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Composter

Golden Knight of the Realm
505
22
A few good ones lately:

Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne - Brian Staveley: The third book came out recently, so it's a full trilogy. Very engrossing read. The first book is a coming of age plot with that moves quick and stays fresh, and the second book is a gripping adventure with a good amount of twists that will keep you guessing. I have not finished the third book yet, but I am a big fan of the series so far. I am very interested to see how the trilogy ends.

The Dragon's Path - Daniel Abraham: Very good character development and a whole lot of grey, if you are someone who enjoys something a little less black and white than the typical epic fantasy. I have not been as caught up in a book in a long time.

It's nice having two decent series to read at the same time. Kind of gets the taste of some of the dreck I've read lately out of my mouth.
 

velk

Trakanon Raider
2,512
1,094
Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne - Brian Stavely: The third book came out recently, so it's a full trilogy. Very engrossing read. The first book is a coming of age plot with that moves quick and stays fresh, and the second book is a gripping adventure with a good amount of twists that will keep you guessing. I have not finished the third book yet, but I am a big fan of the series so far. I am very interested to see how the trilogy ends.
Staveley btw, for people having trouble finding it.
 

Tonic_sl

shitlord
429
1
I just read theHellequin Chronicles, urban fantasy in some ways similar to Butcher's but is mythology & legend based. There are a couple minor quibbles but I still read 5 books of 500 pages in 9 days haha. As with most of what I read, cheap on Kindle this month ($1.44 USD each)
Just murdered all the books in about the same time frame. Book 6 can't come out quick enough.
 

AngryGerbil

Poet Warrior
<Donor>
17,781
25,896
I'm about halfway intoEast of Edenby Steinbeck. I'm having a hard time putting it down.
'The Grapes of Wrath' is to this day still one of the most powerful and influential books of my life. I sent my personal copy underground with a good friend of mine who passed. I have always intended to read more Steinbeck.

I read a lot and at this point in my life, I find myself reading more and more serious books. I just want toknowmore about more things. I have always intended to talk about it here but it seems pulp fiction is the soup du jour. But anyway, I might try to talk more about them here if anyone would be interested.

Recently I read 'The God That Failed' which is 6 essays by former western Communists. Absolutely recommended for anyone wanting to know what it's all about. Short answer: It is a political cult. An 'aristocracy of conformity' says one essayist.

A couple weeks ago I read the book 'Cure' which I heard about on NPR. It's about trying to find the science behind the 'mind over body' phenomenon found in medicine. It's an attempt to clear up some fog about the 'magic' of placebo and see if any real concrete science can be done. It acts more as a guide for future scientists than an answer book, but is well worth the read.

Today I finished 'Soldat', a memoir of the life of a German solider who attained the rank of Major, Siegfried Knappe. It is sort of like Forest Gump in the sense that this guy seemed to be everywhere and to get a bit of a taste of every front of the war sans Africa, got wounded 4 or 5 times,andlived to tell the tale. He invaded Russia on day one of Barbarossa, he was in Berlin and had just the day before been in the bunker when Hitler killed himself (though he did not witness it nor the disposal of the body). He also spent 5 years as a POW in Russia following the war. Fast paced and well done. Interestingly, his tale helped inform many scenes in the movie Downfall which is so famous in internet meme circles for that classic Hitler rant that people love to subtitle over.
 

lurkingdirk

AssHat Taint
<Medals Crew>
39,956
166,824
'The Grapes of Wrath' is to this day still one of the most powerful and influential books of my life. I sent my personal copy underground with a good friend of mine who passed. I have always intended to read more Steinbeck.

I read a lot and at this point in my life, I find myself reading more and more serious books. I just want toknowmore about more things. I have always intended to talk about it here but it seems pulp fiction is the soup du jour. But anyway, I might try to talk more about them here if anyone would be interested.

Recently I read 'The God That Failed' which is 6 essays by former western Communists. Absolutely recommended for anyone wanting to know what it's all about. Short answer: It is a political cult. An 'aristocracy of conformity' says one essayist.

A couple weeks ago I read the book 'Cure' which I heard about on NPR. It's about trying to find the science behind the 'mind over body' phenomenon found in medicine. It's an attempt to clear up some fog about the 'magic' of placebo and see if any real concrete science can be done. It acts more as a guide for future scientists than an answer book, but is well worth the read.

Today I finished 'Soldat', a memoir of the life of a German solider who attained the rank of Major, Siegfried Knappe. It is sort of like Forest Gump in the sense that this guy seemed to be everywhere and to get a bit of a taste of every front of the war sans Africa, got wounded 4 or 5 times,andlived to tell the tale. He invaded Russia on day one of Barbarossa, he was in Berlin and had just the day before been in the bunker when Hitler killed himself (though he did not witness it nor the disposal of the body). He also spent 5 years as a POW in Russia following the war. Fast paced and well done. Interestingly, his tale helped inform many scenes in the movie Downfall which is so famous in internet meme circles for that classic Hitler rant that people love to subtitle over.
You should check out all the works by Douglas Coupland. Seriously, I recommend anything he has written, perhaps starting with Generation X, or possibly Microserfs.
 

