What we're reading, the SFF edition

MonsterTamer said:

The Queens of Innis Lear by Tessa Gratton

This stand-alone is loosely based on King Lear. ​The writing is beautiful.

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Ooh. I keep eyeing that one at the book store because I love all things Lear.

Currently working my way through The Witcher series by Andrzej Sapkowski. I’m on Book 2. Need to know more about these characters so onward I continue...

Yesterday I finished Assassin's Quest, the third book Robin Hobb's Farseer Trilogy. An interesting and satisfying conclusion to the trilogy. Also nicely odd at times. I haven't run across that much when it comes to magic or to visiting the ruins of an ancient fantasy culture. Kept me reading as I wanted to know the explanations for what the characters were seeing. Not quite sure what I'll read next. I'll have to check prices before I spend my pennies.

I'm on the last book of the Firebird trilogy by Claudia Gray. I've plowed through them all within the last few days: A Thousand Pieces of You, Ten Thousand Skies Above You, and now A Million Worlds with You. I am surprised by how much I like these books. Yay for a main character who is an artist and that actually makes a difference in the story. It isn't just an accessory. This has to be one of the more defty written romantic triangles since each character in the triangle is also bunch of other versions of themselves in different dimensions. The science is thin but I appreciate that they at least try to describe how it works. Most importantly I like how there are consequences. The characters think about this, they philosophize about it. The good ones take responsibility.
Beautiful cover artwork.
I'm a little tired of hearing about Paul's muscular shoulders though.

Quests for Glory (The School for Good and Evil: The Camelot Years #1) by Soman Chainani

This installment was just as good as the original trilogy. The characters are a bit older, but still as set in their paths. I really enjoy the twisting of the fairy tales this author has made to create this world.

The Queen of Attolia (The Queen's Thief, #2) by Megan Whalen Turner

Has anyone else read this series? I enjoy it, and I love the characters, but the omniscient POV seems very odd. I haven't read much in omni, and am wondering if this author's storytelling is similar to others in the same POV.

Earth Is Room Enough A collection of shorts by Isaac Asimov.

Some gems in there, like Franchise, The Message and Dreaming is a Private Thing. Also a couple of duds, notably The Dead Past and Hell-Fire. Overall, definitely recommendable.

Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor

A friend recommended I read this after I told her I loved Strange the Dreamer It wasn't as good, in my opinion, but it was still an excellent book. It's an interesting take on the "angels and demons" trope.

Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance by Ruth Emmie Lang

This is a stand alone, which I appreciate now more than ever. It seems like every book I pick up now is part of a long, drawn out grouping of books. This story was interesting in the POV's used to tell it. I would recommend it.

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novak

This book is wonderful. I would highly recommend it.

Earth Unknown by M R Forbes. Good book, I’m enjoying it.

I recently had to set aside the latest book by Sara King. Normally I love her work, but I just couldn’t get into this one.

Sabriel by Garth Nix. I picked it out of the available audiobooks available through my library's digital service to slow my Audible spending. I'm quite pleased with every part of it--the balanced story, original magic system, character interaction and development. I'm most impressed with Nix's smooth writing style and word choice. I find his writing inspiring but equally demoralizing in that he writes how I wish I could and don't think I will ever be able to. I've seen this referred to as YA but I think that's up for debate.

aheuett said:

Sabriel by Garth Nix. I picked it out of the available audiobooks available through my library's digital service to slow my Audible spending. I'm quite pleased with every part of it--the balanced story, original magic system, character interaction and development. I'm most impressed with Nix's smooth writing style and word choice. I find his writing inspiring but equally demoralizing in that he writes how I wish I could and don't think I will ever be able to. I've seen this referred to as YA but I think that's up for debate.

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It was marketed as YA, definitely, it and its companions/sequels. And that "he writes how I wish I could and don't think I will ever be able to" applies to so much of what I read it's not even funny... but it's what keeps me going.

Well, been about a month, time to procrastinate/update...

Recently Read SF/F:
Disenchanted & Co. (Book 1 of the Disenchanted & Co. series, Lynn Viehl, fantasy/romance/SF, Nook via Overdrive): In a steampunk alternate America where the Revolutionary War was lost, the march of technology has done nothing to stem the popularity of magic, with fortune tellers and charm sellers and even deathmages for hire on every street corner... just the sort of nonsense Charmain "Kit" Kitteridge can't stand. She's never seen the stuff work, and is convinced it's all flim-flammery, but when she gains a reputation as a spell-breaker she's more than willing to capitalize on it, if it'll help at least a few people get that nonsense out of their heads. But her latest case, helping a wealthy woman with a series of increasingly-malicious attacks by a "ghost" in her home, plunges her into a dark plot that may make even the great skeptic Kit finally believe in the darkest of magic.

