Off Topic : What YOU think is the greatest 'epic' scifi series

Date Posted: 3/22 6:44pm Subject: RE: Off Topic : What YOU think is the greatest 'epic' scifi series
Foundation. Where do you think the Flanneled One got it all from?


The Hidden Fortress, Dam Busters, Battle of Britain, Lensman, serial adventures from the 30s and 40s, and a heap of books on folklore and mythology. Star Wars bears no more resemblence to the Foundation series than a tea leaf does to the whole East India Company.

As for series...

Hum, Sten by Chris Bunch and Alan Cole, Eddings Belgariad and Melorian are also good, Lensman by E.E. 'Doc' Smith is 'epic' on a grand scale, and his Skylark series is 'epic' squared.

Personally, I'd rather be shot through the lung than have to read 'Ender's Game' again.

Dune was great, until Herbert decided to cash in by keeping it going after that.

And I don't think a story has to be more than one book in order to be epic- Childhood's End by Clarke is certainly that. And both his Rama and 2001+ series are both very epic.

Howabout the Battletech series of books, all what, 100+, that's certainly 'epic' in a 'when will it end?' kinda way.

Drag-on-Lance was epic in a bad way.

Denning's Prism Pentad was epic in a good way.

 

Agreed, Kier, singular novels can defintely be considered epic. A perfect example of this is The Stand, by Stephen King, an 1141 page behemoth which leaves you begging for another 1100 pages. Another example of this is The Rift, by Walter J. Williams, a 950 page novel which could certainly be considered epic.


As for Arthur C. Clarke's Odyssey series, I would have to respectfully disagree with you, Kier. Granted, one could certainly consider these books epic, but I personally do not. I found these to be some of the most boring, ponderous books that Ive ever read. ACC even reprinted entire chapters from earlier books in the series in 2010, 2061, and 3001. To me that just reeks of laziness when he could have recapped the major plot points in a few paragraphs. I decided to stick with the series 'til the literal bitter end and I really regretted it. In my eyes there was little resolution to any of the plots if any at all, and the nothing really happened with the characters. Obviously this series greatly dissapointed me.

End rant.

 

DV316,

As for Arthur C. Clarke's Odyssey series, I would have to respectfully disagree with you, Kier. Granted, one could certainly consider these books epic, but I personally do not. I found these to be some of the most boring, ponderous books that Ive ever read.

Don't misunderstand me- 2061 and 3001 sucked worse than a black hole. 2001 was great, but there was no way it couldn't have been such. 2001 and 2010 were the only good ones.

ACC even reprinted entire chapters from earlier books in the series in 2010, 2061, and 3001. To me that just reeks of laziness when he could have recapped the major plot points in a few paragraphs. I decided to stick with the series 'til the literal bitter end and I really regretted it. In my eyes there was little resolution to any of the plots if any at all, and the nothing really happened with the characters. Obviously this series greatly dissapointed me.

I tend to be lenient on Clarke since I am huge fan of his work and he is one of the finest SF authors alive. And he is one of the last masters still around.

 

I'll admit that I did like 2001 and 2010, and that was probably the biggest reason why the other two books were so dissapointing.

 

Agreed, 2061 was too much of a mishmash of ideas and events, while 3001 just made no sense given the first two books.

 

True, Kier. I really hated the whole Frank Poole plot that brought him back from nowhere, and the fact that there was little or no mention of Heywood Floyd in 3001. Didnt he become a StarChild like Bowman ??

 

That was my thought, that Floyd had become like Bowman. Then they pull this computer virus out of nowhere.

Okay, I could buy the monolith being a computer, in fact, that's what I always thought they were after reading Hitch Hikers Guide, but the end was just silly.

 

Indeed. So much build up and the story closes with a whimper. I mean, what the hell happened to HAL, or even Chris Poole ?? WTF ??



But I digress : This thread has been has been up for about a week, and only the people who have posted here have read the books mentioned ? Come on now, I know many of you have read these books and youre out there as we speak. So, what the hell, post here, right


UP !!!