September Reading Thread

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I haven't checked in here for a while. Books I've read lately:

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
This book is a witty satire on Christian philosophy, set in the Apocalypse. An angel and a demon have become friends over centuries of "field work" as agents on Earth, and find themselves having more in common with each other than with their respective origins. They realize they enjoy Earth as it is and don't want it to end, so they team up to try and stop the Apocalypse. I found myself laughing out loud at times, and enjoyed how events unfolded and Biblical concepts manifested.

Eon by Greg Bear
Scientists from Earth see a new object enter the solar system, and multiple countries compete to investigate it. It turns out to be an asteroid which has been technologically transformed into a very remarkable world within. I love the premise of this story, and the world building is excellent. However, the pace of the story slows as it goes on, and is very bogged down by Earth's political factions and their clashes with each other. It is based in the Cold War era, and already feels outdated.

Chronicles of Empire: Gathering by Brian G. Turner
This book has a unique blend of historic fantasy and sci-fi. The pace is a little slow, but characters are diverse, complex, and interesting. Due to some open endings, I look forward to the next installment.
 
I’m now starting the first Wild Cards book, edited by George R. R. Martin, Wild Cards 1. Looks fun, and dates from 1987, back when Martin was writing great SF, before the never-ending fantasy began.
 
Extollager said:
People take Stevenson too much for granted -- "o yah, I'm sure he's good" etc. But he is.
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I'm maybe halfway through Treasure Island now.
I'm somewhat surprised by a lot of things I misremembered, Blind Pew never received a black spot for instance, I would have sworn he did!
 
Three books completed so far this month, all SF and all very different.

The first finished was Orbus by Neal Asher, the third book in the Spatterjay series. I read the second of the series years ago, but couldn't remember anything about it (not even that I'd read it until I checked my lists) so I was coming to this cold. Orbus, an Old Captain, immensely strong and immensely old thanks to the Spatterjay virus, accepts a job to collect an artefact from a space station. Naturally, it turns out to be far from a simple exercise, and together with Spider, a war drone, and the seahorse-shaped Thirteen, he's sent into the Graveyard, the no-man’s-land between Prador and Polity space, where he becomes involved with a Prador monster and the Prador king himself. Complex and complicated, and virtually all fighting, but with good-enough characterisation and a surprisingly sympathetic view of the Prador at times. Very page-turning.

I actually started Orbus while plodding through Descent by Ken MacLeod, which for me was the opposite of page-turning, and took far longer to read though it was considerably shorter. A near-future story set in Scotland in which a boy believes he’s taken up to an alien aircraft after a strange episode in which he and his friend are knocked out by a flying object and wake up amid burnt grass at a time of great social upheaval when state surveillance is a given and revolutionaries are everywhere. The boy grows up, surveillance gets even more ubiquitous allowing him to stalk his ex-girlfriend, and conspiracies seem to flourish as he tries to find out what happened that day, all interspersed with talk of Neanderthal genes, secret books and the possibility of human speciesisation occurring. I frankly had no idea what was happening most of the time and I really didn't care. This is the first MacLeod I've read and is very likely to be the last.

After that, I raced through Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, though perhaps talking of this one as SF is a little misleading even if it involved a post-apocalyptic setting. More about that here Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
 
I finished Ellen Kushner's Swordspoint. I thought it was a well-written book, it took a while for the main point of the plot to become apparent but several seemingly loosely connected plotlines did end up being linked much more closely than it had initially appeared and the conclusion wrapped up most things neatly. The only thing that felt a bit unfinished was the Michael Goodwin plotline which initially seemed important but didn't have much of a conclusion. The duelling and the political intrigues were fun although I felt a bit indifferent towards most of the characters, I was curious about how the plot was going to be resolved but I didn't find them to be all that compelling.

I've now moved onto Andrezj Sapkowski's The Last Wish, which I picked up earlier in the year after watching the TV show.

The Judge said:
I actually started Orbus while plodding through Descent by Ken MacLeod, which for me was the opposite of page-turning, and took far longer to read though it was considerably shorter. A near-future story set in Scotland in which a boy believes he’s taken up to an alien aircraft after a strange episode in which he and his friend are knocked out by a flying object and wake up amid burnt grass at a time of great social upheaval when state surveillance is a given and revolutionaries are everywhere. The boy grows up, surveillance gets even more ubiquitous allowing him to stalk his ex-girlfriend, and conspiracies seem to flourish as he tries to find out what happened that day, all interspersed with talk of Neanderthal genes, secret books and the possibility of human speciesisation occurring. I frankly had no idea what was happening most of the time and I really didn't care. This is the first MacLeod I've read and is very likely to be the last.
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I've read a lot of MacLeod's books and I think this might the weakest of them. Like you I struggled to really understand what the point of things was at times, in particular the Neanderthal plotline seemed out of place compared to the rest of the book.
 
I finished The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson, very enjoyable.

I'm now reading my long awaited and very expensive (particularly considering I refuse to pay over the odds for other work, but I can be contrary when I want to ;) ) The Woman Who Thought She Was A Planet by Vandana Singh, her first short story collection.
 
Now I just finished Destroyer by Brian G Turner. I sat down to plod along like I usually do with reading, but finished it in only 2 days because I couldn't put it down! Now on to the next in the series. This isn't really 3 books but one book which is split into 3 parts.
 
