What are you reading in 2024?

[Vael]

Just zoomed through Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir. I quite liked it, it was fascinating and a quick read.

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

Finished a re-read of John Maddox Roberts' Space Angel after stumbling on a copy at a local consignment shop, of all places. I first read this when it came out in 1979 and it briefly put the author on kid me's watch list, only to fall right back off after reading the sequel, the first book of Cingulum and one of his dreadful Conan pastiches, at which point I gave up. Had no idea he'd written as many books (most historical mysteries) as he did until I looked at his Goodreads page, and I honestly don't recall seeing any of his other books on store shelves at all, which is a little weird.

Still, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Space Angel held up quite well for its age. It's not sophisticated and I might be less tolerant without the nostalgia of a barely-teenage kid, but it's got a solid premise that could easily have been an RPG campaign, decent descriptive writing and toward the end a nicely OTT sense of scale, which is something I like to see in a space opera. Maybe it's a fluke for Roberts (the very loose sequel is kind of awful and didn't need to exist - only the characters carry over) or maybe his work I haven't seen is much better, but taken as a solo novel Space Angel gets a thumbs up from me.

If you want a light, innocuous bit of reading where the story is more about the spectacle than the characters this will do fine.

 

[overgeeked]

Picked up Dungeon Crawler Carl thanks to the glowing recommendations here. It’s off to a great start. The opening reminds me of the start of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy only instead of jumping on a ship with a friendly alien, the main character is thrown into a game of Xcrawl Classics. Interesting premise and fun so far.

 

[HaroldTheHobbit]

Just zoomed through Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir. I quite liked it, it was fascinating and a quick read.

I adore Andy Weir and see his books as great cultural acts. Not because he is a Nobel prize class stylist or literary inventor, but his books - PHM in particular - is glorious tributes to golden age sci-fi with a positive and optimistic tone that is sorely needed in this day and age. That they are edutainmental and easy reads is just a cherry on the top.

 

[Nellisir]

Not being able to sleep is getting to be a real pain. On the other hand, Merchanter's Luck was a fast read and lighter than most of Cherryh's stuff.

(For those following along, I think the mill foundation was boulders & stones found near the site. A lot of granite there showed more cracking than usual, and I only saw one stone with drill marks. Not difficult to get large flat-sided stones. Plus, small rocky gorge. Lots of material.)

 

[Clint_L]

I adore Andy Weir and see his books as great cultural acts. Not because he is a Nobel prize class stylist or literary inventor, but his books - PHM in particular - is glorious tributes to golden age sci-fi with a positive and optimistic tone that is sorely needed in this day and age. That they are edutainmental and easy reads is just a cherry on the top.

I love The Martian; it's one of my favourite books and I've used it at school as part of a creative writing unit (the episodic nature works really well for teaching narrative structure). I also really enjoyed PHM.

I agree about him being kind of a throwback author. His protagonists are very much Competent Men in the Golden Age style, but without the more ...problematic... worldview of, say, a Heinlein hero. I enjoy his more positive style. I kind of compare him to Becky Chambers, who also goes for an uplifting vibe but through very character-driven stories, where Weir's are very plot-driven.

 

[Zaukrie]

Finished Small Gods on the flight. Good book!
Had finished Witch King on the last flight. Really liked that a lot.

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

Sluggishly finishing up the last few Ngaio Marsh novels I haven't ever gotten around to in an attempt to find something my sister might enjoy, as she's developed a sudden curiosity about mystery as a genre. Most recent was Light Thickens, which was a very odd entry. It's one of several "theatrical" books in the series, and spends most of its page count on the preparation and opening weeks of a run of Macbeth which gets its season (heh) cut short when the lead actor is decapitated during a performance. Roderick Alleyn is barely present for a huge part of the novel, with recurring thespian character Peregrine Jay as POV protag early on, and when Alleyn does show up the mystery is very shallow and disappointing, with the killer outright confessing the moment they're confronted and a side plot being left hanging in a very unsatisfying way. It wasn't a terrible read as such, but it's not really a mystery

Spoiler

and I'm getting very tired of Marsh making characters with mental health issues the killer. I expect and can tolerate the frequent anti-Communist themes as part of the period when these were written and set (1982 in this case) but she really likes punching down at people in her later years.

This one's not going on the rec list for sib, and I'm starting to think maybe none of the Alleyn books will be.

 

[Nellisir]

Finished Small Gods on the flight. Good book!
Had finished Witch King on the last flight. Really liked that a lot.

I really really like Martha Wells, and her love of Very Large Ruins. She's been underappreciated, and I'm glad to see Murderbot bringing her mainstream attention, although casting a human in the role of Murderbot seems like a misstep for the series. They're so...leaky.

 

[Nellisir]

I forgot to get more Cherryh from my apartment (which is currently mostly storage) or any Dee, so while briefly forced to contemplate other authors, the universe does provide, in the form of Alliance Rising which I forgot my gf had ordered (along with some books for herself) and arrived yesterday.
Also, I got sleep last night. I liked that.

I also got a pile of old Dungeon magazines a while ago I'm probably going to sell, but am reading through them first. I'm familiar with many of them, but it's been decades and I'm a bit more open to adapting adventures. My main impression is that Willie Walsh is a treasure. The side details are still sometimes a little too jokey for me, but the ideas and adventures overall are clever, detailed, and solid.