|
anathenema posted:The Emperor's Blades is a sticking point for me. I'm interested in it, but I've heard some things. For one, the daughter doesn't do much and I'm kind of burnt out on "No Girls Allowed" fantasy. And I hear the prose is very tin-ear. I liked it well enough but yeah, the daughter gets pretty much gently caress all to do. Her chapters probably constitute one eighth of the book whilst the rest is Awesome-Soldier-Son and Monky-Monk-Son. I assume she'll get more once there's more city-based intrigue but for the first book she's criminally underused.
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2014 16:38
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 10, 2024 14:21 |
|
|
Joramun posted:Can someone who knows what the bold part is referring to lift the veil a bit more on this? Or point me to the specific passage in the books? It sounds pretty cool/interesting. If you start by reading the robot series books you'll be introduced to him pretty quick. Many of the robot books are about putting the robot in scenarios where the Three Laws of Robotics (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Laws_of_Robotics) are tested. Over time, he evolves his thinking from the three laws to encompass a broader 'Zeroth law' which is a broadening of he first law and essentially states that he will put the good of humanity before the good of any individual human. While this sounds like a benevolent concept, consider how this might cause him to treat sentient non-human life, for example, or what might come about from a society where a powerful hidden actor with limitless time seeks to reduce or eliminate the possibility of harm coming to humans, especially if one was to determine that the greatest cause of harm to humans is other humans.
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2014 17:01
|
|
|
I finished Frederik Pohl's Gateway and very much enjoyed it. Pohl's writing-style is mediocre, but the universe he created and the depth he gave Robinette was what made the novel spectacular. The pop-psychoanalysis stuff was pretty dumb but whatever. A lot of authors never realize that psychology has moved on without much of Freud long ago. I'm now reading Beyond the Blue Event Horizon. The questions the reader has in chapter 1 are answered later, starting with chapter 3. The book has got the same kind of perverted humor that Gateway had. The rest should be a good read. gatz fucked around with this message at 21:08 on Mar 15, 2014 |
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2014 17:33
|
|
|
anathenema posted:The Emperor's Blades is a sticking point for me. I'm interested in it, but I've heard some things. For one, the daughter doesn't do much and I'm kind of burnt out on "No Girls Allowed" fantasy. And I hear the prose is very tin-ear. It's true, the daughter only gets a handful of POV chapters and doesn't get much to do. That being said, I think this criticism is a bit overblown. The chapters she does have are quite crucial to the plot, and it seems obvious we're going to see a lot more of her in the next book. Moreover, she's hardly the only female character; there are several other female characters who play very important roles, a couple of whom get significantly more screen time than the princess. As for the prose, I found it to be quite good, although obviously that's subjective.
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2014 17:35
|
|
|
I recently read the last Sector General novel, Double Contact. I was disappointed, it starts off on a promising premise and then abandons it. Ends up mostly just being dull, sadly.
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2014 17:39
|
|
|
gatz posted:I finished Frederik Pohl's Gateway and very much enjoyed it. Pohl's writing-style is mediocre, but the universe he created and the depth he gave Robinette was what made the novel spectacular. The pop-psychoanalysis stuff was pretty dumb but whatever. A lot of authors never realize that psychology has moved on without much of Freud long ago. I read those parts as comedic, not Pohl thinking Freud and psychoanalysis are awesome. How everything came together in a Freudian way was perfect (he wants wieners in his butt because the only time his mom showed her love was when he was sick and had a thermometer up there made me lol). I guess I read Pohl's tone as being much less serious about those parts, though I don't know anything about the author so I could be wrong.
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2014 18:33
|
|
|
I want more military sci fi. What are the must reads? I just finished Old Man's War and already read Forever War, and Starship Troopers.
|
|
#
?
Mar 15, 2014 03:52
|
|
|
SquadronROE posted:I want more military sci fi. What are the must reads? I just finished Old Man's War and already read Forever War, and Starship Troopers. Read Downbelow Station as soon as you can (assuming you are willing to read ships shooting instead of people shooting). The prose is a bit stiff, especially at first, but it was decades ahead of its time and feels like it could've been one of the primary source texts for the reboot BSG.
|
|
#
?
Mar 15, 2014 04:03
|
|
|
RVProfootballer posted:I read those parts as comedic, not Pohl thinking Freud and psychoanalysis are awesome. How everything came together in a Freudian way was perfect I always wondered if the nose-injury bit in Gateway was an obscure reference to Wilhelm Fliess (who was a friend and collaborator with Freud in his early days) who had some really bugfuck-crazy ideas about nose surgery to cure hysteria. Probably a coincidence, but I couldn't help also think the idea of a Freudian robot psychotherapist had to be a joke.
|
|
#
?
