CACTUS AWARD Fantasy/Sci-fi Book Club Time

[Yossarian_42]

"The first Defier" JF Brink. Typical LitRPG. The world is suddenly subjected to "the system". Monsters are everywhere and you grow or die. Survivors discover "the interface". With it they can level up their stats (like an RPG game). MC is subjected to some random horrible luck where they should have died (most overused trope in the genre), but they survived and became unusually strong. First couple of books are fine. Not my favorite but enjoyable. Last few books are less so.

"He who Fights Monsters" Shirtaloon
Different trope (MC gets sucked into different world where stats and leveling up are normal). Same other than that. First 3 books were great. Middle books were horrible. Last couple have been much better. Was an awesome series till the middle, one of my faves.

"The Primal Hunter" Zorgath
A twist on the "world gets sucked into the system" trope. Nice writing, interesting world building, needs a lot of editing, but would be great if it had that. If you can ignore the problems, it's a great series.

I'll look back and see which series I enjoyed and mention them when I can remember reading them. The above were off the top of my head.

If somebody asked me to make a list of three LitRPG series those are the three I would list. They are the three I still read weekly. All three of these suffer from the same problem, the author has created a world where it takes 'millions of years' to hit max rank but they are following the character day to day so they've written 900 chapters over five years and the character is still rank 3 out of 10 or whatever. The series just go on and on and on and on with no real interest in a narrative conclusion. I still like them because the point is the progression but it does eventually start to wear on you.

I agree the middle books of HWFM were miserable. The entire Earth arc was a disaster. I get what he is trying to do with the mental health thing but it was extremely ham fisted and repetitive. They get better once things lighten up again.

A couple decent series that are noteworthy because they actually have an ending: Defiance of the Fall by Tao Wong and Cradle by Will Wight. Both series have their ups and downs (the first two books of Cradle are pretty mediocre) but it is nice to actually have an ending. They are also more progression fantasy than LitRPG. DotF is sort of a hybrid with light LitRPG.

My favorite prog fantasy is The Weirkey Chronicles by Sarah Lin. That one is a fairly new series but it is one of the few where I eagerly anticipate the new books. Arcane Ascension by Andrew Rowe can be a little cringe and has ups and downs but it is extremely popular and I like it well enough. The Completionist Chronicles by Dakota Krout has a strong start and an uneven middle, they are good enough I will keep reading them.

It is very common in the genre for authors to plan out a 50 book series and get bored after 7 so you sort of have to be OK with things that peter out and go nowhere.

 

[Eager_Igraine]

Ok back in Miami.

The first Dungeon Crawler Carl book was exactly the easy, goofy fun I wanted. I’ll pick up the next one until they get boring.

Fated (Alex Verus) was decent and I could read the second one. Definitely had a Dresden vibe to it. I kept reading the name as Versus. That was distracting.

a Memory Called Empire was mediocre and felt way too try-hard to me. Good technique, decent mechanics. A couple of neat ideas and world building, but then a near constant lack of imagination of how that world, those people, and their politics and tech would function left me bored and finishing out of obligation to see it thru. Would not recommend.

the Emperor’s Edge trilogy was solid C+ work The comedy didn’t always land, but I could see what the author was about and enjoyed the effort. Book IV will have to jump the shark, so I’m happy to stop and be satiswith the trilogy.

Rivers of London. About halfway thru it. I’m kinda enjoying it, but unless the end is amazing, I don’t see reading further. I like all the odd Brit quirks and the voice is good. This could be a fun bbc dramedy series. I should finish it by the time we get home tonight.

thanks again for the recommendations!

 

[Yossarian_42]

I think the Rivers of London books hit their stride a few books in but they don't get so dramatically much better that I would say don't listen to your first impression.

The best thing I can say about the Alex Verus books is that while they have minor ups and downs it is a consistently good series all the way to the end. And it does have an ending. At its best Dresden is better but Dresden has some real lows in the series and may never end.

