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Offlineteamkiller
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sci-fi and fantasy book reviews
    #21532138 - 04/11/15 09:34 AM (9 years, 1 month ago)

so i decided a couple years ago i was only gonna read trash sci fi and fantasy books.  i like rating things here is my book reviews (i'm guessing at the spelling of author names sry)

My ratings scale is
25/100:"terrible"
40/100: "bad"
50/100:"meh"
60/100:"ok"
75/100:"pretty good"
80/100:"pretty darn good"
85/100:"fantastic"

sword of truth series by terry goodkind
12/100

These books are absolute trash, in fact it was these books that gave me the idea i should only read trash.
other people on the internet could probably describe goodkind's shortcomings more in depth than me. #3 on this list is a good review of him
http://bestfantasybooks.com/worst-fantasy-books.html
they didn't mention he repeats himself constantly.  If you took out the author repeating things, these books would be like 1/3rd the size.  Isn't that something ayn rand did too?

There are two interesting things out of these 12 giant books
1) in like book 5 or 6 they briefly describe magical warfare in an interesting and novel way. 
2) book 7 or 8 starts as a normal fantasy book, then halfway through turns into a direct copy of "the fountainhead".  You find out that the super mega wizard the hero has been fighting for 10,000 pages or whatever, is evil because he's  communist and thinks sharing is the best way to help people.  The hero stages a capitalist revolution to bring freedom to land.

kingkiller chronicles by patrick rofuss
Name of the wind - 81/100
The Wise Man's Fear - 60/100

the first book is pretty good.  Like an adult harry potter or whatever.  the second one is a mishmash of magical shit happening for no real reason.

neverwhere by neil gainman
76/100

This book is pretty cool.  There is a little too much horror/comedy contrast for me, and I would have liked if it went into the magic more, but all in all its like a nice 1 novel like, literary desert or whatever.

prince of thorns
20/100

trash/horrible

starship troopers by heinlen
71/100

Yeah i kind of like this book.  its good because its short.  its fun to mix space marines with simple military philosophy.

moon is a harsh mistress by heinlen
83/100

I like this book a lot, i think its the best of his books.

the windup girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
57/100

This book isn't good, but its not horribly written, and its got some interesting descriptions of technology in a time when metal/electric machinery isn't practical.  Also it describes a future in which bioengineering agricultural companies have made viruses to kill off everything so they have a monopoly on their own resistant food

man in the high castle by philip dick
70/100

yes this book is pretty ok.  I generally like his writing and the iching refrences throughout are cool

the blade itself by joe Abercrombie
???/100

I read like the first 20 pages of this one and was like "there is no way i'm reading this trash".  the writing was unbearable.  This book has good reviews so maybe i'm missing something past the first 20 pages.

Takeshi Kovacs novels by Richard K. Morgan
72/100

I think there are 3 books and they're all pretty much the same quality.  these books are pretty all right cyber punk books. Nothing deep but its got future drugs and chips that save all your memories.

actually i'm gonna change my rating from 68->72 right now because these books do have some pretty entertaining moments.  In one of them the hero goes to a place called the "soul market".  During a war scavengers go around collecting all of people's memory chips (which is like their digitized selves) and so this market you can just buy people's minds in bulk, by weight.  Its overseen by a guy that imitates cyber papa legba or baron samahdi i can't remember which.
Another scene describes alien ships of unimaginable technology locked in millennium of automated warfare long after the aliens are all gone.

daemon series by Daniel Suarez
44/100

These books are the sci-fi equivalent of mcdonalds. it looks like a real book, it tastes like a real book, it kind of smells like a real book, but nothing about it is satisfying or good for you.  its totally empty but gives the feeling that you're really reading, so i mean you know you should probably read real books but whatever this will do for now.

prince of nothing and aspect emporer series by r scott baker
68->75/100

These books are all pretty even in quality I think.  They're more interesting as you get into the series.  I kind of didn't like them just because i didn't care about the characters or the world or whatever, probably other people would really like these books a lot.  Actually the more i think of it these books are kind of epic in scope, and so i'm going to give it a spread score.  its almost pretty good (75), i don't want to give people a false impression that they're just ok. Still personally I didn't care for a lot of the characters and plots or whatever.  I don't like lord of the rings either.

damned and doomed by chuck panalnquik (how the fuck u spell that?)
40/100

Both these books sucked.  that guy was one of my favorite writers at one point but everything from diary onwards has been horrible.

the acts of caine series by Matthew Stover
55/100

These books are fast food that you actually like (for me its taco bell).  They're not good books, but they're kind of fun reads.  If i remember correctly i think the 2nd and 3rd books are the best, the first book being a little cliche.

