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New month. New thread. Whatcha got?

The only SF/F thing I read after The Stars are Legion last month was Borderline by Mishell Baker, which I finished yesterday morning. Thought it was a great UF set in LA with a main character with borderline personality disorder.

Also of note I'd like to add, is that I finally finished all four books of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books series by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. Highly recommend the whole thing.

I'm currently listening to The Honor of the Queen. And I'm kinda sorta still reading Downbelow Station, though I think I'm going to have to renew the library book for like the 4th time.... I think I'm just too lazy to read it at the moment. I'm interested to see where things are going but given the choice between sitting on the couch and reading and watching Lucifer on Netflix, apparently I prefer silly Lucifer right now.< /babbling>

I've done very little print/ebook reading lately. Besides the slog through Downbelow Station, I've read about 50 pages of The Witchwood Crown before pausing because Downbelow was back off hold from the library....

I finished last month's pick on audio, as well as a little novella, and Kill the Farm Boy. I knew Kill the Farm Boy was supposed to be funny and over-the-top, and I think Luke Daniels did a good job with the audio, but I was mostly just bored with it.

Partway through To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
Very enjoyable and highly recommended but when she gets something wrong about the UK it can grate like crazy.
There's an extended sequence involving 5 pence coins which didn't exist in pre-decimalisation (Victorian) Pounds, Shillings and Pence times. What was most annoying was that the Sixpence coin did exist and would make more sense in context.

About a third of the way through Valor and enjoying it. Started listening to a fantasy book from my childhood, The Diamond Throne

Struggling to get through Vessel, which is a predictable snoozer.

Almost done with Jade War. It is fantastic. After that I'll jump back into my ASOIAF re-read with A Dance with Dragons.

Finished with Frankenstein in Baghdad, one of the Clarke's Award nominees this year. A very good intro to Arabic SFF for me.

August is a good month for me and pre-orders, Current BOM The Poppy War gets book 2 of the series The Dragon Republic next week. Then Aug 13 book 3 of Anna Smith Spark series Empire of Dust The House of Sacrifice comes out. (UK already has it, but poor me has to wait a bit more) I was a bit late to this series as I am just in the first third of Book Two in the series, The Tower of Living and Dying, but now it is perfect timing. I like Anna Smith Spark self described bio of previous jobs which include petty bureaucrat, English teacher and fetish model. This series is a bit wild and grimdark.

Read There Will Be Time by Poul Anderson. It's a fairly serviceable time travel adventure featuring a mutation that affects a small number of people. Major events can't be changed and minor ones might not be if they've been observed. Kind of like the Dr. Who idea of "Fixed Time."

So the fight is for the future rather than the past. The mutations stop happening at some point a few hundred years in (our) future so it's pretty much historical people plus some in the post-apocalyptic era.

Good setup, interestingly done if predictable ending. Book is fairly short so the publisher included two shorts set in the post-apocalyptic era where the leading government enforces an ecological way of life to the point of destroying any technology that creates or uses a large energy source. Interestingly argued, especially from the Libertarian leaning Anderson.

Written in the early 70s and showing some age, but a good read if you're in the right mindset.

In July, I finished reading On the Shoulders of Titans. It ended on a really strong note, enough that I wanted to keep going in the world. So I'm now listening to a kind of "side book" (also the start, apparently, of a new series by the same author) Six Sacred Swords. This tells the story (or a story) about some of the swords mentioned in the Arcane Ascension series.

I guess since it's 1 August, I'll start reading The Poppy War. Undecided if I'll do audio or kindle, though.

Finished The Devil in a Forest and decided to continue my "read everything by H. Rider Haggard" project. Next up: Beatrice.

Finished Cage of Souls which is an epic examination of the fall of man. Strangely hopeful. It is in th E tradition of Brian W. Aldiss mixed with Michael Moorcock. Well worth a read.

Zipped through The October Man which is a breezy expansion of the Rivers of London world ((view spoiler)[Magic policemen are being trained all over Europe as a result of Peter being recruited, looking forward to a team up... (hide spoiler)]).

