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Author Topic:   Space Shoot'em up!
portmaster1000
Inactive Member


Message 1 of 13 (186212)
02-17-2005 1:26 PM


Can anyone suggest a good space opera book with lots space battles? I'm a big fan of David Weber and anything along those lines would be great.
thanx
PM1K

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coffee_addict
Member (Idle past 477 days)
Posts: 3645
From: Indianapolis, IN
Joined: 03-29-2004


Message 2 of 13 (186264)
02-17-2005 3:17 PM
Reply to: Message 1 by portmaster1000
02-17-2005 1:26 PM


Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.

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Ooook!
Member (Idle past 5815 days)
Posts: 340
From: London, UK
Joined: 09-29-2003


Message 3 of 13 (186267)
02-17-2005 3:25 PM
Reply to: Message 1 by portmaster1000
02-17-2005 1:26 PM


Not really very shoot-em-up, but definitely space operatic (not to mention downright twisted):
Consider Phlebas by Ian M Banks (or any of his 'culture' novels)

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crashfrog
Member (Idle past 1466 days)
Posts: 19762
From: Silver Spring, MD
Joined: 03-20-2003


Message 4 of 13 (186268)
02-17-2005 3:26 PM
Reply to: Message 1 by portmaster1000
02-17-2005 1:26 PM


Can anyone suggest a good space opera book with lots space battles?
Iain Banks' "Culture" novels, I've found, are kind of like light-speed space opera cyberpunk. There's a fair bit of space-battling in "Excession", which I think is still in bookstores. But mostly the books are about how people deal with the fact that they live in a society where no one needs to work for a living and it's next to impossible to be killed or injured.
AbE: Looks like Oook and I had the same brainstorm. Banks beats the pants off Weber and his contrived "naval ships in space" 2D battles. (It's as transparent a contrivance as the personal shields in Dune, where if you shoot them with a laser, you both go nuclear, but you can still stab the guy with a knife.)
This message has been edited by crashfrog, 02-17-2005 15:29 AM

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portmaster1000
Inactive Member


Message 5 of 13 (186270)
02-17-2005 3:36 PM


I've never read any Banks and will have to pick a couple up.
Ender's Game is already a big fav. But it's a great reread too!
thanx
PM1K

  
contracycle
Inactive Member


Message 6 of 13 (187758)
02-23-2005 11:18 AM


CJ Cherryh's work, notably the Compact Space series. Also, and especially, Hellburner - I don't think there are any better descriptions of combat at reletavistic velocities anywhere.

  
Minnemooseus
Member
Posts: 3941
From: Duluth, Minnesota, U.S. (West end of Lake Superior)
Joined: 11-11-2001
Member Rating: 10.0


Message 7 of 13 (187840)
02-23-2005 3:50 PM
Reply to: Message 2 by coffee_addict
02-17-2005 3:17 PM


Ender's Game, and subsequent Orson Scott Card books
quote:
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.
As I recall Ender's Game is a short story. I believe I encountered it in a compilation volume of Card works, entitled Unaccompanied Sonata. Recommended.
Ender's Game is the roots of a longer book, Enders Shadow. Again recommended.
There is another follow-up volume to Ender's Shadow, the title of which I don't currently recall. Also recommended.
Moose

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bob_gray
Member (Idle past 5013 days)
Posts: 243
From: Virginia
Joined: 05-03-2004


Message 8 of 13 (187905)
02-23-2005 7:48 PM
Reply to: Message 7 by Minnemooseus
02-23-2005 3:50 PM


Re: Ender's Game, and subsequent Orson Scott Card books
I think the book title you are looking for is Shadow of the Hegemon. Card is one of the best and his website even as several chapters of some of his books online:
http://www.hatrack.com/

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Minnemooseus
Member
Posts: 3941
From: Duluth, Minnesota, U.S. (West end of Lake Superior)
Joined: 11-11-2001
Member Rating: 10.0


Message 9 of 13 (187910)
02-23-2005 7:58 PM
Reply to: Message 8 by bob_gray
02-23-2005 7:48 PM


Re: Ender's Game, and subsequent Orson Scott Card books
Checking your cite, I believe the one I read and am referring to is Xenocide.
I think Shadow of the Hegemon is not available at the local library, thus I missed it - Sounds good though, will bookmark cite/site.
Moose

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CK
Member (Idle past 4127 days)
Posts: 3221
Joined: 07-04-2004


Message 10 of 13 (187919)
02-23-2005 8:14 PM
Reply to: Message 7 by Minnemooseus
02-23-2005 3:50 PM


Re: Ender's Game, and subsequent Orson Scott Card books
Ender's game was a short story - then reworked into a longer book - it's sequels in terms of timelines spilt in two directions:
You have (I think it's called) the speaker of the dead series (xenocide is one of those) - this follows Ender, His sister and others and their adventures in space - this are thousands of years in the future (due to the travel time and the effects of near-light travel). All of the events in the other series are historical events at this point.
The other series (Shadow of the hegemon) follows events on earth just after the aliens are defeated. This follows Ender's brother, Bean and others as they fight for control of the earth.
Ender's shadow reexamines the effects of ender's game from another viewpoint. It is also the kick-off for the earth based stuff.
This message has been edited by Charles Knight, 23 February 2005 20:16 AM

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contracycle
Inactive Member


Message 11 of 13 (188047)
02-24-2005 6:49 AM


Speaker for the Dead is one of my fabourite books (I loved Enders Game too). Its a very clever piece of work, and may be of interest here in that the "speaker for the dead" is a sort of secular speaker who performs non-religious funeral services, and attempts to explain the life of the deceased as they themselves saw it to the others who knew them. Quite a fascinating concept.

  
Loudmouth
Inactive Member


Message 12 of 13 (188149)
02-24-2005 1:30 PM


I really enjoyed Endymion and The Rise of Endymion by Dan Simmons. Not a ton of action, but plenty of planetary and space battles. These are the continuation of Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion by the same author. The Endymion books are self contained, but reading the Hyperion books might make them less confusing.

  
PaulK
Member
Posts: 17822
Joined: 01-10-2003
Member Rating: 2.2


Message 13 of 13 (188435)
02-25-2005 9:16 AM


I supose I ought to say that provided you don't mind the dated writing and technology (not to mention the escalation of over-the-top weaponry) you might like to try E E "Doc" Smith's Lensman series.
And while it might be hard to find, Brian Stableford wrote a trilogy of novels that might be of interest (The Days of Glory, In the Kingdom of the Beasts and Day of Wrath) The first and second are heavily based on the Illiad and the Odyssey respectively. Rather different from his more recent works - but worth a browse if you can track them down.

  
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