[July] What are you reading?

[Cheiromancer]

Continuing my superhero binge. I finished the Edgewood Series by Karen McQuestion and Christopher Nelson's The Fire in My Eyes. I didn't particularly care for either of them.

Edgewood is a teen-superhero novel; every sixteen years a small number of teenagers gets superpowers, which reach a peak and then fade. There are various Illuminati-like orders running things, which the heroes have to either join or fight. The author seems to have some blindspots, ethical and otherwise: nobody really seems that upset by a mind-control power being used to make someone fall in lust with one of the heroes. Nor do any of the authorities in the novel seem to take it seriously when a teenager is kept locked up by her (obviously insane) parent. The hierarchy of Illuminati-like groups doesn't make sense, the actions of security forces (like the Secret Service) requires much suspension of disbelief...

The Fire in My Eyes also has Illuminati-like orders running everything behind the scenes. There is a lot of inappropriate violence (i.e. assault of one's romantic partner, or of a student) which really rubbed me the wrong way. The psionic powers were kind of boring, too: I like the variety of comic-book superheroes. (The Psion series, mentioned in my previous post, also has a rather boring power set, and political setting that is bland and flat.)

However I just finished K.M. Johnson-Weider's West Pacific Supers:Rising Tide and really enjoyed it. The conceit is that superhero teams are like professional athletes and media celebrities: image branding, PR and endorsements are all huge parts of their lives. There is a lot of serious material about marriage and relationships, aging, respect, team dynamics and so on, but also a lot of humor. Well rounded characters that I found I cared about. There's a sequel that I'm just starting (West Pacific Supers:Victory at Any Cost).

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

I'm reading David Weber's War God trilogy, which I hadn't been previously exposed to -- started mostly because the first book, Oath of Swords, was available free for Kindle.

It's a pretty good D&D yarn. If you take hradani = half-orc, it's almost like reading about a D&D game in someone's homebrew campaign setting, where the main character is a barbarian-paladin.

 

[Richards]

I just started John Varley's Red Thunder, about a couple of space enthusiasts who build their own spacecraft on a budget and then end up having to use it to rescue a stranded NASA Mars-Mission team. It's been very good thus far; Varley never seems to fail to come up with interesting and likable protagonists.

Johnathan

 

[megamania]

'Honeymoon' by James Patterson (really good Black widow murder book) and Races of Destiny which I found at discount last week.

 

[Jhaelen]

I finally finished 'The Clockwork Rocket' by Greg Egan. This was quite impressive, as it posits a universe in which the 4th dimension, i.e. time works fundamentally the same way as the other three spatial dimensions. While this is definitely a book of hard science, full of diagrams and a bit of math, it also tells an interesting story about the life of an intriguing alien species, which tries to save their world by engaging in space travel in a way which wouldn't be possible in our universe.

I suppose I'll have to read the two other installments of this trilogy/mini series ('Orthogonal') as well.

 

[WayneLigon]

City of the Lost, and Dead Things are two magic-noir urban fantasy books by Stephen Blackmore set in the same universe but not crossing over any major characters, yet. It has a very gritty, greasy, LA-underbelly feel to it.

Terms of Enlistment follows our 17-yo welfare rat's decision to escape the concrete towers of the local welfare city to join the military. Pretty cool book, and I'm looking forward to the sequel.

Shield and Crocus: steampunk adventure in a city founded on the body of a fallen god, now split between five tyrants. Rising to oppose them are the masked and costumed heroes of the Shield, who have waged a generations-long war against the Tyrants. Some have the natural powers of their inhuman race, some are given power by the strange chaos storms, while their leader uses only his wits and alchemical concoctions to fight for freedom.

The Troop. An insatiably hungry man lands on the rocky island where the local scout troop is having their annual camp-out. The scoutmaster, a doctor, attempts to treat him with horrific backfiring results, and now the man-made horror inside the man is loose.

The Desert of Souls - Jones, Howard Andrew - Arabian nights adventure with buddies Asim the swordsman and Dabir the scholar and one-time magician.

 

[tomBitonti]

Tore through The Rhesus Chart in a couple of days.

Thought it was a rather good read, and better than the last two (but not as good as The Atrocity Archives or my favorite A Colder War). Starts and ends on personal highlights, which is a good thing considering the general plot. Also, makes very good use of the defining statement

Spoiler

Everyone knows there is no such thing as Vampires.

.

I can see how one might not care for Stross. (I rather dislike Accellerando.)

Listened to The Maze Runner, but found the trilogy ending to be weak, and some of the details to be repetitious. (The protagonist continually freezes up, with awful consequences.)

Almost through All You Need is Kill, which is the story behind Edge of Tomorrow. Won't have a firm opinion until I finish it.

Thx!

TomB

 

[WayneLigon]

Right now I'm reading The Barrow, by Mark Smylie. (He is also the writer and artist behind the Artesia series, and The Barrow is set in that same world). I'm just a little ways into it, but so far it's pretty awesome. The prologue alone should be used as the fiction piece in a D&D book (part of that can be read here. The idol they describe is almost exactly like the iconic AD&D PHB cover - something they confirm in the Comicbookresources interview).

Of course we get some more maps, and the results of years of Mark's work on Artesia (In fact, the main hero, Stjepan, is Artesia's brother).

 

[Mark CMG]

Took a break from my continuing Game of Thrones summer to jump knee-deep into the 5E Starter Set and all sorts of online assistance threads, forums, blogs, etc. I wish I hadn't gone head first!

 

[megamania]

Paterson's Second Honeymoon and the Grand History of Eberron by Baker