What are you reading [Jan 2017]?

Tonguez · Jan 11, 2017

A Providence of War by Joshua Taumoefolau

a self published historical fiction epic that encapsulates the Tongan Maritime Empire during the reign of Tuitatui (the real 11th king of Tui-Tonga) (circa a thousand years ago). The story has a solid historic base and tells a good story spanning Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and across to Rarotonga. It mixes history, fiction and fantasy upon the politics and warfare that threatens to tear the mighty Empire apart and demi-god Maui Atalanga plays a role too.

It also has a youtube trailer
[video=youtube;nSKiqceAQSc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSKiqceAQSc[/video]

I read the novelisation of Disneys Moana too and this provides a refreshing contrast on the same setting

Richards · Jan 11, 2017

I'm reading another Richard Laymon horror novel, After Midnight. This one follows a female protagonist with a hidden past through an accidental murder and the escalating consequences of the act. I'm a hundred pages in (so not even 25% of the way through it) but I get the feeling this is all going to take place over the course of one night.

Johnathan

Blue · Jan 11, 2017

innerdude said:
Tigana and Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay. If any of you not availed yourselves of reading those two novels, you are missing out on some of the best fantasy literature of our time.

I literally stopped reading the thread, went over to smile.amazon.com, ordered Under Heaven without reading a review or looking at the stars, and came back.

Though of course I've loved GGK's work for ages and Tigana is on my list of favorite novels ever.

Ralif Redhammer · Jan 11, 2017

Tigana is on my list to read, one of these days...

Just finished Sanderson's Shadows of Self. Excellent work, quite enjoyable. Now I'm on to Freeman's Alexander the Great. I gave Oliver Stone's Alexander another take and got curious about the actual history.

Jhaelen · Jan 12, 2017

Yesterday, I finished reading 'Pashazade' by Jon Courtenay Grimwood.
This was a major disappointment for me. While the setting is superficially interesting, it's just that: superficial. There's too little background information or details to create a convincing 'Alternate History'. I also don't get why this is being advertized as a mix between a dark noir and a cyberpunk novel. There's nothing cyberpunk about it at all. Sure, the (not very likable or intriguing) protagonist has an implant a few genetic modifications, but it plays almost no role in the novel. There's a child hacker, too, but she's just there to help the (thin) plot move along, not to explore the idea of a second reality in the 'matrix'.
Perhaps things get better in the sequels of this 'Arabesk trilogy', but I doubt it.

Today I started with 'Annihilation', the first part of the 'Southern Reach' trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer. Now, this seems to be a lot more promising, already: Right from the start it evokes a sense of paranoia, reminding me of Philip K. Dick or Christopher Priest. Written from the perspective of a member of an expedition into a mysterious 'area X', you immediately start to wonder about the reliability of the report...
I couldn't put it down before finishing the first part of it. Let's hope it manages to keep the tension this high!

Jhaelen · Jan 13, 2017

... and lo and behold, I've already finished 'Annihilation'. I found it an absolutely fascinating read, alas, way too short, almost just a teaser. Anyway, the story quickly turns into something that might have been written by H.P. Lovecraft: cosmic horror at its best! Near the end, it also reminded me a bit of 'Solaris' by Stanislaw Lem.

I suppose that some readers may feel it's too derivative, but to me it's really like a 'best of' written collectively by my favorite authors. Highly recommended!
Naturally, I immediately bought the two sequels, and will continue reading right away. I'm crossing my fingers the author will not somehow ruin it all by a kind of imagined obligation to eventually explain everything that's going on here...

I think, I actually wouldn't have minded if it was only a standalone novella, delightfully mysterious as it is, leaving the reader to wonder about it evermore.

Ryujin · Jan 14, 2017

Mat Vancil's "Hopjockey" as he releases it, one chapter at a time. He's up to chapter 4.

Kramodlog · Jan 14, 2017

I'm half way through Saturn's Children by Charles Stross. It is set in the same universe as Neptune's Brood, even if they are both stand alone novels. I'm enjoying it, but it isn't the best Stross novel I've read.

Next I'm not sure if I want to read Old Man's War by Scalzi, Red Mars by Robinson or The Player of Games by Banks. I' leaning toward Scalzi.

RedSiegfried · Jan 18, 2017

I skipped over to the old Battletech novels I bought years ago but never read - The Jade Phoenix Trilogy. "Way of the Clans" was passable junk, "Bloodname" was a complete waste of time (I'm actually angry that I bothered finishing it), and now I just started "Falcon Guard" which at least for the first few pages, seems tolerable. I must be a glutton for punishment. The less "mech pr0n" the author includes and the more he writes characters and explains how the Clans' society works, the more interesting it gets ... funny how that happens.

Side note: I also found the old Battletech cartoon online, which, while definitely made for kids, is actually understandable now that I'm reading the novels. I don't know how anyone could understand all the references unless you were a Battletech fan; but I guess not too many other people would watch it unless it was the only thing on right before you had to go to school back in the day.

Ralif Redhammer · Jan 18, 2017

Heck, I had no idea there even was a BattleTech cartoon.

Still working my way through the biography of Alexander the Great. As I get deeper into it, you can almost hear the natural 20s being rolled, considering the enormous risks he would take in battle.

RedSiegfried said:
Side note: I also found the old Battletech cartoon online, which, while definitely made for kids, is actually understandable now that I'm reading the novels. I don't know how anyone could understand all the references unless you were a Battletech fan; but I guess not too many other people would watch it unless it was the only thing on right before you had to go to school back in the day.