this post was submitted on 10 Mar 2025
8 points (100.0% liked)

Print SF

441 readers
1 users here now

A community for the discussion of science fiction and speculative fiction in print.

Rules:

Related communities to visit:

[email protected] [email protected].

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
[email protected]
[email protected]
Spluk42
8
What (Sci Fi / Fantasy / Alt History / Etc.) are you currently reading? (lemmy.ca)
submitted 4 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
16 comments fedilink hide all child comments
top 16 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

So I've recently read…

  • Glass Houses by Madeline Ashby — An interesting near-present tech thriller mostly about gender roles and tech bros with a bit of a battle royale element thrown in. Good, but not great.
  • Moonbound by Robin Sloan — An excellent fantasy/sci-fi cross that takes place 11k years in the future and sort of re-enacts the knights vs dragons trope, but the dragons are creatures built by humans to explore other dimensions and the knight is still a young boy. I really enjoyed this one.
  • Rakesfall by Vajra Chandrasekera — I could not get into this in the slightest and abandoned at about 150 pages, but then again, I thought his The Saint of The Bright Doors was barely tolerable. (I did make it through that one at least.)
  • Swordheart by T Kingfisher — As usual, a lot of fun. A woman decides to commit hari kari with an ornamental sword on the wall when her in-laws lock her up because a rich uncle she was taking care of gave her most of the inheritance. But turns out the sword is magic and has a guardian in it, who promptly busts her out (pun intended). Hijinks ensue.
  • A Sorceress Comes to Call — Asks the question, what if your mom was the wicked sorceress from all the fairy tales? How would you cope as a child? Also very entertaining.

And I just started Echo of Worlds by M R Carey, which is second in the Pandominion series. First was ok? Hoping it picks up in this one.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Started in on The Wind-Up Girl by Bacigalupi, but got distracted by a manhwa so I haven't gotten far in.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 weeks ago (2 children)

The Wind-Up Girl

It's been on my backburner for years now - how are you liking it?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 hours ago

The Wind-Up Girl is great, but also quite bleak. Probably more bleak in our current election cycle, for that matter.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 weeks ago

I'm still super early, but it's got a nice vibe to it.

[–] Chef 4 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

On the advice of a friend, I just got “Red Mars” by Kim Stanley Robinson.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Have you started it? I've read it before and really enjoyed it, but it's dry as all hell. One of the best hard sci fi novels ever written though, in my opinion.

Most of the science holds up too, except one that I'm aware of -- due to new information that wasn't available at the time he wrote it. Unsolicited nerdiness follows:

Martian soil has since been discovered to contain something called perchlorate salt. Perchlorates are strong oxidizers and are generally considered to be toxic to life on Earth, if digested. There are ways around it though. There's an enzyme called perchlorate reductase which if digested alongside perchlorates will reduce it to a chlorite; likewise, there's an enzyme called chlorite dismutase which would reduce the chlorite to something safe. You'd need to take these as supplements (like lactose intolerant people take lactase), or do something like engineer gut bacteria to produce these enzymes. Knowing KSR, if he had know about this prior, he would have spent several chapters on this issue. ;)

Hope you enjoy it. Wish I could read it again for the first time :)

[–] Chef 3 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

I’m excited.

I’ve been a sci-fi fan since I was a kid and I’m only now getting back into it.

I just finished season 3 of “The Expanse.” Discussing it with my friend is where the recommendation for the Mars Trilogy came up.

In these troubling times, I find turning to futuristic sci-fi comforting for some reason.

Edit: I realize that I never answered your question. I haven’t started it yet - it should be arriving today. Delivery a bit slow since I avoided Amazon to support a smaller book seller. Worth it though.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Rereading Spin which is so cool. Love the crazy science shit in it.

Listening to "Minds Eye" by Douglas Richards because audible is being shitty and won't let me return it. It's alright I guess but it's not worth the credit.

Just finished listening to the 7th Dungeon Crawler Carl book. Good shit there. Prolly about to restart that instead of this minds eye nonsense.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Dungeon Crawler Carl

Haven't delved into it, but as a huge D&D nerd, it seems up my alley and I'll probably get around to it soon. I did read something that might scratch the same itch though: "Fred, the Vampire Accountant" which I'd highly recommend if you're looking for dry, snarky, dude just wants to collect a paycheck and not fight evil all day...

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 weeks ago

Oh that sounds great I'll check that out! Dungeon Crawler Carl is fantastic but the audio version is the way to go. The narrator Jeff Hayes is unbelievably good at what he does and really brings it to life. I usually prefer non audio but I can't even read this series without hearing his voices.

Starter Villain sounds similar to what you recommended me check it out if you haven't. It's short but fun.

[–] jwiggler 3 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Listening to the second book of a series called "The Book of New Sun" by Gene Wolfe called "The Claw of the Conciliator"

The series is set in an unknown time and centers around an apprentice in the Torturers Guild who commits one of the gravest sins he could -- showing mercy to an inmate.

It's pretty dense and heady and does not hold your hand whatsoever, but it really isn't so bad to get through, especially with audio. Wolfe is a master. This series stands alongside LoTR for me as greatest scifi/fantasy ever.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

One of my favourites and infintely rereadable.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 weeks ago

I concur. Fantastic series.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 weeks ago

Currently reading This Book is Full of Spiders, part of the John Dies in the End series. I love the madness of the world. It’s definitely brain candy, but there aren’t many like this.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 weeks ago

Currently in Tchaikovsky's "The Final Architecture" -- book three of three. Really enjoyed the first one, the second one felt like moving a lot of set pieces around (still fun) to set up for the third. Third one has a lot of "chosen one" melodrama, but has interesting developments so far.

I kind of like this pulpier short series once in a while. You get a new universe to disentangle without it being necessarily too much of a barrier of entry.