IN other reading I have been listening to Trace and reading a Phryne Fisher mystery from the big pile of books that came in to the library.

Back to Snake Agent which is enormous fun and started listening to Children of Ruin.

Yesterday, I finished Children of Blood and Bone on Kindle. I really enjoyed it and look forward to reading the sequel. But first up is The Poppy War.

On Audible, I finished the Riyria Revelations series a couple of weeks ago. Whilst waiting to find out what this month's pick was, I got caught up on some of the Audible originals that have been building up in my library. Since I already had The Poppy War, I decided to continue the Lady Astronaut series and started listening to The Fated Sky this morning.

I am going to buckle down this weekend and force myself to finish The Name of the Wind. Maybe. That's my goal anyway.

Was very disappointed in The City in the Middle of the Night especially given how much I liked All the Birds in the Sky after picking it up on a whim last year.

Read The Child Garden to fulfill a literary parkour task and it was a struggle. I get that it had a driving sociopolitical force but it feels very forced.

Looking forward to finishing out the Nexus arc with Ramez Naam's Apex.

Eh, I wasn't feeling The Poppy War, so I've shelved it for the time being. Moved on to Record of a Spaceborn Few

Finished up The Poppy War and have already gone on about it at length in the dedicated threads.

Wanted a change from (view spoiler)[mass death death and more death, killing death violence torture and death (hide spoiler)] so I went on to the pulp style stories of Solomon Kane. Well, some death there but it's one on one. And cartoon style.

The first story channels a great deal of Edgar Rice Burroughs and his description of an Africa that never was and couldn't have existed. Kane goes on as the grim avenger and I can see a little bit of John Carter in both the memoryless Kane and an African palace more Barsoom than anything on our planet. It's horrendously un-PC by today's standards. I've heard reference to Solomon Kane in more current works and wanted to see what the fuss was about. Making a major allowance for that day's attitudes, they are good pulp fantasy.

I finished up Hexarchate Stories a wee while ago when I was on holiday. A mixed bag, but when it was good it was very good! Really only for those who enjoyed the whole 'Machineries of Empire' trilogy. You would be lost without the context of the novels. The character sketches and flash fiction pieces felt a bit disposable, but the 'proper' short stories, especially the finishing novella / novelette, are much more rewarding.

Today I've started on The Hanging Tree - which will be my 4th novel in that series this year, not to mention a novella and some comics too. Absolutely my favourite urban fantasy series at the moment.

I'm reading the novella Agents of Dreamland by Caitlín R. Kiernan, which is sort of a weird noir fiction meets Manson family. Lovecraft-inspired writing often leans too heavily on references, and while this one drops some names and places, it is successful at being it's own thing.

I read Kon-Tiki. It's a book I've been meaning to read for years. When I was a middle schooler, I remember seeing lots of copies of it around my school. The title stuck with me, so I finally picked it up. Holy. Crap.
After reading the first few pages, I had to go look at Wikipedia article to find out if the book was fiction or not. It is not.
The book is a chronicle of six men who build a raft to see if it is possible that Polynesia was settled by people from Peru by trying to sail there. It is an incredible adventure story.

Steve wrote: "I read Kon-Tiki. It's a book I've been meaning to read for years. When I was a middle schooler, I remember seeing lots of copies of it around my school. The title stuck with me, so I ..."

They filmed it, too. It looks even crazier than it reads.

Full film:

Kon-Tiki the movie was great! Watched it when it came out and loved it. Definitely going to have to make a note to check the book out.

Keith wrote: "I'm reading the novella Agents of Dreamland by Caitlín R. Kiernan, which is sort of a weird noir fiction meets Manson family. Lovecraft-inspired writing often leans..."

Picked this up after I believe it was on a Bookriot list of "cosmic horror" stories. Definitely high on my list.

Just finished Vicious by V.E. Schwab and moved straight on to Vengeful. This is the advantage of reading books a few years after publication- no wait for the sequel!

Finished The Diamond Throne. Starting The Dying of the Light.

I read A Talent for War because I saw it on some list or another, and thought pretty good. Now I'm on to finish up Nona's saga in Holy Sister, a trilogy that I'm really enjoying.

