Books Read 2024

[YellowKing]

Necroscope II: Vamphyr! - Brian Lumley - 4 out of 5 Vampire Fangs

This is just a fun series. Vampires, Russian agents who use ESP warfare, people who can talk to the dead, reincarnation, flame throwers. It's a blast. Book 2 ups the ante even over the excellent Book 1, getting even more wild.

Published in the mid-80s with books continuing into the 2000s, I'm really surprised this series was never adapted for film or television.

[ImLawBoy]

Finished King: A Life by Jonathan Eig on Kindle. Hard to discuss without getting a little into R&P, so apologies for that. You won't hurt my feelings if you skip this post.

I grew tired of seeing a certain ilk of politician and/or political commentator taking a certain single quote of MLK's out of context, and I always enjoyed the response of "Please, I'm begging you to read literally anything else that King has ever written." In a rare bit of self awareness, however, I realized that I really hadn't read much King, either. Now, King didn't actually write this biography of him that came out last year (that would have been weird), but I think it is a big step into learning more about King. his beliefs, and his life. Given that I read probably one non-fiction book every 5 years or so, I like to make sure it's a good one.

King: A Life had been getting rave reviews as the first new major biography of the man in a long time, and it comes with the benefit of including a lot of previously sealed FBI information on him (although the rest is set to be unsealed in 2027). Eig also is probably one of the last historians to be able to directly interview a lot of the people from that era, as time keeps on tickin', tickin', tickin', into the future.

The book is far from a hagiography of King, although King is still a mostly heroic figure. It doesn't shy away from discussing King's personal flaws - his womanizing, misogyny, and plagiarism are all examined. This isn't the sanitized version of King that many of us grew up learning about. It presents him as a real human being with strong convictions, but far from perfect. I appreciated learning more about his deep conviction for pacifism, which probably had more to do with the public turning against him than his civil rights efforts.

I also learned more about the historical era from shortly before I was born. Being from the "enlightened North" and born and raised in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs, I always knew how we were so much less racist than Southerners. Of course, I've learned quite a bit since my childhood about the pervasiveness of segregation and racism in the North, but the portions of the books that focus on King's efforts in Chicago really paint a stark picture of Northern racism. I'm paraphrasing, but after one march King said something like, "The people of Mississippi should really come to Chicago to learn how to hate."

This was a really worthwhile read, and easy to get into and enjoy. Highly recommended.

[jztemple2]

Years ago I read the three volume biography of King and the Civil Rights movement of his times written by Taylor Branch. If you can commit the time, it is the best history of the movement I've ever read.

[jztemple2]

Read

• The Last Ditch: Britain's Secret Resistance and the Nazi Invasion Plans by David Lampe
• Bismarck's First War: The Campaign of Schleswig and Jutland 1864 by Michael Embree
• Curtiss: The Hammondsport Era 1907-1915 by Louis S. Casey
• The Man Who Fell From the Sky by William Norris
• The China Clipper, Pan American Airways And Popular Culture by Larry Weirather
• The Boxer Rebellion by Henry Keown-Boyd

Just Finished
Lunar Outfitters: Making the Apollo Space Suit by Bill Ayrey

Reading
Wild Bill Hickok: The Man and His Myth by Joseph G. Rosa

[Hipolito]

Dune by Frank Herbert (hardcover + audiobook): I've tried to read this a couple of times in the past, giving up not because it was bad but because it's so sedate that I got distracted by other things. This time, I made it all the way through.

This book was first published in 1965, and I can see its influence on countless fantasy and sci-fi stories like Star Wars, The Wheel of Time, A Song of Ice and Fire, and The Elder Scrolls. Also, despite being nearly 6 decades old, its writing style doesn't feel outdated; it could have been written today.

I appreciate its analysis of environmentalism, ecology, politics, and religion. It feels even more important today, given how much worse the environment has become thanks to the negligence and malfeasance of political and religious leaders. It's also rich in highly quotable philosophical statements.

