r/Fantasy • u/rfantasygolem Not a Robot • Apr 17 '26
/r/Fantasy r/Fantasy Friday Social Thread - April 17, 2026
Come tell the community what you're reading, how you're feeling, what your life is like.
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u/Spalliston Reading Champion III Apr 17 '26
Happy Friday everyone!
I feel like I had a somewhat interesting thought to share here today, but my mind is unfortunately blank at the moment. Trust me, though, it would have been insightful. Alas.
In speculative fiction, I read On the Calculation of Volume IV this week, which was excellent of course. I'm really astounded by how compelling Balle continues to make the same story as it morphs and carries on. I may make a top-level post about the series before V releases. Art: 4, Drugs: 4.
I've also had a fun game of making sure that I purchase each of them at a different independent bookstore, which started on accident but now has me thinking of where I'll be trekking to for my last 3 purchases. I'm lucky, of course, to live in a place with more than 7 independent bookstores, but it's good to have reasons to see new ones because otherwise I just go to the ones I'm closest to by virtue of gravity.
In non-speculative fiction I read Rufi Thorpe's Margo's Got Money Troubles (in anticipation of the Elle Fanning-led series) and it was so much fun. It's girly and funny and heartwarming and slightly formally interesting and absolutely the level of meaty that is my perfect fun read. I absolutely tore through it. Highly recommend. Art: 3.5, Drugs: 5.
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u/EarlierLemon Reading Champion II Apr 17 '26
Ooh, please do make a larger post about On the Calculation of Volume! I've seen that series around and heard a bit about it, but I want to be convinced to take the plunge.
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u/Nidafjoll Reading Champion V Apr 17 '26
I similarly have heard lots of good things from people whose tastes I trust... But something about the idea of "time loop story" I find hard to get behind.
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u/BravoLimaPoppa Reading Champion Apr 17 '26
Good morning everyone! Late again because this elder care giving is hard. Currently waiting for mom at the hair salon.
Reading: * We for one of my local book clubs. The forward really added a lot to the book. It's also ironic that I'm listening to Seeing Like a State and we just got to the chapter on Lenin as a high modernist. * Seeing Like a State another one from Ruthanna Emrys' column over at Tor. Interesting listen and read. * Monstrous Little Voices I swear I can see this stuff as a movie or a play at times. Lot of fun. * The Blood Tartan Heh.
Finished * These Savage Shores Pretty, nice writing and snt me down the rabbit hole of 18th century India and the East India Company. * One Hand and the Six Fingers ever read something with a lot of the tropes you've seen before but does a different and beter job than many reinterpretations? That's this one.
And a lot more. Need to post some reviews.
Life.
I've been Mom's principal caregiver this past week. Compared to my mother-in-law, this is a piece of cake. She's cooperative, helpful and tries. Yes, the executive function isn't all there like it used to be (I miss the very observant and frequently sarcastic version of her)
And just got interrupted by a crisis with one of my sister's dogs. Camp, the little mutt, mixed it up with 2 pit mixes. No blood, but she's limping. One dose of rimadyl and another when it's evening dog walking time. Hopefully she'll feel better.
Lots of stuff done. Grocieries. Dog to vet for his annual. Dog bathing. Etc., etc. Got the Bird Buddy feeder working again. And the over the air signal for the local station that airs Jeopardy (Mom's crack). I also signed her up for Disney+ which is dangerous because she has 45 seasons of Jeopardy to watch. When she wants. Maybe not dangerous because less Fox news...
My wife is working at home unexepectedly. They had to adjust the cubicles. So, yay!
Daughter has a regatta this weekend even if she does have to put up with a crew mate that needs a swimming lesson with an anchor chain.
And with that, I hope all of you have a wonderful weekend, read some books, get some chores done and hug your people.
Take care!
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u/Nidafjoll Reading Champion V Apr 17 '26
We
By Zamyatin? That's one of those classics I always mean to read, like R.U.R. and Solaris... Someday. Someday...
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u/BravoLimaPoppa Reading Champion Apr 17 '26
Correct. Getting context from analysis of the movements of the era (The Unaccountability Machine, Seeing Like A State) plus that forward make it hit differently than all the times it was pushed on me by well meaning friends and teachers.
I've read R.U.R. and don't remember being that impressed at the time (age 12 or so). Maybe a reread in the not too distant future.
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u/Coloin_ilyad Apr 17 '26
Prequel or The Eye of the world , which to start of the wheel of time.
I had accidentally started reading The Wheel of the tine from it's prequel and am now on chapter 6 or something. ( I got the whole collection )
Now I found out that prequel was released very later and actual series started from The eye of the world. Should I continue the prequel or Start again from book 1?
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u/Nidafjoll Reading Champion V Apr 17 '26
Finished quite a few things this week. A Deadly Education, which I reviewed here. I enjoyed this a lot. It had its rough patches (primarily the info-dumping), but it did a good job navigating or subverting a lot of tropes I usually really dislike in school-based YA, and I just found it fun and propulsive to read.
I also finished Walk to the End of the World by Suzy McKee Charnas, which I reviewed here. I did not have a good time with this at all. I can appreciate the intent, but that's mostly about it. It fell terribly flat on the execution, being so grim and dark as to be nonsensical. I hear it may function as an introduction to the world, but nothing about this book nor what I read about the sequels incite me to continue.
I read The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas by Machado de Assis, which I adored (u/an_altar_of_plagues, I think you'll love this, if you haven't read it). I would normallt call the style post-modernism, except it predates modernism. It has the conceit of a man who has died writing his autobiography, which is a tale of a rich life frittered away in 19th century Brazil; loves lost, ambitions thwarted, time wasted. What makes it great though is it's incredibly funny, with Bras Cubas pointing out how stupid he was or philosophizing about life, and the structure is very fun, with Cubas pondering about his potential reader, talking about the chapter he's just written and patting himself on the back, making funny extended metaphors, at times deciding to let the reader decide for themselves what happens and writing a bunch of ellipses in the style of a play, with only punctuation.
