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!
It’s one of my favourites and is the one I’ve reread the most.
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’d say go with the Stormlight Archive or the Mistborn series next. Both are long enough to fill that void.
- 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 binged as much Murderbot as I could about two years ago. Super fun reads. Plus I think the loosely connected novella format is interesting and makes them all that much bingier.
I did the same recently and agree 100%. They’re just such charming stories. Sometimes I want my hard scifi but others I want a good story that gives me the thrill of not being able to put a book down.
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.
I fucking love the Murderbot books. They got me back into reading novels.
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.
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.
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.
If you like Dresden I would recommend the Alex Verus series by Benedict Jacka.
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.
I’ve been blasting through Broken Earth series by N. K. Jemisin, already on The Stone Sky. So good and captivating. Also reading ‘The Yiddish Policeman’s Union’ by Michael Chabon
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.
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.
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.
I did Project Hail Mary two books back, so I won’t revisit that for a while. I HIGHLY recommend the audiobook though; I honestly can’t see how it could hold up in text form, it feels like it was made to be an audiobook.
I’m currently on the Bobiverse books (#1) by Dennis E Taylor.
I almost wish I’d never read bobiverse so I could experience it again for the first time.
I was so curious about how that book could work NOT as an audiobook so I snagged a copy from my library to check it out. SPOILERS: >!Rocky’s speech is depicted as musical notes. Not nearly as impactful as the audiobook.!<
Is Rocky’s speech in the audiobook literally music?
Yes! The more complex the speech, the more complex the music. It’s really cool.
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.
I have this one checked out from the library but haven’t started it yet!
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.
Been reading Rendezvous With Rama, incredible so far!
It’s so good. I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea but I love how the story is told based on observations rather than exposition through dialogues. I don’t always need to relate to characters and their lives, sometime I just want to know about the weird gravity or atmosphere and stuff. For the longest time people said it could not be made into a movie, but Denis Villeneuve stepped up to the plate and I cannot wait to see what he does with it.
Aside from Project Hail Mary I am reading a couple other things. One of them for another book club I am in. I am listening to The Employees by Olga Ravn which I swear feels like being subjected to 2 hours of Rorschach tests asking you how some sequence of words makes you feel. I don’t think I enjoy it very much as there is no fictional science or details about anything going on. The other is Diaspora by Greg Egan which I am enjoying greatly as it is nothing but technical details. Hopefully I don’t end up being in the middle of too many books to actually finish any of them in a timely manner.
project Hail Mary was fantastic. I just finished “The Postman” by David Brin and “Dark Angel” by John Sandford. I really enjoyed “Powersat” and its sequals by David Brin too.
Edit: i also recently read “Radicalized” by Cory Doctorow because it contained the novella “unauthorized Bread”
Hyperion is so good, I remember reading (cantos) it with rather high expectations and it consistently exceeded them. Not perfect, but very nice, especially world building.
I started Wool because I was digging the show Silo, but honestly found it pretty flat. The characters and story telling are super dry, and the show does a much better job of it imo, which is rare.
Right now I’m reading Leviathan Wakes and I cannot put it down. It’s such a good book!
At work I’m listening to The Digital Plague and it’s pretty darn good. Book 2 of the Avery Cates series which is in the dark, gritty cyberpunk genre with a good amount of dark humor.
Both are really good books!
I am reading Leviathan Falls now. The entire series is great. I haven’t wanted to put any of them down.
I’m 75% finished with the book myself!
I’m nearing the second go through of Leviathan Wakes, knowing where the series ends, it’s great to revisit it.
Love Leviathan Wakes!
Just finished Leviathan Wakes. At first I looked at the length of the book and thought no way am I going to get through it. But then it caught on and I really enjoyed the ride. Although I did feel a bit tired after I finished it.
I thought the same when I got it. I ordered it online and when it arrived I was kinda surprised… But I’ve gotten through a little bit more than 3/4 of it in about a week so I guess I like it lol!
Yeah, very addictive. And you can guess why, with all those chapters ending on a cliffhanger.
