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Well since you are all such big fans of The Damned, may I recommend The Legacy of Adlantea by John RR Ringo? He ripped the plot setup off wholesale (galaxy of pacifists who collapse at the thought of violence) and is somehow not laughed out of the publishing houses
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Jun 9, 2014 16:14
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It's John Ringo. It doesn't matter what he writes, he pretty much comes with a built-in fanbase.
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Jun 9, 2014 16:17
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Fried Chicken posted:Well since you are all such big fans of The Damned, may I recommend The Legacy of Adlantea by John RR Ringo? The Damned is not that great in terms of writing but nothing by John Ringo that I have read indicates he would handle this any better and indeed he would probably turn the slight subtlety of the original setting into hamfisted bullshit.
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Jun 9, 2014 16:19
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That's Ringo's original series that built him the fan base. It's not quite the same trope and is more about combat and powered suits, much more action oriented series. Personally I think if you leave out his creepy rear end thrillers Ringo is a very above average pulp/action airport fiction type SF writer. No new concepts, not great prose or anything, but fun action movie takes on classic SF ideas.
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Jun 9, 2014 19:10
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From what I hear about him, he's actually pretty self-aware and personally a lot less creepy than his worse books are. He just really knows his fan base.
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Jun 9, 2014 19:12
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ZerodotJander posted:That's Ringo's original series that built him the fan base. It's not quite the same trope and is more about combat and powered suits, much more action oriented series. Should I mention here the Aldenata collab with Tom Kratman that featured the heroic SS?
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Jun 9, 2014 19:21
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Darth Walrus posted:Should I mention here the Aldenata collab with Tom Kratman that featured the heroic SS? To be fair, that's more Kratman than Ringo. Ringo is just a creepy right win nut, Kratman is the literal fascist.
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Jun 9, 2014 19:29
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MarksMan posted:Looking for some recommendations. I've read the first post and done the little Sci/Fi chart thing and still not finding exactly what I'm looking for. Perhaps it does not exist. You might like In Conquest Born by C.S. Friedman. It's a space-opera type story about two large human empires that developed in radically different ways and are at constant war with each other, one empire ruled by a caste of genetically superior and constantly infighting nobles, and the other a democracy that has embraced and trained individuals with psychic abilities. The main focus of the book is on two commanders in each empire.
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Jun 9, 2014 21:04
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If you can bear any more Alan Dean Foster then his Humanx Commonwealth are pretty entertaining space opera stuff of that stripe. They're also mostly not sequential, so you can start more or less anywhere and not miss out on anything.
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Jun 9, 2014 21:09
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Neurosis posted:One strength of the series, I've gotta say, is that it stirs up human racism. I feel like we're smarter and more industrious than any of the Weave species, due to our sharp brains being forged over the millenia by competition rather than cooperation. I hope that is intentional but again I wonder how much is limited by the author's imagination, until I get further. I have just finished the first book too. As expected, it is "light" space opera, Alan Dean Foster Style. The premise is interesting , but there are parts of the story that are difficult to believe (as in suspension of disbelief): For one, the aliens are pussies, even the ones which are tasked with doing the war thing. A MUSICIAN manages to put out of combat a member of a race which is specialized in doing combat. By accident. A mexican whore manages to be promoted to captain just because. In general the humans are faster, stronger and more bloodthirsty than any of the warring aliens, to the level they terrorize the supposed allies of mankind. . For two, the humans are pussies too! I can't conceive that in the situation depicted in the book some human governments don't try to piss off everyone and ally themselves with the Amplitur just to try to get any advantage... even more when it is discovered that the humans have a very special and valuable trait which makes them very suited to negotiate wirth the Amplitur in equal terms!. The only "realistic" human behaviour that appears in the story is... a theft... Taking those things aside, it is still a nice read. The baddies are... well, in one hand they are terrible, mind and gene loving bastards. But on the other side they are NOT completely evil. They are not so diferent to the Weave (the suposedly good guys), they just use different means to attain what is essentialy the same goal. I'm not sure I will go ahead and read the other two books. I will probably go first for the second book of the Subterrene war series. Which will put me back in the mood to need to read something light.
