February 2014 reading

Just finished White Gold Wielder, thus capping the Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. I felt it was an entirely satisfying conclusion, and kind of wish he had stopped there. But after a break I'll dig into the "last" chronicles. Maybe after I find a used copy of the last one in the series (have already bought the other three second-hand).

I just finished Mary Doria Russell's The Sparrow. It was certainly more 'literary' than the science fiction I've been reading lately and I enjoyed it very much. It's all relationships and character development up until around page 200 when they finally leave for the alien world, but then it accelerates as things are revealed. Not sure if I'll read the follow-up Children of God as I've read mixed reviews.

2: That one is on my wishlist! The sparrow, I mean. Normally I don't really like literature, though (I'm prejudiced). Can you tell me what you mean exactly with 'more literary'?

I'd say it's more literary in the sense that the prose is good and it spends a little more time developing characters psychologically. It's about people as much as it's about ideas.

I decided not to read the sequel.

The Sparrow is one of my favorite books of all time (not just SF genre.) I also enjoyed Children of God, the sequel. It is not quite a shocking as The Sparrow, but it is very, very good.

I'm in the midst of re-reading Alexei Panshin's Villier's series and am pleased to find it as delightful as I found it the first time. Just finished Star Well and am beginning The Thurb Revolution.

I just began Robopocalypse. I'm an unabashed robot lover; I wonder whether this book will change my feelings.

Reading Moving Mars enjoyable, if a bit slow.

Currently reading Patternmaster by Octavia Butler, having just coursed through the rest of the series chronologically.

Started reading The Human Division.

Just finished God's War - which completes my reading of this year's BSFA Award novel nominees.

Any favourites? I've yet to read the Priest or the Powell.

I am reading Gene Wolfe's--Endangered Species. I will hold up Wolfe as a "literary" author who delivers without shying away from the genre. In any event, he is one of my favorite authors among whose books I think are some of the treasures in modern F&SF.

<#3 - I'd agree with #4s' comment re: the character development adding to it being 'more literary'. Much of the first half of the book dove deep into the characters and the stress of "who likes who" and jealousy and so on. All of which informs the story once the crew is on the alien world and things start to happen. So much so that I was disappointed in the way that the Sofia Mendes character was handled.

It was just a little different level of depth than I was used to. In fact, this book talked about sex way more than any other sci-fi book I've ever read. It's just written on that level of character development. I would've enjoyed a little more time spent on the ideas themselves and not just the emotional implications of what Sandoz experienced on the alien planet.

Hope that helps. I keep having to delete and re-type as I don't want to spoil anything for you! If you like sci-fi (beyond hardcore military sci-fi) and can stomach a few 'ew, that's harsh' moments, then you will probably enjoy this one.

14: Thanks, @trav! It sounds good, I'll keep it on my wishlist and might move it up a bit on the to-buy-list! I like SF, but I prefer SF where the author has given some attention to the characters. I don't like it if they focus solely on the idea. So this should work for me.

4: Thank you too, @anglemark!

9: Do get back to us on Patternmaster, @psybre. I always like hearing how other people experience Octavia Butler's books... How did you like the first three books?

Well I am back to Sci-fi for a while...I am currently reading To Outlive Eternity by Poul Anderson...it is a book of hard sci-fi and I did not think I would have enjoyed it as much as I do.

The first story is "to Outlive Eternity" and is about a colonization expedition in a ship that is constantly accelerating toward the speed of light and encounters a situation in space which takes out their ability to decelerate. You need to understand a bit of relativity to flow the problem and at times the story is dry because of the science/pseudoscience discussions but I found it interesting.

the second story, "No Truce with Kings" is post-apocalyptic where the western seaboard is warring states, even with Canada and there is a colony of alien pacifists which are trying to manipulate the earthlings so they can be allowed to eventually explore space. They are supposed to remain neutral and with an invisible purpose but then are attacked and they must take sides.

I am now on the third story, "Progress" which is a bit of a spy story...again post-apocalypse where a group of agents are sent to an island to find out what is so mysterious about it

There are 4 more stories after this one "Un-man", "The Big Rain", "After Doomsday" and "Epilogue"...a pretty entertaining book so far for short stories

a pretty entertaining book so far for short stories

So collections of short stories or anthologies aren't normally entertaining?

:-)

#12

Ack-Ack Macaque is great fun but just entertainment.

