What Are You Reading?

[Major Rawne]

Ah a fellow boltholer who is behind the curve on the HH like me! Though truly admire you switching between books (can't do that myself).

I am currently reading Path of Heaven and I agree, very good so far. Chris Wraight seems to be very good at tying together various threads from other books and giving the reader the "state of the universe" without it feeling shoehorned in.

As I said above I am on an HH MMPB binge. Pharos was pretty good. It is harder to say about the anthologies (War Without End and Eye of Terra) as I find myself choosing to only read those shorts that appealed rather than all of them. The novella Aurelian was awesome (yep very behind the curve for me as never bought any novella).

Aye that's me, Mr slow. It's my reading goal for this year to get caught up on the heresy in at least MMPB. The particularly bad thing is that I bought up to Master of Mankind from Deathfire in Hardback then watched them collect dust.

As for reading more than one book at a time, it's not normally something I do as I can't particularly focus on more than the one. However it's easy enough with an anthology as you can just read a story here and there. I still have Magos running in the background for just that reason.

With all that being said I have just Grey Angel to read in The Silent War and that will be another one down. Of particular enjoyment was Ghosts Speak Not, some really wonderful early faction building going on.

[Chun the Unavoidable]

Now about Hiero's Journey, by Sterling E Lanier. I'd never heard of this until very recently. Apparently, it's good.

[Aristedes Colettas]

Finished Path of The Warrior by Gav Thorpe. What a great read.

Great depiction of Eldar emotions that are the same as any human would have. My favourite line was when one of the Eldar said he will follow a different path the Path of the Idiot. Not too much action other than the frenetic battle with the Imperium. Loved the brief appearance of the Phoenix Lords and the Phantom Titan. If only we humans can live longer and experience different paths in life. (I should stop before the Inquisition shows up).

Now going back to the Horus Heresy Book 39 – Praetorian Of Dorn by John French
Cheers

[Rob P]

Reading Ron Chernow's Alexander Hamilton. Beast of a book. Really interesting and comprehensive so far.

[Therion]

Anaïs Nin diaries 1931-1934. I realised how much I missed her writing during the last years, or perhaps last decade.
Someone like myself but so different, somewhat twisted. It's interesting to read her writing about herself, about her friends, while comparing myself to her.
Feeling the kinship and alienation at the same time. I'm much sharper around the edges with flashes of ""peculiarly cruel way of seeing," resembling the insensitive lens of a camera", and also fiercely dedicated to a sort of purity that sets me apart.
It's weird to read such familiar thoughts and then a moment later see degeneracy, cigarettes smoked one after another and desire to become corrupt.

I feel more like myself reading her diary, something that likes of Dan Abnett and Graham McNeil would never offer to me. I think that the closest thing to a genuine writing of my kin in Wh40k is Ian Watson, with his wicked playfulness and daring to include love and passion in his writing.

Reading about her relations with people that surround her, it's interesting to note that even a twisted individual like herself is much more human and generous than 99% of people I encountered in my life.

[Major Rawne]

The Silent War is done. Corax is also done, and what a mighty fine bunch of stories it was.

Still plodding the way through Angels of Caliban. So far it's been great, particularly the story on Caliban.

[Chun the Unavoidable]

And now I'm reading The Rediscovery of Man, by Cordwainer Smith - the first thing of his I think I've read. From what I can gather, I should expect some glorious strangeness.

[Xisor]

Finished up "Trollslayer". Some really lovely little stories in it. G&F shorts make for a difficult anthology, by their nature being somewhat similar to one another, but the creativity therein is really endearing.

More, I think I've got used to the "rhyming poetry"of the structure - there's something faintly comforting, almost cosy murder-mystery, about how the whole thing will unfold and resolve.

I think that similarity used to irritate me a touch, but now I find it very... soothing.

More conservative with old age?

Pfft.

[Rob P]

Extracted by RR Haywood. About 1/3 into this first book in the trilogy.

Premise is interesting. Some of the plot points are an uncomfortable read but other bits of dialogue are quite funny.

The author switches POV a lot without line break which is a little fiddly to follow in places.

[Major Rawne]

Stayed up way too late to finish Praetorian of Dorn but it was totally worth it. Interestingly enough whilst I had heard a lot about what happens in the book it still surprised me with how it actually all played out, especially after the setup in the prologue. The ending has left me with a whole raft of questions. It also took till the end to twig what the title was all about, and then realise how obvious it all was.

Next up is the dive into Master of Mankind. Hopefully this keeps up the trend of good Heresy novels.

[Chun the Unavoidable]

Now letting Ramsay Campbell under my skin again with The Long Lost.

[Fenris]

Reading Astrophysics for People in a Hurry,shame on me it's the first book i manage to pick up in way too long

[Xisor]

I am, for the first time, reading "Skavenslayer". Dear God, it is brilliant. Or perhaps it's been too long since I read some Skaven. Possibly both. Thanquol's note currently has filled my mind almost to the brim with no room for anything else, possibly ever.

