Recommend me sci-fi/fantasy books

[JohnT]

Originally posted by Fve Crathva
The Hyperion books after the first are more traditional narratives, and easier to read than the first. Also, Ilium (and certainly its upcoming sequel, Olympos) are very similar to Hyperion but with more interesting source material (the Odyssey instead of Keats' Hyperion).

And definitely check out A Deepness in the Sky if you haven't read it. I like it more than A Fire Upon the Deep. I named my computer after one of the characters.

SP

Olympos is scheduled for release on June 28th. My copy is already on pre-order.

However, I disagree with your implication that Ilium/Olympos are better books - in fact, they're more of the same and are the lesser for it.

I agree with you on the Vinge... why the denounement alone makes DitS a better book than FutD.

However, if you're interested in space opera, you should RUN, not walk to your local bookstore and pick up a copy of Peter F. Hamilton's Pandora's Star. Possibly the finest example of the genre released in the past 10 years. One can only hope he gets past his deus ex machina problems...

[Flip McWho]

Second Pandora's Star

Whens the sequel coming out?

[JohnT]

For us poor bastards living in the US... January 2006.

It's enough to make me purchase it on amazon.uk, damn the shipping charges, full speed ahead!

[Jon Miller]

Originally posted by JohnT


Olympos is scheduled for release on June 28th. My copy is already on pre-order.

However, I disagree with your implication that Ilium/Olympos are better books - in fact, they're more of the same and are the lesser for it.

I agree with you on the Vinge... why the denounement alone makes DitS a better book than FutD.

However, if you're interested in space opera, you should RUN, not walk to your local bookstore and pick up a copy of Peter F. Hamilton's Pandora's Star. Possibly the finest example of the genre released in the past 10 years. One can only hope he gets past his deus ex machina problems...

I didn't like one of Hamilton's other series..

it seemed boring

Jon Miller

[Mordoch]

Originally posted by Velociryx
Alan Dean Foster's "The D@mned" series...good stuff, and a bit of a different treatment of the humans...

-=Vel=-

Actually upon reflection, unless you want to go into more the lighter space opera style Flinx novels, the D@mmed series is probably the best Alan Dean Foster novel series to get into. Definately a series I would suggest.

[JohnT]

You know Jon, in a thread asking for recommendations you have criticized the selection of no less than 7 separate posters, all of them gracious enough to not return the favor.

Except me.

Can you just fuc*ing stop it? Or is rudeness just part and parcel of the Jon Miller package?

[JohnT]

quote:
Originally posted by Lonestar
I would recommend David Weber's "Honor Harrington" series, starting with On Basilisk Station.

Think of it as Horatio Hornblower in space.


some are ok, they get worse as he goes on...

JM

quote:
Originally posted by Qilue
Piers Anthony.

Here's a list so I can save typing.

http://www.hipiers.com/bibliography.html

ack, horrid horrid stuff, most isn't even entertaining..

JM
( a few are entertaining in a mildly juvenile way)

quote:
Originally posted by Boris Godunov
What about raymond feist? Anyone read? My boss' husband raves about him.

has some good stuff (for standard fantasy fun), I haven't liked hie most recent stuff however...

JM

ID din't say that I thought the Gripping Hand was very good...

JM
(not a Niven fan)

for Cherryh tha cat people books (despite being veryt popular) aren't her best

Jon miller
(although they are better than you would think, she doesn't write anything that is just 'Meh', everything is good or great or amazing)

(The above is just from the first page!)

[Jon Miller]

it's about recommendations

and beyond that has, I think, gotten to the point of discussing our particular likes and dislikes

I am not saying anything about you as a person (or anyone else as a person.. )

for me recommendations include what someone likes and dislikes.. if you like similiar books to me (and dislike similiar books to me) than other books I like (or dislike) is rellevant information for you

if you don't share similiar tastes,t han that is useful information also

Jon Miller

[JohnT]

Yes, but nobody else is criticizing others recommendations. Repeatedly.

[Jon Miller]

hmm

lets see

I liked The Gripping Hand (and said so), I was just clarifying that while I liked it, it wasn't very good

I said, in that post, that I liked (and recommended) earlier Feist stuff (which is what Boris was asking about) but not later.. (this is part of the whole having an oppinion thing)

I was saying that some of the honor books were ok (ie, I liked them)

I stand by my Peirs Anthony statement

and if you didn't see, I recommended/recommend Cherryh whole heartedly (she is my favorite living writer)

I recommend all her books, including her cat people ones (and in fact own most of hers, since I reread them often)

I was mostly just stating my opinion that the cat people ones aren't her best (those would be the Morgaine ones, or some of the Alliance/Union ones or some of the independent ones)

Jon Miller

[Fve Crathva]

Originally posted by JohnT


Olympos is scheduled for release on June 28th. My copy is already on pre-order.

