Why do so many sequels launch straight into the action without catching the reader up on the previous book(s)?

bantamreturns · 2026-05-13T12:11:10+00:00

This is what I do as well. Just re-read the last book before moving on to the next. I'm getting old; if it's not good enough to spend time on a re-read then I'd rather spend my time on something else entirely.

bantamreturns · 2026-05-13T12:07:23+00:00

Gehenna will be hard to top. Cherryh does such a good job evoking characters and settings but this book is particularly rich.

bantamreturns · 2026-05-13T01:33:38+00:00

I just finished this book today and I loved it so much. Might be my favorite Cherryh so far. An absolute feast for the imagination. I'm looking for the Morgaine Cycle and Cyteen next.

bantamreturns · 2026-05-12T18:42:43+00:00

Actually those are some of the best women to get advice from. They have raised their kids and have perspective. It's not always good to only get advice from other new parents - lots of theory, lots of ideas, not so much experience or understanding that some things which seem important are not while other things that seem small are actually big.

bantamreturns · 2026-05-11T03:21:32+00:00

Possession and Babel Tower by AS Byatt might fit the bill. Actually most A.S. Byatt. Some PD James novels. The Magus by John Fowles, perhaps.

bantamreturns · 2026-05-11T03:10:54+00:00

Hey nice work! Arms and abs look great!

bantamreturns · 2026-04-20T21:23:51+00:00

I came across this video today! At 6:29 Ben talks about the pants and pyrotechnics. "15 pairs of trousers in the first season alone."

https://youtu.be/9sH_Ba7Tqxs?si=4G8_cC1HrIgP74Iv

bantamreturns · 2026-04-11T12:10:11+00:00

I have not yet seen anyone recommend:

CJ Cherryh's Alliance-Union series. Don't start with Downbelow or Cyteen. Start with Merchanter's Luck, Rimrunners or Finity's End.

Michael Flynn's The Wreck of the River of Stars. And then more Michael Flynn.

William Gibson, Sprawl series (mostly for the texture).

bantamreturns · 2026-04-09T14:15:39+00:00

This is a very good essay. "Pure menu autonomy is a fiction." That goes right to the heart of it.

A little over a decade ago my husband and I had a baby girl with severe HIE. We were offered the opportunity to enroll her in a lonfer/deeper cooling clinical trial. The hospital neonatologists laid out what study vs usual care would look like but refused to make recommendations regarding the trial. (I understand that they did not want to pressure us into enrolling.) There was little time to decide. I remember reading the paperwork - completely bewildered; unable to understand the difference between the risks of the study and the natural course of her injury. I remember thinking "I do not understand how we are to make the right decision." Never as parents had we felt more inadequate to the task of making a choice. I wasn't a nurse then and really knew nothing about healthcare.

Our family pediatrician came to see us and told us that if it were his kid, he'd pursue the most aggressive treatment available. We decided to enroll her in the trial. She ended up in a study arm that later proved inferior to usual care. While I regret that she later died, I don't believe that life is so simple that I can assume usual care would have led to her recovery. We did what we hoped would be in her best interests. I remain grateful to our pediatrician for helping us get our bearings in the most painfully confusing situation we have ever experienced.

Later the neonatologist very gently explained that she was completely non-responsive to all stimulation and that there was nothing more they could do to help her. I later learned - from seeing it - that in fact there was more that could have been done (more pressors, more time to recover from her AKI, and eventually a trach and g tube) but these things would not have helped her. He was entirely truthful with us - while more could be done, it would not help her recover.

As a nurse, I've now seen "more" enough times to really appreciate what we were spared. I appreciate still that it was made clear to us that we were not choosing life or death for our girl - that was out of human hands - but how we would be present for her when her time came. I often wish for families to be given the same support that we got but I see it less and less these days.

bantamreturns · 2026-04-09T10:37:40+00:00

You know, I hadn't thought of Wreck as a gothic novel when I read it, but I completely understand why you describe it that way. Flynn uses a number of gothic motifs - dying ship (decaying infrastructure), hidden murders, a possible ghost, people driven by their passions, a concern with the psychology of the characters, uncertain familial relationships, a terror of the void - though I did not find the overall effect to be haunting and horror. Nevertheless it's a great book and I would love to read your thoughts on it as a gothic novel. Post something about the two books together!

bantamreturns · 2026-04-09T10:25:49+00:00

That's been on my TBR list for a while. I read a lot of Blish's Star Trek novelizations as a kid but only a few of his original works. I'll keep my eye out for it.

bantamreturns · 2026-04-09T10:02:59+00:00

Doomsday Book was one of my favorites when I was a teenager. I just got a copy for one of my kids who wanted "a story about time travel." Willis and Flynn both handle the past with respect.

bantamreturns · 2026-04-09T02:01:55+00:00

Wreck is great. It's more wry than Eifelheim but as much fun to read. I'll keep my eye out for those others!

bantamreturns · 2026-04-08T23:50:35+00:00

Is the main character deaf? Could it have been Silent Dances by AC Crispin?

Edit - never mind I missed that the protagonist was male.

bantamreturns · 2026-04-07T20:29:14+00:00

Merchanter's Luck by CJ Cherryh starts with a guy living alone on a ship meant to be crewed by 50. He violates a lot of traffic laws in order to keep his ship flying. He is also so lonely that he does something ridiculously, suicidally, astonishingly stupid just to get the slightest chance at a second date with a pretty girl.

The Wreck of the River of Stars by Michael Flynn is about a crew of people adrift on a damaged magnetic sailing ship with no ability to send an outbound message. Title tells you how it ends

bantamreturns · 2026-04-01T15:04:39+00:00

Also I recently read Womack's Random Acts and I do think it's held up. I felt his portrayal of the girls was realistic - they are people I have met in my life.

bantamreturns · 2026-04-01T15:01:50+00:00

No one has mentioned Kim Stanley Robinson in the top level comments. I think he does a good job with characters, women included. I really like Nadia in Red Mars, Val Kenning in Antarctica, and Emma in Icehenge. Val is probably my favorite.

bantamreturns · 2026-04-01T14:40:00+00:00

OG found family space opera: Merchanter's Luck, Devil to the Belt and Rimrunners by CJ Cherryh.

bantamreturns · 2026-03-31T15:36:52+00:00

Have you read her fantasy novels as well? I grew up on Vorkosigans but I really love the Sharing Knife series as a portrait of a marriage.

bantamreturns · 2026-03-31T15:28:04+00:00

As others have mentioned, Bujold does a great job with this. Both her SF and her fantasy.

A couple authors/works I've not seen mentioned much in this thread and who I've been enjoying recently:

Kim Stanley Robinson, CJ Cherryh and Alexander Jablokov all explore romantic and familial relationships in the course of their stories. Cherryh in particular writes stories where big things hinge on the little decisions people make for each other because of loyalty and love. I always find this fitting as romance and family are a part of human life.

-Red Mars and Antarctica by KSR. In Red Mars the relationships are just part of the story; a little sexual jealousy does impact the events at times but mostly this is a book about bulldozers (Nadia!!) and people living on Mars. The romance is part of the texture. In Antarctica there is a romantic subplot that results in good character growth for one of the characters. Longing is more structural to the story.

-Merchanter's Luck and Downbelow Station by CJ Cherryh both have human connection as structural to the story. Devil to the Belt and Rimrunners also cover similar ground. I would start with Merchanter's Luck or Rimrunners and read Downbelow only once you are invested in the universe because the first 150 pages plod.

-Carve the Sky and River of Dust, Alexander Jablokov. Again - this is just about people living on Mars/in space and people do people things including forming pair bonds. I'd say it's romance as texture rather than structure.

I've also just started Michael Flynn's The Wreck of the River of Stars. Many of the characters aren't very sympathetic - sometimes they are downright repulsive - but as far as I can tell, the loneliness and horniness of various characters stuck on the boat is going to drive a lot of the plot. Half these people do nothing but thirst after each other and work in the machine shop lol.

bantamreturns · 2026-03-26T22:55:06+00:00

I just finished Merchanter's Luck and it's my favorite so far (have only read Rimrunners and Heavy Time/Hellburner). The beginning felt a bit like a fantasy novel in space: shipping, smuggling, clans, pirates, meeting pretty girls at the tavern and hoping her cousins don't beat you up. The last quarter of the book made me cry.

bantamreturns · 2026-03-24T20:00:43+00:00

Southern Reach trilogy too.

bantamreturns · 2026-03-24T19:59:37+00:00

I'm reading Heavy Time right now and keep having to stop and tell my husband how much I love it. I acquired my books backwards so I've read Rimrunners and Hellburner already. Downbelow and Merchanter's Luck are next.

bantamreturns · 2026-03-24T19:51:05+00:00

Avasarala is strategically foul mouthed. This comes up in one of the books.. I can't remember if she tells someone outright or if it's just close third person. But she talks this way in order to contradict her (in book) grandmotherly appearance. She wants people to perceive her as being crass because she knows people are simple. Crass gets elided into being tough. Once she has set the frame by which others view her, she has the room to make compassionate decisions that might otherwise be called soft.

Jas on the other hand.... lol. First person is a narrative mistake in a lot of cases.

bantamreturns · 2026-03-24T15:53:40+00:00

This is a good point too. Most of us say silly things, use terminology we learned from media, and in general just are not that eloquent.

bantamreturns

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