What are we reading?

[Shelldrake]

Dies Irae: Day of Wrath by Forstchen is a quick and enjoyable, although disturbing, read.

http://www.dayofwrathbook.com/

[JasonPratt]

Finally finished The Wingfeather Saga lent to me by the Bro. It gets significantly less whimsical and far more dark as the story goes on; which is good because man I don't think I could have taken four books of the goofiness early in Book 1. Normally I would say I don't know who the audience is supposed to be, but on consideration I suppose the audience is whoever-likes-the-style-of-Harry-Potter and how that series developed.

The last book (#4), which is about the size of two previous books, is about as much of a Last Battle book as RJ's A Memory of the Light concluding The Wheel of Time (by proportion anyway, considering how vastly large RJ's book is). That surprised me, but in a good way -- not that there are a lot of tactics and strategies going on (even compared to AMotL), but there's no shortage of action.

Note that it's a Christian fantasy; though not quite as blatantly so as Narnia, and sceptics may appreciate what looks like some generally unanswered complaints about how messed up and evil the world is. (Or not, since after all no one ends up non-theistic.) There's a strong theme of the importance of self-sacrifice, and of saving one's enemies, and even a mixture of the two ideas.


To show my gratitude, and because the author seems to nod directly at the series a few times himself, I lent Bro The Eye of the World. We'll see how long he hangs in with that before bailing; but if he looks like he may make it into Book 2, I'll start working harder on prepping my abridged versions of Books 6-11!  :D

[jamus34]

Just finished Morning Star third novel in the red rising trilogy. Not sure how I feel about the series overall. They try to market it in the same vein of hunger games or divergent but the subject matter was much darker and mature.
I like some of the aspects / moral questions brought forth but the end was just too near and clean.

[jamus34]

And I have Calamity coming tomorrow to finish up Sanderson's Reckoner's trilogy.

[Gusington]

Is that Red Phoenix by Larry Bond? I read that long, long ago...barely remember it.

[mirth]

Is that Red Phoenix by Larry Bond? I read that long, long ago...barely remember it.

Tis. And tis not very memorable.

[BanzaiCat]

Is that Red Phoenix by Larry Bond? I read that long, long ago...barely remember it.

Tis. And tis not very memorable.

Yes...on both counts. The beginning was interesting, but how the discovery of North Korean tunnels under South Korea, loaded with armored regiments, isn't an immediate act of war is beyond me. Now he's into the Washington twerps and they're not very interesting characters at all.

[mirth]

Is that Red Phoenix by Larry Bond? I read that long, long ago...barely remember it.

Tis. And tis not very memorable.

Yes...on both counts. The beginning was interesting, but how the discovery of North Korean tunnels under South Korea, loaded with armored regiments, isn't an immediate act of war is beyond me. Now he's into the Washington twerps and they're not very interesting characters at all.

It has a few interesting moments, but Larry Bond is no Tom Clancy. And take that for what it's worth because Clancy isn't exactly Shakespeare.

The romantic subplot in Red Phoenix is absolutely dreadful.

[Gusington]

I remember the tunnels! I think that was my favorite part!

[Airborne Rifles]

I liked Red Phoenix. Certainly not as good as RSR, but it had more of an infanty ground component to the story that was actually pretty well done.

[mirth]

I love your AARs, but we're gonna have to disagree on this thing ;)

[Gusington]

For those interested One Second After is very good and I am enjoying it more than The Tomorrow War. Will pick up the second in the series at some point, IIRC it is One Year After and came out not too long ago.

[Airborne Rifles]

I love your AARs, but we're gonna have to disagree on this thing ;)

Heresy! You must agree with my opinions on 2nd- (or possibly 3rd-) rate technothrillers!

[BanzaiCat]

Granted, there's some real crap out there that makes Larry Bond and Harry Turtledove look like first-rate writers. Makes me wonder why the hell the publishers sign whom they sign. Makes me even more afraid to finish my own novel...though I'm about 95% certain I'd have to take the self-pub route through Amazon or some other party. Which means relative obscurity, a needle in a haystack so to speak, and a lot of praying to get noticed.

BTW, the Spitfire book I mentioned above is a pretty good read. It was penned by an RAF pilot (so the description says, anyway) that wrote it sometime after the Battle of Britain to help explain what it's like to fly during wartime to the public. He ended up going off over the North Sea on a mission in 1942 and never returned, so he was presumed killed. Kind of sucks, especially since he begins the book talking about how he's led a charmed life.

[mirth]

Granted, there's some real crap out there that makes Larry Bond and Harry Turtledove look like first-rate writers.

This is the truth. I may not be a fan of Larry Bond, but he's well above average for the genre.  If find most stuff in the techno-thriller genre completely unreadable. Bond is somewhat readable.