Reading in November 2009

[Keyoke]

Reading Kay Kenyon Bright of the Sky. So far so good, I started this book a long time back and didnt get into it. Right now though, seems quite enjoyable and liking it. Probably just timing.

Scott Westerfield wrote two scifi novels, Risen Empire and The Killing of Worlds. I loved both these books, and plan on re-reading them in the very near future.

Keyoke

[Obtuse]

Sorry, accidentally posted in the SF forum instead of Fantasy. Post removed.

[NickeeCoco]

I'm a little ways into book five of Elizabeth Moon's fifth book of the Serrano/Familias Regnant series. I'm a little disapointed in it thus far. Book four, Once a Hero was great, but this book is a little too far fetched for my liking.

I mean, the universe is a big place. So, what are the odds that a woman with whom the main character has an argument with is abducted by a right wing cultist group, and the main character, who has since been sent to another sector as number two on a SAR ship ends up finding out she's been abducted. But by mistake. She finds out through a crew member complaining to the cook about not being able to buy green ginger marmelade at a station, because the cargo ship that's carrying it is late. So, of course, the wonderful Esmay Suiza needs to find out where this cargo ship is. . . Which leads her to. . . Yup, you got it, her next quest! Find Brun!

I'll read it and I'll finish the rest of the series. I just hope this book is just a dud book in the series and the other two pick up.

Marmelade. . . Really?

[Ropie]

Originally Posted by Obtuse

Sorry, accidentally posted in the SF forum instead of Fantasy. Post removed.

Yeah, we don't want your kind here!

[Obtuse]

Careful, Ropie, or I'll start "accidentally" posting my fantasy discussions here all the time. Long, rambling posts with lots of images, leet speak and large, garishly colored fonts.

[cgw]

Originally Posted by Ropie

How would you say it compared in terms of readability? Doomsday Book is one of my favourite novels largely because of the immersive nature of Connie Willis' writing.

I read Doomsday a few years ago so my thoughts are not fresh. Willis is probablt the better writer. This book is just as "readable". I was drawn right in.
This one has a lot more thought into what is happening in the larger world than just the immediate village. In Doomsday, unlike a lot of people (I get the impression), I liked the present time story as much as the past time. Eifelhiem could have used a little more of the present time story, IMO.

[chitman13]

Read so far this month:

Mirror Space by Marianne de Pierres - the third book int he Sentients of Orion series and it just keeps getting better and better. Although a lot of set up was done in the firt two books this one still adds more questions to the pot without answering too much. The last book in the series should be amazing with the way events are left.

Diving Into The Wreck by Kristine Kathryn Rusch - I really enjoyed this book, especially the first of the three parts. Although it's told completely in first person I thought it managed to do just about everything right, although the ending did leave my questioning some things.

[suciul]

Originally Posted by chitman13

Read so far this month:

Mirror Space by Marianne de Pierres - the third book int he Sentients of Orion series and it just keeps getting better and better. Although a lot of set up was done in the firt two books this one still adds more questions to the pot without answering too much. The last book in the series should be amazing with the way events are left.

Diving Into The Wreck by Kristine Kathryn Rusch - I really enjoyed this book, especially the first of the three parts. Although it's told completely in first person I thought it managed to do just about everything right, although the ending did leave my questioning some things.

I got Mirror Space several days ago and I started a fast reread of Chaos Space to better remember what's what and this one is a next read - have 6 new/upcoming releases that are all asap's and I still have 1 1/2 of the epic 6 volume Darkness series by H. Turtledove which has been my main read the past 3 days since it hooked me. From what I read in the first 5 pages of Mirror, the Sentients of Orion series is becoming one of the best space operas out there fulfilling the promise of the first book in spades.

I (fast) read Diving into the Wreck some days ago and I found it average - nothing new for a seasoned sf reader and nothing else (characters, story, writing style) that stood out - have no idea if there will be sequels but I am very unlikely to pick up such

Back on topic as mentioned I read the first 4 volume of the Darkness series by H. Turtledove and am about 1/2 in volume 5; strictly speaking fantasy (see below), the series is more sfnal than fnal in spirit

Each book is pretty big and panoramic with a large cast of characters from all sides and all walks of life as per Turtledove other epic series - and quite a few pov characters die as usually also in his novels - it's just compelling for a historical/military fiction fan like me with the (simplified and with a different ethos/motivation) WW2 with dragons (for planes), behemoths (for tanks), leviathans (for submarines), sticks/blazing (guns/shooting) powered by sorcerous energy, egg tossers/eggs (big guns, mortars, bombs), ley-lines caravans/ships (magical maglevs and magical engine ships)...

