Queen of the Legion by Jack Williamson

I should go to the library because it is quite a while until the next WoT book comes out.

This book is okay. I both like and strongly dislike the Giles Habibula. There are a lot of parts that are pretty much lame and the actual "battle" against the villains isn't that interesting. I don't recommend this book.

Pages: 260

Pump Six and Other Short Stores by Paolo Bacigalupi

It seems like the well-regarded books this year are dark. At least, Bacigalupi and Miéville are the two rising sci-fi/fantasy authors and they are very dark.

In this collection, I did not enjoy Softer at all. It isn't written particularly well, the approach isn't that interesting, and I just don't want to read about a guy killing his wife casually and getting away with it.

The Fluted Girl was nifty, but still dark with strong almost sexual abuse. It isn't clear how abusive the sex is, but the rest is abusive. Kinda neat ending also.

I did like Pump Six. I had read this one previously, though I can't remember where. I identify with the guy keeping the pumps running because sometimes I feel like I am so much dumber than the people who designed the plant. I think it is mostly that I'm just one person and lots of people designed the plant, but I still like that someone is just slightly more knowledgeable than other people and still doesn't know a fraction of what he needs to. Also, I love the idea that people could build these fancy pumps that last for six centuries before finally breaking down. Yay for Engineers!

Pages: 239

New Spring: The Novel by Robert Jordan

I read this one pretty close to when it came out. By that time, I was sort of impatient that Jordan hadn't written another book for WoT. I enjoyed understanding more of the back story. I had recently (within a year or so) read earlier books in the series where Moraine and Lan had larger roles, so it was more interesting on the first read than it was this time.

Pages: 334

Exiles at the Well of Souls by Jack L. Chalker

Back in high school (freshman year, I believe) we were assigned to read a book during winter break and then talk to the class about it when we got back. That wasn't good enough for me, so I read the entire series of The Rings of the Master by Jack L. Chalker. I hadn't read tons of sci-fi at the time, so pretty much anything seemed good to me. The books were good enough that I generally consider Chalker to be an author worth picking up at the used book store. Which is why I picked up Exiles.

This book was interesting because the tech/mystical neat stuff was sufficiently different. The main idea is that reality is governed by equations and that a sufficiently advanced computer can adjust the equations for new bits of reality. Then, there is a world composed of a bunch of hexagons, where each hexagon has a completely different environment. Some people crash land on the planet and the main part of the story starts. I was disappointed that there is another book in this series because it ended rather abruptly.

Pages: 337

Distraction by Bruce Sterling

I didn't realize that I had read this one before, from the library at least a year ago. It is sort of biopunk, but not particularly revolutionary, either in content or within the context of the story. Things are nifty, but not exciting. Also, this story doesn't have a "and they lived happily ever after because they were together, even if everything else sucked" or even a "at least they died together". It has a "it would never actually work" ending.

Some of the ideas are interesting, but I'm not sure it is worth the time to read five hundred thirty-two pages.

Pages: 532

Titan by Stephen Baxter

I was all set to write a really good review of this book, but then I had to go to bed and didn't come back to it for a week. This was a really good book until the last hundred pages or so. The end sucks as much as the vacuum of space that is occasionally discussed in this novel. The beginning of the book is wonderful. The middle is both neat and really annoying. If you want, I'll make up a new ending for you. Read through to where the end starts sucking (wherever you think it is) and send me a message. My ending won't suck nearly as much as Baxter's.

Pages: 676

Mort by Terry Pratchett

I am rather fond of any Discworld book that contains DEATH. 
Pages: 243

Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan

I'm getting ready for A Tower of Midnight and therefore reading some of the books earlier in the series in a random order. It isn't actually that useful because now I'm kind of confused about what happened when.

I liked that a lot happened in this book. Perrin rescued Faile, Mat actually got married, Rand lost his hand, and Elayne won the throne. It seems action packed (in terms of moving the plot along), though Gathering Storm has even more actual events. Initially, I thought I was reading book 9, which is a very sucky book. But Knife of Dreams is worth reading as more than a time filler. And I'm kind of swamped with books right now so I don't need any time fillers. I'll probably read one more WoT book before November and it will probably seem slow in comparison.

Pages: 880