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Rurik posted:This needed a new thread? Also, I wish they'd release a Kindle version of Pushing Ice. All of his other books are out on Kindle so I don't know why that one isn't!
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Jun 20, 2013 19:46
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Okay.
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Joramun posted:Huh? It's available on both the US and the UK Kindle store. http://www.amazon.com/Pushing-Ice-Alastair-Reynolds/dp/0441015026 (Kindle is not listed in the available Formats, and there's the "I'd like this book on the Kindle" link on the right side)
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Jun 20, 2013 21:40
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Sure you're not looking at amazon.ca or amazon.co.uk? Frustratingly, both of those locales have a Kindle edition for sale, but it isn't listed on amazon.com. I tried logging out/in and then a whole new browser. Nothin.
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Jun 20, 2013 21:49
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I thought the female characters were one of the main strengths of Melanie Rawn's Dragon Prince trilogy. I know I'm generalizing, but I tend not to like fantasy written by female authors, and Rawn was a huge exception to that. She somehow wrote male characters that acted like men and female characters that were undeniably women, yet both genders were equally strong and interesting characters in their own right.
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Jul 9, 2013 00:24
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I could never really get into Gaiman, which I'm almost nervous to admit to, since he seems pretty well loved here on SA. I read American Gods and Neverwhere (the latter was really interesting because I read it while living in London) and I thought both were decent, but nothing that really sucked me in. Are the rest of his books similar style, or are they different enough that I should give one a try?
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Jul 10, 2013 19:04
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It's worth noting that the first book is a perfectly good standalone. It doesn't end on a cliffhanger and it's not immediately apparent that it's the beginning of some massive sprawling fantasy epic... so if you're concerned about starting something that's not fully written yet, I wouldn't worry about it! EDIT: I also just want to say that Lies of Locke Lamora is probably my favorite fantasy novel of the last 10-15 years.
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Jul 12, 2013 19:14
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The point I was trying to make is that the first book alone is a completely satisfying read, and you can just pretend the rest of the (unfinished) series doesn't exist, if you chose to. The book is good enough that I'd recommend doing just that. This is in contrast to most other series that spring to mind (Jordan, Martin, Sanderson, Erikson, etc. etc.) the first book isn't very conclusive and you have to keep going with the series to get the most enjoyment out of it.
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Jul 12, 2013 20:01
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You've pretty much described the entire Lost Fleet series. The battles and tactics are pretty interesting, but the single minded stupidity of the officers in the fleet never really goes away, and was a constant frustration for me.
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Jul 13, 2013 02:28
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I'm another one of the people who got 8 books (or was it 9?) into Malazan before giving up. After a while it got too depressing/dark and all the Heroes/Villains felt too Dragonball Z'ish to me (each new novel had an existing character or new character become inexplicably more powerful than anyone we'd seen before. After a while it felt like the series was just a stage for these Super Saiyan battles). Don't mention that in the Malazan thread though. There's a few people there that seem to disagree with what I just said, and aggressively pick apart anyone who brings it up (despite new people saying the exact same thing every so often).
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Jul 17, 2013 20:02
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Junkenstein posted:In my head, Magician is still the best fantasy book I've ever read.
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Jul 19, 2013 18:39
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I don't know of anyone who's read Eddings' works didn't love them. Although I'm sure my saying that will cause lots of people to chime up with contrary opinions! It's definitely dated, cliched writing, but they're pretty good and an entertaining read. Then again, everyone I know (myself included) read his books when they were a young teenager, so recommending them to an adult is always a bit of a gamble.  I had a friend describe them as a "fuzzy warm blanket I can wrap myself up in to feel comforted and familiar".
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Jul 21, 2013 21:11
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Melanie Rawn's Dragon Prince series is my favorite fantasy series by a female author (that being said, now that Earthsea is available on Kindle that's on my backlog of things to read). I've touted her virtues in this thread before, but it seems like she's one of the only authors - male or female - who is able to write strong male and strong female characters who still maintain a healthy relationship with each other.
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Jul 24, 2013 18:38
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A lot of people complain that book 2 was worse than Lies of Locke Lamora. I suppose I agree, but where the first book was a 10/10 for me, the second was maybe 8/10 (still a fantastic read).
