Charge your lasers, and prepare for lightspeed: The SPACE OPERA thread.

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > Charge your lasers, and prepare for lightspeed: The SPACE OPERA thread.

Runcible Cat: May 28, 2007; Ignoring this post

Iain M Banks' Culture novels, of course.

Peter Hamilton's Night's Dawn trilogy. Great fun except for an incredibly sucky ending that was actually telegraphed all through the books. Except I thought it couldn't possibly be that crap and obvious. Fool that I was. It was worse. He's written other space operas too, but I'm staying off him so someone else will have to oblige.

Those are both semi-hard-sf series, as are the two you mentioned, in the sense that they do try for a veneer of scientific possibility; there's also the more science-fantasy space operas which are basically fantasy with sf terminology - Star Wars-type stuff. Simon Green's Deathstalker series is a good examples of this - they're great fun, but there's no attempt at plausible astronomy or science.

Can we include the subgenre of planetary romances too, in a spirit of inclusivity? If so, Edgar Rice Burroughs is the daddy, and everyone should read his Mars books for starters.

# ¿ Jun 5, 2009 18:41

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 18:48

Runcible Cat: May 28, 2007; Ignoring this post

ZipOtter posted:

Quick question about the Culture novels: Do these improve significantly after Consider Phlebas? I read it a while ago because I'm a huge fan of Vernor Vinge and was looking for something similarly epic/crazy but ended up hating everything about it. But I still think the Culture itself is a cool concept and would like to give the series another chance.

Consider Phlebas is kind of the odd-one-out, since it was written from the POV of someone who's outside the Culture and hates it. I'd say it's worth you giving another one a go. Maybe Excession, if you like Vinge? Lots of Mind-to-Mind conversations in that....

# ¿ Jun 14, 2009 15:00

Runcible Cat: May 28, 2007; Ignoring this post

Wibbleman posted:

Its basically the same as how he ends Fallen Dragon as well though. Find mystical space thingy, solve all the problems.

Find mystical space thingy, solve all the problems, settle down with hot teenage girl who's drooling for protagonist cock. Unfortunately I read FD first, then Night's Dawn, then his young-again one, whatever it was called, and the combination's creeped me out so much I don't want to try anything else of his.

# ¿ Jul 30, 2009 07:57

Runcible Cat: May 28, 2007; Ignoring this post

Chairman Capone posted:

I've actually read those, I thought that Out of the Silent Planet was quite good but Perelandra was getting to the point where the Christian theme was a bit much for me. In the first book I felt it was a space fantasy with Christian backdrops, in the second I felt that it was mainly a Christian polemic with the space stuff more as an afterthought. I've avoided That Hideous Strength altogether, from what I've read it's even heavier than Perelandra.

Oh god, is it ever. Full of bits that make you want to throw it across the room, and then transport yourself into it and kick most of the main characters really really hard. And then dig up the author and kick him too. As evidence I offer the scene where the main female character is told by Merlin that because of her wicked, wicked use of contraceptives the child that she would have had who would have grown up to make the Earth a supersmashinglovely paradise was never born.

This is only one of so, so many moments of :bang:

in this book.

Chairman Capone, I'm assuming you've read Burroughs since you mention John Carter. Are you looking for modern planetary romances (Philip Reeve's Larklight series? Karl Schroeder? Colin Greenland's Harm's Way? Kage Baker's Empress of Mars?), or just planetary romances in general (Leigh Brackett, maybe?), or what?

# ¿ Aug 9, 2009 22:54

Runcible Cat: May 28, 2007; Ignoring this post

Chairman Capone posted:

The former - like you surmised I've already read stuff like Barsoom and Out of the Silent Planet, and am interested in modern versions. It can either be stuff by modern writers set in the present with the planets as they are, set in alternate present with planets as portrayed back then, set in alternate pasts, whatever - just modern takes on the whole sword and planet/planetary romance genres.

Since you mention it - I've read the original short story of The Empress of Mars when it first came out and liked it, and just saw that it's been expanded into a full novel - if I've already read the short story is it worth it? How much new stuff does it add?

I never read the short story, so I can't compare them, but I liked the novel!

As for planetary romances, you might want to head towards the steampunk-y end of the shelf - the Reeves I mentioned would probably do you nicely; ignore that they're marketed for kids. The little bastards don't deserve them. Greenland's Harms Way is a Victorian-orphan-in-peril-in-spaaace story. I should be able to think of others, drat it, but it's too late at night and my brain's not working....

# ¿ Aug 10, 2009 02:31

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > Charge your lasers, and prepare for lightspeed: The SPACE OPERA thread.