I've put together a collage of some books from last months What are you Reading? post. It's mostly random, but the more discussion something gets the more it stands out to me. Going forward I'm going to make a new post every month to talk about what people are reading.
Read Locked In recently and really enjoyed it! Would recommend it to anyone looking for their next adventure. Police procedural meets sci fi and a very satisfying read.
I got about half way through 11-22-63 some years back. I think King is just too much bloat for me much of the time or I need to be in a different frame of mind to read him. I've always said I'd revisit it, but I haven't.
Read 11-22-63 recently while on a king kick. Love his ideas and was disappointed in the Hulu show, so I went to the source. Illustrates how difficult it would be as a present day man in the sixties. Modern, tolerant ideals clash with the racism, bigotry, ignorance of that era. With some time travel stuff every now and then to remind you this isn’t just a book about the sixties. Still a believable fantasy and compelling read . “The past is obdurate”
I'm 6 books into expanse series, and I've kind of lost steam with it. Might need a break. Read bobiverse in full just before it. First children of time book was good but didn't know if I wanted to read book 2.
Also loved project hail Mary and the dark Forest/three body trilogy.
I have Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy on my shelf waiting for me to finish The Expanse series. Maybe that?
Also, book 7 of The Expanse becomes a lot easier because you stop having the TV show to compare to. And let me tell you, you think you know what Duarte is doing on Laconia, but my friend you don't. The prologue of book 7 has one of those "I'm sorry, WHAT" moments that really launches you into the next story arc
Yes yes yes red mars is amazing. At first I was like oh great another 600 page scifi novel, but Holy shit is that some classic hard scifi that draws you in. The literal world building and charecter development is fantastic.
Thatars trilogy took me by surprise. At first it felt slow and dry, but I kept on. It definitely is a unique perspective on colonization and I really enjoyed it in the end.
I’ve been debating starting the Expanse book series. I was a huge fan of the show but never read the books. Watched the whole series twice now. Is it recommended to star at book 1 or would it be advised to start at like book 7 so it follows the series?
I'm currently half way through the third book of the Children of Time trilogy. I LOVED book one. I think having just read "Other Minds" (Peter Godfrey-Smith, great non fiction about the mental processes of [the animal starring in the second book]) a while back made me appreciate the second book even more than I would have otherwise.
The Messengers by Lindsay Joelle is a short story only available on audible (free for members). It kind of reminded me of Children of Time and I really liked it.
Different style, but I liked all the books you listed and also loved Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut- time/space travel as envisioned in the 1950s.
Book 7 was a bit of a drag for me, more so than book 6. Books 8 and 9 are really fast paced and good. It's all proto molecule stuff. I remember not caring about the free navy and just wanting to get on with the larger series plot during 6 and 7. You may have to trudge through those to get to the good stuff though.
Im halfway through The color of magic by Terry Pratchett, I've read a few other discworld books but I thought it was time to start the first book an try to read them all in the "right" order.
Listening to Making Money, read it a few years ago. Pretty good though I'm not a huge fan of the voice actor doing the reading. it's tolerable though. Pratchett is what got me into sci-fi and fantasy, he'll always be one of my favorites and always holds up when I go back to something of his.
It's probably the weakest of the Discworld books (at least from what I read of them). You can tell that he's still developing the world and it's much more just a fantasy spoof as opposed to the social satire masquerading as fantasy spoof that those books then more and more turn into.
Gave these a go after getting a bit bored of the series and wow, I wish I read them before spoiling the story beats for myself by watching it
Still, once you get past where amazon are leaving the series it gets even better - screw Cas Anvar
Finished the last book and immidately read Memories Legion, which I heartily recommend too, fills in some interesting gaps and interactions that were only lightly touched on throughout the series
I loved the series, but i think the books make the main characters much more relatable while the series makes the secondary characters really shine. I've been reading all the books, but have thrown other things in between like LoTR, The Foundation, and Hornblower which has made me excited to start the next Expanse book.
The Bobiverse books were great. Can't wait for more. I've been reading Expeditionary Force which is where the Skippy's come from. Also Rythm of War by Brandon Sanderson.
I really enjoyed Heaven's River, but I also enjoy a slice of life book, and really liked all the world building with the otter world, I can definitely see where you are coming from though.