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Jun 9, 2014 22:13
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Cardiovorax posted:From what I hear about him, he's actually pretty self-aware and personally a lot less creepy than his worse books are. He just really knows his fan base. FWIW, I really enjoyed the Troy Rising series. It's mega-jingoistic in places, but it's fun and I really enjoyed the 'holy poo poo space is BIG and if you really use it it's scary-powerful' bits. And the idea that sci-fi nerdery can save the world.
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Jun 9, 2014 23:26
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thespaceinvader posted:FWIW, I really enjoyed the Troy Rising series. It's mega-jingoistic in places, but it's fun and I really enjoyed the 'holy poo poo space is BIG and if you really use it it's scary-powerful' bits. And the idea that sci-fi nerdery can save the world. The ridiculous racism in the third book was so disappointing and I wonder if that's why there haven't been any further books in the series.
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Jun 10, 2014 02:16
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Cibola Burn review: http://www.tor.com/blogs/2014/06/book-review-cibola-burn-james-s-a-corey Key details: "The most focused narrative in the saga so far lacks, alas, the scope of the other stories James S. A. Corey has told, and character-wise, it’s a mixed bag at best." "Cibola Burn is singularly slow to start" and is "easily the weakest of James S. A. Corey’s space operas to date." "There is, to be clear, half of a hell of a novel here, with all the wit and wonder that’s made The Expanse such a pleasure in the past, but the most remarkable aspect of the other half is all that is lacks." 4 POVs again: • Holden, as usual • Basia, "a displaced family man ready to fight for what’s right, however his actions are viewed by others as atrocities" • Havelock, "a sort of soldier of fortune on another of the ships in orbit around Ilus" • Elvi, "a scientist who survives the shuttle crash at the start of the narrative, and sets about studying this strange, alien place" and who "nurses a crush on Holden"  "The fantastic Avasarala [...] returns in Cibola Burn—alongside a few other familiar faces—albeit briefly." The next novel is called Nemesis Games.
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Jun 10, 2014 08:55
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Cardiovorax posted:If you can bear any more Alan Dean Foster then his Humanx Commonwealth are pretty entertaining space opera stuff of that stripe. They're also mostly not sequential, so you can start more or less anywhere and not miss out on anything. They're actually quite sequential, unless you're talking about the ancillary series to the main Flinx novels. Those can be read in any order, or indeed not at all. I would read The Tar-Aiym Krang and possibly Orphan Star before anything else, though. Also, while it's not obvious at first because he isn't a main character, Bloodhype is a Flinx novel. It falls somewhere between Orphan Star and Flinx in Flux.
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Jun 10, 2014 10:09
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uberkeyzer posted:Go read Lois Bujold's Miles Vorkosignan series, it's pretty much exactly what you are looking for. The main character is basically Tyrion Lannister in space. Except with much, much better parents. (Also this series predates that other one by about a decade, so it's more like Tyrion is "fantasy Miles Vorkosigan, without the good parents".)
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Jun 10, 2014 10:40
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I read Caliphate by Kratman, I liked it a bit. sidles out of thread
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Jun 10, 2014 17:28
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Kraps posted:I read Caliphate by Kratman, I liked it a bit. Caliphate goodreads summary posted:In the 22nd century European deathbed demographics have turned the continent over to the more fertile Moslems. Atheism in Europe has been exterminated. Homosexuals are hanged, stoned or crucified. Such Christians as remain are relegated to dhimmitude, a form of second class citizenship. They are denied arms, denied civil rights, denied a voice, and specially taxed via the Koranic yizya. Their sons are taken as conscripted soldiers while their daughters are subject to the depredations of the continent's new masters. a magic place across the sea america I know this book isn't a joke but for gently caress's sake please tell me this book's a joke
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Jun 10, 2014 17:48
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Whalley posted:Hey, I haven't heard of that book, let's see what it No joke. At the back of the book, IIRC, there's essays and charts and sources about the coming Islamopocolypse.
