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Oh my no, they're dreadful. Read the original series-- Frank Herbert books only, up until you either want to stop or finish Chapterhouse. There's no real consensus as to when or if the series goes bad, but no matter where you choose to stop, it will never improve past that point.
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Sep 22, 2013 13:09
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Fideles posted:I recently read the original Dune series by Frank Herbert and I see that there have been a number of prequels written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson. I was wondering if these prequels are worth the read or do people think they don't stand up to the original. I have never heard anyone who wasn't trying to sell them say anything good about them, and I'm surprised the OP doesn't say that they're generally considered bad, not unlike the Foundation prequels. Or Star Wars. Or Star Trek Enterprise. Hmm, I think I notice a pattern forming.
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Sep 22, 2013 13:26
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Fideles posted:I recently read the original Dune series by Frank Herbert and I see that there have been a number of prequels written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson. I was wondering if these prequels are worth the read or do people think they don't stand up to the original. They are spectacularly awful.
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Sep 22, 2013 15:12
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GrandpaPants posted:For some reason I've gotten a bit nostalgic about the Charles de Lint Newford stories that I read when I was a teenager. Were these actually any good or am I going to ruin my memories by rereading them as an adult? This feels like a stupid question, but I'd rather not ruin something I think fondly of. Unless, y'know, it's worth the fondness, I guess? I did a reread of a bunch of my Charles De Lint books somewhat recently, and most of them held up just fine. The earliest ones tended to be the roughest (Svaha, Harp of the Gray Rose). I don't think you'll regret re-reading them.
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Sep 22, 2013 15:27
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General Battuta posted:They are spectacularly awful. Thanks for the advice - I guess they are worth missing then. This does leave me with the problem of what to read next. I have been feeling pretty uninspired recently. Are there any new/ up and coming Sci-Fi authors people would recommend?
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Sep 22, 2013 16:20
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Fideles posted:Thanks for the advice - I guess they are worth missing then. This does leave me with the problem of what to read next. I have been feeling pretty uninspired recently. Are there any new/ up and coming Sci-Fi authors people would recommend? Yes, loads. How new are you talking? If you mean new-new, then in the long form, people are fond of Hannu Rajaniemi and Ekaterina Sedia. If you're willing to read short, I'd push Yoon Ha Lee. You should pick Ted Chiang's collection 'Story of Your Life And Others' even though it's not that new.
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Sep 22, 2013 17:06
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I am very sad that I can not find more urban fantasy that is good to read. Time to start reading free books on iTunes till I give up on books for a while.
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Sep 23, 2013 05:30
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Check the Dresden thread, it's sort of the default place all good urban fantasy gets recommended in, or if you say the various urban fantasy books you like, then someone is sure to be able to recommend something else.
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Sep 23, 2013 05:42
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Fallorn posted:I am very sad that I can not find more urban fantasy that is good to read. Time to start reading free books on iTunes till I give up on books for a while. I wrote this recommendation post a while ago for someone else, might as well post it again for you. I'm reasonably sure you'll find _something_ new here to read. I'm listing first books, when there's more than one in a series: The Rook: A Novel by Daniel O'Malley. Slightly Whedonesque UF with an espionage bent. Excellent. Child of Fire by Harry Connolly. Rather dark, a page-turner, very inventive worldbuilding. I think this might actually be my favorite UF series. Midnight Riot/Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch. A British cop becomes an apprentice of Britain's last wizard-slash-detective inspector. Dryly witty, in a British way. (US and UK releases got different names.) The Bone Key by Sarah Monette. You could argue that this is horror rather than UF, but it hit the same spot for me. It's a collection of short stories set in 1930s that are about an awkward, introverted museum archivist who is seemingly incapable of not getting involved (usually against his will) in creepy-rear end ghost-and-necromancy related situations. It's really good. Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey. A magician is back after spending eleven years in Hell and he's really, really pissed at the people who sent him there and killed his girlfriend. London Falling by Paul Cornell. A British Police Procedural. Cops desperately trying to figure out how to deal with a hosed-up supernatural threat. I found the first act a little hard to get into, but once poo poo hits the fan, it's a fun ride for the rest of the book. Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone. This is set in a secondary world, but it's very much UF to my taste. A [strike]mage[/strike]craftswoman has a few days to solve a god's murder and try to bring him back to life. Fantastic worldbuilding. Low Town by Daniel Polansky. Noir UF \ fantasy hybrid. Former guard and current drug dealer is forced to investigate a series of murders in a fantasy city. My Life as a White Trash Zombie by Diana Rowland. Awesome covers. Barely any romance, which is a plus for me in UF. A girl gets saved from death by a mysterious benefactor who also gets her a job at a local morgue. Then weird poo poo starts happening, not the least to her own body. The author spent a few years working as a coroner and it shows - I actually enjoyed the parts about her job a bit more than the supernatural bits. (EDIT: Third book kinda got too relationship-y for my tastes. I still recommend the first book, though.) Blackbirds by Chuck Wendig. A psychic who can see when people die, sees her own death and now has to somehow try and prevent it, even though she never succeeded before. The Dirty Streets of Heaven by Tad Williams. Angels and demons both send out their own to work among humans while wearing human bodies. The hero is an angel PI who investigates a disappearance of a soul. Tad Williams is a good writer, you guys. This is a good book. Libriomancer by Jim Hines. Less derivative of Dresden Files than Iron Druid, but yeah, it's fluff like Iron Druid. Okay read. Dead Things by Stephen Blackmoore. Modern day necromancer investigates the murder of his SPOILER. More noir than Twenty Palaces, somehow. Good, but it depressed me. A few more off-beat suggestions that aren't strictly UF: Neil Gaiman's books. Duh. I'd say Sandman *starting with volume 2 is what I love the most, but *The Graveyard Book might be a good introduction. Gun Machine by Warren Ellis. Watch the trailer if "this is by Warren Ellis" isn't recommendation enough. The Alienist by Caleb Carr. New York, 1896. When a serial killer starts butchering boy prostitutes, Police Commissioner Roosevelt sets up a secret task force to help hunt him down with the power of alienism and forensics! (Alienism is what they called psychology back then.) Silver Pigs by Lindsey Davis. Wisecracking gumshoe solves crimes and travels around Imperial Rome. A really entertaining mix of mystery, humor, adventure and romance. The Breach by Patrick Lee. Unrelenting, mindfucky thriller. Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan. Hardboiled post-cyberpunk, basically. The Scar is China Mieville's best book. There's a few more series that weren't my thing, but hey, you might want to check them out anyway: Felix Castor series by Mike Carey. Alex Verus series by Benedict Jacka. Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs. Grimnoir Chronicles by Larry Correia. Megazver fucked around with this message at 00:44 on Feb 16, 2014 |
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Sep 23, 2013 13:27
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General Battuta posted:Yes, loads. How new are you talking? If you mean new-new, then in the long form, people are fond of Hannu Rajaniemi and Ekaterina Sedia. If you're willing to read short, I'd push Yoon Ha Lee. You should pick Ted Chiang's collection 'Story of Your Life And Others' even though it's not that new. Thanks for the suggestions. I think I will start with Ted Chiang. Always happy to get recommendations
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Sep 23, 2013 20:41
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Ted Chiang is really wonderful. You will read through his whole body of work in a few days (because there is not much of it) and you will then be here asking, "Is there anything like Ted Chiang?" and you will feel so sad that there's nothing left by him to read.
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Sep 23, 2013 21:03
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If you like Ted Chiang's short fiction and have not read Borges you should pick up Ficciones and give that a shot.
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Sep 23, 2013 21:14
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Italo Calvino's "Our Ancestors" trilogy too, especially The Non-Existent Knight. And Kafka, and for some reason I find myself compelled to mention Chesterton too, although I prefer his novels.
