What Are You Reading?

Buford T. Justice XIX · 29-08-2019 1:18pm

cdgalwegian wrote: »

Not into fantasy novels, but the reviews sounded intriguing, with generally excellent scores; it seems the 'fantasy' element is really just that the world created is a slightly altered and renamed version of our historical world.
Would this be about right? Because if it is I'd certainly give them a go.

Yeah, Kay normally takes from historical incidents and transfers them to a fantasy world. He's very good, tbh. I particularly liked the Lions of Al-Rassan.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/104101.The_Lions_of_Al_Rassan

Igotadose · 29-08-2019 1:20pm

Trojan wrote: »

Ok so I just bought The Traitor Baru Cormorant - cheers folks.

Me fein. Just can't put "The Traitor Baru Cormorant" down. Fascinating ideas, well written.

Fian · 29-08-2019 2:04pm

cdgalwegian wrote: »

Not into fantasy novels, but the reviews sounded intriguing, with generally excellent scores; it seems the 'fantasy' element is really just that the world created is a slightly altered and renamed version of our historical world.
Would this be about right? Because if it is I'd certainly give them a go.

Yes. there is no magic (with very limited exceptions in some novels like "Tigana"), or at least none that could not be a magic trick, nothing that is not plausible in our world. But he has a series of novels set in a sort of parallel europe, like an "alternate history" historical fiction. Most of the cities are recognisable: muscav instead of moscow, Sessenia in this book I am reading is clearly venice and Dubrovnik is called dubrovna. The characters are not heroes or extraordinary warriors, they are normal people.

In fact i am puzzled why they are not just set as historical fiction in our Europe, or perhaps rather than "historical fiction" just fiction in an historical setting. I don't really see what benefit he gets from the altered version of our historical world. Not that it matters - the books are very good.

Don't be too quick to dismiss fantasy though, there are lots of other authors writing good fiction in fantastic settings nowadays that are a long way from the old cliches of mages or warriors fighting dragons and orcs to win the fair maidens. Think game of thrones rather than conan the barbarian.

Glebee · 29-08-2019 2:31pm

Just finished up Assassins Apprentice. Felt it just started to get going and then it just finished.... Was showing up as 80% complete on my reader and then I realised the 20% remaining was the start of the next book.

Half way through The Dark Tower:Wolves of the Calla audio book in the car. Typical dark Tower so far but am enjoying it. It sort of has a Magnificent 7 western feel to it at the moment...

Third of the way through DeadHouse Gates. Im really enjoying it so far and am amazed how quickly I got into it and got to grip with the characters. Could not really remember much from Gardens of the Moon, its been a while since I read it and after finishing I felt I would read no more of the series. Needed to google a few of them from time to time to stop getting mixed up and had a map of the continent saved to my phone to look at locations which also really help. Am really loving the desert / middle eastern location feel in the book.

shrapnel222 · 29-08-2019 3:15pm

Buford T. Justice VI wrote: »

Yeah, Kay normally takes from historical incidents and transfers them to a fantasy world. He's very good, tbh. I particularly liked the Lions of Al-Rassan.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/104101.The_Lions_of_Al_Rassan

Kay is absolutely fantastic in that genre, and i absolutely love most of his books. Sadly children of earth and sky is one of his few duds imo. thought it was very poor.

kirk buttercup · 29-08-2019 4:25pm

shrapnel222 wrote: »

Kay is absolutely fantastic in that genre, and i absolutely love most of his books. Sadly children of earth and sky is one of his few duds imo. thought it was very poor.

a year or so ago I said I had tigana sitting beside my bed and I hadn't read it ... its still there . one of these days

shrapnel222 · 29-08-2019 5:28pm

kirk buttercup wrote: »

a year or so ago I said I had tigana sitting beside my bed and I hadn't read it ... its still there . one of these days

Love tigana. It's a beautifully scripted one volume story. First kay book I read, and have read his entire bibliography since, many multiple times. It's not his best, but loved it!

Fian · 30-08-2019 10:26am

shrapnel222 wrote: »

Kay is absolutely fantastic in that genre, and i absolutely love most of his books. Sadly children of earth and sky is one of his few duds imo. thought it was very poor.

though it is good so far imo, but tbh he is still just establishing the characters I guess. Not really gotten into the meat of it yet.

shrapnel222 · 30-08-2019 11:45am

Fian wrote: »

though it is good so far imo, but tbh he is still just establishing the characters I guess. Not really gotten into the meat of it yet.

