What Are You Reading?

[Xisor]

Re-read Junktion by Matthew Farrer, and it's such a good book. Improbably good.

Low-key, detailed, tense, but also lovely in its strange rambling way.

Such an enjoyable read.

[Duke_Leto]

Re-read Junktion by Matthew Farrer, and it's such a good book. Improbably good.

Low-key, detailed, tense, but also lovely in its strange rambling way.

Such an enjoyable read.

Fabulous little book that. Probably the best Necromunda novel.

[Duke_Leto]

So I have been having a bit of a Horus Heresy binge. I am waaaaaaay behind because I only buy HH in MMPB (the Siege of Terra books will Buck that trend for me, so will probably finish reading HH main series around the time I am finishing the SoT mini series!)

Garro = hmmm I find it hard to really enjoy the Knights Errant stories because I just don't like the premise. It goes against everything I believed about the setting. We know warp travel is difficult and takes a long time. You need big BIG ships to cross the Galaxy. The Ruinstorm is supposed to make it even harder if not impossible. Yet Garro and Gang whizz here and there unimpeded! Need to pop to Calth, no problem. Need to infiltrate the vengeful Spirit above Molech. No problem. Etc etc. It feels too much like a Star Wars rather than HH. Not badly written, but as I said, cannot get past the premise.

Shattered Legions = mixed bag but generally solid set of short stories. I do like the premise of the shattered legions fighting a guerilla war.

The Crimson King = I so wanted this to be good but alas Graham McNeill really is hit and miss. I found this a slog and started flicking through some sections.

Tallarn = Loved this. Great book(s). Was left a bit frustrated by the lack of resolution or explanation about the "thing beneath the sand" although I understand this is known about in GW fluff. However, good solid story telling.

Ruinstorm = surprisingly good. Being Annandale I was cautious going in. I haven't really liked (not disliked but not liked) any of his books and certainly wouldn't rush to buy. However, I really enjoyed this. Was probably the most "horror" like book in the HH series (as suits Annandale). Again though the premise was a bit difficult (mainly because it didn't fit with my head cannon so more me author) as I expected to see each of the Primarchs "attack" the Ruinstorm in their own ways more and they try to forge a path the Terra.

[Chun the Unavoidable]

Scott and Amundsen, Roland Huntford.

[Xisor]

I'm still frequently thinking about Junktion. It's such a good book, though I did finish it over a week ago!

You might be very right, Citizen Leto, very right.

And as a double-hander too - your take on the Knight Errants is spot on, and succinct vs my amorphous dislike of them. But it's the same issue: premise.

(Also Cerberus, but that's a separate issue.)

With the other novels, I think your thoughts match mine. Including: Ruinstorm, which was a very pleasant surprise. Still a bit disjoint from my tastes, but with plenty of overlap and a lot of what Annandale was doing I really enjoyed. The weird ol' cosmic horror maniac that he is.

---

I got through half of "Maledictions" which was terrific fun. A special shout goes to Cassandra Khaw's & Lora Gray's ace stories. (Though I'm as always impressed by aul' Clint too - his was damn vivid yet simple. I really liked it.)

Very much enjoying the horror brand as an excuse to do 'not big battle' stories. I'm unfamiliar with the horror genre generally as to how useful instinctive thoughts like "that wasn't that scary!" are about any given item. (I'm pretty confident it's a useless sentiment. Like "this Fantasy novel needs more Skaven" - it's not really getting to whether I enjoyed the story or not.)

But the three above were both very good and suitably grim (albeit not especially more than general Warhammer, which is a fine level).

[Vivia]

Afters two years of faffing about I finally got LotR and Unfinished Tales in the original language. My plan is to get the hardbacks and ebooks, that way I won't wear the books out. My Swedish volumes are NOT looking fresh, I'm so sad about this. I waiting for my copies in the mail, Easter ruined things a bit, and I've to wait a few days more.

I'm so pleased with my reading of LotR from the beginning, I tend to only read Elrond's Council and the Moria chapters.
I was going on about one scene from the film, and to my surprise it followed the text fairly accurately. Gasp!
I don't look forward to the psychedelic chapter of Tom Bombadill, it's...heavy. The names are kind of distracting, but the films help me somewhat. Another surprising thing is Sam's lines, the Swedish translation is not smooth at all. It's nice to finally read them the way they were intended.

And then this:
The title for the third chapter, Three Is A Company, is titled "Tres Faciunt Collegium".
I don't understand why. It's a puzzler. Is it, right? Right?
There are entire Swedish forums filled with questions about this. OMG, this explains so much it's not even funny.

I also got Algernon Blackwood collected stories on iBooks. There are so many more than I remember. For 9 sek it's an amazing collection with a most ghostly cover art.

