|
China Miéville has written a sci-fi novel. From how he describes it in a new interview, it sounds space-operatic!The interview posted:However he revealed his next book is already with his editor – ’science fiction, aliens and spaceships, but I don’t want to give too much away’ – and should be out next year, while adding he has a bunch of books in mind that he wants to write in the future. I'm excited.  China is my favourite author and he always does something interesting when dabbling in different genres (see: western --> Iron Council; detective noir --> The City & The City)Hedrigall fucked around with this message at 12:46 on May 13, 2010 |
#
¿
May 13, 2010 12:44
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 3, 2024 23:23 |
|
|
Ebethron posted:As a major Reynolds fan, I'd defend Redemption Ark and Absolution Gap. Their plots aren't as strong as Revelation Space, and Chasm City leaves them all standing, but they aren't so bad as people are suggesting, plenty of strange warped characters, extreme technology and strange worlds. The short story collection Galactic North helps tie up lots of the loose ends from the series. The only Reynolds book I've read was Terminal World and I didn't much care for it (apart from the admittedly cool hints that the world they're on is actually Mars in the far future). Should I still try his other stuff?
|
|
#
¿
Nov 3, 2010 01:46
|
|
|
Any good space opera novels that are like Mass Effect (rich world building, lots of alien races, politics)?
|
|
#
¿
Nov 21, 2010 23:29
|
|
|
Oh I'm glad this thread is still around, I thought it disappeared. I've been reading a bunch of sci-fi lately and am really getting into it, thanks to discovering the Mass Effect games last year. So lately I've read: • Embassytown by China Miéville - which is really goddamn good and everyone should read it when it comes out in May! • Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds (and I am now partway through Chasm City) • Ringworld and The Draco Tavern by Larry Niven • Old Man's War by John Scalzi (I've bought the second book, gonna read that soon) • Sundiver (and I've got the next book, Startide Rising, gonna read that soon too) • the first Mass Effect novel (plus I've bought the rest because I'm a big nerd for this game) • Blindsight by Peter Watts I've enjoyed them all, some have been dumb entertainment whereas others have been utterly mindblowing and are probably now among my favourite books. I can't believe it took me this long to get into sci-fi! Throughout my teenage years the only vaguely space-opera books I read were some Asimov & Clarke short stories (not many), and Ender's Game and a few of its sequels. ----- Here's my reading list for the indeterminate future (I read slowly): WANT TO READ NOW, RIGHT NOW, FUUUUCK • The rest of the Revelation Space series and its short stories/novellas, plus House of Suns • The rest of the Uplift series • Dune trilogy • The Culture novels and other Iain M. Banks stuff • A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky • Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars STUFF I'LL GET AROUND TO EVENTUALLY • A bunch of anthologies I've picked up (The New Space Opera 1 & 2, Engineering Infinity, others) • The Saga of Seven Suns • The Foundation Trilogy • Commonwealth Saga and the Void Trilogy • The Xeelee Saga (I bought the omnibus) • Eon & Eternity • Hyperion & sequel • Seeds of Earth by Michael Cobley, and its two sequels (Humanity's Fire trilogy I think it's called) • The Mote in God's Eye by Niven • Marrow by Robert Reed • Bruce McAllister short story collection I got years ago • The Thrawn Trilogy (Star Wars :B) That's 68 books. Uggggghhh and this is only a fraction of my reading list which also includes a bunch of gay fiction, YA, literature, biographies, history and science books.  drat my honours thesis taking up all my time 
Hedrigall fucked around with this message at 14:48 on Apr 6, 2011 |
|
#
¿
Apr 6, 2011 14:34
|
|
|
gender illusionist posted:Yup, it's a blast if you don't take it too seriously. It's full of homage to big sci-fi films and books and has every plot device you care to imagine squished into a small space. The number of protagonists and variety of settings gives the series a blistering pace which was great for the first two books, however he needs to get his arse in gear and finish up! Awesome, I have Seeds of the Earth sitting on my to-read shelf but I'd forgotten everything about it or why I'd bought it. It sounds great.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 4, 2011 00:19
|
|
|
WINTER IS COMING posted:I am wanting to start on Alistair Reynolds - is Revelation Space the best place to start? I read Terminal World first, and Revelation Space second. My mistake, because Terminal World had a few good ideas but they were swamped in a bland pseudo-steampunk world with dull characters and dull prose, and it nearly made me swear off reading anything else by him. Then a while later I tried Revelation Space and was blown away. It's loving excellent. I'm sure other people will say Chasm City first, but it really doesn't matter. If you want... - noirish urban sci-fi, mixed with a story about a fleet of generation ships, go for Chasm City - a disturbing, almost gothic space-set thriller with cool technology and weird aliens, go for Revelation Space
|
|
#
¿
Oct 6, 2011 10:20
|
|
|
TjyvTompa posted:The third book in the series Humanity's Fire, The Ascendant Stars, has been released, just picked it up before work. Anyone else reading this book/series? I really liked the first 2 books so I hope the third one will be as good or better. I have the first two lying around but I have like a million sci-fi series to start. Convince me to take this one up next!
