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Ornamented Death posted:Regarding the ending, Tarrant is being hunted by that planet's version of Satan because he (Tarrant) broke one of the rules of the pact he made. He outsmarts the devil by letting Gerald Tarrant, the sorcerer, cease to exist and literally becoming someone else. It actually fits perfectly with the character. Agreed with the ending. It fit perfectly. The rest is valid criticism though. Also, these posts made me check for new Coldfire books. I got really excited when I found Dominion. Then I saw it was only 52 pages. 
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Dec 19, 2013 06:45
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House Louse posted:I'm not leaving him out for any good reason, I know how big a noise he is these days, it's just that I've only read Desolation Road and that didn't really seem to fit the bill. Desolation road is Scifi, so that is understandable. Necroville, River of Gods, Brasyl, Dervish House, Cyderabad days are all something I would call cyberpunk ie Earth and not so distant future technology. 3 of them were nominated for Hugos as well. I particularly enjoy Mcdonald for his descriptions of how different parts and cultures of the world will adapt to new technology.
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Dec 19, 2013 10:03
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ConfusedUs posted:
Take what you can get I guess? If you do read it, tell me how it was, okay?
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Dec 19, 2013 18:32
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Caustic Chimera posted:Take what you can get I guess? If you do read it, tell me how it was, okay? Its back story for Tarrant. It was alright.
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Dec 19, 2013 18:41
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Thanks for telling me! I was kind of hoping it was like some sort of short sequel, but I guess this makes more sense. I suspect that's what most people would want anyway, Tarrant is what makes Coldfire Coldfire. I was gonna say "I'll just wait for a sale" then but then I noticed it's like 2 bucks. I'm still gonna wait, but just until I've finished some other books.
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Dec 19, 2013 19:19
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Just a heads up. One of my favorite authors is having a bit of a rough time this holiday season, so if you want to help him out, think about grabbing one of his books. His blog post - http://mouseferatu.com/index.php/blog/i-need-your-help/ Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...&pf_rd_i=507846 Smashwords - https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/375197 It's the same guy who wrote the Conqueror's Shadow books (which I loved), and this is his self published book so he gets a bigger share of the royalties. I dig his writing, and plan on buying the book tomorrow. Just thought I'd mention it here in case someone else enjoys his work and wants to help him out.
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Dec 20, 2013 06:14
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I've picked it up. Hope his situation improves. Thanks for all the wonderful recommendations several pages back, I'm slowly adding more and more previews to my kindle reading list.
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Dec 20, 2013 12:57
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I just finished reading Galactic North. At this point, I've read all of the Revelation Space books except Absolution Gap and The Prefect and I want to complain about Galactic North specifically (the short story, not the book it's in): Did Alastair Reynolds just kill off the Inhibitors, replace them with a new unstoppable machine threat, and trivialize every character and conflict in all of the prior books during a short story? I don't really want to read the rest if it's just "...and then some nonsentient terraforming robots we made at one point and didn't mention totally beat the machines that can (after two books of buildup) literally use stars as flamethrowers, so everybody died." I looked it up and saw that he wrote it in 1997, before all of the other books, but, like, is this an actual thing? Did he stick with this? It feels really thoughtless next to the rest of the series, and with the whole "turning the galaxy green" thing it just reminds me of Mass Effect.
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Dec 21, 2013 08:35
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Cheston posted:I just finished reading Galactic North. At this point, I've read all of the Revelation Space books except Absolution Gap and The Prefect and I want to complain about Galactic North specifically (the short story, not the book it's in): Pretty much, yes. Although the greenfly isn't what kills the Inhibitors, but don't expect more than mere hints as to what actually does in Absolution Gap. If it helps, I read that short story before Absolution Gap and I still enjoyed the weird ride that is the final book. It's very, very different to what came before. Just be warned. edit: You also get some good closure for some of the characters in Absolution Gap. Especially Scorpio and Captain Brannigan, who weirdly both become the main characters. Hedrigall fucked around with this message at 09:17 on Dec 21, 2013 |
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Dec 21, 2013 09:15
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Cheston posted:I just finished reading Galactic North. At this point, I've read all of the Revelation Space books except Absolution Gap and The Prefect and I want to complain about Galactic North specifically (the short story, not the book it's in): Yes, and it's why I stopped reading his books. I didn't even know about the short story. In the novel, that was summarized in a single paragraph on the last page of the book. I basically threw it against the wall. Bhodi fucked around with this message at 15:48 on Dec 21, 2013 |
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Dec 21, 2013 15:46
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gently caress the rest of his books but you should probably read House of Suns because it loving rules.
