Science Fiction
Discussion
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07QKDX7LZ/ref...
skippy would appear not to be involved this time so it's not the merry band of pirate but an offshoot. I do wonder if not having an asshole beercan is going to be a mistake
skippy would appear not to be involved this time so it's not the merry band of pirate but an offshoot. I do wonder if not having an asshole beercan is going to be a mistake
C2Red said:
Clockwork Cupcake said:
The Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin
It's been mentioned, and recommended, several times in this thread and the first book is currently 99p on Amazon Kindle so I thought I would give it a go.
Overall, I enjoyed it. The hard science was good, and I found it easy to follow (I do have a bit of an advantage here in that my first degree is in Physics). The story was ok and mostly hung together, although I found the idea of the sophons a bit Deus Ex Machina. There were a few times that it slipped into well-worn sci-fi tropes / cliches, such as using nanofibre thread to cut things. That's been done many times before - Ringworld by Larry Niven, for example.
At times I struggled to know who was who, as I'm not used to dealing with Chinese names (and variations and diminutives). A list of dramatis personae would have helped me a lot here.
The in-universe references to other books was a nice nod, especially the reference to The Billiard Ball by Isaac Asimov, which I took some time out to re-read as the text is now available online. It tied in nicely (although, of course, the billiard ball would explode into dust rather than maintaining integrity, but even Asimov acknowledged that).
The next book is full priced at £6.47, since I'm not on Kindle Unlimited. I'm not sure that I enjoyed it enough to want to rush out and buy it at that price, although if it comes up for sale at 99p like the first book then I definitely will.
Funny enough I finished this on Monday night; as you say some nice nods, I like the way it started as if it’s a non related subject, but I felt the ending was a little hurried and meh. It's been mentioned, and recommended, several times in this thread and the first book is currently 99p on Amazon Kindle so I thought I would give it a go.
Overall, I enjoyed it. The hard science was good, and I found it easy to follow (I do have a bit of an advantage here in that my first degree is in Physics). The story was ok and mostly hung together, although I found the idea of the sophons a bit Deus Ex Machina. There were a few times that it slipped into well-worn sci-fi tropes / cliches, such as using nanofibre thread to cut things. That's been done many times before - Ringworld by Larry Niven, for example.
At times I struggled to know who was who, as I'm not used to dealing with Chinese names (and variations and diminutives). A list of dramatis personae would have helped me a lot here.
The in-universe references to other books was a nice nod, especially the reference to The Billiard Ball by Isaac Asimov, which I took some time out to re-read as the text is now available online. It tied in nicely (although, of course, the billiard ball would explode into dust rather than maintaining integrity, but even Asimov acknowledged that).
The next book is full priced at £6.47, since I'm not on Kindle Unlimited. I'm not sure that I enjoyed it enough to want to rush out and buy it at that price, although if it comes up for sale at 99p like the first book then I definitely will.
Now in two minds if I would read anything else, which is a shame as I really enjoyed the short stories
Not sure I'll ever bother with the third part, Death's End.
More to my usual taste the final part of Neal Asher's Transformation "Infinity Engine" was a satisfying conclusion, I've yet to start on Rise of the Jain but I expect it'll be more of the same, no bad thing!
Wayoftheflower said:
More to my usual taste the final part of Neal Asher's Transformation "Infinity Engine" was a satisfying conclusion, I've yet to start on Rise of the Jain but I expect it'll be more of the same, no bad thing!
Ooh looks like two books have been released already in the Rise of the Jain series, The Soldier and The Warship. I love Asher's polity novels so I'm there with bells on. Thanks for the heads up. 
Guvernator said:
Wayoftheflower said:
More to my usual taste the final part of Neal Asher's Transformation "Infinity Engine" was a satisfying conclusion, I've yet to start on Rise of the Jain but I expect it'll be more of the same, no bad thing!
Ooh looks like two books have been released already in the Rise of the Jain series, The Soldier and The Warship. I love Asher's polity novels so I'm there with bells on. Thanks for the heads up. JonChalk said:
Schmeeky said:
JonChalk said:
Is this the first of his you've read?
Nope, am a massive fan of what he does - Peter F. and Ian M. are my go to guys when I want a dose of massive world building with out there tech and awesome characters. 
