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Dapper Bandit wrote:Just finished
Might try and get a hold of the whole text rather than this taster as it was a thrilling read, unreliable narrator (and I mean really unreliable) and all.
I've got what must be nearly the complete Neal Stephenson collection on the bookshelf at home. Started Diamond Age and found it to be too dense for me at that point in time so had to shelve it until I feel up to it. This has kind of rekindled the interest, he may be my next pick but I have so many books to get through it's scary.
Other recent finishes:
Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi; Solid sci fi adventure. Some really hard SF elements but not at the expense of pacing. Kind of reminded me of Bank's Culture series in tone, if not content. Or maybe more like Charles Stross but with better characterisation.
Exodus by God, I suppose; Absolutely mental but overall 3/10 story. The bit about the frogs and what have you was cool but that Angel of Death seemed a little much. Talk about escalation, amiright? Last half of the tale falls flat for me as it's just instructions on how to build tabernacles, prepare bread, make robes and stuff. Shopping lists are not a riveting read.
Butcher's Crossing by John Williams; Really, really excellent. I assume Cormac McCarthy was inspired by this because they both have a very similar feel. A must read.
Bloodhammer wrote:You should check out the rest of Rajaniemi's Jean le Flambeur trilogy. The Quantum Thief is only the first.
Dapper Bandit wrote:Bloodhammer wrote:You should check out the rest of Rajaniemi's Jean le Flambeur trilogy. The Quantum Thief is only the first.
They're definitely on the list, there was Quantum Prince and another one, right? Does the trilogy hold up all the way through? I thought there were some really interesting ideas being brought to the table and it would be a real shame if they weren't done justice.
weebles wrote:McCarthy is one of my favorite authors and I’m a sucker for westerns. So this looks like a good fit.
odontophobia wrote:Met Harrison a number of years ago in undergrad, never got around to reading his work though.
TraceItalian wrote:
If you like McCarthy (sorry, no westerns to recommend), you might try
Harry Crews
Jim Harrison
Dorthy Allison.
Bloodhammer wrote:I think they hold up excellently. The Quantum Thief gets you started and introduces you to some of the main characters, but the other two flesh out much deeper layers to them and fill you in on a lot more of the history of the post-human solar system. All three have a sort of detective story quality in that some secret has to be discovered and utilized for success/survival and the second book (TFP) even becomes, in part, a kind of fairy tale in the vein of The One Thousand And One Nights. Some people like that and some don't (lots of framing), but it moves on from that in the third (TCA), which is probably the best in the series.
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