Science Fiction books

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I-S

Good Evening.... Infidel
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bottleneck said:
anyone read Orson Scott Card's Xenocide?
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Yes...

Did he ever release a 4th book in that line? I read the spin-off about Bean (Ender's Shadow), but was wondering if there was a sequel to Xenocide, as the ending was clearly left open for the next book. IMO, however, Ender's Game was the best of those books and they got steadily worse through to Xenocide.

Currently reading Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds (sequel of sorts to Revelation Space).
 
there are 4 books i think in the ender series - enders game, xenocide, speaker for the dead and children of the mind. the last ones are very different to enders game and a bit of a challenge getting quite metaphysical but good nonetheless.
there are 3 or 4 in the enders shaddow series too. enders shadow, shadow puppets, shadow of the hegemon and shadow of the giant.
i liked enders shadow - a different perspective on the 'enders game' period. the follow ups all seem a bit mneh - haven't read 'giant' yet though.

imho revelation space sucked donkey schlong - it was bad. monumentally bad. i not only want my money back - i want compensation for the time i wasted finishing it, hoping it would get better. bad, bad, awful book. terrible....
cheers


julian
 
Children of the mind will be it.

Revelation space wasn't that bad... Chasm City is rather better though.

Recommend The Reality Dysfunction, The Neutronium Alchemist and The Naked God by Peter F. Hamilton (those three making up the Night's Dawn Trilogy). Also the start of his new series, Pandora's Star (although the premise of pandora's star is very similar to the reality dysfunction).
 
After the first two I found The Naked God the biggest let down I've ever read. Nothing like the depth of the preceding books. The series did not deserve a happy ending.

Bob
 
The ending was a bit weak, yes. The Reality Dysfunction had me completely gripped all the way through.
 
I finally finished reading the Reality Dysfunction a month or so ago.... crikey there is lots of it! i took me months, with lots of gaps - had to force myself in the end.

I reckon that if it was pared it down a lot, took out the massively colossal over-detailing and got rid of 2/3 of the plot threads and concentrated on the central story then it might be quite good. But as it stands, just too much exposition.

I enjoyed the Revelation Space Trilogy, but the last book in the series, can't remember its name, was poor and over cooked, too gothic.

Neither Reynolds nor Hamilton come anywhere close to Iain M. Banks IMO. Use of Weapons is superb, but the Player of Games is to me one of the few Sc-Fi novels that should be classic Literature one day.

All the Culture novels are very relevant to today's world.... all of them about the problems of a technologically advanced materialistic society which considers itself superior to others, and how it deals with the societies around it and the moral problems that creates. 'Look to Windward' is especially relevant to fundamentalism and terrorism, and the amazing thing is that it was published the year before 9/11.

I also love the recurring theme in Banks's novels about the implications of having consciousness up/downloadable to machines and virtual reality, again in look to Windward and in Feersum Enjinn.

If you have read Reynolds or Hamilton and been left wanting, give Banks a try.
 
yes, I like Banks' Culture novels a lot. Player of games was great - probably my favourite.

Orson Scott Card wrote some great books other than the Ender series. 'Treason' for example and the worthing saga. He doesnt seem to know how to write a duff word.

David Zindell is truly a giant of an author. 'Neverness' was a jaw dropping novel. If you like Orson Scott Card and Ian Banks - and like long books that take time to unravel complicated plot lines - these are amazing.
 
I flew through the Reality Dysfunction. Literally about two days (solid). I loved the level of detail personally. Got bogged down in the Neutronium Alchemist though.

The Player of Games is a fantastic book, but I didn't find that the rest of Iain M Bank's stuff was that great. I also have a signed copy of Iain Banks (his non-sci-fi persona) book Song of Stone, which wasn't up to much. The wasp factory was somewhat dark...

Hamilton's other books haven't been so good. He's too obsessed with bloody Rutland...
 
I made up most of my world-view from reading Ursula Le Guin as a young and impressionable goth, after emerging from a period of Hermann Hesse and Thomas Mann.
Can highly recommend "The Lathe of Heaven" and Left Hand of Darkness".
They're not exactly "boys toys" sci-fi, like your Stephen Baxter (though I like him as well), but incredibly human, almost in a Kurt Vonnegut kind of way (who shaped most of the rest of my world view!).
Also just finished William Gibson's latest, "Pattern Recognition". Very good, though complicated (as all his novels are!) and recommended...
And as for Iain M. Banks, I'd say somewhat patchy! I felt Wasp Factory was amazing, Use of Weapons a bit dull, and Canal Dreams appalling...
 
Some of Iain Banks non Sci-Fi novels have left me a bit cold too... but The Crow Road was superb - and the BBC TV version of it was pretty good too.
 
alanbeeb said:
Some of Iain Banks non Sci-Fi novels have left me a bit cold too... but The Crow Road was superb - and the BBC TV version of it was pretty good too.
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Read the book, watched the TV version and now bought the BBC DVD. Absolutely magical. Thoroughly recommended to anyone who hasn't seen it. There's a very interesting interview with Banks on the DVD extras.
 
leonard smalls said:
I made up most of my world-view from reading Ursula Le Guin as a young and impressionable goth, after emerging from a period of Hermann Hesse and Thomas Mann.
Can highly recommend "The Lathe of Heaven" and Left Hand of Darkness".
They're not exactly "boys toys" sci-fi, like your Stephen Baxter (though I like him as well), but incredibly human, almost in a Kurt Vonnegut kind of way (who shaped most of the rest of my world view!).
Also just finished William Gibson's latest, "Pattern Recognition". Very good, though complicated (as all his novels are!) and recommended...
And as for Iain M. Banks, I'd say somewhat patchy! I felt Wasp Factory was amazing, Use of Weapons a bit dull, and Canal Dreams appalling...
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bought 'lathe of heaven' on amazon for 99p... plus 2.84 p&p!! - oh the absurdity... probably could have got it cheaper from a second hand shop or even a new one... but this way I dont have to get off my lazy fat ass..

If its good I might owe you a pint... or if its crap you might owe me one! :P

Lets keep this thread going. Its good to talk about books.
 
bottleneck said:
bought 'lathe of heaven' on amazon for 99p...
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Wisely done - tis proper literature rather than "sci-fi schlock" ;)
Was on the Leeds University English degree course back in the 80s, and is a landmark in the catalogue of "humanist" fiction (though not as funny, or even as "wish I'd said that" as a Vonnegut novel is).
If you get into it, I can also recommend "The Feast of St. Dionysus" by Robert Silverberg as further non-techy sci-fi.

And if you want some more freaky (sort of) sci-fi, try "Under the Skin" by Michel Faber (it'll make you veggie!), or "Atomized" by Michel Houllebecq (plenty sex, and clever with it!)
 

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