TSF Book Club
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[quote name='Tim' timestamp='1360792683' post='343896']<br />
I started reading the new Peter F. Hamilton one but ... it sucked. Didn't have the world building he's good at.<br />
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The Great North Road?? I heard it was a bit patchy, people seemed to like some story arcs but others dragged (or sucked!).<br />
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Have you read much from Iain Banks? -
Yeah, the [i]Great North Road[/i]. Not up to his [i]Commonwealth [/i]stuff at all. (Primes were the best villains ever.)<br />
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I started reading the first [i]Culture [/i]book but I really didn't like his writing style and found the plot slow and dull, and the characters uninteresting/unoriginal. Um, so haven't read anymore! Lots of people recommend him to me, but not my cup of tea.<br />
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I suspect that if you like Peter F Hamilton then you might like Vernor Vinge's [i]A Fire Upon the Deep[/i][i]. [/i]Very interesting far-future fictional universe.<br />
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I recently read the two [i]Expanse[/i] books by James S. A. Corey. They're about a solar system spanning future, with man looking at new possibilities for evolution and space-travel. Pretty good - hacky writing and characters, but interesting worlds and page-turning plots. -
Consider Phelbas??<br />
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Try 'Player of Games' or 'Excession' - his style develops a lot from that first book. The others in the loose series are good but I think those two build a better sense of the world he writes in. He'll often have in-jokes from previous works or humour you'd only really appreciate if you knew enough about how things work.<br />
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His culture novels are excellent (imo). He's wittier than Hamilton and easily on par in terms of world/universe building and social commentary. Hamilton has written some amazing-balls stuff though - Fallen Dragon is one of my favs. -
thanks for the suggestions - I'll check them out.
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[quote name='Paekakboyz' timestamp='1360797286' post='343911']<br />
Consider Phelbas??<br />
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[b]Try 'Player of Games' or 'Excession' [/b]- his style develops a lot from that first book. The others in the loose series are good but I think those two build a better sense of the world he writes in. He'll often have in-jokes from previous works or humour you'd only really appreciate if you knew enough about how things work.<br />
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His culture novels are excellent (imo). He's wittier than Hamilton and easily on par in terms of world/universe building and social commentary. Hamilton has written some amazing-balls stuff though - Fallen Dragon is one of my favs.<br />
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Cool, will do! I'm a sucker for immersive, future-world stuff.<br />
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ps. [i]Pandora's Star[/i] could make for an awesome movie. -
If they got the right people it'd be amazing - a lot more scope for this now that cgi is getting so crazy. Good to see we are getting a few more sci-fi movies coming out.
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Always thought that the Peter F Hamilton's first Commonwealth books ([i]Pandora's Star[/i] and [i]Judas Unchained[/i]) would make a great TV series rather than a movie. HBO has shown with [i]Game of Thrones [/i]that it is possible to have a successful fantasy series with a large cast and multiple intertwined narratives. The problem being of course that a series like that would be one hell of a commitment for a TV channel (or Netflix) and Hamilton doesn't have the name recognition or sales numbers to justify the investment. <br />
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I'm currently reading [i]Great North Road [/i]but I've been at it for over a month and while it captures my attention every now and then the characters aren't particularly compelling and their actions often seem to be at odds with their interests and the way the characters have been set up. <br />
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I have enjoyed most of the Iain M Banks Culture books but they can often be quite meandering. [i]Use of Weapons [/i]is a fave and I liked [i]Surface Detail[/i] and [i]Look to Windward[/i]. -
[quote name='NTA' timestamp='1360752473' post='343827']<br />
Started reading Wheel of Time again - kicked off with the prequel book I'd never read before.<br />
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Have to say the constant references to men being wool headed idiots, and women running everything, is starting to wear thin...<br />
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There's a really decent finish to New Spring, but parts of it are quite skimmable... -
[quote name='Donsteppa' timestamp='1360832171' post='344044']<br />
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There's a really decent finish to New Spring, but parts of it are quite skimmable...[/quote]<br />
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Reading them back to back its pretty clear that Jordan must haver been surrounded by some fucking angry women during his life. Some of these cows must have been in a permanent state of PMT.<br /> -
[quote name='NTA' timestamp='1360752473' post='343827']<br />
Started reading Wheel of Time again - kicked off with the prequel book I'd never read before.<br />
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Have to say the constant references to men being wool headed idiots, and women running everything, is starting to wear thin...<br />
