I’m currently reading Hamnet. I’m enjoying the book so far. There’s some small stuff I don’t like but overall it’s quite good.

it is a Boox Go, i don't think i needed the colour but i am not one to complain about such a nice birthday gift!

Still reading (audio book) Dungeon Crawler Carl.

Chapter 10 and it’s getting better and better!

Just finished Gridlinked which was the earliest Polity book I could find.

It still felt like I was reading a sequel. Apparently Asher published some short stories before this one...ugh.

Entertaining, though. It partly had a "007 in space" feel, mixing in a subplot with an alien intelligence manipulating the main character, a villain hell-bent on revenge, and even a surprise (and surprisingly heartwarming) romance between two supporting characters.

I'm in the middle of Restoree by Anne McCaffrey. This one has some elements of mystery, mistaken identity, and political intrigue. It's painfully 60s (which, ok, fair, that's when it was published).

I'm about to start another Robin Hobb "Assassin" novel (part 2 in the last trilogy), and I have Resolute by Jack Campbell queued up. It's another entry in a long line of what I call "Space Captain Popsicle" when talking with my wife. The basic premise is that the main character was in a coldsleep escape pod from his starship for about a century. He gets picked up before its power fails by an allied battle fleet and ends up commanding the fleet in a desperate flight from deep inside enemy territory. Great space battles, infuriating interstellar politics, fascinating glimpses of aliens in a few spots. It's quite a lot of fun :D

This is on my list once I clear up a few items in my current backlog!

This is how you lose the Time War

Fantastic book! I greatly enjoyed it when I read it last year (maybe 2 years ago? Time flies...)

I'd heard about Left Hand of Darkness. The sequence that starts about 2/3 of the way through was a big surprise to me, but I wasn't mad about it.

I want to say more, but I don't want to spoil it for you!

Last RPG I played was "Kobolds & Trench Coats" with some people at the library. It was funny. If you know Lasers & Feelings, it's based off that idea, but with the theme "you're just playing 3 kobolds in a trench coat".

Enjoy, that series is a treat!

ahh kobos look really nice too!
and thankyou, it is definitely late but i will take the good wishes anyway :)

I haven't heard of either, but it sounds like a funny premise!

Ghost Nation: The Story of Taiwan and its Struggle to Survive by Chris Horton. Being a student of Taiwan history, there not a whole lot in it that I wasn't already aware of, but the writing is simply excellent. He's a great explainer and he deftly weaves the events that shaped history into a compelling narrative. Also, he was able to get sit-down interviews with some of the giants of Taiwan's democratization movement before they passed away, so the stories are first hand. This book is a gem so far.

I just finished The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie after bouncing off a couple of times over the years, and I enjoyed it.

While looking for my next book I decided to try this Dungeon Crawler Carl everyone's constantly banging on about, but reading the synopsis reminded me why I always change my mind at the last minute and find something else. I know you all love it here but man it sounds awful.

It was hilarious! I'm usually into "crunchier" games, but I haven't played much lately.

Still reading Helm by Sarah Hall. It's good. I'd never heard of her before until I saw this book at the local bookshop and was intrigued. I'm glad I bought it and will probably read more by her.

It's a slow read though. Partly because there are more words I don't know than in other books, and partly because I just wasn't to savour it.

Great that you started reading again! I had also been on a hiatus for a few years and picked it up again last winter. It took me a while to find stuff I enjoy reading and sometimes I still choose books that aren't right for me, but I've learned that it's okay to just not finish a book. If I'm not enjoying it, why continue? There are so many books out there, there is bound to be a better one.

yeah that's fair! i don't mind not finishing things but i have to be having a bad time and feel like i am getting nothing out of it. mostly i can find worthwhile elements in media that otherwise is not my jam, it is kind of a challenge i give myself, to find buried treasure in a way. if something isn't even fun for me in that way then it is definitely time to hit the bricks tho.

Would you say this a good place to start for someone who isn't well versed in dialectical materialism?

Still reading red rising - light bringer.
Started amazing, but it's getting to get to be a bit of a slog.

Taking a break now, reading the bobiverse books, I'm already in the 3rd book, so far I love it.

I'll come back to red rising, eventually.

Oh no! He's very rambling and hard to follow, but entertaining.