The Adjacent is very good, as one would expect, but I'm a big fan of Chris Priest's work. It is a book that will reward a re-read.

Evening's Empires has great world-building but it didn't grab me as much as I had hoped it would. Still very good though.

God's War is a bit too over-egged, a bit too violent, and a bit too hand-wavey in parts. But good enough. I just wanted it to be a bit more than it is.

My favourite (at the moment) of the five is probably Ancillary Justice which I thought was one of the strongest debut novels for years. But it isn't head and shoulders above the pack.

(Note I have put them in alphabetical order, apart from my favourite, not in any quality order)

Coming up Pamela Sargent "Venus Project"

>17 iansales:

Hahaha...good point...I normally do like 300-400+ page novels more as there is time to develop the story. Short stories to me generally fall into 2 categories:

1. why does this have to end so soon?
2. Well I am glad that one is over.

this book is striking a happy medium so far for me.

>15 zjakkelien:
>How did you like the first three books?

I've seventy pages left to read of Patternmaster, and can say with a fair measure of certainty that the first book of the series that I read (Wild Seed) is my favorite. With the exception of Survivor, this will complete my reading of Butler's oeuvre. I have been educated and re-educated throughout. The patternmaster series is pulpy compared to her other series, Kindred, and Fledgling, and this seems to limit my empathy with the characters other than Anyanwu. Still, I'm excited to find out whether Teray (the protagonist in Patternmaster) achieves his goals, stays true to his mien, and how the world that Butler created resolves.

Thanks for asking, zjakkelien.

> 16: "To outlive eternity" sounds very much like the original story that Anderson developed into the novel Tau Zero.

21: I rather liked all the books, except for the third one, @psybre. I think maybe the second was my favorite. I liked the first one as well, but I was glad to see Doro get his comeuppance...

22> You are correct...it is exactly the same story....the short story is 106 pages long...I could not find the length of the novel so I don't know if he just extracted the short story and repackaged it as a novel with a different title or if he embellished the story at all.

My SFBC edition runs to 208 pages, so unless they used a really large typeface I assume that PA expanded the story somewhat for novel publication.

Now reading The Einstein Intersection. Lions, tigers, and bears bulls indeed!

Went on vacation last month and actually got some reading done during it. It's been a while since I managed that. Only one book was SF, the others were fantasy, in no particular order:

1636: The Devil's Opera from Eric Flint's endless Grantville series was the SF-ish one. The series has become hit or miss for me, this is one I really liked.

The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince by Robin Hobb. A long novella filling in some spots in the Farseer history. I always like her stuff when it's not too depressing. This one was good.

Shadows by Robin McKinley told of a near copy of our world but it had magic. For me, it was a story of two halves. I liked the first half, but during the second half, it turns out that the main character is capable of magic, and she starts saving the world though she doesn't know what she's doing or how she's doing it. Struck me as Deus Ex Machina, and ruined the book for me.

Pegasus, also by McKinley, also was a tale of two halves. Again, I liked the first half which ran to the 400 page mark. Then she and/or the publisher took a meat cleaver and chopped the book right at the end of a chapter. Nothing was resolved and readers like me are still waiting on the planned sequel several years later. Either they didn't want to release an 800 page doorstop or she didn't know how she was going to finish the story since she still hasn't done it.

The last book by McKinley was Chalice. As you might expect, it was also a two halves book. In this case, there was no first half. A standard storytelling bit of advice is to toss the reader right into the action. In this book, the story opens several months into a catastrophe. Readers pick up all the backstory, world building and character development as they go. I liked it though and thought it the best of the three McKinley books.

Autumn bones by Jacqueline Carey is the second book of what I assume is going to be a series. It was a good continuation of the first book, I liked it.

Lastly, The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett. A medieval setting in a world very different from ours and the first of a planned five book series. I liked it and intend to read the next book. I did cheat and take a look at some of the reviews for the next book while I was checking to see if it was published yet and the reviews are more up and down than the mostly good reviews for this book. Hopefully I'll like the next book. Who knows when I'll get to it, hopefully before the next vacation. :-)

LT tells me today is the anniversary of the death of Lin Carter. I just started reading Under the Green Star Wednesday evening, in resumption of my interminable perusal of sword-and-planet stories.

Still reading Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie - really liking it...(LT Early Readers)

Currently reading Stephen Baxter's Proxima. Not impressed so far...

