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so how about those new space books out huh
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Nov 1, 2015 16:34
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ed balls balls man posted:so how about those new space books out huh How old's the space ship? 
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Nov 1, 2015 17:13
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ed balls balls man posted:so how about those new space books out huh I'll actually jump on this: I need space navy stuff to read. I've already churned through the entire Baen catalog (Honor Harrington, Legacy of the Aldenata, Lt. Leary, all that), Mike Resnick's Starship series, the Starfire books, just finished Joel Shepherd's Kresnov books and Renegade the other day... I need suggestions where to go next.
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Nov 1, 2015 17:19
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Darth Walrus posted:On the other hand, harem of fourteen-year-olds. I feel that this doesn't get brought up often enough as a caveat for CTE. It's also rapey in other ways and there's the whole "getting salty towards middle east immigrants" thing.
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Nov 1, 2015 17:24
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RndmCnflct posted:Pedophilia is banging kids under 11 and there was nothing even remotely close to that happening. Character flaws need to be recognised as bad and something to develop out of/get screwed over by in the story for the criticism to have any bite. CTE really, really doesn't do that - the harem of sexy fourteen-year-olds is just a pleasantly forbidden reward for our Mary Sue hero to indulge in. And yeah, let's not get into nitpicking about paedophilia, hebephilia, and so on. It inevitably goes to bad, bad places.
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Nov 1, 2015 17:27
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I've almost finished The Library at Mount Char and I've been really enjoying it.
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Nov 1, 2015 17:31
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WarLocke posted:I'll actually jump on this: I need space navy stuff to read. I've already churned through the entire Baen catalog (Honor Harrington, Legacy of the Aldenata, Lt. Leary, all that), Mike Resnick's Starship series, the Starfire books, just finished Joel Shepherd's Kresnov books and Renegade the other day... I need suggestions where to go next. The Paradox series by Rachel Bach is pretty drat fun. I'm on the second book (of three) and really enjoyed the first one. Parts of it bring to mind some aspects of Warhammer space marines. https://www.goodreads.com/series/112130-paradox
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Nov 1, 2015 17:48
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WarLocke posted:I'll actually jump on this: I need space navy stuff to read. I've already churned through the entire Baen catalog (Honor Harrington, Legacy of the Aldenata, Lt. Leary, all that), Mike Resnick's Starship series, the Starfire books, just finished Joel Shepherd's Kresnov books and Renegade the other day... I need suggestions where to go next.
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Nov 1, 2015 17:52
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muscles like this? posted:I've almost finished The Library at Mount Char and I've been really enjoying it. I just finished it and it left a bad taste in my mouth. It wasn't particularly well written, some of the characters were bland (see my previous comment about Erwin), the pacing was weird (the climax happens at about the 65% mark), and half the book was overlong mundane digressions: the bar scene/burglary, the meeting in the president's office, Steve's foray into Garrison Hills with all the dogs then the interminable escape into town to get Naga to a vet, among others. The author also cheapened death to such an extent that toward the end (when Steve starts killing himself) it ceased to have any narrative impact at all. I guess it was partly a case of mistaken expectations. After the first few chapters of being introduced to these people with god-like powers and hints of a potentially interesting mythos, that whole side of things isn't explored much at all until the last quarter of the book. Ben Nerevarine fucked around with this message at 18:29 on Nov 1, 2015 |
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Nov 1, 2015 18:13
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Speaking of disappointment, I just finished No Return. Thing should've been called No Payoff: the only thing that happens is that a)one of the main characters gets killed off, b)two of the main characters get together. The problem is I just couldn't be arsed to care about any of the characters. Now, the underlying mysteries of the setting and the whole "God is an astronaut from a colony ship" deal - I'm spoilering that to be safe but you'll probably infer this from the loving prologue - remain not only vague but decidedly underdeveloped. Admittedly the whole thing ends on a sequel hook but after how little happened in the first one I'm honestly not sure I'd bother reading that. The blurb on the cover that compares is to Wolfe is so far off the mark it's not even funny. Like, okay, there's a lot of aimless wondering and unexplained bits but the language isn't anywhere near - and I honestly doubt a reread would reveal anything interesting. edit: Also, Jernigan is oddly fond of pointing it out whenever his characters get sexually aroused. Which happens about every ten pages. I'm talking of stuff like "seeing the other guy wield such power gave him a throbbing erection"; go figure. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 18:27 on Nov 1, 2015 |
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Nov 1, 2015 18:22
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Darth Walrus posted:Character flaws need to be recognised as bad and something to develop out of/get screwed over by in the story for the criticism to have any bite. CTE really, really doesn't do that - the harem of sexy fourteen-year-olds is just a pleasantly forbidden reward for our Mary Sue hero to indulge in. I just finished the third book and found it incredibly entertaining. On to the fourth.
