Ranking Every Book I Read in 2022

[@pipo801]

My science fiction top 7 this year: 1) Never Let me go , by Kazuo Ishiguro, 2) Solaris, by Stanislaw Lem, 3) Valis , by P K Dick, 4) Slaughterhouse 5 , by Kurt Vonnegut, 5) The three body problem trilogy, by Liu Cixin , 6) Man in the high castle, by P K Dick, 7) The anomaly by Hervé Le Tellier. Thanks for your list!

[@aniketsanyal5586]

Love this channel, love your review style, something that is cemented for me after your Orphans of the Sky portion in this. Don't change this channel at all, you are a keen reader and an astute assessor of science fiction (and fantasy!) If those whose brains are poopoo and peepee don't get it, don't let 'em drag ya down!

[@supertrexandroidx]

I think Heinlein was just a product of his times, like most people are always. Although I won't say that it's impossible that there was some outright misogyny in the book, I suspect he was simply being a somewhat typical male of the times and channeling more of a cultural than a personal bias - although I suppose there's a good argument for those two things being indistinguishable. I would argue, though, that Heinlein was motivated more by a kind of passive disdain than hate. In other words, maybe he just didn't see women as being heroic stuff, as protagonist material, and he was more dismissive of them than hateful toward them. But who knows.

[@ClaeFace]

People can also disagree with him without having poopoo and peepee brains smh

[@sethball2475]

Great all-encompassing review of your year, and I look forward to all your videos of 2023. 10 Books I Hope You Get To, That Are By Authors You Read In 2022: 1. Jack of Shadows by Roger Zelazny 2. The Sheep Look Up by John Brunner 3. Ring Around The Sun by Clifford D. Simak 4. Concrete Island by J. G. Ballard 5. Downbelow Station by C. J. Cherryh 6. Bug Jack Barron by Norman Spinrad 7. Dancers At The End Of Time by Michael Moorcock 8. Orbitsville by Bob Shaw 9. On Wings Of Song by Thomas M. Disch 10. The Last Revolution by Lord Dunsany I’m sure I missed something better than at least one of the books I mentioned, or maybe not. Whatever - can’t wait to see what you do read, or hear the reviews. Happy New Year!

[@waltera13]

This was a great run through, and an IMPRESSIVE showing for the 100 book challenge. Thanks for an accessible mini review and great feedback on all of these books conveniently in one place!

[@garynied1603]

After I finished preparing for my comprehensive finals for my PhD in literature, I went back to sf and read 100 novels over the course of three years. I ranked them along the way. My #1 book was Lem’s His Master’s Voice.

[@bazoo513]

I am not _quite_ sure I would rank it ahead of _Solaris,_ but it is very close call. And, of course, communication, or inability thereof, all over again, just like in _The invincible_ - with different "tools" used in each of those, but for the same goal. Quite an obsession of Lem's, that.

[@1234TokyoJohn]

His Master’s Voice is fantastic, and it gets extra points from me because Lem was writing behind the Iron Curtain.

[@TheEricthefruitbat]

In your review of A Canticle for Leibowitz, you talked about feeling it had a religious outlook. Others have mentioned the religiosity of the novel, but I don't see it. I consider myself an atheist, and I loved the book, and I never felt that. The religious element of the book was like a shell which contained the story, not an element of the ideas of the book.

[@jackiegerarde9938]

I knew about Master and Margarita before I read it and I was apprehensive because I was afraid it would be over my head. I read it very slowly and stretched it out. I loved the book and the experience of reading it. It stayed in my head for a very long time. I think I'll read it again. Same speed. It's so beautifully written.

[@mattbaldwin1150]

Wonderful list, I love your thoughtful reviews. I’ve just ordered Hothouse, that looks like a must read.

[@AStrang3r]

Hothouse was a revelation for me. My first Aldiss book and I'm now a fan. One of my top ten books this year. Enjoy!

