Very busy couple of weeks, so didn’t actually read anything.
Still on Streams of Silver by R. A. Salvatore, 2nd novel in Icewind Dale series, which is a subseries of Forgotten Realms series (D&D world).
What about all of you? What have you been reading or listening to lately?
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Adrian Tchaikovsky’s latest: Shroud. So far, it hasn’t grabbed me in the same way that Children of Time did, but I’m enjoying it and am interested to see how the worldbuilding goes.
Almost done with The Tommyknockers on audiobook. Still reading Worm (by Wildbow), about 60% done
Speaking Bones - Book 4 of the Dandelion Dynasty by Ken Liu. This is probably one of the best fantasy I’ve read. The setting is based off of ancient China. It’s similar to Game of Thrones in the sense that there’s a lot of world building, there’s no main character, no one is safe from death and the fantasy is lightly applied.
It introduces interesting ideas like storing electricity in objects made with glass, intestines and gold, then utilizing it in warfare. Also logic gates implemented with just basic materials like wood and ropes. Basic AI (non-ML). Etc.
I’m quite confident anyone who enjoys programming will enjoy this series.
Wow I’m going to go read this now. I’ve been in between bigger reads, doing shorter stories, and doom scrolling, but definitely looking for something to escape for a bit!
Yeah I’d definitely recommend it. Loved that when there’s a fantasy-based beast, people investigate how it works from a basic science perspective, then derive a new weapon that play crucial role in combat.
Also loved that alliances shift and change. The story likes to lull you into complacency before pouring cold water over you.
How dark is it? One of my issue with Game of Thrones is that it was too dark / depressing and things just kept getting worse and worse.
It’s quite mild compared to game of thrones. The ‘dark’ parts are not personalized, but description of things happening at a population level.
Ah, cool. Thanks for the info, will add it to my list.
Careless People - Satah Wynn-Williams
Not only it is a fascinating look into Facebook, it touches me personally because I’m a Canadian female tech worker in a US based company and her perspective on a lot of thing is very relatable to me.
I just finished reading The Mercy of Gods by James S. A. Corey (authors of the Expanse series). Overall I really liked it and am excited for this series! I feel like the characters haven’t hooked me as much as the characters from the Expanse series, but I’m going to give them more time to develop.
I am now reading The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett. This one has surprised me how much I’ve enjoyed it so far. I have read his Founders trilogy and Divine Cities books and found them hit or miss.
Felt exactly the same about the Mercy of Gods.
I have started reading ‘The Master and Margarita’. I am only a couple of chapters in and its pretty wild already.
It’s been a long time, but I once read a paperback copy I found. I remember enjoying it.
Just started Holly by Stephen King. I have no idea what’s happening. I got it as a gift for Christmas and left the book cover at home so no summary.
I prefer to start books without reading the summaries. Sometimes they spoil some stuff even 50 or 100 pages in.
I just finished Shades of grey by Jasper Fforde. What a weird fascist dystopian future. It took a long time to get interesting and only the last 15% got me to actually want to know more. I don’t think I will read the rest of the trilogy.
Reading (listening to) War of the Noobs, and honestly it’s getting a bit stale. It didn’t hook or make me really laugh like earlier books on the series.
Recently finished This Inevitable Ruin, and DCC is always a good time.
Currently I’m reading The Rebel by Albert Camus. I was reading it last month but got interrupted by a hold being available from the library. I’m determined to finish it in the next week or so.
Reading the Patternmaster books by Octavia E. Butler. Weird but interesting. Definitely not hitting like the Xenogenesis books did but still seem good so far.
Also re-reading the Expanse books because I just read The Mercy of Gods by James SA Corey and it made my love of the expanse series resurface.
How are the Xenogenesis books? They look interesting.
They’re really interesting. As with a lot of Butler’s works, they’re extremely human which is a bit surprising for science fiction books. She is able to juxtapose aliens against humanity and use it to highlight aspects of our selves and talk about them. I would say that if you’re mostly looking for a good narrative with something that conforms to the standard story arc you may be disappointed, but otherwise they are a must-read imo.
That sounds interesting. Thaks for the info!
Currently reading Food And Society In Classical Antiquity.
How are you liking it so far?
Almost finished with it. It’s somewhat more of an ‘overview’ than I was expecting, but I’ve learned a lot. And not all of it about antiquity - did you know that whole wheat bread isn’t healthier than white bread? Fuck, I ate wheat bread as a kid for nothing?
Heh, didn’t know that. Good thing I didn’t force myself to eat those 😀 White Bread FTW!
Just finished Thrawn Ascendancy: Chaos rising. Next up, the second in the series.
It was such a great book. I can’t wait to read the rest of the series
How is it, if you haven’t read any Star Wars novel, and have only watched the movies?
I will also say that the star wars books, from what I have seen, aren’t sequential. You can start anywhere in the universe and it doesn’t matter, notwithstanding the actual series books, like Thrawn series and whatever. It’s more like Terry Pratchett’s Discworld. It’s a bunch of independent stories set in the same universe.
Any recommendations for interesting starting points?
Not really. I’m pretty new to the Star Wars novels. I’ve literally read two, and they are both part of the same series. But FWIW, I am reading the Thrawn Ascendency series, and it’s pretty damn good.
I am in the same situation. I have not read any other SW books, and have only seen the movies.
It’s great. I can’t put my Kobo down. It’s enthralling, it’s enticing. It’s very well written. I love it.
Not Till We Are Lost
Latest book in the bobiverse.
Great book!
I’m still reading Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. My area had some unexpected weather a couple weeks ago so I’ve been off my usual routine.
The book is good and I’m about half way through. I want to finish it by tomorrow.
