Hey!! Let's get some action going! What are we reading?

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

What may have helped the book for me is that, not being a student of the history of the era and locality, I didn't pick up on all the historical inaccuracies that so many other MobileReaders have complained about.

I only have a general knowledge (for an Englishman) of Scotland and its history, but the inaccuracies made the book unreadably painful for me.

I can accept fantasy and alternate worlds easily. But if a story claims to be our world or history, then I find it very hard to accept obvious errors.

Of course, what's obvious to one person is not to another, and if you don't notice the errors, they won't spoil the story.

Just don't rely on Outlander for anything to do with Scotland and its history.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: The third omnibus in Charles Stross's Merchant Princes series, The Revolution Trade

Which I enjoyed, and ends the series at a reasonable stopping point. I hear that some new books in the series will be appearing next year. I will certainly keep an eye out for them.

I'm surprised that there is no mention through any of the books of

Spoiler:

the problems of introducing diseases from one world to another, esp. smallpox to our world, since it's in the story that smallpox is endemic in the Clan's world.

Next up: Cleopatra 7.2 by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough. I find that this is the second in a series, but since I've read the prologue which essentially recaps the first book, and the first book doesn't seem to be available as an ebook, I'm just going to read it. I suspect that I shall get cross at the lack appreciation of the general application of the individual case. But let's see.

[Luffy]

I'm waiting for my kindle to charge. Then I'll read the English Patient. I've read 10% already, the style agrees with me. The content is so so. I can't see myself rating the book 5/5.

[treadlightly]

Originally Posted by Luffy

How bad is it, please? I thought it was a romance and chick lit book. This comes as a surprise.

I would describe the series as historical fiction, with elements of science fiction, adventure and romance. The BDSM-type stuff that is being discussed happens in only small portions of the overall story, and given that the books (largely) take place in the eighteenth century, it does seem to fit into the time period and is not gratuitous. The first book was the author's first novel, and in my opinion subsequent books just keep getting better and better.

[carld]

Just started No Hero by Jonathan Wood. It's a British Urban Fantasy with a a good bit of humor thrown in. It's no Dresden Files, but it's pretty good so far.

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Cleopatra 7.2 by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough. I find that this is the second in a series, but since I've read the prologue which essentially recaps the first book, and the first book doesn't seem to be available as an ebook, I'm just going to read it. I suspect that I shall get cross at the lack appreciation of the general application of the individual case. But let's see.

Elizabeth Ann Scarborough's Channeling Cleopatra is indeed available as an e-book from Gypsy Shadow Publishing over @ Smashwords, and thence to Kobo, where all of their EAS reprint books (and also the Open Road reprints which took over from E-Reads) are couponable (and you can pick up the other few books in the Songs from the Seashell Archives quartet you mentioned you enjoyed the 1st of a few years ago* and wishlisted the rest, but which weren't on Fictionwise).

And yes, C7.2 can be read more-or-less standalone, but it probably does help to have more backstory than the prologue gives you. (I bought a slew of EAS several years ago during an RAEBW sale and read them both at the time, as reading the 1st was what convinced me to go back and buy the 2nd. 2nd review may be a little spoilery on some specific themes if you haven't finished the book.)

* My original ancient review of #2-4 which led you to mention bumping #1 further up your reading list waaaaay back† when.

† How time flies like an arrow. How fruit flies like a banana‡.

‡ Some fora have a dancing banana smiley. We have a dancing lock. The GSP EAS books should be DRM-free from Kobo, BTW.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Perhaps I'm just being cynical, but it's very well written, and Mr Doohan was not a novelist. I would imagine - and this just a guess - that he and Mr Stirling devised the plot together, and then Stirling wrote it (it is supposedly loosely based on Doohan's own military career). Whoever wrote it, though, it's written very well. An excellent story.

From biography.com:

In 1996, Doohan became an author with the publication of his autobiography, Beam Me Up, Scotty: Star Trek’s “Scotty”—in His Own Words, written with Peter David, and his first work of science fiction, Rising, done in collaboration with S. M. Stirling.

