A Cracking read so far

Ping Chow Chi

Squall wrote:

Night Dawn was fantastic

Loved Pandora star (didnt realise it was a trilogy till the last few pages )

I belive its a two parter

CiDeRmAn

Seems to be a drought of good new SF out there and the bookshops are shrinking their SF sections, jamming more and more F**King fantasy into it too, most annoying, like when they put the crystal rubbing rubbish like astrology and "know your own Angel" books into the science section, I tell you Easons will be first to the wall when the revolution comes!

Raft by Stephen Baxter, and then read The Time Ships, his first two novels and fanatastic, before he got bogged down with Mars bound Mammoths.
Also everyone should read Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson, genius alternate history, what would have happened had the great plague wiped out Europe before they got out and colonised the world, stunning stuff,.

qwertz

Yep, Time Ships was very good. Any more recommendations? Looking for a good read that spans over several books.

protos

Alistair Reynolds Inhibitor trilogy is excellent. Very Hardcore science fiction - very satisfying to read.

ixoy

protos wrote:

Alistair Reynolds Inhibitor trilogy is excellent. Very Hardcore science fiction - very satisfying to read.

Just reading 'Chasm City' right now. It's outside the trilogy but it was the second book released, so I'm reading it before 'Absolution Gap' and 'Redemption Ark'. Quite enjoyed 'Revelation Space' I must say.

Fenster

Trilogy? Its a four book series!

Chasm City is set about a century before Revelation Space, but a lot of what happens in it ties in later in Redemption Ark and Absolution Gap. There are parts of Redemption Ark especially that will make no sense unless you read it.

Alastair Reynolds also has two novellas-Azure Days and Diamond Dogs-set within this universe.

His new novel, Century Rain is set in an entirely different universe, but shares a lot of the same ideas and technologies. He also has apparently managed to get a grip on writing good dialogue in it.

CiDeRmAn

For a good book series that spans a number of titles I would go back and hunt down anything by John Varley. Some of the best stuff ever put to paper, sci-fi or not "Steel Beach" and "The Ophiuchi Hotline" are incredible, there are a number of others that I can't call to mind but do get a hold of them, remarkable stuff.

Also get a hold of some Philip K Dick, especially "The Man In The High Castle".
And Harry Turtledove with "Guns Of The South", a very good alternate history book.

Ping Chow Chi

Fenster wrote:

He also has apparently managed to get a grip on writing good dialogue in it.

He still has trouble ending stories though

Oh I loved the Inhibitor series, but the ending .... well lets say it was a little quick.

He also tends to just 'fast forward' some of his plots, which can be annoying. The best example is in Chasm City where

they make a HUGE deal about the fact that they about to steal a spaceship - 'never been done before', 'will need perfect planning' etc, then he skips the heist all together and fast forwards them a few months to when they are all aboard the ship

Fenster

Ping Chow Chi wrote:

He still has trouble ending stories though

Oh I loved the Inhibitor series, but the ending .... well lets say it was a little quick.

He also tends to just 'fast forward' some of his plots, which can be annoying. The best example is in Chasm City where

they make a HUGE deal about the fact that they about to steal a spaceship - 'never been done before', 'will need perfect planning' etc, then he skips the heist all together and fast forwards them a few months to when they are all aboard the ship

Yeah, that was horrible. Then again, he did meander somewhat at the start.

secret_squirrel

Ping Chow Chi wrote:

He still has trouble ending stories though

Oh I loved the Inhibitor series, but the ending .... well lets say it was a little quick.

He also tends to just 'fast forward' some of his plots, which can be annoying. [/spoiler]

Agreed. He also seems to get bored with his main characters and once he has no further use for them he off's them in ways that dont necessarily help further the plot. Ending of Inhibitors series was kind inconcluive as well.

Oh we can keep the Wolves at bay - but along comes this green stuff and wrecks every planet any how. Plus we dont get to see the creatures behind the talking space suit.

Donaldsons Gap Series is some of the finest sci-fi out there.

Fallen Dragon is Hamiltons best book - brilliant ending.

Woken Furies is excellent - as is Market Forces - (silly premise, but well explored) Its not part of the Kovacs series though.

For a less epic but excellent novel - try Idlewild by Nick Sagan. Really good first book. The sequel isnt great tho.

