What we're reading, the SFF edition
- Thread starter Fenika
- Start date
Throne of Glass by Sarah Maas
This is YA fantasy, though it's the least "YAish" YA title I've ever read, and I'm told that the series grows up quite a bit in the subsequent books. The element I liked most about this story is the distinct "Osten Ard" level of suppressed magical undercurrent in the world. I think that's what hooked me more than anything else.
This is YA fantasy, though it's the least "YAish" YA title I've ever read, and I'm told that the series grows up quite a bit in the subsequent books. The element I liked most about this story is the distinct "Osten Ard" level of suppressed magical undercurrent in the world. I think that's what hooked me more than anything else.
I've started this and am a few chapters in. I'm surprised to find it's all Norse so far, though I imagine that changes later?
Recently read:
Farewell to the Master by Harry Bates
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle
I'm really enjoying my Sci-Fi writing class. It's a bit more on the English/Analysis end than on the Writing/Original end, but that's okay because for once it's about topics that I'm really interested in reading rather than something that I wouldn't look twice at on a shelf if I read the back cover or the first chapter. All of these are classics, as is next week's topic, Jurassic Park.
- Joined
- Jun 22, 2011
- Messages
- 404
- Reaction score
- 103
I tore through the firsts of a few Urban Fantasy series recently to get a better feel for the genre of my newest novel. Dead Witch Walking (The Hollows series), Moon Called (Mercy Thompson series), Magic Bites (Kate Daniels series). I continued with Magic Burns since I thought the setting was the most interesting of all three. I might continue with the rest of The Hollows series, too, but for now I ordered the next three of the Kate Daniels series.
I might even continue the Mercy Thompson series. All of them have so many books already. I won't be lacking for things to read for a while.
I might even continue the Mercy Thompson series. All of them have so many books already. I won't be lacking for things to read for a while.
Finished A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir. This is the second in what is going to be a four-book YA series.
High stakes, fairly fast-paced, and often dark and wrenching. I found that I did become weary of the characters being in a constant state of fear or danger or in the cruel hands of an enemy, but I'm glad I stuck with it, because things took a more interesting and hopeful turn toward the end, and now I'm curious to find out where she'll go with the story in the third book, whenever that's published.
Tahir has one of those success stories every writer dreams of. The first book in the series, An Ember in the Ashes, was her debut novel. After five weeks of querying, she found an agent, who sold both book rights and film rights at the same time, for major money. Both books have been on the NYT bestseller list. I had no idea of any of that when I first picked up Ember in a bookstore. I was attracted to the cover and the title, and by the end of the first page, I was hooked.
If I have any complaint about the books, it's that sometimes the pace is too relentless and the lives of the characters too dark and painful. At the same time, there's a sense of unreality about the world that meant that some of the darkest moments never touched me emotionally. They should have, but there was something lacking in their execution that I haven't been able to put my finger on. Almost like I was watching characters in a video game instead of real people. I'll have to puzzle on this for awhile.
OTOH, I was never bored. And she certainly has the trick of ratcheting the stakes up to impossible heights and making you think that nothing can save the day. Worth studying just for that.
High stakes, fairly fast-paced, and often dark and wrenching. I found that I did become weary of the characters being in a constant state of fear or danger or in the cruel hands of an enemy, but I'm glad I stuck with it, because things took a more interesting and hopeful turn toward the end, and now I'm curious to find out where she'll go with the story in the third book, whenever that's published.
Tahir has one of those success stories every writer dreams of. The first book in the series, An Ember in the Ashes, was her debut novel. After five weeks of querying, she found an agent, who sold both book rights and film rights at the same time, for major money. Both books have been on the NYT bestseller list. I had no idea of any of that when I first picked up Ember in a bookstore. I was attracted to the cover and the title, and by the end of the first page, I was hooked.
If I have any complaint about the books, it's that sometimes the pace is too relentless and the lives of the characters too dark and painful. At the same time, there's a sense of unreality about the world that meant that some of the darkest moments never touched me emotionally. They should have, but there was something lacking in their execution that I haven't been able to put my finger on. Almost like I was watching characters in a video game instead of real people. I'll have to puzzle on this for awhile.
