OT - Book (Fiction) Review/Recommendations Thread

[Marc]

I also just finished reading Ender's Game, another sci-fi novel exploring war in the far future. It's targetted at young adults but I found it pretty intense and mature in tone and content.

I've read the "Ender's Game" and the four sequels that "complete" the cycle intitated in the first novel: "Speaker for the Dead", "Xenocide" and "Children of the mind" . Raellus, I recommend all of them to you. And forget about "targetted at young adults" with the sequels though I must warn you: they are not about the war, though some of their consecuences are in the background of the plot.

As Targan said, there are other novels from Orson Scott Card set in the same universe apart from the listed above, but I've not read them. Some of them, I think are like some kind of "spin-off" with characters from the first novel.

[headquarters]

Cormac McCarthy

I've recently read two novels about the post-apoc backround, one of them discovered thanks to this forum. The first one is "The road", by Cormac McCarthy. Strangely I was planning to buy it trough Amazon after reading a recommendation from Kato but while I was bored in the queue of the supermarket I realized that the unknown novel exposed in one desk near the cashdesk and titled oeLa carretera was, in fact, oeThe road. Ah! The fate and its own strange mechanisms...Ok, here you have the original thread:

http://forum.juhlin.com/showthread.phpt=142

And, as Kato stated, 5 out of 5 mushrooms clouds... Only small advice: Dont expect to find any explanation about the cause of the apocalypse. Just read the book, suffer (and enjoy).

And, as a oebonus track, the trailer of the film. Personally Ive found it too long and it seems that the director has added some clues about the cause of the end of the civilitzation...so...only for precaution...read the book before see the story trough the eyes of others...

http://www.youtube.com/watchv=hbLgszfXTAY

The other book Ive read is oeWasteland, stories of the apocalypse, about 20 short stories, gathered together, all of them playing with the end of the civilitzation. This book is more in the sci-fi genre. Some of its stories are settled far away in the future, thousands of years after the collapse. Others are about the collapse process itself. Its possible you will find here some story you have previously read. In my case, Ive found one story from Orson Scott Card and its book oeThe Folk of the Fringe.
A recommendation: oeWhen Sysadmins ruled the Earth.

The links to Amazon for more information:

http://www.amazon.com/Wastelands-Stories-Apocalypse-Stephen-King/dp/1597801054

http://www.amazon.com/Road-Cormac-Mc.../dp/0307265439

Cormac McCarthy is an excellent writer - I have read several of his books and just swalllow hard sometimes -he can get to you .

great books

[Marc]

The imminent film adaptation about "The Road" spurred me to read the book before the premiere of the movie.

[headquarters]

also try..

The imminent film adaptation about "The Road" spurred me to read the book before the premiere of the movie.

the border trilogy ,child of God and Blood Meridian .

Not quite opostapocalyptic - but as I said -gripping good reads.

[Marc]

Thanks HQ. I will add them to my list.

[Raellus]

I loved The Road so much, as soon as I finished it, I rushed out and bought Blood Meridian. That was well over a year ago and I haven't managed to finish it. It's beautifully written but it is so unrelentingly bloody- and almost pointlessly so- that I just can't bring myself to pick it up to finish. I'm not particularly squeemish, but all of the central characters in the book are brutal types with no apparent redeaming qualities, murdering their way across the American southwest.

Perhaps if I finish it, there will be some degree of redemption at the end.

[Kellhound]

Nothing by David Drake yet
Besides his Hammer's Slammers series (sometimes irregular in quality), I recommend Redliners, where a group of "burned out" front-line soldiers from a war against the aliens is sent to babysit a bunch of "forced colonists".

Another good one is Falkenbergs Legion, from Jerry Pournelle. The US and USSR join to form the CoDominium, stop technological advance, and set to colonize new worlds.

Also liked two series by John Ringo: Into the looking glass (and it's space mushrooms from the second novel onward ), and the "Posleen War series". Maybe too American centered (logically), but fun. I haven't read yet Watch on the Rhine, where the German must face the option of rejuvenating former Waffen SS troops to fight against the alien invaders. Sounds interesting.

I must mention Doomfarers of Coramonde too, if only for the rescue mission to Hell.

[Caradhras]

Children of the Dust : Louise Lawrence. Story of 3 generations of survivors after a nuclear war in the UK.

Just read this - very good imo, written in mid-80s so gives a real feel for the time even if it has inaccuracies.

[Marc]

The Man in the High Castle

This weekend I"ve finished The Man in the High Castle, by Philip K Dick, thanks to a recommendation from an old friend. Perhaps many of you have read it. If not, it"s a good book, so I recommend it to you, too. The story is set in 1962, in a world where the Axis has won the Second World War and the former US have been divided between Japan and Germany. Here you have an interesting wiki article about the book: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_in_the_High_Castle

[headquarters]

Two good Post Apoc reads

I have finished one and halfway through the other -both good reads.

