SF/F Books: Chapter Two - What Are You Reading?

[stj]

Just re-read Forever War and Timescape and Ophiuchi Hotline, and read Jack Vance Maske: Thaery. (I found a used book store!)

Benford never really matched his this leve of achievement again. And Varley never really mastered the novel. Vance was as ever beautifully written but in the end kind of blah, like most of his work. He's sort of the anit-Dick, who could write clunky but you almost always cared.

But you know, the Benford should probably be up there with stuff like Brave New World. Except for the f-bombs, unfortunately.

 

[Scout101]

Still chugging along in re-reading the Sword of Truth series. Just finished Chainfire, starting in on Phantom

 

[ladyheather69]

I apologize if this has been mentioned in this thread... but I wasn't about to read every single post. I know... horrible of me, but just couldn't do that tonight

I am reading Dawn of the Dreadfuls. it is a prequel to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies which was the only way I was going to be able to read through Pride and Prejudice!

Both are fun, and I am enjoying them more than I thought I would.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I just caught up on "Ex Machina" and "Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season Eight" trades, I'm reading Star Trek Online: The Needs of the Many by Michael Martin.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Storm Front by Jim Butcher was much better, but it didn't inspire me to immediately go for the rest of The Dresden Files..

It'd recommend Dresden Files, the series gets better and better as it goes along, the cast of recurring characters grow and an arc builds and builds. I think every book gets better, apart from maybe one which was a step down then it steps back up again in the next book.

I'm reading the second of Mike Carey's Felix Castor novels Viscous Circle. I like the story but for some reason it's just not compelling me to pick it up and keep reading, so it's slow going.

 

[MyCylon]

Just finished "Hyperion" (the Omninbus encompassing both novels, to be precise) by Dan Simmons the other day and really enjoyed it. I was a bit surprised in that it doesn't quite correspond to the kinds of books I usually enjoy. Still, I found it had many interesting character moments and developments, particularly concerning the Shrike with its tree of thorns and how it related to each of the characters as well as the techno core with its AIs and it's Ultimate Intelligence project. Having said that, I was a bit disappointed by the ending which felt a bit too upbeat on some level for my tastes (if you consider everything that happens in the book before it).

Anyway, I'm still interested enough to want to pick up "Endymion" next.

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

^^

"Hyperion" is certainly among my Top 10 favorite SF novels, maybe even Top 5.

 

[Skywalker]

Storm Front by Jim Butcher was much better, but it didn't inspire me to immediately go for the rest of The Dresden Files..

It'd recommend Dresden Files, the series gets better and better as it goes along, the cast of recurring characters grow and an arc builds and builds. I think every book gets better, apart from maybe one which was a step down then it steps back up again in the next book.

Absolutely. I think if you're into urban fantasy at all, then you're going to love The Dresden Files. There's not a bad book in the series, IMO, and there's already eleven of them, with no indications of an end coming for at least several more books. Jim Butcher is one of my favorite authors right now. His Codex Alera series was pretty cool, too.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Storm Front by Jim Butcher was much better, but it didn't inspire me to immediately go for the rest of The Dresden Files..

It'd recommend Dresden Files, the series gets better and better as it goes along, the cast of recurring characters grow and an arc builds and builds. I think every book gets better, apart from maybe one which was a step down then it steps back up again in the next book.

Absolutely. I think if you're into urban fantasy at all, then you're going to love The Dresden Files. There's not a bad book in the series, IMO, and there's already eleven of them, with no indications of an end coming for at least several more books. Jim Butcher is one of my favorite authors right now. His Codex Alera series was pretty cool, too.

Agreed, I thought Codex Alera was great too, and I can't wait for his new series next year.. Apparently there's at least 20 "case files" planned and an "apocalyptic" trilogy, plus the many short stories and novellas.

 

[MyCylon]

^^

"Hyperion" is certainly among my Top 10 favorite SF novels, maybe even Top 5.

Have you read any of his other books? How do they compare in your view?

 

[Greg Cox]

^^

"Hyperion" is certainly among my Top 10 favorite SF novels, maybe even Top 5.

Have you read any of his other books? How do they compare in your view?

I haven't read much of his SF but Simmons' SONG OF KALI is a really disturbing horror novel . . . .

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

^^

"Hyperion" is certainly among my Top 10 favorite SF novels, maybe even Top 5.

Have you read any of his other books? How do they compare in your view?

I've read:
Hyperion/The Fall of Hyperion
Endymion/The Rise of Endymion
Ilium/Olympus
Worlds Enough & Time (short story collection, including stories from the Hyperion and Ilium/Olympus universes)

Suffice to say, "Hyperion" is clearly the best of the bunch, directly followed by "The Fall of Hyperion". In fact, the first two Hyperion novels made me read the other stuff. If you're a fan of them, you're probably gonna enjoy the Endymion novels and Ilium/Olympus as well... despite some shortfalls.

Ilium/Olympus drags on for some time before it is finally revealed what the hell is even going on in the novel. Some were also disappointed by the novels' resolution. It's also a pretty weird world Simmons is trying to build there (certainly weirder than Hyperion) and if you like bizarre stuff you're probably gonna like it. The outlandishness of the whole thing certainly had an appeal to me.

