The Book Thread - fiction, nonfiction, reference, etc

[nnodley]

Haha glad book 7 has hooked you.

As a person that has just gotten into reading, is that normal? Have a couple off books in a series and then get great again?

I mean I don't doubt that they weren't great books, but the tonal shift from a much more Protomolecule overall story to a solar system wide war was weird.  Even in the show i didn't care for the change in season 5/6.

Not really a spoiler, but the addition of Marco Inaros randomly in 5/6 without even a slight build up to it in the previous books/seasons didn't fit right with me.  I guess maybe that's the point, he went under the radar. Idk, I've seem a lot of people saying the same about 5/6 being a slog to get through.  And that 7, 8, 9 are amazin.

[nnodley]

But yeah, I don't think it's weird to have a book or two in the middle of the series that's not as engaging or as great

[Legend]

9 books!? 

Even with a 2 book series I was starting to get later spoilers recommended to me by the algorithm. At least in your case you've already watched the show.

[the-pi-guy]

https://www.reddit.com/r/TheExpanse/comments/s1c8ld/the_expanse_book_rankingsratings/

Seems normal ^
Some people liked Book 6, but for a lot of people it's way at the bottom. 

Haha glad book 7 has hooked you.

As a person that has just gotten into reading, is that normal? Have a couple off books in a series and then get great again?

Isn't everything a mix?
You got some things that are good all the way through, you got some things that are good only at the start, or only at the end, and all of the other possibilities. 

[nnodley]

9 books!? 

Even with a 2 book series I was starting to get later spoilers recommended to me by the algorithm. At least in your case you've already watched the show.

Yeah, I'm steering clear of any long series for a while. I've read two longer series back to back. Red Rising and Expanse. Red Rising though was pretty fantastic the entire way through.  

1-4 of expanse was great though even having seen the show. 


I have tons of standalone novels on my shelves that I'll try to get through after expanse.

[Legend]

Finished echopraxia.

Was ok. Blindsight was so so great and this just felt like random filler.

[Legend]

Almost done with Project Hail Marry.

Not at all the story I expected. Fun and good. It's cool having mostly hard sci fi that is light. Feels a lot like the comedy in the Martian movie.

[Legend]

All done.

Pretty great! More thoughts later.

Edt: now is later

Very solid 9/10 I think. No real super amazing high points like maybe all the other books I've read, but no low points.

It was good/great the whole way through, never anything else.




Not at all the story I expected. I only knew the title and "build fast ship" before I saw the movie trailer a few months ago. But even with the trailer, I expected it to be more about the Earth side and less about the space side.

So really it exceeded my expectations in every way with the story.

My absolute only critics are that it felt a bit safe. Maybe that's a relative term and most think this is crazy far out, idk. I just wish it pushed things a bit farther.





Between it, Rendesvous with Rama, and Blindsight though, man have I got a good sampling of these stories.

Blindsight #1 by far. Yet I really liked how Hail Mary worked through problems. It was a lot like Ramas yet with less mystery, more answers.

The humor was fun. It was weird having such a smart book not take itself too seriously. I wish it was smarter with some of the hard sci fi but it was still good hard sci fi with not too much pop misunderstanding.


Idk. In a way it makes me like all the previous books I've read more. I think just because it's been a few months and I'm reminded that even the "bad" books were plenty good.


Really looking forward to the movie. Gonna go rewatch the trailer.