What are you reading this year 2020?

[Richards]

I'm taking a break from Jeffery Deaver mysteries (although I have a few more of those in my hopper) to try out China Miéville's "The Scar." I've heard really good things about his novels but have never read anything by him; when I saw this book at the library book sale for fifty cents I decided to give it a whirl. I'm not very far in but it's already intriguing. I can tell the author's a world-builder along the lines of Scott Lynch and his "Locke Lamora" series - and while so far I've enjoyed Lynch's works much better, I admittedly have seen much more of his world-building than I have of Miéville's. So we'll see.

Johnathan

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I finished Kothar and the Wizard Slayer, and with it the whole of the Kothar series. For being dated and either a Conan rip-off or satire, it was a lot of fun.

Now I'm trying out some old school sci-fi with Harry Harrison's Deathworld.

 

[KahlessNestor]

Finished Terry Pratchett's Thud! and am now on to his book Wintersmith.

Still reading Julie Baird's biography Victoria: The Queen.

Started reading Guilt by Accusation: The Challenge of Proving Innocence in the Age of #MeToo by Alan Dershowitz.

 

[Janx]

I started book 1 of The Expanse a couple days ago. it's good.

 

[Nellisir]

I started book 1 of The Expanse a couple days ago. it's good.

Gets better.

I read The Red Pavilion, a Judge Dee mystery, last night. I'm having trouble articulating exactly what I like about these books, but part of it is "RPG-ness" of them all. Each character is a distinct NPC, and nearly every book seems like it could be adapted into an RPG adventure with minimum effort. The clear winners in this book were the muscular Crab and his friend, the hunchbacked Shrimp, two simple members of the lower class who live quietly in their little shack and grow pumpkins. There's a hilarious passage where Judge's Dee's associate Ma Joong (a reformed bandit) find Crab & Shrimp have taken calmly possession of the cook stove in the kitchen of Dee's lodging house and Crab is teaching Shrimp proper technique for flipping an egg in the frying pan (it's the wrist.)

 

[Eyes of Nine]

I'm taking a break from Jeffery Deaver mysteries (although I have a few more of those in my hopper) to try out China Miéville's "The Scar." I've heard really good things about his novels but have never read anything by him; when I saw this book at the library book sale for fifty cents I decided to give it a whirl. I'm not very far in but it's already intriguing. I can tell the author's a world-builder along the lines of Scott Lynch and his "Locke Lamora" series - and while so far I've enjoyed Lynch's works much better, I admittedly have seen much more of his world-building than I have of Miéville's. So we'll see.

Johnathan

For what it's worth, I would start with Perdido Street Station. It's one of his best. Also the book before the Scar, although they stand alone and I don't think there are any overlapping characters. Or if they are, they are minor in one or the other.

 

[univoxs]

More C.J. Cherryh always. I am in the middle of re-reading Cyteen. I am going to read a bunch of Dune this year in prep of the "Most Anticipated Game" I am being a bit ridiculous about re-reading dune. I don't have a copy of the first book and have a thing about buying a new copy of a book that was printed so many times. I will wait to get my hands on a used copy, regardless of condition. As my table is playing WFRP 4e like mad I have been trying to read the WF novels and so far, they have not been great. The first Genevive book was okay.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

The Warhammer Fantasy novels that I've read have been a mixed bag, like most RPG fiction. Kim Newman's Genevieve is indeed just okay (His Anno Dracula, not Warhammer at all, is quite fun, however).

I enjoyed Gav Thorpe's The Doom of Dragonback a fair bit, and would recommend that for fans of dwarves and Warhammer Fantasy. Some of the Gotrek and Felix books are good, but some are pretty rote.

As my table is playing WFRP 4e like mad I have been trying to read the WF novels and so far, they have not been great. The first Genevive book was okay.

 

[univoxs]

The Warhammer Fantasy novels that I've read have been a mixed bag, like most RPG fiction. Kim Newman's Genevieve is indeed just okay (His Anno Dracula, not Warhammer at all, is quite fun, however).

I enjoyed Gav Thorpe's The Doom of Dragonback a fair bit, and would recommend that for fans of dwarves and Warhammer Fantasy. Some of the Gotrek and Felix books are good, but some are pretty rote.

My reasons for wanting to read them were that I never played WFRP before, or the wargames, or the videos games. I only knew the lore from the WFRP Core book. Seeing as I was about to run the game, I wanted to have all the lore in my back pocket, know the world off the top of my head to properly invoke the themes. I have sort of boiled down "Grim and Perilous" for myself in the end. I randomly picked up The Dead and the Damned and its fun in the way you could easily use it as a sourcebook for a party of adventurer's to run through the same events. I don't expect a shared world with a game attached to produce amazing writing, I've read enough Dragonlance and Star Wars books to know that. But there is room for it; Thieves World is a great example. I would love to play that old game as well.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

More C.J. Cherryh always. I am in the middle of re-reading Cyteen.

Cherryh is the best.
I seriously considered buying up all the Invader series at the used book store yesterday. The Chanur books were my favorite.
Never read her fantasy though - Gate of Ivrel etc. Has anyone else?