Dual opposing opinions on books? (slrpnk.net)

submitted 1 month ago by Yaky@slrpnk.net to c/books@lemmy.world

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Maybe a strange question, but do you often have simultaneous opposing opinions on books or series that you read?

Not too long ago I read Peter Watts' Blindsight, and it has many thought-provoking ideas about conscience, the human brain, and alien life. Yet it is wrapped in a mediocre sci-fi action movie script that is difficult to follow and stops making sense toward the end. So I cannot say that I exactly liked or disliked it.

And just now, I finished Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch series, and it feels like books 2 and 3 (Ancillary Sword, Ancillary Mercy) are entirely separate story from book 1 (Ancillary Justice). The latter books are okay for what they are, but do not live up to the style, scale, and pace of the first book, and leave some of the concepts entirely unexplored. So once again, I cannot exactly say that I loved the series.

Any other books that left you with similar dual opinions?

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[-] jordanlund@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

Not on the same book, but back in the 90s I read two books on the same topic back to back:

The Hot Zone by Richard Preston:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hot_Zone

The Coming Plague by Laurie Garett:

https://www.lauriegarrett.com/the-coming-plague

Imagine the same news story, first covered by a sensationalist tabloid, and then again by the New York Times, with in depth coverage, multiple sources, and copious foot and end notes.

This isn't to say the Hot Zone is a BAD read, it's not, it's just not to be confused with anything remotely academic.

[-] whimsy@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 month ago

The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins and Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahnemann. Both these books have a lot of interesting ideas and also (mostly) backed by science but still they left me a bit unconvinced of the minute details

[-] Noit@feddit.uk 1 points 1 month ago

The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz. Makes me actively angry every time I think about it. The author throws out so many of these amazing sci-fi “what if” moral questions and then handles them in the most offhand, throwaway way, as if they’re annoyed that the question has been raised and want to get away from discussing it as soon as possible.

Examples include:

Q: is it ethical to give worms sentience, In secret and in defiance of a government that says giving creatures sentience should be discussed? A: yes, and you shouldn’t nark on the person secretly giving the worms sentience.

Q: is it ethical to genetically engineer an entire species to fulfil a role that might otherwise be done by unthinking machines? A: Yeah so long as you also genetically engineer them to enjoy that work and let them quit if they don’t like it.

Those aren’t loose interpretations of an ongoing plot. Each of those is thrown up and resolved within a few pages and then never mentioned again. Any of them could have been a great Star Trek episode. But instead they’re tossed away without discussion.

[-] Echolynx@lemmy.zip 1 points 3 weeks ago

Aw, I've been looking forward to Imperial Radch.

Your comments on that seem similar to how I felt about The Broken Earth trilogy. Great series, but book 1 and maybe book 3 were far better than the second.

[-] Yaky@slrpnk.net 2 points 3 weeks ago

You should still read Ancillary Justice, it's fantastic and has so many perspectives, details, and world-building. Even better on a re-read somehow.

I thought the same about the second book of Broken Earth. In both Broken Earth and Imperial Radch, it all takes place in one spot and gets more interpersonal. I did like the third book of Broken Earth though.

[-] Echolynx@lemmy.zip 1 points 3 weeks ago

Yes, book 3 was great but the worldbuilding in it felt like it was backloaded with respect to book 2. And even book 2 was very expository.

I really liked The Raven Tower, though had some issues with it. But I've been meaning to get through Leckie's other books because that worldbuilding and cleverness with language was on another level.

[-] Auster@thebrainbin.org 1 points 1 month ago

Imo, the Monogatari light novels (where the Bakemonogatari series come from) and Lord of the Rings both are pretty interesting, but they can be insufferably verbose.