Have just finished The Stars My Destination for one group read, and am now heading back into the Culture group read for The Player of Games. After 2 tough reads so far this month (I didn't particularly enjoy Bester, and although I admired my previous non-scifi read (The Goldfinch), I didn't particularly enjoy that either), heading back to Iain M Banks feels like ordering dessert as a reward for eating all my veg :)

Just bought All you need is kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. This came highly recommended by some (very well-read) regulars on Dan Simmons' forum, and has been adapted into a movie that is coming out fairly soon.

Just finished Lexicon by Max Barry and I think my head hurts, in a good way. Barry explores concepts of language and how it shapes us, influences us and wounds us. Interesting characters, a plot that jumps back and forth and off to the side as you try to piece everything together. Excellent job of both entertaining and making you think.

Just finished The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood and I really liked it. The world-building was a bit shaky, but I loved the writing style and the main character's voice. Not as heavy-handed as it could have been (a big plus!) and, I thought, deftly executed. And a bit too close to reality to be comfortably characterized as a made-up fiction. In short: great writing, neat idea, lovely execution and some extra-fictional relevance. Excellent!

@Petroglyph
The Handmaid's Tale is one of my favorite books. It's what got me onto dystopia's in the first place.
What did you find a bit shaky in the world-building?

I found the world-building in that novel to be sufficient. Any more and it would have been stealing too much focus.

I have been reading The Stars my destination and re-reading The Player of games for the same group reads as another member above, to apparently similar results.

>35 Vonini:, 36
I had a hard time believing that a theocratic government could take over society and have its worldview imposed on all and sundry over the course of a few years -- less than a decade passed between "Offred" having a five-year-old (ish) daughter and her being 32-ish at the time her narrative takes place. I suspended my disbelief to accept that Gilead's dominant mentality was one that tolerated/embraced such high degrees of segregation and religious cleansing, but Atwood never really sold me on the time window. I'd expected there to be a more gradual transition; or more information on the nature or the context of "Offred"'s mother's protest marches, or even rumours of a rebellion or mass protests or a counter-coup or something. Even a mention of an increasing theocracization of a society, some revivalist movement perhaps, or some form of elaboration on the war that created Gilead and that apparently is still ongoing. That's all I wanted: just some kind of justification for the brief window between a 1970s US society where women work, where divorcees remarry, where there is no apparent gender segregation or overt lgbtq persecution -- all as a matter of course -- and an absolute gender-and-class-segregated society that lynches lgbtq people, Christian denominations as well as non-christian religions and that accepts sex slavery and institutionalized rape on the basis of a literalist reading of a few Old Testament verses. All enforced by rituals and practices that are apparently universally proscribed throughout the society (Prayvaganza, Ceremony, enforced illiteracy).

I understand that in-universe there is a war going on; that the novel is narrated through the voice of an information-starved sex slave; that she feels utterly powerless; that she's retreated into her skull and that she flows back and forth between an unchanging present and vivid recreations of her memory; and I agree that more frequent sequences of explicit world-building would have taken away from her detachment from it all. It's just that the brief time window did not sit well with me; and without (for my taste) sufficient justification and/or explanation, I only suspended my disbelief and never really accepted the situation. And that made me think this was done out of convenience, in order to present a narrator who'd experienced both worlds as a participating adult but who was still of youngish child-bearing age.

> 38

I wish there weren't historical (20th-century) precedent for such rapid social reversals.

I also read Handmaid's Tale about a year ago, I also loved it, but I also had the same one small issue with the plausibility of the timing. Not that rapid social reversals can't happen, but that all memory of the previous time could be wiped out so thoroughly in just a handful of years - clearly presented as a lifetime, not generations. The writing, the ideas, and the depiction of the society were so good I overlooked it, but it did occur to me on and off.

And I should add that I've noticed this in a number of SF & fantasies - huge changes and progressions taking place in too short a time. It's always too bad, since usually it could've been avoided.

#38 by @Petroglyph> Ah, I misread your "shaky" as "shallow, undeveloped". If you meant "implausible, insufficiently argued for" that another matter. It's been a couple of years since I read it, but I don't think the plausibility of the exact scenario mattered to Atwood, any more than it did to Orwell, I think the concerns were more general than that.

You're reading it in a more traditionally sciencefictional way than it is intended to be read, I think.

Finished Proxima and it was rubbish. Even worse than Exultant. Baxter's written some good stuff in the past, but I'm beginning to wonder if his best days are behind him.