[@Jarlaxleify]

Dude, I love your videos. I've found so many of my favorite reads from this channel. Great stuff

[@palacerevolution2000]

I just can not believe it has taken me so long to discover your channel. Just fantastic reasoning. I love it when someone is good at laying out their thoughts in an engrossing manner. You do raise a very interesting, and possibly deep point at #51. About misogyny, and racism. About what it is. Is it something that is absolute? Impervious to time and age? You've given me quite a reading list. When you mentioned this one 'perfect' paragraph, I was going to reply about Gibson. Who IMO is one of the most beautiful writers. I have opened books by him at a random page, and just let it flow. And kudos to you for not mentioning the Rolling Stones connection in the "Master & Margarita" review.

[@kubluu]

Great, really enjoyed this. I will take your recommendation of Jack Vance, Brian Aldiss and Roadside Picnic. I feel like your sense of "boring" is the same as mine. I am a slow reader so I have to pick my reads carefully. These reviews will save valuable time.

[@arekkrolak6320]

your reviews are honest and informative, keep this up and ignore the critics! :)

[@garycarlson574]

Came for the book hauls. Stayed for the book reviews.

[@maxungar516]

Please read the Three Body Problem series. I listened to the first book in 2018 and have been thinking about it ever since. Unironically, it's become like a modern bible to me. It's a masterwork of sociological scifi. There are a couple scenes in the first book in particular that blew me out of the water.

[@sirpsys]

He read the first book and hated it. So much so he refused to read the second. His reasons were fair but man I loved those books even though I agree the writing wasn't great. Him hating Three Body AND thinking Hitchhiker's Guide is "mid" are pretty wild takes. I still watch these videos because I appreciate different perspectives but...damn man.

[@maxungar516]

i saw his first patreon review but not the one afterwards. it's hard to hear someone i respect actively detest something that's so special to me, but it's useful for people to express good faith criticisms, and it's useful to incentive people to express good faith opinions. bp seems pretty obsessed with prose, which i don't care about very much. i also listened to the audiobook, and did not read a physical copy, so that could entail a very different experience. i was also very surprised at his distaste for the sophon, and didn't understand his characterization of it being a "whoa man..." plot device-- i thought it was peak scifi; using theoretical but self-consistent premises of (alternate-)physics to underpin what otherwise would've been magic; and the fact that these mechanisms are woven into each other throughout the series, and are thematically relevant. there's a lot more that could be said about it, but ultimately people have their preferences, and it's fine if not everybody likes the same things i like.@@sirpsys

[@snood4743]

I played the first STALKER game based off of Roadside Picnic and it was a masterpiece. It’s pretty janky by modern FPS/RPG standards, but the mood of it all was phenomenal. The world felt more alive than many more modern games I’ve played since NPC factions would engage in firefights as you pass by, sometimes even killing quest-givers. It kind of feels like Fallout but without the zaniness and satire mixed with the charming awkwardness that only comes from super ambitious 2000s shooters.

[@TomášMiháľ-c9o]

Alan Wake talking about books :D Love it! Great video, added a lot of these to my TBR :)

[@waltera13]

I'm with Salty on this: your fame is growing; may your prosperity as well.

[@mbrintys]

I haven't thought of that "Dream Master" car crash paragraph in decades; I can't remember the words but yet, you just mentioning it, gave me chills.

[@krzysamm7095]

Thank you for opening my eyes to so many books that I hadn’t know about before. Your dedication to providing intelligent reviews and the love of the genre is very evident. Happy New Year

[@zetectic7968]

That was quite the gallop through the variety of authors. Thanks for your thoughts & by extension recommendations. Look forward to more videos & book hauls/reviews in 2023.

[@JohnG225]

Great list. With you on Pandora’s Star. Funny how we all like different things. Hitchhiker’s Guide is my all time favourite novel and I’ve read it so many times. Neuromancer, however, was a bit like wading through treacle for me. Took me 5 attempts to finish. Plenty mentioned here are on my TBR.