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Jun 10, 2014 17:57
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When I compare the quality of writing between kratman and some if the self published stuff I've read it blows my mind that he got a deal and they didn't. On that note, would there be any interest in a self publish review/discussion thread? I've found some good ones out there
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Jun 10, 2014 18:02
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Kraps posted:I read Caliphate by Kratman, I liked it a bit. Oh hey Dan Simmons didn't know you were a goon 
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Jun 10, 2014 18:16
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The Ninth Layer posted:You might like In Conquest Born by C.S. Friedman. It's a space-opera type story about two large human empires that developed in radically different ways and are at constant war with each other, one empire ruled by a caste of genetically superior and constantly infighting nobles, and the other a democracy that has embraced and trained individuals with psychic abilities. The main focus of the book is on two commanders in each empire. Not too many people recommend this book. It basically follows two "generals" or commanders on each side, and slowly entangles into a singular story. It's a great read (2 book series)
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Jun 10, 2014 23:44
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Hedrigall posted:Cibola Burn review: http://www.tor.com/blogs/2014/06/book-review-cibola-burn-james-s-a-corey Is Corey actively trying to sink the series?
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Jun 11, 2014 00:38
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Cardiovorax posted:If you can bear any more Alan Dean Foster then his Humanx Commonwealth are pretty entertaining space opera stuff of that stripe. They're also mostly not sequential, so you can start more or less anywhere and not miss out on anything. I have to chime in that his book "Sentenced to Prism" is one of my all time favorite reads. It's not deep, it's not complex, but it is a fun "survive on an alien planet" romp with a bit of tongue in cheek. Actually, I think someone was requesting recommendations along that line a few pages back. Essentially an agent for some survey company, from a culture where everyone's clothes are so advanced they make weather a non-issue (rain, snow, it all gets heated and shielded away,) is sent to check up on why a research team isn't reporting back from newly discovered "Prism." The planet is heavily covered in silicate life forms, hence the name. He lands equipped with a heavy duty environmental power suit, which of course fails almost immediately and leaves him surviving in his underwear and wits alone. I generally pull it out when I'm sick and need something to take my mind off the fever. Must've re-read it 20 times, I've worn out 4 paperback copies of it since the mid-80's.
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Jun 11, 2014 00:42
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GENDERWEIRD GREEDO posted:Is Corey actively trying to sink the series? I'm really curious how the balance of writing/plot duties has fallen between Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck since the series started.
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Jun 11, 2014 01:17
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The new ASOIAF story in Rogues is really disappointing. It's about Daemon Targaryen and the events leading up to The Princess and The Queen, but it's really dull and pretty much reads like Genesis 5 - Rhae* begat Dae* begat Ae* and so on. It's a big drop in quality after Princess/Queen. How do you make a guy who is supposed to be a royal outlaw rebel pirate with a dragon boring? You get GRRM to write it in between blogging about football, I guess. And naturally, include some weird creepy underage incest sex talk. The Joe Abercrombie story is good. And features Friendly. Who is awesome. The Scott Lynch story is better, but that might be because I just finished mainlining all the Locke Lamora books. The Rothfuss story is about Bast, so that's all that needs to be said. I haven't got to any of the others yet. BrosephofArimathea fucked around with this message at 01:34 on Jun 11, 2014 |
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Jun 11, 2014 01:23
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GENDERWEIRD GREEDO posted:Is Corey actively trying to sink the series? I think Abaddon's Gate set the series up for a weaker ending. Was hoping the new book would pull it back into the known solar system, being that it is the main attraction of the series. Worrying about water/air in cramped spaces creates a more human scale to measure the universe up against, but the alien involvement showing it's hand quite openly instead of keeping it mysterious like in Caliban's War is pushing the series in a more generic direction.
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Jun 11, 2014 01:30
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holocaust bloopers posted:I'm reading Germline right now. It's utterly fantastic and heavy as hell. Yeah, I love that book. The next one might be even darker as it's told from the POV of one of the Germline girls.