We liked it pretty well... A lot of the internet didn't like the accents.. but meh what ever. Over all it was enjoyable and I look forward to the next season.
The book is a smidge different but the changes they made are for the benefits of the viewing audience.
I don't have a kindle, but according to my buddy, Amazon assigns an email address for every Kindle, so you just email your DRM-free books to that address and they show up on the Kindle.
Children of Time - It's fantastic. Easily digestable space fair about giant intelligent spiders in their war with ants. Humans are involved but I care little for them. Not going to lie, I'm mainly there for the chapters narrated by the spiders and they are expectional.
I'm currently in the middle of Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds. I'm only about 15% of the way through so I don't have a great picture of what is going on or what it is about yet. It seems like the main premise is about an archeologist who has been working on an excavation of an ancient species on a distant planet for an extremely long period of time that likely has far reaching implications about the universe. I've definitely never read anything similar to this in the past.
The other book I plan on reading (listening to) is The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers of which I know basically nothing about. I tend to listen to a book whenever I can't read such as when I'm driving or bathing and then read at times that I can like before sleeping. I find it is a good system to get through 2 books at once.
It was incredibly refreshing in that it was almost just slice-of-life at times; so much time was dedicated to just getting to know the characters in not necessarily extreme scenarios.
If you want to get a wider feel more quickly of the Revelation Space worldbuilding, try Galactic North which is a short story collection featuring many varied shippets featuring characters from the main series.
To an ordinary person not interested in sci-fi world building, I would be more inclined to recommend Reynolds's Pushing Ice or Century Rain which are self-contained.
Just finished the first three books for Red Rising. Really loved it. Not sure if I want to start the next part of the series. I just want the main character to be happy. Can't take more of his torture.
I like how this mentality is still a thing years later. I read the first three as they came out, thought "what a great trilogy!", and then "Oh no..." when I saw it was going to continue. Even if it's great, I'm of your opinion, I just want the main characters to be happy already! I still haven't read the sequel trilogy to this day, lol.
I recall reading and enjoying Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep along with Man in the High Castle and A Scanner Darkly a while ago... I should attempt a re-read.
Everyone recommends Neuromancer, but when I tried it a while back... I got stuck in the first third and give up. I vaguely recall it had a lot of world building, which I'm not a huge fan of (at least at the time).
Just finished book 1 of Old Man’s War and am 1/3 through Ghost Brigades now. I am enjoying the series and happy that it’s got some long legs with the number of books available.
Currently listening to The Dark Tower 7 and about to start The Fall of Hyperion. I’m new to The Hyperion Cantos, but the first book hooked me so I’m looking forward to diving back into it.
Just started Ancillary Justice by Anne Leckie and seems great so far. I have no idea what is going on with how people are gendered in the various languages but I'm looking forward to puzzling it out.
I've finished them now, and I can safely say that it's only really the first half of the first book or so where things are confusing. It does get quite good as well, so it might be worth your time.
I loved them, and translation state feels like the start of a new series in the same universe. The worst part is how often Anaander Mianaai is written and how that many 'a's just fail to compute in my head.
I loved all the ancillary books. IMO not knowing anyone’s gender for sure was part of the fun. It does rely on the reader to work at making connections tho. I can see why some folks don’t like that aspect, but I personally like some challenge.
I was re-reading The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Heinlein, which I read about 15 years ago and really enjoyed (even bought it for a friend as a gift). On the second read through... I found it much less entertaining (though the connection between the computer and the current LLM/AI hype is interesting), got about half-way through and basically stopped. I probably won't finish it, which is kind of sad. Oh well, tastes change I guess.
Is that the one with all the complicated relationships? I found it a little too detailed on that point, but otherwise a good read. I wouldn’t read it again though. I read Rendezvous With Rama around the same time and liked that a lot more.
It is about a revolution on the moon, and it had some complicated relationships (a very different society where there "clans" and basically open marriages), but I don't it was that bad. My current issue is that I can kind of see through libertarian ethos that permeates the book and at some points it's basically Heinlein pontificating instead of moving the story along... which my younger self enjoyed. Now? not so much.
I'm about a third of the way through the first book. It has been really hard for me to take time to focus long enough to read, so it's my first real book in a long time. I've missed it.
OMG I loved the books. The show is making me want to go through them again but I have a stack of books I bought last year and still haven't read. I'll probably read Silo again though it is so freaking good.