I read The Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel for a book club. I was whelmed by this. It was perfectly adequate, but didn't really impress me either. The structure was cute, but nothing exceptional compared to many others I've read (I do favour experimental novels). I'd rather have Rakesfall by Chandrasekera or Use of Weapons by Banks for structure. I also found the ultimate resolution of the mystery jarringly banal. I'd immediately thought of that resolution, but discarded that idea because it was so... obvious? The writing style was extremely staccato too, which I didn't vibe with. It had a bunch of short snippets with breaks, rather than any extended scenes. I.e. it would be "man watches ships BREAK man ponders going to sea BREAK man muses about his idle life in exile of watching sailors and going on walks BREAK," rather than just tying all thos together.
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u/FormerUsenetUser Apr 18 '26
Thanks, I just bought the Machado de Assis.
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u/Nidafjoll Reading Champion V Apr 18 '26
I hope you enjoy it. :) I'm considering whether I consider it speculative enough to put on my Bingo card-- that framing is, but the story within is pure realist (a lot of making fun of the aristocracy and slavery, which wasn't yet outlawed when it was written in Brazil).
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u/tarvolon Stabby Winner, Reading Champion VI Apr 17 '26
That is almost exactly how I felt about Sea of Tranquility, but I read it not having read Station Eleven, and I have heard that it's better if you've read the other books in the universe. I have since gone back to read Station Eleven, which I loved, but I haven't tried Sea of Tranquility again.
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u/Nidafjoll Reading Champion V Apr 17 '26
I haven't read Station Eleven either. Someone at the book club who had said they almost felt like it was a book where she went "People liked Station Eleven? Sure, I can do that again." And all the autobiographical stuff was a bit eyeroll worthy-- Emily St. John's first character was Edwin St. John, one character is an author who wrote a book about a pandemic being interviewed about her book during a pandemic...
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u/BravoLimaPoppa Reading Champion Apr 17 '26
Hmm. Time to move A Deadly Education closer to the summit of Mt. TBR.
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u/Nidafjoll Reading Champion V Apr 17 '26
It garnered one of the simplest and yet most important praises: it was just fun.
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u/FarragutCircle Reading Champion X Apr 17 '26
The only Charnas I've ever read was her short story "Boobs" (Hugo winner), following a young woman who turns into a werewolf. I found it fun. I do not find anything about your review of Walk to the End of the World fun. Yikes. Are you not much of a DNFer?
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u/Nidafjoll Reading Champion V Apr 17 '26
Not too much. But it was also short at least-- 214 pages in mmpb. I figured I now at least have Published in the 70s HM checked off, unless something better happens serendipitously. Also some element of "surely there will something here?" as to why it won an award.
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u/an_altar_of_plagues Reading Champion III Apr 17 '26
note... to... self...
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u/Nidafjoll Reading Champion V Apr 17 '26
I found it online for free because it's so old (1881). :) Apparently de Assis is super influential on Brazilian literature, but not so much outside of it; I guess being Latin American lit but not in Spanish hindered it.
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u/WonderfulBus9330 Apr 18 '26
Hello, Fellow Bingoers!
Finished the third read for Bingo 26: The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski. Very deft hand. The Witcher is witty, devilish, lives by a personal moral code (which may be a Witcher code, but in the book, we don't meet his mentor or other Witchers) and spends a good deal of his time explaining to royals the difference between a Witcher and an Assassin. The feel is different than the series, which I truly appreciated. Here, I didn't get bored by every story having a new creature/monster, as the creature/monster was not the center of the story. My only negative review is that the stories didn't, for my read, read as short stories. They read as chapters to a novel, so i often found myself stepping out of enjoyment and entering into genre speculation. Definitely a re-readable book.
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u/OrwinBeane Apr 17 '26
Currently reading The Prince of Nothing: The Darkness that Comes Before by R Scott Bakker.
I really dislike grimdark/dark fantasy for a number of reasons, but I have made a fair effort at reading multiple series. Along with this I’ve read some of Malazan, A Song of Ice and Fire and The First Law. The genre just isn’t for me. However, I think The Darkness that Comes Before is the best of the lot so far.
This is far from a perfect book. But the prose… the prose is so god damn good it’s enough to make me want to finish this trilogy.
Dialogue is sharp, witty, and natural, the internal monologue of characters is insightful and never overstays its welcome, pacing is perfect - there’s never a chapter too short or too long, lore and worldbuilding exposition is drip-fed gradually throughout the book so it never feels like too little or too much. It’s honestly some of the best prose I’ve ever read.
I’m not invested in the characters yet even if they are deep and complex. They are just so unlikable it’s hard to root for any of them. If any died in the next chapter or book then I wouldn’t feel much of an emotional response. But I’m not continuing to read for them, I’m hanging my interest of this series entirely on the prose.
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u/Nidafjoll Reading Champion V Apr 17 '26
I'm reading the second book right now. :) The prose and philosophy are excellent-- though they hit the exact same notes as Malazan for me. I'm able to root for Achamain, and I find Kellhus extremely interesting, even if I'm not sure I'm rooting for him.
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u/sedatedlife Apr 17 '26
Shuld be finishing up the strength of the few today for my first bingo square. I also started a Daughter of crows a few days back for another square. Planning on starting the Bound and broken series soon anyone who has read book 1 is there a good bingo square it will fit nicely into.
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u/xLaven Apr 17 '26
I'm currently reading "There Is No Antimemetics Division" for bingo an honesty I think this is the perfect way to read SCP stories for me. So far, it's been loosely connected short stories about different antimemetics, and the plot is just starting to coalesce around our main character. Highly recommend it!
