The Sci-Fi Book Thread

It's up next for me. I'm a giant Stephenson whore and many reviews compare it favorably to Anathem which I adored.

Muh hype.

Seveneves is alright, but Stephenson gets lazy with developing the technologies that he introduces in the back half. At that point it's just about rounding out the story he thought up, and not filling in the blanks.

Reading Anathem right now. Loved Cryptonicon, Snow Crash, even Reamde, but this book is driving me nuts. I can't stand books that barrage readers with invented terms. Gonna give it til at peast page 100 - I owe him that much. After that, who knows.

I really need to reread Anathem.

At first blush, I thought it was a forgettable mishmash of all of Stephenson's earlier works - a technological priesthood here, a universities-as-nuclear-waste-depositories there. It wasn't until I got to the goofy ending dealing with that I wondered if that copying wasn't a meta-textual restatement of the plot itself - that each of Stephenson's earlier books have shaped what his later books turned out to be.

Then again, I also wasn't fond of Reamde until I theorized it was actually a play on the modern big budget fps game- here's the mine level, here's the airplane level, here's the boat physics level, here's the firefight in a foreign city level - so it is entirely possible I'm fantasizing metatextual commentary to explain away one of my favorite authors rehashing his earlier stuff.

some recent reads

Bowl of Heavens / ShipStar - Larry Niven, meh books. basically Ringworld v2.0 (half dyson sphere), completely forgettable and uninspired.

Forever Watch - David Ramirez, excellent book with good setup and ideas. Feels like modern scifi.

Transcendental - James Gunn, another great scifi book that reminded me a lot of Babylon 5. Last 20% is super rushed unfortunately, but still worth a read imo

I have just finished, Consider Phlebas and The Hydrogen Sonata in the Culture series. They certainty scratched the "ship AI" itch I had, and I am really enjoying Banks writing style, however I feel the endings just seem to drop off and don't feel much closure, has anyone felt the same? Is this a universal truth in banks writing or did I just have bad luck with my selections?

Did you read The Algebraist? That is easily his best space opera. It's not in the culture universe and has some truly timely concepts.

Nester_sl said:

I have just finished, Consider Phlebas and The Hydrogen Sonata in the Culture series. They certainty scratched the "ship AI" itch I had, and I am really enjoying Banks writing style, however I feel the endings just seem to drop off and don't feel much closure, has anyone felt the same? Is this a universal truth in banks writing or did I just have bad luck with my selections?

Spoiler

in the Hydrogen Sonata the big revolve was done about half way through the book, and the ending was basically a conformation of what was already assumed, I felt it was a real let down that not much happened at the end

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I don't know if it was a deliberate choice on your part but you read the first and the last published Culture books.

IMO the two best ones are Use of Weapons (which IIRC was actually the first Culture book he wrote, but not the first to be published; do yourself a favor and don't read anything about the plot before reading it) and Look to Windward (for which reading Consider Phlebas first helps, although his style and the setting are much more mature by now).

I would say that many of his books don't end the way you might expect, and perhaps not satisfactorily, but that's probably the point. Life isn't like that, so he didn't write his stories like that either. Some books have more closure than others. Actually I would say Phlebas had a fairly comprehensive ending, unless you were thinking the story was going to be more than just one skirmish in the War.


I can second Khorum's recommendation for the Algebraist. He wrote that after becoming worried that he could no longer think up new ideas for his science fiction books.

He can be quite brutal to his characters; he had a very dark sense of humor; when diagnosed with the cancer that would kill him, he proposed to his partner by asking if she would like to become his widow. I can recommend reading the Wasp Factory, the first book he wrote, although it isn't science fiction. It's quite short, and delightfully nasty.

Spent too much free time plowing through Seveneves. My brief review is: "Eh."

As for Banks, I would strongly suggest reading Player of Games and Use of Weapons before deciding on a verdict of reading the rest of his stuff. I'm also rather fond of Matter, Surface Detail, and Against a Dark Background, though the latter is both a microcosm of Banks' political views (featuring a corrupt military, incompetent inherited ruler, irrational religious dogma, etc. etc. etc.) and literally has no ending, outside of an epilogue you can only get online.

Gave up on Stephen King's Dark Tower in the middle of the third book or somewhere around there (man, this is guy is overrated). Started on The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and I'm loving it.

Need more stuff like Banks, Hamilton, Niven.

gogusrl_sl said:

Gave up on Stephen King's Dark Tower in the middle of the third book or somewhere around there (man, this is guy is overrated). Started on The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and I'm loving it.

Need more stuff like Banks, Hamilton, Niven.

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Mote in Gods Eye is Amazing, the Sequel (the gripping hand) is also good. I heard the 3rd was an abomination so did not read it. It was written in 2011



Finished "Player of Games" today. Much better ending to this Culture series book than the Hydrogen Sonata.

Reading Steel Horizon and Poseidon's Wake back to back and Alastair Reynolds' constant pendulum swing between two separate perspectives each chapter is getting annoying. I didn't notice it in his earlier books, but it's probably there too. As soon as I get really into one perspective he does some douchey cliffhanger like "after these messages" style thing and swaps to the other one. Rinse, repeat.

Just Finished "The Martian" by Andy Weir. loved it. it's real Science, Science Fiction.

Yea, they're making it into a movie now if anyone hasn't realized.

Nester_sl said:

SyFy Bradley Cooper adapting Hyperion event series - Blastr

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This is my favorite book series of all time. Interesting.

Same, I like that it is Cooper, as I feel he is in it for the love of the material, not just to cash in.

Eidal_sl said:

This is my favorite book series of all time. Interesting.

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If syfy treats it like they did 12 Monkeys then it might be good. The first novel doesn't narrate in a way that would make a typical SyFy show, though. As opposed to say The Expanse which almost seems like it was written as a screenplay to begin with.

If they stick to the Canterbury Tales structure and build the world out with those vignette narratives it would be awesome as a twin-peaksy sci fi show.

The new Old Man's War book is out:

The End of All Things (Old Man's War, #6) by John Scalzi - Reviews, Discussion, Bookclubs, Lists

It's a series of somewhat short stories that all tie together. I'm about halfway through it and it's pretty solid.