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anilEhilated posted:Alternately, if Kevin J. Anderson's name is on the cover, avoid like plague. A pretty good guideline to SF overall. Young Jedi Knight loving owned, and the stupid street urchin eating Princess Leia's table decorations is officially canon.
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Apr 7, 2016 21:21
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General Battuta posted:Just pronounce 'x' as 'sh' and most of them will be pretty easy to sort out. For example 'Lyxaxu' looks like gibberish but 'Lyshashu' is pretty easy. 'Unuxekome' is bad but 'Unushecomb' is hopefully okay! No, x is a hard Ks
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Apr 7, 2016 21:31
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anilEhilated posted:Alternately, if Kevin J. Anderson's name is on the cover, avoid like plague. A pretty good guideline to SF overall. This except do actually read Darksaber. That one is cool.
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Apr 7, 2016 21:44
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I thought KJA's Star Wars books were awesome when I was in seventh and eighth grade.
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Apr 7, 2016 21:58
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Seventh or eighth grade is exactly the right time for reading KJA.
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Apr 7, 2016 22:08
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General Battuta posted:It absolutely blows up towards the end, stick with it. I was really impressed by Downbelow's heft and scale. I was impressed by the accuracy of his universe timeline. Ship schedules, with relativistic effects taken into account (before FTL), commerce, space stations transforming into ghost towns because of the technological and societal changes... And all of that in a region of space in one "side" of our solar system (I don't remember if it was towards the center of the galaxy or to the rim). The OTHER side is another festival of imagination.
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Apr 7, 2016 22:22
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Her! Cherryh's a woman, although she adopted the C. J. Cherryh moniker because she started publishing at a time when it was really good for your career to have a man name.
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Apr 7, 2016 22:29
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I wish they would sort poo poo out so we could buy those books digitally in the UK. I have no more room for paperbacks, but haven't even filled 1% of my kindle yet.
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Apr 7, 2016 22:34
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anilEhilated posted:Alternately, if Kevin J. Anderson's name is on the cover, avoid like plague. A pretty good guideline to SF overall.
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Apr 7, 2016 23:01
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DACK FAYDEN posted:I didn't hate his Saga of Seven Suns when I was in the mood for a doorstop SF series when I was in high school. I mean, it wasn't anything spectacular, but there were a few characters that didn't suck and relatively satisfying side villains, even if the both the initial bad-guy alien race and the later antagonists were cartoonishly evil. I read what came after that. It was easily the worst novel on last year's Hugo ballot.
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Apr 7, 2016 23:48
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gohmak posted:No, x is a hard Ks I am entirely in favor of pinyin coming into widespead use for fantasy name pronunciation.
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Apr 8, 2016 00:21
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Samiz posted:Started reading Dune recently and holy poo poo it's just as good as everyone says it is. Are the other Dune books just as good? At the very least if you're reading dune, you have to give messiah a shot. Personally I loved all the Herbert books.
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Apr 8, 2016 01:20
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andrew smash posted:At the very least if you're reading dune, you have to give messiah a shot. Personally I loved all the Herbert books. My personal order of enjoyment (decreasing) is Dune, God Emperor of Dune, Children of Dune, Chapterhouse Dune, Dune Messiah, Heretics of Dune. ...but, like everyone else has said, if you get bored with one of the books, and it isn't Children of Dune, stop. If you get bored with Children of Dune, read God Emperor of Dune anyway and reevaluate.
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Apr 8, 2016 02:28
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Interesting. I agree with Dune being first, but consider Messiah to be basically required reading after dune as it's a direct response (what happens after you achieve your adolescent power fantasy?). God Emperor is definitely required after children, but I think heretics is the most interesting of them all after Dune/Messiah.
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Apr 8, 2016 02:36
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Samiz posted:Started reading Dune recently and holy poo poo it's just as good as everyone says it is. Are the other Dune books just as good? I stopped after Dune and don't regret it. Basically, if there comes a point where you're starting to think "ugh, gently caress this, I'm out" you should just roll with that and drop out.
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Apr 8, 2016 03:25
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gohmak posted:No, x is a hard Ks Yeah, I definitely pronounced it Lix-Axe-Oo not Leeshashu
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Apr 8, 2016 04:52
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andrew smash posted:Interesting. I agree with Dune being first, but consider Messiah to be basically required reading after dune as it's a direct response (what happens after you achieve your adolescent power fantasy?). God Emperor is definitely required after children, but I think heretics is the most interesting of them all after Dune/Messiah. God Emperor is my favorite because it's such a brilliant exercise in writing a genuinely different perspective. But It's probably the last one in the series that I still find readable.
