What we're reading, the SFF edition

MonsterTamer

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Jade City by Fonda Lee

I heard a review and recommendation of this book on NPR. The last time I heard a rave epic fantasy review on NPR, it wasn't great. This, however, was.

If you're looking for some modern epic fantasy that isn't Eurocentric, this is for you.
 

Princess Of Needles

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The Bear and the Nightingale

It's okay so far. Admittedly, I'm having trouble remembering why I decided to buy this one in the first place.
 

RobertLCollins

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Last night I finished reading Howl's Moving Castle. Another fun read! Not sure what I'll start on next...
 

insolentlad

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I am revisiting Philip Jose Farmer's 'Riders of the Purple Wage.' It's been at least thirty years since I originally read it, and it's every bit as, um, unique as I remember!
 

BethS

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The Bear and the Nightingale

It's okay so far. Admittedly, I'm having trouble remembering why I decided to buy this one in the first place.

I started that one and gave up fairly quickly. Just couldn't get into it.
 

MonsterTamer

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La Belle Sauvage (The Book of Dust #1) by Philip Pullman

This is the first of Pullman's novels I've read. It was good, and I'd recommend it. It's the beginning of a series, which is good, because I'm not sure what's going on with a lot of elements of the story and the magic system. It's an interesting take on an alternate England where elements of magic and the church are intermingled.
 

Brightdreamer

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La Belle Sauvage (The Book of Dust #1) by Philip Pullman

This is the first of Pullman's novels I've read. It was good, and I'd recommend it. It's the beginning of a series, which is good, because I'm not sure what's going on with a lot of elements of the story and the magic system. It's an interesting take on an alternate England where elements of magic and the church are intermingled.

You'll probably want to read Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, set in the same universe, for more on the system and the church and whatnot.

Well, another monthish, another procrastination update...

Recently Read SF/F:
Sparrow Hill Road (Book 1 of the the Ghost Roads series, Seanan McGuire, horror/fantasy, paperback): The camp fire story/urban legend of the Phantom Prom Date gets to tell her own story, a tale of a hidden twilight America where roads channel power, vehicles can have souls, and hitchhikers can be ghosts. Rose Marshall was just sixteen when she was run off the road on the night of her prom, a victim of Bobby Cross. Cross sold his soul at a crossroads in a bargain for immortality, price to be paid in harvested souls, but the dead Rose got away before he could catch her... and she's been fleeing him for decades since as a hitcher ghost. Only she's getting tired of running, tired of knowing Bobby Cross is out there taking more victims as he tried to take her. Somebody has to stop him - someone like the forever prom girl Rose.

As I've come to expect from McGuire, this is a well-paced and utterly absorbing story, creating an American roadside mythology of lost spirits and lost roadways. Rose is a gutsy heroine, no longer the sweet small town girl she used to be, up against a terrifying villain in Bobby Cross. The book is actually a collection of short stories, though it builds toward a solid arc and climax as it goes. Sometimes fun, sometimes sad, sometimes bitter and sometimes sweet, I enjoyed it greatly and am looking forward to the sequel.

WE3 (issues 1 - 3, Grant Morrison, graphic novel/SF, Nook via Hoopla): A prototype program created the WE3 unit out of three former housepets - the dog 1, the cat 2, and the rabbit 3 - a cybernetically enhanced tactical strike team that puts no human soldiers at risk while being devastatingly effective in field operations. But with funding secured and the new model ready to unveil, the prototypes are to be destroyed like any obsolete tech... only nobody consulted the animals, who have a rudimentary grasp of English thanks to their enhancements. They escape, beginning a bloody flight across the countryside in search of a place they dimly recalled, a place where they won't have to hunt or kill called "home."

In the vein of Richard Adams's Plague Dogs, this is a brutal, gory tale of how inhuman humanity can be, an unsubtle condemnation of both war and military animal usage. Some of the action sequences are a bit choppy and hard to follow and the gore soon loses its shock value, but it does a decent job getting into the heads of its nonhuman cast. A decent read, with a few powerful and memorable moments.

A Darker Shade of Magic (Book 1 of the Shades of Magic series, V. E. Schwab, fantasy, paperback): Once there were four parallel worlds, with four Londons standing side by side on the same plot of land... but then Black London fell, consumed by its own magic. To protect themselves, the other three closed their doors, which can now only be crossed by rare blood mages. Three centuries later, Red London thrives, Grey London has all but forgotten what little magic it still has, and White London has become a haunted place as a power-hungry populace resort to ever more desperate measures under a succession of increasingly cruel monarchs.
Kell, one of two remaining blood mages, hails from Red London but feels at home in none, for all that he was adopted by royalty. He runs a small smuggling ring on the side, illegally carrying trinkets from the different Londons to paying collectors... but his latest trinket is anything but harmless, a relic of forbidden Black London that holds unimaginable power. He flees with it to Grey London... and into the path of Lila, a thief determined to make a name for herself and find an Adventure to live. The two are forced to become allies when the dark stone's powers are unleashed, threatening all three remaining Londons.

