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Books I read recently
Terry Pratchett, Small Gods
This is a Discworld book, not very recent but from after Pratchett really hit his stride, and often cited as one of the best. It's a relatively standalone work, not part of any sub-series, though it's the one that introduces Om, the Discworld's closest equivalent to the Abrahamic God, who is referenced elsewhere. I liked it, and it seemed a little bit deeper and more minor-keyed than most of the satires he was writing around that time, though not as much so as some recent novels like Night Watch and Thud!
John Scalzi, The Android's Dream
A fluffy comic science-fiction caper novel about diplomatic relations with aliens, with no androids in it (the Dream of the title is a breed of electric-blue sheep). This felt almost like a throwback to an earlier age of science fiction, maybe the light satirical SF of the Horace Gold Galaxy, when you could get away with a world with near-future trappings in some ways indistinguishable from our own, but with aliens and interstellar cruise liners and other random basic SF tropes thrown in there too. In a modern context, it sort of works again because nobody in their right mind would take it as a serious attempt at worldbuilding. The plot is one of those intricately contrived contraptions of the type W. S. Gilbert used to build, full of arbitrary laws and stipulations specially designed to come together in a comically absurd resolution.
I've heard it compared to Keith Laumer's Retief stories, though I remember those having a sort of nasty "the best diplomat I ever saw was a fully loaded phaser bank" edge that isn't really present here. As satire, it's lighter than the Pratchett, except for some somber meditations on a massive military cockup in the backstory. Mostly, it's nutrition-free entertainment that is a thing you will like if you like this sort of thing.
Alastair Reynolds, Chasm City
This is another massive, gloomy SF noir set in the Revelation Space universe; it wasn't marketed as part of that series so I didn't read it at the time, but the later novels actually refer back to stuff that is in it, and it's worth reading just because it's pretty good. The action flips back and forth between the post-catastrophe city of the title, and flashbacks to a planet settled by what James Nicoll would call a degeneration ship (though less pronounced in its degeneration than most).
I found it more involving than the other novels in the series, maybe because it focuses less on the clashing of vast cosmic forces and more on characters. It does kind of turn into "The Most Dangerous Game" for a little while, and then there's another bit that kinda sorta reminded me too much of a certain Futurama episode for me to keep a straight face, but the execution saves it. The plot all clicks together in a satisfying if outlandish manner at the end.
As with all of Reynolds' novels, though, after a while I started to wonder if anyone lived in his universe who wasn't some sort of badass killer. In essence they're crime novels on a galactic scale.
This is a Discworld book, not very recent but from after Pratchett really hit his stride, and often cited as one of the best. It's a relatively standalone work, not part of any sub-series, though it's the one that introduces Om, the Discworld's closest equivalent to the Abrahamic God, who is referenced elsewhere. I liked it, and it seemed a little bit deeper and more minor-keyed than most of the satires he was writing around that time, though not as much so as some recent novels like Night Watch and Thud!
John Scalzi, The Android's Dream
A fluffy comic science-fiction caper novel about diplomatic relations with aliens, with no androids in it (the Dream of the title is a breed of electric-blue sheep). This felt almost like a throwback to an earlier age of science fiction, maybe the light satirical SF of the Horace Gold Galaxy, when you could get away with a world with near-future trappings in some ways indistinguishable from our own, but with aliens and interstellar cruise liners and other random basic SF tropes thrown in there too. In a modern context, it sort of works again because nobody in their right mind would take it as a serious attempt at worldbuilding. The plot is one of those intricately contrived contraptions of the type W. S. Gilbert used to build, full of arbitrary laws and stipulations specially designed to come together in a comically absurd resolution.
I've heard it compared to Keith Laumer's Retief stories, though I remember those having a sort of nasty "the best diplomat I ever saw was a fully loaded phaser bank" edge that isn't really present here. As satire, it's lighter than the Pratchett, except for some somber meditations on a massive military cockup in the backstory. Mostly, it's nutrition-free entertainment that is a thing you will like if you like this sort of thing.
Alastair Reynolds, Chasm City
This is another massive, gloomy SF noir set in the Revelation Space universe; it wasn't marketed as part of that series so I didn't read it at the time, but the later novels actually refer back to stuff that is in it, and it's worth reading just because it's pretty good. The action flips back and forth between the post-catastrophe city of the title, and flashbacks to a planet settled by what James Nicoll would call a degeneration ship (though less pronounced in its degeneration than most).
I found it more involving than the other novels in the series, maybe because it focuses less on the clashing of vast cosmic forces and more on characters. It does kind of turn into "The Most Dangerous Game" for a little while, and then there's another bit that kinda sorta reminded me too much of a certain Futurama episode for me to keep a straight face, but the execution saves it. The plot all clicks together in a satisfying if outlandish manner at the end.
As with all of Reynolds' novels, though, after a while I started to wonder if anyone lived in his universe who wasn't some sort of badass killer. In essence they're crime novels on a galactic scale.
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#1: The Colour of Magic [degenerate case]
#4: Mort
#5: Sourcery [although this is probably in part for sentimental reasons, as it was the first one I read -- but I think that this book does mark a new approach, although that approach probably didn't reach its apotheosis until:]
#8: Guards! Guards!
#13: Small Gods
After that it became too confusing. (It's almost a Fibonacci sequence, though, so figuring out the next few shouldn't be too hard.)
I'm sure that pretty much any other reader of the series would come up with a different list, although I'm curious as to which books would appear on these sorts of lists the most.
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Something I forgot to mention about The Android's Dream is that it's very much a Washington novel, which people familiar with the area ought to find amusing. He bobbles the distinction between Arlington and Alexandria at one point, but for the most part the DC-area geography is entertainingly futurified (Metro has been refitted with maglev trains).
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I always got Alexandra and Annandale mixed up, m'self.
By the way, Laumer's Retief! (http://www.webscription.net/pc-347-1-retief.aspx) is available in the Baen Free Library.
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My favorite that isn't Small Gods is probably Hogfather. The books after that one all seem to be more well-written than the last, but none of them are about the Wizards.
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Hogfather is very good.
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http://www.librarything.com/unsuggester/920
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