SFBRP Listeners discussion
Books I would like to see reviewed
Revenger is a bit like Miles Vorkosigan without even his supposed smarts.It's a teens power fantasy where by sheer attitude and aptitude you can become a guitar hero without the actual practice and hard work.
Peter F Hamilton's Night's Dawn Trilogy is out this year on Audible, narrated by John Lee, who did many of the Alastair Reynolds classics. The narration works really well. As I know at least Luke enjoys John Lee's narration and has given good ratings to Hamilton's Commonwealth stuff, I think this may be of interest. And this is the stuff that raised PFH to fame.
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Has anyone else read We Are Legion (We Are Bob)? Really good if you like hard scifi. I am hoping there will be a video game based on it.
I have and I loved it. 2nd to best sci-fi of 2016 from my perspective
Hiya, Luke,I think you should read and review 'Spares' by Michael Marshall Smith.
Also, what about 'The Stainless Steel Rat' by Harry Harrison?
And having just listened to the SFBRP podcast review of 'Ready Player One', under no circumstances should you read and review 'Armada'.
Perhaps Luke might find the Roma Nova books by Alison Morton interesting. They're more alternative history than SciFi, but they're well-plotted military fiction with good characters. The first book, inceptio, I found good if patchy (it's got a bit of coming of age about it, but bear with it, it's not a young adult book), the next is better, the third rather good with a powerful look at temporary insanity included.
Even though our tastes seem to be chalk and cheese, I didn't like Ninefox and loved We are Legion, you mentioned in the Ninefox episode how much you love a challenge and having to take notes, rewind etc. Let me suggest then The Tourist by Robert Dickinson. This is a time travel/conspiracy book that most people aren't getting. It does the opposite of hand holding. I had to listen to it twice but I really wanted to "solve" it. Narrated by the great Peter Kenny
Would you be interested in reviewing any more Jack Vance?
Robert wrote: "Would you be interested in reviewing any more Jack Vance?"I might. I can borrow ebook from the library and they have the three books from the Demon Prince saga. So I got the first book "The Star King" out. I'm not sure, I can read it until Tuesday because I'm currently busy with the Reality Dysfunction, but maybe it could be worth a try?
Today's Audible Daily Deal is Anansi Boys by Neal Gaiman.This was my first encounter with Gaiman and I was later surprised to find that his other works weren't humerus
Was anyone else impressed with Anansi Boys and would you also recommend Luke review it?
http://www.audible.com/?ie=UTF8&p...
Mod
This was my first encounter with Gaiman and I was later surprised to find that his other works weren't humerus
Was anyone els..."
I tried American Gods twice but couldn't finish it either time. If you say this is nothing like that, I might give it a try.
I was sorely disappointed in American Gods when I read it after Anansi Boys. Though it's in the same vain, with an African gods walking amongs us, it's very different. It's about a beta male having to deal with the legacy of his 'trickster god' father.
I also found the performance by Lenny Henry to be spot on.
But I want others to recommend it too. My last few recommendations didn't go well with you and Juliane.
I'd be interested in your thoughts on Sleeping Giants and Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel. Audio preferred.
I enjoyed those too. I did print though.
For what it's worth, I loved Anansi Boys but then really struggled with American Gods, so I'd say they are quite different in style.
Luke wrote: "Zivan wrote: "Today's Audible Daily Deal is Anansi Boys by Neal Gaiman.This was my first encounter with Gaiman and I was later surprised to find that his other works weren't humerus
..."
American Gods is a struggle. I have never been able to get past page 100. And I've tried over three or four times. I just hit a wall with it and so have pretty much given up on it, though the new TV series looks interesting.
But Anansi Boys is actually quite good. There is a distinctive humor to this tale with great characters and nice way of incorporating African mythology. In terms of Neil Gaiman's novels...I think it's his best one, right up there with The Graveyard Book, which is really amazing.
The Unholy Consult, final book of R. Scott Bakker's Aspect-Emperor series in coming out in July. I know you weren't impressed by The Great Ordeal, but hopefully you'll still read this one.
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Might as well, I guess. *sigh*
Alain wrote: "Hiya, Luke,I think you should read and review 'Spares' by Michael Marshall Smith.
Also, what about 'The Stainless Steel Rat' by Harry Harrison?
And having just listened to the SFBRP podcast rev..."
Not sure about S.S. Rat, it has dated, but MMS Spares or "Only Forward" are excellent picks for Luke
I found MMS "Forward" quite strange. More like a lucid dream tjan a sci-fy.
Mod
The Tourist is rated just 2.63 on Goodreads. This doesn't clear the 3.7 minimum for me to automatically be okay with reading it. I'll need more than a single recommendation.
