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uber_stoat posted:I read them a while back but I could use a refresher so I'm going to listen to the audiobooks since it turns out they're included with an audible sub. I recently reread them for both those reasons. IIRC the narrator of Cold Water wasn't as good as the narrators of the first four, just as a heads up.
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Apr 24, 2024 08:04
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General Battuta posted:Redemption Ark (godawful pun it took me twenty years to get) has some of my favorite action scenes in all of SFF, alongside one of the most inexplicably absent ones. Space chase? Also what's the absent one
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Apr 24, 2024 15:14
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The Race in the Revelation Space trilogy was one of the best space action sequences I can remember reading. Just a great way of creating a huge amount of tension and concern, all while sticking with your hard sci-fi premise. So I'd second the suggestion of Chasm City from a little ways back. It's my favorite work of his out of the ones I've read. It helps that it's a self contained story and the plots are interesting looks at both Generation Ship colonization stories, sci-fi noir, and the titular city. Also, gently caress, count me among those who didn't get the pun in Redemption Arc.
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Apr 24, 2024 15:41
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zoux posted:Space chase? Also what's the absent one (Redemption Ark spoilers) Clavain, Scorpio and friends stealing the Zodiacal Light in Yellowstone to go to Resurgam. They get the gang together to do it but the actual capture happens off screen.
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Apr 24, 2024 15:54
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habeasdorkus posted:The Race in the Revelation Space trilogy was one of the best space action sequences I can remember reading. Just a great way of creating a huge amount of tension and concern, all while sticking with your hard sci-fi premise. Chasm City is great. Reynolds is really good at using the limits of physics to enhance his stories, a lot of authors view them as barriers to story telling. I think that Redemption Ark (I read them out of order) was the first true no-ftl, no-fake gravity, no-whatever interstellar sci fi book I read and the way that he brought all those people from hundreds of subjective years apart really impressed me. House of Suns of course being the apex of this kind of storytelling. Of course, they still have cheats, the Conjoiner drive is a fake science thing that gets around the necessity of pages and pages of refueling logistics. Same with the Epstein drive in The Expanse, people rightly praise that series for its adherence to physics but the E-drive is a handwave and just as improbable as gravity plates. zoux fucked around with this message at 16:02 on Apr 24, 2024 |
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Apr 24, 2024 16:00
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I loved Century Rain, it has this melancholy sort of atmosphere through the whole thing that I haven't found too frequently and Reynolds really did well. It and Eversion are my favorites from him.
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Apr 24, 2024 16:24
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Recently finished two “aliens invade and humanity gets nuked”novels. First up was Out of the Dark by David Weber, and I gotta say, I did not see that twist coming (not just Dracula, but literally Vlad the loving Impaler saves the day). Weird choice for a book that spends so many words on describing the calibre and quantity of ammunition and artillery that our special ops & prepper enthusiast protagonists have on hand. Honestly might have worked better if Weber just told the story from the alien POV. Followed it up with Exordia, which was excellent, as expected. Other things I finished this year: - Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler is a near-future take on “what if cephalopods were smart”, with a dash of cyberpunk (AI-run fishing boats crewed by slaves, prescription-only holographic chatbots, drone operators in full immersion tanks). I think the plot could have used a bit more flour, but not bad for a debut novel. - Orbital by Samantha Harvey isn’t quite sci-fi, but an exploration of how it would feel to be part of the crew on the International Space Station. 16 orbits per day; 16 sunrises, 16 sunsets, staring at earth, losing yourself in your work, counting down the days. Not for everyone but I enjoyed it. - No Country for Old Men isn’t SF/F either, but Cormac McCarthy has such a unique voice that he makes rural Texas feel like it might as well be on another planet. Captures the feeling of waking up and feeling like the world has so thoroughly moved on that you might as well be an alien. Highly recommended if you like your palate cleansers to taste of weariness and regret. I bounced off The Road a few years ago, but this convinced me to give it another shot.
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Apr 24, 2024 18:17
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Johannes Cabal the Detective (#2) by Johnathan L Howard - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0036S4ASQ/ Was waiting for the sale! Thanks!
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Apr 24, 2024 19:59
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I was really stuck by how much better the characters were in Chasm City than anything else by Reynolds I ever read (mainly Revelation Space, Galactic North, and most recently Inhibitor Phase). Not what I expected given it's one of his first books? House of Suns too actually. Inhibitor Phase particularly unforgivably is actually all about tedious gently caress and most important man in the universe NEVILLE CLAVAIN which it hides for most of the runtime. Also really interesting to see how well done the 'protagonist has a monstrous past' twist was done in CC, and how flat / missable it was in IP.