Frends be warned!
Evil ratmen of the trecherus skaven clan Skryre - may they be poxed forever, espeshully that wicked feend Heskit Wan Eye - plan to attack the Colledge of Ingineering this nite during the dark of the moon. They wish to steel your secrets for their own nefare-i-us porpoises. You must stop them or they will be wan step closer to conquering the surface world,
Yoor frend.

It took me a long time to seriously try getting into the Warhammer World. 'Thorgrim' was good, but the pain was still raw. Now?

Slayers stone for broken oaths, for shame, and there was a big shame that happened to the WW. Maybe it's time to atone?

Anyway: here's also some slayers. Including a woman.

[Major Rawne]

Finished Master of Mankind last night. Going to take a bit of careful thought on this one to figure out what I think of it. Whilst it's superbly written it felt like something was missing from it. Anyway apart from the Betrayal at Calth i'm now all out of Heresy to read .

Up next is a move away from BL with Binary/System by Eric Brown.

[Rob P]

Currently reading the Half Bad, Half Wild and Half Lost trilogy.

I'm just about to start Half Lost.

There is a lot I like about it, but I really hate that YA trilogies that i've read recently all appear to be one story over three books, which means that they don't pack a punch when read apart.

[Xisor]

I'm almost fully through "Baneblade" by Guy Haley. Excepting everybody who blatantly said "it's really good", I'm pleased to report that: it's really good, who knew!?

It's got a fine cast of characters, a lovely array of vistas, some incredibly well-built worlds that feel alive for all their bleakness. (Next to no women, though. Very much a sausage fest, as it were.)

[LordOfIron]

New here - Just finished up "Slaves to Darkness" from BL Live, Its a goodie
With that read I've only got Sons of the Forge, the Unburdened and some of the Primarchs books to catch up.

Otherwise now moving out of 40k and reading "Pushing Ice" by Alistair Reynolds.

[Major Rawne]

I'm almost fully through "Baneblade" by Guy Haley. Excepting everybody who blatantly said "it's really good", I'm pleased to report that: it's really good, who knew!?

It's got a fine cast of characters, a lovely array of vistas, some incredibly well-built worlds that feel alive for all their bleakness. (Next to no women, though. Very much a sausage fest, as it were.)

You say sausage fest like that isn't typical of a Black Library book, or even more broadly sci-fi and fantasy generally.

Anyway since my last update i've managed to finish up a couple of books. First was Artemis by Andy Weir. Excellent hi-jinks on the moon this time, and will certainly keep an eye out for what he does next.

Then I took the time to race through Carcharadons: Red Tithe which on the whole was very good. The goodies remain their mysterious selves. The Night Lords though were really interesting, Robbie did a good job in doing something a little different with them than what we have previously seen. Looking forward to picking up the next one sooner rather than later.

Finally I took the opportunity to read a Blood Ravens short story I didn't until recently know existed, Altar of Cyrene by Lucien Soulban. It was pretty decent on the whole and takes place just before the events of the first game, though not it's quite as in keeping to the background as it would be today.

As for my current read i'm still plodding through Binary System by Eric Brown. Not long to go mind, and it's been another great read from the author.

[Therion]

Finished Emperors Mercy by Henry Zou. I liked it. Liked how combat and military life was described. Combat was very brutal, lots of casualties, including named characters but without the pornographic quality that some writers are guilty of. On the other stuff some stuff was rather dodgy. Like, what about fleet actions, including orbital bombardment?

Anyway, shame that he committed career suicide. I'd love to read more of his stuff.

One complaint I have is that it isn't illustrated. It's horrible to read a novel without pictures. Like, Julius Verne's novels had an illustration every 6-8 pages. And it was XIXth century. Novels used to be properly illustrated.

Then I took the time to race through Carcharadons: Red Tithe which on the whole was very good. The goodies remain their mysterious selves. The Night Lords though were really interesting, Robbie did a good job in doing something a little different with them than what we have previously seen. Looking forward to picking up the next one sooner rather than later.

It reminds me I need to buy it. Was hyped about it for most of 2016 and I lost interest in wargaming and Wh40k just when it came out.

What kind of marines is it about, when it comes to abilities, casualties, etc? Is it another supermarine book like Siege of Castellax or whatever or is it something more realistic like Purging of Cadillus?

[Major Rawne]

What kind of marines is it about, when it comes to abilities, casualties, etc? Is it another supermarine book like Siege of Castellax or whatever or is it something more realistic like Purging of Kadillus?

I always find the question of realism in 40k an odd one as i'd strongly argue that it's all a load of made up nonsense set forty thousand years in the future for the express purpose to entertain the reader.

Anyway the first question is easy enough, it's about the mysterious silent type who are comparative to the Night Lords in their predatory nature, some of whom die. The book doesn't hugely go into statistical detail on numbers if memory serves.

As the weather is so nice I managed to race through the last of Binary System the other evening. Excellent stuff all told and very much what I like from Eric Brown, something that's easy to read, isn't complicated, and has enjoyable characters.

Next read is Soul Wars from Josh Reynolds. Hearing him waffle on about it at Black Library Live made me want to jump it right to the top of the pile. That and I wanted to at least get a good start on it before it's official release Saturday. So far all is good, it's very much turning out as Josh described. Can't wait for the farming!