Oooooo baby! I firmly maintain the malazan books are one of the best series but take 3 books for the full shape of things to begin to be revealed. For me, memories of ice and book 4 were the two that drew me into the series. Enjoy!
It's my second read through so I know how good it is 😁 I did find that I'd forgotten a lot of interesting stuff in the first two books though. Can't wait to see what treasures I'd forgotten in this one.
I recently read "A Memory Called Empire" by Arkady Martine. It's the first book I've read by her and her writing style got me good. Her background as an historian shines through in the Empire she crafted. She won a hugo or nebula for the book but I can't be bothered to look it up at the moment.
I'm actually going through this myself as well! Currently, I'm just starting book 2. Seeing the "before", noticing how mindsets were often the complete opposites, then watching the very beginnings of the shift towards the 40K universe everyone is familiar with—it's all fascinating.
I was planning to do the first 3 before taking a break to give some other things a shot. It's fantastic, but I don't think I'm ready to wholly dedicate myself to the 50+ books in the series just yet.
The three body problem series is absolutely the best sci fi book series I have ever read. Can’t recommend more. Just finished the last one the other day, and the third book is mind blowing. It was written by a Chinese author so it feels foreign to me as an American, and a lot of cultural differences are very apparent but the translation was masterfully done by the authors son so it stays very true to the original source.
The amount of existential terror that book engendered was off the charts for me. I still have vaguely, yet inexplicably, terrifying dreams of rooms and hallways magically appearing in my closet
Wow, that's a title I haven't heard in years. That book was a rollercoaster for my buds and me back 20 years or so ago. I'd love to read it again, but it's certainly something.
Definitely the slowest of the three IMO, but the back third of the book really gives a great conclusion to the story at large. Definitely worth finishing once!
I just finished The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz. Its so fucking good, amazing worldbuilding, story and message. It really explores all the potential interesting ways that you can envision different future worlds in ways that other SciFi often doesnt. I've never read anything like this before.
In July, I finished The Lords of Uncreation (and therefore the Final Architect trilogy) by Adrian Tchaikovsky, read the newest Lee and Miller Liaden novel Salvage Right when it arrived, then zoomed through Wool, the first of the Silo books.
Currently, I’m reading a Star Trek novel Agents of Influence by Dayton Ward. It’s a sequel to the excellent Vanguard and Seeker series set in Star Trek’s 23rd century. Not sure what’s next.
I'm on Matter and I'm loving it! Player of Games and Use of Weapons are my favorites in the series so far but I've loved each of them for their own reasons (with the exception of the short story collection State of the Art, it was fine but the rest of the series is on a different level!)
You might want to go for Consider Phlebas next. Technically you don't have to read them in order as they are self contained stories but there are some overarching aspects that do develop across the books.
That said, Surface Detail was definately my favourite of the series
About halfway through Lords of Uncreation, the third book in the Final Architecture trilogy by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
They are to space opera what his children series is to hard science fiction. It has imaginative aliens that resist monoculture stereotypes and ominous, seemingly implacable foes. The technology never descends to Star Wars' (for better or worse), but standard tropes like FTL and gravitic control are all fundamental assumptions. However, once those assumptions are made, everything that follows is consistent and reasonable to the setting.
The cast is diverse, interesting and entertaining and the pacing is nothing short of breakneck.
I recently read the Final Architecture trilogy and it might be one of my all time favorites now. I would highly recommend it for anyone who is a fan of space opera.
On vacation and just powered through The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi, Children of Memory - the latest in the Children of Time series - by Adrian Tchaikovsky and Terraformers by Annalee Newitz. All excellent
Most of my favorite books are by Asimov, Bradbury and Heinlein; but "Kaiju Preservation Society" is one of the rare books for me that rocketed into my all time favorites.
Wow that’s interesting to hear! I wouldn’t put KPS stylistically with those classics at all, but yeah, I really enjoyed it. A great summer page turner , it seems destined for some kind of adaptation.
I just finished reading "Fair Play", which is a book on the division of unpaid/unseen labor in households. Next up we have "Thriving with Adult ADHD", "The ADHD Effect on Marriage", and "Organizing Solutions for People With ADHD".
