[Andorion]

Briar King, on 27 November 2015 - 02:42 AM, said:

Andorion, on 27 November 2015 - 01:44 AM, said:

So I finished A Dance With Dragons and with that my A Song of Ice and Fire read. I feel a bit fed up on fantasy at the moment so I am probably going to be reading some science Fiction. Maybe Robert Heinlein

Ever read Dune(6 originals)?

amphibian, on 27 November 2015 - 02:43 AM, said:

Noooooooo, don't do that.

Umm I have read Dune 1 which I liked though it was a loooong time ago. Nothing else.

Amph, you don't like Dune?

[Andorion]

Dune Messiah
Children of Dune
God Emperor of Dune
Heretics of Dune
Chapterhouse: Dune

Are these the books you are talking about?

[Binder of Demons]

Andorion, on 27 November 2015 - 03:06 AM, said:

Dune Messiah
Children of Dune
God Emperor of Dune
Heretics of Dune
Chapterhouse: Dune

Are these the books you are talking about?

Yeah those are the ones he's talking about. I really enjoyed them, but they wouldn't be as highly regarded as the original Dune itself. The modern sequels (and prequels and other money grabbing efforts) are poorly written and quite infuriating.

Despite being a big sci-fi fan when i was younger, I have never actually read a Heinlein novel so I can't give an opinion on that.

But have you considered something like Roger Zelazny's LORD OF LIGHT. another sci-fi classic.

[Andorion]

I compiled a SF read order recently:

Ann Leckie: Imperial Radch trilogy
Kim Stanley Robinson: Mars Trilogy, Aurora
Robert Heinlein: Moon is a harsh Mistress, Stranger in a strange land
M John Harrison: Light, Nova
Marko Kloos: Terms of Enlistment
Vernor Vinge: Zones of Thought

I have heard of Roger Zelaznys Amber books, but Lord of Light is SF?

[Binder of Demons]

Andorion, on 27 November 2015 - 03:22 AM, said:

I have heard of Roger Zelaznys Amber books, but Lord of Light is SF?

Yeah, I would have always considered LORD OF LIGHT to be a sci-fi novel mainly, but Zelazny himself felt it could be seen as sci-fi or fantasy. It won the Hugo award for best novel.
And to tie in with your just finished reading of A song of Ice and Fire, it would appear that George Martin (who was a friend of Zelazny's) used the character names of Sam, and The Lord of Light in his books as an homage.

[worry]

Yah, when Brian Herbert titled one of his entries Dune, Where's My Car? that's when I knew I had to quit.

[Andorion]

So I think I will put Zelazny in there as well and the Dune originals, but I will have to reread Dune as I remember it very vaguely

[amphibian]

I was talking about Heinlein.

Limit yourself to Moon, Starship Troopers, and Stranger. Do not go beyond that. It's really not worth it.

Heinlein is an icky person and his later books get into incest and ickier things with an air of "I should be allowed to do this."

[Andorion]

amphibian, on 27 November 2015 - 04:23 AM, said:

I was talking about Heinlein.

Limit yourself to Moon, Starship Troopers, and Stranger. Do not go beyond that. It's really not worth it.

Heinlein is an icky person and his later books get into incest and ickier things with an air of "I should be allowed to do this."

Yeah I only want to read the two.

Incest, really?

[Andorion]

Briar King, on 27 November 2015 - 03:52 AM, said:

Also I would highly highly HIGHLY reco Gene Wolfs Book of the New Sun 4 bk set and coda follow up. That man is a word master in any genre he writes. Look him up he's fabulous!!!

I don't know about this one. I have heard mixed reviews about this

[EmperorMagus]

amphibian, on 27 November 2015 - 04:23 AM, said:

I was talking about Heinlein.

Limit yourself to Moon, Starship Troopers, and Stranger. Do not go beyond that. It's really not worth it.

Heinlein is an icky person and his later books get into incest and ickier things with an air of "I should be allowed to do this."

Are you referring to "Time Enough for Love" ? Because that book was the worst written book Heinlein ever published. It goes on for eternities for no understandable reason. It should not be used as an example of what Heinlein's work is.
I do agree that the three mentioned books are the best books written by Heinlein, especially Stranger and Starship Troopers. However, his short stories are mostly awesome as well, and I've never encountered anything icky in a Heinlein short story so that's that.

[Andorion]

Briar King, on 27 November 2015 - 05:49 AM, said:

Andorion, on 27 November 2015 - 04:58 AM, said:

Briar King, on 27 November 2015 - 03:52 AM, said:

Also I would highly highly HIGHLY reco Gene Wolfs Book of the New Sun 4 bk set and coda follow up. That man is a word master in any genre he writes. Look him up he's fabulous!!!

I don't know about this one. I have heard mixed reviews about this

He definitely has a choice crowd but if he clicks his works are just beautiful and that putting it simply. I've read his Sci fi, fantasy, and historical fiction and they were all amazing. He can be hard to read and you may a dictionary handy while doing so. I will be fucking devastated when this old man passes. True master there.