Fairly tired paperbacks (especially Pandora's Star and The Neutronium Alchemist) - all pretty much first releases;
Anyway, I'm currently half-way through Night Without Stars, and as usual it's very good and very clever (although the mid-book reveal was bloody obvious even 18mths after I'd read the previous one)...but he does like packing a lot in.
havoc said:
Iain M was tough to beat...PFH writes really well but just cannot do 'succinct'. Asher is also very good at detailed stories, but I have to confess when I want some simple-but-clever light entertainment I tend to go for a Laundry novel.
Anyway, I'm currently half-way through Night Without Stars, and as usual it's very good and very clever (although the mid-book reveal was bloody obvious even 18mths after I'd read the previous one)...but he does like packing a lot in.
Are you talking about the Laundry Files by Charles Stross, if so I've been meaning to read those for a while.Anyway, I'm currently half-way through Night Without Stars, and as usual it's very good and very clever (although the mid-book reveal was bloody obvious even 18mths after I'd read the previous one)...but he does like packing a lot in.
Guvernator said:
Are you talking about the Laundry Files by Charles Stross, if so I've been meaning to read those for a while.
Do so. Very easy reads, very funny. Try and do them in order, as they do (loosely) follow-on from each other...Interesting factoid - he's tried to write each novel in the style of or as a homage to a different author...see if you can ID them as you're reading. Couple are obvious, couple of others less-so.
I probably picked it up from here initially, but I just finished John Scalzi's Head On (sequel to Lock In).
I love the premise and the writing and plot are spot on.
They are fundamentally police procedurals but set in a world where a percentage of the population suffer from a type of paralysis/coma and must interact with the world using androids. The concept makes for some interesting deviations from the traditional crime thriller.
Edit to add - if you've read any of Asimov's Elijah Bailey police detective books, then there is a slightly similar feel to them.
I love the premise and the writing and plot are spot on.
They are fundamentally police procedurals but set in a world where a percentage of the population suffer from a type of paralysis/coma and must interact with the world using androids. The concept makes for some interesting deviations from the traditional crime thriller.
Edit to add - if you've read any of Asimov's Elijah Bailey police detective books, then there is a slightly similar feel to them.
Edited by sas62 on Wednesday 14th August 10:36
Flow my tears, the Policeman said by Philip K Dick
Picked this up on a whim in a London bookshop went I wanted something to read on the train home.
The first 95% is brilliant - in a near-future (set in a dystopian 1988 but with flying cars, genetic engineering, etc) a famous singer wakes up in a hotel room but without any ID he can't do anything, and no-one remembers who he is. Is it a conspiracy? A bad dream? Was him being a singer all a fantasy?
Anyway, it kept me hooked all the way through, I really wanted to know what was going on and why things were the way they were. The world wasn't too out there crazy like some sci-fi can be, and all the characters were decent.
However, the ending is batpoo crazy and made absolutely no sense, and wasn't in keeping with the rest of the book at all. I reread the end a couple of times to double check what happened and it really was just mental, such a shame that it ruined the whole book for me.
Picked this up on a whim in a London bookshop went I wanted something to read on the train home.
The first 95% is brilliant - in a near-future (set in a dystopian 1988 but with flying cars, genetic engineering, etc) a famous singer wakes up in a hotel room but without any ID he can't do anything, and no-one remembers who he is. Is it a conspiracy? A bad dream? Was him being a singer all a fantasy?
Anyway, it kept me hooked all the way through, I really wanted to know what was going on and why things were the way they were. The world wasn't too out there crazy like some sci-fi can be, and all the characters were decent.
However, the ending is batpoo crazy and made absolutely no sense, and wasn't in keeping with the rest of the book at all. I reread the end a couple of times to double check what happened and it really was just mental, such a shame that it ruined the whole book for me.
FunkyNige said:
However, the ending is batpoo crazy and made absolutely no sense, and wasn't in keeping with the rest of the book at all. I reread the end a couple of times to double check what happened and it really was just mental, such a shame that it ruined the whole book for me.
Well, that's the risk you run with PK Dick. If you want total bats
t crazy you'll want (or, rather, not want) to read Lies, Inc.Imagine a novel that reads like a novella that has had several hundred pages of LSD-induced craziness shoehorned into the middle of it. Because that's exactly what it is - it is a hugely expanded version of his earlier novella The Unteleported Man.
