Reading in October 2012

Fire Season arrived today - was surprised at how much thinner it is than A Beautiful Friendship actually - and I've started it.

Enjoying it, definitely, and it still feels like it's Weber despite (I suspect) Jane Lindskold taking over the writing duties, which is good. It seems like part of the plot (a part I think suicil didn't approve of much) is being started oh-so-subtly where I am now, in that it's basically written as YOU WILL DO X TO GET RESULT Y - and no, I'm not joking - but as I can see it coming it might not be an issue.

Might.

After disappointingly giving up on the last two fantasies I started, I'm reading Leviathan Wakes and really enjoying it so far.

Not technically a "read", but I've just listened to Judge Dredd: Crime Chronicles - Double Zero from Big Finish, written by James Swallow. Picked it up for about £4 in the recent Big Finish sale. It's got Louise Jameson (from Doctor Who, no less!) as Anderson and Toby Longworth (who was in the Ciaphas Cain audio drama I reviewed for this site) as Dredd.

I do struggle with audio a bit, I tend to get distracted and blank out, and trying to keep focus for an hour is pretty hard, but I found this easier to focus on than the other Swallow-penned audio I've listened to (Red & Black, a Warhammer 40k drama) but the diversity in the voices (largely two characters - Judge Dredd and Judge Anderson) helped. What's also nice is a short interview/discussion with the voice actors at the end.

Fun little story, even if I didn't quite buy Jameson as Anderson - but at the end she says she didn't get chance to do the research the role deserved, so I can kinda let it slide.

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Originally Posted by Loerwyn

Fire Season arrived today - was surprised at how much thinner it is than A Beautiful Friendship actually - and I've started it.

Enjoying it, definitely, and it still feels like it's Weber despite (I suspect) Jane Lindskold taking over the writing duties, which is good. It seems like part of the plot (a part I think suicil didn't approve of much) is being started oh-so-subtly where I am now, in that it's basically written as YOU WILL DO X TO GET RESULT Y - and no, I'm not joking - but as I can see it coming it might not be an issue.

Might.

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I believe I'm now where suicil began to have issues.

Excuse me whilst I go slam my head against my door a few times.

Not too long ago I finished Robert E. Heinlein's "Stranger In A Srange Land," and while it was good, it didn't live up to all the hype I heard about it. In fact, I found it kind of strange, I mean, I know it was written at the dawn of the sexual revolution, but some it just seemed really bizarre. Unlike others say, it just doesn't hold up as a classic of SF like say "2001: A Space Odyssey" or "A Princess of Mars" or "Dune."
I'm now reading this rather independent science fiction/horror e-book from one of my good writer friends, Paul DeThroe, entitled "The Devil's Prophet Part I: Revelations, and it's quite riveting. It's like an agnostic version of "Left Behind" blended with "Independence Day."

Finished Revelation Space and I can now see why Reynolds is so respected. I was filled with wonder and awe, although other parts could be a bit boring at times. Overall, I'm definitely glad I picked it up.

Finished Shadow of freedom by David Weber (earc, book tbp Feb 2013) I read it in a go and need a reread at leisure but a few points:

- length, yes very short; I discount DW's books to about 2/3 size due to repetitions and the info dumps (here there is a Detweiler chapter and other stuff that I think is just c/p from earlier work), so the book at about 420 pages felt like an under 300 page one, but those ~300 pages were really, really good, better than 4-500 pages from almost anyone else

- lots of new beginnings and new characters which I actually like; gives one the idea of both how big the SL and its "protectorates" are and why the series will last another 10 novels or more and this is again a positive

- lots of great moments both funny and sad; the desperate resistance movements and the "now we have stopped trying to get you to see reason and it's five minutes to abandon your ships or die" were highlights, but the most I enjoyed the last part with the two "rats" and their escape attempt(s) and the "Of course, at the moment I haven’t found anything that wasn’t your fault, but I’m sure if we keep looking long enough we’ll find someone else who screwed up almost as egregiously as you guys" which is another Weberian quote for the ages

Another great quote was when they were asking Helen about the Mesan allegation that her father blew up Green Pines with a nuke (the book starts after the Crandall hammering, goes through Yawata, the revelations, Filareta and Beowulf and ends at a great TBC point somewhere around the end of ART) and after giving the usual reasons why she does not believe it, she ends with the "if he was in a city-killing mode..., trust me, the hole would’ve been a hell of a lot deeper!”

Overall an excellent good series installment that will become even better when the next few books are released

I did it! It took ten months but I finally completed Peter F. Hamilton's massive Night's Dawn Trilogy completing The Naked God today. I absolutely loved the series which to me is the very definition of what a great space opera (or space fantasy for those of us who like to split hairs) should be. A futuristic tale told on an epic scale I loved all of it right along with the multiple and sometimes confusing plot threads, myriads of characters to keep track of as Hamilton wove a magnificent tale of edge-of-your-seat story-telling! I admit that at the start I wasn't sure of where this was heading but it was just Hamilton setting up a huge canvas for me to immerse myself in.
Having lived so vicariously through these characters for so long it will be hard to let them go. I'll miss them all; even the most evil character I've ever read in any genre, Quinn Dexter! I would have never known of these books were it not for this forum and for that, my eternal gratitude to all those who pushed it forward. This alone has made all the time I spent hanging out here worthwhile.
Well enough gushing, on to Leviathan Wakes!:)

Time Travellers Strictly Cash by Spider Robinson is the second collection set in Callahan's Crosstime Saloon. I liked it almost as much as the first one, but only half the stories are about the bar, the drinking and the tall tales with aliens, time travel and parallel dimensions. The lack of original material is filled with several essays and speeches at conventions, showing that the author, like Jo Walton, is not only a writer, but a great fan and critic of the genre.

