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I'm a huge whore for exciting space battles. I read all the Honor Harrington stuff which was nice because it was interesting between battles too. I don't mind the occasional infantry engagement but from what I'm hearing I probably wouldn't like Ringo's stuff too much. Any suggestions? I've read barely any Niven stuff except the Mote in God's Eye. I also read some Greg Bear stuff mentioned earlier in the thread. I guess I'm kind of a low-brow scifi reader. Gotta have those space battles! I'm not too big on the really conjectural 'how would development X affect human society' books usually. Edit: I also read most/all of the Culture and Uplift novels. They were ok even though the Culture novels were almost entirely carried by their characters and settings for me, the tech level is too high and fanciful for my tastes. Psykmoe fucked around with this message at 14:49 on Sep 19, 2011 |
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Sep 19, 2011 14:47
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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. Another series I really plowed through with enjoyment was Drake's RCN series. I enjoyed his take on spaceships and FTL and how dangerous it is for the crews, and liked most of the characters. Basically I enjoy series with interesting space battles and like-able crews, although I have some trouble suspending my disbelief once ships and technology becomes too amazing. I enjoy Culture books entirely on the strength of the writing, the generally extremely high tech levels would have turned me off if Banks hadn't been so good at his job. I've also read Weber's series. Any other recommendations? Light-ish on politics, likeable cast, space battles?
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Jul 7, 2013 22:52
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Humbug Scoolbus posted:Drake also can write politics pretty well. I really kind of enjoyed the weird politics of the Republic of Cinabar. Also Drake's protagonist is clearly very gifted, but because he is written to depend very strongly on and trust a number of subordinates who are competent in their fields, it feels less dumb than Honor Harrington literally revolutionizing the way space warfare is waged. Also for some reason I always found Hoggs and Tovera very charming even if they're one dimensional. I also feel like the antagonistic nation is handled better by Drake. Or at least less hamfisted. I think in this case it's mostly because less is more. The enemy head of state is only mentioned and implied to be some kind of North Korea level tyrant and ursurper. You don't really learn how the Alliance of Free Stars is run now or before the Guarantor came to power, but you do see that not everyone is a monster. Also there's no one called Rob S. Pierre. I guess I'm just still bitter Weber's Republic of Haven descended into villainy because they had unemployment benefits. Psykmoe fucked around with this message at 01:50 on Sep 13, 2013 |
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Sep 13, 2013 01:45
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I mostly liked Weber's world building. Well, compared to his character writing it's easy to look good I guess  Maybe I'd be less down on Honor if her support cast didn't feel so loving superfluous. I'm struggling to remember any of them that weren't always back home/on some other ship. Compare to David Drake's RCN novels - the protagonist is also really good at what he does, but he is surrounded with fairly interesting characters with different important skillsets, and occasionally they throw in a point about it actually being kind of lovely that he as Captain is always tempted to take over the missileer's job to micromanage/do it better. Sure these other guys weren't all particularly three-dimensional but at least it was something! And I did kinda enjoy the Hoggs/Tovera interactions 
Psykmoe fucked around with this message at 21:42 on Dec 19, 2013 |
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Dec 19, 2013 21:35
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Psion posted:The only supporting character Weber did anything interesting with died as the Honor-surrogate when he chickened out of killing her, so, yeah pretty much. Took me like 30 seconds to remember Daniel's chief engineer. Pasternack, right? There's a doctor near where I live who shares the name which was kind of neat. I liked it when Daniel was like "C'mon Pasternack, why are you even still here, you're rich now from all the price money we've been pulling in." "My wife and kids are so annoying and living on that farm they made me buy is boring, I'd rather keep doing what I'm good at." Which is being dour and baby sitting the engine room. I don't know if he's relevant, but I do remember that he never picks up the sort of hero worship for Daniel/Adele that a lot of the crew seem to get, which at least makes him distinct. He knows he's good at what he does, he knows Daniel is good, he knows they can trust each other not to gently caress it up, probably. Generally I'm loving terrible with remembering names of characters, but I couldn't even give you a rough outline of a lot of side characters in the Honor books Miss-Bomarc posted:And then there's the part where Tovera fucks a dinosaur And everyone else was rightfully disgusted 
