Reading in February 2012

Peter, since you liked Donaldson's Thomas Covenant books, you might give his Gap series a try. I really quite enjoyed that one. Book 1 is a little uncomfortable and grim (or a lot, depending on your tolerance levels), but Donaldson seems to like doing that in first books and then using that to spin out a much larger, involved tale.
 
That's where I'll next then. I still have the final book of Hamilton's Night's Dawn series to finish up. In reading through some of these threads over the years, I bought that series thinking that it would be something of a "can't miss" item, but its not really "done it" for me. There is no single thing about the story that I can single out, nor is there any glaring deficit of the author's...I'm just lukewarm to the entire story up to the end of book 2.

The Gap it is.
 
Starting Inherit the Stars, the first novel in James P. Hogan's Giants saga.
 
Rob B said:
Starting Inherit the Stars, the first novel in James P. Hogan's Giants saga.
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When i read it almost 20 years ago this was one the most fun sf I've read to that point and one of those "this is why i love sf so much" novels; have no idea how it stacks up today but it made me a huge James Hogan fan and while his Velikovskian sf novels were sometimes only so-so, he still wrote some great stuff up to his last novel, Migration, published in his lifetime in 2010 which i reviewed on FBc and greatly enjoyed; I was very sad to hear of his passing in 2010 and wrote a small obituary on FBC, so i hope you will enjoy his books.

back on topic after finishing all but one of the big sf novels of January (McAuley, Reynolds, Flynn, Tidhar, Beckett,, Hodder in order of my rating for them, but all ranging from excellent to awesome - still to read Meaney), I have Transmission next on deck and the Houellebeck Goncourt winner of 2010 Map and Territory which I have no idea if it is sfnal like Possibility of an Island and Elementary Particles or not like Platform.

I am also waiting for the new Mary Gentle novel, Black opera one of my huge asap's of 2012 as Night Shade will publish it in May and I hope to get a copy soon; and of course while far from topic, today was a great day to be a NY sports fan
 
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PeterWilliam said:
That's where I'll next then. I still have the final book of Hamilton's Night's Dawn series to finish up. In reading through some of these threads over the years, I bought that series thinking that it would be something of a "can't miss" item, but its not really "done it" for me. There is no single thing about the story that I can single out, nor is there any glaring deficit of the author's...I'm just lukewarm to the entire story up to the end of book 2.

The Gap it is.
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Interesting. I'm about 425 pages into The Reality Dysfunction and think that it's some of the best sci-fi I've read, at least in recent years. However I've also read the Gap series by Donaldson and really enjoyed that as well. The writing style of the two authors are a bit different.
Hamilton likes to take the time and really set the stage for his grand space opera, sometimes almost losing the reader in the details but painting a marvelous panorama of imagery. His imagination is truly masterful and well thought out.
Donaldson's series is more like being a leaf caught in the middle of a raging torrent. There is absolutely no control over the course of action as the main character is swept along by events, agendas, power-struggles at multiple levels and bizarre situations. It's one rip-roaring ride through four or five novels in which heros and villians are not what they seem. I think you'll enjoy it.
 
suciul said:
When i read it almost 20 years ago this was one the most fun sf I've read to that point and one of those "this is why i love sf so much" novels; have no idea how it stacks up today but it made me a huge James Hogan fan and while his Velikovskian sf novels were sometimes only so-so, he still wrote some great stuff up to his last novel, Migration, published in his lifetime in 2010 which i reviewed on FBc and greatly enjoyed; I was very sad to hear of his passing in 2010 and wrote a small obituary on FBC, so i hope you will enjoy his books.
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I hope I enjoy his books, too! I've got the now out of print Giants Books omnibus which contains Inherit so hopefully I like it enough to keep reading!
 
I didn't read much during the latter half of 2011 as I no longer commute by train to work and have yet to find a new "reading time".

I am currently finishing A Fire Upon the Deep. I found it to be a slow start if I'm honest, and by start I mean the first two-thirds of the book. There are some absolutely stunning ideas and concepts in this novel, but I find myself caring very little about what ultimately happens to anybody. What if the Blight wins? Meh. So what if it does..

I rate A Deepness in the Sky highly, but remember finding that a slow burner too - my positive opinion coming mainly from how much I enjoyed the fantastic final sections of the story. I am predicting (hoping!) my opinion of Fire to be swayed in the same way.

I am reasonably new to sci-fi, having experience of only a dozen 'known' authors, and am still settling into my tastes. I'm fairly sure at this point that I'm not entirely into the grand ideas/flat character trope.
 
