Aside from Project Hail Mary which I assume every /c/sciencefiction subscriber is going to read what have you been reading or plan to read?
Here is last months post. What are you Reading? (August 2023)
I’m finally getting into both discworld and culture. I’ve read a number of other discworld books before, two of the night watch, mort, I think another I don’t recall right now. Now I’m reading The Colour or Magic. It’s enjoyable but I’m finding I’m going a little slower on it than the others.
I also have the second culture book, Player of Games, ready to go when I finish the discworld book. I really liked how bonkers Consider Phlebas was (felt like a constant stream of chaos for the crew).
The first two Discworld books are VERY different from the rest of the series. There is definitely stuff to enjoy there, but Pratchett had not yet found his voice. I’m in my second read through of the series, and it is interesting to see the concepts mature over time. Granny Weatherwax in Equal Rites is almost a different character than Granny Weatherwax in Maskerade.
I’m reading Lords and Ladies now. I couldn’t get into them years ago but after reading the Tiffany aching series I’m much more attached to the witches and really enjoying going through. Especially with the recently rerecorded audiobooks which are so very good.
One of my favorites! Yeah, I almost bounced off discworld the first time, but I’m glad I stuck with it. I’ll probably use the audiobooks for my next read through! Either that or physical books. My wife just gave birth, so physical books will let me read them to my son.
Congrats! Doing character voices when reading to my kids is still a cherished memory for me
I had heard that colour of magic was hard to start with, which is why I went with guards guards and mort. I just love the characterization of ankh morpork. I’ve been mixing other books in-between so I don’t burn out on Pratchett’s writing style, and it’s been good.
Colour of Magic was pretty bad. Just like writing-wise, he he hadn’t found his feet yet.
He also hadn’t found the line to tread between satiring people and humanity in general, and taking cheap pot-shots at real people…I was a big fan of Anne McCaffrey when I first read Colour of Magic, so him making fun of Lessa and Dragonflight in the book landed poorly on me.
Like, looking back, he was a nobody at the time when that book was published and McCaffrey was Someone, and it probably felt like he was punching upwards at Anne McCaffrey who was a pretty big name in science fiction–but as his own fame/status as a writer grew to equal/surpass hers, it just looks like he’s ripping on a fellow author for no good reason. Obviously he did that to Conan too, but the author that created Conan was long dead and not living.
And I think he figured out satiring living authors in the same field as he was a pretty shitty thing to do, because he eventually stopped doing books that had a chance of ripping real living people down.
I’ve never read any Pratchett, and I just picked up Small Gods on a friend’s recommendation. I’m really enjoying it!
I haven’t read that one yet. I’ll have to check it out soon!
My first was Jingo. Picked it up at Value Village to read the first few sentences and could not put it down. Now I’ve been through the series several times and will surely start over again soon.
I just finished re-reading the entire Expanse series and fell back on an old friend, Harry Dresden. Going to put that Weir book on my list though. I really enjoyed The Martian so I’d like to explore more of his work.
Highly recommend listening to the Project Hail Mary audiobook rather than reading it. It adds an extra dimension to the story that you miss out on otherwise.
If you like Dresden I would recommend the Alex Verus series by Benedict Jacka.
Just finished Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel.
It’s good, but I found it to be unmoving. I can see that whatever is written is well written but it didn’t made me feel anything. I didn’t find it funny, emotional, surprising, annoying. At no point I was tempted to stop reading it nor I was anxious to continue. For me it’s a really solid 7/10. Maybe I’m in the minority on that and maybe it’s because it’s not the kind of book that I would usually read.
On what’s next I have been wanting to read the Three Body Problem but I’m curious about the translation. I’ve read books in english that were originally written in my native spanish and there’s definitely a certain feel to them. It will be the first book originally in Chinese that I read, so I wonder about the translation, and if it would be better to get an English translation or a Spanish translation.
I found The Sea of Tranquility a bit dry but whimsical nonetheless.
In a genre overburdened by books with two dimensional characters and core dumps of exposition, it was an interesting puzzle but it also isn’t making me want to reread it either. 7.5 or 8.
The translator of Three Body Problem Ken Liu is a native Chinese speaker with exceptional English language skills. I don’t believe there are any issues with the translation work itself, but there are some oddities of intentionally reworked plots in the English release due to the book “Ball Lightning” not having been released for the English market yet so the references would not have made sense. I find this to be a poor decision, but you can always read Ball Lightning and about what that subplot was intended to be afterward. The Spanish version would likely have the same issue.
Thanks, you give me something to check out with that thing about the changes to the plot.
Just finished “The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress”. A little long and rambling in places, but enjoyable and full of interesting ideas. Would make a good series/mini series. Has tinges of Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy at times.