Mistborn series by  Brandon Sanderson
70->79/100

This is another series that probably other people would like more than me. I think most people would say these books are pretty good.  I just didn't like the characters and I thought the eating metal and jumping around was boring and weird.  So my personal rating is much lower than i think its objective rating, in summary these books are pretty good.

I should note here, i have absolutely 0 memory of "alloy of law".  Usually when I have no memory of a book it means I didn't like it.  So like, I don't know what to say about that.

Perdido Street Station series by  China Miéville
40/100

Bad. almost really bad.  Its one saving grace is its description of a race of intelligent dimensional traveling spiders who weave reality.
everything else in these books suck.  maybe the characters aren't so bad.

The Black Company series by  glen cook
76/100

Ok, these books really shouldn't be reviewed together, but I'm already bored of making this list. The series as a whole is pretty good.  There are bad books and good books in this series.  If i recall correctly, each book gets better, so the first book is kind of bad, and the last book is almost pretty darn good.  The books change a lot because he wrote them over like 20 years.  sry for lumping them together


game of thrones
61/100

This is another series I shouldn't review together. I vaguely recall there was some seriously boring books.  I think the first one or two books are pretty ok and then the last 2 are totally flavorless boring walls of text. I don't remember exactly, but yeah these books kind of suck. tv show is much better.  These books might be good if they were edited down 50%

The Saga of Recluce by L. E. Modesitt
81/100

again, this is a big series not fair to lump them together, but i'm doing it.  These books are pretty darn cool i think.  the quality is kind of a bell curve shape.

I like these books a lot, even though the writing isn't like the best ever.  It has this system of magic where everything breaks down into chaos and order, and they spend a fuck ton of time talking about the magical system, but a lot of times the author is being philosophical with it.

Otherland by tad williams
10/100

At first i thought i had downloaded a second life fanfiction by mistake.  I pretty much hated this book, and will never read another tad williams book because of it.

I read a bunch of trash 1 off books which i may update later, but probably not they're all bad.


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OfflinePatlal
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Re: sci-fi and fantasy book reviews [Re: teamkiller]
    #21532148 - 04/11/15 09:37 AM (9 years, 1 month ago)

The only sci-fi I have read is the Ender's game series

Ender's Game: 85/100

Both sequels were: 40/100


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OfflinePsilosopherr
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Re: sci-fi and fantasy book reviews [Re: Patlal]
    #21532226 - 04/11/15 09:58 AM (9 years, 1 month ago)

I know this is about bad books mostly, but I'd highly recommend the mass effect books. especially if you enjoyed the mass effect games.

They are surprisingly well written. and you learn lots of background stuff about the ME universe

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Offlinelowbrow
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Registered: 09/12/08
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Re: sci-fi and fantasy book reviews [Re: Patlal]
    #21532262 - 04/11/15 10:06 AM (9 years, 1 month ago)

I thought the Sword of Truth series was great.  I had been reading  it since I was eighteen. 

Why you put a PKD novel on this list, I'll never understand.  The Man in the High Castle is a work of pure genius.  His novels can be some of the most moving stories you will ever read.  I'd suggest reading more of his .  I'm surprised Kurt Vonnegut didn't make the list.


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Amanita86 said:
Sui is trying to mod right now.  Kinda like a newborn calf tryin ta stand fer the first time ain’t it..

Edited by lowbrow (04/11/15 10:07 AM)

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Offlinediscreet1
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Registered: 02/20/14
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Re: sci-fi and fantasy book reviews [Re: Psilosopherr]
    #21532274 - 04/11/15 10:09 AM (9 years, 1 month ago)

goodkind's not that bad and "game of thrones" is actually just the first book, the series is called song of ice and fire, the first three are amazing.

