Reading in August 2012

**suciul** · August 17th, 2012, 02:38 PM

Finished reading (and re-reading) Midst Toil and Tribulation by David Weber (Safehold 6); back to excellence after a good but not great, 5th volume, HFaF, and showing again why he is my favorite author of today

Storytelling on a huge canvas with tons of threads, 900 named characters in the 41 page table of characters at the end, good ending at a tbc point, lots of great scenes and last 150+ pages that one cannot stop turning to see what happens, good mixture of developing technologies, introspective faith based "political and philosophical" conflict, lots and lots of battles and even quite a few quiet domestic scenes, and covering roughly another year ( 896 Year of God) in the planetary conflict between the Empire and the Reformed Church of Charis and the Church of God Awaiting and the rest of the planet (or at least that what the Temple believes) led by the Group of Four.

The huge detailed map available online and presumably in the finished book, needed to follow the action.

Top sf of the year so far for me.

**Kazz Wylde** · August 17th, 2012, 06:03 PM

Top SF of the year huh, Liviu? Better then the Gibson & Roberts?

**suciul** · August 17th, 2012, 06:19 PM

Originally Posted by Kazz Wylde

Top SF of the year huh, Liviu? Better then the Gibson & Roberts?

"Better" is a relative term and you could make an argument that as either sfnality in the case of both the above or as literary qualities in the case of Roberts, those books are better, but for me always storytelling and epic tend to outweigh anything else (when done well of course; voice and twists and turns are next and sometimes pure sfnality if it's of the mind-bending Egan say, so Sacrifice Game would have been top sf before for voice and twists and turns and then Jack Glass)

Though of course Hydrogen Sonata is still to come ( no arc yet, but a promise for soonish - the UK gets it faster as Banks is a much stronger name there so more publicity etc) and as sfnality, Eternal Flame which I have and plan to read soon after Blinding Knife and Black isle, may get there too

**Kazz Wylde** · August 17th, 2012, 06:26 PM

The Weber sounds good, but the naming convention could be grating, Cayleb, Haarhald etc. It does sound like a good epic series though.
I have a feeling the Banks or Egan will top this for ya though.

I'm still on Van Name's One Jump Ahead, so far so good. I think I'm ready for something more....epic. I like it though.

**Awesomov** · August 17th, 2012, 07:11 PM

The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov. Through the first part, which was quite interesting despite being kind of over my head, but this second part is a tad confusing so far. I've no doubt it'll improve.

**suciul** · August 17th, 2012, 08:45 PM

Originally Posted by Kazz Wylde

The Weber sounds good, but the naming convention could be grating, Cayleb, Haarhald etc. It does sound like a good epic series though.
I have a feeling the Banks or Egan will top this for ya though.

I'm still on Van Name's One Jump Ahead, so far so good. I think I'm ready for something more....epic. I like it though.

I asked DW about the naming conventions and he basically said that sometimes he regrets he didn't keep the regular ones, but what's done is done so to speak; I alternate between being annoyed and enjoying decoding them (just noticed now in the 6th volume that Rayno - 2nd in the Inquisition after the main villain Clyntahn, could be construed as Reno so another reference to the 90's after the obvious Clyntahn and the same obvious Maigwair - DW is a huge Braves fan and actually there is an important baseball game in OAR for that matter, and McGwire was the Braves' nemesis for a long time...)

As sf goes, Eternal flame is probably next but first the two fantasies (Blinding Knife and Black isle)

**Westsiyeed** · August 18th, 2012, 05:55 AM

Just read Barrington Bayley's The Fall of Chronopolis and was surprised at how good it was.

It centres around an empire built in time as well as space, with the invention of time travel. Huge time travelling ships patrol time to ensure the empire continues and is not usurped but it's enemy the Hegemony.

But one of the main characters accidentally discovers other powers within the time travel continuum ("strat") and the story really takes off.

This was a well written, fairly short sci-fi book with fantastic ideas and constant pace. Will be checking out more of his books.

**krisbslick** · August 21st, 2012, 02:51 PM

The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Dreadnaught - Jack Campbell

Halfway through, alot like the previous 6 books in the lost fleet series, but still a good action page turner

**Westsiyeed** · August 22nd, 2012, 03:51 PM

Finished Hugh Howey's First Shift, part 6 of the Silo Series, which takes place before Wool and tells the story of what happens in the lead up. Another excellent read from Howey; he seems to be dependable for a story that hooks you in straight away. On that note, I've started another of his, Half Way Home.

I also like that the Kindle editions of his books (of which most are only in this format), are very reasonable priced (admittedly most are short books).

**marshal atkins** · August 22nd, 2012, 04:22 PM

I am about a quarter of the way into Fate of Worlds, Return from the Ringworld" By Ed Lerner.

It is so cool to be reading about Louis Wu again. Known Space is in good hands with Lerner and a few of the other Man/KZin Wars authors.

I recently finished Howeys "I Zombie". It was interesting and a new approach but it seemed to lack an engaging plot or background.

**algernoninc** · August 23rd, 2012, 12:26 AM

My summer funk is in full swing and I can't seem to start anything serious or long. So I picked Virgin Planet by Poul Anderson. It fits the bill, showing off the humorous side of the author, after the darker tone of The Broken Sword (my previous read by him) . This one was published in 1959, and it immediately made me think of the campy adventures of Flash Gordon or Barbarella: a young and well endowed pilot gets stranded on a planet populated exclusively by women, and finds out that his teenage dream of sexual bliss among them can turn into a nightmare. Don't look for any high scientific speculations here - FTL is just there, and parthenogenesys doesn't need any Y chromosome.

**scifigal84** · August 23rd, 2012, 02:28 PM

I'm currently reading two books at the moment; Dan Simmons Hyperion and David Weber's On Basilisk Station. Really love Hyperion so far!!

**Kazz Wylde** · August 24th, 2012, 02:20 PM

I'm getting close to finishing up Van Name's One Jump Ahead, I like it, I'm in for the series, trying to decide what I want next.

What would y'all read next, Wooding's Black Lung Captain, Corey's Leviathan Wakes, or Hurley's Infidel?

Seems weird saying Corey's, when you know its half Abraham, ya know? lol

**Westsiyeed** · August 24th, 2012, 04:11 PM

Read Hugh Howey's Half Way Home, about a group of people grown in vats on another planet to colonise, but are woken up early for reasons unknown.

This was an OK story, but fairly straightforward with no/little science. Not as good as the Silo series.

Going to pick up Roberts' Jack Glass today...

**Kazz Wylde** · August 27th, 2012, 03:56 PM

Alright! Finally was able to order Stealing Light from Book depository UK, says up to 14 days, but the other time it only took like 7 days. Been wanting to get into this series, I hope I dig it.