What We Are Reading: Science Fiction & Fantasy

Danger, Will Robinson! You may get buried under your TBR stack with the suggestions from this thread!

*Note - This thread may get split later into separate SF and Fantasy threads if traffic warrants.

Today I started Alloy of Law Brandon Sanderson

I am currently reading an anthology, Steampunk, which I guess fits in here. I am also reading The Face in the Frost and enjoying it immensely.

I'm reading A Princess of Roumania by Paul Park, which has fantasy elements. I'm already halfway though, so I'll probably finish it - but I'm halfway through and I have no idea where the story is going.

I just looked at the work page and discovered two things - that it's the first in a series or trilogy, which makes sense considering how little has happened yet, and that it's considered YA. Huh. I guess?

I'm reading Black Lung Captain and listening to Oryx and Crake. Enjoying both!

I just started How Few Remain, by Harry Turtledove, which was one of my LT Secret Santa gifts from 2010. I'm only about 30 pages in, and I'm not quite hooked, but I am intrigued by his setup.

Started The Once and Future King this afternoon. Apparently it's supposed to be amusing???

Hee, hee, Stasia is reading A Face in the Frost and enjoying it! That's the second person in the last month that I've convinced to try it.

I never did get engrossed by A Princess of Roumania and wouldn't have considered it YA myself either. Haven't tried any of the others, blue.

I'm halfway through The Night Circus, which is definitely fantasy.

8 roni - I've realized that I'm interested in it when the story follows one character and utterly bored when the story follows another character, and I'm in a part that is apparently stuck on the boring character (and totally pointless! and boring!) and I don't know how much more I will read after all.

Speaking of boring books, does Outlander get more interesting after a slow beginning? I started it a few days ago and couldn't figure out what everyone was raving about.

Finally getting a chance to start The Night Circus.

Ah! I can't wait to start The Night Circus - it's been making it's way through my library's holds queue, but I think my turn will be coming up pretty soon.

#9: Blue, if you are expecting sci fi/fantasy from Outlander, you are in for disappointment - think historical fiction/romance and you are more on track.

Blue, Outlander never got any more interesting for me, although many people seem to love it.

I'm leading a group read of The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch.

No Spoilers: http://www.librarything.com/topic/128183
Spoilers: http://www.librarything.com/topic/129342

Thanks roni, alcottacre! I think I'm done with Outlander.

#12 - yeah, that's probably why I hated Outlander so much.

I started The Innocent Mage last night. It's okay so far, though I've only read about 35 pages (then I fell asleep) so I can't really make an accurate judgment yet!

Outlander picks up considerably after about the first 150 pages. I was fortunate in being stuck on a train when I started it, so had nothing else to read, and then I was totally hooked. I've recommended it to lots of people on the basis that they read a big chunk of it at once to start with, and they've all loved it :-) But I agree that it's not really fantasy - just historical romance with a tiny bit of time travel.

> 7: yes Charlotte, as I remeber well The Once and Future King was very funny!

After A Game of Thrones I now just finished A Clash of Kings, I am totally in LOVE with George R.R. Martin and his A Song of Ice and Fire series!!!!

I am reading and absolutely loving Guy Gavriel Kay's The Summer Tree, the first book in his Fionavar Tapestry. I'm about a third of the way through.

I've just finished Diana Wynne Jones's Castle in the Air, which is second in the series, after 'Howl's Moving Castle'.

Getting into the War of the Flowers by Tad Williams, it is getting there.
#21, love the Fionavar Tapestry, brilliant series. Also have the next 4 GRR Martin to read, and the last 3 of Mark Chadbourn's Burning Man....that's Jan sorted !!

>23 fif:, Ooh, I envy you still having so man GRR Martins to read. I started reading War of the Flowers at some point from the library and was enjoying it but had to return it to the library before I was finished with it. I will have to pick it up some time again!

Temptation--I've had The Lies of Locke Lamora on my TBR pile for the last couple of years. Maybe.

I've also had The Awakened Mage there for a while, Faith. Same goes for The War of the Flowers, fif, but that one has only been there for a few months. TMB, TLT!

The Fionavar Tapestry series was Kay's first publication, Marcia, and often considered to be some of his poorer writing. I think one of the reasons it is thought so is because it is much more derivative of the types of fantasy that were being written at that time, right after LOTR's big success, but I've always enjoyed it. The good news, of course, is that you can continue reading Kay knowing that it just gets better.

Humouress, you'll want to find House of Many Ways ASAP then--we get to see a little more of Howl and Sophie there, which is always good. Are you really reading The Blue Sword right now? I love that book, just as much as the Riddlemaster books and DWJ.

I'm almost halfway through Oryx and Crake. Oddly mesermizing, although not much is happening.

I'm reading Dies the Fire, a post-apocalyptic novel about an event that alters electricity and explosions from the psysical laws, so modern technology no longer works. I'm really enjoying it :)

I just finished Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde. It was fantastic! If anyone loves a good satire + dystopia book then this is the one for you.

26 - and yet, by the end, a lot happens in a slow but steady way......

28 - Fforde is so much fun!

I'm getting seriously into Leigh Brackett these days -- simply LOVING the Eric John Stark trilogy (Ginger Star The Hounds of Skaith and The Reavers of Skaith. She brings that poor doomed place vividly to life! Written forty years ago, it's not even particularly dated and her writing is superb.

