It's October. What are you reading?

[Hex]

I'm reading The Queen's Necklace by Teresa Edgerton. I liked the prologue (which is the sample), and it contains complete gems -- the pub advert, for example -- but for me it doesn't quite do the rest of the book justice. I thought the book got far more gripping and magical after it, though that might be me settling into the style, which is richer and more sophisticated than many of the things I've read recently.

I haven't really read anything like this before -- the world is both familiar in a fantasy/ regency way, and very new (the goblins are brilliant -- I'm about 100 pages in and I still have a lot I want to find out about them). I like the complexity of the characters -- no one's simple or two dimensional. The character complexity reminds me a little of Carol Berg's Collegia Magica (which was published later, but I read first). It's a long book and that seems to give it space to draw you in rather than smacking you instantly with everything that's going to be important.

Anyway, I have most of it still to read (which is a nice feeling) and I'm seeing if I can be organised enough to review as I go on Goodreads here (hope that works!).

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Starting Our Dumb World (2007), a parody atlas by the folks at The Onion. So far I am greatly impressed by how beautifully it is put together. Slick pages, nice maps (with sarcastic comments all over them) in full color. It looks as professionally done as a real atlas.

 

[Bugg]

Over the weekend I finished Stephen Baxter's The Time Ships. It waffled on a bit at the end but overall I enjoyed it very much. The references to Wells's other stories were fun (and I'm sure I missed loads).

As it's nearly Halloween I'm now reading The Night Boat by Robert R. McCammon, which is passable (it's about zombie Nazis - or are they Nazi zombies? Hmmm . . . ) and then I'm planning on reading Ray Bradbury's The Halloween Tree.

 

[tobl]

and then I'm planning on reading Ray Bradbury's The Halloween Tree.

love the Halloween tree. frankly is for me one of the few books by him that i like. just read DESTRUCTION by Raymond weil. suprising and good. i just love sci-fi

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I gave up on the Cornish Trilogy despite loving the very start and went back to an old favourite (too embarassed to admit I'm rereading it again). After, I'm planning to read love in the Time of Cholera.

 

[Parson]

Finished The Lazarus Experiment by Mark DeGasperi. A near future mystery. I found it fair. A lot of good ideas, and I would have liked it a lot, but I thought that the ending left a bit to be desired. Next up on the reading front is Fluency by Jennifer Foehner Wells. A debut book with rave reviews. Will see if I agree. On the listening front I am on book three of the Bone Secrets series, Alone by Kendra Elliot.

 

[Vertigo]

Been a little to busy to do much reading recently but have finished:

The Service of the Sword by David Weber et al. - a very mixed bag of stories ranging from dreadful to very good. More here.

The Time Travller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger - I found this surprisingly enjoyable for what is more romance than science fiction. More here.

 

[ratsy]

I have resigned myself to living in The Broken Eye, by Brent Weeks. I have been reading it for over a month now and still have over 200 pages to go!!!

 

[Bick]

I'm now reading Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle. I'm liking it so far, but I've not got far into it yet to be fair.

I finished Space Captain Smith by Toby Frost, the other day. Overall, I'd say it was a very enjoyable diversion from more seriously intended novels. It's meant as a light and amusing read, and it certainly is that. The humour is generally well done, and I liked the Britishness of it all. The plot is fine, though it's not the deepest or most complex plot you'll come across. It has genuine laugh-out-loud moments and I would recommend it for a day in bed with the flu.

There is one little aspect to the humour that didn't quite come off for me though, and I've not heard this mentioned anywhere else, so I'll just offer it up: the humour treads its own original path for about two thirds of the book, without very much in the way of clear references to other science fiction. I think this is the best way to approach humour - it works best when it is internal to the plotting and the world you create. When you start to reference other science fiction for the jokes, then you break the 'fourth wall' and cause the reader to 'come out of the book'. This occurs when the humour (within a matter of pages) suddenly starts to make jokes that are clearly aimed at Star Trek, Star Wars, Alien and particularly Bladerunner. Captain Smith and his crew have their own in-jokes that work well, and their universe is an amusing fiction - I didn't feel it needed to poke fun at SF tropes so explicitly. It's a minor point though, I still recommend it as a light fun read.

