Finished Defiant by Brandon Sanderon, fourth and final book of the Cytoverse series. Really enjoyed it. Recommended to all sci-fi fans. Though do keep it in mind that it is a bit YA-ish, so if you aren’t a fan of that, you may not love it.
After that, read couple of books I got for the kid. Mainly read them to stay in the loop of what he is reading and how he is liking it. Also, it’s fun to discuss books with him.
First was, the first book in The Breakfast Club Adventures, The Beast Beyond the Fence by Marcus Rashford (The footballer) and Alex Falase-Koya. The protagonist of the series is also named Marcus Rashford, so I am assuming it’s named after him.
Second was Accidental Trouble Magnet by Zanib Mian, first book in Planet Omar series. We are reading her newer series Meet the Maliks and liked that, so started her previous series too.
Currently reading Killing Floor by Lee Child, first book in Jack Reacher series. Before that my only Reacher knowledge is from Tom Cruise movies, so enjoying the book now.
What about all of you? What have you been reading or listening lately?
A regular reminder about our Book Bingo, and it’s Recommendation Post . Links are also present in our community sidebar.
Finished The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson. I had heard this was a good early horror, and an inspiration to Lovecraft, and I definitely glimpsed that in a few places. The rest of it, however, hoo boy, was that a slog to get through. I’d expected the of-the-period prose style/voice, but it really felt like he smooshed several separate stories into one, with excruciating detail in some parts, and a complete lack in others. The only bright spots, for me, were aspects that seemed like proto-versions of things I’m familiar with (namely, the Dark Sign from Dark Souls, Piglins from Minecraft, and the Beach from Death Stranding), although I have no idea if they were actually inspired by this book or not.
Bingo squares: Older Than You Are (HM), It’s About Time, Among the Stars. May count for Bookception and Stranger in a Strange Land, as well, but ehhh.
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I’m a few pages into a couple of books atm, which I started as treats while I tried to get through The House on the Borderland: Foul Days by Genoveva Dimova, and Dark Star by Oliver Langmead. The latter is a verse novel, which I didn’t realize was a thing! Looking forward to seeing how the experience differs from normal prose.
Verse novels sound cool. How are you liking it so far?
Finished it over the weekend. Despite descriptions being just a line or two, I still got a good sense of everything, thanks to other, strongly evocative lines (like you expect from poetry). In that way, I liked it quite a bit, and will happily try other verse novels in future.
However, in terms of story, I don’t think my opinion of Dark Star rises above “fine”. The noir aspect was about what you’d expect, but the worldbuilding (billed as scifi) was too much–or not enough?–dream logic to work for me. Reminded me a fair bit of A Man of Shadows by Jeff Noon, which I also didn’t really jive with.