What are you Reading? Jaunty January 2019 edition

[megamania]

Starting the last book of the Darksun defining series- The Cerulean Storm.

 

[Blue]

Reading just hasn't been happening much this month. I'm still on Seveneves started in December, and we're 2/3 of the way through January.

 

[Kramodlog]

So far I've read The Stars are Legion, by Kameron Huxley. It is a great premise (women only societies in space who birth their tools), but it was a major let down. The author didn't know where to go with the plot and didn't do much world building.

After that I read Nexus by Ramez Naam. Cool cyberpunk novel. Made me think of Ghost in the Shell, or how cyberbrains might have started. I wasn't hooked enough to read the rest of the trilogy.

Then I read 2001: A Space Odessey by Arthur C. Clarke. Smooth and enjoyable, but that that extraordinary. It has an aura because of the film.

I just finished A Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. Very engrossing this story of first contact with aliens. Well paced. The foreshadowing and the reveals are mastered to perfection. Ashame that there is only one woman in the novel and that she is an emotional bleading heart. A true classic none the less. So captivating.

Now I'll start A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller. Another sci-fi classic.

 

[Blue]

I just finished A Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. Very engrossing this story of first contact with aliens. Well paced. The foreshadowing and the reveals are mastered to perfection. Ashame that there is only one woman in the novel and that she is an emotional bleading heart. A true classic none the less. So captivating.

I really enjoyed Mote. It does have a sequel, but while a solid story doesn't have the same scope of world building.

Now I'll start A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller. Another sci-fi classic.

Thumbs up.

 

[Kramodlog]

I really enjoyed Mote. It does have a sequel, but while a solid story doesn't have the same scope of world building.

Trilogies and sequels turn me off. By principale I try to stick to just the first tomes of series. Trilogies and sequels are too much a cash grab nowadays. Stories do not need to be stretched that much (with exceptions). Often the best part is there in the first tome anyway, and I'm not disappointed witht the rest of the novels who often aren't as good as the firstone.

Sequel written 20 years after the original (like the sequel to Mote) turn me off even more, as they are even more of a cash grab rather than inspired work.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

That’s an intense read, absolutely. And in this day and age, I think, important reading.

I finished Myke Cole’s The Armored Saint. Packed a heck of a punch. Finished Time-Life Books: The Enchanted World: Wizards and Witches. Man, that series is just gorgeous. And I also finished Charlie Holmberg’s The Plastic Magician. Good stuff, too.

Now I’m going for some Appendix N reading with Abraham Merritt’s The Moon Pool.

Now I'll start A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller. Another sci-fi classic.

 

[Blue]

Trilogies and sequels turn me off. By principale I try to stick to just the first tomes of series. Trilogies and sequels are too much a cash grab nowadays. Stories do not need to be stretched that much (with exceptions). Often the best part is there in the first tome anyway, and I'm not disappointed witht the rest of the novels who often aren't as good as the firstone.

Sequel written 20 years after the original (like the sequel to Mote) turn me off even more, as they are even more of a cash grab rather than inspired work.

I hear what you are saying, and there's a lot of cases I agree but not always.

Sometimes book are legitimately planned as trilogies. The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin is a fantastic book - and really the first part of a larger story.

For some series (ongoing, vs. -ology of a single story), I've found that the protagonist gets better over time, both with maturation of the character since you need to keep providing change and growth, but also as the writer really finds their voice for the character.

That said, I agree that first books often are the "great idea", and follow-up books never reach the same heights. One of my favorites, The Lies of Locke Lamora, is a great example of that.

 

[Georgia85]

I will be going on vacation soon, and have picked up Lois McMaster Bujold's Diplomatic Immunity for the trip Walgreens Survey.

I may also dig into Tad William's The Witchwood Crown, depending on my mood, and how much reading time I have.