I liked A Memory Called Empire but it was a very long and very flat book. It has a really weird vibe to it and wasn't super engaging. I'm vaguely interested in the sequel but have not run out to read it.

 

[Ptilk]

I liked Rivers of London series. Didn't love it, but I liked it.

Pretty much the same with Alex Verus.

I got to the 13% mark in Memory of Empire, and it's been sitting there ever since. I thought it was well written as far as technique goes and the author had talent, they just didn't have a story I cared about.

I've been reading a couple series by Jez Cajiao. Both have a really good story and world building in them, but the author loves his fight scenes a lot too much. Every book is intricately described fight, after fight, after fight, after fight. I just skip them now, and the rest of the books are good. Well, the Underverse series jumped the shark recently. After the MC beat a god to death with his bare hands, brought his friend back to life after said god killed him, and became emperor of the world, maybe it's time to end the series. Just saying. But no, it keeps going and we are supposed to care some army is approaching. First 5 books are good though.

I've read 13 books so far in a series written by an AI and edited by a 14 year old Chinese kid. Well, at least that is my best guess as to the author. Really weird writing style, seems like it's a translation, and the "author" writes about 2000 pages a week, every week. Goes by Luna HC, and the books are on Kindle Unlimited. If you can find them. Sometimes the show up in a search, other times they don't. It's progression stuff, channeling qi/chi and all that. They aren't good. They are interesting though.

 

[Yossarian_42]

It is pretty common for me to skip through fight scenes and sex scenes. They are both really boring to me. It is like putting a flashback in your book, you aren't progressing the plot or developing the characters so I don't care.

Long, boring, pointless fight scenes are my main problem with Dresden. He will have Dresden fight the enemy to a standstill four times throughout the book and none of those fights do anything for the plot, they are just there to be fight scenes. It is miserable.

The Primal Hunter books we talked about previously also fall in to that from time to time. Like, I don't give a shit about him fighting this giant badger for 35 pages.

I tend to get bored with cultivation novels because its just endless pages of them spinning chi in their metaphor stomach. There is one by Sarah Lin I might have mentioned called Weirkey Chronicles where they take all of those magic resources they are always gathering and build literal buildings inside their metaphor stomachs which is an interesting take.

 

[Mastara]

Kings Dark Tidings is a good series I've been enjoying.

 

[Manegarm]

Ok so since January last year I have consumed a total of 80 something books from the Black Library

Warhammer fantasy and Warhammer 40k books.

I recommend all of the Caphias Cain books and Gaunts Ghosts

 

[Jaedence]

I have been reading Becky Chambers series that starts with "A long way to a small angry planet" and I really enjoyed it.
It doesn't actually have much of a plot to be honest. Its a lot more world and culture building, philosophy and alien culture differences.
The next book is the same. How would an AI expand and develop a personality and the story of the little genetic clone slave girl who escapes and learns from an abandoned ship's AI is really good.
I like her writing style a lot, but it's not heavy on plot and action.

 

[Groucho48]

I have been reading Becky Chambers series that starts with "A long way to a small angry planet" and I really enjoyed it.
It doesn't actually have much of a plot to be honest. Its a lot more world and culture building, philosophy and alien culture differences.
The next book is the same. How would an AI expand and develop a personality and the story of the little genetic clone slave girl who escapes and learns from an abandoned ship's AI is really good.
I like her writing style a lot, but it's not heavy on plot and action.

If you think those books don't have much plot or action, just wait until you read her later stuff.

I really enjoyed the first one. The next couple were enjoyable. After that I can appreciate what she is trying to do, but not enjoy it all that much.

 

[Yossarian_42]

She is in my top 5 favorite current authors. Some of the books do get plotless to the point of insanity but they are all at least a 4/5.

To be Taught, If Fortunate is maybe my favorite book.

 

[Groucho48]

Just finished Grone, by Patrick Cumby. Pretty good read. A bit complex and hard to describe without giving away spoilers.

