Amph What book are you reading right now?

Before I do where exactly were you at so I don't retread anything you already know? It ll be tomorrow sometime. I ll tag it

 

About to start Fate of the Jedi: Outcast

 

Just finished; Old Man's War by John Scalzi. Scalzi makes no secret that this is an homage to Robert Heinlein (especially Starship Troopers) and it certainly does read like Heinlein in many ways; particularly its focus on character. But the issues it explores--mortality, what it means to be human--set it apart. For a military sci-fi novel (which it very much is), war--as both a fulcrum for debate and a propellent for action--is strangely absent. Very little time is spent on the ethics, or the "right" and "wrong". It's not rah-rah and it's not naval-gazing. What it is though is exceptionally well written, with characters that feel like real people and humor that acts as a sinew for the light-touch though provocation. - 8/10

About to begin... I don't know. I've got the sequel, The Ghost Brigades, which doesn't follow the original novel's main protagonist. Also have A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge, The Dragon's Tooth by Nathan Wilson, The Child Thief by Brom and Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Berry. Not sure where I'm going just yet.

 

I don't remember which was the last book I read. The good guys were pretty much in charge of the oceans and there were big land wars closing in on the bad guys' territory.

 

I've just started Dark Force Rising. I'm already on page 65.

 

Skyla Skywalker, have you read any of the X-wing books? I recommend them for Jedi Aces. Start with Rogue Squadron by Michael Stackpole.

 

I haven't read it. I'll look for it though.

 

Seconded. You should definitely read X-wing.

 

Decided to go w/The Child Thief by Brom. Pulls you right in, but it's a grim tale right out of the gate, very much living up to its reputation.

 

Little Town at the Crossroads by Maria D. Wilkes

 

The Long Cosmos by Pratchett & Baxter. It's the last in their Long Earth series.

 

Tried reading A Fire upon the Deep once a couple of years ago - didn't get more than a few chapters in. Not bad, but very alien. I guess I'll retry it one of these days.

Just started reading Golden Son by Pierce Brown. If it's as good as Red Rising I'll be very pleased as I thought that was one of the most gripping sf novels I've read in a while, despite being rather obviously in the Hunger Games mould.

 

Crucible of War: The Seven Years' War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766, by Fred Anderson. Anderson chronicles the Seven Years' War and makes the case that it, not the American Revolution, was the most significant event of the eighteenth century, as it ended the French empire in North America, gave the British imperial dominion, shifted the system of alliances and balance of power in Europe, and set up the tensions that would culminate in the Revolution. Anderson is at his best when he's explaining these shifts, especially chronicling the changing relationship between the colonies and the administration in Britain. The downside of that focus is that, despite the Seven Years' War's global character, Anderson spends very little time on anything outside the colonies. He addresses everything, but briefly summarizes the punishing war in Germany that served as the centerpiece of the conflict for Europeans while reserving the detail for events in North America and, to a slightly lesser degree, within the cabinet in London. There's no similar effort to look at the decisionmaking of the French administration, or to detail the battles in Germany or India the way the clashes in Canada and the Ohio country are. It makes it more a chronicle of the French and Indian War than the Seven Years' War, properly speaking. But when it comes to what Anderson's actually trying to do, he's really good at it. The level of detail is great, the writing clear and coherent, the arguments well developed and persuasively made. He does a great job of explaining why the war went as it did, how it affected the Native Americans, and the developments in colonial politics. He even goes beyond the war proper with lengthy sections on the events immediately subsequent to and consequent from the war, Pontiac's Rebellion and the Stamp Act crisis, which are similarly good. A bit disappointing that it didn't deliver on the full promise of its title, but excellent history nonetheless.

 

NJO: Hero's Trial by James Luceno

 

Over 500 pages into It. I have 6 days.

 

I am currently reading Assassin's Creed: Last Descendants. It has been interesting so far, it is a nicely paced book. I decided to go for this because I wanted to take a small break between SW Insider: Vol 2 and 3 to get a bit of a change.