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Offlineteamkiller
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Re: sci-fi and fantasy book reviews [Re: lowbrow]
    #21532283 - 04/11/15 10:11 AM (9 years, 1 month ago)

I'm sorry but if you like goodkind you're probably a psychopath :frown:  I won't hold it against you because you're probably a rich republican business man.



Yeah thats not a full list of books i've read, There is a bunch of classics like enders game and LOTR and star wars books or whatever.  Some of those books i reviewed aren't trash.

I'm definitely looking for suggestions for sci fi and fantasy books that aren't classics, and first thing i'm gonna do is check out hte mass effect books even though i never played the game.  i was also thinking of reading the magic the gathering novelizations.


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Invisiblequinn
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Registered: 01/02/10
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Re: sci-fi and fantasy book reviews [Re: teamkiller]
    #21532400 - 04/11/15 10:33 AM (9 years, 1 month ago)

if someone is looking for a scifi short story read this
The Monster

i posted it like 3 years ago and noone replied.. not even to my pathetic bump.

i found it mind blowing, not cos of the writing but the unfolding of the narrative itself..

OP what is it that has drawn you to reading trashy novels? just curious, i know it's a thing with movies but i dont really get much enjoyment from bad novels..

ratings:

VALIS - Phil Dick
Mindblowing, like wtf man
88/100

Ubik - Phil Dick
Amazing pace and ideas, seemed a bit rushed in some parts or headless but still great
74.6/100

slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut
amazing, funny, short (impact depends on how much vonnegut you read as i find his style gets a bit tired after a while)
97.67/100

1984 - George Orwell
i could never finish this and i have tried several times, it is too boring
54/100

hunger games - suzanne collins
i liked it.
69.92/100

uuhhm i cant think of any more.. i dont read much scifi altho am into scifi short stories :shrug2:.


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dripping with fantasy

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OfflineReposadoXochipilli
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Re: sci-fi and fantasy book reviews [Re: quinn]
    #21532464 - 04/11/15 10:52 AM (9 years, 1 month ago)

Dune is a great book

Malazan book of the fallen is also great

Been reading the old dark sun books as well as shadow run again just for shits and giggles, going to reread malazan book of the fallen again plus they have a bunch of prequel books now, as well as a "ending" to the series

The wheel of time was great til like book 8 or 9 then it became a cluster fuck of trying up loose ends and ignoring half of what came before

There are some good forgotten realms books as well


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Edited by ReposadoXochipilli (04/11/15 10:53 AM)

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Invisiblequinn
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Registered: 01/02/10
Posts: 6,799
Re: sci-fi and fantasy book reviews [Re: ReposadoXochipilli]
    #21532473 - 04/11/15 10:54 AM (9 years, 1 month ago)

dune is also a terrible movie :yesnod:


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dripping with fantasy

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OfflineReposadoXochipilli
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Registered: 08/30/05
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Re: sci-fi and fantasy book reviews [Re: quinn]
    #21532489 - 04/11/15 10:59 AM (9 years, 1 month ago)

Quote:

quinn said:
dune is also a terrible movie :yesnod:




For its time the extended cut is pretty fucking good...


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OfflineTheMovement
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Registered: 07/30/12
Posts: 6,781
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Re: sci-fi and fantasy book reviews [Re: teamkiller]
    #21532522 - 04/11/15 11:07 AM (9 years, 1 month ago)

Quote:

teamkiller said:
I'm sorry but if you like goodkind you're probably a psychopath :frown:  I won't hold it against you because you're probably a rich republican business man.



Yeah thats not a full list of books i've read, There is a bunch of classics like enders game and LOTR and star wars books or whatever.  Some of those books i reviewed aren't trash.

I'm definitely looking for suggestions for sci fi and fantasy books that aren't classics, and first thing i'm gonna do is check out hte mass effect books even though i never played the game.  i was also thinking of reading the magic the gathering novelizations.




wheel of time. it's fantasy crack!!


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BUMP THIS THREAD EVERYTIME YOU SEE IT

Join the Anarchy Camp!  Down with Oppression!!

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OfflinePsilosopherr
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Re: sci-fi and fantasy book reviews [Re: TheMovement]
    #21532590 - 04/11/15 11:19 AM (9 years, 1 month ago)

1984....boring? I mean yes there's a lull in the middle.

Idk, I love that book long time.

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