AngryGerbil

Poet Warrior
<Donor>
17,781
25,896
10-4. Thank you sir. I'll add it to the hopper.

Next up I have to choose between Anna Karenina (often called the greatest novel of all time) and the memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant. One fiction, one non. Can't make up my mind.
 

lurkingdirk

AssHat Taint
<Medals Crew>
39,956
166,824
10-4. Thank you sir. I'll add it to the hopper.

Next up I have to choose between Anna Karenina (often called the greatest novel of all time) and the memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant. One fiction, one non. Can't make up my mind.
Go with Anna Karenina and skip the other. Or just dedicate a huge amount of time and go for War and Peace. Though Anna Karenina is better.
 

DoctorSpooge_sl

shitlord
1,173
1
Skip? No. I'll read Grant, just maybe not next.

Anna is it though.
Would love to hear of your opinion on Karenina when you're done. War and Peace is probably the best fiction book I've ever read - it's also not the glacial, ponderous beast that everybody assumes it is (at least until the last chapter).

Reading All the President's Men by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward. Fascinating as Watergate is, not really digging it. I should have gone with something written a decade or so later.
 

lindz

#DDs
1,201
63
Court of Mist and Fury. Second book in the Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas. Very much chick books (they're Fantasy Romance essentially), but damn the second one so good. 650~ page book and I spent a Saturday reading it.
 

Campbell1oo4

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
1,930
6,136
The Dragon's Path - Daniel Abraham: Very good character development and a whole lot of grey, if you are someone who enjoys something a little less black and white than the typical epic fantasy. I have not been as caught up in a book in a long time.
Read this one off of Composter's suggestion. It was interesting. I always like characters who do not really fit the Hero trope, and manage their goals in off-beat ways. One of the main characters of this story is very much like that, and reminded me of Tyrion Lannister without the self confidence, but the intelligent and desire to learn/win.

I recommend it if you're looking to kill time, you like fantasy/medieval fiction or you are sick of the fact that ASOIF has almost no closure.
 

Campbell1oo4

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
1,930
6,136
Today I finished 'Soldat', a memoir of the life of a German solider who attained the rank of Major, Siegfried Knappe. It is sort of like Forest Gump in the sense that this guy seemed to be everywhere and to get a bit of a taste of every front of the war sans Africa, got wounded 4 or 5 times,andlived to tell the tale. He invaded Russia on day one of Barbarossa, he was in Berlin and had just the day before been in the bunker when Hitler killed himself (though he did not witness it nor the disposal of the body). He also spent 5 years as a POW in Russia following the war. Fast paced and well done. Interestingly, his tale helped inform many scenes in the movie Downfall which is so famous in internet meme circles for that classic Hitler rant that people love to subtitle over.
Read this when I was an undergraduate. Absolutely amazing account.
 

Lenardo

Vyemm Raider
3,543
2,454
I'VE been reading kindle unlimited stuff, some good, some notso good,

decent alt supernatural- series i've read has been

the tome of bill series(8? books so far i think)- very enjoyable series- at least for me- find his humor and writing style fun to read.
another couple i liked are - remember we are talking light reading for enjoyment- escapism:

the hunter legacy series (9 books so far) (scifi with some mysticism- meditation, buddha, karma, etc)
kutherian gambit series (9 books so far)-( vampire/werewolf alt earth/alien war/space travel "soon" ) guy writes a book every couple of months in the series. the editing has improved over time as he's made some money and has an actual editor now.
 

velk

Trakanon Raider
2,512
1,094
Time for another roundup I guess.

The Three-Body Problem- Liu Cixin
This was pretty different, apparently translated from Chinese. It's a fairly epic science fiction where first contact with an alien race is made by a unwilling worker at a Chinese experimental military site. I enjoyed it, and will probably read the rest of the series at some point, but I am in no hurry currently.

First Light/The Trials/Going Dark- Linda Nagata
Mostly milsf trilogy about a 'linked combat squad' ( a squad of marines that use brain implants and powered exo-skeletons ) and a surprisingly subtle rogue AI. I liked that the AI was relatively plausible and quite different to normal fiction in the way that it worked. There wasn't any indication that it was sentient, it doesn't spend any time talking to people, and no-one can really tell what the fuck it is up to, or what it wants, assuming it actually wants anything. I found it enjoyable enough to read all of them consecutively.

Touched By An Alien- Gini Koch
This was pretty entertaining, if absolutely ridiculous. This is a very chick book, the male characters are all either super hot potential love interests, in love with the main character or villains. Sometimes all of them at once. Basic premise is that the 'men in black' are a group of refugee aliens from alpha centauri fighting a covert war against transforming monsters and assorted conspiracies.

Poor Man's Fight/Rich Man's WarElliot Kay
I had previously read the guy's other series (Good Intentions), and was expecting something similar, i.e. teenage boy wish fulfillment fantasy, but I was surprised. This series is pretty series and I thought it was really good. Sort of space opera, about a smarter than average student that fails to qualify for any university assistance, so stuck with a crippling education debt, goes into the military.