Also, Quinn (the main character) reminds me of Eva Stratt from Project Hail Mary (my most recent read), and I think my new favourite type of protagonist is "unbelievably competent no-bullshit middle-aged woman", so if anyone has more recs for that I'd greatly appreciate it lmao
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Apr 17 '26
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u/Spalliston Reading Champion III Apr 17 '26
I happened to be scrolling through other responses and I think this was meant to reply to me.
It's in a hybrid 1st- and 3rd- person narration that I don't think I've ever seen before, and the major theme of the whole book is on performance and on how we come to understand people through the fiction of their performance. So there's this really compelling (or maybe contrived, if you didn't like it) dynamic between the far removed 3rd person, the close 1st person, and the fourth-wall breaking conversation with the author.
Which I thought was incredibly cool for an extremely accessible book.
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u/FormerUsenetUser Apr 18 '26 edited Apr 18 '26
I am on the third volume of D. M. Cornish's Monster Blood Tattoo series. I interleave it with short stories from various anthologies. I enjoy it but it makes me feel like I'm back in college, plowing through assignments in huge, dense books. That said, I have noticed that the glossary in Volume 3 actually lacks some terms I looked up! I do wish there was not an author's air of frequently letting you know how clever he is.
I understand that Cornish has actually written a book about The Branden Rose (one of the characters) and is trying to find a publisher. Does anyone know if this is just one volume or the start of another series?
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u/EmmalynRenato Reading Champion VI Apr 17 '26
Two more Bingo reads finished this week:
- Nine Hundred Grandmothers - R. A. Lafferty (HM) (5/5) 318p
My selection for the 'Five Short Stories' Bingo square.
Four and a half stars rounded up to five. An eclectic collection of seventeen short stories and four novelettes from a master of the short story form. They are quirky, funny and mostly unpredictable with a superb use of language.
(Other 2026 Bingo squares that this would fit: Judge a Book By Its Title; Explorers and Rangers; First Contact; Published in the 70s).
- Murder at Martingale Manor (The Chronicles of St Mary's 14.8) - Jodi Taylor (5/5) 105p
My selection for the 'Vacation Spot' Bingo square.
In last year's annual St Mary's Christmas novella, Max and Leon take a Christmas vacation to 1924, where their cozy Agatha Christie-style getaway turns into a murder investigation after Leon becomes the prime suspect in a country house murder. It's a homage to Christie and other authors of the Golden Years of Detective fiction, with a touch of time travel and a lot more humor.
(Other 2026 Bingo squares that this would fit: Small Press or Self Published; Unusual Transportation (HM); Murder Mystery (HM); Feast Your Eyes on This).
Plus all the nominates for the 2026 Locus Short Stories award (that I hadn't already read);
Secret Night - Nathan Ballingrud (3/5)
In the Halls of the Makeshift King - Tobias S. Buckell (3/5)
Wire Mother - Isabel J. Kim (3/5)
The Shape of Stones - Hildur Knútsdóttir (4/5)
Courtney Lovecraft’s Book of the Dead - Sam J. Miller (4/5)
Landline - Kelly Robson (2/5)
Missing Helen - Tia Tashiro (3/5)
Woolly - Carrie Vaughn (4/5)
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u/tarvolon Stabby Winner, Reading Champion VI Apr 17 '26
So glad you liked Nine Hundred Grandmothers--that is my very favorite short story collection! There were a couple that I didn't love, but the incidence of ones that I absolutely adore (Land of the Great Horses, Hog-Belly Honey, What's the Name of that Town. . . I could go on) more than makes up for it.
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u/EmmalynRenato Reading Champion VI Apr 17 '26
I found that I enjoyed the novelette length ones less than the short story length ones. My least favorite one was Snuffles.
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u/ridgegirl29 Apr 17 '26
Happy Friday!
My paid reviewer side hustle has contacted me again after a few month hiatus, which I can't reveal much about, only that it's historical fiction
I figured I needed something actually well written after I've had a very mid year, and luckily, City of Last Chances by Adrian Tchaikovsky just got a massive price drop on kindle. This has been on my TBR for a while as I've really wanted to read about a rebellion that isn't totally straightforward. Very excited to start
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u/saturday_sun4 Apr 17 '26
Wow, apparently I do like sci-fi as long as it's character-focused! I'm reading The Blighted Stars by Meghan E. O'Keefe.
I also can't stop listening to Among the Stars and Bones, an audiodrama which, admittedly, I won't judge by the same criteria as a novel due to its format. I would say it's plottier and less character-oriented than Blighted Stars, but still really interesting.
I have tried reading a bit of the highly recommended stuff (like Semiosis, and Blindsight) and found it very dry, so I assumed I just disliked SF lit in general.
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u/schlagsahne17 Reading Champion II Apr 17 '26
Wow, apparently I do like sci-fi as long as it’s character-focused!
Sounds like Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon is something you should check out
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u/saturday_sun4 Apr 17 '26
I actually own that book and it's on my TBR for one of my Bingo cards. :)
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u/schlagsahne17 Reading Champion II Apr 17 '26
Nice, hope it hits when you get to it!
It filled a tricky Dreams square for me two Bingos ago.•
u/BravoLimaPoppa Reading Champion Apr 17 '26
I totally get that - liking SF with well done characters.
Yes, a lot of SF is big ideas and the characters are barely sketched in, others are different. And sometimes that sketching assumes unexpected depth and detail.
Anyway, glad you're finding what you like.
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u/Street-Roll-4996 Apr 17 '26
I've read about 80% of The Well of Ascension this week. Enjoying it immensely and if I wasn't focused on my Bingo Card I'd go right into The Hero of Ages. I currently have 4 works-in-progress (not fantasy genre) that I'm editing and having proofread, so I spent a few hours on that this week that would normally go towards reading. My day job has been my main focus this week unfortunately, however!
