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eriktown posted:I might have gotten more of a Culture vibe off of it if Leckie appeared to have even a vestigial sense of humor.
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Oct 2, 2014 21:39
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Eh, I thought it was just incredibly boring and gave up maybe 20% into it. Just couldn't grab me.
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Oct 2, 2014 23:24
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Until the Hugo discussion in this thread a little while back literally the only thing I had heard about Ancillary Justice was the gender stuff.
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Oct 3, 2014 00:10
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it was like an OKAY scifi book with decent characterization, but for some loving reason the gender thing--which was like peripheral to the plot and barely relevant--got lauded and talked about ad nauseum, and then this book, which was not bad but not great, won the Hugo
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Oct 3, 2014 00:13
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I didn't hate it. Had some interesting ideas, I read the whole thing. There wasn't anything else on the slate that I liked better for the award. In terms of crap books that get awards for annoying the right people, I think awarding anything to Redshirts was worse.
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Oct 3, 2014 00:21
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I'll stick to my former characterisation: it deserved an award, but not every award. Was that really the absolute best SFF of the last year? It was the best of the Hugo shortlist but there were only three serious entries on that to start with.
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Oct 3, 2014 01:01
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Peel posted:Was that really the absolute best SFF of the last year? No, this was
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Oct 3, 2014 01:12
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Peel posted:I'll stick to my former characterisation: it deserved an award, but not every award. Was that really the absolute best SFF of the last year? It was the best of the Hugo shortlist but there were only three serious entries on that to start with. Personally, I agree with this viewpoint. I enjoyed reading it quite a bit, but the gender thing did not factor into my enjoyment very much in either direction. I can see being annoyed that it got so much press for the gender thing instead of being judged as a whole, but I don't see how that should affect my opinion of it. I note the gender thing in my review because the person I am recommending it to will likely find it very jarring, as he is a very conservative southern man with "traditional" views on gender and gender roles. I think he will be able to enjoy it, but if I let him go in blind he would not like it. And if I avoided books due for being somewhat derivative, or for not being as good as the Culture books, I don't think that I would read very much science fiction or fantasy, to be honest.
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Oct 3, 2014 01:16
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less laughter posted:No, this was I liked both about equally  Golem and the Jinni was much better and much different than I expected. For people who liked Ancillary Justice but didn't think it was the best in recent years -- does anyone have any recommendations? I'm in between books as the big books I was waiting for (Echopraxia and Acceptance) have both come out.
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Oct 3, 2014 01:19
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RoboCicero posted:I liked both about equally Do you mean recommendations from recent years or just recommendations in general?
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Oct 3, 2014 02:27
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Recent years would be great -- I actually liked the Culture series and all the books that deal with society in a science fictional setting. Now that I'm writing this I'm reminded of this book I saw somewhere about a city divided into levels, with higher levels having access to better technology, maybe? And it opens with something about an 'angel' being murdered and falling down to the Victorian level of the city, where some beat cops have to figure it out. Does this ring any bells for anyone? e: That's it! I knew it was by a sci-fi bigwig. I'll probably just pick that up. RoboCicero fucked around with this message at 03:03 on Oct 3, 2014 |
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Oct 3, 2014 02:54
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RoboCicero posted:Now that I'm writing this I'm reminded of this book I saw somewhere about a city divided into levels, with higher levels having access to better technology, maybe? And it opens with something about an 'angel' being murdered and falling down to the Victorian level of the city, where some beat cops have to figure it out. Does this ring any bells for anyone? Terminal World by Alastair Reynolds
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Oct 3, 2014 03:01
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It's really awful, please don't read it.
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Oct 3, 2014 03:09
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That's disappointing -- I loved Diamond Dogs, though I guess everyone loves Diamond Dogs.
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Oct 3, 2014 03:26
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Speaking of Alistair Reynolds, how is his work outside of the Inhibitor trilogy? I loved Revelation Space, liked Redemption Ark, and disliked Absolution Gap, which are the only three of his works that I have read. After Absolution Gap, I pretty much avoided the reset of his stuff, fearing that I would run into more of the same, but I have heard good things about some of his other stuff.
