Looking for some new Sci/Fi or Fantasy novels.

[Bronn]

GDI just found out that Scott Lynch's next book has been pushed back to a 2016 date. I've been saving a Barnes and Noble gift card for that thing lol.

Currently, among a couple other things, I have just started reading the third book of Abercrombie's First Law trilogy. The first one finally picked up a bit, and the second one was solid.

Now I am wondering what my best option is to burn that B&N card on sometime this fall... Any strong recommendations? I lean more towards fantasy than sci-fi, but appreciate either... I like dystopian stuff too.

[Crixtala]

GDI juthree Iund out that Scott Lynch's next book has been pushed back to a 2016 date. I've been saving a Barnes and Noble gift card for that thing lol.

Currently, among a couple other things, I have just started reading the third book of Abercrombie's First Law trilogy. The first one finally picked up a bit, and the second one was solid.

Now I am wondering what my best option is to burn that B&N card on sometime this fall... Any strong recommendations? I lean more towards fantasy than sci-fi, but appreciate either... I like dystopian stuff too.

boo on the lynch news... where do you get updates on him? I can never find anything

if you havent read brent weeks' llightbringer series, its great. Read book one on a whim, really enjoyed it. Bought book two with the intention of  bringing it out to san francisco on my vacation im on now, but ended up plowing through  it in three days because I didnt put it down

book three comes out in paperback the day I get home and ill be grabbing it then

Edited August 12, 2015 by Crixtala

[stankowalski]

I can't recommend Scott Lynch enough if you enjoyed Rothfuss and GRRM. The 4th book in Lynch's series is supposed to come out sometime this year.

Heard he was pretty good, just never got around to reading any of his stuff.  I'll probably pick up Lies of Locke Lamora to start with since I've been wanting to read it for a while.

That's one of the things I hate about myself when it comes to reading.  Rather than pick up something new, I'll reread something.  I'm such a lazy reader lol.

[davos]

I'm reading Ready Player One right now.  Definitely would recommend it. 

[Bronn]

Holy poo... for fans of Patrick Rothfuss' stuff... I hadn't heard this from October...

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/10/01/kingkiller-chronicle-lionsgate

Quote

Lionsgate is going all in with The Kingkiller Chronicle. The studio closed a deal to adapt the three-part book series and simultaneously develop movies, TV series, and video games set in the world of the second best-selling fantasy series behind Games of Thrones.

FWIW I think a TV show from this series could rival Game of Thrones in popularity... and Lionsgate is no slouch when it comes to getting things done.

[Crixtala]

yep, saw that news on his blog when he posted it... shall be awesome

only issue with it imo is that rothfuss is already taking forever to get book three out... this is only going to slow things down

[Bronn]

36 minutes ago, Crixtala said:

yep, saw that news on his blog when he posted it... shall be awesome

only issue with it imo is that rothfuss is already taking forever to get book three out... this is only going to slow things down

I think this is becoming the new norm in fantasy fiction, lol

[cookinwithgas]

Hey I forgot to post this - a friend of mine just had his first scifi novel published by Angry Robot Books. It's about a murder on a generation ship - I bought it because my friend wrote it, but it turns out its a really good book - the publisher has asked for a sequel already.

http://www.amazon.com/Ark-Children-Dead-Earth-Book/dp/0857664840/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1450214462&sr=1-1&keywords=patrick+s+tomlinson

(Hey use Jeremy's Amazon link at the top of the page and look for it, kill 2 birds with one stone)

 

 

Humankind has escaped a dying Earth and set out to find a new home among the stars aboard an immense generation spaceship, affectionately named the Ark. Bryan Benson is the Ark’s greatest living sports hero, enjoying retirement working as a detective in Avalon, his home module. The hours are good, the work is easy, and the perks can’t be beat.

But when a crew member goes missing, Benson is thrust into the centre of an ever-expanding web of deception, secrets, and violence that overturns everything he knows about living on the Ark and threatens everyone aboard. As the last remnants of humanity hurtle towards their salvation, Benson finds himself in a desperate race to unravel the conspiracy before a madman turns mankind’s home into its tomb.

 

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

Great sci-fi noire with a rich setting

By Aaron H. on December 3, 2015

Format: Mass Market Paperback

I absolutely loved this book. Sci-fi is little hit or miss with me. I like it best when the science fiction enriches the story and locks in the setting, not when it's an author showing how clever they are. The Ark balances this perfectly. The story and the characters are solid and the sci-fi is peppered in as needed and lives in harmony within the world.

