3 ms·
Why did you single out Orthogonal as lesser? I found those better than some of his other books (Quarantine, Teranesia and Distress). I would say Diaspora is his
by joycian 6y ago
Why did you single out Orthogonal as lesser? I found those better than some of his other books (Quarantine, Teranesia and Distress). I would say Diaspora is his best by miles, with Schild's Ladder.
In general, I like the physics discovery books more than the books focusing on subjective quantum mechanics (especially Quarantine), although they are still well done.
- qubex 6y agoI didn’t single out Othogonal for being (necessarily) lesser, I singled it out for being mainfestly different from most of his other stuff, in the sense that it occurs in a Universe with physical laws evidently different from that of our own (though his most recent book Dichronauts, which I have not yet read, also follows in this trend of “what-if” counterfactual speculation). To be honest I also found the concluding book of Orthogonal to be rather disappointing, but that’s personal preference. I would have most certainly not drawn attention to the different nature of Orthogonal if I hadn’t had the feeling that the original poster is seeking for “hard sci-fi” that presents avenues for what our futures in this universe may be, as opposed to what other universes may be like.
- joycian 6y agoI understand, there is indeed a large difference between Orthogonal and the rest in the sense that it might be technically a fantasy series instead of hard science fiction. However, the exploration of the alternate physical laws gave me the same thrill that other hard science fiction evokes. In some sense, the changed mechanics gave me more insight into physics as a whole (especially with Egan's fantastic online appendices, which might be my favorite aspect of his style). I forgot it above, but I think Incandescence is the "our universe" counterpart to Orthogonal and it is quite good.