The desert war becomes ice war, aircraft carriers become icebergs reinforced with wood and magic...Moscow is Cottbus, Stalingrad is Sulingen??, Kursk is (I forgot..) but all 3 major battles that decided WW2 in 1941,42,43 are perfectly recreated as strategy, events, tactics, even up to the famous Stalingrad sniper duel; the strategic need for oil is replaced by the need for "cinnabar" which is essential for dragon fighting and is available only in the land of the Ice People (aka the Middle east/North Africa) and in Southern Unkterlant (aka Caucasus)

The ethos is aristocratic (only Kuusamo aka the USA, with its Seven Princes is somewhat democratic - and in an irony the people of Kuusamo are the eldest race around...), the genocide is racially based (the "warrior" redhead kilted Algarvians versus the "degenerate" trouser wearing and former imperial masters Kaunanians who are blond (!! - so instead of the yellow star we have yellow hair) but also to extract the life-essence and use it as a powerful weapon

Outisde of tons of battles, there is romance of all kinds, irony and tragedy, babies are born, people live their lives as they can in difficult condition... like in Turtledove other panoramic series, mostly regular people are pov's with some exceptions (the marshal of Unkterlant and a foreign minister), the writing is ok and the books despite their length turn their pages by themselves so to speak

After I finish the last 2 books (#1 is 1939-40, #2 is 41, #3 is 42, #4 is 43, #5 is 44 and #6 most likely 45), I will read one of those 6 asap books, most likely Sentients Orion 3 or the fantasy debut Spellwright/Charlton

[mylinar]

I'm just starting my second Culture novel, Use of Weapons by Iain Banks. I'm only a little ways into it so there is no overall feeling, but it is interesting so far. My experience with Excession was a tough one and probably not the first Culture book to start with, but it was the only one available that day at the book store.

I think it would be great to live in the Culture which makes his 'universe' compelling to me.

[Ropie]

Originally Posted by cgw

I read Doomsday a few years ago so my thoughts are not fresh. Willis is probablt the better writer. This book is just as "readable". I was drawn right in.

Thanks, I'll give it a try

[NickeeCoco]

Well, I decided to take a break from Moon and started reading David Weber's Honor Harrington series. Despite wanting to insert a 'u' into the heroine's name whenever I see it on a page, I'm liking it so far. At least, I'm enjoying the first two books, On Basilisk Station and Honor of the Queen.

The first book I did have some trouble getting into. The first 80 pages are so were just a bunch of technical gobbledegook. I found my brain glazing over. At the beginning, there were moments when I set the book down and thought 'I thought these were supposed to be good?'. However, after the 80 paged information dump the actual story began and I began to enjoy myself. There are times when Weber will go on about some technical detail for a few pages, but honestly, I just kinda skip those and move on. To someone like me, who never took a science course past grade ten, nor a math course past grade eleven, it's meaningless. I've an arts education, not science.

Regardless of Weber's occassional tangent, I'm enjoying the reads and am going to continue reading the series.

[Toma]

Finished David Gemmell's Jerusalem Man trilogy.

I enjoyed it thoroughly, but I think it should have ended at the first book as Gemmell originally intended.

[MDP]

Hi SFF Worlders and discerning readers . I've just posted a topic over at my forum. I'd love to hear what your thoughts are on the future of SF writing/fiction.

best
Marianne de Pierres

[NickeeCoco]

I'm now three-quarters of the way through Elizabeth Moon's sixth of book of the Serrano/Suiza series. I can now see how this series is going to end and I'm glad. I'm very happy with the themes that I noted back in the first three books have culminated into something bigger.

I do have to admit that I had to ease my way into this book. I think the reason for that is because I do not like the character Brun. Her self-entitlement issues really irk me. Though, I am delighted that Lady Cecilia has come back into the forefront again. Let's just say I can only hope that I turn into an old lady like her.

I'm also very interested in the character of Ruth Ann. I love how she only makes the technology surrounding her seem alien.

I also love her role on the colony world.

I think that she really showcases how far people's relationship to the land has come.

I stayed up far too late into the night reading this book, and I have a very strong feeling that come friday I'll be finished with the series.