Maklershed
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If its not gonna be a sexy time dream might as well be about Corgis.
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What are you reading? (April 2014)
- Thread starter Maklershed
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Tragicomedy
Member
Wanted to listen to some nonfiction fiction today so I got half way through this
I wouldn't label that nonfiction fiction. It's just straight fiction.
AngmarsKing701
Member
Half a King galley arrived. Setting aside Shift to read Abercrombie.
nakedsushi
Member
Was in the mood for some page-turning cheesy YA and this filled the need sufficiently:
Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor
Really great world-building in the first half of the book. It's set in Prague, so a little different than the usual, and some sort of alternate dimension. The last half devolved into typical YA romance but I couldn't tear myself away from it.
Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor
Really great world-building in the first half of the book. It's set in Prague, so a little different than the usual, and some sort of alternate dimension. The last half devolved into typical YA romance but I couldn't tear myself away from it.
Just finished Off to Be The Wizard by Scott Meyer, that was a shockingly fun read! Genuinely funny with a neat premise. Preordered the sequel, can't wait for it to come out in June!
Just finished the Emma Goldman Reader which I liked. Despite the fact I'm no anarchist I can't help but respect her critiques on the Russian Revolution and some of her writings on the subrogation of woman are incredibly powerful.
Now Reading - What is this Thing Called Science? by Alan F. Chalmers.
This is either going significantly challenge my philosophy towards scientific skepticism or refine it in a greater philosophical context.. kind of like how learning about Marxism refined my leftist political views on the nature of class warfare and inequality.
Now Reading - What is this Thing Called Science? by Alan F. Chalmers.
This is either going significantly challenge my philosophy towards scientific skepticism or refine it in a greater philosophical context.. kind of like how learning about Marxism refined my leftist political views on the nature of class warfare and inequality.
That introduction chapter is still classic sagan through and through though.
Finished Dust two days ago. Really great series. I've started reading The Stress of her Regard yesterday. I'm only a couple pages in but so far so good.
Ooh man I fucking loved this book. Nobody does weird quite like Tim Powers.
It sure is, it'd probably make for a great TV series too.
Plasticine
Member
Finished The Face That Must Die by Ramsey Campbell.
Serial killer fiction usually features an extraordinary monster. Take Hannibal Lector, for example. Lector has a heightened sense of smell and genius intellect. His origin basically casts him as Batman, only with a taste for human flesh. Even the last serial killer book I read, Rex Miller's Slob, featured a serial killer with frightening preternatural abilities.
John Horridge is anything but exceptional.
The sick center of Campbell's The Face That Must Die, John Horridge is a paranoid schizophrenic who limps about his day-to-day unnoticed. Unable to keep a job, Horridge lives in government housing and draws disability. Unfortunately for those around Horridge, he notices them. Horridge fixates on people, builds elaborate persecution delusions around them before lashing out with his trusty straight razor. He hates gays, foreigners and minorities. He's absolutely repugnant, and in Campbell's capable hands he's absolutely fascinating.
This was the second Campbell book I've read, and won't be the last. While it was written in the seventies, it still feels very vibrant and relevant. If you enjoy the serial killer genre, you should definitely check this one out. Horridge is a character that will stay with you.
Up next:
I've read Garton's Live Girls and loved it. I thought it was finally time I check out something else, so I'm giving his debut novel a go.
Serial killer fiction usually features an extraordinary monster. Take Hannibal Lector, for example. Lector has a heightened sense of smell and genius intellect. His origin basically casts him as Batman, only with a taste for human flesh. Even the last serial killer book I read, Rex Miller's Slob, featured a serial killer with frightening preternatural abilities.
John Horridge is anything but exceptional.
The sick center of Campbell's The Face That Must Die, John Horridge is a paranoid schizophrenic who limps about his day-to-day unnoticed. Unable to keep a job, Horridge lives in government housing and draws disability. Unfortunately for those around Horridge, he notices them. Horridge fixates on people, builds elaborate persecution delusions around them before lashing out with his trusty straight razor. He hates gays, foreigners and minorities. He's absolutely repugnant, and in Campbell's capable hands he's absolutely fascinating.
This was the second Campbell book I've read, and won't be the last. While it was written in the seventies, it still feels very vibrant and relevant. If you enjoy the serial killer genre, you should definitely check this one out. Horridge is a character that will stay with you.
Up next:
I've read Garton's Live Girls and loved it. I thought it was finally time I check out something else, so I'm giving his debut novel a go.
New Amsterdam by Elizabeth Bear
Came in expecting awesome police procedural or at least mystery in New Amsterdam circa alternate history 1900s, instead found bullshit vampire steampunk with a lot of guff about woe is me, i am an immortal ageless dude who can't see the sun and how am i to retain my court and oh yeah politics. Meh. At least interesting enough to finish, but not necessarily to enjoy.