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Jun 11, 2014 02:11
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Whalley posted:Hey, I haven't heard of that book, let's see what it Say, did anyone ever do a Let's Read of a Kratman piece like Pitch did with Bracken's books? I feel it'd be pretty fun, in a horrible sort of way.
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Jun 11, 2014 11:27
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BrosephofArimathea posted:The new ASOIAF story in Rogues is really disappointing. It's about Daemon Targaryen and the events leading up to The Princess and The Queen, but it's really dull and pretty much reads like Genesis 5 - Rhae* begat Dae* begat Ae* and so on. It's a big drop in quality after Princess/Queen. How do you make a guy who is supposed to be a royal outlaw rebel pirate with a dragon boring? You get GRRM to write it in between blogging about football, I guess. Whats the Scott Lynch story about?
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Jun 11, 2014 16:37
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Phoon posted:Whats the Scott Lynch story about? http://scottlynch78.tumblr.com/post/80051159927/a-year-and-a-day-in-old-theradane-coming-in-rogues Scott Lynch posted:Amarelle Parathis, the Duchess Unseen, globe-trotting criminal mastermind, has been living an uneasy retirement in the city of Theradane for several years. Pursued by authorities in every corner of the world, she and her crew have traded most of their purloined treasures for the life of honest citizens in a sovereign sanctuary that thumbs its nose at extradition treaties.
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Jun 12, 2014 00:57
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Darth Walrus posted:Say, did anyone ever do a Let's Read of a Kratman piece like Pitch did with Bracken's books? I feel it'd be pretty fun, in a horrible sort of way. Kratmans "Legion Del Cid" series is absolutely terrible. Only read them if you're taking a shot every time a war crime is committed. They are worse than Ringo's Kildar books and that's saying something.
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Jun 12, 2014 05:07
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Well, given that none of you seem to check the space opera thread... I actually just finished Cibola Burn. It is the fourth book in the series. It was a very nice story, fairly tight, and of a much smaller scale than the previous works - the loss of scale is both a good and bad thing. Good, because you wonder how Belters (like Naomi) cope with gravity and that is interesting to see. Bad, because part of what I like about the Expanse is the politics and the navies and all that drama. See, Cibola Burn is essentially about the perils of colonisation, of various types of rights and claims, and how civilisation is virtually meaningless when it's almost a year away. The most dangerous threat isn't a nuclear-armed warship or an alien artefact any more, but an angry dude with a gun. Even so, I'd say it was better than Abaddon's Gate, overall. Gate felt like it had begun to drag on at points whereas Burn always felt like it was paced well. The epilogue, as the Expanse series always does, sets up a very interesting hook for the next book/s. I really like the Expanse. It's definitely up there as my favourite book series. I like the hard sci-fi feel of it, I like how it feels sometimes like a more optimistic version of Blindsight and I absolutely adore the characters and the progressive world they all live in. Cibola Burn is still a very good book, but it's definitely the most different of the series - for better or worse. I liked seeing a story about one town on one planet but I do hope that the series goes back to its wider, political format. The thing that most surprised me was the death of a certain character. And Elvi's crush on Holden is handled well, makes sense, and is only really there for like half of the book. She gets over it. Still, I agree with that review on one key point - the strongest parts of the Expanse are Naomi, Holden, Amos and Alex and their relationships. In Cibola Burn, they do feel a bit shortchanged due to how the plot plays out.