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Oct 3, 2014 04:20
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nightchild12 posted:Speaking of Alistair Reynolds, how is his work outside of the Inhibitor trilogy? I loved Revelation Space, liked Redemption Ark, and disliked Absolution Gap, which are the only three of his works that I have read. After Absolution Gap, I pretty much avoided the reset of his stuff, fearing that I would run into more of the same, but I have heard good things about some of his other stuff. The Prefect and Chasm City are really great.
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Oct 3, 2014 04:37
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House of Suns is by most accounts his best work and you should read it.
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Oct 3, 2014 04:40
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Clark Nova posted:House of Suns is by most accounts his best work and you should read it. Far and away. The story that goes with it, Thousandth Night, is also pretty good.
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Oct 3, 2014 04:56
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Definitely agree, House of Suns is excellent.
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Oct 3, 2014 05:28
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General Battuta posted:It's really awful, please don't read it.
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Oct 3, 2014 05:40
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My Reynolds tier list: S: House of Suns, Chasm City A: Short story collections B: The Prefect, Revelation Space C: Redemption Ark D: Absolution Gap, Pushing Ice, Blue Remembered Earth F: Century Rain, Terminal World, Troika Have not read: On the Steele Breeze This list is more or less perfectly accurate and an objective assessment
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Oct 3, 2014 05:45
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Read Chasm City. It's in the same universe as the Revelation Space trilogy and is considered by a lot of people (including me) to be his best novel. House of Suns was pretty decent and I really enjoyed the first two books of his new trilogy. But seriously...... read Chasm City.
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Oct 3, 2014 06:12
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RoboCicero posted:I liked both about equally I've had The Golem and The Jinni on my kindle account since it was on sale several months ago, but i feel like i keep putting it off because i don't quite know what to expect from it. (Aside from, obviously, a golem and a djinni.) Could i perhaps trouble you (and the thread at large) for a comment on subgenre and emotional tone, with as little spoiled as possible?
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Oct 3, 2014 07:34
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Ceebees posted:I've had The Golem and The Jinni on my kindle account since it was on sale several months ago, but i feel like i keep putting it off because i don't quite know what to expect from it. (Aside from, obviously, a golem and a djinni.) Mystery with a dash of romance and a weird bildungsroman. Just read it!
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Oct 3, 2014 10:47
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systran posted:it was like an OKAY scifi book with decent characterization, but for some loving reason the gender thing--which was like peripheral to the plot and barely relevant--got lauded and talked about ad nauseum, and then this book, which was not bad but not great, won the Hugo Try this book. The main character is a women and it doesn't have all the gender switching. http://www.amazon.com/The-Line-William-LJ-Galaini/dp/1481049453/ref=tmm_pap_title_0 I linked that because it has a sample you can read.
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Oct 3, 2014 10:59
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Ceebees posted:I've had The Golem and The Jinni on my kindle account since it was on sale several months ago, but i feel like i keep putting it off because i don't quite know what to expect from it. (Aside from, obviously, a golem and a djinni.) I thought it was interesting but not particularly engaging. It was kind of hard to get through because although it's pretty good, it's also pretty boring, with the exception of the guy who made the golem.
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Oct 3, 2014 14:22
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Ok, this series might turn out to be poo poo, but this cover is amazing:  Personally I like this cover more, since every question you have about it just raises five more questions.
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Oct 3, 2014 23:32
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Marshal Radisic posted:Ehh, it's been done. I find it hard to imagine that the book could possibly live up to the promise of that cover.
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Oct 4, 2014 00:05
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Ceebees posted:I've had The Golem and The Jinni on my kindle account since it was on sale several months ago, but i feel like i keep putting it off because i don't quite know what to expect from it. (Aside from, obviously, a golem and a djinni.) There's a subplot about a vicious sorcerer pursuing both of them, but overall it's more character-driven than plot-driven. I would say Grimwall posted:Mystery with a dash of romance and a weird bildungsroman. Just read it! I'll also read House of Suns! I remember really enjoying Chasm City.