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Rob B said:
suciul said:
When i read it almost 20 years ago this was one the most fun sf I've read to that point and one of those "this is why i love sf so much" novels; have no idea how it stacks up today but it made me a huge James Hogan fan and while his Velikovskian sf novels were sometimes only so-so, he still wrote some great stuff up to his last novel, Migration, published in his lifetime in 2010 which i reviewed on FBc and greatly enjoyed; I was very sad to hear of his passing in 2010 and wrote a small obituary on FBC, so i hope you will enjoy his books.
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I hope I enjoy his books, too! I've got the now out of print Giants Books omnibus which contains Inherit so hopefully I like it enough to keep reading!
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Inherit the Stars was brilliant. In essence, it was a novel-length scientific debate about the origins of man and life in our galaxy, but was it gripping. Hogan really brought many branches of science into the story and it was very compelling. I wonder if the folks who made either Battlestar Galactica series read the book. Regardless, it is a classic must-read SF novel.

I'm stepping out of the ominibus for the moment to jump into a fantasy novel.
 
I finished The map and the Territory by M. Houellebecq (Goncourt winner 2010, Engl lang 2012) and while it is less sfnal in content than The Possibility of an Island, it is a near future novel that takes place from ~1990 till ~2040 and chronicles the life and career of a painter and photographer with a lot of citations from future appreciation of his work (Asimov style if you want a sfnal analogy); there is a lot of great stuff in the book and it is the tamest and most ironical Houellebecq novel with one of the most lucid looks at our contemporary society from a "big picture point of view" that is not focused on science or technology as in the usual sf - so even in content you can say the book is associational genre.

Excellent writing and only the ending which i would have preferred a little more ambiguous stopped it from being my #1 novel so far of 2012, but it will be a top 25 and most likely a top 10
 
Just finished up EXOGENE, the sequel to T.C. McCarthy's debut novel GERMLINE. It's different. Not really nearly as harrowing, but more appeal to traditional SF fans. Should have a full review soon.

My next SF novel is probably THE GAMES, the new one from Ted Kosmatka
 
..finished A Fire Upon the Deep. Impressed, in fact humbled. I found both Deepness and Fire to have slow starts but the way they are pulled together in the second half more than makes up for this.

At times, in both books, I could feel no reason to care for the novels' characters, but always wound up feeling very attached to them by the end game.

And the IDEAS..I find myself just shaking my head and smiling as I mull it over driving to work. :) I'm probably nowhere near intelligent enough to properly appreciate these books entirely, but I have enjoyed them a great deal. They are now sitting on my 'favourite' shelf, between Peter Hamilton and Frank Herbert.

So has anybody read Vinge's recent novel set on the Tines' World?
 
I have Eric Brown's Necropath next in line; however, after doing a little research on the series, I realized there's another book by him out there called Bengal Station (i believe only in hardcover).. as well as the other 2 sequels

maybe someone could help me .. is this part of the series? a prequel? should I read this before necropath?
 
hmmm. Bengal Station is the title of the trilogy, not sure what the hardcover is.
 
krisbslick said:
I have Eric Brown's Necropath next in line; however, after doing a little research on the series, I realized there's another book by him out there called Bengal Station (i believe only in hardcover).. as well as the other 2 sequels

maybe someone could help me .. is this part of the series? a prequel? should I read this before necropath?
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I asked Eric about this a while back, being a big fan and wanting to track down his books and all. Bengal Station is effectively an early version of Necropath and released by a smaller publisher. Necropath is expanded and refined from Bengal Station, so it's not really one to read - I haven't... yet.
 
chitman13 said:
I asked Eric about this a while back, being a big fan and wanting to track down his books and all. Bengal Station is effectively an early version of Necropath and released by a smaller publisher. Necropath is expanded and refined from Bengal Station, so it's not really one to read - I haven't... yet.
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thanks for the clearing that up!
 
I finished The Kings of Eternity, liked it very much, now thinking about trying other books by Eric Brown.
 
I decided to finally give Cherryh's Foreigner a try. I've read her fantasy, and I liked it, but my previous SF foray of hers wasn't as stellar (pun intended). Hammerfall and its sequel were fairly boring, I thought. They had their points, but I felt they dragged.

Foreigner reminds me a bit of Hammerfall, but the mystery of who the assassin is is far more interesting. Not too far into it, but we'll see how it goes.
 
I just finished Cherryh's Rimrunners last night (almost read Foreigner instead). I found it entirely engaging and interesting throughout. But I know exactly what you mean. Some of her books totally glue me to the page (Faded Sun trilogy, Fortress), others have left me pretty cold (Morgaine Saga, some of Chanur). I have no explanation for the wide divide in how I enjoy her works.

But those I like, I like quite a bit.
 
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