Giko Book Club

2025-03-18T18:02:58+00:00

Read a book? Post your thoughts on it!
Someone read a book you read? Answer them!

> Find books:
https://fmhy.net/readingpiracyguide
> Windows ereading:
https://www.sumatrapdfreader.org
> Android ereading:
https://readera.org/

< We suggest epub / mobi over PDF when possible
< As this thread grows, "tree" mode may be more useful than "thread"

Dune

2025-03-18T18:06:40+00:00

Earlier this month, I read Dune 1-4.
I appreciate how each book goes in a different direction yet the
world of Dune still remains largely consistent with itself.

Dune #1 was probably the best but the sequels all take the concept
in interesting directions. I think the writing has aged pretty well.
But 3 return visits to Arrakis were enough for me.

Witcher

2025-03-18T18:13:42+00:00

Book order: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Witcher#Overview

I read books 1-3 and I'm working on 4 now. The world is pretty
interesting and the focus on character relations is done pretty well.

After I finish 4 I'm going to watch the Netflix series and start playing
Witcher 3 while I continue reading through the rest of the series.
These books feel like they could work really well as an anime or game
series as I read through them. It's not world-changing literature but
the entertainment level is pretty solid. I liked the references to
fairy tales in the first 2 books of short stories.

I don't think Witcher is as good as Lord of the Rings but it's better
than Game of Thrones. Fans of Dungeons and Dragons and classic RPG games
could probably really appreciate Witcher, and fans of fairy tales and
myth as well.

Remembrance of Earth's Past

2026-05-23T18:43:41+00:00

Recently finished Liu Cixin's "Remembrance of Earth's Past" trilogy
( 3 body problem / dark forest / death's end)
at a reading pace of 1 book per day. (~500 pages per book)

Read it blind! Good mysteries and world building!
Hard science fiction so not a lot of fantasy.

Characters are a bit shallow and it could have been cut a few hundred
pages shorter at no great loss.
But it's a fun and easy read, if depressing.

8.6

The Long Ships by Frans G. Bengtsson

2026-05-23T19:34:30+00:00

awesome historical fiction, really gets you into the mindset of 10th century
europe, main characters are a group of vikings raping and pillaging all over
the damned place, getting captured by muslim slavers and having to row, etcetc.
these people saw it as normal and you think "yeah if I lived back then all this
would be normal to me too!" about halfway through, the damned christians come
on the scene and slowly convert everyone to more modern/familiar ways of
thinking (which seem alien to the main characters and to the reader as well
after getting into their mindset lol). harald bluetooth is a major character
for a few chapters. they steal a big bell from some jihadis.

8/10 might read again in several years.

Reply to thread

2026-05-23T19:45:43+00:00

My biggest frustration with this series is that %%dimensional warping%%
wasn't further explored despite its heavy exploitation by
%%the enemies of earth%% in the FIRST BOOK and hints about it were
teased in the second book , and it was ultimately %%the end of earth%%
in the third book ... the in-universe explanation is probably that
%%humans weren't given enough time to master the technology%% and it
could be that exploring it further could have written the author into
a corner, but as far as "what ifs" go, if %%humans were able to master%%
%%dimensional warping%% it would have totally given them an out from
the end assigned unto them. As soon as it was mentioned in the first book
I was waiting for it to be a force the author gave to %%humans%% and not
seeing them being able to realize it left me a bit underwhelmed at the end.

Reply to thread

2026-05-30T22:12:48+00:00

TOKIKO is FORCING ME against my WILL to post that i read the english
translation of 'submission' by michel houellebecq several months ago,
wherein a husymans scholar reacts or rather doesn't to the political
victory of moderate islam in french society. i am currently reading
houellebecqs first book 'extension du domain de la lutte' in order to
learn french, i have already seen the film adaptation. extension is
about a misanthropic programmer working for bureaucrats feeding the
frustrations of his incel coworker. afterwards i will read 'les
particules élémentaires' in french as well. houellebecq is like a
human cigarette.