Maklershed
Member
Maklershed
Member
Well, its competent, finishes out the story in a satisfactory way but its just that I didn't real care that much anymore. That might be my fault though because its been a while since I've read Wool. I'd give it a solid C.
nakedsushi
Member
New Amsterdam by Elizabeth Bear
Came in expecting awesome police procedural or at least mystery in New Amsterdam circa alternate history 1900s, instead found bullshit vampire steampunk with a lot of guff about woe is me, i am an immortal ageless dude who can't see the sun and how am i to retain my court and oh yeah politics. Meh. At least interesting enough to finish, but not necessarily to enjoy.
I don't know why, but your review made me chuckle. I like reading bad reviews of books more than good reviews sometimes.
Yeah, I had that though when I read the first book. The only thing I didn't quite like about the third book was that it felt a bit rushed toward the end.
The whole religious people immediately start burning books thing felt a bit cliche. And throughout the book I found Juliette to be a really annoying character. I liked her in the first book but she really rubbed me the wrong way in the third book. I also didn't care much for how they handled silo 1. Donny kept coming back to how it all came down to a couple of people who are responsible and then I kills everyone in the silo? Felt like there should've been another way to handle this, or at least warn the other silos about what is about to happen and tell them about the outside world and how to get there. I mean, what if the other silos don't find out about the digging machine hidden outside the silo?
Oh! How was it? I dug Demonata but didnt care for Thin Executioner.I listened to this, yesterday
at least someone got some entertainment out of me reading it. Urgh.
I just put in a $150 order at bookdepository so that should last me another half year. Didn't think I'd run out of physical books so soon... time flies.
after the good "the swarm","lautlos" and the bad "limit", i started the new one. Sometimes a bit long-lasting, but i expected nothing either.
Also finished The Martian
it is now part of my favorite books. really loved it.
Done Republic of Thieves
So far the weakest in the series but still enjoyed it.
Heard A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking on Audible. Really interesting.
Finished Serpent of Venice last night. I would say it is a bit weaker than Fool which I dug out and reread today (and is still marvelous). I did enjoy how this flipped the Merchant of Venice around a bit making Antonio one of the chief villains in league with a totally mustache twirling Iago. You probably know if Christopher Moore's humor is for you, and if so it's well worth a read.
RepairmanJack
Member
About a quarter of the way through so far. It's a little different than what I was expecting but I'm still liking it.
Tragicomedy
Member
About a quarter of the way through so far. It's a little different than what I was expecting but I'm still liking it.
That airport scene with all the cats.
RepairmanJack
Member
The one survivor going after his dogs, then locking himself in a shed was creepier/weirder for me. :lol
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
I started to read it when it first came out and didn't really like it so I stopped. The funny thing is now since the show is coming out soon, I sort of want to try reading it again.
About a quarter of the way through so far. It's a little different than what I was expecting but I'm still liking it.
Feel like I must've missed something here since I did not like it all. Plus it looks to be the S&L book choice, so I wonder what they'll say about it.
Finished Dust two days ago. Really great series. I've started reading The Stress of her Regard yesterday. I'm only a couple pages in but so far so good.
This is one of Tim Powers' best books. If you like this, pick up "On Stranger Tides" and "The Anubis Gates" too. Those two books are filled with more adventure and more fun. Oh, and pick up "Last Call" as well. That's a winner too.
I'll add these to my to-read list. I forgot that I already have On Stranger Tides on my amazon wishlist, so I may actually move on to that after finishing The Stress of Her Regard.
Finished up A Land More Kind Than Home. 3/5. Another instance of something I really wanted to like more, and there is some wonderful stuff in there, but at times it feels incredibly slow, and others incredibly fast paced. And with those pacing issues, it never really gripped me with some parts really feeling out of place. Also maybe something I wasn't exactly in the mood to read, so I did feel at times unable to focus.
Going to start this next..
The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer
Going to start this next..
The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer
Maklershed
Member
For whoever read Ancillary Justice, I need help -
What the fuck is going on? Who is the main character? An alien that controls lots of people, part of an AI collective like borg? What are the Radchaii? The Radchaii are slowly taking over the universe a species at a time, yes?
Jag
Member
Fizban never dies.
I get what Wit was trying to be, but I agree he didn't add much. The book itself was amazing and I'm already putting the series up there with WoT and GoT.
Incandenza
Banned
Fizban is just a reference to a character from another book series. Nothing to do with WoR or Sanderson except that it's the same type of stupid character.
I think he's going to have more of a role than Fizban had iirc (it's been a while since I read those books). What Wit's been up to will become more apparent in later series.
