2018 -Majkia's Draconic Adventures - #2

Anomander Rake, Son of Mother Dark, helps me welcome you to my thread. Since he is a soletaken eleint, and metamorphs into a dragon, I thought him particularly suited to the task. Not to mention, one of my plans for 2018 is to begin a re-read of Malazan Book of the Fallen.

A note on ratings: I hates 'em, I do! I can't translate how I feel about a book in one genre to a book in another, so now instead of assigning stars, I'm verbally commenting on what I thought of a book, or a series, or... well, whatever.

Books Read Third Quarter



July
1. A Conjuring of Light - V.E. Schwab
2. A Shadow in Summer - Daniel Abraham
3. A Betrayal in Winter - Daniel Abraham
4. The Crimson Campaign - Brian McClellan
5. Two for Sorrow - Nicola Upson
6. The Autumn Republic - Brian McClellan
7. Sleeping Giants - Sylvain Neuvel
8. An Autumn War - Daniel Abraham
9. The Beautiful Mystery - Louise Penny
10. Broken Harbour - Tana French
11. Etiquette and Espionage - Gail Carriger

August
1. A Fearsome Doubt - Charles Todd
2. The Immortals - Jordana Max Brodsky
3. The Price of Spring - Daniel Abraham
4. The Stars are Legion - Kameron Hurley
5. Dune - Frank Herbert
6. The Other Einstein - Marie Benedict DNF
7. The Daffodil Affair - Michael Innes
8. Half-Resurrection Blues - Daniel Jose Older

September
1. A Closed and Common Orbit - Becky Chambers
2. The Bone Labyrinth - James Rollins
3. Dark Run - Mike Brooks
4. Empire of Sand - Tasha Suri

Books Read Fourth Quarter



October

1. Iron Gold - Pierce Brown
2. Borderline - Misha Baker
3. Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. - Neal Stephenson
4. Persepolis Rising - James S.A. Corey
5. The Last Colony - John Scalzi
6. The Fifth Season - N.K. Jemisin

November
1. Pushing Ice - Alastair Reynolds
2. The Hidden Family - Charles Stross
3. Starhawk - Jack McDevitt
4. Black Wind - Paul F. Wilson
5. The Engines of God - Jack McDevitt
6. Central Station - Lavie Tidhar
7. What Darkness Brings - C.S. Harris
8. As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust - Alan Bradley
9. God's War - Kameron Hurley - DNF

December
1. The Chrysalids - John Wyndham
2. The Second Ship - Richard Phillips
3. Iron House - John Hart
4. Ice Station Zebra - Alastair MacLean
5. The Dread Wyrm - Miles Cameron
6. Swords and Deviltry - Fritz Leiber
7. Ink and Bone - Rachel Caine
8. Mortal Engines - Philip Reeve

Books Read First Quarter



January
1. Black Dog - Stephen Booth
2. They Shall Have Stars - James Blish
3. The Hanging Girl - Jussi Adler-Olsen
4. Command Decision - Elizabeth Moon
5. Gardens of the Moon - Steven ERikson
6. The Christie Curse - Victoria Abbott
7. Maids of Misfortune - M. Louisa Locke

February
8. The Scar - China Mieville
9. After the Crown - K. B. Wagers
10. Beyond the Empire - K.B. Wagers
11. A Darkling Sea - James L. Cambrias
12. The Case of the Copper Corpse - Alan Bradley
13. Hunted - Kevin Hearne
14. Revenger - Alastair Reynolds
15. Jurassic Park - Michael Crichton
16. La Belle Sauvage - Philip Pullman
17. Bride of the Rat-God - Barbara Hambly
18. Prince of Thorns - Mark Lawrence
19. The 6th Extinction - James Rollins

March

20. The Fell Sword - Miles Cameron
21. Welcome to Night Vale - Joseph Fink
22. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
23. The Lives of Tao - Wesley Chu
24. Faithful Place - Tana French
25. The Fold - Peter Clines
26. Illuminae - Amie Kaufman
27. For We Are Many - Dennis E. Taylor
28. Jade City - Fonda Lee
29. All These Worlds - Dennis E. Taylor
30. The Last Judgement - Ian Pears

Books Read Second Quarter



April

1. The Crown Conspiracy - Michael J. Sullivan
2. Avempartha - Michel J. Sullivan
3. TimeRiders - Alex Scarrow
4. Updraft - Fran Wilde
5. The Man in the Queue - Josephine Tey
6. Stiletto: A Novel - Daniel O'Malley
7. The Pale Horseman - Bernard Cornwell
8. Cards of Grief - Jane Yolen
9. A Quiet Life in the Country - T.E. Kinsey

May
1. King's Dragon - Kate Elliott
2. Appleby on Ararat - Michael Innes
3. The Collapsing Empire - John Scalzi
4. A Head Full of Ghosts - Paul Tremblay DNF
5. Thereby Hangs a Tail - Spencer Quinn
6. Wake of the Bloody Angel - Alex Bledsoe
7. Kushiel's Dart - Jacqueline Carey - DNF
8. Watchers of Time - Charles Todd
9. Royal Flush - Rhys Bowen
10. Mechanical Failure - Joe Zieja DNF
11. The Queen's Poisoner - Jeff Wheeler

June
1. Victory Conditions - Elizabeth Moon
2. Bones of the Earth - Michael Swanwick
3. The Reality Dysfunction - Peter F. Hamilton
4. A Gathering of Shadows - V. E. Schwab
5. All Systems Red - Martha Wells
6. The Shadow Throne - Django Wexler

Happy New thread!

