Read "Red Rising" and enjoyed it. It is kind of YA but well written YA and has reasonably mature themes. It involves a teenager plucked from obscurity and given significant enhancements to enable him to rise to the top of the society, and set in a school where elite teenagers battle with each other to determine their prospects in the society, so it is hard to claim it is not YA. On the other hand there are political machinations between competing houses in the grown up world intruding on the school and the protagonist moves on to enter a real war between those houses in the second book of the series. The conceit is that the society (which is set in a future where humanity has colonised the solar system) has been divided into castes, based on genetically engineered differences. So there are labouring/mining castes, caste engineered to be pilots, soldiers, technicians, servants, merchants, artists, sex workers, entertainers and more. Each designated by a colour which is reflected in teh clothes they wear and their genetically engineered hair colour. As well as genetic engineering the ruling gold caste also employ social engineering to maintain the hierarchy. The protagonist was a red miner on Mars who is genetically engineered to become gold and then excels in the school. I am reading the second book in the series, will probably take a break and read something else next. There are 6 published books and a seventh and final book scheduled to be published next year. So far it is well written, reasonably complex and I would recommend.
After I finish the second book in this series I intend to take a break from it and read "the Wager" which is billed as historical non-fiction (though I assume it is dramatised/"based on real events") which is the story of a crew of a british ship shipwrecked in the 1740s, based on ship logs etc., with allegations and counter allegations of mutiny and murder. Looks very interesting. I like historical fiction and I guess this is historical fiction based on actual events.
i can't stand him and i don't understand the praise. i've read 2 or 3 books of his and hated every single one of them. pure cheese garbage imho
finally finished book 3, and i have to say this has been one of the hardest trilogies to finish. Don't get me wrong, i really enjoyed the story lines, but it was such a hard slog to get through, especially book 2, that i never got round to book 3 before the series came out and i realised there were a lot of gaps which i was missing so finally finished it. Book 3 is great and loved the ending theory (no idea how they'll get to that in the series-don't want to spoiler anything). All in all an impressive 3 body of work
I read the first 3 Stormlight Archives a while back and slowly came to despise them as I read more, especially the female characters that are all bitchy and insulting for no reason, Sanderson always has to have one or two in his books. The humour/wit was absolutely pathetic, fart jokes and bad smells, really childish crap. There was even a character called Wit who was supposed to be witty but again, fart jokes. So repetitive aswell, whole chapters where absolutely nothing happens.
I don't consider Asimov a great wordsmith, but he had the 'gift of names' (something a lot of writers struggle with, I'd lump Tchaikovsky in that group), wrote an enormous amount and bridged the post-WWII militaristic SciFi to something more modern and outward looking. His stuff's not 'deep' either, more pop/light thinking unlike, say, his contemporaries like Herbert, Le Guin, Norton. I also just reread Foundation and it doesn't hold up, very little character development and just a 'deus ex machina' plot device, with spaceships. Supposedly the recent filmed version is very good, will try and catch that sometime.
As a kid I loved Asimov's robot stories (Especially Bicentennial Man - Even that Godawful movie couldn't tarnish that). But, as an adult I just find them fairly clunky. Interesting ideas (Especially when you think of how many future writers used concepts raised in these stories). Interesting ideas but… dare I say it… not as good as I remember.
I mean it's just down to taste. His stories were written sixty to seventy years ago and they have aged better than many others of that time but I suppose styles change. And I suppose he was never really known as a writer of characters: They were there to pretty much move the plot along. I did enjoy the interconnectedness of his stories though. You had The Caves of Steel referencing his robot stories/laws of course and even into Foundation.
…. Maybe I'll give them another look also
Finished 'Ogres' by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Nice read, interesting use of a 'present tense' narrative.
Going retro with Caves of Steel by Asimov, who contemplated societal collapse due to overpopulation of 8 billion, in 1953. How quaint.
I see they have announced the publish date of book 5 of Stormlight Archives (Phase 1): December 6:
https://read.macmillan.com/torforge/the-stormlight-archive/
They are a fun light read. Especially when coming from the misery-porn that was A Song of Ice and Fire and a couple of others (Thankfully I have zero interest in continuing with GRRMs stuff).
The Cosmere books are quite samey and, I suppose it makes sense as they are in the same universe. But they are easy reads and, for many, a gateway into reading Sci0Fi/Fantasy.
I do remember when people were getting so obsessed with Game of Thrones. The same people who would have thought "Nerrrrrrrd" as they saw me reading the books prior to the show - Marvelling at how this was not like typical fantasy stuff (Meaning it was not like LoTR). Meanwhile long-term fantasy fans were like "Not typical? Really? Maybe more grimy than others but…"
But anyway, back to Stormlight. They are light, fun reading. DESIGNED to be adapted into a TV series (have they been bought?). There are whole sections where you would think "Ah, THIS is where they will have a post credit sequence at season end" or "OK, that was cool. That's going to be the end of the 2nd last episode of a season leading to an epic end episode"
Edit: I see that I pretty much repeated an earlier post I made so ignore… :)
Found my way back to Tim Powers, who I'd not caught up with in years. Reading "Forced Perspectives," so far it's Power's greatest hits, weird Egyptian mythos, shadowy organizations and L.A.. Just finished 'House of Open Wounds' by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Found that to be fairly predictable but entertaining.
Disagree on Tide Child, loved the world, loved the characters sure it's a bit rough around the edges and the ending could be tighter but overall it's a great fantasy series.
Re-reading Starlight Archive
Thanks for the Saevus Corax tip, just what I was looking for.