Can you guess the current issue in the Porcupine House? 😅
Not exactly a science fiction book, but just finished Mother Night by Vonnegut, incredible book.
Back to science fiction: I just started A Deepness In The Sky by Vernon Vinge, book 2 of his Zones Of Thought trilogy. I liked the first book a lot so looking forward to this.
Mother night hit me like a truck. I was in a rough place when I read it, but it's the only book that's ever made me break down crying at the end. Ironically it might be the only Vonnegut that can't be described as scifi though
Recently finished The Interdependency Series by John Scalzi. Reading Upgrade by Blake Crouch at the moment. I'm a huge fan of Murder Bot Diaries and The Bobiverse as well.
I'm a huge fan of the Laundry Files books. Just finished Season of Skulls, the 3rd book in The New Management trilogy. It's a little less bleak than the first two books of the trilogy and very funny.
Listening to Becky Chambers' novellas right now. Finished "To be taught if fortunate" and "A Psalm for the wild-built", gonna do "A Prayer for the Crown-shy" soon.
Also started the Murderbot diaries by Marth Wells and finished the first book so far.
Considering a re-read of Iain Banks suite about The Culture. There are some real unique and out there concepts explored in those books that aren't touch by many other sci-fi series.
I was looking for someone in this thread reading the culture series. I'm currently reading Consider Phlebas because the main themes and world building sounded like something I would like but I'm really struggling. I'm about 20% in (it's an eBook) and I'm having trouble being focused reading it. I don't know why but I just don't care for Horza and I'm always wondering when it starts going deeper into The Culture. What do you think? Does it get better?
Oh, if what you want is deep stuff about The Culture, Phlebas is hardly it. It is usually recommended because it has the most traditional “Hero on a mission” plot structure and is also the first one ever published. It gets more exciting after the island cult section. But truly Horza is not a very charismatic protagonist, and the reader spends most of the time away from The Culture. I usually recommend to read The Player of Games first, it starts deep into The Culture and quickly breaks your head with the crazy stuff that happens when the plot gets going, and it actually has a relatable protagonist. If you want the most The Culture experience, Excession is perhaps the most esoteric one. There are basically no humanoid characters in that one. Surface Detail has the most relatable characters and plot, without neglecting hard sci-fi concepts.
I finished shortly after I posted. I'm satisfied with how they ended it; it was a strong finish. I'm reading the faded sun trilogy now; it's pretty good so far.
Good luck on the wheel of time! I finished that a little less than a year ago. There are some GREAT books, but there are a couple that are stinkers. The fourth book, shadow rising, is so so so good. It's slows down I think in books six and seven, or maybe seven and eight, then the last few pickup again. Have fun, it will be a journey!
Finally picked up The Gunslinger by Stephen King after wanting to get into the series for a while. It's engrossing (and more brutal than I expected) so far, can't wait to find out what all the hubbub is about the ending.
Wizard and Glass is where I fell off the series, didn’t end up getting far in that one. Although I think it had less to do with that particular book and more of the fatigue of trudging through the books for a few fantastic moments. I enjoyed The Drawing of Three but man it felt like it could’ve been about 30% shorter at times
I thought Wizard and Glass was a level changer. Up to that point, I was enjoying the series but after reading book 4 I was absolutely floored. My fav of the series.
I'm still pretending to read Frankenstein, the OG sci fi novel, at least in modern fiction anyway. I say pretending though because it's been sitting on my bed stand for weeks untouched. It's beautifully well written, just haven't had time or attention span lately idk.
I'm about 75% through Morning Star by Pierce Brown. It's book 3 of the Red Rising series. I wasn't really into the first book but it turned out ok. I'm not sure I'll buy the remaining books though.
Im on my last book of the wheel of time audiobook! Took me about two years to arrive here, maybe even more. It's superb! I hope to finish it before our child is born in August, so I can start with the next, rading it on my Kindle. Really can't wait to get to the end of it. The whole last three book reads like waiting on the next episode of a series. Constant cliffhangers. The next book will be the second and later books of the sounds of hyperion.
I’ve been on an Ursula le guin kick. Finished Left Side of Darkness, started Earthsea series (just book one) and am finishing up Dispossessed (since it’s due back to inter library loan soon). But sure what’s next. I have the expanse books on hand, but the semesters about to start and things get busy.
