I'm a little behind in updating my reading progress list!
Recent books:
"Waking in Dreamland", by Jody Lynn Nye.
The first book in her "Dreamland" fantasy series, bough from Baen in 2001. The Dreamland is a world which is created by the dreams of people in the "Waking World" (ie our world), and everything in it is in a constant state of flux as a result.
Baen description:
Quote:
In a strange realm, Roan was the strangest of all -- because he always looked the same: normal. Dreamland was the place where sleepers in the "real" world went when they dreamed, and the permanent residents might change their form without warning. In dreams, there's nothing unusual about talking to a giant rabbit who suddenly turns into a living fire hydrant without missing a beat in the conversation. But Roan was always...Roan. And that was very bizarre.
But something sinister is going on in Dreamland. Their constantly changing world is created by the Seven Sleepers, and will continue to exist so long as at least one of the Sleepers is asleep and dreaming. Now someone is out to destroy Dreamland by eliminating them. And unless the nightmare plot is foiled, Dreamland and its inhabitants will vanish like a blown-out candle flame, bringing an end to all dreams....
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Highly original and excellent fantasy. Highly recommended.
"Lifeboat", by Harry Harrison and Gordon R. Dickson.
Moderately decent SF about a group of people on board a poorly-equipped lifeboat following a disaster on a starship. I wouldn't particularly recommend it.
"School of Light", by Jody Lynn Nye.
The second book in the "Dreamland" series. Baen description:
Quote:
Juele is the youngest and most promising new student to enter the strange new world of the School of Light. At this legendary institution, she will learn how to master illusion, the highest form of art in the Dreamland. Her talent has excited the interest of many of the senior students, the professors, but most important of all, the Idealists. They are the elite of the Illusionists, a tightly knit group of talents who admit Juele to their mysterious circle in the Ivory Tower.
Her mentor, an Idealist named Rutaro, has embarked upon a project to surround the Castle of Dreams with an image of perfection, in which Juele will play a key role. But other students who are jealous of Juele's good fortune set out to pervert Rutaro's design. What they have in mind bears no resemblance to reality. The worst part is that no one, not Rutaro, nor the King, the ministers, or even Roan, the King's Investigator, seems to notice that the government of the Dreamland is plunging into deadly chaos. Juele is faced with having to find the reality within the fantasy with the only skill she has at hand: illusion.
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Very different to the first book in the series, but equally good. Highly recommended.
"The Hammer of Eden", by Ken Follett.
Thriller about a group of environmentalists who hold the state of California to ransom by threatening to trigger earthquakes. Enjoyable nonsense.