In a lavish gaming universe of empires and aliens, things just got real. Far too real. The QARMA supercomputer at Stanford University hosts the most vivid and realistic metaverse ever envisioned. But now a malicious cyberattack has cut the metaverse off from its creators and users. Behind an unbreakable firewall, time in the machine has begun to speed a million times faster than it should. As days and weeks tick by in the real world, centuries and millennia pass in the evolving metaverse. And now something from inside the firewall is trying to break free, a force that threatens a supernatural apocalypse in the real world. In a suburban basement thirty miles from Stanford, fifteen-year-old Fiona Martinez is playing an online video game. The phone rings. A stranger is calling. “Please don’t hang up,” the man pleads. “You’re about to be approached by a character in your game. She’s hurt. You must keep her safe, at all costs. Do you understand? Help her, or she’ll die. Help her, or we’ll all die.” GRONE is a portrait of a lavish VR metaverse in which culture and science have evolved beyond our reach, and where virtual life has become more precious than flesh and blood. “

It's book 1 of a series. Book 2 isn't out until next year and book 1 ends in a cliffhanger. You've been warned. Available on Kindle Unlimited.

 

[Yossarian_42]

I read one of the Lindsay Buroker books Groucho is always pushing (Shockwave, Star Kingdom 1) and I was mixed on it. I didn't immediately jump in to book two but I haven't taken continuing the series off the table. My issue wasn't with the writing so much as having no strong desire to see what happens next.

I was mixed on Sanderson's first two 'secret' novels but the third one, Yumi and the Nightmare Painter was really good, one of his best.

Dungeon Crawler Carl book 6 was a return to form after a couple mediocre entries in the series.

I also medium enjoyed Ann Leckie and John Scalzi's new books.

But what I'm really here to proselytize is Beneath The Dragoneye Moons by Selkie Myth. This is LitRPG so you have to be inclined to read that stuff but it is BY FAR the best LitRPG I've ever read. As per usual it isn't a completed series and may never be completed but it is 10 books long at present and has complete arcs. If there were 200 books I would spend the next five years reading them back to back as long as the quality remains the same. There was one bad book in the lot but the author has indicated they realize their mistakes so am hopeful it doesn't happen again. Two thumbs up.

 

[Jaedence]

If you think those books don't have much plot or action, just wait until you read her later stuff.

I really enjoyed the first one. The next couple were enjoyable. After that I can appreciate what she is trying to do, but not enjoy it all that much.

I could not get into the next two in the series and stopped.
I have started Dungeon Crawler Carl and find it is pretty good.

 

[Eager_Igraine]

Hmm, I should read some more books. I've gotten back up on the wagon for a few months now so I can better waste my time watching tv and playing video games, but maybe another book?

 

[Ptilk]

The first book in the series Beneath The Dragoneye Moon has been sitting in my Kindle library for months. Someone suggested it to me but I haven't gotten around to reading it yet. I'll check it out later today when I finish my current book

Millennial Mage series by J. K. Mullins is a decent read. It's LitRPG, but a bit different than the norm. It's more the internal dialogue of the MC than the story of them. World is pretty unique. It's not an exciting read, but very relaxing and thought provoking.

I enjoyed the first couple of Dungeon Crawler Carl. Lost all interest by book 4 however.

All the Skills: A deck building LitRPG by Honor Rae was good. Well, it was better than I thought it would be. 2 books in the series so far. I'll definitely be reading the next when it comes out.

Twisted Luck by Mel Todd was a really fun series for me. It's sort of Nancy Drew mysteries with magic, written by a paranormal romance author.

Lots and lots of books that continue series I'm reading come out this month. Finally. Was slow going all summer.

 

[Yossarian_42]

I was really in to All the Skills but the author is extremely slow. I don't know if that is the norm or if they are taking a quasi-break but chapters come out very slowly. I will continue it whenever book three lands.

Dungeon Crawler Carl definitely has a slump in the middle. I wouldn't necessarily recommend continuing it if you weren't loving it but it does get better.

I also sort of liked the Salvos series but it is having the issue where the author keeps adding POVs and all I really want to read is Salvos' POV so each book is progressively more bogged down and uninteresting. I'm still in to the series but I skim 50% of each book because I do not give a shit about the side characters.

