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gohmak posted:I really should have reread three-body. The concept is only introduced in Dark Forest, don't worry.
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Aug 13, 2015 20:53
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Junkenstein posted:The concept is only introduced in Dark Forest, don't worry. Anyway, I'd recommend to stop reading The Dark Forest and going for Three Body Problem first. As the book advances, there is quite a lot of issues that need backhistory to be able to put into context. And TBP is a drat good read too!
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Aug 13, 2015 21:10
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Amberskin posted:Anyway, I'd recommend to stop reading The Dark Forest and going for Three Body Problem first. As the book advances, there is quite a lot of issues that need backhistory to be able to put into context. And TBP is a drat good read too! He said 'reread' =) since it's a sequel yeah, you should always read the first one first.
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Aug 13, 2015 22:44
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I've just finished the first part of Shift in The Silo Series (Originally titled, First Shift - Legacy, I think?) and had a question I'm not really sure of- Earlier in the book, they mention that Senator Thurman had the nickname "Thawman," and at the very end of the first part when Donald/Troy is being re-awakened to deal with Silo 18, he's identifying the "thaw man." Is that Thurman? Is that what you're supposed to assume there as the reader? Or is Donald/Troy just super confused from the thawing process and seeing things? I haven't started reading the second part of Shift yet, so, if this is immediately apparent and I should just keep reading to avoid spoilers... I guess don't answer and let me know.  Amazing series so far, absolutely loving it.
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Aug 13, 2015 23:03
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io_burn posted:I've just finished the first part of Shift in The Silo Series (Originally titled, First Shift - Legacy, I think?) and had a question I'm not really sure of-
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Aug 13, 2015 23:11
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I really enjoyed the whole Wool series. The end of the very first story is pretty bonkers.
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Aug 14, 2015 00:30
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orange sky posted:He said 'reread' =) since it's a sequel yeah, you should always read the first one first. Well, I feel now like an idiot. I am now thru the middle of the book. So far, quite good, but a little bit irregular for my taste. It is not exactly a fast paced action book, granted, but there are entire chapters that add little to the history and feel long and wordy. I'm thinking specifically about all the mountain & lake stuff. Of course, I could be plainly wrong and that could be an important plot element later.
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Aug 14, 2015 09:19
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Anyone read the new Dark Eden book? Ornamented Death? I thought the first was overall solid with some rather glaring flaws in character voices.
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Aug 14, 2015 10:18
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I've just finished reading Neuromancer as per the recommendations in this thread. My final opinion is a bit mitigated. For a book written in the 80's, it sure was visionary - abstract AI (unlike the robots that had been done to death since the 50's), inter-networking, pretty dystopnian (but not as much as I expected) and augments. But I wasn't fond of William Gibson's style - apparently not using pronouns was a thing in the 80's? There are also a few things that I didn't understand: - Why is Molly jumping on Case's dick as soon as they meet? - How was Armitage "constructed" from Corto? - What leverage did Wintermute have on Riviera to make him cooperate? - Actually, what was Riviera's use? Just to get close to 3Jane using his hosed up hologram show? Loved the Rastas in space, though, listening to "righteous dub." Maybe I missed the points above because I was in a very similar condition than them when I read the book.
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Aug 14, 2015 10:24
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Neurosis posted:Anyone read the new Dark Eden book? Ornamented Death? I thought the first was overall solid with some rather glaring flaws in character voices. I haven't yet, but it's on my list. I'll post about it once I do.
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Aug 14, 2015 12:26
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Velius posted:This makes me very sad. Admittedly, the way Fire is setup makes a sequel to Deepness impossible, or at least hard to justify, but Vinge is so good that the mediocrity of Children is just depressing. He writes one every five years or so, so a stinker makes the wait pretty long. Maybe "rubbish" was too harsh. I excitedly re-read Fire in anticipation of Children and the writing in Children felt really off by comparison. The plot beats were fine, it was the way the characters were written. It was like they were written way younger than their actual age? I get that most of the human population are children from a sleeper ship raised mostly without adults but even the head lady (can't recall the name) felt like she was written as a preteen. Same goes for the tines as well. It was neat to see how the story progressed, and the book definitely did some cool things to further the concept of the tines but I think everyone wanted more Zones of Thought and outside of a brief scene, that stuff was pushed to the background. What the book sets up for the next book does make me excited for where the story will go next. I just hope the wait isn't as long.
