I remember girls reading it in grade 8 and stuff. (Destiny)

by squidnh3, Sunday, July 16, 2017, 19:58 (2774 days ago) @ Kahzgul

I read it and liked it, but it's more of a young adult type book than hard-boiled fantasy or science fiction.

I think I read it in middle school too, but it must not have affected me much. I do remember it introducing me to the concept of explaining tesseracts/wormholes through bringing two points together. Before seeing Interstellar with some friends we discussed whether they would use that technique to explain their wormhole. When that guy brought out his piece of paper in the movie we all started laughing.

- Perdido Street Station (and then read goddamn *everything* China Mieville ever wrote, because wow, he's amazing).

I've found The Scar to be the book that has most affected me. The imagery of Machine Beach is seared in my mind.

- Embassytown (because China Mieville doesn't limit himself to a single genre and neither should you).

Yes.

- Dune. You may then read the sequel. if you must, read the third. Do not torture yourself by attempting any of the others. The first book is a 10 and it drops off exponentially from there.

I'll disagree here, only to defend the sequels. I think most people find them shocking (especially God Emperor) because they are so outside the realm of expectation based on the first book. I know I gave up Dune: Messiah halfway through, and came back a year or so later. After making it through them all, I've now reread them several times, and I'd have a hard time picking a favorite. Heretics of Dune is amazing, and the fact that God Emperor was parodied in an episode of The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy remains one of my favorite things of all time. However, I am still struggling with the decision whether or not to read the Brian Herbert sequels to finally find out what happens. His prequels were serviceable, but he's just not the writer Frank Herbert was (and nobody really is).