As for Endymion... maybe it is just me, but the Hyperion universe appeared less interesting and less complex to me after the fall of the hegemony. Then again, the first "Hyperion" book had such fantastic world-building and such a complex plot that it was hard to follow suit. They're still pretty decent though.

 

[MyCylon]

^^

"Hyperion" is certainly among my Top 10 favorite SF novels, maybe even Top 5.

Have you read any of his other books? How do they compare in your view?

I haven't read much of his SF but Simmons' SONG OF KALI is a really disturbing horror novel . . . .

Ok, sounds like it's absolutely not a book for me .

^^

"Hyperion" is certainly among my Top 10 favorite SF novels, maybe even Top 5.

Have you read any of his other books? How do they compare in your view?

I've read:
Hyperion/The Fall of Hyperion
Endymion/The Rise of Endymion
Ilium/Olympus
Worlds Enough & Time (short story collection, including stories from the Hyperion and Ilium/Olympus universes)

Suffice to say, "Hyperion" is clearly the best of the bunch, directly followed by "The Fall of Hyperion". In fact, the first two Hyperion novels made me read the other stuff. If you're a fan of them, you're probably gonna enjoy the Endymion novels and Ilium/Olympus as well... despite some shortfalls.

Ilium/Olympus drags on for some time before it is finally revealed what the hell is even going on in the novel. Some were also disappointed by the novels' resolution. It's also a pretty weird world Simmons is trying to build there (certainly weirder than Hyperion) and if you like bizarre stuff you're probably gonna like it. The outlandishness of the whole thing certainly had an appeal to me.

As for Endymion... maybe it is just me, but the Hyperion universe appeared less interesting and less complex to me after the fall of the hegemony. Then again, the first "Hyperion" book had such fantastic world-building and such a complex plot that it was hard to follow suit. They're still pretty decent though.

Thanks for the feedback! Based on what you've said, I'll certainly give the Endymion books a try and see where I go from there. Hyperion certainly looks like an act that's hard to follow in many ways.

Perhaps the world in Endymion doesn't seem as interesting as the one in Hyperion because Simmons himself wasn't entirely convinced getting rid of the Core and the farcasters was the best thing after all? Just a thought.

 

[stj]

I tried reading Drood, but within fifty pages it seemed like it was a vampire novel, which is not interesting at all. And if it wasn't vampires, it was spinning wheels pretending to be a vampire novel.

I read Ilium, enjoyed it in a turn off your brain, slapdash fun kind of way. Then, when Olympos finally came out, I found that Ilium had made practically no impression and I had no idea what was going on, and had to give up.

I tried reading Hyperion but that was just a couple of years ago, long after it had come it. It seemed like tiresome dark and gritty cliches with an emphasis on horror, which bored me. I can't recall if I got two or three personal stories of the pilgrims in, but they all seemed horribly disjointed.

I started to check out The Terror, under the impression it was supposed to be the Frankenstein monster after the conclusion of Mary Shelley's novel, but the dust jacket seemed to indicate it was supposed to be a real Arctic expedition. Which seemed like more dark and gritty cliches about an expedition. (I'm awfully tired of the childish idea that Life is a Donner Party.)

The only Dan Simmons I think I've successfully read was a straight up vampire novel, one of those where vampirism is rationalized as a blood disease. It wasn't interesting enough to read the sequel. But, maybe I'm thinking of a Steven Gould novel?

 

[FluffyUnbound]

Hyperion doesn't hit you until all the pilgrim stories come together.

That's why the Chaucerian storytelling mechanism is used.

After 50 pages of Hyperion I said to myself, "What is this crap?" but by the end - whoo, boy.

 

[PointyHairedJedi]

Last skiffy book I read, earlier this month, was Ringworld.

You may have heard of it.

 

[Hyperspace05]

stj,
If you really didn't make it all the way through Hyperion, you should really read it again. It is probably (at lest IMO) the best piece of SF literature in the last 20 years.

But then again, tastes differ. I was gripped by 'the priests tale' from the beginning. It won't please all - But it really has such a wide variety of SF sub-genres that it covers, so there's something for pretty much every SF fan in there I think.

 

[Greg Cox]

The only Dan Simmons I think I've successfully read was a straight up vampire novel, one of those where vampirism is rationalized as a blood disease. It wasn't interesting enough to read the sequel. But, maybe I'm thinking of a Steven Gould novel?

You're probably thinking of CHILDREN OF NIGHT by Simmons. I have a copy on my shelf, but haven't got around to reading it yet.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Picked up a bunch of Pip and Flinx books Alan Dean Foster at the used bookstore. Haven't read one since the 1980s.

 

[S. Gomez]

Storm Front by Jim Butcher was much better, but it didn't inspire me to immediately go for the rest of The Dresden Files..

It'd recommend Dresden Files, the series gets better and better as it goes along, the cast of recurring characters grow and an arc builds and builds. I think every book gets better, apart from maybe one which was a step down then it steps back up again in the next book.

Absolutely. I think if you're into urban fantasy at all, then you're going to love The Dresden Files.

I must not be into urban fantasy then.