[@oldionus]

Suggestion: read and review The Player of Games and Use of Weapons by Iain Banks and Hyperion by Dan Simmons. All three have got to be in the top 30 since 1980, IMO. Thanks. Also, althugh he's more famous for his Golden Age stuff, the later Vance, such as Araminta Station, is hugely entertaining. He never lost his unique voice.

[@e.matthews]

Wonderful, thanks for taking the time to do this! Roadside Picnic was one of my faves for the year. Brutal, so awfully tragic, even that last declaration of hope is so desperate... Did you have the opportunity to read a version with an afterword about the Soviet editing bureau? Fascinating. Semiosis and A Canticle for Leibowitz also were top tier books for me in 2022. More fantasy this year I think. I have to recommend Bakker's Second Apocalypse series: it's got history so deep it becomes science fiction, he does crazy stuff with theology and philosophy later on. His prose can be a little inappropriately introspective at times but he is a truly talented writer. Happy New Year!

[@klipkultur3680]

Please continue with the golden age stuff, but don't tire yourself either. All that reading, and the work on this video... you're the best!!! Thank you so much and I wish you a happy 2023!!!

[@billiejowhite3638]

Also saw that one of your top 15 is Gene Wolfe Shadow of the Torturer - great series & you described it so well… bizarre brilliant prose… Read all of that series (New Sun) & all of Book of the Long Sun & Book of the Short Sun… I LOVED the Long Sun books best of all of them & they are on my top 20 list… they are much more “normal”, easier to read than Shadow et. al., more plot driven while still benefiting from Wolfe’s brilliant prose & wild imagination. It’s about a generation starship… same universe as Shadow. Based on your favs, I think you would love them.

[@kerrypatricia8419]

New sub, your channel makes me want to read sci-fi again after leaving in frustration many years ago. Frustration with terrible books that were highly acclaimed. This video has several bad books that I forgot I started reading and gave up on, or in the case of Peter F Hamilton, struggled through, waiting for the payoff. Enjoying working my way through your videos!

[@mikeshaffer4912]

I do believe The Dream Master was an inspiration for/straight up ripoff that was made into the 80's Sci Fi film Dreamscape with Dennis Quaid and Kate Capshaw (Mrs Steven Spielberg).

[@WordsinTime]

I'm currently reading Judas Unchained, I'll let you know if all 2,000 pages were worth it when I get to the end haha. I recently purchased Solaris, Roadside Picnic, and The Martian Chronicles and look forward to reading them in 2023!

[@Bookpilled]

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on those.

[@adamek0020]

I respect your list and the fact Solaris is no 1. I reread it recently after years, and it drags a bit at some points on subsequent reads, but it still lingers on after you finish it. Lems best book I read so far, that's the only downside. The rest is just ok to good. Banks fandom is a bit cultish, but Player of Games was 9/10 for me. It helps if you are a gamer yourself though:) Good stuff man, keep them coming. I can even forgive you no Vonnegut. But just this year;)

[@r.awilliams9815]

For your next Jack Vance adventure, try the Lyonesse Trilogy. It's not your typical high fantasy series...but it's Jack Vance, so you already knew that. You'll get into the military fantasy subgenre soon enough, and Glen Cook is the place to begin. The Dread Empire and The Black Company series are where military fantasy was born. One of the Malazan Book of the Fallen volumes is dedicated to Cook, in fact.

[@sandubaciu5656]

It will be interesting to see a 365 sci-fi books review, kind of grouper per similar 12 sub-genres ( space opera, robots, new worlds, time travel, cyber punk, space adventure, aliens, politics dystopia, shocking ideas…) Happy New Year!

[@Joaquim.Oliveira]

Loved this, great recommendations! Happy holidays!

