2019 more reading fox

Opening the year with harmonies which seemed to take several days to get through as I was away over New Year, and Name of the Wind as an entertaining re-read. I'll probably perserve with the sequel, before starting my Santathing books.

As ever all my books (mostly) are reviewed in full, so you can click through from the touchstone, or my profile/book page, if you're interested in more details than the snippet I'll write for this thread.

Suggestions and thoughts for new authors and titles are always appreciated! even if I have a collection from previous years still to work through.

Happy new year! I hope it brings you lots of good reading.

Welcome back. Hope you enjoy your reading.

Happy new year, or, as we in Sweden say when we're this far into the new one - "good continuation" (extremely literal translation).

Happy New Year!

>4 Busifer: - that's a good word, we need a similar greeting. I've been wishing colleagues a Happy New Year, but some of them have been at work almost a week already, so it seems a little odd.

Finished Wise Man's Fear - it's much better if you can devote many hours to reading this in one block. Kvothe comes of age, slowly with many a false step along the way, which make shim more endearing for all that. He's now earned two of his titles, - Bloodless and Arcane. Sometime in the distant future if it's ever written we many find out Kingkiller. I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed Rothfuss's writing.

>6 reading_fox: Oh, so I may have to read Wise Man's Fear after all. I did enjoy The Name of the Wind, back when. Oh well. Another one for the "may get around to" list :-)

>1 reading_fox: Happy New Year!

>6 reading_fox: & >7 Busifer: I'm afraid, though. LOL I've heard too much kvetching about this one.

>8 clamairy: Yes, the very reason for me not having read it.

Hmm, Kvetching about Kvothe could be a great name for an alternative rock band. :o)

Throwim way leg - a great title, which in pigeon New Guinean means, the first step of a what could be a long journey. I'm sure Bilbo would approve! It's a slightly dry collection of adventures the author experienced as one of the first biologists to explore the New Guinea forests, and his interactions with the native tribespeople still living there. Fun but could do with a slightly more personal touch. He's no Gerald Durrell, and you're left having to imagine just how hard/wondrous/scary the forests/people/animals are.

ER title Mirador de la memoria which is as odd as it sounds, near future SF slow introspection of the possibilities of memory transfer. Not a lot happens. Curious though.

Girl with all the gifts re-read prior to my Santathing of the other book in that world. It's still very creepy even when you know what happens. One of the better zombie books out there.

>12 reading_fox: Glad to see that The Girl With All the Gifts holds up well to a re-read. Not sure if it'll be this year for me but I definitely waant to revisit it at some point.

>12 reading_fox: Did you ever read Richard Matheson's I Am Legend?

Boy on the Bridge prequel to Girl and very nearly as good. Not quite as inventive, with an entirely human narrative, but still very enjoyable and another great ending.

>13 AHS-Wolfy: - make sure you get hold of Boy as well.

>14 pgmcc: I am Legend No I haven't, didn't even see the film although it was on my mind to do so. Is the book better? (almost always)

>15 reading_fox: Been there, done that ;)

>15 reading_fox: I read The Girl With All the Gifts last year and enjoyed it. Good to hear that the sequel is also worthy. Will have to make time for it soon. Have you watched the movie adaptation of TGWAtG? I thought they did a decent job of it.

I Am Legend is a great novella. As far as films, there are three versions. The earliest, "The Last Man on Earth (1964)", starring Vincent Price stays most true to the book. The screenplay was by Matheson so that might help explain why... ;) The 2nd film, "The Omega Man (1971)", starring Charlton Heston strays a bit from the book but most of the key elements remain - although Heston's overacting is difficult for me to stomach. The 3rd adaptation, "I Am Legend (2007)", starring Will Smith is the most recent and, while I thought it started off pretty well, the story ultimately departs considerably from the source material. Especially the ending, which is completely changed from Matheson's story and, IMHO, ruins the entire premise. I like Will Smith as an actor and felt that he did a credible job of playing Robert Neville, but I thought the script let him down. Despite liking Will Smith's acting, the third film was my least favorite. YMMV.

The Hazel Wood Like other reviewers I enjoyed the opening half better than the ending. It's entertainingly dark and creepy Grimm style fairy tales come to life as a girl tries to find her mum who's gone missing and the only clue seems to be her grandmother's vanished book of stories.

>15 reading_fox: The only film adaptation I have watched is "The Omega Man". I have seen most of the Will Smith film. Neither of them follow the book. The book will appear dated in a technology sense but the story is sound. I mention it here as it has a relevance to The Girl With All the Gifts. I shall hide my comments behind a spoiler mask so that you can choose not to read them until you have read I am Legend if you have any intention of doing so. The choice is yours. My comments will spoil "I am Legend" for you so think twice before you read the spoiler.

I enjoyed "The Girl With All the Gifts" up to the ending. The ending, and in essence the overall story, is a rewrite of Matheson's "I Am Legend". Carey's book is much more modern and with a lot more action, but in essence it is the same story with the same ending, i.e. the monsters had become the new norm and the sole survivor of normal humanity had become the monster. Having enjoyed Matheson's story, and particularly the ending, I felt Carey had benefited from the original work with no acknowledgement to Matheson.

I know that is irrational but I am still human and am therefore allowed to retain an element of my irrationality. :-)

By the way, having watched the film will have no effect on your enjoyment or otherwise of the Matheson novel. Neither Will Smith's "I Am Legend" nor "The Omega man" bear much similarity to the novel. There are key differences and different endings.

