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If you like science fiction, there were a few books published this year worth picking up: - The Hail Mary Project by Andy Weir (of the Martian). Nice page turn
by jillesvangurp 5y ago
If you like science fiction, there were a few books published this year worth picking up:
- The Hail Mary Project by Andy Weir (of the Martian). Nice page turner and he's back to form with his third novel.
- Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson. Enjoyable and fun; though arguably not his finest work. I might pick up his earlier work for re-reading over Christmas. Anathem probably, which I would recommend to anyone.
- Leviathan Falls (part 9 and the last one of the Expanse series). James S.A. Corey (the writer duo). The whole series was quite enjoyable and this is a fitting end to it.
- hans0l074 5y agoI second this. The Hail Mary Project was a great read and even made it into Barack Obama's list[1]. I am working my way through The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin and so far it's a page turner. [1]: https://twitter.com/BarackObama/status/1471168495312420877 https://twitter.com/BarackObama/status/1471168495312420877
- lmm 5y agoCurious, I wouldn't call Three-Body Problem a page turner - there was a whole lot of nothing happening the whole time. Even fans of the book (which I am not) tend to retreat into "well actually it's the sequels that are good".
- kingcharles 5y agoI couldn't put the thing down. Then I had to immediately order the sequels. Different strokes for different folks. There have been plenty of books that people have recommended to me as page-turners and I just couldn't get through them at all.
- therealdrag0 5y agoYep snooze fest for me too. DNF
- qubitcoder 5y agoThe Three-Body Problem certainly takes a _while_ to get going. I gave up the first time reading it on my phone. But I kept hearing others sing its praises. Years later, I started playing the audio book on a roadtrip. At some point, I couldn't "put it down", so to speak--especially as the plot twist is gradually revealed. The sequels are extraordinary, and perhaps among the best sci-fi ever written.
- mijoharas 5y agoI'd second the recommendation of anathem, which is one of my favourite books. Thanks for pointing out the new book by Neal Stephenson, I didn't know he'd released that and will probably check it out. I also read the hail Mary project which I thought was an enjoyable light read, but nothing too special.
- yef 5y agoProject Hail Mary was special because it was so straightforward. It didn't try to beat you over the head with some grand message about society. It's just a science teacher doing cool stuff in space. Refreshing, in my opinion.
- mijoharas 5y agoThe thing I found the most funny about project hail Mary, was that the bits that most broke my immersion were the political bits. (WARNING: minor spoilers follow) In a story about someone travelling to another galaxy and investigating other life forms, the thing that I struggled with the most was that the entire planet unilaterally put their faith in one person and there wasn't a giant amount of infighting and countries at each other's throats.
- yef 5y agoAgreed, the geopolitics was very simplistic. I was always looking forward to the next space scene. I also read Ministry for the Future which was pretty heavy on politics. It didn't grab me the way Project Hail Mary did, though.
- mabbo 5y agoIt must be a bit strange for Andy Weir. He wrote 'The Martian' as a serial online, originally, and later published it on Kindle as a bit of a 'why not?'. (I bought the Kindle self-published version for $2!) Fast forward a few years, and Barack Obama and Bill Gates are posting that his latest book was one of their favourites of the year.