|
|
#
¿
Nov 3, 2011 00:47
|
|
|
The Risen Empire sounds awesome, I just bought the UK paperback (both books in 1) on Book Depository.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 25, 2012 12:08
|
|
|
SirViver posted:I might've missed it, but has anyone given Faith by John Love a read yet? I have heard good things about it so I was thinking of getting it. Could it be considered space horror? Just wondering, as that's becoming my favourite genre, but even if it's not I'll still probably read it. Also, is the ending as amazing and mindblowing as some reviews have made it out to be?
|
|
#
¿
Feb 25, 2012 05:20
|
|
|
Decius posted:After Mass Effect ended on a dissapointing note after a brilliant game, I need some good Space Opera, one which "feels" similar. I've read every Culture novel, all of Neal Asher's Polity, I'm in the process of working through the Vorkosigan series, read Charles Stross' Eschaton books and Scalzi's Old Man's War series. The Risen Empire duology too. The classics like Foundation and Dune too of course. I enjoyed them all, but that's also the most obvious books I myself would name, so what's somewhat similar out there? Here's a list with lots of space opera series. I suggest the Revelation Space series by Reynolds, Fire Upon The Deep/Deepness In The Sky by Vinge, Seeds Of Earth by Michael Cobley. The first two are genre giants, but Seeds Of Earth is less known (and not as good quality-wise, but I still had a lot of fun reading it). Here's another thread where I recommended it to a Mass Effect fan. Hedrigall fucked around with this message at 09:43 on Mar 17, 2012 |
|
#
¿
Mar 17, 2012 09:39
|
|
|
I just bought an ebook from Baen of two Charles Sheffield novels in one: Summertide and Divergence collected as "Convergent Series"... for $4. I don't know much about them but apparently they feature weird alien artifacts being expored by humans, which is why I was interested in the first place, and I was really happy it was so cheap. But now the fact that it's published by Baen is making me worry that I've really bought some right-wing milsf garbage. Has anyone read any Charles Sheffield books, particularly in this universe (The Heritage is the name of the series), and are they good? 
|
|
#
¿
May 3, 2012 10:37
|
|
|
Lex Talionis posted:Ty Franck, on the other hand, is the ubergoon. 