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Apr 24, 2024 20:16
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His Majesty's Dragon (Temeraire #1) by Naomi Novik - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000GCFBQA/ The Black Prism (Lightbringer #1) by Brent Weeks - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003JTHY76/
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Apr 24, 2024 22:10
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mystes posted:la trattoria baru cormorant Clear Victor
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Apr 24, 2024 22:38
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Just finished Europe in Autumn based on the thread's recommendation. Really enjoyed the first two-thirds, but the plot twist kind of left me feeling cold. I would have much rather been toasty just having the protagonist rolling around getting into courier hijinks while exploring brokeurope. I'm guessing the rest of the series leans in even heavier on the ending premise?
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Apr 25, 2024 05:25
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Yes, it gets weirder
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Apr 25, 2024 06:59
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It does, but IMO it works. The twist is a game-changing semi-open secret that everyone wants to be able to control, so there's still plenty of coureur action and betrayal etc.
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Apr 25, 2024 08:46
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habeasdorkus posted:Also, gently caress, count me among those who didn't get the pun in Redemption Arc. aw man. was about to ask what on earth the pun was until i saw that last letter
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Apr 25, 2024 11:27
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Wait I still don't get the pun
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Apr 25, 2024 12:00
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Benagain posted:Wait I still don't get the pun Redemption Arc
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Apr 25, 2024 14:49
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e:f,bBenagain posted:Wait I still don't get the pun The novel is titled Redemption Ark which is a pun on the term “redemption arc”
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Apr 25, 2024 14:51
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god drat it
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Apr 25, 2024 14:58
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another day volunteering at the haunted gunnery. everyone keeps asking me if they can gently caress the cache weapons. buddy, they wont even let me gently caress em
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Apr 25, 2024 15:14
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General Battuta posted:another day volunteering at the haunted gunnery. everyone keeps asking me if they can gently caress the cache weapons. buddy, they wont even let me gently caress em This is an exact quote from the Exordia sequel, right?
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Apr 25, 2024 15:17
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shirunei posted:Just finished Europe in Autumn based on the thread's recommendation. Really enjoyed the first two-thirds, but the plot twist kind of left me feeling cold. I would have much rather been toasty just having the protagonist rolling around getting into courier hijinks while exploring brokeurope. I'm guessing the rest of the series leans in even heavier on the ending premise? I also finished this yesterday. As far as espionage goes I thought the pre-SF twist stuff was sometimes good when it was about pure spy craft, but also kinda dragged for me. possibly because my limited knowledge of German and Polish geography/politics meant the setting may as well have been a real life generic 60s european spy setting then the twist happens, but the twist is more like the first pages of a completely different series. It definitely changes the stakes, so I started the second book to see how or if it ties it all back to the spy stuff in a satisfying way
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Apr 25, 2024 15:34
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Were the cache weapons actually sentient or was I misreading the scene where one freaks outs Ilia?
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Apr 25, 2024 15:35
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FPyat posted:Were the cache weapons actually sentient or was I misreading the scene where one freaks outs Ilia? I don’t think they were sentient. (Revelation Space spoilers) I think you’re referencing a scene in chapter 9 when Volyova’s on the way to speak with the captain and notices a cache-weapon out of place. It’s later revealed to Khouri, after the same cache-weapon seemingly arms itself, that the Mademoiselle took control of it to kill Sylveste by destroying the planet Resurgam. Volyova ends up destroying the cache-weapon by wrestling it into Nostalgia for Infinity’s engine wake with the spider-room.
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Apr 25, 2024 16:36
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I need to reread those books, I haven't read them since they came out and I was reading a lot of similar-ish sci-fi at the time and they've all kinda blurred together and fuzzed out.
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Apr 25, 2024 16:47
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eighty-four merc posted:The novel is titled Redemption Ark which is a pun on the term “redemption arc” I've never read this book and assumed it was a pun title because the odds of someone using that title and playing it straight just seemed so unlikely. I blame Dragon Quest for this.
