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.

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coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Grub posted:

Depends on your version of romance and action etc, but I really enjoyed Stephen Donladson's "Gap series", 5 books that revolve around three main characters: a sadistic rapist pirate, a swarthy buckaneer arsehole, and a beautiful damsel/victim of unmentionable cruelty.

There's a lot of action, very graphic descriptions of a whole lot of horrible stuff, and it's very entertaining; plus, it kind of twists and turns in ways that makes each of the characters take turns at being the victim, saviour and so on.

Can be thoroughly depressing, but it's quite epic and has some aliens thrown in etc. Worth checking out, I'd say. Loosely based on Wagner's Ring Cycle operas.

ConfusedUs posted:

The Gap Cycle was horrific. I felt emotionally off-kilter after each book, and it only got worse as the series went on. The writing was good, but the subject matter and plots were some of the most cruel things I've ever encountered, and almost every character is a complete rear end in a top hat.

I've been trying to read Donaldson's Chronicles of Thomas Covenant and the main character there is an rear end in a top hat too.

These are both correct, and it doesn't take away from the fact that Donaldson's Gap Cycle is really, really stellar space opera material. I was amazed at how horrific Angus behaved in the first book, and even more amazed at how much sympathy I had for him for every following book.

If you take the time to read through the explanation of the parallels to Wagner, it's really :eng101:

fun to pick out recognizable parts as well.

All of Donaldson's books have assholes for main characters pretty much, though. Doesn't the Trials of Thomas Covenent start out with the dude raping some random woman for no particular reason? It's been a while and I only got through a few of them before I lost interest, but I've read the Gap Cycle through several times.

Habibi posted:

Sure - I've read Night's Dawn, the Commonwealth Saga, and am most of the way through the Void saga. IMO, Hamilton is an amazing author who creates a fantastic universe and characters. On the other hand, his endings tend to be somewhat anti-climactic because they typically wrap things up far too cleanly. In a sense, he's almost the exact opposite of someone like Stephen Eriksson, in that the build-up is incredible and the conclusion lackluster.

I really quite like Hamilton. I came across his stuff accidentally, many years ago while stripping paperbacks for a bookstore which was moving - I kept all the ones that had interesting titles or art on the back covers, and his Neutronium Alchemist books made it into a pile in the back of my pickup while I was dumpster-diving in the parking lot after-hours.

Fallen Dragon is a favorite of mine for some reason it's an interesting world and I wish Hamilton had more of the fleshsuit space marines, they were interesting and fun to read about.

# ¿ Nov 20, 2009 00:45

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# ¿ May 4, 2024 06:00

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Magnificent Quiver posted:

Can someone remind me of what the Neutronium Alchemist actually did? I recall getting to the end of the series and thinking "Wait, did they do something with that? I don't even remember"

It was used to destroy a couple of possessed warships, iirc.

It has multiple settings to kill a star, either snuffing it or making it go nova, iirc.

Edit: http://nightsdawn.wikia.com/wiki/Neutronium_Alchemist

coyo7e fucked around with this message at 23:40 on Nov 23, 2009

# ¿ Nov 23, 2009 23:28

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Magnificent Quiver posted:

Time travel ruins every book I've ever read that had it.

...To wound the autumnal city.

:colbert:

# ¿ Aug 18, 2010 19:34

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Magnificent Quiver posted:

I'll check these two out but I swear to god if they handwave away the paradoxes I'm going on a burning spree.

I'm sorry my reference was a little obscure, it's the first sentence of the book, 'Dhalgren' by Samuel R. Delany.

Trust me, there's no hand-waving in that book. Maybe some flower waving, but they're meta flowers..

# ¿ Aug 28, 2010 23:11

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Midget Fist posted:

I tried several times to finish Dhalgren but never got more than two thirds of the way through. I liked the theme but it got sort of weird and side-tracked a bit and I just lost interest. It's much different to his more famous books, Nova and Babel-17.

The orchids are a cool idea though.

Yeah the thing is, the final 1/3 is really where all of the true exposition occurs. It's intended to be fragmentary but it really tells you a lot about what's going on through insinuation.

Dhalgren's a book you need to read twice to fully get, it's a shame you only got through the easy part and petered out before everything really came around.

# ¿ Aug 30, 2010 04:39

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

aliceamadee posted:

Yes! I am so glad this thread exists. I basically only read Space Opera and hard SF.

Right now I'm reading The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F Hamilton, which is pretty good, epic space opera. It's 1,000 pages though and in my opinion does NOT need to be that long. It's one of those books that gets you excited at the beginning and then just ends up murky and slow.