I'm also really enjoying Sarah Lin's Weirkey Chronicles. It has a fun take on cultivation that I am really enjoying (instead of compressing energy and making dumb spirals everyone builds a house in their soul using magical materials they find in the world).

 

[Groucho48]

I'm currently reading book 7 of the Weirkey Chronicles. Pretty good series except for the times she goes overboard oand describing working on a Soul Home. Several pages of descriptions of fine tuning and adjusting and tinkering and pondering a magic system that could easily be boiled down to...he spent another few hours tinkering and improved his gravity handling by 3%.

 

[Jaedence]

For those who listen to audio books, Dungeon Crawler Carl is one of the best I have ever listened to in terms of sound production and voice acting.
Highly recommended.
I didn't plan to go past the first book, but its good enough to keep going.
It is very well written for this kind of book. Its just a little slower than I would like and I don't like the direction he's going.
1. Unarmed is ass and boring.
2. Overthrow the galactic overlords is not as exciting as the dungeon adventure that I was sold on, and there's very little actual dungeon adventure.
3. This is both very funny, and very dark and sad at the same time. It's an odd mix.

 

[Eager_Igraine]

I'm kinda shocked that DCC has audio books, let alone that they have any real production value. I've enjoyed the books I've read so far, although I haven't finished the one I started months ago, but it isn't exactly grate stuff. It's just casual light comedy.

 

[NetiNeti]

Sex and Rockets: The Occult World of Jack Parsons - Kindle edition by Carter, John, Wilson, Robert Anton. Religion & Spirituality Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

Amazon.com: Strange Angel: The Otherworldly Life of Rocket Scientist John Whiteside Parsons eBook : Pendle, George: Kindle Store

Check out 2 season episodes on Paramount plus for Strange Angel

Strange Angel (Official Site) Watch on Paramount PlusThis is very watchable

 

[Manegarm]

The first book in the series Beneath The Dragoneye Moon has been sitting in my Kindle library for months. Someone suggested it to me but I haven't gotten around to reading it yet. I'll check it out later today when I finish my current book

Millennial Mage series by J. K. Mullins is a decent read. It's LitRPG, but a bit different than the norm. It's more the internal dialogue of the MC than the story of them. World is pretty unique. It's not an exciting read, but very relaxing and thought provoking.

I enjoyed the first couple of Dungeon Crawler Carl. Lost all interest by book 4 however.

All the Skills: A deck building LitRPG by Honor Rae was good. Well, it was better than I thought it would be. 2 books in the series so far. I'll definitely be reading the next when it comes out.

Twisted Luck by Mel Todd was a really fun series for me. It's sort of Nancy Drew mysteries with magic, written by a paranormal romance author.

Lots and lots of books that continue series I'm reading come out this month. Finally. Was slow going all summer.

I just started with the Dungeon Crawler Carl series and I'm deeply in love and I just think they get better as the series goes.

 

[Manegarm]

I'm a Warhammer 40k and Warhammer fantasy idiot.

The gaunt's ghost's series is good!

The Felix and Gotrek series is really good!

The Siege of Terra books vary in quality but still good.

 

[Eager_Igraine]

So it turns out several of the links in the stickied old link thread are borked, and so are several of the links/pages to this thread as well.

 

[OneBigClam]

Ink Blood Sister Scribe, by Emma Torzs

 

[Eager_Igraine]

I'm still slowly working my way thru book 4 of DCC.

In the meantime, I've been reading Alphabet of Thorn by Patricia McKillip, and it's a solid story in her style - so far. Stand alone fantasy novel primarily about a foundling who works as a translator of unknown language texts in the great library, although halfway thru the book, there are four main threads of story winding about each other nicely.

She has many books out I have yet to read, and reading this one reminds me I should get on that sooner rather than later. otoh, I've just learned that she died last year which makes me sad. She was a gift.

