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mllaneza posted:This is really good. It's a big story that scales out over millennia and myriads of time, told from the perspective of people caught up in some bullshit and experience a lot of relativistic time compression. Make sure to check out the 80's version, Heart of the Comet, by Brin and Benford
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Mar 15, 2024 15:46
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2/3 of the way through Hail Mary by Andy Weir now. Had zero expectations going in and I am enjoying it. Audiobook presentation works really well.
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Mar 15, 2024 17:47
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Kestral posted:I keep going back and forth on whether I ever want to read Tehanu. On the one hand it's supposedly very good, and it's More Le Guin. On the other hand, I deeply, dearly love the original Earthsea trilogy, and I worry that Tehanu is going to feel like one of my favorite authors just making GBS threads on something important to me. Think of it more like a parent having a different view of themselves and their children twenty years down the line. The love is very much still there, it's just different, matured. I read all the books back to back over the summer last year, and if there's a dip in quality between "the real Earthsea books" and the later ones, I didn't see it. I think the culmination of the last couple of books (and all the side story/short story extras) are the cherry on the cake. Also, it's Le Guin. Stop over thinking it, of course it's amazing. drat I miss her.
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Mar 15, 2024 19:52
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Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000SEGUDE/ A Deadly Education (Scholomance #1) by Naomi Novik - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B083RZC8KQ/ The Magician's Land (Magicians #3) by Lev Grossman - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00G3L19CI/ Hyperion (#1) by Dan Simmons - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004G60EHS/ The Mask of Apollo by Mary Renault - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DCGJ6V8/
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Mar 15, 2024 22:19
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The Other Wind feels like such a necessary conclusion to the Earthsea books you’ll wonder it wasn’t planned all along.
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Mar 15, 2024 23:11
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Has anyone here read any of the ST:TNG novels? If so are they any good?
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Mar 15, 2024 23:20
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bessantj posted:Has anyone here read any of the ST:TNG novels? If so are they any good? I haven't read them, but based on her other work (including her TOS novels), I would assume the Diane Duane ones, Dark Mirror and Intellivore, are good.
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Mar 15, 2024 23:44
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I haven't read tng novels since the late 90s but yeah Diane Duane is nonpareil in that field idk abt the newer ones, I've read some scattered trek books and they're pretty uneven, tho Dept of Temporal Investigations is a fun series
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Mar 15, 2024 23:55
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I'd say throw caution to the winds and read Diane Duane's TOS books too, except I've done that several times already. I just finished KJ Parker's The Company. That's a hell of a ride. His usual book is competency porn feature an extremely sarcastic protagonist who is our sole POV. The Company is the opposite of that. He's got multiple POVs going, there's some sarcasm used, but it's nobody's defining character trait, and hoo boy do people make some bad decisions. Oh, and there's some really heavy PTSD on display. The whole thing is people just trying to stay ahead of one setback or disaster after another. I liked it. It's a good change of pace for him, and it's a really complex story. I'd read Burning Books for Pleasure and Profit right before it, and that's more typical Parker but also very good. I like his short pieces, not all of his ideas will run to novel length and I'm glad he doesn't push it.
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Mar 16, 2024 01:28
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I’m not sure I’ve ever shipped anyone exactly but if I had to start Kirk/Ael would be top 5 she’s so loving cool
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Mar 16, 2024 02:30
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I was looking for some Space Opera to get my fill after being whelmed by the new Dune films. First I was looking for some games to play, that was basically a waste of time as nothing is going to live up to Star Saga One again this century. But, then I decided to grab some book. Picked up the Revelation Space trilogy for the simple fact that it was the only author whose name I could remember from skimming this thread. Actually pretty good so far. He manages to avoid world building (verb) my least favorite trait of the genre, although having people enter and exit cryosleep and relativistic travel make exposition much more diagetic but hey use your tools. Cool world he's created, interesting mysteries between Sylveste's father, the ruined civ, the captain, and whatever the Mlle wants.
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Mar 16, 2024 02:44
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pradmer posted:Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell - $1.99 I've had this book forever and always think about reading it but never actually do. I feel like I would think about Tom Hanks the whole time even though I've never seen the movie. I originally picked it up while searching for books that were similar to the tv show Lost. Someone want to sell me on whether I should read it or not?
