I really love sci-fi novels and I read a lot of books. I read 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson a while back and that book is particularly interesting to me. Rather than each chapter advancing the narrative of the story, there were occasional breaks where a chapter would have a list of semi-random words which just gave the vibe of what’s happening, or some history of a scene, or a recipe for how to build an asteroid.
There’s another book that I have heard of but neglected to write the name down, where the reader of the book is a character within the book, and the narrator speaks directly to you (but not a choose-your-adventure style book).
All of this got me interested in finding other books, preferably sci-fi or maybe fantasy, where the concept of being a book is played with and new ideas are tried. Any recommendations?
Well, to each their own then. I rather enjoyed it. It was a silly self-aware little romp. I’m pretty sure being ham-fisted was kind of the point, in keeping with original Trek tradition.
Didn’t know Will Wheaton narrated the audiobook.
I agree. Scalzi isn’t exactly attempting to be a modern-day Dostoevsky. He is a very self-aware author, and he writes fun, entertaining, and sometimes dumb (in the best way), stories.
Wheaton does a good job with the audiobook. Because of his minor celebrity, I feel that he gets more credit than other, equally talented, narrators, but there is no denying he’s pretty good at it.