Beer Baron said:
ProDarwin said:
One (I havent read) story that drove me nuts with all the unnecessary "magic" was Altered Carbon
I read Altered Carbon and loved it. There may have been a bit of hand-waving around the edges, but the core of it was actually well done.
How did the story drive you nuts if you didn't read it? Are you referring to the mini series?
If that is the case, the mini series was not done nearly as well as the book. They took a lot of liberties and made a lot of changes that made things more confusing and less sensical. I believe in the goal of changing up the mystery of whodunnit enough that it wasn't ruined if you read the book.
Sorry, yes the Netflix adaptation.
hybridmomentspass said:
This PHM book - can anyone give me a sentence or two summary?
Like, Im not a sci-fi guy, but I heard about The Martian, a guy stranded on Mars and having to try to adapt and live. I was interested and ended up really loving it. Movie...not quite as much, but havent seen it since it was in theaters.
Can anyone give me a sentence on the premise of PHM?
Without giving too much away, instead of the world trying to save one guy (as in the Martian), it's one guy trying to save the world. It has the same humor as The Martian with the sci-fi background and the main character in a "how the hell am I in this mess" situation. If you liked TM for the detailed science stuff, PHM isn't that. If you liked TM for the humor, it's worth a read.
-Rob
hybridmomentspass said:
This PHM book - can anyone give me a sentence or two summary?
It's difficult to do without giving spoilers because it's got a split timeline. At the beginning of the novel, the protagonist wakes up aboard a starship where he's the only surviving crew member, but has amnesia as to exactly how he got there. The rest of the novel alternates between flashbacks from several years earlier on Earth and between his time on the starship trying to solve both his immediate survival problems as well as resolve the issues from the backstory that sent him there in the first place.
hybridmomentspass said:
This PHM book - can anyone give me a sentence or two summary?
Like, Im not a sci-fi guy, but I heard about The Martian, a guy stranded on Mars and having to try to adapt and live. I was interested and ended up really loving it. Movie...not quite as much, but havent seen it since it was in theaters.
Can anyone give me a sentence on the premise of PHM?
Trying to minimize spoilers:
The sun is dying, because of... something. The earth assembles a crack crew of scientists to go investigate the problem and the book deals with all the wild and crazy things that happen as they're investigating. The central theme of the book is looking at things from different perspectives.
ProDarwin said:
Beer Baron said:
ProDarwin said:
One (I havent read) story that drove me nuts with all the unnecessary "magic" was Altered Carbon
How did the story drive you nuts if you didn't read it? Are you referring to the mini series?
Sorry, yes the Netflix adaptation.
Yeah. That's very fair. I'd say the Netflix series was a B- or C+ job of adapting an A- book.
The book was good if you're comfortable with science fiction and enjoy Noir detective stories.
The series screwed things up royally by inverting some of the setups and themes of the book. Like, in the book, Kovacs was *not* a freedom fighter. He was effectively special forces trained by the government to quash unrest on colony worlds. The training and conditioning was such that it was effectively impossible for them to reintegrate, and they faced massive stigma. Then they were cut loose, where they invariably got into trouble.
Literally the *opposite* of his background in the show.
The book also explores the significance of that world's magic much better than the show. Uses it very well to establish themes of how the wealthy and powerful literally live different lives from the common folk.
I love the Altered Carbon books, another that Netflix did an ok job with was the magicians. The books were pretty dang good.
the_machina said:
hybridmomentspass said:
This PHM book - can anyone give me a sentence or two summary?
Like, Im not a sci-fi guy, but I heard about The Martian, a guy stranded on Mars and having to try to adapt and live. I was interested and ended up really loving it. Movie...not quite as much, but havent seen it since it was in theaters.
Can anyone give me a sentence on the premise of PHM?
Trying to minimize spoilers:
The sun is dying, because of... something. The earth assembles a crack crew of scientists to go investigate the problem and the book deals with all the wild and crazy things that happen as they're investigating. The central theme of the book is looking at things from different perspectives.
That is pretty much literally the synopsis of the AG Riddle series I mentioned like ......it's the exact same novel
Funny, I listened to the Atlantis Gene series and thought they were just OK. I kept listening mainly because I hate starting a series and not finishing it.
Beer Baron said:
ProDarwin said:
Beer Baron said:
The Expanse does the smart thing when it throws imaginary technologies beyond what we could comprehend, that it doesn't ever really try to explain them, and is better for it.
Yes. The key here though is the # of these introduced to the story must be limited.
Its why I can't stand some other scifi novels where the author just included all the common sci-fi concepts in a single story and its just as mess.
I'd say it's not only that the amount of "any significantly advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" is limited, but that understanding it isn't important to understanding the story. Like, how Star Trek is full of absurd technobabble, because the technology isn't the point. The technology is just a device to put characters into a scenario to explore an idea.
I think The Expanse further succeeds by taking the idea one step farther, and effectively going full on Cosmic Horror that much of the point is that we *can't* understand these things, but powerful people/organizations keep trying to play with these things anyway.
It's like improving on Lovecraftian horror. Why the heck would these cults want to summon up Cthulhu? It doesn't make sense. But in The Expanse, it totally makes sense that the hubris of rich shiny happy people would lead them to think they could get away with playing with a cosmic horror virus that could wipe out all life on earth.
There's a moment in the first Expanse book when Eros does its thing and "moves like magic" and the characters are all freaking out for a moment, trying to rationalize what happened because it's beyond their ability to comprehend, when one of the main characters notices an aspect that the missed initially that helps them settle down and know that it's not breaking the known laws of physics, jus bending them a little.
It's that type of writing that makes a good book great. Don't need to "mansplain" and you don't have to ignore it. Finding a happy medium works.
CAinCA said:
Funny, I listened to the Atlantis Gene series and thought they were just OK. I kept listening mainly because I hate starting a series and not finishing it.
I haven't read that series, but The Long Winter series is great
Just ordered the paperback...but no clue when it'll be here. Amazon doesnt know when it'll be released. I dont like hardcovers.
But Ive got PLENTY of books to read, so I'll be ok till it comes in
Per the recommendations here, I've started reading Project Hail Mary. So far, I am loving it.
No spoilers, but the surprise discovery shortly after arriving in the system was a crazy surprise twist! Anxious to see what happens with that. I'm at the point where he first spun up and spun down the centrifuge and did a little bit of soldering.
aircooled said:
Anyone read The Three Body Problem? (Orbital mechanics, not dead bodies)
I hear it is good, and Netflix is making a series out of it.
Book 1 was okay but I'm told the translation for the remaining two isn't up to the standard of the first. Didn't enjoy the first enough to try the other two.
To be honest, I've never heard of Andy Weir and his novels. But a second ago, I googled and found out that he wrote the Martian. I'm not surprised because I've not seen the film yet, so I don't know much about it. I also can recommend reading The Last Watch, and it's also sci-fi and a pretty interesting book.
Just last night, my cousin, the science teacher, recommended Hail Mary.
And this is why I often regret using my Kindle as much as I do, because otherwise I could just loan you my copy.
In reply to Marjorie Suddard :
No problem and thank you.
Also, I have figured out the trick for reading (a lot of pages) comfortably: no contacts, no glasses, good light. I devoured 2001 in two or three sittings.
I read The Martian and really enjoyed it, but haven't read his other books yet. I need to seek them out.