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Jul 24, 2013 21:58
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... Suzanne Collins (Hunger Games)...
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Oct 14, 2013 21:57
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I just finished Feist's Magician's End. It is (supposedly) the last Midkemia book he will write, and has a somewhat bittersweet ending (both Pug and Tomas die). His books have definitely varied in quality over the years. Some were fantastic, some were pretty terrible. However, these books have been a presence for a majority of my life. It was Magician: Apprentice that got me started in Fantasy novels (which in turn got me started in Sci-Fi). I still remember camping with my parents when I was about 11-12 (20 years ago) and staying up all night reading the book with my flashlight. Anyway, it appears I didn't have much else to say other than to reminisce! It's rather interesting when a large series like this ends. Anyone else manage to finish the series?
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Oct 22, 2013 01:16
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Roydrowsy posted:Are there other books out there that place focus on strategy and planning with consideration to large scale battles? It seems really specific to ask about, but it's worth a shot
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Dec 10, 2013 21:31
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The Lies of Locke Lamora in particular is an excellent first book that stands very well on its own too. No cliffhanger endings or obvious sequel setups even though there ARE sequels to it. (Disclaimer: tLoLL is probably my favorite fantasy novel... ever. I'm biased and clearly trying to convince you to read it.)
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Jan 9, 2014 23:43
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I read the aforementioned boring Xeelee books (Flux and Raft, and one other I think) a few years ago and gave up. Where would you guys recommend I try to restart with the Xeelee sequence?
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Jan 14, 2014 19:48
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drat, I really liked Hamilton's Commonwealth Saga (and a couple of his standalones, I can't recall the titles) so I was going to try out Reality Disfunction. You guys are making it sound pretty terrible though. 
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Jan 24, 2014 19:19
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Cardiovorax posted:What's the closest you can get to David Edding's Belgariad without actually being David Eddings? I know it's shallow and about the most generic fantasy you can get, but somehow I feel like I need to read something in that general mindset right now - wholesome, a large cast of characters who like and care each other, nothing really bad happens to anyone on screen and in the end the Bad Guys are defeated and everybody is happy forever. I've been having kind of a bad week, I needs me some brain fluff. The setting/characters/plot are eerily similar to the Belgariad, but if you enjoyed one, you're sure to like the other.
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Feb 3, 2014 22:47
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That's exactly what I did. I had the difficulty on easy because I didn't like the shooting mechanics, but I viewed the game as an RPG and it was one of my favorites.
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Feb 4, 2014 21:17
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There seems to be tons of debate about that series. If you like Grimdark (it's a buzzword I know, but it conveys a feeling) then you might like it. If you don't... I'd recommend staying away. Personally, I stopped reading about 5 chapters in. This Amazon review perfectly captured why.
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Feb 6, 2014 21:53
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Does anyone have any of Elizabeth Moon's Sci-Fi they'd recommend? I greatly enjoyed the Deed of Paksenarrion (admittedly when I was a teenager) so I'd love to give some of her space opera stuff a try.
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Feb 18, 2014 22:40
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It feels to me that making up a list of "authors to boycott because someone somewhere doesn't like something they said or did" (no matter how justified) is a slippery slope to misery. At some point you have to separate enjoying a work of art from the personal views of its creator, or you might as well give up reading altogether.
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Feb 19, 2014 21:29
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Cardiovorax posted:The need to constantly explain everything basically a symptom of that world builder's disease where authors forget to write an engaging story over making up a setting for the story to happen in. The magic is a backdrop, it's a conceit of the genre to enable a certain kind of plot. It shouldn't be the whole point. I can definitely understand that viewpoint, but I don't think I agree with it in regards to Sanderson (whom I believe we're still discussing). I feel his stories are plenty engaging, and the rigid magic system is something I enjoy on top of that.
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Mar 12, 2014 20:49
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RVProfootballer posted:Of course every magic system will have limits. It's fair for two people to disagree on whether or not they like their magic mysterious or explained, but the argument doesn't seem to be "I don't like explained magic systems", but rather instead "the writing/story is bad if the magic system is explained", which is the sentiment I myself object to. syphon fucked around with this message at 21:13 on Mar 12, 2014 |
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Mar 12, 2014 21:10
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Just finished Blood Song. Thought it was really good. Anyone else enjoy it? I don't see a thread for it so I'm not sure where the best place to discuss it is.
