|
Stuporstar posted:Can anyone recall any stories that use the premise "man turns out to be a spaceship" or vise versa? Iain Banks and his ships with avatars? Also some of Ashers AI ships in the Polity series have humans interconnected with AIs. In his Owner series, his main protagonist is in the end basically just a giant space ship.
|
#
?
Nov 10, 2013 16:00
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 4, 2024 06:26 |
|
|
I read some books from a series about space marines (legionaries?) where they had brain in a jar style marine robots and I think ships as well. Think the author's name was William something? The only thing I remember for sure was the point of being a brain in a jar was a punishment or something for criminals, and they had their own little holodeck matrixy world to live in while not piloting killer robots or doing other brain in a jar stuff.
|
|
#
?
Nov 10, 2013 21:23
|
|
|
bigmcgaffney posted:I missed the discussion on Bakker, but that was the only series I have quit halfway through a book. The first one was interesting, but halfway through the second I cut my losses and moved on. I don't think I got to the parts that everyone rags on, beside the Black Cum Demon. "Should I gently caress the nightlord? Oh no but he'll rip me in half! But he's sooooo handsome..." For 400 pages. Save yourself the time.
|
|
#
?
Nov 10, 2013 23:23
|
|
|
Cardiac posted:Iain Banks and his ships with avatars? I have yet to check out Ian Banks. He seems like one of those authors I'd want to make a project out of reading. Right now I'm doing that with Margaret Atwood, so Banks will have to wait his turn. BigSkillet posted:I've only skimmed Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie, but I think the protagonist is a spaceship's AI who was confined to a human body if that's close enough for you. This one looks the most interesting to me right now, and good for a break between Atwood novels. I'll check it out. Thanks. Also, I suppose I should have mentioned that I'm most interested in reading how other authors deal with the psychology of being a spaceship (or having been one), so anything looking at that from the outside like a dude talking to a spaceship that thinks like a dude because it used to be a dude is not so interesting to me.
|
|
#
?
Nov 10, 2013 23:46
|
|
|
Stuporstar posted:I have yet to check out Ian Banks. He seems like one of those authors I'd want to make a project out of reading. Right now I'm doing that with Margaret Atwood, so Banks will have to wait his turn. I've got Use of Weapons coming in my megaorder, apparently a good place to start.
|
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2013 00:13
|
|
|
Stuporstar posted:I have yet to check out Ian Banks. He seems like one of those authors I'd want to make a project out of reading. Right now I'm doing that with Margaret Atwood, so Banks will have to wait his turn. Ancillary Justice is pretty good, not amazing though. Kind of like a slightly more plodding Iain M Banks (and if the Culture were an evil slave-driving empire). The stuff about being a ship's AI for hundreds of years, then suddenly being reduced to one human body, is very prominent and cool though, so it's right up your alley. Also it's book 1 of a trilogy, so be warned if you don't like starting not-yet-finished series. Hedrigall fucked around with this message at 01:25 on Nov 11, 2013 |
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2013 01:22
|
|
|
I read Ship of Fools by Richard Paul Russo, because I was desperately looking for anything even remotely similar to Blindsight; I absolutely can't recommend it. I don't mind if science fiction isn't particularly 'hard'. However, when it's actually scientifically ignorant, I have a problem. Russo goes for a kind of 'space gothic' atmosphere, but he doesn't even manage to do that in an interesting way. I have read better Warhammer 40k fiction.
|
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2013 01:42
|
|
|
Hannibal Rex posted:I read Ship of Fools by Richard Paul Russo, because I was desperately looking for anything even remotely similar to Blindsight; I absolutely can't recommend it. Try Hull Zero Three by Greg Bear. Personally, for my space horror fix I can't wait for next March's The Burning Dark by Adam Christopher: the blurb posted:Adam Christopher’s dazzling first novel, Empire State, was named the Best Book of 2012 by SciFi Now magazine. Now he explores new dimensions of time and space in The Burning Dark. Hedrigall fucked around with this message at 03:22 on Nov 11, 2013 |
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2013 03:16
|
|
|
CaptainScraps posted:"Should I gently caress the nightlord? Oh no but he'll rip me in half! But he's sooooo handsome..." Well, how handsome is this Nightlord? Because I already spent two dollars and I better get my money's worth.