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Apr 8, 2016 04:59
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If i was picking stand alone, i would probably go with dune -> heretics -> god emperor but none of them aside from Dune really make any sense outside the context of the others.
andrew smash fucked around with this message at 05:49 on Apr 8, 2016 |
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Apr 8, 2016 05:29
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trip9 posted:This sounds interesting, I might do First Law next since it seems like it's a "fun" read (though I'm actually gonna be listening to it on audible I think). Not everyone gets the 'black comedy' feel out of it. It has quite a lot of dark poo poo in it (thankfully it doesn't lean on rape and sexual violence for that atmosphere), but not everyone might find the comic aspects. I did appreciate those parts, personally; I thought it always had a core of dry humour to it no matter what was going on, which stopped it from being an emotionally draining read. The characters really are excellent, with one exception who's loving garbage. So, yeah, a good choice, just be forewarned the first book is largely setting up the tropes that get torn down in the later books. It took me a few tries to get past the first 50 or so pages, but it was worth it. The standalones that follow up are generally pretty good, too (though they're darker, I think, except for maybe the Heroes which despite being a grim war novel had more humour in it), so if you like them you'll have plenty more to read. Actually this reminds me his short story collection set in the First Law world is out this month. Re: Dune chat. God Emperor was where it went off the loving rails for me. I couldn't stand having a mouthpiece character lecturing at me so pretentiously.
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Apr 8, 2016 06:16
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Neurosis posted:Re: Dune chat. God Emperor was where it went off the loving rails for me. I couldn't stand having a mouthpiece character lecturing at me so pretentiously. Too bad, really, heretics tones that down a lot. Teg can be kind of uptight IIRC but he's nowhere near Leto.
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Apr 8, 2016 06:18
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andrew smash posted:If i was picking stand alone, i would probably go with dune -> heretics -> god emperor but none of them aside from Dune really make any sense outside the context of the others. Oh of course not. I wasn't suggesting anyone read the dune books other than in publication order.
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Apr 8, 2016 13:15
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One of the hard parts of Downbelow Station for me right now is I have no idea who to cheer for. For now I'm just rooting for the Hisa. Everyone else seems really bad.
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Apr 8, 2016 15:57
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Are Iain M Banks Culture novels as good or nearly so to Player of Games because I will buy them all now.
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Apr 8, 2016 16:00
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Yes they are.
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Apr 8, 2016 16:14
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So, I'm looking for really long, entertaining SF books that are done well on audiobook. I like to listen to them while at the gym, and a long, enthralling story keeps me wanting to go back to listen to the next few chapters. I am currently listening to the Monster Hunter books by Larry Correia and they are pretty entertaining, but would love a great SF book (or series of books) to read next. I love everything from cheesy space opera (loved the Deathstalker books by Simon Green) to the harder stuff like Rendezvous with Rama and everything in between (some other of my favorites: The Mote in God's Eye, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) Any good recommendations on long, good, SF books? I've read pretty much all of the classics, so looking for something newer. Thank you!
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Apr 8, 2016 16:46
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deathbagel posted:So, I'm looking for really long, entertaining SF books that are done well on audiobook. I like to listen to them while at the gym, and a long, enthralling story keeps me wanting to go back to listen to the next few chapters. I am currently listening to the Monster Hunter books by Larry Correia and they are pretty entertaining, but would love a great SF book (or series of books) to read next. I love everything from cheesy space opera (loved the Deathstalker books by Simon Green) to the harder stuff like Rendezvous with Rama and everything in between (some other of my favorites: The Mote in God's Eye, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) The Culture is a must read/listen series and the audiobook narrator (Peter Kenny) is fantastic. Give Player of Games or Use of Weapons a listen, see what you think
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Apr 8, 2016 16:57
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General Battuta posted:Her! Cherryh's a woman, although she adopted the C. J. Cherryh moniker because she started publishing at a time when it was really good for your career to have a man name. Her actual last name is "Cherry", too; the prosthetic h, IIRC, is on the grounds that "if you publish as Cherry people will think you're writing romance under a pen name". apophenium posted:One of the hard parts of Downbelow Station for me right now is I have no idea who to cheer for. For now I'm just rooting for the Hisa. Everyone else seems really bad. One of the things I like about the Alliance-Union setting in general is that none of the ~four factions are really "the bad guys" (although they can all be total bastards at times), and she's written books from the perspective of all of them - Union, Earth Company, the Merchanter Alliance, and even the Mazianni. EC and the Mazianni definitely come off looking the worst, though. Amberskin posted:And all of that in a region of space in one "side" of our solar system (I don't remember if it was towards the center of the galaxy or to the rim). The OTHER side is another festival of imagination. Pell's World orbits Tau Ceti, and is roughly midway between Cyteen and Earth, IIRC -- navigationally, if not exactly -- so A-U space is probably a rough blob extending down and rimward from Sol. The Shonunin (Cuckoo's Egg) are somewhere past Union, and the Majat (Serpent's Reach) are in the Hydrus constellation, which I think is somewhere in the fringes of that blob. The Compact is in more or less the opposite direction, so some distance hubwards of Sol. I have no idea if she's ever clarified where the Atevi (Foreigner) are, or the Mri or Regul (The Faded Sun).
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Apr 8, 2016 17:45
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deathbagel posted:Any good recommendations on long, good, SF books? I've read pretty much all of the classics, so looking for something newer. Thank you!
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Apr 8, 2016 18:30
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Ornamented Death posted:And because it can never be stressed enough, if Frank Herbert's name isn't on the cover, avoid that poo poo like the plague. If you'd rather just start at insanity, read The Godmakers. That's my take on Herbert in general, since he actually wrote things that weren't Dune and if you can't continue with the series (or want more of whatever God Emperor was smoking) there are options. I had Wishing Star but never read it. 