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Mar 27, 2014 20:56
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I think I need to institute a rule about not starting new Sci-fi/Fantasy series' until they're completely written. I keep notes on series' in progress and realized that I'm waiting for new books in the following series: 1) A Song of Ice and Fire 2) Kingkiller Chronicles 3) Gentlemen Bastards 4) Stormlight Archive 5) Demon Cycle 6) Lightbringer 7) Expanse series 8) Powder Mage Trilogy 9) Raven's Shadow 10) Chronicle of Unhewn Throne Has something changed lately that's breathed new life to these genres, or am I just making poor choices for new books?
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Apr 8, 2014 23:29
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:I'm waiting on the next book in quite a few myself, and my god it's annoying but eh, what can ya do?
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Apr 9, 2014 01:21
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Kalman posted:Or an ipad, or a computer who doesn't mind reading on screen.
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Apr 9, 2014 19:04
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I really dig Scalzi's humorous way of writing, and the characters/universe are very interesting to me. If you were like me, I'd recommend continuing the series. The rest maybe aren't as good as Old Man's War, but they're very similar. However, since you didn't seem to like OMW as much as I did, I wouldn't recommend continuing.
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May 16, 2014 20:54
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I started the Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson. I'm about 20% into the first book, and it's slower than I expected. I really like the premise (all the details about colonizing Mars and making it habitable are really interesting), but the book has a lot of introspection and inner monologue, and is a little short on the action. You can blame my terrible attention span. Does the action in this series pick up, or is it more of the same for the rest of it? I skimmed the synopsis on Wikipedia and it seems like there's some pretty decent intrigue coming up, but nothing on the scale of 'alien invasion' or 'natural disaster' things like that.
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Jun 6, 2014 18:55
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Those of you who have browsed the Malazan thread will remember when there was a huge bitch-fest about one of the characters being named just 'Kyle'. I think the moral of the story is that the internet will complain about anything.
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Aug 5, 2014 01:15
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For intricate world building in a Sci-Fi setting, I did really like Peter Hamilton's stuff. his Commonwealth Saga (first book "Pandora's Star") covers this pretty well. He has a large and intricate sci-fi setting which he explores through many different POVs. One thing I particularly liked about it is how he showed what living in this universe would be like for multiple different socio-economic classes (there are some uber-rich elite leaders, middle class working people, frontier explorers, urban bureaucrats, etc. etc.) Many goons get turned off by his egregious sex scenes, but I didn't think they were that bad. It has also plenty of cool action and space battles and whatnot!
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Aug 5, 2014 19:12
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Some may disagree on particular series... but I don't think reading Chronological (as opposed to Published) order is ever preferable. I can't think of a single instance where a series is better read in Chronological order over published order.
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Aug 29, 2014 18:24
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His Recluce stuff is pretty good. It's not exceptional by any stretch of the word, but I enjoyed them enough to read most of them. He had this weird knack of writing his characters as craftsmen (usually the Hero decided to be a furniture maker or something mundane) which really made me want to start building chairs. I have no idea how he did that. Very vague spoiler about the whole series that doesn't reveal the plot of any one book: Another neat thing is that many prequels will go further into the past to analyze the "Legends" of the previous book, and eventually you find out that this Fantasy world/realm was populated by a crash-landed spaceship straight out of a sci-fi book.
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Sep 3, 2014 19:26
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Mustang posted:Does it ever get around to explaining how the light eyes end up as the social elites and rulers?
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Oct 30, 2014 17:59
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That makes me glad I stopped reading it. I, too, started the first book, but was quickly bored out of my mind and moved on.
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Nov 4, 2014 22:40
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Yes, Eddings was immediately who I thought of when I read the word "cozy". I didn't recommend them because he said he wanted to avoid massive series' though. I once had an acquaintance who described those books as "like a warm blanket I can wrap myself up in to feel comfortable".
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Jan 12, 2015 21:08
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I think it's pretty great too. There's probably a little tongue-in-cheek going on there, so I doubt he's taking himself quite as seriously as people think he is.
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Feb 25, 2015 21:05
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