|
Finished book 5 and 6 rereads. While Nemesis Games was my favorite on the first pass, I think it's weaker on a second look. The gimmick of getting POVs from the whole crew and only the crew seems cool, and a huge event happens, but relatively little action (especially plot relevant action) happens for the crew. They are observers of bigger tides dragging them along, not really protagonists. I admire the ambition of this one, and it's more fun to read than the preceding two, but it's not as strong as I once thought. Babylon's Ashes, on the other hand, gets a slight upgrade. The POV gimmick here is that there are more than ever, and for a variety of reasons. Some are character development heavy, some are plot development heavy, some are a bit randomly unfocused (three different single shot POVs from the tech team on Medina Station?), and some are nice background color beats, like Prax doing his nerd thing and making a difference after being inspired by Holden's "day in the life of" videos. The action and tension are fairly constant throughout the book, with a couple of nice set pieces like the Rocinante ambush. The Anderson Dawes POV chapter is hilarious and poignant at the same time and probably launched the big expanded character we got on the show. My biggest complaint is from the Anna-POV epilogue. The original colony ship in Cibola Burn took 18 months to get there, and presumably went faster than the 1/10 g that Anna's resource constrained, reaction mass conserving ship is going. How loving long are they going to be in transit? And speaking of resource constraints, they put enough food for ~2500 people times 1.5+++ years on a ship, rather than using it for people who are starving right the gently caress now on Earth? It's entirely plausible that long term that's the best way to ensure the highest population 5 years from now, but I'm not convinced without it being addressed on the page that the UN can get away with making that sort of long-term calculus of death where they let another 100,000 die right now so that a tiny fraction can (hopefully) live full lives.
|
#
?
May 16, 2017 23:22
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 9, 2024 23:29 |
|
|
Number Ten Cocks posted:Antiprotomolecule The descendant of the Proto-molecule, of course, is the molecule
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2017 20:46
|
|
|
Starting book 3. Poor Maneo just wanted to see some of his kin's boobies
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2017 20:47
|
|
|
Phi230 posted:Starting book 3. Poor Maneo just wanted to see some of his kin's boobies Belter porn must be really bad.
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2017 20:51
|
|
|
Am I the only one who imagined Marco as Lani Tupu from Farscape? I'll be disappointed with any other casting.
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2017 21:13
|
|
|
Chinston Wurchill posted:Am I the only one who imagined Marco as Lani Tupu from Farscape? I'll be disappointed with any other casting. They won't ever get him because he's a regular on a great show but Michael Mando would be my top pick for Marco.
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2017 21:32
|
|
|
Number Ten Cocks posted:Belter porn must be really bad. 
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2017 21:36
|
|
|
Any other hardish sci-fi recommendations? I've read pretty much all of Banks, Reynolds, and Hamilton's Commonwealth novels over the last few months.
|
|
#
?
May 18, 2017 18:06
|
|
|
heinlein wrote a bunch of relatively hard sci fi.
|
|
#
?
May 18, 2017 18:12
|
|
|
Baloogan posted:heinlein wrote a bunch of relatively hard sci fi. Yes, but everyone has read Heinlein though, right?  If not, you probably should. Along with Joe Haldeman, who never gets the credit he's due.
|
|
#
?
May 18, 2017 18:43
|
|
|
ZombieLenin posted:Any other hardish sci-fi recommendations? I've read pretty much all of Banks, Reynolds, and Hamilton's Commonwealth novels over the last few months. In the unlikely event you haven't yet read Larry Niven's Ringworld, do that already. Charles Stross' Saturn's Children (do not judge this by its cover!) is pretty good, and set in our solar system, with some decent orbital mechanics stuff. And if you want some 'hard' hard, anything by Greg Egan. A degree in maths probably helps...
|
|
#
?
May 19, 2017 00:07
|
|
|
There is also blindsight by Peter Watts which is solid, and free.
|
|
#
?
May 19, 2017 00:29
|
|
|
xiansi posted:
I googled this and i don't think I can help it
|
|
#
?
May 19, 2017 01:42
|
|
|
Ainsley McTree posted:I googled this and i don't think I can help it I don't blame you, and author is very much aware: http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2010/03/cmap-6-why-did-you-pick-such-a.html Stross is a really good sci-fi writer though.
|
|
#
?