There is an older film adaptation I have not seen which is reputed to stick more strictly to the book than the later films.

ETA. I had not spotted ScoLgo's post in which the earliest film is named. I would agree with the comments about Heston's acting. I would also agree with the comments on Will Smith and the version he is in. I have yet to see "The Last Man on Earth".

>17 ScoLgo: of course the earliest one would be the best, because.. VINCENT PRICE!

>19 pgmcc: *whispers* Pretty sure ScoLgo is a he...

>21 clamairy: Correct! (I blame any confusion on my non-gendered username. ;-)

>19 pgmcc: I fully agree with your spoiler comment, Peter.

>20 Darth-Heather: So true! Not the type of role Vincent Price is usually associated with in people's minds, but he did a great job with it. The film is B&W and feels a bit dated by comparison to the whiz-bang FX of movies these days. The core of the story holds up really, really well though. Most important, they didn't screw up the ending, so there's that.

bike nation how infrastructure can save the planet by making utility cycling more desirable. But it's never going to be read by city planners who are the people needed to make the changes, and as such it's just preaching to the choir.

>17 ScoLgo: et al. Was only aware of the famous recent film, I'll try the book at some point.

>21 clamairy: & >22 ScoLgo: Apolgies for the gender confusion; my eyes aren’t what they used to be.

>20 Darth-Heather: I had forgotten Vicent Price was in the earlier one. That makes all the more reason for me to track it down.

The devil's alternative a fairly standard techno-thriller set late 70s with a russian harvest failure the spur for some political shenanigans plus terrorists

Valor's choice Mil-SF fun nothing special. More military than sometimes in the genre as the crew get trapped on a planet surface rather than having to fight in space ships. Will read the others sometimes.

>26 reading_fox: I read and enjoyed that soon after it came out. The twist in the tail was interesting at the time.

Seveneves I still see this title as Seveneyes which makes no sense. It's very long. Very imaginative, and full of unnecessary exposition making it even longer than necessary. It's good to see that NS has finally learnt how to end a story, but it's not brilliant and a long way from KSR et al who do hard sf that much better. The moon blows up some people escape into space. Part 3 is 5000 years later after Seven Eves have made their choices. I really struggled to accept the assumptions that NS requires for the story to make sense.

>28 reading_fox: Seveneves I found the whole 5,000 years later part superfluous and was annoyed when he had the link with the three original groups from 5,000 years earlier. When I was reading the earlier bits I had said to myself, "I hope he is not going to have the three groups meet up again in the future. That would be so disappointing." I was disappointed.

Having grown up with the Space Race (having been born in 1957) and having followed all the US and Soviet space missions (particularly the Apollo missions) I found the technological explanations in the earlier parts of the book a bit Class 101 but others may have found them interesting. His use of nano-bots was the only bit I felt was new and I believe he definitely stretched the technological limits with those.

I was disappointed with the US President pulling rank to get to the space station. I felt this did not add to the book, in fact, I felt it made it a bit fan fiction-esque. The inclusion of Elon Musk was another irritating factor.

Sorry, I am ranting, but having enjoyed most of his previous books I was disappointed with this one. I was quite happy reading his books that contained interesting concepts and ideas even though they did not have a satisfactory ending. I do not read his books for the endings but for the ideas. REAMDE is the only Neal Stephenson I have read that had anything like a satisfactory ending.

>28 reading_fox: I have only just started reading it, but in the main I agree that KSR is much better than NS at writing hard sf. In fact a lot of authors are better writers than NS.

In your review you mention ”famous author syndrome”. I feel he has been suffering from that at least since Diamond age, ie practically forever. Either that or je has an extremely fragile libertarian ego, were he is sooo entitled to not have to care about what other people think of his writing, thankyouverymuch.

I do appreciate his imagination, but I long ago decided that Seveneves would by my last auto-buy.

I expect to finish it, but after that there are so many other authors and stories waiting to be read.

(I enjoyed both Reamde and Anathem, as previously mentioned, but I don’t feel that either is well crafted: it was more a case of getting lucky.)

>30 Busifer: We obviously have very similar views on NS and his work.

>28 reading_fox: I was glad to read your review on Seveneves! At least it sounds like I can count on a decent ending once I get to it, even if I have mixed feelings on the way to that end. :)

I think if he didn't try to write 'hard' sf by including the 'explanations' and technological details, and instead just focused on the characters and the story he write much better (and shorter) books, as there are some great passages and obviously some wide imagination.

I may try Reamde at some stage as the premise does sound interesting, and it's useful to know it's better than some.

>33 reading_fox: Interestingly REAMDE uses existing technology and would not be SF. I have found it to be a book that people read in a very short space of time despite its 1,200 pages. I read it in a week and I am a very slow reader. I just found myself unwilling to put it down and taking every opportunity to read it.

>33 reading_fox:, >34 pgmcc: Yes, Reamde isn't sf at all, in my view, but rather a "techno-thriller" in that the plot relies on technology, but existing such.

A long weekend away with big train journeys means a lot got read, but mostly isn't reveiwed. I will try to catch up!

Advent a rubbish ER title written in a bizarre overlapping style without paragraph breaks. A rare DNF. Don't even bother.