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Apr 25, 2024 17:44
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eighty-four merc posted:I don’t think they were sentient. This sounds like some perfect sci-fi bullshit, I need to check this book out but I just started BotNS. One more To Be Read
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Apr 25, 2024 18:07
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I know a lot of people get down on it for this reason or that, but those first four Revelation space books (AG less so...) are incredible in terms of scope and mood. I'd never imagined a 4 km long ship encased in cometary ice to protect it from relativistic grains of dust as it accelerates to within a fraction of the speed of light. He does post/transhumanity so well, it's all these fantastic ideas and structures and people that still fit more or less neatly in a hard sci-fi "this is possible given our current understanding of physics" niche. It's definitely one of my top 10 sci fi series. Some of the sequences are mind-bogglingly good.
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Apr 25, 2024 18:34
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Another Dirty Dish posted:- Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler is a near-future take on “what if cephalopods were smart”, with a dash of cyberpunk (AI-run fishing boats crewed by slaves, prescription-only holographic chatbots, drone operators in full immersion tanks). I think the plot could have used a bit more flour, but not bad for a debut novel. I just DNFed The Mountain in the Sea, about a third of the way through it. It sounded really cool and came highly recommended from someone with similar taste in books as me. The prose just didn't engage me. I think Blindsight is still too fresh in my mind as well, as I felt like that handled things like the concepts of what cognition is and how consciousness evolves in more dynamic ways. I liked the cyberpunk vibes, and the plotline on the fishing boat was sort of interesting, but neither was enough for me to keep going. I have been in a bit of a reading rut though, bouncing around and off of various books. Might try it again another time.
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Apr 25, 2024 19:04
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Children of Ruin is the superior cephalopod cognition novel. Also I'd like to see more about those sentient pistol shrimp that form a lose trading network with the Portiids in CoT.
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Apr 25, 2024 19:10
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Just finished Robert Jackson Bennets The Tainted Cup Not bad, was more interested in the pretty cool world building than the plot, which is a servicable enough 'Fantasy world' x 'Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin*' story. Would read a sequel. * Lol. Of course the backcover blurb references Sherlock Holmes.
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Apr 25, 2024 22:06
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Jesus christ Children of Time is a loving great book. Just waiting for the sequels on hold
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Apr 25, 2024 22:25
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Ravenfood posted:Jesus christ Children of Time is a loving great book. I liked the second book and DNF'd the third. Really hard living up to Children.
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Apr 25, 2024 23:23
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AARD VARKMAN posted:I also finished this yesterday. As far as espionage goes I thought the pre-SF twist stuff was sometimes good when it was about pure spy craft, but also kinda dragged for me. possibly because my limited knowledge of German and Polish geography/politics meant the setting may as well have been a real life generic 60s european spy setting I got through a bit of the second book and it definitely helps how disconnected it feels from the first while you still kind of understand the broad strokes of what's happening. Gives it room to breathe life into the "twist". Super recommend this to anyone who needs a good series(so far!)to burn.
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Apr 25, 2024 23:23
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Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City (Siege #1) by KJ Parker - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078W5M7DB/ Oryx and Crake (MaddAddam #1) by Margaret Atwood - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FC1BNI/ Nightfall and Other Stories by Isaac Asimov - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08LN9G74S/ The Crown Tower (Riyria Chronicles #1) by Michael J Sullivan - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00A2D7VCA/ The Bone Ships (Tide Child #1) by RJ Barker - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MPW3GMX/ Promise of Blood (Powder Mage #1) by Brian McClellan - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0092XHPIG/ The System of the World (Baroque Cycle #3) by Neal Stephenson - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FC292K/
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Apr 26, 2024 00:09
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Myrmidongs posted:I liked the second book and DNF'd the third. Really hard living up to Children. The 3rd one is a bit of a slog but it pays off in the end.
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Apr 26, 2024 00:16
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pradmer posted:Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City (Siege #1) by KJ Parker - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078W5M7DB/ The first one is a bit of a gateway drug, but still highly recommended. The second is just plain masterfully weird.
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Apr 26, 2024 00:37
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one thing that alastair reynolds did better than most (hard) SF writers is convey the passage of time in non-FTL societies e.g., belle epoque/post-melding plaque yellowstone ending with the inhibitors blowing up the system
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Apr 26, 2024 00:43
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Completely understand why people diss Inhibitor Phase but seeing post-apocalypse Chasm City was pretty cool.
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Apr 26, 2024 02:04
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mllaneza posted:The second is just plain masterfully weird. Seconding this, Oryx and Crake was real good dystopian fiction.
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Apr 26, 2024 04:48
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