Oh, man, this thread is going to be BAD for my TBR list:). I recently finished Ready Player One and really enjoyed it.

Micro and Sisterhood Of Dune are up next for me. Micro is sort of science-fictionish....enjoying it so far.

>25 ronincats:, Yeah, Roni, I came to The Fionavar Tapestry having already read Tigana and A Song for Arbonne so I can definitely tell that it's not Kay's best work. It reminds me a lot of LOTR and also of Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain. Still, it's really good and it makes me want to reread Tigana because I remember the "echoes" of Fionavar in that book when they talked about meeting again in Finvarra.

I read The Paladin by CJ Cherryh for the first time this week. I've got Hammerfall waiting for me to finish the book I'm reading now (non-sci fi/fantasy).

The Paladin was really, really good. Why did I wait so long to try it?

I read Outlander last year. That's a week of my life I'm never getting back.

And The Face in the Frost has gone onto my wishlist.

Thankfully the other things so far mentioned that sound like my kind of thing are either on Mount TBR already or on my wishlist :-)

I'm just starting The Alloy of Law, which I'm very excited about.

I finished the fourth Song of Ice and Fire book yesterday, A Feast for Crows. I love this series, though I didn't think this particular book was quite as good as the rest.

The Alloy of Law was highly enjoyable

#25

Despite my love of G.G.K, I haven't made it through the Fionavar Tapestry trilogy. I think because I read Tigana as my first of his - nothing has quite lived up to those heights.

*sigh* I am not supposed to be rereading things QUITE so early into the year, and yet I have an urging to go and pick up Tigana. Does it count as not a reread if I read it for the first time on my Kindle?

Marcia, Ysabel has its protagonists meet up with some of the characters in the Fionavar Tapestry--it was a nice touch for those of us who first read the latter many years ago.

Lucy, I got two Leigh Brackett stories from the Gutenberg Project onto my Kindle yesterday. Unfortunately, PBS is now all out of her Skaith books, wouldn't you know it?

lunacat ~ Though a reread of Tigana sounds like a great idea, you might read The Lions of al-Rassan instead, or first. It is also a stand-alone. Both are favorites of mine. Hmm, I think I may be rereading them this year too.

Roni ~ I hadn't read any of the Fionavar books before reading Ysabel, which may be why I didn't like it as much as Tigana and Lions.

Mary, I don't know if I'll ever re-read The Lions of al-Rassan. It was a great and glorious story and I am so glad to have read it, but I don't know if I could bear it again. And no, Ysabel seems written at a different level from most of Kay's work, much more of a YA type book, so I don't thing that was probably the reason. It's just that it was nice to meet up with remembered characters. It's definitely not one I'd recommend to start with of Kay's books.

Outlander seems to divide readers, from what I've seen. Either you connect to the characters and are hooked, or you're baffled by the hype. I'm in the former camp, but I've seen the latter reaction enough to stop being surprised by it.

I finished How Few Remain last night, and my verdict didn't change from post #6--I was fascinated by Turtledove's setup and would love to sit around and debate historical what-ifs with him, but somehow I never felt quite connected to the characters and the story. After I finished, I looked up synopses for the rest of the series online just to see how his scenario played out, but I don't feel the need to read the whole thing.

Am not loving The Once and Future King so very much, so I've decided to read the books separately and thereby give myself hope that I will finish the dang thing - eventually. So, I revise my current fantasy read to be - The Sword in the Stone.

I preferred The Sword in the Stone to the other. I hope you enjoy it, Fourpawz2. :)

#41 - I agree: everyone seems to either love it or hate it. I *loved* it. The characters are (to me) very vivid, yet believable. And I have a huge crush on Jamie Fraser :)

I'm reading The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin for the first time and I'm really enjoying it so far. I'm also rereading Rick Riordan's The Lost Hero to refresh my memory for Son of Neptune, which I finally got a copy of!

#44 - The Lost Hero is on my TBR pile. Good to know that it is good enough to be reread!

Is The Sword in the Stone the one about the boy Wart (it's been a while!)? I found it sweet and poignant. Good choice!

44: I recently read The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms - it's a really great book. I didn't enjoy the sequel as much, though.

#47

Funny, I enjoyed The Broken Kingdoms just as much as the first, despite my usual trepidation with sequels. Have just ordered the third - hopefully I will enjoy it as much as the first two.

All fantasy readers: am looking for recommendations for my Amazon basket - it's still looking a bit empty. So far I have all the Guy Gavriel Kay books not already owned.

Any books I absolutely must have that I might not have come across?

48: I still liked The Broken Kingdoms a lot, but I think I might have enjoyed it more if I'd read it a while after The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. I'm still a bit squeamish about books that have a lot of sex, and I might have been overwhelmed reading them almost back-to-back. I also liked Yeine a bit more than Oree.

Also, fantasy recommendations: Brandon Sanderson (I loved the Mistborn series and The Way of Kings), Francis Hardinge (The Lost Conspiracy), Neil Gaiman

49 lunacat - I looked at "what should you borrow" and it suggested Boneshaker by Cherie Priest (and other good stuff by authors already in your library, like Chalice by Robin McKinley and Fire by Kristin Cashore).

