SFFKit - June - Next book in a series (not #1)

June is the opportunity to read one more book in that series. In SF and Fantasy, series is the norm.



the Dune Collection
Wheel of Time Series
‎Vorkosigan Saga

And many, many more options.

I’ve stacked Spook Country (Blue Ant Trilogy #2; by William Gibson) for this challenge :-)

I think my most likely one is The Annals of the Heechee by Frederik Pohl, No. 4 in the Heechee Saga

I'll be reading The Quantum Murder and assuredly a couple of more.

I personally haven’t decided which series I will work on. I posted the Dune pictures because I do so like the cover art. I have so many series started and no where near completion.

Well, like so many readers of SFF, I have MANY options to choose from here!

This ties in perfectly with my series reading goals this year! I'm planning on Memory by Lois McMaster Bujold (part of the Vorkosigan saga) and Tongues of Serpents by Naomi Novik (Temeraire #6).

Tons of options, like so many of us, but I think I'm going to go with The Yanti by Christopher Pike.

I am planning on reading A History of the Future by James Howard Kunstler which is the third book in his Dystopian series, "World Made By Hand". If I can fit it in I would also like to read a Vorkosign Saga, Diplomatic Immunity by Lois McMaster Bujold.

I'm not very good at keeping up with this challenge (or much reading actually) this year, but I have many series in progress like many here. :)

The one that comes foremost to mind is that for some reason I still haven't read Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells in the Murderbot series. Another series that I have in progress, it's a re-re-re-read, is the Death Gate Cyle by Margaret Weis and Tracy HIckman. The next book I have to read is Into the Labyrinth.

I will probably read Fevered Star by Rebecca Roanhorse, since it also meets one of the challenges for my local library's summer reading bingo card.

I got started late for the May challenge, so if I don't finish Precursor by the 31st I can include it for June!

Guessing I will go with the next in Jodi Taylor's series The Chronicles of St Mary's. I think I'm on #5.

I did finish Precursor in May, and decided to commit to read its sequel, Defender.

Starting Blowback by K.K. Rusch - 9th in the Retrieval Artist series.

>13 soelo: Thanks for reminding me of this series, I had kind of lost track of it even thought I quite like the first book. I'm really impressed by the number of books in the series!

I started it in June but technically I finished it in June so I guess it counts for this month: Into the Labyrinth is the 6th book in the Death Gate series by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. This was a very entertaining read, with a good story (despite one strong plot hole which did not prevent me from enjoying myself) and well though characters. One book left in the series!

06/05/2022 - Last night I started Spook Country (Blue Ant Trilogy #2; by William Gibson). Interestingly, it does not feature the same characters or story universe as the first-in-series! It looks like the Blue Ant Trilogy might be unified by a theme of technology altering our perception of the past, present and future … I have to think about that after I’ve finished this one and the next book in the series, Zero History.

06/08/2022 - Well, now I see we are in the same universe as Then Blue Ant Marketing Company comes in play in the person of its CEO/founder, Hubertus Bigend. Blue Ant's modus operandi is not unlike (spit) tradecraft and the thriller aspect of both novels so far are the vehicle that carries Gibson's ideas.

Currently reading Voyager by Diana Gabaldon from her Outlander series. The time travel element makes it count here.

I just finished Memory by Lois McMaster Bujold, the 10th (?) novel in the Vorkosigan series. It turned out to be a pivotal book in the series, as Miles ends one career and starts another.

I'd like to kick-start the rest of the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews. Somehow I stalled out after Magic rises, and never got more than a few pages into Magic breaks. And since I have several unread books in the series sitting around, I'd like to either read that one or Magic stars.

I finally read Fugitive Telemetry, the latest novella in the Murderbot series by Martha Wells. I have a hard time explaining why but I was a bit less into it than I was into the other books, but it's still a pleasure to meet again with Murderbot. It was a very enjoinable read (the other books set the bar very high) and I read it very quickly even though I read very little at the moment.

>22 chlorine: I've not read that one yet, waiting for the price to go down. Public library doesn't have it. Wait! They got a copy! Woo!!!!!

>22 chlorine:
>23 fuzzi:

Just checked out the ebook! I read Network Effect last month.
Also planning to read The City of Gold and Lead, 2nd in the Tripod series.

>23 fuzzi: >24 nrmay: Enjoy your reading!

>25 chlorine: thanks! I need to first finish up Defender, which I am a little more than halfway through. What a great read it is!

I've so far read Redemption ARk and Blowback. Started a Murder of Clones.

My library hold came in sooner than expected on The Fires of Heaven by Robert Jordan, book 5 in my reread of the Wheel of Time. This one is gonna take a while.

Just finished Vengeful, which is #2 in the Villains series by V. E. Schwab. There is going to be a third one at some point, and there is still a graphic novel and short prequel to tide me over in the mean time.

Starting Caitlin Ross and the Commute From Hell by Brian Olsen, No. 2 in the Future Next Door series. Apparently I read the first one in the series in 2016.

I finished Spook Country (Blue Ant Trilogy #2; by William Gibson) right at the beginning of the weekend! - Hollis, the lead singer in a now-disbanded music group is trying her hand at reporting for a "Wired" magazine knockoff and finds herself donning VR headsets and running all over the place chasing a shipping container... The second in the techno-thriller "Blue Ant" series from the man who coined the term "cyberspace" isn't as strong as the first-in-series, Pattern Recognition in terms of delivering a message; but does keep the reader in the world of Hubertus Bigend, the head of the Blue Ant marketing firm which collects information ostensibly to sell shoes; but whose R&D tends to hew closer to international espionage. "PR" got 3.5 stars from me and, this one 3.0; but it may all change after I finish the last book in the set, Zero History next month and have a picture if the whole.