 

[HareBrain]

When you start to reference other science fiction for the jokes, then you break the 'fourth wall' and cause the reader to 'come out of the book'. This occurs when the humour (within a matter of pages) suddenly starts to make jokes that are clearly aimed at Star Trek, Star Wars, Alien and particularly Bladerunner. Captain Smith and his crew have their own in-jokes that work well, and their universe is an amusing fiction - I didn't feel it needed to poke fun at SF tropes so explicitly. It's a minor point though, I still recommend it as a light fun read.

For me, though, (just as a "your mileage may vary" point), the references are some of the funniest parts. I loved the Warhammer 40K stuff in A Game of Battleships, for example, also many of the references to modern (or near-past) TV programmes and pop songs. It's rather silly and some work better than others, but I think they enhance it. Though I think the backbone of the humour comes from the characters and their world, which is as it should be.

 

[Bick]

Yes, I certainly think its a taste issue, not a an empirical one. And on the plus side, I though it was well written, well paced and the ships crew were a nice mix of characters.

 

[pkdfan]

The Modern Promethius; Old Frankenstein. Not what I expected!

 

[tobl]

just read the mage cycle from honour raconteur. quite like it

 

[Parson]

I finished Bone Secrets series, Alone by Kendra Elliot. Another cracking good one. I rather like this mystery series. I have started the last in the series, Chilled. Unpleasantly surprised that none of the characters of the first three books have even made an appearance, but this book sees to be a pattern breaker in any event. --- 80 pages in and so far so good. My reading (as opposed to listening) book is Fluency by Jennifer Foehner Wells. Nearing the end and its hovering between 3 and 4 stars for me. Maybe the ending will clinch it one way or the other.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I'm just about to start Blackfin Sky by Kat Ellis who I know from twitter. Looking forward to it.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

I've read quite a bit this month. Just finished Hollow Earth by John and Carole Barrowman. I bought it a couple of years ago because it had a blue-eyed bird of prey on the front and I had written about a blue-eyed bird of prey in my stories. I'd meant to read it and tried initially when I was editing and put it down quickly. This time round it surprised me. A great read, great characters, interesting use of magic. The ending was a bit confusing but so exciting I didn't care and am willing to reread it. My only slight complaint was I felt it could have done with being a longer story, bringing in more of the back story concerning the twins (MCs) father and mother.

Think I have a Dresden File lined up next.

 

[carjug]

Got a Neil Gaiman book on the DC player, Mirrormask, Very good, like all his stuff. It was in the Library in the Young Adult section. They let my Geezer-Butt check it out anyhow. The Graveyard Book can be found in the same sort of places.

 

[kythe]

Good timing - October 31, and I just finished "Something Wicked This Way Comes" by Ray Bradbury. Its a very metaphoric story that almost leaves as many questions in the end as it answers. It's a very interesting exploration of life and death.

 

[Connavar]

Kythe, wonderfully weird novel to read perfectly this time of the year. Its one of the few novels, stories i have read of Bradbury but it showed me as a new fan why he is such a legendary writer with big literary rep.

Reminds of i should read a horror,weird book next because halloween.

I finished reading Vinterviken a swedish YA book from 1993 that is real big, important in its genre for its realistic portrayal of a teenage boy. The hero was half black, half Swedish and frankly the way people saw him because of his working class background and his skin color reminded of my childhood in mid 1990s in Sweden.

 

[Ursa major]

I finished reading the Rojan Dizon trilogy by our own Francis Knight:

1. Fade to Black
2. Before the Fall
3. Last to Rise

and am well into Binary by Stephanie Saulter, the sequel to her debut novel, Gemsigns, and so the second book in the ®Evolution trilogy.