What are you reading [Jul 2017]?

Elodan · Jul 2, 2017

New month, new thread.

Didn't do a great job updating last month's thread so here's a a catch up.

I finished
- Silent Hall by NS Dolkart. I finished it, just to finish it. Each chapter presented a different character's point of view but if I didn't read who it was at the beginning of the chapter, I wouldn't have known which character it was. While it was cool that it read like a D&D sandbox adventure, there wasn't anything to really grab on to.

- Legend Has It by Elliot James. Another fun read in the series. It tied together some of the plot threads laid in the previous books but, to be honest, I didn't even remember what they were. Probably because it's been years since I read some of them.

- Through the Gate in the Sea by Howard Andrew Jones. A Pathfinder Tales adventure. It follows the same characters as Beyond the Pool of Stars. Enjoyable read.

Close to finishing Ready Player One by Ben Cline. It's been OK. Feels like there's been a lot of tell, don't show in this one. A lot of exposition and trivia for the sake of each.

thehrrf · Jul 2, 2017

"South" by Ernest Shackleton.

Makes you appreciate a hundred degree heat index a little bit more, but just a little.

Kramodlog · Jul 3, 2017

I'm waiting for Downbelow Station by C.J. Cherryh to arrive by mail. It won an Hugo in 1982 and I keep reading good stuff about her Company War series.

Can't wait to read it.

Hand of Evil · Jul 3, 2017

Still on the Conan books - You know, I have read his STATS and seen his alignment as Chaotic Neutral but I got to say, he may be more Chaotic Evil.

Ralif Redhammer · Jul 5, 2017

The Frost-Giant's Daughter could definitely make a case for that.

Hand of Evil said:
Still on the Conan books - You know, I have read his STATS and seen his alignment as Chaotic Neutral but I got to say, he may be more Chaotic Evil.

Ralif Redhammer · Jul 7, 2017

Well, I was wrong about Bands of Mourning being the last book – there will be one more. And here I assumed it was going to be another trilogy.

Anyway, the second Mistborn series has been quite fun. It’s a little less portentous than the first, having a more swashbuckling, light-hearted feel (though it’s not overly quip-laden or silly). But how it takes the magic system, events, and ending of the first trilogy and translates them into a Victorian-ish era is quite fascinating.

Now I’m reading Dragons!, the 2017 Origins short story collection edited by Jean Rabe.

Blue said:
I'd be very interested in your thoughts of that. I've only read the first Mistborn trilogy. It was quite good, and I'm amazed how many details at the end seemed entirely planned since page one of the first book and how he tied them together, but I'm not one of the people raving about the series. So I've held off picking up other Mistborn books since.

Nellisir · Jul 11, 2017

Kramodlog said:
I'm waiting for Downbelow Station by C.J. Cherryh to arrive by mail. It won an Hugo in 1982 and I keep reading good stuff about her Company War series.

Can't wait to read it.

CJ Cherryh's SF, particularly the Alliance/Union Universe books, are some of my favorites. BUT she can be a hard writer to read. She doesn't do a lot of explanation - you keep up or get out - and her writing style is...I dunno. Very psychological. And nobody ever gets a proper night's sleep in her books.

I find her fantasy novels utterly confusing, but the SF is great. Why? Dunno.

Kramodlog · Jul 11, 2017

Nellisir said:
CJ Cherryh's SF, particularly the Alliance/Union Universe books, are some of my favorites. BUT she can be a hard writer to read. She doesn't do a lot of explanation - you keep up or get out - and her writing style is...I dunno. Very psychological. And nobody ever gets a proper night's sleep in her books.

I find her fantasy novels utterly confusing, but the SF is great. Why? Dunno.

Yeah, the only way I can describe her style is with the word "jumpcut". Still, I'm enjoying it is so far. SOme cyberpunk themes mixed with space opera. With refugees. I'm curious to see how the refugee situation is presented as it is topical.

megamania · Jul 12, 2017

Still on King's Wizard and Glass. Not as good as the first three books but I've been told it will get better.

Ralif Redhammer · Jul 17, 2017

Just finished reading Dragons!, from Origins. Like many short story collections, some are good, some okay, and some bad. But on the whole, it made for fun vacation reading.

Now I’m about to start Lin Carter’s Warrior of World’s End. Picked up a copy at the wonderful used book store, Autumn Leaves, in Ithaca.