I have completed A History of the Future by James Howard Kunstler which is the third volume in his "A World Made By Hand" dystopian series. Lots of flaws in these books, yet I am still finding myself interested in these dystopian pioneer stories.

COMPLETED Caitlin Ross and the Commute From Hell by Brian Olsen.

My review:
Mysterious portals keep opening round New York City sending people to unexpected destinations.

It's been a while since I read the first one in the series but from what I remember, my reaction was similar - a good start with fun and interesting characters which runs out of steam despite the author's attempts to ramp up the excitement.

I don't think I will be continuing with the series

I just finished Tongues of Serpents by Naomi Novik, the 6th book in the Temeraire series. For me, this is the weakest installment so far -- it's incredibly slow-paced, and nothing much happens to advance the plot. But I'm hoping the next book will be better!

I just finished Imprinted by Jim C. Hines, which is a novelette following the action of his Magic ex Libris series.

I'm reading Lady Astronaute which is a collection (in French) of five short stories in the universe of The calculating stars by Mary Robinette Kowal. The first short-story takes place before the asteroid falls on Washington so that would technically make it the first in the series, but the other ones seem to take place at various moments in the overall story arch.

COMPLETED Annals of the Heechee by Frederik Pohl (Fifth and final installment)

My review:
Chronologically, the last in the series. At last the Heechee and humanity meet the Assassins/Foe. As my memories of the previous installments were rather vague, it was difficult to follow at times until about half way through when there was a useful summary of events so far. It wrapped things up satisfactorily, though in a rather predictable way.

COMPLETED magic breaks by Ilona Andrews - seventh book in the Kate Daniels series.

A pivotal installment in the series, where Kate finally meet her father, and decides not to try to kill him.

I was able to fit in Diplomatic Immunity by Lois McMaster Bujold, this is part of the Vorkosigan series.

>39 DeltaQueen50: I saw your review on your thread but had to avert my eyes because I'm not there yet! I look forward to reading your thoughts when I do get there. :)

>40 christina_reads: It's an excellent series!

I finished Fugitive Telemetry, when's the next Murderbot coming out?

>42 fuzzi: There’s no word yet on the release dates for the next three Murderbot stories; but the next Martha Wells novel will be the first in a new series coming out this coming Fall:

https://www.tor.com/2021/04/26/tordotcom-publishing-acquires-six-martha-wells-bo...

>43 Tanya-dogearedcopy: aarrgh!!! Not another series...

Has the July thread gone up yet?

>42 fuzzi:, 43 I'm disappointed that the next Wells book won't be a Murderbot one, but if she needs to work on something else to recharge her batteries and bring back more Murderbot goodness I'm willing to wait. And the other stuff might be good also. :)

Finally finished The Fires of Heaven book 5 in my reread of The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan. I enjoyed this one, but it took forever to finish.

I had a lot of other books I wanted to get to this month, but not sure I will be able to since it took almost the entire month to finish the first one. Might pick up the next Murderbot for a nice change of pace. I am up to Network Effect.

>45 chlorine: I know, I need to be patient. I am still waiting for the Alliance Rising sequel, delayed a couple years by Covid and author CJ Cherryh's health issues.

I want it now!!!! 😁

>47 fuzzi: I hear a lot of praise for CJ Cheryh. I really didn't like the one book I read by her but maybe I'll try another one of her books in the future.

>48 chlorine: which one did you read?

I just found this group & this looks like a great challenge category for me. I've read Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time a few times over the decades, but never any of the follow-ups, so I'm going to tackle A Wind in the Door.

July's challenge is posted here: family, biological or found.

>51 markon: The link seems to be to a book called A Diary in the Age of Water. The challenge is actually at https://www.librarything.com/topic/342582

>49 fuzzi: I think it was Cyteen. If I remember correctly I read it in French and many translations of science-fiction books at the time were very bad so it's possible translation played a large role in my non enjoyment of it.

>53 chlorine: Cyteen was hard for me to get into, and I'm a big Cherryh fan (can you tell?) but eventually I did get through it. I thought it was very good, but not something I'd reread. My favorites are the Chanur series, the Morgaine series, and many of the Alliance books. Some of those I have reread more than once, like Merchanter's Luck, Rimrunners, and Finity's End. If you like a little more spookiness, try Rider at the Gate. A couple standalone books I'd recommend are Cuckoo's Egg and The Paladin.

The Foreigner books are good, too, but beware! There are about 20 in the series right now.

I'm not as big a fan of Cherryh's fantasy books, but the Fortress series was very engaging, and I read them one right after the other. As with many of her books, there is a very slow beginning, then it picks up...like a roller coaster!

Finished The Yanti by Christopher Pike. Full review written, but it's less than glowing. I adore Pike's horror (YA and Adult both), but his fantasy leaves something to be desired.

>54 fuzzi: Thanks for the recommendations! I do like spooky so I added Rider at the Gate to my wishlist to be able to give myself another chance to like Cherryh someday. :)

>56 chlorine: I don't care for spooky, but enjoyed it anyway.

"Yum, bacon..."

> 57 Aha now I will be wondering what is it about bacon until I read the book, well done! :)

>58 chlorine: 😁😁😁

This challenge gave me the perfect excuse to dive into a quick book called Weaving in the Ends. It's futuristic sci-fi series that prominently features knitting on the cover. The volume includes two stories from the "Stories of the Restoration" series and it's much more human-focused than gadget-focused.