I'd also classify it as sci-fi noire. It's a great page turner and I read in two days because I just had to know what was going to happen next. Tomlinson's debut novel has me anxiously waiting for the next installment of this wonderful world.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

A must read for both sci-fi and thriller fans.

By Joseph Ulm on November 16, 2015

Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase

This is a really fun read. The characters are real, enjoyable, well-developed, but not too heavy. The pace of the book pulls you along nicely without pressing, and the twists and turns are done well throughout. The technology in the book is detailed and interesting, but doesn't slow things down. All in all, if you're looking for a really fun thriller, set in a well-developed future environment, this is it. One of the best books I've read this year.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

Quite enjoyable, somewhere between 4 and 5 stars

By Peter Dimitriadis on December 8, 2015

Format: Mass Market Paperback

Full disclosure: I received this book for free through a giveaway. I don't think it affected my review.

"Murder Mystery on a generation starship" is one of those quintessential SF premises, which makes it all the more surprising that I can't think of very many examples. A few, sure, but it's not a concept that has been done to death in recent years, which means it's one that feels, potentially, fresh and exciting.

In addition to things like basic writing skill and characters you enjoy, there are two big things in this kind of story that should, ideally, be done well. First, the generation starship, and second, the mystery.

The author succeeds admirably on the first one. The setting is well-realized and feels both reasonably plausible and lived-in, with a myriad of little details on how life is different. The author really sells the setting, and that's a large part of the enjoyment of the book. Sure, I could quibble about a few of the details (particularly, with such a relatively small population and after two hundred years, ethnic and cultural groupings still seem to be rather distinct, which seems a bit odd considering reproduction has to be authorized and presumably genetic diversity is considered), but they're just the kind of thing you think about rather than interferes with the story, and there was plenty I didn't consider that made it in. It's pretty clear a significant amount of thought did go into things. The author also succeeds in making these details not too intimidating... while someone who isn't interested in SF at all might still avoid this, the technological context is, I think, pretty easy to grasp for people who aren't steeped in SF tropes and want to read something that's not too intimidating.Read more ›

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

Great Science Fiction mystery

By Diane K. on November 19, 2015

Format: Mass Market Paperback

Patrick S. Tomlinson has a great start to a science fiction series in The Ark.

The Earth was dying because of a black hole so 50,000 inhabitants were chosen to leave on the Ark. Tomlinson's descriptive writing has the reader actually seeing the Ark - its components, habitats, the game Zero and much more.

The Ark has taken 100's of years to reach a planet which can be colonized. The hopes are that on the planet some of the restrictions like head implants, baby license, etc. will be lifted. Scientist on the Ark have been preparing for years creating seeds that can be used in the soil of the planet as well as other life support and sustenance the colonists will need. There has been no crime of any kind on the Ark since it left Earth.

An important scientist goes missing and then is found outside the Ark floating in space. Benson is the Chief Constable in charge of the investigation. The crew members including the Captain want the death to be reported as suicide but Benson refuses.

The interactions between characters are real and they each have their own backgrounds. The author's sense of humor comes through in Chief Benson's personality and makes the character even more engaging.

The peaceful life on the Ark is about to change - murder - sabotage - cover-ups - theft - secrets - false leads - an underground society not linked by the implants - all make for a fast paced, page turning reading experience.

I received this book free through Netgalley in exchange for a review. For more information about Patrick S. Tomlinson check out http://www.patrickstomlinson.com/

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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful

A Detective Story with Some Deep Questions

By Jason on November 3, 2015

Format: Mass Market Paperback

This is the story I wish I had written. Generation ship. Detective story. Tomlinson takes such discordant elements and weaves them into a fascinating story: a Manet painting, advanced probes, exoplanet imaging, and more. There are echoes of Robert Sawyer's Red Planet Blues here and I'm hoping that this is the start of a new subgenre: detectives in space!