Psykmoe fucked around with this message at 17:03 on Dec 20, 2013 |
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Dec 20, 2013 16:59
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Hedrigall posted:Do elaborate. It's just strongly implied that she hooks up with some weird alien lizard-man who is also a bodyguard/assassin. The protagonist already thinks Tovera is barely human so he's merely more disgusted than usual, her direct boss is disgusted by any kind of biology according to herself. I'm not sure any other character hears of it/catches on, but it's been too long. I was honestly more surprised to have a sapient alien character show up in the RCN book. I guess him and Tovera connected on some "being a violent sociopath is awesome" level? It's basically just a couple throwaway lines to remind us that Tovera is hosed up. I think, and forgive me if I misremember, this was at a point in the series where the protagonists occasionally thought to themselves "Huh, that facial expression almost looks genuine, maybe if you try and fake being normal enough you kind of become a more normal person?" And then "Oh wait, Tovera is still a freak." quote:Adele wasn't sure whether Tovera actually had a sense of humor or if she made jokes in the same way that she acted as though she had morals: by analyzing jokes that normal people told and reproducing their elements in workmanlike fashion. "Tovera is terrible at being a normal human being" is kind of a running theme. No one actually likes Tovera. Except perhaps Hogg (the protagonist's manservant/loyal thug) because he understands her devotion to Adele at least and appreciates that Tovera is really good at murdering people, which is useful. And since Hogg also has no problem garotting people with fishing wire if it comes down to it, a second crazy person to protect Adele and by extension his master doesn't go amiss! Daniel only tolerates her because she's with Adele and Adele only lets her tag along so she isn't running loose and to remind herself not to become too much of a socially incompetent shut-in/too detached about killing people. For her part, Tovera follows around Adele because she thinks Adele is just as good at being a killer while also being kind of alright at faking being normal, and Tovera wants to learn to fake being normal. This isn't an interpretation Adele is necessarily happy with, but does not usually argue. Again, I may be misremembering these things in details but at least I can kind of talk about it by memory as opposed to the cast around Honor Harrington  Psykmoe fucked around with this message at 16:24 on Dec 22, 2013 |
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Dec 22, 2013 15:59
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Miss-Bomarc posted:Drake's "Leary" series is, I think, what you have in mind. I would suggest starting with "Lt. Leary Commanding", because the first book is kind of different in tone (and spends a surprising amount of time not being about spaceships.) I concur. David Drake's RCN series is pretty fun to read. The faster than light technology is a bit unusual but as far as I saw, internally consistent and enjoyable to read about, and the characters either likeable or fun to read about. The spaceships themselves are, I believe, fairly small? Relatable sizes anyway. I enjoy myself more with vessels on a sort of wet-navy scale compared to stuff with ships the size of moons (Empire from the Ashes) or what not. Personal preference of course. Doesn't matter to most people I guess I also detected less political background noise compared to Weber's work, which is good for someone far removed from American politics like me. Psykmoe fucked around with this message at 15:26 on Feb 26, 2014 |
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Feb 26, 2014 15:18
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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. Quadrail's 'FTL train network' concept sounds goofy as hell but I do love trains so...easy reading or eyerollingly annoying?
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Mar 5, 2014 01:58
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In that whole Lost Fleet/Harrington/RCN style of competent hero and cool fleet actions, the RCN one has always been the least guilty pleasure for me. They appear less formulaic than Lost Fleet, and their secondary characters are less forgettable than Harringtons, and Leary, while usually right, at least knows to trust competent allies instead of being surrounded by idiots or nobodies and has some minor flaws. The weird sail-based FTL may not be for everyone but I found it kind of charming.
