Books/Novels Discussion Thread V1: Literary Gems

^ it is here

 

Not yet, kind of in the middle of Warhammer's Horus Heresy series, want to finish that up before starting anything else
Intend to reread ASOIAF soon though

 

@Nerevarine, some recent Sci-Fi/Fantasy that I really enjoyed (all have been published in the past 4-5 years max)

The Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer (Annihilation, Authority and Acceptance). Annihilation was made into a film. This is eerie Lovecraftian stuff.

Beren and Luthien by JRR Tolkien (umm.... lol... he wrote a bunch of other stuff that defined modern fantasy as we know it)

Afterparty by Daryl Gregory (3D printed designer drugs get out of hand). A fun ride, near future sci-fi.

The Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin. This is going to be a classic in the future, a seminal work with videogaming and VR. There is a sequence where an entire computer is created using a large army, complete with memory, processors, programming and even a GUI. Yes, it is that crazy. Must read.

Consumed by David Cronenberg (yes, it is a book by the director of Fly, Crash, ExIstenZ, Naked Lunch, Videorome... this is dark, violent and yet somehow uplifting. Gets into the nitty gritties of how humans relate to technology, and brings to the surface things we may experience but not really explore. One example: The politics between a photographer couple having to share lenses, is it better to go for a Canon camera if your spouse owns a Nikon? And yes, the brand names are mentioned.)

Lockstep by Karl Schroeder (a young adult novel, but one that I really liked. It explores faster than light travel in a realistic way - humanity is spread across the galaxy and all the planets go into hibernation while ships travel between the stars. Then they all come out together. Some worlds are punished and not in lockstep, and others are not in the lockstep by choice. Got to interact with the author at a fan site, and there are not going to be any direct sequels)

Three Princes by Ramona Wheeler (alternative history book, where the three major world powers are the Egyptian Empire, the Incan Empire and Albion or English. This is just a fun ride and the imagination is something else).

The Expanse by James SA Corey (Game of Thrones set in space. Much better than the the SyFy/Netflix series)

New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson (this author is as good as Clarke or Asimov. Its a futuristic New York where climate change and rising water levels means the city is more like Venice, and every building is an island)

Rogues (a collection of short stories edited by George RR Martin. Top notch sci-fi fantasy fare, with a wide selection of sub genres which will allow you to figure out what kind of stuff you want to read more of. Got it because the last story was a prequel to ASOIAF, but boy was the rest of it awesome).

Turbulence by Samit Basu (X-Men type story, based in India. This guy can really write, none of that Amish/Bhagat crap. One of the heroes is the internet!)

Nothing Is Blue by Biman Nath (this is set in ancient India, set in Nalanda, soon after Brahmagupta invents zero. This is a story that almost could be true, and tells the story of why the Indian calendar did not keep up with the rest of the world, by refusing to accept that the constellations can drift across the skies).

Influx by Daniel Suarez... technology has actually advanced much more than what most of humanity knows, but is under tight control. This has the pacing of Dan Brown, but better researched and written.

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel - a post apocalyptic world where there is a pandemic, a religious cult emerges and then civilisation begins to spring up again. It is actually the story of a family, and is pretty sad and poignant.

The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell - psychics and factions of immortals battle it out in a post apocalyptic world, complete with inter government politics over resources. This is a strange mixture of sci-fi and fantasy, but it gels well together.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline - this is full of pop culture references and videogaming lore. The movie dumbs down a lot of the videogaming history. It has its flaws though, the strong female character ends up becoming a trophy girlfriend by the end.

We Are Legion by Dennis Taylor - this guy called Bob just wanted to cross the street but ends up with his mind uploaded into an interstellar spacecraft, and is facing an existential crisis after his death. Insane.

Proxima by Stephen Baxter - Another author of the same stature as Clarke or Asimov, he has actually co-authored books with Clarke. This begins in the far future, where the universe is close to its death, and full of black holes, novae remnants, neutron stars and dying white dwarfs. Then it is flashback to Proxima, the nearest red dwarf star to the Earth, with a habitable exoplanet. Don't want to give too much away, but this is hard sci-fi stuff, so some recent research has already made this novel outdated.

missed out a few books actually, will have to go home, check and update

 

^lol too much,