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

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: 1635: The Wars for the Rhine. So far the usual flaws of the third-party books. Too many characters and viewpoints. The author may know exactly who all these people are and their relationships, but they need to make more of an effort to ensure that the reader does as well!

The afterword explains all. The novel started as some shorter pieces that were re-written to make a novel covering that area and period.

The short stories included subsets of the characters in the novels, and were manageable. The novel had too many characters introduced too quickly (and many with similar names - a common problem when fiction involves historical characters and it's not possible to change the names!).

In the end it was OK, but it was harder work than I like.

Next I read "Black Moon" the fifth book in the Poldark book series, recently shown as part of the second TV series of the current BBC adaptation.

Good fun, and it's interesting to see what changes the adapter has made.

And now straight on the "The Four Swans", the sixth book in the book series, and that's also part of the second TV series.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next I read "Black Moon" the fifth book in the Poldark book series, recently shown as part of the second TV series of the current BBC adaptation.

An excellent example of good historical fiction .

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

Finished this yesterday. Going to start right in on the audio of The Fall of Hyperion now. I read Hyperion in 2013 and had completely forgotten the plot, hence the re-read. Don't want that to happen again.

About half way through Death's End by Cixin Liu on the KA1.

I dropped The Fall of Hyperion. I just found myself not caring. There was no way I was making it through the rest of the series, so I saw no reason to keep trying with this one.

I finished Death's End last night. I enjoyed the series for the most part, but I agree with NPR's assessment - "Unfortunately, a few of the flaws of the first two books are ported into Death's End. Liu's exposition can get downright leaden, especially when there are reams of scientific jargon and theory to be delivered to the reader. " I was also a little dissatisfied with the ending, but I am still glad I read it.

Started Edgar Contero's Meddling Kids right after. From the description:

The surviving members of a forgotten teenage detective club (and their dog) must reunite as broken adults to finally solve the terrifying case that ruined them all and sent the wrong man to prison. Scooby Doo and the gang never had to do this!

[kansaskyle]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

I dropped The Fall of Hyperion. I just found myself not caring. There was no way I was making it through the rest of the series, so I saw no reason to keep trying with this one.

I didn't want to poo-poo your choice and give you a bad impression when I saw you starting The Fall of Hyperion.

I finished the second book, but I felt it wasn't anywhere near as good as the first one. Like you, I didn't continue after that bad experience.

[Rev. Bob]

I'm grinding my way through Two Percent Power: Delivering Justice, a novel about a superhero whose power is the ability to control milk. It's a decent story, but there are so many basic writing errors that the book just grates on me. Commas are, in the wrong, places. Sentence fragments. Abound, and the guy's grasp on the past perfect tense is shaky at best.

[HarryT]

Finished "The Regiment", by John Dalmas; the first book in the Baen omnibus "The Regiment: A Trilogy", which I bought in 2004. Baen description:

The planet Tyss is so poor that it has only one exportable resource: its fighting men. Each year three regiments are sent forth into the galaxy. Hiring their services is very expensive, but well worth it, for the Tyss secret training makes their soldiers into mystic warriors, irresistible in battle. And when they offered to train soldiers from off their planet, the Confederation of Worlds jumped at the chance, using their personnel selection technology to pick the greatest potential warriors out of their planets-wide database of psych profiles. What they didn't know was that the new warriors were soon going to be necessary for the Confederation's very survival—because an invading force from another part of the galaxy is approaching with superior firepower and more advanced technology, and only the secret training of Tyss can give even a slight hope of stopping the invaders.

Excellent military SF. For me, Dalmas never disappoints - I've enjoyed every book of his that I've read. I should note that like many of Dalmas's books, this is no longer available for sale from Baen, although it can still be downloaded by previous buyers.

[Dngrsone]

Still working (at the 30% mark or so) on Numbers: Their Tales, Types, and Treasures by Alfred S. Posamentier. It reads like a textbook, and while I am interested in the content, I have to take it in doses. Add in my new job, which is keeping me busy, the going is slow.

With that said, I am also 60% into Indigo, a ten-way collaboration headed by Christopher Golden. Very well-done, thanks I'm sure, in no small part to Golden's editing skills.

