Clinton1011 posted:

I just started the Black Company due to this thread and I am liking it so far but I am only 1 book in.

kcroy posted:

Dramatika posted:

OK, the gist is that in the future, oil has run out and now calories get everything done. Power is provided by feeding food to animals that process calories efficently, and then walk around tightening springs that store energy.

Dramatika posted:

I don't know, I'm willing to put aside wondering whether it would really be like this is real life when I read sci-fi/fantasy books. It's not the best book I've read recently, but it was entertaining. To each their own I guess.

sky shark posted:

http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/

Pretty much every Baen book, scattered throughout several CDs. They take the marketing approach of including these cd's with new hardcover copies of books; the intention is that by giving away the older works of an author, you'll get hooked and be more likely to purchase the new stuff.

Kneel Before Zog posted:

Free? Heck yeah I'll read it. The link isn't working for me though. What do you guys think of the Black Company series by Glenn Cook , I think? Is it sort of like Joe Abercrombie fantasy?

Literator posted:

Just finished The Chronicles of the Black Company and I was wondering how severe the drop in quality is of the later books in the series, is it still enjoyable so long as expectations are lowered or is it such a catastrophe that fans try to pretend it doesn't exist? Should I buy and continue the series?

The Spookmaster posted:

I've never really read much fantasy until a friend lent me a game of thrones which I read cover to cover in a day and finished the rest of the series in the next week. Martin's characters and world are really what grabbed me and the lack of over the top wizards/magic kind of threw the stereotype of fantasy I had for a loop. Having only really read A song of Ice and Fire and the Lord of the Rings books years ago which I honestly found boring what should I read next?

Velius posted:

No one claims Ringo is a good writer. In fact, almost everyone thinks he's horrible, along with Drake.

Duck and burger posted:

I gave The Blade Itself a bit of a shot but didn't get too far into it. My first impression was that the prose was wonderful, but after reading GRRM, three violent male leads got samey really fast. Is it worth pushing through (perhaps for the greater story) if that kind of thing seriously bothers me?

Shakugan posted:

I'm currently trying to read through the first book of the Iron Druid Chronicles. I'm finding it difficult because it's just trying SO hard to be the Dresden Files.

Seriously people, if you haven't read the Dresden Files, go do so immediately. There is a good reason there is a giant Dresden Files thread on this forum. It's unfortunate that the first few books are far weaker than the rest, but it picks up from there and then never stops.

The audibooks are amazing, as James Masters does a fantastic job.

FUEEEEEEEGOOOOO

Chas McGill posted:

Joe Abercrombie is marginally better, yet still disappointing.

Chas McGill posted:

Abercrombie is disappointing in the sense that I don't find him to be the genre shattering colossus that so many have promised me he is. It was probably unfair of me to mention him in the same company as the others, yet I couldn't see him as anything but another false dawn.

TOOT BOOT posted:

Is science fiction mostly a western thing? I haven't encountered too many authors that aren't from the US/UK.

Rough Lobster posted:

Weird. I'm genuinely curious now. I've never read any of his stuff...would either of you be able to say why he's polarizing?

Victorkm posted:

Oh god I just started Lies of Locke Lamora and really loving the con game in a fantasy setting. I'm pointing out twists before they are revealed just because I love and take in all the con man movies I can find. Really hating thst lynch is apparently so slow in writing book 3.

Schizo posted:

I just didn't get Blindsight.

Everybody raved about how amazing it was and when I finished reading it, all I could think of was "...that's it?"

Nothing about it really stuck out at me as being particularly notable.

Metonymy posted:

Erikson is talking about the T'loot T'lat Tlootl'e being at Power Level 90000 and crushing the Rag'kgnar.

Talas posted:

The first book is great and you should read it now. The second not so much.

Ornamented Death posted:

Twenty Palaces sold like poo poo because it was essentially the exact opposite of what most fans of the genre expect.

Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:

Exactly.

I loved the fact it didn't hand hold you for the "This is how the world works" bits. The protagonist is just a regular dude who is completely mystified by the freaky poo poo that happens, and it shows.

Dresden's world was built around the idea that he has always been around magic. He understands it, investigates it, figures out what's going on, knows about monsters, etc.

Ray's world is literally "What the gently caress did I just step into, and how can I avoid getting killed?"

He doesn't have years of training and 800 diff spells to mutter to do various things, or really anything at all. He has his ghost knife, some defensive magic spells that help shield him from some damage, and that's it.

It was a great change of pace.

Hell, we only meet like 1 or 2 of the "higher up" people in the society through all the books and prequels. I love the idea of the main character just being in the dark when it comes to all this random weird poo poo.

Sojourn posted:

Another decent pulpy fantasy series is the War God series by David Weber:

http://www.baenebooks.com/c-50-war-...avid-weber.aspx

Unlike the stuff he's churning out lately it doesn't have a cast of a hundred one off characters and is actually fairly engaging. I've heard mixed things about the fourth book since it seems that he's decided to do the whole, "have everyone and their mother talk about their plans in too much detail over and over" thing that made me stop reading most of his later series.

Clinton1011 posted:

Yea I tried to watch them after reading the first 3 books and they just didn't compare. Also the editing drove me insane with how they would cut to different angles for no reason.

I am going to try them again though because the books have been so good so far.

Groke posted:

Heavily seconded, they are the dog's bollocks, the bee's knees, etc. The only downside is that after you've read them, nearly all of those "19th century navy IN SPACE" books which might otherwise be good entertainment will suck by comparison.

Rocketfish posted:

Damnitall. Does anyone know of any female fantasy/sci-fi authors that didn't eventually/haven't yet stumbled into YA?

Hedrigall posted:

Here's a review of 2312, and goddamn does it sound amazing: http://www.tor.com/blogs/2012/05/tr...tanley-robinson

It's shot pretty much to the top of my to-read list, just after China Miéville's new one.

MockingQuantum posted:

I don't know why, but it's conversations like this that makes me want to read some of his stuff. I'd rather an author be completely polarizing than "pretty good."

Heinlein was this way for me-- So many people I knew hated him, then I read Starship Troopers, and for reasons I cannot explain to this day, really liked it.

Then I read Stranger in a Strange Land, and kind of understood where everybody was coming from.

General Battuta posted:

Just as a counterpoint, I think Bas-Lag is ferociously imaginative, even if the individual novels have their various unique flaws. You can make pretty much anything sound dumb on paper, but Perdido Street Station doesn't come off as unimaginative in practice, especially when held up against the seas of Tolkienesque fantasy crashing down on us.

Megazver posted:

Red Padawan! Darth Vader teleports to Earth and decides to help Stalin defeat the Nazis! (Funnily enough, this one has a recomendation from Lukyanenko.)

Wolpertinger posted:

Repairman Jack being some sort of libertarian superman really gets on the nerves as well.

ZerodotJander posted:

John Ringo is not an amazing writer and there is a lot of self-wankery, especially in his non-SF/F fare. But if you like Safehold, I would say that you should probably enjoy most of Ringo's works. You'd probably like the Prince Roger/Empire of Man books the best, especially the first 3, and the first 2 are available in the Baen Free Library-

http://www.baenebooks.com/p-267-march-upcountry.aspx
http://www.baenebooks.com/p-265-march-to-the-sea.aspx

I think it's a pretty solid and fun to read Coming of Age/Anabasis military SF story.

mllaneza posted:

The stuff in the D-K thread isn't as bad as Ghost. Which was proofread, edited, laid-out and printed by people how had done that before. Then and only then did they put it in boxes and send it out to bookstores. Bookstores that paid for them.

Yeah, Ghost is that bad and it still has an ISBN number.