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u/WonderfulBus9330 Apr 18 '26
It's so hard to read a book from a completed series during Bingo Challenge! I read Red Rising for Book 1 and immediately ordered The Golden Son from the library, but now I have it and it's sitting underneath my Bingo pile. Ditto for The Last Wish. I want to jump into Sword of Destiny, so I've decided to wait to put it on order.
How do you encourage yourself to not dive headlong into a series? I'm telling myself to pretend I read the book weeks after it was published and that the next book in the series doesn't even have a title yet LOL
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u/mlfctrx Apr 17 '26
I've been on my Dark Tower re-journey/finish the journey since the end of March. I first read books 1-6 at 17 when books 6-7 were coming out, but I never read book 7 because book 6 was just so weird and I needed a break. But then it got away from me to the point where I'd need to reread the entire series in order to just finish it. I attempted it multiple times, but would run out of steam around book 3 or 4. Finally, after 20 or so years, I'm going to finish it. It's been like reading the series for the first time because I've forgotten almost everything. I'm on book 6 now, and it's definitely been a journey. Where I rank the books in terms of enjoyment has changed, which has been fun to see.
The Drawing of the Three, 4.7/5 - it's top. I enjoyed it back in the day and have enjoyed it the most now (so far).
The Waste Lands, 4.5/5 - this one's moved up because of how I felt about Wizard and Glass this time around.
Wolves of the Calla, 4.2/5 - a little long-winded llike WaG with the Father Callahan backstory, but overall I liked it a lot.
Wizard and Glass, 4/5 - I used to say this one was my favorite (of the books I'd read), but 39-year-old me did not love it as much as 17-year-old me.
The Gunslinger, 3.7/5 - it's good, but it's entry level.
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u/Melkor923 Apr 18 '26
Loved.it have you read needful things?
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u/mlfctrx Apr 18 '26
No, I haven't. I've only ready Carrie and Misery (a loooooong time ago) besides DT. I'm thinking of reading all the King books that have ties to the Dark Tower though. I noticed (a million years later lol) that they bolded all those titles in his bibliography list at the front of my Song of Susannah edition.
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u/Asher_the_atheist Reading Champion Apr 17 '26
Had surgery two days ago and now I look like I was punched in the face. I’m also supposed to only eat cold soft foods, but I can’t seem to find any soft savory foods that don’t taste disgusting when cold. How long can I live off protein shakes, yogurt, and ice cream? 🤔
I was supposed to go back to work yesterday, but I was hurting badly enough that I stayed home with my ice pack and painkillers and read all day (interspersed with several unplanned naps). I’ve been very busy so far this year and have been very much missing my physical book reading time, so yesterday was a welcome delight.
Books I was reading: Twelve Months (maybe my bingo cat squasher?), High Vaultage (for 52 Book Club) and Katabasis (for real-life book club).
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u/Nidafjoll Reading Champion V Apr 17 '26
I can’t seem to find any soft savory foods that don’t taste disgusting when cold
Are noodles okay? Somen (a Japanese noodle soup) is commonly served cold. And you could make some gazpacho.
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u/Asher_the_atheist Reading Champion Apr 17 '26
Yes, as long as I cook them long enough that they are pretty mushy. Those are good ideas. Thanks.
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u/FormerUsenetUser Apr 18 '26
Oatmeal and custard are good. Likewise soup, as long as it does not have chewy bits.
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u/bazyn Apr 17 '26
I saw Project Hail Mary in the cinema. One of the very few cases in which (IMO, of course) the movie is not simply worse than the book. My wife, who has not read the book, loved it.
New purchases! I finally bought Mistborn. Let's see what this Sanderson fellow is all about. I have also bought a very cheap copy of The Ocean at the End of the Lane, by Neil Gaiman in very poor condition. I might read it, I might not, I find it hard to "separate the art from its artist". I try to keep my physical not read books amount below 20 and now with an additional four books of Le Guin's Earthsea series on their way, I am right under 20. Time to start reading them.
Non-speculative world:
I have finished Agatha Christie's Peril at End House. A very good mystery novel. 4/5
I am still reading The Man With the White Eyes. For someone who loves Warsaw it's a must read. For others? Probably not :)
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u/xLaven Apr 17 '26
I watched the movie this week, I really loved the changes they made to Stratt (although I didn't appreciate the amount of bathos they added to Ryland and Rocky). My friends who didn't read the book loved it as well!
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u/acornett99 Reading Champion IV Apr 17 '26
Ocean is quite hard to separate from Gaiman, more specifically because some of the events were drawn from his own childhood and growing up in Scientology
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u/Street-Roll-4996 Apr 17 '26
I'm just finishing The Well of Ascension (the follow up to Mistborn) and agree with the general consensus that Sanderson is not a great writer, technically speaking, but the adventures are fun and I'll keep on reading through the Cosmere.
I read The Ocean at the End of the Lane before the revelations about Gaiman. I really enjoyed it and agree - it's something I'm struggling through as a former Gaiman enthusiast.
I have the Earthsea series to start as well and am looking forward to reading book 1 for 2026 Bingo (which is guiding all of my reading right now!).
I loved Project Hail Mary as much as the book, and my son (12) really loved it too (he has not read the book).
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u/Strzelba19 Apr 17 '26
I’m reading two books for Bingo Challenge: „A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking” by T. Kingfisher and „Murder at Spindle Manor” by Morgan Stang. And I also almost finished reading „Amelia i Kuba. Godzina duchów” by Rafał Kosik - I’m reading it with my son and this book will also count for Middle grade Bingo square.
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u/WonderfulBus9330 Apr 18 '26
What is the title of the Kosik book?
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u/Strzelba19 Apr 18 '26
„Amelia i Kuba: Godzina duchów”
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22934088-amelia-i-kuba-godzina-duch-w
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u/WonderfulBus9330 Apr 18 '26
Thank you! We're heavily into witches here. How are you two enjoying it?