I'm getting a slow start reading this year. I'm in the middle of Changeless but I think I'm putting it aside this evening for Changes as Valdemar is a favorite comfort read.

49> lunacat, my best fantasy author discoveries of the past few years are Jacqueline Carey, Anne Bishop and Robin Hobb. oh, and Naomi Novik. I absolutely adore Tigana, so much so I am on my 3rd or 4th lending copy.

14> Morphy, requesting Lies of Locke Lamora from the library this evening. I keep hearing it recommended...maybe I will succeed with a group read for once.

52 elfchild - I'm just going to sit here and chuckle at the symmetry of those titles :D

53> I had not noticed until you mentioned it - how funny. BTW, how did you do that making my name a link?

Put the @ sign before a name and it turns into a link.

>55 bluesalamanders: bluesalamanders - cool!

>49 lunacat: lunacat : apparently, what you should borrow from me are along the lines of McCaffrey, Jordan,Robin Hobbs, Montgomery, McKillip, Susan Dexter, le Guin - all my favourites.

>52 elfchild: - I haven't read the Collegium Chronicles yet, but I think that this year might be a good time to do an in-world chronological read of the series. Magic's Pawn, Brightly Burning and Arrows of the Queen were my favourites!

I'm reading (or trying to) David Weber's Honor Harrington series in chronological order, but I've stalled with Storm from the Shadows (which strangely doesn't give me a touchstone. Anyway.)

>49 lunacat: - I second the nominations for Robin Hobb and Brandon Sanderson!

>45 LVassmer: - The Lost Hero is a lot of fun, and brings a lot of mystery to the world that I had thought was well explored in the Percy Jackson series. It doesn't feel like the author was desperate to make more money out of the world, and it uses a logical combination of familiar and new characters to link the Percy Jackson series to this one. Definitely worth a reread!

>47 kgodey: & 48 - I am now officially *very* intrigued by The Broken Kingdoms!

>52 elfchild: I ended up not liking The Lies of Locke Lamora. It was readable but I felt disgust through much of it.

I'll be reading The Broken Kingdoms shortly.

>57 PrincessT: Thanks PrincessT The Lost Hero is now officially on the top of my TBR pile right after I get done with Boneshaker which I'm finding to be a very involved read

#58> hmmm...."disgust" is not something I care to feel about my recreational reading. I think I will read through your non-spoiler thread and see what I think. One of the things I am planning on doing this year is working through more of the flowchart of NPR's best 100 science fiction and fantasy books. I've read a good chunk of the fantasy already but much less of the science fiction.

>60 elfchild: The violence, torture and foul language was too much for me. Plus the jumping between time periods felt manipulative to me at times.

Just started Shades of Grey, thanks to this thread, and am enjoying it:).

#61

How interesting. I really really enjoyed The Lies of Locke Lamora and the second one. The violence and language didn't feel any worse than you might find in a fair amount of adult genre fiction these days.

>61 Morphidae: and 63 The language & such didn't bother me. I just felt bored reading it and wasn't interested in picking it back up, so didn't and sent it back to the library instead.

The foul language made no impression on me. I didn't love the violence, but what bothered me more was the complete lack of developed female characters. The few women that were involved in the story were plot points, not really characters. None of that stopped me from really liking the book, though.

Thanks for the recommendations after my appeal everyone. Thought I'd list what I've got in my basket currently and see what others thought.

Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch because I've got the first but haven't read it yet and am hoping getting the second will prod me into it.

The Lions of Al-Rassan, Sailing to Sarantium, Lord of Emperors, Under Heaven, all by Guy Gavriel Kay.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Pavane by Keith Roberts

The Kingdom of Gods by N.K. Jemisin

I'm weighing up whether to add the two stand-alone's by Brandon Sanderson as well. It's been so long since I've bought NEW books, I think I might be going a bit overboard.

I've got nearly all of Robin Hobb's - oh, and I've just added Pegasus by Robin McKinley to the list. *sigh* anything else I can't miss out on?? This will be the last book buying for a while. Somehow it seems less disgraceful if only one parcel comes through the door.

>62 karspeak: karspeak hope you enjoy Shades of Grey! It is officially once of my favorite books.

I find myself rethinking Lies of Locke Lamora based on assorted comments. I might still give it a try but I have a feeling it is something I will have to work at a little which means it is probably not the right book to start on after a hiatus. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, The Name of the Wind and Mistborn have all come up as highly recommended suggestions for me but I have been wary of starting a new "doorstopper" sized series of books given that I have less time to read these days than I used to. Heck, I think that A Song of Ice and Fire is wonderful and I haven't picked up A Dance with Dragons yet.

I also started The Lies of Locke Lamora but put it down unfinished. I think I just didn't relate enough to the characters; I do generally like books about people who started out as poor orphans and rose up in the world (whether by thievery, prostitution, or whatever), but the idea of just loving stealing for its own sake was a bit difficult for me. I'll probably give the books another chance someday, though.

Turns out I liked The Sword in the Stone after all. Am not dreading the rest of the books later on down the road...

I just finished Oryx and Crake. Weirdly compelling and definitely frightening, in that you can imagine this happening all too readily.