|
|
#
¿
Jul 13, 2012 06:40
|
|
|
TjyvTompa posted:I just finished 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson and I really enjoyed it. It re-uses some settings from his Red Mars series so if you've read that you will recognize some things. I only had 1 problem with it though, I never really understood the plot at all: Awesome, I am 30 pages from the end and will be finishing it tonight too! I really loved it. It reminds me of Dune in that it's a relatively short book (under 600 pages) yet is so packed with world-building and SF ideas and great characters, that it feels like you've just read a whole trilogy. I dunno the answer to all the questions you posted, but I'm pretty sure the attack on Terminator was to show off the destructiveness of the pebble attack, so that whether the next attack was averted or not, Venus would still be scared enough to want to get rid of the sunshield and speed up the rotation. The lawn bowler was just a sociopathic genius who liked programming and didn't care if he killed lots of people as long as he got to try out his new qube algorithms or something. He was hired by Lakshmi's group who were presumably behind the qubans.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 18, 2012 09:08
|
|
|
TjyvTompa posted:Ah that makes sense, usually I only get angry when I don't get the plot but this book really clicked with me. Have you read the Red Mars trilogy also? To me I see this book as a straight sequel, even though some things have been changed, guess that's why I liked it so much despite not really getting it I havent read the Mars books but I have Red Mars and Green Mars on my shelf ready to go.... sometime in the future. I thought I heard that 2312 is meant to be in a separate future timeline though, just with some elements in common but not actually going alongside those books.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 18, 2012 09:45
|
|
|
Junkenstein posted:2312 sounds good, although I'm just coming to the end of Blue Remembered Earth, so I think I'll wait a bit before reading another near-ish-future Solar System book. Can anyone who's read both comment on how they compare? They sound quite similar, even the covers look the same, but I suspect they're quite different when it comes down to it. The similarity has been noted in reviews. I'm going to hold off on Blue Remembered Earth for a few months so I don't confound the two books. Here's a review of 2312 I found on Goodreads which talks about the similarities and is in favour of KSR's work: some dude called Mike on Goodreads posted:A month or so ago I read Alastair Reynolds' sunshiney view of the possibilities of a post-Crisis Earth, a couple hundred years further along, humanity busting out into the solar system, getting a handle on its homefront poo poo (climate, poverty, inequality). He had some nice tweaks on new world order--Africa the hub of global commerce and politics; he positively swooned over assorted techxtrapolations; he wrapped it all up in a puzzlebox, giving us a mcguffin to attend to as he did the world-building thing. It was fun.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 18, 2012 14:45
|
|
|
Lprsti99 posted:Goddamn it, my Kindle broke Don't freak out! Download the Kindle app on your computer or phone, you can get all your books again and it'll keep all the page numbers you were up to  I have a Kindle, as well as the Kindle app on iPad, and I move between them. I use the cheap Kindle for bus/train reading, then when I get home, iPad is perfect for reading under the covers late at night.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 31, 2012 08:50
|
|
I'd given Night's Dawn a break and was most of the way through Consider Phlebas (Pheblas? Phelbas? Can't remember), and was thoroughly enjoying it. Definitely going to read those Spin books, though, they sound neat.
|
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. Hedrigall fucked around with this message at 15:49 on Aug 18, 2012 |
|
#
¿
Aug 18, 2012 15:47
|
|
|
Alastair Reynolds could write a loving Thomas The Tank Engine novel and I'd buy it on release day to read it  China Miéville once got asked if he'd consider writing an episode of Doctor Who and he didn't give a committal answer, but went on to enthuse over getting literary writers to do tie-in fiction.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 9, 2013 07:17
|
|
|
systran posted:In 'The City and the City' the one Reynolds like stupid element that broke the consistency was the random alien weapons and artifacts that added nothing to the plot. I have read TC&TC twice and I... don't remember that.  Reynolds is fantastic, he's quickly becoming my second favourite author after Miéville. I started with Terminal World which I kinda hated (except for the hints about the Earth of that book actually being Mars thousands of years after abandonment of the original Earth and settlement by the Chinese which was pretty drat inspired), but luckily I gave him another chance with Revelation Space. I absolutely loved that. One of my favourite things about Reynolds is he does the vast scale of the universe so drat well. I'm on House of Suns now and I'm enjoying the mystery, as well as the concept of a persisting race watching countless other civilisations rise and fall, as well as cool technology like the time-slowing Synchromesh. Chasm City was good enough. I actually liked the twist even though I agree it was telegraphed. It's my least favourite book in the Revelation Space series though because I really didn't like the titular city. Reynolds is a good world builder on an interstellar scale, but the city in Chasm City just felt like a half-baked sci-fi version of New Crobuzon. The best book was Redemption Ark by far. I didn't have as many gripes about Absolution Gap as most people, I thought the new elements introduced were interesting, and the ending didn't take me by surprise because I'd already read the short story "Galactic North". Scorpio is also my favourite character in RS, and that last book gives him a ton of character development. Goddamn it's an amazing series.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 11, 2013 22:33
|
|
|
coyo7e posted: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. Replace "alien jungle" with "alien tower of death and mathematics" and this is Diamond Dogs by Alastair Reynolds. A great, horrific novella.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 14, 2013 22:16
|
|
|
I liked Sundiver (it's cheesy, basically "Agatha Christie does hard SF in the Mass Effect universe"), but Startide Rising is way cooler. Go straight to that if you want to read a book about the first dolphin-run space mission (with a few humans along but only as civilian observers) with tons of species-building (dolphin language, culture, etc etc).
