What are you reading in 2023?

[Thomas Shey]

My go-to example for this is "Who Goes There?", adapted into "The Thing from Another World", remade as "The Thing". A good story, improved with each version. The prequel wasn't great, but not as bad as its reputation.

To some extent the older version suffers from the fact it worked under the limitations of the time it was made, so that people don't see its virtues. I've noted other 50's SF that suffers from the same problem.

 

[Nellisir]

I'm going to go the other way (and I think this is actually more controversial, on the whole) sometimes adaptations improve on the original work. Very little I've read suggests that the comic version of The Boys is actually better than the TV show in any substantial way.

As always, the truth lies somewhere between. I loved The Expanse books, but the tv series shifted focus a little while still telling the same story, and excelled at it. Drummer's speech alone gives me chills.

 

[Thomas Shey]

As always, the truth lies somewhere between. I loved The Expanse books, but the tv series shifted focus a little while still telling the same story, and excelled at it. Drummer's speech alone gives me chills.

Well, you can absolutely have different media handling a work that handle different parts better. My argument with that example is that its entirely possible for later versions of a work to be an overall improvement, and not just because some things are more effective in some media.

 

[Nellisir]

Well, you can absolutely have different media handling a work that handle different parts better. My argument with that example is that its entirely possible for later versions of a work to be an overall improvement, and not just because some things are more effective in some media.

I wasn't aware we were arguing, but OK. I mean, I think the tv series is actually an improvement over the books (in the parts of the books it adapts!) but the books were pretty excellent on their own. One's a 92 and one's a 98. I also think new BSG was a substantial improvement on original BSG and they were the same media.

 

[ichabod]

Just finished Fractal Noise by Christopher Paolini. It was rather boring and tedious, and I didn't like any of the characters. I stuck with it because the main action of the book would have been boring and tedious in real, and there were in story reasons for the characters being unlikable. After getting past the halfway point I realized that while the problems with the book made sense, the author had still chosen a story where boring and tedious made sense along with unlikable characters. I skipped to the end (noticing a science mistake that not really central to the story), and was not impressed with the ending. Then I saw the author's bio on the book jacket:

Christopher Paolini, firstborn of Kenneth and Talita. Creator of the World of Eragon and the Fractalverse. Holder of the Guinness World Record for youngest author of a bestselling series. Qualified for Marksman in the Australian army. Scottish laird. Dodged gunfire . . . more than once. As a child, was chased by a moose in Alaska. Has his name inscribed on Mars. Husband. Father. Asker of questions and teller of strories.

Pretentious. Incomplete sentences. Such a badass.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I wasn't aware we were arguing, but OK. I mean, I think the tv series is actually an improvement over the books (in the parts of the books it adapts!) but the books were pretty excellent on their own. One's a 92 and one's a 98. I also think new BSG was a substantial improvement on original BSG and they were the same media.

I wasn't using "argument" in the "fighting" sense, but in the "expressing an opinion formed by at least some thought" sense.

And you might well be right about The Expanse; I've never heard much bad about the books (but haven't read them) but the part of the show I've seen was excellent (I'm well behind on it at this point).

 

[overgeeked]

Just finished Fractal Noise by Christopher Paolini. It was rather boring and tedious, and I didn't like any of the characters. I stuck with it because the main action of the book would have been boring and tedious in real, and there were in story reasons for the characters being unlikable. After getting past the halfway point I realized that while the problems with the book made sense, the author had still chosen a story where boring and tedious made sense along with unlikable characters. I skipped to the end (noticing a science mistake that not really central to the story), and was not impressed with the ending. Then I saw the author's bio on the book jacket:


Pretentious. Incomplete sentences. Such a badass.

Yeah but has he “dodged gunfire…more than once…as a child”?

 

[ichabod]

Yeah but has he “dodged gunfire…more than once…as a child”?

It doesn't count if he didn't do it in some rugged state like Texas or Montana.

 

[ichabod]

And you might well be right about The Expanse; I've never heard much bad about the books (but haven't read them)

I don't like the Expanse, but I seem to be in the minority opinion. I liked the first two books, but I thought the series took a serious nose dive after that.

 

[Clint_L]

I just read Justin Cronin's The Passage trilogy, and I'm not sure why I kept going. The first book was solid, if very reminiscent of Stephen King's The Stand. But it was super long, and by the end I kind of felt like I needed to keep going through the two long-ish sequels, just to see how it all turned out. By the end I was like, "meh...I wish I'd stopped at one."

I need something new and fun. When's the latest Murderbot being released? Something like that.