|
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2013 03:16
|
|
|
CaptainScraps posted:"Should I gently caress the nightlord? Oh no but he'll rip me in half! But he's sooooo handsome..." That's a pretty goony summary.
|
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2013 03:23
|
|
|
^^^^ Yeah, that does a real disservice to the book. I'm guessing the person who wrote the comment was expecting something closer to Game of Thrones going in (political with lots of blood) and was disappointed. bigmcgaffney posted:Well, how handsome is this Nightlord? Because I already spent two dollars and I better get my money's worth. I enjoyed it quite a bit, it was much more low-key than most of the fantasy that I have read, and while there is the drawn-out romantic angle, I didn't feel that it overpowered the book. It has a decided lack of people being cleaved in twain with broadswords, so if you're looking for that, you may as well put it down now, but I thought that the characters were interesting and well-developed. Also, although it is part of a trilogy, it stands alone well, which is something that can rarely be said of fantasy novels. It's not perfect by any means, but it definitely bears reading the first couple chapters. You'll know pretty early on if you'll like it or not, as the book is pretty consistent from start to finish, so try it out if you've already bought it.
|
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2013 03:26
|
|
|
I don't think the romance part of it was necessarily that horrible in itself and it didn't really dominate the whole book to an excessive degree, but the whole book sort of came off as sort of a light, silly version of The Waterborn. I just read the first book of her new series and I wanted to like it, but it felt like someone took the first chapter of a Brandon Sanderson book, inserted more weird romance elements, and tried to pad it out into the length of a novel. I find her writing perfectly readable, but when evaluating the book as a whole it just seems to fall flat. mystes fucked around with this message at 04:04 on Nov 11, 2013 |
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2013 03:56
|
|
|
mystes posted:I just read the first book of her new series and I wanted to like it, but it felt like someone took the first chapter of a Brandon Sanderson book, inserted more weird romance elements, and tried to pad it out into the length of a novel. I find her writing perfectly readable, but when evaluating the book as a whole it just seems to fall flat. I thought it was generally pretty good, and I'm going to start on the second pretty soon-ish. For people thinking about Bakker, here's a semi-review that's pretty accurate but maybe not at polarizing as some of them: http://ronanwills.wordpress.com/2013/09/04/the-darkness-that-comes-before-r-scott-bakker/
|
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2013 04:45
|
|
|
Hedrigall posted:Try Hull Zero Three by Greg Bear. God drat that's the most patriotic name since George Washington Texas  
|
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2013 05:25
|
|
|
fritz posted:For people thinking about Bakker, here's a semi-review that's pretty accurate but maybe not at polarizing as some of them: Yeah, that's hardly a polarizing review. A fantasy reviewer that have problems with world-building and huge amounts of new names shouldn't really read fantasy at all. This exact criticism is as valid versus Bakker as it is versus Mieville, Tolkien, Erikson, GRRM etc. Its not valid versus Sanderson for obvious reasons. I still think people should read the first book which is only 650 pages, form their own opinions and see whether they can stomach it. Since the rest of the books continue along the same themes. It is still quite of a unique setting, even though the series has obvious and well documented flaws. On something else entirely, I've been reading Vernor Vinge and recently finished A Fire in the Deep and I'm currently reading A Deepness in the Sky. I feel like I'm missing something about his greatness, since to me he's writing classical scifi. Admittedly he tries to introduce quite alien cultures, but they seems very human and not really alien at all.
|
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2013 09:02
|
|
|
Cardiac posted:Yeah, that's hardly a polarizing review. Actually, if you open the first few pages of Prince of Nothing there are so many fantasy words that it reads like a hilarious parody of fantasy. Those were my very first thoughts on the series. I ended up mostly liking PoN, but I feel its a legitimate complaint in his case.
|
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2013 12:13
|
|
|
Azathoth posted:I enjoyed it quite a bit, it was much more low-key than most of the fantasy that I have read, and while there is the drawn-out romantic angle, I didn't feel that it overpowered the book. It has a decided lack of people being cleaved in twain with broadswords, so if you're looking for that, you may as well put it down now, but I thought that the characters were interesting and well-developed. Counter-counterpoint: the villains are all cartoonishly evil for no real reason. They literally eat babies that's how bad and evil and dark they are. Their baby-eating has literally nothing to do with the plot other than to shove in the reader's face how evil all the bad guys are.
