| Last Cereal: Message Board: posting |
| re: two things more |
| [17407] by "RobPfeifer" (host62-7-60-222.in-addr.btopenworld.com) on Mon 04 Nov 2002 14:47:51 [ reply ] |
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Hmmm... the best science fiction I have ever read:
Dan Simmons: Hyperion, Fall of Hyperion. Endymion, Rise of Endymion (Two pairs of books. Read Hyperion/Fall of Hyperion first. Almost gothically lush and absolutely magnificent. About as close to perfection as I have ever seen.) David Zindell: Neverness (and if you like it, then the trilogy The Broken God, The Wild, War In Heaven). Great universe, strong characters, immersive storytelling. From an Amazon review: "With Neverness and the Requeim for Homo Sapiens sequence, David Zindell explored many themes - friendship, the nature of humanity, religion, godhood and the purpose of life itself." And he did it damn well. These are the books I think EVERYONE who likes science fiction should read. They simply have not been bettered. Look at the reviews on Amazon and see lots of other people agreeing with me... Forget Asimov - he was a great thinker but one of the driest and least enthralling storytellers I know. He just liked to write puzzles. These are thought-provoking _and_ beautifully written. What if you like gritty cyberpunk? Neal Stephenson: _Snowcrash_ I'd also reccommend Iain M Banks, with a minor caveat: The quality of his books is very variable. His SF tends to be more consistent than his normal fiction. The funny thing, though, is that no-one can agree which are the real stinkers... (important to get the order right - list will follow) And then something really wierd. With a bad author the characters are flat and unchanging. With a good author, the characters will change and evolve. What if the book changes the reader? Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson: The Illuminatus! Trilogy (available as one book) If you want to know what to expect of this book, don't read the book reviews for it on Amazon, read the reviews for _Principia Discordia_ by Malaclypse the Younger and Omar Khayyam Ravenhurst instead. (Really. I mean that.) It's not The City, Andrea, it's the World... Rob |