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Wasn't Consider Phlebas the first Culture novel written... by a long shot? I think I read 3 or 4 before it, and while it was good, it definitely wasn't as good as the others I've read. I say, read Use of Weapons for a really good story (I heard that is Banks' favorite), or maybe Player of Games if you want to read a bit more about the Culture and its people.
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Jun 14, 2009 17:30
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Psykmoe posted: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. His later books go in the direction you described with over-the-top technology, but I really enjoyed the level of technology Hamilton put into the Commonwealth series. The entire world is based on 2 key technological concepts: 1) FTL travel via wormholes. 2) Being able to 'back up' someone's brain, and then 'restore' it onto a clone-grown body. I think the most enjoyable part for me was his diverse cast of characters and settings, and exploring how the technology affected their lives. For example, there were practically 0 spaceships at the beginning of the series (since wormholes were all on planets), so interstellar travel is all on trains + wormholes. It made it feel approachable and familiar. Also, the 'rejuvenation' of a brain backup+restore is really interesting. The super-rich go on life threatening vacations with high fatality rates (because who cares about dying?) while the poor toil for 40-50 years just to be able to afford a rejuvenation (only to repeat the whole process). Prison is almost pointless, so people are punished by having their body killed and their brain locked up in a data center somewhere for 50-100-500 years. They've effectively cured death. Anyway, I geeked out pretty hardcore over his tech and universe, which is why I recommend it so much. 
syphon fucked around with this message at 00:04 on Jul 9, 2013 |
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Jul 9, 2013 00:02
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The Void Trilogy was an interesting story, but the technology got too "out there" for me. It seemed all crazy metaphysical stuff that wasn't relatable at all, and all the fights turned into a weird Super Saiyan showdown... if that makes sense.
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Jul 10, 2013 18:45
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Are there going to be more books after Beyond The Frontier? I read the return to Earth with the Spider Wolves as kind of a conclusion to the series. There's nothing left unresolved in the current series, which is not to say he can't start up a new plot line. I just kinda assumed that was the end of that though.
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Nov 4, 2013 18:48
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I just finished Abaddon's Gate. While it's a decent enough little series, one thing really stood out to me. The author(s) managed to create a sci-fi setting that's epic and interesting and its all done with more or less today's technology. There's one notable exception (a fusion drive that brings fuel cost/capacity into limits feasible for traveling the solar system), but almost everything else in the setting is comparable to our technology today. They don't travel faster than we can now (either FTL or Wormholes), they don't have artificial gravity and they don't fight with lazers or transporters. Instead, they use thrust or rotation for gravity, haven't left the solar system, use something equivelant to the internet for communication, and fight with guns and nukes. The familiarity with the tech level really set my imagination off like no other story has in a long time! (Ok there's a couple exceptions like the mech armor or the medical and agricultural tech that we don't have... But I'm thinking more about the space travel setting in general).
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Dec 5, 2013 09:06
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The best thing to do is say something like "general consensus is that any of these 3 books is a decent starting place for different reasons. Here's a 1 sentence synopsis of each one so you can decide" EDIT: Something like this. ------------- The Culture novels aren't a sequential series, but more a collection of novels all taking place in the same universe. As such, you can read them in any order without missing much (except a couple of back-references, cameos, and details about the universe). Each of the following 3 books are considered to be good starting points in the Culture universe:
syphon fucked around with this message at 20:36 on Jan 14, 2014 |
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Jan 14, 2014 20:13
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Re-posting something I said about the Expanse series a few months ago...quote:I just finished Abaddon's Gate. While it's a decent enough little series, one thing really stood out to me.
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Feb 25, 2014 19:53
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Do you really think Holden is a Mary Sue? All of the other characters in the series consider his "Mary Sue'ness" to be over the top and a liability (and tons of people hate him or think he's stupid for it). I can see not liking the character, but I don't know if I'd call him a straight up Mary Sue.
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Feb 26, 2014 21:46
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Hamilton's Commonwealth saga had something similar. All FTL travel was done through wormholes, so humanity's interstellar commonwealth was supported by a series of trains (that simply left a station on one planet, went through a wormhole, then arrived at a station on another planet). Parts of the story were rather interesting as the characters talk about commute times between planets, factoring in changing trains at various stations/planets. EDIT: Now that I think about it, that series was pretty unique (well, the first part of it at least) because it involved very little spaceflight. If you can travel directly from planet to planet without going into space, what's the point in doing so? syphon fucked around with this message at 21:44 on Mar 5, 2014 |
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Mar 5, 2014 21:40
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Am I the only one on these forums that didn't like Blindsight? Maybe I'm not into "hard" sci-fi, but I felt it was a little too introspective/obtuse, and the advances in humanity somehow made it so I couldn't relate to the characters at all. I finished the book, but didn't really enjoy it at all.
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Aug 26, 2014 19:13
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The Lost Fleet series is a thinly veiled series of plots designed as an excuse to write fairly interesting space tactics/battles. As most others have said, they're enjoyable 'popcorn' books. I don't think I've ever actually heard someone who DIDN'T like them (although everyone enjoys picking apart their weaknesses).
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Oct 28, 2014 19:23
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I just finished his newest book about the void (They Abyss Beyond Dreams) and I don't recall any "on stage" sex in it. Maybe he's heard some of this feedback?
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Dec 30, 2014 19:46
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zokie posted:So I actually like Peter Hamilton, though he could tone down the boning, can anyone recommend something similar? Preferably a long series In fact, at one point a teenaged girl (described as very attractive) tries to throw herself at the 900 year old protagonist and he basically says "No way, you're still a kid. Ew". I can't really recall any sex scenes in the first book.
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Mar 2, 2015 21:23
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Gamesguy posted:Any recommendations for near future science dramas similar to The Martian or Contact?
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Jun 22, 2015 20:34
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coyo7e posted:It's tough to find a Hamilton novel or series where the protagonist does not traverse space and/or time to have sex with a teenage girl.
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Aug 12, 2015 20:33
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tonytheshoes posted:I'm in book 3 of The Expanse series, and honestly, I don't think I'm going to read the rest. The first two grabbed me pretty quickly and had me interested, but so far, book three feels like a slog. At over 500 pages each, they're just too long for what they are. I think most people consider book three a low point in the series so far. I'm not going to try to talk you into continuing (if you don't like it now, you won't like it later), but for all their weaknesses, the next two books pick up the action dramatically.
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Aug 24, 2015 19:08
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 09:49 |
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Based on your reactions, you may like, #4 even less (but #5 might be one of the best in the series).
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Sep 9, 2015 01:29
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