But I had a hard time getting through the book. Most of it is too plodding for my tastes. There are three great moments that stand out in my mind: 1) a crazy battle early in the story ("Great Mother, what are these Fremen?"), 2) an advisor telling a ruler how to plot a betrayal even while plotting their own betrayal against that ruler, 3) the final 50 pages of awesomeness. The rest of the book was of middling entertainment value.

I read the book while listening to the audiobook, which marred my experience. The audiobook is a mess. In some parts, the narration and the dialogue are done by different actors, and the actors do a good job. But in other parts, the narrator does all the dialogue, and he's not so good. I don't know why the production is so inconsistent. Sometimes it switches from the actors doing their own parts to the narrator doing all the parts on the same page! Although the occasional ambient music does enhance some scenes (especially the battle scene I mentioned above), I eventually abandoned the audiobook and just read the book.

There are lots of sequels. I've heard that the first sequel (Dune Messiah) is a good resolution to this book, so I might read that one at least. And I'll watch the movies. 5 out of 8 thumpers.

[Scuzz]

I read Dune a long time ago, and to be honest liked the movie with Sting better. But I have thought about giving it another read as I think I just wasn’t patient enough with it. There are some great highs but there are also some very slow moments.

But you can’t really argue against the influence it had on what followed it.

[YellowKing]

Maniac: The Bath School Disaster and the Birth of the Modern Mass Murderer - Harold Schechter

I've been a longtime fan of Harold Schechter's true crime books. This one was particularly intriguing because it detailed a crime from 1927 that quickly faded from public memory and few today know about, despite it being one of the biggest school mass murders in history. Quick read, entertaining and informative.

[Pyperkub]

Finished - RF Kuang's Babel (Nebula Award winner, possibly removed from Hugo consideration by China censorship)

Very cool F/SF book about English Colonialism, Oxford and a unique magic system based on Language and Translation.

Finished Alix Harrow's Starling House

good Haunted House book with some interesting ideas. I'm still kind of digesting it (finished at 2am last night), her writing is still amazing, but I'm not quite sure it's up to the high bar she set with The Ten Thousand Doors of January or The Once and Future Witches (but, it did keep me up until 2am finishing it, so...). It could also be some of the narrative style she uses, hinting at meta characters/storytelling which gets fleshed out, but doesn't have as big a payoff as it could, but lends a certain truth/story/folklore aspect to the writing from within and without which could be a very interesting discussion just on its own.

Regardless, I enjoyed it.

Finished - Brandon Sanderson's Defiant - Book 4 (final) of the Skyward series. A good finale to the series, with a nice tease of more books, even tho the main plot and character growth is complete. Well done YA space opera which gets a bit too big for the way the initial book plays out (which was probably the best from a story perspective, as the massive expansion in scale in the later books gets a bit, well, weird). Overall, a fun series.

Finished Sanderson's Tress of the Emerald Sea - holy crap was this book fun! (the other secret project book I read last year - The Frugal Wizards's Handbook was also great fun). From the afterward, he and his family had watched The Princess Bride during the pandemic lockdowns, and started talking about why didn't Buttercup do anything when Westley went missing? Well, this is a story of a young woman in the Cosmere (you don't need to know anything about his Cosmere to enjoy this) who goes out after her Westley, and it's a lot of fun. I'm on the verge of just ordering the next two secret project books after all the fun the first two have been.

[Isgrimnur]

Operation Valuable Fiend: The CIA's First Paramilitary Strike Against the Iron Curtain

A history of covert actions against Post-WWII Albania.

[Hipolito]

Finished - RF Kuang's Babel (Nebula Award winner, possibly removed from Hugo consideration by China censorship)

Very cool F/SF book about English Colonialism, Oxford and a unique magic system based on Language and Translation.

I already wanted to read this, now even more so.

Operation Valuable Fiend: The CIA's First Paramilitary Strike Against the Iron Curtain

A history of covert actions against Post-WWII Albania.

Interesting, didn't know that happened.

[Isgrimnur]

They got a bunch of people killed for not much benefit.

[Punisher]

Just finished M.A.S.H. at the beginning of Jan (started at end of Nov/beginning of Dec)

Started M.A.S.H. goes to Maine. About 1/4-1/2 way through.