Thomas Wildus and the book of sorrows ER title, a but too YA for me without complexity that brings joy to older readers, but not a bad effort and probably very good for teens. Boy gets given magic book saves world stuff.

Organisms: Gardner a set of short SF stories by James Alan Gardner very well done. Several feature the same event from multiple viewpoint/timelines which is technically complex writing well achieved I was impressed and would read more.

Template pretty good standalone in an interesting universe. Looks at cultures based on the different sins (to outsiders anyway) through the eyes of a recently freed soldier/slave who has only known his own. Enjoyed, may read more, but a little contrived in places.

Right to Know; Willett generational ship SF which is always popular. But I wasn't really convinced by the technological restraints imposed, nor the lead characters 'charms'.

vN really not convinced by this one either. AI/Android 'emotions' dilemma, but didn't work for me.

endless night one of the last and one of the best of Chrisities' works, unusually not featuring her key detectives it's a very different and approachable style with a macabre twist right at the end I doubt you'll see in advance - I didn't!

Consider me grazed by a bullet for Organisms: selected stories (curious that the touchstone doesn't work, I did find the title here on LT).

stars like cold fire the latest of the storybundle canadian SF collection (see >36 reading_fox:). Ambitiously grasped too many themes and let them fade away without doing anything interesting. Not a bad story behind that though. Mil-SF young officer on his first command with a crew who don't respect him. Comes across less heoric than many similar stories which is good.

on a pale horse re-read of teenage favourite. Hasn't aged well. Inventive world but clunky writing.

>34 pgmcc: I was like that with REAMDE. Couldn't put it down.

>40 majkia: Everyone I know who has read it appears to have been affected in that way. There must be some sort of drug impregnated into the pages. :-) Either that or it was a good read.

I remember thinking that once it got going there was no time to catch a breath; the action just kept going.

Frameshift - a mediocre offering from a someone I'd enjoyed previously. Not well done look at the ethics of gene editing.

breakpoint nereis Factional humanity separated by a galactic plague, now re-uniting with the expected frictions. However the focus is very small scale on one planet which is perhaps less interesting than the larger back story. First of a trilogy which may explore this, but I'm not that interested.

cyanide process coincidentally a blend of galactic plagues and gene-editing! I didn't know before starting reading. However the plague is barely mentioned (I've no idea why at all) and the editing is better but very narrow focused.

All part of the recent Storybundle Canadian SF winners. These are distinctly the less impressive offerings.

>42 reading_fox: Having grown up in Johannesburg, when I read the third title I immediately thought this would be sf/fantasy/a thriller set on a gold mine!

>43 hfglen: You may have heard of the old-skool Australian writer Ion Idriess. He wrote, apart from pop-history, a number of books about prospecting. One of them was called Cyaniding for Gold (no touchstone--it may have been published as part of Prospecting for Gold).

>43 hfglen: - yes gold mining is involved!

>44 haydninvienna: >45 reading_fox: About everybody who grew up in Johannesburg had to endure in primary school and again in every book of local history ever published the story of how the "easily worked" ores were becoming worked out just before the Anglo-Boer War, but Messrs MacArthur and Forrest came along just in time to save the town and the mines.

>46 hfglen: Hugh, I'm not giving you the chance to get me back for van Swieten! Which Forrest was that? There were quite a few of them around in West Oz around the beginning of the 20th century.

>47 haydninvienna: Turns out there were two of them, Robert and William, both Scots according to this Wikipedia article. (Must admit, off the top of my head I thought they were Americans). They developed the process in 1887, and it went into operation on the Reef in 1890.

>48 hfglen: Um, shows you the risks of not checking ... I assumed (apparently wrongly) that your Forrests were connected with the Forrest family in WA, which still has at least one member in mining. That Wkipedia article is fascinating and in places more than slightly horrifying. I see it mentions the use of mercury for extracting gold--this was something that Ion Idriess mentions, including putting a knob of gold amalgam into a potato in the hot campfire ashes to volatilise the mercury out of the amalgam and leave the gold behind in the potato. 'Nuff said.

Several full reviews to actually right, but here's the synopsis, just not quite finding the writing time, but at least managing to get the reading in!

transient city
Quite fun - SF/Crime which always works well. Mobile mining city mostly concerned with profits for the owning corporation but missing people and units becomes everyone's concern.

fall from earth nowhere near as good - alien first contact novel deported criminals meet intelligent ants. Let down by poor science and clunky characters, the chinese religious overtones added a different character, but never really meshed.

Magic really sucks ER title - urban fantasy, poor. juvenille in feel despite featuring a 45yr old hero. pointless weapon fetish too, but no romance.

Nexus last and best of the SF storybundle. I'd apparently come across this on LT before, as it was on my wishlist, but I've no recollection. Anyone else read it? Clever ethical future tech, enhanced humans vs Normal, with good social commentary along the way.

the raven tower another success from Leckie, her first fantasy still featuring an indeterminately gendered hero, but the main character is the ancient god Stable and Preserved. I normally find novels with active gods really struggle with believably constraining power, but this is very balanced, and the contrast between the viewpoints works very well. It is, as you might expect from Leckie, quite different from anything else I've read.

>50 reading_fox: I read the Nexus trilogy and really enjoyed it. Looking at my ratings I thought the second and third books were stronger than the first. I thought the balance of thoughtful speculation and action was well managed, and found the characters engaging and interesting.