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Sep 23, 2013 21:32
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Megazver posted:I wrote this recommendation post a while ago for someone else, might as well post it again for you. I'm reasonably sure you'll find _something_ new here to read. I'm listing first books, when there's more than one in a series: I really enjoyed: Felix Castor the poo poo keeps getting worse the series. Alex Verus was great because he has a narrow but very strong power that makes the how he does it way more entertaining. I LOVE Grimnoir Chronicles by Larry "I <3 Guns" Correia, I am hoping he continues the series after book 3 either with the children of the current cast or more of the same. China Mievilles books are great, I wish he wrote faster. Richard Morgan's Gay Swords-master and cyberpunk were both things I really enjoy. Warren Ellis is great in just about anything he writes. Neil Gaiman is one of my favorites for everything he has written, I loved Neverwhere. Midnight Riot/Rivers of London is a wait for the next book to be out in the US I like the fact the main guy is not the best thing since sliced bread. Sandman Slim is a guilty pleasure and I am waiting for the most recent book to be less than 12 bucks. The end of book four was really quite different and I want to see him gently caress up Heaven. Libriomancer was not the strongest book and I am waiting for the second to get ~8 bucks for ebook. Elemental Assassin series with Gin Blanco is also a guilty pleasure because of the rate she writes the books and it has a very different magic system. Otherworld series was a deep enough world that I got to enjoy the different takes on things also how some super naturals had no idea others even existed. Mercy Thompson series is different and I read the books as they hit the $8 price point. Kitty the werewolf series is popcorn fiction with a slowly growing metaplot. Marc del Franco series was fun and not what I was expecting when I read it. Iron druid is butcher light and not being able to "harm" makes for more interesting magic with less fireballs. The Hallows is great because of the pixies. They are best supporting cast member. Fallorn fucked around with this message at 21:54 on Sep 23, 2013 |
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Sep 23, 2013 21:50
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andrew smash posted:If you like Ted Chiang's short fiction and have not read Borges you should pick up Ficciones and give that a shot. Unfortunately I have already read ficciones twice. I'm reading gene Wolfe now because he was heavily influenced by Borges also. Unfortunately Wolfe is significantly harder to digest than both Chiang and Borges.
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Sep 23, 2013 23:45
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General Battuta posted:Yes, loads. How new are you talking? If you mean new-new, then in the long form, people are fond of Hannu Rajaniemi and Ekaterina Sedia. If you're willing to read short, I'd push Yoon Ha Lee. You should pick Ted Chiang's collection 'Story of Your Life And Others' even though it's not that new. If "Story of Your Life" doesn't wring tears out of you you're a monster. That was my favorite story out of the collection although every one of them is good.
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Sep 24, 2013 00:47
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Fallom posted:If "Story of Your Life" doesn't wring tears out of you you're a monster. That was my favorite story out of the collection although every one of them is good. I think it's one of his weaker stories  But a lot of the other stories in the collection are fantastic!
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Sep 24, 2013 01:10
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General Battuta posted:I think it's one of his weaker stories Hell is the absence of God is amazing
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Sep 24, 2013 01:24
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andrew smash posted:Hell is the absence of God is amazing Yeah, the premise of this one is simply spectacular.
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Sep 24, 2013 03:05
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systran posted:Unfortunately I have already read ficciones twice. I'm reading gene Wolfe now because he was heavily influenced by Borges also. Unfortunately Wolfe is significantly harder to digest than both Chiang and Borges. I'd recommend his short stories if you want something that's a little easier to break down into manageable portions. They can still be deceptive but you don't have to be cross-referencing thousands of details to get an idea of what's actually happening beyond a surface reading of the narration.
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Sep 24, 2013 04:12
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Can I get any recommendations for (really, really good) space science fiction without ftl and not primarily about military conflict?
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Sep 24, 2013 08:46
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Ratios and Tendency posted:Can I get any recommendations for (really, really good) space science fiction without ftl and not primarily about military conflict? House of Suns lacks FTL and the setting in general terms can be summed up by how a human diaspora without FTL might look. Definitely Reynolds' best work.
