csyphrett Posted May 1, 2012 Report Share Posted May 1, 2012 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Shadow's serpent by Rick Riordan is out today and I read it. It's the end for the Egyptian gods and the Kanes as Apophis rises to destroy the world. i am wondering if this is tied in with the Heroes of Olympus. Riordan has dropped hints that they share the setting. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diamond Spear Posted May 1, 2012 Report Share Posted May 1, 2012 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... She was Willow's girlfriend in Buffy before she got the axe. CES *wack* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bozimus Posted May 1, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 1, 2012 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I recently finished "A Key For Nonesuch" by Geary Gravel, Book 1 of the War of the Fading Worlds. The review I posted at Goodreads is below... I like books that have a modern person open a mundane doorway that leads to a fantastic realm. I remember starting this book on a flight from Seattle to Shreveport, La. back in the early 90's. Somehow it got lost in the shuffle. I never gave it a fair shake. When I recently saw it in a used book store, I was given the opportunity to redress that error. This was a fun, if not a spectacular book. I give it 3 stars out of 5. The protagonist is a likable fellow with a sense of humor. The fantastic realm I spoke about earlier...turns out to be kinda "meh". This novel was like a satisfying but bland soup. It needed some more spice to really taste good. Literary tabasco is what this cook suggests. I will probably read the next book, "Return of the Breakneck Boys", but not for a long time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt the Bruins Posted May 2, 2012 Report Share Posted May 2, 2012 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I just finished Larry Niven's The Magic Goes Away Collection. Kind of uneven quality, with too many contributing authors fighting against the basic premise Niven set up in the shared universe. But "Not Long Before the End" and "The Magic Goes Away" are both excellent reads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dr. strangelove Posted May 2, 2012 Report Share Posted May 2, 2012 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I just read "Star carrier: Singularity" by "Ian Douglas", a psuedonym for a certain traveller game writer. It had some real good and bad parts to it. The bad parts: It gets repititive after a while with the same old themes. Military good! America good! Politicians bad! Europe bad! (French subhuman!) Then there's the action in which humanity manages to beat the ancient awesomely powerful aliens who have dominated the galaxy for so long, defeats vast armadas of robotic alien spacecraft with advanced weapons and technology, etc. The good parts were some of the science bits. A major part of the book takes place in a cluster of stars that....I won't spoil it, but it's a neat idea for a star hero or any SFRGP that uses star travel. Also, the titular singularity is an artificial wormhole that is described in some detail, and would make a sweet plot device for your star travel games. I've read a lot of military themed SF lately, a lot of it by Douglas and while it's well written the repetition of the same themes over and over again, and the constant drumbeat on the same social issues, gets tedious and eventual hard to keep reading after enough books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bozimus Posted May 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 2, 2012 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I've read a lot of military themed SF lately' date=' a lot of it by Douglas and while it's well written the repetition of the same themes over and over again, and the constant drumbeat on the same social issues, gets tedious and eventual hard to keep reading after enough books.[/quote'] Could you share the titles/authors of the military themed SF you enjoyed? I am on a space opera kick at the moment, but rousing military SF sounds quite enjoyable! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narf the Mouse Posted May 3, 2012 Report Share Posted May 3, 2012 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... She was Willow's girlfriend in Buffy before she got the axe. CES Being Willow's SO or best friend seems a hazardous position. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dr. strangelove Posted May 3, 2012 Report Share Posted May 3, 2012 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Could you share the titles/authors of the military themed SF you enjoyed? I am on a space opera kick at the moment' date=' but rousing military SF sounds quite enjoyable![/quote'] Well, Ian Douglas writes a lot of them and has several trilogies, the first one in chronological order being a big pro marine one starting off with "Semper mars". The problem is that eventually you see all his works follow the same theme over and over: Military good! Politicians bad! Americans good! French bad! Yadda yadda yadda.... It gets tiring after a while. I quit reading david weber altogether after several of his books just ran the same themes into the ground "Socialism bad! Capitalism good! Liberal bad! Conservative good!" over and over and over and over and over...... If you'd like some decent hardish SF, I recommend L.E. Modesitt Jr's works, especially "Haze" which has a wonderfully constructed future society in it, one of the few I might like to actually live in. "The eternity artifact" is good too, but unfortunately Modesitt's work too often follows common themes and becomes repetitious in some cases. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted May 3, 2012 Report Share Posted May 3, 2012 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Could you share the titles/authors of the military themed SF you enjoyed? I am on a space opera kick at the moment' date=' but rousing military SF sounds quite enjoyable![/quote'] I liked Laumer's Bolos. David Drake's RCN, Hammer's Slammers, Ranks of Bronze are good. His collections are great but very rarely have strict space opera in them. The Fleet shared universe was a war with weasels with some good stories and bad. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Major Tom 2009 Posted May 3, 2012 Report Share Posted May 3, 2012 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I just got through with a small Weber-fest this last week (Worlds of Honor #5: In Fire Forged, A Rising Thunder, and A Beautiful Friendship). I can't think of too many books out there right now where you've got to look up other books set in the same universe just to find out about events that are referred to in whatever book in the series you happen to be reading at the time. And if that isn't bad enough, the folks who write Honorverse fanfics have followed suit where this technique is concerned as well. Major Tom 2009 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bozimus Posted May 3, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2012 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Thanks for the recommendations! Those tired of conservative-themed SF might look at Modesitt's "The Parafaith War". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted May 3, 2012 Report Share Posted May 3, 2012 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Could you share the titles/authors of the military themed SF you enjoyed? I am on a space opera kick at the moment' date=' but rousing military SF sounds quite enjoyable![/quote'] I'm a huge fan of David Drake's Hammer's Slammers novels and stories myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escafarc Posted May 3, 2012 Report Share Posted May 3, 2012 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I like the Honorverse books. I think it's more Moderate good vs Extremist bad. The Star Kingdom is very Socially Liberal and the Conservative Party are portrayed as the antagonist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diamond Spear Posted May 3, 2012 Report Share Posted May 3, 2012 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I like the Honorverse books. I think it's more Moderate good vs Extremist bad. The Star Kingdom is very Socially Liberal and the Conservative Party are portrayed as the antagonist. Um, are we reading the same series? In Manticore it's the Liberal Party that is portrayed as being short-sighted/Obstructionist/Appeasers. Maybe you are confusing them with the Conservatives on Grayson? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escafarc Posted May 3, 2012 Report Share Posted May 3, 2012 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... [/b] Um, are we reading the same series? In Manticore it's the Liberal Party that is portrayed as being short-sighted/Obstructionist/Appeasers. Maybe you are confusing them with the Conservatives on Grayson? No. The Conservative Association: Prominent Members Michael Janvier, Baron High Ridge, Party Leader ( – 1919 PD), Prime Minister of Manticore (1915 PD – 1919 PD) Sir Edward Janacek, First Lord of the Admiralty, (c1899 – 1904 PD, 1915 PD – 1919 PD) Dimitri Young, 10th Earl North Hollow, Party Whip ( – 1905 PD) Pavel Young, 11th Earl North Hollow Stefan Young, 12th Earl North Hollow, Minister of Trade (1915 – 1919 PD) Georgia Young, Countess North Hollow, chair of the party's Policy Coordination Committee (c1915 – 1919 PD) The Liberal Party: Prominent Members Edit Lady Marisa Turner, Countess New Kiev – Party Leader ( – 1919 PD), Chancellor of the Exchequer (post 1915 PD – 1919 PD) Catherine Montaigne, former Countess of the Tor – Party Leader (1919 PD – ) Reginald Houseman, Second Lord of the Admiralty (1915 – 1919 PD) Sir Harrison MacIntosh, Home Secretary (c1915 – 1919 PD) Regina Clausel, journalist It's the Centrist and The Crown Royal Parties that are shown in the best light. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escafarc Posted May 3, 2012 Report Share Posted May 3, 2012 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... And I don't think that Weber is too pro-capitalism. He takes his shots at the military/industrial complex, crony capitalism, multinational corps with the Solarian League/Manpower/Mesa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Major Tom 2009 Posted May 4, 2012 Report Share Posted May 4, 2012 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... No. The Conservative Association: Prominent Members Michael Janvier, Baron High Ridge, Party Leader ( – 1919 PD), Prime Minister of Manticore (1915 PD – 1919 PD) Sir Edward Janacek, First Lord of the Admiralty, (c1899 – 1904 PD, 1915 PD – 1919 PD) Dimitri Young, 10th Earl North Hollow, Party Whip ( – 1905 PD) Pavel Young, 11th Earl North Hollow Stefan Young, 12th Earl North Hollow, Minister of Trade (1915 – 1919 PD) Georgia Young, Countess North Hollow, chair of the party's Policy Coordination Committee (c1915 – 1919 PD) The Liberal Party: Prominent Members Edit Lady Marisa Turner, Countess New Kiev – Party Leader ( – 1919 PD), Chancellor of the Exchequer (post 1915 PD – 1919 PD) Catherine Montaigne, former Countess of the Tor – Party Leader (1919 PD – ) Reginald Houseman, Second Lord of the Admiralty (1915 – 1919 PD) Sir Harrison MacIntosh, Home Secretary (c1915 – 1919 PD) Regina Clausel, journalist It's the Centrist and The Crown Royal Parties that are shown in the best light. Well, if nothing else, Janacek at least had the good grace to avail himself of a Shawshank Resignation, while High Ridge got a new job modeling orange coveralls... Major Tom 2009 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diamond