>50 reading_fox:, >51 Sakerfalcon: I also really liked the Nexus trilogy. I read it about 2 years ago and gave all three books a consistent 4 stars.

It was probably one or both of your threads then! Thanks. I'll look out for the sequels.

>50 reading_fox: Raven Tower is my next read, good to know she pulled it off!

>50 reading_fox:, >51 Sakerfalcon: Nexus sounds promising, you can both mark hits on you hilts...
I'm going to look out for Transient city as well.

blood on the tracks golden age mystery short stories set on the railways of 1900s england. I'm not sure short story collections are the best format for the crime genre. It works ok if there's continuity of character but even the Sherlock Holmes shorts don't really works so well. This mixed bag of an anthology does little but introduce some of the writers who are famous at the time. Nothing special.

Beneath the Mountains 1980s caving in the picos of north Spain. Interesting read for cavers but probably little appeal outside of that. Downright scary some the antics they got up to, pushing 20+hours and -1km into the deep shafts. The glossary is superb.

record of a spaceborn few - loved this. Better even than Long way to a small angry planet. Wider in scope the Fleet is home to many different people living in condensed habitats, but now with the freedom of the Galactic commons a way of life generations old is under thread. But there isn't an easy response for you can never forbid children the right to explore and the grass is always greener on the other side. Gentle, charming, important and sympathetic. Great writing how SF should be, telling a story but casting shadows on current culture.

into the drowning deep Mira Grant's modern day horror as scientists find mermaids aren't what disney led us to believe. Fun but rushed. The mermaids are well done, but none of the humans are particularly good and the ending just fizzles. Fun and mostly well written, but far from her best.

>57 reading_fox: I bought that when it went on sale early this year, but I probably won’t get to it until early next year unless I decide to pull it forward on my schedule. It sounds interesting, but a fizzly ending is likely to annoy me so I’ll keep my expectations lowered whenever I do get to it.

>57 reading_fox: I agree with you about this one, though it was a fun and gripping read. My main gripe was that each section began with the date and location, but as the action was all compressed into a day or two it would have been more useful to have a time - it was pretty obvious that we were still on the same day and so it was meaningless information.

Quick one-off promo for my friends' books. Making trouble prequel novella, available free at her website here - https://tallerbooks.com/battleground/
and the 1st of the series Battle Ground, is being serialised on wattpad - https://www.wattpad.com/706323111-battle-ground-announcement

Rachel's got a great grasp of character voice from the self-importance of teenagers through tot he subtleties of adult groups. The setting is a dystopian UK post Brexit, and an independent Scotland, distressingly not that far off! I beta read all the books late last year (and some of my changes were incorporated). There some of the best writing I read! certainly within the YA genre, and a vast improvement over so many other debuet novels I've read via ER. Bex is a 16yr old conscripted solder when she witnesses something she shouldn't have seen, and has to choose between her friends and her ideals.

>60 reading_fox: Sounds really great. A friend of mine who work as a translator of English language YA sometimes asks for hints about what she might suggest to the publisher that often employ her. I'll point this out for her.

>60 reading_fox: these sound interesting, I'll check them out.

F is for Fairy ER book and an ambitious collection of short stories. Each letter is another collection of 26 stories each also alphabetically titled, this is the Fairy story collection. The Fairies are very very varied some of them featuring creatures barely fairy or faerie at all. (The latter are my favourites). As is usual from such collections some hits and some misses, I didn't now any of the authors before, but even the hits weren't so gripping for me to seek out further.

past tense better than average but not as good as the best Reacher. Jack discovers more about his family's past, punishes some deserveds and rescues those in need. Entertaining, but really pushing the plausibility at times.

Red Sister Fighting nuns. Pig girl fantasy as a novice learns she's got the special mix of ancient bloods that make a possibly prophesied saviour, and hence the target of religio-political intrigue and also revenge from high born she's injured along the way. Fairly typical magic school type book, but with a nice SF crossover detail that might develop throughout the trilogy.

a sting in the tale interesting look at the UK's bumblebee population and some of the issues that might be effecting them, if we could do some more studies. THere's 22 species in the UK plus the very different honey and solitary bees.

Reamde Poor. All the faults of Stephenson's other books - too long, poorly detailed in some places and excessively so in others, somewhat clunky one dimensional characters - with none of the innovation, imagination or skillful world building that he's capable. GamerSF-Techno-thriller. It's a poor mash up. Just read ready player one and sum of all fears and you'll still have pages to spare.

I think you should just let Neal Stephenson rest on his shelf.
And even I am done with him, thoroughly, btw.

(Personally I thought Ready Player One OK, but definitely not up to the hype.)

Yes indeed. No more NS for me. I said that after quicksilver which I really loathed, but was suckered back in.

I haven't read widely enough in the gaming sub-genre to suggest a better pick than RPO. Feyland is quite fun, but more portal fantasy than pure gaming.

>66 reading_fox: I am surprised to see a recommendation for Feyland. I thought it one of my most poorly written reads of 2018. What was it about it that you liked?

>64 reading_fox: Thanks for saving me from picking up Reamde. I keep being tempted. Have any of you watched the history channel about searching for WWII lost gold?

>65 Busifer: RPO is better if you are a fan of a certain prog rock band and/or a Dungeons and Dragons player. Total fandom helps!

