Register Guidelines E-Books Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

Go Back   MobileRead Forums > E-Book General > Reading Recommendations

Notices

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 08-28-2012, 10:02 AM   #16
bill_mchale
Wizard
bill_mchale ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.bill_mchale ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.bill_mchale ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.bill_mchale ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.bill_mchale ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.bill_mchale ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.bill_mchale ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.bill_mchale ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.bill_mchale ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.bill_mchale ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.bill_mchale ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Posts: 1,451
Karma: 1550000
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Maryland, USA
Device: Nook Simple Touch, HPC Evo 4G LTE
Quote:
Originally Posted by ametzler View Post
The former part of the series is written in the spirit of alternate history. One thing is changed (in this case a pretty major one, suddenly changing some physical laws, basically disabling enhanced technology.), and the point of the book is to take this premise and look what might happen. No further unexplained "magic" happens and changes the outcome.
The problem is that the same physical laws that are responsible for electricity, internal combustion engines, explosives and steam power are also responsible for us being able to live.

Like I said, I haven't read the novels yet, so I don't know how many characters in the books are aware of that basic fact. But implicitly, allowing such a state to exist suggests that those specific technologies are being suppressed... either scientifically or mystically.

Quote:
The second series is completely different in spirit, not science fiction, but fantasy. A super-bad villain with magic powers is introduced, and OTOH you get a messias-like character on the quest for a saving magic sword.

For me the second series failed at the basic level, it is just not very entertaining. Aiming for epic grandness but reaching only very much drawn out repetitions of frugal meals and wandering around. (I personally pulled the plug at The High King of Montival.)
I am not sure I would really agree with the first trilogy being science fiction.. but I will buy that the tone of the novels changed dramatically between the first and the second series.

--
Bill
bill_mchale is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-29-2012, 08:25 AM   #17
GlenBarrington
Cheese Whiz
GlenBarrington ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.GlenBarrington ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.GlenBarrington ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.GlenBarrington ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.GlenBarrington ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.GlenBarrington ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.GlenBarrington ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.GlenBarrington ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.GlenBarrington ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.GlenBarrington ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.GlenBarrington ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
GlenBarrington's Avatar
 
Posts: 1,986
Karma: 11677147
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Springfield, Illinois
Device: Kindle PW, Samsung Tab A 10.1(2019), Pixel 6a.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bill_mchale View Post
The problem is that the same physical laws that are responsible for electricity, internal combustion engines, explosives and steam power are also responsible for us being able to live.

Like I said, I haven't read the novels yet, so I don't know how many characters in the books are aware of that basic fact. But implicitly, allowing such a state to exist suggests that those specific technologies are being suppressed... either scientifically or mystically.
Bill
Well, a 'pseudo science' explanation is given in the first book as a theory that sort of accounts for this discrepancy. How well it holds up scientifically, I couldn't say. There is a long tradition in speculative fiction that certain situations CAN be triggered by some being or beings with enough power to appear God like to humans and to have the characters speculate on the nature of the being(s) that created the situation.(River World, for example).

I think what is jarring, in this case, is the abrupt change in tone and direction of the nature of this speculation. It sometimes seems as if 2 separate stories were somehow grafted together. And while the grafting is skillfully done, I find it weird to find a pear hanging from an apple tree!

Quote:
Originally Posted by bill_mchale View Post
I am not sure I would really agree with the first trilogy being science fiction.. but I will buy that the tone of the novels changed dramatically between the first and the second series.
Bill
This sort of novel can never really be called 'hard' science fiction, but it did start out more 'sciencefictiony' than many stories of this sort.

BTW, criticism of the 2 story lines as reflected by the starting novels "Island in the Sea of Time" and "Dies the Fire" should not be construed as a reason not to read them. All 3 novels in the "Island in the Sea of Time" are fun and entertaining. And the first 3 novels in the DTF series (ending with A Meeting in Corvalis) are well worth the read (also fun, but a tad more 'serious' than the Island books).

Like all book series that hang around too long, the remaining books start to get less and less entertaining, and everyone will find a different stopping point appropriate.
GlenBarrington is offline   Reply With Quote
Advert
Old 08-29-2012, 09:20 AM   #18
Apache
Readaholic
Apache ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Apache ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Apache ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Apache ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Apache ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Apache ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Apache ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Apache ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Apache ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Apache ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Apache ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Apache's Avatar
 
Posts: 5,130
Karma: 89858112
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: South Georgia
Device: Surface Pro 6 / Galaxy Tab A 8"
Quote:
Originally Posted by GlenBarrington View Post
And while the grafting is skillfully done, I find it weird to find a pear hanging from an apple tree!
Papple anyone?
Quote:
Pear-Apple Hybrids



M. B. CRANE & E. MARKS


John Innes Horticultural Institution, Bayfordbury, Hertford. Oct. 24.


AT the John Innes Horticultural Institution we have recently raised hybrids between pears and apples; they were obtained in the following way. The occurrence of apomixis in the Pomoideæ1, and the high frequency of diploid seedlings, 23 out of 39, in a family of pears we raised from crossing the diploid variety Fertility with the triploid variety Beurre Diel, suggested that they may have been apomictically, or in part apomictically, reproduced. To test this possibility one of us (E. M.) isolated a tree of Fertility, emasculated sixteen flowers and brushed the ovaries over with a 40 p.p.m. solution of β-naphthoxy-acetic acid. Four flowers were pollinated with the pollen of an unnamed tetraploid variety of apple and twelve with the pollen of the diploid apple Crawley Beauty. Twenty-four hours later the ovaries were again treated with β-naphthoxy-acetic acid. Three fruits developed from pollination with the tetraploid apple and twelve from pollination with the diploid. Seed content and germination are shown in the following table.
Apache is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Ray Bradbury dies at 91 din155 News 1 06-06-2012 03:58 PM
Free (Kindle/Sony/Nook) Summer of Fire (Yellowstone series) arcadata Deals and Resources (No Self-Promotion or Affiliate Links) 3 09-09-2011 08:10 PM
Alan Sillitoe dies at 82 Sonist News 2 04-26-2010 09:17 PM
J.D. Salinger dies aged 91 seagull News 16 01-29-2010 10:16 AM
S. M. Stirling's Dies the Fire trilogy Billjr13 Reading Recommendations 4 11-01-2009 12:26 AM


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 08:26 AM.


MobileRead.com is a privately owned, operated and funded community.