After wrapping up book 6 of Murderbot Diaries I started in on A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. I've heard the wayarers series was good, have access to the first book so I am checking it out. So far it's okay.
Oh well that's unfortunate. I like series because I like to stick to characters on long journeys, getting to know them and care for them. Only the first book is available on Kindle Unlimited so I guess I just won't bother reading past book 1.
(The one exception to this so far is Malazan, which has so many characters and so many times those bounce around from being in a books to disappearing for 3 books, only to resurface again later. Malazan is fantastic though, and totally worth it. Erikson managed to make me care deeply about characters that we only saw for half a book. It's ridiculous.)
Currently reading The Haunted Forest Tour by James A Moore. The premise is a safari thru a forest filled with horror creatures that goes wrong, and I am LOVING it so far! I’m still pretty early into it, but so far so good. After this, I think I’ll go back to another Agatha Christie whodunnit
That sounds really cool and unique. If you're interested in joining another book community, you should share a quick review of that with us on m/horrorliterature. Trying to gather us horror fans together!
I'm currently reading Dune by Frank Herbert. I tried to read it once when I was in my early teens and didn't finish, but I figured I'd give it another go with all the hype over the recent TV adaptation. I've just passed the point where I gave up before (~150 pages) and I'm kicking myself, because it turns out I stopped just short of where all the action seems to really get going. The book is front-loaded with a lot of worldbuilding by way of sci-fi/fantasy terms presented without much context, so I can understand why my younger self got bored and gave up. I'm really enjoying it this time around though, I think I'm a lot more patient as a reader now than I used to be.
Oh, power through for sure! Dune is one of my all-time favorites. When you're finished with the book, be sure to stop over at the wiki and read about the lore. The lore is deep in Dune and not a lot of it makes it into the movies and doesn't shrine through in the first book. Especially check out lore on the various factions.
The Bene Gesserit for instance seem like a cult of witches at first read, but they are much, much, more with a 10,000+ year history of eugenics.
I am also reading through dune right now, I'm enjoying it so far. I was fine with the world building, partly because I really liked the sets in the movie and also because I found it novel compared to the very generic space faring stuff or Tolkien rip-off you get as a backdrop in sci-fi and fantasy respectively.
I'm also really enjoying a lot of the environmental musings in the book, after I finish it I will look up more about Frank Herbert's relation to these topics, I get the feeling there's something about it.
Environmentalism and colonialism are definitely interesting lenses to look at the story through. It also deconstructed white savior and heroes journey tropes. All of this is explored more fully in the sequel, which I also really enjoyed.
Currently reading Wool by Hugh Howey. It’s the book that Silo is based on so I was hoping to see how close it is to the show and also read farther than the show got to since season 1 just ended. It’s in the scifi dystopian genre. I would recommend it yes@[email protected]
I just finished the Witcher books yesterday and haven't started the next one yet, but it is already out and ready to go.
Next is The Croning by Laird Barron. He writes cosmic horror. I can't review it yet, but I've enjoyed the couple of his works that I've read in the past.
Thanks for this. I read everything I can find in those areas that looks reasonably coherent and it's hard to find more without a bunch of fake nonsense drowning it out a lot of the time.
Began The Dark Forest by Liu Cixin before moving out to a new rent. With all the fuss with relocation I hadn't had time to sit down and continue it, but I look forward to do that asap. I really like Liu's style and how easy to read it is.
I literally just finished The Silence of Bones by June Hur. It's about a 16 year old Damo, or female police servant, who becomes wrapped up in recent murders involving Catholics in 1800s Joseon Korea. I quite enjoyed it, in spite of the main character being a little idiot sometimes.
I just started Spice Road by Maya Ibrahim, so I don't have much of an opinion yet. I like the wiring so far, as well as the middle eastern magic vibes.
I just finished the Dark Tower series by Stephen King. I can absolutely recommend it if you love fantasy, mystery and horror. I didn't not make up my mind what to read next, but the Witcher books are already on my Kindle.
I know King is popular, and I liked a lot of the ride, but he always seems to go out of his way to write the darkest "there's no point to anything" anticlimactic endings. It was definitely an interesting premise and world, but the conclusion was super unsatisfying.
It's one of only a few books of his where I actually loved the ending (well, not those last few pages, but the ending before them, if you know what I mean). Usually I think his endings are pretty underwhelming at best.
I don't think King is bad. I've read a decent chunk of his catalogue and a lot have interesting ideas. I'm admittedly not the biggest horror fan (though it's because most is super trope-y, which he does tend to avoid), but I just really don't like how he finishes stuff.
This and 11/22/63 are two where I actually feel like there's a "message" and I feel were closer to being closed well, but I just don't like the actual execution of it at all. It reminds me of this one NFL game a long time ago. The Saints pulled off a ridiculous series of laterals on the last play of the game to score the "game tying" TD, but their kicker shanked the extra point and they lost in painful fashion. That's what the couple books where I feel like there's an actual theme do. They get you right up to the finish, then botch it.
Maybe I'm being too hard for whatever reason, because I read a silly amount of light/mediocre writing and almost never critique fiction, but he frustrates me because of how close it feels like he got to a great piece start to finish.
Don't get me wrong--I understand your frustration. My favorite King book, perhaps aside from The Dark Tower series, is The Stand. Of all the books I've ever read, it also has one of the most disappointing endings. I just liked the rest of the book enough to overlook it.
Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman. Historical fantasy / horror about a fallen knight crossing a plague ridden France in what feels like the apocalypse, and dealing with demonic entities that mar his path. Really evocative descriptions and concise prose. It feels a bit like Berserk: a novel.
The Way Inn by Will Wiles. A professional convention surrogate is attending a convention for convention organizers, when he becomes trapped in an endless fractal of nondescript corporate mediocrity. Not sure how this one will end up yet, so far it's a delightful satire with a really dry wit.
The Last Watch by J.S. Dewes. It's a pretty good sci-fi set in space. I am about 40% complete and so far I have been enjoying it. At this point, I would recommend it.
Currently reading: Mort (Terry Pratchett) - fantasy/comedy. The story of Death taking on an apprentice. I'm enjoying it so far and would recommend. I'm a later arriver to the Discworld novels. People have been recommending Pratchett to me for years but I made the mistake of trying to read Discworld in release order (which I later realised isn't at all necessary) and really struggled to get into The Colour of Magic on previous occasions. Finally clicked with it earlier this year and then started moving onto other novels based on recommended reading lists.
Currently listening to: Star Wars: Ahsoka (E K Johnston) - space-fantasy/sci-fi (let's not get started on the debate about what genre Star Wars is...). I'm not far in but I'm a big Star Wars fan and Ahsoka Tano is one of my favourite characters, so I'm excited to see how it goes. Also the audiobook is narrated by Ashley Eckstein (voice of Ahsoka on Clone Wars and Rebels).
Pratchett did a collaboration with Steven Baxter called The Long Earth that was kind of interesting. I don't think the characters were super memorable, but I found the premise and the ways they explored it really compelling.
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