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Adam Roberts

Martin

Martin

Active Member
Does anyone know anything about this S-F author?

I recently stumbled upon his latest, called The Snow.

Here's the blurb:

And this is how the world will end ...'The snow started falling on the sixth of September, soft noiseless flakes filling the sky like a swarm of white moths, or like static interference on your TV screen - whichever metaphor, nature or technology, you find the more evocative. Snow everywhere, all through the air, with that distinctive sense of hurrying that a vigorous snowfall brings with it. Everything in a rush, busy-busy snowflakes. And, simultaneously, paradoxically, everything is hushed, calm, as quiet as cancer, as white as death. And at the beginning people were happy.' But the snow doesn't stop. It falls and falls and falls. Until it lies three miles thick across the whole of the earth. Six billion people have died. Perhaps 150,000 survive. But those 150,000 need help, they need support, they need organising, governing. And so the lies begin. Lies about how the snow started. Lies about who is to blame. Lies about who is left. Lies about what really lies beneath.

This sounds really interesting (I love a good apocalypse), but I want to hear from people who've read this guy. Is he a good author? Would you recommend him?

Cheers
 
Yeah, he is a fantastic author :)

I really like him. He is a high concept SF writer. His books are really deep and he had a great writing style. He normally picks one concept either in physics or philosophy or ethics and then runs with it.

I love his book SALT

The publishers of Salt, the debut SF novel by a British author, compare it to Frank Herbert's Dune--and certainly the harsh beauty of the planet Salt makes arid Dune seem cosy and lush. Here are great deadly deserts of salt-crystal dunes, "seas" that are supersaturated lakes scummed over with hard salt, free chlorine in the air, inedible salt algae, a corrosive wind called the Devil's Whisper and a sleet of cancer-spawning radiation from the sky ...
Ill-assorted groups of Earth colonists were lured across space by misleading survey reports--or did Salt change during the long voyage? They build their makeshift cities around the salt lakes, struggling to tame this dreadful world. Unfortunately two of the settlements are desperately incompatible, hardly able even to communicate. Senaar city has a rigid, disciplined hierarchy with every person in their place, ordered like atoms in crystalline salt; Als is a leaderless anarchy where anyone might tackle any job, all as fluid as seawater. (Yes, Roberts loves salty metaphors.)

The viewpoint alternates between Petja of Als and Senaar's leader, Barlei, whose non-communication escalates into a war for which Senaar has been prepared all along--although Barlei has hypocritical justifications for everything, including oppression of his own people and Orwellian rewriting of history. Meanwhile, against all his Alsist principles, the gentler, poetic Petja hardens into a charismatic terrorist leader. Their entwined stories are grim, sad and bitter as salt. (Roberts does sometimes overdo the metaphors.) Salt is a skilful, intense, gloomy novel. --David Langford --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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And really wanna read

Synopsis
Adam Roberts' fourth novel is his most ambitious yet. In a feat of extraordinary world building he creates a universe where a breathable atmosphere extends out between the planets, where aristocrats cruise interstellar space in biplanes and skywhals make mysterious distant orbits. Then, with bravura plotting, he undermines our own notions of reality and leaves the reader unsure which universe to believe in. Gaining a reputation as one of the UK's leading SF stylists and masters of the high-concept, Roberts, shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke award with his debut novel SALT, confirms his extraordinary potential with POLYSTOM.
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That new book by him looks very good :)
 
Polystom sounds great!

But I'm sticking to The Snow, for now. I love that high concept end of the world kinda thing.

But, is he very technical? Lot's of technobabble? Because I hate that.

Cheers
 
Nah, not really :)

He does not spout technobable and is more interested in the a concept. To be honest, some of his stuff goes over my head but I still enjoy it. Check him out, he writes beautiful prose with intelligent and imaginative stories! I think you will like him.
 
I'll go out and pick op a copy of The Snow tomorrow. And I'll keep that Polystom in mind.

Thanks for the Info, Wabbit. Much obliged!

Cheers
 
No problem :) Hope you enjoy it and let me know what you think about the new one!

When I next go on a book buying spree, I think Polystorm will be on the list!
 
This is the first time that I'll put the 'currently reading' bit under all your member names to work, so I'll hope this works.

To Litany. I noticed that you are currently reading Roberts' Polystom - are you enjoying it? What are your thoughts?

Cheers
 
[EDIT: the post I refer to has been deleted]

Thanks for your views on The Snow, Litany - I'd been meaning to pick it up quite some time ago, but after that first time that I saw it at the bookstore, I never found it again.

I'll look harder.

Cheers
 
Because there already was a thread about mr. Roberts, and the two books you described. But now I've deleted them.

Cheers
 
Dan Brown has at least ten threads devoted to him and yet has written fewer books. Is he somehow more worthy?

I wished to discuss two different books in two separate threads. I put time and effort into writing two separate reviews. I didn't wish to tack them onto the end of a six-month old thread where two people have a little chat about a book which neither of them have read. I didn't wish to discuss the complete works of Adam Roberts in one amorphous thread. I didn't wish to see my reviews lost in sea of posts in the 'just finished' thread. My threads in no way contravened the rules of the forum. Other people seem to be permitted to start as many threads on the same books and authors as they wish with complete impunity. At the risk of repeating myself, why were my posts moved?

If my threads contravene the rules of the forum then by all means delete/edit them. If my threads are posted in the wrong section, then by all means move them. I would, however, greatly appreciate it if my legitimate threads were not arbitrarily shunted about the place while other people are permitted to have as many as they wish on the same subject. Would it have been too much effort to at least consult me before moving them?
 
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