|
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2013 15:09
|
|
|
bigmcgaffney posted:Well, how handsome is this Nightlord? Because I already spent two dollars and I better get my money's worth. I got the audio version of hundred thousand kingdoms a while back, it was pretty fun, although I largely attributed it to the narrator. I always meant to go back to the rest of the series but never enough to actually do so.
|
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2013 16:00
|
|
|
Hedrigall posted:Try Hull Zero Three by Greg Bear. I already have. Another book against which Ship of Fools pales in comparison.
|
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2013 17:22
|
|
|
Radio! posted:Counter-counterpoint: the villains are all cartoonishly evil for no real reason. They literally eat babies that's how bad and evil and dark they are. Their baby-eating has literally nothing to do with the plot other than to shove in the reader's face how evil all the bad guys are. Maybe babies are a delicacy.
|
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2013 20:49
|
|
|
Chairchucker posted:Maybe babies are a delicacy. I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee or a ragout. A child will make two dishes at an entertainment for friends; and when the family dines alone, the fore or hind quarter will make a reasonable dish, and seasoned with a little pepper or salt will be very good boiled on the fourth day, especially in winter. I rather recommend buying the children alive, and dressing them hot from the knife, as we do roasting pigs.
|
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2013 21:45
|
|
|
Can I interest you in a modest proposal?
|
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2013 21:46
|
|
|
I just finished book one of Sailing to Sarantium by Guy Gavriel Kay. I was enjoying it a lot as I went through it, but once I finished and thought more about it I realized that it mostly just let me down. I don't want to read book two either. The main character started out being interesting and modest, and when he encountered his first big problem, he transformed suddenly into a giant Mary Sue for the remainder of the book. The ending was the worst: The climax is the protagonist showing off all of his Mary Sue intelligence and wit to impress the royal court. His "weakness" is that he just speaks his mind, but it's turned into a cop-out resume answer (I am just too organized and work too hard sometimes!) because every time we see him speaking without thinking, it ends up benefiting him. The author also had a strange way of telling instead of showing. The most egregious example was the main characters encountering this demon god-like creature, it just stood there in the forest watching them. The author then shifted between three characters' view points and had them just run exceptionally long internal monologues telling themselves how they felt about seeing this. The creature that the characters see and think about was never mentioned earlier, we get all of their feelings about seeing it AND the exposition explaining what it is in one big dump. There was a similar thing to this toward the very end of the book the dolphins where someone says something that seems perfectly normal to the reader, but we then hear that the protagonist "Feels a chill run up his spine" or that "His heart beat with trepidation," followed by an exposition dump of why this innocuous thing is actually significant. I still kind of liked the experience of the book and there were some enjoyable moments. All of the weird writing things I just mentioned could probably have worked with greater moderation or mixed in with more actual stuff happening. The style of long internal monologues and feelings worked well for the protagonist encountering art that moved in, but it fell flat in other areas.
|
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2013 23:42
|
|
|
Geek U.S.A. posted:Anyone here read the latest Locke Lamora book? Looking for some impressions but scared of clicking on the series thread and getting insta-spoiled about everything. Well, I finished ROT last night. It took me a while because I had to read other things during the experience. I rated it MEH. I had to control myself to avoid skimming as Locke Lamorra chatters endlessly about his unrequited love and virginity and Sabetha says yes, no, yes, no, yes and the beautiful world-building of Camorra vanished along with a polt. I don't demand plots but this really could have used one. TLOLL is one of the 20 best books of my lifetime. What has happened here reminds me of Altered Carbon, another masterpiece, whose follow-up books were most unimpressive. Now, to say something positive, I've been playing fan-boy to this author Ertic Gabrielsen for years trying to squeeze another book out of him. Finally, http://www.amazon.com/Augment-Part-1-Eric-Gabrielsen-ebook/dp/B00GDJ0YDK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1384210857&sr=8-1&keywords=augment+eric and I really like it. Lots of action, terrifically funny and sad at the same time. I hope he continues with enough success because I really like his stuff.
|
|
#
?
Nov 12, 2013 00:03
|
|
|
So I just finished "Inverted World" by Christopher Priest and I really really liked it. I just loved how the strange setting was revealed layer by layer. I know Priest also wrote "The Prestige", I guess what I'm asking is where do I go next with him? Is "The Prestige" a good next stepping stone?
|
|
#
?