Even for PK Dick it is totally "dude, WTaF???".
I like his work a lot, but even I really struggled with it. It was sheer bloody-mindedness that got me through to the end. I very much doubt I will ever read it again, although I might seek out the original novella.
Clockwork Cupcake said:
Well, that's the risk you run with PK Dick.
Never a truer word spoken!Would Bladerunner have been as succesful a movie, if it had stuck with "Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?" as a title and ended with (from memory) Deckard finding a toad and going to bed?
PKD = Bats
t crazy! (but in a good way)I'm re-reading Dogs of War by Adrian Tchaikovsky at the moment.
I really enjoyed this book the first time I read it, and am enjoying it equally the second time.
The book is about Bioforms - genetically engineered creatures created in weapons labs that are part human and part animal. In many ways, it is not dissimilar in concept to David Brin's Uplift books which has a similar concept of augmenting lower animals up to the level of sentience.
It's a book of two halves. The first half reads rather like an action-adventure, during a conflict, which is enjoyable for what it is. However, it's the second part that is arguably more interesting. Post-conflict, humans are arguing whether Bioforms are weapons that should be decommissioned / destroyed, or whether they are sentient beings who should be afforded Rights, not least the right not to be executed.
It's not a long book - longer than a novella but much shorter than (for example) Children of Time. I'd recommend it.
I really enjoyed this book the first time I read it, and am enjoying it equally the second time.
The book is about Bioforms - genetically engineered creatures created in weapons labs that are part human and part animal. In many ways, it is not dissimilar in concept to David Brin's Uplift books which has a similar concept of augmenting lower animals up to the level of sentience.
It's a book of two halves. The first half reads rather like an action-adventure, during a conflict, which is enjoyable for what it is. However, it's the second part that is arguably more interesting. Post-conflict, humans are arguing whether Bioforms are weapons that should be decommissioned / destroyed, or whether they are sentient beings who should be afforded Rights, not least the right not to be executed.
It's not a long book - longer than a novella but much shorter than (for example) Children of Time. I'd recommend it.
Clockwork Cupcake said:
I'm re-reading Dogs of War by Adrian Tchaikovsky at the moment.
I really enjoyed this book the first time I read it, and am enjoying it equally the second time.
Good call.I really enjoyed this book the first time I read it, and am enjoying it equally the second time.
For absolutely no reason at all, I just remembered C Robert Cargill's Sea of Rust - have you read that?
JonChalk said:
Clockwork Cupcake said:
I'm re-reading Dogs of War by Adrian Tchaikovsky at the moment.
I really enjoyed this book the first time I read it, and am enjoying it equally the second time.
Good call.I really enjoyed this book the first time I read it, and am enjoying it equally the second time.
For absolutely no reason at all, I just remembered C Robert Cargill's Sea of Rust - have you read that?
I'll second the recommendation for Sea of Rust.
irocfan said:
I still need to get the one they only did as audiobook before I read the one that came after that but I started reading without realising about the audiobook so seems have missed a load of stuff that happened in the meantime. I don't really do audiobooks so finding it's lack of availability to read to be rather annoying.ETA: Just clicked on the link and realised this is the one I bought a while back that come straight after the audiobook only one.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Homefront-Expeditionary-F...
Edited by RizzoTheRat on Monday 11th November 16:20
RizzoTheRat said:
JonChalk said:
Clockwork Cupcake said:
I'm re-reading Dogs of War by Adrian Tchaikovsky at the moment.
I really enjoyed this book the first time I read it, and am enjoying it equally the second time.
Good call.I really enjoyed this book the first time I read it, and am enjoying it equally the second time.
For absolutely no reason at all, I just remembered C Robert Cargill's Sea of Rust - have you read that?
I'll second the recommendation for Sea of Rust.
irocfan said:
I still need to get the one they only did as audiobook before I read the one that came after that but I started reading without realising about the audiobook so seems have missed a load of stuff that happened in the meantime. I don't really do audiobooks so finding it's lack of availability to read to be rather annoying.Edited by RizzoTheRat on Monday 11th November 09:20
for Dogs of War.I just want someone to say "good dog".
Gassing Station | Books and Literature | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff