, given it's only 45 pages. But, man, do those 45 pages pack a punch! It's jumped up there as one of my dystopian favourites for sure. Written in 1909 but does a very good job at giving food for thought on modern social media companies and use of social media, dependence of social media for human interaction, modern use of delivery and convenience technology, AI learning, "content" sharing/creation, and much more.

I've now decided to start Crime and Punishment mainly because I'm in the mood for spooky season to start and want something dark, but I don't consider "spooky season" to truly start until end of September lol I thought this might be a good book to lead up to it.

NekroRider wrote: "because I'm in the mood for spooky season to start"

I used this weekend to pick out what I'll probably read in October too.

Finished The Night Circus. Its interesting reading it just after reading Piranesi, they both have this magical dreamlike quality about them that I really loved. It also reminded me of the movies The Illusionist and The Prestige (the latter being a book that I now want to read, argh, read one book and suddenly there's a bunch more going onto your Want to Read list!!). I like books that delve into the nature of what magic really is, without giving a lecture about it. These two qualify, as does the Elantra Chronicles (though in a very different way).

Back to the Kris Longknife series with the start of a 3 book spinoff series about another character - Kris Longknife's Replacement: Admiral Santiago on Alwa Station by Mike Shepherd

I did like Piranesi. I rewatched The Prestige movie last night, so I was looking at the book and it might be one where the movie is better, based on reviews.

Sorcery of Thorns

i have been reading this book recommend to me by a friend

Audrey wrote: "I did like Piranesi. I rewatched The Prestige movie last night, so I was looking at the book and it might be one where the movie is better, based on reviews."

I saw that too when I looked up the book. I loved the movie so maybe they're right. It does happen sometimes though I find its rare. There's a GR list of "movie was better than the book" and Lord of the Rings was on it. I know several people who couldn't get through the book at all so perhaps for them that's true too, after all the movies are amazing, I just have a fondness for the books too. But I think what I like about LotR books is also what I liked about Piranesi and The Night Circus, the worldbuilding. If you're looking for action, yeah, there can be moments, even in LotR, that can be a bit of a slog.

I've read , which is way broader than I thought it would be: it includes evolutionary biology, history of astronomy, a microbiology primer (pun intended), etc, all before we're really off to the planets and stars. I've now read his 3 most famous books (Cosmos, Pale blue dot, and Contact), and while it shows its age and didn't fill me with as much wonder as Pale blue dot did, it's still a great read. I plan to watch both TV shows (the OG with Sagan and the one with Neil deGrasse Tyson).


I'm currently (still) ready , which is slow to start but has all the qualities wou'd expect in a Tim Powers book (great prose and writing, real characters mixed with supernatural events).
Now about 2/3 in, I plan to finally start Sundiver when I'm finished.


Audrey wrote: "I rewatched The Prestige movie last night, so I was looking at the book and it might be one where the movie is better, based on reviews."

They're different and each their own thing, and the film is really good, but I liked the book better. I just love Priest's writing.


NekroRider wrote: "I finished A Maze of Death earlier today and really enjoyed it a lot. The two Philip K Dick books I read this year (A Maze of Death and A Scanner Darkly) fall into that weird zone of having a ton of things I loved about them and then a couple things that knock them down a bit. Theyve cemented me wanting to continue to explore his books though. I'd only read one other of his books several years ago (Androids), but the wackiness of these last two really hooked me."

Based on this, I think you'd enjoy Ubik (my favorite from Dick), and maybe Time Out of Joint. Actually, if you're looking for wacky you can't go really wrong with Dick, also do try his short stories.

Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom

I posted earlier that I read Relic, which I so enjoyed, the first book in the Pendergast series. I saw there was a movie, so I got it from the library, and my DH said it was better than my usual B movies, Robin. Of course they had to leave out a lot, and the book was better, but the most surprising thing they out was the character of Pendergast!! Guess that's why there aren't any sequels! And it's just possible it wasn't much of a hit to begin with. smile.

Kennedy wrote: "Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom"

I loved Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom! Can't resist a good heist story.

I haven't read Relic Georgann but I do remember the movie (with the slightly altered title of The Relic). It's been a few years since I saw it but I remember rather liking it. It was a very decent 'creature feature' with a monster that didn't conform to the tropes of the time (the chief one being that all movie creatures should closely resemble Giger's Xenomorph). I seem to remember it as being pretty slick, pacy and generally entertaining.

I finished Defiance, 22nd and last book in the Foreigner series by C.J. Cherryh. All in all it was a nice ride. I put a short review about it in the Series Progress Tracking thread. Meanwhile my want-to-read list grew and I have some catching up ahead of me. I'll be starting System Collapse by Martha Wells, having enjoyed the previous books in the Murderbot series.