OTOH, I was never bored. And she certainly has the trick of ratcheting the stakes up to impossible heights and making you think that nothing can save the day. Worth studying just for that.
I've really enjoyed those two books as well. I also think they're right at the upper end of YA, where there could be a lot of crossover appeal for audiences who normally don't read YA.
I recently finished the 2nd - 5th novels in The Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas - Crown of Midnight, Heir of Fire, Queen of Shadows, and Empire of Storms.
This is no longer YA, and if you like complex, rich fantasy stories, take a look at this series. But maybe wait until book 7 is published in a few years so you don't have to deal with the agonizing cliff hanger at the end of book 5.
This is no longer YA, and if you like complex, rich fantasy stories, take a look at this series. But maybe wait until book 7 is published in a few years so you don't have to deal with the agonizing cliff hanger at the end of book 5.
And it's been another month, so time for another update:
Last Read SF/F:
Jim Henson's The Storyteller: Dragons (The Jim Henson's Storyteller series, Daniel Bayliss et al., graphic novel, Nook via Hoopla): Based on the popular series that used puppetry and live-action to tell folktales and legends from around the world, this collection features four original adaptations, all featuring dragons.
I liked what I saw of the series, which showcased some great work by the Henson company, though some of the stories felt a little thin or incomplete. This graphic novel tribute/continuation also features great, imaginative artwork, though the stories tend to feel thin as well, losing something in cultural translation and adaptation. My favorite, for art and story, was the first tale, "Son of the Serpent," which hybridizes various Native American myths for the tale of a father and son having a fateful encounter with a horned serpent and its enemies, the thunderbirds; I loved the Northwest Coast style used to illustrate the mythical beasts, and the tale had a nice sense of completeness to the arc. Of the rest, the Japanese tale ("Samurai's Sacrifice") felt the most jumbled, with a forced ending that didn't really fit and was likely tacked onto the original folktale to appeal to modern audiences (and modern sensibilities for what children can handle in a tale.) Overall, though, it successfully captured the feel of the Henson series, with a certain folktale sensibility that will likely appeal to fans of the show and of old stories.
Every Heart a Doorway (Seanan McGuire, young adult? fantasy, Kindle): A woman runs a special boarding school for children who have been to other worlds, helping them cope with the psychological fallout of having to adapt to life on mundane Earth all over again. Here, the teen girl Nancy - hair bleached white from the touch of the Lord of Death - struggles to come to terms with the likelihood that she'll never return to the one place she truly felt she belonged. Shortly after her arrival, though, other students start dying, horribly mutilated... and most everyone can't help suspecting the strange new girl who once danced with the Lord of Death himself.
This novella, recent winner of a Nebula, falls in a gray area between young adult and grown-up; the characters are mostly teens, but something about the way the tale unfolds makes me think it was written with an older audience in mind; it's as much about mourning the loss of childhood as it is about magical worlds or murders. It deals with the psychological fallout few writers consider: if you truly had gone to another world, one where you discovered your true self, one where you could walk on a rainbow or ride a unicorn or be named champion to a queen, how could you ever really adapt to this Earth - with its immutable physics and stubbornly linear time - and lead a "normal" life again? The story is somehow bleak and beautiful simultaneously, with unexpected characters and hints of all manner of wondrous worlds just beyond the reach of us grown-ups. Highly recommended.
Currently Reading SF/F:
Saber Tooth (The Dawn of Mammals series, Book 1, Lou Cadle, SF, Kindle): A park ranger, a paleontologist, and a high school teacher lead a group of science honors students on a fossil hunt in the Badlands... only to fall through a rift in time. Now, this unprepared band must survive in a world populated by extinct animals and unknown dangers.
It was a discounted download, and looked like a readable action tale. So far, that's about what it is - and not much more than that, either. The characters seem rather thin, with a subtle sexist slant. Enough is happening to keep me reading, but it's not particularly gripping or original... but I'm not quite halfway through yet, so maybe it picks up.