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Originally Posted by DDCOrange

I did it! It took ten months but I finally completed Peter F. Hamilton's massive Night's Dawn Trilogy completing The Naked God today. I absolutely loved the series which to me is the very definition of what a great space opera (or space fantasy for those of us who like to split hairs) should be. A futuristic tale told on an epic scale I loved all of it right along with the multiple and sometimes confusing plot threads, myriads of characters to keep track of as Hamilton wove a magnificent tale of edge-of-your-seat story-telling! I admit that at the start I wasn't sure of where this was heading but it was just Hamilton setting up a huge canvas for me to immerse myself in.
Having lived so vicariously through these characters for so long it will be hard to let them go. I'll miss them all; even the most evil character I've ever read in any genre, Quinn Dexter! I would have never known of these books were it not for this forum and for that, my eternal gratitude to all those who pushed it forward. This alone has made all the time I spent hanging out here worthwhile.
Well enough gushing, on to Leviathan Wakes!:)

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sigh... i wish I could re-live all Hamilton's books for the first time again.. it was a great ride.

Finished Flood, now into ARK by Stephen Baxter. Great reads. Ark is really getting interesting, they are discussing the best way to leave earth. Where to go, how to go? They settled on FTL! lol!

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Originally Posted by livens

Finished Flood, now into ARK by Stephen Baxter. Great reads. Ark is really getting interesting, they are discussing the best way to leave earth. Where to go, how to go? They settled on FTL! lol!

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I remember reading Flood and enjoyed it, although the ending was drawn out and I found the evolution of the humans that stayed on earth a little to convenient. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on Ark when you are done.

Finished War of Honor by David Weber, the 10th Honor Harrington novel. I enjoyed it very much, perhaps more than the previous few because of how the situation has changed. Definitely going to be reading the next one, At All Costs, soon, and hopefully catch up with some of the side-series too.

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Originally Posted by chitman13

Finished War of Honor by David Weber, the 10th Honor Harrington novel. I enjoyed it very much, perhaps more than the previous few because of how the situation has changed. Definitely going to be reading the next one, At All Costs, soon, and hopefully catch up with some of the side-series too.

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I have been rereading the series recently in preparation for Shadow of Freedom and then after finishing that one (more or less from Crown of Slaves, Shadow Saganami and AAC though, plus some ss which are referred in the books like From the Highlands and Service of the Sword - those two are integral part of the main storyline as are Nightfall and Fanatic) and I think that while you still can read AAC without those two, Mission of Honor (which is next book with Honor herslef part of the cast) makes no sense without Storm from the Shadows to which is a partial sequel, and of course Storm does not make sense without Saganami to which it is a direct sequel; the Crown of Slaves and Torch of freedom books are important in so far stuff happens that is crucial to the main storyline (which as of now comprises both the Talbot books SoS, SftS and SoF and the Manticore/Haven books), but on a first read you may just learn it and then read later how it came about if you so wish.


I loved War of Honor at the time too - I read a considerable part of it as snippets first and participated in the discussion with others that were doing so and it really was suspenseful to see three times a week a new chapter and what is next, though I agree it's the untidiest of the series books - as DW admitted, the book was rushed a lot and he had no time to edit it properly; in the Polish interview of June which is extremely comprehensive though I would not listen to it until after reading SoS and AAC as those two are the books that pivot the series to the next level and maybe not coincidentally are the best and most complete in themselves imho, DW explains how that came to be and how War of Honor contains all that he wanted to but maybe not in the final form he wanted...

Back on topic - still rereading Honorverse another day or two and maybe after that some more adventure sf, the Weberian indie Alarm of War by Kenendy Hudner and JL Doty's Choice of Treasons another space opera indie adventure

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Originally Posted by suciul

I have been rereading the series recently in preparation for Shadow of Freedom and then after finishing that one (more or less from Crown of Slaves, Shadow Saganami and AAC though, plus some ss which are referred in the books like From the Highlands and Service of the Sword - those two are integral part of the main storyline as are Nightfall and Fanatic) and I think that while you still can read AAC without those two, Mission of Honor (which is next book with Honor herslef part of the cast) makes no sense without Storm from the Shadows to which is a partial sequel, and of course Storm does not make sense without Saganami to which it is a direct sequel; the Crown of Slaves and Torch of freedom books are important in so far stuff happens that is crucial to the main storyline (which as of now comprises both the Talbot books SoS, SftS and SoF and the Manticore/Haven books), but on a first read you may just learn it and then read later how it came about if you so wish.


I loved War of Honor at the time too - I read a considerable part of it as snippets first and participated in the discussion with others that were doing so and it really was suspenseful to see three times a week a new chapter and what is next, though I agree it's the untidiest of the series books - as DW admitted, the book was rushed a lot and he had no time to edit it properly; in the Polish interview of June which is extremely comprehensive though I would not listen to it until after reading SoS and AAC as those two are the books that pivot the series to the next level and maybe not coincidentally are the best and most complete in themselves imho, DW explains how that came to be and how War of Honor contains all that he wanted to but maybe not in the final form he wanted...

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Suciul, do you think reading At All Costs then the Saganami books followed by Crown of Slaves/Torch of Freedom is a good order before Mission of Honor? I'm really not sure which order to read them and it's why I've stuck with the main series for now. I'm pretty sure you've told me before which is the best order to read them, but for the life of me I can't remember where I read it! Still, very much enjoying the whole series and it's firmly in my top three series of books I've read.