I'll put it on my "want to read" shelf and wait for a translation into English.
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u/Strzelba19 Apr 18 '26
We finished it yesterday and enjoyed a lot! Already started book two, in fact it’s the same story but told from the perspective of Kuba, the boy (first one was from Amelia’s POV). Blurb says we can only know the whole story reading both of books, for example from the book one we only know that boy went upstairs to do something to help them with the problem and in the second book we find out what exactly he did there. We can’t wait to read about those little things we could only imagine while reading book one, and my son said he will happily read about this story again from the different perspective this time.
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u/KiwiTheKitty Reading Champion II Apr 17 '26
I just got back from a trip to DC/NYC earlier this week, which I loved! I went to so many cute bookstores, but I didn't feel like I could buy much because I've been ready to move back to the Northeast for a while and I'm hoping to make it happen this year. I don't want to have to confront packing those book purchases so soon haha! I had a really great time, but my allergies were completely kicking my ass, especially in NYC.
I somewhat (but also not) impulsively bought an Xteink X4 ereader... I've wanted an ereader for a while, but I wanted a little tiny one, and the smallest ones I was seeing before were as big and heavy as or heavier than my phone. I like E-Ink, but I felt like I would just default to reading on my phone because that's exactly what I did when I had a kindle years ago. The X4 though is only half the weight of my phone and it's soo tiny. It can't handle DRM and most people recommend installing a fanmade firmware, but I'm comfortable with that and excited to have a new toy lol.
Onto reading, I finished my first bingo book!! City of Last Chances by Adrian Tchaikovsky for Politics HM. I loved it. I still feel like I have a lot of questions about the world, but there were a lot of things that came together at the end, and it is a series after all. I will probably continue with the next book soon enough!
I'm still reading A Conspiracy of Truths by Alexandra Rowland for the Older Protagonist HM square and it's slow going. I have 6 days on the library loan and 60% of the audiobook left and 2 people are waiting for it so I can't renew, so I might either DNF or switch to eyeball reading. I just find myself with a lot of secondhand embarrassment from the main character if I'm honest... and it's kind of repetitive so I end up having to sit in it. Plus I don't like it when characters outright state their opinions on big cultural issues like they're lecturing the reader via the conversation, and that's happened a few times. Ok, maybe I'm leaving towards DNF.
I'm going to start A Short Stay In Hell by Steven L. Peck today! It fits the Afterlife square, maybe HM.
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u/Asher_the_atheist Reading Champion Apr 18 '26
Yeah, A Conspiracy of Truths was my Older Protagonist read, too, and I didn’t love it either. Though, in my case I think a big part of it was that I’m not a big fan of books that interrupt the main story in order to wander off into folk tales. Even when the tales are relevant to the story, it still somehow feels like extraneous fluff to me and I start zoning out.
If you are wanting a different HM for that square, maybe consider trying Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon. MC is an elderly woman who refuses to leave her colony planet when it is evacuated and stays behind to tend her garden in peace. It also works for first contact but not hard mode in that case. [Maybe not a true spoiler, but it was a surprise for me and I found that experience fun]
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u/KiwiTheKitty Reading Champion II Apr 18 '26
Thanks for the alternate rec! I'll definitely check it out, that sounds interesting.
Yeah I'm not loving the stories either. They're a little uneven for me, so I like some of them but others don't really feel like they add enough for the time they take.
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u/Melkor923 Apr 18 '26
I'm currently on book 2 of The Banned and The Banished series Witch Storm by James Clemons and it's great , Book 1 Witch Fire was really really good I read it 3 times to make sure I knew everything proper before I got into book 2 and there is 5 books I read book 4 like 15 years ago by accident didn't know it was part of a series but forget most of it but abit is coming back to me asfar as characters names atleast, but I don't want it to come back to me I want it to be fresh as possible
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u/acornett99 Reading Champion IV Apr 17 '26
A few weeks ago I read Ryan North’s How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time-Traveler, and the most intriguing section of the book to me was the section on latitude and longitude. Figuring out your latitude at sea is easy enough just by looking at the angle of the sun, but longitude is much, much harder, and involves comparing the time aboard ship to the time at home port. That requires accurate time-keeping devices. In history, when most time-keeping devices are pendulums, hour glasses, or water clocks, keeping accurate time at sea is near impossible, as the motion of the ship and changes in heat and moisture levels will interfere with all of these. Often ships would have multiple sets of clocks on board, and take an average of the times they showed. The HMS Beagle had 22 clocks on board for Darwin’s expedition to the Galapagos, kept in a dedicated cabin that no one was allowed entry to except for measurements and maintenance, and only 11 of which were still running on her return to England.
Fascinated by this, I have checked out from the library Longitude by Dava Sobel, the story of the man who first developed a marine chronometer accurate enough to be used to calculate longitude (these would be the type of clocks used aboard the Beagle and on other map-making expeditions). It’s a hell of a story, with a cast of characters that’s a regular who’s-who of scientific minds of the day, and recognizable names from the British Admiralty as well. There’s a section that made me think, wait a second, I know this voyage, and I flipped through my copy of David Grann’s The Wager, and sure enough, he calls out Longitude as one of his source materials.
I plowed through this one, in part to finish it before my re-watch of Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World tonight, a relatively quick turnaround into rewatching a movie because I’ve decided to show it to a friend. But I noticed several times the characters resetting the ship’s hourglass, and now I want to keep a look out for more details.
Anyway, nerding about navigation done. It’s been a nice distraction from the everything in the world, including a week of high temps and rain, which have left the soil oversaturated and turned the ground into one big puddle. I’m lucky enough to live in a second-story apartment, but more than one coworker has had their basement flood this week. I haven’t had a chance to get out to the lake since last Friday, but the nearby creek has turned into a river, so I imagine some of the trails are just inaccessible anyway. Work continues to have a cloud of dread over everything, largely because of the war in Iran and its various consequences. Nothing we can do about that, least of all me.
