Ancillary Justice. So good! Space Opera's where ships have minds are auto reads for me.
Probably one of a few books I would consider re-reading just before the second book comes out, so that I'm "in it".
It just won the Hugo, so I'm sure you will start seeing that title pop up a lot. Not that I care that it won an award. I'm just glad it came to my attention. Couldn't put it down.
It's the only book to win the Hugo, Nebula and Arthur C. Clarke award in one year. I thought it was only okay. 3.5 stars. Started great, and then went nowhere. It was like Ann Leckie got half way through, and then gave up on the interesting stuff when promised a 3 book deal and then was just concerned about starting a series set in the same world.
Maybe when read as a trilogy, they will feel more whole. It is not very fast paced, but the pacing still felt pretty even to me. I was happy with the way it played out.
I can only imagine some epic events are to come! I'll read the next one for sure. But I agree, its not perfect. Just... really interesting.
In the late 19th Century, a set of all Presidential papers from every administration up until then was ordered for all members of the Congress. The majority of one of these sets (somehow) came into possession of my grandfather, who offered to loan me any sets I was interested in.
It's too fragile and valuable to take with me outside the house, so the Nilsson book is still my primary book, but at home I've started reading Jackson's papers.
Debating reading a book called "The Castle Job." It's a fantasy con-artist book, apparently, in the same style of Locke Lamora. Usually I'd jump on it immediately for that reason alone, but... 1. The main character is "Loch." 2. It's part of the "Rogues of the Republic" series. 3. One of the main locations in the book is the "Heavenly Spire," as contrasted with the "Sin Spire" from Lamora. 4. The Amazon page says explicitly that it's in the theme of Scott Lynch's Gentlemen Bastards series.
I really, really, really want this to be good, but the chances of this being a fan-fiction seem high. Did anyone else read it?
Also: New Locke Lamora coming out soon, apparently this year, called the "Thorn of Emberlain." Funnily enough, if you search amazon for that, the first result is Patrick Rothfus.
I just started "Woman on the Edge of Time" and it is off to a strange start. I've heard such great things about it. Keep trudging ahead until it gets good.
Guns, Germs, and Steel is terribly dull. I'm going to stick to it for a little longer, since its so widely well regarded, but I'm not sure for how long.
I started reading Old Man's War by John Scalzi yesterday. It's going to be a casual read, so I'm going slower and I'm only up to chapter three at this point, but I'm liking what I've read so far.
Keep forgetting to post this, but read Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, by Susan Cain.
It's an interesting read even if you're not an introvert.
I also just finished this book and agree that it is an interesting read. I particularly appreciate that, as someone who wants kids in the next few years, it provides a lot of ways to tell if your child is likely to be introverted, and how to help them if that's the case.
EDIT: Another book I finished recently that I feel is worth mentioning is Total Recall, Arnold Schwarzenegger's autobiography. I didn't know anything about his life before movie star, so I found all of that very interesting, and I actually have a lot more respect for him overall than I did before reading it.
So, according to every test, evaluation, and teacher I had through most of my schooling, I am/was considered an introvert.
People who met me when I was older had the exact opposite opinion and considered me an extrovert (though I was never tested or otherwise evaluated as an adult).
I swing widly between the two at this point, and am equally happy in both highly social and highly solitary situations. I am both energized and enervated by social interaction, depending entirely on the nature of said interaction.
Most of the studies in the book point out that about 20% of people are pure introverts, 40% are pure extroverts, and the other 40% fall in the middle of not being heavily on either side. A lot of the book is also devoted to talking about how people on one end of the spectrum can move towards the middle through practice and understanding the benefits of being the opposite at times.
Recently I finished both Use of Weapons and Matter by Iain M. Banks. Use of Weapons was equal parts brilliant and frustrating and while I can understand why some hold it as the pinnacle of the Culture series, I still prefer Player of Games.
"Matter" is one part medieval drama, one part SF travel brochure, and one part Ancient Egyptian doomsday mystery that didn't payoff enough. The setup was there for the story to succeed, the Shellworld is a pretty interesting setting with an intriguing backstory involving the relationship between the Ilyn and the Veil but that mystery is never revealed! The Chekov's gun involving the Shellworld's alternative nickname as a "Slaughterworld" which turns the entire hollow planet into one planetary Indiana Jones booby trap adventure didn't happen. I feel like this could have gone much deeper into the history of Elder civilizations and their purposes for constructing these Shellworlds. Basically shorten the first 2/3eds of the novel which was traveling and have a great adventure finale into the core of World, level by level.
