[onionroach]

I finished the first two books in the Sign of the Zodiac series by Vicki Pettersson. The series has an interesting premise. It's got the urban fantasy feel/style but there are no vamps or weres or witches or anything like that. The lore is interesting. The writing is a bit weak but it looks like it is getting better.

[Soz]

I finished Fifth Quarter by Tanya Huff and it was so good. Her books sort of remind me of Mercedes Lackey's. I love the world in this series and the characters are great. I can't wait to read book three because it's a direct sequel to this one.

I just started Cast in Shadow by Michelle Sagara, which is another Luna book. Sagara also writes as Michelle West, but I think the only thing I've read by her before now was a short story.

[thescoobygang]

The Vicki Pettersson series sounds interesting...I might pick that up.

I don't think I've read anything by Tanya Huff, but I can't wait to see her Blood Ties TV series(it hasn't aired in Canada yet).

I'm constantly on the lookout for debut books/new authors and I just spotted these two while surfing. They are coming out soon so you may have already heard of them.

Stray by Rachel Vincent

Book Description I look like an all-American grad student. But I am a werecat, a shape-shifter, and I live in two worlds. Despite reservations from my family and my Pride, I escaped the pressure to continue my species and carved out a normal life for myself. Until the night a Stray attacked. I'd been warned about Strays—werecats without a Pride, constantly on the lookout for someone like me: attractive, female and fertile. I fought him off, but then learned two of my fellow tabbies had disappeared. This brush with danger was all my Pride needed to summon me back…for my own protection. Yeah, right. But I'm no meek kitty. I'll take on whatever—and whoever—I have to in order to find my friends. Watch out, Strays—'cause I got claws, and I'm not afraid to use them….

...and a zany, fantasy romance


Karma Girl by Jennifer Estep

author's description Karma Girl is about an investigative reporter who exposes the secret identities of comic book superheroes and villains – until she falls for a hero. It takes place in Bigtime, New York, a city that's full of heroes, villains, and other larger-than-life characters. It's a fun, sexy fantasy with plenty of action and adventure Jennifer Estep.com - Official Web Site.

I know that first one falls into that urban fantasy cliche but it may be worth a look. The 2nd one just sounds funny.

[onionroach]

The second book looks to be different. I may just check it out. I might read the first one when I'm back into an urban fantasy mood. I kind of burnt myself out.

I finished Fortune's Fool by Lackey. It was good. I like how she builds the romantic aspect of the story. You get to know the characters first. It's nice.

[Frozeninside]

onionroach: I love your avatar.

[Soz]

I finished Cast in Shadow and I loved it. It's more traditional fantasy, but something about the setting seemed a bit like urban fantasy, plus Kaylin is a kick-butt, sarcastic protagonist. Book two in the series is currently on its way to my library and I can't wait for book three to come out this summer. After these, there will be at least two more books so it's nice to see another Luna series I like continuing.

Now I'm back to reading Tanya Huff (and it's funny because Huff was a big influence on the above Sagara series);I just started No Quarter today.

I'm enjoying the Blood Ties show, but I'm so far behind. I think I have 5 episodes on my TiVo because between hockey playoffs and finishing up my first ever watching of Star Trek: Voyager, I have no time for any other TV shows.

[WildAtHeart]

Stray and Karma Girl sound interesting. KG seems really original

i want to start reading Tanya's books. I've been watching Blood Ties and it's one of my fav shows, i would love to be a fan of her books as well

[joquim]

I'm in search of a book which is really different.....which has more of sci-fi side to it...I know this is really strange, and as I've never really read anything like what I'm looking for ...can someone suggest?

[onionroach]

Originally Posted by joquim (View Post) I'm in search of a book which is really different.....which has more of sci-fi side to it...I know this is really strange, and as I've never really read anything like what I'm looking for ...can someone suggest?

Is this a book you've already read? Can you give us a little more on what you're looking for?