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Dec 21, 2013 19:42
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Pretty much no one recommends you read Absolution Gap. It's terrible and contributes nothing to the story. For what it's worth. New, shallow characters, nonsensical plot, deus ex machina in the last paragraph. It actively makes the previous two books worse.
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Dec 23, 2013 00:11
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Velius posted:Pretty much no one recommends you read Absolution Gap. It's terrible and contributes nothing to the story. For what it's worth. New, shallow characters, nonsensical plot, deus ex machina in the last paragraph. It actively makes the previous two books worse. Uh you must have missed like 3 posts above where I recommended reading it. It has some awesome moments even if it feels like a total side story in the universe. (And anyway, nothing's stopping Reynolds from coming back and writing more about the Inhibitor war.)
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Dec 23, 2013 00:19
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:Just a heads up. One of my favorite authors is having a bit of a rough time this holiday season, so if you want to help him out, think about grabbing one of his books. FYI this is Ari Marmell - I skipped over at first but just read the blog post while waiting at the airport and realized who it was, and bought his short story collection.
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Dec 23, 2013 00:37
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Has anyone read Peter Watts' Beyond the Rift? Is it just a collection of stories you can read on his site anyway or does it have much new?
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Dec 23, 2013 05:14
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Neurosis posted:Has anyone read Peter Watts' Beyond the Rift? Is it just a collection of stories you can read on his site anyway or does it have much new? I'm halfway through, it's a great collection, but yeah it's all reprints (apart from a new afterword). In the book: quote:The Things On his website: quote:Home
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Dec 23, 2013 05:27
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Hedrigall posted:I'm halfway through, it's a great collection, but yeah it's all reprints (apart from a new afterword). It's a great thing to read at Christmas, particularly. It really gets you in the spirit of the season. 
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Dec 23, 2013 16:51
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My will to live has grown too strong. I must read Peter Watts.
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Dec 23, 2013 17:01
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Neurosis posted:Has anyone read Peter Watts' Beyond the Rift? Is it just a collection of stories you can read on his site anyway or does it have much new? 
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Dec 24, 2013 00:21
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If you think Peter Watts is depressing, you really need to read this. I challenge you to get through without a laugh.
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Dec 24, 2013 00:57
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I just started reading The Family Trade by Charles Stross. So far, it seems like a better version of The Long Earth.
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Dec 24, 2013 01:10
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General Battuta posted:My will to live has grown too strong. I must read Peter Watts. You could also try John Love's "Faith"...
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Dec 24, 2013 08:52
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Xandu posted:I just started reading The Family Trade by Charles Stross. So far, it seems like a better version of The Long Earth. Be warned that the first book ends rather abruptly because the publisher had the first story split into two novels.
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Dec 24, 2013 13:43
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Finally finally finally almost done with Humanity's Fire  this is an awesome space-opera trilogy
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Dec 26, 2013 04:54
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Antti posted:Be warned that the first book ends rather abruptly because the publisher had the first story split into two novels. That's why you should get the re-issue. Stross overhauled the whole series again for the re-release (in three books as originally intended) in preparation for a follow-up series somewhere in 2016.
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Dec 26, 2013 10:46
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Decius posted:That's why you should get the re-issue. Stross overhauled the whole series again for the re-release (in three books as originally intended) in preparation for a follow-up series somewhere in 2016. Yeah, I got the reissued first book of the trilogy (The Bloodline Feud) and it was better that way. If you already have the first book of six though, eh. I think you can get away with reading the first two separately but then you should probably move to the reissue. So you read 1.1, 1.2, then 2, 3.
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Dec 26, 2013 12:01
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There are more free books now available on the Kindle store from one of my favourite authors, Robert Rankin. Garden of Unearthly Delights, and Fandom of the Operator. Also apparently the others that are published by Rankin's own publishing company are half price, but I haven't thoroughly investigated what territories that's true in.
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Dec 26, 2013 14:24
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I just got Consider Phlebas for Christmas because I was starved for a decent sci-fi series so I followed that chart in the OP. Right now I'm not really much into it. I don't care much about the main character and I don't like the idea of the Culture itself very much. The aliens are cool and I like that the perfect-super-utopia a bad writer would normally feature front and center is looked at by other races as a bunch of dangerous weirdos. I had a bit of relief when the book mentioned an attacking Culture ship not even being visible due to the distances involved, thus appeasing my inner sperg. It's certainty miles better than some of the last books I've read - I've been burned by sci-fi a lot recently - but it's not lit my world on fire. Which of the Culture novels are considered the best or weakest? Should have I got Phelbas first or something else?
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Dec 26, 2013 16:12
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The Deleter posted:I just got Consider Phlebas for Christmas because I was starved for a decent sci-fi series so I followed that chart in the OP. Yeah, that's Phlebas in the nutshell. All the characters are unlikeable shits and you just don't really care about any of it. Read Player of Games instead.