There’s a good audiobook version available narrated by Lloyd James/Sean Pratt.
I read this book decades ago when I was a teenager, and it had a huge impact (no pun intended) on me. It’s one of the first novels I can remember that made me sob when it was over. I need to read it again.
This led me to Stranger in a Strange Land which was just wild and gave me a view into relationships that I wasn’t expecting.
I’m pretty far behind the ball, but I’m finally reading revalation space and it rocks!
Started reading Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler. I really like the style of writing, so much detail into the main character’s mind.
It is also impressive just how relevant the topics are today, for a book written back in 1993 (climate change, wealth disparity, etc.). It’s really fascinating (scary?) to see what the author thought the U.S. would look like in 2024 and onwards.
The Parable series by her get more word-of-mouth, but the series that really stayed with me was her Xenogenesis series. Like the Parable books, it has the Survival as Hero archetype going on, but in this case it’s about a species of aliens who saves the last remnants of humans after they destroy themselves and earth, and follows a woman who is seen a “collaborating” with them.
Semi-related, I loved that that spot on Mars where one of the rovers landed was named after her. I wasn’t expecting that. I just wish she hadn’t died so prematurely and was alive to see it.
Thanks for the suggestion, I’ll add that to my list was well!
I have this one checked out from the library but haven’t started it yet!
- Zoe Punches the Future in the Dick and If This Book Exists, You’re in the Wrong Universe by Jason Pargin
- The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells
I read the first 4 Murderbot Diaries a long time ago and the other day I learned there are at least 4 more. 🤖☠️
I adore the Murderbot Diaries. It’s weird how something so violent can be so, I dunno, calming.
They’re great fun.
I was disappointed with Martha Wells’ most recent book though. I won’t spoil it, but it came down to me never emotionally connecting to the main character, and too much worldbuilding having been done for one book…a lot of build-up that goes nowhere.
I haven’t read her non-Murderbot books, so at some point I imagine I’ll be curious enough to go back and see if Murderbot was just something that hit a zeitgeist, the right topic at the right time, or if Witch King simply a weaker offering even compared to the pre-Murderbot stuff she’s done.
I have 60 pages left of The Wheel of Time series, and what a ride it’s been. Just incredible!
Already looking for a series to fill the massive impending void. Was thinking of maybe Mazalan or Law Trilogy. Any advice or other suggestions, anyone?
Oh man, what a ride indeed. That series really is epic! And just in time for Season 2 of WoT to drop on Amazon!
If you liked that series, and in particular the last 2-3 books, then I’d recommend working your way through Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere, and the Stormlight Archive series in particular. Not classic sci-fi (although I’d argue it still fits on some levels), but an excellent fit after reading Robert Jordan.
I loved the series! And was pleasantly surprised how seamless the transition was between Jordan and Sanderson. In fact, I think I liked Sanderson’s writing just a tiny bit more, so was thinking of maybe trying some of his proper stuff next. So thanks for the suggestions!
Amazing! Sanderson writes an incredibly inter-woven series of stories that are largely independent of one another, but do intersect in different ways, and the deeper we get into his worlds, the more the overlapping elements of his universe start to come into the narrative.
The Cosmere is big and complex, and I just finished re-reading the whole thing in a suggested order that helps build up the Cosmere in a way that’s a bit friendlier to a new reader. Each series takes place on different planets in their universe, and in the case of the Mistborn series, in two different eras separated by a few hundred years.
Here’s how I read it:
PHASE ONE (largely independent)
Scadrial
- Mistborn (The Final Empire): Mistborn Era 1-1
- The Well Of Ascension: Mistborn Era 1-2
- The Hero Of Ages: Mistborn Era 1-3
- The Eleventh Metal (Novella in Arcanum Unbounded)
Sel
- Elantris
- The Hope of Elantris (Novella in Arcanum Unbounded)
- The Emperor’s Soul (Novella in Arcanum Unbounded)
Nalthis
- Warbreaker
Taldain
- White Sand (either the original 3-part graphic novel or the new prose version)
Threnody
- Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell (Novella in Arcanum Unbounded)
First of the Sun
- Sixth of the Dust (Novella in Arcanum Unbounded)
PHASE TWO (starting to weave in Cosmere references more heavily)
Scadrial
- The Alloy Of Law: Mistborn Era 2-1
- Allomancer Jak (Novella in Arcanum Unbounded)
- Shadows Of Self: Mistborn Era 2-2
- The Bands Of Mourning: Mistborn Era 2-3
- Mistborn: Secret History (Novella in Arcanum Unbounded)
Roshar
- The Way Of Kings: Stormlight Archive 1
- Words Of Radiance: Stormlight Archive 2
- Edgedancer (Novella in Arcanum Unbounded)
- Oathbringer: Stormlight Archive 3
- Dawnshard (Novella)
- Rhythm Of War: Stormlight Archive 4
Scadrial (again!)
