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Jan 6, 2021 09:33
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Jonny 290 posted:i started reading consider phlebas last night. quite all right iirc this is the one just before Banks had quite figured out the Culture universe and it was a bit "here's loads of stuff, let's see what sticks" so it's a bit of a slog to get through so if your read it and think "well that wasn't as good as I thought it was supposed to be" it's worth giving the others a shot. best M Banks is probably Inversions though. Edit: or maybe The Transition
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Jan 6, 2021 09:52
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imo: against a dark background, inversions, matter, player of games, surface detail, and the algebraist, probably in that order. i also really like feersum endjinn but that’s to a peculiar taste the algebraist has some great bits but also gets really cringey
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Jan 6, 2021 10:28
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rjmccall posted:imo: against a dark background, inversions, matter, player of games, surface detail, and the algebraist, probably in that order. i also really like feersum endjinn but that’s to a peculiar taste My favourite thing about banks is that he really engages with the idea that other beings could be radically different in all sorts of ways from us, not just humans with green skin and extra wrinkles. Not all the time, but much more than other writers. Solaris is a great book for the same reason
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Jan 6, 2021 10:51
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indigi posted:Guards! Guards! is a fine starting place imo fart simpson posted:start with eric guards! is a good start but I’d go with Mort. eric’s not a bad choice but rincewind is a little too established by that point
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Jan 6, 2021 13:50
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rjmccall posted:imo: against a dark background, inversions, matter, player of games, surface detail, and the algebraist, probably in that order. i also really like feersum endjinn but that’s to a peculiar taste anything banks but the state of the art I’m still angry about how bad that was
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Jan 6, 2021 13:52
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rjmccall posted:imo: against a dark background, inversions, matter, player of games, surface detail, and the algebraist, probably in that order. i also really like feersum endjinn but that’s to a peculiar taste against a dark background is a bit long imho but that said I have read it at least twice. Also I think the name Sharrow is great and would have tried to name mini-two hander that if I was not ideologically opposed to giving children made up names that curse them to having to spell it out for their life. pointsofdata posted:My favourite thing about banks is that he really engages with the idea that other beings could be radically different in all sorts of ways from us, not just humans with green skin and extra wrinkles. Not all the time, but much more than other writers. Solaris is a great book for the same reason Neal Asher is probably one of the best for this, some of the creatures he writes about are wildly "out there" Powerful Two-Hander fucked around with this message at 17:13 on Jan 6, 2021 |
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Jan 6, 2021 14:07
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Jan 6, 2021 14:17
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banks chat banks chat I hold that all the Culture books are really good, with Consider Phlebas and Excession being the most difficult (but the former was good to read as an audiobook). My favorites are Look to Windward and the Hydrogen Sonata. Look to Windward is an excellent slice of life story that tells a lot about aliens living in the Culture. The Hydrogen Sonata ties up a lot of loose ideas and is an excellent send-off to the series. The Player of Games is where I'd start. It might be boring at first, it does start out pretty slow, but it provides a pretty good contrast between how the Culture runs and how space imperialism works (or doesn't). It also has the Best Space Move so you gotta.
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Jan 6, 2021 14:43
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Jan 6, 2021 14:46
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This is up to watch now, busy with gently caress rn edit: hm a lady just said gently caress was the worst cussword, I think not.
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Jan 6, 2021 15:53
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echinopsis posted:i’ve never read one which one should I start with? i’m chronological order doesn't overly matter, but there are a bunch of overarching story lines through different books. idk, there's a huge chart out there designed to answer exactly this question  otoh, i just read them in publication order because why not? who cares, just read a book
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Jan 6, 2021 16:19
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release order is always correct for everything
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Jan 6, 2021 16:24
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haveblue posted:release order is always correct for everything reading narnia to my son and I discovered that all the new publishing runs have magicians nephew as the first book
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Jan 6, 2021 16:31
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haveblue posted:release order is always correct for everything Re: Pratchett - True but I would not suggest Color of Magic / The Light Fantastic to someone who didn't grow up reading 'classic' fantasy, they are very much more comedy pastiche than his later books.
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Jan 6, 2021 16:35
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oh yeah, sourcery is a good place to start if one likes wizards but want to skip the awkward first ones. absolutely nothing is lost doing so either, one can come back to the first two down the line if one wants.
