Science Fiction

Been listening to The Wise Man's Fear (Kingkiller Chronicles bk 2) by Patrick Rothfuss, and reading The Colour of Magic (Discworld) by Sir Terry Pratchett.

I'm working my way through Glynn Stewart's "Duchy of Terra' series, and Edgar Rice Burroughs "John Carter of Mars".

Both are a little bit on the light and adventure-y side, which is my speed right now.

Next up is revisiting Nathan Lowell's "Tales from the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper", which is kind of my happy place.

I'm re-reading the First Law series, actually listening to Steven Pacey read it to me. I recently finished Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse. I want to read A Memory Called Empire next.

I was a huge SF fan when i was younger, but gradually the habit to read books disappeared from my radar. But i decided to pick it up again and bought two books to start with: I am almost halfway through the Three body problem from Cixin Liu, but frankly; so far, i don't get the appeal. The way the author writes is quite cold or distancing - if that is a word - and i find it hard to feel for any of the characters. So, i also just started reading Children of time, from Adrian Tchaikovski.

The black fleet trilogy. Normally "space opera" isn't my preferred genre but these books are pretty great.

I just finished up The Ballad of Songsbirds and Snakes. Back when I read The Hunger Games trilogy, I flew through it and really loved it. This was a nice successor/prequel. Collins really knows how to keep a story moving and she did a nice job laying groundwork for decisions made at the end. Maybe a little too obvious, but consistent anyway.

This weekend, I'm hoping to get through a Jack Reacher book I started on Kindle one night when I couldn't sleep. And then it's on to Caliban's War as I continue The Expanse saga.

I'm about half way through Quantum Radio by AG Riddle. It's pretty good so far. Alternate history / multiverse with good characters and action. Makes me think somewhat of Man in the High Castle meets Sliders.

Slogging through Norman Spinrad's Bug Jack Barron

Usually I love Spinrad, but this is just so dated: The idea that a TV talk show host with a massive audience is holding the rich and powerful accountable, as opposed to pandering to them...

I'm working my way through "Way of Kings" right now. I haven't had much time for reading lately, so it's going slow, but the book is fantastic.

I just finished the Three Body Problem trilogy, which I loved. Now I'm trying to figure out what I want to read next.

I am currently reading A House With Good Bones by T. Kingfisher. I love her other work so I am excited to read this and the first few chapters read easily for me which is nice.

On a more SciFi note I just finished Artifact Space by Miles Cameron and it was decent. The protagonist is kinda annoying with the "I'm an idiot" thing but is pretty much good at everything they do. The author also goes into a lot of details on stuff that doesn't feel important to the story so it kinda felt like a slog to get through some of the earlier parts.

Working through ‘Ten Low’ by Stark Holburn now. My partner is through the sequel already and recommended.

Reading Venemous Lumpsucker because it was in the news recently as winning an award. It's very funny, a satire on Corporate Business and climate change. It actually reminds me of when I read Stark by Ben Elton as a young teen in many ways - it's more inventive but there's a similar vibe (the world is helpless in the hands of corporate greed because corporate people just don't know what else to do).

2/3 of the way through and it's definitely easy to read and funny

Last month I picked up a grab bag at a used bookstore store in my old home town. I plan to grab one at random until I get through them all. So I don't know what I'm reading this month but I know it's something from this bag.

I've finished "Dance if the Hag" and "Pennterra" so far. Just started "northern stars" today.

August I read American Prometheus, Pageboy, and the Ministry for the Future. All were worth reading for one reason or another. Ministry was particularly relevant with ongoing climate change.

I started Someone Else's Shoes which is good so far. After that I have added some ideas from this thread to my queue. I kinda just pick something that sounds interesting and give it a shot, with only a few books each year that are actually planned.

I am currently on Book 11 of the Expeditionary Force Series by Craig Alanson. I have really enjoyed it. It's a fun space adventure series. Light reading, interesting characters, very funny at times. Sometimes suspenseful but and very few bad things happen to the good guys. I don't know about the rest of you, but I already have too many bad/sad/dramatic things from my real life. This series is a great scifi escape!

We Hear Voices by Evie Green- Sucks the book came out in 2020 at the heart of covid but so far it is a damn fine story interesting to see how it goes.

I listened to And Then She Vanished by Nick Jones and found it entertaining enough to start the second book in the series right after. It's not really scifi, I mean, time travel could easily be tagged fantasy as well. I don't know if I'll finish the series though. It's missing something that I can't quite put my finger on. Somewhat shallow and the secondary characters are paper thin. Fine reading to pass the time (or spend 12 hours on a train...) but nothing I'll be thinking about once I'm done. I've been struggling to get through the first few chapters of Perdido Street Station for a while, I may give it another go this weekend.

Brin's Uplift War series.