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Mar 16, 2024 03:04
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Borrowed Ladder posted:I've had this book forever and always think about reading it but never actually do. I feel like I would think about Tom Hanks the whole time even though I've never seen the movie. I originally picked it up while searching for books that were similar to the tv show Lost. Someone want to sell me on whether I should read it or not? Out of the nested stories, each one is written in a completely unique voice and even knowing about the movie, absolutely none of those voices reminded me of Tom Hanks, to the point where I can’t even imagine him being a good fit for any role in it, and why I’ll never watch the movie. Also the far future patois the last character speaks is actually pretty cool and sounds nowhere near as dumb as everyone making fun of Tom Hanks trying to speak it. A lot of it is also really darkly satirical. Particularly the second-last timeframe fast food dystopia.
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Mar 16, 2024 03:30
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Borrowed Ladder posted:I've had this book forever and always think about reading it but never actually do. I feel like I would think about Tom Hanks the whole time even though I've never seen the movie. I originally picked it up while searching for books that were similar to the tv show Lost. Someone want to sell me on whether I should read it or not? It's great! Definitely read it.
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Mar 16, 2024 03:52
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Gaius Marius posted:I was looking for some Space Opera to get my fill after being whelmed by the new Dune films. First I was looking for some games to play, that was basically a waste of time as nothing is going to live up to Star Saga One again this century. The Ur-Quan Masters is free. Borrowed Ladder posted:I've had this book forever and always think about reading it but never actually do. I feel like I would think about Tom Hanks the whole time even though I've never seen the movie. I originally picked it up while searching for books that were similar to the tv show Lost. Someone want to sell me on whether I should read it or not? It's actually my least favorite book by Mitchell I've read. Which is to say it's pretty good.
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Mar 16, 2024 04:00
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Leng posted:I am so sad that my copy of Exordia isn’t here yet. Exordia finally arrived this week. I was extremely perplexed, given that the publication date in Australia is supposed to be the end of April (!!). I have suspicions that the only reason I have it in hand, right now, is because I emailed my library the week prior asking, hey, uh, why did my reserve for this book fall off, can you please reinstate me at the top of the queue for this, and it turns out that the default hold period is 12 months and after that it lapses, which ordinarily I've never had a problem with, but with the weird delay of the hardcover release in Australia that meant my reserve lapsed before the library could even get it in. My library apparently decided the whole situation was unacceptable, because not only did they restore my position in the queue but they also imported the US hardcover. I, of course, immediately spent every spare moment I had devouring the book and all I have to say is: hooooooly fuuuuuuck, what an awesome ride. I have no regrets about ditching The Veiled Throne to read this instead. Reasonably confident this is gonna stick in my best reads of 2024, with Song of the Mysteries which is forthcoming. Also this didn't get enough love: General Battuta posted:They actually commissioned some Julie Dillon art which I don't mind
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Mar 16, 2024 04:30
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In the spirit of this post - are there any sci fi stories where “the far future but no space colonization” is the premise? https://x.com/afrocosmist/status/1768238151665946736?s=46 I guess this would fall under cyberpunk, which is fine. Mostly I’m interested in exploring how society, culture, religion etc might change over the course of time given relatively stagnant technological progress. Almost like Dune in that sense, but on earth.
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Mar 16, 2024 04:45
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Kim Stanley Robinson's Aurora. William Hope Hodgson's The Night Land and all of it's fan faction.
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Mar 16, 2024 04:53
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pradmer posted:A Deadly Education (Scholomance #1) by Naomi Novik - $1.99 strong recommend. sure, the premise is "a magical school for magical kids", but don't let that deter you
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Mar 16, 2024 05:07
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It's specifically a response to two of the reasons why Harry Potter is garbage -- why is nobody aware of magic? and why do parents send their children to die at Hogwarts?
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Mar 16, 2024 05:11
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Yeah. Scholomance is "what if the stakes are real, and what if you have to let somebody else die in order to survive?" Genuine moral complexity, and you can see the protagonist growing in character as the plot moves on. E: the protagonist goes from this system is monstrous, and I am going to survive to this system is monstrous, and I am going to burn it the gently caress down.. I like that a lot. Arsenic Lupin fucked around with this message at 05:51 on Mar 16, 2024 |
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Mar 16, 2024 05:23
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late to this but thank you all so so much for all the recommendations! gonna raid the local library and pick up a few of those, ty all
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Mar 16, 2024 06:32
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17776 by Jon Bois has a depressing rant on the senselessness and disappointment of space exploration - it's set in the year it's titled after.
