|
nessin posted:Hell if you can recommend a better book about space pirates, go for it. I'm just on a space pirate kick. The early Miles Vorkosigan books are reasonably space-piratey. Warriors Apprentice is nearly YA in its unlikely cooincident meetings, but is space opera and adventury as hell, and does involve stealing several rocket ships. You can pick up the compilation "Young Miles" and get the first two and a half books of 12.
|
#
¿
May 25, 2010 23:10
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 2, 2024 15:26 |
|
|
mllaneza posted:Wrong. You pick up "Cordelia's Honor" and get the first two of 12. Miles is nothing without his family background. And Sergeant Bothari. His stuff in Warrior's Apprentice lacks vast amount of depth without the preceding books. I like them in roughly the order they were written and published, rather than in universe-chronological order. Shards of Honor and Barrayar are better than Warriors Apprentice and Vor Game. So reading the somewhat mature-themed and psychological prequels before you read the space pirating and hijinx books makes things seem a little uneven, to me.
|
|
#
¿
May 26, 2010 17:28
|
|
|
Eunabomber posted:I know. I knew it was coming, but still... I hope LMB decides to write a new book sooner rather than the 8 years since the last one. loving hell, you are going to cost me 15$ for electrons.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 30, 2010 05:26
|
|
|
Hedrigall posted:Any good space opera novels that are like Mass Effect (rich world building, lots of alien races, politics)? David Brin's Uplift Series and other books in the same universe have a ton of deliberately weird aliens, lots of politics, some space battles, and some reverse the dilithium antimatter exchange buckyballs techno babble. They aren't bad.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 22, 2010 02:03
|
|
|
Hannibal Rex posted:What's the score on Niven's Known Space/Ringworld/Man-Kzin series? I've only read two of his collaborations with Pournelle, neither of which impressed me much. (Footfall, Mote in God's Eye) His short stories are (from the 60's through the 80's) were consistently very clever. Describe a funny bit of physics or sociology, or astronomy or material science, extrapolate unexpected results, talk about a weird alien, ~fin~ His novels are more of the same, but since I'm not wild about his characterization, more of his various slacker-heroes between being cute with speculative science is not great. Anything he's done in the last 20 years has been ..ahem.. collaborated by somebody he picked up at a sci-fi convention, and it shows. Grab a copy of N-Space at a used bookstore for a decent sampling.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 24, 2010 23:13
|
|
|
Fray posted:Starship Troopers has always really confused me, considering how his other books tend to promote extreme Objectivism and anti-militarism. It is pretty much what interesting sci-fi authors do. Posit other ways of arranging society that might work. Heinlein himself was at times a fairly serious and committed Socialist, but just because you have a way you'd like things to work for you doesn't mean, unless you are a goddamn idiot, that you cannot conceive of, and write interestingly on, other ways of making things work. So, the political campaigns he worked on here on earth were populist/socialist. Then he wrote about a libertopia, and a tolerable fascism, and loving his time travelling redheaded teenage daughters.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 3, 2010 01:24
|
|
|
Magnificent Quiver posted:I felt like a heel once I figured out what all the constant Beagle references in sci-fi meant. A lot of spaceships get named after famous surface ships. A lot of surface ships got named after other, earlier surface ships. Challenger, Enterprise, Constitution, etc. etc. etc.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 3, 2011 08:34
|
|
|
Bass Concert Hall posted:Any recommendations for space opera that is more character-driven or at least focuses more on realistic characterization and that is less... I dunno, spergy? In the sense that it does not cut up action scenes with pages of fellatio concerning the history and mechanics of FTL or the relative awesomeness of space guns and space armor. I would say my favorite author is CJ Cherryh and some of the best space opera I've read are her books "Heavy Time," "The Pride of Chanur," and "Downbelow Station" if that helps. If you haven't read the Vorkosigan Saga yet, you probably ought to. Some of the best characters in the business, for my money. As noted earlier, they are almost all available for free in every e-format here http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/24-CryoburnCD/CryoburnCD/ Except for Memory, which while one of the stronger books, is smack dab in the middle of the chronology, so you'll be 4-5 books in before you need to unass 6$ to complete 12 books worth of awesome. The first few are very space-opera adventurey, the later ones are variously experimental, mysteries, and a self titled 'comedy of manners'. Slo-Tek fucked around with this message at 02:13 on Dec 17, 2011 |
|
#
¿
Dec 17, 2011 02:10
|
|
|
mllaneza posted:I'd go with chronological; publication is an interesting way to analyze her how writing style evolved but jumping four books backwards in chronology to pick up Cetaganda isn't something I'd do to a new reader. It also puts Cetaganda earlier in the sequence for the new reader, which is is good. It's one of my favorite murder mysteries and a darned interesting intrigue story to boot. I found Falling Free to be quite skippable. Doesn't feature any of the main characters, and doesn't generally get a re-read when I re-read the whole mess of them. So if you have the omnibus editions, you'll probably either want to start with Cordelia's Honor or Young Miles.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 17, 2011 16:32
|
|
|
Nuclear Tourist posted:Could anyone recommend me some space opera/hard sci-fi set entirely on a big spaceship/space station? Bonus points if it has horror elements. (I've read Blindsight and Hull Zero Three) Ethan of Athos is 90% on a space station with a number of space-station specific bits. Specifically how you get rid of a body in a space station, and how to mis-use space station infrastructure to gently caress with your enemies.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 17, 2012 03:36
|
|
|
I know it isn't sci-fi, but I can't help but think that anybody who is even considering reading Harrington should just read Hornblower. Why read mary-sue political axegrinding when you can get your adventure for boys in napoleonic form written by somebody with a real talent for the language.
|
|
#
¿
May 4, 2012 04:09
|
|
|
Lprsti99 posted:
There is a Niven short story that entertainingly/horrifyingly inverts this trope. Think it is called "The Locusts". Looks like it is in seveal of his compilations.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 3, 2012 01:47
|
|
|
Kshatryia and Nuovo Brazilia haven't gotten a book yet, even though they get a throwaway mention in pretty much every book. I was pretty disappointed with Cryoburn, didn't care enough about Kibou-Dani, or child-characters. Could stand for a more physical/kinetic character at some point as well. Maybe Armsman Roic to the fore for a book.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 12, 2014 06:08
|
|
|
Another 15$ worth of electrons. Shouldn't have downloaded it at 11pm on a school night. I find it interesting that the scale of Vorkosigan novels keeps shrinking. No more planetary/interplanetary stakes. Which I can appreciate, and is nice that you can still write a perfectly good story where death of tens of thousands, or even fives is really on the line. I kept expecting it to ramp up much bigger than it did, maybe that was the point.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 23, 2015 21:12
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 2, 2024 15:26 |
|
|
Kellanved posted:What is this, a new Vorkosigan book in a few months? Aww yiss... The ARC is already out if you don't mind spending 15$ on electrons. It is...not my favorite. Though I've said that about pretty much everything post Memory, and they have all grown on me upon re-reading, so maybe this one will too. Always interesting to see which peripheral characters will end up getting a push. Wonder where the By and Roic books are, in her head.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 3, 2015 21:57
|
|
