What we're reading, the SFF edition

I'm almost finished with The Providence of Fire. Two down, one to go.

Finished The Price of Valor by Django Wexler. Another great entry in the series. Wexler is becoming one of my new favorite authors.

Reading Roger Zelazny's Nine Princes in Amber. I've got the entire chronicles in 2 books that I dug out of an uncle's basement when I was 14. During my "high fantasy" phase it provided a unique take on the tropes rather than the usual "quest" type that is so prevalent. Instantly what drew me in was the "everyman" tone to Corwin's opening, waking up in the hospital with no memories, yet just unbothered by it enough to playfully whip out some zingers and witty sarcasm, half talking and half threatening his way out of the doctors and nurses clutches. I don't think I have any real complaints about any of these books; originally, the number of siblings right off the bat is confusing but on this, the 4th or 5th read through, instantly pops into my head memories of who these people are along with their names upon first mention and description. There's hardly a time when I don't root for Corwin through the entire thing, even when he acts on anger or pride, it feels reasonable because we've been with him through all the BS and we're kinda angry about this crap too.

Ok, it's not SFF (or even fiction!) but right now I am enjoying immensely Mary Beard's SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome. It's very well written, doesn't pull any punches with respect to older ideas that haven't held up, and is careful to include as much detail as we know about the lives of women, slaves, and "ordinary people". It's also full of great, dramatic, often stranger-than-fiction stories that have my writer brain a-buzzin.

Oh, and it's >600 hardcover pages, so, readable but not "quick" by any measure. I'm hoping I can finish it before it's due back at the library...

@eskay- I swore I would never read another Roman history book (not out of lack of love for the Romans, mind you, just burnout), but you've got me interested, since Mary Beard is quite excellent IMHO.

I enjoyed Peter Heather's The Fall of the Roman Empire, hard going in places but it takes an excellent and comprehensive look at Rome in its later decadent period and the issues that brought it down. Mainly barbarians, in Heather's opinion, though he takes a nuanced look at the issue and introduces some rather interesting characters. I, for one, had never heard of Flavius Stilicho, if you ever want an expy for your space opera or fantasy novel, he'd be a good one. Also, Heather's book has some rather punny chapter names, my favorite being Thrace: The Final Frontier.

Kjbartolotta, I felt the same way--Romans, snore--but my husband was reading it and said I would enjoy it. I'm only about halfway through but I believe this book focuses on the history of Rome from the beginning to the beginning of the 3rd century CE, so it sounds like the Heather book would be an excellent complement.

3/4 of the way through House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard and it's phenomenal, definitely worthy of the awards it's won.

Working on The Six Gun Tarot by R.S. Belcher. (I'm on a panel with him this weekend and have a copy of the book, but have never finished it. Thought I should ask him to sign it, but then thought I should probably finish it first. )

Finished Three by Jay Posey. A lot of action, but you feel a bit like you're thrown into the deep end. It worked for me, and I liked it, but I didn't connect quite as much as I would have liked. If you like post-apocalyptic, action-packed stories, it's worth a shot.

Fortress of Owls. Because I haven't read Cherryh in a while and that's not a good state of affairs.

A bit less than 25% into the book. It's hard to nitpick an author like this, though for this book, there are times when the style slows me down just a tad. Some interrupted thoughts from the POV character that make a scene feel slightly disjointed, a little too much detail in the POV character's thought process a couple times, but nothing that makes me truly grumpy. After some of the self-pubbed stuff that should have been worked on more before publishing, it's lovely to read some polished writing.

> OwlEyes

> Fortress of Owls

Aggy B. said:

Working on The Six Gun Tarot by R.S. Belcher. (I'm on a panel with him this weekend and have a copy of the book, but have never finished it. Thought I should ask him to sign it, but then thought I should probably finish it first. )

Click to expand...

I keep looking at that one... let us know what you think of it. (And how the panel goes. )

Might as well update my Recently Read SF/F...

Steelheart (Book 1 of the Reckoners trilogy, Brandon Sanderson, YA sci-fi, in Paperback): In a world where superpowered humans known as Epics squabble for power and territory, hardly caring about the normals they destroy, a teen boy's drive for vengeance leads him to the Reckoners, a terrorist cell dedicated to picking off Epics and the only "normal" resistance to their reign. I usually enjoy Sanderson, and I'd read good things about this trilogy, but I found the tale a little flat. Most of the characters come from the stock bin, if lightly repainted, and some (but not all) of the twists were a little obvious to everyone but the MC. Most lacking was the usual "hard" rules of the world; the Epic powers are just too random and prone to growing or shrinking to meet the plot needs. It also felt like it was deliberately dithering for page count. On the other hand, it had a nice aesthetic, a near-future superhero-world-gone-apocalyptic feel, and some high-powered action sequences. Ultimately, it just wasn't my thing, and I don't see myself pursuing the trilogy.