#41 " but I don't think the plausibility of the exact scenario mattered to Atwood, any more than it did to Orwell, I think the concerns were more general than that.

You're reading it in a more traditionally sciencefictional way than it is intended to be read, I think."

Anglemark - I want something to have plausibility, whether SF, Fantasy, or any other kind of fiction. I don't mean probability of it happening, but internal plausibility: once I place myself in that created world, it's jarring if the pieces don't fit right. Even if the author has higher issues in mind, that's not an excuse for the framing being needlessly unbelievable. As I said, I loved The Handmaid's Tale, but it was a weakness to me. I still look forward to reading the others!

Just finished Boneshaker, don't know how I missed it, it was quite delightful with a nifty steampunk universe and I really thought it was great that there was no romance in it. Lots of strong women too busy with other things - pretty cool.

Finished Red Doc> - good, but I don't think I'll be nominating it for the Hugo best novel, although I might for best related work... Now reading On the Steel Breeze.

Reading Inversions by Banks

I just finished Breach Zone, which I really enjoyed and next up is The Lives of Tao

#43 by @rshart3> I hear you. For me, it's different for different books. In The Handmaid's Tale the scenario didn't bother me at all, but one of the story strands in Christopher Priest's The Adjacent, which I'm reading right now, has a near-future Britain that's The Islamic Republic of Great Britain and that disturbs me because it's being given no explanation, it's extremely implausible, and Chris Priest is no Eurabia nut. That left me quite dissatisfied. I wanted to know how the heck Britain became a carbon copy of Iran thirty years from now. Nothing that's happening now points to it. The world is heavily affected by climate change, so I suppose massive migrations in the near future could be an answer, but it's still extremely implasuible.

So yes, I do understand what you mean.

I've started Ancillary Justice, after seeing all the positive comments on LT and elsewhere.

49: Hope you'll like it, @jnwelch!

I liked Ancillary Justice quite a bit - I'll write a review when I have time. Plan to follow-up on the sequels...

I'm in the middle of Dhalgren which has occupied all my reading time this month so far. It's not nearly as hard to read or as much of a slog to get through as that old joke makes it seen (Q: which are the two places nobody will ever reach? A: the heart of the sun and page 100 of Dhalgren).

It just takes careful reading and a lot of processing.

I love that book, I've reread it about 3 or 4 times.

>52 MartinWisse:. I read it last year for the first time and kept shaking my head and saying, "1974." To me, it was almost incomprehensible that it was written so long ago.

Actually, Chip has revealed that he wrote it three years ago and then travelled back to the early 70s and presented his younger self with the manuscript.

>55 anglemark:. That makes perfect sense: that explains the circular plot, too!

Man, I need to re-read Dhalgren.

The same age as me!

Finally got tired of treading water on Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos, so back on the TBR shelf it goes.

Just started: Alex Ross' graphic novel Justice, which I'm enjoying thus far.

On deck: another graphic novel - Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell's From Hell.

PS: also dipped in to Olaf Stapledon's Star Maker, which looks fascinating but will probably have to wait for another day to be begun in earnest.

PPS: interesting discussion on The Handmaid's Tale. That's a novel that I have occasion to think about more with each passing year (bully for Atwood; not so much for reality).

#48 anglemark: shades of A Dream of Wessex, which iirc also featured a future Islamic Britain?

#60 by @MartinWisse> Martin, I need to reread A Dream of Wessex to say. I've always thought of it as one of my favourite novels by Chris, and thus one of my all time favourites, but it's been so long since I read it now that I don't really remember it anymore. But I'm sure there's a connection, The Adjacent contains reflections of several other Priest novels; The Prestige, The Separation, The Islanders and more.

I've just finished Herland which would have been quite dull if the dreadful Terry hadn't been there to provide some humour.

Finished Deepsix and The Ocean at the End of the Lane, starting The Lincoln Hunters

Finished The stars my destination for the Green Dragon group read.

Just read Star Road by Matthew Costello & Rick Hautala (2014). This is really a roller coaster ride, figuratively & literally. Lots of action with an ancient artifact (think Star Gate), blood thirsty rebels and a smidgen of intrigue, lots of people with secrets. Of course, there's one big mystery, same one as in Star Gate. Who are the Builders & how does this gosh-darned thing work?