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Sep 24, 2013 11:19
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Talking of Reynolds, his new book is out this week. I enjoyed Blue Remembered Earth, but I can't, erm, Remember much of how it ended. Did the grandmother fake her death and instead fly away in the first ever starship? Maybe something about our heroes having the choice of sharing that technology with the world?
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Sep 24, 2013 13:06
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Ratios and Tendency posted:Can I get any recommendations for (really, really good) space science fiction without ftl and not primarily about military conflict? As mentioned, house of Suns, the quantum thief.
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Sep 24, 2013 14:43
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Ratios and Tendency posted:Can I get any recommendations for (really, really good) space science fiction without ftl and not primarily about military conflict? As ever, I'm gonna recommend Blindsight by Peter Watts, a first contact story that challenges some of our fundamental assumptions about the human experience and the nature of alien life.
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Sep 24, 2013 15:08
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General Battuta posted:As ever, I'm gonna recommend Blindsight by Peter Watts, a first contact story that challenges some of our fundamental assumptions about the human experience and the nature of alien life. It's free to read too: http://www.rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm#Prologue I believe this link is okay; if it's not please feel free to tell me and I will edit it out.
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Sep 24, 2013 15:25
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systran posted:It's free to read too: Yes the link to the author's own webpage is okay.
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Sep 24, 2013 15:25
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I finished Spin by Robert Charles Wilson today and found out it's #1 of a trilogy. Spin was fairly self-contained, are the other two books worth picking up if I liked Spin? I can't see sequels really capturing the same concepts and atmosphere.
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Sep 24, 2013 15:41
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Antti posted:I finished Spin by Robert Charles Wilson today and found out it's #1 of a trilogy. Spin was fairly self-contained, are the other two books worth picking up if I liked Spin? I can't see sequels really capturing the same concepts and atmosphere. I haven't read anything past Spin, but I think reports suggest they decline pretty sharply and end up pulling the Endymion Gambit of retconning earlier stuff to make it less interesting.
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Sep 24, 2013 16:07
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General Battuta posted:I haven't read anything past Spin, but I think reports suggest they decline pretty sharply and end up pulling the Endymion Gambit of retconning earlier stuff to make it less interesting. I've read all 3 and can confirm this. If you want to keep reading Robert Charles Wilson, I remember enjoying Blind Lake as a thriller with some cool ideas.
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Sep 24, 2013 16:23
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systran posted:Unfortunately I have already read ficciones twice. I'm reading gene Wolfe now because he was heavily influenced by Borges also. Unfortunately Wolfe is significantly harder to digest than both Chiang and Borges. I wanted to compare Chiang to Wolfe, but I think the comparison ultimately fails because Chiang's much more wedded to science fictional techniques. Pop into the thread, or onto the Urth mailing list if you want to stare into the abyss... I think a writer you're looking for without realising it is R. A. Lafferty, especially his short stories (I've read one novel which was pretty baffling).
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Sep 24, 2013 17:06
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Ratios and Tendency posted:Can I get any recommendations for (really, really good) space science fiction without ftl and not primarily about military conflict? Against a Dark Background by Ian Banks is pretty good too. Charles Stross' Neptune's Brood and the predecessor Saturn's Children, although there are no humans there, the protagonists are post-humanity robots. Decius fucked around with this message at 17:09 on Sep 24, 2013 |
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Sep 24, 2013 17:06
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Ratios and Tendency posted:Can I get any recommendations for (really, really good) space science fiction without ftl and not primarily about military conflict? Leviathan wakes is actually a really cool bit of sci-fi for how it presents a partially colonized solar system with nothing really that far outside current technology, no artificial gravity, growing up in low gravity fucks with your body, spaceships going fast enough will prolly pulp the people inside, and how lovely living in space is because well space sucks, it tries to transition into like firefly lite at the end but I enjoyed all the way through, Ive heard mixed responses on the sequels but the first one if definitely solid. Zasze fucked around with this message at 17:56 on Sep 24, 2013 |
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Sep 24, 2013 17:52
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House Louse posted:I wanted to compare Chiang to Wolfe, but I think the comparison ultimately fails because Chiang's much more wedded to science fictional techniques. Pop into the thread, or onto the Urth mailing list if you want to stare into the abyss... Thanks for the recommendation, and I didn't realize there was a thread!
