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Fart of Presto posted:Edit: Are the Gentlemen Bastards #2 and #3 really that bad? I'm currently reading The Lies of Locke Lamora and really enjoying it and would love to read more.
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Apr 27, 2015 19:42
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Has anyone read the latest Demon Cycle book yet? I kinda liked how the main characters from the earlier books got less focus (Arlena and Jardir), and I am excited to see this wrap up in just one more book.
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Apr 28, 2015 13:50
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GET INTO DA CHOPPA posted:Has anyone read the latest Demon Cycle book yet? I kinda liked how the main characters from the earlier books got less focus (Arlena and Jardir), and I am excited to see this wrap up in just one more book. I really enjoyed it. Slow burn up until the ending 100 pages or so. I have this feeling like it ended abruptly, but I can't tell if that is because it DID end abruptly or because it had cranked the pace/events up to 11 and I just didn't want it to end. Gonna be a long wait for the next installment.
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Apr 28, 2015 14:12
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Read 'The Girl with all the gifts' over the last few days. I went into it blind, not knowing anything other than the back cover and that it is recommended. This is how I would recommend reading it. I think that if I read anything else about it, the experience would have been worse. The hook reveals itself within the first 100 pages. After that, it becomes a painfully generic extrapolation on that hook until the end. If you start thinking that the plot is getting generic or that the characters are making painfully bad decisions, power through to the end. Lots of eye rolling on my part because of the dialogue and inner monologue of the characters, but again, power through. The ending is pretty drat good and worth it. So my grade is a solid B. Excellent and tense beginning. Great ending. Plenty of low points in the middle.
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Apr 28, 2015 14:27
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Ferret posted:I really enjoyed it. Slow burn up until the ending 100 pages or so. I have this feeling like it ended abruptly, but I can't tell if that is because it DID end abruptly or because it had cranked the pace/events up to 11 and I just didn't want it to end. Gonna be a long wait for the next installment. I am also looking forward to see if Royer (?) is dead or not. There were no mentions of tear vials, and the only time we see him afterwards is from Leesha's PoV mentionig that he LOOKS dead.
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Apr 28, 2015 16:51
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Rusty Kettle posted:Read 'The Girl with all the gifts' over the last few days. I went into it blind, not knowing anything other than the back cover and that it is recommended. This is how I would recommend reading it. I think that if I read anything else about it, the experience would have been worse.
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Apr 28, 2015 20:24
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mirthdefect posted:Is that by the same M Carey who wrote the Lucifer comics and the Felix Castor novels? I tried to work it out when that book was announced but didn't find a definitive answer. I believe so. The 'about this author' mentions comics but I haven't read any of them.
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Apr 28, 2015 20:29
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GET INTO DA CHOPPA posted:I am also looking forward to see if Royer (?) is dead or not. There were no mentions of tear vials, and the only time we see him afterwards is from Leesha's PoV mentionig that he LOOKS dead.
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Apr 29, 2015 01:29
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I posted last week about reading the first couple chapters of A Crown for Cold Silver and thinking it had potential. I bought it yesterday, have been flying through it faster than any other fantasy I've read recently, and it's really really good. If I had to compare it to other fantasy books, it'd probably be Abercrombie, but it reminds me more of awesome epic movies, like the Good the Bad and the Ugly, the Dirty Dozen, or if Tarantino made a fantasy trilogy, it'd be like this.
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Apr 29, 2015 01:29
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Looking forward to starting the new Alastair Reynolds tonight, so I had a quick scan of his blog. This tickled me:quote:Actually, due to one of those inevitable snafus, the wrong version of the flap text ended up on the final copies, mispelling Ndegi's name and mentioning such things as faster than light travel which never had any place in the intended text. That's like advertising a Cormac Mcarthy book as having speech marks or something.
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Apr 29, 2015 13:20
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Junkenstein posted:Looking forward to starting the new Alastair Reynolds tonight, Oh man, me too. Dymocks (Aus book chain) said the release date was Tuesday and I was all hyped up for it then. They lied to me  Still, fingers crossed for tomorrow. I'm doubly excited because apparently this is a nice long book, like 700 pages instead of his usual 500 
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Apr 29, 2015 13:35
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Having only just bought a Kindle recently - typically how long is it before a new release like that is available on Kindle?
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Apr 29, 2015 14:21
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Fiendish Dr. Wu posted:Having only just bought a Kindle recently - typically how long is it before a new release like that is available on Kindle? Midnight usually. Hence I'm hoping to get an hour in before bed tonight.
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Apr 29, 2015 14:29
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one wierd trick to travel faster than c! alastair reynolds hates it!