Both are physical books.
Started reading Alexander Hamilton on kindle. The one the play is based on. Just a few pages in on that one.

I used to read 2-3 books a month in the before times. Just not capable of that anymore which is unfortunate because I now have the time for it.

[Scuzz]

I read the two MASH books probably 30+ years ago. The first one is a really good read. If those interest you look for Mister Roberts. There is also a book about a WW2 wartime psychologist that was made into a movie starring Gregory Peck and Angie Dickinson that is decent. I can’t remember what the name is though.

Edit: I think it may be called Captain Newman MD.

[Pyperkub]

I read the two MASH books probably 30+ years ago. The first one is a really good read. If those interest you look for Mister Roberts. There is also a book about a WW2 wartime psychologist that was made into a movie starring Gregory Peck and Angie Dickinson that is decent. I can’t remember what the name is though.

Edit: I think it may be called Captain Newman MD.

Was Mister Roberts a book? It kind of makes sense, but I'm only familiar with the (fantastic) movie.

[Scuzz]

I read the two MASH books probably 30+ years ago. The first one is a really good read. If those interest you look for Mister Roberts. There is also a book about a WW2 wartime psychologist that was made into a movie starring Gregory Peck and Angie Dickinson that is decent. I can’t remember what the name is though.

Edit: I think it may be called Captain Newman MD.

Was Mister Roberts a book? It kind of was makes sense, but I'm only familiar with the (fantastic) movie.

It was written by Thomas Heggen. It was also a broadway play if I remember correctly.

[Z-Corn]

Maniac: The Bath School Disaster and the Birth of the Modern Mass Murderer - Harold Schechter

I've been a longtime fan of Harold Schechter's true crime books. This one was particularly intriguing because it detailed a crime from 1927 that quickly faded from public memory and few today know about, despite it being one of the biggest school mass murders in history. Quick read, entertaining and informative.

I've been to Bath School Disaster Memorial Park. Such a crazy story...

[Scuzz]

Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie

This is the third book in the Imperial Radch Trilogy. It continues the story of Breq and her fight with Anaander Mianaai, ruler of the Radch Empire. I am mixed on this book as it starts well but the ending could have been a lot more satisfying. Leckie has created an interesting world with some interesting characters. She doesn't necessarily shy away from violence but she likes to approach things in what I kind of refer to as the Star Trek way, where peaceful negotiation is always the prime way of solving things. The background of the main character no doubt explains that but sometimes action should prevail.

The book is an easy read, as by now if you haven't caught on to the differences in the Radch culture by now you have probably quit reading the books. I would recommend these to someone who wants a different way of looking at a space opera.

[hitbyambulance]

I've heard that the first sequel (Dune Messiah) is a good resolution to this book, so I might read that one at least.

not just that; it's an essential part of the story itself. Villaneuve says he wants to also film that one and be done with his involvement in the film adaptations; i hope that happens.

and the possible reasons why it's so short compared to the first book's sizeable length is worth discussing (after you've finished it)

[YellowKing]

I'm not doing starred reviews anymore, I find it more difficult to rate books than movies for some reason, so I'll just give impressions.

Finished 3 last night:

The Color of Magic - Terry Pratchett - I bought the big Discworld Humble Bundle to give these a try. I had actually started The Color of Magic years ago and couldn't remember if I finished it (I hadn't). I know this series is really popular and while comedic fantasy is typically not my thing I still enjoyed this one, and from what I've read the series gets much better.

Fellstones - Ramsey Campbell - I read a few Ramsey Campbell books back when I was younger, and when this one came up in a 99 cent sale I grabbed it. It's definitely very folk horror/Wicker Man vibes. Not great but not terrible.

The Hammer of Darkness - L.E. Modesitt, Jr - Ugh, I didn't like this one at all. This book is a perfect example of why I don't tend to read science fiction. When it comes to "Mark plugged in the zeebzoid, which took 5 leebseks to porticulate" type writing, I just get so lost. My brain can't wrap around the concepts. And this novel was about gods, or humans playing god, or something. I didn't understand a word of it. After I finished I had to go read a summary just to understand what I had read. I'll stick to Modesitt's fantasy, which I enjoyed.