For an epic series try Neal Ashers Polity Series (Gridlinked, Line of Polity and Brass Man (trilogy) and The Skinner (standalone)) - a cross between Iain Banks Culture books and Morgan's Kovac's books. Cowl is also good by same author.

ixoy

Do you know how tempting it is to look at those spoilers Ping Chow Chi and Fenster? I'm still reading the damned book

I've seen Richard Morgan's name passed around a bit - is his stuff worth checking out?

Ping Chow Chi

secret_squirrel wrote:

Donaldsons Gap Series is some of the finest sci-fi out there.

I've just read the first two (and loved them) - I am awaiting the rest of the series to be delivered. I hope that some rightous justice will be delt out to one or two of the charactors

secret_squirrel wrote:

Fallen Dragon is Hamiltons best book - brilliant ending.

I would agree with this, I had a tear in my eye at the end of the book. I would also recomend that you pick up his mindstar series, I'm on the third (and I think last one) and have really warmed to his central charactors, it is in a very simalar vain to the Kovacs series. The main charactor being an ex special forces trained man with the ability to 'read' peoples emotions. It also has Hamiltons staple of charactors, IE, super rich, super fit, teeaged sex-goddess etc

secret_squirrel wrote:

Woken Furies is excellent - as is Market Forces - (silly premise, but well explored) Its not part of the Kovacs series though.

.. I've not read Market Forces, I thought it was some none sci-fi stock mart book, maybe I'll pick it up after I have finished the gap series.

I will confess to liking Saga of the Seven Suns as well, which is basically a poor Nights Dawn 'clone'. Yes I know it is predictable, the charactors are very two dimensional, and some of the dialog is sounbelievable but it is just a fun read and the way he writes (small chapters, constantly changing from charactor to charactor) seems to speed up the pace of the story.

ixoy wrote:

I've seen Richard Morgan's name passed around a bit - is his stuff worth checking out?

yes I would recomend them (see what we have said about Kovacs )

secret_squirrel

ixoy wrote:

I've seen Richard Morgan's name passed around a bit - is his stuff worth checking out?

Hell yes. Real hardcore adult sci-fi. To be avoided if you dont like reading sex, violence, brilliant plotting and story telling.

Ping Chow Chi : Market forces is very near future sci-fi. Tis sorta about the stock market though. But its also about how the Main Character developes. (I cant say any more).

Really not a fan of Saga of the Seven Suns - but somehow keep buying each book! Its kinda epic sci-fi by-the-numbers - with (some of many) the flaws noted above. Its author is Kevin J Anderson.

protos

I'm not sure if he'd be classed as sci-fi or not, but everything John Wyndham (of Day Of The Triffids fame) is excellent. I got an omnibus of his stuff from the library once and I couldn't put it down. When I saw the film "28 days later" it really reminded me of his stuff.

CiDeRmAn

John Wyndham is a fine example, one should not jsut get caught up with reading the latest sci-fi published.
There is a vast array of incredible stories out there, each one reflecting key moods and movements of their respective times, from the industrial technological marvels of Jules Verne and HG Wells to the drugged out paranoia of Philip K Dick.
Arthur C. Clarke, John Varley, James Blish, John Brunner, Silverberg, all great if not ther most popular at the mo, comprising a vast wealth of great stories, many without the recourse to violence and sex that modern authors seem to default to automatically in every other chapter, relying instead on gripping storylines that broanden your mental horizons.

ixoy

Fenster wrote:

Chasm City is set about a century before Revelation Space, but a lot of what happens in it ties in later in Redemption Ark and Absolution Gap.

How do you figure that it's a century? The year is 2517, 'Revelation Space' is 2565. Also:

at the end of 'Chasm City', Tanner/Sky/Cahuella is clearly talking to the mercenary from 'Revelation Space' - even if the name isn't mentioned, it must be her given she's from 'Sky's Edge' and was sent to Chasm City by clerical error. And that's only six years after the main events of the story, which would put it at 2523 which seems to conflict with 'Revelation Space'....

Fenster

I need to check again. You get the impression in Revelation Space that the events are set a good many years after the melding plague broke out on Yellowstone, but Chasm City is set a few short years (I think seven) after it.

ixoy

OK I just checked and 'Chasm City' and 'Revelation Space' crossover:

'Chasm City' takes place in 2517, supported by the date at the start and another line of conversation in the book. The epilogue takes place 6 years after, in 2523. In this Tanner Mirabel meets a soldier from Sky's Edge, who I assumed to be Khouri from 'Revelation Space'.