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Jul 1, 2014 14:38
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I've been looking for some more sci-fi schlock to read. I think I'm in the mood for something more ground-based instead of space battles. To narrow it down, here are things I've already read in the vein I mean (and to make up for me being bad at explaining what I am looking for): Hammer's Slammers by Drake (although I tend to prefer something more infantry-ish). Redliners by Drake is also one I enjoyed. I've read the Prince Roger books, and Huff's Condederation of Valor series. Asprin's Phule's Company was also a good way to fritter away a couple hours. When I was younger I read a bunch of those WH40K Gaunt's Ghosts books. I've read Spots the Space Marine I've read Starship Troopers but I'm just mentioning that for completion, since that always seemed more ambitious to me than the rest of this nonsense. Any suggestions? I guess I just enjoy reading about a bunch of future soldiers in lovely situations. It's less fun without the sci-fi window dressing. Oh yeah, I get annoyed at spelling mistakes so I'm wary of that new generation of self-published sci-fi authors who think they can be their own editor
Psykmoe fucked around with this message at 21:12 on Mar 25, 2015 |
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Mar 25, 2015 21:09
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Watch on the Rhine is reprehensible to anyone with any understanding of history, or anyone from Europe who isn't some kind of closeted fascist. Its only target audience are conservative Americans too uneducated to notice that the authors get everything wrong that a cursory glance at a wikipedia article could have told them. They get to wink and nudge one another as every non-Germanic nation is a complete failure, then nod sagely as Kratman describes the SS as full of patriots only wishing to do what's best for the fatherland while being quietly appalled by the Holocaust etc. Get hosed. It's a pretty common comforting myth that the Waffen-SS did all the atrocities and the regular army was just doing their duty and not involved in any war crimes. No one wants to wonder if grandpa dug some shallow graves for Eastern Europeans. That's not true either, but to extend the whole "Well someone else did all the bad stuff, we totally didn't" defense to the loving Waffen-SS is just insane. In terms of jingoistic right-wing power fantasies, this is probably the worst just for the sheer ignorance in utilizing THE loving WAFFEN-SS to make their lovely "lol the west is decaying from the inside because political correctness and liberal pussies" point. God drat. Psykmoe fucked around with this message at 23:07 on May 14, 2015 |
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May 14, 2015 23:04
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Onean posted:
Oh snap, another Confederation of Valor novel? I picked a good time to start rereading those. They're solid fun reads to me. I read way too many lovely 1 dollar sci-fi ebooks, so occasionally I have to reread ones that are a little less hacked together. Tanya Huff and David Drake both tend to be worth rereads every now and then.
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Jan 26, 2016 20:09
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coyo7e posted:This is incredibly true, he repeats himself so often that I had to stop listening to the audio version of one of the geary books, I think I forced myself through 3 or 4 before I just hated it so much i can't go back. Yeah, my personal rating for dumb space battle series is probably something like: 1. RCN stuff by David Drake. Yeah sure the protagonist is some sort of savant as a commander and his sidekick can just magic problems away because she's such a computer wiz, but damnit, I just enjoy the supporting cast and the setting, okay? There are several small touches in the setting that I really enjoy, like the idea that non-commissioned spacers are kind of mercenary because if you're on a space ship, you kinda want that ship to survive, even if you got pressganged into it initially. Which is played with when the protagonist nation ends up basically imprisoning spacers between deployments to make sure they don't sign up with a merchant ship or something else less dangerous. 2. Lost Fleet stuff. Every book is the same! The space battles are enjoyable enough and I enjoy the setting conceit except none of the lessons Geary brings from the past ever stick and so every book is the same again. The protagonist is always right because he is always presented with the same loving problem. Somehow this is a different type of writing problem than the one that makes Honor always succeed. Decent enough page-turners by themselves, they're really annoying to read in series. Moderately decent supporting cast. Seriously feels like he just repeats setting information to pad his word count. 3. Honor Harrington God, I still want all that time back reading those. The protagonist is perfect, the supporting cast is completely forgettable (I hate that) and eventually the space battles just get loving boring, samey numberfests. When Leary got to take part in a larger fleet action, it was an exception in the series. In Weber's series, thousands of people die every book. It's ridiculous. At least the Republic/Alliance war in Drake's books seems sufficiently slow paced, and both nations large enough, that I don't have to wonder about the public perception of all this loving loss of life. It's desensitizing. I can forgive a lot in a series if at least the protagonist gets an interesting cast to bounce off of. Psykmoe fucked around with this message at 20:41 on Feb 13, 2016 |