[Hipolito]

The Color of Magic - Terry Pratchett - I bought the big Discworld Humble Bundle to give these a try. I had actually started The Color of Magic years ago and couldn't remember if I finished it (I hadn't). I know this series is really popular and while comedic fantasy is typically not my thing I still enjoyed this one, and from what I've read the series gets much better.

I'm interested in Discworld, too, so thanks for mentioning that there's a bundle. Just bought with a couple of hours to spare.

[El Guapo]

The Narrow Road Between Desires by Patrick Rothfuss

This is a new short story / novella out of the Kvothe Kingkiller chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss. This one focuses on Bast, a fay / demon creature (kind of forget his exact status) who is friends with Kvothe in the "present day" portions of the Kingkiller books. I liked it - Rothfuss is a good writer, though at times I felt like I was getting a bit tired of him. I think Rothfuss's true love is short stories and character building, hence he's spending his time on stuff like this and why the second book in the trilogy was really more like a collection of Kvothe short stories than a singular novel with a focused narrative. That said, he is a really good writer and storyteller. So if you like Rothfuss, this is worth your time.

[Scuzz]

The Color of Magic - Terry Pratchett - I bought the big Discworld Humble Bundle to give these a try. I had actually started The Color of Magic years ago and couldn't remember if I finished it (I hadn't). I know this series is really popular and while comedic fantasy is typically not my thing I still enjoyed this one, and from what I've read the series gets much better.

I'm interested in Discworld, too, so thanks for mentioning that there's a bundle. Just bought with a couple of hours to spare.

I have read 7 of the Guards series. The first couple of books are really good.

[ImLawBoy]

Finished the trade paperback of Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo. Bardugo is mostly known for her YA fantasy series set in the "Grisha-verse". Specifically, she's written the Shadow and Bone trilogy and Six of Crows duology. We've read these books to my oldest before bed, so my wife picked this one up for him. I looked at it, though, and thought that might not be best. Ninth House is Bardugo's first quest into adult fiction, and it's definitely not a YA title.

The titular nine houses are the secret societies of Yale, which are real. In Bardugo's world, though, these societies practice actual magic - and it can be nasty stuff. The ninth of the houses is Lethe, and they're tasked with keeping the other houses in check so they don't release accidental magic or kill random homeless people in New Haven as sacrifices. Our heroine is Alex Stern, who grew up rough in California and left her mom's to live with her drug dealing boyfriend at 15. After a horrible incident where most of her friends die gruesome deaths and she nearly ODs, she's recruited to come to Yale to join Lethe house. You see, part of the reason Alex grew up rough is because she can see ghosts, and it's very traumatizing.

Once she's at Yale, she witnesses first hand the rituals of the societies and sees what can go wrong. When a local girl is brutally murdered, she suspects a tie in to the societies and wants to investigate while everyone else seems to want to sweep it under the rug.

I was pleasantly surprised by the book. I admit that I expected it to still have a YA feel to it, but Bardugo seamlessly drops the teen angst of her YA stuff and ably picks up more adult themes. At first I thought the magic use was a bit overdone and thought it might be more interesting to see a world minimal magic that could also be explained by other things (like extreme wealth), but I got over my preconceptions and realized that Bardugo wouldn't be able to tell the story she was telling without the overt magic. Good stuff, and I recommend it. Apparently there's a sequel out that I'll have to pick up at some point (plus it's going to be an Amazon Prime series).

[Pyperkub]

Finished - RF Kuang's Babel (Nebula Award winner, possibly removed from Hugo consideration by China censorship)

Very cool F/SF book about English Colonialism, Oxford and a unique magic system based on Language and Translation.

Finished Alix Harrow's Starling House

good Haunted House book with some interesting ideas. I'm still kind of digesting it (finished at 2am last night), her writing is still amazing, but I'm not quite sure it's up to the high bar she set with The Ten Thousand Doors of January or The Once and Future Witches (but, it did keep me up until 2am finishing it, so...). It could also be some of the narrative style she uses, hinting at meta characters/storytelling which gets fleshed out, but doesn't have as big a payoff as it could, but lends a certain truth/story/folklore aspect to the writing from within and without which could be a very interesting discussion just on its own.

