50 Comments on “Today’s New Books and ARCs, 5/23/16”

1. Oh, a new Beth Cato!

2. Always wanted to read Ready Player One, and never got round to it. I’ve heard that the audiobook narrator is decent.

3. A few look interesting to me. Shadows of the Dark Crystal, The Shadow Cadets of Pennyroyal Academy, Bloodline, and Ready Player One.

4. I’ve been waiting for Breath of Earth forever, so that’s first on my list!

   But It Happened One Doomsday,Hex, and Bloodline also have my attention.

5. The Star Wars Bloodline is calling to me.

6. Oooh, that Ready Player One looks great! Listened to it on audio, it’s one of the few books my husband and I could agree upon. Pretty nostalgic for us, since we were teenagers in the 1980s.

7. How is Ready Player One a new book? It’s great, to be sure. Hits an 80’s kid like me in all the right places, but it’s been out for a long time.

   Reading Star Wars: Bloodline now. Meh.

8. the only one i ve read from the stack is Ready Player One, but Away we go seems to call my name

9. I would commit violent crimes to get my hands on that Polansky ARC.

10. I know titles aren’t everything, but *man* am I intrigued by _The Shadow Cadets of Pennyroyal Academy_!

11. Stiletto I’ve been waiting for since I read o’malleys “The Rook”. I am insanely jealous that you have it and I do not.

12. @Andy Jojn the club! But, on the other hand, if an ARC is out there it means no more delays!

13. They all look like excellent picks, I would probably start with Cato’s new book. Next I’ll try Ready Player One, although I was a kid in the ’60’s, I raised my kids in the eighties!

14. @Spriggana indeed. I have it pre-ordered in any case. I take it you are also a fan? I have had very limited success convincing others to read The Rook (although all that do love it), have you found a good way to describe it that doesn’t make people nod nervously and inch away?

15. Jerusalem, oh Jerusalem!
    Ahem.
    I’m pretty interested in Jerusalem, yes, and wildly jealous of your ARC…

16. There have been so many rumored release dates for Stiletto, I wasn’t entirely convinced that it would be out in June. The Rook was just amazing (the ending seemed rushed but still excellent despite that) so I’m eagerly awaiting the sequel.

    For convincing others to read The Rook, I’d just have them read the first chapter. That book has a HOOK. Don’t tell them anything else. Just have them read the beginning.

17. The blurbs on Amazon for It Happened One Doomsday are really good. I think I’m going to have to get that one.

18. Jerusalem is kind of legendary. Certainly it looks like it could be two million words.

19. Just finished Hex. If you want a gruesome ghost story, this is the book for you.

20. STILETTO!!!! Rook was a compelling wild ride!

    Currently reading Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel. It’s quite good so far!

21. Another fan of ‘Rook’ here. eagerly awaiting delivery. (Side: For some reason the drinking game phrase (no idea why I remember this) comes to mind: “Eleven Elliptical Elephants Eagerly Awaiting Arrival to Ethiopia”)

22. Rook was excellent, so I look forward to the sequel. I’d no idea that was done, so I’m glad I caught it. Also, I read Too Like The Lightning ( a recent Big Idea) and enjoyed it greatly.

23. A lot of these look good, but I had to chime in with, “There’s a Dark Crystal novel coming out?!! Why did nobody call and tell me this???” So I would have to say that certainly calls the loudest. Fun stuff!

24. How in the world do you ever get anything done with all these books arriving on a regular basis?

25. Can you read Jerusalem and let me know if I should invest my time? I read quickly, but that looks like the investment of a month for me.

26. Is that the limited edition of Ready Player One?

27. Umm. not everyone loved THE ROOK. As noted by others, opening chapter was a great hook. But continuing from there, my willing sense of disbelief was strained badly enough to put the book down about a quarter way thru.Obviously, other people’s mileage varied.

    Alan Moore’s doorstop is tempting but, much like that other recent doorstop SEVENEVES, I’ll wait for the Readers Digest Condensed Books version. When you’re in your sixties, it starts to be a concern whether a Big Fat Book or yourself will reach its end first. (Yay, novellas!)

28. The ones that looked most interesting to me were 11 THINGS I PROMISED, IT HAPPENED ONE DOOMSDAY, JERUSALEM, A CITY DREAMING, BREATH OF EARTH and COFFIN ROAD.

29. Alan Moore? *The* Alan Moore?!! I’m definitely up for some magical madness …

30. I read The Rook because Lois McMaster Bujold’s review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/937674359?book_show_action=false – so maybe it would work to convince others?

31. READY PLAYER ONE provided enormous fun during a long international flight (including some back-to-the-past remembrances… Ultraman, anyone?). I have trouble believing Master Scalzi hasn’t read this one.

32. Ready Player One, one of my favorite books of all time. It is a short fast paced read, well written, and chopped full of interesting ideas. It is the ultimate gamers book. I highly recommend that read for anyone, but especially for gamers.

33. STAR WARS: BLOODLINES was great, I enjoyed RP1 a lot too. Would definitely pick up the Dark Crystal book and morbidly curious about JERUSALEM.

34. Bless his heart, Ernest Cline needs to work on his endings a bit. “Ready Player One” and “Armada” were both very fun books, but the endings just kind of show up all of the sudden and *plop* yer done.

35. Star Wars Bloodlines sounds interesting,if you’re into the fictional politics of the Star Wars galaxy. Which I guess I am.

36. Ready Player One! And…Star Wars book looks tempting but I’m boycotting it all until they restore Thrawn and bring back Zahn.

37. A new Polansky! Cool!!

38. I’m guessing that this is the movie tie-in edition of Ready Player One.

39. OMG, the 1200-page ARC of Alan Moore’s Jerusalem??? Want but preferably in a hardcover sturdy enough to keep its pages from falling out. Also, is there more than one John Scalzi around, as I wonder how you have time to write stuff, take cat pictures, and read ARCs.

40. Has to be Jerusalem. I’d be interested in your thoughts if you read it.

41. @dhuff – yep, I agree that many a book just has the ending turn up. You can see the book is coming to an end, two chapters or so to go, but the story is still going strong. Some manage to set it up for an obvious sequel, others just stop.
    And thanks folks: – I’ll give Ready Player One and Rook a go. Both are new authors to me.

42. Ooh, I listened to Ready Player One last year and really enjoyed it! Wil Wheaton turns in another great narration.

43. Love Ready Player One, and the Sub Press version is so beautiful. Just read Hex and enjoyed it. Can’t wait for Stiletto as The Rook was really fun for me. Have to check out some of the others on that stack too! Scalzi’s blog = how to spend more money…..

44. Stiletto!! I’ve been re-listening to the Rook on audiobook in preparation.

45. I think I may be the only person who didn’t actually enjoy Ready Player One. I want to like it, but halfway through it was like =meh= I just don’t care. I’m probably 20 years too old for the target market on that one.

46. You had me at “Alan Moore”.

47. Stiletto! So much! Also curious about the Shadow Cadets of the Pennyroyal Academy and Hex.

48. I want Stiletto so much. Loved the Rook and been waiting forever since that one.

    Hex is a fantastic horror novel. Though I have yet to read the English version (original is Dutch), I’ve heard it is a great translation.

49. yayyyyyyyyy Stiletto!!!! yay yay yay!

50. Jerusalem will sap your life–which I am not saying is a bad thing. It can be a very good thing–though, I found it highly disturbing to be in Moore’s mind for so long (especially the 11 chapters on some girl hiccuping). I have read 500 pages so far, but I still have 700 more to go. I have no idea if I will find the time.