[@richwagner9883]

OMG, your wrap-up on Orphans in the Sky made me burst out laughing. We are of one mind there; LOL. 😂

[@HalJalikakik]

As I slip deeper into middle age I found myself nearly divorced from reading. In my youth I voraciously devoured good and bad books primarily in both the Sci-Fi and fantasy genre. Your very thoughtful and well delivered insights / critiques rekindled my interest in reading. I just finished Vernor Vinge's "A Fire Upon the Deep" and Asimov's "Nightfall" with a little bit of Harry Harrison in between to lighten the mood. For some reason I enjoy Harrison's lighthearted & funny stuff like "Stainless Steel Rat". I picked up Alistair Reynolds "House of Suns" which is next on my list. Thanks for the very intelligent content & look forward to more in 2023. Cheers!

[@ednayokum8588]

I would recommend giving the Earthsea series another chance. The complete books of earthsea as a whole are great. The first three books are pretty much exactly as you described the first. I think the first is the weakest. She was tasked to write a children’s series and at the beginning she seems a little lost on how to do that. But Tehanu, the short stories, the otherwind, feel like they are written by a completely different person.

[@loga1]

Hi! Have you read any Iain M Banks, the best space opera on an epic scale. Start the ‘Culture’ series with “Consider Phlebas”

[@namir38]

Have you read War with the Newts (or salamander war) by Karel Čapek? Highly recommended.

[@personmcpersonperson2893]

You're doing a great thing with this channel

[@tallaganda83]

Man you eat through the books, I need to pick up my game.

[@danielzzzz]

Yep, Solaris is so good. It moved me profoundly when i read it. Also agree about P F Hamilton. Those books are obese. So much fat. I do love them anyway and have read most of his work.😂

[@PlaguedbyVisions]

So happy Blood Music is on my shelf waiting for me. This video seals the deal!

[@shakenbacon-vm4eu]

Your channel is bankrupting my bank account but enriching my life. I literally just bought 4 used books from your list out of sheer excitement. Edit: it’s 5 now

[@Veganrevwithzombies]

Love your channel. Glad you liked Man in the High Castle. We did three High Castle episodes on Dickheads. As the co-host of a PKD podcast, I think you should read The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch. I think it is his masterpiece.

[@BOOGiNS]

I read the hitchhikers guide when I was in like 7ty grade and I thought it was pretty fun. It was version that had all the books in one.

[@damselinthisdress3370]

Really love your reviews and your style. I've added most of your top ten to my tbr pile! You mention your dislike of racism and misogyny, so I thought I'd make an observation that last year you read almost exclusively white, male authors. Would be great to see more women and POC in your recommended reading lists. They exist in the classics, and many titles are exceptional sci-fi and fantasy offerings.

[@billiejowhite3638]

Best Poul Anderson book is the one where they can’t stop the ship & bc of time dilation end up traveling far into the future… ummmm called… Tau Zero

[@joebrooks4448]

Van Vogt wrote "Not The First" in 1941. Very "short" SF short story, available free online. Pretty much the original treatment of this situation.

[@MriInterocitor]

If you read more Ballard and then re-read The Crystal World, I'll be really interested in your thoughts. There's sort of a holographic sense of Ballard's concerns that builds up over time. The elegiac side of Fellowship of the Ring builds up a lot in the other two books. We see more of both the guy mourning a fin-de-siecle pastoral youth and the guy who went off to World War I with 22 classmates, of whom 2 were still alive at war's end. There is a humane-ness in them that completely passes by many people who glorify war. You really capture the delights of reading Bob Shaw. :) Something many readers miss about the Sprawl stories is how very noir they are. There's a huge vein of Raymond Chandler in them. I've always liked that.

[@brancellbooks]

As far as Kay’s involvement in the Silmarillion: I don’t think anyone knows how involved he was, except for Kay himself. That is by design; all parties involved wanted it to be seen predominantly as Tolkien’s work alone.

[@donovanmedieval]

The King of Elfland's daughter, Nisipher from Jack Vance's Dying Earth, and a ceature from the Castle Amber series are in Barlowe's Guide to Fantasy.

