Science Fiction

[i4got]

grumbledoak said:

Difficult to follow Iain M Banks.

Have you read Vernor Vinge? The Peace War and Marooned in Realtime are superb.

I've read plenty of Iain Banks non SF. If i was to start his S/F stuff is there a particular order - are they all series or any standalone?

[egor110]

I really enjoy spy thrillers like charles Cummings and mick herron or military thrillers like patrick robinson
but every now and then I try and get into sci fi but it never really clicks for me .

Can anyone recommend a book to read ?

[glazbagun]

i4got said:

grumbledoak said:

Difficult to follow Iain M Banks.

Have you read Vernor Vinge? The Peace War and Marooned in Realtime are superb.

I've read plenty of Iain Banks non SF. If i was to start his S/F stuff is there a particular order - are they all series or any standalone?

Consider Phlebas came out first and worth reading early, but I would recommend Player of Games as a great intro and possibly the best in the series...

... Except for Excession, which I would leave second last.

Maybe read Use of Weapons before Surface Detail, apart from that I don't think it matters.

Man, I miss Banks.

Against a Dark Background, Feersum Endjinn, The Algebraist and Transition are non-culture novels and not set in the same universe.

Edited by glazbagun on Sunday 25th October 11:24

[i4got]

glazbagun said:

Consider Phlebas came out first and worth reading early, but I would recommend Player of Games as a great intro and possibly the best in the series...

... Except for Excession, which I would leave second last.

Maybe read Use of Weapons before Surface Detail, apart from that I don't think it matters.

Man, I miss Banks.

Apart from that,

Cheers - downloaded sample of Consider Phlebas.

[grumbledoak]

i4got said:

I've read plenty of Iain Banks non SF. If i was to start his S/F stuff is there a particular order - are they all series or any standalone?

Skip Consider Phlebas, read Use of Weapons and Player of Games, then any/all of the rest.

[irocfan]

egor110 said:

I really enjoy spy thrillers like charles Cummings and mick herron or military thrillers like patrick robinson
but every now and then I try and get into sci fi but it never really clicks for me .

Can anyone recommend a book to read ?

I've not read spy thrillers so I can't comment on like for like (are they 'action' spies or ultra-covert, pulpy or realistic?) But maybe a convenient "crossover" would be a scifi spy novel so you can enjoy the spy aspect whilst getting used to the futuristic setting?

[blueST]

egor110 said:

I really enjoy spy thrillers like charles Cummings and mick herron or military thrillers like patrick robinson
but every now and then I try and get into sci fi but it never really clicks for me .

Can anyone recommend a book to read ?

I might be a bit like you, I like the idea of sci-fi, but much of it doesn’t work for me. A lot of it is just a bit too challenging for a casual read before sleep for me. Stuff I have enjoyed recently: The Expanse series by James S A Corey is good, but I’m only on book 4. I enjoyed The Great North Road and Mindstar Rising.

[C2Red]

WRT Neal Asher, I've read the Polity series, and found them ok,
Alastair Reynolds, read quite a few.... found them to be ok, some good, some less so, but on average ok. (seems i've read quite a few looking at the pictures)
Dan Simmons, Endymion etc actually ok. Illium and Olympus, just trying too hard IMHO, so not for me.

Other individual stuff, like Patrick Tilley, Cixin Lui, Julian May, Michael Chriton, and many many others that have been receommended on here are readable, and in some instances very intriging ideas, espacially like Fade out, no real ending as such... just get on with whats left.. I find satisfying.

I'm not the kind of person who has to have a scooby do ending, you can leave it open, closed I'm not fussed as long as it fits the storyline, don't make it fit an idea of satisfying the Hollywood set just to dovetail an ending, I feel thats awkward artificail and belittles the audience...

I have some books to read by Mr Banks bought recently, including a signed copy i bought from EBay as a treat to myself...

Edited by C2Red on Sunday 25th October 12:42

[egor110]

irocfan said:

egor110 said:

I really enjoy spy thrillers like charles Cummings and mick herron or military thrillers like patrick robinson
but every now and then I try and get into sci fi but it never really clicks for me .

Can anyone recommend a book to read ?

I've not read spy thrillers so I can't comment on like for like (are they 'action' spies or ultra-covert, pulpy or realistic?) But maybe a convenient "crossover" would be a scifi spy novel so you can enjoy the spy aspect whilst getting used to the futuristic setting?

No there pretty boring spies not endless action.

I value the build up over page after page of action.

[blueST]

blueST said:

I might be a bit like you, I like the idea of sci-fi, but much of it doesn’t work for me. A lot of it is just a bit too challenging for a casual read before sleep for me. Stuff I have enjoyed recently: The Expanse series by James S A Corey is good, but I’m only on book 4. I enjoyed The Great North Road and Mindstar Rising by Peter F Hamilton.