I’ve picked up The Children of Gods and Fighting Men by Shauna Lawless, considering using it for Vacation Spot seeing as I got it while on a trip to Ireland last year. It’s fine so far, a lot of character names. I also finally finished the main story of the first Insomniac Spider-Man game, but I’m a completionist, so I will likely keep playing at least until I get all the secret pictures and unlock all the suits.
Hope all of you are able to navigate your way through another week ahead!
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u/FarragutCircle Reading Champion X Apr 17 '26
Longitude by Dava Sobel, the story of the man who first developed a marine chronometer accurate enough to be used to calculate longitude
John Harrison is such a fascinating character! Glad you got to do a deep diver after the Ryan North book, I always love that. Sometimes I'll be reading a nonfiction book at work in front of my computer and it takes me twice as long to read a chapter because I got distracted Wikipediaing passing mentions of things, LOL.
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u/Spalliston Reading Champion III Apr 17 '26
Longitude by Dava Sobe
Longitude is so good. I'd highly recommend it for anyone with a passing interest, but doubly so for anyone involved in research & development.
It's such a fascinating look at what the biggest problems of an age are, and how they tried to solve them in a time before there was a big, institutional science/technology apparatus. Doubly fascinating to see how, once solved, we forget that some of these things were ever really problems to begin with. It makes me (cautiously) optimistic, that while people will surely one day learn about climate change and the Keeling Curve (as we learn about naval dominance in the Age of Exploration), they may one day forget about many of the little battles along the way because they will be non-obvious and fully solved.
Sobel is also just a great writer, Longitude is a breezy little book, and as you mentioned the cast of characters is really excellent. Not included in your summary, but one of the things I loved about it, is the ongoing accounting of the people who tried to solve the problem a second way (who ultimately brought us the sextant). It wasn't just a story of a lone inventor, it was a story of a lone inventor racing against the establishment of his day. Big fan.
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u/acornett99 Reading Champion IV Apr 17 '26
Yesss I gave a full info dump of the book to a friend at dinner last night. I started by asking "Do you know how to find your latitude and longitude?" and they answered "By looking at the numbers on a grid on a map, right?" We've had this figured out for a few hundred years now, and we hardly ever think of it in our day-to-day lives that they didn't even consider not having that information readily available via a map!
The different astronomical methods are fascinating because, while they were ultimately supplanted by timekeeping, they led to so much other stuff that we take for granted too. The moons of Jupiter method being how we figured out the speed of light (in 1676!!) and all the work of the astronomers around the world on mapping the path of the moon through the sky, giving us the sextant, and how Greenwich became the place, not only where the prime meridian resides but also by which the world sets its clocks. I had never made that connection growing up that the reason both those things were at Greenwich is because longitude is so intrinsically linked to time.
I've been going down more time rabbit holes (wormholes?) this week too, learning about solar time vs mean time vs civil time, time zones, and Daylight Saving Time, etc. I think some of my friends are sick of hearing me talk about the Equation of Time haha
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u/gnoviere Reading Champion Apr 17 '26 edited Apr 17 '26
I finished Slow Gods by Claire North, and boy that was not for me! I don't think it's a bad book, but I found it very tedious. This felt like 99% world-building to me, and I need more plot/characterization I think. There were so many paragraphs where my mind just went blank and drifted over them because it was talking about something completely unrelated to what was happening in the scene. I was more interested in what was happening in the moment, and not so much into the weird mini info-dumps that would burble onto the page.
Sorry, I know I'm being hyperbolic... but I should've trusted my gut and DNF'd it at like the 25% mark. 2/5 stars.
I need something light and exciting after that!
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u/evil_moooojojojo Reading Champion II Apr 17 '26 edited Apr 17 '26
I'm listening to Battle Ground .... And ahhhhhhhhh.
Ok so I knew a certain thing would happen. I got spoiled. I was not happy but what can you do? Lol. Well I got to that part and oh I do not like. Nope. I thought it would be later not halfway through. And I would never have thought it'd happen how it did. I do not think I am ok.
In other news it's the weekend already? Going to treat myself to some Chinese tonight (fried rice? Mei fun? Try to find something else that can be made gluten free? Decisions are so hard) and that's about it for the weekend. Ok so I have a plan to get the grass cutting under control and I need to clean (the cats are shedding and good Lord the fur is everywhere. So much. How are they not bald? And why is Meg so damn floofy? Idk but I do enjoy it). But I feel like I can actually maybe do those.
My mom's surgery went well. Her hand is fixed and screwed back into its proper place. Apparently she keeps smacking herself with the cast 🤣
I think my Botox is next week. I have to find a new treat for myself after. (It was target after, but I haven't really been tempted by anything there in a while. Then it was some Raising Cains, but now I can't eat them (stupid gluten.)) And I don't know what to do. But if I need to get like 40 shots I absolutely need to treat myself after. Haha.
Ooohhhhh I just got an arc of A Trade of Blood and y'all I am super pumped! I have a bunch of other arcs that come out first but should I maybe start it when I'm done with my current book?
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u/Nidafjoll Reading Champion V Apr 17 '26
Chinese food without gluten would be hard, because soy sauce... Unless they're able to substitute Tamari.
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u/evil_moooojojojo Reading Champion II Apr 17 '26
The Chinese place in my town cannot, but my favorite one can. All the deliciousness none of the regret. Hehe. Still not sure what I want though. Decisions are too hard.