[Fenris]

Finally found an ebook version of The Eternal Champion (as in the first Moorcock book about champion Erekose) and bought it.Don't ask me why i wanted to start from Erekose and not Elric or one of the other "famous" champions' series because i dont know myself

Problem is...remember an year ago when i wrote i was starting Jain Zhar?Well,i still have to finish that (i have really adjusted badly to my new job and the time to read always escapes me)

Hope to finish one and start the other sooner than later

Going to quote myself...FINALLY finished it.it's a good book as expected.I'm a bit sad that from what i gather the next PL stories have been delayed, just hope we'll get them at this point

And now it's time to start the trip to the multiverse...With that now being once again "as soon as i find the time".That might be harder than it sound,since i realized that JZ was the second book total i managed to finish in 1 and a half years.I also skipped my annual "catching up with BL for christmas" thing,so that means there are a lot of warhammer books waiting to be bought still >_>

[Chun the Unavoidable]

Titan, John Varley - a book I think I've read before but I only recall centaurs being a feature.

[Chun the Unavoidable]

Now reading the February 1951 edition of Worlds Beyond, featuring Brain of the Galaxy (which was my reason for purchase).

[Chun the Unavoidable]

I am now attempting Alan Moore's Jerusalem. May God have mercy on my soul.

[Xisor]

My sleep's been messed up for the last fortnight, but I've been Hugely enjoying our very own Rachel Harrison's "Honourbound". Still two thirds through, but it's ace.

[Chun the Unavoidable]

Having completed the first third of -what I think is promising to to be, on completion, incredible- Jerusalem, I'm taking a break with 'lighter' reading: Raven Stratagem, Yoon Ha Lee.

[J D Dunsany]

I just finished the late Norman Stone's short history of World War One - very readable and interesting.

Chun's Tales of Alternaties and Far Stars continues to be excellent.

And I'm about 80 pages in to Chris Wraight's The Emperor's Legion which, because it's centered on Terra, is really very fresh and intriguing. It's also just very well-written. Wraight's always been good, but he seems to have upped his game a bit.

JDD

[Chun the Unavoidable]

Just when I think nobody bothers posting here any more...

[Xisor]

And I'm about 80 pages in to Chris Wraight's The Emperor's Legion which, because it's centered on Terra, is really very fresh and intriguing. It's also just very well-written. Wraight's always been good, but he seems to have upped his game a bit.

I adored Vaults of Terra, and found The Emperor's Legion to be quite exquisite too.

I can also reveal (thanks to BLL!) that The Hollow Mountain is Very Good Indeed too.

(I've [soundlessly] heard ace things about The Lords of Silence too.)

---

Leaping into Blood Royal (Kal Jerico #1) this week, after devouring Status: Deadzone, Redeemer, Mike Brook's ace A Common Ground in Inferno #1, and Matt Keefe's Outlander the weeks before.

Bit of a Necromunda kick, but it's very nice after an excellently solid run of very higher-minded BL books. The more irreverent punk/Western feel is a great poke to the v serious Eye of Terror of the grander books.

Between the two broad tones, it REALLY makes Space Marine fiction seem a bit implausible! (Paradoxically, I look forward to dipping into Spear of the Emperor too.)

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Jumping back a bit Honourbound was indeed a tremendous ol' read too.

[Chun the Unavoidable]

The Mammoth Book of Cthulhu, edited by Paula Guran.

[Rob P]

Just started Anna Dracula for third time. The opening prologue (which doesn't quite make sense to me) always puts me off, but up to chapter 3 this time. I like so far.

[Chun the Unavoidable]

Just started Anna Dracula for third time. The opening prologue (which doesn't quite make sense to me) always puts me off, but up to chapter 3 this time. I like so far.

Do you mean Anno Dracula, by any chance? A very good read, and I think the lady vampire -I forget her name- from the old Warhammer books crops up in it.

[Rob P]

Yup! If anyone asks, my mobile phone corrected it. Honest!

So many books recently have caused by trouble on chapter one and i've given up.

As I say, this was one. The Dracula monologue is really hard (for me) to read - it feels inconsistent and confusing.

But, so far, so good!

[Rob P]

Loving Anno Dracula. It's taking me some time to get through and i'm half-audio book/half reading it.

It's over 400 pages and only an 11 hour book - which means the pace on the audio is pretty fast, so you really have to concentrate (so i'm rewinding a lot!).

I still think the first chapter makes no sense (is it a straight lift from Dracula?).

So what do I like:

- I like the murder mystery
- I like the alt history
- I like the massive number of name drops from both actual Victorian England and fiction based at that time
- I like that it's a proper waltz around rather than a straight story - it's really indulgent in that sense

It feels like a good Ben Aaronovitch meets Penny Dreadful, but with a style that is neither.