I just finished The Stars Are Legion by Kameron Hurley.Luke, I think it's something you'd probably like. It's big idea fiction that takes you on a detailed tour of the fascinating world-building because one of the main characters is amnesiac. I did it in print, so I can't vouch for the audio though.
I think it's a much more successful version of Updraft. Biotech-inspired world of unexplained origins with humans creating societies around survival there, only without the YA stuff and with believable world-building.
Ben Bova -- Moonrise (1996)Get the audiobook narrated by Dick Hill if you can.
I gave it 3 stars (high for me).
But I also wrote a long GR review here:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
After listening to the ep. #331 and listening you explaining what you liked about Ananzi Boys, I wondered if you would like Iron Druid series by Kevin Hearne.
Looking back on my year so far, most of the books I gave 5 stars to have been fantasy, YA or you've already done them. However, I do have a couple for you.Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. This takes an old and common SF trope and structures a modern thriller novel around it. The science fiction is ok, right up until about the last third when it takes the trope and just runs with it in a brilliant way.
Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty. Locked room murder mystery with six clones on board a long-term starship wake to find their originals murdered. There's no-one else awake on the ship and the clones only have memories of their lives up to the start of the voyage and the ship has been going for years.
Here's one I didn't love, but I think you might like. Ideally I like great ideas in my SF, great world-building, interesting plot and great characters, but of those categories I'll forgive much for good world-building and characters. From listening to your podcast for a while now I get the feeling you'll forgive a lot as long as the book explores some great ideas. On that basis, I recommend Too Like the Lightning. It's set 300 years in the future and the author's stated intent is to try and make her Earth as strange to someone living now as our Earth would be to someone from 300 years ago. Fair warning though, it's not a complete story in the one book, there's at least one more in the series.
Lindsay wrote: "I'm also a big fan of Adrian Tchaikovsky's Children of Time. Far future, terraforming, bioforming, nanotech and generation/cold storage ships with uplifted spiders and ants. Just giving another boost for this book as well. I can't call it underappreciated any more as it won the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Best Novel last year.
It's now available on audio too if that was what was stopping you before.
How about a review of what some suggest is the first Culture novel, Iain Banks' The Bridge (published a year before Consider Phlebas)? It's a very good book; he considered it his best. But, despite drones, knife missiles, and bonkers world-spanning architecture, Banks himself said calling The Bridge a Culture book was tenuous---which is not actually a denial. Me, I think it is delicious surreal insanity, not science fiction, but in Banks the two have much in common.PS apologies if it's already mentioned in this thread, but, if so, I didn't find it.
I am sure Luke that you have done Binti and Binti home right? I would love your thoughts On Brian Evenson's The Warren.Just finished the Stars are Legion and listened to your review the moment I finished the book. I think I liked more than you although I alsmot quit as well.
Mod
I don't normally read and review novellas on the podcast. I might try Binti though because I enjoyed Nnedi Okorafor's other books.
There's a central deus ex machina in the first book that I think will drive you nuts Luke. It's addressed in book two though.
Luke wrote: "David wrote: "I am sure Luke that you have done Binti and Binti home right? I would love your thoughts On Brian Evenson's The Warren."I don't normally read and review novellas on the podcast. I m..."
Immobility by Brian Evenson is a full novel and amazing. I know you are an audio book user. I would send you a paperback of my space opera coming out aug.1st but I don't know how long it will be before an audio book happens.
I do not remember if I've recommended this book yet, but as I finally got to watch the movie version of "The Girl With All The Gifts", I was reminded how good the book was. I wouldn't really recommend the movie though. It was okay, but I do not think this book adapts well to the movie format. Just read the book.
Has anyone else here read something by A Lee Martinez?Emperor Mollusk versus The Sinister Brain is now avilable on the audible 2 for 1 sale.
It is one of his better books. I promise a consistent overdone British accent throughout the breadth and width of the audiobook.
I think of it as a, what if the Alien from Monsters vs. Aliens had won.
Roland wrote: "I do not remember if I've recommended this book yet, but as I finally got to watch the movie version of "The Girl With All The Gifts", I was reminded how good the book was. I wouldn't really reco..."
The Girl with all the gifts was fantastic! Seconded
I'm also a fan of A. Lee Martinez. I liked Emperor Mollusk, but I think his latest The Last Adventure of Constance Verity was even better. But humor is not universal.
Just finished The Unholy Consult...very good but left a bit stunned by the end....would be very interested to hear the SFBRP review and what Luke reckons....
If Luke ever wants to try out some Japanese SF novels, Humble Bundle has a great deal right now. I don't know that Luke would like them all (I'm pretty sure he'd give up on the Ouroboros Wave), but most of them would make for good reviews.