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Nov 1, 2015 18:29
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Shab posted:I just finished it and it left a bad taste in my mouth. I pretty much agree with all of this. I didn't think this was a good book at all.
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Nov 1, 2015 19:51
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Drifter posted:The Paradox series by Rachel Bach is pretty drat fun. I'm on the second book (of three) and really enjoyed the first one. Parts of it bring to mind some aspects of Warhammer space marines. Those actually put me off on reading the first book.
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Nov 1, 2015 21:00
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Mars4523 posted:Looking at the reviews there's a romantic subplot that sounds pretty terrible and receives too much of a focus. The romantic subplot is very minor and pretty goddamn basic and not a point of contention, and fine for what it is. I am with you in that I find most 'genre' romance to be pretty lovely. If you're saying it grows and unrealistically develops and gets worse in the next books...well  Drifter fucked around with this message at 21:15 on Nov 1, 2015 |
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Nov 1, 2015 21:13
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So anyway can we go back to when I was being accused of saying that all sf/f authors are unable to write characters who ever experience emotions except anger 24/7 in all cases? Yeah. those were the good old days before Piers Anthony's parachute account came in here
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Nov 1, 2015 22:12
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Drifter posted:The Paradox series by Rachel Bach is pretty drat fun. I'm on the second book (of three) and really enjoyed the first one. Parts of it bring to mind some aspects of Warhammer space marines. I bought Fortune's Pawn on a Kindle daily deal for $2 and felt ripped off, it was so bad. Lesson learned: look inside before buying because this one was bad from page one with its post-coietal "As you know, Bob," dialogue. Everything is cliche and uninspired, from the super generic SF concepts right down to the phrasing. I thought I'd give the "female space marine" concept a shot because it sounded refreshing, but it's still the same braindead testosterone-fueled bullshit I've read/seen countless times before, just with lady bits fused on. I wanted so much more from a woman writer writing military fic from a female POV. I don't know what I was expecting, but it sure as hell wasn't as trite as this garbage. The main character is completely unlikeable from the start. It's like the author took the Top-Gun Douchebag (as in, the antagonist from Top Gun) and thought making that kind of character female would be totally badass and cool. Not so much—she's just another total dickhead, but with tits. I have to admit, I didn't get much further than chapter two before the horrible writing went from being funny to "gently caress this." I got past the point where she goes, "A maaaaaayn!" at the hunky cook dude, thinking maybe I could deal with a bit of space romance, cheesy as it looked starting out (but not if she continues to be such a shallow douchebag). I stopped at the point where she beat up the roid-ragin dude in the power suit to show him up because gyrrrrrl power. That scene was just… gently caress it I'm out. Stuporstar fucked around with this message at 23:16 on Nov 1, 2015 |
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Nov 1, 2015 23:13
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Stuporstar posted:I bought Fortune's Pawn on a Kindle daily deal for $2 and felt ripped off, it was so bad. Lesson learned: look inside before buying because this one was bad from page one with its post-coietal "As you know, Bob," dialogue. Well, I won't go too far in defending the book, but wow, that's not what I got from it at all. Not even from the first two chapters. I'll grant some well known tropes were in use, but  I can't really find a common ground with what you're saying.
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Nov 1, 2015 23:20
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Drifter posted:Well, I won't go too far in defending the book, but wow, that's not what I got from it at all. Not even from the first two chapters. I'll grant some well known tropes were in use, but Maybe you're just not as sick of this poo poo as I am, which is fair.
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Nov 1, 2015 23:39
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Grimson posted:Carol Berg is great, I love all her stuff (I especially love Bridge of d'Arnath but I am apparently in the minority) however, she definitely has one story she tells in very different ways: Powerful sorcerer learns that the foundations of his beliefs about the world and magic are untrue; Consequences. I think what I really enjoy about Berg is that her characters are varied and interesting and more complex than average. Yeah, I think what turned me off about Bridge and Rai-Kirah is that I tried to read both immediately after Lighthouse and Beast, which made it really obvious that it was the same basic story -- and I didn't think either of those were as good, which is not a good combination with also being longer. Definitely going to check out Collegia Magicka, though.
