Looking for sci-fi books of a certain flavour

[Quoth]

I've Brin's Sundiver. I don't remember anything bad about it Maybe I need to refresh. I think I liked it.

[ownedbycats]

I've read one of Brin's books, Existence I think. I remember liking it for the most part except there were something like five million POV characters and big timeskips and a lot of unexplained terminology which made kind of hard to follow. I'll look into Sundiver though.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

They're good! Except Deception. It was written by a different author who didn't really understand the franchise and as such there's a lot of lore mistakes.

Also, this. Cue the 'cereal killer' jokes.

Attachment 192266

Yeah, the page I linked to has all four listed, but I only bought the first three.

William C. Dietz is supposed to be a good writer. I have a couple of his books. But in this case, I was only interested in the three written by the creator.

Incidentally, there is another Mass Effect series: Mass Effect: Andromeda. I know nothing about them.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Yeah, the page I linked to has all four listed, but I only bought the first three.

William C. Dietz is supposed to be a good writer. I have a couple of his books. But in this case, I was only interested in the three written by the creator.

Incidentally, there is another Mass Effect series: Mass Effect: Andromeda. I know nothing about them.

Annihilation is good. I've not read the others yet but they're on my TBR list.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

I've read one of Brin's books, Existence I think. I remember liking it for the most part except there were something like five million POV characters and big timeskips and a lot of unexplained terminology which made kind of hard to follow. I'll look into Sundiver though.

If I had to pick a favorite David Brin novel it would be The Practice Effect.

The story involves a world in which entropy works in reverse.

Apache

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Apache

If I had to pick a favorite David Brin novel it would be The Practice Effect.

I really enjoyed Kiln People (though $11.99 is a bit high). In fact, I've been considering a reread.

It's often (but not always) tagged as Book 1, but so far as I know it is a stand alone. There is no sequel that I've ever heard of. I think someone made a mistake and other book sites copied it.

[Dr. Drib]

This looks very tasty and flavorful. [OUCH!]

OK, I know. I know.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

I've read one of Brin's books, Existence I think. I remember liking it for the most part except there were something like five million POV characters and big timeskips and a lot of unexplained terminology which made kind of hard to follow. I'll look into Sundiver though.

Sundiver was OK. But Startide is really not good.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

This looks very tasty and flavorful. [OUCH!]

OK, I know. I know.

That chef could really use a Showtime Rotisserie. Set it and forget it!

[kacir]

Have a look at Heechee series by Frederik Pohl

[curtw]

Originally Posted by kacir

Have a look at Heechee series by Frederik Pohl

I agree they're entertaining, but you don't actually ever get to see the aliens, do you? (I admit my memory is several decades old).

I've never played Mass effect, but in the whole "befriending cool aliens" thing, a modern, popular writer has just come out with a new one. Unfortunately, just sharing the author or title would be a spoiler. So...

Spoiler:

Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir.

[curtw]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Sundiver was OK. But Startide is really not good.

I could not disagree more strongly. There are valid reasons that Startide Rising won both the Hugo and Nebula, and among those are strong, believable characterizations of truly weird aliens.

[curtw]

Originally Posted by Quoth

I've Brin's Sundiver. I don't remember anything bad about it Maybe I need to refresh. I think I liked it.

I think in Sundiver, he was attempting to write a "Space Detective" novel. Unfortunately, just like in Asimov's R. Daniel Olivaw novels, the perpetrator is somewhat obvious. And the motive is the same theme that underlies the rest of Brin's whole "Uplift Universe," that some highly Orthodox alien Clans are not willing to tolerate uppity humans.

[Quoth]

I can't imagine any Aliens being impressed by us lot. We don't have a good track record even this century.

SM on the Internet as they decelerate in our Solar system would give a bad impression, though I'm not sure how easy that would be considering there is no free access internet anywhere apart from the wireless signal issues.

[kacir]

Originally Posted by curtw

I agree they're entertaining, but you don't actually ever get to see the aliens, do you? (I admit my memory is several decades old).

No, you do not - in the decades old first three books. There was another book with short stories and in 2004 the sixth. I am not sure whether I have read that one, but reading the summary on the fantasticfiction site I think you get to meet them. I will have to have a look at the book and if I haven't read that one I will have to remedy that.