Let's talk SF

[Blaze1616 he/him]

Well, to preface I'd like to say that I really dislike the omniscient POV that Herbert uses. That's not what I'm referring to in my previous post, but I just want to preface by saying it's already got points against it going in.

 

My main complaint about the book was that all of the mind blowing revelations occured together, all at once, in a short burst, and the reader is just expected to cope. This normally isn't a problem (I love the Sanderson Avalanche), but something about Dune's method was just...off-putting.

 

Dune Spoilers abound.

For example, at the end of Part I, when it is rapidly revealed that Paul is super duper special, Paul is related to the Harkonnens through his mother being the Baron's daughter, Jessica is pregnant,  and I want to say there is one more surprise, but I can't remember what it is. Anyways, all of those got revealed one after the other, with zero processing time, with zero foreshadow, and the characters remark that it changes everything (when it really changed nothing).

 

In the end the whole thing felt very Deus Ex Machina to me. Herbert was able to pull details out of his bum to solve problems, and as a result never really resolved the tension he built up. It fell flat. Every time.

[Dunkum he/him]

Yeah, I just couldn't find Hitchhikers funny. It really tried and came really close, but....meh.

Dune is beyond amazing. Messiah is okay. Children though, I really almost hate that book. Seeing what the kids and Alia do and become and what's happened to Paul, gosh, it was painful for me.

See for me, Adams just has a way of phrasing things that I find wonderful. for example, theres a line early on i the first book describing the Vogon Constructor fleet that reads "They hung in the air in much the way bricks don't." Its such a ridiculous line, but it works for me. If the humor doesnt work for you, then I can see how you wouldn't enjoy the rest of of the books.

On Dune, I liked Messiah and Children, but some of the elements they introduce, like Ghola and the whole ancestor possession thing, could easily be abused. In fact, if wikipedia is to be believed, they very much are abused in later books, which leads to a comic-book style thing where no one ever dies permanently.

[LouiseSparrow she/her]

In general I'd rather watch sci-fi than read it but I do enjoy some.

 

I read some of the earlier Star Wars books up to the Thrawn Trilogy. I read all of the Star Trek Voyager books as they came out and some of the other Trek books, notably anything by Peter David or Christie Golden or Jeri Taylor. I read the Alien Nation books and I like the Tennant and Ecclestone Doctor Who novels.

 

I liked Dune, War of the Worlds and Hitchhikers Guide. I like Pern as fantasy though I know it's Sci-Fi too... for pure Sci-fi I thought Ann McCaffrey's Freedom's Landing was better.

 

Other's I really liked:

 

Hyperion by Dan Simmon's

I am Number 4 by Pittacus Lore

Entering Tenebrea by Roxann Dawson

Diplomatic Act by Peter Jurasik

[StormingTexan he/him]

I've read much more SF than fantasy actually only been in to fantasy last few years (besides reading lord of the rings when I was young).

I like a lot of what's been mentioned Dune (sorry first book only rest was meh), Starship Troopers, IRobot, anything Verne (still think he had some kind of future visions superpowers), Barsoom books and Enders Game being some of my favorites. I thought I'd make it all the way through this thread before someone mentioned Hyperion so glad to see it mentioned in the post above.

Oh and it was mentioned before but Michael Crichton's Prey is an awesome book I liked Timeline too. His Science is explained so well it's almost believable.

[Redbird he/him]

Is it worth it to continue reading after Enders Game? I really liked the first one, but I have heard mixed thing about the rest of them.

[Left he/him]

You should at least read Speaker of the Dead and then try Xenocide, if you don't like them, stop. Personally the characters drove me insane and I really struggled finishing the Ender series. You can always move to the Bean books if you struggle with Ender's as the Bean books feel generally closer to the original.

[Dunkum he/him]

You should at least read Speaker of the Dead and then try Xenocide, if you don't like them, stop. Personally the characters drove me insane and I really struggled finishing the Ender series. You can always move to the Bean books if you struggle with Ender's as the Bean books feel generally closer to the original.

Seconded.  Speaker for the Dead is pretty good, but there are diminishing returns after that.  I still enjoy them, but I've probably read Ender's Game about 10 times, and all the rest maybe 2 or 3 at most