How far are you in? It's a lot of things but slow isn't necessarily what I'd bring up first and foremost, and without all the intro you'd not have any connection to most of the characters, imho. The drawn-out space settler sequence gives backstory to multiple facets of the later story (including a pretty fun bionic-space-marine sequence, imho) and the common complaints about the series are the over the top stuff in the later books (I enjoyed space Al Capone, but space Jerry Garcia saving the kiddies had me :rolleyes:

a bit for instance), the deus ex machina where it seems he kind of let things get out of hand too much for a realistic cleanup, and, of course, the "I hate this author because he wants to be the badass cool space captain banging every chick he see" stuff which goons love to bring up over and over.

I'd recommend Fallen Dragon for one of his books that's not slow (although it does have plenty of author-writing-himself-into-banging-an-underage-cheerleader stuff, if you really want to put that issue into every book you read, goons.)

# ¿ Apr 12, 2011 19:05

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Dr. Fabulous posted:

character Y tails character X from point A to point B, watches them closely, then goes back to their ship and using an ULTRA SECURE LINK that no one is supposed to be able to crack (see gripe above) reports back to their superious.

Tight-beam, encrypted point to point communication is extremely secure, though.

# ¿ Nov 29, 2011 20:19

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Dr. Fabulous posted:

Just finished the first book and half of the second of Donaldson's The Gap pentalogy.

I was expecting it to be brutal, I was prepared for that. Everytime I pick up the book I think, "Well, let's see how depressed and miserable these characters are today!"

My question is, is this mood sustained throughout all five books? The constant psychological torment and self-pity of the main character has all but taken over the entire story at this point. I can't really imagine that the entire series keeps this up, and quite frankly if it does I don't think I want to keep reading.

Also, at this point in the story (granted, it's early) Morn is sort of driving me nuts. "Sure, go ahead and rape me, I will use the pain to help me relax so I can do my job better" type of stuff. Ugh.

No. He wrote the Gap Cycle with the Ring of the Nibelung in mind (most copies of The Real Story have a fore word which mentions this, I believe,) and the story, characters, and scope shift and evolve rapidly. It's pretty good how by the fifth book he's tipped everything onto its head (including a lot of your opinions and feelings about many characters.)

Morn is a hard character, because she's actually a MacGuffin more than a person, for a lot of the beginning especially.

# ¿ Dec 3, 2011 02:40

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

HUMAN FISH posted:

Don't you guys have libraries? I think I've bought one book in my lifetime.

Some people enjoy possessing their own library.

# ¿ Jan 2, 2012 16:00

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Trig Discipline posted:

I'd also suggest Hamilton's Commonwealth Saga and the Void Trilogy.

Seconding this. Both have their strengths and criticisms, but both are an epic blast.

# ¿ Mar 17, 2012 18:28

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

notaspy posted:

I've read through this threat to find a book or series I'm pretty sure doesn't exist. I'm wanting something with the following plot devices:

- A Human empire or at least Humans as a major force in the universe
- Epic space battles
- Epic ground battles
- An epic scale either in time or space
- Political intrigue
- Aliens
- NO loving KIDS, well not as major characters!

I'm after something on the 'soft' side, I don't want to be reading about sleeper chambers or idiots floating about in zero-g, while at the same time I don't want space magic on the human side.

I am happy with bullshit pulp fiction with lovely endings as I want something to read between chapters of The Count of Monte Cristo or Dickens.

Just so you know I have read Dune (something like this would be prefect, just with aliens that aren't worms), the First Ender's Game book (what a load of right wing wank that was) and I've just started reading A Fire Upon the Deep, which is a good read just not what I'm after right now.

TIA

Simon R. Green's "Deathstalker" series fit these requests pretty well.

# ¿ Apr 30, 2012 20:45

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Cardiac posted:

So I'm reading Great North Road by Peter Hamilton at the moment.
I was pleasantly surprised for the first 100 pages or so, since there was not much sex at all, and then boom, he starts up again with a vengeance. I wonder if he can write a novel that doesn't have a blond, perfect girl screwing anything that moves?

Both the Reality Dysfunction series and Pandora star/Void series are overly concerned with sex. Typically I don't mind it, but Peter Hamilton sort of writes the sex scenes like he was a porn producer. Misspent Youth is probably the worst one of the lot.

