Recent SF Reading part 2

Recommended:



Conquistador by S.M. Stirling. Wonderful tale of "someone stumbled across an alternate earth 50 years ago". The people in this tale tend to be neither villains nor saints, but instead come across as real people, with real world virtues and failings. I geniunely hope he tells us more about what happens with this people.



Lord of Castle Black by Steven Brust. A novel in the universe of Jhereg, the second book of a planned trilogy about the end of the Interregnum. Not much to say but that I enjoyed it.



Gods Old and Dark by Holly Lisle. Third in the World Gates Series. Earth is part of a long chain of worlds. Those "above" Earth are all dead, killed by the Dark Gods that they may feast on Necromantic energies and increase in power. Against them are arrayed a loose group of Sentinels who mean to save the Earth if they can. Unfortunately, those who choose to fight a purely defensive war always lose, a fact the Sentinels are well aware of. But there are those who refuse to fight a purely defensive war...



The Victorious Opposition by Harry Turtledove. Sixth Book in the series. I shouldn't need to plug Turtledove. After defeat in the Great War, the Confederacy turns to a populist and blames a scapegoat. Seems more of a set up book than anything, but I want to read the next one!



Darknesses by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. Says it's the second book in a series, but I never saw the first and liked it just fine. If you like Modesitt, you will like this book, and he has done enough really good work that you need to pick one up and find out if you like Modesitt.



Mixed:



The Warrior's Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold. The first real Miles Vorkosigan book. Liked it well enough, but the antagonists never really did anything except react.



There Will Be Dragons by John Ringo. What happens when a future advanced nanotechnology economy crashes. Kind of formula but I liked it anyway. Promises to be first in a series.



The Unwilling Warlord by Lawrence Watt-Evans. This story is an enjoyable read that committed the sin of getting a little too cute. Otherwise well thought out.



For Love and Glory by Poul Anderson. There is something profoundly sad that the man who gave us Van Rijn and Falkayn and Flandry was obviously trying very hard in this, his last book. I unfortunately could not feel any dramatic tension even though I enjoyed the writing. Pick up one of his earlier works - it's hard to go wrong with anything he wrote before he started getting sick



Not Really The Prisoner of Zenda by Joel Rosenberg is another book in the Guardians of the Flame series. Once again, enjoyable enough but there wasn't a lot of plot to it.



The Grand Crusade by Michael Stackpole is the third or fourth book in the series. I think he got tired of the characters, because it's not up to the standards of the previous ones.



Truth Until Paradox. Three words: Bad Gaming Fiction. I would have been upset if I had paid money for it instead of picking it up at a book swap.