He watched people planting grass to keep the shifting dunes from swallowing up vacationers’ houses.Ģ. Perhaps the most surprising fact about Dune is that Frank Herbert was inspired to create his all-desert, water-starved planet during a trip to the soggy Oregon coast. Just for fun, here are a few things you may not know about Dune. It’s often called the “Lord of the Rings of science fiction.” It’s a sprawling epic of Machiavellian politics, personal betrayals, secrets within secrets, giant monsters, and delightfully flawed characters. Much of the book’s charm is Fassin Taak negotiating the impressively alien society of Dwellers (for example, they hunt their young for sport). However, the Dwellers comport themselves like tipsy dilettantes and are consistently untrustworthy just for the hell of it. With such an ancient species, you’d expect some Yoda-like decorum and quiet wisdom. The Dwellers are a multi-billion-year-old alien species that have colonized nearly all of the Jupiter-like gas planets in the galaxy. The good guys want to get to that information first, and the only person who has any chance is Fassin Taak.įassin Taak has dedicated his life to studying the alien Dwellers, who may or may not control this network of wormholes. He wants information about a possible secret network of wormholes. The Algebraist is not one of Banks’s popular Culture stories, taking place only a couple thousand years in the future instead of ten thousand, but it’s still fun.Īn armada of deeply evil bastards is coming, commanded by an entertainingly over-the-top villain (think the Joker with access to a spaceship and genetic engineering). “Combining an exploration of real human frailties with big SF ideas and exciting thriller action, Corey cements the series as must-read space opera.” The whispers of a dead man remind him that the great galactic civilization which once stood on this land is gone. But the more he looks at it, the more Holden thinks the mission was meant to fail. James Holden and the crew of his one small ship are sent to make peace in the midst of war and sense in the midst of chaos. Innocent scientists are slaughtered as they try to survey the new world and the struggle threatens to spread all the way back to Earth. On an alien world, independent settlers stand against the overwhelming power of a corporate colony ship with only their determination, courage, and the skills learned in the long wars of home. Read the first three before diving into this one. Cibola Burn is the fourth book in the Expanse. It’s big, dramatic space opera with surprisingly thoughtful character development and some moments of real poetry.
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