Mar 15, 2014 05:03
|
|
|
General Battuta posted:Read Downbelow Station as soon as you can (assuming you are willing to read ships shooting instead of people shooting). The prose is a bit stiff, especially at first, but it was decades ahead of its time and feels like it could've been one of the primary source texts for the reboot BSG. I barely remember any ships firing at anything in Downbelow Station, and would hardly put it in the same ballpark as mil-sf. In fact, i'd say that all of Cherryh i've read has been, in the end, about the underlying culture(s), and never really about the conflicts they're sparking. Also, i thought Downbelow was the least interesting thing she's written.
|
|
#
?
Mar 15, 2014 17:04
|
|
|
Downbelow is absolutely military SF. It deals with the tension between military exigency, political maneuvering, civil government, and commercial interest. It contains a series of sweeping battles and exchanges of maneuver between Mazianni and Union fleets, plus a number of BSG-style military actions against civilian government and riot control, plus the tactical use of diplomacy by two (eventually four) major powers all trying to outmaneuver and outplay each other, plus a pretty personal story about survival and rehabilitation after incredible trauma. The battle scenes are some of my favorite in all of SF. It's one of the only military SF books to leverage the fragility of life in space and the difficulty of establishing infrastructure as a source of tension and culture. So, is it only military SF? No. Is it great, essential military SF? Yeah, incontrovertibly.
|
|
#
?
Mar 15, 2014 17:20
|
|
|
SquadronROE posted:I want more military sci fi. What are the must reads? I just finished Old Man's War and already read Forever War, and Starship Troopers. There are basically 3 types of military scifi 1) Military scifi about war, why we fight, and what it does to people 2) Military scifi where they use the routine recruit to combat vet cycle to replicate the steps of the hero's journey or just general action pastiche so they can focus more on what they want to do 3) Military scifi that is about fighting Which one are you looking for? 2 is probably the most common followed by 3, then 1 a distant third. For 2 you are looking at David Weber, Jack Campbell, Orson Scott Card, and the like. For 3 you are mainly looking at franchise fiction (they can't have things grow develop and change so you get straight action) which, while most of it is bad, has a few nuggets of gold amid all the spoil. For the last things are rather rare but there you have Robert Heinlein, Joe Haldeman, John Scalzi, Hiroshi Sakurazaka, John Steakley, and David Drake.
|
|
#
?
Mar 15, 2014 20:12
|
|
|
For the other two people who ever read the series, the next book in Glen Cook's Instrumentalities of the Night series apparently came out this week. I suspect it's going to be the end of the series, since the sales have been abysmal. I haven't even started it yet to see if it's worth recommending, but the series in general is kind of a tough sell - alternate world Dark/Middle ages with magic and the like, with Cook's typical flawed protagonists. I enjoy it but parts of it are pretty tough to get through, much more so than Cook's other works.
|
|
#
?
Mar 15, 2014 23:47
|
|
|
Velius posted:For the other two people who ever read the series, the next book in Glen Cook's Instrumentalities of the Night series apparently came out this week. I suspect it's going to be the end of the series, since the sales have been abysmal. I haven't even started it yet to see if it's worth recommending, but the series in general is kind of a tough sell - alternate world Dark/Middle ages with magic and the like, with Cook's typical flawed protagonists. I enjoy it but parts of it are pretty tough to get through, much more so than Cook's other works. I read it last night and it did not at all read like a last-in-the-series book . The first book in the series was really good, and the second was strong, but it's been downhill since.
|
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2014 00:39
|
|
|
Fried Chicken posted:There are basically 3 types of military scifi You forgot 4) Military sci-fi where the authors jerk off to Space America sending the super manly, heroic, and perfect US Space Marines to go fight Space Socialists/communists/arabs (John Ringo & friends). There's an irritatingly large number of that among mil sci-fi, unfortunately, which has soured me on a lot of it lately. I prefer your type 1 and occasionally 2 if it's really good, but it seems like most of the ones I run into nowadays are type 3, which aren't to my taste, or 4. Wolpertinger fucked around with this message at 01:32 on Mar 16, 2014 |
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2014 01:25
|
|
|
I enjoyed the DOOM series, but it stopped after 2 books  It wasn't pro-jingoism or anything, but more like OH gently caress DEMONS ALL UP IN MY poo poo LET'S BLAST EM. On a side note, started reading a series by Spider Robinson called Callahan's. It's... well it's a weird sci fi series that basically is about a group of people at this bar, and so far it's told in short stories. Pretty decent so far. It was written in the 70s so there's a bit of a culture gap, but for the most part it's pretty good. Anyone have any recommendations for good, fun fantasy where no one dies and it's actually kinda funny? Pratchett style. but also going towards something like Disenchanted or A Lee Martinez's books. Just kinda getting tired of GRIMDARK WORLD IS ENDING QUICK LET'S RAPE SOMEONE AND THEN SET FIRE TO THE CITY BECAUSE WE HAVEN'T KILLED ANYONE IN 4 PAGES.