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Aug 14, 2015 16:03
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Furism posted:I've just finished reading Neuromancer as per the recommendations in this thread. My final opinion is a bit mitigated. For a book written in the 80's, it sure was visionary - abstract AI (unlike the robots that had been done to death since the 50's), inter-networking, pretty dystopnian (but not as much as I expected) and augments. But I wasn't fond of William Gibson's style - apparently not using pronouns was a thing in the 80's? There are also a few things that I didn't understand: I also found Gibson's style hard to parse, both from a content perspective as well as the actual plotting of the story. After finishing the book I had to pull up a synopsis just to make sure I understood everything that happened and follow any threads I missed. Yet despite these difficulties, I found myself thinking about it a lot in the week or so after I finished and ultimately came to the decision that I enjoyed it quite a bit, to the point where I'll definitely be reading it again in the future. It's pretty weird to stumble your way through a book only to come out on the other side thinking it was a great read, and I think Neuromancer might be the only book where that happened for me.
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Aug 14, 2015 16:12
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Cpt. Mahatma Gandhi posted:the actual plotting of the story. Yeah, that too. I liked the beginning when they do a few 'runs', but by the time they get to space I felt like the book lost its pace.
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Aug 14, 2015 17:44
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Furism posted:I've just finished reading Neuromancer as per the recommendations in this thread. My final opinion is a bit mitigated. For a book written in the 80's, it sure was visionary - abstract AI (unlike the robots that had been done to death since the 50's), inter-networking, pretty dystopnian (but not as much as I expected) and augments. But I wasn't fond of William Gibson's style - apparently not using pronouns was a thing in the 80's? There are also a few things that I didn't understand: -Because she likes sex? Plus, she's still mourning Johnny (as in Johnny Mnemonic) so there's that whole "grief-sex" to feel something emotionally. -Armitage was an amalgam personality created by Wintermute while Corto was still convalescing from Screaming Fist. He basically kept the core and suppressed all the superfluous traits (like morality and ethics) and memories irrelevant to Wintermute's agenda. -Not sure I don't recall any leverage, I thought they just straight up paid him off. -Wintermute knew 3Jane would interested in him since he was novel becoming the inside-man for the team. From a narrative standpoint, he was necessary to add tension during the climax through his betrayal. The reveal from Molly that his stash was poisoned and would die felt like weak-sauce deus ex machina to me. But that's a minor quibble. I remember reading this as a 1st ed. paperback in the 80s. I agree with an earlier sentiment of "this book seems a bit of a mess" and finishing it feeling I had read something great and classic. I've read this book multiple times. Also recommend sequels Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive and the related Burning Chrome (short stories) Proteus Jones fucked around with this message at 18:36 on Aug 14, 2015 |
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Aug 14, 2015 18:31
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I started Peter Newman's The Vagrant and I'm really liking this book so far. It has a Dying Earth type vibe and setting, with some really cool, weird and creepy poo poo going on. It's also pretty well written, has a lyrical quality that reminds me of some old school sword & sorcery, and I love the protagonist combo of a mute, a baby, and a goat.
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Aug 14, 2015 18:56
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Just started reading Shadows of the Apt by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Heard mixed things about it, but so far I'm really enjoying it.
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Aug 14, 2015 19:59
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Lprsti99 posted:Just started reading Shadows of the Apt by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Heard mixed things about it, but so far I'm really enjoying it. That series was way too long. Should've cut out a lot of stuff and finished it in 4 or 5 books. But I liked the setting and the various kinden. And the writing wasn't bad, IMO.
