I definitely recommend trying both the Murderbot books and Leckie's Imperial Ranch series. Neither of them is really a typical example of any particular kind of sci-fi, and they're excellently written. I had no idea I loved AI characters so much before I had read these. Well, another favourite of mine is A Closed And Common Orbit by Becky Chambers, which has an AI learning to live in a human body, so that gave me some idea. But anyway. Murderbot is super easy to start reading, but if you pick up Ancillary Justice, I recommend making sure you can read the first 50 pages or so in a longer session with peaceful surroundings and an alert mind. It takes a while to get used to it, since the narrative alternates in two different timelines, and you're just dumped straight into the events and left to fend for yourself until you've figured out what's going on in this world. The first time I tried reading the book, I made the mistake of taking it with me on my commute, which means short spurts of reading interrupted by people being noisy etc. I was totally lost and had to abandon the book, but I'm glad I gave it another chance. After I'd gotten through the first handful of chapters and started being able to orient myself in the world, I gobbled up the book in a few days of frenzied, loving reading.
Thank you for the rec about the Jemisin series! I've heard it's good, and there's got to be something to a series where both of the first two books have won the Hugo and the third is nominated and might stand a good chance at winning as well. I figured I have to just do what I did with the Leckie book, and give myself enough peaceful time to read the beginning. I tried it now, and I'm already really liking it. :-)
I've read the first of Seanan McGuire's InCryptid series, and loved it. Really look forward to the rest of it. I read the first of the Wayward Children novellas, too; it's beautifully written and plays gorgeously with myths and fairy tales and portal fantasies, but it's quite a bit darker than the InCryptid books, so it wouldn't work for all of my moods.
The first Binti book was great! I think I devoured it in one or two sittings. I haven't read the other two yet, but I really look forward to them.
Essentially, I've only just become aware in the last year or two of what a great Golden Age of imaginative, diverse, creative, well-written sci-fi and fantasy has started just recently, at least in the English-speaking world. I'm waiting for it to be reflected in what gets translated and published here, too.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2018-05-27 01:29 pm (UTC)Thank you for the rec about the Jemisin series! I've heard it's good, and there's got to be something to a series where both of the first two books have won the Hugo and the third is nominated and might stand a good chance at winning as well. I figured I have to just do what I did with the Leckie book, and give myself enough peaceful time to read the beginning. I tried it now, and I'm already really liking it. :-)
I've read the first of Seanan McGuire's InCryptid series, and loved it. Really look forward to the rest of it. I read the first of the Wayward Children novellas, too; it's beautifully written and plays gorgeously with myths and fairy tales and portal fantasies, but it's quite a bit darker than the InCryptid books, so it wouldn't work for all of my moods.
The first Binti book was great! I think I devoured it in one or two sittings. I haven't read the other two yet, but I really look forward to them.
Essentially, I've only just become aware in the last year or two of what a great Golden Age of imaginative, diverse, creative, well-written sci-fi and fantasy has started just recently, at least in the English-speaking world. I'm waiting for it to be reflected in what gets translated and published here, too.