I'm currently reading Mostly Harmless (Hitchhiker's Guide #5), which I want to finish today :)

>60 elfchild: elfchild I just found that flowchart from NPR for science fiction and fantasy. I couldn't stop laughing at their questions! I definitely have read more of the fantasy and middle of the road books and less of the hard science fiction. I have officially saved that flowchart for future recommendations and have added many to my wishlist (not that it wasn't full of books already)

#73> It was clever and amusing, wasn't it? I'd like to get it printed out so I can look at the whole thing and check off the ones that I have read. I'm not sure how to do that though, my printer certainly doesn't do the size they recommend (and here I display my luddite tendencies)

Remember that Pegasus is only the first half of the story and there is probably a year to go before the second half is published. I'd wait on it.

Just stared Cordelia's Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold... so far enjoying it very much.

Yes! yes! yes! (sorry, bujold junkie here--always happy to see someone new being hooked!)

Oh, another Bujold fan!! Cordelia may be one of my very favourite characters ever :)

75 roni - First third now, actually, and knowing how Robin writes, there's no telling how long it will be until rest is finished. Whatever possessed them to publish that story unfinished, I will never understand.

Yes, my dog is named Cordelia (after the Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel character and of course the Shakespeare heroine) and now I have another excellent role model for her lol. I have read and enjoyed some of Bujold's fantasy but I'm not usually much of a space sci fi person, so I hadn't read any of the Vorkosigan books until now.

Wow, this is endless, I think I'll never read all this huge amount of fantasy books :S but I'll try!

Just finished Ringworld – didn't like it that much. Hopefully the other two classic sci-fi books that I have planned for this month will be better (Rendezvous with Rama, Stranger in a Strange Land.)

Started 11/22/63 this morning. Wow. Two chapters in and I'm hooked.

Just finished Boneshaker (I realize I'm behind the curve) and loved it! 5/5 for me. A perfect introduction to steampunk in my opinion. I'll definitely be reading the next book in the series/universe

LVassmer - Glad to hear you liked Boneshaker! I really enjoy Priest's writing. Her Cheshire Red series (urban fantasy) is excellent as well.

83: I want it!!!!!!

Just started on The Lost Hero. I loved the Percy Jackson series so have high hopes for this one!

I finished The Dragon chair by Tad Williams and now reading the second book Stone of farewell

(88) FAMeulstee, that is my most favorite fantasy trilogy (sorry LoTR fans!).

Each book is longer than the one before. To Green Angel Tower is so long, it had to be split into two books when it was published in paperback!

But it's not bloated, it's all GOOD.

Enjoy!

> 89: oh yes fuzzi, I AM enjoying these books!!
Not sure if I think it is BETTER than LoTR ;-)

I finished Darkship Thieves, which is an okay read--it's light and entertaining, some interesting world-building but too much emphasis on the romance for me.

I can finally post to this thread - just started my first fantasy of the year Sea Dragon Heir by Storm Constantine.

I'm reading Blood Music by Greg Bear which is supposedly science fiction but feels more like a horror story. It's creeping me out.

I'm reading the Wheel of Time prequel, New Spring by Robert Jordan. It is lots of fun!

#76 - Oh, yay, another Bujold convert! I put off reading her for years because I didn't think she could POSSIBLY live up to the hype, but if anything she exceeded it.

>92 calm:, Ooh, I will be interested to see what you think of the Constantine book. I've never read any of her novels, but I hear that she writes some pretty stuff in regards to gender roles and sexuality.

>96 allthesedarnbooks: I'm about half way through and it's good so far. Only problem being teeny tiny print in my edition:) If you just want a taster of how she writes I read one of her short story collections last year - Mythangelus - which was very good.

Just finished Wool and Wool 2 which were very fun!! Wool is only 70 pages and only 99 cents for Kindle. It is a post-apocalyptic dystopia meets the Twilight Zone--engrossing and entertaining!!

Hammerfall completed, Forge of Heaven is waiting in the wings...

Reading Love in the Time of Dragons; not enjoying it. It's turning out to be a sex romp, which is not my cup of tea, and so far, only one paragraph on dragons as such.

I read Changes last week but we are still adjusting to school starting again, complicated by every week thusfar being a short week for one reason or another, and I discovered Downton Abbey.

I have just started Brother to Demons, Brother to Gods by Jack Williamson.

I've about 150 pages into Tigana, after all the recommendations on here! I'm enjoying it so far.

I am reading Zoo City by Lauren Beukes. Took me a bit to get into it, but the story has picked up now and I am enjoying it.

I'm listening to Absolution Gap in Alastair Reynold's Revelation Space series. I really like the narrator, John Lee, so have chosen to listen to this series instead of reading it.

I've given the 4 books I've read so far ratings of 4 or 5 stars, so why does LT predict with very high confidence that LibraryThing thinks you probably won't like Absolution Gap!

I just finished And another Thing... and reviewed it in my thread :) http://www.librarything.nl/topic/129814#3187456 Also on my weblog of course.
Next I'll be finishing re-reading The girl who heard dragons I think.

>105 avatiakh: I'm also listening to John Lee read an Alastair Reynolds book, House of Suns. Lee is one of my favorite readers. This is my first book by Reynolds and I'm really enjoying it so far. Will have to check out the Revelation Space series.

I'm about half way through Beauty by Sheri S. Tepper. Completely not what I was expecting. Have got a little 'stuck' in the plot at the moment but I loved the first half so I'm hoping it picks up again soon.