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Sep 24, 2013 18:46
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General Battuta posted:I haven't read anything past Spin, but I think reports suggest they decline pretty sharply and end up pulling the Endymion Gambit of retconning earlier stuff to make it less interesting. Movac posted:I've read all 3 and can confirm this. If you want to keep reading Robert Charles Wilson, I remember enjoying Blind Lake as a thriller with some cool ideas. Thanks for the advice, I'll look into Blind Lake instead.
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Sep 24, 2013 20:31
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Movac posted:I've read all 3 and can confirm this. If you want to keep reading Robert Charles Wilson, I remember enjoying Blind Lake as a thriller with some cool ideas. I'll second it, too. Axis was alright, but Vortex was a mess--poor concept poorly executed. The universe he set up in Spin was intriguing, but the revelations in the later books were crap. The last two books: So, Spin ends with the wormhole ring dropping to Earth and the time dilation field turned off, billions of years into the future. Axis takes us to the next world, which has become a 4th-world shithole that's all about exploitation of the planet. A kid's born that's in tune with something on the planet, and there's a mysterious rain of weird poo poo that begins growing, evolving, and dying in hours. The kid leads everyone to the desert where the weird poo poo is concentrated and a small portal erupts out of the ground at the peak and it sucks everyone in. Third book is thousands of years beyond that, and they find and recover the main guy from the first two books, who was spit through the time portal in the last book, and shanghai him into their quest to Earth, where they're convinced Something Important will happen. Earth is a wasteland because of unchecked global warming thanks to all the fossil fuels brought there from other planets in the chain, and it's also overrun by alien robots eating everything. There's a human civilization about halfway down the chain of linked planets trying to stop them. The time field in the first book was solely to preserve an intelligent race until the portal arrived. The portal was solely to give an intelligent race room to expand. The time portal was to collect information. And it's all an evolved process of non-sentient creatures that feed on the products of civilization (knowledge, refined materials, non-natural materials). It's actually sort of the concept of Blindsight but done very poorly. Even that might've been OK if it had instead concentrated on the extant civilization and their fight against this ancient foe; instead we're treated to several hundred pages of a skirmish with what amounts to a doomsday cult.
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Sep 25, 2013 00:26
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I've never understood why some people are bothered by things like aliens and FTL in science fiction.
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Sep 25, 2013 00:35
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The thing that bothers me most in science fiction is characters experiencing metaphysical revelations about the universe relayed as lengthy and rambling stream-of-consciousness passages. I'm on book 2 of the Galactic Center Saga and I'm kind of regretting it.
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Sep 25, 2013 00:44
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TOOT BOOT posted:I've never understood why some people are bothered by things like aliens and FTL in science fiction. You can go on a no-aliens/no-FTL kick for all sorts of good reasons - a lot of good stories are told within constraints, for instance. Or you might be looking for a specific kind of mood or conflict that's often associated with these traits. It's certainly kind of silly to say 'no, ugh, I can't deal with that FTL travel in my fiction, it destroys ~MY IMMERSION~', but I think it's perfectly valid to look for a story that engages with the vast indifferent cosmos or whatever. Fallom posted:The thing that bothers me most in science fiction is characters experiencing metaphysical revelations about the universe relayed as lengthy and rambling stream-of-consciousness passages. I'm on book 2 of the Galactic Center Saga and I'm kind of regretting it. Was that the part with the axe rising and falling and the sentence running on forever and and? I hated that.
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Sep 25, 2013 00:44
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General Battuta posted:Was that the part with the axe rising and falling and the sentence running on forever and and? I hated that. I don't think that's the first time and it's certainly not the last. I'm getting flashbacks to Endymion.
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Sep 25, 2013 00:46
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