|
Nov 2017
11:48am, 27 Nov 2017
97,324 posts
|
GregP
Hello.
Right. Someone on Goodreads suggested that Alastair Reynolds was the bleak Peter Hamilton.
Discus*.
*other field events available on request.
|
|
Nov 2017
11:50am, 27 Nov 2017
32,048 posts
|
McGoohan
Hello. My one problem with that statement is that I've never read any Peter Hamilton. Mainly because the shortest one is about 1200 pages long. Reynolds keeps it to a nice tight 800 pages.
|
|
Dec 2017
9:43pm, 3 Dec 2017
8,875 posts
|
Badger
Well, that's one of the key differences; Reynolds is much more concise. Reynolds is pretty bleak, yup (spoilers, rot13d: fcraq guerr obbxf fnivat gur tnynkl sebz Zranpr N, guebj va na rcvybthr jurer Zranpr O vf ab ybatre xrcg haqre pbageby ol Zranpr N naq rirelbar unf gb rinphngr naljn). Hamilton is much more cynical, though. Reynolds has a lot of characters who are just plain nasty, but also plenty who are working for something they believe in - Clavain in particular. Hamilton? Nope, everyone out for themselves - look at the ending of Great North Road, or the ending of Footvote (ims) in Manhattan in Reverse, where Jannette achieves salvation by abandoning her principles. (Bet he voted for Brexit).
Also, Reynolds is practically mundane SF - can't think offhand of any FTL travel in his books, where Hamilton has animals which can travel faster than light. Oh, and ghosts.
I really rate Reynolds and I find Hamilton unreadable. Think there's more than a bit of bleakness in that difference.
|
|
Dec 2017
9:53pm, 3 Dec 2017
8,876 posts
|
Badger
BTW, Grep, are you familiar with the enormous whelk I mentioned on Twitter? I think you might like that. More cheerful than either of the above.
|
|
Dec 2017
10:01pm, 3 Dec 2017
97,547 posts
|
GregP
You object to Al Capone, I take it, Badgo? Hamilton does Big Ideas well I think though. 8875 is interesting - thank you.
I still have no idea about this enormous whelk, and I rather get the impression everyone else does.
Have we spoken about Adrian Tchaikovsky at any point?
|
|
Dec 2017
10:23pm, 3 Dec 2017
8,877 posts
|
Badger
The whelk is Neal Asher http://www.foyles.co.uk/witem/fiction-poetry/the-voyage-of-the-sable-keech,neal-asher-9780330521352 Recommended; distinctly lighter touch than either of the above writers, though definitely less into the Big Ideas.
I actually enjoyed the first Hamilton I read - Pandora's Star (with the cliffhanger gag at the end) and Judas Unchained - not least the way he worked with the problems you might have if you were killed and brought back from a back-up of your memories and a clone body. That often gets treated as completely routine. But after that, I ended up coming up against something that really annoyed me (like Al Capone, indeed) after about 1100 pages, and decided I wasn't willing to invest the time any more.
Children of Time is somewhere near the top of Mount Tsundoku. Have you read it? What did you think?
|
|
Dec 2017
5:41am, 4 Dec 2017
97,548 posts
|
GregP
I thought it was s good idea poorly executed I’m afraid.
I’ll add the whelk one to the list.
|
|
Dec 2017
9:23pm, 15 Dec 2017
30 posts
|
[Removed by moderator]
|
|
Dec 2017
9:08am, 30 Dec 2017
98,504 posts
|
GregP
The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper.
Quimby has quite insisted I drop everything and read this RIGHT NOW. Anyone care to tell me why?
|
|
Dec 2017
9:55am, 30 Dec 2017
8,262 posts
|
Little Nemo
I loved the books when I read them years ago GregP. But I don't know how well they would read now as an adult.
|
Acts of Minor Dissent
Sep 2024