Science Fiction
Discussion
I'm surprised by that - the Night's Dawn trilogy has some elements that I'd class in the horror category, but I can't think of anything gruesome or unpleasant in any of his other far future stuff (having, as I typed this, recalled some fairly gruesome stuff from the near future stuff - the "comms guy"...).
Sway said:
Is that the full set? Once I start a collection, I cannot abide it being incomplete for long... Hmm.
You know I've never checked....I do know Ive read everything he wrote & bought most of them; I think there may be one Discworld book in my Kindle library from the very, very early Kindle days.
tertius said:
Must confess I am very surprised by the love for Peter F Hamilton, I had a go but found him absolutely unreadable - quite gruesome and unpleasant.
Nights Dawn trilogy one of my all time favourite reads also enjoy most of his other stuff. Great North Road never got past page 150. Tried a couple of times.Schmeeky said:
I've read a bit of Asher, but not enough to comment, need to go read some more.
Compared to Hamilton and Banks, Asher tends to spend less time explaining the whole universe and more time on story progression. The thing is that Asher has written over a dozen books in the same universe (the Polity universe) with each book adding a bit more detail to the universe whilst doing a good job at maintaining continuity. Proxima by Baxter.
I love scifi from the 60s and 70s, when I 'always had my nose stuck in a book' according to my mother. Since I retired I've had more time to read and have concentrated on more modern material. I've just finish Proxima by Stephen Baxter.
It's quite old fashioned, stealing one of its plots basics from Gateway by F. Pohl (worth reading) but is not hard science.
I thoroughly enjoyed it. It ticks along with lots of little surprises, not all of which are explained, and some of which have no relevance to the plot. The characters are not that well evolved during the novel and are more or less the same at the end as when first introduced. Minor criticisms aside, a good book for those who enjoy scifi and others who want to give it a try.
I love scifi from the 60s and 70s, when I 'always had my nose stuck in a book' according to my mother. Since I retired I've had more time to read and have concentrated on more modern material. I've just finish Proxima by Stephen Baxter.
It's quite old fashioned, stealing one of its plots basics from Gateway by F. Pohl (worth reading) but is not hard science.
I thoroughly enjoyed it. It ticks along with lots of little surprises, not all of which are explained, and some of which have no relevance to the plot. The characters are not that well evolved during the novel and are more or less the same at the end as when first introduced. Minor criticisms aside, a good book for those who enjoy scifi and others who want to give it a try.
I struggle with Stephen Baxter; some I like and some I find a bit ..... meh!
Also, what should have been the greatest ever series, the Baxter / Pratchett Long Earth series, really left me cold - I bought and read them all, each time thinking they're going to get better, and each one got worse. Because I won't hear a word said against Terry Pratchett, I'm completely unfairly and arbitrarily going to assume it's all Stephen Baxter's fault.
Also, what should have been the greatest ever series, the Baxter / Pratchett Long Earth series, really left me cold - I bought and read them all, each time thinking they're going to get better, and each one got worse. Because I won't hear a word said against Terry Pratchett, I'm completely unfairly and arbitrarily going to assume it's all Stephen Baxter's fault.
JonChalk said:
Also, what should have been the greatest ever series, the Baxter / Pratchett Long Earth series, really left me cold - I bought and read them all, each time thinking they're going to get better, and each one got worse. Because I won't hear a word said against Terry Pratchett, I'm completely unfairly and arbitrarily going to assume it's all Stephen Baxter's fault.
I read the first one of those, and as you say it was all a little "meh". It didn't help that the book I read before it was Iain M Banks' "Transition" which also dealt with multiple realities and flitting between them, so the comparisons were inevitable. Newc said:
We're in the near future, on an earth orbit space station which is building an interstellar colony ship and simultaneously trying to turn its shipyard crew into future colonists.
I'm sure I read a David Brin book with a similar plot. Only in the David Brin book, the space station *is* the interstellar colony ship and is being jury rigged / lashed up into one.
JonChalk said:
Schmeeky said:
Children of Ruin, Adrian Tchaikovsky's sequel to Children of Time has just appeared on my kindle after I pre-ordered it ages ago!! 
My hardback version turned up yesterday - late birthday present from my wife.Haven't started it yet :-(
It's really good, unique universe, weird characters, excellent story. Bit light on the science, but it doesn't matter. Kind of a heist story without giving too much away.
Schmeeky said:
Children of Ruin, Adrian Tchaikovsky's sequel to Children of Time has just appeared on my kindle after I pre-ordered it ages ago!!
Yes me too.Pre-ordered it at £3.95 but got charged £4.74 as Amazon decided that the £3.95 was ex VAT. I'm sure it was the all inclusive price to pay of £3.95 when I ordered it.
Anyway, no matter. At least it wasn't the current retail price of £9.99
Edited by Clockwork Cupcake on Friday 17th May 10:14
Clockwork Cupcake said:
Schmeeky said:
Children of Ruin, Adrian Tchaikovsky's sequel to Children of Time has just appeared on my kindle after I pre-ordered it ages ago!!
Yes me too.Pre-ordered it at £3.95 but got charged £4.74 as Amazon decided that the £3.95 was ex VAT. I'm sure it was the all inclusive price to pay of £3.95 when I ordered it.
Anyway, no matter. At least it wasn't the current retail price of £9.99
Still got 57* hours of Dune remaining so the price might have come down by the time I've finished
*plus the time it takes the hotel in Belgium I left my bloody kindle in the other night to post it back
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