Red Rising. I tried to like it. Couldn't get through more than 20%. Seemed very YA and characters seemed very flat.
this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2023
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I don’t feel like it’s worth getting into, the writing is just too poor… but that’s my opinion. I finished it, just because it was so Ashley I was hoping it would get better. I did not try out the second one.
I agree with you on this. According to me the writing and character work is subpar and so I have stayed away from other works by the author. But this series is very popular and I don't get why that is the case.
Seconding Red Rising. I managed to finish the first book, but throughout nearly the entire book it felt like a fantasy rather than a science fiction. They are in a science fiction setting, but then intentionally remove all technology or futuristic elements for almost the entire story. From what I am told the rest of the books continue this similar theme somehow despite no longer being in the extremely specific situation of book 1.
The Culture series by Iain M. Banks.
Not sure what it was. Maybe expectations were too high. Tried the first two books and they were fine, just didn't really trigger anything in me that made me want to keep going.
Me too. Tried the first. Didn't make much progress.
I like the first but it is very heavy on world building at the expense of anything else - I guess in some respects you could apply that to the series as a whole to an extent.
I haven't read the whole series btw, just guessing that from the ones I have read
I personally do enjoy world building, but not at the cost of characterisation. So I guess this series is definitely not for me.
Possibly not lol! The character motivation obviously develops throughout the book (I forget his name), but I'd say the focus is on the extremely weird things he sees and what he has to do to survive. I don't remember there being much in the way of emotional development though.
I don't know how far you got before stopping. I think they are definitely well written books - but I definitely have to be in the right headspace to enjoy them
I actually got stuck on the second book in the Three Body series. I found the first a page turner. Though it is an unconventional book and I can easily see why some would not be into it.
Hopefully I won't get crucified for this take, but Dune. I love the Barsoom series, I love Tremors, but Dune did nothing for me. I tried reading it near the end of spring semester in high school, which is arguably a bad time as I was dealing with track semi-final/finals as well as school finals, and after a month of reading less than a page a day, I gave it back to the friend who loaned it to me. That was 12 years ago, though so maybe I should give it another shot.
I like Dune a lot, but you definitely have to have a certain mindset to get into it. Barsoom and Tremors are really...I don't want to say "not the same genre"...but kinda "not the same genre"?
Dune is NOT an action/adventure book. It has the trappings of one, but you're more likely to get into it if you love anthropology, religious studies, sociology, and philosophy.
Barsoom is pulp sci-fi (which is fine--there's a reason pulps are popular!), and Tremors likewise isn't in the same wheelhouse as Dune either. That's not to say those two can't have aspects of anthropology/religious studies/sociology, etc. as a lot of SFF mixes it up, but Dune is pretty heavy on the intellectual/academic side of things. It is taking theoretical concepts and putting them into motion on a stage via the characters. It's a very measured book that plays out high level concepts with pawns on a stage.
When I think of "books like Dune" I tend to think more of Ursula K. LeGuin or Octavia Butler, in that they start out with a philosophy, and then the characters are set on a stage to play out those philosophical/sociological/etc. musings for the reader.
As far as TV shows: The Expanse and Foundation. I really want to like them but the first 3-4 episodes left me quite meh. Someone tell me it’s a slow start and gets better?
I tend to put more priority to story line vs special effects or action scenes.
As I said elsewhere in this thread, the first couple of episodes of the Expanse are kinda slow. It picks up if you stick with it :)
I'm still mad they ended it early :(
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