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Nov 1, 2015 23:40
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Crab Destroyer posted:That saying someone "grows up" is actually an incredibly vague way to describe character development? It works in most cases, but when a character has as many flaws as Quentin it's hard to believe the author intends to fix all of them. Quentin could find a way to contribute to society instead of being a privileged freeloader without dealing with any of his emotional or social issues and that would still be "growing up". I dunno. A lot of people hate Quentin but I found him to have enough of a sense of humour never to be insufferable despite clearly being a broken person. Ditto for the rest of the characters in the series. I find a lot of criticism levelled at the series (and I don't necessarily mean you, you seem smarter than this) comes from people who demand "likeable" protagonists, which I've never really understood. "Likeable" protagonists, especially in SFF, too often tend towards Mary Sues. Give me flawed, hosed up, damaged people any day of the week. I also think readers who demand "likeable" characters (again, not talking about you) are sort of in denial about their own character flaws and negative attributes. We all like to think we'd be Harry Potter, but we're probably more likely to be Peter Pettigrew. I'm not saying I was an emotional manbaby like Quentin was, but at the time in my life when I read The Magicians - when I was about 22 and had left university and was settling down in a new city - something about Quentin's urge to craft some sort of narrative meaning from his life, and his increasing horror at the fact that his life wouldn't go that way, definitely struck a chord with me. Anyway, SPACE CHAT! I've nearly finished reading Galactic North by Alastair Reynolds which I picked up from the library on a whim, and I've really enjoyed it. I read Revelation Space a couple of years ago, which I thought had a cool universe but came undone through his lovely dialogue, empty characters and poor pacing. Galactic North is a collection of short stories set in the same universe and I think he may be a better short story than novel writer - he just shows a lot more restraint, and I don't mind his limited writing ability (par for the course in sci-fi I guess) when he's just using it in service of a short, creepy mystery, rather than a drawn-out 400 page mystery. But yeah, I really like the universe: not a big bustling space opera full of thousands of planets and alien species, but rather a cold and frightening place littered with the lonely ruins of long-extinct species, in which humanity has only settled a few other hostile worlds - often with a post-apocalyptic vibe, like the city where some kind of nanotech plague has wreaked havoc and made the very buildings start to melt. It's one of those few pieces of fiction which captures the sense of horror and dread inherent in space exploration (a lot like the first Alien film, I think).
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Nov 2, 2015 03:06
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I totally have to agree with the goons talking about Luna: New Moon, easily my favourite Sci-Fi book of the year. Comparing it to Neal Stephenson's Seveneves, where 'that bit' left a bad taste in my mouth. Or KSR's Aurora which was about on par with Seveneves, but with an austere dullness (in comparison to the moon blowing up -- maybe that was the point though?). It was still fascinating and KSR's perspective about extra-solar colonisation was something I hadn't really considered before, so I'm definitely glad I read it...but... With Luna: New Moon, I hope he writes a sequel (given how clearly the set up for one was crafted -- i.e. that cliff hanger!). I read the book with adrenaline pulsing through my veins to get through it all in about 2 nights. I found it hard to get to sleep if I felt I could continue reading. Which I haven't experienced for a long time. It was definitely pretty great to read a more character driven book. Which was especially well executed character driven plot with a rich world. Everything going on in the book just seemed so plausible to me (or if not - pretty awesome anyway), even down to the rich Australian mining family (some kind of freak amalgamation of BHP/Gina Rinehart and Rio Tinto  ) dominating mineral extraction on the Moon. As well as the incredibly hedonistic and superficial society emerging from the isolation of Earth in the throws of environmental challenges. It's probably a real cliche` to classify a book as 'Game Of Thrones in X', but I'd say that it is accurate to call it Game Of Thrones on the Moon. It's a shame I haven't been able to get into Ian McDonalds other stuff yet, it just doesn't have the same level of appeal to me as nearish-future science fiction in space. Give me space or give me death I say!
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Nov 2, 2015 04:03
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chrisoya posted:Passage at Arms, by Glen Cook. It's heartwarming fluff about brave heroes fighting the good fight in their glorious starship. You little bastard.
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Nov 2, 2015 05:19
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freebooter posted:Anyway, SPACE CHAT! I've nearly finished reading Galactic North by Alastair Reynolds which I picked up from the library on a whim, and I've really enjoyed it. I read Revelation Space a couple of years ago, which I thought had a cool universe but came undone through his lovely dialogue, empty characters and poor pacing. Galactic North is a collection of short stories set in the same universe and I think he may be a better short story than novel writer - he just shows a lot more restraint, and I don't mind his limited writing ability (par for the course in sci-fi I guess) when he's just using it in service of a short, creepy mystery, rather than a drawn-out 400 page mystery. Strange, because I would say the exact opposite is true. I'm a huge Reynolds fan but other than "Diamond Dogs" and Zima Blue", I haven't really cared much for his short stories. Neurosis posted:Of the three books in the Zones of Thought universe, only one is subpar, and it's mostly a setup book so I can excuse it. A Deepness in the Sky is as good if not better than A Fire Upon the Deep. Its big ideas aren't as cool and imaginative as A Fire Upon the Deep, but it is MUCH better written. That's good to hear. I'm about 150 pages into "A Fire Upon The Deep" and I'm absolutely loving it.
