5 CYBERPUNK Books to Read
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 ก.ค. 2024
- In this video I share 5 science fiction novels I plan to read in the cyberpunk genre. Let me know some of your favourite cyberpunk sci-fi books!
Channels mentioned:
@thelibraryladder
@thefantasynuttwork
My links:
Patreon - / wordsintime
Discord Server - / discord
Amazon Wishlist - www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls...
00:00 - Introduction
00:41 - Diaspora
02:26 - City of Golden Shadow
04:08 - Accelerando
05:27 - The Quantum Thief
06:58 - Patron Cyberpunk Pick
#ScienceFiction #Books #Cyberpunk - บันเทิง
Ah! I’m so excited for you to read Otherland! What drew me to your channel originally was a thumbnail of you holding City of Golden Shadows with a bunch of other books.😋
I’m glad you enjoyed Otherland! I’m excited for City of Golden Shadow this month!
Thanks, Jonathan! I hope you enjoy Otherland as much as I do. The first book in the series starts slowly, as Williams spends much of the first half of the book setting up a wide array of characters whose relationships to each other and to the larger plot don't become fully apparent until later. But once the pieces are all in place, the 'game' proceeds at a rapid pace.
Also, I think you'll enjoy Stross's hard SF (Iron Sunrise and Singularity are two more good ones by him). I'm not as enthusiastic about his fantasy and science fantasy works, though (e.g., Laundry Files and Merchant Princes). Regarding The Quantum Thief, I might be one of those atypical readers whose response falls somewhere in the middle -- I enjoyed it, but it didn't come close to living up to my expectations (which were based on a lot of the marketing hype surrounding its publication).
Thanks for all the helpful info! I just started Otherland so I’ll let you know how I go. I have a moderate to high tolerance for hard sci-fi, so hopefully I click with Stross and Rajaniemi!
Thanks for sticking with the Science Fiction Alliance's direction. It seems like most of the members have drifted off and are doing other stuff now (i.e. Moid is making his own mini movies, Library Ladder is all about fantasy, etc). It's good to see someone in the group still talking about SF.
Sci-Fi is the Best-Fi! 🚀
Greg Egan is one of my favorite SF authors and he is the hardest SF author I have read…Egan’s book Schild’s Ladder is the hardest SF book I have ever read…I don’t recommend him for the beginners of SF…I usually recommend even seasoned SF readers read his short stories or The Best of Greg Egan just so people can get a feel for his writing style…
I remember we had a conversation about Egan and recommending Permutation City to you…I am glad you liked it…Diaspora is a good book as well…Hopefully you will read Schild’s Ladder at some point…I would like to hear your thoughts on it…
Tad Williams is one of the best writers period no matter what he writes…His prose is wonderful…
I did like Memory, Sorrow and Thorn better than Otherland but I would recommend Otherland to SF readers…Everything Tad Williams writes is done beautifully…Love the channel…Keep up the good works 👍🏻
Greg Egan is great, but definitely hard sci-fi! I am currently reading Otherland, looking forward to taking about in the channel. Thanks for the support!
Diaspora is on my TBR list as well. I'm generally not drawn to cyberpunk, but I recently read Starfish and Maelstrom by Peter Watts and enjoyed them and was a little taken by surprise by the cyberpunk elements.
Nice! Starfish is on my TBR, I’m glad you liked it!
I struggle a bit with Cyber Punk. However, Diaspora is on my list to read later this year, though I didn’t necessarily think of it as CyberPunk… 🤔
I’m also extremely curious about your thoughts on Otherland. I’ve been tempted to start the series but it just seems so long… 😂
Haha I’ll let you know how I go with Otherland!
Synners by Pat Cadigan is an under-appreciated cyberpunk book. Aside that, great list! I need to read some of these having only read Snow Crash.
Synners was on my shortlist, I’ll have to get to that one as well in the future. I hope you enjoy these if you pick any of them up!
My recommendations would be Ambient by Jack Womack and Dr Adder by K.W. Jeter. Also Islands in the Net by Bruce Sterling and The Bohr Maker by Linda Nagata.
Thanks, I’ll check those out!
Hi Jonathan. I recently included Accelerando in my book unhaul. At some point I plan on trying The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson. Happy reading.
The Diamond Age is another one I want to get to!
awesome video... I just acquired Diaspora myself, let me know if you'd be interested in a buddy read. I read City of Gold and Shadow late last year, it was very fantasy style but I felt like he didn't get to the plot until the very very end of the book (so maybe book 2 will be awesome). I might be on the minority on that tho. I AM SOOOO excited for you to read Shockwave Rider. I really LIKED it, hope you do too.
some recent published cyberpunk books I've been eyeing (or reading) Ymir by Larson and 36 streets by tapper. However, obviously you have long enough TBR but thought I would put them on your radar.