I've bothered you about this before Luke, and I know you hated The Great Ordeal, but in for a penny in for a pound eh?As a 2nd to Andrew, really would be interested to hear you rant or rave on The Unholy Consult :D (or go 'meh' I guess)
Some SF books that I've read recently and thought you might like:Autonomous by Annalee Newitz. Brilliant 22nd century SF with biotech, sentient robots, climate change, capitalism-gone-berserk and a really entertaining plot with a submarine-owning patent pirate being pursued by human/robot partner agents of the International Propery Coalition. Incredible density of ideas and some great world building. (Audiobook available)
New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson. Coincidentally set at almost the same time as Autonomous but nowhere near as good. It's still KSR though, and once you get past the marxist politics and preachy plot, his futurist slice of life stuff is usually very good. (Audiobook available)
All Systems Red by Martha Wells. First novella in the Murderbot Diaries series. The PoV character is murderbot, a security robot protecting a group of human scientists as they prospect a planet. Brilliant story with an absolutely charming main character.
How about a special podcast on sci-fi books you*ve read about environmental apocalypse. I'm trying to find something along the lines of Kim Stanley Robinson Red Mars trilogy. So an epic that spans many generations. I haven't found a fiction book with that perspective. I started reading New York 2140. Which was boring and preachy. I just want to see what happens after a global environmental meltdown
Check out Accelerando by Charles Stross:I read this and originally didn’t like it that much. However since I’ve found the story and the ideas keep returning to me.
Check out The Gap Into Conflict: The Real Story by Stephen R. Donaldson:
This is a series, three I think, very strange - the two first are scary and bizarre. Liked them all.
Mod
Check out The Gap Into Conflict: The Real Story by Stephen R. Donaldson"
Hi Søren, thanks for the recommendations. I have, however, read these before. Check out episodes #048, #062, and #123.
You can see all the episodes and search for previous books I reviewed here: http://www.sfbrp.com/episode-lists-3
Hi Luke, love your podcast! I'm wondering if you (and possibly Juliane) could review the book The Linking by Justin J. Little: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...I recently received the book as a promo, but I'm not a huge sci-fi fan and my reading queue is already pretty crazy.
Look forward to hearing more SFBR podcasts.
Would be interesting to know what you think of Andy Weir's new book - Artemis.I'm about a third of the way through and its obviously not a patch on The Martian (but then, what is?).
Just listened your review of Emperor Mollusk. Never read it myself, but the description reminded me of Kevin Hearne’s Iron Druid series.Also very lighthearted and fun read but completely different genre.
Where Emperor Mollusk is science fiction with a touch of superheroes/super villains, Iron Druid is treading more in the same waters as American Gods.
Well, comparison with American Gods is really very superficial. The gods are surely all alive and well, but the topic is not really centered around gods or even America per se (although lot of the action happens in US).
It is also very very light hearted. Lots of comedy and lots of light hearted banter. Great characters and Luke Daniels is a very good narrator, bringing all of them to life in a way that all the characters are immediately recognizable. I am no native English speaker so I am probably not the best judge of accents, but at least for me, he pulled off amazing array of accents.
Just give the first book [Hounded](https://medium.com/p/bdcddb6e24e2) in the series a try and see if you like it or not!
This might be a no-brainer but book three by Ada Palmer is out now.
Some suggestions:Since Luke reviewed Caves of Steel, it may be cool to review the other two books in that "robot trilogy".
Also, I recommend Ben Bova's Moonrise (1997) as an audiobook (read by Dick Hill).
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2 books that I kind of stumbled onto by first time authors that are awesome and fun Audiobooks. I posted these on Reddit and have had 20+ people comment or message me that they loved them.
"The book of Ralph" https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
An absolutely hilarious first contact story. Funniest Audiobook ever.
"We are Legion, We are Bob" (Bobiverse Book 1)
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Unique in being a hard SF/comedy hybrid about a modern human becoming the AI core for a self replicating Von Neumann probe.
This book is not for everyone but my standout book of 2016 is "Too like the lightning". A shoe-in for at least a Hugo nom next year. TLTL is a richly detailed future history based on the Enlightenment era. Love it or hate it this would be a great episode.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The other obvious Hugo nom based on buzz is "Ninefox Gambit" which I did not like at all but plenty of smart people do.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
My other votes would go to political thriller of the future "Infomocracy" https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
and the literary cyberpunk fix-up "Central Station"
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The most popular/mainstream SF book of the year would seem to be "Dark Matter"
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This was an undeniably exciting book, excellent in audio form but has some MAJOR plot holes and issues so either way would this would make for an entertaining episode.
Cheers