[TheAngel]

I just started rereading Nightlife by Rob Thurman because I recently bought the sequel, Moonshine. Nightlife is a really good book so I'm zipping through it. I started yesterday and I'm just a little under half done. I should be finished by Monday and then can start on the next one. I just got home from school on Thursday so I'm looking forward to finally reading some books that I'm interested in instead of books that I have to read for school.

Joquim, I'm getting that you're interested in reading some science fiction but you've not really ever read any so you want some suggestions, right.

Well, in that case, I would recomend:

The Icarus Hunt by Timothy Zahn

Jordan McKell thinks he's pretty unlucky, but most of us would gladly trade places with him. He's a freelance star-freighter captain who plies the hyperspace folds between worlds, trading exotic goods and meeting bizarre aliens. His latest job, to pilot the Icarus and its sealed cargo to earth, seems simple enough, but it rapidly turns into a crisis of interstellar proportions. The man who hired him goes missing, governments and the underworld alike put a price on the Icarus and on McKell's head, and one of his crew is murdered. He'll need to call upon his wits, his courage, and even a few tricks if he wants to survive.

or

Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan

This fast-paced, densely textured, impressive first novel is an intriguing hybrid of William Gibson's Neuromancer and Norman Spinrad's Deus X. In the 25th century, it's difficult to die a final death. Humans are issued a cortical stack, implanted into their bodies, into which consciousness is "digitized" and from which-unless the stack is hopelessly damaged-their consciousness can be downloaded ("resleeved") with its memory intact, into a new body. While the Vatican is trying to make resleeving (at least of Catholics) illegal, centuries-old aristocrat Laurens Bancroft brings Takeshi Kovacs (an Envoy, a specially trained soldier used to being resleeved and trained to soak up clues from new environments) to Earth, where Kovacs is resleeved into a cop's body to investigate Bancroft's first mysterious, stack-damaging death. To solve the case, Kovacs must destroy his former Envoy enemies; outwit Bancroft's seductive, wily wife; dabble in United Nations politics; trust an AI that projects itself in the form of Jimi Hendrix; and deal with his growing physical and emotional attachment to Kristin Ortega, the police lieutenant who used to love the body he's been given. Kovacs rockets from the seediest hellholes on Earth, through virtual reality torture, into several gory firefights, and on to some exotic sexual escapades. Morgan's 25th-century Earth is convincing, while the questions he poses about how much Self is tied to body chemistry and how the rich believe themselves above the law are especially timely.

or

Warchild by Karin Lowachee

Eight-year-old Jos Musey's childhood ends when his parents' merchant ship falls prey to pirates and slavers. Destined to be the personal slave of his captor, Jos escapes only to find himself a prisoner of the strits, an alien race at war with humanity. Trained as a spy by his captors, Jos is released to become a human weapon but the war he fights is a war to achieve his own destiny. Winner of the Warner Aspect First Novel Contest, Lowachee's sf debut provides a poignant tale of survival and courage reminiscent of Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game. Polished storytelling and convincing worldbuilding make this a good selection for most sf collections.

Any of these are pretty good. I'd say Altered Carbon is the most difficult read but without a doubt is one of the best. Warchild is fairly poitical but still has a very good amount of action and adventure. The Icarus Hunt is probably the most basic, torn down to the gears science-fiction. It's about technology, adventure, and action, isn't very complicated and is very easy to follow but is also very, very good. I first read it in 8th grade and continued to seek it out, not remembering the title, until I was a sophomore in high school and finally got a copy for myself. So I really liked this book, obviously.
So anyway, here are some of my recomendations. I'm sure other people might have some for you.

[Shera]

I just came back from the bookstore where I limited myself to 4 books. I was surprised when I took them to the cash and discovered they were all from the same publisher, Roc Fantasy. Don't quite know what that says about the mood I was in. Here's what I picked up;
S.L. Viehls 5th Stardoc novel Eternity Row
Jim Butcher; Proven Guilty
Barb and JC Hendee's Traitor to the Blood
Janine Cross' Shadowed by Wings
I've started taking a list with me whenever I go because I've got so many series on the go, I can never remember the next book I need to read. I actually wasn't going to pick up the second book of Cross' "Dragon Temple Saga" but I thought I'd give her another try. I enjoyed the writing but I found the main character's life so depressing that I thought I'd give up on the book.