I'll have to put it on my list, thanks.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Finished, and I did enjoy it. Say a 4 out of 5. Next up, another Lord Peter Wimsey book, Have His Carcass. This is PD in Canada, and available as a Kindle Unlimited version for those trialing KU. As always, I'm enjoying the witty writing and delightful characters.

Another enjoyable read. I must say, though, that reading the Wimsey books is not about figuring out who did it, or the details of how it was that person, but about the characters and the writing. There are certainly other mystery writer's books where I enjoy the actual mystery much more.

Next up, the latest from Wen Spencer, Wood Sprites. I'm looking forward to this, and expect to have a lot of fun with it.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

Elizabeth Ann Scarborough's Channeling Cleopatra is indeed available as an e-book from Gypsy Shadow Publishing over @ Smashwords, and thence to Kobo, where all of their EAS reprint books (and also the Open Road reprints which took over from E-Reads) are couponable

How odd. I can see it at Smashwords, of course, but I can't find it at Kobo at all.

But I have enjoyed several of her books now, so I'll certainly look out for her stuff next time I'm buying.

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

How odd. I can see it at Smashwords, of course, but I can't find it at Kobo at all.

That is odd, since AFAIK there shouldn't be any international rights distribution issues with her GSP backlist.

Perhaps you can see it with a direct link (or get a geo-restriction message?): Channeling Cleopatra by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

That is odd, since AFAIK there shouldn't be any international rights distribution issues with her GSP backlist.

Perhaps you can see it with a direct link (or get a geo-restriction message?): Channeling Cleopatra by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough.

That explains it "Channeling Cleopatra is not available in United Kingdom." Which is odd, as there doesn't seem to be any geographic restriction at Smashwords.

[jersysman]

Next up for me in my continuing reading of the history of the Civil War - The Greatest Civil War Battles: The Battle of Fredericksburg by Charles River Editors.

[Yapyap]

I took a short break from YA and read some adult urban fantasy instead - Blood Games by Chloe Neill, the tenth book in the Chicagoland Vampires series.

As the "tenth book" part probably indicates, this is a series I enjoy a lot (I'm not usually one for vampire romance, but I like the characters and the plots / mysteries / crime solving / politics parts of these books appeal to me a lot, and while this is probably a little heavier on the romance aspects than many other urban fantasy series, it's still definitely UF and not paranormal romance). And this book was no exception - other than the first couple of books and one in the middle that I felt was weaker, they've all felt solid to me.

I gather there's three more books to look forward to, so I'm glad it's still going strong and not losing its oomph yet.

Not sure what to read next - just got three YA eARCs from NetGalley, all books that look right up my alley (and one of them I've already preordered in hardback), so probably one of those. Hmm.

[Luffy]

Hmmm, it always seems wistful to me that someone likes both YA and urban fantasy. I've read only one UF though, Moon Called by Patricia Briggs. What puts my nose out of joint is the way people describe evil in these books. But also the way people fall in love. These things distract me from the adventure present in the book.

[Rev. Bob]

Seanan McGuire's Sparrow Hill Road was quite nice, but it's more like a themed anthology than a proper novel. This works, in its own strange way; the repeated "introduction to the setting" passages sort of become their own type of haunting, a ghost within a ghost story. In addition, the chronology is a bit of a shambles, but Rose does warn us about that right up front; the dead aren't as linear as the living. One particular reference in Part 2 is absolutely perfect, and just like an oncoming semi, I didn't see it coming until it was too late. Finally, it also ties in with her InCryptid books and stories; the appendix is a Price Guide to ghosts, and we've seen an earlier version of Rose's hometown in the Jonathan and Frances Healy stories. (Rose also has a cameo in one of Verity's short stories, which is the flip side of a phone call in the third InCryptid novel. Confused yet?)

The book's taken a few lumps from other reviewers, but I quite liked it. I think it's time for something a bit different from my usual fare for my next read, though...