Ken Macleod

[iansales]

A review of The Restoration Game is now up in Chrons reviews section here.

 

[Ian Whates]

A review of The Restoration Game is now up in Chrons reviews section here.

I wouldn't disagree with much of what you say in there, either, Ian. I think the book contains some of Ken's best writing yet without necessarily being his very best novel.

This isn't a 'funny' book by any means, but Ken often shows flashes of humour in his work, and the 'Newton's Law' gag in the first few pages had me laughing out loud.

I thought, over all, this was a great read.

 

[iansales]

I think it was a more likable novel than either The Night Sessions or The Execution Channel, but the ending wasn't quite up to his usual WTF-ness.

 

[AE35Unit]

Not got round to this author yet,and once again he's a writer of series books! Makes it hard to find in the library which is annoying.
I had The Star Faction once but never got past the first chapter for some reason.

 

[williamjm]

I've read all of Macleod's novels except for his most recent book. I'd say they're all worth reading. Learning The World is one of his best, I also liked most of the four Fall Revolution books (wasn't too keen on the New Mars-set half of The Stone Canal) and The Execution Channel has an attention-grabbing opening and an audacious ending and would probably be Ken's best novel if the middle didn't lose momentum a bit. Night Sessions was pretty good as well, but I thought it had a lacklustre ending. The Engines of Light trilogy was a bit variable in quality, I thought the third book was the best and it did have a good ending. Newton's Wake I thought was a bit disappoting although it is still an OK read.

 

[Ian Whates]

Not got round to this author yet,and once again he's a writer of series books! Makes it hard to find in the library which is annoying.

Not entirely true, AE. Ken's first four novels were all stand alones but set in the same future, so they've sort of been lumped together as 'The Fall Revolution Novels'. They constitute a very loose series at best.

The Engines of Light trilogy were very much a series in the traditional sense, but that's about the only one. The five novels Ken's written since have all been stand alones, with the first two, Newton's Wake and Learning the World being far future, technological man-in-space type of novels, the more recent three being more techno thriller in flavour (though the label hardly does them justice).

So there are plenty of stand alones out there for you to try.

 

[Fried Egg]

I've only read his short story in an anthology I recent read. The story was called "iThink" and it made me laugh.

 

[iansales]

I definitely second Ian's recommendation. He was one of the best sf authors around at the moment. All of his novels are worth reading.

 

[Ursa major]

What I find comes through in at least some of the books - I haven't read them all - is the joy he seems to have in writing them. At least some of the humour in them comes from this. I find it quite infectious.


(I can almost see him chuckling at some of the ideas and turns of phrase, though this is all projection on my part: I've never met or even seen the author.)

 

[Hypnos164]

I've had Learning the World on my TBR pile for ages and never quite gotten round to it ... clearly i'm missing out - time to move it up the list.

Finished it today and really enjoyed it - some clever twists on the first contact theme and some, mostly, subtle observations on human history/society.

Feels somewhat as though KM would have liked to get more discussion of the philosophy around SETI (Fermi's Paradox, the principal of mediocrity, the anthropic principal etc.) into the book than he managed in the final draft.

 

[Connavar]

This author finally complished what i have been looking for in recent years. Contemporary SF good enough writing ability, has interesting SF ideas,worlds.

I read The Star Fraction and thought it to written,well use of his science,political ideas in the book. He didnt forget to write compelling characters either. Thats the kind of new SF i want good stories that make you think alot.

I ordered yestery through my fav bookstore Learning the World and The Execution Channel

 

[Mangara]

Currently reading The Night Sessions by him and I am enjoying it so far, seems quite deep and well thought out, I'm liking the alternate future angle.

 

[Rodders]

I've only read the Cassini Division, which i enjoyed very much. I'm not sure why i never went back. I think that's an issue i need to rectify on my next book haul.

 

[iansales]

I've read all of Ken's books except for his latest, Intrusion. They're good, though not always satisfying.

 

[J-WO]

The endings don't always work. I put this down to his taking on impossibly big and/or knotty themes. I still buy his books though, so it can't be that bad, I guess.

 

[alchemist]

The endings don't always work. I put this down to his taking on impossibly big and/or knotty themes. I still buy his books though, so it can't be that bad, I guess.

Learning the World is the only one of his I have read, and the above is true. The story was worthy of a book twice the size.

 

[J-WO]

Learning the World is the only one of his I have read, and the above is true. The story was worthy of a book twice the size.

My favorite. Edwardian space bats- what's not to like?

 

[Ursa major]

I thought Learning the World had one of the more satisfying of MacLeod'sendings.


And I agree with J-WO: I really enjoyed reading about the "Edwardian space-bats". (If there was to be a film, I would love the Compare the Meerkat animators to take on the job: those adverts are full of little details that you only see on repeated viewings, just what you need to bring the best out of the bats.)

 

[Connavar]

The endings is not everything to me. I need good SF authors with alot smart ideas,good characters that make me think, enjoy the story for few 100 pages.

SF is not light entertaiment to me, i dont expect cool endings or something as long as they dont suck totally or dont make sense.

What Iansales is saying is what im looking for an author with many good books. He has made me excited for new SF books again which makes me not only read old SF as usual

 

[Coragem]

SF is not light entertaiment to me

SF isn't "light" entertainment to me either. But I do want it to be entertainment.

My problem with too much SF out there is that it isn't entertaining enough. The characters aren't people I might (in my dreams) like to be, or people I can love to hate – too often they're names on a page. My emotions aren't engaged. I think, "Only another 10 months until Guy Gavriel Kay has his next out."

Thought-provoking is brilliant, often exciting, but are MacCleod's characters really engaging?

Coragem.