I found the entire Rama series dull as fudge to be honest but I'm a huge Asimov fan. I often revisit the Foundations series on audible.

Hey, along with porn, Nerd fighting was what the internet was invented for...who's better, Batman or Superman? Kirk or Picard? What is the best Sci Fi Novel? Who produces the best computers?

My two cents, Jeff:
I think the turnaround in Elethiomel's thinking is explained quite well. He has lived several lifespans where all he did was fight and win, fight and lose or fight and die, only to be reborn and do it all over again. And again. It's hardly surprising that he has become jaded and that his thinking has changed.

I wonder, would Elethiomel's change and the subtleties of the character be lost if it took you 18 months to finish the book?



17th Feb 2012




19th Sept 2013


I guess his finger got tired

But in the penultimate reverse storyline (in the big sleepr ship), 'he' is already suicidal. It's not a gradual realisiation, it is directly after the battle (we are led to believe it is Zekalwe who is suicidal after surviving his earlier suicide attempt, but it is in fact Elethiomel being suicidal on making the chair)...as such, we can only assume that he has had a moment of clarity at some point between those two events that has totally changed his outlook and which has precipitated his running away onto the sleeper ship.

I lost the book, and then work got in the way...and then I finally, ahem, 'acquired' it again for my Kindle Fire HD which I purchased for my summer holidays this year and then re-read it from the beginning. In fairness, 3 months is still a long time, but work and an incoming baby has meant I haven't had as much time as I would like to devote to reading.

Just started re-reading the Left Hand of Darkness again. fudge the Hainish Cycle is good. Really annoyed I can't find my copy of The Dispossessed now.

Also recently re-read World War Z, which just about counts. f**king tangfastic read.

I remember being highly entertained by "The Stainless Steel Rat"

It was a long time ago, so my taste has probably changed in the interim, though.

Still, if you do find it enjoyable, I believe there are twelve novels in the series...

Your post just reminded me of The Left Hand of God trilogy which promised so much. I'm staring at he final instalment splayed out face down on my couch and wondering if I'll ever be arsed to finish Beating of his Wings. I've diversified into some Dresden Files just to keep my spirits up.

I loved the first Rama, I found it really suspenseful. But the others were pretty weak and I've never bothered with them again.
The foundation series were great up to and including the mule.

I just finished off the Long Earth and the Long War, both collaborations by Stephen Baxter and Terry Pratchett. Absolute cracking reads, and a well thought out concept I hadn't seen in sci-fi before. Highly recommended.

I got about a third of the way through the Long Earth and then got distracted. Need to pick it back up again (though will probably have to start from the beginning again).

Has anyone read The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon?

It is getting pretty good reviews

Its a bit of a strange one as it doesn't have a traditional story structure. Long War is a bit more traditional in that regard. Apparently there are three more in the series coming.

That doesn't usually bother me. I was enjoying it, but then a friend loaned me a book and I had that as a higher priority.

Hey, speaking of which, the book in question was China Mieville's Embassytown. Even stranger than the Long Earth and takes a while to get into but ultimately a fun read. I've heard that Perdido Street Station (think that's what it's called) is also really good, anyone able to corroborate?

Anyone else read The Long Earth and Long War by Pratchett and Baxter. Enjoyed it. Pretty lame ending though imo.

EDIT: Oops just saw Zakars post.

Star Trek vs. Star Wars.

It's been awhile since I read it, but I read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy after I saw the movie. The movie did the book little service missing some of the humor. One thing that got me though was there were like 5 different books in it written by Adams, and reading them one after the other, he contradicts stuff that happens from one book to the other, did Adams mean them to be kind of stand-alone stories with the same basic set of characters?

Perdido Street station, like everything by Mieville, is f**king weird, but good. I've also read the sequal, "the Scar", which is also really good.

I have also read The City & The City by him. Another interesting concept, but I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as the other two.

I think Meiville is overated.

He writes interesting books but a lot of them disappear up their own arse.

You wouldn't know where I can get a free ebook of this do you?

Star Trek. Obviously. Duh.

Sorry dude, that had to be put up.

The quality in the Hitchhikers books pretty much falls off the edge of a cliff after the first book. They are passable, but whereas the first is near enough a genius mix of humour and sci-fi, the rest largely come off as poor parodies of the first.

The first Rama is hilarious - the sci-fi bits are great, but it's the most rudimentary writing you can imagine. Calling the characters paper-thin is being generous.

Clarke got a lot better, but Rama shows that you don't need to have absolute mastery of the English language to write an entertaining novel.

I've heard rumours that unscrupulous types can download programs like utorrent and then search for World War Z on sites like TPB and download it without paying anything.

Obviously this is deeply immoral and I would never do such a thing.

I overheard my butler talking to the chaufuerr and I gather one might need a proxy.
Also is the Black company worth sticking with?

The voices in my head, over which I have no control, tell me that the URL you go to when clicking "TPB" in my post takes you to a list of proxies.

You're going to have to be more specific regarding the Black company

Kind of how I felt. Dune's the same way, just read that one book and ignore the rest.

Hitchhiker's Guide was at its absolute peak on the radio. Continually and relentlessly gut-busting.

Dune is the best of the series but the others are worth reading as long as the name on the cover is Frank

I think I read the God Emperor one, and I just wasn't impressed. Dune minus the Harkonnens just isn't interesting.

You need to read them in order really, without reading messiah and children god emperor doesn't work nearly as well.

If you mean the series by Glen Cook then yes. They're a great read.

The old Hitchikers TV series is ok as well. Not as good as the books. I found the second one ok and gave up on the third.

Dune is fantastic - and I think at least the first 4 books are worth reading. The prequel stuff by his son(?) is laughably poor.


Not read back through the whole thread so it might have been mentioned, but is there any love for Alistair Reynolds? Some great stuff in the Revelation Space universe. I love the fact that they don't have faster than light travel - it makes it all feel a bit more science and a bit less fiction.

I haven't read Dune, but have it in my bookcase waiting...should probably get onto that next.

The Legends of Dune Prequel Trilogy by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson are a great.

I enjoyed his Revelation Space novels but others like Terminal World - not so much.

Some great concepts in Rendezvous, but Clarke was never much of a character writer. He was a concept writer. Some of his short stories are brilliant. And the rest are merely very good.
Asimov was better at it but dealt more with humanity as a whole (Foundation, laws of Robotics etc) whilst Heinlein was more interested in how various concepts and ideas affected the individual - or how the individual could affect them (Starship Troopers / Stranger in a Strange Land).

I've got the collected short stores of both Clarke and Heinlein, both fascinating for different reasons.

Kinda feel sorry for writers that came after those 3...

All of your opinions on all subjects are now invalid I'm afraid

Hey I liked Erasmus.