Ok, your recommendation rarely miss for me, so I will give this a shot, though not immediately

[EmperorMagus]

Briar King, on 27 November 2015 - 05:49 AM, said:

Andorion, on 27 November 2015 - 04:58 AM, said:

Briar King, on 27 November 2015 - 03:52 AM, said:

Also I would highly highly HIGHLY reco Gene Wolfs Book of the New Sun 4 bk set and coda follow up. That man is a word master in any genre he writes. Look him up he's fabulous!!!

I don't know about this one. I have heard mixed reviews about this

He definitely has a choice crowd but if he clicks his works are just beautiful and that putting it simply. I've read his Sci fi, fantasy, and historical fiction and they were all amazing. He can be hard to read and you may a dictionary handy while doing so. I will be fucking devastated when this old man passes. True master there.

I don't believe anyone can in good conscience claim that Wolfe's books are bad.
People can get frustrated with them and give up. I devoured a couple of books by Wolfe before getting frustrated enough with my own lack of understanding to give up. They are books that need to be read with patience.

Finished with Redemption Ark.

Spoiler

USING A FUCKING SUPER JOVIAN TO CREATE A STAR SIZED FLAME-THROWER IS FUCKING GENIUS. Although I'm the first person to admit that it's not all that practical.
Ilia Volyova is still fucking awesome.The most bad ass Sci-Fi character ever.
Clavain was such a fucking hypocrite, I wanted him dead 25% into the book.

[Andorion]

EmperorMagus, on 27 November 2015 - 05:55 AM, said:

Briar King, on 27 November 2015 - 05:49 AM, said:

Andorion, on 27 November 2015 - 04:58 AM, said:

Briar King, on 27 November 2015 - 03:52 AM, said:

Also I would highly highly HIGHLY reco Gene Wolfs Book of the New Sun 4 bk set and coda follow up. That man is a word master in any genre he writes. Look him up he's fabulous!!!

I don't know about this one. I have heard mixed reviews about this

He definitely has a choice crowd but if he clicks his works are just beautiful and that putting it simply. I've read his Sci fi, fantasy, and historical fiction and they were all amazing. He can be hard to read and you may a dictionary handy while doing so. I will be fucking devastated when this old man passes. True master there.

I don't believe anyone can in good conscience claim that Wolfe's books are bad.
People can get frustrated with them and give up. I devoured a couple of books by Wolfe before getting frustrated enough with my own lack of understanding to give up. They are books that need to be read with patience.

Finished with Redemption Ark.

Spoiler

USING A FUCKING SUPER JOVIAN TO CREATE A STAR SIZED FLAME-THROWER IS FUCKING GENIUS. Although I'm the first person to admit that it's not all that practical.
Ilia Volyova is still fucking awesome.The most bad ass Sci-Fi character ever.
Clavain was such a fucking hypocrite, I wanted him dead 25% into the book.

Agree regarding planetary flamethrower and Ilia

[Andorion]

Briar King, on 27 November 2015 - 06:24 AM, said:

Cool! There the Books of the Long,Short and New Sun for Sci fi. The Wizard/Knight for fantasy. The Latro set for historical and this is just fantastic! It's about a Greek soldier who has a head injury and is incapable of long term memory so he writes down everything that happened during that day on his adventures. Those 2 are brilliant and I really need to re read and grab bk 3. I've never read Long or Short Sun even though I've had them for 18 yrs on my shelf. One day...

Will probably try the Sun books I think..

[amphibian]

The best place to start Wolfe is with The Knight/The Wizard.

After that, one can ramp up slowly with the Latro books or dive right into the Solar Cycle series.

The man is a lovely, lovely writer.

[amphibian]

Nostalgia for Infinity, on 27 November 2015 - 05:55 AM, said:

Finished with Redemption Ark.

Spoiler

USING A FUCKING SUPER JOVIAN TO CREATE A STAR SIZED FLAME-THROWER IS FUCKING GENIUS. Although I'm the first person to admit that it's not all that practical.
Ilia Volyova is still fucking awesome.The most bad ass Sci-Fi character ever.
Clavain was such a fucking hypocrite, I wanted him dead 25% into the book.

Volyova is one of the best characters in recent science fiction. Clavain matches her (eventually).

Reynolds has a true gift for turning characters that are jerks at first impression into people that you understand and love, even though they're still often acting like jerks.

It's repeated itself across two series and several stand-alone books now.

[HiddenOne]

The later Dune books are not up to the standard of the first ones, but they can be read as pulp or pseudo-fan fiction - i have a couple that were only a few dollars so no big loss.

[Tiste Simeon]

amphibian, on 27 November 2015 - 04:23 AM, said:

I was talking about Heinlein.

Limit yourself to Moon, Starship Troopers, and Stranger. Do not go beyond that. It's really not worth it.

Heinlein is an icky person and his later books get into incest and ickier things with an air of "I should be allowed to do this."

Les Cousins Dangereux?

[Salt-Man Z]

Gene Wolfe's stories often need to stew around in your head for a while before they click. I read NEW SUN first (as good an entry point as any, IMO) and thought it was just okay, but it continued to nag at me for the better part of a year, so I read it again and it was brilliant. Now I reread it almost every December.