The story is divided into two timelines, the present, day where One Esk finds Seivarden and the past, where One Esk served with Lieutenant Awn.
Justice of Toren One Esk: The main character, and a fragment of the AI of the ship called Justice of Toren. The ships make use of "ancillaries", bodies that have had their minds burned out and augmented with electronics so they are synchronized with the AI of the ships. The ancillaries act as troop support for the human soldiers and commanders. Each ship is like a hive organism, with a bunch of drones (the ancillaries) and the overmind (the ship itself). Each ship's AI is an individual, however. For the troop carriers, the class of ships to which Justice of Toren belongs, they are basically office buildings with sixteen floors, each floor being a "decade" referred to by some name like "Esk". So, Justice of Toren One Esk refers to the first ancillary unit of the Esk decade.
Seivarden Vendaai: He was a Lieutenant on Justice of Toren before he became a captain of his own ship, the Sword of Nathtas. When the Sword of Nathtas was destroyed a thousand years ago, he escaped in a stasis pod. His pod was only found and revived recently. Without any surviving connections, he took to drug abuse to cope with depression. His being rescued by One Esk happens in the present day timeline.
Lieutenant Awn: About 20 years before One Esk saves Seivarden, Lieutenant Awn was the head of the Esk decade on Justice of Toren. She was overseeing the annexation of the planet Shis'urna. She is friends with One Esk even when One Esk was part of the Justice of Toren AI, because One Esk has been developing a kind of individuality.
Radchaai: The Radchaai are humans, all the "species" being annexed are humans or some genetically related offshoots. The Radch Empire is kind of like the Roman Empire, absorbing other countries and integrating their people/culture as they pushed their borders. The Radch are governed/ruled over by Anaander Mianaai, who has ruled for 3000 years using genetically identical clones synchronized in the same way ship ancillaries are. There is only one species of sentient aliens aside from humans and they briefly figure into the plot later.
Seivarden Vendaai: He was a Lieutenant on Justice of Toren before he became a captain of his own ship, the Sword of Nathtas. When the Sword of Nathtas was destroyed a thousand years ago, he escaped in a stasis pod. His pod was only found and revived recently. Without any surviving connections, he took to drug abuse to cope with depression. His being rescued by One Esk happens in the present day timeline.
Lieutenant Awn: About 20 years before One Esk saves Seivarden, Lieutenant Awn was the head of the Esk decade on Justice of Toren. She was overseeing the annexation of the planet Shis'urna. She is friends with One Esk even when One Esk was part of the Justice of Toren AI, because One Esk has been developing a kind of individuality.
Radchaai: The Radchaai are humans, all the "species" being annexed are humans or some genetically related offshoots. The Radch Empire is kind of like the Roman Empire, absorbing other countries and integrating their people/culture as they pushed their borders. The Radch are governed/ruled over by Anaander Mianaai, who has ruled for 3000 years using genetically identical clones synchronized in the same way ship ancillaries are. There is only one species of sentient aliens aside from humans and they briefly figure into the plot later.
I read the first trilogy as well and had a similar feeling. It left me feeling upset. Everything in it is so dismal and left me with a feeling of emptiness and spite. I bought the next two books because I figured I had gone this far I might as well see how the story plays out but I have had a really hard time over the years to bring myself to actually read them. The thought of going back to that universe with those characters upsets me.
Maklershed
Member
Ok, so the main character is
the AI of a ship? And Lieutenant Awn is a commander of one level of a ship? Was there some book or something before Ancillary Justice? I feel like the author has done a horrible shop of setting this all up and explaining it so far.
No. She just skips the exposition that a lot of space opera includes, and instead trusts the reader to keep up. The story and the worldbuilding is supposed to fall into place as the reader discovers more about the narrator. By the end of the book, it all comes together.
Maklershed
Member
Ok, that's good to hear. I was getting nervous because I'm 15% in and I'm just as confused now as when I started.
I'm reading this thanks to you btw. Seeing it listed as a nomination when I was on your blog inspired me to check it out. :b
Cool!
It definitely demands more reader engagement than the average space opera. I felt confused/off-balance for the first 30% of the book, to be honest. After that point, I couldn't put it down.
Yes, one could say rogue AI. I'm not sure how early you are but all this is directly from the books. The problem you're having, which is the same problem I had, is that the situation is very complex because there aren't a lot of easy analogs, and the author doesn't give you all the pieces at once so you feel kind of lost for the first few chapters until things start clicking into place.
Rug Monkey
Member
Now I've started Nexus and so far so good! Sci-fi techno thriller thing about running an OS in your body and letting the program over-ride your own decision making.
Loved it, and currently reading the sequel Crux which I'm loving even more.
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