Has anyone mentioned Gary Gibson’s Shoal series yet? Great space opera with a truly psychotic alien species.
Well let’s see, I checked out Scalzi’s Old Mans War and found myself intrigued by the set-up, if only because it greatly resembles the opening of a lot of erotic romances, except that in the case of erotic romances it’s beautiful young women who get involved in some organization/event that leads to them disappearing from friends and family forever, only to discover that things are Not As They Seem. In the case of Old Man’s War it is not yet evident that things are Not As They Seem, but I’m kinda confident they will be, one way or another. Plus, in the erotic romances, it’s always sex slavery that’s part of the Not As They Seemishness, which I bet is not going to be the case with Old Mans War. Still, very intrigued.
I checked out Perdido Street Station and was kinda disgusted by it. It reads like it was written by an English Lit major with a fixation on imagery relating to decay, boils, pustules, shit and other bodily excretions. Not for me, not by a long shot … in fact, based on the Amazon preview, I am frankly amazed that the books have any kind of cred at all. Maybe something interesting happens further along that doesn’t involve body fluids or metaphors for such.
I also checked out Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, which was sort of Victorian steampunk with magic instead of tech. I liked the way the author handled characterization … even the minor characters had more than one note going for them. Looks like it might be a fun read.
Based on my limited exposure ( three novels ) Mieville is IMHO kinda a joyless dude at the end of the day, though a joyless guy with a sardonic sense of humor, which helps ;). Moral and physical decay permeate his works, as does a Jack Chalker-level fascination with body manipulation. A very tactile writer. And he doesn’t do much in the way of happy endings.
I think he is very talented, yet I’ve kind of given up on him. I have an unread copy of Kraken lying around that I might try at some point, but so far every time I have finished one of his books I have found myself feeling a little unsatisfied.
Have you tried Dan Abnett? He writes mostly for the 40K mythos, but I really think he could write anything. He’s just good. If you like the whole Grim Darkness of the Far Future type books then read the Gaunts Ghosts series. If you want to start out with something outside of 40K try Embedded. I did not care for his Fantasy books.
Evil Captor, was it the writing style or the plotting that put you off Peter F. Hamilton? If it’s the former, there’s no help for it, but if it’s about the plotting you might want to check out Mindstar Rising and the rest of the Peter Mandel series. They’re thriller/mysteries in a near-future cyberpunk style rather than the vast (somewhat turgid!) scope of the Night’s Dawn trilogy.
I’ll second Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London: my golden-age mystery loving wife and I both think they’re amazing.
For original contributions, fantasy novels I’ve very much enjoyed recently:
[ul]
[li]The Red Knight, by Miles Cameron I thought that the setting was really interesting, with both magic and Christianity playing a strong role in society, and actual demons waiting the other side of Hadrian’s Wall. I also enjoyed the combination of a fairly gritty tone with slightly more heroism than is evident in George R. R. Martin.[/li][li]The Court of the Air, by Stephen Hunt A really whimsical setting, which puts a steampunk spin on Europe in the Napoleonic period. Does take a fairly strong political view, which inspired this priceless comment on Goodreads: “Reads like a commission Charles Dickens and Jules Verne accepted after the Communards killed everyone they loved.”[/li][li]Apologies if I missed this earlier in the thread, but you should definitely try Neil Gaiman. My favorite is Stardust[/li][/ul]
Possibly less good for Evil Captor, as they have strong religious themes, but worth recommending for everyone else: The Sparrow and Children of God by Mary Doria Russell. Alien life is discovered and while the UN is debating what to do, the Jesuits launch missionaries. Warning: these books are amazing, but they’re also emotionally harrowing. Make sure you’re feeling quite stable before you read them.
God yes, I’ve mined Varley heavily ever since “Persistence of Vision” blew my mind way back when. I’ll give the Black Company a look.
Not sure what you mean by 40K mythos. A video game?
Since last post I checked out the following books:
Vast, which looks like a pretty good space opera, though I am typically not all that enamored of stories about humans in Final Wars with alien species. but I did like the way the author conveyed the casual acceptance of life in a future where your mind is all too accessible by alien intelligences. It’s on my list, but not at the top.
Checked out Leviathin’s Wake by SA Corey, damn it was good. You know how I knew it was good? Because I was out with the family at a pizza joint playing trivia and having a real good time, and I found myself wanting to sneak my kindle out and read some more of the preview. Top of the list, you betcha!
Checked out Shades of Grey. I don’t really think there was enough in the preview to tell me whether or not I would like the book. I found the color thing interesting, and was thinking of all sorts of ways it could have come about, mostly that the characters are pixels in a megascreen or something along those lines. Will prolly grab it as opportunity permits, out of curiousity if nothing else. Did not find the characters all that interesting.
Checked out The Quantum Thief, it was interesting but I found the advanced tech being indistinguishable from magic thing a little too pronounced in the preview. Maybe it settles down as the story progresses, but I got the imppression that the author could be using the advanced tech thing as an all-purpose bit of arm-waving, which makes stories less interesting to me. Gotta have limits that the protagonists need to deal with, or SEEM to need to deal with. I guess that is the hazard of writing about truly advanced tech.
