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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
Sometimes a book series is so important that you want people to put everything aside and just read it. I'm not the only one who feels this way about N.K. Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy. The first and second novels in Jemisin's trilogy, The Fifth Season and The Obelisk Gate won the prestigious Hugo Award for the past two years in a row—the first time this has happened since Ender's Game and its sequel Speaker for the Dead won sequential Hugos in 1986 and 87. Now the final Broken Earth book, The Stone Sky, is out. You can gobble up the whole series without interruption.
There are a lot of reasons why this series has been hailed as a masterpiece. There are unexpected twists which, in retrospect, you realize have been carefully plotted, skillfully hinted at, and well-earned. There are characters who feel like human beings, with problems that range from the mundane (raising kids in a risky world) to the extraordinary (learning to control earthquakes with your mind). The main characters are called orogenes, and they have the ability to control geophysics with their minds, quelling and starting earthquakes. Somehow the orogenes are connected with the lost technologies of a dead civilization, whose machines still orbit the planet in the form of mysterious giant crystals called obelisks. To most people on the planet, the orogenes are known by the derogatory term "rogga," and they're the victims of vicious prejudice.
But Jemisin is hardly retelling The X-men, only with orogenes instead of mutants. She's created a sociologically complex world, and the more we read, the more we understand how the orogenes fit into it. As we travel with our protagonists across the planet's single megacontinent, we discover the place is full of many cultures, often at odds with one another. The brown urbanites from the tropics think the pale, rural people of the poles are ugly idiots; the coastal people aren't too sure about the inland people; and of course everybody hates the orogenes. These tensions are part of a long and complex history that we learn more about as the series develops. There are a number of mysteries to unravel in this series, but one of them is understanding the devastating origin of prejudice against orogenes.
[...] The Broken Earth is exciting, full of incredible technology, and powered by a dark historical mystery. It's something you can read to escape, or to ponder philosophical questions in our own world. In short, it's that rare series that appeals to a love of adventure, and to the urge to reflect on the unseen forces that drive our civilizations.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by bradley13 on Monday September 18 2017, @04:48PM (18 children)
Yeah, not science fiction. Call it fantasy, and it makes more sense - but then you don't need the extraterrestrial artifacts. But that's not the biggest problem.
From TFA "The brown urbanites from the tropics think the pale, rural people of the poles are ugly idiots", or from the author "I'm trying to write decolonized fiction, for our postcolonial world". In other words, this is a political rant. Maybe the story doesn't have to make sense if you agree with the politics?
As for the writing, let's be generous: maybe it's a matter of taste. The writing style is bizarre, and the sentences sometimes barely make sense. From the first page of the first book: did you know that you could describe something "continentally"? It's like bad modern art, when the artist is trying so hard to be clever that they forget about the "art" part. In this case, the overwrought writing is just...well...go look at the free preview on Amazon and see what you think.
To me, the award looks like affirmative action. Given the current political climate of the Hugos, and the overreaction to the puppies (who deliberately did not vote this year), how could a black woman who writes lesbian fiction not get an award?
Ok, mod me troll, I deserve it.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 18 2017, @05:01PM (10 children)
God, every time you idiots fight over sci fi vs. fantasy, I wanna PUKE. Worse, when you idiots think you're being intellectual with hard/soft science, high/low science, science fantasy, Star Wars: sci fi or not sci fi, etc.! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 18 2017, @06:01PM (8 children)
So, puke you worthless fuck. If you had any intellect, AND if you had any intellectual honesty, you would understand what 'science fiction" is all about. Heinlein mastered Science Fiction before he attempted to make social statements with that science fiction. And, Heinlein never allowed his social statements to overshadow the sciencey part of his science fiction.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 18 2017, @06:51PM (4 children)
You have got to be kidding me. It is clear you are a certain type of person, specifically the type where cognitive dissonance reigns because you are incapable of introspection.
Heinlein had plenty of woo-woo scifi, the biggest example being Stranger in a Strange Land.
"Heinlein explored some of his most important themes, such as individualism, libertarianism, and free expression of physical and emotional love."
Yup, not at all surprised by your vitriol and hypocrisy. When it fits your own personal viewpoint it is fine, but if it even DISCUSSES prejudice you're the fuck out of that SJW nightmare. Libtard.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 18 2017, @09:09PM (3 children)
I guess today is alt-reich marching day, upmod the whiners, downmod the people calling out the whiny stupid bullshit! Carrion eater is trying to bury posts so it can dig them up later for personal consumption.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 19 2017, @01:36AM (2 children)
What about L. Ron Hubbard? He wrote some great sci-fi, too. *ducks*
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday September 19 2017, @03:11AM
*chainsaws low*
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 3, Informative) by jmorris on Tuesday September 19 2017, @05:36AM
I read Battlefield Earth and judge it acceptable pulp SF. Mission Earth on the other hand was a challenging but hilarious read; ten frickin' volumes but who cares! If anyone can still find a set, read the first one and see what I mean. Guy was a madman, knew he was dying and wrote like he didn't give a damn anymore. Knowing he wouldn't be around to get sued he gleefully settled accounts in humorous fashion. Two thumbs up.
(Score: 1, Troll) by jmorris on Monday September 18 2017, @07:26PM (1 child)
If you limit that statement to before _Number of the Beast_ then I'd probably agree. After that I'm not sure what the Hell they were writing. I did still read most of it but I certainly wouldn't pretend it was Science Fiction.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 18 2017, @07:40PM
Here's another example of the jmorris bot showing off the limits of its capabilities. Looks like it was built to work in tandem with religious nutjobs. Still working on its end-game, devs haven't made that one easily apparent.
(Score: 4, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 18 2017, @09:27PM
Someone hasn't read Farnham's Freehold, eh?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by bradley13 on Monday September 18 2017, @06:27PM
"every time you idiots fight over sci fi vs. fantasy, I wanna PUKE"
Sci-Fi vs. fantasy matters, because people want to find books to read.
Look, suppose you like reading mysteries. And every time some new romantic fiction comes out, the reviewers say "Look at this great mystery". So you go to Amazon, have a look at the book, and realize that it's a Harlequin bodice-ripper that just happens to include a detective or maybe a policeman as one of the characters.
The names of the genres have a meaning, and they are (supposed to be) used to classify books, to help people find stuff they want to read. There seems to be a whole Pink SF [blogspot.ch] movement, where authors, reviewers and the mainstream publishers are trying to pass off fantasy as science fiction, by tossing in a gratuitous alien artifact, or claiming that the story takes place in the future.
It gets irritating.
FWIW, the solution is to stop reading anything from the major publishers. Go to Baen [baen.com] or Beam [beam-shop.de], or buy directly from Indy authors.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 18 2017, @06:10PM
I thought "The brown urbanites from the tropics think the pale, rural people of the poles are ugly idiots" was some over the top white guilt/"cuckery" but no, just another dumb negroid spewing racist propaganda unchecked.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 18 2017, @06:21PM (3 children)
Jesus, this post should would the Most Political Tripe award of the year.
To quote a sci-fi standard: " Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
Guess you're still a caveman, can't fathom neurally linked massive energy projectors. Yup, total fantasy route there! SJW stuff? Gee, I didn't realize prejudice was a taboo topic, did it trigger your feelz? "Muh oppression!"
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Weasley on Monday September 18 2017, @07:22PM (2 children)
And Sauron's ring was a cloaking device that bent light waves around the wearer, so Lord of the Rings was actually science fiction too!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 18 2017, @07:25PM (1 child)
Nope, cause the ring was "magic" quite specifically, part of Sauron's soul. This is about semi-humans who are able to access ancient machines. Guess you're too triggered for common sense.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Mykl on Tuesday September 19 2017, @02:01AM
Nice try. We all know that Sauron's 'soul' was just his collection of Midichlorians. Sci-Fi again!
My take - it's not Sci-Fi unless there is at least an attempt to explain how something works. If the books contain some detail about how these people interact with the obelisks then that may suffice. If it's just 'ooh, ancient alien tech that works in unknown ways!', then it may as well be a magic sword.
(Score: 2) by meustrus on Monday September 18 2017, @07:11PM
Science Fiction has always tried to use future technology to make social commentary. Bradbury did it. Dick did it. Granted, they didn't do it like this; ancient technology is not the same as future technology.
But if you expect your "Science Fiction" to start from anticipated tech and derive the social consequences from it...then you are immediately very limited. Star Trek is straight out. Anything about time travel too. AI stuff becomes questionable.
I like it better when the tech comes first. But that doesn't mean that's the only way to do SciFi.
If there isn't at least one reference or primary source, it's not +1 Informative. Maybe the underused +1 Interesting?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by frojack on Monday September 18 2017, @07:34PM
Anytime someone breathlessly tells me I MUST READ something, I usually make my excuses and run away before the rant starts.
I've read a lot of sifi. I've read less Fantasy.
But somehow when something doesn't hang together and can't make a realistic case for plausibility It takes much much MUCH more to attract my attention. Dune was ruined for me when food was glibly handwaived into existence on a desert planet where water was so scarce measured down to the deciliter.
Repackaged social issues mark a work as transient and transparent.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.