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Dec 26, 2013 16:35
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Consider Phlebas is probably the weakest of the lot. Use of Weapons is the best Culture novel and probably the best thing Banks has ever written. Player of Games is also ok. The rest is forgettable.
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Dec 26, 2013 16:48
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Consider Phlebas is fine as a starting place although it's quite different from most of the books that follow.
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Dec 26, 2013 16:54
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Cardiovorax posted:Consider Phlebas is probably the weakest of the lot. Use of Weapons is the best Culture novel and probably the best thing Banks has ever written. Player of Games is also ok. The rest is forgettable. This post is mostly correct except that instead of 'forgettable' I'd say the others range from 'charming and indulgent' to 'really quite good'. Even the weakest Culture novels, like Matter and Consider Phlebas, usually contain some scenes worth the price of admission.
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Dec 26, 2013 17:27
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Most people would recommend starting with Player Of Games.
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Dec 26, 2013 17:29
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Huh, that sounds fair enough. I'll try and finish this and then maybe pick up Use of Weapons or Player of Games. I'm probably surprising nobody by saying its hard to find good sci-fi, but after the tepid milfic crap of Stark's War, the sheer terribleness of John Brosnan's Mothership and the "I liked this when I was sixteen and I don't like it anymore" of Anvil of Stars, it's been a while since I enjoyed any sci-fi that wasn't Asimov, Clarke or Adams. Such a drat shame.
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Dec 26, 2013 17:40
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General Battuta posted:This post is mostly correct except that instead of 'forgettable' I'd say the others range from 'charming and indulgent' to 'really quite good'. Even the weakest Culture novels, like Matter and Consider Phlebas, usually contain some scenes worth the price of admission. Yeah this is right. I've also now read The Left Hand Of Darkness and loved it just as much as The Dispossessed, if not more for the beautiful use of language in the sections where Le Guin describes the Gethenian oral tradition. Her anthropologist's background shines through there.
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Dec 26, 2013 18:23
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General Battuta posted:This post is mostly correct except that instead of 'forgettable' I'd say the others range from 'charming and indulgent' to 'really quite good'. Even the weakest Culture novels, like Matter and Consider Phlebas, usually contain some scenes worth the price of admission.
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Dec 26, 2013 18:57
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I did a search and it seems that this is nothing new around here, but I recently finished Blood Song by Anthony Ryan and holy poo poo was that an amazing book. I listened to the audiobook (it's on audible) and sometimes it was hard to tell who was talking but it was still a very good performance. I even bought the hardcover for my brother for Christmas. To me, it was like a cross between David Gemmell and Joe Abercrombie - that is, it combines a badass main character that was Gemmell's bread and butter (Druss, Skilgannon, Waylander...) with the strong/gritty/personal but objective narrative tone that I love about Abercrombie. It is a long book, that covers a lot of action and it never dragged for me, not once. If anyone here hasn't read it, or missed the hype earlier (like I seem to have) I highly recommend it.
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Dec 27, 2013 02:43
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Cheston posted:I just finished reading Galactic North. At this point, I've read all of the Revelation Space books except Absolution Gap and The Prefect and I want to complain about Galactic North specifically (the short story, not the book it's in): You can really tell that the Revelation Space stuff is his early work since this problem is apparent throughout. Remember the cache weapons? These forbidden weapons of unimaginable destructive power, created by the Conjoiners in their darkest moment and then locked away because they felt it better to pass on into history than ever use them. By book two they are peashooters. They plink away a little, but the meteor defence lasers get more action than the cache weapons. The greenfly issue is just another aspect. We beat back the Inhibitors only to end up with the galaxy destroyed by 23rd century robots. It really tends to feel like he wrote a lot of separate short stories, and only thought to bring them together into the novels at a later date, without considering the effect that would have on each individual part. His later works are much better (and Chasm City since it's much more self contained) and don't fall so afoul of this.
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Dec 27, 2013 06:23
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The Deleter posted:I just got Consider Phlebas for Christmas because I was starved for a decent sci-fi series so I followed that chart in the OP. Several years ago, someone gave me this book. I read a bit of it but could't really get into it and shelved it. I periodically think I should pick it up and try again, but given the advice in this thread I might not bother.
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Dec 28, 2013 15:21
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Consider Phlebias is like Ian m Banks' Colour of Magic. It's not very good and people who start there often write the series off. But read Use of Weapons. It's one of the best SF books ever written. I love that it makes ZERO concessions to reader. Some people call that bad writing, the author sabotaging himself, but I call it balls. MartingaleJack fucked around with this message at 15:28 on Dec 28, 2013 |
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Dec 28, 2013 15:25
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