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Nov 2, 2015 08:36
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Ahh Yes posted:With Luna: New Moon, I hope he writes a sequel (given how clearly the set up for one was crafted -- i.e. that cliff hanger!). Always intended as a duology, I believe., so don't worry.
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Nov 2, 2015 11:54
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I'm starting the Vorkosigan Saga tonight, with the omnibus Cordelia's Honour. I keep hearing how amazing this series is.
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Nov 2, 2015 15:20
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Hedrigall posted:I'm starting the Vorkosigan Saga tonight, with the omnibus Cordelia's Honour. I keep hearing how amazing this series is.
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Nov 2, 2015 15:29
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Hedrigall posted:I'm starting the Vorkosigan Saga tonight, with the omnibus Cordelia's Honour. I keep hearing how amazing this series is. Be advised: The first half of that omnibus does have a bit of "first novel" syndrome. Also allegedly the early drafts started out as Star Trek fanfic. The second half was written a few years later and shows a more practiced author.
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Nov 2, 2015 15:49
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Oh, cool. Book 3 of Seven Forges is coming out in a couple of days. City of Wonders is the title. Amazon has it on sale at the moment for a bit cheaper than the usual kindle prices. Stupid_Sexy_Flander fucked around with this message at 17:25 on Nov 2, 2015 |
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Nov 2, 2015 16:20
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:Oh, cool. Book 3 of Seven Forges is coming out in a couple of days. I'm seeing it as City of Wonders.
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Nov 2, 2015 16:28
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WarLocke posted:I'll actually jump on this: I need space navy stuff to read. I've already churned through the entire Baen catalog (Honor Harrington, Legacy of the Aldenata, Lt. Leary, all that), Mike Resnick's Starship series, the Starfire books, just finished Joel Shepherd's Kresnov books and Renegade the other day... I need suggestions where to go next. I kind of liked the lost fleet series by jack campbell. Regular joe doing his dutygets stuck in an escape pod and awakens 100 years in the future. He then has to lead the alliance fleet home after it gets trapped in enemy space. It feels like a regular space novel to me nothing exotic really lept out at me except it using very realistic propulsion, weapons, sensors and time relativity distortion. And for CTE series I actually never really thought about the relationships he had, just "oh he bangs some commoner peasents while building an empire to defeat the mongols. "
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Nov 2, 2015 16:39
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flosofl posted:I'm seeing it as City of Wonders. Yea, edited the post. I had a few tabs open and mashed up 2 different books I was looking at.
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Nov 2, 2015 17:26
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Groke posted:Be advised: The first half of that omnibus does have a bit of "first novel" syndrome. Also allegedly the early drafts started out as Star Trek fanfic. The second half was written a few years later and shows a more practiced author.
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Nov 2, 2015 18:53
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Chillyrabbit posted:I kind of liked the lost fleet series by jack campbell. Regular joe doing his duty gets stuck in an escape pod and awakens 100 years in the future. He then has to lead the alliance fleet home after it gets trapped in enemy space. But what can you tell me about battlecruisers
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Nov 2, 2015 19:48
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Magicians series chat: I started off liking the second book, and thought Renard the Fox's storyline was great until it got rapey as all getout which really ruined the whole thing for me.
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Nov 2, 2015 23:45
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Lev and his foxes, am i right??  There's some offscreen comeuppance for Reynard in book 3. It's a little bit satisfying.
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Nov 2, 2015 23:50
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Mount Char was pretty good. There were a lot of ideas shared with The Magicians condensed into one book. I prefer the idea of metaphorically destroying your humanity to master the craft. The caper in The Magician's Land was more fun than various fights in Mount Char. I'm convinced you could cut that series down to two excellent books. UltimoDragonQuest fucked around with this message at 00:12 on Nov 3, 2015 |
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Nov 3, 2015 00:02
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Hedrigall posted:
There was that, at least. I just really get irritated when authors use rape and pedophilia to demonstrate how truly evil their antagonists are, it's a real hack move and as cliche as it is distasteful.
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Nov 3, 2015 00:02
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Started Shadows of Self and was reminded that tinfoil hats are a completely useful thing in that universe. Owns.
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Nov 3, 2015 02:31
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Filthy Hans posted:There was that, at least. I just really get irritated when authors use rape and pedophilia to demonstrate how truly evil their antagonists are, it's a real hack move and as cliche as it is distasteful. "...and then that fucker just cut right in front of us at Starbucks. What a truly evil shitbag. Zero consideration. I mean, I have places to be too, you know?"
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Nov 3, 2015 02:32
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Filthy Hans posted:There was that, at least. I just really get irritated when authors use rape and pedophilia to demonstrate how truly evil their antagonists are, it's a real hack move and as cliche as it is distasteful. Good analyses of that scene (and Julia's role in the books more broadly) here and here.
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Nov 3, 2015 02:35
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