Mutineer by Mike Shepherd is one of my favorite series up to a point. I can't remember at what point I stopped reading it. Series in general tend to lose my interest after three or four books because I feel the main character seems to become too perfect at everything, or they just go off the deep end and you think "that's not what I think the character would do". Kris Longknife reminded me of Honor Harrington, and Honor Harrington got old eventually as well.
I stopped reading Mutineer because there were some gender issues that bothered me, such as female characters who were more traditionally feminine than the protagonist being disrespected and dismissed as silly and stupid in a way that set my teeth on edge every time. Some male authors write female characters who feel real to me, rather than stereotypical, but it turns out that Mike Shepherd isn't one of them. Too bad, because military-SF-with-female-protagonist is a genre of which I am quite fond.
(I only made it one book into the Honor Harrington series. Something about Mary Sue with a magic spacekitty and being banged over the head by the author's politics? I don't remember exactly because I read it about twenty years ago.)
Elizabeth Moon's Familias Regnant universe books are quite good, if you haven't read those yet.
If you don't mind a light SF/romance hybrid, Games of Command by Linnea Sinclair (with bonus virgin male love interest and cheesy psychic cats in space!) is great fun.
I have the first book in Tanya Huff's Valor Confederation series in my TBR pile, so I can't say if that's any good or not yet. Have you read those?
I read Zel this year and really liked it. Sunshine is on my list of books to read, what did you think of that one?
I've also read a few of the Star Wars ones, though I don't read them like I used too. Once the Vuzom Vong or, how ever that's spelled, were introduced I really just didn't like the way the universe was going. Though I do like the revisiting the older bits of the universe. I read the first Darth Bane novel and loved it. I want to pick up the rest of that series at some point.
Sunshine was recommended to me as a worthy antidote to all the sparklepire and vampire romance novels that just don't work for me. Not exactly a romance. Not exactly not a romance, either. It will probably make you want to bake a lot, or at least to spend a lot of time patronizing bakeries. (The protagonist is a baker.)
I'd give it a solid B grade - maybe a B+ if it weren't written in first person, which I dislike.
I don't think we have overlapping reading lists :)
I squinted at your romance novel books list awhile, because I have such a hard time remembering the individual names (they're all generic ones that are totally forgettable! I start navigating by author names now). I recognize a lot of names, but I don't think I've read the specific books - I'm kind of iffy on Milan. On one hand, I really liked Proof of Seduction. But the next book in the series just completely and totally broke my suspension of belief (how can Ned walk on a broken leg for a mile?!?!? I would have thrown my book across the room in demonstrative rage, but I was reading it on my computer.) Weirdly, while I've read, er, a lot of SW, it's not overlapping with your list; I think it's because I read a lot of prequel era stuff. Actually, nearly exclusively prequel-era.
I tried to read Figures in Silk, but I gave up. I tried really hard, because I love historical fiction, but I just...couldn't get into it. Something was off :|
I know what you mean about generic romance titles. I keep track of my library via Librarything, so it's really easy for me to know what I read and exactly when I read it.
At the end of Figures in Silk, the protagonist herself realizes that something is off and has been the entire time, which partially redeemed her from all the times I wanted to slap her silly for being so clueless. Definitely a frustrating book.
Heh, technically I have an excel spreadsheet for that, but I keep forgetting to update them. (Even so, I suck at remembering titles, even the more memorable titles you get in other genres.)
SHE DOES? Hallelujah, that's amazing. IDK, there was just something about the setting & her attitude that bugged me (I'm hesitant to say anachronistic, because I don't know that time period particularly well either, just the larger strokes of the medieval period).
Much in common, yet (almost) no connectionsed_rexDecember 31 2012, 22:43:49 UTC
Your Dreamwidth profile (LJ is acting up again) expresses my views on BSG almost exactly, and we certainly share tastes.
Yet of all the books on your list, I have read a grand total of one (count 'em! Or rather, it!) of them. (Kristine Kathryn Rusch's name on the cover has seen me buy mystery magazines.)
Re: Much in common, yet (almost) no connectionsed_rexDecember 31 2012, 22:56:25 UTC
Funny you should mention the Corey. I'm just about done a short story by him in the anthology Edge of Infinity. I think it's my first exposure, and I am so far impressed by it.
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Is there something you didn't like about it?
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(I only made it one book into the Honor Harrington series. Something about Mary Sue with a magic spacekitty and being banged over the head by the author's politics? I don't remember exactly because I read it about twenty years ago.)
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This is also my favorite... do you have any recommendations?
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If you don't mind a light SF/romance hybrid, Games of Command by Linnea Sinclair (with bonus virgin male love interest and cheesy psychic cats in space!) is great fun.
I have the first book in Tanya Huff's Valor Confederation series in my TBR pile, so I can't say if that's any good or not yet. Have you read those?
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I've also read a few of the Star Wars ones, though I don't read them like I used too. Once the Vuzom Vong or, how ever that's spelled, were introduced I really just didn't like the way the universe was going. Though I do like the revisiting the older bits of the universe. I read the first Darth Bane novel and loved it. I want to pick up the rest of that series at some point.
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I'd give it a solid B grade - maybe a B+ if it weren't written in first person, which I dislike.
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I squinted at your romance novel books list awhile, because I have such a hard time remembering the individual names (they're all generic ones that are totally forgettable! I start navigating by author names now). I recognize a lot of names, but I don't think I've read the specific books - I'm kind of iffy on Milan. On one hand, I really liked Proof of Seduction. But the next book in the series just completely and totally broke my suspension of belief (how can Ned walk on a broken leg for a mile?!?!? I would have thrown my book across the room in demonstrative rage, but I was reading it on my computer.) Weirdly, while I've read, er, a lot of SW, it's not overlapping with your list; I think it's because I read a lot of prequel era stuff. Actually, nearly exclusively prequel-era.
I tried to read Figures in Silk, but I gave up. I tried really hard, because I love historical fiction, but I just...couldn't get into it. Something was off :|
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At the end of Figures in Silk, the protagonist herself realizes that something is off and has been the entire time, which partially redeemed her from all the times I wanted to slap her silly for being so clueless. Definitely a frustrating book.
Reply
SHE DOES? Hallelujah, that's amazing. IDK, there was just something about the setting & her attitude that bugged me (I'm hesitant to say anachronistic, because I don't know that time period particularly well either, just the larger strokes of the medieval period).
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Yet of all the books on your list, I have read a grand total of one (count 'em! Or rather, it!) of them. (Kristine Kathryn Rusch's name on the cover has seen me buy mystery magazines.)
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