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Apr 8, 2016 18:32
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:God Emperor is my favorite because it's such a brilliant exercise in writing a genuinely different perspective. But It's probably the last one in the series that I still find readable. I really wish he'd properly committed to the viewpoints though, it kind of suffers from the re-writing he did. Originally the book was going to be entirely from Leto's perspective, but then he reworked it to bring in the other view points. I can't help wishing that he'd either stayed at that (in which case everything in the book, having been recovered from his diaries in Dar-es-Belat is part of his Golden Path, and can't be trusted at all. He outright tells us that he doesn't tell us the truth, but what is required for us to hear, and a whole book like that would be really interesting) or that he'd flipped in completely the reverse direction and had the book from the perspective of everyone BUT Leto, but with his journals still being used for the epigraphs. My favourite parts of God-Emperor and Heretics is the constant dread and introspection the BGs have about the true meaning of the Golden Path, and a whole book of that would also be fantastic. As it is, God-Emperor is half a book of one character explaining exactly what he's trying to achieve, and half a book of different people struggling to understand exactly what he's trying to achieve. It never really meshed for me. Moneo owned though, even if he was basically a rehash of Stilgar's arc. holocaust bloopers posted:Are Iain M Banks Culture novels as good or nearly so to Player of Games because I will buy them all now. Player is one of the less interesting Culture novels. Excession and Use of Weapons are probably his strongest - if for some crazy reason you don't want to read the whole series, I'd say they work as a really nice duology, and they touch on most of the ideas and themes of the other books.
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Apr 8, 2016 18:45
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Nakar posted:
What is Wishing Star? Do you mean Whipping Star?
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Apr 8, 2016 18:48
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Sibling of TB posted:What is Wishing Star? Do you mean Whipping Star?
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Apr 8, 2016 19:45
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deathbagel posted:So, I'm looking for really long, entertaining SF books that are done well on audiobook. I like to listen to them while at the gym, and a long, enthralling story keeps me wanting to go back to listen to the next few chapters. I am currently listening to the Monster Hunter books by Larry Correia and they are pretty entertaining, but would love a great SF book (or series of books) to read next. I love everything from cheesy space opera (loved the Deathstalker books by Simon Green) to the harder stuff like Rendezvous with Rama and everything in between (some other of my favorites: The Mote in God's Eye, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) Dune. Seriously. Make sure you get the audio renaissance version ( Simon Vance narrates but with a large and very talented voice cast including Scott Brick as stilgar), it's the one on audible. I rotate it into my commuting / gym podcast lineup once every 18 months or so.
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Apr 8, 2016 20:21
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andrew smash posted:Dune. Seriously. Make sure you get the audio renaissance version ( Simon Vance narrates but with a large and very talented voice cast including Scott Brick as stilgar), it's the one on audible. I rotate it into my commuting / gym podcast lineup once every 18 months or so. Oh, I read Dune years ago, it is a fantastic book. Looking for something I haven't read/listened to, but thank you! Thank you all for the recommendations, I will look into them and see if any sound interesting to me!
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Apr 8, 2016 20:41
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deathbagel posted:So, I'm looking for really long, entertaining SF books that are done well on audiobook. Not working for me 100%, and maybe a little slow, but I'm enjoying it enough. Was able to check it out through my library's online platform, so yay for free reads. The reader is doing a good, if not great, job with voicing the characters.
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Apr 8, 2016 21:08
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deathbagel posted:Oh, I read Dune years ago, it is a fantastic book. Looking for something I haven't read/listened to, but thank you! I'd second the Alastair Reynold's Revelation Space audiobooks recommendation, they have John Lee as a narrator and he does a very good job with them. The first book can be slow starting at first, but just stick with it and it becomes very good. Gary Gibson's Shoal Sequence has great audiobooks. Good narration, long books with great pacing that makes you want to keep listening(it's a good space opera series in it's own right too, whether reading or listening)
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Apr 8, 2016 21:22
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@holocaust bloopers: With regard to Iain M Banks culture novels:xian posted:Look to Windward is amazing. Surface Detail is amazing. Matter is amazing. Inversions is Amazing. Use of Weapons is amazing. Excession is amazing. Look to Windward and Excession are two of my favorite 10 books of any genre. xian fucked around with this message at 21:29 on Apr 8, 2016 |
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Apr 8, 2016 21:23
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savinhill posted:Gary Gibson's Shoal Sequence has great audiobooks. Good narration, long books with great pacing that makes you want to keep listening(it's a good space opera series in it's own right too, whether reading or listening)
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Apr 8, 2016 22:14
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xian posted:@holocaust bloopers: With regard to Iain M Banks culture novels: Ok great. I've got Use Of Weapons queued up next, and then I'll get to these two.
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Apr 8, 2016 22:33
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I virtually never give up on books but I got about 80 pages into John Crowley's Little, Big and decided it was going nowhere fast. Someone tell me I'm wrong?
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Apr 9, 2016 00:18
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