It's still an enjoyable read, with some good story arcs. Overall I just found it one of his weaker efforts.

Manic Moran · 31-08-2019 10:34pm

Currently working my way through the Posleen war series. Good, bubble-gum SF. Awaiting my next Bolo book on Amazon.

keane2097 · 02-09-2019 12:41pm

I'm reading Children of Time on the strong recommendations of this thread and at 15% in I like it a lot.

Started listening to the first book in the Stormlight Archives this morning on Audible and have to say I found the start of it a bit cheesy. Maybe I'm just going through a phase where fantasy doesn't do it for me as much.

shrapnel222 · 03-09-2019 8:08am

keane2097 wrote: »

I'm reading Children of Time on the strong recommendations of this thread and at 15% in I like it a lot.

Started listening to the first book in the Stormlight Archives this morning on Audible and have to say I found the start of it a bit cheesy. Maybe I'm just going through a phase where fantasy doesn't do it for me as much.

Read "the traitor Baru Cormorant", that might change your mind

keane2097 · 03-09-2019 9:39am

shrapnel222 wrote: »

Read "the traitor Baru Cormorant", that might change your mind

I intend to. To be fair I've gone a little further in the Way of Kings and it's starting to work a bit more for me.

Just finished my biannual spin through the Chronicles of Amber during the week. It actually never gets old.

mcgovern · 04-09-2019 10:48am

First and Only wasn't bad but it just never grabbed my attention, don't think I'll continue with the series.
Rosewater by Tade Thompson was interesting, I'll get around to reading the sequel at some stage.
I'm now reading The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling. I picked up after seeing it described as Sci-Fi/Horror. It is not. So far it is an uneventful, boring description of wandering around a cave. And I'm 2/3rds of the way through so I'm not expecting it to change. Struggling to finish it.

Finished listening to Oathtbinger by Brandon Sanderson. It was so long, and so boring. Some of the worst characters I've ever read (I'm looking at you Shalan). The first two books were slow but the finales were good enough to make up for it. Not so in this one, it's really put me off Sanderson now.
Also listened to The Narrows by Travis M. Riddle. It's kind of a Stranger Things lite with older protagonists. It reads like the author self-edited it and used a thesaurus in places. It just doesn't seem natural.
Finally, listening to Red Sister by Mark Lawrence. The narrators voice for the main character is a terrible Irish accent, but other than that I'm really enjoying it so far. Seems like it will be a standard story of gifted pupil in special school, but we'll see.

The Late Late Show · 04-09-2019 11:42pm

What are some good dystopian sci fi/spec fiction books you can recommend?

Nody · 05-09-2019 7:14am

The Late Late Show wrote: »

What are some good dystopian sci fi/spec fiction books you can recommend?

The Vagrant; very slow to start but you don't really get much more dystopian either.

shootermacg · 05-09-2019 8:33am

Nody wrote: »

The Vagrant; very slow to start but you don't really get much more dystopian either.

Reading it at the moment and liking it. Reminds me of the old Conan short stories by Robert E Howard and that's not a bad thing.

smacl · 05-09-2019 12:59pm

Finished Children of Ruin which was awesome and read Becky Chambers' new novella To be taught, if fortunate which while short felt like a real return to form after the last of the Wayfarers trilogy. Currently a couple of chapters into Pinion by Elizabeth Bear which I'm finding a bit hit and miss but will stick with for awhile. Have Empire in Black and Gold on the kindle as well so may end up jumping to that.

pixelburp · 05-09-2019 1:25pm

smacl wrote: »

Finished Children of Ruin which was awesome and read Becky Chambers' new novella To be taught, if fortunate which while short felt like a real return to form after the last of the Wayfarers trilogy. Currently a couple of chapters into Pinion by Elizabeth Bear which I'm finding a bit hit and miss but will stick with for awhile. Have Empire in Black and Gold on the kindle as well so may end up jumping to that.

I hadn't realised she had a novella out, and good to hear it's an improvement. Record of a Spaceborn Few was a tedious slog (as it happens, would have probably itself been better as a novella), and worried her spark had disappeared.

Thargor · 05-09-2019 9:47pm

Finished The Traitor Baru Cormorant today, well I usually plough through the last couple of chapters in a book because Ive seen it all before and know whats coming but lets just say I was straight onto The Monster Baru Cormorant after that!

