Recent SF Reading take 3

Recommended:



Blood Rites by Jim Butcher. Sixth in the Harry Dresden series. I truly love these books. A modern day wizard has to deal with the problems of day to day life and make a living as a private investigator. A few too many coincidences, but he even manages to make porn actors who aren't integral to the plot seem human.



The Sundering by Walter Jon Williams. Second in a series. Humanity, among other races, was conquered long ago and co-opted into the Praxis. But now the Shaa, who ran the empire, have become extinct and the Naxids want to take their place at the top of the pyramid. One of the best parts about this series is how a military which has had no combat for millenia has to relearn it's trade.



Shadow Puppets by Orson Scott Card. Third in a series about Bean, who in turn was originally a character in Ender's Game. Beautifully plotted, the characters are real, and he writes well. What more can I say?



Jaws of Darkness by Harry Turtledove. Fifth in a series roughly mirroring World War II in a universe where magic is the technology. He examines things we dealt with in our history from a different viewpoint.



Mixed:



The Adventures of the Stainless Steel Rat by Harry Harrison, a blast from the past, three novellas from 1961 to 1972. The first three books with Slippery Jim DiGriz. Think of Gomez Addams as instead a high-tech thief and con-man in a future galaxy. The first two were thoroughly enjoyable, the final went downhill enough that I'm not curious about the rest of the series.



The Ethos Effect by L. E. Modesitt. I enjoyed the writing, but for this author, this was more brand new same old thing.



A Forest of Stars by Kevin J. Anderson. Second in a series. Nice plot elements, but I couldn't get into the characters, and the writing just didn't draw me in. I have a mild amount of curiosity as to what happens next in this universe, but none in the characters.



King Of Foxes by Raymond Feist. Second in one of Raymond Feists Midkemia series. Like Modesitt's Ethos Effect, more of the brand new same old thing we've come to expect from Feist. Unlike Modesitt, Feist seems to be coasting on his reputation.



Naked Empire by Terry Goodkind. Eighth in a series that I truthfully don't know why I've stuck with this long. It just keeps seeming like he's going to get to Something New, but he hasn't. Goodbye. I'm done.