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I'm reading Southern Reach trilogy and like it a lot so far...I'm a bit into book 2.
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Jul 15, 2015 14:24
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angel opportunity posted:I'm reading Southern Reach trilogy and like it a lot so far...I'm a bit into book 2. AUTHORITY is a tough pill to swallow coming off ANNIHILATION, with all the Kafkaesque bureaucracy poo poo, but after I finished the third one I realized that AUTHORITY was actually really good. 'A fan of the first book tries to figure out what happened in it' is a pretty good plot for a second book. And all the stuff about the S&S Brigade and the other covert agencies pays off nicely in ACCEPTANCE.
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Jul 15, 2015 14:52
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Yeah...I read the reviews and was a bit worried, but my job is a bureaucracy so I actually like it so far
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Jul 15, 2015 14:54
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Same here, I actually liked Authority more than Annihilation (after it became painfully obvious that no, no answers are coming in that book). It makes you feel that you're circling around the facts and never quite getting there.
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Jul 15, 2015 15:11
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Many of the answers were just like 'so what', as far as I was concerned. Nothing super interesting. I really liked Annihilation a lot but didn't care much for the other two.
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Jul 15, 2015 15:44
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Junkenstein posted:I went into Southern Reach with reviews stating don't expect answers!! echoing in my head, and I was pretty surprised by how much straight up exposition there was in the last book. I thought the way it brought everything together was well done. It even kinda made the second book retroactivelly better..... Agree whole-heartedly. In fact, I'm trying to find other books similar to it; to the whole open-ended mystery that encourages you to piece things together yourself. David Mitchell does this to some extent, as well as Gene Wolfe and Jorge Louis Borges, but other than that, I'm still looking...
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Jul 15, 2015 15:44
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General Battuta posted:AUTHORITY is a tough pill to swallow coming off ANNIHILATION, with all the Kafkaesque bureaucracy poo poo, but after I finished the third one I realized that AUTHORITY was actually really good. 'A fan of the first book tries to figure out what happened in it' is a pretty good plot for a second book. And all the stuff about the S&S Brigade and the other covert agencies pays off nicely in ACCEPTANCE. I went in totally blind and thought Authority was quite good. Annihilation was just like a teaser (though a good one!), Authority starts to open up more details about Area X, Southern Reach, etc etc. Acceptance was great too, and I agree with people saying they were surprised with how much actually was explained. I really liked them all 
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Jul 15, 2015 18:00
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Neurosis posted:Many of the answers were just like 'so what', as far as I was concerned. Nothing super interesting. I really liked Annihilation a lot but didn't care much for the other two. I thought the Lighthouse Keeper and the Director had great stories in Acceptance. If pushed I'd call those my favorite bits of the trilogy.
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Jul 15, 2015 19:13
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So there's a new Humble books bundle: https://www.humblebundle.com/books Anything in here any good? I remember hearing positive things about The Great Way Trilogy, but nothing else in the bundle looks familiar at all.
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Jul 15, 2015 19:24
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There's nothing positive about the Great Way trilogy.
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Jul 15, 2015 21:58
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The Expanse has a new VR app for iPhone and Android that lets you explore the Canterbury's exterior. It's pretty cool to see the detail that went into it knowing it gets nuked the first episode probably.
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Jul 15, 2015 23:24
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The only thing that made me mad at Ready Player One was the lack of Battletech when they were getting Mechs, I wanted someone to smash something with an Atlas damnit. Actually no the entire book was okay, the weirdest bits were the clan/guilds whatever which reminded me way to much about EVE Online, down to the Doomsday getting dropped in the final battle.
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Jul 16, 2015 05:17
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Jack2142 posted:The only thing that made me mad at Ready Player One was the lack of Battletech when they were getting Mechs, I wanted someone to smash something with an Atlas damnit. Actually no the entire book was okay, the weirdest bits were the clan/guilds whatever which reminded me way to much about EVE Online, down to the Doomsday getting dropped in the final battle. holllly poo poo this post
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Jul 16, 2015 05:23
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angel opportunity posted:holllly poo poo this post Well, Cline certainly writes to his audience. Gotta give him that.
