Haven't been reading as many books recently, some branching out into other media types :
From webtoon, which is basically regularly updated serial comics:
"The Gamer" - this is pretty entertaining, but I guess you have to get used to the idea it's never going to be finished and just wander on forever. Fun story though, main character is basically a superhero whose power is to make everything around him act like an RPG.
Web serials :
Still reading "Ward", which is basically a sequel to "Worm" - pretty in depth superhero vs supervillain stuff, although with a strong dose of post-apocalyptic world building. ( From the events in Worm - I wouldn't read it without reading Worm first as there are some pretty gargantuan spoilers ). Hasn't matched the highs of Worm yet, but it's entertaining, interesting and well-written.
A Practical Guide to Evil - I really didn't know what to expect with this one, and the first chapter put me off the first time I tried it - it seemed to be heading right into silly cliche territory. I tried it again later though, and it's actually only the first chapter that's like that - it's nothing like the rest of the actual series, being more a teaser intro. The story itself is about a young woman from a conquered country trying to join the military acadmeny of the conquering army so she can gain rank and improve conditions for her fellow countrymen. This plan begins to run off the rails with impressive swiftness and it becomes one of the better demonstrations of how the road to hell is paved with good intentions that I've read.
Mother of Learning - This one was also a pretty big fakeout with start, which appeared to be a somewhat more mature Harry Potter style wizard school story. This goes on for a little bit before an ancient lich shows up with an invading army, destroys said school and murders the main character. After that, things get considerably stranger, and a lot more entertaining.
Books :
"Exit Strategy (Murderbot 4)", Martha Wells - This one wraps up the murderbot series that started with "All Systems Red", with said Murderbot, under fairly flimsy self-justifications, trying to dig up evidence against GrayCris, the mega-corp that tried to murder it's clients in book 1. This has unintended consequences as GrayCris assumes said clients ordered it to do so - after all, bots are tools, they don't do things themselves. I found this one to be fun and a satisfying conclusion to the series.
"The Rise and Fall of DODO", Neil Stephenson/Nicole Galland - You never really know what to expect from Stephenson, and this one caught me by surprise - it's about the death of magic, time travel and quantum physics. Nowhere near as dense as stuff like Cryptonomicon, this was sort of an odd mix of traditional story narrative mixed with emails, meeting notes etc. Pretty fun overall, note sure if it's planned to have sequels, it's certainly open for it but reached a satisfying conclusion for a standalone novel. I have to say storywise, that even if D.O.D.O is a flaming dumpster fire of stupidity, the Fugger bank is probably the most practical organisation I've ever seen in a time travel book.
"The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds", Brandon Sanderson - This is a compilation of what is, presumably, all of the Legion stories. Oddly I haven't seen the third one standalone, just as part of this, but I didn't mind, "Legion" was a great read and it's been a while so I didn't mind reading it again. The third book deals with a timely reappearance by the mysterious Sandra from book 1, just as the mental framework she helped Leeds build is beginning to break down into general insanity. It ends with what seems to be a likely series stopping point.
"Salvation", Peter F Hamilton - Completely new universe, much closer future than the Commonwealth books - starflight and planetary colonization, along with relatively strong but non-sentient AI. It's a weird mix of different storylines that don't converge until the end of the book - a bit like Hyperion ( which, I understand, took that style from the Cantebury Tales ). I mostly like it, other than the future storyline, which I didn't really care for. Will read other ones anyway.
"A Discovery of Witches", Deborah Harkness - This one is notable in that it differed the most from the blurb of any book I can think of. I was expecting some actual research and discoveries, but this is really just a setup for a tedious vampire romance. Will not read others.
"The Colours of Madeleine", Jaclyn Moriaty - Picked this one up from the top 50 list someone posted a few months ago - I'd liked most things on there so decided to try out the ones I hadn't read. I liked this one enough to read the full trilogy - I'm not really sure how to summarize it, it was pretty original. First one is mostly about two teenagers in different worlds that are communicating by passing notes through a crack between the worlds. One world is obviously earth, the other side is considerably stranger.
"Six of Crows", Leigh Bardugo - Another entry from the top 50, this was straight up excellent. Grabbed the sequel, loved that too. Will eagerly read any others that show up. A bit similar to the Lies of Locke Lamora I guess, with a minor crime lord being hired to pull off an outrageous heist from a seemingly impossible secure target.
"The Abyss Surrounds Us", Emily Skrutskie - Another one from the top 50, this one is about a post-apocalyptic world where *vigorous handwaving* it's somehow economically rational to protect shipping with specially trained giant seamonsters. The main character is an apprentice monster trainer that gets kidnapped by pirates on her first solo mission, who then force her to train up their own seamonster. There's a lot wrong with the world building on this one, but it was relatively entertaining. Unusually though, it's one of the few examples of books where the main character does something that annoys me so much I lose interest in following the story.
( I don't normally give a shit if the characters are sympathetic or not, as long as they are interesting )
"Tuesdays at the Castle", Jessica Day George - Another one from the top 50, where, with their parents missing and presumed dead, the royal heirs fight off a hostile coup with the power of childish pranks. This one was pretty good, as far as kids books go, but it's a bit too much kids book for me. Probably would have loved it when I was 10.