- The Lost Metal (this one makes much more sense after Roshar)
There’s also a few shorts Brandon wrote as a secret project during the pandemic that are starting to be released now:
Lumar
- Tress Of The Emerald Sea
Komashi
- Yuri and the Nightmare Painter
???
- Kickstarter Secret Project #3 in October 2023
Wow! Thank you so much for taking the time to put this together! Very much appreciated 🙏
I’d say go with the Stormlight Archive or the Mistborn series next. Both are long enough to fill that void.
I always suggest starting with Mistborn Era 1 and then moving to Stormlight Archive. It’s more of a slow burn introduction to the Cosmere.
Appreciate the recommendation! Quick question- Is Mistborn and Stormlight Archive all interconnected? Or in the same universe?
They’re in the same universe and there are some Easter eggs you’ll notice if you read both, but the stories themselves are standalone. You can read either without ever knowing about the other and you wouldn’t miss anything.
Snowcrash: pleasantly surprised by the quality of the world building, which I love.
It’s amazing how many things he’s predicted (or noticed and predicted would become mainstream) over the years.
Bitcoin, metaverse, the importance of cryptography in modern IT, monetized streaming video, …
Seriously though. They fucking called it, unironically, the metaverse. That’s a coined ass phrase. Distopian from the beginning. Weird choice on Meta’s part haha.
Diamond Age next!
Good idea! Thanks for the recommendation.
I have enjoyed all of his works. The Baroque Cycle took me a few tries to get into before I stuck it out; great read but man is it long and dry at times. Anathem was challenging because of the new lexicon he introduced.
My favorites are snowcrash, seveneves, termination shock, and cryptonomicon in roughly that order.
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Hugely disappointed by The Diamond Age after Snow Crash. It really lost the plot.
Had the same feeling reading Snow Crash directly after Zodiac. Found that I need to read sth different between his books to be able to switch tracks in his world building.
Admittedly, Diamond Age is less fast paced than Snow Crash, with more parallel development and longer threads, which makes it difficult to keep track. But I love it.
I’m reading Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin on recommendation by a colleague, Feet of Clay by Terry Pratchett in my second run through of the Discworld series, and Death Troopers by Joe Schreiber, since I never got around to that one when I was DEEP into Star Wars books.
I just read neuromancer again. As you can tell from my handle, I love the book
Just bought this book, it’s next on my list.
It is a product of its time, so keep that in context.
The audio book is hysterical. The voices just crack me up.
I’ve been trying to get through A Memory Called Empire for like 2 years now. I keep hearing how good it is l, but I’m maybe halfway through and I feel like the story has been slow going, and the poetry thing is weird too. It is very well written though. Maybe someone has something encouraging to say about it
Cyberpunk! I read Let Slip the Beasts by Suzanne Berget yesterday. I recommend it. Not too long either.
Today I’m gonna find another cyberpunk book to read. Maybe Nexus by Ramez Naam that someone else recommended me.
I’m just copy pasting from above because I liked this book and am trying to bait a conversation lol. It was a fun one.
I just finished! I liked it a lot to, although I give it a solid B. Humor was great, there were some really nifty concepts, I just don’t think it was a slam dunk. I think the author will do some really great stuff in the future though. It’s a perfect vacation read: Plot is pretty linear for the most part, it’s not terribly long, and it keeps a solid pace.
I’m going to compare it to a not so great book, but because of the elements about that book I liked: “NeXt” by Chriton. I’m in the biochemistry field, and “NeXt” is really interesting as a capture of where the public (and a lot of professionals) thought the field was going. The human genome project was well underway, everything seemed possible. “Lumpsucker” shoots into the future a bit (“Next” is 100% contemporary), but really captures a ton over the last 5 years that simmers in public consciousness the way Next did. It’s not like the topics both discuss don’t get plenty of headlines, but they both do a cool job capturing a general “vibe” around the topics as opposed to just facts. I found it really cathartic to read, actually.
So all in all, to anyone else, I’d give it a strong recommend. It wont go down as an all time classic but the author put together something beyond competent, and really added some spice here and there capturing something special.
I’m halfway through and despite the story evolving quite slowly I really enjoy reading it.
Exclusively Terry Pratchett. I’ve been reading (again for the most part) all the discworld books and finaly hit the ones i never read.
I don’t even know you but I am stoked for you! I discovered Discworld a few years back as an adult and have been through the series several times since. It’s my go-to when I need a diversion and don’t have a new book or series that I’m excited for. The series is just amazing.