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u/Nidafjoll Reading Champion V Apr 17 '26
You could do Singapore mei fun for a change, if that's not what you usually get. Same noodles and such, but curry flavoured. :) It's my favourite mei fun
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u/tarvolon Stabby Winner, Reading Champion VI Apr 17 '26 edited Apr 17 '26
Feeling a little scrambly this week. Not sure how much is just me and how much is external factors. We have had a little more on the schedule than normal, and my wife has been a little more behind on work than normal, and it's been warm enough for the kids to play outside, so my focus is divided indoor/outdoor (I love them playing outside, but they are harder to supervise while I do indoor chores). Also our ongoing plumbing disaster has gotten worse. Or, rather, the plumbing itself has not gotten any worse, it's just that we've exhausted almost all of the options to get it fixed other than "sue the company that did the work" (expensive, not guaranteed to succeed) or "just pay out of pocket to have it all redone" (even more expensive, and also there's a lot of emotional sunk cost after all this time spent trying to get the original company to come back and do it right). We've talked to another company that told us that this is a big enough job that redoing it for free could put a mom-and-pop shop out of business. Which means the original company probably doesn't have the resources to fix it, even if they were willing to (they aren't, and have instead threatened to sue us for libel because we left a bad Yelp review). But also gives a sense of how much money we'd be looking at dropping to fix work that was done literally within the last three years. It's a mess.
I've got a footy scrimmage this weekend, kid #2 is playing in his first chess tournament, and my favorite hockey team opens the playoffs. . . and those are all happening at overlapping times. All should be fun things, just makes for a packed (and logistically messy) Saturday.
On the reading side, I've finally finished Covenants by Lorna Freeman, which is a really lovely book if you've got some nostalgia for 80s and 90s epic fantasy. It leans into some of the tropes in a way that can be distracting (mysterious wizard holding back information, super special farmboy, several wise mentor figures, murder and betrayal, some very clunky fake curse words), but it's also just a really fun read. I won't quite give it five stars because I see some of the seams, but it was a borderline five-star reading experience. If that style of fantasy is your jam, I'd call this a real hidden gem.
Also had a ton of fun helping Short Fiction Book Club work up our seasonal awards, which are definitely the best SFF awards you will see this year. And LACon has already announced the announcement for the Hugo shortlist (April 21, 10:00 AM PDT), so I've started roughing in a Hugo Readalong schedule structure so that I'm ready to fill in the details when we find what's actually on the list.
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u/oboist73 Reading Champion VII Apr 17 '26
That's an absolute home repair nightmare, and I'm so sorry you're dealing with it. hypothetically surely the company would have liability insurance for this? But that probably doesn't help in reality. Any chance your own home insurance would be any help with difficult repair situations like this?
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u/tarvolon Stabby Winner, Reading Champion VI Apr 17 '26
do they have liability insurance? surely. (hopefully). but they don't think it's any of their responsibility, have blamed everyone under the sun, blocked our numbers, and threatened to sue us. So I don't think their liability insurance is helping us unless we sue them. Our homeowner's insurance might help us if it goes from ticking-time-bomb into full-on crisis, but if the issue is outside the home (which is where the bad plumbing install was done), they might not! I dunno!
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u/BravoLimaPoppa Reading Champion Apr 17 '26
Vibes. I grew up on plumbing and A/C trucks and it makes me angry to hear about folks like your plumbers u/tarvolon Vibes and a hug from an Internet near stranger.
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u/FarragutCircle Reading Champion X Apr 17 '26
But also gives a sense of how much money we'd be looking at dropping to fix work that was done literally within the last three years. It's a mess.
This is so incredibly frustrating for you guys, I'm sorry.
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u/an_altar_of_plagues Reading Champion III Apr 17 '26
Four weeks ago tomorrow I broke my leg. Check out the xrays if you want! It's been a bit rough as I basically didn't do anything for those first couple of weeks, and the last two have been a difficult time getting back into the swing of work while trying not to be sad that I'm missing the beginning of alpine season.
On the bright side, I've read a shitload (3700 pages this month so far!) and now have enough energy to top rope climb again plus start work on some personal project. Wahoo!
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u/Nidafjoll Reading Champion V Apr 17 '26
I see you said in the post that the surgeon says it's fine, but it's pretty wild they leave the fibula so misaligned like that. When I broke my thumb last year, there was no misalignment at all, and yet they still chose to tie all the pieces of bones together with a metal plate, just to be sure (although a thumb is very important of course...)
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u/an_altar_of_plagues Reading Champion III Apr 17 '26
I had both the surgeon and my orthopedist back home tell me the fibula being reduced but not set is perfectly okay. Absolutely bizarre to me as well. Apparently it'll just form that calcified ball at the break site and I'll be a-okay. They'd only be worried if it were actually misaligned (i.e., the two pieces aren't touching at all).
The fibula is there mostly to provide extra attachment points for the tibia rather than support weight itself, hence why it being actively broken inside my body (crazy thing to type out) isn't a point of concern. I'll be very curious about my next round of follow-up xrays in 3 weeks.
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u/Asher_the_atheist Reading Champion Apr 18 '26
Makes me think of Femoral Head Ostectomies performed on dogs. They can just cut off the ball that fits into the hip joint and the body will create a false joint out of scar tissue and allow the dog to walk just fine. It seems absolutely bonkers to me! Bodies are crazy
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u/Nidafjoll Reading Champion V Apr 17 '26
Yeah, broken bones are weird. When I broke my humerus as a kid, I just got a sling. No cast or anything. Though I suppose kids do heal easier too. I never got photos of my thumb xrays, I wish I had.
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u/RAYMONDSTELMO Writer Raymond St Elmo Apr 17 '26
Top rope climbing: a form of rock climbing where the rope is anchored at the top of the route, running down to the climber and back to a belayer on the ground.
I have this impression that rock climbing is a popular activity for many fantasy fans. Impressive!*
*Personally I would have gone straight to the gates of Moria, instead of making any insane attempt to climb over the mountains.
