What are you reading in 2023?

[Ruin Explorer]

You might be; I find Adrian Tchaikovsky to be a poor man's Alastair Reynolds. I've read a lot of his stuff recently and it (almost*) all bleeds away after a few days. I get much more enjoyment and pleasure from Murderbot. But maybe it's different if you're listening rather than reading (I don't care which someone does).

*The spiders were cool.

There's no accounting for taste, but purely as a writer, recent Adrian Tchaikovsky is a significantly better than recent Reynolds in a number of ways, I would suggest. He's certainly far better storyteller and character writer.

As for "bleeds away", I find the opposite to be true. I've read several Reynolds novels and found only general concepts to be memorable. The actual characters and scenes are deeply forgettable and rarely evoke much in the way of emotion. The one exception would be Terminal World, which wasn't as clever as the rest, but somehow was much more human.

That said some of Tchaikovsky's standalone stuff has been rather "meh" (Cage of Souls was a yawn, soz Adrian), so if you got the wrong stuff there, I could see it.

Re: listening, I've listened to some and read others for both authors - not seeing a huge difference in either case. Neither author seems to be writing specifically to be read out in the way, say, Ben Aaronovitch seems to be with the Rivers of London series past the first two.

Speaking of A Tchaikovsky:

I haven't read any of his work. Where should I start?

Children of Time or Final Architecture?
Or perhaps one of the fantasy series: Shadows of the Apt or Echoes of the Fall?

I personally think Children of Time is a good starting point. So long as you're not an arachnophobe to the point of not even wanting to imagine spiders! Each book is compartmentalized so you're only in for the long haul if you want to be, and it's classic-style SF.

Final Architecture is really great space opera, with a lot of energy and strong characterisation, plotting, twists and so on. I struggle to think of a space opera series that holds together as well as this. It also has some of the most memorable characters in written space opera, imho. It's basically an ensemble piece though initially there is perhaps too much focus on Idris (who is kinda slappable, albeit for good reason), but the second two books fix this.

Echoes of the Fall is a fairly straightforward fantasy adventure where almost all the characters are humans who can shapeshift into a specific animal based on their tribe (in one case into a dinosaur, even). I don't think it's Tchaikovsky's best work but it's a good adventure story with some fun characters. I think it connects to Shadows of the Apt, which I haven't read, but only towards the end.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

With Spotify adding audiobooks for free with premium, at least thirty hours, and not all books .... Anyway, any audiobook recommendations? Might as well get my stuff.... Wanting fiction

I don't know which ones Spotify has, but if it has Kobna Holdbrook-Smith's reading of the Rivers of London books (the first one is called that, though for some reason in the US they changed the title to Midnight Riot, so it might be under that), I would definitely recommend them. He reads them extremely well, to the point where after a couple it seems like the author starts writing them specifically for him to read (which seems to be backed up by comments Aaronovitch has made in interviews).

 

[Eyes of Nine]

There's no accounting for taste, but purely as a writer, recent Adrian Tchaikovsky is a significantly better than recent Reynolds in a number of ways, I would suggest. He's certainly far better storyteller and character writer.

As for "bleeds away", I find the opposite to be true. I've read several Reynolds novels and found only general concepts to be memorable. The actual characters and scenes are deeply forgettable and rarely evoke much in the way of emotion. The one exception would be Terminal World, which wasn't as clever as the rest, but somehow was much more human.

That said some of Tchaikovsky's standalone stuff has been rather "meh" (Cage of Souls was a yawn, soz Adrian), so if you got the wrong stuff there, I could see it.

Re: listening, I've listened to some and read others for both authors - not seeing a huge difference in either case. Neither author seems to be writing specifically to be read out in the way, say, Ben Aaronovitch seems to be with the Rivers of London series past the first two.

I personally think Children of Time is a good starting point. So long as you're not an arachnophobe to the point of not even wanting to imagine spiders! Each book is compartmentalized so you're only in for the long haul if you want to be, and it's classic-style SF.

Final Architecture is really great space opera, with a lot of energy and strong characterisation, plotting, twists and so on. I struggle to think of a space opera series that holds together as well as this. It also has some of the most memorable characters in written space opera, imho. It's basically an ensemble piece though initially there is perhaps too much focus on Idris (who is kinda slappable, albeit for good reason), but the second two books fix this.