Once again man has spread to the stars using ancient technology (boy, I am reading Probability Moon and it also has that technology). This time however its different! They are mining the planets for rare resources. ;-D What again!?!

The world-building is limited, it is more focused on action and technology. Character development is okay - focusing mainly on 2 characters. The love interests (?) are basically milquetoast. Ending climax takes your breath away and gives the book the potential to become an ongoing saga. The end actually made me think of some of those old movies (1960s/1950s) with mythic quests (ex., The Black Rose, Hercules, Golden Fleece).

Matthew Costello has written other novels, worked on games and movies. Multi-talented man. I cannot do justice to his career so go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Costello or his website http://www.mattcostello.com/. He wrote this book with his friend Rick Hautala (died 2013), also a writer of many parts - lots of horror (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Hautala).

I apologize to the authors and the group if I sound just a tad facetious. I think I am reading too many books in a row using the same mechanisms. I'm getting punchy. I think its time to read (or listen to) a good mystery. Elizabeth Peters here I come!

Definitely, Ancillary Justice has to be read. Find it engrossing and, now that I know there will be sequels, I plan to read the next one.

I'm reading The culling by JC Andrijeski.
I'm quite pleased by the book and will probably get the other two.

Finished The Lincoln Hunters, starting The Brides of Rollrock Island (aka Sea Hearts).

I'm just about to start re-reading Inversions for the sfbrp podcast's Culture series readalong.

I've just finished The Martian by Andy Weir. It's the first book in a very long time that I purchased brand new and I'm so glad I did because I'm adding it to my library. It was full of fast, quippy MacGyverness with stuff happening all the time, and with great use of humour. I didn't skip over any part of it even though the engineering and math was sometimes too much. I love the way the characters dealt with one another.

It wasn't long ago that I read Chris Hadfield's An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth - The Martian reminded me very much of Hadfield's writing and experiences.

Currently re-reading Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban, with A Werewolf Problem In Central Russia by Viktor Pelevin lined up next.

As part of an attempt to get my TBR pile down to manageable size I've started Sound Mind by Tricia Sullivan.

Started rereading The player of games So far it's just as good as I remember.

69> Just finished Inversions the other day, and it took me by surprise, a complete 180 degree turn from the last culture novel I read (Excession). Overall I liked it, it kept me fairly engaged throughout.

Reading Pattern Recognition - a return to William Gibson after decades away. Not sure to what extent it is science fiction, though.

Reading Shards of Honor and enjoying it way more than I expected.

Mistakenly approached The Hidden Ones by Gwyneth Jones as science fiction. I loved the first half of this short book, but disliked the remaining story more and more. Apparently, the short review I wrote is the only review on LT and Amazon.com/co.uk.

> 75: 'Pattern Recognition' was very near-future sf when it was written. But it's not sf any longer - the real world has pretty well caught up with Gibson.

> 75; 'Pattern recognition' was "five minutes into the future" science fiction when it was written, but the world has since caught Bill Gibson up; and looking at the LT reviews, recent ones don't see it as SF at all. My review is in there amongst them...

#77 I'll have to reread that book one of these days. I remember it as not as good as the YA fiction Jones writes under the name Ann Halam - especially Halam's Inland trilogy of The Daymaker, Transformations and The Skybreaker, which are excellent.

#80

Siberia is the only YA fiction I have of hers. However it is superb and I would recommend it for anyone, whether they usually read YA or not.

Snakehead is even better. I have all of Halam's books - I even managed to track down a copy of Dinosaur Junction. Gwyneth told me at Fantasycon 2011 that she'd been contracted to write a sequel for Dr. Franklin's Island for a US-based publisher, but I've yet to see any such book appear...

#71 - I love Riddley Walker - it may be my favourite ever book! I've only read one of Victor Pelevin's books, but that was really good too.

My coffee time reading (the only SF I have on the go at the moment) is Stephen Baxter's Weaver - the last of the 'Time's tapestry' sequence and the only one clearly and ostensibly SF (albeit of the 'alternate history' subgenre).

>83 isabelx: I'm on a Russell Hoban binge at the moment (just finished Turtle Diary, with The Bat Tatoo lined up as well). Both were recommended to me over on the Weird Fiction group - which is also where I found Pelevin (I haven't started on his books yet and would be interested to know which one you've read).

Finished The Brides of Rollrock Island, started Memoirs of a Spacewoman.

Another reader of Ancillary Justice here, about three-fourths through.