Finished Beatrice, which was � fine?, and am starting another H. Rider Haggard novel, this time his sequel to The Iliad & The Odyssey, The World's Desire (which I expect will be much more to my taste).

Steve wrote: "I read Kon-Tiki. It's a book I've been meaning to read for years. When I was a middle schooler, I remember seeing lots of copies of it around my school. The title stuck with me, so I ..."

Too bad Heyerdahl was wrong; The Polynesians came from Asia, not South America. Also, his boat launched far into the ocean - not from the shore - so the landing was possible. Just in case you're interested to know more, I happen to just read a book that might be useful to provide more up to date findings : Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia.

Back to SFF, I am starting Three Moments of an Explosion by the weird and wonderful China Mieville.

Silvana wrote: "Steve wrote: "I happen to just read a book that might be useful to provide more up to date findings : Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia."

I came so close to making a similar comment, but chickened out. I read Sea People last month and also really found it interesting. Kon-Tiki was an incredible adventure, but one without academic merit.

Finished Holy Sister, last in a trilogy and don't really have anything lined up next, so I'm headed to the library.

I've been burning through all things Becky Chambers. I never quite realized until reading her books just how much I needed a story where the focus was on *characters* and not always on saving the world (or universe) from obliteration. Reading To Be Taught, If Fortunate right now, and it's fantastic.

I finished Six Sacred Swords. I enjoyed it, it reminded me of a game that's coming out, Boyfriend Dungeon.

Now I'm reading The Poppy War on Kindle and started Nevernight. My goodness, does the author of Nevernight love adjectives and adverbs.

Finished Jingo by Terry Pratchett. Enjoyed it but it’s easily my least favorite Watch novel so far.

Now reading some nonfiction In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette for a change of pace.

Listening to The Goblin Emperor. Is there a wiki or glossary for all the names? Hard to keep up sometimes.

I'm starting a reread of Dragonriders of Pern and just finished Dragonflight. Adult-me nitpicks stuff like the egregious orbital mechanics that young-me didn't notice. And anyway it doesn't matter. It's got dragons, a beautifully realized secondary world, a faceless but vicious threat which humans still manage to sideline in their search for power. And one strong willed, tough as nails woman undertaking a brutal trip through time to save Pern. Gimme gimme gimme!

I read and didn't particularly enjoy This Is How You Lose the Time War. I'm fond of time travel stories, but I just couldn't connect with this one. Initially I felt like the stories I wanted to read were hinted at and were happening just off the page. Ultimately it was a bit too poetic for my taste.

I'm listening to Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. I am about halfway through and not sure if could have read this far.
The language is a bit overwrought for my tastes and I'm thinking that the author is creating too many straw men which she will joyously destroy with that (inexorably approaching) 70-page John Galt speech.
It is set in a dystopian and slightly futuristic (for 1957) USA so I'm counting as Science Fiction.

^I thought it was 130 pages! I mean, I'm open to her ideas on a philosophical level, but hachi machi the data dump...

"Is it right that I want to become a lantern man for @fondalee? Loving Jade War."

One of us! One of us! I finished the book a week ago and I also loved it. My review.

Not sure what to read next. I think I finally burned out on my ASOIAF re-read, I need a change of pace. There are a lot of books on my kindle that I don't remember buying...

Sheila Jean wrote: I'm kinda sorta still reading Downbelow Station, though I think I'm going to have to renew the library book for like..."

Makes me feel better. I also picked up Downbelow Station that has long been To Read, and decided to put it aside for when I felt more "up to it". Maybe I'll skirt around and keep reading more of C J Cherryh and work my way back to it.
And I've been hooked on Lucifer too. In fact I had to finish the Lucifer series before moving on to Stranger Things, and my son was frustrated he had to wait to discuss the outcome for his favourite ST characters.
Not sure if this is the place to mention, but this month I also got hooked on a few sci fi podcast stories, especially Girl in Space and We Fix Space Junk. Ars Paradoxica too, but it bends my brain a bit.

Dara wrote: "The Supreme Laser says, "Is it right that I want to become a lantern man for @fondalee? Loving Jade War."

