Tooth and Claw) by Jo Walton. Briefly summarized as, “Maybe I would be able tolerate reading Jane Austen and the like if all of her characters had been dragons.”
Embassytown by China Mievelle. This a book that is primarily idea-driven and secondarily milieu-driven, with plot and character far behind. The pacing is a little slow to start, but it picks up. I guess I would says it’s a work of speculative fiction about philosophy of language and philosophy of mind, which is unusual, and I thought it was quite well-executed. I’m now reading Kraken), which is ok, but not awesome, so based on my sample so far, definitely go with Embassytown if you’re only going to pick one of his books.
Also working my way through all of Pratchett, but I assume I don’t need to recommend that here.
Antirecommendation:
The Rapture of the Nerds It’s transhumanist literature, so it should appeal thematically. Unfortunately, I think they made a conscious choice to convey the sense of an accelerating future by having the plot jump around frenetically and semi-randomly, and I hated this conceit. The parts taking place while the protagonist is an upload are pretty good, but you have to get through a lot of awfulness to get there.
What did you like about Consider Phlebas? I found it deeply unsatisfying. It just seemed like a lot of stuff happened and there was very little thematic or conceptual cohesion behind what was happening. I couldn’t finish it. (A few friends I’ve talked to about Culture novels recommended Player of Games over it, so I’ll try reading that at some point.)
I have read somewhere that Consider Phlebas tends to get a very bimodal love-it-or-hate-it reaction. Certain parts of it I could have done without (the whole chase-through-the-GSV thing seemed the like the equivalent of summer blockbuster fluff), but overall I still found it more gripping than anything else. Possibly this is because, while I ultimately come down on the Culture’s side, I understand Horza’s objection, so the book strikes me as philosophically deeper than some of the others.
I also haven’t yet met a Culture novel I didn’t like; but I’m astonished by your ranking of them, which is nearly the opposite of my own. (I also preferred Consider Phlebas over Look to Windward). The books I’ve read but you haven’t yet gotten to (Excession, Inversions, Surface Detail) are my favorites (in increasing order of preference); I would be very curious to know if they turn out to be your least favorites, in decreasing order...
Recommendations
Tooth and Claw) by Jo Walton. Briefly summarized as, “Maybe I would be able tolerate reading Jane Austen and the like if all of her characters had been dragons.”
Embassytown by China Mievelle. This a book that is primarily idea-driven and secondarily milieu-driven, with plot and character far behind. The pacing is a little slow to start, but it picks up. I guess I would says it’s a work of speculative fiction about philosophy of language and philosophy of mind, which is unusual, and I thought it was quite well-executed. I’m now reading Kraken), which is ok, but not awesome, so based on my sample so far, definitely go with Embassytown if you’re only going to pick one of his books.
I have been making my way through all of Iain M. Banks work. The Algebraist (not a Culture novel) was quite good. All of the Culture novels I’ve read have been good, but if I had to rank them (best to… least best), it would go Consider Phlebas, Look to Windward, The Player of Games, Matter), Use of Weapons
Also working my way through all of Pratchett, but I assume I don’t need to recommend that here.
Antirecommendation:
The Rapture of the Nerds It’s transhumanist literature, so it should appeal thematically. Unfortunately, I think they made a conscious choice to convey the sense of an accelerating future by having the plot jump around frenetically and semi-randomly, and I hated this conceit. The parts taking place while the protagonist is an upload are pretty good, but you have to get through a lot of awfulness to get there.
What did you like about Consider Phlebas? I found it deeply unsatisfying. It just seemed like a lot of stuff happened and there was very little thematic or conceptual cohesion behind what was happening. I couldn’t finish it. (A few friends I’ve talked to about Culture novels recommended Player of Games over it, so I’ll try reading that at some point.)
I have read somewhere that Consider Phlebas tends to get a very bimodal love-it-or-hate-it reaction. Certain parts of it I could have done without (the whole chase-through-the-GSV thing seemed the like the equivalent of summer blockbuster fluff), but overall I still found it more gripping than anything else. Possibly this is because, while I ultimately come down on the Culture’s side, I understand Horza’s objection, so the book strikes me as philosophically deeper than some of the others.
I also haven’t yet met a Culture novel I didn’t like; but I’m astonished by your ranking of them, which is nearly the opposite of my own. (I also preferred Consider Phlebas over Look to Windward). The books I’ve read but you haven’t yet gotten to (Excession, Inversions, Surface Detail) are my favorites (in increasing order of preference); I would be very curious to know if they turn out to be your least favorites, in decreasing order...