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I've only read A Fire Upon The Deep, which I found super interesting in terms of setting, but the storytelling felt a bit clunky to me at the time. I was still

I've only read A Fire Upon The Deep, which I found super interesting in terms of setting, but the storytelling felt a bit clunky to me at the time. I was still intrigued by the author though and I read A Deepness In The Sky and was blown away. Storytelling, setting, everything just clicked. I know there is a third book in the trilogy but it seems a bit back to the roots in terms of setting and I haven't touched just out of the fear that I wouldn't love it as much as ADITS... Should I?

krasin 3y ago
A Deepness In The Sky is the best in the trilogy, by far.
- wiredfool 3y ago
  It's certainly the one that stuck with me.
arghdos 3y ago
As a huge fan of both those books, no, the third book is only OK.
saiya-jin 3y ago
Probably just me, but it first book was such a schizophrenic experience. Loved every single bit of space part but couldn't care less about medieval cluster dog minds part, eventually grew bored of it and it felt disturbing. Especially when author thinks some minor medieval squabbles are equally important as the galactic space part, giving it same page count. Suffered till the end, and lost any motivation to continue since following books proudly advertised that the form is there to stay. There are vastly more diverse stories that still link well together, ie Hyperion cantos was an amazing experience for me. Literally 7 different stories coming together, from cyberpunk to high religious politics, but always connected to same technological universe.
- vkou 3y ago
  The first Hyperion book is excellent, the second is decent, but for anybody not in the know - do yourself a favor and skip the two that follow.
  - thriftwy 3y ago
    I disagree, they have some stuff to think through, even if they're not as shiny as the first one. Perhaps he did himself a disservice by showing all he's got at the very begining of the series, though. That stuff has the Star Wars vibe where Ep 1-3 have much more grandiosity than the original series - luckily the weren't chronologically first.
    - vkou 3y ago
      The problem isn't the highlights of it - it's the low-lights, which make up most of those books. The main POV character is incredibly annoying to follow around - he's a dense, not-too-intelligent, but incredibly-long-winded everyman, who is never told to shut up by anyone around him. I don't need an everyman perspective[1] on an epic science-fiction story! I am an everyman! I can form my own opinion of it! They are also rather heavy on author-dictated philosophy (which is not particularly interesting, or insightful, and manages to fall flat in a pretty major self-contradictory way) - whereas the first two Hyperion books have much less of an author's voice in them, and are much more of a presentation of an interaction of different, competing value systems. That is interesting! Listening to the chosen one go on and on about choosing again (when none of their disciples actually do) is not! The overall plot of them is fine. It's, unfortunately, all in the execution. [1] Or at least, not one that's hammered into me for ~60% of the book.
  - sideshowb 3y ago
    I disagree. Yes #1 was best. I thought #2 was the weakest link, but with the redeeming feature of getting you to #3 and #4. Are they perfect, no, but they do have good moments aplenty and I thought the ending worth the journey. Edit: thinking back, the ending of #2 was bloody spectacular as well. I think the sheer volume of character/world building must help as preparation for impactful endings.
flatline 3y ago
Deepness and Marooned in Realtime are his favorites of mine. Both sequels to less impressive novels imo. I like his writing in general but those two were really brilliant.
- le-mark 3y ago
  Marooned in Realtime is probably my all time favorite work of science fiction. It altered my perspective on a lot of things.
  - amanaplanacanal 3y ago
    I love a good murder mystery. And the libertarian/anarchist setting is really fun.
    - natechols 3y ago
      If you haven't already read "The Ungoverned" I recommend it as well - although much shorter it's effectively the second part in a trilogy, bridging the two novels and featuring the same main character as "Marooned in Realtime".
duskwuff 3y ago
> I haven't touched just out of the fear that I wouldn't love it as much as ADITS... Should I? Don't. It's nowhere near as good as either of the previous books, and the ending leaves some important plot points unresolved.
- hinkley 3y ago
  I just read it a couple of years ago, missed the memo that there was a third book. It feels like book 3/4 but he has not finished the story and I worry if he ever will.
  - duskwuff 3y ago
    > It feels like book 3/4 but he has not finished the story Worse: Children felt like the author stalling for time on the greater plot. Chekov's gun isn't just left unfired; the author takes it down, polishes it a bit, and puts it back on the mantle without firing a shot. Assuming that it's still canon, The Blabber tells us how it ends, but there's some very interesting stuff in between we're still waiting for.
  - steve1977 3y ago
    AFAIK he’s not of very good health unfortunately and won’t be writing any further books.
    - hinkley 3y ago
      I started saying this as a joke a few years ago but maybe Brian Sanderson can step in and finish it...