|
|
#
¿
Jul 17, 2013 10:53
|
|
|
Grey Area posted:People have talked about Carver's Expanse series (Leviathan Wakes etc.) a lot and I enjoyed the first one. Apparently the series is now being turned into a TV show. Who is Carver?
|
|
#
¿
Sep 25, 2013 10:16
|
|
|
Chairman Capone posted:Has anyone read Seeds of Earth by Michael Cobley? It's the Kindle daily deal on Amazon. The premise sounds interesting, but the reviews are all over the place. Some are saying it's in the vein of Iain Banks, Larry Niven, and Stephen Baxter, others are saying it's basically just modern Orson Scott Card, politics included. I definitely didn't get any kind of conservative vibe from it. In fact it seemed more leftist to me. I haven't gotten around to any of the sequels yet though. Here's my Goodreads review: Me on Goodreads posted:Really fun, engaging space opera which packs EVERYTHING into one story: machines vs organics, alien races both good and evil (and neutral), human resistance, space chases/battles, ancient alien ruins, sentient forests, politics, AI/droid characters with tons of personality, and more. It's a lot like Mass Effect, entirely in good ways. Cobley has created a living universe with lots of action and intrigue.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 8, 2013 23:58
|
|
|
I think there's an entire subgenre called "mundane SF" which is exactly like that.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 5, 2013 09:27
|
|
|
Spug posted:Yes, this is what makes the series cool. Don't listen to Hedrigall, the Expanse series is hard sci-fi and manages to make it interesting. Hey I wasn't criticizing the books, there actually is a genre/movement called "mundane SF" and the Expanse series fits into it in a lot of aspects!
|
|
#
¿
Dec 7, 2013 12:52
|
|
|
Miss-Bomarc posted:And then there's the part where Tovera fucks a dinosaur Do elaborate.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 22, 2013 03:56
|
|
|
Chairman Capone posted:FX is adapting Redshirts as a miniseries. I really hope they go to the logical conclusion of adapting the novel and make it so that they realize that they're actually on the Redshirts miniseries itself, and have the character actors play themselves as well. I wonder if they'll change the book's story a little to differentiate it or if it'll just end up a retread of Red Dwarf: Back to Earth and The League of Gentlemen Apocalypse.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 9, 2014 23:39
|
|
|
This is hilarious: How David Weber orders a pizza
|
|
#
¿
Feb 21, 2014 00:37
|
|
|
Psykmoe posted:Has anyone here read the Quadrail books? I was talking about Timothy Zahn the other day (well, listening to my brother how everyone in the Thrawn trilogy purses their lips all the time) and I looked up what else the guy wrote. Read The Icarus Hunt instead, which is a standalone and totally awesome. Here's what I wrote on Goodreads about The Icarus Hunt... me on goodreads posted:A pretty fun and fast-paced murder mystery/space chase thriller. ... and here's what I wrote about the first Quadrail book, Night Train to Rigel. me on goodreads posted:It was just okay. Pretty silly overall, with by-the-numbers action sequences, and barely any science in the sci-fi.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 5, 2014 02:05
|
|
|
Chairman Capone posted:Old Man's War might be a better space opera by Scalzi. It also just completely rips off an idea Red Dwarf and League of Gentlemen have already done. Redshirts is a lovely book. Count Roland posted:Haven't even heard of them. Any particular favorite, or place you have to start with them? It's a trilogy that starts with Stealing Light.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 3, 2014 03:35
|
|
|
Just a reminder that it's not a trilogy, there's three more books still to go, starting with Cibola Burn next month.