One of us! One of us! I finished the book a week ago and I also loved it. My review.

Not ..."

I was actually flagging a bit with Jade War (felt like too many exposition-heavy scenes and too many characters) but your review has prompted me to continue. Also (view spoiler)[ I’ve just got to the part where the Republic of Espenia invades Ortico (hide spoiler)] so I think/hope that things will get more exciting...

I’ve been reading a lot of sequels to S&L picks and Hugo nominees

Ruth wrote: "I was actually flagging a bit with Jade War (felt like too many exposition-heavy scenes and too many characters) but your review has prompted me to continue. Also (view spoiler) so I think/hope that things will get more exciting...."

There was more worldbuilding on top of what was already done in Jade City but I really enjoyed that aspect. Expanding the scope of the story was a good move. I hope your enthusiasm picks back up!

^ I had it on hold and then let it go. Is it worth reading? Just a lot of books I want to read and I just didn't have much enthusiasm for this one.

John (Taloni) wrote: "^ I had it on hold and then let it go. Is it worth reading? Just a lot of books I want to read and I just didn't have much enthusiasm for this one."

Jade War? Yes, it was for me but I'm an apologetic Green Bones Saga fangirl. My opinion can't be trusted, haha.

I finished reading The Rooster Bar by John Grisham and Persepolis Rising by James S.A. Corey . I am reading A Shadow in Summer by Daniel Abraham. I plan to read The Unclaimed Victim by D.M. Pulley next.

Just started chapter 19 of The Way of Kings, which, according to my iPad, is page 368 of 1289 and it feels like nothing much has happened. How is that possible? Really becoming bored by this book.

Had a week in the sun and ploughed through quite a few books.

Snake Agent was enormous fun and I will probably get a hold of the rest of the series. Nice mix of Singaporean culture and the modern. If you like the Dresden files this will probably work for you.

Zoomed through the The Kingdom of Copper which for me was an improvement on the first book. Looking forward to the conclusion to the trilogy.

Read the YA Aurora Rising on my son’s recommendation, and discovered the tropiest book of the year. It’s major redeeming feature was one character uttering the phrase “bugger me sideways� which made my day. To be fair, my son did say it wasn’t very original and he is only 15.


Zipped through a couple of Skullduggery pleasant books which seem to be suffering from a deterioration in the writing quality. They did however qualify as mindless pool reading.

The highlight of the week was This Is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor which is a devastatingly hilarious diary of a doctor being worked to death in the NHS (there is a reason it is the cheapest high quality health service in the world). A humorous decent into despair that is a must read.

Now starting in on Jade War which was waiting for me at the library and getting back to my audio book Children of Ruin.

Trike wrote: "Just started chapter 19 of The Way of Kings, which, according to my iPad, is page 368 of 1289 and it feels like nothing much has happened. How is that possible? Really becoming bored..."

I’m about 40% through it and I’m a bit amazed that this book has as much love thrown its way as it does. It must get more urgent in the second half? Or something? But it’s quite a surprise that so little has happened over the course of SO MANY PAGES.

Plus Sanderson’s sentence-to-sentence writing is often very mediocre.

I do find aspects of it to be somewhat intriguing, and I believe my friends� responses are honest and heartfelt and so I do want to keep going with it and see if it kicks into a higher gear.

I liked Jade War and agree that it was cool to see more of the world and get more of a feel for the important players, but I was expecting the neat knitting of realistic-feeling family drama with characters that I agreed with across the board even as I found them all awful with the wuxia/yakuza mob movie flare, and instead it felt more like a soap opera-meets-freshman overview of modern history, which disappointed me.

Still fun, still went by pretty quickly, but not as magical as Jade City for me.

About to finish Muse of Nightmares which again is fun, but isn't quite reaching the heights of the first book for me.

I might be becoming a one and done reader? What is happening???

Do I...do I crave standalones?? No, that can't be right, can it?

Finished The World's Desire and am starting something considerably more recent: Shadow Captain, Alastair Reynolds' sequel to Revenger (which I loved unreservedly).