Flicked back to 'Revelation Space' and Khouri's story is initially set in 2524, before she meets the othes. And in that, she talks about meeting an ex-Sky's Edge soldier called Tanner Mirabel who set her up for Shadowplay It's on one line only but it's a nice touch, bringing the two books together.

qwertz

So which one do you read first? Relevation Space (2000) or Chasm City (2001)? Thanks!

ixoy

qwertz wrote:

So which one do you read first? Relevation Space (2000) or Chasm City (2001)? Thanks!

I'd read it in the published order still - 'Revelation Space' followed by 'Chasm City'. There's not much character overlap, so you won't ruin anything that way, and there's bits in 'Chasm City' that may adversely affect 'Revelation Space'.

CiDeRmAn

Presume you all have read Diamond Dogs, Turqouise Days, I think thats the title, a very good collection of two novellas, based in the relevation space universe.
Going over the Manifold sequence again by Stephen Baxter, not all that good really, any thoughts?

ixoy

CiDeRmAn wrote:

Presume you all have read Diamond Dogs, Turqouise Days, I think thats the title, a very good collection of two novellas, based in the relevation space universe.

Ain't actually. I managed to purchase the other four without every having read Reynolds - I saw them all going at bargain prices. Thankfully they've been enjoyable so far. I'm interspersing them with other books so currently tackling Neal Stephenson's "Quicksilver". I've a feeling it'll take me a while...

Going over the Manifold sequence again by Stephen Baxter, not all that good really, any thoughts?

I've read 'Manifold I - Space' and 'Manifold II - Time' but ain't got to 'Mainifold III - Origins' yet. Thought the first one was decent enough but, having said that, it's only the imaginative scale of the end that sticks with me. 'Time' has a few neat ideas, and I like their take on the world changing, but the characters aren't all that strong. I've heard poor things about 'Origins'.

secret_squirrel

ixoy wrote:

currently tackling Neal Stephenson's "Quicksilver"

Quicksilver is good - unfortunately it goes downhill from there on in. Last book - system of the World is a bit of a slog to get through.

CiDeRmAn

Origins shows signs of the slide Baxter has been in of late, what with his woolly mammoth rubbish and all, needs to get back to the hard sf he was doing 8 years ago, the Xeelee sequence, starting with Raft was very good. Kinda in a wait now for the next Ken Mcleod or Iain M Banks book. No more Culture novels I believe! Its just not fair!

qwertz

Is there any fan-fiction based on the Nights Dawn Trilogy the out there?

Branoic

I read Pandora's Star about 7 or 8 months ago. It was my first Peter Hamilton book. I thought the 1st chapter was indeed very very clever. The rest of the good was pretty good too, though it did iritate me in some places, and could have been a good 200 pages shorter with no ill effects.

I then read the Reality Dysfunction, and finished that about 2 months ago. I'm sorry but it was utter tripe. I couldn't believe how similar it was to Pandora's Star either. But he seemed to have matured a bit in Pandora's Star. The Reality Dysfunction read like it was written by a 14 year old boy on viagra. All the characters where bland boring 2 dimensional stereotypes. And there were FAR too many. They just become another name to remember, with little to know substance. And every female character is nothing more than a pair of t1ts for the brilliant dashing young space hero to fool around with. The totally meaningless casual sex, which was written with all the imagination and flair of a turnip, got really really tiresome very quickly.

I won't be reading any more.

secret_squirrel

Branoic wrote:

could have been a good 200 pages shorter with no ill effects.

Thats a valid critism of most of PH's later books. Nights Dawn trilogy especially.

Branoic wrote:

I then read the Reality Dysfunction, and finished that about 2 months ago. I'm sorry but it was utter tripe.

Im surprised at that - with the one fault mentioned above and the Deus Ex Machina ending of the whole triology I think the Nights Dawn books are excellent. Fantastic ideas like the edenists and historical characters.

branoic wrote:

The totally meaningless casual sex, which was written with all the imagination and flair of a turnip, got really really tiresome very quickly.

Have to disagree - yes some of the female characters can be annoying in the first book but as you read the trilogy you watch them grow and develop. I cant say I noticed much in the way of casual sex at all tbh.

Try the 2nd book it makes reading the first worthwhile. Not that there was much wrong with the first imo.