I'm just about to finish the final Expeditionary Force book, overall I really enjoyed the series, yes there were a few low points (we won't talk about the the audio drama one!) but I thought it held up well.
Turns out I don't understand half of the sentences in 'Thus Spoke Zarathustra', so back to sci-fi, it's time to finish the last three books of Hitchiker's Guide to The Galaxy.
Just started The Passage by Justin Cronin (audiobook) and I’m loving it, and I’m about to finish Witch King (dead tree) by Martha Wells, which has also been fantastic.
Up next in dead tree edition is gonna be something off my bookshelf at home. Not sure what I’m in the mood for yet but I’m leaning towards Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I want to re-read that and Eyes of the Void to prep for Lords of Uncreation.
I'll talk about wheel of time all day - somewhere around a dozen rereads its been a comfort staple my whole life man, now my wife is on her 2nd listen through, 3rd book, and I still enjoy the ride every damn time.
Gender and identity are critical components of their works and magical system. So there’s an abundance of such talk, especially as our protagonists move around the world from one culture to the next
I just finished The Psychology Of Time Travel, too! Fantastic read. I especially appreciated the consideration given to how a time traveling organization would function as an agency. That's rare.
I don't normally plan my reading much ahead of time but August is an exception on a few counts.
Firstly, Whalefall by Daniel Kraus comes out on August 8th. It's such a goofy idea for a story (think Jonah and the Whale meets The Martian) and I have been so pumped, I've been talking people's ear off about it for months. It's like scientifically accurate Pinocchio.
I just finished a book by Carlton Mellick the third called, Every time we meet at the dairy queen your whole fucking face explodes. Its probably even weirder than you are thinking, but very fun and enjoyable.
Just listened to the full cast audiobook of Alien: Out of the shadows. Nothing amazing but was a fun listen. Before that was Artemis, not as good as Project Hail Mary imo but still quite enjoyable. I think Recursion is going to be my next read, but I'm open to suggestions.
Not sure if Riot Baby counts, but I just finished that and The Dreaming Void.
I’m tracking my progress through the Hugo award winners, so I’m now reading Rendezvous with Rama and have the Broken Earth trilogy on hand for when I’m done that.
I'm a little jealous of anyone who listens as opposed to read, mainly because you're getting the pronunciation of names given to you; meanwhile, I find myself on google constantly spoiling books for myself because I'm like "How do I pronounce Chalced?" or "What does this accent sound like?" or "How does so and so look?" although that last one I think we may be in the same boat.
Just finished Scalzi's Redshirts. Was a lot of fun. Laughed at every mention of control panels blowing up in bridge crew's faces for no logical reason. Didn't much care about the last few chapters that came after the main story though.
I finally decided to start reading the Warhammer books and ordered Horus Rising, so I should get started on that next week. All the cyberpunk and SF stuff I've seen on Lemmy lately has me itching to re-read Necromancer. I haven't read Count Zero yet, for some reason I only have Neuromancer and Mona Lisa Overdrive, so I think I'll order that soon too
isn't "Fitz and the Fool" part of that Assassin's Apprentice trilogy by Robin Hobb? goes to find oh! another trilogy. I'll have to check it out. I loved the Assassin's Apprentice trilogy.
I'm starting Woken Furies by Richard Morgan. I watched the Netflix Altered Carbon series and figured the books would be worth a read, and so far they have been!
I’m not reading par se but I’m an audiobook fan and also a fan of the Star Wars Expanded Universe (Legends). I’m enjoying listening to the new recordings of the first Thrawn trilogy.
These re-recordings will probably be the last of its kind, given Disney’s declaration of non-canon.
When people say they "enjoy reading" they are almost certainly not saying they "enjoy dragging their eyes across a page of text." If you're getting the content into your brain, you're reading!
The audiobook versions of the Murderbot series read by Kevin R. Free is my guilty pleasure. I have listened to them all in order about seven times. It's great in the background during menial work.
Finished Tiamat's Wrath last week and have started Foundation's Edge. The Expanse has been excellent, but i am starting to find The Foundation to be a bit tedious. Second Foundation started to just feel silly with all the psychic abilities just thrown in all of a sudden and all the characters are starting to blend into each other as non-descript 1950's Americans. That being said i am enjoying Foundation's Edge a lot more than Second Foundation but am lookin forward to finishing it so i can move on to Dune Messiah.