Haha, I dare you to read Fallen Dragon. Its protagonist spends the entire story trying desperately to make up for the girlfriend he dumped in high school, and then he goes back in time and has his body reverted to high school age by an alien and so, finally, he gets to spend all his days loving a girl who's like, 30 years younger than he is, and pretending to be a kid.

That said, the flesh suit (military gear, not a sex toy) technology and fighting scenes were pretty rad - Hamilton's definitely good at writing "bunch of grunts stuck in a hosed-up alien jungle" combat scenes.

coyo7e fucked around with this message at 17:32 on Oct 1, 2012

# ¿ Oct 1, 2012 17:25

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Bhodi posted:

Oh come on, it was about regaining lost youth and getting a second chance to right all the wrongs in life, starting with his (perceived) biggest. Who wouldn't want to go back and do it all again? There weren't any weird awkward sex scenes with him pretending to be a young kid, the story just ends. That's a far cry from the poo poo in the other books.

I am not disagreeing however, that's some serious Mary Sue going on, as well. And he never mentions how he's going to erase his memory or anything, so yeah, it is kind of :pervert:

# ¿ Oct 2, 2012 04:57

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Hedrigall posted:

This is real nerdy, too nerdy for the music subforum, but does anyone know of some awesome music to listen to while reading futuristic sci-fi books and/or thinking up stuff for things I may want to write myself? I want music that sounds like I am in the future :B

Here's some futuristic-sounding stuff that I really like already:
Faunts - Lights Are Always On https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bShslKmOkfY
Miike Snow - In Search Of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt7oAWzNSiA
Solar Fields - Cobalt 2.5 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCGqqPaR6LY
Delphic - Acolyte https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6lzgY57s38

Daft Punk's Tron soundtrack is also in this category.

Check out the OST for the game "Mirror's Edge" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFh2Mke5nqI

# ¿ Feb 4, 2013 19:27

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

mllaneza posted:

Hamilton desperately needs help with plotting and characterization, but his command of the set-piece action sequence and fantastic alien landscape is second to none. He's also the most divisive author publishing today, but I'll still keep eagerly reading his stuff as fast as he can finish a series (he's also fantastic with cliffhangers, and I'm not suffering through a trilogy's worth again).

I'm personally a big fan of his "post-human space marine slogging through alien jungle" sequences. I can't get enough of weird-rear end cyborg mercenaries who've replaced essentially their entire bodies.

NastyPBears posted:

It's ages since I read that trilogy, but didn't it have a part where he mentions how organised religion was affected by knowing for certain there's life after death?

That's kind of the entire premise of the series, the "crisis event" which every alien species eventually reaches, where they find out the truth about the afterlife. It's mostly just alluded to how some of the aliens dealt with it, but there really wasn't much need to visit it any deeper imho.

# ¿ Mar 14, 2013 19:16

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Hedrigall posted:

Replace "alien jungle" with "alien tower of death and mathematics" and this is Diamond Dogs by Alastair Reynolds. A great, horrific novella.

Bought Diamond Dogs/Turquoise Days for Kindle sight-unseen on this recommend. So thanks or gently caress you, it's still in the state of being both at once - at least until I open the book.

# ¿ Mar 14, 2013 22:32

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Cardiac posted:

If Hamilton just could devote himself to writing only that kinda fiction I think we would all love him.
Oh and GW should recruit Hamilton for writing Space Marine novels cause Space Marines don't have sex with teenagers

Isn't that because they're all like 15 feet tall, though? :aaa:

# ¿ Mar 15, 2013 18:00

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Owlkill posted:

Wait what that sounds awesome. Maybe I'll give it another shot at some point, and just skip the adolescent sex scenes (presuming they don't add anything important story-wise).

Fallen Dragon is good for this, it has a bunch of flashback scenes where the protagonist is in a "skinsuit" (which is way less porn-y than it sounds).

The first two books of Neutronium Alchemist/etc have lots of marines after the initial colony stuff happens and things begin to go south, as well.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2013 19:14

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Rocksicles posted:

anyone read The Lost Fleet by Jack Campbell?

I got through three or four of them before I got royally sick of him explaining the basics of near-light-speed communications and combat logistics for the fifth time PER BOOK.

Also the romance is terrible, and even more repetitive. They were pretty fun for a while though.

# ¿ Jun 25, 2013 21:57

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Psykmoe posted:

I actually liked The Lost Fleet series pretty ok, mostly for the space battles I think. I also liked the whole 'wow the future future is poo poo' thing Geary was dealing with.

I've not gotten around to reading more than one of the books after the Syndic war ends.