May 19, 2017 01:49
|
|
|
 Interesting.
|
|
#
?
May 19, 2017 02:01
|
|
|
https://twitter.com/abrahamhanover/status/865563985373937664
|
|
#
?
May 19, 2017 16:27
|
|
|
I hope the arc involves more of the dead alien civilization or the bad stuff that killed them or planet miller
|
|
#
?
May 19, 2017 22:17
|
|
|
So I've started Caliban's War. Awfully similar setup to hostilities as Leviathan Wakes. One thing I'm really appreciating so far is that as much as the earth/Martian conflicts are caused by a third party, that doesn't immediately end the hostilities between the planets once the culprits are caught. Once a war starts it can be very hard to end and the fact that The Expanse books address this is very refreshing. That being said, one is an anomaly, two is a trend, so I am worried that each book might start to follow a pattern of "evil experiment by dumbasses starts a war, Holden and friends get involved and save the universe"
|
|
#
?
May 20, 2017 19:36
|
|
Arcsquad12 posted:So I've started Caliban's War. Awfully similar setup to hostilities as Leviathan Wakes. One thing I'm really appreciating so far is that as much as the earth/Martian conflicts are caused by a third party, that doesn't immediately end the hostilities between the planets once the culprits are caught. Once a war starts it can be very hard to end and the fact that The Expanse books address this is very refreshing. That being said, one is an anomaly, two is a trend, so I am worried that each book might start to follow a pattern of "evil experiment by dumbasses starts a war, Holden and friends get involved and save the universe" They do, unfortunately. All six books follow that exact format.
|
|
|
#
?
May 21, 2017 01:46
|
|
|
Over the past couple months I've been driving a ton for work and I've binged through the entire series in audiobook format. Pretty much everything is well explained, the only thing that really stuck with me was in Nemesis Games when Alex is piloting the Razorback towards the escort fleet he says the exact same thing the protomolocule said at Eros "You can't take the Razorback, we are gone and gone and gone" I'm pretty sure that this is supposed to be Alex just remembering and repeating that, or is it a hint towards time/space fuckery?
|
|
#
?
May 21, 2017 02:38
|
|
|
Gangringo posted:Over the past couple months I've been driving a ton for work and I've binged through the entire series in audiobook format. I took it as Alex remembering that snippet from the Eros feed, but on the Churn podcast the authors do talk about there being some protomolecule time manipulation in the books. I don't think this scene is an example of it, but I can't rule it out, either.
|
|
#
?
May 21, 2017 02:46
|
|
|
There's a one line vague hint that time readings through the gates are weird. I assume that's some sort of nod towards twisted relativity, and not everyone is operating on standard universal time in different systems.
|
|
#
?
May 21, 2017 05:02
|
|
|
I'd be surprised if that rogue general with his fleet on the other end of a gate hasn't been doing hosed up protomolecule poo poo at a faster than normal rate.
|
|
#
?
May 21, 2017 05:10
|
|
|
if there is time fuckery imo its holden whos gonna send the original protomolcule probe to earth to hit pheobe or whatever
|
|
#
?
May 21, 2017 05:12
|
|
|
Platystemon posted:
it's a good book. I recommend the ebook or you can get the hardcover used and take off the jacket. that's what I did. because god drat. not that the book doesn't have some pervy stuff in it.
|
|
#
?
May 21, 2017 05:17
|
|
|
I should go back and get a direct quote, but I recall them saying that Miller seeing Julie wasn't always just his imagination.
|
|
#
?
May 21, 2017 05:17
|
|
|
Baloogan posted:if there is time fuckery imo its holden whos gonna send the original protomolcule probe to earth to hit pheobe or whatever God I hope that isn't how the series ends
|
|
#
?
May 21, 2017 05:47
|
|
|
Baloogan posted:if there is time fuckery imo its holden whos gonna send the original protomolcule probe to earth to hit pheobe or whatever This, but pull a Neo and refuse.
|
|
#
?
May 21, 2017 05:57
|
|
|
The stuff with the protomolecule not exactly following linear time is pretty subtle, I don't think they're going to do straight up obvious time travel. It wouldn't fit with the semi-hard sci-fi style.