Oh, luna! I loved Beauty when I read it ages ago. It was my first Tepper, and I was so impressed I read everything else by her I could find. That, Grass, and Gate to Womens' Country were the best of them all, I think. At least they are my favorites. In the intervening years, I've found that her work is sometimes great and sometimes I don't even want to finish. Anyway, I hope you are able to stick with it and that you end up enjoying it!

109> I read Gate to Womens' Country first and it absolutely blew me away. Tepper's writing was so different from the other scifi I had read up to that time. It was like great lit.

I just finished A Clash of Kings --- took me about three months to slog through it. But I went ahead and bought A Storm of Swords, the third book in the series. But I think I won't start it just yet, I need a little break from this series. It seems to be endless!

I'm two books deep into The Great Book of Amber by Roger Zelazny. My fantasy reading started with Tolkien, and then jumped to the 80s with the likes of Terry Brooks and Piers Anthony, then continued on with the usual crew: George R.R. Martin, Robert Jordan, etc.

In other words, my 70s fantasy reading was woefully lacking, and this is definitely filling in a gap. Any other suggestions for good 60s-70s era fantasy?

I've just finished De erfenis van Richard Grenville (English review in my thread), but it hasn't been translated into English (yet?). I hope it gets translated, it was a very nice read.

I just finished Wool and the 4 other books in the series. Overall, quite entertaining; they might fall in the "brain candy" category for me.

>112 shabacus: : Have you looked at early Anne McCaffrey, Marion Zimmer Bradley, André Norton and so on? I think they could fit what you're looking for.

humouress @ 115

I'm a long-time fan of Pern, but after the prequels I can't help but see it as soft sci-fi rather than fantasy. Marion Zimmer Bradley isn't my cup of tea--no relatable male characters. (A refreshing change, no doubt, but still the reason she doesn't hold my attention.) André Norton I have never attempted, so that might have to go on the list. Thanks for the suggestions!

>116 shabacus:: You're welcome. By early McCaffrey, I meant the first written, not by time-line. But as a long-time fan, you knew that. Happy reading!

I'm just starting on Mercedes Lackey's Collegium chronicles, with Foundation

just finished the Lies of Locke Lamora, brilliant, funny, twisted plotlines. Looking out for the next in series, as if i need MORE books!.....

I recently reread Jack McDevitt's The Devil's Eye (the Alex Benedict series is great!) and shortly after read Alfred Bester's Hugo Award winning The Demolished Man, which is a good choice if you're into classic science fiction.

I have several other possibilities this month, including the just mentioned Lies of Locke Lamora, the Riddle Master of Hed trilogy, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and Connie Willis' Bellwether. So many books to choose from!

I"m reading C. J. Cherryh's Chanur books. I've got The Pride of Chanur, Chanur's Venture and The Kif Strike Back under my belt, and am ready to start Chanur's Homecoming. These are re-reads of some of my favorites of hers. After that, I need to get busy with library books, including The Lost Hero, Enna Burning, The Wild Ways and The Peach Keeper.

I really love the Riddlemaster trilogy, Dejah, and Bellwether. The latter is understated ironic humor--if you've ever worked in a university or research setting, you will totally get it. Once you read the Philip Dick book, you really have to read John Scalzi's The Android's Dream--it is great fun!

Roni --

I'm rereading The Riddle-Master of Hed now. It's been many, many years (decades?) since I've read the trilogy and I'm enjoying it very much. I'm amazed at how much is coming back to me.

As a big Connie Willis fan, I don't know how I manged to miss reading Bellwether before now -- I'm looking forward to it.

BTW, I've been reading your reviews of Cherryh's Chanur books and I'm intrigued. For some reason, I've never read much Cherryh -- just the Cyteen trilogy years ago. I obviously need to read more of her stuff!

I'll be sure to read The Android's Dream, too!

I've just started Spin by Robert Charles Wilson. This is the first book by this author I've read.

#120

Ahh, so that's why I was immensely underwhelmed by Bellwether. I didn't get it at all. At least I know now it's because I have neither experience!

Just finished The Lions of Al-Rassan. Fabulous. Now trying to decide whether to go for another GGK, or to savour them and stretch them out by reading things in between.

(120) ronincats, those are my favorite books by CJ Cherryh!

Don't forget the final book, Chanur's Legacy, which follows Hildy.

lunacat ~ Lions of al-Rassan is fabulous, isn't it! Have you read Tigana yet? If not and you decide to, prepare for another wonderful read!

BTW, what did you think of Tepper's Beauty?

#122--I really enjoyed Spin, I hope you do, too!

Yay for the Riddle-Master; I just finished re-reading the trilogy, and it didn't disappoint my expectations. It's still up there on the all-time favourites list.

Just finished Mercedes Lackey's Foundation, and have moved on to Jim Butcher's Furies of Calderon, which is looking good.

I'm reading Shadow's End by Sheri S Tepper.

Love the fact that there is so much love for the Riddle Master - I'm tempted to pull it off the shelf for a re-read:)

#127 I loved Spin! For the last 150 pages I could not put it down. And boy did I need something like that since I have a horrible cold and needed something to distract me from how miserable I feel.

I've started Breach by Patrick Lee now. Hope it is equally engrossing.