Medusa's Web- Tim Powers
Sort of about time travel, via means of written glyphs called 'spiders' that cause the second person reading them to take over the mind of the first person who read them for a short period of time. The story is a bit 'grubby', the magic is about of as exciting and healthy as heroin, and all the characters are horrible people. I thought it was ok, but wouldn't really recommend it.

Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen- Lois McMaster Bujold
I felt a bit cheated with this one, Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga are, for the most part, fantastic science fiction and of a particular adventurous style. This book was essentially a romance, with the most signficant action being a minor mishap with fireworks.

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet- Becky Chambers
Woman with 'horrible' past joins the crew of a hyperspace tunneling ship, using false credentials. The captain accepts a suspiciously good deal to take a really long trip to construct a tunnel to a potential new galactic federation member that has apparently gotten sick of their millenniums of civil war. I liked this one a lot - a rich and colorful world, with a lot of different alien viewpoints.

The Quantum Thief- Hannu Rajaniemi
This is probably the most imaginative book about the transhuman state that I have read in a long time. I didn't like it as much as I thought I would based on the fascinating concepts and characters. It was still good, but didn't inspire me to read the rest of the series straight away. Ironically, what I'd mark as one of it's strengths, the strangeness of far future factions, makes them a lot less relatable and ultimately less readable.

The Bands of Mourning- Brandon Sanderson
I really liked this one - I'd thought he was losing a bit of steam on the Waxillium setting after Shadows of Self, but this one was a great return to form.

The Shootout Solution- Michael R Underwood
Similar to some of Jasper Fforde's stuff, where stories are real to certain extent, and there's a group of 'Genrenauts' that make sure they run properly. It was ok, but I don't think I'll read any further of these books.

Morning Star- Pierce Brown
A satisfying conclusion to the Red Rising trilogy. It didn't have the impact of the first two books, but was still a great read. There's not a lot I can say about this one without going into spoilers, but then again if you've read Red Rising, there's no reason you wouldn't read it anyway, and starting with the third book makes no sense.

Calamity- Brandon Sanderson
Third book of the Reckoners series, in which a great deal is revealed about what's happening in that setting, and David brings things to a more or less permanent conclusion. Reckoner's was never my favorite of Sanderson's series, but I liked this one a lot and was happy with how it wrapped things up.

Crimes Against Magic- Steve McHugh
Suggested by someone here, this was pretty fun urban fantasy. Only downside is the guy is in dire need of an editor - the number of grammatical and the like errors was quite distracting, particularly in the second book.

Renegade- Joel Shepherd
This was a really good read - large scale space opera. It starts with one of the most famous battle carriers in a centuries long interstellar war coming home to celebrate the victory of the humans and their allies. Things take an unexpected turn when the ship's captain is arrested and then killed in custody while the victory celebrations are still ongoing.

The Devil You Know- K. J. Parker
A famous philosopher offers to sell his soul to the Devil. As he is known as one of the greatest liar and cheat in the world, the demon handling the contact is pretty suspicious that he's up to something, but a deal like this is just too good to pass up. This one was great fun, although as pre-warning, like most of Parker's stuff, the main character is a scumbag ;p
 

wamphyr

Molten Core Raider
644
539
K. J. Parker, hmm, I am not sure if he is a good writer or not. I really cant tell. Engineer trilogy was good, Memory trilogy had a bad ending, and Sharps had a bad middle and a worse ending. His books are missing something, but I just cant telll what, is weird.
 

TJT

Mr. Poopybutthole
<Gold Donor>
40,697
102,071
Just read the new Charles Strauss novel, The Nightmare Stacks. I like that he's moving to other characters around the series and this book was awesome. Elves invading the UK, priceless stuff.
 

Brikker

Trump's Staff
6,039
4,333
Anyone know where I can get an e-book (I have a Kindle Fire) version of the good version of The Stand? That un-edited/original version or whatever.
 

orcmauler

Golden Squire
171
24
Time for another roundup I guess.

First Light/The Trials/Going Dark- Linda Nagata
Mostly milsf trilogy about a 'linked combat squad' ( a squad of marines that use brain implants and powered exo-skeletons ) and a surprisingly subtle rogue AI. I liked that the AI was relatively plausible and quite different to normal fiction in the way that it worked. There wasn't any indication that it was sentient, it doesn't spend any time talking to people, and no-one can really tell what the fuck it is up to, or what it wants, assuming it actually wants anything. I found it enjoyable enough to read all of them consecutively.
The Ngata series started out rather interesting, but by the third book I thought she really ran out of direction.
 

Ritley

Karazhan Raider
15,698
34,169
Just read Unsouled by Will Wight. First book in what will likely be a ~10 book series, but this guy is a fast writer.

I liked it a lot. He is very similar to Sanderson in that he creates unique magic systems for each of his series. It seems to mostly be fantasy genre but there might be more of a scifi-ish twist once it gets further along.