 

[Groucho48]

Working my way through the ISC Fleet series, by Rock Whitehouse, on Kindle Unlimited. Decent military S-F. The military stuff is done well, the characters are bog standard stereotypes, 99% of whom are almost perfect people and the 1% who aren't basically wear T-Shirts saying I'm a jerk.

Also working through the Arcane Case Book series, by Dan Willis. Kind of a poor man's Dresden Files. A comfortable read. His writing skills improve after the first couple books.

Just started Scorpio, by Marko Kloos. A spinoff in the Frontline series. Pretty solid so far. As is the main Frontline series.

 

[Yossarian_42]

I am really in to Marko Kloos' Palladium War series but his style of writing X words then publishing it as a book, arcs be damned, is frustrating with that series. I was hoping that with Frontlines done he would write them faster but now its Frontlines spinoffs.

 

[Groucho48]

I like the Palladium War series, too, but the last one came out over two years ago and the next one isn't scheduled until next summer. I hope it includes a recap as my memories of the series are getting dim.

 

[Ptilk]

I've read every series on Kindle Unlimited in the litRPG category. OK that's not humanly possible but I've read a shit ton of them, and most of them don't bear mentioning. They are fine. That's it. Fine. I've also read most of the other Fantasy stuff and a lot of the SciFi stuff. Haven't really found anything worth talking about that I can remember. A few I know I liked, but I read so many they all blend together and if I can't remember which ones I think are worth mentioning, are they really worth mentioning?

There are exceptions but I've mentioned most of them here previously.

A ton of series that I enjoyed had installments in them come out in the past couple of months and....most of them were not good. Most weren't horrible, but they weren't good. Meh. I'm burned out on the genre it seems.

I'm going to skip Kindle Unlimited for a bit starting in the new year and buy a bunch of books again. There have to be some authors I lost track of that put out some good stuff in the past couple of years, and some new authors I've never heard of that put out some good stuff, so I'm going to try out whatever has been published in Fantasy and SciFi recently and see what sticks.

I went in an actual brick and mortar book store for the first time in forever recently and I saw a bunch of stuff I didn't recognize. I hope that's a good thing. I'll let you know.

 

[Yossarian_42]

I keep saying I'm going to put away the LitRPG and read real books again but the second I read something bad I slip back in to the comfort of the LitRPG slop.

I recently read Calamitous Bob and Millennial Mage both of which were high points in the LitRPG genre for me. I also read Salvos which started slow, got promising and then turned to shit.

 

[Jaedence]

The LitRpg stuff just doesn't do it for me. I enjoyed book one of Dungeon Crawler Carl, finished book two, barely. Don't think I'm going to continue.

 

[Yossarian_42]

DCC is very popular but honestly it is a pretty mediocre series. It has a lot of action, humor and good RPG elements but I think it is lacking in basically everything else.

LitRPG is basically nerd Progression Fantasy which is already nerd Fantasy. You have to really get off on the progression aspect to enjoy the genre.

 

[Jaedence]

DCC is very popular but honestly it is a pretty mediocre series. It has a lot of action, humor and good RPG elements but I think it is lacking in basically everything else.

LitRPG is basically nerd Progression Fantasy which is already nerd Fantasy. You have to really get off on the progression aspect to enjoy the genre.

Agreed. An the progression in GCC really annoys me. They become stupid over powered right off and even that isn't the feeling of power fantasy I like, but just silly and done for laughs. Its way more about the galactic civilization and talk shows than it is about dungeon crawling.

Recommendations?

 

[Jaedence]

Forth Wing by Rebecca Yarros.

Apparently, this is the next big thing and soon to be made into a movie. The author's even had a NYT's article written about her.

The only good thing I can say about this book is that I can't put it down. In fact, I'm 200 pages into the second book.

The writing is slightly better than Twilight but has the same thing going for it - romance and a unique take on a dragon rider genre.