This book had plenty of potential, but ended up feeling like a bunch of mismatched parts. The alt-history "Toriana" was extensively thought out - but the characters feel like thin, somewhat rushed constructs. Kit's a fiercely independent woman in a society where her gender doesn't even get a vote, and only can own property if unmarried - yet she immediately collapses into submissive goo when one of her suitors literally abducts her - and later admits that his initial plan to seduce her was to use magic to brainwash her into accepting his advances. (And they say romance is dead...) He's a vampire-level stalker and a deathmage to boot, though he's worlds better in many ways than the "competition", an old friend turned police constable who is so straight-laced I honestly have to question of he'd ever do more than hold a woman's hand (in private, though - wouldn't do to be improper in public) despite wanting a family. Neither one of them seem interested in who Kit is, but rather what they intend to make her into. The magic feels improvised half the time, becoming more and more convoluted as the tale winds on (with more than one detour into the worst bodice-ripper cliches)... then the ending pulls one of the lamest, oldest tricks in the book to avoid dealing with its own complications. Gah...

Words of Radiance (Book 2 of the Stormlight Archive series, Brandon Sanderson, paperback): The epic tale of the stormswept world of Roshar continues, following its key characters (and several others) as the coming Everstorm looms, a cataclysm that could destroy civilization as they know it. The only way to stop it is to restore the long-lost, long-maligned Knights Radiant, who bonded with elemental spren and channeled Stormlight... but, even as they begin to emerge, a dark force seeks them out to cut them down.

Sanderson doesn't do recaps, so it took several chapters to catch back up on this epic (since I didn't reread Book 1 before picking it up.) It's about as good as the first installment, a great choice if you enjoy world-sweeping epic fantasies. A very few stumbles here and there (particularly one development in the epilogue, which I felt invalidated a key plot point but which I hope finds redemptive value in Book 3) and some irritation with a few new characters made it only marginally less enjoyable than the first Stormlight Archive book. Hopefully I can get to Book 3 without so much of a reading gap.

Retrograde (Peter Cawdron, SF/thriller, Nook): When mass nuclear strikes cripple Earth's major cities, the first international scientific expedition on Mars can only look on helplessly... but it soon becomes apparent to Elizabeth and her fellows that the danger is not limited to Earth - that it might well be among them on the red planet, a world already deadly in its native state...

A good, fast-paced thriller set on the highly inhospitable world of Mars, with elements of culture clash, human psychology, and high-tech MacGyvering on the fly as things go from bad to worse in no time flat. The ending has a couple elements that feel a bit forced for emotional impact, playing on protagonist/narrator Elizabeth's emotional vulnerabilities, but overall I enjoyed it, and it read quickly. Definitely recommended if you liked The Martian, and if you find the colonization potential (or lack thereof) of Mars interesting; Cawdron draws off real and theoretical science for his Mars base, demonstrating just how tall an order it would be - and how it might be tackled.

Currently Reading SF/F:
Furthermore (Tahereh Mafi, MG fantasy, paperback): In a land where color and magic are everything, colorless Alice is an anomaly and a disappointment to a mother who was ill-disposed to children to begin with. But when her father disappears, Alice may be the only one who can rescue him.

I literally just started this one, but so far it's a fun fairy tale with a decidedly different protagonist and a whimsical world that's not without some shadows in the corners. I think I'l enjoy it.

Too Like the Lightning (Book 1 of the Terra Ignota series, Ada Palmer, Kindle): A far future world with a radically altered social structure faces a major crisis, as witnessed by a convicted, near-slavelike Servicer who also guards the secret of a boy with seemingly-miraculous powers.

It's been nominated for awards, it's gotten lots of positive buzz, and it was free when downloaded (Tor's e-book-of-the-month club, IIRC)... but be danged if I can get into this one, even over a quarter of the way in. The story feels like an afterthought, the characters little more than a jumble, and TBH I'm finding it hard to give a dang about the plot; mostly, the point seems to be the oddly, even distractingly retro writing style and the many, many tangents about religion, philosophy, politics, gender, and so forth. I'm trying, I really am, but I'm just not enjoying it very much so far. But I'm not even halfway in yet. Hopefully it grows on me.

aheuett said:

I find his writing inspiring but equally demoralizing in that he writes how I wish I could and don't think I will ever be able to.