I finished Traitor on my old knackered Kobo Glo HD and moved on to Monster on my new Kobo Forma by the way, it is borderline perfection as far as ebook reading goes, the most comfortable e-reading experience you can get imo:

batgoat · 05-09-2019 9:51pm

Thargor wrote: »

Finished The Traitor Baru Cormorant today, well I usually plough through the last couple of chapters in a book because Ive seen it all before and know whats coming but lets just say I was straight onto The Monster Baru Cormorant after that!

I finished Traitor on my old knackered Kobo Glo HD and moved on to Monster on my new Kobo Forma by the way, it is borderline perfection as far as ebook reading experiences go, the most comfortable e-reading experience you can get imo:

What are the kobo book stores like? I've got so much from amazon at this stage.

Thargor · 05-09-2019 10:24pm

batgoat wrote: »

What are the kobo book stores like? I've got so much from amazon at this stage.

I dont know sorry, I never use Amazon or Kobo stores I hate being tied to an ecosystem like that, Amazon arent going anywhere but places like Kobo could be gone in the morning, look at Barnes and Noble going bankrupt every year, bet anyone who had their collection in the Nook ecosystem is feeling a bit nervous now, I keep my collection of about 1000 epubs with all the security stripped out in a folder in Google Drive and manage the library with Calibre. I do the same thing with my music collection, again no trust Ill always have access to services/servers.

If most of your stuff is on Amazon I doubt you'll be moving to a new system tbh.

keane2097 · 09-09-2019 8:32pm

keane2097 wrote: »

Started listening to the first book in the Stormlight Archives this morning on Audible and have to say I found the start of it a bit cheesy. Maybe I'm just going through a phase where fantasy doesn't do it for me as much.

A bit red faced about this, really enjoying it now about halfway through and fairly sure I'll be using an Audible credit on the next one as soon as I'm done!

ixoy · 10-09-2019 11:52pm

Recently finished "Vortex" by Robert Charles Wilson, the third book in his Spin trilogy. Found this disappointing - the writing is bland and the story never really kicks off and peters to a fairly dull conclusion with the exception of the final chapter which shows something far more epic that had potential for a better book but is instead condensed into one big info dump.

An improvement was "The Borders of Infinity" by Lois McMaster-Bujold, a Vorkosigan novella. As ever it's very well written, witty and intelligent. A good fun "prison breakout" read.

Now I'm reading "Caine's Law" by Matthew Stover, the fourth and final book in his "The Acts of Caine" series. 20% in and it's.. a little weird. No straight forward adventure like in the last installment - it's gotten quite philosophical and there appears to be an element of time loops. Curious to see where it goes none the less.

I'm also 53% into "The Goblin Emperor" by Katherine Addison. This so far is very well written and really captures a sense of loneliness and isolation under the burden of rule. While it's intentional, I do find some of the namings and titles used a little OTT - osmer this, osmin that - that it can be a little bit too confusing. Still Addison appears to be a strong writer and it's definitely an interesting world.

11-09-2019 9:22am

ixoy wrote: »

Recently finished "Vortex" by Robert Charles Wilson, the third book in his Spin trilogy. Found this disappointing - the writing is bland and the story never really kicks off and peters to a fairly dull conclusion with the exception of the final chapter which shows something far more epic that had potential for a better book but is instead condensed into one big info dump.

An improvement was "The Borders of Infinity" by Lois McMaster-Bujold, a Vorkosigan novella. As ever it's very well written, witty and intelligent. A good fun "prison breakout" read.

Now I'm reading "Caine's Law" by Matthew Stover, the fourth and final book in his "The Acts of Caine" series. 20% in and it's.. a little weird. No straight forward adventure like in the last installment - it's gotten quite philosophical and there appears to be an element of time loops. Curious to see where it goes none the less.

I'm also 53% into "The Goblin Emperor" by Katherine Addison. This so far is very well written and really captures a sense of loneliness and isolation under the burden of rule. While it's intentional, I do find some of the namings and titles used a little OTT - osmer this, osmin that - that it can be a little bit too confusing. Still Addison appears to be a strong writer and it's definitely an interesting world.

just read a thread on reddit yesterday about the goblin emperor and its confusing names!
i must pick it up

Thargor · 11-09-2019 9:23am

Yeah I got excited by that Spin series when I found it but ultimately a bit flat like you say. Loved the

Martian colonization

stuff in it though.

