According to Jasper Fforde's website a sequel / prequel to Shades of Grey is third on his list of projects, after 'The Constant Rabbit' and a Dragonslayer book. Only listened to it relatively recently so didn't realise it had been so long since it was published, but fingers crossed he does get round to it because I really enjoyed it and found all the ideas he built up really interesting.
Since the Revelation Space trilogy I've been a little hesitant on starting more Reynolds although Pushing Ice I do want to get to. I'd heard of Shades of Grey in passing but never knew anything about it but after listening to your enthusiasm for it I'm now very much interested. I'm glad that Mindplayers worked out so well for you and how more sane the plot is in it.
I have listened to Reynolds' series 'Revelation Space' exclusively on audio. I found I enjoyed John Lee's voice made better sense of the books in my mind.
Jon is a big fan of Jasper Fforde's and says to try Early Riser if you haven't yet - Fforde went into this huge writing slump after Shades of Grey came out and he got himself out of it by re-using the main premise for Early Rise. jon sayd it ends a lot more conclusively than Shades of Grey, including an epilogue that wraps things up.
Yes! I listened to the old Tea and Jeopardy podcast episode where Fforde was talking about that, and when I started Shades of Grey I got some flashbacks to Early Riser. Definitely a similarity there,. Though I think I prefer how Shades was developed (but thankfully Early Riser was a standalone!).
I read Blue Remembered Earth a number of years ago and liked it a lot I tried to read On the Steel Breeze soon after that but ended up DNF ing it Due to the Lockdown in the UK I have been checking which books Ive got that I havent read and decided that On The Steel Breeze would be one of the next books I'll read . I think your review has inspired me to read it next . On Recursion I was a bit disappointed with it and thought it wasnt as good as Dark Matter I really liked Pines by Blake Crouch though
The narrator from the Reynolds story Kobna Holdbrooke-Smith is the narrator of the Rivers of London series. Pc. .Peter Grant I think we're up to episode #8(?) and I'm hooked, even when it wanders off "piste"? I didn't like Recursion, my SFF winner is Memory Called Empire! Although, the other Crouch does seem popular so not against trying it, but it's not high on "The List"? (TBR)
I am rooting for A Memory Called Empire for all the awards this year! So book 2 in that series by Reynolds doesn't keep Kobna as the narrator - which made me sad til I realized the new narrator is Adjoa Ando who did the UK version of the Imperial Radch series and I love her voice.
That's a really encouraging review of "Mindplayers" - I'd considered picking that one up but saw a lot of people in reveiws saying it was a clear step down from Synners and Fools - but those people clearly like the hallucinogenic aspects of Cadigan, so if it's just a more straightforward book, I'm definitely down to jump back into the Fools universe.
If you're super into cyberpunk, I can see where Synners would work better...but I'm not, haha. I prefer fewer drug addled experiences in my books, period!
I was pretty underwhelmed my Recursion. I was disappointed that it made the shortlist. Dark Matter is a much stronger narrative. Hope you are doing well.
I kind of got the same 'movie' vibe from Recursion, except to me it was more like a netflix show. It gave me flashbacks to some parts of "The OA" series except I think Recursion is a better more straight forward concept. It is definitely, cliche but I thought it was an easy listen/read that someone just getting back into books could enjoy. Thanks again for all of your hard work!
Nice to see you've read Leena Krohn. I have read many of her novels and she's been one of my favorite contemporary Finnish authors. She writes very vivid and compact prose which I like. I read it in Finnish and I'm now interested to check are the translations as good as the original text.
I do absolutely love Krohn's writing style. I think the first story I ever read by her was "Gorgonoids" (spelling??) and it gave me chills with just how good the prose was.
I want to try Mindplayers by Pat Cadigan someday :) I've read The wandering Earth by Cixin Liu, and I liked some of the stories, but some were a bit depressive. Have you read The Three Body Problem? I want to give that a try someday.
