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Re-read Good Omens.

It's still a fun read.

I loved good omens! I'm reading one I stumbled upon through Amazon- the Paper Magician. Interesting take on Magic, and really peculiar journey.

Finally got my copy of SJW TUMBLR FEMINAZI MESSAGE FIC Ancillary Mercy. It's supposed to be as good as the first book, and the puppy tears are just going to make it that much better.

I just got my copy of the Word Bearers Omnibus, quite good so far.

 War Kitten wrote:
I just got my copy of the Word Bearers Omnibus, quite good so far.

Funny... so did I. I did read the first 2 books separately years ago, but thought "Im building a WB army, why not?"


Still, reading the Broken Empire series, I'm on King of Thorns now.

Ahriman: Sorceror

 Supertony51 wrote:
Ahriman: Sorceror

Quite enjoyed that - what do you think?

 Mr Morden wrote:

 Supertony51 wrote:
Ahriman: Sorceror

Quite enjoyed that - what do you think?

So far, not bad. It's really hit and miss with 40k novels. I like my books to have a plot and a story, it seems that the bolter porn style writing is taking over little by little. I.E. the latest Gray knights novel.

I'm re-reading the great zoo of china, really good book actually.

Recently I started reading Charles Sheffield's Summertide. Apparently it is the first in a series of (older) books. I've gotten a lot of good, older sci-fi at library book sales recently.

Lots of stuff recently, I would particularly mention the following as being worth a look:

D-Day Through German Eyes (edited by Holger Eckhertz, 2015)
This contains five interviews by an ex-German military journalist with German defenders of the D-Day beaches and Atlantic Wall fortifications. It has value in several ways; it is an authentic view of combat, it covers the spectrum from private soldier to officer and all five beaches, and it gives an insight into the motivations of the soldiers and their impressions of the Allied forces.

The original author was the grandfather of the editor. He collected the interviews in the mid-1950s but died before publishing.

There is a follow-up book which I haven't bought yet.


Wastelands (edited by John Joseph Adams, 2008) ISBN: 978 1 405 52883 2
A short story anthology of post-apocalyptic fiction from the past 40 years. 22 stories of which only one is an original for this collection, so you may have read a few of them before in other anthologies. Despite that it is a very good book for the quality and variety of the stories. The selected further reading is a useful pointer to novel length post-apocalypse fiction.


Rainbows End (Vernor Vinge, 2006) ISBN: 978 1 447 21747 3
A novel focussing on a victim of Alzheimer's Disease, a professor of modern poetry, who in the near future -- the year isn't stated but probably about 2030 -- is brought back from near death by advanced medical treatments. He must then integrate into a changed society with widespread virtual reality, computer networking and crowd-sourced research, going back to high school for the second-rate to learn all the new skills he will need.

At first glance this looked like it was going to be sentimental bollocks but in fact the book is about a massive bio-warfare conspiracy which creates a very exciting plot for the main character to move through.

If you have Kindle you can get the first chapter as a free sample. That was enough to convince me to buy the book.

 Kilkrazy wrote:
Lots of stuff recently, I would particularly mention the following as being worth a look:

D-Day Through German Eyes (edited by Holger Eckhertz, 2015)
This contains five interviews by an ex-German military journalist with German defenders of the D-Day beaches and Atlantic Wall fortifications. It has value in several ways; it is an authentic view of combat, it covers the spectrum from private soldier to officer and all five beaches, and it gives an insight into the motivations of the soldiers and their impressions of the Allied forces.

The original author was the grandfather of the editor. He collected the interviews in the mid-1950s but died before publishing.

I have to say, as much as I'm "tired" of reading or hearing about WW2, this sounds incredibly interesting.

It's well worth reading. I'm not even a WW2 fan myself but I have a general interest in military history and how men behave in battle.

The descriptions of combat are very realistic (as far as I can tell) rather than Hollywood or Sven Hassell.

"Finders Keepers" by King.

Just started "Darkwalker on Moonshae", which was apparently the first ever novel in the D&D Forgotten Realms setting.

God's Chinese son, about the Taiping rebellion

Book 8 in David Weber's Safehold series.

I recently finished reading Roots. It was an amazing read. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the history of the slave trade and slavery in general. It really keyed me into how horrific it all was for those imprisoned and enslaved.

 Hulksmash wrote:
Book 8 in David Weber's Safehold series.

I should probably get back to reading that series. I forget where I dropped off.

I like Weber as an author, but his books get very repetitive. Does that series need to be that long? The story/character development/etc could probably been wrapped up in a satisfactory manner books ago. But he continues to stretch it out and flog the series on. I’d like to get to the end of the story, but get tired of reading what feels like the same filler over and over again.

 TheMeanDM wrote:
"Finders Keepers" by King.

I got about halfway through and just couldn't anymore. That one was a miss for me.

I have just finished the first three 'The Long Earth' novels by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter; The Long Earth, The Long War, The Long Mars. The final part, The Long Utopis, is out now but I am waiting for the Kindle price to go down a lot before I will buy it.

To summarise the basic idea, in about 2026 it is discovered that using a relatively cheap electronic gadget, you can 'step' sidewise into a parallel Earth. The series of these Earths, both 'east' and 'west', is apparently infinite and they are uninhabited. Immediately people start to abandon baseline Earth and emigrate to the 'stepwise' Earths.

The three books follow the changes in society that occur from this discovery over the next 20 years, through the viewpoint of some key characters whose individual stories are interwoven and advance various strands of the plot.

To be honesty, hile these were an entertaining read, I was not stunned by the quality and would rate them 3/5. The basic problem for me is the actual meat of the story is relatively limited compared to the amount of paper it is stread across.

I was left feeling that too much of the books, especially the second two, involves following these various people on long voyages in order to fill up space. Meanwhile, certain very interesting discoveries remain unexplored in any depth.

Some of these may be resolved in book 4, I hope.

 Nevelon wrote:

 Hulksmash wrote:
Book 8 in David Weber's Safehold series.

I should probably get back to reading that series. I forget where I dropped off.

I like Weber as an author, but his books get very repetitive. Does that series need to be that long? The story/character development/etc could probably been wrapped up in a satisfactory manner books ago. But he continues to stretch it out and flog the series on. I’d like to get to the end of the story, but get tired of reading what feels like the same filler over and over again.

My only issue with Weber would how much he is in love with technical details from time to time. Especially logistics or manufacturing details. That's the issue I've seen in the Harrington books and the Safehold Books. Which are his two long running series. That said I enjoy the characters and more importantly he seems excited by where the Safehold series is going so we get new books every year and I find I'm interested almost like it's alternate history even if that's not quite true. Overall it's an enjoyable read so far.

Though I'm getting a bit tired waiting for the new Harrington Universe novel whether it's Harrington, Henke (I think that's the name of the admiral in the Tablot Sector area), or the Co-Authored with Flint series....

I just finished reading "13 hours".

Faerinheight 451

 Peter Wiggin wrote:
Faerinheight 451

Now that is a good read. I'm not sure but what every person should read that.

 ZergSmasher wrote:

 Peter Wiggin wrote:
Faerinheight 451

Now that is a good read. I'm not sure but what every person should read that.

It was quick & easy. I never got a chance to read it in high school since I dropped out, but it was assigned reading in my Mass Communications class this quarter.

The way of Kings - Brandon Sanderson

 Coldnap wrote:
The way of Kings - Brandon Sanderson

I'm rereading way of kings and then the second book in the series.

John Ringo Posleen War - Gust Front

It's the 2nd time I started reading this series.

Frank Herbert - Dune.