 

The French Prize by James L Nelson. Seafaring novel set in 1797 during America's Quasi-war with France. I've always thought there was a lot of room for yarns in this time period, and was happy to find one written recently by one of the better authors of the genre. He knows sailing inside and out; before he was a full-time author, he was 3rd mate of "HMS" Rose, which played the part of HMS Surprise in the film Master & Commander. The writing in his first novels was awkward, but the tales he told made them worth reading anyway, and he has gotten much better with time and practice. His books don't compare to Patrick O'Brian's, of course, even though O'Brian enjoyed them and recommended them for their authenticity.

 

The Black Company by Glen Cook

 

I read this like three times and then went back to the previous page to try to figure out what you were talking about. I thought the "It" was in reference to some book you had mentioned before.

 

Finished Nevernight by Jay Kristoff.

It's called Nevernight as a god of light defeated a goddess of night and the world orbits three sons at least one of which is always in the sky aside from a quick period of night once every 2 years. This was a hard book to put down, but I also wanted it to last forever. The basic plot is cliche; young person sees their parents killed and swears revenge in an assassin fantasy book. I don't know what other fantasy assassin books are like, but this book delivers in every way a book should deliver. It's Harry potter goes to assassin school minus the whimsical. It's bloody, fun, has all kinds of attitude, a few mysteries, twists etc etc. I felt the need to go to the author's blog and kiss his ass over it all. Happily, the sequel was sitting on the shelf yesterday. MINE!

Now reading Godsgrave by Jay Kristoff.

 

Someone needs to make a movie called That and we can really get a good Abbot & Costello bit going.

 

Finished Tigana yesterday. My that was a glorious book and my 1st GGK. I purposely went with it 1st because of the controversy it gets. I loved it.

For Sarge about Safehold ending the simple way.

Spoiler

in all 9 books there never was any moments where Charis was going to lose this battle as long as Merlin in play. He gave them everything they needed to steamroll over the Church unless the Archangels woke up. They never did and it was frustrating as hell. There was 2 "Church Armies" from the sounds of it you read the 1st. The 2nd was the million man Harchong(Chinese/Japanese) that was supposed to be such a tough fight for Charis. It never was.. 2 books worth of that General moving his army into position and just a few hundred pages in the last of them getting whooped and falling back. The last 30 pgs finally had the Church's morale break and the other Vicars plotted a coup against Clinton and the citizens of Zion ran him out where Merlin caught him fleeing. Rather then finishing the Church off which was the goal for the entire 9 books Merlin and Cayleb were tired of the bloodshed and decided the time wasn't right to end the Church so they left them with a new Grand vicar Rhobair. The Empire never set foot in Zion to kill the sleeping Arch Angels.. Weber said in the authors note that Merlin had many more tales to tell so I think 1-9 were just Act 1. I think if he goes back to Act 2 he will tell the story and move the tech up to the near future and that will be the confrontation of ending the Church/Arch and the weapon that destroys detected technology. Act 3 will be pure Sci Fi taking on/out the Gabba. I just hope if that is the plan it's not 9 books each unless he gets a hell of an editor!!!

 

Thanks for the summary, JEDI-SOLO. If it "ends" with that many loose threads hanging and questions unanswered, I won't bother to wade through it all. I have better things to waste my time on.

 

Yeah no problem. As I said that was the simple broad strokes. There was quite a few side things going but I wanted to beat my head in with their decision before I read the note afterwards realizing what he was probably trying to do for future books. I will for sure read those after this long of my time invested in the setting but anything else prior to Safehold from him. COUNT ME OUT! Maybe his future stuff will be good but he really needs someone that can get him to cut needless bloat and move on with the story. I can say easily that Safehold was fun when it wasn't going through page after page of unneeded info dumps etc. He can certainly tell a fun story and his battles are a true treat imo.