Paddy Samurai · 11-09-2019 4:42pm

Finished Arm of the Sphinx by Bancroft which I liked .I intend to continue the series and order part 3.

Although the next one has been sitting on my shelf since it came out I am only regretfully getting to it now. About 120+ pages into Sharpe Ends By Joe Abercrombie and enjoying it big time.Lots of LOL moments for me especially "The Fool Jobs". Great little short stories all of which I have enjoyed so far. Its a nice reminder and lead up to Abercrombies new upcoming release.

11-09-2019 7:05pm

bluewolf wrote: »

just read a thread on reddit yesterday about the goblin emperor and its confusing names!
i must pick it up

God, what a brilliant book. Highly recommend it to anyone

Buford T. Justice XIX · 11-09-2019 7:30pm

I'm reading the Ember Blade by Chris wooding atm. A pretty slow start to it and I almost dropped it twice to go onto something interesting.

Then BOOM, it jumps into life and I've been up late the last two nights reading it, really enjoying it now.

Before that, I read the first few books of the Heir to the Crown series by Paul J. Bennett. Quite good, I thought, very easy reading but the story moves along at a brisk pace. Nothing exceptional, just a good story and sympathetic characters for the most part.

Glebee · 13-09-2019 8:42pm

Best Served Cold - Have to say it has me gripped from the start..

Fian · 20-09-2019 2:09pm

Finished children of earth and sky (excellent) and then children of time (also very good.)

Now reading children of ruin. Anxious to finish it tbh, so that i can get on to the testaments. Had it with me in Luxembourg when i finished children of time so I moved on to it, if I had been in Ireland I might have just bought the testaments instead.

Atwood has written plenty of fantasy (or perhaps sci -fi I guess) that is well worth reading btw, don't recall seeing many references to her books in this thread. The flood trilogy is the most obvious (well most obvious after the handmaid's tale I guess) as well as the blind assassin. Any of her books are well worth reading.

Trojan · 20-09-2019 4:31pm

Mother of Learning by Domagoj Kurmaic

"Zorian, a mage in training, only wanted to finish his education in peace. Now he struggles to find answers as he finds himself repeatedly reliving the same month. 'Groundhog Day' style setup in a fantasy world."

Stumbled across this self-published fantasy online. It combines a time loop with a well built fantasy world reminiscent of D&D. It's magical academy, but I didn't get a YA vibe from it which makes me happy.

There's a smattering of typos, particularly towards the end, but it's well written. Warning: there's 1-2 chapters left to be written. They are published on fictionpress & Royal Road approximately every 2-3 weeks. There will certainly be publishers interested if they haven't approached the author already.

lordgoat · 20-09-2019 5:13pm

Malazan Book 7

The Late Late Show · 20-09-2019 8:16pm

Fian wrote: »

Finished children of earth and sky (excellent) and then children of time (also very good.)

Now reading children of ruin. Anxious to finish it tbh, so that i can get on to the testaments. Had it with me in Luxembourg when i finished children of time so I moved on to it, if I had been in Ireland I might have just bought the testaments instead.

Atwood has written plenty of fantasy (or perhaps sci -fi I guess) that is well worth reading btw, don't recall seeing many references to her books in this thread. The flood trilogy is the most obvious (well most obvious after the handmaid's tale I guess) as well as the blind assassin. Any of her books are well worth reading.

Margaret Atwood books are always well worth reading. I am reading The Testaments at the moment and enjoying it very much. It work both as a follow on to her original book of The Handmaid's Tale as well as the TV series. The Oryx and Crake books are excellent too as are The Blind Assassin, Cat's Eye, Bodily Harm, Alias Grace, etc.

The Late Late Show · 20-09-2019 8:20pm

The Late Late Show wrote: »

Margaret Atwood books are always well worth reading. I am reading The Testaments at the moment and enjoying it very much. It work both as a follow on to her original book of The Handmaid's Tale as well as the TV series. The Oryx and Crake books are excellent too as are The Blind Assassin, Cat's Eye, Bodily Harm, Alias Grace, etc.

For those who like Margaret Atwood books and/or The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret is interviewed later tonight on BB2 at 11.