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Apr 29, 2015 14:35
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Can we talk about Hannu Rajaneimi's The Causal Angel in this thread? The Ranajeimi thread is archived and I just finished the TAC like an hour ago.
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Apr 29, 2015 20:36
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Actually I'd be interested in that; I tried reading Quantum Thief but put it down after like two chapters, honestly can't remember why. Should I give it another try?
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Apr 29, 2015 20:41
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Is this a vote? I vote yes to both talking about Rajaniemi and reading Rajaniemi.
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Apr 29, 2015 21:01
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The Quantum Thief is the best book in the trilogy by what I think is a wide margin. It throws you in deeper than any of the others (comparing it with the Causal Angel, where Rajaneimi finally relents and straight-up info dumps in a few places, it barely seems to be from the same guy) but it also has the most interesting characters and the central mechanics of the world itself are actually very straight-forward. Basically, don't worry about not understanding things when you read them right off the bat; if you keep going eventually it will all make sense. Concerning The Causal Angel, this is sort of what I'm speculating: The entire arc of trilogy was a plot that the Pellegrini Prime thought out to get a leg up against the other Founders. She didn't care about the Zoku, and didn't even particularly care about the Kaminari Jewel. She freed the All-Defector and manipulated events to allow it to eat the chens and most of the vasilevs and hsien-Kus, then played nice with the All-D, hoping that Jean would save her (which he did). It was a gamble for her, but she didn't see any other long term alternative because the vasilevs and hsien-kus would have eliminated her eventually and Chen wasn't planning on helping her. Feeding the chens to the All-D wasn't an initial part of the plan, because she thought she could give him the Kaminari Jewel to win his favor, but it ended up working out in her favor anyway. However, what I took from the epilogue is that Jean-- the real, Prime Jean-- was also manipulating events to his own benefit, ultimately allowing him to stage a three book long jailbreak from the Dilemma Prison. I think the key was in the information that he gave Mieli from Mars, which was how the zoku were able to code information in the photons released from the first Spike which rewired Owl Boy's brain. I think the ending passage from epilogue is meant to describe a similar event happening with the Archons that were holding Jean Prime captive. The radiation that the Spike released contained information that rewired the Dilemma Prison, giving Jean Prime an exit. Strange Matter fucked around with this message at 23:23 on Apr 29, 2015 |
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Apr 29, 2015 21:05
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I need to read TCA. I listened to TQT and TFP on Audible, and then was completely put off by the new narrator. It's not a long book so I should be able to do that soon, although I just began going through some old William Gibson audiobooks (recently started Pattern Recognition)
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Apr 29, 2015 21:10
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TCA is also waaaay more readable than either of the first two books. I think part of the reason is that there's a much greater sense of urgency throughout, so for better or for worse Rajaneimi shoots much straighter. That said in the same way that TFP had a central focus on cognitive theory and ideas about the nature of consciousness (self-loops and all), TCA has passages that are basically discourses on brane theory and quantum gravity. I think in general they are more understandable than a lot of the stuff in TFP, because they aren't filtered through the lens of mysticism.
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Apr 29, 2015 21:19
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Man I need to reread this stuff. If you think the plot was hard to follow, try remembering it 6 months later. I can say though that if you're craving more, you should go read some of the old "Arsene Lupin, Gentleman-Burglar" stories that inspired the series. The first few are free on Project Gutenberg, you won't regret it.
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Apr 29, 2015 21:24
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Any SF anthologies you can recommend? I've found most of my favorite authors through their short stories and novellas, and with my free time steadily decreasing it seems like the thing to do.
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Apr 30, 2015 00:58
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Gardner Dozois's Year's Best Science Fiction collections rarely disappoint me, and likewise with Jonathan Strahan's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year. There's some overlap in those but not usually a lot--I think they conspire to try and keep some separation. John Joseph Adams has edited a lot of 'themed' anthologies like Brave New World for dystopian or Wastelands for post-apocalyptic. He tends to include classic tales along with newer works which gives a nice comparison. I've liked the ones I've read. The Firebirds YA anthology series is mostly fantasy but has had some very creative stuff in it. The New Space Opera was good, haven't read the second one yet. I also enjoyed Gateways: A Feast of Great New Science Fiction Honoring Grand Master Frederik Pohl. The title for that one is long and dumb but there's another anthology called Gateways and I haven't read the other one. The Pohl-tribute one has a lot of famous names in it so it might not be as good for finding new stuff, but it still has a lot of good stories in it. Also perhaps check out the Nebula showcases if you haven't. The anthology I've liked best in the past few years has to be The Other Half of the Sky though, which is an anthology about female characters. The stories in that one were really creative with exciting premises and very tightly-woven prose. I loved it completely.