From webtoon, which is basically regularly updated serial comics:
"The Gamer" - this is pretty entertaining, but I guess you have to get used to the idea it's never going to be finished and just wander on forever. Fun story though, main character is basically a superhero whose power is to make everything around him act like an RPG.
Web serials :
Still reading "Ward", which is basically a sequel to "Worm" - pretty in depth superhero vs supervillain stuff, although with a strong dose of post-apocalyptic world building. ( From the events in Worm - I wouldn't read it without reading Worm first as there are some pretty gargantuan spoilers ). Hasn't matched the highs of Worm yet, but it's entertaining, interesting and well-written.
A Practical Guide to Evil - I really didn't know what to expect with this one, and the first chapter put me off the first time I tried it - it seemed to be heading right into silly cliche territory. I tried it again later though, and it's actually only the first chapter that's like that - it's nothing like the rest of the actual series, being more a teaser intro. The story itself is about a young woman from a conquered country trying to join the military acadmeny of the conquering army so she can gain rank and improve conditions for her fellow countrymen. This plan begins to run off the rails with impressive swiftness and it becomes one of the better demonstrations of how the road to hell is paved with good intentions that I've read.
Mother of Learning - This one was also a pretty big fakeout with start, which appeared to be a somewhat more mature Harry Potter style wizard school story. This goes on for a little bit before an ancient lich shows up with an invading army, destroys said school and murders the main character. After that, things get considerably stranger, and a lot more entertaining.
Books :
"Exit Strategy (Murderbot 4)", Martha Wells - This one wraps up the murderbot series that started with "All Systems Red", with said Murderbot, under fairly flimsy self-justifications, trying to dig up evidence against GrayCris, the mega-corp that tried to murder it's clients in book 1. This has unintended consequences as GrayCris assumes said clients ordered it to do so - after all, bots are tools, they don't do things themselves. I found this one to be fun and a satisfying conclusion to the series.
"The Rise and Fall of DODO", Neil Stephenson/Nicole Galland - You never really know what to expect from Stephenson, and this one caught me by surprise - it's about the death of magic, time travel and quantum physics. Nowhere near as dense as stuff like Cryptonomicon, this was sort of an odd mix of traditional story narrative mixed with emails, meeting notes etc. Pretty fun overall, note sure if it's planned to have sequels, it's certainly open for it but reached a satisfying conclusion for a standalone novel. I have to say storywise, that even if D.O.D.O is a flaming dumpster fire of stupidity, the Fugger bank is probably the most practical organisation I've ever seen in a time travel book.
"The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds", Brandon Sanderson - This is a compilation of what is, presumably, all of the Legion stories. Oddly I haven't seen the third one standalone, just as part of this, but I didn't mind, "Legion" was a great read and it's been a while so I didn't mind reading it again. The third book deals with a timely reappearance by the mysterious Sandra from book 1, just as the mental framework she helped Leeds build is beginning to break down into general insanity. It ends with what seems to be a likely series stopping point.
"Salvation", Peter F Hamilton - Completely new universe, much closer future than the Commonwealth books - starflight and planetary colonization, along with relatively strong but non-sentient AI. It's a weird mix of different storylines that don't converge until the end of the book - a bit like Hyperion ( which, I understand, took that style from the Cantebury Tales ). I mostly like it, other than the future storyline, which I didn't really care for. Will read other ones anyway.
"A Discovery of Witches", Deborah Harkness - This one is notable in that it differed the most from the blurb of any book I can think of. I was expecting some actual research and discoveries, but this is really just a setup for a tedious vampire romance. Will not read others.
"The Colours of Madeleine", Jaclyn Moriaty - Picked this one up from the top 50 list someone posted a few months ago - I'd liked most things on there so decided to try out the ones I hadn't read. I liked this one enough to read the full trilogy - I'm not really sure how to summarize it, it was pretty original. First one is mostly about two teenagers in different worlds that are communicating by passing notes through a crack between the worlds. One world is obviously earth, the other side is considerably stranger.
"Six of Crows", Leigh Bardugo - Another entry from the top 50, this was straight up excellent. Grabbed the sequel, loved that too. Will eagerly read any others that show up. A bit similar to the Lies of Locke Lamora I guess, with a minor crime lord being hired to pull off an outrageous heist from a seemingly impossible secure target.
"The Abyss Surrounds Us", Emily Skrutskie - Another one from the top 50, this one is about a post-apocalyptic world where *vigorous handwaving* it's somehow economically rational to protect shipping with specially trained giant seamonsters. The main character is an apprentice monster trainer that gets kidnapped by pirates on her first solo mission, who then force her to train up their own seamonster. There's a lot wrong with the world building on this one, but it was relatively entertaining. Unusually though, it's one of the few examples of books where the main character does something that annoys me so much I lose interest in following the story.
After getting horny for one of the pirates, the main character flat out murders her rescue mission. I mean, really ?
"Tuesdays at the Castle", Jessica Day George - Another one from the top 50, where, with their parents missing and presumed dead, the royal heirs fight off a hostile coup with the power of childish pranks. This one was pretty good, as far as kids books go, but it's a bit too much kids book for me. Probably would have loved it when I was 10.
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