>68 Karlstar: I know, and I was neither, even then I am familiar with both songs, concepts, ideas, etc. It was just that before I read it, back when it came out, a lot of people had hyped it as "the best book ever written omg it rocked my world!", and while I did enjoy it immensely I just didn't think it was THAT good.

I still haven't read Snow Crash and I think I will, but I've been over Stephenson for a while.

>70 littlegeek: Snow Crash was the first, and so far only, Neal Stephenson that I have read; I have to say that I liked it very much.

You guys aren't exactly inspiring me to read more Stephenson - but if I were to, which would you recommend?

>71 -pilgrim-: I suggest The Diamond Age. At <500 pages (judging by my hardcover), it is one of his shorter works. It's also very inventive as far as the retro-future environment goes. The other stand-alones I would recommend having a go at are Cryptonomicon and Anathem. The latter is full of big ideas, but it does take a while for the scope to expand. But once it does, it really expands. The former is not strictly stand-alone, but it can be read on its own without continuing into the prequels, (The Baroque Cycle trilogy).

I recall pgmcc mentioning that he really enjoyed Reamde. I haven't read it yet but it remains a roundtoit for me, (one of these days).

>56 reading_fox: Ah, so glad to hear you liked it. I got halfway through and had to stop for a few digital loans, and haven't gotten back to it yet.

All this dumping on NS. LOL I haven't read anything of his yet, but I have a few hanging around. Now you're all making me afraid to ever touch them.

>71 -pilgrim-: I am all in on Cryptonomicon. I recommended it to my boss at work and my brother, they both loved it. It helps that 2 of us work at IBM.

I really liked Cryptonomicon but it's kind of long-winding, and has some sequences that can be skipped without missing the story. I think Anathem is the one that is mostly like an ordinary book - that's when I got some hopes of him and editing ;-)

NS - Snow crash is ok to good. Was very inventive at the time, feels a bit odd now that the internet is passe. Diamond Age is one of my favourite books although I haven't re-read it for many years. Intense imaginative, clever, funny and just a delight. (Let down by a bit of weak ending, the only thing NS has improved on with time).

>67 -pilgrim-: - turns out it was feyguard that I read, but I thought it well done, nice integration between gaming and real world, a good mix of characters who didn't feel too linear or stereotyped.

the missing girl short story rounding out my santathing. A bit odd, needing better conclusions.

curse of the mistwraith a delight as ever. Immersive detailed and just excellent fantasy. Hopefully the final part in this 20 year odyssey will be published soon (although I know it's not finished being written yet) so I'm re-reading the whole series in chunks (If I can restrain myself to read other books inbetween) as preparation.

>77 reading_fox: Curse of the Mistwraith brings back some memories! Unfortunately those books were almost all destroyed in last year's flood, so I need to replace the first 4 books of the series.

>78 Karlstar: - they're not to everyone's taste but if you enjoy Janny's style then they remain very re-readable, maybe even better the nth time around as you start to pick up the early threads that become part of the later tapestry.

An ER collection of short stroeis - DO not quietly go an anthology of defiance from women through to AI, young, old, fantasy and SF all OK but none of them struck me as outstanding.

permafrost Reynolds short novella using time travel to look at climate change and AI. Short but well executed.

>79 reading_fox: Your review made me go back and look at what I have and don't have and it turns out I'd skipped one of the books in the series, I may have to go get that one first.

Argh. Life, Builders and work has got in the way of writing reviews properly.

Borderline
Phantom Pains
Impostor Syndrome

As the Arcadia trilogy about the mentally and physically disabled protagonists of a very good urban Shidhe para-normal fantasy. Works well, good characters great and different voice for the heroine, clever integration of Sidhe concepts and well balanced powers. Worth reading. There's space left for a continuation but he trilogy closes neatly.

Fire and Hemlock recommended from here somewhere. The other sort of Faerie Fantasy, Tom Rhymer, and Tam Lin set in a modern (ish, it's dated a bit) world. No Unseelie, and no magic as such, just DWJ's clever writing and the trickery of memories.

Now onto Penn Cage, but it'll be a while.

I hope the kitchen extension is proceeding nicely?

>83 Busifer: It's proceeding... nicely is perhaps too much, but no worse than expected.

>84 reading_fox: That's as good as anyone can wish for, in my experience.

>82 reading_fox: Best of luck with the renovations. I read Fire and Hemlock a couple of years ago as part of my introduction to Tam Lin. It's quite good, but certain aspects of the story haven't aged well. (Letting a strange guy babysit a daughter, for starters.)

Wasn't impressed by the Greg Iles trilogy - starts with the Quiet Game and didn't get any better. A bit too dark, and gratuitous without the hero having the background appropriate to justify it. turning angel is particularly nasty, whereas the devil's punchbowel just seems disproportionate compared to the previous stories.

Grey Sister very good continuation from Red. I approve that the story has quickly moved on from yet another magic school story. Intrigued by the world building history which is taking new turns in a believable way, something not often managed.

>87 reading_fox: I need to get on and read Grey sister. I just got it on kindle so there's no excuse!

