What Are You Reading?

[ragnarok]

Really? For a minute there it looked like you were referencing My Little Pony's magical, crystal tree that was also in a cave. Now that's funny. I would laugh so hard if Starcraft ended the same way a show of colorful pony critters did.

I'd see thousands of villagers with pitchforks at Blizzard HQ the next day if that was the ending.

[TheEconomist]

Anyone read any books lately? I've read quite a few that I can talk about but I'm not sure there's anyone even here to hear it and discuss If you have, please share.

[Hawki]

Last book I read was Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers. I give it a stamp of "okay." There's a distinct moment where it stops being its own things and starts rapidly adapting the first season of Red Dwarf, where the plot moves faster than it should (as in, events are skimmed over, characterization becomes light, etc.) Still, enjoyable read. Humour's still great.

Other books I read this year were The Name of the Wind (another stamp of "okay," but I have no desire to pick up the second book), Caliban's War (another stamp of "okay," and with the same amount of dis-inclination to keep reading The Expanse), Mockingjay (stamp of "good," though drags towards the end) and The Sworn Sword, which gets a stamp of "good," and made a refreshing breather. A story by G.R. Martin that has a happy ending. Who'd have thunk it?

Various other tie-in fiction as well, but seeing how this thread apparently devolved when that became the subject of discussion, I'm wary of going there.

[TheEconomist]

Caliban's War was by far my least favorite of the series. The series as a whole seems to have lost me since its continued to focus primarily on human issues with only tidbits here and there of alienness, which was why I started reading the series to begin with. I said before that I would give it one more shot with book four and if it hadn't made headway in the overarching alien plot, I would lose major interest in it. The parts of the story that I'm most interesting drag on like the seasons of Lost and I'm getting pretty bored with it. I'll still read the series. They're still good books. I just won't be waiting for each new installment. That being said, book three and four are much better than one and two. I, too, almost stopped reading at book two. I can barely even remember what happens in that book.

I read the first two books of the Mass Effect series. Was not disappointed. Was not impressed. But was entertained, and that's all I can ask for.

IRL, I've started my graduate level classes. Finally, I'm in classes of economics that are beginning to get to the level that I've been at for years while reading on my own. But, with that comes a usual mental tiredness that prevents me from reading back to back large books like I used to. To remedy the problem, I've been reading a lot of short story anthologies. I've read some "Eldritch Tales" and "Dream of Terror and Death: Dreamcycle" by H.P. Lovecraft. Weird shit. Enjoying it, but not sure I am as amazed by it as the likes of Squibb. I plan on reading them both though which is a testament to my interest. I've also been continuing my Conan readings which are fun as usual. I also got the "Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard," author of Conan, friend of Lovecraft, with similiar themes and it even ties-in technically. It's much more fantasy-esque style horror though. Just got it last week on a Halloween sale, not far into it I've also been continuing my "New Space Opera" anthology reading. As I said before, some of these short stories have more of an epic scope, and more thought provoking questions than entire trilogies. I recommend the book, if you read the best ones. I was also considering picking up "Warriors" or "Rogues" which are anthologies edited together by G.R.R.M. himself and are getting quite a bit of buzz in the industry. A lot of the stories seem interesting and I know I'll get to it one day, I just hate to get any more short story anthologies since it's already hard for me to finish the ones I already have.

As for actual novels, I'm not sure where I left off before in book discussion, but I'll mention some of the more recent books.

"Coyote" by Allen Steele - A book about colonization of an alien world. I'm sure you can imagine the premise and the plot just from that. It's not terribly unique, but I enjoyed it.

"The Skinner" by Neal Asher - I really enjoyed that book. It can be likened to the equivalent of a biological "cyberpunk" with all of the superhuman abilities and questions into what it means to me a man. Lots of action, lots of interesting concepts. I plan on reading the sequel fairly soon.

"Sandman Slim" - Someone once described this as being Spawn meets Max Payne. That about sums it up. Popcorn novel and I thought it was alright. Only for when I'm in a certain mood.

"The Fall of Hyperion" - I think I mentioned this before so I'll keep it brief. This is one of the most psychological, philosophical, and epic books I've ever read. It's not really a book I read for pure enjoyment since it can feel like it drags on a bit, but that's only because the size of it and the complex concepts and narrative. I feel like, if high school literature is to be saved, this book should be taught in the future.

"When True Night Falls" - The sequel to the book that fills the void that Diablo 3 left in my soul. Has all of the demon killing, high-fantasy magic action I need and it's also got a fairly in-depth world and concepts to think about about in regards to the human psyche. One of my favorite series at the moment, even if mostly because I needed something to take the place of Diablo 3.

