December 2021 Reading Thread

[Vertigo]

The Chronoliths by Robert Charles Wilson - A fascinating premise with a good plot but let down a some by poor characters. More here.
The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell - A brilliant, plausible retelling of the Arthurian legend. More here.
Starfish by Peter Watts - A brilliantly described setting but a set of characters that I simply could not continue with. More here.
The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky - I've said this before but...possibly my favourite Tchaikovsky book so far. More here.

 

[tachyon]

I mentioned The Cruel Stars above, here's a few other things I've read this month:

The True Queen by Zen Cho - sequel to "Sorcerer to the Crown". A historical fantasy, delightfully charming, a worthy sequel. So happy to be able to spend more time in this world.

The Cat Who Walks Through Walls - by Robert Heinlein. Time travel multiverse SF. A historical artifact, badly dated, and an astonishingly pointless mess. I've read a few other Heinlein but was never a huge fan. I only decided to finish it out of historical interest and morbid curiosity to see if I could find anything good to say about it in the end (I didn't.)

Age of Assassins by RJ Barker - I loved his "Bone Ships" series (need to read book 3!) so when I found this on my library ebook app I thought I'd give it a try. It's good - well executed - but a bit formulaic. We've seen this kind of thing a billion times, young torturer/assassin/magician/thief/poisoner/executioner learning their not wholly socially appropriate trade from their master in a medievalish world full of politics and intrigue. A good read but not the startlingly original world he built in "The Bone Ships". Basically you get what you'd expect from the cover and title. I probably wouldn't have bothered if I wasn't familiar with his other series. Well done for what it is.

 

[soulsinging]

Finished the first murderbot book All Systems Red by Wells. It was fine but not really my cup of tea. As I near 40, I'm beginning to accept some things about myself, like I never actually want wine more than a beer, and I like fantasy more than SFF.

Accordingly, I next picked up and finished Tombs of Atuan by Le Guin. I'd read this long ago but remembered almost nothing about it. Very much enjoyed it. I've always admired Earthsea from a distance, but this recent reread is really drawing me in. The books are haunting and a great example of how less can be more.

Now back to Paks, though I'm also eyeing one of the Guy Gavriel Kay books on my TBR. The Silmarillion is my favorite of Tolkien's works but I've never actually read any of the famous works from one of the guys that helped shape it.

 

[Bick]

The Cat Who Walks Through Walls - by Robert Heinlein. ...an astonishingly pointless mess.

I've heard (I've not read it yet) that's it one of his better late novels. On this basis, I'm thinking you might not like The Number of the Beast.

 

[Dave Vicks]

On deck I AM LEGEND by Richard Matheson. 1954.

 

[tachyon]

I've heard (I've not read it yet) that's it one of his better late novels. On this basis, I'm thinking you might not like The Number of the Beast.

Probably not.

Upon reflection I suppose I can commend Heinlein's descriptions of technical details of the space habitat, vehicles, and lunar settlements. They were satisfyingly technically coherent. And the orbital mechanics and various other technical details of life in space.

I don't think I'm willing to subject myself to another volume of endless banter, outmoded sexual politics, and too-clever time travel paradox gibberish.

 

[Ian Fortytwo]

I've just finished reading The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic, by Sophie Kinsella.
And now I have started reading Rachel's Holiday, by Marian Keyes.
Yes I seem to be hooked on these type of books. They are very easy to read, with very good storylines.

 

[AE35Unit]

The Cat Who Walks Through Walls - by Robert Heinlein. Time travel multiverse SF. A historical artifact, badly dated, and an astonishingly pointless mess. I've read a few other Heinlein but was never a huge fan. I only decided to finish it out of historical interest and morbid curiosity to see if I could find anything good to say about it in the end (I didn't.)

Oh I loved that book when I read it back in the 90s

 

[Danny McG]

The mammoth book of extreme science fiction (2006)

Tonight's reading.....I think I read this years ago but they're short stories, always good for a re-read.

 

[Fiberglass Cyborg]

Started "Nova War" by Gary Gibson. Second book of a series, but I'm not getting on with it nearly as well as the first. Mainly beacuse so far the main characters have spent 150 pages locked in a cell being intermittently tortured whilst various seriously unpleasant aliens scheme in the background (and occasionally torture each other too.) Not too much goin' on plot-wise in the Universe of Torture right now, is what I'm saying. A shame- I remember the first one as being pretty interesting.

 

[Fiberglass Cyborg]

I mentioned The Cruel Stars above, here's a few other things I've read this month:

The True Queen by Zen Cho - sequel to "Sorcerer to the Crown". A historical fantasy, delightfully charming, a worthy sequel. So happy to be able to spend more time in this world.

The Cat Who Walks Through Walls - by Robert Heinlein. Time travel multiverse SF. A historical artifact, badly dated, and an astonishingly pointless mess. I've read a few other Heinlein but was never a huge fan. I only decided to finish it out of historical interest and morbid curiosity to see if I could find anything good to say about it in the end (I didn't.)