A lesser known fantasy trilogy that has been out of print, but just got a reissue, is Barry hughart http://www.amazon.com/The-Chronicles-Master-Number-Ten-ebook/dp/B005ISOYLK/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1383796043&sr=8-5&keywords=Barry+hughart Master Li books. Picture a blend of Holmes / Watson set in legendary medieval China.
Try Retribution Falls the first in a 4-book series about the Ketty Jay.
TheLies of Locke Lamoraby Scott Lynch is excellent (the third book is out now).
Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed is good as well and in the same vein the Dabir and Asim series by Howard Andrew Jones - The Desert of Souls is the first.
Second Abnetts’ Embedded.
Germline (The Subterrene War) is also worth a look.
I’ve enjoyed Tom Holt’s humorous fantasy, such as Expecting Someone Taller and Who’s Afraid of Beowulf. There appears to be a formula where a baffled nebbish gets dumped into a fantasy or mythic setting. Reminded me of a cross of Hitchhiker’s Guide and The Incomplete Enchanter. He also writes some pretty good historical fiction.
I’ve recommended Night of the Living Trekkies before. It starts out as a gentle parody of fan culture but ends up being science fiction.
John Scalzi’s been mentioned a few times, and IMO, Redshirts is the most worthwhile out of what I’ve read of his. Old Man’s War has an interesting, if stupid, premise, and I found it enjoyable enough. The sequels wore out on me, and I quit partway through The Lost Colony.
I continue to check out your recommendations, most of them look really good,though there are some variances. But I have found a book through an Amazon recommendation that intrigues me, and the sample ends before a key point is resolved for me, so I thought I’d ask if anyone has read Chris Nuttall’s “Sufficiently Advanced Technology.” The sample is GREAT, has me jonesing for more. But there’s a potential problem. The book’s background is post-singularity Earth that has space travel down cold. But it appears to be mostly set on a newly discovered planet that’s at a medieval level socially and technoogically … except that certain people on the planet seem to have the ability to control reality with such skill that they might as well be magicians … or possessors of the ultimate secret of the universe, control of “quantum foam” that allows those who have it to twist reality into any shape they like … and the Earth culture does not have it, but would dearly love to.
A really nice plot, but here’s my fear … that once the Earth explorers set foot on the medieval planet, the story will rapidly devolve into what I call “medieval schmaltz.” The concerns of Lord Bloodyboots and King Romperstomper and the Creaky Wizard suddenly take center stage and sword fights and palace intrigue replace the SF.
Even the very best SF books have been ruined in this way. Vernor Vinge’s “A Fire Upon The Deep” had the Tines, a group of telepathic alien dogoids in a medieval culture befriended by some fleeing space children. I read it all the first time through, on subsequent reads (it’s one of my favorite books) I just skip over the Tines shit. Works much better that way.
Still the SAMPLE of Sufficiently Advanced Technology is just tasty as hell … but it’s all set in the post-Singularity Earth society. Am I right to be afraid it will devolve into medieval schmaltz once things move planetside? Has anyone read it?
:high-fives EvilCaptor:
Man, I hear you. I can’t stand medieval settings in science fiction, drives me crazy. For some unknown reason, I bought the sequel to Fire, and it was largely set in the Tines world, during their industrial revolution period and I could never get past 40-50 pages in the three times I attempted to read it.
In a story involving galactic civilizations, I don’t want to read about industrializing dogs!
Yes, yes, a thousand times, yes, I completely agree: “No” to medieval settings in SF.
(As for the book in question, I have no idea.)
I would give a recomendation for any of Chris’s work, except that book. Mileage will vary for each reader, but i find that one a struggle to get through, so much that i simply have not gone back to it. Every thing else that he put out, gets hoovered up the moment i see it on amazon, very prolific writer and im surpried he is not in someones stable of authors.
Declan
What!?! Third book? Must buy now!
Emphasis added. Oh my, yes. I like Tom Holt, but he is very formula-driven and most of his heroes and heroines scan exactly the same, as does the cute, awkward romances they inevitably find themselves in. The formula works okay for me, as long as I take big breaks between his books. But I cannot read them in a row without getting vaguely annoyed at the sameness.
“Revelation Space” is straight up sci-fi. Don’t judge it by it’s title … judge it by the crappy ending. I’d recommend “Pushing Ice” instead by Reynolds. It also has a bad ending, but it’s a single book with interesting ideas, rather than several books with weak endings and uninteresting storylines.
What of Peter F. Hamilton have you read and found wanting?
Yep. Republic of Thieves
The Reality Dysfunction. Read most of it, but baled when it became clear that there was a thinly-disguised or maybe just plain Out There supernatural element that was central to the plot. Something about the dead coming back to life or something. Threw me right off the book, and Hamilton.
Sampled Dread Empire Falls and the opening is a bit static, but it’s clearly setting up some very interesting and exciting stuff down the road. I’m hoping the Shaa get throughly worked over during the trilogy. So given that I already know I like Williams, I’ll prolly be buying Praxis sooner or later.
Checked out Startide Rising, it definitely has the huge galactic empires/weird alien races thing going, and I like the uplifted dolphins. My Christmas gift list will be LOOOONG this year. Heh.