"Dragons of Autumn Twilight" - First book in the Dragonlance mythos, an old high school favorite series of mine. Reading it is like pulling out an old, dusty SNES and reliving fond memories. I'm not so bind as to think a lot of my enjoyment isn't nostalgia, but I think its a decent series regardless. If you like WarCraft, Forgotten Realms, or anything like that, you'd probably like these, even if they're a bit more saturday morning cartoon than these others. I also read "Dragons of the Dwarven Depths" which is the first of a trilogy placed in between the books of the original trilogy, written about 25 years after the original trilogy and after I had already read the original trilogy. So, reading this is like reading a prequel to Brood Wars after the release of all of the expansions of StarCraft THREE. I enjoyed it, even though the book was ultimately pointless.

"The Crystal Shard, Book One of the Icewind Dale Trilogy" by R.A. Salvatore - Same as the above except I didn't read this book in high school. Already well acquainted with the universe through games though so I can already feel a bit nostalgic about it. I even played the Icewind Dale games by BioWare back in the day. Still enjoyed the book and I plan on reading some more of them.

"The Verdant Passage" - First book in the Dark Sun universe, which is the apocalyptic counterpart in the D&D line to the Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance. I enjoyed this book even without any nostalgia. I enjoyed it more than The Crystal Shard but that's mostly because I enjoy darker, apocalyptic stories more than I do typical fantasy stuff. I recommend it to anyone who has a interest in WarCraft, Forgotten Realms, etc. and wants something that's a bit darker and more oppressive yet doesn't just want demonic dystopias or whatnot.

"Deadhouse Gates" - Second book in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series, also known as the mindrapingly epic Textbook of Malazan World History. This series is large, and hard to grasp. In fact, like complex math, the more you think you understand, the less you actually do. As I said before, there are posters on the fan sites with thousands of posts that have read the entire series (15+, eight-hundred+ page books) twice and still feel like there's a lot they don't understand. Shit is complex. Makes G.R.R.M. look simplistic and small in comparison. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing, but I'm going at a snail's pace through the series.

I'm thinking about continuing the Dune series with book two soon as well. I liked the original, even if I was disappointed that it was basically a fantasy novel masquerading as a Science Fiction novel (which is what I wanted at the time) similar to Star Wars.

[Hawki]

Per the above post:

-Dune: Only read book 1 of book 1 (as in, how the first Dune book is separated into numerous "books" within it, similar to LotR), but loved it myself, gets a stamp of "excellent." I still consider Dune to be sci-fi rather than fantasy though. That said, I think one has to remember that science fantasy is still a genre in of itself, Star Wars being an example IMO. I consider Dune as sci-fi as there was nothing that was really attributable to magical or supernatural effects, that Dune is basically an exercise in worldbuilding. Testament to its strength IMO in that I like it as much as I do (usually more interested in characters rather than the worlds they inhabit).

-Mass Effect: Of the novels, stay clear of Deception. It. Is. Horrible. Horrible on a canon level, horrible on a character level, horrible on a writing level. I'm talking worse than Shadow of the Xel'naga here.

-Expanse: Eh, the alienness/lack of it doesn't really bother me for The Expanse. What put me off the second book is that it felt like a rehash of the first (weird stuff happens, Earth and Mars pointing guns at each other, day is saved again). The first I consider superior because it had more of a mystery to the proto-molecule and the benefit of Miller and Holden balancing out each other's characters. To be fair, the second book did have that doctor character (one who lost his daughter, lived on Ganymede, forget his name), but at the end of the day, it felt like "book 1 lite." I guess there's also the concept. I'm not saying that hard sci-fi confined to the Sol system can't work (watching and enjoying Cowboy Bebop right now for instance, but it feels like the series has gone as far as it can for worldbuilding, and I just can't get interested in the characters enough to want to continue.

[TheEconomist]

I consider Dune as sci-fi as there was nothing that was really attributable to magical or supernatural effects

Oh, haha. I can tell you've only read the first part. In the beginning, there's all kinds of sci-fi stuff and no magic or anything. Then the characters get stuck in the desert, there's an "awakening" and it turns pretty fantasy. I'm not sure I can go any further without spoilers, though. I still wouldn't call it a fantasy over sci-fi though, just that, at the time, I was in the mood for sci-fi after reading a lot of fantasy and felt like I was reading more of what I had already read a lot of. I won't have that problem for book two.

Of the novels, stay clear of Deception.