This one took a while to grow on me, for all that it's reasonably fast paced. Lila starts out selfish and a bit stupid when she first encounters magic, and Kell begins the story rather broody and sullen. For some reason, I kept envisioning Kell as an anime character, what with his broody nature and the way his hair is described as falling over one eye. In any event, it turns into a decent, action-oriented tale, if with a few too many cuts to side characters that don't always pan out.

Currently Reading SF/F:
Ghost Talkers (Mary Robinette Kowal, fantasy, paperback): In an alternate WWI, England's top-secret Spirit Corps take reports from recently-killed soldiers on the front lines, an invaluable intelligence tactic... but the Germans may be figuring out how the allies are keeping up with their maneuvers, and traitors within the base may be about to strike at the heart of the operation. Unfortunately, the top brass don't like listening to women, which most of the mediums are, brushing off the news as mere fancy: it's up to Ginger, the woman who took a murdered soldier's last report, to uncover the plot on her own.

Just started this one a couple nights ago. Interesting premise and decent characters so far.

And I'm poking at a SF title on my Kindle (Jo Clayton's Skeen's Leap, about an interplantery Laura Croft-type artifact hunter who has stumbled onto a Big Find), but haven't committed to finishing yet. I think I will, but there's enough wobbliness in the writing that I might give it up. We'll see how the next chapter or so goes...
 

MonsterTamer

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Flamecaster and Shadowcaster (Shattered Realms, #1 & 2) by Cinda Williams Chima

This is YA fantasy. I thought at first I was getting into another "angry, overpowered teenage girl lights the world on fire" book, but not so. This has interesting characters and what I think is a layered, complex magic system, though at this point in the series I'm not sure the extent of it. There were two main characters in book 1, and then she went back a bit in the timeline and then forward in book 2 with two different POV characters. I'm curious to see how she connects this ever-expanding web she's building.
 

JJ Litke

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I got the last of the Murderbot Diaries, Exit Strategy, yesterday. I'm going to go start on it in a few minutes here. I highly recommend these, they're freaking awesome; the first one won the Hugo for best novella back in August. And since they're novellas, they're fast reads. Which is kind of a pros and cons thing—they don't require big time commitment, but they're over too quick).
 

Satori1977

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A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. I am absolutely loving it. It is definitely more character driven than plot driven. If anything, it is slower than most SFF books I read. But I adore the diverse characters and the world-building.
 

SJCress

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I just finished Interesting Gods by Matthew Storm. It's book 4 of his Interesting Times series, which I read one after another and now I want more. That's about as good a recommendation as I can give!
 

BT Lamprey

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I echo the praise of Martha Wells' Exit Strategy, which I just finished. In an afternoon.

Other than leaving me wanting more, it was a fantastic entry to the Murderbot series.

I'm tempted to track down some of Martha Wells' older work, but I'm not sure where to start.
 

LesFewer

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Elmore Leonard's Swag. I really love his writing style!

A good science fiction book that I'd recommend is Dan Simmon's Hyperion, like if you could only read one science fiction book.
 
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jmurray2112

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I'm most of the way through Sea of Rust by C. Robert Cargill. I'm really enjoying it. It's an interesting take on AI inheriting the earth.
 

RobertLCollins

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Over the last week I read the final two books in Lisa Shearin's "Raine Benares" series, Treasure & Treason and Ruins & Revenge. I enjoyed them, though I missed having Raine's point of view in these last two books. The action shifted to another character, and while he wasn't as witty and snarky as Raine, it was good to follow him. I liked coming back to the world and learning a little more about it in the midst of another adventure.
 

MonsterTamer

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I finished Megan Whalen Turner's The Queen's Thief series - The King of Attolia, A Conspiracy of Kings, and Thick as Thieves.

I really liked this series. The main character, Gen, is very likable, and the story is clever.

I also finished the first two books in Rea Carson's The Gold Seer Trilogy - Walk on Earth a Stranger and Like a River Glorious.

These are set in mid-nineteenth century America during the California gold rush. The main character's magic allows her to detect gold. I'll finish the last one soon.

And, for fun and with the kids, Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer. The humor in this rivals Rick Roirdan. It's cute and good for middle grade fantasy.
 

Will Rogers

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I may be a bit late to the party, but I'm currently reading (and loving) The Martian. It's the first book I've been unable to put down for quite a while.
 

MonsterTamer

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The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher

This is the first time I've read a story by Jim Butcher. It was well told, and I would recommend it.
 

indianroads

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Just finished Red Hope by John Dreese - not bad, but it suffers from unlikable characters and choppy prose. The story kept me reading, but in the end just went no where.

I see a new GOT novel is coming out, I may try to pick that up next.
 

Myrealana

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Listening to "The Name of the Wind" on audio. I'm on chapter 8 and so far, I'm enjoying it.

Reading "The Passage" by Justin Cronin in physical book form. I'm about half-way through. So far, I'm a little lost on where it's going. I really got into the opening chapters, but then it takes a big time jump and changes characters, setting, and really everything. I'm not sure if I like it, but I'm far enough in, I'm going to finish before I make a final call.
 

llawrence

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I just started A Game of Thrones. I'm surprised and disappointed that I don't really care for it so far. I hope that changes, because we bought the whole series!

It has helped me with my writing, though. I was unsure whether my novels fall into Young Adult category; now, by comparison, I'm pretty sure they do.