I've now finished 4 of the Culture Series: PoG, Phlebas, Matter, and UoW, and my overall conclusion to Banks as a writer is that he was in desperate need of an editor to tell him to trim down his books. There's some very interesting settings in all of the books but there's far too many of them and too little plot to support it. This is probably why I enjoyed Player of Games the most, as it stuck to one to two locations and was the shortest of them. Use of Weapons is forgivable as it was a character study but even it could have had less worlds to traverse to make it tighter.
Surface Detail deals with interesting issues and great characters the most.
Look to Windward is probably my favorite in the end (though Player of Games is probably the best): it was a wonderful endcap to the themes of all of the books combined, and complements Surface Detail extremely well.
Read Look to Windward, then read Surface Detail.
Really, I think Excession and Look to Windward are equally good "last Culture Books" to read. I think Look to Windward has a more melancholy and poignant finale, while Excession gives you more of an "Onward INTO THE FUTURE" feeling.
But, Surface Detail is the most deeply satisfying, so...
So...
Maybe read the rest in this order?
Hydrogen Sonata (or skip it for now) Excession Look to Windward Surface Detail
I suggest this because Look to Windward gives you an "endgame" and really sets a tone for what this is all about. Going into Surface Detail in that mindset really colors the book (in a good way).
Thanks for the descriptions and recommendations of the rest of the books. I'm in the mood for a for more of a downer so I think I'll pick up Look to Windward first, then Surface Detail, then then maybe Excession. Although I think I "get" the themes of the Culture, its be interesting to read the capstone of series.
I recently finished the second Night's Dawn trilogy by Peter K. Hamilton. There is SO much I like about this series. His use of biotechnology, the mechanics of spaceflight and living in space stations, and his general descriptions. At the same time, the overall plot of the series, of the dead coming back to possess the living, seems like the plot straight out of a B Movie. I'm going to read the last book, but the plot seems like a waste for such a cool setting.
Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained are a better story, but the setting isn't quite as cool as the Night's Dawn trilogy. Peter Hamilton is always getting better as an author, but you've got to really love a fucking huge brick of space opera.
Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained are a better story, but the setting isn't quite as cool as the Night's Dawn trilogy. Peter Hamilton is always getting better as an author, but you've got to really love a fucking huge brick of space opera.
Luke, have you read the Expanse trilogy by James A. Corey? If so, how did it compare? I'm thinking about trying that as well, and also trying the Player of Games since everyone on here is gushing about it but I wasn't too enthused with Consider Phlebas.
How many times do we have to say it? Consider Phlebas is, by far, the worst Culture book and you shouldn't judge the rest of the Banks' work by that one.
I've not read any James A. Corey. I think the Incomparable podcast just did an episode about a story of his though, so I might get to it one day.
I've put on my bucket list to finish all of Agatha Christie's novels, which is difficult because I can't remember half of the ones that I've read already. They are pleasant and easy to read books, with distinctive and fun characters in all of them but they tend to end rather sloppy; I wish she would conclude character arcs better after the grand reveal. "The Moving Finger", which I just finished was a very prototypical Christie novel in its variety of characters and them having romantic subplots. What strikes me about Christie's novels is always how old world judgmental she is on her characters. I wouldn't make the kinds of moralistic judgments on my closest friends and most hated enemies that she does on her most minor of characters.
Great North Road is the only book I've read of Peter Hamilton. The bulk of the book is mainly police investigation of a murdered clone. Probably the most driest part of the book is when Hamilton goes into excruciating detail and length of the police reconstructing the crime all to identify the getaway car. I enjoyed that part but I don't think I will ever go back and read it again. There is also off world alien conspiracy stuff going on along with a manhunt for the killer. And a crystalline alien entity that turns all life on planet to crystal.
Finished the first three Demon Cycle books. They're okay, but going back to them after reading Atwood's Oryx and Crake showed his weak the writing is. The demon books have interesting mechanics, but the writing gets weaker as the books progress. Oryx and Crake was fantastic. Post apocalyptic story about the last(?) man left, what's left in the world, and how it all went down. I'm starting Player of Games now and liking it. Morvin Skhel (sp?) is such a dick.
Finished Look to Windward. It's the first of the Culture books that I've read to directly address some of the criticism of Culture and its, well, culture. Ziller quickly became my favorite character out of the series so far, as the banter between the aliens and AIs were the highlights of the book. Quilan on the other hand had interesting characterization that I don't think quite succeed for me because I didn't feel the obsessive and all consuming love that Banks are trying to portrait with the flashbacks to Worosei.
Comparing his backstory to that of Masaq Hub's retelling of his, which are meant to parallel each others, Hub's displayed some of despair and renewal that Quilan's was meant to have but didn't achieve. Masaq Hub's ending monologue with Ziller and the title drop is of course the best part of the book.