I remember the controversy. The book's not even an option for me since there's no audiobook version and once you audiobook, you don't go back. Although, if really is worse than Shadows of the Xel'Naga (by far the worst book I've come in contact with) then I'm almost tempted to bootleg it and read some of it for the lulz. I also bought the audiobook version of the first Halo book which I plan to read the next time my brain craps out on complex sci-fi.

What put me off the second book is that it felt like a rehash of the first (weird stuff happens, Earth and Mars pointing guns at each other, day is saved again).

Okay, then you should forget book two and move on to at least book three and four, when you're ready. Book three, in particular, is not just different from the other Expanse novels but quite unique in its own right. Like I said before, book two felt like an awkward "okay, let me double (and then triple) the number of volumes in my series for the sake of the television show, but until I've got an expanded story arch I'm going to write a non-sequei for Leviathan Wakes."

Although, like I told Gradius, if you are interested, I recommend just going to the Revelation Space series. It would probably suit you much, much better.



Also, I forgot to mention Heroes Die which is one of the best books I've read recently. It's a bit like Assassin's Creed in that the main character gets into a machine to take part in a different world. The difference is that the other world is an actual planet light-years away. This world is fucked with extraordinarily by "studios" that want to cash-in on the carnage that its "actors" cause, which are people from a high-tech, human society manipulating politics and such for the benefit of the show. I'm simplifying it, but it really is a great book.

[Nissa]

Econ, I second your nomination of Shadow of the Xel'Naga as worst book ever. It's painfully bad.

Uh, well I'm in the middle of Yalta: The Price of Peace. It's pretty good, and references records and journals very well. Though the more I read about FDR, the more unlikable he becomes. He apparently at one point was willing to allow Germans to be deported to Russia for their labor camps, and only Stalin's reluctance to look like scum saved them. Though Stalin's army did kidnap some Germans on the way to Berlin.

And I finally got around to Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. It's not great on a literary level, but philosophically speaking is a great starting point for a suffering vs. pleasure discussion. Though I hate the ending. It's somewhat out of place. It did help that I read a book about Saint Francis of Assisi afterwards, since Francis' life was all about choosing poverty over pleasure.

[Hawki]

Personally, "worst book ever" would be Knee Deep in the Dead. SotXN at least has the benefit of "so bad it's good" because you can see why it's written the way it is (transplanting game mechanics into narrative) and I'd argue the story itself is fine, just told terribly. KDitD however, is even worse, because not only are FPS mechanics terrible for telling a story in of themselves, but at least playing Doom has a level of fun. Its novelization can't even pull that off.

And as for Brave New World, that's my favorite book of all time, so, um, yeah.

[Nissa]

I prefer 1984, but if you like Brave New World better, okay. I had some minor complaints about it. Like, I don't feel there was enough debate among the characters for their respective viewpoints. It would have been better if John were more capable of debating his side of the matter, instead of being just a confused kid. Or another character could come in and debate. But that's just my opinion. Huxley may have been trying to get people to think rather than state his own arguments against an all-pleasure society.

[Hawki]

I like 1984 a lot too. The writing's very good, the characters have layers to them, and the world is very well constructed. However, I consider BNW to be superior because of the following difference:

In 1984, Winston is a distinct protagonist. The Party is, for all intents and purposes, "evil." It's a very well constructed "evil," and it's excellent how the atmosphere of the work is constructed (e.g. the boot-human face comment), but "evil" all the same. There's no doubt that the Party is a force that the reader can't sympathize with, that the Party's in this for power, that they'll continue wanting power, etc. In BNW however, I can't say the same of the World State. There's not much of the World State I can say "that is wrong." It strikes me as wrong, but as Mond points out, people's notions of right and wrong stem from what they've been taught to believe as right and wrong. John is our viewpoint character, but while Huxley's sympathies are with John, Mond isn't a bad person. The system isn't bad in of itself. To us, it's horrifying, but it works, and by all indications the people of the World State have it pretty good. Even Epsilons, as they're filling the station they're suited for. I find the BNW worldbuilding more interesting because everything that's "wrong" with the world state is more or less attributable to perception, rather than the more black and white nature of 1984.

There's a quote I remember that summarizes the two books - "Orwell depicted a world in where we were destroyed by what we hate. Huxley depicted a world where we were destroyed by what we love. Orwell depicted a world where no-one could read a book. Huxley depicted a world where no-one would want to read a book." So, while I consider 1984 to be an excellent work (and again, love 1984 as well), I consider BNW to have an edge over it at the end of the day.