Books - The Traveller by Johnny Twelve Hawks

[VorpalWarrior69]

I read this book about 2 years ago. It was truly one of worst written books that I have ever read (outside of teen-target fiction). Problem is, once I start a book, I can't stop until I finish it...so I powered through the book and by the end I resented the author quite a bit.

However...the concept, the world, the themes...these I really liked. I still think about the world of the book. In short: great concept, terrible execution.

For those of you who have read the book and are familiar with the genre it belongs to (which I am not at all, being more of a "swords and peasants"-type fantasy guy), what books with similar themes and concepts would you recommend?

 

[EricNoah]

I'm having trouble thinking of anything... let's see, you've got a worldwide conspiracy and secret societies, you've got something akin to astral projection ... Amazon is saying science fiction from authors like Robert Charles Wilson and Richard Morgan were bought by people who also bought The Traveller -- and I admit I went through those two around the same time as The Traveller.

I agree it's not a very well-written series. I did slog through the second book but don't think I'll end up seeking out the rest of the series.

 

[Merkuri]

I didn't think the first book was that poorly written, but the second one left a lot to be desired. If it's a trilogy I might read the third one when it comes out for completeness sake, but if it turns out to be more than that it might not be worth it.

I was freaked out reading the first book because every single piece of technology they referenced I had heard of, and knew how it worked. Every single one was real technology in use (RFID tracking) or real technology being developed (quantum computers).

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson was kinda similar to The Traveler. Note the word "kinda". It involves a conspiracy and some "secrets" about humankind, but it's not as fantasy-ish as Traveler. It's much more scifi, but it's scifi based in a relatively modern world, maybe just a few years in the future. If you like Snow Crash you'll probably also like Cryptonomicon (one of my favorite books of all time) by the same author, but it's further away from The Traveler than Snow Crash.

By the way, you know that the realms referenced in The Traveler are based on a real-world mythology, right? It's been a while since I read The Traveler, but I think they may be based on these Bhuddist realms.

 

[VorpalWarrior69]

...
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson ...

I'm completely with you there. In another version of the thread that got eaten, that was a book that I compared it to. I completely agree with you about Cryptonomicon. I give a copy of that book to everybody that I know that is a book reader. I think I've bought about 30 of them so far. I also loved the Baroque Cycle, although I can completely understand why some people hated it. To me that series is like strong coffee. I love it. I want it every morning. But I can only have so much of it before it overwhelms me.

Okay...lets try the question from a slightly different slant. If I was going to try to play an RPG in the Traveller world, which RPG would you suggest? Spycraft? Cyberpunk 2020?