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Brightdreamer said:

And that "he writes how I wish I could and don't think I will ever be able to" applies to so much of what I read it's not even funny... but it's what keeps me going.

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I feel better. This is a normal feeling. Someday we will all write like Garth Nix does, and there will be much rejoicing.

The House of Binding Thorns (Dominion of the Fallen #2) by Aliette de Bodard

I picked up the first in this series (The House of Shattered Wings) when it was published a few years ago because the main character was Viet, and that sounded interesting - and it was.

This book is a second in this series, and also a stand alone like the first. I have conflicting feelings about these books. The world is interesting - set in a post-apocalyptic, magically scarred Paris controlled by houses, ruled cruelly, by fallen angels. There is a dragon kingdom in the Seine, that has also been corrupted by the magical war of fallen angels and their continued schemes to gain power.

I feel like I encounter plenty of dark stories in my reading, but this is about the darkest.

A Gift of Time by Jerry Merritt

An interesting take on the time travel genre, more about the do-over of the MC's childhood than about the time travel itself, that being said it's moving back towards a more technical, time machine building segment about 2/3 way through so I expect it will be more of a circular plot. I'm enjoying the writing.

Brightdreamer said:

Too Like the Lightning (Book 1 of the Terra Ignota series, Ada Palmer, Kindle): A far future world with a radically altered social structure faces a major crisis, as witnessed by a convicted, near-slavelike Servicer who also guards the secret of a boy with seemingly-miraculous powers.

It's been nominated for awards, it's gotten lots of positive buzz, and it was free when downloaded (Tor's e-book-of-the-month club, IIRC)... but be danged if I can get into this one, even over a quarter of the way in. The story feels like an afterthought, the characters little more than a jumble, and TBH I'm finding it hard to give a dang about the plot; mostly, the point seems to be the oddly, even distractingly retro writing style and the many, many tangents about religion, philosophy, politics, gender, and so forth. I'm trying, I really am, but I'm just not enjoying it very much so far. But I'm not even halfway in yet. Hopefully it grows on me.

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This is a valuable insight thanks - I was drawn to this in the book store mainly due to the pretty cover and the award nominations but instinct told me it might not be my thing. I feel that I made the right choice based on this review.

Earlier this week I finished European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman by Theodora Goss. What a fun read! There was adventure, intrigue, and action. We got more answers about the Athena Club, and (of course) more classic fictional characters enter the story. I look forward to seeing what happens in book 3.

I finished Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff at about 2:30 in the morning. I have had the paperback for a while and just couldn't get into it though I was intrigued by the epistolary format. The audiobook came up in recommendations so I gave it a try. OMG was it awesome. They use multiple voices and subtle sound effects to distinguish the various kinds of writing (IM, emails, interviews, descriptions of video, wiki-pedia-like entries). I totally get how this wouldn't be everyone's piece of cake but I loved it. Generally I'm all about the descriptions of stuff and atmosphere but a lot of that was missing because of the format. The plot is a little thin but the way the authors get at character was amazing.

Spoiler - Is there a spoiler tag? There are space zombies. I am so frickin' tired of zombies and these guys are a lot like the Reavers from Firefly or the people afflicted by the protomolecule in The Expanse. Almost skipped it when I was spoiled about the zombies but I'm glad I persisted. I felt like people might need to know.

RobertLCollins said:

Earlier this week I finished European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman by Theodora Goss. What a fun read! There was adventure, intrigue, and action. We got more answers about the Athena Club, and (of course) more classic fictional characters enter the story. I look forward to seeing what happens in book 3.

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I am eagerly awaiting my copy!

War Storm (Red Queen #4) by Victoria Aveyard

This is a series I finished because I have a problem not knowing how a story ends. When I go to the end of book three, and it was obvious I wasn't reading a trilogy, which is what I thought was going on, I had to resist the urge to throw the book. The writing in this 4th, and FINAL, installment of the story is noticeably improved.