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Apr 30, 2015 04:10
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It won't be out until 2016, but Jeff and Ann VanderMeer are putting together a Big Book of Sci-Fi and are putting a huge focus on stories from outside of English-speaking countries. Some things he's said in the last few months:Jeff VanderMeer posted:Did a final count on various aspects of the antho. Thirty-two total translations in the table of contents and 40 stories total from authors outside of Australia, North America, or the UK, with 21 countries total represented. Especially robust: Latin American and Russia/Ukraine stories (if we secure all permissions). JV posted:t's no secret, I think, that we've taken stories from Johanna Sinisalo, Leena Krohn, Misha Nogha, Lisa Tuttle, Pat Cadigan, C.J. Cherryh, Karen Joy Fowler, etc. But we've also acquired a fair amount of material out of print for over 30 years and have made significant headway on procuring original translations of classic work never in English before.
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Apr 30, 2015 04:28
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Kellanved posted:Any SF anthologies you can recommend? I've found most of my favorite authors through their short stories and novellas, and with my free time steadily decreasing it seems like the thing to do. The Science Fiction Hall of Fame anthologies are very very hard to beat if you want Golden Age SF.
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Apr 30, 2015 04:28
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occamsnailfile posted:Gardner Dozois's Year's Best Science Fiction This. There are heaps of them available on Amazon, maybe 20? Some very good stories have been included.
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Apr 30, 2015 05:07
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Somewhat shameless plug, but also a recommendation for a seriously good series. http://www.amazon.com.au/Convergence-David-M-Henley-ebook/dp/B00QPJNN22/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1430375037&sr=8-1&keywords=convergence  I'll be honest, the first book didn't completely rock my jocks (mostly the cover/title) because it was a little slow. However, the second book kicks it up a notch, and David is an extremely competent writer as he weaves his storylines together beautifully. I haven't read Convergence yet, but the first two are very well tied together, with great cliffhangers. Now that you can read each book straight after the other I recommend picking them up. The first book is a bargain at the moment. The homages are awesome and it is heavily inspired by anime (Ghost in the Shell, Akira, etc). This book has everything you could possibly want. Lastly, if you care about SF publishing in Oz I urge you to buy this book and get all your mates to as well.
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Apr 30, 2015 07:31
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With all the Alastair Reynolds talk earlier, what series/books would you recommend if I've never read anything by him before?
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Apr 30, 2015 10:21
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Sjonkel posted:With all the Alastair Reynolds talk earlier, what series/books would you recommend if I've never read anything by him before? I've read nearly everything by Reynolds, and he's one of my very favourite authors. I can't recommend him enough. Here's my thoughts: His magnum opus is the Revelation Space series, which is dark, grimy, gothic, scary space opera set several hundred years from now in a malevolent universe which feels like Mass Effect crossed with Alien/Prometheus. • The trilogy (all very good, don't listen to the book 3 haters  ) = Revelation Space, Redemption Ark, Absolution Gap - caveat: you kinda do need to read the story "Galactic North" after the third one to make sense of the ending, though. It's in the collection of the same name.• Standalone prequels = The Prefect (very standalone), Chasm City (links in much more to the trilogy) • Collections = Galactic North (8 short stories), Diamond Dogs & Turquoise Days (2 novellas) Of all of those the easy recommendation for starting is Revelation Space (IE: Reynolds' first and most popular novel), although Chasm City would work too (but I didn't like it as much). Then there's the Poseidon's Children trilogy, beginning with Blue Remembered Earth. It's optimistic, near future, mostly solar-system-bound stuff. Kind of a treasure hunt through the solar system. Starts good, gets better in the sequels On the Steel Breeze and the brand new Poseidon's Wake. Of the standalone stuff there's really only one choice for starting out: House of Suns is one of his most lauded books, it's exceptionally good and gives you a real taste of the sensawunda stuff that Reynolds sparkles at. It's also quite optimistic in tone... but it keeps a few grisly touches. (NB: you might read that this book is a sequel to a novella called "Thousandth Night". It's not, it's actually kind of a reboot of that novella. Same characters & setting, entirely different story. The novella is no longer canon for the novel, so to speak, and you definitely don't need to read the novella first.) Some of the other stuff is good too. Terminal World is steampunk, not an amazing book, but it's notable for a certain secret about the world it's set in, that's never spelled out in the book, but if you figure it out you'll feel incredibly smart. His non-Revelation Space collections are also worth seeking out. The winner of the two by far is Zima Blue which has some mindboggling hard-SF short stories and novellas. Edit: Just saw you posted earlier in the thread that you loved Hyperion. Well, you're gonna love Revelation Space. Start there! Hedrigall fucked around with this message at 10:42 on Apr 30, 2015 |
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Apr 30, 2015 10:32
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House of Suns is still considered his best novel and it's entirely standalone. If you only ever read one Reynolds, it should be House of Suns. You don't need to read the other Revelation Space novels to enjoy one of them, though. My favourite of those is The Prefect; I've also heard people praise Chasm City but I haven't read it yet myself. So I'd recommend House of Suns, or if you want to get into Revelation Space, The Prefect. Even The Prefect is only marginally related to the rest of Revelation Space because it's chronologically so much earlier than the others.
