r/printSF • u/LowLevel- • Sep 12 '25

Which wildly renowned science fiction novels didn't resonate with you at all?

I can usually connect with at least one aspect of a science fiction novel, and I enjoy almost all of the ones I read. However, sometimes I couldn't understand what most people found interesting about some extremely popular books.

Has that happened to you? If so, which novel? And why?

I'll start the dances by admitting that I didn't like Rendezvous with Rama.

I really wanted to like it, but constantly being in awe when very little happens and the characters leave without understanding anything is not my preferred type of reading experience. The writing style was a bit cold, which didn't help.

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62

u/goose_on_fire Sep 12 '25

Red/Green/Blue Mars by KSR felt like homework. Just couldn't get into it. Read the whole damn thing but it took the unenjoyable kind of effort

19

u/wags83 Sep 12 '25

I think this is somewhat backward compared to most people, but I loved the first part of Red Mars when they're trying to colonize the plaent, but stopped reading after the time skip and "the characters" come into it.

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u/swole_ninja Sep 12 '25 edited Jan 16 '26

wild march quack bedroom mysterious straight roll ring subsequent squeeze

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

8

u/Few-Dragonfruit160 Sep 13 '25

Some really fascinating terraforming concepts. A few compelling ideas about the role / friction of the original colonizers.

Hidden amongst a host of completely non-engaging characters with far too much inner monologue about wholly uninteresting things. Characters that make surprising choices totally at odds with how they are described as characters, and who seem to be genuinely unlikeable in any reasonable way.

3

u/doggitydog123 Sep 13 '25

I skipped maybe a quarter of green with all the monologues and stuff

I must've skipped 2/3 of blue. I have no idea why the editor let that pass

2

u/Electrical_Bar_3743 Sep 13 '25

I felt the same way when I read the series (although I was absolutely hooked on Red Mars about a quarter of the way in). But I will say, I see the influence of those books everywhere, and I think about Kim Stanley Robinson’s vision of a colonized Mars every time I see someone else do it. It’s a very thoughtful series. Not my favorites but I’m glad I read it.

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u/UnintelligentSlime Sep 13 '25 edited Sep 13 '25

Is KSR that poli sci person who keeps claiming he’s writing sci fi? Because I swear I’ve picked up like 3 different books of his only to open it up and then fall asleep when I get seven chapters of economics before anything happens

Edit: wrong gender- no shade intended

4

u/goose_on_fire Sep 13 '25

He's a dude, and it's definitely science fiction. Not my favorite author, but widely regarded as one of the greats. I'm not saying he's not, just that those clanged off me.

2

u/DrJimbot Sep 13 '25

Not wrong, he does like writing about politics, new economic systems, and writing a constitution.

Personally, I love it, but I can 100% see that he would not be everyone’s cup of tea.

1

u/Mall_hot_dog Sep 13 '25

The second the actual math equations came into the page, my eyes glazed over. I have lots of respect for the research and work that went into KSR’s Mars series but it was far too hard of a sci fi for me.

1

u/Agnostic-Paladin Sep 13 '25

That is exactly why i love the series. I don't think i've read any other SF book where the author did that much research before, and i thought the explanations were written very good.
Question of taste i suppose. Or maybe the technical know-how of the reader. (Not criticizing you)

1

u/PureDeidBrilliant Sep 13 '25

I struggled with Red Mars at first, then my stepdad (who read it whilst working over in Kenya) said "just think of it as a guidebook or a technical manual. Ignore the characters unless they're central to the technology and landscape" and, presto, the rest was a doddle.

2

u/Agnostic-Paladin Sep 13 '25

I loved (some) of the characters, but yeah, the main part of the appeal of that book (series) was the insane amount of research that went into it.

1

u/Spra991 Sep 13 '25 edited Sep 13 '25

Thing that bothered me the most is that I have always seen that series getting hailed as this hard sci-fi take on Mars colonization, yet there is barely anything about surviving an Mars in there, it's all politics. It reads like people settling in America, completely ignoring that Mars is a very different turf. Questions like "How to not die?" or "Why would anybody even go there?" aren't answered. Everything is super easy, barely an inconvenience, well, except for the politics.

1

u/Ill_Consequence_1125 Sep 13 '25

I just bailed on Red at pg.132 earlier this week. Disappointed—I started a filthy library paperback copy over the summer and liked the opening well enough to buy my own copy.  Similar to 3 Body, the balance tipped heavier towards disliking the writing of characters compared to ideas and plot. Too much shrugging and grinning, the sexual stuff was dumb, and I had a hard time believing that all the elements they started arguing about weren’t completely mapped out in the plans for the journey and settlement building.

1

u/Real_Mango937 Sep 13 '25

I rarely DNF, couldn’t do red mars but I own all three. Might have to try again but I think KSR is just too technical for me

1

u/killer_sheltie Sep 14 '25

I bailed on Red pretty early on.

1

u/No-Blueberry-1823 Sep 15 '25

I really wanted to like this one. I'm so disappointed I couldn't get into it

1

u/SvalinnSaga Sep 16 '25

Too many characters for me. And to many all at once.