Yeah, it surprised me too. Did not expect that direction.
What have you read recently?
- Edited
Shorefall by Robert Jackson Bennett. Nice follow up to Foundryside. Not groundbreaking, but book 2s are usually middlefodder. The magic system in the series is well thought out though.
The Companions by Katie M. Flynn. It garnered mediocre reviews (some especially bonkers I-hated-it’s on Goodreads. PS: even as a reader, never read Goodreads reviews, some people are just being cunts for cunt’s sake). I liked it, even though it gave me the creeps. Kinda reminded me of Philip K. Dick’s stories, but also reminiscent of the movie A.I. (just less technicolor).
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon. Decent epic fantasy novel, even if a bit traditional.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins. I’m gonna go against a lot of those bitchy Goodreads people on this one too– I thought it was fantastic. It’s 64-65 years before the events of The Hunger Games… did those twits really think the games would have been all the glamour and spectacle that they became? It’s gritty, dirty, and makes Coriolanus Snow seem far more human than who he became. And yeah, I’d read another Hunger Games prequel if Ms. Collins dared so. I kinda want to see Snow’s rise to power.
a month later
Lovecraft Country starts on HBO next week, and instead of buying it I bought a collection of all the classics from the horrible racist himself. Read through 3 stories last night, and it took me about half an hour. Most of them are not long. I was worried about the style, and whether they would seem silly, but I am happy to report that it’s ok, and they are more disturbing then silly still. I’ve last read any of them as a teenager, and now the amount of influence he’s had is amazing to notice.
- Edited
Reading Rave On by Matthew Collin at the moment. Picked it up at the Design Museum electronic exhibition. Very good so far. Read the Berlin and Ibiza chapters so far. Now on to Vegas
I’ve just started on liberation through hearing about the history of XL records by Richard Russell. Would love to know anyone’s thoughts who’ve read it.
JonQPublik finished Children of ruin too. Also great. Tchaikovsky announced there’s a third one planned at some point. 
Started on ‘Dark Matter’ by Blake Crouch. Good so far.
22 days later
Detective Rebus’ flat is on sale. Couldn’t buy that on detective’s salary these days.
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/inspector-rebus-edinburgh-flat-goes-22590086
He is going to kill us all in the end you know!
Dark matter was good but could have been so much better if it hadn’t been contorted into a sappy love story (you can practicaly hear the author yelling ‘hello movie producers!’) and actually explored the ability to traverse the multiverse in a bit more detail. 7 multiverse travelling cubes / 10
Read books 1 to 4 of the murderbot diaries. Entertaining enough but nothing special. Nae idea why it’s as successful as it is. The author consistently misses the rich potential of the wider implications of the set up (slavery, classism, definition of humanity etc) to just have a misanthrope robot that likes to watch tv instead. 7 episodes of Santuary Moon / 10.
Wally I’ve got the Murderbot Diaries in my TBR stack. Have read the first a few years ago, but will reread it to refresh my memory. They’re short, so no big whoop.
JonQPublik yeah, read all four in a week or so. 1 & 4 are the best ones. Hoping 5&6, the full novels are better but am taking a break from them to read something else for now.
21 days later
First Blood. Again. I like the first Rambo-movie, but it really doesn’t do the book justice. Then again Rambo killing 13 cops might not have been filmable in 1980.
- Edited
Currently reading ’Death’s end’ by Cixin Liu which is also very good so far. The last of the three body problem trilogy.
Not sure what’s next - ‘A memory called empire’ by Arkady Martine probably - one of this year’s HUGO nominees.
Am currently reading Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen.
Obviously resonates with the super athletes like me.
lol
Just started reading The secret Dj then onto The school of Life by Alain De Botton
Wally Death’s End was bizarre. Left me with weird questions.
A Memory Called Empire was ok iirc. It didn’t bore me completely.
Currently trudging through A Declaration of The Rights of Magicians by H.G. Parry. IDK, this brand of historical fantasy just isn’t hitting the right buttons. Though I do think the story would be better serviced visually.
Finished the Baby Ganesh Agency Investigation series from Vaseem Khan. Indian crime fiction? Yep. Enjoyable enough the whole series even if a bit ‘cute’ occasionally, but book 5 was snoozy.
Mexican Gothic, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia was… fine. But not a good kind of fine. As a plus, it wasn’t predictable– yet the gothicness was nothing new; the reveal however, was just <wth?!>.
Also occasionally reading a book in the Donovan series by W. Michael Gear. It’s generally a strange blend of familiar things… 80s flicks like Commando and Predator, some of those spaghetti westerns and pioneer films of the 70s. Super macho, but there’s also a strong feminist vein running throughout. Or maybe it’s solely an excess of confidence. Pulpy, but different.
Finally finished up All The Pieces Matter, think it was Jonatton who recommended it in the old board. Loved it. Picked up The Soprano Sessions for a follow up.
Ready Player One (Ernest Cline): Really regret seeing the film first as I would have loved this book and its references to the 80’s and gaming.
My TBR stack is out of control. Still waiting for the most recent Jasper Fforde book, Brandon Sanderson’s 4th Stormlight Archive book, and the conclusion to R.F. Huang’s Poppy War trilogy. 
You’ll carve through those murderbot ones in a few days.
Excellent so far.
Wally Murderbots are next. The number of books I’ve read this year is woeful compared to the previous two years.
14 days later
Just about to get into the new Jasper Fford one.
A quick, easy and fairly illuminating read -
Amps Hopefully better than Early Riser.
JonQPublik I liked Early Riser, far from his best, but a fun one all the same. He really needs to get Shades Of Grey 2 sorted, not finishing that story is basically audience abuse.
Finished ’Death’s end’ - thought it was really good tbh - best of the trilogy so it ended on a high note - I get the complaints about Liu being a pessimistic writer and the characters being a bit flat but I think the universe / time and space spanning sci fi concepts more than make up for them.
Next it’s Adrian Tchaikovsky - Dogs Of War - been told by several people to read it pronto.
Amps I loved Shades of Grey, and like you want that sequel. I’d welcome a third Nursery Crimes novel as well.
JonQPublik Yeah, I think someone said that Shades of Grey didn’t sell very well, so that’s why he’s swerved it for so long, but I can’t believe it sold that badly. Guess the Dragonslayer series for TV must be a good earner though. Not to worried about the Nursery Crimes stuff, and I’ve probably had my fill of Thursday Next too, just want Shades boxed off!
Speaking of Adrian Tchaikovsky, his Echoes of the Fall trilogy would be stunning if given a film treatment. IF done well, that is. Today’s CGI is absolutely necessary.
Amps It was funny that he threw in a reference a universal desire for SoG2 in Early Riser. Was more of a taunt, really. His Twitter feed had numerous requests for a sequel, probably wouldn’t have to scroll back to find a few!
JonQPublik It was funny that he threw in a reference a universal desire for SoG2 in Early Riser.
Did he? It’s a while since I read it, but that might have passed me by.
Amps
I can’t remember where in the book this is, but thankfully found the quote on goodreads. While it doesn’t outright mention SoG many on Twitter (…) felt seen.
“Gaps. I loathe gaps. Gaps in doors, gaps in windows, gaps in bathroom tiles, long gaps between sequels to books. But you know which gaps I hate the most?”