A while ago I bought Tad William's first book in his new series Shadow March but gave up about a third of the way in. With his books I either love them (like the "Memory, Sorrow and Thorn" series or "Otherland" series) or hate them (like his one off, The Flower War - I think that's what its called). In both Flower War and Shadowmarch I thought the main characters were very two dimensional.

At the moment I am reading Jack McDevitt's Omega. I was in the mood for a little science fiction and this book caught my eye. I'm really enjoying the writing and I'm falling in love with the Goompahs.

onionroach I read the first book of Vicki Pettersson's as well and thought it was pretty good. Haven't gotten around to picking up the second on yet though.

Soz I've read Huff's Quarter series as well. I enjoyed No Quarter , Fifth Quarter and Sing the Four Quarters but was disappointed with The Quartered Sea. Huff is another author where I either love her books, or can't be bothered to finish it.

[onionroach]

I think I'm totally quitting the Riley Jensen series. I can't seem to stomach finishing the second book. Maybe I'm prudish but I find Riley annoying. Really annoying.

I finished White Night, the latest Dresden book. I like it. I like how the characters are being fleshed out. I'm kind of sad about one character but I'm not going to go into it for fear of spoiling people.

I'm going to start The Virtu which is the sequel to Melusine which I really, really enjoyed. It's dark fantasy, like Anne Bishop, but not like her.

The only Tad Williams book that I could even finish was Tailchaser's Song. I started a couple of other books and just couldn't seem to get into them.

I'm also slowly reading Looking For Jake. It's an anthology by China Mieville. So far I'm liking the stories. Some are really unique and some are really gross but I just love his style so I can manage the gross stuff...so far.

[TheAngel]

I've decided that I hate my local bookstore. They had two really interesting looking fantasy series and they had the second and third books but never the first one, for both series, or trilogies, I'm not sure how many books were written by each author. I picked up three books though that look interesting, two fantasy and one science-fiction. I bought Path of Fate by Diana Pharaoh Francis, Crossover by Joel Shepherd, and Belladonna by Anne Bishop. Path of Fate is a series but at least it's the first one and I can go into the city to a Boarders if I have to but they just don't have a lot of choices at my local book store.
I also need to get a library card so I can raid their sci-fi and fantasy sections.

[Soz]

Shera, I've heard that the fourth Quarters book isn't as good and I'm a bit disappointed that it doesn't follow the characters from the first three books.

Angel, I just got Path of Honor and Path of Fate from book trade sites and the only site that has the third book is one where I'm out of points. I think I can get the third book from the library and I also plan to get the Anne Bishop series you mentioned from the library too because I keep getting beaten to Sebastian on book trade sites.

I plan to go to the used bookstore tonight but for several years now, they rarely have the SFF books I'm looking for. It's really disappointing because I used to find a ton of stuff there, but they just can't get much SFF anymore. Maybe I should try the SFF speciality shop, but their prices are kind of high on used books. But it's driving me crazy that I have so many incomplete series here.

[TheAngel]

Originally Posted by Soz (View Post) Shera, I've heard that the fourth Quarters book isn't as good and I'm a bit disappointed that it doesn't follow the characters from the first three books. Angel, I just got Path of Honor and Path of Fate from book trade sites and the only site that has the third book is one where I'm out of points. I think I can get the third book from the library and I also plan to get the Anne Bishop series you mentioned from the library too because I keep getting beaten to Sebastian on book trade sites. I plan to go to the used bookstore tonight but for several years now, they rarely have the SFF books I'm looking for. It's really disappointing because I used to find a ton of stuff there, but they just can't get much SFF anymore. Maybe I should try the SFF speciality shop, but their prices are kind of high on used books. But it's driving me crazy that I have so many incomplete series here.

I normally, if I find the first of a series and like it, will then save up my money for a while so I can buy the rest of the series all at once. I hate not having the complete series. It drives me crazy.