However, I disagree with your implication that Ilium/Olympos are better books - in fact, they're more of the same and are the lesser for it.

I didn't mean to imply that Ilium was better. You're right that it suffered from Simmons stealing from himself (although I'm not sure how they'd compare if one read Ilium first). I just enjoyed Ilium more, because I'm more interested in the Odyssey and the related mythology than in Hyperion-the-poem. Martin Silenus and the other poet got on my nerves.

SP

[quantum_mechani]

Night's Dawn Trilogy: Couldn't find out much about it, but his other book Pandora's Star sounds interesting.

Asimov: Read most of his stuff, but I skipped the robot short stories.

Ken MacLeod: The books have bad reviews, but sound interesting, I'll keep them in mind.

Robin Hobb: I only read one book by her, but I thought it was very good, so i will probably keep looking for more.

Daughter of the Empire: I read the first book and liked it, and I now have the second book, but every time I try to start it I don't remember enough of what was happening in the first book

David Brin: When I said Uplift War I meant the entire series. I also read Earth and Kiln People and liked them.

Vernor Vinge: Yes, I read the prequel too. I'm still looking for a copy of his book The Peace War

Jack Vance: Most of his stuff seems to be short stories, but I will check out his other books.

Theodore Sturgeon: Also mostly short stories.

Mervyn Peake: Sounds interesting, might try it.

Dragon's Egg: Looks very good.

Barbara Hambley: Quite mixed reviews, what sets it apart from most fantasy?

Michael Moorcock: Dosn't look particularly interesting.

Pliocene Saga: Time travel and a tolkienesque world? You're going to have to sell me on this one...

Rama: Might try this. (love SMAC)

Alan Dean Foster: The damned series looks interesting.

Personally, I don't mind a little negative feedback, I've got enough to sort through that being able to put those with mixed reviews lower on the list is nice.

[Sikander]

Originally posted by quantum_mechani

Fritz Leiber: These might be ok, though again I can't see what sets them apart from most fantasy.

Did you read any of the Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser series? Good fantasy with a terrific sense of humor written over about 40 years iirc. The characters are great, the world is both weird and very familiar and the books are quite light reading. The earlier "novels" are mostly assembled from pulp magazine short stories, which assures their quality while in this case it detracts almost nothing from the structure of the series in general as the stories are typically timeless like the heroes and the gods they describe. This is one of my favorite series without a doubt.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by DeathByTheSword
jenny governments - unkown 4x

I think that's Jenifer Government. It is written by Max Barry and the game NationStates is very loosely based on it. Hm, actually there isn't any connection whatsoever.

[Sikander]

Originally posted by boann



thank you... i was reading the posts and was surprised no one had mentioned HEINLEIN yet.

you should read Methuselah's Children first before
reading time enough for love.. ... its the short story
that sets up the beginning of Lazarus Long's epic

Methuselah's Children
Time Enough For Love
The Cat Who Walks Through Walls
To Sail Beyond The Sunset
The Notebooks of Lazarus Long
Stranger In A Strange Land
Farnham's Freehold

those are some of my favorites of his


i just finished reading the
Symphony of Ages series by elizabeth haydon
its more fantasy than science fiction though.

I teeter somewhere between admiration, terror and rude laughter when I read Heinlein. Some of his stuff is great adventure, some of it is interesting, and when he has enough rope to hang himself (almost everything he wrote late in life) he does so with enthusiasm. His most disturbing book for me is Farnham's Freehold in which his traitorous son is neutered by aliens, his wife is ungrateful and also turns against him and the other reasonable folks to her great regret and to his indifference. His daughter wants to marry him and while it's obvious that he is totally into the idea he can't allow it because of the potential for birth defects, so instead he gives her to his loyal employee and satisfies himself with her hot roomate from college. How exactly this jackoff plot managed to achieve novel length remains one of the world's enduring mysteries.

Speaking of which, how about Pillip Jose Farmer? Some of his stuff I liked quite a bit. Then I ran into some erotic SF he wrote when he was of advanced age. All I can say is wow! Keep me away from any typewriters after I pass 60 please, for the good of everyone.