I feel like Too Like the Lightening is going to be one of those ones that the community has got to sit with for a little while. Personally I loved it but it is definitely not a mainstream kind of read. Without spoilers here's a few things:
- There's a lot of Enlightenment philosophy
- There's a very different social structure which isn't directly explained in detail you have to kind of piece it together
- The gender pronouns of characters are somewhat arbitrary depending on how our unreliable narrator perceives that person (always just how he perceives them, not necessarily their real identity)
- And boy is the narrator unreliable, not in as much as he outright lies, but his perspective is entirely skewed and he withholds a huge amount of information from the reader, releasing it tiny piece by piece until a big reveal around halfway through the book

I can see why people are having trouble getting in to it. My dad gave up about 1/3 through too and we normally like a lot of stuff. I was intrigued enough to keep going and I really believe it pays off in the long run. There's no starship battles or even gun fights or martial arts. There's a lot of seduction and high politics of a world where you don't really know how the politics work anyway. But some of these characters are genius and I have genuinely no idea where the story is going to go next and for someone that reads pretty much exclusively SFF for the past 25 years not being able to predict what happens is incredibly refreshing.

Ada Palmer must have faced a huge amount of criticism and resistance to writing and publishing this book. It breaks a lot of rules and it is incredibly original, which means its also very very different. She deserves a huge amount of credit for pushing on regardless and producing something so stunningly creative - its a like a fascinating jeweled puzzle box of a novel and I ordered the next two immediately after finishing it.

Finally finished The Confluence Trilogy by Paul McAuley, an epic doorstopper series that is like nothing else you've ever read...that is, unless you've read Book of the New Sun. Like BotS, Confluence features a mysterious, orphaned protagonist on a picaresque journey across a decaying, used future setting, as well as a vocabulary that draws extensively on obscure and archaic words like 'lazaret' and 'hierodule', among many, many others. Also, like BotS, I had no idea what was going on most of the time and the story at some point devolves into time-travel hijinks and endless grandfather paradoxes.

So it was pretty good, y'know. Anyone familiar with McAuley should not be surprised by the obvious Wolfean influences, and its easy too make too much of it, as there's plenty of other good SF writers in the book's DNA. McAuley has his own strengths and weaknesses, and I think what makes him a good writer can also make him frustrating. Every single line is awash in lovely and poetic details, enough that you have to go back and read and reread to keep track of things. And even then, the story is twisty and obtuse, with an MC that stumbles unaware through all of it totally out of his element. Also as is common with McAuley, there are crazy ideas, set-pieces, and details stuffed everywhere, and he can never resist adding more, even if they come to nothing and are promptly abandoned. Still probably one of my new favorites, highly recommended if you like literary science-fantasy with lots of science and literary in your fantasy.

Age of War (The Legends of the First Empire #3) by Michael J. Sullivan

This is another series I began reading thinking I was committing to a trilogy. It will apparently be 6 total books? Who knows. I actually really like this series so far, I just wish I had known I'd be waiting years and years to get to the end of the story and I wouldn't have bothered starting until they were all published. These books are an interesting take on how humans evolved out of a pre-historical state with some elves, dwarfs (the kind found in classical high fantasy), giants, and magic thrown into the mix.

Days of Blood & Starlight and Dreams of Gods & Monsters (Daughter of Smoke & Bone #2 & #3) by Laini Taylor.

I'm glad to have finished a trilogy so soon after starting it. Laini Taylor is swiftly becoming one of my favorite authors. This trilogy is excellent - not as good as the Strange the Dreamer series currently in process, but I would recommend it.

Brightdreamer said:

Too Like the Lightning (Book 1 of the Terra Ignota series, Ada Palmer, Kindle): A far future world with a radically altered social structure faces a major crisis, as witnessed by a convicted, near-slavelike Servicer who also guards the secret of a boy with seemingly-miraculous powers.

It's been nominated for awards, it's gotten lots of positive buzz, and it was free when downloaded (Tor's e-book-of-the-month club, IIRC)... but be danged if I can get into this one, even over a quarter of the way in. The story feels like an afterthought, the characters little more than a jumble, and TBH I'm finding it hard to give a dang about the plot; mostly, the point seems to be the oddly, even distractingly retro writing style and the many, many tangents about religion, philosophy, politics, gender, and so forth. I'm trying, I really am, but I'm just not enjoying it very much so far. But I'm not even halfway in yet. Hopefully it grows on me.

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Keep going! It took me till about half-way through the first book for it all to really "click", but once it does, it really really does. Just...keep going.

I'm starting in on the second book I'm reviewing on Hidden Gems. The first was 'Black Earth' and this one is 'The Curse' - both were listed as SciFi, but they seem more along the line of dark fantasy / horror to me. Not that DF / H is a bad thing as I've read a lot in those categories... still though I was kinda hoping for SciFi.

Black Earth was good, but the ending was one of those ...and then a miracle happened tropes.
The Curse is also good, but I'm put off by the first person POV. I'm only about a quarter of the way through that one.