Holy Sister the good conclusion to the trilogy. Works well wraps up the annoying timelines so that everything comes together at the right moment, but feels very contrived in doing so.

coil ER dark SF, nice blend of gangster, genetic manipulation and police procedural. One fo the less bad ER titles I've recieved, but still not good enough for me to be interested in the rest of the series.

complete broken empire More Mark LAwrence, which might have been better if I hadn't read the Sisters so recently, as it feels very similar - dystopian far future although the feel is that of dark fantasy. Plenty of violence rather than gore.

the better part of valor the heart of valor

The continuing Mil-SF adventures of one Sergeant Torin. First she has an alien ship to explore, which turns out to be more tricky than expected. In The Heart she's asked to help one of her instructors recuperate by leading a training platoon, but this also doens't go to plan. I was more impressed by the links back to the previous work, which suggest a somewhat larger story arc rather than repeated adventures.

consuming fire Facile continutation of Scalzi's The Collapsing Empire, too much jumping around between characters and some author manipulative evasions means the whole thing feels somewhat thin, and too overtly duex et machina at the end.

>90 reading_fox: I enjoyed The Consuming Fire, but I think a lot of that came from listening to the audiobook rather than reading it.

I have never really enjoyed any of Scalzi's books when I've read them on paper (Old Man's War and Redshirts) but for some reason I've been happier with them as listening experiences. I think maybe I'm not as particular then as I am when I'm reading them myself?
The Collapsing Empire was better than it's sequel, but I hope it's just a case of bridge-book syndrome and that the concluding part will be worth it.

>90 reading_fox: I really like all Tanya Huff's Valor books and the Peacekeeper series that follows it. I just received the latest, but haven't read it yet.

Warhost of Vastmark and Fugitive Prince not a bad pair of books to finish over a long weekend with plenty of air travel. Great fun and wonderful continuation of the story as the Prince's contest their rivalry more openly than happens for a lot of the rest of the series. I'll keep trying to space the rest of the series out so that I'm ready for the conclusion late this year/early next (or whenever it's ready).

command decision victory conditions The formal conclusion to Vatta's war, although there are two more sequels (anyone know if they're any good?) Fun, but ultimately light reading, mil-SF. Command is probably the best written of the series, as the three different protagonists all have to make decisions in different arenas. Victory Condition is probably the better read, because it's finally pretty much just action as all the pirates and privateers end up in the same system.

>93 reading_fox: Warhost of Vastmark is one of my favorites of that series. I'm really impressed you got through both of them, even with travel!

>94 reading_fox:

I like most of Moon's writing, but the two sequels didn't do much for me.

I've not dared the sequels. The originals are just what you say - light, entertaining, military SF - and as I've understood it the sequels are trying for a more serious twist?

>97 Busifer: - thanks that's interesting. If I find them going cheap I might try them, although serious mil-SF could be an interesting concept because it always seems even less real than other genres.

>98 reading_fox: I think I've heard that they deal with what come after fame and victory, and how that affects her. As I've not read them myself I'm not certain, though.
Like you I might get them if I find them cheap, but they're not my first choice. At least at the moment I prefer to preserve the light entertainment value of the story. I find that I need just that, sometimes.

Two ER short story collections

Legends 3
and Best of British Science Fiction 2018

Of which the latter was much better than the former. In the 90s Silvaberg released two collections also titled Legends these have been split up into multiple books, and I've not read them all, but what I have I greatly enjoyed, including early Pratchett, GRRM etc. Sadly this one is not a continuation of that but a collection organised to help fund the Gemmell fantasy awards, and short story Epic fantasy doesn't really work well.

The SF collection is much better featuring a few great stories with some clever imagination from some new authors worth keeping an eye on.

Bite a chance buy thriller featuring maleria, greedy corporations, a history of exploration in africa, and a touch of science. It's not terrible, but billed as "the greatest thriller you'll ever read" is massively over blown.

one salt sea great writing a fun continuation of Toby's story and another fine adventure.

Best of British fantasy 2018 which was the ER title I was supposed to have received last month - average to good modern fantasy short stories. (inc the wonderful Godziliad) Better than Legends 3 above, even if it featured almost no 'classic' fantasy. Lots of ghosts and modern settings without being urban fantasy. Some names to watch out for.

Hunter's run early GRRM (started by Gardner dozois) and finished (and expanded from novella into full length) by Daniel Abraham who's made a few fans in the GD. Smoothly voiced you can't tell who's written which parts. On a rough frontier world a hardened prospector starts to develop an unexpected set of morals.

>102 reading_fox: Godziliad??? I must see if I can find that!

>103 clamairy: If you have Kindle Unlimited...

Best of British Fantasy 2018

EtA: Book 1 found online

>103 clamairy: - I put in on FB too because it is as good as you think it ought to be, although not as long.

>104 ScoLgo: Oh, that was superb! μῆνιν ἄειδε θεὰ ...
Now I am inspired to actually watch Godzilla - something I have somehow never go around to doing!

>105 reading_fox: I found it on the author's blog. Hope it's the whole thing.
https://amechanicalart.blogspot.com/2018/11/the-godziliad.html

>106 -pilgrim-: Try to find the original. It's quite powerful.

The war within Stephen Donaldson's latest epic fantasy. Possibly the least dark book he's ever written showcasing his talents. - It starts with the Seventh Decimate novella, and this the first full novel in the series picks up 20 years later. I'd fully recommend this to all epic fantasy fans, especially if you've not tried Donaldson before. He's not everyone's cup of tea, but this is very good.

Two more ER titles:
The western Passage a vampire dystopia-fantasy, it's less bad than expected, but not fully thought through

stealing the scream one f those ER books where you wonder why you picked it. It sounded fun, it wasn't.

re-read
Dragon's path
was better able to keep track of the characters and places this time.