Thargor · 24-09-2019 8:30pm

One month to go until the end of the Lightbringer series, I thought it would be next year at least:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30169100-the-burning-white

It has its stupid bits,

like that utterly nauseating subplot about his wife being too tight for his cock

, what in the name of feck was he thinking there? But overall I liked this series a lot, if anyone sees a good series recap between no and then please link it.

kirk buttercup · 26-09-2019 2:56pm

I know this is scifi fantasy , but any recommendations of a good Horror I loved king when I was younger and thinking about reading his new one . Any recommendations will be appreciated

Paddy Samurai · 26-09-2019 3:42pm

Bright Steel by Miles Cameron (part 3 )
About 80 pages in and enjoying it a ton.This is a real page turner and I am savoring every page.Hope the ending lives up to all that has gone before.

very war come down to the flash of bright steel.Even when the air is full of magic . . .
Aranthur and his friends have come together across different continents and realms with one purpose: to strike back against the forces which have torn a hole in the heavens and threaten to tear the world beneath them apart as well.

Paddy Samurai · 26-09-2019 3:50pm

kirk buttercup wrote: »

I know this is scifi fantasy , but any recommendations of a good Horror I loved king when I was younger and thinking about reading his new one . Any recommendations will be appreciated

I have read a lot of King in the past and even have a couple of his newest on my shelf of shame. Robert McCammon has a similar style to King IMO and his books Swan Song ,Wolfs Hour and Stinger are all worth a read.

If your into trying something epic in breadth.

I would recommend the Necroscope series (the first seven) by Brian Lumley.Its a oldie but a great read IMO.

Fian · 01-10-2019 2:30pm

I abandoned children of ruin and read the testaments. Couldn't wait to finish children of ruin. Have restarted that now.

Was a good decision tbh, teh testaments is very good. It probably doesn't quite live up to the internal hype I had going on for it, but that is a reflection on my attitude to it more than a reflection on the book. Well worth a read.

anyway back to children of ruin now.

Nody · 01-10-2019 2:31pm

Not posted an update in a while but I've finished The Draconis Memoria trilogy by Anthony Ryan. Great series, action packed but the biggest issue I have would be the number of different main characters to keep track off on three different continents at the same time. It felt Wheel of Timeish with the number of characters but less badly handled in the jumping. Overall I'd recommend it; very different fantasy/steampunk world based on the use on imbuing dragon blood to gain certain temporary powers and no elves, dwarfs etc.

Also listening to the Dresden files (up to Death Masks atm) on the phone when I'm out and about.

Will have to check through my backlog of paperbacks what I'll read next.

Igotadose · 01-10-2019 2:32pm

The Traitor Baru Cormorant was grand, different, interesting.

Now working on The Monster Baru Cormorant. About 50% through. Not nearly as good, perhaps it improves later.

cdgalwegian · 01-10-2019 6:15pm

Just finished reading Charles Stross' "Accelerando". It's kinda hard to read, but it's got ideas bursting out all over the place; the first part seemed familiar to me- I think I must have tried it years ago, but put it down because it was too hard/directionless to get into. This is concrete or solid steel sci-fi, concerning trans-humanism, a bit pre-, but mostly post-singularity (of consciousness uploading). This doesn't contain sci-fi gadgets, apart from mention of the odd wormhole or two :pac: - it's more a weird but interesting take on the economics of information and computing power, where personalities pre-singularity have to cope with post-singularity through augmentation (from birth), but some time in the far future have to deal with possible extinction. It's got a lot going on, and can be a bit confusing, but I had to persevere to see how Stross dealt with it all. I think I quite liked it.
I chose it coz a review ages ago said it was hard sci-fi with lots of great ideas, and found out that it was a standalone, so thought it might be a good taster, before trying his Laundry Series.

Thargor · 01-10-2019 9:47pm

Igotadose wrote: »

The Traitor Baru Cormorant was grand, different, interesting.

Now working on The Monster Baru Cormorant. About 50% through. Not nearly as good, perhaps it improves later.

No its not as good, nowhere near, a decent world with decent ideas but now she's just an irrelevant character reacting to external events, a total 180 from the first book, I didnt understand it. What killed it for me though was the way book 1 was a seriously fascinating look at the grinding bureaucracy of the Masquerade taking over the world and all its parallels with the British empire and others but then book 2 just seemed to forget about all that, it lost its way, hopefully it finds it again in book 3... Which Ill definitely read btw, its still better than most new fantasy stuff.

ixoy · 01-10-2019 10:20pm

cdgalwegian wrote: »

Just finished reading Charles Stross' "Accelerando". It's kinda hard to read, but it's got ideas bursting out all over the place; the first part seemed familiar to me- I think I must have tried it years ago, but put it down because it was too hard/directionless to get into.

