I’m new to scifi books, and books in general. (only got into reading 3 years ago) I’ve read dune, the dispossessed , a fire upon the deep and the stars my destination. I’m currently reading the left hand of darkness . What should i read next? Suggest me some of your must-reads.
The Three Body Problem trilogy, in particular the second book. It’s hard to talk about it without giving away the mystery of the first book, but it’s a book series that reshaped my perception of the universe.
Otherwise, there’s Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy for some good old British comedy.
The first one was so bad though. The characters had ZERO depth, and the “game” was obviously created by someone who has never played a game before…ever. The dialogue was so cringey at spots.
Like…I can’t bring myself to read the second book.
I read most of the first book in Chinese, and so attributed it to my language level not being high enough. So I read it in English, and it was worse. Then later, again, someone recommended the TV series, and I watched the whole thing thinking that I might have missed something. I believe the first season also contains parts of book 2. Still, I don’t understand why so many people like it. It feels like it was written by someone who never read other sci-fi before, to say the least.
I felt like that about Everything, Everywhere All at Once. People raving how amazing it was and it just seemed like a campy romp of nonsense…and I love quirk books or shows.
And lauded by people that have never read SF before. It’s like it was written by a literature prof with zero understanding of anything scientific and if he handwaved enough, everyone was just going to hypnotized into a suspension of disbelief. And the terrible character development. And the deus ex machina plot device that invalidates everything else. And and and. Just horrible.
They’re all bad. Don’t bother.
I hated it. Other than the folding think I didn’t find anything worthwhile in it, and I’ve read other books with the same gimmick, if at a smaller scale.
I agree with your points, but I liked the first book despite its flaws. The second book actually has an interesting protagonist that’s not solely a vessel for the story, which is why I particularly like that book. And there’s no weird VR game involved (apart from one very short section).
I absolutely hated the first one. I read that the second one introduces interesting concepts, but I can’t convince myself to go through this again.
The second one is better, the third is a return to the first. I forced my way through them, but honestly it wasn’t worth it.