One of the rare weeks where I got to read quite a bit.
Read Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. A contemporary sci-fi thriller. It’s my first Blake Crouch book and I knew nothing while going on. A quick and very enjoyable read. Recommended for thriller fans, if they don’t mind sci-fi.
After that, read The Magician’s Guild by Trudi Canavan. It’s a first book in The Black Magician trilogy, though it does have a prequel book and a sequel trilogy after that, but I don’t know if they the follows same characters or if they are different stories, just in the same universe.
The whole book takes place in one city, and stakes are very personal instead of some world saving quest. It was also a quick and very easy to read book.
Finally, started the most read / mentioned book of these weekly threads, Dungeon Crawler Carl. The book is hilarious, it gave me some of that Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy feel in the start, but it’s a very different book.
It is very much a litRPG (have we finalised on litRPG now? what happened to Progression Fantasy? It was at least a better name than litRPG, or is there some difference between the two?), and one issue with the genre is there is rarely any feel of real danger (with some exceptions). This seems to be going the same way, but again, I am still in the start of the first book of eight book series, so anything can change. This isn’t a negative though, this is kind of why I like these books, sometimes you just want to read about good guy getting the win, without worrying about if they will win, but it is something to note if you are new to the genre.
Enjoying it enough that I have already ordered the next books, not sure if I’ll actually read them back to back, but I am definitely going to continue with the series.
What about all of you, what have you been reading or listening to lately?
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Currently going through Reaper by Will Wight. It’s the tenth book in the Cradle series and it’s starting to open the world (or should I say worlds?) up a little more. So far the entire series has been engaging and easy to keep the momentum going until the final 12th book.
I just started The Odyssey translation by Emily Wilson. I’m just on the introduction but I’m interested in it so far.
Just finished Resolute by Jack Campbell and The Nameless Land by Kate Elliott.
Resolute is one of many in a space military series. In this one, they’re on a mission to go make friends with the aliens. Mostly to get the war hero main character out of Space Congress’s hair, heh. I really enjoyed it. Jack is great at writing space combat action, and his aliens break the mold in some ways, too.
The Nameless Land is the sequel to The Witch Roads. It’s a pretty cozy tale with a sort of tragic romance involving the main character while she’s traveling with a VERY ambitious prince with his eye on the crown (nevermind the heir in the way). There’s a fair bit of political maneuvering behind the action.
It’s also fascinating from a world building perspective. It’s a magical setting with a deadly fog that covered swaths of the land. Different cultures have different ways to cope with the danger. There are wizards of a sort and restless guardian spirits keeping watch after a legendary war against sorcerer-kings.
And the main character is not all she seems…
Excellent read, Kate Elliott is one of my favorite authors.
Glad to hear the praise for The Witch Roads and sequel! I came across it on the “trending” books list on kobo and bought it on a whim based off the description (it was on sale too which helped), happy to know it’s worth the attention.
I’m halfway through ‘UFOs and Nukes’ by Robert Hastings. It’s a pretty dry read so far. I’ve re-entered the UFO rabbit-hole again after many years.
Also bought a copy of ‘T. T. Brown’s electrogravitics research’ by Thomas Valone.
I’m in my approximately eighth full readthru of the Discworld novels (in publication order). Currently in Thud! right now. Seeking information about the location of my cow ;-)
I just finished A Long and Speaking Silence by Nghi Vo. I’m planning on reading the rest of the singing hills cycle
Are the titles in this series stand-alone/take place in the same world or should you read in order?
I was told they can be read in any order. This one is the most recent (seventh). I am now in the middle of the first one, so be like me! or don’t.
Haha cool, yeah perhaps I’ll do the same if one of the stories don’t vibe with me. Thanks!
Finished Going Postal by Terry Pratchett, on to Making Money
I’m rereading in publication order (for around the 8th or so time) - finished Going Postal and into Thud! :)
I’m still on my first read through, I’ve been going roughly by sub-series. Started with the Rincewind stuff, then Death, then the Watch, now I’m in the Industrial Revolution. Had a little Witches and other miscellaneous tossed in the middle there.
I’m enjoying “Pretenders to the Throne of God” by Adrian Tchaikovsky, book 4 in the Tyrant Philosophers series.
This is Tchaikovsky at his best, seriously. I love that he didn’t really “plan” this series, he just kept finding himself drawn back into it, and each book is a standalone that builds off the previous. I’m 3/4 through it and taking my time.
Just finished “The dispossessed”, for the xth time starting on the next which according to this ordering is " the word for world is forest". I’ve read left hand of darkness also before but the other books on the hanish cycle I haven’t so figured I’d do the lot.
The dispossessed is very progressive for being published in 1974!
Great books! I have much respect for Ursula k. Le guin!
I just finished Anathem by Neal Stephenson! Man, what a banger of philosophy with a great narrative story to drive it. Wanted more space sci-fi so I’m currently reading Hyperion by Dan Simmons. Thoroughly enjoying it–intense read, though.
Finnegans Wake! Listened to the Naxos audiobook again-- wonderfully incomprehensible, gloriously elusive, magnificently playful, strikingly obvious, all at once (but of course, it’s just five hours, the entire book would take much much more time).
Started Ulysess, but this version was read by an american. Irish or nothing! At last I found Molly Bloom’s soliloquy read by an irish; didn’t remember it as so risqué, if that’s the word, all kinds of phantasies and memories, but it’s still very very beatiful and moving.
Currently reading No longer human, wool (Silo), and Berserk.
Listening to To Kill a Mockingbird. I’ve gone in pretty blind, but I am really enjoying it so far.
I read through All Systems Red by Martha Wells last weekend. Very fast-paced and fun! I’ve got the next couple of ebooks in the Murderbot series to read from a bundle, so I’m looking forward to that.
I’ve started On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong. Poetic, with some hauntingly beautiful imagery so far.
Still working my way through the Sword of Kaigen and Seeing Like a State (on the nonfiction side).