Echoes of the Fall is a fairly straightforward fantasy adventure where almost all the characters are humans who can shapeshift into a specific animal based on their tribe (in one case into a dinosaur, even). I don't think it's Tchaikovsky's best work but it's a good adventure story with some fun characters. I think it connects to Shadows of the Apt, which I haven't read, but only towards the end.

Thank you so much! Me personally, I love spiders - even the black widows that live in our wood pile out back.

Already had Children of Time on my to-read list, adding Final Architecture and Echoes of the Fall - both sound great too... Maybe 2024 will be the year of Tchaikovsky. I can listen to Swan Lake while reading his work

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Speaking of spiders, I really love the supra-intelligent Weavers from Perdido Street Station. I've been wanting to run a game with intelligent, dangerous - yet not automatically inimical - giant spiders who have incredible divination and phasing/teleportation powers. Perhaps even opposed to Lolth. Hmmm, I just had a brainwave. I think maybe I'll have them in my game with my high school buddies...

 

[Nellisir]

Re: listening, I've listened to some and read others for both authors - not seeing a huge difference in either case. Neither author seems to be writing specifically to be read out in the way, say, Ben Aaronovitch seems to be with the Rivers of London series past the first two.

I don't think I've ever listened to a book. It's just...I can't. I don't do podcasts either. Things people say just don't stick in my head. (Yes, lectures were problematic in school.) That said, it's not a judgement thing; it's a me thing.

I personally think Children of Time is a good starting point. So long as you're not an arachnophobe to the point of not even wanting to imagine spiders! Each book is compartmentalized so you're only in for the long haul if you want to be, and it's classic-style SF.

Agreed. A really cool conceit, well-executed.

 

[Pedantic]

With Spotify adding audiobooks for free with premium, at least thirty hours, and not all books .... Anyway, any audiobook recommendations? Might as well get my stuff.... Wanting fiction

I recommend The Palace Job by Patrick Weekes a lot specifically as an audiobook. It's very much "D&D party does a heist" standard comedic fantasy, but it's one of the books I think is most elevated by the performance over the standard reading experience.

 

[Zaukrie]

I recommend The Palace Job by Patrick Weekes a lot specifically as an audiobook. It's very much "D&D party does a heist" standard comedic fantasy, but it's one of the books I think is most elevated by the performance over the standard reading experience.

does not appear to be on Spotify, though Weekes is the 6th thing that comes up when you search for his name, so who the heck knows......Why is search so not good on so many things in 2023?

 

[Zaukrie]

I don't know which ones Spotify has, but if it has Kobna Holdbrook-Smith's reading of the Rivers of London books (the first one is called that, though for some reason in the US they changed the title to Midnight Riot, so it might be under that), I would definitely recommend them. He reads them extremely well, to the point where after a couple it seems like the author starts writing them specifically for him to read (which seems to be backed up by comments Aaronovitch has made in interviews).

alas, 16 dollars on Spotify! Which, I'm passing on right now given my money situation. thanks for the rec!

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Not Doors of Stone.

Yeah. I can't say I'm at all excited about The Narrow Road Between Desires. Maybe if it wasn't just an expanded version of a short story I've already read. My enthusiasm for the Kingkiller Chronicles, once very high, has diminished more and more with each passing year.

 

[Richards]

I spent hours reading Lucy last night and tonight that I could have spent working on upcoming D&D adventures...but I couldn't put the book down, and I finally just finished it. The main character was such a sweet person, I had to find out what happened next. A really good book - I'll have to see what else the author, Laurence Gonzales, has written.

But I hit the library book sale on Monday and came away with 14 paperbacks for seven dollars, all of them by one of two authors whose works I've enjoyed in the past. So tonight I start the first one, a novel published back in 1996 called Whispers by Lisa Jackson. It involves the three daughters of a politician who's running for higher office and wants to make sure none of them had anything to do with the death of a high school boy several decades back...and while looking into the details of the boy's (seemingly) accidental death, it appears that not only was the death not an accident, the killer's willing to kill others to keep the secrets unearthed. I hoping for another good read (I've enjoyed some of her previous thrillers), but I fear it'll be a bit of letdown coming down off of my Lucy high. So we'll see.

Johnathan