Nov 12, 2013 05:04
|
|
|
I just finished the first story perspective in Wool, and I really like it so far! I went into the store looking for Railsea, and same as last store, they didn't have it, so I grabbed Wool when it caught my eye, having heard a lot of good things about it.
|
|
#
?
Nov 12, 2013 05:28
|
|
|
Snuffman posted:So I just finished "Inverted World" by Christopher Priest and I really really liked it. I just loved how the strange setting was revealed layer by layer. The Prestige is a great book, definitely one of Priest's best, thought the setting is not quite as unusual as The Inverted World. You'd also probably like A Dream of Wessex, though I found The Separation and The Extremes not as good as his previous stuff. My favourite of his is The Affirmation, which takes a bit of getting into, but only once you're drawn into it do you realise what a mindfuck it is.
|
|
#
?
Nov 12, 2013 06:09
|
|
|
Just a heads up, less than a day left at storybundle.com for 13 books for one cheap price.
|
|
#
?
Nov 12, 2013 07:48
|
|
|
Snuffman posted:So I just finished "Inverted World" by Christopher Priest and I really really liked it. I just loved how the strange setting was revealed layer by layer. I liked inverted world as well although I thought the climax fell a little short.
|
|
#
?
Nov 12, 2013 23:53
|
|
|
Snuffman posted:So I just finished "Inverted World" by Christopher Priest and I really really liked it. I just loved how the strange setting was revealed layer by layer. I really liked The Prestige, and was pleased that whilst the (really pretty decent) film was good, and its core plot was much the same, it didn't actually spoil the book per se. The endings are very different.
|
|
#
?
Nov 12, 2013 23:58
|
|
|
Decius posted:The books are pretty great, albeit also a bit depressing/downers as his/her main characters tend to be rather unlikeable people or at least people who do bad things for often dubious reasons. Which is also true for Abercrombie, but Parker doesn't have the reliever of comic/funny parts/quips that Abercrombie has. Really? The Folding Knife was one of the funniest books I've ever read. The thing is, even the comedic parts tend to be just as dark as the rest of it. The Engineer Trilogy was really good, but I had a hard time getting into the first book. Once I got like halfway in, I finished the series in a week or two. It's great, because it uses the trilogy format perfectly- I'm spoiling it, because it was an ah-ha moment for me when I realized it. each book gives a different character the same premise and shows how they work through it. The Company was probably the darkest of their books, though. That or The Hammer.
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2013 00:00
|
|
|
I would like an opinion on Alistair Reynolds. I've read several of his books and short stories. And while I like the setting, I have a pretty huge problem with certain of his characters in the longer books. I don't know how to put it succinctly; he seems to have no idea how to write a convincing 'tough' character. I like his hard science background, but at his worst, his characters literally seems like some shut-in astronomy nerd's idea of tough guys. And when assassins and mercenaries are some of the major characters, that becomes a pretty glaring problem. Not the only one, but I picked this because it's exemplary. The human interaction in general is pretty weak. One night, the main character takes some aristocrat who hunts people for fun hostage, the next day she helps him and becomes his trusted friend, more or less. Both Revelation Space and especially Chasm City had this problem, so I'm a bit leery of continuing the series. However, I really liked the short stories of his that I've read, namely Galactic North and Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days. The weak characterization is usually much less of a problem in them. So basically, my question is, are things going to get better with the main series? What's considered the best book of it? And if not, are there any other short story collections I should check out instead?
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2013 01:18
|
|
|
Hannibal Rex posted:I would like an opinion on Alistair Reynolds. I've read several of his books and short stories. And while I like the setting, I have a pretty huge problem with certain of his characters in the longer books. I don't know how to put it succinctly; he seems to have no idea how to write a convincing 'tough' character. I like his hard science background, but at his worst, his characters literally seems like some shut-in astronomy nerd's idea of tough guys. And when assassins and mercenaries are some of the major characters, that becomes a pretty glaring problem. Not the only one, but I picked this because it's exemplary. The human interaction in general is pretty weak. One night, the main character takes some aristocrat who hunts people for fun hostage, the next day she helps him and becomes his trusted friend, more or less. Both Revelation Space and especially Chasm City had this problem, so I'm a bit leery of continuing the series. The next book is Redemption Ark and it's my favourite of the series. You'll hear a lot of crap heaped on the final book, Absolution Gap, but I liked that one too, even if it takes a hard left turn into new territory. You've yet to meet some of the best and most memorable characters of the series, in my opinion. One of my very favourite characters of the series has a minor part in RA, then pretty much is the main character of AG, and he's also a talking pig  .Did you not like Volyova though? She's one of the absolute standout characters of the series.