I am currently reading Bloody Rose by Nicholas Eames. This is a follow on in the same world as his Kings of the Wyld. While Kings of the Wyld was more light hearted in treating the concept of monster fighters as arena rock stars, Bloody Rose is more dismal about a touring life on the road. Both, though, show a unique take on fantasy worlds.
 
kythe said:
Now I just finished Destroyer by Brian G Turner. I sat down to plod along like I usually do with reading, but finished it in only 2 days because I couldn't put it down! Now on to the next in the series. This isn't really 3 books but one book which is split into 3 parts.
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Having finished Treasure Island during my mini lockdown I'm giving Destroyer a try this evening, I'm hoping it's as good as it's hyped up to be!
 
Danny McG said:
Having finished Treasure Island during my mini lockdown I'm giving Destroyer a try this evening, I'm hoping it's as good as it's hyped up to be!
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Maybe halfway through it now and enjoying it immensely.

The opening chapters are very reminiscent of Hull Zero Three by Greg Bear, a guy wakes from cryo sleep in an abandoned starship and gets led through a confusing maze of corridors by what appears to be a little girl.
However Destroyer has now gone a much more intriguing route and my anticipation is twitching!
 
Lester del Rey "Mortals and Monsters"
A collection of twelve Lester del Rey short stories, first published in 1965. The two I liked best were “The Seat of Judgement” with its biblical overtones, and the Clifford D Simak influenced “Return Engagement”. I don’t think any of the rest stand out, but they’re still just about worth reading if you're into those times.
This is the 1967 Tandem paperback edition. I'd forgotten just how bad some covers could be. No relation to any of the stories of course.
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The Judge said:
Three books completed so far this month, all SF and all very different.

The first finished was Orbus by Neal Asher, the third book in the Spatterjay series. I read the second of the series years ago, but couldn't remember anything about it (not even that I'd read it until I checked my lists) so I was coming to this cold. Orbus, an Old Captain, immensely strong and immensely old thanks to the Spatterjay virus, accepts a job to collect an artefact from a space station. Naturally, it turns out to be far from a simple exercise, and together with Spider, a war drone, and the seahorse-shaped Thirteen, he's sent into the Graveyard, the no-man’s-land between Prador and Polity space, where he becomes involved with a Prador monster and the Prador king himself. Complex and complicated, and virtually all fighting, but with good-enough characterisation and a surprisingly sympathetic view of the Prador at times. Very page-turning.

I actually started Orbus while plodding through Descent by Ken MacLeod, which for me was the opposite of page-turning, and took far longer to read though it was considerably shorter. A near-future story set in Scotland in which a boy believes he’s taken up to an alien aircraft after a strange episode in which he and his friend are knocked out by a flying object and wake up amid burnt grass at a time of great social upheaval when state surveillance is a given and revolutionaries are everywhere. The boy grows up, surveillance gets even more ubiquitous allowing him to stalk his ex-girlfriend, and conspiracies seem to flourish as he tries to find out what happened that day, all interspersed with talk of Neanderthal genes, secret books and the possibility of human speciesisation occurring. I frankly had no idea what was happening most of the time and I really didn't care. This is the first MacLeod I've read and is very likely to be the last.

After that, I raced through Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, though perhaps talking of this one as SF is a little misleading even if it involved a post-apocalyptic setting. More about that here Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
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I keep trying to get into Ken MacLeod simply because he was great friends with Iain Banks but 1) MacLeod really tends to wear his politics on his sleeve which becomes very tiresome whereas Banks had similar political leanings but was much better and not preaching it, and 2) most of the books he has written just don't work for me. Two that were pretty good were Newton's Wake and Cosmonaut Keep (but not its very different sequels). I may yet try some more but the last one I tried - Star Fraction - was such a dud that it will take me a while to try again!
 
I am currently alternating between a "real" book (paperback novel) and a "fun" book (large hardcover, full of pictures.) To wit:

Island (1962) by Aldous Huxley. It's more or less a utopia, to contrast with his famous dystopia Brave New World. The setting, as you'd expect, is a fictional island, which the author uses as a symbol of how life might be lived in a better way. That makes it sound preachy and dull, but it actually works as a novel, with three-dimensional characters, elegant writing, and wit.

Vault of Frankenstein (2018) by Paul Ruditis. Presents the many ways in which the Frankenstein story has been represented in various media, from Mary Shelley's novel to modern movies, comic books, etc. Lots of images, but a reasonable amount of text as well.
 
Victoria Silverwolf said:
I am currently alternating between a "real" book (paperback novel) and a "fun" book (large hardcover, full of pictures.) To wit:

Island (1962) by Aldous Huxley. It's more or less a utopia, to contrast with his famous dystopia Brave New World. The setting, as you'd expect, is a fictional island, which the author uses as a symbol of how life might be lived in a better way. That makes it sound preachy and dull, but it actually works as a novel, with three-dimensional characters, elegant writing, and wit.

Vault of Frankenstein (2018) by Paul Ruditis. Presents the many ways in which the Frankenstein story has been represented in various media, from Mary Shelley's novel to modern movies, comic books, etc. Lots of images, but a reasonable amount of text as well.
Click to expand...
I liked Island. Probably not Huxley’s deepest book, but an enjoyable shout to utopian ideals and their fragility.
 
In my endeavour to read all of Stephen Kings books I am 30% into Dreamcatcher. I'm liking it so far, classic SK, a bit more gory than usual but still he has that spark.
 
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