8.1 KiB
[meta] Can you recommend any completed works?
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Author: u/None *
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URL: https://www.reddit.com/r/rational/comments/5u7jcc/meta_can_you_recommend_any_completed_works/
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Score: 2
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Created: 2017-02-15T14:06:34
Post:
I like the genre, but it turns me off that the huge majority of things posted here are amateurishly written and incomplete.
For example, someone linked me Mother of Learning, and I went through 65 chapters only to find out that the book is incomplete and the author probably has no idea where he's going with it, considering the lack of character and plot development.
Comments:
u/thrawnca [+37] Carbon-based biped (5 hours later)
The author of Mother of Learning knows exactly where he's going with it. He planned it all out before he started, and it shows, with a very complex mystery and lots of foreshadowing. I'm loving every chapter, and I know many others do too. If you thought it was amateurish, I'm not sure what I can recommend to you.
u/eaglejarl [+18] (7 hours later)
MoL is without a doubt THE most popular piece on this Reddit, based on upvotes. If you disliked it you might want to look elsewhere.
Out of curiosity, you say that you like the genre but not the things that are posted here. Where were you getting your refs from before this? It might make a good source for us as well.
u/None [+6] (7 hours later)
Worm, Twig, Shadows of Limelight, Metropolitan Man, HPMOR, someone said that the SCP stories belong in that genre, and I just finished "CORDYCEPS: Too clever for their own good", which was short, but absolutely brilliant.
Probably missing a few others as well.
u/thrawnca [+3] Carbon-based biped (8 hours later)
Can I presume that you've read Yudkowsky's other fiction? Three Worlds Collide is very thought-provoking.
u/xamueljones [+3] My arch-enemy is entropy (a day later)
If you like SCP stories, then you should look at the SCP stories written by the author of Ra. Most of them are about antimemetics which is a very interesting topic to most readers here.
u/None [+2] (a day later)
holy shit, thanks! I didn't know he wrote those SCP stories
u/SvalbardCaretaker [+11] Mouse Army (35 minutes later)
https://www.reddit.com/r/rational/wiki/index#wiki_defining_works
Apart from methods of rationality which I cant recommend highly enough (even after taken this sentence into account), my favourites are the stories of Alexander Wales. A bluer shade of white, metropolitan man, for a bit more long-form his shadows of the limelight are rather good.
u/thrawnca [+1] Carbon-based biped (11 hours later)
Metropolitan Man was definitely interesting, but .
I've reread A Bluer Shade of White a few times, it's fun :).
u/GaBeRockKing [+12] Horizon Breach: http://archiveofourown.org/works/6785857 (an hour later)
For example, someone linked me Mother of Learning, and I went through 65 chapters only to find out that the book is incomplete and the author probably has no idea where he's going with it, considering the lack of character and plot development.
Lack of plot development? Huh?
I'd advise you to stick with it; the author updates fairly regularly, and as someone who's been following it serially, plot development happens quite often and unexpectedly.
Web serials are basically the logical conclusion of a series-- Instead of giving you a fraction of a story at a time, then waiting years for the next part to be ready, you just get updated chapter-by-chapter. Referenced to non-web-serials, MoL is a bit more than 2 massive doorstopper books in.
u/None [-8] (2 hours later)
I know what a web serial is.
I read the whole thing. The last twenty chapters could have been been condensed to 2-3 chapters. Do we, as readers, need to know how the negotiations with each and every aranea colony went? Do we have to be described each and every morning at the start of the month and subsequent train journey?
The MC described his visits to Xvim at least 10 times, and every single time it went pretty much the same, and he thought the same things.
And meanwhile, something very original, the thought process of the simulacra is barely touched upon.
u/thrawnca [+19] Carbon-based biped (5 hours later)
The last twenty chapters could have been condensed to 2-3 chapters
Nooooo...
how the negotiations with each and every aranea colony went
Judging by the amount of discussion of those negotiations, yes, we do want to see that. Although a lot is off-screen.
start of the month and subsequent train journey
I think that that helps the reader to feel more of what Zorian is going through. But it's often summarized or skipped.
described his visits to Xvim
(warning: TVTropes)
Xvim is AWESOME. And doing it that way was necessary IMO to show that Xvim doesn't just have a reputation and then turn out to be friendly and helpful; no, he really is a jerk to new students, on purpose - but he has the skills to back it up.
simulacra is barely touched on
They've featured in every chapter since he learned the spell. This latest one didn't explicitly jump to their POV, just included them in conversation, but somehow I suspect that if the story had continued to talk about how Z2 and Z3 were doing with school and travel, you would have been bored...
u/Frommerman [+4] (6 hours later)
That link is amazing.
u/vakusdrake [+5] (10 hours later)
IDK I really feel he ought to include a warning before linking to a memetic hazard as dangerous as TVTropes ;)
u/Frommerman [+6] (10 hours later)
The first link. I was warned by an ancient deity to never approach the second, lest it devour my soul and shred my mind.
u/thrawnca [+2] Carbon-based biped (10 hours later)
Sorry about that. I originally wrote it on my phone and didn't get around to adding the
soul trapsecond link until later.
u/pixelz [+8] (9 hours later)
At this site
http://rationalreads.com/#/works
You can filter by completed works. Everything with a 4.0/5.0 rating and above is readable.
u/thrawnca [+2] Carbon-based biped (11 hours later)
It's a pity that it doesn't seem possible to use an OR condition (eg complete OR rapidly updating OR slowly updating, rational OR hints of rationality).
u/cellsminions [+6] (9 hours later)
Ted Chiang's short stories are worth a read, especially if you're looking for something with a more professional written tone.
u/Fresh_C [+3] (a day later)
The Fall of Doc Future is interesting... though the romance in it feels a little bit like wish fulfillment to me, which turned me off a bit. But the main premises and the way powers are taken to their logical conclusions is appealing.
I'm not sure if you're okay with fan fiction, but you might want to check out The Waves Arisen (a Naruto story). I found it to be well written and it's complete.
Also Friendship is Optimal is a very good take on the rise of General Artificial Intelligence that uses aspects of the My Little Pony Frienship is Magic universe (though it's set in the real world). Don't let the source material turn you off, because it's not important at all to understanding the story and the way the author integrates it into a real world setting is quite interesting. I'd never seen an episode of MLP before reading this and I loved it.
u/technoninja1 [+0] (2 hours later)
Hpmor