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2013 01:36
|
|
|
Alistair Reynolds is more or less worth reading if you avoid his bottom of the heap books. At his best (House of Suns and Chasm City), he takes a great idea and interweaves it into a compelling plot that creates a true sense of scale in the galaxy. In his best books, his physics stuff is meshed in perfectly with the plot and enhances it. His worst books (Century Rain and Terminal World) put completely flat characters into a half-imagined world where some physics idea he had one night overtakes the plot, pacing, and characterization. I think Century Rain, Terminal World, and maybe Troika, are the only things I've read of his (and I've read most of his stuff) that are not at all worth reading. Everything else is better than the majority of cheesy space opera you might come across.
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2013 02:04
|
|
|
See, what throws me for a loop is that I've repeatedly heard Chasm City is one of his best books, and I pretty much hated it. Big spoilers for Chasm City: Apart from the major "tough guy characterization" problem I mentioned earlier, the main conceit of the story didn't work for me at all. Despite all the reflection of how much of a broken human being he is early on, Sky-as-Tanner is pretty much a comparatively decent guy, as is Tanner in Sky's memory flashbacks of him. Sky Haussman, on the other hand, is shown to be a psychopath rear end in a top hat in the flashbacks. Once Sky-as-Tanner realizes that his own personality is only a temporary imprint job, it would have been an utterly fantastic direction to take that the Tanner personality desperately tries to stay alive somehow, instead of reverting back into the psychopath Sky who actually killed his real self. Talk about a mindfuck. But instead, now Tanner reappears deus-ex-machinaously alive, and suddenly he's the complete and utter psychopath, for some reason. The direction it took just didn't work for me at all. I'll keep reading for now. We'll see how it goes. Edit: Volyova was ok, but much of the Ana Khouri/Volyova interaction felt off to me. It's been a while, so I can't give you any specifics. Hannibal Rex fucked around with this message at 03:04 on Nov 13, 2013 |
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2013 02:58
|
|
|
I think Reynold's characterizations tend towards cold and mechanistic (I really need to stop having opinions about my fellow authors now that they're my fellow authors) but the best way to handle this is to view it as a piece of tone work - it fits right in with his cold, inhuman, vastly indifferent cosmos.
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2013 04:27
|
|
|
Reynold's characterisation totally sucks and is bland and flat. It is by far the weakest part of his writing and I remember his characters only because I found them remarkably bland. I would still recommend reading House of Suns because it is just outstanding in every other way.
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2013 07:16
|
|
|
I've been watching The Blue Planet lately, and it's been giving me a craving for Sci Fi (or fantasy I suppose) about the ocean, about exploring it, or alternatively reminding us that the ocean is terrifying. Does anyone have any specific recommendations? I've heard Arthur C. Clarke wrote about it a lot (though I don't know which books in particular) but that's about the extent of my knowledge. I don't really read that much Sci Fi honestly; I read Fantasy a lot more.
|
|
#
?
Nov 14, 2013 03:35
|
|
|
Caustic Chimera posted:I've been watching The Blue Planet lately, and it's been giving me a craving for Sci Fi (or fantasy I suppose) about the ocean, about exploring it, or alternatively reminding us that the ocean is terrifying. Does anyone have any specific recommendations? Read Starfish by Peter Watts. It's creepy as gently caress and free online. Your call whether you want to keep going with the series after that book, I recommend against it.
|
|
#
?
Nov 14, 2013 03:51
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 4, 2024 06:26 |
|
|
Stuporstar posted:Can anyone recall any stories that use the premise "man turns out to be a spaceship" or vise versa? I think in Glen Cook's The Dragon Never Sleeps the minds of ship captains are integrated into the ship, to help pilot them. It's sort of what you were asking about.
|
|
#
?
Nov 14, 2013 04:46
|
|