krasin 3y ago

A Deepness In The Sky is the best in the trilogy, by far.

wiredfool 3y ago
It's certainly the one that stuck with me.

arghdos 3y ago

As a huge fan of both those books, no, the third book is only OK.

saiya-jin 3y ago

Probably just me, but it first book was such a schizophrenic experience. Loved every single bit of space part but couldn't care less about medieval cluster dog minds part, eventually grew bored of it and it felt disturbing. Especially when author thinks some minor medieval squabbles are equally important as the galactic space part, giving it same page count. Suffered till the end, and lost any motivation to continue since following books proudly advertised that the form is there to stay. There are vastly more diverse stories that still link well together, ie Hyperion cantos was an amazing experience for me. Literally 7 different stories coming together, from cyberpunk to high religious politics, but always connected to same technological universe.

vkou 3y ago
The first Hyperion book is excellent, the second is decent, but for anybody not in the know - do yourself a favor and skip the two that follow.
- thriftwy 3y ago
  I disagree, they have some stuff to think through, even if they're not as shiny as the first one. Perhaps he did himself a disservice by showing all he's got at the very begining of the series, though. That stuff has the Star Wars vibe where Ep 1-3 have much more grandiosity than the original series - luckily the weren't chronologically first.
  - vkou 3y ago
    The problem isn't the highlights of it - it's the low-lights, which make up most of those books. The main POV character is incredibly annoying to follow around - he's a dense, not-too-intelligent, but incredibly-long-winded everyman, who is never told to shut up by anyone around him. I don't need an everyman perspective[1] on an epic science-fiction story! I am an everyman! I can form my own opinion of it! They are also rather heavy on author-dictated philosophy (which is not particularly interesting, or insightful, and manages to fall flat in a pretty major self-contradictory way) - whereas the first two Hyperion books have much less of an author's voice in them, and are much more of a presentation of an interaction of different, competing value systems. That is interesting! Listening to the chosen one go on and on about choosing again (when none of their disciples actually do) is not! The overall plot of them is fine. It's, unfortunately, all in the execution. [1] Or at least, not one that's hammered into me for ~60% of the book.
- sideshowb 3y ago
  I disagree. Yes #1 was best. I thought #2 was the weakest link, but with the redeeming feature of getting you to #3 and #4. Are they perfect, no, but they do have good moments aplenty and I thought the ending worth the journey. Edit: thinking back, the ending of #2 was bloody spectacular as well. I think the sheer volume of character/world building must help as preparation for impactful endings.

flatline 3y ago

Deepness and Marooned in Realtime are his favorites of mine. Both sequels to less impressive novels imo. I like his writing in general but those two were really brilliant.

le-mark 3y ago
Marooned in Realtime is probably my all time favorite work of science fiction. It altered my perspective on a lot of things.
- amanaplanacanal 3y ago
  I love a good murder mystery. And the libertarian/anarchist setting is really fun.
  - natechols 3y ago
    If you haven't already read "The Ungoverned" I recommend it as well - although much shorter it's effectively the second part in a trilogy, bridging the two novels and featuring the same main character as "Marooned in Realtime".

duskwuff 3y ago

> I haven't touched just out of the fear that I wouldn't love it as much as ADITS... Should I? Don't. It's nowhere near as good as either of the previous books, and the ending leaves some important plot points unresolved.

hinkley 3y ago
I just read it a couple of years ago, missed the memo that there was a third book. It feels like book 3/4 but he has not finished the story and I worry if he ever will.
- duskwuff 3y ago
  > It feels like book 3/4 but he has not finished the story Worse: Children felt like the author stalling for time on the greater plot. Chekov's gun isn't just left unfired; the author takes it down, polishes it a bit, and puts it back on the mantle without firing a shot. Assuming that it's still canon, The Blabber tells us how it ends, but there's some very interesting stuff in between we're still waiting for.
- steve1977 3y ago
  AFAIK he’s not of very good health unfortunately and won’t be writing any further books.
  - hinkley 3y ago
    I started saying this as a joke a few years ago but maybe Brian Sanderson can step in and finish it...