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Jul 16, 2015 06:18
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Drifter posted:Well, Cline certainly writes to his audience. Gotta give him that. From his AMA: Ernest Cline posted:I personally don't see any difference between culture and pop culture. Pop culture is the culture I grew up in - the only culture I've ever really known. And if something isn't considered a part of popular culture, then what is it? Unpopular culture? Why would you make an unpopular culture reference, unless you're trying to be obscure? I view pop culture references as just one of the many tools I have as a writer to tell my story and convey meaning to the reader. But I also do my best to make sure the story still works for readers who aren't familiar with any of the things I reference, just as I did with Ready Player One. In the end, you can't write to please critics - you have to write the kind of story you enjoy telling in the way you want to tell it, and trust that other people with a similar sensibility will enjoy reading it.
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Jul 16, 2015 06:40
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I mean I agree with him general, declaring one part of culture 'official' and denigrating another part as 'disposable' is fairly elitist wankery, and I say that as someone who likes esoteric feminist sci-fi (though not Sheri Tepper). At the same time, he was quoting some fairly obscure parts of 80s culture--the Black Tiger videogame was pretty obscure, for instance, even if I knew what it was from being a longterm nerd. Lots of D&D people know what the Tomb of Horrors is but there are much larger numbers of others who do not. He was totally quoting 'unpopular culture', but from a different niche. There's also the problem that if you stripped all the 80s references out of the book, you'd be left with very little but a maladjusted nerd kid finding wealth, sex, and total validation through his love of video games. Being a shallow fantasy doesn't automatically make it bad, but it definitely is not more than that, and in thirty more years I doubt the book will be much remembered. It's hard to find Saturday the 14th on cable these days too.
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Jul 16, 2015 18:34
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As a sellout writer, I don't blame the guy at all, and it's pretty awesome that he wrote what he loves and made a bunch of money off it. He would be stupid NOT to just re-hash that some type of thing over and over and milk every dime out of it. But I'm still going to laugh at it!
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Jul 16, 2015 19:09
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Just finished The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay. I thought it was pretty good. Not as good as Tigana by the same author, but still very enjoyable (a little slow at times maybe). Are his other books any good?
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Jul 16, 2015 19:29
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Sjonkel posted:Just finished The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay. I thought it was pretty good. Not as good as Tigana by the same author, but still very enjoyable (a little slow at times maybe). Are his other books any good? I'd suggest river of Stars or Song for Arbonne and then the Sailing to Sarantium series.
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Jul 16, 2015 19:35
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My irritation at all the 80s references in Ready Player One was completely overshadowed in the third act when he does that whole stupid thing where he gets himself enslaved to the evil corporation and then manages to hack them from inside and sneak back out. Somehow playing an MMO gave him super l337 haxx0r skillz and turned him into some combination of Hiro Protagonist and Solid Snake? That's some kind of "Al-Qaida is planning terrorist attacks in World of Warcraft" level of bullshit.
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Jul 16, 2015 20:17
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Drifter posted:I liked Tigana a lot, myself, as well. I'd suggest the same order too. I haven't read the Not Byzantium books but they are not supposed to be as good as his later stuff. Tigana's his best, Al-Rassan his second best and then River of Stars and Arbonne are good but not quite as good.
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Jul 16, 2015 22:00
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The Sarantium books are pretty meh. Nice and interesting world but it doesn't really do anything with it and the story ultimately goes nowhere. Ymmv but I felt it was really mediocre at best.
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Jul 16, 2015 22:49
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I like his Sarantium and China books the most. I probably like Al Rassan the least just cuz of his whole "hold information back from the reader, so something can later be presented like it's a shocking revelation" writing technique, which if it wasn't used the most times in that book, at least seemed like it was enough for me to start noticing and get annoyed by it.
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Jul 16, 2015 23:40
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Just finished Revelation Space. While there's a lot of good to excellent poo poo in there, Reynolds could've dropped about 200 pages worth of poo poo. Does he improve in his other work?
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Jul 16, 2015 23:46
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holocaust bloopers posted:Just finished Revelation Space. While there's a lot of good to excellent poo poo in there, Reynolds could've dropped about 200 pages worth of poo poo. Does he improve in his other work? Read Redemption Ark or House of Suns. If you don't like those, you've read his best, so you can stop.
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Jul 16, 2015 23:48
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So Aurora is awesome. Just had to close my book last night to go to bed at the point where people were dying on Aurora. I then dreamt that Ship made everyone pass out to contain the spread. I personally love KSR's descriptions of alien planets, I mean, that's the whole point, right? We're never going to get there so yes please describe it for me in insane detail. I feel the beauty.
