December 2020 Reading Thread

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I finished Adrian Tchaikovsky's The Doors of Eden. I liked it, although I wouldn't rank it up with Tchaikovsky's best books. One issue with it was that the chapters scattered throughout the book describing alternate paths evolution could have taken on Earth are fascinating in their own right but they do break up the main plot and I think they take away some of the mystery of the rest of the book. While there are some surprises as the book goes on there are a lot of things the reader knows or can infer before the characters in the book do. Initially the book centres on Lee and Mal are the two main characters and I think their story is interesting but in the later stages of the plot they do often start to feel a bit peripheral to the events that are going on. The more mundane part of the plot with a couple of MI5 agents investigating a corrupt businessman with some unusual associates felt a bit dull compared to some of the more speculative parts of the story. I think it did come to a good ending, there is a clever plot device in the latter part of the book showing the same scenes from different perspectives which I thought worked well.

Now I've started V.E. Schwab's The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue which seems to have had a lot of recommendations recently. So far it seems good, the basic premise is in some respects very similar to Claire North's The Sudden Appearance of Hope, but I feel that the plot seems to be moving in a different direction.
 
Finished It's Always Something (Book 8 in the April Series) by Mackey Chandler. I believe these books are a diabolical trap for me. On one level they are pretty pedestrian. But they make me ask big questions and consider the answers as they would apply to life as we know it. The Libertarian philosophy continues to be the framework on which the story is built. As far as the series goes we have a third time when the people of "slum ball" or more positively "earthies," do something reprehensible toward the heroes of our story in the habitat named "home." Once again the response to the action dwarfs the action of the government by orders of magnitude, 100,000's of deaths to balance an attempt on one of the heroes and his crew. But in the story this retaliation is defended as a moral response. It makes this Parson look at what's going on again and again, and ask what is moral and why. This is really good stuff for a Parson to do, so I'm off reading book 9 A Sudden Departure .... I suspect a first interstellar journey. We'll see how this goes.
 
Danny McG said:
A SF book tonight
This Alien Shore by CS Friedman
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This is a very good cyberpunk space opera book, I'm about 2 thirds through it and am really enjoying this yarn.

There's an excellent review already here in Chronicles, much better than I could write:-

This Alien Shore, by C. S. Friedman

I have to confess that I had never heard of C S Friedman until this book was selected as one of the monthly reads of the Classic Science Fictiondiscussion group . On checking her website I see that she has published a dozen novels so far, starting in 1986, most of them being grouped in series...
www.sffchronicles.com www.sffchronicles.com
 
williamjm said:
I finished Adrian Tchaikovsky's The Doors of Eden. I liked it, although I wouldn't rank it up with Tchaikovsky's best books. One issue with it was that the chapters scattered throughout the book describing alternate paths evolution could have taken on Earth are fascinating in their own right but they do break up the main plot and I think they take away some of the mystery of the rest of the book. While there are some surprises as the book goes on there are a lot of things the reader knows or can infer before the characters in the book do. Initially the book centres on Lee and Mal are the two main characters and I think their story is interesting but in the later stages of the plot they do often start to feel a bit peripheral to the events that are going on. The more mundane part of the plot with a couple of MI5 agents investigating a corrupt businessman with some unusual associates felt a bit dull compared to some of the more speculative parts of the story. I think it did come to a good ending, there is a clever plot device in the latter part of the book showing the same scenes from different perspectives which I thought worked well.

Now I've started V.E. Schwab's The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue which seems to have had a lot of recommendations recently. So far it seems good, the basic premise is in some respects very similar to Claire North's The Sudden Appearance of Hope, but I feel that the plot seems to be moving in a different direction.
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That's interesting, I've been wondering about that book. I like his work but the blurb on that one seems to hold less appeal to me. Sounds like it's worth a read but without too high expectations.
 
Starting this next, a Christmas gift from my wife:
B990E51F-7676-42CE-BC24-62FF2188BEA1.jpeg
 
Should soon finish Fantasist on Fantasy, a collection of non-fiction pieces (essays, letters, etc.) by writers like George MacDonald, Tolkein, James Thurber, Le Guin, edited by Robert Boyer and Kenneth Zahorski. And started reading in The Man from the Diogenes Club by Kim Newman, a collection of stories set in his Anno Dracula world.
 
Parson said:
I deal much more in the spoken word than the written word, so I try to be tolerant. I know I'd be shattered if any grammatical or pronunciation errors would cause someone to stop listening. --- I do my best, but I also KNOW that they do creep in.
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Depends on your trade. As a televangelist you have editing magic at your disposal, if you‘re a suckitt-rider you‘ll have to win over the natives with your earnest personality. :giggle:
 
Danny McG said:
Tonight's book is a space opera mil sci fi.
Patrick S Tomlinson...In the Black
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Excellent book, however the very abrupt ending clearly indicates a sequel is due.

Now a crime thriller, The Cipher by Isabella Maldonado
 
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Finished my reread of Toby Frost's End of Empires. Very silly and enjoyable.

Now planning to reread books 2-5 of Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising sequence (minus Greenwitch, which I read recently) to enjoy the hardback versions I've just treated myself with. Starting with TDIR itself, about which there was a good podcast the other day for anyone interested:

 
HareBrain said:
Finished my reread of Toby Frost's End of Empires. Very silly and enjoyable.

Now planning to reread books 2-5 of Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising sequence (minus Greenwitch, which I read recently) to enjoy the hardback versions I've just treated myself with. Starting with TDIR itself, about which there was a good podcast the other day for anyone interested:

Click to expand...
Christmas/ Winter Solstice is exactly the right time to reread Susan Cooper, especially The Dark is Rising. Terrific stories.
 
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