(128) humouress, I really enjoyed Foundation, now you need to read the second book. :)

I think I'm going to read Heavy Time today: it's one of CJ Cherryh's books that I have not yet read!

128 & 131

Humoress -

I really like Butcher's Codex Alera series - although, Furies of Calderon is probably my least favorite of the lot. Mind you, it was plenty good enough for me to go on to the next book!

Enjoy!

Just started Bitter Seeds. Nazis and wizards and superpowers!

128, 131, 132 ~ The Codex Alera series just gets better with each book. I think I may have liked it even more than The Dresden Files series. Tavi doesn't get beat up quite so much, and the action isn't quite so nonstop.

I posted this on my thread, but decided if I wanted more information about these books, I ought to post it here, too.

In case anyone is interested, the 2011 Nebula Award Nominees has been posted here.

The Best Novel Nominees are:

Among Others by Jo Walton
Embassytown by China Mieville
Firebird by Jack McDevitt
God's War by Kameron Hurley
Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti by Genevieve Valentine
The Kingdom of Gods by N.K. Jemisin

Of these, I've only read Firebird, which was excellent. I think I'll also try to read God's War and The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, which is the first book in the trilogy that The Kingdom of Gods concludes.

If anyone has read any of the nominees, I'd love to know what you think of them!

135: I read Embassytown last year and really loved it.

Sadly, I have read NONE of them. I do have The Kingdom of Gods here on my tbr pile, having read the first two in the series. The Walton sounds really good, as well.

I just read His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman's fantasy trilogy, and quite enjoyed it. Many memorable images, scenes, & emotions.

138: I absolutely love the His Dark Materials trilogy! They have been my favorite books for a very long time. The world that he builds is so rich it almost feels real.

Guess I should update; I've now read Among Others and Firebird of the Nebula nominees.

Just finished To Green Angel Tower, Part 2, the last book of Memory, Sorrow and Thorn.
The whole epic is more than 2800 pages and I loved each one of them ;-)

140> I loved Among Others. Also enjoyed Embassytown. I'm sure the other nominees are good, but, y'know, "so many books, so little time!"

I just started Hellbent, sequel to Bloodshot, this morning. How could one say no to an ex-Navy SEAL/drag queen as a supporting character? A cross between It Takes a Thief, Underworld, and Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books - funny stuff!

hey Drneu, did you like Bitter seeds?

Yep. It was pretty good, but pretty dark. Definitely a flawed hero kind of story.

#143, Bloodshot and Hellbent are two of my guilty pleasures. So much fun.

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Other than that, finally read The Giver which has been on The List forever. In the same vein also finally read Green Heart by Alice Hoffman. Besides that Bitterblue and a bunch of other YA dystopic books.

Just finished Warm Bodies, a zombie romance. Yes, you read that right. Currently (among other things) I'm reading The Gone Away World by Nick Harkaway. The book has so many tangents, I'm not sure I could tell you what it's about, but it's set in a dystopian world. Other sf/f reads this year: The Postmortal, the Johannes Cabal series, Ready Player One, The Native Star and The Hidden Goddess, Vortex, Agent to the Stars, yadda, yadda.

Just finished Sharon Shinn's Mystic and Rider, which was fun, and had me eager to continue reading every night; and am re-reading Terry Brooks's Magic Kingdom For Sale / Sold, which I'm finding a bit heavy going, oddly. Possibly because I know how it goes, more or less.

>146 PamFamilyLibrary: : oops - misread that as 'YA dyspeptic books' for some reason.

I'm now reading Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief the first in Rick Riordan's series, and Charles de Lint's urban fantasy Jack the Giant Killer; which can be confusing at times, because both books are set in the modern world and the heroes are trying to escape from supernatural beings. But I am enjoying both books.

I love Charles de Lint! It must be ten years since I read Jack the Giant Killer. I'll add it to the TBR Mountain.

> 150 : I've seen his work around for a while, and in spite of that, I haven't read anything by him, or at least not in some time (I may have read a short story in an anthology ages ago), so when I came across this in the library, I thought I ought to give it a try.

Just started Stardust. Hope it will be great fun.

On the subject of de Lint - my favorite of his is Moonheart. Great standalone story that gives a pretty good taste of his work.

>152 majkia: I like Stardust but I much prefer Neverwhere. Guess it's the urban fantasy fan in my soul.

>151 humouress: and 153 I like Moonheart; I read that back in the (gasp!) 80s! I remember there was this one character that constantly rolled his cigarettes and it drove me nuts! Favorites for me.....I'd say The Mystery of Grace and Someplace to be Flying. Short storywise: The Moon is Drowning While I Sleep, Uncle Dobbin's Parrot Fair and Mr. Truepenny's Book Emporium and Gallery. Most of my books are signed (fan girl squeal!) because my husband mailed my collection to Charles de Lint one Christmas as a present. Thank you hubby!

As for current reads, I'm about half way through The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of her Own Making.

Wow, nice hubby. Maybe I'll accidentally leave your post lying around somewhere ...

I finished my de Lint, and read Drink Down the Moon, which I found easier to read. I'm now reading The Glass Dragon by Irene Radford and also Red Star Rising by Anne McCaffrey (have to check that touchstone, sorry).

I've just devoured (re-reads) The Curse of Chalion, Paladin of Souls, and The Hallowed Hunt, and thrown in House of Many Ways for dessert.