I'll have to track down "The True Queen"- I liked the first book.

I had "The Cat Who Walks Through Walls" as a teenager. I remember finding roughly the first 2/3 of it very good, with an intriguing set-up and an entertaining depiction of near-future space colonies. Then it turned out SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS that it was yet /another/ book where Heinlein just drops everything cold and has them all go and shag Lazarus Long for ever after instead of finishing. the. freaking. story. END SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS. I was not pleased.

 

[Spade]

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine - 4/5. Finally got to see what the fuss was about. I've been looking at that cover on every website for over a year. I enjoyed it. I got the sequel and will read it sometime next year.

Billy Summers by Stephen King - 4/5. It's mostly just an assassin story, but there's a couple references to another one of his novels that I won't spoil.

The Book of Accidents by Chuck Wendig. Probably the closest writer to Stephen King there is, but with updated pop culture references. Halfway done right now, but enjoying it just as much as The Wanderers.

DNF'ed Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. I made it 40% and realized I didn't care for the dialogue heavy stage-play happening in one room.

 

[Bick]

I just finished another SF anthology I was reading as a review copy for Tangent: Gunfight on Europa Station, edited by David Boop.
The review can be found here.

Essentially, its quite an enjoyable hard SF anthology, with most stories having some flavor or trope common also to the western genre, but its not nearly as 'wild-west' oriented as the cover would suggest. Maybe half the content is really rather good. The Alan Dean Foster, David Boop and Wil McCarthy tales are the best ones.

 

[Rodders]

Finished and enjoyed Adrian Tchaikovsky's "Shards of Earth".

Now on to Hugh Howey's "Dust" the final instalment of the Wool trilogy.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

I have started The Best of R. A. Lafferty (2019) edited by Jonathan Strahan, collecting short stories by that most eccentric of all speculative fiction writers, each one with a new introduction by another writer (except "Land of the Great Horses," which reprints the original introduction by Harlan Ellison when it first appeared in Dangerous Visions.)

 

[Vertigo]

Started "Nova War" by Gary Gibson. Second book of a series, but I'm not getting on with it nearly as well as the first. Mainly beacuse so far the main characters have spent 150 pages locked in a cell being intermittently tortured whilst various seriously unpleasant aliens scheme in the background (and occasionally torture each other too.) Not too much goin' on plot-wise in the Universe of Torture right now, is what I'm saying. A shame- I remember the first one as being pretty interesting.

I gave up half way through the first one. My own notes only commented that it was very badly written and very derivative of, specifically, Banks, Hamilton and Asher.

 

[Bick]

I have started The Best of R. A. Lafferty (2019) edited by Jonathan Strahan, collecting short stories by that most eccentric of all speculative fiction writers, each one with a new introduction by another writer (except "Land of the Great Horses," which reprints the original introduction by Harlan Ellison when it first appeared in Dangerous Visions.)

This has been on my ‘to get’ list for a little while. I love Lafferty’s work. That story in DV was one of the best in the anthology. I think I’ll have to actually order now I’m reminded of it.

 

[Danny McG]

I'm starting off my Christmas Eve by settling down with one of my faves, (I seem to re-read it every few months.)

The Mote in God's eye

 

[worldofmutes]

I’ve read 15 books this month and have 3 more planning to finish up. I obviously have a lot of time on my hands!

I haven’t started any more science fiction yet, am waiting until the new year. I read a lot of scifi in 2020, it was my dominant genre that year. My plan is to read more scifi next year than I did this year. All I read this year in scifi was Peter F. Hamilton’s Pandora’s Star and Geodesica by Shane Dix. I neglect that genre sometimes because I often feel like it’s very alien to me. I don’t feel so Earth-bound when I read it, and I guess I love Earth. Most of my reading is about other countries.

Finishing up Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Talents. This is an overwhelming book to read, because of the torture the characters have to endure. Very provocative lit.

I also read a silly and poorly written book, The Goblins of Bellwater by Molly Ringle. Next year I want to read Stan Nichols’ Orcs and Markus Heitz’s The Dwarves.

Other books I have read since I have last checked in-
Demian by Hermann Hesse
Hunger by Knut Hamsun
Silence by Shusaku Endo
Citizen Tom Paine by Howard Fast
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
The Tattoo Murder Case by Akimitsu Takagi
And, most recently
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah.

So many plans for 2022. Definitely more science fiction in the mix!

 

[hitmouse]

I have started The Best of R. A. Lafferty (2019) edited by Jonathan Strahan, collecting short stories by that most eccentric of all speculative fiction writers, each one with a new introduction by another writer (except "Land of the Great Horses," which reprints the original introduction by Harlan Ellison when it first appeared in Dangerous Visions.)

This is a very nicely produced collection. I read it earlier this year.