rattfan | Reading Matter Needed

I just finished Charles Stross' The Merchants War, number 4 in his series The Merchant Princes. I'd never really got into his work before but the first book in this series attracted my attention and that was it. It's a very complex, well-woven series and my only complaint would be that they're written too slowly! I found I needed to reread number 3 to reacquaint myself with What Went Before, not that this was a problem as I read too fast anyway and at least this kept me in reading matter for another day.

Since it'll be some time before number 5 shows up - I only know there'll be one because 4 finishes with an incomplete sentence - does anyone have any reading recommendations? I'm really off chicklit/paranormal romances right now. Probably not permanently, they have their merits (if I can use that word!) and I'll probably feel more like reading some more of them when I reach my end-of-year break. I'm quite fond of apocalypse fiction and most forms of sf so long as the writer gives equal attention to characterisation.

I am somewhat depressed right now, as anyone who read my last (FL) post can probably work out but having something good to read would certainly help.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

If you haven't read C.S. Friedman, either her SF (In Conquest Born, The Madness Season, This Alien Shore, The Wilding) or her fantasy trilogy, the Coldfire Trilogy, you might give them a shot. I haven't read the last two of her SF novels, but I own them & have them stored away for the right moment. The first of the Coldfire Trilogy is Black Sun Rising. I read it a long time ago & the details are pretty blurry, but at the time I was blown away by her style & depiction of magic. Also -- her books are LONG. They will last even you a while!

I've read Conquest and Madness Season but that's all so thanks, will add the others to my list. Btw, if you haven't read Stross, you might like The Merchant Princes. Funny how some of an author's books grab you and not others, isn't it? I've tried his sf and couldn't really get into it and with C.J. Cherryh, I could read her sf but not her fantasy.

I envy you having books stored away to read. I never manage any sort of a to-read pile unless I'm a judge for something or am reviewing and then they're usually not what I'd choose to read.

As recommended by someone else I'm currently reading The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson. Yeah, you've probably read it, since you write about as fast as I read. Interesting reading at the moment since it vaguely touches on the big (Amsterdam) stock market crash of the 1680s.

No, actually you've hit on one of the few books I haven't read (g). Thanks, I've liked some of his other stuff but don't think I've heard of this one. Of course, next month I'm supposed to be writing rather than reading but I'll go nuts if the only stuff I read is the drivel leaking out of my brain.

Reading Matter Needed

have you tried C.S. Friedman?

Re: have you tried C.S. Friedman?

Neal Stephenson

Re: Neal Stephenson