|
|
#
¿
May 6, 2014 07:09
|
|
|
First book good, second book better, third book FARRRRRT, but the early synopses etc for the fourth book sound promising, like they get the story back on track.
|
|
#
¿
May 6, 2014 14:18
|
|
|
The problem with the third book, aside from the lovely new characters (dull-as-ditchwater lesbian priest and Asian-girl-Gollum), was that they pushed all the cool mysterious build-up about aliens and other worlds to the back burner, and the entire second half of the book was tedious poo poo about a mutiny. The sudden slow-down was a cool set-piece though.
|
|
#
¿
May 7, 2014 00:55
|
|
|
Mr.Drf posted:How?I can't find it listed as being on sale till next month? This may absolutely shock and astound you, so be ready for your world view to be shattered forever, but sometimes books come out in the US later than other countries. It's been out in the UK and Commonwealth countries for almost a year now.
|
|
#
¿
May 17, 2014 04:05
|
|
|
Fried Chicken posted:Wow way to be a complete shitstain to him for asking an honest question Way to be a complete shitstain about me being a shitstain <  >Seriously though are people incapable of checking release dates before assuming we must be time-traveling wizards for having read a book early? Antti posted:Living in Europe can really embitter you when it comes to release dates. Having to wait months for movies or even games to come out. Australia often cops it even worse!
|
|
#
¿
May 18, 2014 07:22
|
|
|
(x-post) Good news everyone! Alastair Reynolds' new Revelation Space short story, "The Last Log of the Lachrimosa", is free to read online here! Hedrigall fucked around with this message at 23:08 on Jul 30, 2014 |
|
#
¿
Jul 30, 2014 23:05
|
|
|
Razzled posted:Any other Alastair Reynolds fans here that can chime in on Poseidon's Children? I've read all of his other novels and loved all of them but haven't had the opportunity to pick these up. Are they at least as good as Revelation Space? They're good, but no, not as good as Revelation Space. The second book in particular has this weird quality in that it slows down in the last act, contrary to every other Reynolds book which speeds up with more action towards the end. Became a bit of a slog to finish, sadly.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 8, 2014 22:43
|
|
|
BadOptics posted:Sounds interesting; pretty short too at only 192 pages. I'm doubting that page count, unless the text is printed really large. Reynolds himself said it's about 40,000 words long. Anyway it's a novella, not published by his usual publisher but by a small press publisher. Also I posted about it in the sci-fi/fantasy thread like 2 months ago :P
|
|
#
¿
Oct 26, 2014 13:20
|
|
|
Chairman Capone posted:In the line at the post office today, there was a guy in front of me who looked to be late 40s/early 50s, very overweight, with some kind of Royal Manticore Navy captain's hat on and a Honor Harrington fan club society badge around his neck, playing some space shooter on his Android. I felt kind of bad for him. Yeah but he's probably one of the truly happy ones
|
|
#
¿
Dec 17, 2014 04:28
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 3, 2024 23:23 |
|
|
Antti posted:The Jane Aumonier sideplot felt like a short story that he'd incorporated into the main story but that didn't matter because it was very Reynoldsian Every one of his books has that  moment or idea that makes me really look forward to each new book I read by him... just waiting for it to appear, and being horrifically and queasily surprised each time.Like the "sectioning" in House of Suns.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 21, 2014 04:33
|
|