LOL! Thanks!

The first two weeks of August, I was traveling. So thought I'd post a few of my fav phots from the trip.

First up: Iceland.

>9 majkia: Wow, those are beautiful photos! It looks like I should add Iceland to my travel wish list.

Gorgeous photos! I really want to go to Iceland. I know lots of people who've been and loved it. Maybe in 2019.

Pics from Scotland:

>12 majkia: Beautiful! Scotland is another place I haven’t visited yet, and one I’d really like to eventually. I thought about making time for it when I took a vacation to England quite some time ago, but I only had a week so I decided to stick with one country. How many different countries did you visit during your trip, and how many days did you spend at each?

>9 majkia: Great photographs of Iceland. I sm sure each one carries a bag of memories.

Iceland is somewhere I would love to visit. It appears I shall have a work reason to visi Iceland which is great. Of course, there is a snag. It will be in the winter and I will have limited time for the visit.

>13 YouKneeK: We were 16 days gone. 3 days in Iceland, 5 in Scotland, 2 thru the Lake District of England and Wales, and the rest in Ireland and northern Ireland.

It was a great trip, rushed of course, and lots of time on a bus, but the scenery was terrific and we didn't have any obnoxious folks with us so that was a major plus!

>9 majkia: Is the first picture where the mid-Atlantic ridge comes out above sea level? A sight I'd love to see, if it weren't that I'm told Iceland is insanely expensive, even by European standards.

They're all great pictures!

>16 hfglen: Indeed it is the mid-Atlantic ridge, Hugh.

Yes, Iceland is very expensive. But also very beautiful and the folks are very nice.

>15 majkia: That sounds wonderful!

Beautiful photos. Thanks for sharing.

Love the photos. Looks like you had a brilliant trip.

Beautiful photos! Looks like a lovely trip.

78. A Closed and Common Orbit - Becky Chambers - Series: Wayfarers #2



Challenges: Dice, ROOT, AlphaKIT

Rating: Lots of character development, interesting world-building, not a laser firing in sight!

Nearly as good as the first of the series, and continues the tradition of thoughtful, mostly non-violent sci fi. So different!

Pictures from the Lake District, England, and Wales:

Pictures from Ireleand:

Fantastic pictures.

I love Dunluce Castle. That would have been a regular holiday trip when I was a child. Did you get the story about the kitchen falling into the sea during a banquet?

I love the photograph of what must be one of the Glens of Antrim.

The Lake District is beautiful. I spent a week there in 1976 on a college Geography field-trip.

While looking at your pictures I was taken into your Flicker account. You covered a lot of ground and visited many of my old haunts. I hope you enjoyed it. It is a pity the weather wasn't a bit clearer. Given the summer we have had it was a shame you had cloud. Had Benbulben not been shrouded in cloud you would have had an even better view.

Thank you for sharing those photographs. You make me want to visit some of those places again.

I liked your pictures of Ailsa Craig. It is impressive the way it just sticks up out of the sea. Did they tell you it is the original source of the micro-granite for Scottish Curling Stones?

I'm sorry, but I could go on ranting about your pictures for hours.

>25 pgmcc: and >26 pgmcc:

I had not heard of the kitchen falling into the sea. LOL. I can certainly believe it though!

Yeah, we never had a clear view of Benbulben, but then I thought the clouds looked pretty awesome.

We were told about the curling stones from Ailsa Craig, surprisingly enough. ;)

I can certainly see why you'd take regular vacations to the area near Dunluce Castle. That whole strip of coast was gorgeous.

What beautiful photos; thank you for sharing! Iceland is high on my wish list of places to visit, though the expense is offputting. I shall just have to save up and then not translate the prices when I'm there. And I want to see more of Ireland in future too.

What a lovely trip! Thank you for sharing it with us.

Ha--I was in Iceland from August 7-17! Isn't it an amazing place? Anyone who is thinking about it--yes, go!! We're absolutely going to go back.

wow, wonderful photos! thanks for sharing them with us.

Lovely photos

79. The Bone Labyrinth - James Rollins Series: Sigma Force #11



Challenges: AlphaKIT, BFB

Rating: Yet another great entry to the Sigma Force series

The mix of thriller, archaeology, scientist/soldiers continues to entertain me tremendously.