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2017 03:57
|
|
|
Grand Fromage posted:The stuff with the protomolecule not exactly following linear time is pretty subtle, I don't think they're going to do straight up obvious time travel. It wouldn't fit with the semi-hard sci-fi style. Yeah, but the Everett interpretation gives you easy access to explain the repercussions of time travel in a semi-hard way. Even Alyster Reynolds does it, though in his case it's just information traveling from the future and people being erased from the timelines completely when they attempt FTL. ZombieLenin fucked around with this message at 16:00 on May 22, 2017 |
|
#
?
May 22, 2017 14:47
|
|
|
Stephen Baxter wrote a range of books that are all set in the same universe and which take place at different points in time (sometimes millions of years apart) and which are pretty hard sci-fi.
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2017 19:46
|
|
|
I blazed through books 1 and 2, but I can't seem to get into book 3 nearly as much (I don't seem to like the non-Holden characters as much, and I miss our Indian Political-wizard woman). Does it pick up? Holden and co. just went through the ring, and everyone is still mad at him from the Mao's impersonation holograph?
|
|
#
?
May 23, 2017 00:50
|
|
|
Nigulus Rex posted:I blazed through books 1 and 2, but I can't seem to get into book 3 nearly as much (I don't seem to like the non-Holden characters as much, and I miss our Indian Political-wizard woman). Does it pick up? Holden and co. just went through the ring, and everyone is still mad at him from the Mao's impersonation holograph? It picks up. It's never great and suffers the first time from frustrated expectations about viewpoint characters and what is happening vs. what you expected or wanted to happen, but the slowest part is definitely everything up to where you are.
|
|
#
?
May 23, 2017 01:01
|
|
|
Sheik Yerbouti posted:Stephen Baxter wrote a range of books that are all set in the same universe and which take place at different points in time (sometimes millions of years apart) and which are pretty hard sci-fi. The Xeelee Sequence. Great stuff, absolutely worth a read.
|
|
#
?
May 23, 2017 04:37
|
|
|
drat does Season 2's opener get the attack on Spin Station right.
|
|
#
?
May 23, 2017 20:45
|
|
|
Arcsquad12 posted:drat does Season 2's opener get the attack on Spin Station right. It absolutely nails the Rocci side of it and then falls apart the second they enter it. It's terrible from there onwards.
|
|
#
?
May 23, 2017 21:10
|
|
|
PriorMarcus posted:It absolutely nails the Rocci side of it and then falls apart the second they enter it. It's terrible from there onwards. True enough. It hits the story beats, but that was one dingy looking protogen lab.
|
|
#
?
May 23, 2017 21:52
|
|
|
Man I want a Diogo pov chapter where he just rants in incomprehensible belter creole.
|
|
#
?
May 24, 2017 07:01
|
|
|
I finished book 6 for the first time earlier today and read through this thread. Let me just be the nth person to say gently caress Marco and I hope he stays gone forever. If we have to see him again, it should be him and his dipshit crew trapped in an Event Horizon-esque hell dimension. Went through the whole series in about a month and even though 3-4 seem to get the most hate, 5-6 is where it was hard to keep up my interest. Most of the problems have already been brought up in this thread so I won't write a giant post, but basically it's poorly written villain and lack of reaction to the whole Earth thing. One thing that struck me in particular is how Marco is constantly described as being super charismatic, but that doesn't really come across in how he behaves. He mainly bullies people with implied threats of violence, and when things start going wrong he either goes full puppetmaster defense or acts like a sulky rear end in a top hat. I can buy him getting extremist belters on his side initially, especially when he can back up his plan with some fancy new warships. I can even buy them going along with the biggest genocide in human history, although having them sit around with beers and cheer while watching it was dumb. But by the end the dude's going "The plan all along was to have all our generals defect, lose most of our ships and all our territory so we could lure out that pinche
|
|
#
?
May 25, 2017 21:31
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 9, 2024 23:29 |
|
|
So the protomolecule is basically an alien bio weapon/terraformer/teleporter, I take it? Target an earth like planet, wipe out its population and then use its biomass plus radiation to build a giant fuckoff Stargate to their central hub?
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2017 18:44
|
|