That's probably because it was originally a series of short stories that he tied together loosely into a novel. It's fiercely imaginative. I'd recommend his 'Glasshouse' if you like this.

so thought it might be a good taster, before trying his Laundry Series.

They're not really similar. The Laundry series is a more geeky version of 'Rivers of London' by way of Cthulu. There's little in the way of hard sci-fi here - the nerdy elements, as such, come from lots of IT-based humour. They're good fun though (I've read the first five and some of the shorts).

shrapnel222 · 02-10-2019 10:49am

Thargor wrote: »

No its not as good, nowhere near, a decent world with decent ideas but now she's just an irrelevant character reacting to external events, a total 180 from the first book, I didnt understand it. What killed it for me though was the way book 1 was a seriously fascinating look at the grinding bureaucracy of the Masquerade taking over the world and all its parallels with the British empire and others but then book 2 just seemed to forget about all that, it lost its way, hopefully it finds it again in book 3... Which Ill definitely read btw, its still better than most new fantasy stuff.

i thought it was great personally, and certainly agree it's very different to book 1.

It gives us a fantastic glimpse into other parts of the empire and the masquerade, but it really is just setting up book 3 and what i hope will be a fantastic finish.

Thargor · 04-10-2019 3:44pm

shrapnel222 wrote: »

i thought it was great personally, and certainly agree it's very different to book 1.

It gives us a fantastic glimpse into other parts of the empire and the masquerade, but it really is just setting up book 3 and what i hope will be a fantastic finish.

Yeah I might have been a bit harsh there, I still devoured it and will be straight on to the third one when its out.

Im reading The Institute at the minute and liking it a lot, feels a lot more like the classic King of my youth.

I also read Rejoice: A Knife to the Heart by Stephen Erikson, was looking forward to seeing how the Malazan author tackled sci-fi but I didnt like it:

Imagine a First Contact without contact, and an alien arrival where no aliens show up. Imagine the sudden appearance of exclusion zones all over the planet, into which no humans are allowed. Imagine an end to all violence, from the schoolyard bully to nations at war. Imagine an end to borders, an end to all crime. Imagine a world where hate has no outlet and the only harm one can do is to oneself. Imagine a world transformed, but with no guidance and no hint of what’s coming next. What would you do? How would you feel? What questions can you ask – what questions dare you ask – when the only possible answers come from the all-too-human face in your mirror?

It was way too simplistic, female writers and politicians noble and forward-thinking, male politicians cheesy backwards Trump or Rupert Murdoch rip-offs. The aliens were way overpowered aswell, no real potential for any drama. It was absolutely full of good ideas, if he'd applied the way he writes amazing unforgettable characters and subplots from Malazan to this it would have been a classic but it just felt rushed and simplistic, I did fairly tear through it though because you definitely didnt know what was coming next chapter to chapter.

Thargor · 06-10-2019 10:33am

The Institute is brilliant!

cdgalwegian · 06-10-2019 9:57pm

In a rush last week, and popped into library for some hard sci-fi 5 mins before closing; not wanting to delay staff, Iain M Bank's 'The Algebraist' was handed to me to try: I have found IMB hit and miss, but had nothing else. So, 95 pages in, out of 500+ pages, and still nothing has really kicked in for me; I've read some reviews- apparently it's a bit bloated, but has overall is pretty good sci-fi. But is just pretty good 'standard' sci-fi, with lots of familiar tropes- or as a standalone, does it push the boat with lots of hard sci-fi inventive ideas not really done before?

ixoy · 06-10-2019 10:20pm

cdgalwegian wrote: »

is just pretty good 'standard' sci-fi, with lots of familiar tropes- or as a standalone, does it push the boat with lots of hard sci-fi inventive ideas not really done before?

I don't really recall it.. which is hardly a resounding recommendation. Of his non-Culture works, 'Feersum Endjiin' is the most unusual, if primarily for the language used and 'Against a Dark Background' was the enjoyable one.

Banks is generally very reliable and witty although not necessarily who you'd go to for hard sci-fi. If you really want hard sci-fi, try Greg Egan if you haven't already. Pick up one of his short story collections, such as Oceanic, to get a taste. The sci-fi is so hard, he publishes papers afterwards based on the theories in some of the works - it's the XXX-rated of hard sci-fi!

What Are You Reading?

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