>155 humouress: I guess I'll keep my hubby. It's so hard to train a new one. :) Red Star Rising? Pern? I don't recognize that one.

>156 ronincats: Have you read her other fantasy series? Can't think of the name. The word "Knife" is in the title I think?


I'm on a YA kick right now, but most of them still fall into the sf/fantasy categories. Listened to Beautiful Creatures and Beautiful Darkness. Currently listening to Beautiful Chaos. The Caster Chronicles is pretty good..paranormal without a vampire or werewolf in sight. Southern Gothic Creepy.

Just finished reading Divergent and Revived. I won't bother to explain the first plot, but the second involves an FDA trial for a death defying drug and a 16 year old girl who's a test subject. She's been brought back to life five times.

Currently reading All These Things I've Done. This book doesn't really fall into a single category. It's 2083, so I guess you could say it's science fiction. It's based in NYC, but it's a New York where paper is scarce, alcohol can be served to minors and clothes haven't been manufactured in at least ten years.

The main character is the daughter of a murdered crime boss. The family deals in the black market of chocolate. Both it and caffeine are now illegal substances. NO!

> 157 : well, could you train my hubby, too, please?

I think someone mentioned Red Star Rising is also known as Dragonseye in the US - will have to confirm. It's subtitles "Second Chronicles of Pern"

I think you're thinking of the 'Sharing Knife' series. Personally, I read the first book, but didn't find it up to the standards of 'Chalion' or 'Vorkosigan'; but then, those bars are pretty high.

Just finished Fire by Kristin Cashore and think I liked it even better than Graceling, which I liked a lot. I resisted reading Fire for a long time because I liked the characters of Graceling so much, and I knew Fire was not about them, but I needn't have worried that the characters of the new novel wouldn't be equally as compelling. Next up: Bitterblue.

Just finished Midnight Tides. I love the Malazan series. About to begin Tea with the Black Dragon.

>158 humouress: Okay, so it is a Pern. I need to get back into that series. I believe the very last novel comes out in June. Geeze. I read my first Pern novel in ninth grade. Maybe even earlier.

**Spoilery**
Recent fantasy reads: The first three novels in The Demon Trapper's Daughter series. They basically all have the same format, 200 pages that drag and then 100 pages of a building climax. Wham bam, thank you mam action at the end. The timeline is screwy. Not all of this could happen in like...four weeks? The original tone of the first novel led me to believe it would be a much funnier series than it actually is.

Finished Academ's Fury, the second in Jim Butcher's (he of Dresden Files fame) Alera Codex series. I am really enjoying this series, which so far I have borrowed from the library. Am now contemplating buying it to add to my collection.

I just read The Drowning Girl, Caitlin R. Kiernan's new novel, and I'm not sure quite how I feel about it. The narrator, Imp, is a young, schizophrenic woman, who in a roundabout, stuttering way tells her story of being "haunted" by a woman who drowned. Imp finds many correlations of the drowned woman in art (Imp is a painter herself), myth, poetry, and newspaper accounts. But she is such an unreliable narrator (by her own admission) that I could never decide if anything supernatural was occuring, or just manifestations of her schizophrenia. Which ambiguity I'm sure was the author's aim, but I was often impatient with it. Certainly drowning is an apt metaphor for being sucked into severe mental illness. Anyway, I'll be thinking about this one for a while.

I've just finished Margo Lanagan's latest, Sea Hearts which also goes by the title The Brides of Rollrock Island, great selkie tale. I've started a children's fantasy from Ireland The Hounds of the Morrigan which promises to be a great adventure.

Just finished The Ship Who Sang. McAffrey said in one interview that it was her favorite book of all the ones she had written. I found it enjoyable, although I thought the ending was a bit weak.

Finally finished The Glass Dragon by Irene Radford (hmm) and Julie E. Czerneda's A Thousand Words for Stranger (intriguing).

Steamed through The Magicians' Guild by Trudi Canavan (nice), and have started Mercedes Lackey's Changes and Sharon Shinn's The Thirteenth House. I've renewed my library books for the maximum number of times, and have to return them next week :)

I'm loving the 'Twelve Houses' series; The Thirteenth House was unputdownable ... or only put down with great reluctance, so I could get in a couple of hours a sleep for the night.

I'm dithering over my next choice; I've come home with a whole heap of new books from the library - having maxed out my card (again), despite best intentions - including quite a few new-to-me authors. I'm sure I'll have the same problems in a month's time, and have to rush through everything to finish them before having to return them.

I just started Enchantment by Orson Scott Card. This is a modern retelling of Sleeping Beauty.

I've almost finished Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban, recommended to those looking for something different.

Finished The Perfect Princess, which is the sequel to 'The Glass Dragon', and The Phoenix Unchained - a pleasant read; about to start Lord John and the Hand of Devils, which is a short story collection by Diana Gabaldon, whom I keep coming across, so I thought I should investigate.

Just finished Seraphina. Fabulous.

I just read 2312, Kim Stanley Robinson's latest. Though the compelling story is set 300 years from now, in a Solar system humans have expanded to occupy, at heart it's a philosphical novel, considering the nature of humanity--what we are, how we should live. It handles some classic sf themes (longevity, singularity, terraforming), and also Robinson's usual fascinations (geology, politics). Readers who liked his Mars trilogy should enjoy this one a lot (I did).

