Reading Recommendations
A Discerning Gamer's Literary Suggestions
The Blade Itself--Dieter the Bold 13:39, 29 April 2009 (MST) I just finished The Blade Itself, book 1 in a trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. It was a most interesting low-fantasy book. Magic didn't happen often, and when it did it was well placed, and it was a very realistic portrayal of characters in a feudal setting. One of the main characters used to be an aristocratic champion fencer, but was captured in a war and tortured into a twisted shell, and is now an inquisitor. Very believable characters and no punches pulled.
Edmiao cheryl just finished reading that trilogy, she liked them.
The Road -- Edmiao Posted this on the main page a few weeks ago, here again. Fantastic post apocalyptic tale, occurs something like 7 years after the hollocaust. Grippingly written page turner, quite a fast read. By Cormac McCarthy.
The Baroque Cycle -- Matts Everyone knows (or DO THEY) about Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson's most popular book, and Anathem, his best book, but the Baroque Cycle is my favorite for its sheer insane scope. It's got a syphilitic missing half his dong, a Jesuit samurai, and really great portrayals of all sorts of 17th and 18th century characters like Louis XIV, the Duke of Marlborough, and Peter the Great. Also, it's a historical-fiction pirate story about the invention and use of modern finance.
--Brandon 14:38, 29 April 2009 (MST) I will second Matt's enthusiastic recommendation of The Baroque Cycle. In fact, I think that the books in the cycle are FAR superior to Anathem, but that's neither here nor there. Also, I just finished Perdido Street Station upon Matt's recommendation, and I highly enjoyed (although maybe he has too many good ideas in one place for his own good by the end). I'm planning on looking for more of Mieville's stuff. Matt, you said Scar was good as well, right?
--Matts 14:46, 29 April 2009 (MST)I remember liking perdido street station more; the climax was better thought and that is still the scariest moth I've ever read about. The Scar's plotting is a little spottier, but again, chock full of cool ideas, and very descriptive writing.
I figured you wouldn't like anathem. To me it read like a computer scientist's perfect synthesis of physics and philosophy. For a philosopher, it probably reads like flim-flam. But I think it's his best mainly because it's well-plotted and doesn't get bogged down in details, has a satisfying, coherent ending, and still has the pedagogical element that I really liked in the Baroque Cycle and Cryptonomicon.
--Brandon 15:02, 29 April 2009 (MST) Yeah, definitely good description, a great setting, cool ideas, and a scary-ass moth!
As for Anathem, flim-flam might be going a bit far, but I think that you are basically right in your diagnosis. I'm not particularly interested in Platonism (or the Realism/Anti-Realism debate that naturally accompanies it), nor am I particularly interested in the Many Worlds interpretation of Quantum Mechanics. So, it follows that I'm really not going to be interested in some sort of attempt to blend the two together. That being said, I actually liked Anathem overall for all of the reasons you stated. I just LOVED The Baroque Cycle.