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Jan 6, 2021 16:48
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The Fool posted:reading narnia to my son and I discovered that all the new publishing runs have magicians nephew as the first book
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Jan 6, 2021 17:09
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NoneMoreNegative posted:Re: Pratchett - True but I would not suggest Color of Magic / The Light Fantastic to someone who didn't grow up reading 'classic' fantasy, they are very much more comedy pastiche than his later books. start them with Strata to really gently caress them up
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Jan 6, 2021 17:13
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NoneMoreNegative posted:Re: Pratchett - True but I would not suggest Color of Magic / The Light Fantastic to someone who didn't grow up reading 'classic' fantasy, they are very much more comedy pastiche than his later books. if you did, there’s more than a few “oh gently caress you, lol” in there for you
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Jan 6, 2021 17:21
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The Fool posted:reading narnia to my son and I discovered that all the new publishing runs have magicians nephew as the first book
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Jan 6, 2021 17:39
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Powerful Two-Hander posted:iirc this is the one just before Banks had quite figured out the Culture universe and it was a bit "here's loads of stuff, let's see what sticks" so it's a bit of a slog to get through yep, i went 3 2 1 in culture books initially and 1 is certainly the weakest more because imo he figures out the culture is the interesting element in 2 and 3. 1 is decent scifi vignettes and feels a bit like a loose set of short stories, and the reader sort of discovers the culture alongside banks The Fool posted:reading narnia to my son and I discovered that all the new publishing runs have magicians nephew as the first book thats story-wise chronological ordering, right? I think that's how I read them when I was younger, but I read through the series a few times so it's fuzzy now sort of wonky with the established elements being tossed in with no context in that order, I suppose. it also removes some of the mystery from the other books
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Jan 6, 2021 18:17
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i kinda want to rewatch the bbc narnia series now  oh, lol, netflix has the rights to a new adaptation, so get ready to see the first two books adapted again
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Jan 6, 2021 18:24
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Agile Vector posted:thats story-wise chronological ordering, right? I think that's how I read them when I was younger, but I read through the series a few times so it's fuzzy now yeah, it’s in story order but nephew is a lovely intro to the series
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Jan 6, 2021 18:39
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Agile Vector posted:i kinda want to rewatch the bbc narnia series now [whispering to date while watching narnia when aslan first appears on the screen] that's narnia
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Jan 6, 2021 18:47
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I didnt think the Banks stuff was good. Like he's a good writer I guess and yeah his nonhuman characters are interesting but his characters do just the absolute dumbest poo poo just to move the plot forward. My pet peeve in fiction is presumably intelligent characters who make insane decisions just to advance the plot. Like that one Radch novel where the main character just suddenly decides to risk her life for her enemy out of the blue. And that whole cannibalism thing in player of games. Everything just seems like such an artificial set piece.
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Jan 6, 2021 22:46
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Jan 6, 2021 22:46
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rotor posted:Like that one Radch novel where the main character just suddenly decides to risk her life for her enemy out of the blue. she was an AI who had safeguards built into her so anyone with correct access (the emperor and possibly some others) could control her at any time.
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Jan 6, 2021 23:08
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rotor posted:Like he's a good writer I guess and yeah his nonhuman characters are interesting but his characters do just the absolute dumbest poo poo just to move the plot forward. My pet peeve in fiction is presumably intelligent characters who make insane decisions just to advance the plot. Alastair Reynolds also does this, and it generally results in everything getting worse for everyone. in that sense i suppose it's actually very realistic
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Jan 6, 2021 23:11
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what’s the cannibalism part in player of games I don’t remember
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Jan 6, 2021 23:20
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Silver Alicorn posted:what’s the cannibalism part in player of games I don’t remember whoa i dont remember that either
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Jan 6, 2021 23:21
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rotor posted:I didnt think the Banks stuff was good. Like he's a good writer I guess and yeah his nonhuman characters are interesting but his characters do just the absolute dumbest poo poo just to move the plot forward. My pet peeve in fiction is presumably intelligent characters who make insane decisions just to advance the plot. Like that one Radch novel where the main character just suddenly decides to risk her life for her enemy out of the blue. And that whole cannibalism thing in player of games. Everything just seems like such an artificial set piece. the cannibalism vignette is in consider phelbas and i loving hate it. there’s a mention in player but only as a qanon depravity by the ruling class
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Jan 6, 2021 23:24
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I don’t remember cannibalism in phlebas either but I only read it once
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Jan 6, 2021 23:27
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like ok that orbital is not-actually-culture on a technicality but the kind of non consenting thing a solar system proximate atoms-on-a-playing-card mind would be cool with
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Jan 6, 2021 23:27
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Silver Alicorn posted:I don’t remember cannibalism in phlebas either but I only read it once after the megaliner heist and the nuke he crashes and washes up on an cannibal island
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Jan 6, 2021 23:29
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PCjr sidecar posted:the cannibalism vignette is in consider phelbas and i loving hate it. there’s a mention in player but only as a qanon depravity by the ruling class yeah, it was lurid and felt like a very 80s scifi edgy choice reading in a reverse order made it more palatable to a degree because it was clear it wasnt a common weird fetishistic choice of the author
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Jan 6, 2021 23:30
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Silver Alicorn posted:I don’t remember cannibalism in phlebas either but I only read it once it's one of the vignettes in the middle, an insane cult on the orbital that's scheduled to be exploded
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Jan 6, 2021 23:30
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i only remember it because it goes on and on and doesnt he also regen a finger later or something and the whole thing is useless to the plot too?
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Jan 6, 2021 23:31
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PCjr sidecar posted:after the megaliner heist and the nuke he crashes and washes up on an cannibal island oh that. I thought they just ate seashells and fish guts and other indigestible stuff
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Jan 6, 2021 23:36
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fart simpson posted:start with eric I wouldn't recommend Eric as a starting point. (I don't know if this was a joke suggestion, I know a lot of people think Eric is one of the less good Discworld books.) The thing to remember about it is that it was primarily, originally, a Josh Kirby art showcase. I personally love Josh Kirby's art (RIP) so I enjoy the book a lot, but if you're not careful you'll get one of the slimmed down paperback editions with only about a hundred pages of words, and none of the artwork, and as a written work it's a bit... hasty? Thin? Kind of leaps from one setting to another with only a token framing device wrapped around it... plus you're not invested in Rincewind at all...
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Jan 6, 2021 23:38
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Silver Alicorn posted:oh that. I thought they just ate seashells and fish guts and other indigestible stuff there was a bit where they ate an acolyte as an appetizer also they ate the vomit and poo poo after they ate the fish guts just gross and unnecessary (also signing my posts)
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Jan 6, 2021 23:39
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