The author uses English days, dates, times, swears, drink names, and has put no work into building a unique world. Its set in a military world where the "good guys" are losing, but the entrance to the school test has like a 40% death rate. Its not an assassin school but young adults murder each other in plain sight and no one interferes as if it's business as usual. Power levels fluctuate depending on the encounter. Without spoiling any of the plot elements, secrets that are kept, would have no way of being kept. Imagine it's world war two and the allies were not telling the populace that the Nazi's have magic users, jets and small nuclear bombs. Imagine that most of the fighting force doesn't know that, even though the war is raging along the border continuously.

Each cadet that bonds with a dragon gets a signet, which is there special power. Some of them can teleport objects, others read thoughts, others can heal people. And then we have people who can control shadows and throw forty lightning bolts at a time or can fly and have super strength.

Now imagine that no one cares that your power level is so insanely more powerful than anyone around you and actually attacks you.

I am constantly reminded of "Pitch Meeting"

"Well, why wouldn't they just ..."

"So the rest of the plot can happen."

"Right."

Its made very clear, all the time, that the dragons don't listen to commands from humans, but its never made clear why the dragons do dumb shit like allow war games involving them, that could get them and their rider killed, allow their rider to be tortured even close to death even though if their rider dies, it means they lose a very rare and powerful dragon.

Like 90% of the drama she creates makes zero sense.


7 / 11

 

[Groucho48]

I haven't read a lot of litrpg, just some of the ones mentioned here. I find them moderately enjoyable, for the most part.

I did just finish another one, which I also found moderately enjoyable. Judicator Jane, by Brian Rouleau. Typical start. Young woman in Austin, Texas, a bit down on her luck, turns in for the night and wakes up on top of a sand dune in the middle of a desert. Shortly after she awakens, a screen pops up showing her stats and asks her to distribute her stat points. There are her half dozen primary attributes plus hundreds of secondary skills. After playing around with them, she finds she can zero out all the secondary skills. She does so and puts all the points into her Luck primary skill. 630 points.

The book is more of a romp than a serious story, but it's entertaining and the author does have some fun with a level 1 character starting out with 630 luck.

 

[Manegarm]

DCC is very popular but honestly it is a pretty mediocre series. It has a lot of action, humor and good RPG elements but I think it is lacking in basically everything else.

LitRPG is basically nerd Progression Fantasy which is already nerd Fantasy. You have to really get off on the progression aspect to enjoy the genre.

I like the evolution on DCC. Carl goes from a indifferent NPC to a freedom fighter-esque figure, he also goes from being somewhat of a humanitarian to a utilitarian just to survive, his bond with Donut is basically the only "good" thing that happens in the series. He is also becoming a ruthless protagonist that is not only driven by a need to survive but also to end the crawl.

I also love so many things about the series it's campy as hell and not especially serious in it's tone but the underlying themes of enslavement, unfettered greed, lack of empathy and the Rome-esque nature of the crawl to appease the masses is pretty damn on point.

It's better summarized in book 1 it's less of a survivor situation and more of a running man situation.

It's "cheap" but I like it for it's honesty and lack of pretentious bullshit ideology/ideal/idea that at some times Sci-fi series is about or some fantasy series.

 

[Elkad]

DCC is fun. No aims to be a literary masterpiece.
Listening to it in the car is like watching Flash Gordon for the 43rd time. It's entertaining, but you can still concentrate on something else.

 

[Eager_Igraine]

He's developed a decent authorial voice and that's most of what makes a story engaging.

 

[Yossarian_42]

Apple is making a Murderbot Diaries show.

Great books but I don't understand how the show is going to work when the entire book is inner monologue.

 

[Eager_Igraine]

I wish they were books, but they're really just excellent short stories sold at book prices.

I don't think narrative voice will work for a tv adaption. Maybe a lot of dialogue that no one else hears?

 

[Yossarian_42]

The lengths vary wildly. Most are 150-200 novellas but the longest is like 350 pages.

Honestly, the shorter ones tend to be better.

 

[Jaedence]

I wish they were books, but they're really just excellent short stories sold at book prices.

I don't think narrative voice will work for a tv adaption. Maybe a lot of dialogue that no one else hears?