Tomlinson takes us through a generational ship from the ground-level view of Bryan. This is first and foremost a crime drama but don't make the assumption that he leaves the science out of science fiction. Tomlinson has crafted a work that builds on decades of thought and speculation on the construction of generation ships and on the very recent explosion in exoplanet research. The precarious balance of a worldship (and this is a generation ship that deserves to be in that category) is critically reflected upon. The external tension of the ship's overall biome balance is felt as they near Tau Ceti G (which happens to be a currently uncatalogued exoplanet)! Tomlinson also brings the social considerations into perspective. This is a population constrained by numerous regulations and they're about to be let loose on a planet. The threat of freedom is also a shadow and serious consideration that Tomlinson explores.

This is speculative fiction at its best: exploration of a world that we can only imagine. On the generational ship, the world has changed. The stakes are higher. And Tomlinson navigates the changes in reality with ease.

Adam Roberts in The History of Science Fiction says that "stories of journeying through space form the core of the genre . . . the trunk, as it were, from which the various other modes of SF branch off." Tomlinson has returned us to the core of SF.

 

[Bronn]

Bumping thread to update...

I read Ready Player One... good stuff

Currently, I am reading The Atlantis Gene by A.G. Riddle. I'm about 135 pages in and it is pretty good so far. It is modern sci-fi.

 

Quote

THE GREATEST MYSTERY OF ALL TIME...
THE HISTORY OF HUMAN ORIGINS...
WILL BE REVEALED.
_____________________________________________________

70,000 years ago, the human race almost went extinct.
We survived, but no one knows how.
Until now.
The countdown to the next stage of human evolution is about to begin, and humanity might not survive this time.
_____________________________________________________

The Immari are good at keeping secrets. For 2,000 years, they've hidden the truth about human evolution. They've also searched for an ancient enemy--a threat that could wipe out the human race. Now the search is over.

Off the coast of Antarctica, a research vessel discovers a mysterious structure buried deep in an iceberg. It has been there for thousands of years, and something is guarding it. As the Immari rush to execute their plan, a brilliant geneticist makes a discovery that could change everything.

Dr. Kate Warner moved to Jakarta, Indonesia to escape her past. She hasn't recovered from what happened to her, but she has made an incredible breakthrough: a cure for autism. Or so she thinks. What she has found is far more dangerous--for her and the entire human race. Her work could be the key to the next stage of human evolution. In the hands of the Immari, it would mean the end of humanity as we know it.

Agent David Vale has spent ten years trying to stop the Immari. Now he's out of time. His informant is dead. His organization has been infiltrated. His enemy is hunting him. But when David receives a coded message related to the Immari attack, he risks everything to save the one person that can help him solve it: Dr. Kate Warner.

Together, Kate and David must race to unravel a global conspiracy and learn the truth about the Atlantis Gene... and human origins. Their journey takes them to the far corners of the globe and into the secrets of their pasts. The Immari are close on their heels and will stop at nothing to obtain Kate's research and force the next stage of human evolution--even if it means killing 99.9% of the world's population. David and Kate can stop them... if they can trust each other. And stay alive.

Riddle is from NC, too.
 

[Crixtala]

1 hour ago, Bronn said:

Bumping thread to update...

I read Ready Player One... good stuff

Currently, I am reading The Atlantis Gene by A.G. Riddle. I'm about 135 pages in and it is pretty good so far. It is modern sci-fi.

 

Riddle is from NC, too.
 

Ready Player One was a great book... I started reading Cline's Armada just this past weekend.  It's not as good as Ready Player One was so far, but it's still good.  He's another one of those authors that once you've read him once and start reading another of his books, you get sucked right in to that same feeling/environment that he creates in his books.

The Atlantis Gene has been on my list forever as well, but I can never seem to find it in my local used book store where I pick up most books.  Let me know how it is when you're done.

[Bronn]

I'm currently reading the Night Angel trilogy from Brent Weeks. I'm in book two now, and I could easily see this one being adapted into a show too. Good stuff!

[Crixtala]

have you read his current series?  the lightbringer series (i think)?  really good... haven't read the night angel trilogy yet, but haven't been reading much lately either

[Bronn]

13 minutes ago, Crixtala said:

have you read his current series?  the lightbringer series (i think)?  really good... haven't read the night angel trilogy yet, but haven't been reading much lately either

I haven't. I will though, after I get done with this one. He's pretty danged good.

[Crixtala]

agreed, really like his writing and his lightbringer series is one of the few that I've gone out and bought the book new right after coming out instead of waiting until it shows up at my used book store