Kevin's Watch

The Black Star, Book 3 in the The Cycle of Arawn. I feel like I watched the writer grow up as I read these books. I almost ditched Book 1 because he kept using the word "deliberance" and I actually yelled out loud "Deliberance is not a word!!!" I'm glad I stuck with it. Pleasure reading is slow lately because I have so much other stuff to do...

Like read Leading In a Culture of Change by Michael Fullan (nonfic, obviously, but it's very good so far).

I finished Persona, which was pretty good but didn't feel like the full story. There's a sequel coming, though, so that's something.

Hooray, the next two Books of Law have arrived, so reading Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie now.

--A

Started Black Wolves by Kate Elliott.

Fist and Faith wrote:SoulBiter, have you read Marcus Sakey's Brilliance books? They're among the current Monthly Deals at Amazon. I just read the two. (Third in the trilogy coming fairly soon.) Pretty cool. Not too taxing, but a lot of fun. Brilliants/Abnorms/Twists are 1% of the population since they first appeared in the 80's. Better at whatever each does. Math, music, physics, sports, recognizing patterns in human behavior, strategy, etc.

just ordered these on my Kindle

Avatar wrote:Hooray, the next two Books of Law have arrived, so reading Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie now.

I really want to! Too much into AI at the moment. But I'll get to them.

SoulBiter wrote:

Fist and Faith wrote:SoulBiter, have you read Marcus Sakey's Brilliance books? They're among the current Monthly Deals at Amazon. I just read the two. (Third in the trilogy coming fairly soon.) Pretty cool. Not too taxing, but a lot of fun. Brilliants/Abnorms/Twists are 1% of the population since they first appeared in the 80's. Better at whatever each does. Math, music, physics, sports, recognizing patterns in human behavior, strategy, etc.

just ordered these on my Kindle

Cool. Hope you like.

Just finished Edge of Dark, by Brenda Cooper. Long ago, humans who had transferred their minds into robotic bodies were exiled to the outer parts of the solar system humanity now inhabits. Now they're coming back. Nobody knows why, but they are too powerful to stop. Some good discussions about identity, consciousness, humanity, etc.

Onto Last Argument of Kings, final book of the First Law.

--A

Before They Are Hanged was also dammed good?

It was.

My only problem is deciding what I'm going to read next, as there is still no hint of when my final expected delivery (the latest 2 Outlander books, and "The Leftovers") will arrive.

--A

Well, finished the books of The First Law. The ending was not what I expected at all. Not at all. Almost too realistic? I dunno...

I see his next series is set in the same world, will have to look up to see if it is in any way a follow-up, or unrelated.

--A

Hurry up and read them Fist, I wanna know what you think of the ending.

I'm reading An Echo In The Bone, the next Outlander book by Diana Gabaldon.

--A

Ah. They finally arrived?

Haha, they did.

Onto Written In My Own Hearts Blood now.

--A

Ah. And then you'll be waiting for the next one. Will you look for the L-rd John stories? Or have you already been including them in chronological sequence?

Well, since there's no publication date for the next one...

No, I'm entirely ignoring the "Lord John" books. At least for now. Maybe one day.

--A

I've started reading Sorcerer to the Crown, by Zen Cho.

Just finished Speak, by Louisa Hall. Excellent book. Children, especially girls, were given babybots. Interactive dolls that might be aware, although maybe not. But it turns out to be very little AI-oriented. It's about the people whose experiences went into the original program's database. The diary of a pilgrim girl. Letters that Alan Turing wrote to Chris Morcom's mother. A married couple who had escaped Nazi Germany as children. And people who are affected by the babybots. Very character driven.

Sounds a bit (but not a lot) like Neal Stephenson's Diamond Age, except there it is an interactive book that raises little girls.

Well, in a sense...but really it was the narrator doing it, wasn't it? (Although...the book was telling her what to say, so maybe not. Can't remember if she ad libbed...)

--A