Any other recommendations? Light-ish on politics, likeable cast, space battles?

Eh, I felt that both H G Wells, and Mike Judge's "Idiocracy" did it better and with less repetition.

Peter Hamilton sounds like your kinda thing.

# ¿ Jul 8, 2013 00:09

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Fenrra posted:

How did you end up liking the The Night's Dawn Trilogy? Been hearing about it for a while and wondering if it is any good.

It's been rehashed a thousand times in both sci-fi threads on the forums. Most people seem to be upset by the author's tendency to have lots of sex scenes. I personally enjoy his "space marines in the jungle" scenes (I like Fallen Dragon primarily for the space marine flashbacks, for instance), the colonization stuff, the bioships, and the reincarnated celebrities later in were a heck of a lot of fun. He writes good aliens, good action scenes, and okay politics.

The ending is pure deux ex machina and contains a questionable marriage between the author's self write-in star captain space pimp character and an underage person however, it's certainly above the level of most airport fiction I've picked up.

coyo7e fucked around with this message at 19:07 on Jul 17, 2013

# ¿ Jul 15, 2013 17:58

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

tonytheshoes posted:

I can't lie, it's a bit of a slog, but so far it's JUUUUST interesting enough to keep me going. I'm definitely confused most of the time...

That's because GotM is likely the worst book in the series.

# ¿ Aug 20, 2013 02:22

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

I prety much always recommend reading the first three Malazan books, the third (Memories of Ice) is my personal favorite, but following GotM up with another couple will quickly fill in a lot of those gaps, and at least let you feel comfortable that the rest will get dealt with and explained as well, eventually.

# ¿ Aug 20, 2013 18:21

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

branedotorg posted:

Also SPACE CATS

Zero G cat poo poo sounds great, can't wait.

# ¿ Sep 13, 2013 01:46

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

coffeetable posted:

We need a new thread that bans discussion of books we're happy to admit are trash. This 'I knew it was awful after three pages, but I've made it to book #17 anyway!' poo poo is just enabling an addiction.

Nobody who asks those sort of questions actually reads the OP or any posts. They won't even read the thread title. Or they're trolls so just get used to it, imho.

# ¿ Sep 21, 2013 03:41

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

sebmojo posted:

I will loving fight you CJ Cherryh's space cats are best space cats.. It is like a feline Traveller campaign.

Unfortunately they have literally the worst covers .

Covers like this are pretty much why I avoid most women sci-fi/fantasy authors out of habit - somewhere in my subconscious I just assume that it's going to end up being My Little Pony or something, since the few women fantasy authors I checked out as a kid, seemed to mostly be about misunderstood young tomboys who really liked to brush their horse/dragon's mane.

# ¿ Sep 26, 2013 22:31

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Groke posted:

This is horrifyingly funny to anyone who's at all familiar with CJ Cherryh's work because it's basically way the hell over the event horizon from that stereotype.

Yeah, I'm not proud of it. It's just what I think every time I see some a cover in the fantasy section with a cat (or six) on it.

coyo7e fucked around with this message at 21:38 on Sep 27, 2013

# ¿ Sep 27, 2013 21:17

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Just Another Lurker posted:

Bought all of the Lost Fleet series last week and after finishing the last one this morning i can honestly say i feel thoroughly ripped off from the experience.

Overpriced mulch doled out in excruciatingly small books, Jack Campbell can out of my life with no regrets on my side.

Time to reread Vernor Vinge & David Brin with a light sprinkling of Gary Gibson to get back in the groove.

edit: vvvv bought them for the Kindle.

They're even smaller than you think too, since he repeats EVERYTHING four or five times each book. :gonk:

Velius posted:

Quoting myself from three years ago, because it's still true. Mil Sci-fi is a tough genre to find decent stuff.

I found the most embarassing military porn title the other day, looking for Cyber Monday sales and I had to share it: Mogadishu of the Dead

Bonus points for difficulty: it's a zombie versus jarheads book where the only survivors hole up on the British Isles. They go to Africa to fight zombies, who they constantly refer to as "Zulus". :downsrim:

The Amazon ratings are especially telling.

coyo7e fucked around with this message at 23:55 on Dec 4, 2013

# ¿ Dec 4, 2013 23:43

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Yeah everybody knows that however, there's a reason they don't call them that basically in any other zombie movies/books/comics.

# ¿ Dec 18, 2013 18:50

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Darth Walrus posted:

Particularly the ones set in Africa and titled 'Mogadishu of the Dead'.