I loved The Three Body Problem! I don't personally think the rest of that trilogy is worth reading if you bounce off other books by Liu Cixin, but Three Body was just... excellent. I am still waiting for anything else by him to be as good and pull me in.
Cixin Liu's Three Body Problem is my favorite sci-fi book I've ever read, yet i only made it half way through Ball Lightning. I likewise found it uneventful, and the ball lightning phenomena wasn't interesting enough as a central premise. Ill have to reread it though if the explanation of the phenomena is interesting like you mentioned:)
I don't think it's translation issue with Liu... polish version is also dry as hell. I've heard it's the same with german version. If it feels like it with multiple languages it must be something on it.
That does sound like it's Liu's style then, rather than just the translation. I do prefer Ken Liu's translations more and I wonder if he puts his own touch on it to make accessible to Western tastes? That's actually something I've wondered about, for translation in general.
Shades of Grey sounds really intriguing and original! Bummer it's the start to an aborted series. 😅 Mindplayers also sounds interesting. Hallucinogenic stories/writing can be pretty hit or miss with me, so it would probably be safer to try with that one, even though cyberpunk is not a sub-genre that I find terribly appealing (for some reason).
I feel very much the same about cyberpunk. The only cyberpunk novels that I can say I genuinely enjoyed were Fools and Mindplayers, so clearly Cadigan does something for me!
that's a helluva line "she's gone crazy...without a licence"
In the future, even psychosis will be regulated apparently!
I freaking love Shades of Grey but I am SO ANGRY he's not finishing it.
Thanks Rachel!
According to Jasper Fforde's website a sequel / prequel to Shades of Grey is third on his list of projects, after 'The Constant Rabbit' and a Dragonslayer book. Only listened to it relatively recently so didn't realise it had been so long since it was published, but fingers crossed he does get round to it because I really enjoyed it and found all the ideas he built up really interesting.
That's gotten my hope up again! For some reason I thought he'd just abandoned Shades of Grey 2 after Early Riser. Fingers crossed we get it someday.
Since the Revelation Space trilogy I've been a little hesitant on starting more Reynolds although Pushing Ice I do want to get to. I'd heard of Shades of Grey in passing but never knew anything about it but after listening to your enthusiasm for it I'm now very much interested. I'm glad that Mindplayers worked out so well for you and how more sane the plot is in it.
I have listened to Reynolds' series 'Revelation Space' exclusively on audio. I found I enjoyed John Lee's voice made better sense of the books in my mind.
Absolutely! John Lee suits those books so much.
Jon is a big fan of Jasper Fforde's and says to try Early Riser if you haven't yet - Fforde went into this huge writing slump after Shades of Grey came out and he got himself out of it by re-using the main premise for Early Rise. jon sayd it ends a lot more conclusively than Shades of Grey, including an epilogue that wraps things up.
Yes! I listened to the old Tea and Jeopardy podcast episode where Fforde was talking about that, and when I started Shades of Grey I got some flashbacks to Early Riser. Definitely a similarity there,. Though I think I prefer how Shades was developed (but thankfully Early Riser was a standalone!).
I read Blue Remembered Earth a number of years ago and liked it a lot I tried to read On the Steel Breeze soon after that but ended up DNF ing it Due to the Lockdown in the UK I have been checking which books Ive got that I havent read and decided that On The Steel Breeze would be one of the next books I'll read . I think your review has inspired me to read it next . On Recursion I was a bit disappointed with it and thought it wasnt as good as Dark Matter I really liked Pines by Blake Crouch though
I could not finish "The Three Body Problem". I tried, it left me cold, so I moved on to greener pastures.
It is definitely not for everyone...and the rest of the series wasn't better! (tho I am one who really enjoyed Three Body on its own)
The narrator from the Reynolds story Kobna Holdbrooke-Smith is the narrator of the Rivers of London series. Pc. .Peter Grant
I think we're up to episode #8(?) and I'm hooked, even when it wanders off "piste"?
