What are You Reading Right now?

Say, are you able to, on the spot, compare these Thrawn books with other Zahn stuff you've read? I've done 3 books of his the last year or so, and these were definitelly among the worst-written SW books I've read. Have he improved greatly with the new Thrawn series?

 

Yeah, I read the Hand of Thrawn duology (1997-1998) last year, and that was quite terrible. Read Thrawn (2017) this fall, and while it was definitelly better than HoT, it was still pretty poor, IMHO. I'm tangentially interested in the Thrawn: Ascendancy series since it (assumingly) establishes the Chiss society in great detail, and I'm always for expanding on the somewhat mono-cultural setting of Star Wars, but I don't think I will bother with another Zahn book unless he's taken a big step forward in his writing (or had help).

 

I'm a little less than halfway through the first Dune novel. I bought the whole series (prequels included) back in 2012/13 but never got around to reading any of them. The way the movie ended made me finally start reading them. I also got Skywalker: A Family at War for Christmas and want to start it soon.

 

Top Books First Read This Year:
Thrawn Trilogy
Skyward Flight novellas*

Top Book Started:
Emily Wilson's translation of The Odyssey

Top Book to Start in 2021:
The Daughters of Kobani

Top Comics and Manga (Ranked):
1. Batman: Wayne Family Adventures
2. High School Family
3. Komi Can't Communicate
4. Mighty Morphin'
5. Demon Slayer
6. Witch Watch

Top New Author Read:
Janci Patterson

 

Just finished the Queen's Thief series:



So apparently this fantasy series is considered YA--which I can see for the first book (out of six), in which the protagonist, Gen, is somewhere around 15. But the series is complex and full of violence and political maneuvering, which would have bored me stiff when I was YA age. But maybe it's categorized that way because although the series is grim and dark in places, it is ultimately never grimdark. It constantly juxtaposes violence, power grabs, and revenge against choosing forgiveness, selflessness, and love...which gives not only the characters but me as a reader hope.

One of my very favorite things about this series is that it continually recontextualizes itself as it goes forward, which gives it amazing and rich reread value--you catch something new each time you read again, armed with your new knowledge. There is a twist and a double entendre of sorts waiting in nearly every chapter, especially if you're not afraid to delve into the constant running subtext.

The series setting is sort of a Greek-inspired Byzantine world, in which there are "modern" mechanisms like canons and primitive firearms and watches, but the pantheon of gods is still worshipped in a very ancient Greek way.

If you don't like to be surprised or to have your mind changed or to believe people can change or are not just Good or Bad with no in between, you won't like this series. Although the author never shirks from consequences, people get forgiven of horrendous things just because of kindness/love/mercy, and for no other reason. And, if you don't like slowish plots, with people playing the long game, and having to pay close attention, it might be on the boring side.

But I am constantly impressed at how the author tricks me with verbal sleights of hand and pulls me into a different mindset simply by switching POVs (who knew there were so many varieties of unreliable narrator?)... I like to think I'm a perceptive reader and I thought I was on to her in the first book--and I was, a bit--but she was always one legerdemain ahead of me. It's not an accident that our series hero is a thief!


Series order:

The Thief
The Queen of Attolia
The King of Attolia
A Conspiracy of Kings
Thick as Theives
Return of the Thief

Interestingly, Disney+ has optioned the first book in the series. It will be interesting to see if it sees the light of day and how it sits with fans...

 

I'm currently reading Star Wars: Heir to the Empire. Well, to be more specific, I'm actually making an audiobook of Star Wars Heir to the Empire.

 

I'm currently reading Light of the Jedi (I just got to "Part 2") and Vector Prime, which I'm almost finished with.
I haven't read NJO since they were coming out (Vector was one of my first Star Wars novels), but I remember enjoying it back in the day. I also heard High Republic was pretty good, so I bought the 3 main novels last week.

So far, LotJ has been pretty weak, imo. The "event" in "Part 1" was interesting enough, but there's too many characters and it jumped between their POV's too often. The characters all got lost in the shuffle and were given very little characterization. They ended up just being names on a page doing stuff and none felt like main characters; at least not yet. The only name I actually remember is Avar Kriss, and that's because she was all over the marketing. I don't dislike it though, it just felt unfocused and like it was lacking something. I just finished "Part 1", so I'm hoping it improves in "Part 2", and I'm still looking forward to checking out the other 2 novels!

 

Just started “Stringbag” , about the iconic Fairey Swordfish….a biplane torpedo bomber from Britain in WWII. Fascinating story of a fascinating aircraft! @Addi Ras @Lazarus Dei

 

I completely understand. Thank you for clarifying the mandates for the forum! I’ll make sure not to post about self-made content in the future.

 

Thank you, that is extremely helpful!

 

Pretty interesting, got a little boring in the middle when it got bogged down in negotiations and pay-per-view contracts but it's gotten good again as I'm getting near the end and to the actual fight. I already know how it ends, I've seen the fight several times as it's one of the most famous of the 80s, it was only 3 rounds but pretty much a brawl from start to finish. The book isn't just about the fight but also the post-Sugar Ray Leornard (though he would un-retire again after this fight and fight Hagler)/pre-Mike Tyson window was a rough time for boxing and just how tough it was to get the public interested in two guys who weren't really household names even though they were at the top of the sport.

 

Just finished book 6 in this series. It is a fun book with a little drama and to great dogs in it. Now i am on to Atomic Detective.