Yeah, the first thing I thought of was that stink that was raised with that Resident Evil game set in Africa.

# ¿ Dec 19, 2013 00:11

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Does he write in haiku form as well?

# ¿ Dec 31, 2013 00:18

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Sneaky Fast posted:

I've just gotten a kindle for my birthday. i have two questions.

1) What is the best place to get books for free in kindle format?

2) What are the books I have to have as a newbie to the genre?

If you've got amazon prime, they've got tons of free titles.

# ¿ Mar 21, 2014 15:49

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

fookolt posted:

I've read them both already

What else should I look for in terms of the major series in the space opera genre? There's a lot of recommendations here and I honestly have no idea what to go into next. I've already read The Culture, Hyperion, The Foundation, and Revelation Space and I really enjoyed all of them.

I'd love to avoid rape/sexism poo poo or right wing war fetishism (so I guess the Gap Cycle is out). My Tom Clancy days ended way back in middle school.

Allen Steele's Coyote series is pretty good, and tracks Earth and a colonized planet as they first send out a colony ship, explore and learn to survive, and then get uppity about paying tariffs back to the Earth they haven't ever actually seen in their lifespans. There's definitely some Right Wing War stuff going on (neocons took over the country! They named all their ships and kids after Conservative/Confederate paragons! :laugh:

) however I thought it was pretty hilarious.

coyo7e fucked around with this message at 17:32 on May 10, 2014

# ¿ May 10, 2014 17:29

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Miss-Bomarc posted:

Considering that the earlier government names its space shuttles "George Wallace" and "Jesse Helms" I don't think Steele is intending for anyone in contemporary politics to be taken seriously as a role model.

Yeah at first I was worried it was going to be some crazy deep south separatist propaganda but the politics really don't make much of a difference in the scheme of things, I was mainly just amused by it.

# ¿ May 11, 2014 18:27

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Taeke posted:

As you should be, unless they're rare or really old or a special edition or whatever. Hell, since I started studying English I've made a habit of always having a pencil or whatever on hand when I read to mark interesting passages and stuff, even with books I read for fun.

I used to sperg out over keeping my books in pristine condition until I worked in a bookstore and saw how disposable they really are. After that in stopped worrying about cracking the spine on my Dragonlance novels and became a much less insufferable human being.

# ¿ Jul 4, 2014 05:20

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Count Roland posted:

Neat, thanks. Wow, the first in the series is available for free? Its soon time for me to get an e-reader I guess.

I really like the Moon+ reader and perfect viewer for android. PV also handles graphic novels really well in that epub or whatever former its named.

# ¿ Jul 4, 2014 21:48

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Miss-Bomarc posted:

I think the guy had some kind of contract term that he had to describe the characteristics of battlecruisers in every single book. Not that this ever actually becomes relevant to any of the space battles; he just has to say it.

Have I mentioned that there is a delay in sight and communication due to distances of light years, and how it complicates a battle? Let me tell you three more times in this book

# ¿ Jul 6, 2014 16:09

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

ToxicFrog posted:

Light-seconds

On reflection, I kind of feel like he tried to write each book so that someone coming into the middle of the series wouldn't be completely lost -- there's the recap at the start of each book, and then somewhere in there is going to be mention of the light-lag, the effects of high velocity on targeting systems, the difference between battleships and battlecruisers, why the FFAs are important, etc.

The thing is though is that he writes like its a magazine serial and people are showing up blind every three chapters so all the basic physics premises are literally repeated 3 or 5 times per book.

# ¿ Jul 8, 2014 04:35

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

PlushCow posted:

Syfy is bringing Scalzi's Old Man's War to TV as The Ghost Brigades.

I can't see what could possibly go wrong with a show about green people fuckin' and shootin'.

# ¿ Aug 7, 2014 13:21

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# ¿ May 4, 2024 06:00

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

jng2058 posted:

That's pretty wrong. Has SyFy made anything worth a drat since they went "SyFy" instead of "Sci-Fi"?

Not really, and I'm pretty sure that it's a road which they turned down on purpose. I recall reading an article in WIRED a deacde or more ago, about how a couple of guys who worked there brought up the idea of, "hey, we can totally make a movie for less than the cost of licensing this stuff which all of our fans have seen ten times and are sick to death of. We won't need to re-license them constantly and then we can actually own and sell them to other networks!" Thus, Mansquito was born.

Then they started showing pro wrestling and nothing was ever the same.

It's a shame too because their Dune miniseries was really pretty good.

# ¿ Aug 7, 2014 18:32

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

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