I’m reading this on my lunch breaks:
PiHKAL
Post-apocalyptic tale of tech-priests, kind of. It starts slow, and then you get used to it.
My second attempt.
Enshittification by Cory doctorow
I’m reading Labor’s Untold Story. It’s about the rise of unions. The latest chapter ended with a capitalist killing themselves, so pretty damn good so far.
Wtf… why is it so expensive?
Heh… capitalism.
It’s an older anthology but it checks out, sir.
Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia
Rocannon’s World by Ursula K. LeGuin, just finished it, it’s a pretty quick read. I started with The Dispossessed and decided to go back and read her sci-fi novels in the order they were written. Not quite as much social commentary in this one which is what I liked most about The Dispossessed, but still enjoyable, and an interesting blend of fantasy and sci-fi.
Girl dinner
What’s this one like? I LOVED the first book but found the second a little disappointing
I’m not the Op, but I found book 3 even more of a let-down than book 2. Just felt a bit more contrived, even though it did add some valuable contributions to the universe, and I’ll read book 4 when it comes out.
It’s weird. I don’t hate it, but the author spends way too much time dealing with “timeline forks” (I’ll call it that to avoid spoilers) in a limited setting with a lot of reiteration and lack of any real plot advancement or character development. It’s not awful, I don’t hate it, but it’s a completely different book than the first or second. If you liked the first and didn’t care for the second you probably won’t like this one at all.
Wow! One of my least favorite Discworld books, but that cover is fantastic!
Adrian Tchaikovsky - Pretenders to the Throne of God
The fifth installment in the “Tyrant Philosophers” series, the fantasy series takes inspiration from the european independence movements of the 1840s. It is based in a world where magic isn’t just real, but where hundreds of different magic systems all come together and clash, as each different culture has several ways that things are done. From helliers calling demons through contracts to work the industrial mills, to the leftovers from thousand-year-dead necromantic empires that locked themselves away in their tombs, to a city that has actually figured out utopia, and can work any miracle (but the city has a hard population cap) to minor gods who actively manifest and can do miracles, to the keepers of a mysterious forest that seems to allow people to move between realities… For a price.
Between them all (or, rather, surrounding them), we have the Palleseen: a new imperial power swiftly taking over the world. Strictly “rational”, abhorring all gods, woowoo, and mumbo-jumbo, the Palleseen are all-business, exporting their “perfection” (in the form of absolute bureaucracy) to the rest of the world by diplomacy, and, failing that, the underside of an iron-shod army-regulation boot. From a Pal-occupied city turning into a powderkeg of rebellion, to the front lines of one of the Palleseen’s ever-present wars, to a country facing the Pal’s more diplomatic face, to a city under siege, we see this world the Pals seek to “perfect” through the eyes of the weirdos, the outcasts, and those whose livelihoods rely on the messy inefficiencies of human life (those whom the Palleseen philosophically reject, and yet rely on as integral parts of civilisation) we explore the perspectives, flaws and beautiful rube-goldberg collision of these weirdos, both those fighting against and as part of the Palleseen engine.
This series examines the inescapable fallacy of a system which claims to be perfect, and how systems that work require the flexibility afforded by diversity of thought. Through every crack we glimpse as the imperialist war machine plods implacably forward, we glimpse the inevitable fall of such a machine, and have to ask “at what point is there hope in standing against an unbeatable foe? Should you stand against it anyway?”
I loved his children of time series. This sounds amazing and I definitely will check it out. Thanks for sharing.
Definitely! Start with “City of Last Chances”, then work your way through the rainbow (each successive book has a different accent color on the cover, in rainbow order)
- City of Last Chances - Red
- House of Open Wounds - Orange
- Days of Shattered Faith - Yellow
- Lives Of Bitter Rain - Green
- Pretenders to the Throne of God - Blue
Even the cover art is perfect. Every cover contains about ten references to the events, characters, and locations in the book.
I finally started reading it. Saw a review that said “just read it. The less you know the better” so I got it. Haven’t read it.
Went to dinner at cousins place who also heard good things, got the book, and hasn’t read it. So I’m reading it for the both of us I guess
I just read that book. It took me a while to really start enjoying it. I think sticking with it was worth it though. I would definitely recommend it.
Title
Seeing the diaries labeled December 2011 to June 2012 threw me completely, and the rest of the diaries labeled as such is making me even more confused.
I was planning to go the cinema today. Movie is starting in 30 minutes, but this chapter is throwing me out, I’m staying to keep reading
Only Part 1 spoilers above
Love the recommendation of going in as blind as possible. You learn as you read
The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin is one, but I’ve also been chewing through the Murderbot series
The Muderbot show has been pretty good. I think the cut aways to the SciFi slop he watches is some of the best material, but it’s fun all around.
The Broken Earth trilogy just didn’t hook me, though. I think if I hadn’t ingested so much high fantasy over a lifetime, it could have been good. But at a base level, it just felt like something I’d already read. Same with The Poppy War.
At some point, I think I just want to read the histories, rather than the Fantasy Inspired By the histories.
I haven’t read too much high fantasy in my life, so maybe that’s why I’m mostly enjoying it. I’ve decided I haven’t been reading enough for many years, so this year that’s changing. At 13 books so far I think! Was looking for sci-fi recommendations online and this trilogy was one I hadn’t heard of. Think I might go down the Hugo & Nebula award winners list for a while.
Do you have any sci-fi/fantasy recommends?
You can’t go wrong with the classics. I’m a big fan of Asimov’s I, Robot and Foundation. Le Guin’s Hanish Cycle is fantastic, particularly The Dispossessed. I loved Dune and Ender’s Game (although their sequels are mid).
If you want some pop SciFi, try Timothy Zhan’s Hier to the Empire or Tales from Mos Eisley Cantina. The Bobverse was also a lot of fun.
On the fantasy side, I’ve got a deep fondness for Raymond E. Fiest’s Magician series, although I’ll admit the later books in the series don’t hold up as well as the first few trilogies.
Also, huge nerd for H.P. Lovecraft
Thank you! I actually read the very first magician a long time ago; a friend we visited while traveling lent it to me. Now I know there’s a trilogy I’ll have to check it out!