Thanks Whitney! I will be reading Diaspora in September or October so I’ll let you know when I start. I’m glad you liked The Shockwave Rider! 36 Streets is on my longer cyberpunk shortlist, I’ll look up Ymir as well!
Read The Quantum Thief a few months back. It was crazy becuase there are so many hard sci fi concepts thrown at you that it made me a little starstruck. I can see why people didn't like it, but the exploits of Le Flambeur kept me hooked and I'm glad I read it!
Awesome, I’m glad it paid off!
Great video Jonathan. I've read Diaspora but it was to hard for me. I believe you would like it though. Thanks
Thanks Dale! Fingers crossed for Diaspora haha
I haven't read When Gravity Fails by George Alec Effinger in many years, but I remember liking it at the time. It's a cyberpunk mystery book set in a futuristic Middle Eastern setting.
Thanks Jen! The title sounds familiar, I’ll look it up!
Once again, I haven’t heard of any of these. 😂 Thanks for the recommendations Jonathan.
Haha glad I can help spread the good word of sci-fi! 🚀
Ok you got round to Gregg Egan thank goodness!!! Yes permutation city is my favourite scif book of all time wow that its one to talk about!!! Read Zendegi (2010), it was wonderful and very emotional.
Yes, Permutation City is an all-time favourite and I will be reading Diaspora in a couple of weeks!
I have Accelerando on my tbr too, just not any time soon. Also in similar genre of Cyberpunk i want to read some of the Shadowrun novels.
Nice! I looked up Shadowrun and it looks like cyberpunk fantasy which sounds interesting.
@@WordsinTime Yup. Basically a mix of cyberpunk/fantasy/crime-detective. I got interested in it from Harebrained Schemes games and fell in love with the setting.
I highly recommend City of Golden shadow and the whole series actually. I just read accelerando and I really enjoyed it too.
Nice! That’s good to hear!
I'll be interested to hear how you like "The Shockwave Rider." I've read some Brunner, currently just about done with "A Maze of Stars" and I can't say it's making me want to read any more of his stuff. The concept was good, but a lot of the dialogue is at a YA level, and gets tedious. It's not cyberpunk, just commenting on the author.
That’s interesting, we’ll see how it goes!
You had me at "singularity"
Haha hooked!
Interesting, the plot of 'Accelerando' sounds super interesting... 'Something is dismantling the solar system.' I want to know what it is now.
Haha me too!
yes I'm trying to read diaspora now cause michael recommended it (as u know he LOVES anything by egan) but afraid he's the kind of writer who has always given me a headache but if I manage to finish it will give u a report⚛😀
Haha hopefully the headache is worth it!
for me, diaspora is a top10 scifi novel. Absolutely engaging and fascinating,
That’s good to hear! I’m excited for it!
Completely off topic, but cool t-shirt sir!
Haha, I appreciate it!
Oh the Tad Williams book looks interesting. I don't think his fantasy series would be for me, but maybe his cyberpunk!
I’m excited for it!
His fantasy WILL work for you, I promise.
I recommend the Marid Audran trilogy by George Alec Effinger.
I’ll check it out!
Greg Egan's Orthogonal series is very different...There is a lot of alternative physics, and my grasp on regular physics was at risk, so I skimmed those bits (including the diagrams) as everything else was so good I wanted to keep reading. I think if you appreciated the physics it would be even better.
I don’t think I’ll understand it all either haha. But I’m glad you enjoyed everything else!
Thumbnail: I always wanted that Brazilian cover.
It’s a super cool cover!
The only one I have read is Otherland by Williams and that was many, many years ago. If I recall correctly I really enjoyed it and I hope you do as well.
Thanks Paul, I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Me too, the whole series
Wouldn't call it cyberpunk
But I did enjoy them😊😊😊
Hey, any good recommendations? I’m looking for something in the cyberpunk genre that is pretty gritty. I want a book series that doesn’t sugar coat how twisted its world is. Appreciate it.
Altered Carbon is definitely the grittiest cyberpunk book I’ve read!
Huh, to my shame I literally judged Tad Williams' books by their (UK) covers and kind of wrote them off as fantasy (which _mostly_ isn't really my thing). Might have to take another look at 'Otherland'.