Regardless, I enjoyed it.

Updated to add Starling House to the finished books list.

[El Guapo]

A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel: Volume Four by Daniel Abraham (Adapter), George R. R. Martin (Author), Tommy Patterson (Illustrator)

Finished the Game of Thrones graphic novels (the ones covering the first Song of Ice and Fire book). It was good - obviously a great story, as pretty much everyone here knows. This tracks the GRRM book and the show very closely, to the point of key dialogue being identical. I understand that the books and the show start to diverge more significantly after this. I enjoyed it, though I'm probably not going to continue with the graphic novels - I don't really need to go through this whole narrative again.

[Punisher]

Finished M.A.S.H. Goes to Maine.
It was interesting but I really didn't realize how different the books and movie are from the show. The tone is VERY different and through me off but I pushed through. Not sure if I will try the others in the series though but maybe.
Currently reading Scott Lang, look out for the little giy and have blown through half of it already. This is much more interesting to me.

[Pyperkub]

Finished - RF Kuang's Babel (Nebula Award winner, possibly removed from Hugo consideration by China censorship)

Very cool F/SF book about English Colonialism, Oxford and a unique magic system based on Language and Translation.

Finished Alix Harrow's Starling House

good Haunted House book with some interesting ideas. I'm still kind of digesting it (finished at 2am last night), her writing is still amazing, but I'm not quite sure it's up to the high bar she set with The Ten Thousand Doors of January or The Once and Future Witches (but, it did keep me up until 2am finishing it, so...). It could also be some of the narrative style she uses, hinting at meta characters/storytelling which gets fleshed out, but doesn't have as big a payoff as it could, but lends a certain truth/story/folklore aspect to the writing from within and without which could be a very interesting discussion just on its own.

Regardless, I enjoyed it.

Finished - Brandon Sanderson's Defiant - Book 4 (final) of the Skyward series. A good finale to the series, with a nice tease of more books, even tho the main plot and character growth is complete. Well done YA space opera which gets a bit too big for the way the initial book plays out (which was probably the best from a story perspective, as the massive expansion in scale in the later books gets a bit, well, weird). Overall, a fun series.

Updated as I finished Defiant last night... late, again.

[disarm]

I just finished Unbroken by Lauren Hillenbrand, the true story of Louis Zamperini's life as an Olympic runner chasing the 4-minute mile, WWII bombardier, and tortured POW in Japan. This was recommended to me by a friend as a 'must read' for anyone, I couldn't agree more. Not only does it give insight into the almost hard to believe life of one man, but it also gives a very informative look into the life of WWII bomber crews in the Pacific theater and the horrific experiences of Allied POWs in Japan.

I don't want to say too much, but take my word that this is an amazingly well written and compelling book that should be read by anyone with an interest in WWII or even just amazing life stories.

[jztemple2]

Read

• The Last Ditch: Britain's Secret Resistance and the Nazi Invasion Plans by David Lampe
• Bismarck's First War: The Campaign of Schleswig and Jutland 1864 by Michael Embree
• Curtiss: The Hammondsport Era 1907-1915 by Louis S. Casey
• The Man Who Fell From the Sky by William Norris
• The China Clipper, Pan American Airways And Popular Culture by Larry Weirather
• The Boxer Rebellion by Henry Keown-Boyd
• Lunar Outfitters: Making the Apollo Space Suit by Bill Ayrey
• Wild Bill Hickok: The Man and His Myth by Joseph G. Rosa
• Colonel Parke of Virginia: "The Greatest Hector in the Town": A Biography by Helen Hill Miller
• First Across the Continent: Sir Alexander MacKenzie by Barry Gough
• Race with the Wind: How Air Racing Advanced Aviation by Birch Matthews
• How to Survive in Medieval England by Toni Mount
• The Longest Afternoon: The 400 Men Who Decided the Battle of Waterloo by Brendan Simms
• Fort Hall, Gateway to the Oregon Country by Frank C. Robertson
• The Iron Way: Railroads, the Civil War, and the Making of Modern America by William G. Thomas
• The Romance of Engines by Takashi Suzuki

Reading
James J. Hill and the Opening of the Northwest by Albro Martin

[Scuzz]

Century Rain by Alastair Reynolds

This is my first book by Reynolds. I suppose he is known for his trilogy but I wanted to start with a stand alone book. As I understand it this is in the same world, but I am not sure of that.