The characters always continue to develop and the mix of fact and speculation is always intriguing.

80. Dark Run - Mike Brooks Series: Keiko #1



Challenges: ROOT, AlphaKIT

Rating: Good start to a series

Not a lot of exposition but lots of action. Characters were diverse and interesting, and the world building was good.

I'll probably read a sequel.

Beautiful pictures!

>27 majkia: Where did you stay when in Ireland. They must have set you one heck of a pace because you covered a lot of ground.

>36 pgmcc: We move around nearly every night, so we didn't stay in any one place for long. Yeah, it was a pretty busy tour. Too quick alas, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

81. Empire of Sand - Tasha Suri



Challenges: ROOT, AlphaKIT

Rating: A really intriguing new author, with a well thought out world.

I really enjoyed this, although I thought it was a bit slow in parts. Even so, the characters were well drawn, the world-building was well thought-out, and the story line was compelling. I'll look forward to book 2.

Amazing photographs, majkia. I'm looking on my phone, so I need to revisit this thread on my desktop for a better look. Hope your current travels are going smoothly as well.

I've been really remiss at updating my threads. We were traveling for 2 months, and then when we got home we were busy. Here are a couple of notable pictures from our trip to Canada. I'll try to end up the year by updating more often.

I have kept reading. :)

Pretty!

Oh wow, that snow is beautiful.

November reads:

Books Read
1. Pushing Ice - Alastair Reynolds
2. The Hidden Family - Charles Stross
3. Starhawk - Jack McDevitt
4. Black Wind - Paul F. Wilson
5. The Engines of God - Jack McDevitt
6. Central Station - Lavie Tidhar
7. What Darkness Brings - C.S. Harris
8. As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust - Alan Bradley
9. God's War - Kameron Hurley - DNF

I had one dud (for me). God's War which I should have known better, but like the author. I am tired to death of religious fanatics and their wars.

Central Station was by far the oddest science fiction book I've ever read. Not because the story was difficult or the concept weird, but because it depicted every day life in a future that colored life around the edges but didn't really change things for every day folks. Quite good.

Black Wind was another weird one, with a retelling of the World War II struggle of the US against Japan with magical elements behind all the events.

Pushing Ice and the McDevitt books are sheer fun.

As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust so does any school that tries to contain Flavia DeLuce.

The Hidden Family was interesting, not great though, but I'll still read a few more entries int hat series.

What Darkness Brings was rife with character developments more important than the mystery, I think.

On the personal side: Our house is a mess, so I'm a bit distracted. Having the kitchen cabinets re-pickled, and getting new countertops and back splash. Not sure when it will all get done, as my new cooktop is already delayed. Sigh. Also, our heater decided to go out so they were ripping out the heater area in the garage, but that was finished yesterday. Hurrah.

Hope everyone is have a good holiday season and keeps healthy.

There are so many ruined castles in Ireland, even though it's close by for me I've only been a few times. Lovely country and wonderfully friendly people. Do RVs have enough insulation to keep comfortable in that weather, it looks chilly!

Strangely I didn't think of Pushing Ice as fun, I found it one of Reynolds' odder books, but good to have a standalone to read.

Welcome back! I have been following your adventures elsewhere, but it's good to see you posting here again. Hope you were warm enough during your journeys.

>44 reading_fox: We don't have a lot of insulation but we have good heaters! We were quite comfortable.

>45 clamairy: Thanks Clam. 19F is a shock to our weakened Florida blood but I enjoyed it, as a native New Englander. I've missed snow..

I've been terrible about keeping my threads updated with the books I've been reading. But I especially wanted to mention this one here.

The Dread Wyrm by Miles Cameron, third in the Traitor Son cycle. What a terrific series this is.

Knights, magic, dragons, creatures, and a hero who always has plans within plans that don't always go quite to order. And he's a smart ass. What's not to love?

Wishing all who celebrate, a Blessed Yule

I've been visiting threads but not made many comments. We've been having our kitchen redone, and it's exhausting! And I'm not doing it!

So far the cabinets have all been redone (re-pickled), and Thursday we got the new quartz countertops installed. Today, we finally got a functioning kitchen sink! Still have some cabinety things ongoing, and then the backsplash which is still on order. I also got a new cooktop, an induction one.

I've be so happy when it is done, but right now I'm just tired all the time, and a little frustrated at the mess the room is in (its a great room, so everything is a mess right now.

Hopefully with the new year I'll be able to be more involved with everyone.

Hope you all have a wonderful holiday and I'll try to drop in as I find time!

>49 majkia:

How much vinegar is needed to pickle cabinets?

>50 suitable1: LOL

>49 majkia: Happy holidays. I hope the rest of the renovations go smoothly. :)

Hope your new kitchen is ready for you to enjoy very soon.

2019 post is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/301476