*edit: Finished the novel Indigo. I noted one inconsistency, but overall, the book was very good.

[HarryT]

Finished "Banker", by Dick Francis; the latest in my read through his works. Amazon description:

Tim Ekaterin has a lot of money. Unfortunately, it is other people's, and it is his job to invest it wisely, or get fired. And right now he's taken a big risk: using £5 million to stud a champion racing stallion.
When the resulting foals have birth defects, Tim is worried and decides that there may be something else going on at the stables. His suspicions are confirmed when one of those helping with the horses is murdered.
Now it's not just about money, but about life and death. Determined to get to the bottom of why anyone would do this, Tim puts himself in danger's path to discover the truth . . .

I keep saying "the best in series so far" over and over again as I read Francis' books, but it really is true - his books keep getting better and better. This one was an excellent read, and the resolution of the mystery took me completely by surprise. Very highly recommended!

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

And now straight on the "The Four Swans", the sixth book in the book series, and that's also part of the second TV series.

And excellent it was too. Poor old George. The book covers a bit more than the second TV series. So I'll wait until I've seen the third TV series before reading the next one in the series.

Then I read The Raven Ring by Patricia C. Wrede. The last of her Lyra novels. A most enjoyable fantasy. An interesting set of novels, as they're all stand-alone, even though set in the same background.

Next up: Reality Is Not What It Seems by Carlo Rovelli. My most recent purchase, and non-fiction! A bit of a change of pace. I'm not sure how much he says will be new to me, but it'll be interesting to have an overview of current physics.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I keep saying "the best in series so far" over and over again as I read Francis' books, but it really is true - his books keep getting better and better.

I enjoyed each year's new Dick Francis novel a great deal. It was fascinating to see him approach horse racing with an insider's knowledge but from a different perspective each year.

I'll be interested to see how you find the later novels that appeared after his wife died, and his son's solo novels.

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

Started Edgar Contero's Meddling Kids right after. From the description:

The surviving members of a forgotten teenage detective club (and their dog) must reunite as broken adults to finally solve the terrifying case that ruined them all and sent the wrong man to prison. Scooby Doo and the gang never had to do this!

Well, this book is definitely turning into an unexpected horror romp. The characters are just far enough from Scooby Doo to not infringe copyright, one of them is a ghost, and they are all seriously messed up. I am not yet ready to accuse the book of being good, but I am being entertained nonetheless. This is also the first book listed in the "horror" genre that I have read in at least 5 years, when I started seriously tracking.

I also started listening to Trading in Danger, the first in Elizabeth Moon's Vatta's War series. I have it marked as read on goodreads, but I have no memory at all of it.

[Rumpelteazer]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

Well, this book is definitely turning into an unexpected horror romp. The characters are just far enough from Scooby Doo to not infringe copyright, one of them is a ghost, and they are all seriously messed up. I am not yet ready to accuse the book of being good, but I am being entertained nonetheless. This is also the first book listed in the "horror" genre that I have read in at least 5 years, when I started seriously tracking.

That sounds like fun, after reading a couple of serious books it might be just what I need.

[DiapDealer]

I really, really enjoyed Benjamin Percy's The Dead Lands, but his latest book--The Dark Net--just didn't do a lot for me. It seemed very scattershot and unfocused. I like Percy's writing style but I feel like I just never got a chance to like or dislike any of these characters.

[DiapDealer]

Now reading Kate Griffin's Kitty Peck and the Daughter of Sorrow. Third in the Kitty Peck mystery series set in Victorian London's Limehouse district.

[HarryT]

Just finished "The White Regiment", by John Dalmas; the second book in the "Regiment" series, and the middle third of the Baen Omnibus "The Regiment: A Trilogy", which I bought in May 2004. Following the success of the T'swa mecenary regiments described in the first book, "The Regiment", the Confederation decides to adopt their training methods to turn a group of misfit rebellious teenagers into an effective fighting force. This book tells the story of "The White T'swa" (the T'swa themselves being extremely black!), and how they fare when a Confederation world is attacked by a military force from another star system.

Excellent military SF. Very highly recommended. Unfortunately no longer available from Baen, and seemingly not available as an ebook anywhere else, either.