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Aug 14, 2015 22:29
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savinhill posted:I started Peter Newman's The Vagrant and I'm really liking this book so far. It has a Dying Earth type vibe and setting, with some really cool, weird and creepy poo poo going on. It's also pretty well written, has a lyrical quality that reminds me of some old school sword & sorcery, and I love the protagonist combo of a mute, a baby, and a goat. I'm going to trust you on this and add it to my Kindle Wishlist. The reviews on Amazon are insane (and this isn't the only book I've seen it on). Everyone poo poo one-stars on it for the price and no mention of the content. I loving hate that.
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Aug 14, 2015 23:14
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Barbe Rouge posted:That series was way too long. Should've cut out a lot of stuff and finished it in 4 or 5 books. I dunno, I read really quickly, so a series being long is more often than not a good thing in my experience (though of course, it depends on if the length is put to good use.)
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Aug 14, 2015 23:15
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flosofl posted:I'm going to trust you on this and add it to my Kindle Wishlist. It's a good book, gently caress those people.
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Aug 14, 2015 23:49
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Lprsti99 posted:I dunno, I read really quickly, so a series being long is more often than not a good thing in my experience (though of course, it depends on if the length is put to good use.) I really enjoyed the series. It's good to see someone else get into it. I haven't finished the series, but I've read like 8 books of it.
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Aug 15, 2015 04:15
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Hey I read some books that I frequently see mentioned here. Dune: the granddaddy of space operas. Took a little bit to get going. And then just went really fast. It was good. Not great. Glad I read it, but I have absolutely no interest in any of the other books. The Quantum Thief: a thread favorite for no discernable reason. Not a bad book, but certainly not good. Just a bit boring. Characters and story felt a flat. Would not recommend unless if you really want steampunk or something. The Library at Mount Char: crazy and a lot of fun. Wish I could read it again for the first time. Highly recommend if you're looking for easy to read crazytown urban fantasy. Go in blind. The Windup Girl: hunh. ... Uh, I don't know if I liked it, really, but I'll probably end up picking up the author's newest book (The Water Knife) because he certainly has a way of hooking you. Thought about it, and definitely will pick that up. The author obviously has talent and has something(s) to say in an interesting way.
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Aug 15, 2015 04:47
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Green Crayons posted:The Quantum Thief: a thread favorite for no discernable reason. Not a bad book, but certainly not good. Just a bit boring. Characters and story felt a flat. Would not recommend unless if you really want steampunk or something. what
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Aug 15, 2015 06:09
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Neurosis posted:what agreed
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Aug 15, 2015 07:04
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I actually feel the same way about The Quantum Thief. I was really excited when it finally came in due to the hype here. Then I read it. Then I waited a few days and read it again. I think it's very dull, and definitely nothing mind blowing.
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Aug 15, 2015 07:15
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...Steampunk?
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Aug 15, 2015 08:07
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Well there was the Quiet or whatever where everyone's consciousness was sent into a machine for a period of time. And how the main city was described in broad terms. I dunno. It was one of the more interesting ideas that stuck with me, and I thought steampunk. I may have only a passing (mis)understanding of what falls within the boundaries of the term.
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Aug 15, 2015 11:11
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I can sort of see how you might think of the Oubliette as having a certain Victorian aesthetic to it.
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Aug 15, 2015 16:12
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Well, I've finished The Dark Forest. If you have not finished it, DO NOT mouse-over the spoiler-marked text. You have been warned. First of all, the book is a good read. If you have read The Three Body Problem, its logically a must-read. If not, please go and read TBP because it is very good. Now, I don't like the pace of the narration. It is irregular, and not in the sense of "rythm changes", which are fine, but in the sense of each 30-40 pages you go into some pages of side stories, dense and quite boring. Of course this is just an opinion. Perhaps in TBP those parts where easier to digest because of it being quite new and "different". In TPB were more references to Chinese history which I found very interesting, but those are absent in TDF. And there is no human-powered CPU in the book. My main complaint is about the ending. It takes several hundred pages to build a very bleak situation for humankind, to the point Humanity basically accepts it is doomed, but then the hero fixes it in three pages. Not exactly a Deus Ex Machina, but really close. And the bad guys accept the situation and go from horrible monsters who are going to kill everybody to reasonable guys who offer help to humanity to progress. Next year we will see the third (last?) volume of the trilogy. I'll probably read it too, even the ending of TDF leaves little space to develop the history... Perhaps the aliens who destroy the "spellbound" planet in TDF will be the new bad guys?
