selunatic2397
SOC-12
Pretty much the same reasons I gave up on the game of thrones super series...and the wild cards series [lotsa soft + ⌧ there]
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Pretty much the same reasons I gave up on the game of thrones super series...and the wild cards series [lotsa soft + ⌧ there]
GypsyComet
SOC-14 1K
Night and day. The culture of domination is rather the point of Gor, in all its thirty-three book "glory". The author and his main character wallow in it after Book 5 (I got through, barely, book 8, BTW, as they are popcorn books even with the BDSM, and when you mentally edit most of that out...) to the point where you no longer doubt the author's intentions. I got as far as I did because of mental editing and wanting to see if there was any real world-building going on. When Book 8 proved to be a retelling of a recurring hero's tale ending with yet another episode of "worship at Caesar's feet" I gave up.
Game of Thrones is much better executed. GRRM knows how to write. That said, he was setting up for a long haul, and the first book shows it. I only got halfway myself.
The sex in GoT is mostly window dressing for important conversations, deals, and, of course, murders. Lots and lots of murders.
Game of Thrones was one that just didn't make it happen for me. I read the first and second novels, then started the third and learned that this wouldn't be the end of it. My thought was, who in the heck can't finish a story in 1200 pages?!?! Haven't picked up one of the series since.
The Wheel of Time series didn't do anything for me, partially for this reason.
Before the end of the first book, there were so many characters, plots, sub-plots, and nonsense plots going on that you needed a spreadsheet to keep track.
While that works for me when running Traveller, it's not that much fun to read.
I never made it all the way through the second book, and never even considered reading the rest.
Same for me, but I only got to the start of the second book - GRRM started off with a character who wasn't even IN the first book and stated no ties to anyone from that first book. I put it down and eventually took 'em to a used bookstore for credit (I think; this was 6 or 7 years ago).
Wheel of Time held me a lot longer, though by the seventh or eighth book it started to drag. I may finish it eventually, though I'd start from the beginning again (in part because my fiancée expressed an interest in it and she believes in starting from the beginning almost more than I do).
Highorbit_drifter
SOC-12
Same for me, I stopped reading much in the way of fiction when Wheel of Time came out. I remember the ad campaign said something to the effect of an 'exciting new series' and I just though "bleh". I couldn't do another.
Mind you I had recently read the Riverworld series, which has been mentioned here before. Some are excellent books, most you can tell he was paid by the word. I was glad I read the whole series but Farmer did waste a lot of my time.
Chuck Anumia
SOC-14 1K
I read the entire series once through then waited for the last books to be written by Brandon Sanderson after Jordan died.
Sanderson had all the original authors notes and brought the series to its natural conclusion while keeping the characters the same as they had always seemed in the original authors books.
I enjoyed it and then re-read it starting with the prequel New Spring.
Sitting down and reading through the entire series is a chore and there are many detours and side trips to the story but it is well enough written to keep me interested and it is one of the few series I keep and will eventually read through again.
When we get money I'll see if she's interested (she has a reading list already).
This thread has been a depressing walk through memory lane for me...
Riverworld... not only read it, but actually played in the GURPS setting. The GM made a deliberate attempt to replicate the style... Wish I'd known that before joining the game.
Niven goes on this list for me... everyone tells me his books are great, but the ones I read aren't. Perhaps I'm starting in the wrong place? Tales of Known Space, Man-Kzin Wars, Ringworld.
Heinlein--Please go share water with someone else. My introduction to Heinlein was someone who had strangely embraced some of the practices from the books. When your explanation of a book takes longer for me to sit through than actually reading it... and then I find it not exciting...
Wheel of Time--complete agreement... good series, then in the middle he lost me... I really did want to like this. I did try re-reading them after the "completion", but...
Game of Thrones--I echo the experience of others posted here. Greatly disappointed. I would enjoy the TV series a lot more if they edited out the boring sex scenes. (Same for Rome the TV series...)
