[Nov 2015] What Are You Reading

[delericho]

Another month gone, another thread...

I finished both "Louise de la Valliere" and also the latest Pathfinder AP just before the end of October, so I'm actually between books. I'll be starting "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez later today. After that, I'll be reading "The Long Mars" by Pratchett and Baxter.

I don't have any RPG-related books to read at this time, and the only one on the horizon is Pathfinder #100 (which should arrive late this month). I'm holding off on the SCAG until more reviews are in ($40 for 160 pages seems awfully pricey), and there's nothing else currently announced either for D&D or Firefly. Which is an odd feeling - usually there's something I'm looking forward to.

 

[Richards]

I'm reading Kong Reborn by Russell Blackford. The original Kong is cloned in New York from blood samples found at the top of the Empire State Building and is later repatriated to Skull Island, where the original was found back in the 1930s. I'm up to the part where the expedition has returned to Skull Island, and they are about to explore it (and release Kong into the wild). It's been an interesting read thus far.

Johnathan

 

[Kramodlog]

Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie. It is off to a slow start, but I'm curious to see where she'll take me.

 

[Fasckira]

I've got a few on the go at the moment;

• Godwalker by Greg Stolze, fairly decent read set in the Unknown Armies universe.
• The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross, aka The Laundry Files. Finding it a bit tedious but maybe I'm not giving it enough time to get into it.
• Dracula: The Modern Prometheus by Rafael Chadler, a very good take on the traditional gothic horror tales.

 

[Jhaelen]

I finished Ken MacLeod's "Descent" last weekend. It's definitely his weakest book. The story's a convoluted mess that isn't saved by the few interesting ideas in it. Probably due to it's "conspiracy theory" theme, it reminded me unfavourably of the 'Illuminatus' trilogy. Up next is another Ken MacLeod novel: 'Intrusion'.

[*]The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross, aka The Laundry Files. Finding it a bit tedious but maybe I'm not giving it enough time to get into it.

You're not alone. I found it tedious, too. I've avoided Charles Stross since. I'm sure he's a nice dude, but I felt this novel was quite mediocre: A bunch of stereotype cardboard characters stumbling about in a superficially weird story marred by a bad sense of humour. I just posted in different thread about 'failed opportunities'; I feel this is yet another such case.

 

[was]

I am reading "The Striker" by Clive Cussler. It's about a detective solving terrorist-style acts amongst the coal and union strikes in the early 1900's.

 

[Altamont Ravenard]

Going through Michael J. Sullivan's "Heir of Novron" trilogy. First book was ok but the characters are pretty bland. Just started the second book and things are looking up!

AR

 

[Deset Gled]

Just finished "Ready Player One". It was fun and definitely worth the read, but also a little pulpy.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

I'm all over the shop with my reading recently. I finished Speaker for the Dead a few weeks ago. I bought it a couple of years back after reading (and loving) Ender's Game, but I just never got around to reading it. It was an enjoyable read.

I also finally read The Da Vinci Code. I bought it second hand for the grand price of $0.66 and finally decided to read it after finishing off Speaker for the Dead. I wasn't expecting much from it, but I found it to be worth the read. I definitely didn't pick the ending.

My most recent read was Compendium 3 of the Walking Dead comic book series. Pre-ordered it and then re-read Compendium 1 and 2 in the week or so before Compendium 3 was released so I could remember what was going on in the storyline. I think I may have issues as I laughed out loud at some of the lines Negan says. The guy is messed up, but I still found him quite funny.

 

[Kramodlog]

I just finished Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie. It certainly lost the charm of the first novel. With some digging I found that Leckie worked six years on Ancillary Justice, so this might explain why Ancillary Sword who was written in one year fell short. It had all the problems of the first without its qualities. I'm not too motivated to read the third one. I haven't bought it yet. The universe she built is very fascinating, but we just get teased by it. The plot was so thin that a tea set was literally more intriguing than it. The 354 pages were just used to put new players in play. Maybe the Radch and Breq should have been featured in just one novel. The prevalence of trilogies and series in sci-fi and fantasy is getting to be a turn off for me.

I've been looking around for acclaimed books to read and stuff like Altered Carbon and The Quantum Thief get a lot of good reviews and coverage, but the following books of their respective trilogies do not get the same reviews. Writing trilogies and series is almost a convention when writing sci-fi and fantasy, but it just seems to be a way to produce bad books after an initial good one and milk that success.

Right now I'm gonna read Liberty as an Illusion by the Marquis de Vauvenargues. Should be uplifting.