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Oct 4, 2014 00:57
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I just finished City of Stairs. drat, what a good book.
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Oct 4, 2014 02:51
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Ornamented Death posted:I just finished City of Stairs. drat, what a good book. Yeah, I had a lot of fun with it. The Palace Job got a sequel out this week. I just started it.
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Oct 4, 2014 02:57
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Neat, just found out Horns is out on VOD now. It's got a pre theatrical release! Gonna catch it this weekend to see if it holds up the book.
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Oct 4, 2014 04:13
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Just finished The Brothers Cabal. It needed a bit more time with an editor just because of some awkward sentence structure, but overall it was a good addition to the series. I particularly like how it ties back to the second book, which is my favorite in the series. It could have done with less Horst up front, but half a book of Johannes is still great.
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Oct 4, 2014 10:11
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CaptainScraps posted:Yeah, I had a lot of fun with it. The Palace Job was a fun read, looking forward to reading the sequel.
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Oct 4, 2014 19:57
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Ornamented Death posted:I just finished City of Stairs. drat, what a good book. Just started it and feel the same way.
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Oct 5, 2014 18:41
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RoboCicero posted:Recent years would be great -- I actually liked the Culture series and all the books that deal with society in a science fictional setting. Not sure what anybody else thinks about them, but the Cassandra Kreznov novels by Joel Shepherd are probably my favorite semi-military sci-fi books, even if they're more of a light read than anything too serious. Cassandra is an advanced synthetic human made by one side of a war, and the books start a few years after the war has wrapped up. Before the books began, she decided the side that made her isn't the side she wants to fight for and smuggled herself away to try and live a normal life among people that think her and her kind are abominations. The books cover some interesting ideas like what would happen if we just threw culture and history to the wayside, whether or not synthetic humans should have the same rights as those that were born from a womb and aren't virtually indestructible, and what the richest planet in a federation might do if said federation decided to stomp all over it. There's two trilogies, though the third book in the second set hasn't come out yet. Onean fucked around with this message at 04:17 on Oct 6, 2014 |
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Oct 6, 2014 04:11
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I agree that Chasm City is the best of the Revelation Space books. Likewise House of Suns was good, it took me a little to get into it ,but after finishing I felt it was one of Alistair Reynolds better books. Probably the last book series that really clicked with me though was the Black Company by Glen Cooke. I only picked up his books because of a clearance sale when borders went out of business years ago, never read it finally did and loved it. The first book is rough around the edges and I didn't really enjoy the first chapter ,but I really appreciated the minimalist approach of world building and building the world through the eyes of the characters rather than info dump. Overall I think he is really underrated, and you can see influence from his books on alot of more recent fantasy literature.
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Oct 6, 2014 04:58
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Jack2142 posted:Probably the last book series that really clicked with me though was the Black Company by Glen Cooke. I only picked up his books because of a clearance sale when borders went out of business years ago, never read it finally did and loved it. The first book is rough around the edges and I didn't really enjoy the first chapter ,but I really appreciated the minimalist approach of world building and building the world through the eyes of the characters rather than info dump. I think I would have liked The Black Company a lot more if it weren't for some of the worst romance plots I've ever read. Croaker's especially felt like some sort of weird rear end fanfiction. I also kinda wish that a group of powerful dudes with a rad name like The Ten Who Were Taken actually did more cool, badass things.
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Oct 6, 2014 06:37
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Ornamented Death posted:I just finished City of Stairs. drat, what a good book. I mostly liked it but there was some pretty terrible young adult style relationship mess in there that could have been omitted. Also Sigurd had the most predictable identity ever.
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Oct 6, 2014 08:22
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Onean posted:Not sure what anybody else thinks about them, but the Cassandra Kreznov novels by Joel Shepherd are probably my favorite semi-military sci-fi books, even if they're more of a light read than anything too serious. It looks really good, but I have not been able to find an ebook edition.
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Oct 6, 2014 11:43
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