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/lit/ - Literature

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File: 170 KB, 1016x709, Banks Consider Phlebas.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
10850000 No.10850000 [Reply] [Original]

Is Space Opera all terrible? I got this as a recommendation and it's 50% ridiculously contrived action scenes used as filler between actually necessary action scenes. The sentence level writing is actually fine but it just seems structurally retarded and to skirt around the interesting bits in order to do pointless vignettes like laser fight in a glasshouse, titanic but bigger and incredibly subtle religion bashing chapter. Is there someone else who can do this right?

>> No.10850042

That author has plenty of much better works. Wasp Factory being one of them though thematically very different. One called Walking on Glass might be a bit closer to what you want.

As for "space opera" I really don't know anything decent that isn't comedy.

>> No.10850053

>>10850000
Consider Phlebas is the weakest of the series. Excession is best, although even that contains scenes you'll probably call "pointless vignettes".

>> No.10850059

>>10850042
I've actually read some of his non sci fi, and I like the Wasp Factory fine. Was just interested in Phlebas because the idea of the Culture was cool

>> No.10850074

>>10850000
>genre fiction
What do you think?

>> No.10850094

>>10850074
See no reason why a niche can't contain masterpiece or two. And sci fi is dealing with objectively interesting ideas. I just wish it didn't have attention deficit disorder

>> No.10850099

>>10850000
Read Niven instead.

>> No.10850107

>>10850099
OP, whatever you do, do not listen to this guy. Niven is a lot like Banks but worse in every way.

>> No.10850135

>>10850000
I read Triplanetary recently, and the only good chapter is basically just office politics. And according to Wikipedia, Smith actually had a PhD in chemical engineering, and worked in explosives manufacturing, which explains why it's believable. The rest of the book is (occasionally entertaining) trash.

>> No.10850142
File: 87 KB, 313x475, quant.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
10850142

>>10850107
>>10850135
Well shit, this isn't very encouraging. How about pic related? sounds like more posthumanism in spaaaace, which is sort of what I want.