Just about to finish the final book in the Remembrance of Earth's Past Trilogy (Deaths End). Have just picked up The City and the Stars for my August read as Cixin Lui was giving me Arthur C. Clarke vibes with his incredible hard sci-fi epic
About to finish Snow Crash, and I was just thinking about reading Seveneves afterwards. Is it good? How does it compare to Cryptonomicon and Snow Crash (the only other Stephenson books I've read)?
Currently working through Stephen King's dark tower series, on book 4 so getting through them quick. First time I've read any of his stuff but I'm hooked.
I've been reading a thrift store find as of late, "The Mammoth Book Of Best New SF 11", a short story collection first published in 1998, ed. Gardner Dozois by Robinson Publishing.
In general I've been reading different sci fi short story collections of as of late, while waiting for the next Final Architecture -book to drop.
Last day of my vacation and I've begun my third book in as many days. Just read Yumi and the Nightmare Painter by Brandon Sanderson, followed by A Winter Grave by Peter May.
Both books were great, hence why I swallowed them so fast.
Have just started on Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny, and so far it seems promising.
I'm not a big book reader, but a friend got me "The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla and Other Works". It's sitting on my nightstand when I can motivate to crack a boot. The book I finished before it was "Brief Answers to the Big Questions" by Stephen Hawking.
I like reading works from Scientists. I can't understand their research papers because of the math, but I enjoy the works they do for the layman.
Picked up 2 different series by Will Wight cause they were free on amazon for a while, and very impressed
Halfway through Cradle, on book 6 and it's actually really good; a naruto-eque world with well thought out power progression, great world building and characters, with plenty of peril and few dull moments
Interesting question. Have to admit I’m not sure exactly how to answer! At eight books in there’s a lot of story to summarise… :) It’s a “mages in space” universe. Lots of space combat, which mages have a hand in. Mages are part of a ruling class, and there are “mage” vs “mundane” political tensions… It’s not a prophecy fulfilment kind of story, though our main character does start off as a bit of an underdog. I’ll stop there. More?
Just fulinished A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge. Didn't enjoy as much as A Fire Upon the Deep, but it was still a good space opera. Some uncomfortable sex scenes though.
That's one of the things that make her style unique. There's no big dramatic climax. Some things change. Some stay the same. Those who survived get on with their lives. Just like real life. Also, I think she's still trying to figure out for herself what the Presger actually are. Trying to imagine the unimaginable is hard.
I guess I just read slow in my old age, took me about 10 months, although generally the only opportunity I get to read is after the kids go to bed and before I fall asleep.
I read the first half, and I have to say, it just did not speak to me. Felt like a mysogynistic Holden Caulfield guest-starring in every segment of the Heavy Metal movie.
Preferably science fiction books. Sometimes these genres mix as it is more like a spectrum from one to the other, but preferably this community leans more towards the science fiction side of that.
Just started Illuminae the other day and I am powering through it. It's a completely different style book and I am loving the way the story is presented. Can't wait to finish it.
My wife and I are on T.A. White's Phoenix Chronicles. We both really love the series and once we finish this it will be hard to find a replacement series for us to read.
Does Silo counts as Sci-fi, I read the novels after binge watching the series with my wife. After the cliffhanger ending I just need to know the story and proceeded to binge read the whole series under a week.
Yes absolutely. I've seen some things that people considered sci-fi that were way more into the fantasy side of the spectrum, but Silo is solidly science fiction.
I’m coming up to the crescendo (hopefully) of Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson. I can’t say that I’ve loved it as much as some of his previous work but it’s got 150 pages left to change that.
Ive liked Neals books progressively less every release after Cryptonomicon, which is a shame because that book is great. They’re getting to be such slogs at this point.
I'm currently reading The Stars, Like Dust. By Issac Asimov. Seems decent I haven't been completely invested in the main character like I was in The Currents of Space (I know I read book 2 before book 1). But I like Asimov so I'll finish it it'll be a quick read anyways. I plan to finish the Galactic Empire series and then start Foundation (Finally!).
I just finished "Drop City" by T.C. Boyle and picked up "Blue Skies". I'm only 2 chapters into "Blue Skies" so can't really say much about it, though it feels a lot like "Tortilla Curtain".
