February 2022 Reading Thread

[AE35Unit]

Elsewhere, by Dean Koontz
I like Koontz's writing style, which I discovered when I intercepted a paperback copy of his Odd Thomas as it was heading out the door in a collection of household discards. My wife gave me Elsewhere for Christmas.
Next up will be Your Heart Belongs to Me, which she presented to me for Valentine's Day. She seems delighted that she has found a deep well of appreciated (and inexpensive) gifts for special occasions.

Have you read his Christopher Snow duology, Seize The Night and Fear Nothing? I think it was meant to be a trilogy but he never wrote the third.

 

[tobl]

Elsewhere, by Dean Koontz
I like Koontz's writing style, which I discovered when I intercepted a paperback copy of his Odd Thomas as it was heading out the door in a collection of household discards. My wife gave me Elsewhere for Christmas.
Next up will be Your Heart Belongs to Me, which she presented to me for Valentine's Day. She seems delighted that she has found a deep well of appreciated (and inexpensive) gifts for special occasions.

i like odd thomas, don't like the rest... i think i'm a bit odd

 

[REBerg]

Have you read his Christopher Snow duology, Seize The Night and Fear Nothing? I think it was meant to be a trilogy but he never wrote the third.

No, Your Heart Belongs to Me will be the third.
I know Koontz has dozens of novels out there, including several sequels to Odd Thomas. I'm sure more will be coming my way.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Are there any Tanner stories in there or were they just novels? I read The Canceled Czech eons ago and it has always stuck in my head.

I don't think so. There are the lighthearted adventures of the burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr; the Nero Wolfe parody/pastiches of Chip Harrison and Leo Haig; the dark stories of ex-cop/recovering alcoholic turned unlicensed private eye Matthew Scudder; the grim tales of hit man Keller; and the sardonically ironic accounts of Martin Ehrengraf, a lawyer who always wins, no matter what it takes.

 

[Parson]

I finished Fortune's Pawn by Rachel Bach. This is book 1 in her Paradox series (4 books). I think the best thing I can say about this book is that it reminded me somewhat of something by Andre Norton. It presents as a Science Fantasy (by which I mean the science is not explained, just assumed) and as the book goes along it hints at some sort of Psychic realm which in Fortune's Pawn is about as far as it goes. My suspicion is that this will become more important as the story continues.

I find Devi, the lead character, who speaks in first person in the book (and is a somewhat unreliable narrator) to be very interesting. She is a mercenary, who is striving to become one of the most elite mercenaries, a Devastator, in Paradox's society mercenaries appear to be held in deep esteem. She loves her armor passionately and feels naked without it. She comes to understand that if she is to become a Devastator a stint as security on a small freighter Glorious Fool, which has a reputation for being very unlucky, will be extremely useful. So she signs up aware that there is likely more about the trader than what meets the eye.

The political background so far has played only a minor roll but is interesting to me. Paradox is a planet which is very high tech, but which is ruled by a king who is worshipped. Nothing that I would have suspected, but I'll be interested to see if anything comes of this.

At the end of the book a romance blooms which may become more important in future books. (sigh!)

A strong 4 stars from me, but I worry that it might become more Romantic Fantasy in the later books. But I'm queued up on book two Fortune's Knight.

 

[tobl]

I finished Fortune's Pawn by Rachel Bach. This is book 1 in her Paradox series (4 books). I think the best thing I can say about this book is that it reminded me somewhat of something by Andre Norton. It presents as a Science Fantasy (by which I mean the science is not explained, just assumed) and as the book goes along it hints at some sort of Psychic realm which in Fortune's Pawn is about as far as it goes. My suspicion is that this will become more important as the story continues.

I find Devi, the lead character, who speaks in first person in the book (and is a somewhat unreliable narrator) to be very interesting. She is a mercenary, who is striving to become one of the most elite mercenaries, a Devastator, in Paradox's society mercenaries appear to be held in deep esteem. She loves her armor passionately and feels naked without it. She comes to understand that if she is to become a Devastator a stint as security on a small freighter Glorious Fool, which has a reputation for being very unlucky, will be extremely useful. So she signs up aware that there is likely more about the trader than what meets the eye.

The political background so far has played only a minor roll but is interesting to me. Paradox is a planet which is very high tech, but which is ruled by a king who is worshipped. Nothing that I would have suspected, but I'll be interested to see if anything comes of this.

At the end of the book a romance blooms which may become more important in future books. (sigh!)

A strong 4 stars from me, but I worry that it might become more Romantic Fantasy in the later books. But I'm queued up on book two Fortune's Knight.

yeah not finnish that series

 

[Parson]

yeah not finnish that series

Thanks for the warning.

 

[tobl]

Thanks for the warning.

by the way... what is this about 4 books? there's only 3 and i'm in doubt that i read the last one.... so ... it just became too.... strange. and i like strange

 

[AE35Unit]

No, Your Heart Belongs to Me will be the third.
I know Koontz has dozens of novels out there, including several sequels to Odd Thomas. I'm sure more will be coming my way.