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Mar 16, 2024 07:00
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Leng posted:Also this didn't get enough love: Apropos Exordia art, the original short story Anna Saves Them All has some cool art as well: 
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Mar 16, 2024 08:15
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Arsenic Lupin posted:Yeah. Scholomance is "what if the stakes are real, and what if you have to let somebody else die in order to survive?" and of course, the main theme of the third book: commuting loving sucks
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Mar 16, 2024 08:23
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SimonChris posted:Apropos Exordia art, the original short story Anna Saves Them All has some cool art as well: And the New York Times did an illustration of Ssrin in, of all things, Corporate Memphis
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Mar 16, 2024 08:25
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Borrowed Ladder posted:I've had this book forever and always think about reading it but never actually do. I feel like I would think about Tom Hanks the whole time even though I've never seen the movie. I originally picked it up while searching for books that were similar to the tv show Lost. Someone want to sell me on whether I should read it or not? The thing I really like about Cloud Atlas is that the film and the book are both really good, but also really different. They're a great example of why each media works and why it's dumb to try and force some books into two hour films. So what I'm saying is read the book and watch the film, because there's an appreciation there having seen both that you'd had the story twice, different each time and yet equally worthwhile.
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Mar 16, 2024 09:44
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ToxicFrog posted:I haven't read them, but based on her other work (including her TOS novels), I would assume the Diane Duane ones, Dark Mirror and Intellivore, are good. Peanut Butler posted:I haven't read tng novels since the late 90s but yeah Diane Duane is nonpareil in that field mllaneza posted:I'd say throw caution to the winds and read Diane Duane's TOS books too, except I've done that several times already. Thank you the Intellivore novel did have me interested so i will go for that one first!
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Mar 16, 2024 11:15
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About a quarter of the way through The Spear Cuts Through Water. It's very good. It took me a minute to figure out what it was doing with the different POVs and what seems like maybe a mix of 1st, 2nd and 3rd person narration. Liking it a lot. I'm also listening to an audiobook of Priory of the Orange Tree. Not sure how I feel about it. The narrator isn't clicking with me and I can't tell if it's making the prose and storytelling feel not great or if that's the book itself. I think it feels like a fantasy novel I would read in the 90's. Regardless, it's still holding my attention.
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Mar 16, 2024 12:24
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Arsenic Lupin posted:Yeah. Scholomance is "what if the stakes are real, and what if you have to let somebody else die in order to survive?" I read the first and it was so upsetting to me that I haven't gone for the other two yet. Upsetting in exactly the same way as the hunger games. I blame having kids.
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Mar 16, 2024 12:32
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RDM posted:If it's not The Chosen One But They're A Teenager In School, it's not YA.
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Mar 16, 2024 12:42
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Ranger Vick posted:It came out in September and I thought it was pretty good. If you enjoyed the first two, it was a solid conclusion and mix of the economic and fantasy heroics parts. (this is why many people feel like they have to to self-publish repeatedly very rapidly because many people are like me)
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Mar 16, 2024 13:01
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I just started Priory of the Orange Tree too! Really liking the prose but then I'm reading print. Not sure it'd work for me in audio.
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Mar 16, 2024 13:11
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pradmer posted:Pushing Ice by Alistair Reynolds - $2.99 mllaneza posted:This is really good. It's a big story that scales out over millennia and myriads of time, told from the perspective of people caught up in some bullshit and experience a lot of relativistic time compression. I just finished Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days (prompted by a “haunted house in space” discussion earlier in this thread) which were my first Reynolds, so I’m stoked this came up. Looking forward to starting it later. Thanks!
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Mar 16, 2024 13:17
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HopperUK posted:I just started Priory of the Orange Tree too! Really liking the prose but then I'm reading print. Not sure it'd work for me in audio. Yea I definitely think it's more the narrator. Unfortunately that's the risk you take with audiobooks, a mediocre narrator can really bring a good book down.