Dune--The first book was fine. Do not read the others.
Foundation--The original 50's books were good, if odd tech wise. Foundation's Edge and forward were disappointing.
Honor Harrington--Look, he lost me reading At All Costs. He just let the tech jumps get away from him. I still like the political details, but he's ruined space combat going forward in his own series.
Everyone I'd recommend is dead, so I'm probably not a big help for finding a series to read. That's why I started the thread for book suggestions. :rofl:
Riverworld... not only read it, but actually played in the GURPS setting. The GM made a deliberate attempt to replicate the style... Wish I'd known that before joining the game.
Niven goes on this list for me... everyone tells me his books are great, but the ones I read aren't. Perhaps I'm starting in the wrong place? Tales of Known Space, Man-Kzin Wars, Ringworld.
Heinlein--Please go share water with someone else. My introduction to Heinlein was someone who had strangely embraced some of the practices from the books. When your explanation of a book takes longer for me to sit through than actually reading it... and then I find it not exciting...
Wheel of Time--complete agreement... good series, then in the middle he lost me... I really did want to like this. I did try re-reading them after the "completion", but...
Game of Thrones--I echo the experience of others posted here. Greatly disappointed. I would enjoy the TV series a lot more if they edited out the boring sex scenes. (Same for Rome the TV series...)
Dune--The first book was fine. Do not read the others.
Foundation--The original 50's books were good, if odd tech wise. Foundation's Edge and forward were disappointing.
Honor Harrington--Look, he lost me reading At All Costs. He just let the tech jumps get away from him. I still like the political details, but he's ruined space combat going forward in his own series.
Everyone I'd recommend is dead, so I'm probably not a big help for finding a series to read. That's why I started the thread for book suggestions. :rofl:
My 4 favorite authors at this point are, in no particular order, Elizabeth Moon (for all the reasons I mentioned above), David Weber, John Ringo, and Harry Turtledove.
I got into reading Ringo when he collaborated with Weber on March Upcountry and its sequels. Great planetary romance, though the series finishes far too abruptly.
Still like Weber, though I agree about the tech getting kind of out there as the series has progressed.
And Turtledove is the master of alternate history, asking "What If" you changed one thing in history.
I particularly enjoyed the series (the name escapes me now) where the aliens landed in 1942. Good series and good use of historical characters.
Not space opera, but still good reads.
And I loved his Missing Legion series, for fantasy.
I got into reading Ringo when he collaborated with Weber on March Upcountry and its sequels. Great planetary romance, though the series finishes far too abruptly.
Still like Weber, though I agree about the tech getting kind of out there as the series has progressed.
And Turtledove is the master of alternate history, asking "What If" you changed one thing in history.
I particularly enjoyed the series (the name escapes me now) where the aliens landed in 1942. Good series and good use of historical characters.
Not space opera, but still good reads.
And I loved his Missing Legion series, for fantasy.
He was always a bit... strange? weird? perverted? dunno... after his triple bypass surgery...
Psychohistorical Crisis, by Donald Kingsbury, is LONG, but an interesting read...
It's definately better than those which came after the first three Foundation books.
Garyius2003
SOC-13
After the Children's books Heinlien hurt SciFi quite a bit with his child and family sex.
GypsyComet
SOC-14 1K
Heinlein was one of the authors for whom the "S" in "SF" meant "speculative", and many of his speculations were social instead of technological. Some of his later books are strange even in that context, though. The strokes did him no favors.
Piper's Little Fuzzy and Star Vikings.
The former is so foundational that there's no surprise left in the plot and the latter just doesn't hang together plotwise for me. I know people who are really in to '50s sci-fi who eat his work up.
I read Honor Harrington but it was so full of plot holes and poor writing that I didn't continue. Some of it may be that I know a number of people in the military and anyone trying to "command" a ship the way she does would have been discharged if not court martialled.