No that's a standalone novel from 2008 featuring Ryan Perry

 

[Parson]

by the way... what is this about 4 books? there's only 3 and i'm in doubt that i read the last one.... so ... it just became too.... strange. and i like strange

I'm 20% into book #2 Honor's Knight and I'm not liking this one nearly as well so far. It is moving to seriously weird. But interesting enough and I liked the first one enough that I will stay with it for a while yet. --- As to four books, that's my mistake. I looked at the back of the book and I counted the title "Paradox" as one of the books, so, no, only three.

 

[Foxbat]

After a couple of days away from it, I’ve decided to crack on with book 2 of the Pandora Sequence (The Lazarus Effect). Hopefully the book will be less sluggish than its predecessor. According to the introductory notes, this was written entirely by Bill Ransom with Frank Herbert providing the final proof reading. Whether this is a good or a bad thing remains to be seen.

 

[Danny McG]

I'm reading a novella length story now, The last serial killer by Rhonnie Fordham.

As far as I've got this agency guy is sent from the future to eliminate serial killers before they begin.

The book begins with him walking into a trailer park in 1970 and shooting a ten year old girl - otherwise she'll grow up to murder fifty plus people.

Now he's surrounded by the police.....the tale continues

 

[Danny McG]

I'm reading a novella length story now, The last serial killer by Rhonnie Fordham

Is was ok but a bit predictable TBH

Now I'm reading The Godel Operation by James L Cambias.

A space opera with a friendly but deceptive AI

 

[AE35Unit]

Well I had to bail on The Silmarillion . There's just no story there, its all accounts of gods and the people and places that they made, and each has like three names for them. I'm just finding it incredibly dull and dry.

 

[tobl]

Is was ok but a bit predictable TBH

Now I'm reading The Godel Operation by James L Cambias.

A space opera with a friendly but deceptive AI

i think i saw a movie or series with that premise on serial killers.... actually it was all violent crime and not just serial killers... it's an interesting question... should we kill that person because in the future she's going to do violent crimes?
1 - is the future already written?
2 - why kill? just go back further and put a contracptive in the mother ou dad drink or both. no need for messy killings

 

[Hugh]

Well I had to bail on The Silmarillion . There's just no story there, its all accounts of gods and the people and places that they made, and each has like three names for them. I'm just finding it incredibly dull and dry.

I found it a real struggle. Gritted teeth. It was helpful to have read it though as it gave me a very different perspective on the LOTR.

 

[AE35Unit]

Gonna read some Stephen King next, one I've not read yet, Pet Sematary

 

[Hugh]

Rupert Everett "To the End of the World"
His third volume of memoirs, this one revolving around the making of his film about the last days of Oscar Wilde.
Everett can write really well and enjoyably when he puts his mind to it, with wonderful turns of phrase. About half way through though, I realised with horror that I still had @160 pages ago, and then I remembered exactly the same feeling a year ago when half way through his previous book. In addition this book seems to have drastically edited with little signs of continuity - whole chapters appear to be missing.
Still, I'm glad I persisted: he's a surprisingly good - and self-deprecating - writer.

 

[williamjm]

I finished Fortune's Pawn by Rachel Bach. This is book 1 in her Paradox series (4 books). I think the best thing I can say about this book is that it reminded me somewhat of something by Andre Norton. It presents as a Science Fantasy (by which I mean the science is not explained, just assumed) and as the book goes along it hints at some sort of Psychic realm which in Fortune's Pawn is about as far as it goes. My suspicion is that this will become more important as the story continues.

A strong 4 stars from me, but I worry that it might become more Romantic Fantasy in the later books. But I'm queued up on book two Fortune's Knight.

I enjoyed the series. Like you I didn't find the romance storyline all that interesting but it's only one part of the story.

 

[tachyon]

Finished Stiletto by Daniel O'Malley, book 2 of the Checquey Files series. Re-read in prep for book 3, releasing later this year. I had only vague recollections of how this book went so I'm glad I reread it.

Followed that up with Gate Crashers by Patrick S. Tomlinson. A deep space human exploration ship discovers an alien artifact. This is an odd novel because it's pretty good space opera but it's also light/silly and there are a lot of jokes and pop culture references and ridiculous scenes and plot points. I liked the space opera and wasn't bothered by the silly but I didn't find the jokes especially funny.

After that finished The Edge of the World by Kevin J Anderson. This is an epic fantasy type deal with a pretty big cast and 2 warring great powers. Minimal magic, a lot of politics, boats, sea serpents, many voyages, well developed characters. This is the first book of a trilogy, it definitely doesn't come to a conclusion but story arcs are well developed and it ends on a couple of well defined emotional beats.

My reading slump from earlier in the month is definitely over.

Next up is Piranesi by Susanna Clarke.