What are you reading - Sep 2017

New month.

Dark Intelligence by Neal Asher. Finished it out of stubbornness. I not really sure what the point of the story was.

Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch. Excellent urban fantasy. A new London constable finds himself talking to a ghost at the murder scene and eventually finds himself working with an inspector who investigates the paranormal.

Age of Myth by Michael J Sullivan. Based in the same universe as his Riyria novels but takes place thousands of years in the past. It's a good read but is definitely the first in a series. Story is self contained but not complete.

Derelict Marines by Paul E Cooley. Put it down after 5 pages. The amount of repetition in a paragraph would have made the Department of Redundancy Department member's blush. Didn't care for the writing style (I think this was a Kindle freebie).

Agatha H. and the Airship City by Phil Foglio. I just started it today. This is a novelization of some of the graphic novels. It probably would make more sense to read the graphic novels but the Kindle version was on sale for a buck.

On the RPG side, I finished the Sword Coast Adventure's Guide. Thought it was well done. Going to work through the 5E version of Bard's Gate by Frog God Games.

I still haven't read any great (or even very good) science fiction books on quite a while. Wouldn't mind finding some new Tolkien-esk fantasy novels. Not a huge fan of the all grimdark stuff.

Most recently, finished reading Cixin Liu's The Three Body Problem. Excellent SF.

Prior to that, two novels, both with the title, The Devil You Know. The first of those was the series finale to Erin M. Evans' Brimstone Angels series, which I heartily recommend. If you want a fully realized depiction of tieflings and dragonborn cultures, Evans delivers with her complex portrayals of mixed societies and the evolving dark bargains of warlocks and their patrons.

The second Devil book was by a veteran of DC and Marvel comics, Mike Carey. This was his first novel, and it was about an exorcist named Felix Castor, drawn from the Lucifer comic book series. That reading led to a book-swap with one of my nephews, who passed on to me Carey's more recent The Girl with All the Gifts, which was made into a film of the same title, released in September 2016.

I like serializations, whether it's science fiction, fantasy, or mystery. Mixing the genres has a special appeal to me, and I also tend to look for everything I can find whenever I discover an author whose work I like.

Larry Correia's Monster Hunters International series.

Elizabeth Moon's series, both the fantasy and the SF. Her Paksenarrion stories provide the best depiction I've come across showing how someone could go from being a commoner to becoming a paladin.

Alex Bledsoe's series (fantasy, urban fantasy). I see that he's got two series I didn't even know about (hello, Uncle Hugo's bookstore: I'll see you soon!). His Eddie LaCrosse and Tales of the Tufa series are both really good.

D. B. Jackson's Thieftaker series.

Tony Hillerman, and more recently his daughter, Anne Hillerman. The Leaphorn, Chee, and Manuelito mystery novels set in the desert southwest.

Dana Stabenow's Kate Shugak novels, set in Alaska.

Kat Richardson's Greywalker series. A paranormal detective in Seattle.

The Lord D'Arcy novels by Randall Garrett.

I'll stop there.

Thanks for the Thread!

Just returned from vacation, got some reading in.

The Stone Sky - N.K. Jemisin. Strong finish to her Broken Earth trilogy. Better then the second book ... which is not a put-down, considering he second book just won the Hugo like the first book had.

Gun with Occasional Music, by Johnathan Lethem. Hardboiled detective set in a mildly dystopic future society. Enjoyable.

Tigania by Guy Gavriel Kay. Absolutely fantastic. My favorite single novel by him, though the well-weaved mythic underpinnings of The Fionovar Tapestry trilogy pull that ahead as a favorite work because of my enjoyment of that. Oh, this is like my fourth or fifth read-through, I pick it back up every couple of years.

Mr. Norell & Jonathan Strange - third time is the charm. First two times I tried this I didn't get hooked, but at recommendation I tried again, got past the slow start adn into it. Still reading.

Blue said:

Just returned from vacation, got some reading in.

The Stone Sky - N.K. Jemisin. Strong finish to her Broken Earth trilogy. Better then the second book ... which is not a put-down, considering the second book just won the Hugo like the first book had.

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It just didn't sing to me. I enjoyed it, but...I dunno. I read The Boy on the Bridge immediately thereafter and that dragged me right in, no problems (I bloody well cheered at the end too!)

Tigania by Guy Gavriel Kay. Absolutely fantastic. My favorite single novel by him, though the well-weaved mythic underpinnings of The Fionovar Tapestry trilogy pull that ahead as a favorite work because of my enjoyment of that. Oh, this is like my fourth or fifth read-through, I pick it back up every couple of years.

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Ditto.

Redthistle said:

The second Devil book was by a veteran of DC and Marvel comics, Mike Carey. This was his first novel, and it was about an exorcist named Felix Castor, drawn from the Lucifer comic book series. That reading led to a book-swap with one of my nephews, who passed on to me Carey's more recent The Girl with All the Gifts, which was made into a film of the same title, released in September 2016.
!

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Just a nitpick - Felix Castor isn't from the Lucifer series. It's completely stand-alone, and an excellent series. M R Carey is easily one of my favorite authors right now.

Quite a lot of fanfiction. To critics, I reference the context of Sturgeon's Law, and also note that a lack of editor means that excellent stories which would normally never pass an editorial check, can also be posted.

Nellisir said:

Just a nitpick - Felix Castor isn't from the Lucifer series. It's completely stand-alone, and an excellent series. M R Carey is easily one of my favorite authors right now.

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Thanks for the clarification!

I'm currently in the middle of reading the 13th Age Bestiary. Unlike most monster manuals, this one is actually fun to read!

Jhaelen said:

I'm currently in the middle of reading the 13th Age Bestiary. Unlike most monster manuals, this one is actually fun to read!

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I'm with you. Well, I did vote for 13th Age in the RPGaDay questions about best written - I love the informal style and the insights of the sidebars. When I first used it I just looked up a few monsters I needed, but on reading them I went back o the beginning and read it cover-to-cover taking notes. There are a lot of great hooks and details in there.

I've got the Bestiary 2 sitting near me waiting for the same treatment.

Blue said:

I've got the Bestiary 2 sitting near me waiting for the same treatment.

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Ooh, I'm jealous!

I'll probably buy & read 'Eyes of the Stone Thief' next. But it's a given I'll get the second Bestiary in a short while, too!