daprdan on 23/4/2007 at 20:44
Quote Posted by Shoshin
The Bridge was also quite good. I didn't like Complicity much, and I couldn't finish Canal Dreams.
You should finish it (Canal Dreams) and see all the vengeance take place.It is very satisfying.
Angelfire on 23/4/2007 at 22:33
Wtf you guys read books :confused:
Spend that time doing stuff for SS2 or Thief :devil:
Krush on 23/4/2007 at 23:46
If you're going to read Iain M. Banks, don't miss Against a Dark Background - his best IMHO.
Other good stuff: Pandora's Star by I think Peter Hamilton, Snow Crash (best book ever written by Neal Stephenson), A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge, and the book with the All Time Coolest Protagonist Ever: The Long Run by Daniel Keys Moran.
The Long Run is extremely hard to find, but you will NOT regret the effort. There's a sequel called The Last Dancer too which is only 1/2 notch below Long Run in quality.
Banksie on 3/5/2007 at 03:05
Quote Posted by Aerothorn
I also picked up a copy of Use of Weapons after it being recommended - it's my understanding that it is not necessary to read The Culture books in order?
It isn't neccesary but they do make reference to events from the other stories as they go so that you get a better feel for the flavour of the universe if you do read them in order. A rough chronological order would be :-
Consider Phlebas - chronicles a chunk of the Idiran/Culture war.
Player of Games - set just post the Idiran/Culture war.
'State of the Art' - short story that informs some of Diziet Sma's backstory for Use of Weapons..
Use of Weapons - Well after the Idiran/Culture war, in my opinion the best of the Culture novels.
Look to Windward - Set some 800 years after the Idiran/Culture war.
Excession - 1500 years after the Idiran/Culture war and chronicles events that gives the Galaxy as a whole pause about messing with the Culture.
Inversions floats somewhere in the middle of that lot. It is a Culture story just not a very obvious one.
lunatic96 on 6/5/2007 at 16:17
The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe is absolutely fantastic. I'm not entirely sure it qualifies as sci-fi, but it does have spaceships in it; so close enough.
Aerothorn on 6/5/2007 at 16:24
Well, since everyone likes Use of Weapons so much, I'll read that first to see if I like the lot - then I'll do things chronologically if I do.
Assuming I finished The Baroque Cycle sometime soon - I've bogged a bit on book 6 and will probably put it aside when I finish that book.
rachel on 24/7/2007 at 10:39
I just finished Absolution Gap and I have to agree with Shoshin that it didn't feel as good as the other two books, it's a bit disappointing. Still pretty good though, as it brings closure to lots of storylines.
The ending in particular feels kind of rushed with a twist that doesn't really convince me, almost as if Reynolds had decided he had enough with it and just stopped... It's a shame because the buildup to that point was quite good, even if not of the same quality as Revelation Space (best of the series imho), and the ice world of Hela and its "Absolution Gap" felt a bit like a counterpoint to Yellowstone and its Chasm City.
Still, this universe remains one of the best I've ever read about. I will grab Galactic North when I have a chance, as it looks like it expands on some of what is alluded at the end of the Inhibitor trilogy.
Vivian on 24/7/2007 at 12:45
I'm ploughing my way through plato at the moment (good god, it's worth it for the odd nugget of brilliance, but the structure is horrible. It's worse than the bible), but after that I've got Olaf Stapleton's Starmaker lined up. I read the sort-of prequel a while back - Last and First Men - and it was mind-bending. I would heartily recommend it, it's more of an essay than a novel in some parts, but as it deals with the (literally biological) evolution of humanity over some 500 million years the conceit works, especially as it's not uncommon for a million years to pass in a sentence or two (in fact, in one particularly memorable chapter humanity evolves into fish and back again during the course of two paragraphs). It also contains some really heartwarming philosophy about the nature of death and the place of humanity and sentience in a godless universe. Great stuff.
Apparently Starmaker is the same sort of thing, but it's about the entire universe. Ouch. I believe it might be the sort of book that requires some drugs.
Oh yeah, both the books are really old, so expect the odd wonky science moment. Like 'germ plasm', and volcanoes on Jupiter.
charlestheoaf on 25/7/2007 at 17:24
One of my favorite sci-fi authors is Stanislaw Lem. He's a polish author, so I've only read translations into english, but they were great nonetheless.
Solaris is truly grand, so long as you like a nice, relaxing, introspective read. Just about everything important that man has ever thought or felt is examined in this book (though of course some lines of thought take prominence than others). I think I would consider this to be one of my favorite books.
The Cyberiad was a very interesting read. It is basically a series of short stories told in chronological order, chronicling the exploits of two great inventors, set millions of years in the future when all life is robotic. The book is written in a very whimsical, fairy-tale tone (a stark contrast to Solaris), and seems to be very loose about details--but somehow manages to feel like it is set in an extremely complete, believable universe. It's almost akin to Douglas Adams in its humoristic approach to everything, but the deeper meaning is always put ahead of its facetiousness.
It is the kind of book that will have the most outlandish happenings you can imagine, but somehow tie it all together with a philosophical meaning. I found that the story of Mymosh the Self-begotten, which is told as a story within a story within a story, is the highlight of the book.
mrle01 on 25/7/2007 at 20:50
Well, you beat me to mentioning Stanislaw Lem, whose "Fiasco" is my favorite Sci-fi book. Haven't read much of his other books (except "Solaris" and "The Magellanic Cloud") because they are hard to find in my country.
Other than that I would recommend Dan Simmons "Hyperion" sage and "Ilium" & "Olympos" books, Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" series, anything from Frederik Pohl, Philip K. Dick, Robert A. Heinlein or Theodore Sturgeon.
And Kurt Vonnegut is worth mentioning, although he's not a classic Sci-fi writer.