There also may or may not be a genre/otherworld element to another title I'm reading, Louis L'Amour's The Haunted Mesa (a man is seeking a friend who disappeared in the desert, possibly abducted into another world by surviving descendants of the Anasazi culture), but the MC won't commit to believing in it. Frankly, I'm ready to smack the guy senseless if he wastes any more time hemming and hawing and having the same, almost word for word, arguments with himself over whether this is an exceptionally elaborate kidnapping hoax or a real encounter with a parallel world. (Right now, the parallel world theory makes much more sense, as the level of time, money, and commitment required to pull all this off as a hoax are simply beyond belief.) I've reached the point where I'm largely finishing out of a vague sense of obligation, as I posted it under my Currently Reading list on my blog.
Last Read SF/F:
Jim Henson's The Storyteller: Dragons (The Jim Henson's Storyteller series, Daniel Bayliss et al., graphic novel, Nook via Hoopla): Based on the popular series that used puppetry and live-action to tell folktales and legends from around the world, this collection features four original adaptations, all featuring dragons.
I liked what I saw of the series, which showcased some great work by the Henson company, though some of the stories felt a little thin or incomplete. This graphic novel tribute/continuation also features great, imaginative artwork, though the stories tend to feel thin as well, losing something in cultural translation and adaptation. My favorite, for art and story, was the first tale, "Son of the Serpent," which hybridizes various Native American myths for the tale of a father and son having a fateful encounter with a horned serpent and its enemies, the thunderbirds; I loved the Northwest Coast style used to illustrate the mythical beasts, and the tale had a nice sense of completeness to the arc. Of the rest, the Japanese tale ("Samurai's Sacrifice") felt the most jumbled, with a forced ending that didn't really fit and was likely tacked onto the original folktale to appeal to modern audiences (and modern sensibilities for what children can handle in a tale.) Overall, though, it successfully captured the feel of the Henson series, with a certain folktale sensibility that will likely appeal to fans of the show and of old stories.
Every Heart a Doorway (Seanan McGuire, young adult? fantasy, Kindle): A woman runs a special boarding school for children who have been to other worlds, helping them cope with the psychological fallout of having to adapt to life on mundane Earth all over again. Here, the teen girl Nancy - hair bleached white from the touch of the Lord of Death - struggles to come to terms with the likelihood that she'll never return to the one place she truly felt she belonged. Shortly after her arrival, though, other students start dying, horribly mutilated... and most everyone can't help suspecting the strange new girl who once danced with the Lord of Death himself.
This novella, recent winner of a Nebula, falls in a gray area between young adult and grown-up; the characters are mostly teens, but something about the way the tale unfolds makes me think it was written with an older audience in mind; it's as much about mourning the loss of childhood as it is about magical worlds or murders. It deals with the psychological fallout few writers consider: if you truly had gone to another world, one where you discovered your true self, one where you could walk on a rainbow or ride a unicorn or be named champion to a queen, how could you ever really adapt to this Earth - with its immutable physics and stubbornly linear time - and lead a "normal" life again? The story is somehow bleak and beautiful simultaneously, with unexpected characters and hints of all manner of wondrous worlds just beyond the reach of us grown-ups. Highly recommended.
Currently Reading SF/F:
Saber Tooth (The Dawn of Mammals series, Book 1, Lou Cadle, SF, Kindle): A park ranger, a paleontologist, and a high school teacher lead a group of science honors students on a fossil hunt in the Badlands... only to fall through a rift in time. Now, this unprepared band must survive in a world populated by extinct animals and unknown dangers.
It was a discounted download, and looked like a readable action tale. So far, that's about what it is - and not much more than that, either. The characters seem rather thin, with a subtle sexist slant. Enough is happening to keep me reading, but it's not particularly gripping or original... but I'm not quite halfway through yet, so maybe it picks up.