|
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2014 01:58
|
|
|
Wolpertinger posted:You forgot 4) Military sci-fi where the authors jerk off to Space America sending the super manly, heroic, and perfect US Space Marines to go fight Space Socialists/communists/arabs  But it's unfair to judge a book by it's cover. (It's worse.)
|
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2014 02:02
|
|
|
Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:
You've read Bridge of Birds I take it? Maybe the first few books of Robert Asprin's MYTH series (they're generally at least worth reading once up until the titles start having "M.Y.T.H. Inc" in them.) Also the Jig the Goblin series by Jim C. Hines. edit: the below recommendation of Dark Lord of Derkholm is great also. There's a companion volume, _The Tough Guide to Fantasyland_, which is a parody "guidebook" to Generic Fantasy Kingdom. Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 02:22 on Mar 16, 2014 |
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2014 02:09
|
|
|
Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:Anyone have any recommendations for good, fun fantasy where no one dies and it's actually kinda funny? Pratchett style. but also going towards something like Disenchanted or A Lee Martinez's books. Just kinda getting tired of GRIMDARK WORLD IS ENDING QUICK LET'S RAPE SOMEONE AND THEN SET FIRE TO THE CITY BECAUSE WE HAVEN'T KILLED ANYONE IN 4 PAGES. Try "The Dark Lord of Derkholm", by Diana Wynne Jones. It is a high fantasy parody. "Changeover", also by Diana Wynne Jones, is also a good one. It evolved from someone asking "What are they going to do to mark changeover" (meaning, the changeover from one government to another), and kind of blows up from there ("WHO THE HELL IS MARK CHANGEOVER? IS HE A TERRORIST?"). There are plenty of other good books by DWJ, but those two are the ones with the most comedy.
|
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2014 02:17
|
|
|
It's not exactly funny but I would really recommend The Orphan's Tales. Dizzyingly baroque and intricate and then at the end it all comes together with unbelievable grace. I felt warm for a week after finishing.
|
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2014 02:21
|
|
|
fritz posted:I read it last night and it did not at all read like a last-in-the-series book . The first book in the series was really good, and the second was strong, but it's been downhill since. I completely agree with you that that certainly shouldn't be the last in the series, although you never know with sales. I disagree that it's been downhill; I think the only trouble has been that the scope just keeps expanding, to the point that it's just tougher to juggle.
|
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2014 02:23
|
|
|
Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:I enjoyed the DOOM series, but it stopped after 2 books I have wonderful news for you! There were two more books that came out a few years after Knee-deep in the Dead and Hell on Earth! They are called Infernal Sky and Endgame, and they are not as "good" as the first two, but nonetheless if you enjoyed the first two then you'll find them at least passable. I'm not proud of liking these books, but everyone has to have a guilty pleasure -- also I probably have some nostalgia biologically built in due to reading them as a teenager.
|
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2014 02:33
|
|
|
Wow... Changeover sounds like a great read but holy crap it's like 300$ for the hardcover and 60$ for the paperback. Think I am gonna have to wait a bit for that one  I'll see if I can find the others though. MYTH is on my "to read" series, and I've already gotten through Jig (and it was great). The DOOM novels I was talking about came out a few years ago. They were based on DOOM3 and were surprisingly good, and unfortunately ended on a hell of a cliffhanger. I talked to the author and he said sales kinda sucked, so they cancelled the rest of the books
|
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2014 02:40
|
|
|
Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:
Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:Anyone have any recommendations for good, fun fantasy where no one dies and it's actually kinda funny? Pratchett style. but also going towards something like Disenchanted or A Lee Martinez's books. Just kinda getting tired of GRIMDARK WORLD IS ENDING QUICK LET'S RAPE SOMEONE AND THEN SET FIRE TO THE CITY BECAUSE WE HAVEN'T KILLED ANYONE IN 4 PAGES. xcheopis fucked around with this message at 02:53 on Mar 16, 2014 |
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2014 02:50
|
|
|
Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:The DOOM novels I was talking about came out a few years ago. They were based on DOOM3 and were surprisingly good, and unfortunately ended on a hell of a cliffhanger. I talked to the author and he said sales kinda sucked, so they cancelled the rest of the books And now I have exposed my knowledge of those other, probably much worse books for no reason at all. 