As for the book, I really liked the first 70% or so. It is part murder mystery, part spy drama and part thriller. It contains wormholes, alternate realities and time travel, in a manner of speaking. We meet the main characters and follow their stories until they merge into one. He does a good job with the main characters, and for a book I have seen described as "Hard Sci-Fi" I thought it was a pretty easy read. His science is the kind you can ignore, much easier than a Stephenson read.

As for the last 30% of the book it becomes a space opera that seems to me to take too long to get where it is going. It is also much more linear as we seem to be on a roller coaster where as the start of the book seems to have so many options. It's not bad, but there do seem to be lapses in logic that if I picked up on them it may bother others more.

I do plan on reading more of Reynold's stand alone books, Pushing Ice and Eversion are supposed to be good.

[Pyperkub]

Finished - RF Kuang's Babel (Nebula Award winner, possibly removed from Hugo consideration by China censorship)

Very cool F/SF book about English Colonialism, Oxford and a unique magic system based on Language and Translation.

Finished Alix Harrow's Starling House

good Haunted House book with some interesting ideas. I'm still kind of digesting it (finished at 2am last night), her writing is still amazing, but I'm not quite sure it's up to the high bar she set with The Ten Thousand Doors of January or The Once and Future Witches (but, it did keep me up until 2am finishing it, so...). It could also be some of the narrative style she uses, hinting at meta characters/storytelling which gets fleshed out, but doesn't have as big a payoff as it could, but lends a certain truth/story/folklore aspect to the writing from within and without which could be a very interesting discussion just on its own.

Regardless, I enjoyed it.

Finished - Brandon Sanderson's Defiant - Book 4 (final) of the Skyward series. A good finale to the series, with a nice tease of more books, even tho the main plot and character growth is complete. Well done YA space opera which gets a bit too big for the way the initial book plays out (which was probably the best from a story perspective, as the massive expansion in scale in the later books gets a bit, well, weird). Overall, a fun series.

Updated to add:

Finished Sanderson's Tress of the Emerald Sea - holy crap was this book fun! (the other secret project book I read last year - The Frugal Wizards's Handbook was also great fun). From the afterward, he and his family had watched The Princess Bride during the pandemic lockdowns, and started talking about why didn't Buttercup do anything when Westley went missing? Well, this is a story of a young woman in the Cosmere (you don't need to know anything about his Cosmere to enjoy this) who goes out after her Westley, and it's a lot of fun. I'm on the verge of just ordering the next two secret project books after all the fun the first two have been.

[Hipolito]

A Song for Arbonne by Guy Gavriel Kay (audiobook): This fantasy novel is a tale of two countries: Gorhaut, which is harsh, toxic, and misogynistic in all the ways you'd expect of a male-dominated kingdom; and Arbonne, which is idyllic, female-forward, and celebrates romance and music much more than battle prowess.

The main character is Blaise, a mercenary from Gorhaut who's been hired to train the elite soldiers of Arbonne. The gruff and taciturn Blaise feels like a fish out of water in Arbonne, where people are much more interested in the lyrics of the newest troubadour song than the feats of warriors. But he has an interesting past and you wonder if his heart might melt just a little in warm Arbonne.

This is a fun story with surprising twists from the outset. In the middle of the book, I sometimes felt how dialogue-heavy it was, and worried that it was losing its grip on me. But then the plot picked up and things got rolling again.

This is my first read by the author. Kay's writing somehow manages to be economical yet poetic and lush. He makes you want to learn all you can about the fascinating culture of Arbonne. He also makes you care about the characters, who often find that their true paths veer from the destinies they and others had in mind.