There also may or may not be a genre/otherworld element to another title I'm reading, Louis L'Amour's The Haunted Mesa (a man is seeking a friend who disappeared in the desert, possibly abducted into another world by surviving descendants of the Anasazi culture), but the MC won't commit to believing in it. Frankly, I'm ready to smack the guy senseless if he wastes any more time hemming and hawing and having the same, almost word for word, arguments with himself over whether this is an exceptionally elaborate kidnapping hoax or a real encounter with a parallel world. (Right now, the parallel world theory makes much more sense, as the level of time, money, and commitment required to pull all this off as a hoax are simply beyond belief.) I've reached the point where I'm largely finishing out of a vague sense of obligation, as I posted it under my Currently Reading list on my blog.
Last edited:
@Brightdreamer - Every Heart A Doorway is cued up on my Kindle - I should get to it soon. Looking forward to reading it.
Just finished The Black Elfstone by Terry Brooks. This is book 1 of 4 in the final story of the Four Lands. It was a good set up for the quadrilogy.
Just finished The Black Elfstone by Terry Brooks. This is book 1 of 4 in the final story of the Four Lands. It was a good set up for the quadrilogy.
- Joined
- Jun 17, 2017
- Messages
- 95
- Reaction score
- 20
I just finished the latest book in the Toby Daye series, by Seanan Maguire. The protagonist has grown a lot over the course of the series, and I have enjoyed it quite a bit.
I also just read Dreadnought, by April Daniels. It was also quite good.
I also just read Dreadnought, by April Daniels. It was also quite good.
Maybe belongs in the YA section, but Forest of a Thousand Lanterns was rather good. I envy authors younger than me who can bring characters to life that well.
Paulsvault
Registered
I am finishing a re-read of Slaughterhouse Five, and afterwards I will begin Joe Abercrombie's second trilogy, Shattered Sea, Half a King. If it is anywhere near the First Law Series I will be beyond happy. Logen Ninefingers quickly became one of my all-time favorite characters.
I'm reading World of Warcraft: Chronicles of Azeroth Vol.1. I've always been a sucker for lore books, and this one is hard to put down. It's interesting, the Warcraft universe is 1000s of years old, but the story stretching across all three Warcraft games and WoW has taken place in a period of about 40 years. And as far as lore writing goes, it reads a lot like a myth, which is very cool.
The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill
My now 5th grader brought home a list of summer reading requirements. He selected this one, because it was the only fantasy choice on the list. It's a children's book - probably right at a 5th grade reading level. But it's the kind of book that's a children's book like The Hobbit is. I loved this story. It is beautiful and magical and deep in ways that truly surprised me.
My now 5th grader brought home a list of summer reading requirements. He selected this one, because it was the only fantasy choice on the list. It's a children's book - probably right at a 5th grade reading level. But it's the kind of book that's a children's book like The Hobbit is. I loved this story. It is beautiful and magical and deep in ways that truly surprised me.
- Joined
- May 18, 2017
- Messages
- 97
- Reaction score
- 12
My most recent SFF reads include American Gods, Duskfall by Christopher Husberg, and Moth and Spark by Anne Leonard.
American Gods was all right. My sister has been bugging me to read it because she absolutely loved it, but I thought it was just okay. Hard to pin down why, exactly. I actually liked the more mundane parts of the book rather than the "magic" parts. Really liked the MC, Shadow.
I liked Duskfall a lot, especially since I found it after going through a bit of a drought with SFF. I liked the Jason Bourne-like plot, the characters, the quest, and am very excited for the sequel, which just came out today.
Moth and Spark was an odd read. A romance story with dragons, basically, which sounds cool, except that it sometimes felt like two different stories. I actually really enjoyed the romance, which was about the first three-fourths of the story. Then all of a sudden the fantasy part of the plot - the dragons, an invasion - came roaring to life at the end, and it felt very abrupt and and kind of jarring. It kind of read like Melanie Rawn's Dragon books, but...not as good.
I love the Kate Daniels series, and the Hollows is on my to-read list, too. I came kind of late to the urban fantasy train, but luckily, as you pointed out, there's a lot out there.
I love this series, and agree it's not so much YA. From what I've heard from the author, she really intended both her current series to be more NA, back when NA was first becoming a thing and was supposed to be an age group. But instead it mostly became a subset of the romance genre, so Maas' books usually get shelved with YA.