I got my dialectics from Marx - like the manuscripts of 1844 - but their might be a better or more philosophical introduction.

What did you think of Knife of Dreams, the last RJ one?

If you've been keeping up with the vlogbrothers videos (as I have) there's not many stories you haven't heard before; it's fine, but I was a bit disappointed.

yeah, i think almost all the stories from the book where part of the podcast by the same name, but i didn't knew about that before picking up the book. I was vaguely aware of John Green as the author of "the fault in our stars", which never seemed like my jam, and the only other touchpoint i had was the first epsiode of Hank Greens "Humans"-Podcast, which made me think he might have stories i'd enjoy, which i did.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on Clark Ashton smith if you are up to going into more detail. He’s one of my favorites and I so rarely see him mentioned. He was a contemporary and friend of both Robert e Howard and HP Lovecraft, and I personally found him better at sword & sorcery than Howard and better at weird fiction than lovecraft.

How would you say it compares to DCC? I've been looking for another DCC-like in the litrpg space.

It is less of a litrpg and more of a Xianxia/Cultivation story. It still has some very strong systems and power progression, but it is just a part of existence and not a literal game system overlayed onto existence.

If you're looking for more progression fantasy I can strongly recommend it and the various series in the Arcane Ascension universe by Andrew Rowe. If you want more of a game system style adventure I enjoyed the Noobtown series, All The Skills, and the Divine Dungeon/The Completionist Chronicles.

Neuromancer

Finished Iron Council by China Mieville recently. What always does me in with the bas-lag books is how unsatisfying and "unclean" the endings are, and iron council certainly takes the crown.

Now i've read pretty much everything by mieville besides his shortstories, and im coming up short on what to read next. Any recommendations similar to mieville?

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. Really charming and witty, with lots of references to classic Russian literature.

I put off DCC for a bit. Finally took the plunge. Do the audiobook.

I'm reading The Heroes, which is in the First Law Universe. I like them, very dark.

Brian Wilson's autobiography.

Got it, neat. Thanks for the overview. So similar in concept, but different trappings and structure. I was seeing YA tags on a few places I looked. Does it lean into that style of writing heavily?

I'm nearly finished with 14, Peter Clines, which has turned out to be great! Nice and slow burn of strange things happening in an LA apartment building, and slice of life of the protagonist, which has turned into truly out there concepts and strangeness. Would recommend to anyone who likes weird fiction and mysteries.

I'm also working my way through Shorefall, Robert Jackson Bennett, the second book in The Founders trilogy. It continues the interesting magic-hacking from the first book, but I still don't think Jackson Bennett has his dialog feet under him yet. I found that The Tainted Cup felt much more natural than this series. Overall still fun!

I wouldn't place it strongly into the YA category, especially not in terms of themes. I think it's more that the writing is approachable and doesn't contain any overly adult themes.

I read the series last year, the second and third books are definitely better written. I read one other if his books, "Elantris" which is my favorite of the four.

If you're looking for more weird fiction, someone created a thread asking for similar recommendations

Cool, appreciate the recommendation :)

Interesting, have never heard of him, going to keep an eye on any response you get.

I am on the same book from last 3 weeks, and I read kinda fast (not as fast as many people here, bust when compared to "average" people), so don't worry about it.

I think it's about time I start Dungeon Crawler Carl. It's one of the most mentioned book here.

I read the first 2-3 books in the cradle series, but then fell off. Is the series complete now? Might be worth a revisit.

How are you liking the Red Rising series (what's the series' actual name?) so far?

Yes, the series is complete now. Twelve main series books and one book that's more a collection of side stories/epilogues.

I would say that books 4 and 5 are where it picks up the pace in terms of story and scaling.

Hehe, I have been thinking about reading Dungeon Crawler Carl too, because of all the mention it gets here. What about the synopsis turned you off?

I read and like lots of web novels so probably won't have any issue with the theme, but will have to start before I can say anything.

Thanks, will take a look!

I read that when I was 16, and loved it. I still have it today! I wasn't really world wizened enough to realise it was a bit stuttery here and there, at the time, I would have likely thought it was me.

I'm reading Martha Wells, The cloud roads. I think she's going to be my new obsession for a bit. I want to wait till they've finished making telly shows of her Murder Murderbot series before I read them, books are always better, so I digest the worst first.