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Aug 15, 2015 16:22
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Green Crayons posted:The Quantum Thief: a thread favorite for no discernable reason. Not a bad book, but certainly not good. Just a bit boring. Characters and story felt a flat. Would not recommend unless if you really want steampunk or something. Yeah I don't get this either. It's a thread favorite for a few very discernible reasons: the technology is very fresh and creative Gogols, the All-Defector, Archons, The Dilemma Prison, and that's just in the first chapter., the storytelling is beautiful, the characters are very well written (even the spaceship has a very distinct personality with her own quirks). For an added bonus, the audiobook narrated by Scott Brick is amazing. I think you'd have to try very hard to find any similarities to steampunk, other than the slight Victorian setting of the Oubliette as Antti mentioned. The only thing I kind of rolled my eyes at was the whole otaku-guild (zoku) stuff Anyways, the real reason I came here was to post about this: Official JRRT Facebook page posted:We are ready to announce the world first publication of a previously unknown work of fantasy by J.R.R. Tolkien, which tells the powerful story of a doomed young man who is sold into slavery and who swears revenge on the magician who killed his father. The Story of Kullervo is the first piece of prose fiction that J.R.R. Tolkien wrote and is released on the 27th August.  More info here http://www.tolkien.co.uk/product/9780008131364/The+Story+of+Kullervo+
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Aug 15, 2015 17:28
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Amberskin posted:Well, I've finished The Dark Forest. If you have not finished it, DO NOT mouse-over the spoiler-marked text. You have been warned. Yeah, it seemed like there were some big "fridge problems" in this one. Still very good but -- 1) Why didn't they tell him right off he was an assassination target of the ETO? 2) Why did the Trisolarans launch an attack at all if they thought humanity knew of the massive prisoner's dilemma problem? Where they just expecting humanity to fall for the bluff?
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Aug 15, 2015 18:03
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Fiendish Dr. Wu posted:I think you'd have to try very hard to find any similarities to steampunk, other than the slight Victorian setting of the Oubliette The oubliette is paris, not Victorian at all
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Aug 15, 2015 18:41
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The third book in the Three-Body Problem series comes out in December, I believe.
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Aug 15, 2015 18:44
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andrew smash posted:The oubliette is paris, not Victorian at all Good point. So then there are exactly 0 similarities.
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Aug 15, 2015 19:48
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When thinking about fin de siecle I said "Victorian" without thinking, but who said steampunk can't be set in 1890s Paris instead of London? That's I think what the original idea came from. I still think it's tenuous at best myself.
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Aug 15, 2015 19:56
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Antti posted:When thinking about fin de siecle I said "Victorian" without thinking, but who said steampunk can't be set in 1890s Paris instead of London? That's I think what the original idea came from. I still think it's tenuous at best myself. No one said it can't but it generally isn't.
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Aug 15, 2015 20:09
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Fiendish Dr. Wu posted:The Story of Kullervo is the first piece of prose fiction that J.R.R. Tolkien wrote Gonna go ahead and guess there's a reason it hasn't been published before.
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Aug 15, 2015 22:04
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Peel posted:Gonna go ahead and guess there's a reason it hasn't been published before. It's too good for this world?
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Aug 15, 2015 23:24
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You all should be reading Dead Mountaineer's Hotel, ok? It is real good
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Aug 15, 2015 23:49
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corn in the bible posted:You all should be reading Dead Mountaineer's Hotel, ok? It is real good Amazon(US) has it as "Dead Mountaineer's Inn". Probably just a translation thing since they both mean the same thing more or less. Regardless, it looks interesting and I've added it to my Kindle Wish List (which keeps growing faster than I can plow through the current set I've purchased)
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Aug 16, 2015 00:38
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