"Drop City" did not involve any characters who were writers, was not set in LA and established two sets of characters in highly disparate settings in the Sixties and of their eventual intersection. Well worth it.
Just started the Vorkosigan Saga. It's okay. It's growing on me, but I don't think it's anything to write home about. I'll stick it out through the first book and see how it goes.
Which book are you starting with? You'll get a very different vibe depending on whether you're starting with Dreamweaver's Dilemma, Shards of Honor, or The Warrior's Apprentice.
It's a long series with a super wide range. If you like Warrior's Apprentice, you'll probably like most of the series.
Snowden's book: Permanent Record
has a lot of good context info for the governments shitty practices and overwhelming involvement in our personal lives
if u wanna use ur brain more efficiently read Donella Meadows: Thinking in Systems
I also wanna read steve jackson's sci-fi book that got him sued by the secret service... its gotta be good right?
I've just finished all Daniel Suarez's books. I found his visions of a tech future interesting. Best ones for me were Daemon, then the sequel freedom™, Change Agent, Delta V and the sequel Critical Mass - all great reads imo. Only book I didn't like was kill Decision.
I'm currently on the Liveship series, after just finishing the Farseer Trilogy. Prior to that was Mistborn 1-3, and I only mention the chronology because it all started May 2022 with the WoT series, and that's on the picture up there so I'm lumping the rest of these into science fiction I suppose, despite Mistborn potentially being the only one that you could really call science fiction.
I've read all these series. WoT seemed to drag toward the end and i didnt care for the last few chapters. It felt like there was too much to wrap up with too few pages so it felt rushed and unsatisfying.
I love all works by Sanderson so I've read all mistborn(except the new one from last November #7 I think). Excellent series. Have you read Elantris by Sanderson. I thought that was a very unique one off book that I couldn't put down.
I just started the final set in the farseer/liveship series. I loved the first farseer trilogy. I felt the second trilogy(live ship trilogy) had a significant change of pace and almost skipped it. I really liked the first person view of fitz. In the end it was good and there are a few tie ins to later trilogies.
I only read Mistborn 1-3 from Branderson. I intend to check out more of his works, but he needs to finish the one, Stormlight maybe, before I pick that up, I will not find myself in the situation GRRM and Rothfus have put their fans. And what I've read and know of Brandon Sanderson, I have faith he will finish, it I'm not one to put stock in faith so I want to see it published.
I picked up Farseer and absolutely loved it, and it's odd because the first-person was a real change of pace. Name of the Wind was first person essentially, but that series has kinda left me annoyed and so I didn't have faith first-person could do well, and I'm glad to have been shown it could. The pacing of Farseer was great for me, I felt like it went from slow burn to much happening over the course of the three.
I'm on chapter three of first Liveship, I have a terrible time remembering the names of books. I'll read the whole trilogy, I don't think it'll fail my 10% test, where if I'm unsatisfied at 10% I put it down, and so I'll just plow through. Definitely feels different now, and any relationships only tangential from existing in the same universe.
Depending how this goes, I either finish up this Robin Hobb series, 12 or 14 books or whatever, and go back to one of the Sanderson series, which name I also cannot remember.
And as to WoT, the last book could've stretched it's legs a little more. Which is crazy because the last three books were technically just one in Jordan's version of the telling.
I've been taking a short break from Malazan Book of the Fallen recently, by exploring some new, lighter books, especially while at work, but I think I'm going to get back into it in August.
I'm currently resuming my read through of "John Carter of Mars", with "Warlords of Mars", and continuing through Glynn Stewart's Duchy of Terra series with "Shield of Terra".
I can't help compare Glynn Stewart with Edgar Rice Burroughs, in that they both write such reliably entertaining series.
Though I suppose Stewart is aiming for Asimov in the volume category. As a big reader, I sure appreciate that.
Right now I'm listening to Damnation Alley by Roger Zelazny. It's probably an interesting story, but the narrator is awful. Sometimes he reads without any pauses so it feels like you are listening to a wall of text. There is also very little inflection in his voice as he reads so it is hard to stay engaged. I'm going to stick with it if I can, but I'm not holding much hope.
Yes because Asimov an actual factual sexual assaulter is much better. Heinlein and Rand are contemporaries the assertion one is making commentaries on the other is quizzical at best.