Read The Bards of Bone Plain, a recent novel by fantasy grandmaster Patricia McKillip, and it didn't really grab me. The prose was gorgeous, as usual for her, but I didn't find the plot or characters engaging. There is a lot of description of the emotional & possibly magical effects of music, but I didn't have the imagination to place heard music with it. I'm also thinking that sometimes I don't have the patience to give a book the focus it deserves, or I'm just not in the mood for that type of book but plow ahead anyway. I still think she's an important writer, and will seek out her earlier work, but don't intend to reread this one.

I am reading The High Crusade by Poul Anderson, and enjoying every page. Originally published in serial form over 52 years ago, this story of aliens arriving on earth during the medieval period is extremely inventive and the author makes good use of humor and larger-than-life characters to bring this adventurous tale to life.

I've read Anne Bishop's Heir to the Shadows, which is the second in her popular Black Jewels trilogy. It was OK, but won't make my hit list. I'm now struggling through The Loneliest Magician, which is the last in Volume 1 of The Dragon Nimbus novels by Irene Radford, following 'The Glass Dragon' and 'The Perfect Princess'.

I don't seem to be enjoying the best of luck in my reading choices at the moment (I'm hovering around the 3 starts mark, when I'm usually up in the 4 and 5 stars).

Just started read Highlander: The Captive Soul by Joseph Sherman. I'm a fan of the television series so I was thrilled to see this book mentioned on librarything. The main character is Methos the 5000 year old man. The setting for the backstory is the Hyksos invasion of Egypt around 1800 BC. Never heard of the Hyksos before so I've had fun researching them on the Internet.

Just finished Cinder and the The Last Continent and starting in on The Iron Thorn.

I'm rereading, for the first time in thirty years, Ursula Le Guin's first three novels, in the omnibus edition Worlds of Exile and Illusion. Right from the beginning she had all the qualities I associate with her writing: elegant prose, compelling stories, anthropological world view, characters with depth, compassion, wisdom.

I've finished Alastair Reynolds' The Prefect and started on Peter F. Hamilton's Pandora's Star.

Reluctantly leaving Chivial, where I met Sir Durendal of the King's Blades in The Gilded Chain. I'm back up to 5 stars now.

I loved Shannon Hale's Goose Girl and I have now picked up the next in the series, Enna Burning.

I enjoyed The Apocalypse Codex, the new one from Charles Stross. The premise of his Laundry series (of which this is the fourth novel) is really clever, with its seamless mashup of Lovecraftian horror, espionage/thriller plotting, and system administrator humor.

Though my reading time has been a bit patchy, I've had thoroughly good fun reading Dark Moon Defender, the third 'Twelve Houses' novel by Sharon Shinn, and the first of the First Law series, The Blade Itself, by Joe Abercrombie.

In the middle of reading Terry Prachett's Snuff. It's so easy to immerse yourself in Disc World.

I'm trying to read King's Peace by Jo Walton but although I loved the other books of hers that I read, I'm finding this one very hard to get into.

Having seen so many people enjoying the series, I've started Naomi Novik's Temeraire.

Hunter's Run authored by Martin, Daniel Abraham & Gardner Dozois

#187 I just read that earlier this summer, and straight on to the next one, as I enjoyed the first so much.

Reading The Perilous Prophecy of Guard and Goddess by Leanne Renne Hieber. This a prequel to her Strangely Beautiful series and the third book in the series.

After being linked to a great post on her blog, I decided to move Seanan McGuire to the top of my TBR list and the book that the bookstore had was Rosemary and Rue. On the surface it seems like a standard faerieland/human world conflict, but it's definitely one of the more interesting takes that I've read.

> 191: I liked Rosemary and Rue, both for its main character, story and setting (I live in the San Francisco Bay area). But I didn't like it enough to get invested in a series. Maybe because I didn't find any humor there--I love the Sookie Stackhouse series for its mix of humor and drama.

192 edgewood - I don't think I've read any of the Sookie Stackhouse books. But you may like Tanya Huff's Blood books, the Vicki Nelson series.

194> Thanks for the Blood Books recommendation, I may check those out.

I'm moving into Sci-Fi (away from my Fantasy comfort zone) with On Basilisk Station, the first in the Honor Harrington series by David Weber. I'm also thinking about checking out a Steampunk anthology.

Just picked up The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack and New Amsterdam (everytime I see that title, I think of the Counting Crows song, Down at the New Amsterdam). I started both (just a few pages to see if I want to read them) and want to read them both tonight. Also picked up The Woman Who Died A Lot and Something Red. I've got me some good reading for the next couple of weeks!

I loved On Basilisk Station enough to go out and get 5 more Honor Harrington books.

I've just started Elizabeth Moon's Trading in Danger. Looks good so far.

Just starting Dayworld by Philip Jose Farmer. I enjoyed the first two Riverworld novels and I am hoping Dayworld is a good series as well.

Trading in Danger was good. I liked the main protagonist, and I'll be on the look-out for more in the series.

I've just started Sharon Shinn's Troubled Waters

Have I mentioned that I'm reading The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack? Steampunk starring King's Investigator Sir Richard Francis Burton and Algernon Charles Swinburne. Pretty good, if a bit over-the-top.