The excellent audiobook narrator also does a fine job singing the many passages of song lyrics. Listening on audiobook made it a bit difficult for me to follow the story, though. I sometimes couldn't remember who the current POV character was or how they were related to the other characters. (I actually searched online for some fan-made family tree diagram, but didn't find one.) Not that there are tons of characters to keep track of; this isn't an epic-scope fantasy. But listening on audiobook doesn't give me as much memory retention as reading words on a page.

Still, I got the gist enough to really enjoy the ending, which had monologues and dramatic confrontations that reminded me of the great epic poems of ancient Greece and India. And boy, does Kay like to wrap things up. 6 out of 8 owls.

[Jaymann]

Just finished The Sword of Kaigen by M. L. Wang.


This book is cited by several You Tubers as one of the best of all time. I can see why, but not sure if I agree. It is set in a fantasy realm of Japanese style samurai warrior culture with elemental magic coexisting with more modern technology. The technology has little impact on the remote village where most of the story takes place. If that is your cuppa it's worth a read. Unfortunately,

Spoiler:

The budding hero is killed off half way through the book and we are left with his mother as the protagonist. I did not care nearly as much about her story arc.

There is some epic swordplay and gut wrenching drama. However, the third act starts to meander a bit and I could have done with more swordplay and less gut wrench. I thought this book was a standalone, and it can certainly be read that way, but realized it was introducing additional story elements that are continued in a series. I wasn't enthused enough to commit to another three volumes. 5/8 Whispering Blades.

[ImLawBoy]

What's the book? My work's firewall blocks tons of images these days (at least half of what Isg posts lately is just blank space to me).

[Jaymann]

What's the book? My work's firewall blocks tons of images these days (at least half of what Isg posts lately is just blank space to me).

Fixed.

[Isgrimnur]

(at least half of what Isg posts lately is just blank space to me).

[ImLawBoy]

Not your fault. Stupid work firewall.

[coopasonic]

(at least half of what Isg posts lately is just blank space to me).

A little bit his fault. Images without alt text are arguably a crime, though a minor one.

Since I am here.

John Scalzi's Old Man's War

Interesting concept, though very short book. I did start the second because the world (galaxy... universe?) was interesting enough that I wanted to know more

[Scuzz]

(at least half of what Isg posts lately is just blank space to me).

A little bit his fault. Images without alt text are arguably a crime, though a minor one.

Since I am here.

John Scalzi's Old Man's War

Interesting concept, though very short book. I did start the second because the world (galaxy... universe?) was interesting enough that I wanted to know more

I have read the first three in the series. Each is a little weaker than the previous book although the world he created is interesting.

[YellowKing]

Finished another five:

The Witch of Lime Street: Seance, Seduction, & Houdini in the Spirit World - David Jaher - Great non-fiction account of Houdini's debunking of Spiritualism and his showdown with the one spiritualist who nearly fooled the Scientific American. I love reading about this era and I love magic so this was right up my alley.

Terry Pratchett - The Light Fantastic - Didn't enjoy this second book in the Discworld series as much as the first, but I had read that Terry Pratchett considered Books 1 & 2 pretty rough compared to the rest of the series. I just started Book 3 and I could immediately tell the writing and humor had grown by leaps and bounds.

Knights Magi - Terry Mancour- The Spellmonger series is absolutely one of my favorite fantasy series, and this fourth book tells the story of mage lord Minalin's two apprentices. The world building and character building is methodical and brilliant.

Passage of Dawn - R.A. Salvatore - This was the first book since I started reading the Drizzt series that I felt the writing was starting to mature, and the next book in the series that I'm reading now only cemented that thought. I'm now officially past the point of re-reading any Drizzt novels I had previously read in my youth, so everything from here on out will be new to me. Woo hoo!

The Dancing Plague - Jeremy Bates - Jeremy Bates writes the literary equivalent of entertaining mainstream horror films, typically based on real-world legends and myths. They never strive to be anything deeper than that, and that's why I love them. They're just quick fun reads. Currently reading the sequel to this one, which tells the story of the now-adult kids from the first book further investigating the mystery.