I didn't like Recursion, my SFF winner is Memory Called Empire!
Although, the other Crouch does seem popular so not against trying it, but it's not high on "The List"? (TBR)
I am rooting for A Memory Called Empire for all the awards this year! So book 2 in that series by Reynolds doesn't keep Kobna as the narrator - which made me sad til I realized the new narrator is Adjoa Ando who did the UK version of the Imperial Radch series and I love her voice.
That's a really encouraging review of "Mindplayers" - I'd considered picking that one up but saw a lot of people in reveiws saying it was a clear step down from Synners and Fools - but those people clearly like the hallucinogenic aspects of Cadigan, so if it's just a more straightforward book, I'm definitely down to jump back into the Fools universe.
If you're super into cyberpunk, I can see where Synners would work better...but I'm not, haha. I prefer fewer drug addled experiences in my books, period!
I was pretty underwhelmed my Recursion. I was disappointed that it made the shortlist. Dark Matter is a much stronger narrative. Hope you are doing well.
Yeah, that's why I'd like to try Dark Matter. It could be a fun read and everyone seems to think it was better!
I kind of got the same 'movie' vibe from Recursion, except to me it was more like a netflix show. It gave me flashbacks to some parts of "The OA" series except I think Recursion is a better more straight forward concept. It is definitely, cliche but I thought it was an easy listen/read that someone just getting back into books could enjoy. Thanks again for all of your hard work!
Nice to see you've read Leena Krohn. I have read many of her novels and she's been one of my favorite contemporary Finnish authors. She writes very vivid and compact prose which I like. I read it in Finnish and I'm now interested to check are the translations as good as the original text.
I do absolutely love Krohn's writing style. I think the first story I ever read by her was "Gorgonoids" (spelling??) and it gave me chills with just how good the prose was.
@@Kalanadi I know the feeling and sounds like the translator is doing their job well!
I want to try Mindplayers by Pat Cadigan someday :) I've read The wandering Earth by Cixin Liu, and I liked some of the stories, but some were a bit depressive. Have you read The Three Body Problem? I want to give that a try someday.
I loved The Three Body Problem! I don't personally think the rest of that trilogy is worth reading if you bounce off other books by Liu Cixin, but Three Body was just... excellent. I am still waiting for anything else by him to be as good and pull me in.
I really want to read Mindplayers now! I've never heard of this author before, but it sounds right up my alley.
Cixin Liu's Three Body Problem is my favorite sci-fi book I've ever read, yet i only made it half way through Ball Lightning. I likewise found it uneventful, and the ball lightning phenomena wasn't interesting enough as a central premise. Ill have to reread it though if the explanation of the phenomena is interesting like you mentioned:)
It's a pre-sequel of three body problem..
I don't think it's translation issue with Liu... polish version is also dry as hell. I've heard it's the same with german version. If it feels like it with multiple languages it must be something on it.
That does sound like it's Liu's style then, rather than just the translation. I do prefer Ken Liu's translations more and I wonder if he puts his own touch on it to make accessible to Western tastes? That's actually something I've wondered about, for translation in general.
You poured Heinz 57 on your books?
Of course not, I'm more of a mustard person!
@@Kalanadi LOL
I haven’t read Recursion yet but really enjoyed Dark Matter! I’d be interested to see what you think of that one if you get around to it.
Seems a lot of people think Dark Matter was better than Recursion so I think I will definitely check it out.
Shades of Grey sounds really intriguing and original! Bummer it's the start to an aborted series. 😅 Mindplayers also sounds interesting. Hallucinogenic stories/writing can be pretty hit or miss with me, so it would probably be safer to try with that one, even though cyberpunk is not a sub-genre that I find terribly appealing (for some reason).
I feel very much the same about cyberpunk. The only cyberpunk novels that I can say I genuinely enjoyed were Fools and Mindplayers, so clearly Cadigan does something for me!