What are you reading this year 2020?

[Richards]

I finished A Maiden's Grave this morning and it was simply fantastic - interesting twists and turns throughout, some of them easy to see coming and some of them coming out of nowhere (but fully logical once you got the full story - that's one of the things I really like about Deaver's writing).

Now I'm reading The Never Game by Jeffery Deaver, one of his newest - it's the first novel in a new series about a guy named Colter Shaw who makes his living collecting rewards for missing people. He's an expert tracker and was raised by his family in a survivalist compound; I'm just a couple chapters in so far so I haven't gotten the full back story on that just yet. But I'll be flying tomorrow so I'll have plenty of time to read on the plane.

Johnathan

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

I just finished the Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. It's a good, competent, interesting book, while it does have some strange, unanswered questions.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Finished Poul Anderson's The High Crusade. What a rollicking read, what a bonkers read. Medieval English knights get a hold of a spaceship and hijinks ensue.

Now I think I'm going to read Seanan McGuire's Every Heart a Doorway.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Finished Poul Anderson's The High Crusade. What a rollicking read, what a bonkers read. Medieval English knights get a hold of a spaceship and hijinks ensue.

Now I think I'm going to read Seanan McGuire's Every Heart a Doorway.

Will be interested to hear your reaction to Every Heart a Doorway. I'll withhold comment until you are finished, except to say it's a quick read. More like a novella than a novel.

 

[KahlessNestor]

Finished reading Terry Pratchett's Unseen Academicals.

Started reading Terry Pratchett's I Shall Wear Midnight.

Started reading Coolidge by Amity Shlaes.

Still reading Brandon Sanderson's Oathbringer.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

It was a quick read, that's for sure. But it packed such a punch; I loved it. Magical and wondrous, but also melancholy, as it should be. Every Heart a Doorway succeeded at something that (I think) The Magicians failed at - getting at portal fantasy from a modern perspective while still maintaining that sense of wonder and discovery (I enjoyed that series, but the cynicism sabotaged some of the things it was trying to get at).

Now I'm onto another portal fantasy-related tale, Terry Brooks' Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold. Somehow I made it out of the 80s with never having read it, despite being a Shannara fan.

Will be interested to hear your reaction to Every Heart a Doorway. I'll withhold comment until you are finished, except to say it's a quick read. More like a novella than a novel.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

It was a quick read, that's for sure. But it packed such a punch; I loved it. Magical and wondrous, but also melancholy, as it should be. Every Heart a Doorway succeeded at something that (I think) The Magicians failed at - getting at portal fantasy from a modern perspective while still maintaining that sense of wonder and discovery (I enjoyed that series, but the cynicism sabotaged some of the things it was trying to get at).

Now I'm onto another portal fantasy-related tale, Terry Brooks' Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold. Somehow I made it out of the 80s with never having read it, despite being a Shannara fan.

Yes, you hit it on the head with Every Heart (EHaD). I really liked it. However, she's spun a series out of it, which I've resisted reading so far. I felt like EHaD was SO good, that reading sequels may only detract. I really liked the Magicians as a mashup of CS Lewis and Bret Easton Ellis; but they did decline as they went forward as I didn't really find myself liking any of the characters.

Terry Brooks never read. Take that back, I started Sword of S back in the 90's, and got bored. I think I gave it my standard 100 pages, and then jumped. Maybe I need to try again.

 

[Richards]

I finished up The Never Game - it was good and I'm looking forward to reading the sequels, as it was the first book in a new series - but I'm currently out of Jeffery Deaver novels again and thus have turned my attention to the small stack of books I've picked up at library book sales. I just started Babylon 5: Thirdspace mainly because I'm a fan of the author, Peter David, not only for his Star Trek novels (which have been some of the best in that line, in my opinion) but also for some of his standalone novels and even before that the Marvel comic books he wrote. (His multiyear run on The Incredible Hulk was fantastic.) So far it's been good; his depictions of established characters are as good as ever (although it's taking me some time to recall who some of the lesser-known characters are - it's been quite awhile since I watched the "Babylon 5" series) and it looks like the main plot involves discovering some ancient alien artifact of incredibly dangerous power. I'm enjoying it so far.

Johnathan

 

[Nellisir]

Finished Faery in Shadow, by CJ Cherryh...same comments as always with her; my head hurt, the writing is convoluted, the characters need to get some f*ing sleep. Nothing memorable about this one; dunno if it was done to fill a contract or what. Started Bait of Dreams by Jo Clayton - it's definitely my throwback year. I've loved some of her stuff; been unimpressed by others, but haven't read any of it in decades so why the heck not.

 

[Zaukrie]

Apparently I missed the fact there were Books of the South in the Black Company series, and read one out of order. Now, where can I find a used hard copy with everything closed up? Sigh. I own a TON of ebooks, but I really prefer hard copies. But as a person looking for work, new isn't a good idea right now. I wonder if the library has them (heck, I don't even know if the library is open!)