Done well, Consider Phlebas would probably make a reasonable TV series, but even as I was reading that I was groaning internally at all the cliches. Done badly it would be dire.
World on the brink of destruction only just escaped by the heroes?
Ship sinking sequence?
Train tunnel sequence?
Shape-shifting alien?
I mean come on.
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evil_andy Stick stick stick stick sticky sticky stick stick, Wed 26 Aug 2020, 17:56,
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member those synopsis on the back of the vhs cassette tape case from down the video shop back in the day? member?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consider_Phlebas#Plot_summary
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artifus is doing it all wrong, Wed 26 Aug 2020, 20:36,
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Pretty much.
I mean the only thing that doesn't mention is all the nonsense on the boat while the Orbital is getting Ryan Johnsoned.
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evil_andy Stick stick stick stick sticky sticky stick stick, Wed 26 Aug 2020, 20:57,
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does read like a low budget b movie there though, and i say that as a fan - meaning it could be a hard sell to those who control the purse strings
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artifus is doing it all wrong, Wed 26 Aug 2020, 21:02,
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It's not the strongest of the series.
Not read any of them for a great many years but I seem to remember The State Of The Art being bloody awful. And vaguely Star Trek IV.
Inversions was lovely.
(, Wed 26 Aug 2020, 22:22, Reply)
state of the art rings a bell - wasn't that a collection of short stories?
i liked the one about the sentient space suit if it's the book i'm thinking of
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artifus is doing it all wrong, Wed 26 Aug 2020, 22:32,
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That's the one.
For what it's worth, the part about the Memorial to The Deportation in Paris has always stuck with me.
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jonbob loves you, Wed 26 Aug 2020, 22:41,
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As it's the first, I wasn't expecting it to be. He was just getting his foot in the door of this universe, so it wasn't going to be perfect. The idea of machine intelligences being vastly smarter than humans and treated as equal members of society was an intriguing one though, and was enough to get me into the second book.
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evil_andy Stick stick stick stick sticky sticky stick stick, Wed 26 Aug 2020, 22:51,
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It really didn't help that I'd read POG, UOW and Excession first, so after those CP came across as a bit pedestrian and "what was the point". But yes, still a strong foundation for what was to come.
(, Wed 26 Aug 2020, 23:30, Reply)