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Jun 12, 2014 05:35
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Azipod posted:Kratmans "Legion Del Cid" series is absolutely terrible. Only read them if you're taking a shot every time a war crime is committed. I looked up kratman on wiki, and how is it that the bastards who never saw a lick of combat are the most blood gargling assholes you ever find? Closest he came was the Gulf War where he was training Kuwaitis to fight. Other than that he was a recruiter and stationed in Panama in peacetime (he left before that got hot) Meanwhile guys like David Drake who were in the poo poo aren't nearly so fight happy. Anyways, first reviews for Echopraxia are up quote:Hugo-winner Watts attempts “faith-based hard SF” in this dense, fast-moving companion to 2006’s Blindsight set in a late-21st-century world of genetically resurrected vampires, weaponized zombies, and Nobel-winning monastic hive minds. Daniel Brüks, obsolete in every way—human in a posthuman world, a field biologist despite biology’s merger with technology, an atheist despite religion’s recent triumphs over science—is dragged onto a Rapture-guided ship, the Crown of Thorns, and taken on a mission to investigate possible transmissions from the lost spaceship Theseus. Brüks is soon trapped between a vampire and a physics-breaking “postbiological” organism. Watts displays his knack for meticulously researched, conventionally unsympathetic characters, and their complex manipulations give color to an environment in which it is difficult to distinguish bloody catastrophe from “plans within plans.” The novel delivers an intricately inventive and coolly deterministic lesson in the futility of trying to outthink evolution, less a critique of human transcendence than an indictment of its basic assumptions. So looking forward to this
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Jun 12, 2014 19:53
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Fried Chicken posted:I looked up kratman on wiki, and how is it that the bastards who never saw a lick of combat are the most blood gargling assholes you ever find? Closest he came was the Gulf War where he was training Kuwaitis to fight. Other than that he was a recruiter and stationed in Panama in peacetime (he left before that got hot)
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Jun 12, 2014 20:40
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Milky Moor posted:Well, given that none of you seem to check the space opera thread... I think the main driving force of the series was the inclusion of the smaller scale items/issues, making the series stand out from the hundreds of other generic space opera's out there. Abadon's Gate was very light on small scale, so in the end the series as a whole will balance out with Cobola Burn.
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Jun 12, 2014 23:15
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I'm reading Stranger in a Strange Land right now, and I don't think I'll be able to finish it. The main character, Julab, is extremely arrogant. I'm not sure if the book is trying to insert humor with his crazy behavior, but it's not working. I don't feel much suspense since everything is happening as you'd expect it. Finally, the rest of the characters are one dimensional so it's hard to be empathetic with any of them.
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Jun 12, 2014 23:51
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Fried Chicken posted:Anyways, first reviews for Echopraxia are up Yessssss ProSlayer posted:I'm reading Stranger in a Strange Land right now, and I don't think I'll be able to finish it. The main character, Julab, is extremely arrogant. I'm not sure if the book is trying to insert humor with his crazy behavior, but it's not working. I don't feel much suspense since everything is happening as you'd expect it. Finally, the rest of the characters are one dimensional so it's hard to be empathetic with any of them. Jubal is a self insert talking head for Heinlein to waffle on about how polygamy is cool so old ugly men like him get to gently caress young women whenever they want. Stranger is not a very good book.
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Jun 13, 2014 01:53
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Neurosis posted:Jubal is a self insert talking head for Heinlein to waffle on about how polygamy is cool so old ugly men like him get to gently caress young women whenever they want. Stranger is not a very good book. Still arguably worth reading for its influence but yeah as a book it's not good.
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Jun 13, 2014 02:03
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Are y'all ready for more horrible author opinions&behavior: http://dsmoen.livejournal.com/544470.html (warning:  ) (you, uh, might not want to read that)
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Jun 13, 2014 04:48
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Cardiovorax posted:Kind of self-explanatory. Unless you're a psychopath you'll quickly find that actual combat really loving sucks and is horrifying as hell. The only kind of person who would enjoy that sort of thing has either never experienced it or is mentally ill. I've never been involved with the military, so take this with a grain of salt, but I found this particularly compelling in Joe Haldeman's The Forever War. I thought it was an excellent novel. It was, in my uninformed opinion, very obviously an attempt to describe the author's experiences in Vietnam and afterward. The main character is conscripted out of college, given absolutely useless but extremely dangerous training, and sent to fight an enemy which he irrationally hates, then comes back to a civilian world which does not make sense to him and which he cannot fit in to since it is so different from what he is used to. It is heavy on the horrors of war and the insane psychological impact it has on the people who are forced to fight in it, with heavy doses of the difficulty of reintegration and the confusing, bizarre structures of the military bureaucracy.
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