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Jul 17, 2015 00:57
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gohmak posted:The Expanse has a new VR app for iPhone and Android that lets you explore the Canterbury's exterior. It's pretty cool to see the detail that went into it knowing it gets nuked the first episode probably. Thanks, just got my cardboard today.
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Jul 17, 2015 01:14
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Just finished Aurora. gently caress me, what a fantastic book.
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Jul 17, 2015 02:21
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What should I do if I want to read KSR but am afraid it'll be a waste of time? I'm interested in following the full progression of terraforming, but not if the plot is tedious and poo poo. Is one of his other books a better compromise than the Mars trilogy?
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Jul 17, 2015 02:45
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angel opportunity posted:What should I do if I want to read KSR but am afraid it'll be a waste of time? Well, you could try out 2312, which is a single novel, and self contained. But it's not all that much about terraforming. If you want to follow the full progression of terraforming, the Mars trilogy is what you're looking for. I wouldn't at all say the plot is tedious, but your mileage may vary, I guess. It's sure got the full progression of terraforming, though -- no doubt about that.
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Jul 17, 2015 02:47
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I read really mixed reviews on it, so much so that it seems like my only choice may just be to read it and see if it's for me
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Jul 17, 2015 02:48
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angel opportunity posted:I read really mixed reviews on it, so much so that it seems like my only choice may just be to read it and see if it's for me Yeah, I don't know -- I loved it, so I can't really pretend to be objective about it. There's definitely other stuff going on beyond terraforming -- the drama of the first settlers, intrigue and unrest in the early colony, political issues between Earth and Mars, some (in my mind) interesting explorations about memory and aging, the weirdness of successive generations of non-Earth folks, etc. But there is lots and lots of sweet, sweet terraforming, with all the intense detail and interesting ideas of KSR at the height of his powers. If you have a particularized interest in terraforming, I have to think you'll find enough worthwhile in there to justify your time. And like you point out, I'm not sure there are other, better options. I'd like to hear about them, if there are.
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Jul 17, 2015 02:53
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Icehenge is pretty good and pretty short for a KSR novel. Plus it takes place on Pluto so it's a fun compliment to all the cool real-life space poo poo that's gone down recently. Edit: it has nothing to do with terraforming though so if you're looking for that specifically look elsewhere in his catelogue.
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Jul 17, 2015 03:19
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There are no better options. You are going to have to read the trilogy. Besides, those mixed reviews are BS, anyone that is negative about it is objectively wrong. Agree about Icehenge. EDIT: Just remember to skip the first chapter, read up to Guns Under the Table, go and read the first chapter, then continue with Guns Under the Table. thehomemaster fucked around with this message at 05:54 on Jul 17, 2015 |
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Jul 17, 2015 05:51
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Started Aurora tonight. First KSR novel. So far, it's excellent.
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Jul 17, 2015 05:58
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General Battuta posted:Read Redemption Ark or House of Suns. If you don't like those, you've read his best, so you can stop. Did you read Neverness yet?
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Jul 17, 2015 06:18
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I am so loving amped for The Dark Forest next month.
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Jul 17, 2015 06:26
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angel opportunity posted:I read really mixed reviews on it, so much so that it seems like my only choice may just be to read it and see if it's for me Yeah. You can always just stop after Red Mars if you don't dig it. A lot of terraforming stuff still happens in part one. Red Mars (and, increasingly, Green/Blue Mars) is potentially tedious in the same way that The Lord of the Rings is tedious. There are long sections that "digress" to things other than the main plot and What Happens Next. They're not thrillers. But all these sections, about politics, geography, science, psychology, ecology, and more, are relevant to the characters and the world that KSR is building. They're well written (KSR is something of a polymath, and is interested in basically everything). They are as much the core of the book as the traditional set pieces, so if you can get in to a similar mindset to LotR, where you just sort of totally immerse yourself in the world, it all works really well and is never boring.
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Jul 17, 2015 06:29
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Of KSR's work I've only read 2312. I liked it a lot. Is Aurora a good book to go for next? More importantly: is it a standalone? I fully intend to one day read his Mars trilogy but I have so many series going at the moment, I'm really just looking for standalone SF books to slot in between series stuff I read.
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Jul 17, 2015 06:37
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Yeah Aurora is a completely stand alone novel.
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Jul 17, 2015 06:47
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