I read the first one then looked at the prices and length of the rest.
Good stories but I am not getting swindled like that.
I can afford it, my wife buys 5 books a week, but I'm not going to give my money to a publisher that would do that kind of bullshit.

 

[Eager_Igraine]

The lengths vary wildly. Most are 150-200 novellas but the longest is like 350 pages.

Honestly, the shorter ones tend to be better.

Works for me, just put them together in a short story collection and sell it for a reasonable market price rather than charging full length novel prices for 1/3 to 1/4 sized "book".

I love short story collections, personally.

 

[Eager_Igraine]

Alphabet of Thorn by Patricia McKillip - finished this one and it was solid.

Currently listening to A Walk In The Woods by Bill Bryson - non-fiction about his attempt to walk the Appalachian Trail - as I train up for my upcoming walk in the woods this summer. It's pretty fun, if a bit off topic here. The movie is decent, but of course the book is so much better so far.

I've begun re-reading The Name of the Rose - by Eco and I'd forgotten what a wordy slog it is. I remember it being awesome and exceptional, but I was younger or I haven't gotten to the good stuff yet. I'm gonna guess it picks up once we get a body count going.

I'm also reading City of Ghosts by VE Schwab. It's a YA book and seems to be headed all in on the YA melodrama. I've already read her books Vicious and Gallant and enjoyed them well enough to give this one a shot. It smells of the start of a long series, but I'm not sure how that is going.

 

[Ptilk]

I've read all the Murderbot books. I didn't pay for any of them directly. Most were available on Kindle Unlimited for a time, I borrowed the rest from the library using Libby or Hoopla. They are decent reads at the least, and some of them are really good.

I've read every book Bill Bryson has written. A Walk in the Woods is a great one, I also love Notes From a Small Island and A Short History of Nearly Everything.

I'm currently reading a really bad and stupid book about a roomba vacuum cleaner that was summoned as a demon by mistake and how it learns magic and fights to save the world. Yep. All the Dust That Falls. I'm not desperate for books or anything. Nope.

 

[Groucho48]

I really like Bryson.

 

[Groucho48]

I haven't read anything worth recommending since my last recommendations but have a recommendation to avoid. The Empire Corps series, by Christopher Nuttall.

Military S-F. Familiar premise...the Empire is slowly breaking up, due to corruption and complacency. The Marine Corps is the one true, faithful and incorruptible institution left. One of the Marine companies was involved in putting down some riots on Earth after the Civil Police were incapable. Things go bad, the corrupt authorities, of course, blame the Marines. After some wrangling, the whole Company is sent to exile on a far distant rim planet. The Marine Commandant, seeing bad things ahead for the Empire, tells the company Commander to take as much equipment and supplies as he can cram into the transport ships and off they go.

The rim planet is suffering from the slow withdrawal of Imperial protection and support. There are a couple of rebel groups trying to overthrow the, of course, corrupt government. The Marines arrive.

Unoriginal but a pretty decent setup for a series. A series which is 22 books long, last time I looked. Characters are as expected. the military stuff is done fairly well and the story, itself, moves along well enough.

The problem is, Nuttall can't shut up about his bugaboos, which are government, education, welfare, corruption, etc. Every chapter has a header with a trite paragraph attacking one of those. Virtually every page brings them up. The books would literally be a third shorter if all that was taken out. The other two thirds are pretty decent military S-F. I got to book 7 before I couldn't take it anymore. At that point, the Marines had their rim planet well in hand and were slowly increasing their presence in the local sector, dealing with pirates and warlords and such.

 

[Jaedence]

"A short history of nearly everything" was fantastic and should be taught in schools.

 

[Jaedence]

 

[Groucho48]

This seems as good a place as anywhere to post this...

Buffalo in 2024 NASFiC - The 16th North American Science Fiction Convention

Join us at the North American Science Fiction Convention to Buffalo in 2024.

buffalonasfic2024.org

and/or

Home

Niagara Falls, NY Oct 17-20, 2024 photo by James Wheeler

wfc2024.org

Be there or be square.