The former is so foundational that there's no surprise left in the plot and the latter just doesn't hang together plotwise for me. I know people who are really in to '50s sci-fi who eat his work up.
I read Honor Harrington but it was so full of plot holes and poor writing that I didn't continue. Some of it may be that I know a number of people in the military and anyone trying to "command" a ship the way she does would have been discharged if not court martialled.
. .. I found the series a problem for much the same reasons.
I read them in high school and college and loved them - up until about the seventh or eighth (maybe ninth) - the time that HH had a baby. By then the writing had gotten overblown and was more about the politics than anything else - and how conservative politics were the politics for correct people. I gave up on it by this point.
Though I know nothing about the military and was a lot more interested in the action at the time as a typical young adult.
abomination
SOC-12
Space Captain Smith, many of my freinds think these are hilarious I find them two dimensional & predictable
I'm shocked Heinlein wasn't mentioned until 3/4 through the thread. I read Starship troopers in my early teens and thought power armour was really cool, but kind of missed the political stuff*. Re visiting it as an adult the bizarre fascist ranting was just hilarious. I think the film got it spot on (except it didn't have to cool power armour
)
Does Gor even really count as Sci fi? There is a section of the BDSM community that reenact them very seriously. Kind of like perverted trekkies.
As for surprises, going the other way. Some of the Warhammer 40k books are better than you'd expect.
*Don't laugh, I read the pilgrims progress at 8 & missed the religious content, I just thought it was a fairly strange adventure story.
I'm shocked Heinlein wasn't mentioned until 3/4 through the thread. I read Starship troopers in my early teens and thought power armour was really cool, but kind of missed the political stuff*. Re visiting it as an adult the bizarre fascist ranting was just hilarious. I think the film got it spot on (except it didn't have to cool power armour
)Does Gor even really count as Sci fi? There is a section of the BDSM community that reenact them very seriously. Kind of like perverted trekkies.
As for surprises, going the other way. Some of the Warhammer 40k books are better than you'd expect.
*Don't laugh, I read the pilgrims progress at 8 & missed the religious content, I just thought it was a fairly strange adventure story.
Space Captain Smith, many of my freinds think these are hilarious I find them two dimensional & predictable
I'm shocked Heinlein wasn't mentioned until 3/4 through the thread. I read Starship troopers in my early teens and thought power armour was really cool, but kind of missed the political stuff*. Re visiting it as an adult the bizarre fascist ranting was just hilarious. I think the film got it spot on (except it didn't have to cool power armour
Does Gor even really count as Sci fi? There is a section of the BDSM community that reenact them very seriously. Kind of like perverted trekkies.
As for surprises, going the other way. Some of the Warhammer 40k books are better than you'd expect.
*Don't laugh, I read the pilgrims progress at 8 & missed the religious content, I just thought it was a fairly strange adventure story.
Gor may or may not be Sci-Fi; it's BDSM cloaked in a veneer of Sci-Fi, for certain, and probably does count for most purposes.
Let's not even start into the content of the political elements of Heinlein.
[m;]It's OK to acknowledge political content is there; it's not OK to comment on agreement or disagreement with it, nor to label it.[/m;]
Save discussions of the political content for the Political Pit.
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Ran Targas
SOC-14 1K
Pick of the litter
I'll read anything by these guys ...
Asimov, Bradbury, Boroughs, Clarke, Heinlein, Herbert, Howard, Huxley, Fritz Leiber, Lovecraft, Niven, Pournelle, Ashton Smith, E. E. Smith, Verne, and Vinge.
Never been disappointed except when the story ended and I wanted more.
I'll read anything by these guys ...
Asimov, Bradbury, Boroughs, Clarke, Heinlein, Herbert, Howard, Huxley, Fritz Leiber, Lovecraft, Niven, Pournelle, Ashton Smith, E. E. Smith, Verne, and Vinge.
Never been disappointed except when the story ended and I wanted more.