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Apr 30, 2015 10:34
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I've also read pretty much everything by him and agree with Hedrigall all around. He's probably my favourite SF author and you should definitely read something of his. I'd say start with Revelation Space itself. House of Suns is really good but The RS series shows you the best gritty, hard sci fi stuff Reynolds can offer. If you like the first book you're pretty much guaranteed to like the rest of his stuff and have another 4 books to get into the same universe, (as well as a few short stories). Chasm City is my favourite book by him but I wouldn't read that before the RS trilogy. The only book I haven't read of his is Century Rain. For anyone who's read it, is it any good?
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Apr 30, 2015 10:52
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Yeah, start with Revelation Space (the book). It's just got a bit of everything Reynolds is known for. If you enjoy it, plough ahead with everything else. If you don't enjoy it, still read House of Suns. Fell asleep reading Elmore Leonard last night, so didn't start Poisedon's Wake 
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Apr 30, 2015 11:20
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I still haven't started Poseidon's Wake either, because Orion Books' distributor in Australia was too lazy (or just forgot) to deliver the books to any bookstores despite the release date being on Tuesday. Hoping for tomorrow now Maybe I'll go read the Kindle sample or something to tide me over.
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Apr 30, 2015 11:32
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Thanks for a very thorough answer, much appreciated! I have around 900 pages left of The Terror by Dan Simmons, so it'll be a little while until I can pick up Revelation Space, but I'll bump it up to the top of my list of what to read next.
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Apr 30, 2015 11:38
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mirthdefect posted:Is that by the same M Carey who wrote the Lucifer comics and the Felix Castor novels? I tried to work it out when that book was announced but didn't find a definitive answer. You didn't get a full answer to this, so: yes, it is. He's also written a couple of novels in collaboration with his wife and daughter that are worth reading.
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Apr 30, 2015 15:23
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I actually just picked up Blue Remembered Earth yesterday and am excited to read it  . Figure with Poseidon's Wake coming out I might as well roll through that trilogy now.
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Apr 30, 2015 15:40
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Just finished the third Two of Swords installment, the monthly wait is going to be agonizing.
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Apr 30, 2015 16:17
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Reynolds people keep leaving out Century Rain which is quite possibly his most accessible work, an alternate-Earth story with a twist. But yeah, Revelation Space (series) is the thing by him to read. edit: So I can't read, someone asked about it. Yeah, it's good. Not exactly Revelation Space quality but it works on a much smaller scope and fairly well if you suspend your disbelief just a tiny bit.
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Apr 30, 2015 18:19
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I liked Century Rain very much, it somehow clicked for me. It does have a lot of problems, but it's an early novel so one can expect mistakes. But if you want to start reading his books, either House of Suns or Revelation Space (first novel). House of Suns is more polished and on a larger scale, Revelation space goes for the space horror angle p hard.
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Apr 30, 2015 19:22
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I have posted this many times, and I'd rather just retype the list than trying to find my original post, but to me the Reynolds "don't bother even reading it" list is: Century Rain - Really lazy poo poo. Boring world building and physics ideas grafted onto a dull as poo poo alternate history plot. Terminal World - The worst. Some of the worldbuilding was cool, but that's it, because the plot is awful. Everything about this felt like an excuse to have steampunk airships. Troika - Some good atmosphere but dull and goes-nowhere plot. QUESTIONABLE: Pushing Ice - This story was actually quite successful outside of SF circles--I think--but I felt the whole world just felt completely like cardboard. Reynolds tried to focus on his weaknesses and make a very character-based conflict, but it really showed why this is a weakness of his rather than being successful at improving it. Everything else he's usually good at suffered in the process. The whole new trilogy he's doing - I personally didn't care for it and never went past book one. It's better than the "don't bother reading" stuff, but much weaker than his good books.
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Apr 30, 2015 19:31
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