Crenshaw (Katherine Applegate, MG fantasy, on Kindle): Fifth-grader Jackson, facing family troubles and impending homelessness (not for the first time in his young life), discovers his former imaginary friend, the big talking cat Crenshaw, returning to his life... and all the science and facts that the reason-loving boy throws at it won't make the cat go away. On the surface, it looks like a simple story of a boy and the imaginary pal who returns during a chaotic, scary time in his life, but Applegate hides some complex issues and thorny emotions in there, making for an interesting read. Crenshaw's fun, and he's more than just a boy's coping tactic, if less than fully corporeal. I enjoyed it.

The Princess Bride (William Goldman, fantasy, in paperback): Basis for the classic movie, the tale of beautiful Buttercup, gallant Westley, evil Prince Humperdinck, adventure and danger and True Love unfolds in an "abridged" version of an old fairy tale, read by a father to his son. A rather amusing book, it dates a little around the edges but holds up reasonably well. The part that got most tiresome was Goldman's conceit of "S. Morgenstern", who wrote the "original" book, not to mention Goldman's insistence that the events and settings are based on reality. It got particularly wearisome on this special edition, with long-winded extra material and fragments of a likely-never-to-happen sequel - a sequel that just plain doesn't have the same flow or energy as the main story.

Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor
First book in the Chronicles of St Mary's

Premise is a historical research establishment, linked to a University, where the historians can go back to the past to see what actually happened. Starts with a new recruit. Great fun so far (about 1/4 of the way in). Believable bunch of enthusiastic specialists. Nice line in dry humour.

Finished The Spider's War by Daniel Abraham. Solid ending to a solid series. Abraham is masterful at characterization, and he does political and economic intrigue very well. It's a bit slower and less action-packed than what I typically enjoy, but it was so well done that I enjoyed it anyway. It isn't in my list of favorites, though.

I'm re-reading Cassandra Clare's books, starting with the Mortal Instruments series. I just fnished book 3, City of Glass and I'll be starting City of Fallen Angels

Finished The Well of Ascension and The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn books 2 & 3). These surprised me. I struggled through The Final Empire. The magic system was too hard for me. I can't leave a story unfinished though, so I picked these up and prepared to pull myself through them - without iron. I couldn't put them down, and found them much more enjoyable than the first.

I also finished The Castle of Llyr with my son. This is the strongest of the three so far in both of our opinions.

I started The Spiderwick Chronicles by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi with my daughter - we read The Field Guide. I've been struggling to find books she enjoys, and I think I finally snagged her with these. Fingers crossed.

Re-reading LOTR because it's summer and I need my tried-and-true. Once I've done with these, I have V.E. Schwab's A Darker Shade of Magic​ waiting for me. Can't wait!

Just finished The Liar's Key by Mark Lawrence.

I recently finished Swan Song by Robert McKammon. Not bad, not bad at all. A nice, fast, thrilling piece of apocalyptic fiction that moved infinitely faster than the Stand – which I'm still sloughing through, btw. Only reading that one because I'm writing a post-apocalyptic story and everyone and their mom says it's the definitive work on the topic. Was thinking of reading World War Z next.

Anyone else had apocalyptic novel that they enjoyed? The lists on goodreads are a mess, mixing up apocalyptic with dystopian and it ain't the same freakin' thing.

It's kind of a shame, but it's been sometime since I finished a book. I keep starting books just to never finish because they get dull somewhere in the middle. It seems authors have been trained to make their beginnings the best part, and because of this everything else seems dull in comparison. To me, anyway.

I finished the Redrising trilogy early this year. It is awesome.

Edit: I need to start a new audio book. Any good new Sci-Fi (not fantasy)?

History binge: "The Medieval Underworld" by Andrew McCall and "A Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England" by Ian Mortimer. In the middle of the second, just started the first. These were preceded by SPQR, a series of murder mysteries set in Republican Rome, written by John Maddox Roberts - fun and well-researched.

Found buried on my TBR pile, the last of the Ender's Shadow series, Shadow of the Giant.

I'm a little over 100 pages in and so far... meh. About as bad as the others. Not moving fast enough for my tastes. Too many plots, not enough space type thing.

I just started our own SL Huang's Zero Sum Game, which I have been excited to read for a while.

Finished The Path of Flames by Phil Tucker. It's one of the entrants in Mark Lawrence's Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off, and I won't be at all surprised if it's the eventual winner. It was probably the best book I've read so far this year (both trade-published and self-published). It had me right from the huge battle scene at the beginning and kept me with the strong characterization and world full of mystery.