I got halfway through the first October Daye book and ended up putting it down without finishing, not sure why. I don't think it was that I didn't like it, more that it just wasn't what I was in the mood for, at the time. I'll probably try it again someday.
American Gods was all right. My sister has been bugging me to read it because she absolutely loved it, but I thought it was just okay. Hard to pin down why, exactly. I actually liked the more mundane parts of the book rather than the "magic" parts. Really liked the MC, Shadow.
I liked Duskfall a lot, especially since I found it after going through a bit of a drought with SFF. I liked the Jason Bourne-like plot, the characters, the quest, and am very excited for the sequel, which just came out today.
Moth and Spark was an odd read. A romance story with dragons, basically, which sounds cool, except that it sometimes felt like two different stories. I actually really enjoyed the romance, which was about the first three-fourths of the story. Then all of a sudden the fantasy part of the plot - the dragons, an invasion - came roaring to life at the end, and it felt very abrupt and and kind of jarring. It kind of read like Melanie Rawn's Dragon books, but...not as good.
I love the Kate Daniels series, and the Hollows is on my to-read list, too. I came kind of late to the urban fantasy train, but luckily, as you pointed out, there's a lot out there.
I love this series, and agree it's not so much YA. From what I've heard from the author, she really intended both her current series to be more NA, back when NA was first becoming a thing and was supposed to be an age group. But instead it mostly became a subset of the romance genre, so Maas' books usually get shelved with YA.
I got halfway through the first October Daye book and ended up putting it down without finishing, not sure why. I don't think it was that I didn't like it, more that it just wasn't what I was in the mood for, at the time. I'll probably try it again someday.
- Joined
- Jun 17, 2017
- Messages
- 95
- Reaction score
- 20
The first time I read the first book I put it aside and didn't really think about the rest of the series. Then I picked it up again, read, it, and plowed through the series a fast I could get them.
Partials, by Dan Wells.
Enjoying the heck out of this. When I'd heard it was like Battlestar Galactica, I got excited and thought "well why not?" and picked it up and so far (though I'm quite early on) I'm enjoying it. Though I'm waiting for a big twist to occur, because I'm fairly certain one (or many) will be coming.
Enjoying the heck out of this. When I'd heard it was like Battlestar Galactica, I got excited and thought "well why not?" and picked it up and so far (though I'm quite early on) I'm enjoying it. Though I'm waiting for a big twist to occur, because I'm fairly certain one (or many) will be coming.
The Warded Man (The Demon Cycle #1) by Peter V. Brett
Great world building, well developed and likable characters, and an interesting magic system.
I am overly sensitive to certain topics, even when handled well and from the perspective of the victim - rape, incest, child sex abuse. Bleck. You'll find all three in this story. I understand that they belong in stories. I'm just not a fan.
Great world building, well developed and likable characters, and an interesting magic system.
I am overly sensitive to certain topics, even when handled well and from the perspective of the victim - rape, incest, child sex abuse. Bleck. You'll find all three in this story. I understand that they belong in stories. I'm just not a fan.
Yeah, that turned me off the books too. I want to try again since I already have the book, but I'm still not hooked yet. The ickiness is outweighing the fantasy a bit.
And you are only on Book 1? There is more to come, and the later instances disturbed me more AND could have been dispensed with altogether. I love the magic systems though, and the writing is good. Having said that, I'm stopping with Book 3, The Daylight War. As far as I'm concerned, the ending in this book is a good finish.
I actually thought the fourth book was a step back in the right direction with the series, and I'm excited to read the fifth book because Brett has said there won't be any flashbacks. I've found a lot of the flashbacks annoying and unnecessary throughout the series.
I've been very hesitant to get into either Peter Brett or Mark Lawrence. More than able to handle that kind of heavy-duty squick and pointless juvenile cruelty. Rarely have an interest, though.
Yes, I stopped there. Thanks so much for that feedback. I'm done with these. Maybe someday if my sensitivities change I'll pick them up again.
Thanks.
I'll avoid Lawrence as well then. Thanks.