Sci-fi/Fantasy recommendations

[Malthus]

Okay. I'll read it anyway. I bought it after loads of people here raved about Stephenson.

I've since been told it's not the best to start with

It's not the best if you are a fan of his earlier science fiction, precisely because it is totally unlike that.

I certainly enjoyed it (though I thought the ending rushed - somewhat of a problem with Stephenson). The two criticisms often level at him are his frequent digressions, and his rushed endings. I like his digressions, for the most part.  Cryptonomicon has a hilarious one about writing a business plan. 

Otherwise, there is a lot to like in it - if you are at all interested in WW2 codebreakers, you will enjoy it.

[Berkut]

Cryptonimicon is awesome. Just really excellent.

Except the ending. To say it was rushed doesn't even do it justice. It is like Stephenson got to page 1100, realized that he only had a total budget for 1124 pages, and said "Fuck it, they all died, the end!"

[Eddie Teach]

Cryptonomicon isn't science fiction or fantasy. More like straight fiction.

It's sci-fi in the same manner Crichton is- fiction *about* science but set in the real world.

[Ed Anger]

You like sci-fi with lots of Political stuff? You might like Ken MacLeod. The Star Fraction was his first.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Star_Fraction


personally, I could'nt stand it.

[Razgovory]

I found MacLeod insufferable.

[Ed Anger]

I found MacLeod insufferable.

His head is firmly planted in his ass.

[Ed Anger]

Shiela might like all the Trot bullshit in his books though.

[Darth Wagtaros]

Cryptonimicon is awesome. Just really excellent.

Except the ending. To say it was rushed doesn't even do it justice. It is like Stephenson got to page 1100, realized that he only had a total budget for 1124 pages, and said "Fuck it, they all died, the end!"

He is a gifted author. The Big U was funny.

[Scipio]

Here's a recommendation I don't think I've seen here.

Perdido Street Station by China Miéville.

Great lovecraftian horror in a steampunk & magic 19th century megalopolis.

Uggh. It's fucking terrible. If you like pretension wrapped in turgid prose, but Pynchon is too concise, I'd agree.

[Josquius]

Gardens of the Moon and the first 5-6 books of that series each start really slow, but once you get into them can be entertaining. However somewhere mid-series he switches his genre from high fantasy to horror. Sure high fantasy always has a horror element, but it eventually becomes all horror all the the time. I think I stopped reading for good about book 8.

If you like both high fantasy and horror it might be your thing.

Ush, Gardens of the Moon.
I tried to read that one...but it just isn't very well written. Nothing grabs the reader at all.

[Agelastus]

Gardens of the Moon and the first 5-6 books of that series each start really slow, but once you get into them can be entertaining. However somewhere mid-series he switches his genre from high fantasy to horror. Sure high fantasy always has a horror element, but it eventually becomes all horror all the the time. I think I stopped reading for good about book 8.

If you like both high fantasy and horror it might be your thing.

Ush, Gardens of the Moon.
I tried to read that one...but it just isn't very well written. Nothing grabs the reader at all.

The first 2-300 pages show clear signs of being someone's first published book, one that could have done with perhaps a bit better editing. It (and the series as a whole) does get a lot better.

I bought "Gardens of the Moon" and "Deadhouse Gates" at the same time, and I must confess that I read and enjoyed "Deadhouse Gates" before I managed to finish "Gardens of the Moon" myself.