|
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2014 02:56
|
|
|
Wolpertinger posted:You forgot 4) Military sci-fi where the authors jerk off to Space America sending the super manly, heroic, and perfect US Space Marines to go fight Space Socialists/communists/arabs (John Ringo & friends). There's an irritatingly large number of that among mil sci-fi, unfortunately, which has soured me on a lot of it lately. I prefer your type 1 and occasionally 2 if it's really good, but it seems like most of the ones I run into nowadays are type 3, which aren't to my taste, or 4. I fold that into type 2, where the thing they are doing that they are using the war as the backdrop/story filler for is politics wanking (eg John Ringo and how liberals are so dumb and crazy and evil) For the type 1s, try this: All You Need is Kill. It is fairly well written and very entertaining (though the forthcoming movie looks like complete crap) and explores alot of the same themes as Armor and some of the lesser ones of Forever War where it is dealing with a guy getting put through the grinder of war again and again and what that does to him.
|
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2014 03:06
|
|
|
Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:Wow... Changeover sounds like a great read but holy crap it's like 300$ for the hardcover and 60$ for the paperback. Think I am gonna have to wait a bit for that one Wow. Well, it is one of the authors earlier books and she did die a year or so ago, the prices must have shot up. My girlfriend got it second hand for a fraction of that.
|
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2014 03:08
|
|
|
Fried Chicken posted:There are basically 3 types of military scifi Thanks! I just picked up Ghost Brigades and Downbelow. Looking forward to them. I like all 3, but 1 and 2 are my favorite types. I am gonna make a list of those authors. As for 3, my dirty secret is that I read through all of Gaunt's Ghosts.
|
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2014 03:11
|
|
|
Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:On a side note, started reading a series by Spider Robinson called Callahan's. It's... well it's a weird sci fi series that basically is about a group of people at this bar, and so far it's told in short stories. Callahan's used to have a small but hardcore fan base, I read one of the books and found it just terrible.
|
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2014 03:23
|
|
|
xcheopis posted:I really liked the first two books but felt the series really went downhill, to the point that I read the first page of the 4th book, put it down and haven't read anything of his since. I think that Dunsany's Jorkins stories and Clarke's Tales From The White Hart are superior but that's a matter of taste. I agree with you on both these. The first few Callahan stories are great but the series goes downhill in a bad way and turns into pointless fan pandering. Zelazny is probably my favorite fantasy author. ANitLO is probably his most light-hearted book, but my favorite of his books is Isle of the Dead.
|
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2014 03:27
|
|
|
Has anyone ever read anything by Daniel Arenson? Website here: http://www.danielarenson.com/authorbio.aspx Someone mentioned it to me but it looks horribly generic on the surface.
|
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2014 03:36
|
|
|
Hieronymous Alloy posted:I agree with you on both these. The first few Callahan stories are great but the series goes downhill in a bad way and turns into pointless fan pandering. I've got a copy of the isle of the dead / eye of cat double hardback that I've been sitting on for over a year now I need to read. Personally my favorite of his books that I've read is creatures of light and darkness, fantastic book.
|
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2014 03:37
|
|
|
Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:Anyone have any recommendations for good, fun fantasy where no one dies and it's actually kinda funny? Pratchett style. but also going towards something like Disenchanted or A Lee Martinez's books. Just kinda getting tired of GRIMDARK WORLD IS ENDING QUICK LET'S RAPE SOMEONE AND THEN SET FIRE TO THE CITY BECAUSE WE HAVEN'T KILLED ANYONE IN 4 PAGES. I just re-read a trilogy, that, while not particularly humorous, was interesting and did some great world-building. It's by Sydney Van Scyoc, the first is called Darkchild, followed by Bluesong, then Starsilk. It really aged well, you may enjoy it. Although it's out of print, Amazon has used copies at a reasonable price. The other one I would recommend is the Kencyrath series, which starts with God Stalk by PC Hodgell. This is in print and is often amusing. The newer covers are awful, disregard them because they really have very little to do with story. It has some darker elements, but not grimdark elements.