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Thankfully Sanderosn spends no time in the 'men are shit, woman are boss' mindset that Jordan seemed to love -
David and Leigh Eddings, you mean. That was fun reading back when I was a teen.<br />
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No man would put up with the shit that Nynaeve tries on. Lan clearly had a death wish - he said he could never give a bride funeral clothes as a wedding dress, but his real motive is just to spare some other poor bloke from ending up with the permanently grumpy bitch. He's a trooper. -
[quote name='NTA' timestamp='1361917793' post='347396']<br />
[b]David and Leigh Eddings, you mean. That was fun reading back when I was a teen[/b].<br />
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No man would put up with the shit that Nynaeve tries on. Lan clearly had a death wish - he said he could never give a bride funeral clothes as a wedding dress, but his real motive is just to spare some other poor bloke from ending up with the permanently grumpy bitch. He's a trooper.<br />
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I read the Belgariad, the Mallorean, The Elenium and the Tamuli last year. Probably for about the 6th time each. I still think they are great. It's not exactly hard going, or particularly deep, but i like his characters, they are generally pretty funny.<br />
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They tend to fall into the trap of annoying as fuck female characters as well. The main ones in each story, Ce'Nedra and Ehlana are fucking annoying, and i kind of wanted them both to die. I bet their husband's did as well.<br />
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This is what comes from working with your wife. -
[quote name='mariner4life' timestamp='1361929592' post='347442']<br />
[b]I read the Belgariad, the Mallorean, The Elenium and the Tamuli last year. Probably for about the 6th time each.[/b] I still think they are great. It's not exactly hard going, or particularly deep, but i like his characters, they are generally pretty funny.<br />
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They tend to fall into the trap of annoying as fuck female characters as well. The main ones in each story, Ce'Nedra and Ehlana are fucking annoying, and i kind of wanted them both to die. I bet their husband's did as well.<br />
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This is what comes from working with your wife.<br />
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Holy shit. I've never want to hear a criticism of Star Trek again. <img src='http://www.daimenhutchison.com/rugby/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=';)' /> -
wanting and getting are two completly different things.
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Finished Terry Brooks Wards of Faerie, pretty good, if not a bit short....<br />
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Picked up Conn Igguldens [i]Conqueror[/i] at the library today, which is the last in the series (from Genghis Khan to Kublai Khan) so been wanting to read this for a while but never been in the library, except today. -
[quote name='taniwharugby' timestamp='1361931069' post='347451']<br />
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Picked up Conn Igguldens [i]Conqueror[/i] at the library today, which is the last in the series (from Genghis Khan to Kublai Khan) so been wanting to read this for a while but never been in the library, except today.<br />
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Snap!<br />
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Finally getting around to Conqueror as well. I read the others in short succession quite a while back so it's hard to remember who is who now.<br />
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Also saw on the weekend that Iggulden is revisting the Emperor series see [url="http://www.conniggulden.com/2013/emperor-blood-of-gods-2/"]http://www.conniggulden.com/2013/emperor-blood-of-gods-2/[/url] -
Had to finish another book and only just started it the other day, but like you I red the others fairly quickly, it is tough remembering which line so and so is from I have to refer to the family tree at the front. <br />
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Good so far -
Finally finished Peter F Hamilton's [i]Great North Road. [/i]The book did improve in the second half but when you're talking about a book that's over one thousand pages you're dealing with a lot of faff.<br />
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In particular I found that the Newcastle police procedural scenes were boring as hell, lacking in good characters or a exciting narrative. There's only so many times I can read about people using secondary bank accounts to hide their income from the government before I switch off - and I'm an accountant.<br />
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The multiple narratives did tie together at the end although I did have some questions about whether the timeline and the justification for leaving the expedition team isolated on the alien planet seemed extremely contrived.<br />
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Two books I would recommend are [i]Fighters Heart[/i] and [i]Fighters Mind[/i] by Sam Sheridan. The first is a personal journey style book in which Sheridan travelled to Thailand, Brazil, Japan and throughout America training with and talking to professional fighters with the goal of stepping into the ring. The second book is similar but, as the title suggests, looks more at the mental side of fighting. Both well-written books even if you're not a big fight fan. -
[quote name='dogmeat' timestamp='1361915881' post='347379']By the time I gave up on him I'd decided Jordan was simply a bloated David Eddings.[/quote]<br />
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I do have to laugh whenever they say "taint" though. Especially "cleansing the taint" like it's a big deal - have a shower if your taint is dirty!