I really enjoyed Look to Windward, it kept the settings and script tight and the themes were interestingly framed with the lead up to the big concert. I suppose its never revealed who was aiding the Chelgrians, though it would make dramatic sense for the remnants of the Idrian's to plan such a thing.
Comments
Probably one of a few books I would consider re-reading just before the second book comes out, so that I'm "in it".
It just won the Hugo, so I'm sure you will start seeing that title pop up a lot. Not that I care that it won an award. I'm just glad it came to my attention. Couldn't put it down.
I can only imagine some epic events are to come! I'll read the next one for sure. But I agree, its not perfect. Just... really interesting.
It's too fragile and valuable to take with me outside the house, so the Nilsson book is still my primary book, but at home I've started reading Jackson's papers.
1. The main character is "Loch."
2. It's part of the "Rogues of the Republic" series.
3. One of the main locations in the book is the "Heavenly Spire," as contrasted with the "Sin Spire" from Lamora.
4. The Amazon page says explicitly that it's in the theme of Scott Lynch's Gentlemen Bastards series.
I really, really, really want this to be good, but the chances of this being a fan-fiction seem high. Did anyone else read it?
Also: New Locke Lamora coming out soon, apparently this year, called the "Thorn of Emberlain." Funnily enough, if you search amazon for that, the first result is Patrick Rothfus.
It's an interesting read even if you're not an introvert.
EDIT: Another book I finished recently that I feel is worth mentioning is Total Recall, Arnold Schwarzenegger's autobiography. I didn't know anything about his life before movie star, so I found all of that very interesting, and I actually have a lot more respect for him overall than I did before reading it.
People who met me when I was older had the exact opposite opinion and considered me an extrovert (though I was never tested or otherwise evaluated as an adult).
I swing widly between the two at this point, and am equally happy in both highly social and highly solitary situations. I am both energized and enervated by social interaction, depending entirely on the nature of said interaction.
Any time I'd take a "test" about these sorts of things, both extreme options appeal to or describe me simultaneously...
"Matter" is one part medieval drama, one part SF travel brochure, and one part Ancient Egyptian doomsday mystery that didn't payoff enough. The setup was there for the story to succeed, the Shellworld is a pretty interesting setting with an intriguing backstory involving the relationship between the Ilyn and the Veil but that mystery is never revealed! The Chekov's gun involving the Shellworld's alternative nickname as a "Slaughterworld" which turns the entire hollow planet into one planetary Indiana Jones booby trap adventure didn't happen. I feel like this could have gone much deeper into the history of Elder civilizations and their purposes for constructing these Shellworlds. Basically shorten the first 2/3eds of the novel which was traveling and have a great adventure finale into the core of World, level by level.
I've now finished 4 of the Culture Series: PoG, Phlebas, Matter, and UoW, and my overall conclusion to Banks as a writer is that he was in desperate need of an editor to tell him to trim down his books. There's some very interesting settings in all of the books but there's far too many of them and too little plot to support it. This is probably why I enjoyed Player of Games the most, as it stuck to one to two locations and was the shortest of them. Use of Weapons is forgivable as it was a character study but even it could have had less worlds to traverse to make it tighter.
Look to Windward is probably my favorite in the end (though Player of Games is probably the best): it was a wonderful endcap to the themes of all of the books combined, and complements Surface Detail extremely well.
Read Look to Windward, then read Surface Detail.
Really, I think Excession and Look to Windward are equally good "last Culture Books" to read. I think Look to Windward has a more melancholy and poignant finale, while Excession gives you more of an "Onward INTO THE FUTURE" feeling.
But, Surface Detail is the most deeply satisfying, so...
So...
Maybe read the rest in this order?
Hydrogen Sonata (or skip it for now)
Excession
Look to Windward
Surface Detail
I suggest this because Look to Windward gives you an "endgame" and really sets a tone for what this is all about. Going into Surface Detail in that mindset really colors the book (in a good way).
I've not read any James A. Corey. I think the Incomparable podcast just did an episode about a story of his though, so I might get to it one day.
Oryx and Crake was fantastic. Post apocalyptic story about the last(?) man left, what's left in the world, and how it all went down.
I'm starting Player of Games now and liking it. Morvin Skhel (sp?) is such a dick.
Comparing his backstory to that of Masaq Hub's retelling of his, which are meant to parallel each others, Hub's displayed some of despair and renewal that Quilan's was meant to have but didn't achieve. Masaq Hub's ending monologue with Ziller and the title drop is of course the best part of the book.
I really enjoyed Look to Windward, it kept the settings and script tight and the themes were interestingly framed with the lead up to the big concert. I suppose its never revealed who was aiding the Chelgrians, though it would make dramatic sense for the remnants of the Idrian's to plan such a thing.