Update | Poll Results, Reading Done and Games Played

Another Monday back in the office - lovely! Honestly ;)

First up, the results of the poll are in and the winner is Bright of the Sky by Kay Kenyon. I'm really pleased this one won because it's a series I've been meaning to get around to for a while and is one that I've seen plenty of praise for. I'll be getting into this one shortly, seeing as I've had a great weekend of reading and have nothing urgent on the go :)

Speaking of which, I finished three books over the weekend

1. 40 Years by Bernd Struben - a military sci-fi that is about the people doing the fighting and how the decisions made by their superiors affect them while fighting a war. This was in a very similar vein to John Scalzi's Old Man's War books, but was different enough to be thoroughly enjoyable. Review soon...
2. Starship: Mercenary by Mike Resnick - the third in the Starship series and another cracking novel, probably the best yet. I can't wait to get the fourth and fifth on the go!
3. Silversands by Gareth L Powell - yes, I know this was part of the poll too, but at a mere 98 pages in PDF review format it was a quick and enjoyable read. It was good, but as a Stargate fan the ftl process was very familiar and the ending was fairly obvious. Still very enjoyable though.

I didn't want to start on anything too taxing after finishing those three knowing that the poll was drawing to an end so I've picked up Neal Asher's collection, The Engineer ReConditioned, again. It's got some excellent stories in here, but also some early ones so they're not as refined as his newer offerings. Plus it's got his three Owner stories (Proctors, The Owner and Tiger, Tiger) which are among my favourite short stories ever. I'll more than likely have this as a side-read to pass the time when I need a change, especially because I know how good the contents are :)

Gaming-wise, and as I've mentioned before, Final Fantasy XIII came through the post almost two weeks ago now, but I've played it very little. I'm just not in the mood to sit in front of a game that will need hours upon hours to fully enjoy it. Instead I started playing Gears of War 2. So much for not spending hours playing - I think I sat in front of the Xbox for most of yesterday thoroughly enjoying myself. Excellent game that is all out action and so easy to pick up and play - I think this will be on the go for quite a while to come - sorry FFXIII.

Oh, and The Great Bazaar by Peter V Brett turned up on Friday, so that is right up there with books to read!