>108 reading_fox: I am curious as to why you class The Seventh Decimate as a novella?

>109 -pilgrim-: -because it felt like it to me. It seems very short, like the real story, I haven't actually checked the page count, and I don't actually care what the official guidelines are (probably word count rather than pages and there's no easy way to check that).

>110 reading_fox: Other readers here on LT have tagged the work as a novella.

>108 reading_fox: So you would definitely say it was better than The Seventh Decimate? I thought that was a novel, but a short one, for Donaldson, but I wasn't a big fan.

>110 reading_fox:, >111 clamairy:, >112 Karlstar: I thought it a normal-sized novel (in contrast to Donaldson's usual doorstoppers). I have not counted the words, but it had a normal number of pages, in a normal-sized edition, with the font not excessively large.

The definition of novella that I am familiar with is "over 5000 and under 18000 words, with single POV, but possible multiple events".

It certainly did not fit that length range, so my question was quite sincere - I was wondering whether you were using a different definition.

I admit that the fact that I was bored out of my mind by reading it. I didn't hate it; I just found nothing of interest to me there. I only persisted because I didn't have any other books available at the time. That may adversely affect my subjective impression of its length, certainly, but I am trying to stick with objective measures, like page count and font, here.

So many books I've read, and not yet reviewed :-( Life's got in the way a bit. Here's a summary anyway:

Tyrant's rule - continuation of the series. Geder the intellectual has suddenly been handed the reins of power and uses it to chase our banker, which is unfortunate as she's the only interesting character. Marcus goes on a Quest to find Magic Trinket.

false flag - the 2nd in my friend's scarily accurate YA dystopia. Really the UK is getting so close to this now it's unbelievable. Reverse the POV from the first book and gives a look at how the antagonist see's the world, very believable and incredibly well done.

The gallant and another 3 short stories by Janny Wurts including her latest black bargain : All set back before the novels begin, looking at how some of the other characters came to be in the situations we later see them - good stories especially Gallant which is a little longer, but you do need to be familiar with the world first

and Diamond Age Probably the last of NS's good books. Even this is very long and has a lot of exposition in it, but all the details are restricted to one or two sentence blocks, rather than paragraphs. The imagination is stunning, it's a great contrast between culture and nano-tech. Fun. Rubbish ending though.

>114 reading_fox: Have to agree on The Diamond Age So much great scene-setting, such a lame ending.

Pendragon Protocol Locksley exploit and Trojans

Re-read of the series so that I can enjoy the grand conclusion. PP is great fun, really clever urban (modern) fantasy, blending arthurian legends into current life. Fast and fun, but told in third person through the voice of a storyteller rather than the hero. LE bogs down a bit as the author expands on the number of legends and characters, whcih with the typical betrayals etc all gets a little hard to keep track.

Trojans is the dramatic finale. Still a little slow in the middle, it's really quite fun and I didn't guess the ending. Would recommend for fans of UK history/arthurian tales, and urban fantasy. Great mix of characters races and genders (cf the original tales a point oft made).

Two more ER titles;
Hood academy which is very rushed, maybe suitable for teen reading? I wouldn't know, but just doesn't feel right to me. The werewolf/hunter plot isn't original but was well done, just needed more details and a more considered pace.

Shelf life was better, a 'books within books' (Cf Jasper fforde) whereby our protagonist slowly comes to realise she may be The Protagonist in the story of her life, unlike all the other characters around her. Unfortunately bookworld is being attacked by a character who's got a bit too big for his boots, and she has to work out what's happening before she might be able to take control of the plot.

Darkest Hour is the middle of my friends' five part YA dystopia which seems increasingly real as british politics catches up with fiction. Bex and her friends are running from the government and find safe haven with some more rebels whilst on the other side Ketty tries to balance her personal desires against her future career. I'm really impressed with how well Rachel's done with these stories, compared to say all the other ER titles that I get to read.

Revelation Space and Redemption Ark I decided to skip Chasm CIty because although it is part of the series it's timeline is very confused compared to RS, and it has very little impact on RA. Reynolds' hard and epic space opera. Grand themes, truly bizarre aliens, some great technology, but also characters that you care about (if not all of them all of the time), and at the very least you do wnat to know who and why they've ended up like that. I still think the RS universe is one of the best imagined worlds in SF.

>118 reading_fox: I still think the RS universe is one of the best imagined worlds in SF.

I agree! I like Chasm City but I didn't read it as part of the main RS trilogy and it all works just fine.

>116 reading_fox: I am still catching up on GD threads at the moment. Also on an Arthurian kick. So that sounds very interesting.

ER strikes again:
Flies in the punch bowl this as usual for ER didn't quite work. A mix of farce, crime and art it's not the worst in this genre I've encountered, but equally hardly brilliant. It would be better without the farce.
and
Bright morning star
Much much better. A unique voice of an alien's robotic lander exploring earth. A little like Leckie in tone, but more earth-centric. Worth looking out for.

No touchstone yet - for Fighting Back by Rachel Churcher - beta reading the fourth instalment of my friend's YA quintet post Brexit, it's very good with a lovely interplay between the protagonist and antagonist until you're not quite sure who you're supporting.

Absolution Gap - finishing off Reynolds' best work, the extraordinary Revelation Space universe. This is perhaps the least imaginative of the series, but it's still very good and does at least make a definitive end.