1.Alas Babylon : One of the best and one of the first to deal with our specific brand of apocalypse -nuclear war .It seems realistic,down to earth and it is well researched.The plot is good and the characters believable and interesting.A small town in the US survives the initial exchange.How to survive the aftermath is the main story .It is packed with useful info on how to do things and how to prepare ,but it is not your right wingy survivalist weirdo type of book.
As a GM and a player it gives you facts and imagery that is useful for the game as well. Got the English edition of Ebay for around 8 bucks plus shipping .Totaly worth it -a classic.

2. Metro 2033 ( the novel -not the game ) : cost around 20 bucks on ebay -definently worth it for 500 pages of post apoc Kalashnikov packed mutant Moscow sci fi horror.
Only half finished and already a review Yes ,I feel that it is that good.A little more over the top than Alas,Babylon but still cracking good.It has an oppressive,dark feel that is relentless .Set in Moscows huge underground it portrays life in the aftermath of an al out full exchange .The surface is hazardous enviroment and you can only stay up for minutes or hours at best even with the best of suits.Central control has broken down ,and its each man for himself or in some places they have banded together making stations their "nations" and some even have "federations" where stations cooperate.It is a very Russian book ( the author is a Russian journalist ) , and as any good SCI FI it reflects on our current society -or rather on theirs up there in Russia.As our hero moves through this brutal world he encounters the future offspring of political movements ,religious fanatics,capitalists etc all condensed in the subterran tunnels .
.In typical Russian litterary tradition there are intelectual conversations between drug using survivors that huddle in abandoned stations as well as encounters with mutants,horrors hiding in the darkness,and firefights between the various factions .It all takes place in an unique enviroment imho -cant wait to see the movie -if they make it !

finished it - loved it .A bit over the top in some ways ,but thats part of the package.Recommneded .

A sequel ,Metro 2034 is supposed to be out in 2011.

[pmulcahy11b]

The book I'm reading on-and-off right now is an analysis, not a fiction book: 7 Deadly Scenarios, by Andrew F Krepinevich. It deals with 7 possible modern doomsday scenarios, all of which are plausible. The chapter names include:

1) The Collapse of Pakistan
2) War Comes to America (nuclear weapons smuggled into the US by terrorists invoking a nuclear response by the US against the country harboring the terrorists)
3) Pandemic
4) Armageddon: The Assault in Israel
5) China's "Assassin's Mace" (China's retaking of Taiwan, accompanied by worldwide cyberattacks and pre-emptive nuclear strikes on Japan, South Korea, and Guam)
6) Just Not-on-Time (The collapse of the Global Economy)
7) Who Lost Iraq (Our invasion and later departure from Iraq leading to a regional war that destroys much of the oil-producing capacity of the Middle East for a prolonged period of time)

[Webstral]

Fireforce by Chris Cocks. If you've read Vietnam fiction and/or autobiographies, Fireforce is both similar and a welcome change. The Rhodesians fought their war on their own turf with the bare minimum of hardware and manpower. They never had a reasonable prospect of winning the war on the battlefield, but they fought very well. I can't help but think that a mentality of shortage might help the US Army do a better job. The Rhodesian experience has some useful lessons for us in Afghanistan.

Webstral

[Wereferret]

Just finished reading 'Temeraire' and now wading through 'Throne of Jade' by Naomi Novik. They're both part of an alternate-Napoleonic history where England and France both have a small aerial corps of pilots who ride domesticated dragons. The premise sounds silly, and I don't normally read fantasy but a friend loaned it to me, and I found the first chapter so well written that I just kept going. I heard Peter Jackson just optioned it for a cable miniseries in the next 5 years so the series should be coming to TV with a competent hand at the tiller.

[Raellus]

2. Metro 2033 ( the novel -not the game ) : cost around 20 bucks on ebay -definently worth it for 500 pages of post apoc Kalashnikov packed mutant Moscow sci fi horror.

Strange that this book has a very limited distribution here in the states. Amazon doesn't carry it and the sellers that do are charging over $20 for a paperback. There's already an XBOX360 game based on it but the book on which it is presumably based is nowhere to be found.

Now I really want to read it.

[headquarters]

ebay / amazon

Strange that this book has a very limited distribution here in the states. Amazon doesn't carry it and the sellers that do are charging over $20 for a paperback. There's already an XBOX360 game based on it but the book on which it is presumably based is nowhere to be found.

Now I really want to read it.

It is just recently translated to English.It might come down over the next months.
Its avaialble on internet vendor sites .

Make sure you get an English ed if your Russian / German is rusty

firefighst in subterran tunnels with AKs and Stechkin pistols ..nasty things with claws..future survivalist nazies...

It is packed with good stuff imho.