Bit of a drought at the minute no? Havent read any good sci-fi/fantasy in ages. Read Neal Ashers latest Polity, War Bodies, I used to love that universe nearly as much as the Culture but its just mindless pointless crap now, exact same battle descriptions over and over again.
Just finished the Saevus Corax trilogy by K.J. Parker. While I enjoyed Parker's recent 'Siege' and Two of Swords series, I thought they weren't quite at the level of his earlier stuff. This Corax trilogy was excellent though, right up there with his best. He has a completely unique writing style.
The Tide Child Trilogy by R.J. Barker, good but not great I'd say. Probably a seven out of ten series for me, some good ideas and creative world building but fell short of fully gripping my interest.
The Hexologists by Josiah Bancroft, very enjoyable, very quick read. Bancroft is probably one of the best new Fantasy authors of the last few years.
Thanks for the posts guys, this place has been a bit dead since the site migration. I can only say that I have read nothing good in ages. This place was always my go to and hope it picks up again.
Reading books by A.M. Shine recently. Irish author that i knew nothing about but happened upon. All gothic type horror stuff set in Ireland. Easy reading and Ie njoyed "The Watchers" and currently reading "The Creeper". The Watchers has been made into film due for cinema release in June 2024. Worth checking them out if you want something slightly different.
http://www.amshinewriter.com/about
Recently finished the "three body problem" trilogy. Enjoyable, though I do find it difficult to deal with unfamiliar chinese names - easy to lose track of which character is which from the name until context clues fill in the gaps. Especially with a break between books.
Went on to read "ministry of the future" by Kim Stanley Robinson. This is very light "sci-fi" - sort of like a future equivalent of historical fiction, which was set in the next 30 years or so, with no transformative technological innovations. The concept is that a ministry is established by the UN to advocate for future people since their rights are not taken into consideration adequately in terms of climate change etc. It is focussed basically entirely on the climate crisis and potential solutions. Really interesting read, not hugely dramatic, it felt kind of educational. Kind of depressing as well in terms of what the future might hold in store, but I am definitely glad I read it. Main character is an irish woman. Weak finish though, felt like final chapters, after she retired, could just be cut and added very little imo.
Book imagined a heat wave in India with a wet bulb temperature of 35 degrees in the near future. Power failures occurred because of AC demands on the grid. Huge numbers of deaths resulted and afterwards India became the world wide champion of fighting climate change. Apparently with a wet bulb of 35 degrees a fit, healthy person can last about 6 hours. wet bulb temp means 35 degrees with 100% humidity or a higher temperature with lower humidity. Lots of interesting approaches to addressing climate change, slowing sea level rise etc.
And finally…
Short stories:
And some more:
K.J Parker: * "A Practical Guide to Conquering the World", the final book in his Siege trilogy. Great KJ Parker humour and it takes, again, a different approach to the same besieged city found in the previous two installments.
Terry Pratchett:
Others:
Hmm missed half a year!
That was the first I read of his and also loved it, went back and read most of his other stuff which is all pretty enthralling stuff. In a similar vein, I just finished The Poppy War last week which was entertaining but didn't have near the same depth as Under Heaven.
you should give David Eddings a go.
Oh God yeah when he tries to be witty and its just childish insults and snark, absolute cringe reading it.
I decided to give it a go after all the praise, even though Sanderson is a terrible writer. Yeah, that arty girl is just one of the worst written unlikable characters ever written. It's like these books are an exercise is making 1 word into 100 words. I decided to just give up mid book, life's too short.
I must read part 2 & 3 of Three-Body Problem. I must admit I was a bit underwhelmed after hearing so much hype about it. I thought the start was very interesting but once you found out what was going on with experiments etc, I lost much of my interest (Tried to be vague).
Having said that, I must root out the Chinese series 'cos that Netflix show looks to only have the most tangential connection to source material.
I have no problem with adaptations as long as there is SOME resemblance but, take for example "World War Z" They basically only kept the name. I didn't see the point in using the name when it was just another Fast-Zombie movie. Would have been great as a one-season, 10 episode HBO "Documentary"
I didn't enjoy SA4 until the last third. Which is fantastic and a really good set up for the next one.
I was enjoying the Stormlight Archive up until book 4 but now its gone very waffley with all the Spren stuff, having to force myself to push through, definitely taking a break after this.
Started Exordia by Seth Dickinson, very interesting first contact theme so far, getting its hooks into me now:
Exordia by Seth Dickinson | Goodreads
Have a bit of sympathy, if he had a good editor the second book would have been different and not painted him into a corner but if I recall there's no way he can write his way out of it due to conflicts that are now written. Remember reading on it years ago but don't remember the specifics anymore.
I read the (2?) books a couple of years ago. Thought they were interesting enough at the time but, TBH, I can't remember a single thing about them now. As for a good editor: Aye, this is called the GRRM-Conundrum: Do you let your writer write whatever they want so they come out with more and more books - Expanding a trilogy into a never-ending saga? Or do you rein them in, help them avoid dead-ends and conflicts and get a coherent FINISHED story?
As for them potentially being ropier than you remember. As I said, I can't remember ANYTHING about the books but it is interesting how that can happen. I remember loving Aaron Sorkin's "Studio 60 on Sunset Strip" when it came out. Said I'd rewatch it.... Oooooh boy did that not age well. What originally came across as a sweet budding romance really came across as stalkerish post #metoo and other really dodgy aspects.
always was an enjoyable story that needed an ending to be considered anything other than good.
Currently reading the new murderbot, enjoying it but not as much as pervious ones. Going to go back to GGK after this and then reread Stormlight over the summer.
No, and don't think there is any sort of indication when it will be finished either.
Did they ever finish that series?
I'm randomly listening to Name of the Wind on audiobook. Christ, it's a lot ropier than I remember.