Grand Conspiracy The next instalment in my slow re-read of this series hoping to complete it about the time the final novel is published..... A slow start as the politics builds up to high paced frantic chaos as several events occur simultaneously - skillfully handled by Janny so the reader is never left behind. It ends somewhat more cliff-hangy than most so I've moved straight onto the next.

Somewhere amidst >121 reading_fox: there was also fighting back the fourth (of five) YA novels my friend has written - due to be officially published 28th Nov. It really is a great series looking at terrorists vs freedom fighters, the UK's troubles and life as a politically active teenager. It's all getting very tense now, as Bex with her friends in scotland struggles against the real world politik, whereas Ketty's on her own trying to make the best of what becoming an increasingly bad situation. They both face some very tricky choices.

Peril's gate
Picks up straight after Grand Conspiracy above. It'vs very long, and packed with torture for our hero all the way through. Chase and hunted through increasingly desperate terrain he can't let his personal morals slide either. And then he enters the sorcerer's maze to test every decision he's ever made.

It's just gripping reading all the (very long) through.

only forward Michael Marshall Smith's first very weird SF. It's a bit of a dreamscape in places sometimes which detracts from the fun, but I think we'd all like to live in The City

our game Not the best of LeCarre's retired spy controller writing. A former double agent gets involved in Ukranian/soviet politics, but it feels dated now.

reclamation Sarah Zettel's debuet novel. It takes a while to get established and make sense of the locations, but the final half is very good indeed as a various human factions and religions try to find the lost Evolution Point, as Earth has moved.

daughter of winter - Story bundle, faery fantasy expect several more of similar books. THis is strangely 6th of a series, and just about makes sense on it's own, but I don't think I'd have persevered this far if I'd started the series on at the beginning. Overblown winter magic as a daughter runs away with a man.

ETA to correct touchstone

Quick blast through several books

Airframe I managed to re-read in a day waiting for builders who didn't turn up. Fun still relevant but very dated look at how media frame stories for their own ends rather than to tell the truth - the aeroplane is just a vehicle to do so. It was only just beginning to be an issue in the 90s when this was written. Chrichton is always a bit heavy handed when making a point, but they're usually points worth considering.

faerie song I really must get around to reading her novels properly at some stage. This is a good collection of 10 short stories she's written, all featuring music and the fae in very varied ways. Quite enjoyable, a couple of exerpts from the universe of her novels and plenty of new settings.

entangled by midsummer meh typical storybundle offering, didn't really work for me - a mix of selkie, witchcraft and the fae, for no explained reasons. Features one of my other dislikes love at first sight.

mr drake and my lady silver the 4th of the Aefulytine series. Charming good fun and hasn't slacked off in pace or joy yet. I still haven't found all of them, but this is worth it, and I'm sure Green Dragoneers will enjoy it. In tone somewhat like Catheryne Valenate work.

Skyward because I needed a break from fairies. YA Mil-SF works well if you ignore a few gaping holes in plotting. Young girl yearns to be a pilot fighting aliens. Doesn't quite have the joy of Sanderson's inventive magic, but it's still good fun.

A few more and probably just one more update for the end of the year's round-up

faery novice and faery prophet starts ok but doesn't improve. urban fantasy with fae and the Wild Hunt etc. Bit too US highschool for me, and not enough detail on the fae. By the latter the oponents are ridiculously overpowered too.

shadow city ER title - poor. A mish-mash of vampires, mutants, aliens and super-powers. Far too complex for a simple dystopia.

The conclusion of my friends YA near-future series - Victory Day. Superbly written, this is the look at what life is like after you've won. Really detailed characterisation and clever imagination. A good action packed start finishes off with lots of introspection and thoughts on forgiveness. I was very impressed. (not yet released, due early Jan).

to be taught if fortunate wonderful. I don't really like novellas. this could be more powerful as a short story or more engaging at a full length novel, but it's still very well done. Why we do science, and how first contact doesn't change that.

Summary post!

I've tagged exactly 100 books as read this year. Probably forgot some, but there you go:

40 Science Fiction
42 Fantasy
13 Crime
4 Non-fiction
(and by subtraction 1 other, I wonder what that was).

I've written full reviews for pretty much all of them, linked from the titles or my profile page.

The Best 5* books

Endless Night
Record of a Spaceborn few
Ships of Merior
Redemption Ark
Fighting back and all of my friends' YA dystopia which has been an amazing journey I've really enjoyed beta reading for. I hope she carries on writing new tales of the new decade.

This by chance has worked out as a good blend of SF fantasy and crime and YA. Some new titles and some old favourites.
the Non-fiction was
A sting in the tale
bike nation
beneath the mountains
and throwim way leg

Another mix of my favourites hobbies- nature, cycling, caving and travel.

I had 19 ER titles to review this year (go ebooks!) and as I've been more careful with my selections they've been less poor than previously: Only 4 were ;less than 3*. The best Bright Morning Star by an already established author, I should look up more of his work.

The stinkers -
Advent and Frameshift which is surprising as Sawyer is often better than this. However out of 100 books to have only two at less than 2* is not bad going.

A good year's reading. A deliberate choice to re-read some favourites mixed with following the evolution of my many series has worked well and I'll continue this into 2020 I think.
Thanks for all the comments and suggestions! There'll be a new thread in a few days time for the start of the new decade.