[@desfarrell909]

I actually took written notes on a dozen books and then my ink pen leaked and now I'm covered in ink so thanks, merry Xmas and damn u to the fiery rings of hell. But mostly, good job.

[@rokentom3926]

Can’t wait for you to read Mona Lisa Overdrive, Gibson surpasses even himself in the conclusion to the Sprawl trilogy.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

This is like a typical years' reading for me between around 82 and 87. Lots of good stuff there, Matt!

[@Bookpilled]

Thanks Stephen. Hoping to keep up the pace and the quality.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

@@Bookpilled With the stuff you are mostly focusing on - 1950 to 1980 - you should manage this: shorter books, better books. My reading has slowed hugely as I'm tackling so many contemporary novels that are way too long, as most of them are these days.

[@Bookpilled]

@@outlawbookselleroriginal I'm reading a brick length book right now. "Star of the Unborn" by Franz Werfel. Are you familiar with it? It's like a longer, more pastoral rendition of Past Master.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

@@Bookpilled -Heard of him, but never read it: I shall look forward to your review... Happy New Year, my friend!

[@Bookpilled]

@@outlawbookselleroriginal Happy New Year, Steve.

[@Edog1337]

Appreciate that you are actually critical

[@scp240]

Readers of Solaris should explore other works by Lem, he was a bona fide genius and you can't go wrong with books like The Futurological Congress, one of my all-time favorites.

[@mitchellstrauss5117]

Gibson's Peripheral is drop dead awesome... great overall review for your year... thanks! I wish I could read as fast as you! Based on your site, I am currently in the middle of A Fire Upon the Deep... so good... finally, Neal Stephenson... he can vary between fascinating and over bloat... my favorite is REAMDE... I think it would fit in cyberpunk, techno thriller and perhaps Sci Fi... it is worth your time, but it is a bit long, but also a page turner... finally, finally, I read the first two Dying Earth stories based on your site... excellent... am taking a Cugel break before reading the third... thanks again, again for what you do!

[@rickkearn7100]

I have been affected in much he same way as you, Mitchell. BP's perspective has steered me to many of my acquisitions for my 2023/2024 TBR list. I have to say he has sparked a resurgence of my fondness for the SF and Sci Fantasy genres and gotten me enthused about reading SF again. Cheers.

[@johnrobinson4445]

No John Varley? No Aldris Budrys?

[@TheWRYYYYYYY]

Still gotta read Blood Music, Black Easter based on your reviews of them (and Neuromancer as well). About the pronunciation of Cugel: I seem to remember that in one of the books, maybe Cugel's Saga, some character mistakenly refers to him as "Foogle". So that's why I've always pronounced it "Coo-gle".

[@JeanPaulLecrivain]

I really like your reviews as they're full of "in your face" honesty. There are some books I've read so do disagree with your opinion on them.Time alters ones opinions and a book I liked in my 20s isn't something I'd probably like now. Hitch-Hikers still makes me laugh and it left you cold. That is ok and some books you've loved I've disliked... Heinlein - I totally agree with you on. I maybe wrong here, but I believe there weren't any strong female lead characters in any of his adult books, They were all married (sometimes within the first few chapters) and were “devoted to their man”. Yes that maybe a “in the time” thing, but isn't sci-fi supposed to look at things differently than they are/were/could be. I for one am looking forward to seeing more of your reviews in 2023.

[@reedl2353]

Ah, the fun of criticism. You can say good things about anything, no matter how objectively awful, and people are generally polite even if they disagree with you. Say something bad about something, no matter how objectively awful, and you are slapping someone's favorite child and they react with about the same amount of calm deliberation. Of course, that's if you're even willing to concede that there are 'objective' measures of quality in the personal enjoyment of written works. Your expressed preferences are often drastically different than mine. For example, I adore pulp fiction and think that Asimov's best works are the Lucky Star stories, and I hate the character of Cugel with a passion, but we apparently share a similar taste in a preference for a strong authorial voice (Gibson and Wolfe are personal favorites). It would be a boring old world if we all had the same tastes and opinions. For the last decade or so I have almost exclusively read non-fiction. However, watching even a few videos of yours (I have no idea how you came up in my KZbin feed) has made me add a lot of science fiction back into my reading list. Can't pay you a higher complement than that.

