What are you reading?

Laying out the details of a con?

I read "Timescape" a few months ago. I had a mixed reaction to it, I thought it was an interesting premise and the scientific bits were very well done. On the other hand, I felt a lot of the characters felt like stereotypes (particularly the English characters) and even though Benford put a lot of effort into the characterisation I didn't really think most of the characters were particularly interesting. A fairly good book, but flawed.

Currently I'm reading "Temeraire" by Naomi Novik. It's been good fun so far.

William, beware of the dreaded deux ex machina in Novik's novel. It ruined the book for me.

Reading Bernard Cornwell's The Last Kingdom. Plenty of battles and swords and Danes thinking that Odin, Thor, et. Al., can take out the pious Christians of Wessex. Uhtred is a pretty decent protagonist and his inner conflict makes it better than a lot of clear-cut good guy v. bad guy fiction.

Looking forward to picking up The Lies of Locke Lamora and a few other suggestions from here and the Westeros board once the holiday madness dies down.

im a big fan of Bernard. Liked his last kingdom. His Warrior King Arthur series is my favorite of his though! And def yeah go for lies of locke lamora. Amazing book.

I'm almost done with Peter Watts' Blindsight. Pretty good so far, even though I'm not usually a big fan of "hard" scifi.

I just received his answers to my interview questions. Man, that guy's really candid! Holy shit!

Patrick

I'm reading Neal Asher's Prador Moon.

Alien invasion of a human interstellar society. Lord, these aliens are mean mother-@#*kers!! Sentient giant crabs with a taste for human flesh, giving humanity all it can handle and then some.

Asher is very good at extrapolating xenobiology to extremes. I've also read Gridlinked and The Skinner.

Give him a shot - he's not perfect, but I guarantee you won't be bored with his tales.

Just finished the book today. I didn't mind the deux ex machina too much in this case because I thought it was fairly obvious even from fairly early in the book that something like that would happen (even if the details weren't clear). It is a symptom of one of the book's major flaws that even the DEM was largely predictable, the plot didn't really have any surprises in it. Overall I enjoyed the book, it is an interesting setting, the aerial battles were described well (although the final battle did feel a little bit rushed) and the characterisation was quite good. Unfortunately, the plot was predictable and often a bit unexciting so the book is good but unexceptional.

Anyone read the sequels? Are they better/worse than the first book?

Finished up Blindsight last weekend. Was very good. One hell of a first contact novel. Hard Sci -Fi but doesnt overwhelm you with techno jargon.

I figured I'd finish up the year reading some John M Ford, who passed away a few months ago. So I started on Star Trek : The Final Reflection. My first Star Trek novel! got the prologue and the first chapter read last night. pretty good so far.

Winterbirth - Brian Ruckley.
Nice start.

Currently reading Elantris by Brandon Sanderson.

I'm about 10 chapters in and like the way the narrative cycles through the three main characters to give an understanding to the world and their motives. Also glad this is a stand alone book and I'm not setting myself up to have to wait for further volumes!

Finished up The Final Reflection last night. Very good. A fresh look at Kligons for the time it was writtenand filled with intrigue.
full review on The blog

Started in on Dragon Avenger by E.E. Knight. Book to of the Age of Fire. This one tells Wistala's story over the same time fram as Auron's. Only a few chapters in and it hasnt divirged from what I saw at the beginning of book 1, but its ok.Should improve, when its not retelling.

I finished up Dragon Avenger by E.E. Knight, book two in the Age of Fire cycle.
This volume tells the story of Auron's sister Wistala. It seemed to me to have a more young adult feel than the first, although by the end of the book there certainly was a good amount of vengence being taken. I thought it was a pretty good, book, and an enjoyable enough story. Book 3 sounds like it has potential to be really good
Full review here

Started in on The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin. Only about 30 pages in so far, but its been tough to get into.

i would push on with left hand of darkness....

its a very good book. but not your usual fantasy novel. certainly not 'epic' fantasy. but like i said i enjoyed it a good deal once i got into it

I'm reading John Scalzi's Old Man's War. Very reminiscent of early Heinlein.

I liked, but didn't love, Left Hand of Darkness, which I read many, many years ago.

I own, but have yet to read, Dragon Avenger. I prefer Knight's Vampire Earth series, but pretty much anything he writes will be an enjoyable read.