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Feb 13, 2016 20:36
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Libluini posted:Essentially I think, the Star Kingdom only has the population it has because otherwise they would have had no chance in hell in fighting the Republic of Haven, considering Haven itself has almost the same population as the entire Star Kingdom. Autor fiat, basically. Remember, having a social security system has turned the majority of Haven's population functionally useless. You gotta get into the Weber-think, man. There is no reason to think a person who has ever lived on welfare would ever rouse themselves and take up arms for their nation. Of course the go-getters of the Starkingdom can stand up to what fighting force Haven can raise I guess I found Drake's Alliance of Free Stars' autocratic dictatorship a more compelling, if somewhat generic, opposing force. Until the Mesan connection was revealed, Haven was like, literally a slave to what a terrible hash they had made of their economy by introducing universal welfare, which was always a bit hard to swallow as a reason to just keep on conquering new systems to prop up the economy, as if interstellar war wasn't loving expensive too. "Oh no! Introducing universal welfare is overtaxing our economy. But as the political elite, we cannot afford to roll back those policies or people might actually go vote. Hm...if people won't accept cuts in welfare, what will they accept? We know! A series of aggressive wars of conquest! They'll accept that for sure." And then of course the revolution happens. Like, I appreciate the attempt to offer a less generic narrative reason for why the enemy nation is bad, but maybe being located in central Europe made Haven's backstory a bit of an eye-roller to me personally. I suppose in Weber's world, Japan's outlandish national debt should have led to them conquering various minor pacific island nations by now I get it. Space opera is inherently ridiculous. Drake's RCN faster than light tech involves SAILS for fucks sake. The politics of the Republic of Cinnabar are often reprehensible and tons of people are jingoistic as gently caress (everyone not from Cinnabar is a wog with no honor and no rights), and yet I guess it's Weber's ridiculousness that sometimes seems a little too overtly political to me. Psykmoe fucked around with this message at 20:06 on Feb 16, 2016 |
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Feb 16, 2016 19:41
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Psion posted:Drake is also extremely up front about his historical influences. He's like "yeah I was reading _____ Roman author and thought hey, this is cool, I'm going to write about it" and does so. He also puts a lot of his own energy in there - he puts a lot of character in there even if the plot beats are essentially taken from Homer or Apollodius or whoever. I think it's usually right in the foreword, or at least on his webpage which historical event inspired which of his books. I think we like his writing for similar reasons. Edit: Looking at my posts in this thread, it seems there was an extremely similar conversation back in December 2013 Libluini posted:If you want pure German space opera, it's Perry Rhodan. And also Perry Rhodan. Now go read Lemuria, it's great! Have you read anything by Andreas Eschbach? According to wikipedia he wrote a bit of Perry Rhodan as well, but I mean, other stuff by him. I guess at least one of his earlier works, The Carpet Makers, got a translation into English too. I read a novel called Quest which is set in the same universe and I really ended up hating the entire experience. Like I was actively mad about having wasted my time reading it, and I was laid up in the hospital after surgery so it's not like I had much of anything better to do. Psykmoe fucked around with this message at 23:18 on Feb 19, 2016 |
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Feb 19, 2016 23:11
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Amberskin posted:Actually, the R.U. series is about mankind being able to overcome the greatest difficulties, and soldiering on against all the odds . Of course, the last novel (Absolution Gap) is so bad and the ending is so lame that it can ruin the whole experience for the reader. Obviously the author was a huge fan of 1998's hit real-time strategy game for PC and Playstation, KKND 2 and the Series 9 faction. It's a post-apocalyptic setting and Series 9 are just farm-bots that are mad about the apocalypse and the warring between the survivors loving up their crops and decide to kill everyone so they can farm in peace.
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Mar 16, 2016 11:19
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