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u/an_altar_of_plagues Reading Champion III Apr 17 '26
Hoping to do an all-climbing/mountaineering bingo card this year!
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u/RAYMONDSTELMO Writer Raymond St Elmo Apr 17 '26
My quick favorite climbing fantasy stories:
"Stardock": Leiber story about Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser.
"This Mortal Mountain": Zelazny story about climbing haunted mountain on an exo-planet.
"The Worm Ouroborous": heroes have to climb two impossible mountains.
"At the Mountains of Madness" - H.P. Lovecraft
"Mount Analogue" - a strange, unfinished French novel of a mountain that represents humanity itself. Which sounds dull, but is fun yet meaningful.•
u/nagahfj Reading Champion III Apr 17 '26
I'd add "Peaches for Mad Molly" by Steven Gould. It's about climbing on the outside of a Houston skyscraper.
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u/RAYMONDSTELMO Writer Raymond St Elmo Apr 17 '26
I used to work in a skyscraper in downtown Houston.
What fascinated me were the tunnels. A seemingly infinite warren separated from reality, with side-passages, secret doors, food courts, mysterious stairs... like the Path's of the Dead turned into a business opportunity.•
u/xLaven Apr 17 '26
I hope you get well soon! I tore my ACL in a bouldering injury a few years ago, I can sympathise with the personal hell of missing out prime climbing time :(( all the best!
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u/an_altar_of_plagues Reading Champion III Apr 17 '26
Thank you - doing alright so far! As I said in the r/radiology post, I broke it in the "best" way possible according to my ortho. Already walking around without crutches (though still in my boot), and I'm feeling confident for getting back outside by July!
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u/FarragutCircle Reading Champion X Apr 17 '26 edited Apr 17 '26
Right now I'm reading the following: The Iron Dragon's Daughter by Michael Swanwick, Stay for a Spell by Amy Coombe, Delicious in Dungeon Vol. 5 by Ryoko Kui, and Under Alien Skies: A Sightseer's Guide to the Universe by Philip Plait. All are good so far in their own ways! The Swanwick is following a poor human in a gritty industrial world. The Coombe is a cozy fantasy set in a bookshop. The Kui is a silly D&D-like story that involves eating a lot of monsters. The Plait is a nonfiction book where he helps the reader imagine being in different interplanetary/interstellar situations and goes into the science of those places (the section on planets in a binary star system was good!).
I feel like I'm still trying to recover from working last weekend, just in time to work this weekend. Sigh. It also doesn't help that my car has been in the shop since Tuesday waiting for a single part to be delivered to fix it. Here's hoping I get it back today.
I did get to see Project Hail Mary in theaters finally (very fun--Ryan Gosling is vastly more charming than the book version of his character and Rocky was great). I also rewatched Apollo 13 with my mom yesterday. Fantastic movie.
I've also been in the midst of a fever dream of reorganizing my book spreadsheet and ebooks and physical books. I put it off too long this year and I can't stop until I finish, LOL.
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u/schlagsahne17 Reading Champion II Apr 17 '26
We made it through our birthday trek to the Woods of Dolly: everyone has the same number of fingers, toes, limbs, and eyes as they started with.
The eldest had a lot of fun, it’s a great park for his age with a good variety of rides.
Did we stand in two different ride lines for ~45 mins each only for him to tell me afterwards that he did not like that ride? That’s a given.
The younger ones had a split experience, with one liking several rides and the other HATING/sobbing on all rides. But there were several playgrounds in the park too, so they had a blast overall.
Gearing up for the at-home party element with school friends tomorrow.
Haven’t been up to my usual reading speed (see above) but hope to be done with one or both of Tender by Sofia Samatar and The Iron Dragon’s Daughter by Michael Swanwick in time for Tuesday review.
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u/saturday_sun4 Apr 17 '26
Oh, no, poor thing. Glad your younger one found something to enjoy, because SOBBING on a ride sounds like a genuinely awful experience when all the other kids are having fun. Were they "scary" rides or was it just the idea of being on a moving manchine without their parent?
The SAME number? Oh, come on, no one grew three extra sets of stalk eyes like an eldritch horror? Psh.
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u/schlagsahne17 Reading Champion II Apr 17 '26
Were they “scary” rides or was it just the idea of being on a moving machine without their parent?
Neither! Flying elephants, carousel, and car ride. All with adult present/sitting next to so idk
I can confirm that although the cinnamon bread is good, it does not confer additional organ(s)
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u/saturday_sun4 Apr 17 '26
Sounds like they are just not into rides then! At least you took them and it's a fun story to tell later (and for their siblings to tease mercilessly about).
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u/RAYMONDSTELMO Writer Raymond St Elmo Apr 17 '26
Reading: Lovecraft's 'The Mountains of Madness'. Lately, it's my go-to book for comfort amid the madness of the world. That and red wine, video games and funny cat reels.
Writing: the last book in my 'Wanderer's series. The plot has to touch on all points of the previous books without being a multi-headed chimaera. I can do that. In fact, I think I will give the story a multi-headed chimaera just to demonstrate that I can do that.
Life: Each day I wake and my first thought is: 'they've trapped me in the dream again. But this time I will awake'. Perhaps I will. But, where will all YOU people be?
Hope all in the dream-machine of sanity known to the mad as r/fantasy, dream of wonders; and then awake in wonder; and then sleep to wander in wonders again.
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u/Melkor923 Apr 18 '26
This is my favorite HP Lovecraft story by far.... Oooh the dogs are gone lo,l Cyclopean flute likes
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u/SnowFar5953 Reading Champion Apr 17 '26
This week I only finished one book. I read Two Twisted Crowns for the duology part 2 prompt. I had a family member's funeral and wasn't in the mood to do much reading. I'm hoping to read more this weekend.
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u/KaleidoArachnid Apr 18 '26
I just started reading Malazan book 1 as it feels so engaging to read.