I’m watching The Expanse now for the first time and I love it. Some characters are 2-dimensional and have childish motivations sure. But there was a scene in which Chrisjen Avasarala gives an “imminent war” speech extremely sarcastically, like Homer to Marge in the bedroom. I figured they’d address in the episode what her secret plan was for that speech. Turns out: no plan, the actress wasn’t being sarcastic. She was going for strength and gravitas. It makes no sense to me how an otherwise high quality show has those scenes. Surely the director could have gotten a non-sarcastic take. And…
Because a story can be re-imagined for a different medium and enjoyed by people? Who may in turn check out the original story and enjoy that, as well? Others are just as entitled to enjoy an adaptation as you are to not enjoy it. Some people enjoy seeing how a writer, director, cinematographer, cast, set and costume designers, etc present a written work. Lots of people watch an adaptation and find bits they enjoy and bits they don't. If you go through life only demanding or expecting experiences you will enjoy, you're going to be sorely disappointed. I ended up reading The Expanse series…
It's quite stellar that readers come away from some of these series with such different notions. Look up lists of the best hard scifi and you'll find the Remembrance of Earth's Past Trilogy, or at least the Three Body Problem, on almost every one. Many readers come away from the first book stunned at how believable the technology feels compared to something like Star Trek or Star Wars. I'll give you that the further the trilogy goes the looser the explanations get, but that's by design. We jump far, far to the end of the universe. How does anyone give a reasonable explanation for billion…
I see this sentiment a lot and don't really understand it. Until the last few books there is a very clear distinction between the human tech (hard SF) and the alien tech (magic). The main story takes place very much within the limits of plausible physics (ships rely on reaction engines and takes weeks to traverse large distances, space combat and weapons are actually realistic, powered armor doesn't keep people safe from inertia, etc.), and then there are magical elements that the characters run up against. Contrast that with Three Body where the main plot driver revolves around FTL…
Sure the engine tech is fantastical, but the "realism" is in the attention paid to g-loading, momentum, the vast expanse (heh) of space, etc. The authors have chosen strategically which aspects of their story to be fantastical and which parts to keep hard. And of course, every good sci-fi has to do this. Which is why I personally like the metric of "does part of the enjoyment of this story come from a (somewhat) realistic portrayal of real science". Conveniently categorized by my non-sciencey reading buddy. The more it does this, the "harder" it is. However that means the location of the…
Those places are too accessible and too easy for major existing powers to lay claim to if a new settlements there start to thrive. This is especially true for any place on dry land (you really think Russia would allow independence of an economically healthy and growing city-state in Siberia? Fat chance). Basically every square inch of Earth has effectively been spoken for already save for the oceans, but nation states will still happily invent reasons why they actually control the plot you’ve put your city on (“some tiny island in the vicinity is under ours, thus so is your city!”) or maybe…
I wouldn't blame that on people, most people ARE fundamentally peaceful, rather, it's the (as I like to call it) "different interests" causing all these troubles. Everyone is different in their personalities and their means to achieve what they want, so eventually someone may have conflict with you and makes you feel bad. But I've live long enough to realize all of those conflicts are just part of (good old) living, you can hate someone while still find a way to corporate efficiently to make both of you happy. However, the story of The Expanse told me that, as long as we as human beings…
The Wayfarers books The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and A Closed and Common Orbit were quite good. Fantastic world building and characters, although the plots seem to meander about with not too much purpose. https://www.goodreads.com/series/170872-wayfarers Recently ploughed through The Expanse series. https://www.goodreads.com/series/56399-the-expanse Dark Matter was a good read if you like parallel universes. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27833670-dark-matter The Rho Agenda series was a surprisingly good read. https://www.goodreads.com/series/61746-the-rho-agenda Quantum…
I read all of The Expanse. Fun series that takes place after we've colonized the solar system with infighting between Earth, Mars, and those who live out past the belt, when suddenly an alien artifact shows up. Influx (a large secret govt. sect suppressing technology breakthroughs and keeping it for themselves) and Kill Decision (autonomous killing drones) by Daniel Suarez were fun. I liked Deamon (a murder mystery of sorts where the murderer is already dead and automated scripts and whatnot carry out the deeds) and Freedom (part 2) better however. Beyond what I've read this year in Sci-Fi,…
I couldn't get past the first episode, partly because I knew exactly what would happen as I read it recently, but partly because the belters aren't different enough. I can totally understand why they aren't as the costs would have been astronomical, but it's such a huge part of the books it's a little jarring. For those not in the know, Belters are people who were born/grown up in space and look very different as a result: Humans born to the Belt are taller and thinner than those on Earth and Mars because of the decreased gravity. As a result of these physical differences, Belters are…