[Oct 2016] What Are You Reading?

Blue · Oct 29, 2016

Ralif Redhammer said:
With a week until Halloween, it's time to re-read Dracula.

Thank you for reminding me. My traditional pre-Halloween fair is an illustrated copy of Zelazny's "A Night in the Lonesome October".

Blue · Oct 29, 2016

Finished "The Shambling Guide to New York City". Solid but not spectacular. Climax didn't seem to have enough motivation except "she's a big bad", and the depth of coincidence between her and the main character pushed at suspension of disbelief. Also surprising in a New York City sized public emergency to only involve the already-introduced characters. Also a bit too much foreshadowing. However, enjoyable build-up and interesting tension between the characters, and some fun world-building ideas. 3/5.

In the process of rereading for the Nth time Footfall by Niven & Pournelle. Wanted something and this is what I grabbed from my shelves. Good read, mostly holds up both (a) knowing the plot and characters and (b) SF written pre-Internet & cellphones.

Jhaelen · Oct 31, 2016

After finishing 'The Three-Body Problem' by Liu Cixin, I immediately continued with 'The Dark Forest', the second part of the trilogy.
The first part wasn't at all what I had expected, but I was pleasantly surprised since I enjoyed learning more about the (recent) history of China.

My fear of confusing the characters was luckily (mostly) unfounded, since most scenes only feature two or three important characters.
Also, the translator's comments helped a lot.

'The Dark Forest' starts a bit slow and I dislike that the book's structured differently than the first. I'm only in the first third, though, so it's too early for a verdict.

delericho · Oct 31, 2016

As anticipated, I didn't quite get through as much as I'd hoped.

"Storm King's Thunder" went on much as it started - a good setting book, a disappointing adventure. I have a full review on the site.

"The Thrushmoor Terror" was rather enjoyable - I'm definitely getting a kick out of this latest Pathfinder AP. Good stuff!

"Notes From a Small Island" was good fun, and an easy read. I'm now tempted to get Bryson's latest book, to see how his impressions of Britain have changed in the last quarter century.

"The Radiant Dragon" was also good. Each Spelljammer novel has actually been an improvement on the previous one, though it's weird seeing characters appear, disappear for a novel, and then randomly appear in the next - it's a similar effect to seeing so many 'names' in the Star Wars prequels, in that the impression is that the universe is actually remarkably small.

And "The Night Manager" was also good. Quite different from the TV show in places (especially the end), and really quite grim. But enjoyable for all that.

That leaves "Morgawr", which probably has the distinction of being the weakest novel I've read all year. I'm about two-thirds of the way through now, but unfortunately am not going to get it finished today.

I've also read most of "Tome of Beasts" this month, with about 60 pages still to go. It's great - but I'll do a full review once I'm finished.