Just about to start Axis.

Reading The Machine. Life After Life is going to make my Hugo ballot but I don't think this one well, although it is very good.

>85 Spaceface:. I read The Clay Machine-Gun aka "Buddha's Little Finger" a few years ago, and always intended to read some more of his books, but haven't got round to it yet. It's a surreal satire set at the time of the Russian Revolution, and the main character is masquerading as a Red Army officer (or maybe he isn't).

I'm currently reading Awoken by Serra Elinsen (pseudonym for an 8-writer team around the Nostalgia Chick), a tongue-in-cheek parody of Twilight in which a personality-less teenage girl falls in love with the Great Old One Cthulhu, incarnated as a 16yo highschooler. It's fairly entertaining on both levels -- as a by-the-numbers supernatural romance and as a romanticized depiction of an unhealthy, abusive relationship that does its best to soil itself all over Lovecraft.

Ancillary Justice was good. Now I'm going to try The Martian.

Just finished the obligatory read of Ancillary Justice, which was very good, am now on The fractal prince, which seems slightly less maniacally wierd than The Quantum thief.

>18 andyl:, 29, 49, 66, 87, 92, 93
A couple of days ago, I was between novels, and I checked my local library and the bookstore for a copy of Ancillary Justice but neither had one in their catalog. Now I'm stuck reading Infinite Jest for the first time, so see all of you next month.

>89 iansales:

Interesting - I had no idea that Life After Life was speculative fiction.

>94 psybre:. I wouldn't call that "stuck." I wish that I could read Infinite Jest for the first time again. Although I wish that I had done it in the summer of 2009, along with the rest of the folks here- http://infinitesummer.org/

>96 vwinsloe: I'm only on p. 36 and I already feel privileged. Thanks for the link to infinitesummer.org. LT has this thread, too!

>97 psybre:, LOVE that woodblock print by Michelle Farro that is the photo for the LT thread. Awesome!

#95 It's about a woman who repeatedly dies and relives her life, but subconsciously manages to carry some knowledge across from life to life. Smells like genre to me :-)

The Machine won't be making my ballot. Nor will The Shining Girls, a polished piece of high-concept commercial writing; nor The Disestablishment of Paradise, which was disappointingly old-fashioned.

Just finished Axis which wasn't too bad, though not nearly as good as Spin.
Next is the second book in the Asimov universe Nemesis.

My New Year's resolution was to read more classic SF. As a result, I've just started Kindred.

My New Year's resolution was to read more classic SF. So I started Kindred this morning.

I've just pivoted from charming, naive sword and planet in Under the Green Star, to grim, fantastic space opera in Death of Integrity. None of it is what you might call literary, but my tastes are wide-ranging, and I don't apologize for them.

I don't usually read graphic novels/comics but I'm totally hooked on the manga Ooku: The Inner Chambers by Fumi Yoshinaga. The premise is that the majority of males die of a gender-specific plague in the Tokugawa Shogunate of 17th-century Japan, and the ramifications of that in a conservative class-based society. It's focussed on the Shogun's "Inner Chamber" - what would have been female concubines but are now males as the Shogun is a woman. Just about to start Volume 4.

Started Little, Big. I may be a while.

> 105

Take your time, and enjoy one of the best.

>90 isabelx: Thanks, I'm definitely getting a copy of that - and The Life Of Insects to go with it!

104> I read the first volume of Ooku and quite enjoyed it as well. They also made a film based on the manga.

Took some time out from my Hugo reading for The Children of Anthi, which I'll be reviewing for SF Mistressworks. But now it's Martian Sands, and it's a bit too consciously Dickian for my tastes.

> 105 One of my favorites, mostly for the writing, but, somewhat like Gene Wolfe, there are connections between parts that this poor brain didn't catch at first.

Started reading Redemption Ark by Alastair Reynolds. Already digging it after the first chapter.

Just finished up The Human Division by John Scalzi. I thought it was a good story with a thrilling conclusion. But it wasn't really a conclusion, was it? It didn't really clear anything up more than they were halfway into the book. Apparently they'll be a sequel and I'll look for it in the used bookstores or library eventually.

Finished The Martian by Andy Weir last night and thought it was one of the best SF books I've read in a while.

Then, this morning, I get an email from Amazon, saying, "Are you looking for something in our Mystery, Thriller & Suspense books department? If so, you might be interested in these items."