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Mar 16, 2024 13:29
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fritz posted:Aren't AIs in that setting born as humans and then uploaded into a matrix? IIRC, no. They are gestated in a organic human womb and when they're born, they're implanted directly into their spaceship body. So basically a inorganic AI brain/body that somehow forms in a organic human womb, but it's inorganic from the start. Though it's been a little while so feel free to correct me if I've misunderstood it. I believe this is a point of contention in another short story wherein the main character and her friends are sort of kidnapped by the USAmerican faction of space farers who are repeatedly, torturously trying to shove the AIs [kidnapped from their native spaceships] into organic human american bodies to obvious failing results because the americans think that's the body they're supposed to be in. Dysphoria trans racism cultural genocide etc metaphor!
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Mar 16, 2024 16:32
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Ramrod Hotshot posted:In the spirit of this post - are there any sci fi stories where “the far future but no space colonization” is the premise? E: and Scholomance is pretty drat great. Both the main character's gimmick as well as the entire premise work for me.
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Mar 16, 2024 19:51
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RDM posted:The Scholomance is VERY YA and the pov character is VERY annoying This is accurate. The writing is easily digestible YA stuff with an edge, and the POV character of the Scholomance series is one of the more accurately rendered angsty teenagers you can find in fiction - which is to say, yes, she's extremely annoying. I say this as someone who has a lot of young folks in my life who I care a great deal for, I have every sympathy for why teenagers are annoying to adults, but the Scholomance protagonist is Peak Annoying Teenager. It's probably the best-written part of the books, because boy does it ring true. El is also one of the most consistently wrong POV characters I've ever encountered in fiction, which does make for a fun little game of "spot where the narrator is being unreliable." Novik does a good job of conveying the sense of adamant moral certainty that a particular kind of kid can have, so for a while it feels like she knows what's going on, reinforced by how good her survival instincts and academics are. Then you start to see the pattern, and realize that she's dead wrong about virtually everything to do with people or groups, leaping to conclusions that are disproved immediately, often on the same page she made an unshakeable assertion of fact about them. I genuinely think Novik pulled a magic trick with these books, to make you want to nod along in agreement with this person who the author reveals again and again to have deeply flawed judgement and possibly magical brain damage from her mother mind-wiping her repeatedly and a complete lack of understanding of the larger contexts she's operating within. It has the same heady momentum as being a teenager with a mission and a head full of your own Big Ideas, rushing toward a conclusion that feels so right until you think about it for more than 30 seconds. She is an unstoppable bad ideas engine who is also powerful enough to just Make It Work Somehow, and it's a perfect teen power fantasy in that respect. To be clear, I think the Scholomance books are actually worth reading if you can tolerate the prose and the annoying protagonist. I normally can't tolerate those things, but I still finished the series, mostly to see just how wrong El could get. They're YA, but definitely on the better side of YA, and they somehow get a lot more interesting once you realize the person you're rooting for has no idea what's going on.
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Mar 16, 2024 20:01
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Yeah. El is an adolescent ragestorm, and you have to be willing to live inside that. My take was that if I were living in a place that was constantly trying to kill me, I'd be there, too. And El actually matures, a lot, which is rare in series books.
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Mar 16, 2024 20:06
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El was definitely an Angsty Teenager but I found her perfectly tolerable because of her very tangible character development over the course of the novels. Especially in the first book I liked the depiction of El's the transition from that mid-teen self-absorbed angst towards more relational understandings of the self and others. But it also avoids a pitfall of media that depicts that stage of people's lives, which is to have characters make that transition too fast, so they go from angsty teen to (psychologically/morally) fully mature, healthy, self-accepting adult over the course of a single school year or something. So yeah you have to be able to tolerate her not becoming a full adult by the end of the third book, she's still a kind of annoying 18 year old or whatever by the end. There's plenty to criticise about the books imo. The characters are very one dimensional, the first person viewpoint coupled with huge exposition dumps makes for long clumsy passages, and the plot of the whole trilogy is driven just by the very shallow core concept of "what if Hogwarts but real consequences" (which IIRC Novik has openly said is what she set out to write?). It just isn't convincing and I found it annoying just how much mental/plot/world building gymnastics went into justifying that core concept and the kind of community/society that would make the choices leading to a school like that. The magic system is cool though, and the way power and privilege play out through the magic system.
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Mar 16, 2024 20:29
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