[@Joe-lb8qn]

Interesting. I'm currently struggling though Neuromancer (after probably reading it 30 years ago ) and desperately trying not to DNF. OTOH i loved Pandoras star and Judas. Have a great 2023.

[@8020Alive]

If you want other types of Cyberpunk (considerably different) try George Effingers 1. When Gravity Fails (1987) 2. A Fire in the Sun (1989) 3. The Exile Kiss (1991) Or Walter John Williams - Hardwired Happy new year!

[@tectorgorch8698]

I, too, have never been able to crack this one.

[@Joe-lb8qn]

@@8020Alive Cyberpunk I'm fine with. Accelerando is one of my favourite books, very hard core. And what was it, A young lady's primer? Looks it up, The Diamond Age. Great Book IMO. Its just this one.

[@shawnaustin4527]

Neal Asher's Spatterjay books are worth a read a solid mix of strange characters and wild ideas The Skinner is the first one give it a shot it might hook you hard

[@grahamparker7861]

Obviously, being your number one, I want to read Solaris. I am quite fussy about translations and I have just read online that it has been translated into English twice (originally in the 70s and then in 2011). Which version did you read?

[@Bookpilled]

2011

[@seriousbismuth2173]

Hey! Ever read *"Infinite Jest?"* 😏🤣

[@SteveRunciman]

can you post or link to the Zelazny paragraph you found so awesome?

[@mikeeeeee555]

Half you reed 3 body problem buy Liu? This good serie!

[@GeorgeEdwardsVlog]

The Player of Games someone purchased for me and couldn’t get into it.

[@brancellbooks]

*sigh.* Time for my TBR to expand, yet again. Happy holidays!

[@EdDale44135]

You may want to try “The smith of woton major” from Tolkien and see if that lighter tone suits you better.

[@JonasGrumby-OO]

So is Shakespeare, so is Dostoevsky, so is Dickens, so is Tom Wolfe, so is ANYONE not writing in the last twenty years. Just prattle to address that question regarding any book older than a millennial.

[@dimitrikorsakov2570]

Matt, have you seen either of the film adaptations of Solaris? Did you like them as much as the book?

[@Bookpilled]

Seen both. The Tarkovsky one is superior to the Clooney one, neither is close to matching the book's quality.

[@codenameidk206]

What are your thoughts on movies and video games? Are you into them? If so can you make videos about them?

[@b.a.7228]

Dunsany is pronounced "Done-sane-ee."

[@salty-walt]

OMG - your comments are blowing up! Soon you'll be too much of a celebrity to grab espresso when your in town, the horror.

[@northof-62]

Impressed, that averages to more than a book per week.

[@LCD72]

Player of Games is quite a short book isn't it? Shorter than most other Culture stories. Can a book of less than 300 pages properly be described as bloated?

[@Bookpilled]

Yes, to me it can. I have definitely read longer books but found Player of Games plodding.

[@christianfarwig6701]

I like the style and the form of the reviews, but cannot really get to terms with the extremely poor ranks of the Hitchhiker and Player of Games. Sure, Banks need some patience and his plots take some twists and turns, but he defines did not deserve that. Prob should try another from the culture series to revise the original judgement

[@charlesspringer4709]

I would say the Heinlein is not so mysoganist as it is focused on something else. It was written for teenage boys like all those in that collection of work. Female characters just confuse them. Maybe read the Skylark series. You won't like the attitudes about women, etc. but the way in which the scope and abilities of the charactrs expand with the tech is pretty cool. And the ability to describe ever larger battles all the way to manipulating entire galaxies is a triumph of writing (The same for the rest of the Galactic Patrol books - they set the bar.) The writing starts in around 1920. I enjoy the imagination of 100 year old writing because I understand a lot about the tech and attitudes of the time. Smith towers over everyone. I get the feeling that your entire generation has problems with presentism, which is a shame. I can picture art museums closing because no one can tolerate what they will see inside - then comes the barbarians.

