GRRM:s favourite Sci Fi - The Praxis by Walter John Williams

#1 Guest_bluesman_*

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Posted 28 September 2005 - 12:28 PM

Just bought Conventions of War by Walter John Williams.

It's the conculsion to the Praxis series, epic space opera complete with intrigue, galactic wide conflict and a rich character gallery.

What more could one need?

I can personally recommend this series to anyone looking for a good Space Opera reading. It's might not be up there with Reynolds or Hamilton but actually quite close. Williams is a talented author and knows how to write suspense. It's worth reading while waiting for Judas Unleashed or Reynolds new book.

Plus. George RR Martin recommends it

. If only he could write Sci Fi next, that would be awesome.

BM

#2 Roland

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Posted 28 September 2005 - 01:00 PM

Er... GRRM has Sci-Fi... Windhaven for example.

#3 Guest_bluesman_*

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Posted 28 September 2005 - 01:05 PM

But it's not full space opera.

I mean something epic in the same scale as ASOIIF.
In that case Beauty and the Beast is sort of sci fi too

.

Btw Roland. I think you'll like this series. It doesn't go overboard with sex and violence

.

bm

#4 Roland

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Posted 28 September 2005 - 01:12 PM

You've got wrong ideas about me

I've got nothing against sex and violence, really. I don't need them and find them stupid but don't mind them

Anyhow, I don't really think a space opera could have the magnitude of fantasy epics... Dunno why actually, just a feeling. The only one I know of is Kevin Anderson's "Saga of the seven suns" series.

#5 Guest_bluesman_*

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Posted 28 September 2005 - 02:10 PM

Then you really should take a look at Peter F. Hamiltons Nights Dawn series. The magnitude we are talking about there is like humongous

. Pandoras Star is the latest but Nights Dawn is his crowning achievement.

Of course you should take a look at Alastair Reynolds books as well. Lesser scale but still fantastic.

Trust me. Andersson is noway near these authors. He comes more from a hack writers background. In fact. If this is your only experience with the genre then you really should take a look at the above mentioned. Just so you can compare better

.

BM

#6 Roland

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Posted 28 September 2005 - 02:28 PM

Er... no, this is my only experience with Grand-And-Epic-Space-Opera® I've actually read loads more Sci-Fi than Fantasy, and I've read DAMN lots of it

#7 Imperial Historian

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Posted 28 September 2005 - 03:13 PM

I enjoyed the praxis book's I read... not as good as Reynolds or Donaldson's Gap series (but then what is?), but i'd recommend picking it up.

And if I remember correctly Kevin J anderson's "Seven Suns" books were pretty bad...

#8 Guest_Raven_*

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Posted 28 September 2005 - 04:17 PM

Wow, I had been waiting for the conclusion to that series for a while and gave up hope that it was going to be finished...Perfect timing, as I'm halfway through a re-read of The Sundering and can jump right into the third book. Great series..hardly expected it to pop up like this.

#9 First Seguleh

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Posted 28 September 2005 - 06:00 PM

You're basing your opinion of epic sci-fi on Kevin J. Anderson?

...

*twitch*

#10 Morgoth

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Posted 28 September 2005 - 06:25 PM

Pandora's star and Judas Unchained are in my opinion two books every sci fi reader should read, if nothing else for the pure originality of the story and the setting

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#11 Guest_bluesman_*

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Posted 28 September 2005 - 08:13 PM

Is Judas Unchained already out? Here it's listed for October.

A review would be nice then

.

bm

#12 williamjm

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Posted 29 September 2005 - 06:55 PM

bluesman said:

Is Judas Unchained already out? Here it's listed for October.
bm

I don't think its *meant* to be out, but I've heard some people have found it for sale in shops (in the UK). I'll have to have a look at the weekend.

#13 Morgoth

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Posted 30 September 2005 - 04:29 AM

We've had it in store for more a week now, it's just Amazon who's got late release dates.. Same with Thud!, we got it almost a month before Amazon..

Anyways, I'll try to make a small review if I can squeeze in the time

Take good care to keep relations civil
It's decent in the first of gentlemen
To speak friendly, Even to the devil

#14 Guest_bluesman_*

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Posted 30 September 2005 - 12:38 PM

It happened to me with Naked God. The bookstore accidentally got it 2 months before the real release

. That was a pleasant surprise, especially considering how good the book was.

Regarding this book. I've come half way through and it is in my opinion very good. Walter knows how to write suspensful. He is also technically a good writer, not many errors in language or other plot errors.

One downside with Pandoras Star was that it dragged sometimes. In my view it could have been cut down a bit. Hamilton has a great talent for keeping many plot threads running simultanously but maybe there are a tad too many in Pandoras Star. Nights Dawn was paced so that you never really noticed the less important parts

. I don't think I have ever read that many pages that fast. Pity student litterature couldn't be as suspensful

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