Looking for sci-fi/fantasy recommendations

[taosaur]

Originally Posted by ApK

I remember very much enjoying the first 80% of Cryptonomicon, and being totally lost through the last 20%. I'm still not sure exactly how it ended or how (if?) the story threads came together.

Spoiler:

I remember there was gold. And Nazis. Something like that.

ApK

I'll have to do a Crypto re-read sometime now that I have The Baroque Cycle under my belt. I believe it's the same gold in play in both stories, and I know they have a character in common.

[pipb]

I remember enjoying Gérard Klein's "The Overlords of War" sometime more than 17 years ago (highschool times). Must be red once again.

[ReadingManiac]

Originally Posted by OverHaze

Maybe not great to ask this in a forum dedicated to ebook reading but are there any books in the Sci-Fi or fantasy space that do interesting things with publishing like S or House of Leaves? I kind of need gift ideas!

I'd recommend The Goblin Trilogy from this publisher. They have a few things marked down for Christmas. No weird stuff like House of Leaves but a good price on a great complete Epic Fantasy series.

http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/Denise23

[cryptocoryne]

Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space and Poseidon's Children books are a lot of fun. They're hard, but not inhumanly hard, speculative science fiction. There are the usual deep thoughts (What is sentience?) and big questions (relating to the Fermi Paradox and future human evolution) but also loads of grotesquerie (Chasm City) and absurd satire (Absolution Gap).

Unlike Asimov, Reynolds describes things in detail, often playfully using clinical vocabulary to describe machines and planets. There is also some positronic space opera ("See androids fighting..."), but, when science must give way to story, "[Reynolds] tries not to be stupid about it." (I think that's what he said in a BBC interview. )

Unlike with Clarke's bland administrators, Baxter's corporados, and Stapledon's wispy demigods, one cares what happens to Reynold's mostly human-ish characters.

[OverHaze]

Any new suggestions on fantasy front. I'm finding myself stalled for new reads again. Are any of the Warhammer Fantasy novels worth reading?

[HLS]

Originally Posted by taosaur

I'll have to do a Crypto re-read sometime now that I have The Baroque Cycle under my belt. I believe it's the same gold in play in both stories, and I know they have a character in common.

I love his books. Rise and Fall of DODO was good. Seveneves was amazing.

[Dngrsone]

Originally Posted by OverHaze

Any new suggestions on fantasy front. I'm finding myself stalled for new reads again. Are any of the Warhammer Fantasy novels worth reading?

If you don't mind "Urban Fiction" (Vampires, werewolves, etc), then Melissa F. Olson is a good place to start. [edit: coincidentally, there are a few of her ebooks on sale at Amazon UK and Amazon US]

You could also try the Seventh Sword series by Dave Duncan

Of course, if you haven read Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn series, then that is definitely the way to go.

[mewmartigan]

Originally Posted by OverHaze

Any new suggestions on fantasy front. I'm finding myself stalled for new reads again. Are any of the Warhammer Fantasy novels worth reading?

I recently read Peter V. Brett's Demon Cycle. It was good fantasy I thought.

It starts with The Warded Man and the final book (number 5) came out recently.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by OverHaze

Any new suggestions on fantasy front. I'm finding myself stalled for new reads again. Are any of the Warhammer Fantasy novels worth reading?

IMHO, not worth reading.

[sealbeater]

Any of the Culture series from Iain M Banks.

[taosaur]

My fantasy time has been dominated by a first listen of the Wheel of Time series. I'm on the final volume now, on track to finish almost exactly a year from starting book one, with just a couple interludes of other audio (well, a full re-listen/read of the Stormlight Archives so far, finishing with the latest).

Stormlight is outstanding, if you're willing to jump into a series that's likely a decade or two from completion. Greg Bear's lone fantasy work from the '80s, Songs of Earth and Power (first published in two volumes, The Infinity Concerto and The Serpent Mage), is worth a read if you've overlooked it.

In sci-fi, I've dug some good stuff out of Kindle Unlimited on my two trial/sale runs this past year:

Tales from the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper, Nathan Lowell
The Bobiverse Trilogy, Dennis E. Taylor

Currently I'm reading Douglas Phillips' Quantum Void, right on the heels of Quantum Space. The prose and characterization are nothing special, but the hard sci-fi foundation and space-operatic expansion of the premises are satisfying.

I don't go through enough books to make KU worthwhile at the normal pricing, but there is some good stuff in there.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by taosaur

My fantasy time has been dominated by a first listen of the Wheel of Time series. I'm on the final volume now, on track to finish almost exactly a year from starting book one, with just a couple interludes of other audio (well, a full re-listen/read of the Stormlight Archives so far, finishing with the latest).

Stormlight is outstanding, if you're willing to jump into a series that's likely a decade or two from completion. Greg Bear's lone fantasy work from the '80s, Songs of Earth and Power (first published in two volumes, The Infinity Concerto and The Serpent Mage), is worth a read if you've overlooked it.

In sci-fi, I've dug some good stuff out of Kindle Unlimited on my two trial/sale runs this past year:

Tales from the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper, Nathan Lowell
The Bobiverse Trilogy, Dennis E. Taylor

Currently I'm reading Douglas Phillips' Quantum Void, right on the heels of Quantum Space. The prose and characterization are nothing special, but the hard sci-fi foundation and space-operatic expansion of the premises are satisfying.

I don't go through enough books to make KU worthwhile at the normal pricing, but there is some good stuff in there.

As I whole, I liked the Takes from the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper by Nathan Lowell. I did think that last book went off in a different direction and didn't really care that much for it, but really enjoyed the rest of them.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by sealbeater

Any of the Culture series from Iain M Banks.

The first book is awful. I never did read the second book or any more.

[sealbeater]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The first book is awful. I never did read the second book or any more.

That's too bad, I think you're missing out.

Personally, I find it refreshing to have a series that paints AI in a positive light.

* Currently reading Excession for the 3rd time *

[sealbeater]

I guess I'll take this to recommend the Warhammer 40k series, The Horus Heresy.

It'll suck you in.