First thing on the list? The Martian. Also on the list of 15 books, Influx by Daniel Suarez and Pillar to the Sky by William R. Forstchen. That's 20% that I would call primarily SF and only secondarily thrillers.

OK, I know that Amazon is not limited in shelf space so it can list it's books in multiple categories, even ones which only loosely makes sense, and I'm even glad that they market SF to readers who may not normally read it, but it's computer is also aware that 90% of my activity with them is SF and/or fantasy and that mystery, thriller and suspense is not the largest component of the remaining 10%. Just saying.

And yes, I'm also aware that they were using those three books to try to lure me in to reading mystery, thriller, and suspense books. Just saying, again.

Finished Memoirs of a Spacewoman, beginning The Parasol Protectorate Vol 2 because after Lanagan and Mitchison, I felt it was time for some froth.

>112 pjfarm:: I just started The Martian! I haven't heard anyone say they didn't like it.

>105 justifiedsinner: Little, Big is such a great "Tale"! The pace really ebbs and flows. The last 50 pages or so are amazing.

#114 Yes. I'm really fascinated by it. It's truly unique.

I'm another fan of The Martian. Really well done. Apparently it has been acquired for a movie.

Finished Probability Moon by Nancy Kress and have to give it a 2.5/5 stars. Man and another space-faring alien race, the Fallers, discovered "wormholes" and are using them to travel the universe. The Fallers have decided to wipe out all human colonies and mankind is in a losing position in the war. However, it seems there is a strange artificial moon around a newly-discovered inhabited planet, the World, and it may have potential as a weapon. Meanwhile a scientific team is on the World to interact and study the inhabitants and the planet. Most of the races that humans had encountered were humanoid, except probably for the mysterious genocidal Fallers, and seem to have been "seeded" on different planets, such as the World, by an ancient alien race, most probably the same race that created the wormholes.

The story did have lots of things happening at once - what the scientific team was doing on the planet, the World, and what was happening to the ship that brung them, which had its own exploratory objective - the artificial "moon" in orbit around the World. Kress did a fine job of going between the two storylines- very smooth. The story was intriguing and development of the characters was sufficient to keep the storyline proceeding. My main quibble was the attempt to "scientifically" explain why things happened the way they happened. That detracted from the story and confused me a great deal. I have to come clean and say I am not great at mathematics or physics, but it seemed to me the "explanation" was confusing. Her idea of an alien race that "shared reality" and considered any creature unreal who did not share the reality is an interesting take on first contact. However, it seemed to me that the interaction between two alien races went along a bit too well. Humanoid they may have been, but even on planet Earth we have trouble communicating with different peoples, like the Bush people who use clicks to communicate.

NEW BOOK - Connolly/Ridyard

Am currently reading Conquest (Chronicles of the Invaders) by John Connolly and Jennifer Ridyard. A brand new scifi series from the well-known crime thriller writer John Connolly. So far all I could find out about J. Ridyard is that she is a self-professed geek, this is her 1st book and formerly lived in South Africa, now lives in Ireland. Here's an interview with her - http://www.dublinbookfestival.com/dbf-interviews-jennifer-ridyard/. The authors are trying to sell it as a teen/ya book.

Earth has been conquered by a space-traveling alien race, Illyri, who pop in through a wormhole. The conquest is covered sparsely in a Prologue. The way earth was conquered seemed to be a bit of a joke, maybe the description should have been extended, it seems to have been tacked on as an afterthought. The conquerors have to deal with the aggressive human resistance (the Scots are the eternal rebels), internal politics & machinations, and a mysterious & mystical group of women (nuns/witches - made me think of Dune). The Illyrian teen, Syl, daughter of the Illyrian governor of earth is rebellious, spoiled and gets caught in the middle of all that is happening. The action happens more and more quickly as the book proceeds. Its okay for an action book, though at times things happened a bit too conveniently.

Having said all that I suggest looking at these reviews:
http://scififanletter.blogspot.com/2014/02/book-review-conquest-by-john-connolly...

http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/conquest-the-chronicles-of-the-invaders-....

#115 I don't know that it's that unique - I can think of at least one novella about a mission to Mars where the lone astronaut almost comes a cropper...

I'm reading Ancillary Justice.

It's March now!

I read The Invisible Man in February, and as with Frankenstein the previous month, I realised pretty quickly that I had never read it before.

I'm reading something on the March post...