Spear Posted May 4, 2012 Report Share Posted May 4, 2012 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... No. The Conservative Association: Prominent Members Michael Janvier, Baron High Ridge, Party Leader ( – 1919 PD), Prime Minister of Manticore (1915 PD – 1919 PD) Sir Edward Janacek, First Lord of the Admiralty, (c1899 – 1904 PD, 1915 PD – 1919 PD) Dimitri Young, 10th Earl North Hollow, Party Whip ( – 1905 PD) Pavel Young, 11th Earl North Hollow Stefan Young, 12th Earl North Hollow, Minister of Trade (1915 – 1919 PD) Georgia Young, Countess North Hollow, chair of the party's Policy Coordination Committee (c1915 – 1919 PD) The Liberal Party: Prominent Members Edit Lady Marisa Turner, Countess New Kiev – Party Leader ( – 1919 PD), Chancellor of the Exchequer (post 1915 PD – 1919 PD) Catherine Montaigne, former Countess of the Tor – Party Leader (1919 PD – ) Reginald Houseman, Second Lord of the Admiralty (1915 – 1919 PD) Sir Harrison MacIntosh, Home Secretary (c1915 – 1919 PD) Regina Clausel, journalist It's the Centrist and The Crown Royal Parties that are shown in the best light. Ummm....First sorry, you are indeed correct. Second, I blame my fuzzy memory on Webber's increasing need for an editor. I really hate it when authors get so big they can demand to do without one. I don't mind lengthy books but his last couple of books in the Honor Harrington series could have lost 15-20 per cent of their word count and not lost anything important. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted May 23, 2012 Report Share Posted May 23, 2012 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Empire of Ivory by Naomi Novik, the fourth book in the Temeraire series. Amusingly, it had been so long since I read the last book that I lost track of what book I was on--so I wound up skipping the third book. I powered through anyway and was pleased to see that I was able to do so without missing any major plot developments. That means that, assuming you have read the first book, you can probably pick up any of books 2-4 and read them standalone. As usual Novik's work is easy to read, pretty fast paced, and well thought out. What differentiated this book form the first two was that, up until now, things always seemed to tend to work out for Laurence and Temeraire through serendipity. That's not the case in this one, though it's also hardly grim. In particular I like the addition of Africa to the Temeraire universe, especially its portrayal; I found myself expecting things to turn out a certain way with the Empire of Ivory and they... didn't. I give this book four out of five carabiners. I really can't find any fault with it at all, but for some reason it just didn't blow my socks off like some other books have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
st barbara Posted May 24, 2012 Report Share Posted May 24, 2012 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I am trying to read "Rift" by Kay Kenyon but am having trouble getting through it. It isn't a "bad" book and has some interesting ideas, but I just can't read it in anything other than short bursts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
st barbara Posted May 24, 2012 Report Share Posted May 24, 2012 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Death's Daughter by Amber Benson (rep to the first person to post what supernatural TV series she was in. Not a hard question I know but I'm in a giving mood today) Not too bad. A sem-different spin on urban fantasy that read quickly and didn't devolve into a supernatural romance. I'd give a more complete description but I suck at writing them. There's this from Amazon's description: I give it an 8 out of 10 and I'll certainly read the next one. I've enjoyed this series as well, fun (although I have only read the first two"). Have you tried Mary Janice Davidson's "Undead" series ("Undead and Unwed" etc) by any chance ? A vaguely similar idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankL Posted May 24, 2012 Report Share Posted May 24, 2012 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Starfire by Stuart Vaughn Stockton. Great! A world dominated by sentient dinosaurs. Not a humanoid in the whole book, and he said on his web page that the sequel is done, accepted, and coming soon! I love the way he unravels things in the book. He doesn't just come right out and tell you everything. You get to gradually uncover it. For example, he has a military character mention patrolling near the Picket. I first assumed that the Picket was a line of demarcation that the warring parties had agreed upon. Then someone mentions that the Picket is uncrossable. Ah, Berlin Wall. Then you see the Picket. Stockton has put a lot of time and love in the novel. The characters have their own slang but within a few pages you are so enmeshed in the story that you don't follow along on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted May 29, 2012 Report Share Posted May 29, 2012 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Read INfamous by Sherrilyn Kenyon. In this third Chronicle of Nick, Nick and his comrades take on a rumor monger determined to cause trouble at his school. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted May 29, 2012 Report Share Posted May 29, 2012 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny. In which Jack the Ripper saves the world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bozimus Posted May 29, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 29, 2012 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Susano, How was "A Night in the Lonesome October" by Roger Zelazny? Zelazny is one of my favorite authors. From the blurb on Amazon.com, it sounds like a lot of fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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