this post was submitted on 13 Jan 2025
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Science Fiction

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Lemmy World Rules

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In the mood for engineering / competence porn. What are your favourite novels / series? (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) by AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works to c/sciencefiction@lemmy.world
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As an example, I love the Martian, and I think a lot of older books from authors like Asimov are heavily into engineering / competence porn. Other favs in this category include the standalone novel Rendezvous with Rama to leave you wishing for more, most of the Culture series for happy utopian vibes, Schlock Mercenary for humor, Dahak series for fun mindless popcorn.

Edit: I'm so happy to have found a replacement for r/books and the rest of them.

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[–] Subverb@lemmy.world 9 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

The Three Body Problem is bad. The hype for the book is a good example of "The Emporer's New Clothes".

[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago

It’s a little bit of a slog. There are a lot of cultural references, plot devices, characters, and ways of moving through the story that are literally foreign to the western mind. Odd injections of what feels like philosophy. At least the version I read. Once you get used to it it gets better.

[–] AFKBRBChocolate@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I was surprised at how little I liked it given the hype.

[–] Subverb@lemmy.world 6 points 3 weeks ago

I did enjoy the parts about the Cultural Revolution and some of the dialog from Da Shi. That's about it.

[–] damnthefilibuster@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I have finished the series and absolutely loved it.

Could you please explain why you consider it bad?

[–] AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

I loved it for the game theory, ideas, and what-if aspects. The characters however, were flat 2D cutouts. I can't say how much of that was due to translation issues, if any.

[–] damnthefilibuster@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

I dunno. Most sci-fi I read from western authors is horrible with their characters. Maybe because I’m mostly reading older sci-fi? Either ways, I didn’t hold that against him or the story.