|
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2014 03:42
|
|
|
corn in the bible posted:I've been reading Honor Harrington novels, for whatever reason. At one point, the author just straight up does the teen film thing where she gets a haircut and is suddenly beautiful and everyone wants to get with her 24/7. Also Space France has a revolution led by "Rob S Pierre" and there is an anti-slavery activist called WEB DU HAVEL. David Weber is a goddamn moron You really need to stop, and read C.S. Forester's Hornblower series. It is pretty much the prototype for all angsty self-doubting hypercompetent hero stuff for the last 50 years. It is wet navy, not space navy, but honestly all the chatter about rigging and carronades and the care and feeding of the lower decks is just as good as chatter about hyperdrive shunts and cryo-fuses.
|
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2014 03:43
|
|
|
SquadronROE posted:Thanks! I just picked up Ghost Brigades and Downbelow. Looking forward to them. I like all 3, but 1 and 2 are my favorite types. I am gonna make a list of those authors. As for 3, my dirty secret is that I read through all of Gaunt's Ghosts. Dan Abnett and Aaron Dembski-Bowden were the two that immediately spring to mind for good type 3 reads 
|
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2014 03:53
|
|
|
ulmont posted:I completely agree with you that that certainly shouldn't be the last in the series, although you never know with sales. I disagree that it's been downhill; I think the only trouble has been that the scope just keeps expanding, to the point that it's just tougher to juggle. I think the scope is expanding but there's not really more stuff going on, it's just bloating like fantasy books do. The prose is starting to wear on me, but maybe I don't remember the first book or so well enough. I'm also not really into the whole not-Aesir pantheon subplot, the "Piper Hecht is possessed by Thor and / or Tyr" led to a lot of "eh" stuff but at least it wasn't Brother Candle's schlong and all that stuff
|
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2014 04:02
|
|
|
fritz posted:The prose is starting to wear on me, but maybe I don't remember the first book or so well enough. The prose has been pretty consistent; I mean, you can see The Black Company and Garrett, PI from Piper Hecht. fritz posted:I'm also not really into the whole not-Aesir pantheon subplot, the "Piper Hecht is possessed by Thor and / or Tyr" led to a lot of "eh" stuff but at least it wasn't Brother Candle's schlong and all that stuff Well, fair enough if you're not into it, but the not-Aesir pantheon has been around since book one and has driven a fair amount of the plot?
|
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2014 04:34
|
|
|
Slo-Tek posted:You really need to stop, and read C.S. Forester's Hornblower series. It is pretty much the prototype for all angsty self-doubting hypercompetent hero stuff for the last 50 years. It is wet navy, not space navy, but honestly all the chatter about rigging and carronades and the care and feeding of the lower decks is just as good as chatter about hyperdrive shunts and cryo-fuses. Want to know my guilty pleasure that's probably the closest to this poo poo? Some of L.E. Modesitt Jr's Imager and some of his Recluse books. They're weird-rear end books that go on and on about all the mundane day to day minutae of being a sailor/soldier/craftsman/whatever/all of the above, going into excruciating detail about everything, but he has a hardon for making the magic in his books be used for major political/technological advancements and exactly how this magic would makes this piece of technology function and all the social and political and tactical consequences of this piece of technology/magic and I find it entertaining even though I simultaneously know they're not the.. best written books. Also, all the main characters are angsty self doubting ludicrously hypercompetent heroes who every major political figure loathes and tries to get rid of. They're not /good/ books but I read them all anyway. \/  \/
Wolpertinger fucked around with this message at 04:57 on Mar 16, 2014 |
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2014 04:50
|
|
|
SquadronROE posted:Thanks! I just picked up Ghost Brigades and Downbelow. Looking forward to them. I like all 3, but 1 and 2 are my favorite types. I am gonna make a list of those authors. As for 3, my dirty secret is that I read through all of Gaunt's Ghosts. If you want more in the vein of Gaunt's Ghosts ie action for action's sake I read Rick Shelley recently. I read one of the other books in this series as a kid and wanted to see what it was like now. Nothing spectacular; its relatively conventional warfare. No weird politics/sex/whatever and the author was in the military and so the characters have some authenticity and you can relate to them. I'd compare it to old WWII movies, minus the patriotic oomph
|
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2014 05:31
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 10, 2024 14:21 |
|
|
Kalenn Istarion posted:Has anyone ever read anything by Daniel Arenson? Website here: http://www.danielarenson.com/authorbio.aspx I have his Misfit Heroes books, but haven't gotten around to reading em yet. mdemone posted:And now I have exposed my knowledge of those other, probably much worse books for no reason at all. Don't feel bad man, I read em too. Space mormons and all. Stupid_Sexy_Flander fucked around with this message at 08:41 on Mar 16, 2014 |
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2014 08:38
|
|