Some good stuff in there IMO. 'The Shockwave Rider' was one of my early gateway novels, be interesting to see how it lands in 2023. Greg Egan's most _overtly_ cyberpunk novel is 'Quarantine' IMO (it's got the noir-ish detective vibe, implanted tech etc.) - maybe not one of his best (it's early) but I enjoyed it at the time (IIRC it's one where he's unhappy in retrospect with some of the "science" and I agree with him there). But (though i've probably said it before :) if you like hard sci-fi and Egan _and_ you're dipping your toes into short stories, you could do _way_ worse than check out his collection 'Axiomatic'. Some absolute gems IMO (including at least one of my all time faves).
(and I really enjoyed 'The Quantum Thief' personally but it's fair to say it doesn't coddle the reader - some see that as a bad thing, some find it invigorating, i'm in the latter camp. But then I get a little buzz when I see a novel with maths/physics appendices so I may be in a fairly small fan subset :)
I’m glad you enjoyed The Shockwave Rider. I like hard sci-fi so we’ll see how far we can push that limit with Egan and Rajaniemi haha
I'm looking for some modern cyperpunk/sci-fi; not space opera, not fantasy, not old classics. But new, near future sci-fi. Any recommendations, please?
The video game Deus Ex is a good example of what I want, but obviously in book format. It's dealing with real and plausible problems in society.
I'm not interested in tire-in pulp, Neuromancer or Snowcrash.
The only cyberpunk along those lines that I can think of at the moment is Altered Carbon. I’ll keep thinking on it.
@@WordsinTime Thanks
Taking note 📝. I’m another cyberpunk mood
I just started Accelerando and there’s a lot of technobabble haha but I’m enjoying the vibe!
What about the Golden Age by John C Wright???
This is just the next 5 I’m going to read, not a comprehensive list. I’ll check out The Golden Age.
i will be interested in your take on Diaspora. i quit before 100 pages. just like Ninefox Gambit. meh, unreadable, sorry.
i really enjoyed Singularity Sky and Iron Sunrise by Stross. make sure to check them out. my copy of the Atrocity Archives was stolen before i could read it.
if you want a good Aussie author you must check George Turner.
i am currently reading the most preposterous hard sci-fi novel i have ever read: Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Charles Sheffield. i snagged it from the corner box on a whim. it's an easy read, but egads.
i just finished the Southern Reach Trilogy and was enthralled throughout. next up is Mysterious Island by Jules Verne. cheers!
Thanks for the info! The Southern Reach Trilogy is on my radar and I’ll have to check out the others!
@@WordsinTime just found another gem at the thrift, i was hooked in 15 pages. "Standing Wave" by Howard V. Hendrix published in 1998 by ACE Science Fiction. very well written.
@@stephenmorton8017 I’ll look it up!
I wouldnt say Diaspora is cyberpunk at all but its a great read. In a way it reminds me of House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds.
NIce to see Accelerando (which as a bonus can be had legally for free) which most definitely is cyberpunk, recommended, it often gets missed for some reason. As a bonus for those who care it has strong female characters including a cat which possibly counts as female but is definitely a cat acting like a cat, and some very alien aliens. Also by Stross, Iron Sunrise is a great book as is Singularity Sky both in the same 'universe' but both more 'standard' SF.
Quantum Thief? Hated it.Nothing to do with whether it was difficult.
And the final choice? .. YES !!! Shockwave Rider. Incrediblhy prescient SF. When you read it just keep telling yourself when it was written. FWIW in case you didnt know, its a riff on Alvin Tofflers Future Shock non-fiction bestseller..
Thanks for all the great info! I’m looking forward to getting to them!
A great many moons ago, I tried “Otherland” - the same edition you held up in fact - and I really did not get on with it. In fact I gave the book away, I disliked it so much. And I never unhaul! Well, incredibly rarely anyway - I did toss another book in the recycling last year, it was so awful. TBF in the 2-3 decades since “Otherland” I simply have not got on with Cyberpunk. “Crashing Heaven” by Al Robertson was my most recent attempt, still nope. But Petrik Leo assures us that if we like Robin Hobb, then we should get on with Tad Williams - so maybe I need to give him another go 🤷♂️ Anyway, good luck, interested as always to hear how you get on…
Uh oh! Hopefully it works better for me haha
Can you recommend a city building book that isn't a tough read?
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson!
@@WordsinTime Thank you. I tried reading Cryptonomicon, gave up on it.
@@ericbond5276 Snow Crash is easier to read than most of his other books.
Why is Jeff Noon never mentioned on these lists!!
Vurt by Jeff Noon made my shortlist for the video. I will definitely try to get to it next year!
I've enjoyed many Charles Stross novels, but Accelerando is the only one I gave up - it became unintelligible.
That’s a bummer but I’m glad you enjoyed other Stross books.