Funny. I tore through the Baroque Cycle. I never finished Anathem. It bored me.
I love all your Kindle recommendations. Thank you!
Just finished Joe Hill - Heart Shape Boxed… It’s not as scary as King’s work but it is commendable effort.
I am also just starting William Gibson Neuromancer (yes yes, very late, I know… and it is starting up great). That is after I gave up on Selby’s Requiem of a Dream… That is a very hard book to read due to the writing style.
There is really almost no relationship between Cryptonomicon and the Baroque Cycle. Yes, there is a common character (sort of but not in any plot sense) but that’s about it.
Also, too: I enjoyed Anathem and Reamde, but Seveneves was a terrible book.
[gasp] hush your mouth!
The outer space portion wasn’t bad, but I skipped the whole flash-forward portion.
OK, I agree that the “cut to 5000 years later” part of the book is not nearly as compelling as the rest, but that’s only like 25% of a 1000 page novel. The rest of the book is pure space-junkie cocaine. It’s like Gravity, but with realistic orbital mechanics. Stephenson has never been able to stick his landings, so who cares if the end of the book falls off a bit.
Well, as novels go, it’s a pretty serious structural flaw.
Greg Bear’s Darwin’s Radio is on sale today, $1.99 for the kindle edition at Amazon
The first 3 books in the old-school Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser series are $2.99 (from OO):
Huh, I have never heard of this book but I’m a big fan of his Uplift books. Is this any good?
It’s the only David Brin book I can’t remember. I think I read it back in the 90s, but I can’t remember for sure.
Meh. IIRC, it’s a riff on the idea of a universe where you can practice yourself into any capability. I don’t even recall the plot beyond that, which means for me it wasn’t very interesting or remarkable.
It’s cute, but dumb.
It’s about an alternate universe where (essentially via magic), the more you use something, the better it gets. So, like, everybody makes shitty pants, and then rich people hire poor people to wear the pants for a year so the pants get better, and eventually are like, super durable, ultra-lightweight kevlar.
That sounds really weird. Think I’ll pass.
It was fun, but not as memorable as the first Uplift Trilogy, or Earth
Don’t forget Glory Season. That’s my favorite David Brin.
I’m not sure he wrote a better book than Startide Rising. It sets the stage for something really special that never really appeared; the sequels were disappointing.
By contrast, I remember when I read Reynolds’ Revelation Space and had the same sense of something great coming. The follow ups really delivered for me in a way the Uplift books didn’t.
I enjoyed Uplift War just as much as Startide Rising. Even though it didn’t continue the story from Startide. And then Brightness Reef might be my favorite in the series. I thought it was really good the way he focused on a unique isolated world, again not continuing the story from Startide Rising. And then that trilogy wrapped up in a really satisfying way for me.
I should give that a second chance. I read The Prefect, which takes place in the Revelation Space universe, but didn’t think it was anything special. Maybe other books in the series are better.
Yeah, you want to read the original Revelation Space trilogy, then Chasm City. The latter is a stand-alone in the same universe and an outstanding story.
My problem with the Uplift books was 1) Brin got me invested in the characters and story of the first book and then abandoned them for the sequels, and 2) the payoff never really came. The other two books were not bad books at all, they just didn’t live up to the opener.