[C2Red]

grumbledoak said:

C2Red said:

I’ve stopped reading Neal Asher; as after reading Iain Banks ( fiction and science fiction) I’ve found his spatterjay books to be poorly written, it’s almost like a child with adhd who runs off with a sentence, then keeps adding aspects like”also ” and “as well” etc. I find it infuriating.

So what’s out there for me, recommendations appreciated

Difficult to follow Iain M Banks.

Have you read Vernor Vinge? The Peace War and Marooned in Realtime are superb.

I havent, but I'm now going to EBay/Charity shops to find some books...

Thanks

[C2Red]

JonChalk said:

C2Red said:

I’ve stopped reading Neal Asher; as after reading Iain Banks ( fiction and science fiction) I’ve found his spatterjay books to be poorly written, it’s almost like a child with adhd who runs off with a sentence, then keeps adding aspects like”also ” and “as well” etc. I find it infuriating.

So what’s out there for me, recommendations appreciated

Peter F Hamilton?
Alastair Reynolds?

If you like authors who “write well”, both of these excel IMHO.

Am also a huge Asher fan, but don’t let that put you off...

Like them both, see my Reynolds collection below, and thats not all of them....

Thanks for the heads up though

[JonChalk]

C2Red said:

JonChalk said:

C2Red said:

I’ve stopped reading Neal Asher; as after reading Iain Banks ( fiction and science fiction) I’ve found his spatterjay books to be poorly written, it’s almost like a child with adhd who runs off with a sentence, then keeps adding aspects like”also ” and “as well” etc. I find it infuriating.

So what’s out there for me, recommendations appreciated

Peter F Hamilton?
Alastair Reynolds?

If you like authors who “write well”, both of these excel IMHO.

Am also a huge Asher fan, but don’t let that put you off...

Like them both, see my Reynolds collection below, and thats not all of them....

Thanks for the heads up though

I see your collection and tip my hat; I have 95% of those too.

I am present, reading loads of trashy Kindle Unlimited scifi.......

However, not in that category, I would definitely recommend the following;

Megan O'Keefe's Velocity Weapon & Chaos Vector

Derek Kunsken's Quantum Magician & Quantum Garden

[xeny]

grumbledoak said:

Have you read Vernor Vinge? The Peace War and Marooned in Realtime are superb.

You prefer those to A Deepness in the Sky and A Fire Upon the Deep ?

The opening of Deepness in particular I enjoy for its ability to make you interested in a character.

[xeny]

C2Red said:

So what’s out there for me, recommendations appreciated

Have you tried some Stross, either the Apocalypse Archives or Singularity Sky?

I'd also recommend the Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster Bujold.

Stross for the ideas, McMaster for the Character.

[C2Red]

xeny said:

C2Red said:

So what’s out there for me, recommendations appreciated

Have you tried some Stross, either the Apocalypse Archives or Singularity Sky?

I'd also recommend the Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster Bujold.

Stross for the ideas, McMaster for the Character.

None of those, so thank you for the recommendations

[grumbledoak]

xeny said:

You prefer those to A Deepness in the Sky and A Fire Upon the Deep ?

The opening of Deepness in particular I enjoy for its ability to make you interested in a character.

I certainly remember them more clearly. I might not even have read A Fire Upon the Deep.

[irocfan]

egor110 said:

irocfan said:

egor110 said:

I really enjoy spy thrillers like charles Cummings and mick herron or military thrillers like patrick robinson
but every now and then I try and get into sci fi but it never really clicks for me .

Can anyone recommend a book to read ?

I've not read spy thrillers so I can't comment on like for like (are they 'action' spies or ultra-covert, pulpy or realistic?) But maybe a convenient "crossover" would be a scifi spy novel so you can enjoy the spy aspect whilst getting used to the futuristic setting?

No there pretty boring spies not endless action.

I value the build up over page after page of action.

I've been going through an extended period of Mil-Fi so nothing springs to mind. However the below might help?

https://amp.reddit.com/r/printSF/comments/2yb1fq/s...

[egor110]

Thanks I'll have a read thru that thread later.

Any mil-fi you'd recommend?

[captain_cynic]

egor110 said:

Thanks I'll have a read thru that thread later.

Any mil-fi you'd recommend?

The Expeditionary Force series by Craig Alanson (you'll just have to excuse a few typos).

Chain of Command by Markos Kloos.

The Lazarus War series by Jamie Sawyer.

And of course the classic Old Man's War series by John Scalzi.