[@gypseysurprise]

I'm not surprised how low you placed Guy Gavriel Kay, although you won't be popular. Those derivative elements carry into his most popular work, Tigana, although most people still love it. I gave it three stars but you can see where the genre has left it behind. The ending however was so great it was redeemed for me so I do plan on reading A Song for Arbonne.

[@westgeorgiapiper9339]

Brandon Sanderson thinks Kay is a genius. Interesting to see a polar opposite opinion.

[@mygad]

Bagging on Pandora's Star by Peter Hamilton? Dude, what the heck is wrong with you.That is one of those books that is on my frequently reread list. For me this calls into question your judgment and knowledge of 'Science Fiction'. His 'Salvation' books are just incomprehensible but the Commonwealth stuff is his best IMO. What a shame.

[@Bookpilled]

So sorry to have disappointed you. I feel like I should explain myself. I shot a video a while back going into detail about how I came to this opinion. I hope it gives you some more context and that you can forgive me. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gWqloGCEeNOSaMk

[@koomo801]

I think you have too many books on your TBR to bother with The Space Merchants. "Mad Men meets sci-fi" sounds intriguing, but it wasn't. It might have been impressive for a novice reader at the time of publication. I read it and a bit fewer than 40 sci-fi titles this year. Many, many crossovers with you. My most pleasant surprise by a wide margin was The Man Who Fell to Earth. I'm glad to have finally "discovered" Silverberg through Dying Inside this year. And, thanks for the Blindsight recommendation, it was a fun page-turner. Most disappointing re-read: Nine Princes in Amber by a wide margin, for reasons including your criticisms. Happy 2023!

[@tectorgorch8698]

Great work. Please keep reading all this stuff so I don't have to.

[@TheTastefulThickness]

Simply because its old does give it a pass.

[@8020Alive]

Aldiss Hot House - sucks everyone in. I've loaned that book out to so many peeps - everyone always keeping it. I'm on my 5th copy. Legit dark creative space haunted (not the haunted you might think) house fun. If anyone is interested - buy it cheap and don't read too many Goodreads or Amazon reviews, too many spoilers.

[@ParthapratimsChannel]

It takes gut to criticize Guy G Kay.

[@SirStuckey]

Hey man, just want to say I really love the channel. You review style is great and I like the way you just batch them. I also enjoy that you aren't afraid to read and talk about lesser known titles. You've given me so many titles to add to the TBR I don't know whether to curse you or bless you. Hope you have a great year

[@goatman3358]

the 3 lord of the rings books read by Phil Dragash is a must. i couldn't read the books myself (too long, wordplay too much to engage me), but Phil's audiobooks are something else to be experienced (bucket list worthy).

[@barbararowley6077]

I’m new to the channel and am going to say something shocking for the internet: it’s OK that you don’t like some of the books that I love. Everyone is different and has different likes and dislikes in art - plus there are works that you need to encounter at certain set stages of development to love. If you come across them later in life they can seem trite, tired, or light weight: certainly not the seminal works they are to the less experienced. If you haven’t tried James White yet you might enjoy his work. He was a Golden Age author who turned his back on the aggressive aliens trope, reasoning that any lifeform that survived long enough to develop interstellar travel would likely be peaceable. So he wrote about alien cultures brought together by one shared constant - caring for the ill and injured. So the setting is a massive, multi species, multi environment, hospital space station. (I adore Cordwainer Smith’s style and am very happy to see you enjoyed Norstlrilia!) May I also recommend Walter Moers? He writes comic, absurdist, whimsical, and often quite deep, fantasy, and isn’t particularly well known outside mainland Europe, even though the English translations of his work are excellent.

[@PsychoholicSlag83]

I read Neuromancer for the first time in my mid-thirties and I was "okay, this was a very influential book, everyone and their mother stole from here, so I probably won't be surprised... but I'll read anyway because it's a classic"... How wrong I was, I wasn't able to put it down; so atmosferic, so vivid, amazing book! Re read it last month and enjoyed it just as much, I can't begin to fathom how it was almost 40 years ago, when this was brand new, leaving aside things like 4mb of RAM being something impressive it still feels like a future world

[@ThomasPalm-w5y]

Black Easter is a great little book that I would nominate for the award of "Book with most unexpected sequel". Not that the sequel is nearly as good, but the mere fact that it exists given the ending of the first one is a miracle.

[@Dancerlayla-z6g]

I have a hard time believing you didnt like Pandoras Star, which is one of my alltime favorite SF books. I guess theres no point in watching the rest of this, we dont see SF the same way

[@AlKaBen]

I am a new subscriber and I haven't seen all your videos yet. But I will throw here a title nit knowing if you read it; The Carpet Makers by Andreas Eschbach (German). Nice video btw 👌

[@behr121002]

Finding this channel is like being reunited with a close old friend I haven't seen in decades. Thanks!

[@David-iv6je]

Kay's 2nd and 3rd books in this series were better than the first. I agree on the firs: two or three stars. "Orphans of the Sky" was a poorly executed novelization of Heinlein's novella "Universe.' The novella is consdiered a classic and appears in "The Science Fiction Hall of Fame," a five-volume collection of works published before the awards started. Includes stories like "The Time Machne" and "Who Goes There," the story upon which John Carpenter's film "The Thing" was based. Some of the stories are brilliant, others quite data. But across the board a wonderful insight into the history of SF.

[@DKBiedron]

Even the opening lines of Hitchhikers Guide are smug and a good ice breaker. It’s maybe more charming than laugh out loud funny but even saying that is diplomatic because some of the conversations are great. How can anyone say that the line ‘Time is an illusion, at lunchtime doubly so’ isn’t funny?!

[@AlexRechevskiy]

…and I answered my own question about whether you have read the Strugatsky brothers with this second video. Thanks for yet another awesome list! Cheers! 😊

[@bazoo513]

Every of your "review of reviews" video costs me quite some penny. Fortunately, most of these titles are available on kindle for $1-$4, mostly in Gateway or SF Masterworks re-issues, and I don't have any more shelf space for DTBs anyway. OTOH, I hate to part with a book once acquired, so Kindle is perfect. Have you read _Hard to be a God_ by Strugatsky brothers? Do. Also, if you consider reading something else by Iain Banks (by all means do), may I suggest two nominally "mainstream" works, _The Bridge_ and _Walking on Glass_ ? I would _really_ like to hear your impressions on those.

[@mikeshaffer4912]

Another great 80's Dystopian book is Sea of Glass by Barry B. Longyear (Longyear's story Enemy Mine was made into a good 80's SF movie starring Dennis Quaid and Louis Gossett Jr).

[@justinstephenson9360]

Have read a lot on the list. Never liked EE Doc Smith and Peter Hamilton has always needed a better editor because everything he writes is a bit bloated. Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is a brilliant and very funny book ... if you are British, the humour would not work for most American audiences. Sorry but cannot agree with you on this one. Impressed that you read Tono-Bungay, not the most obscure of HG Wells' books, but still not a common one. IMO it is more social commentary novel than a science fiction novel, I loved it. With those minor quibbles it is a great list.

[@danstabler1819]

If you start watching these videos but never quite finish any of them, you get the impression that this guy just hates books. Obviously the good books get reviewed at the end but nearly 90% of the content I've seen from this guy is now: "Urgh this book was just awful... I hate being forced to read this crap". Just found that amusing. You don't seem to read much contemporary sci fi? Haven't seen a review of some of my favourite contemporary books: Children of Time series?