OT: best book in years

[Aahz]

In article <3F5891C8.A7DD1A20 at hotmail.com>,
Alan Kennedy  <alanmk at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>On a lighter note, a fantastic book that I really enjoyed reading (for
>leisure) was
>
>Kil'n People, by David Brin.
>http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/tg/used/-/1841491381/
>It's nothing less than a masterpiece of modern sci-fi. IMHO :-)

Ugh.  It's not a bad book, but while I like David Brin in general, his
quality has slipped in recent years and I'd recommend something else,
depending on the taste of the reader:

Military SF: David Weber (start with _On Basilisk Station_) or Lois
McMaster Bujold (start with _Shards of Honor_, but don't read _Barrayar_
yet if you pick up the _Cordelia's Honor_ omnibus).

Social SF: anything by Ursual K. LeGuin, _Courtship Rite_ by Donald
Kingsbury

General SF: _In Conquest Born_ by C.S. Friedman; _Sundiver_, by David
Brin; _Pride of Chanur_, C.J. Cherryh; _The Mote in God's Eye_, Larry
Niven & Jerry Pournelle

Fantasy: _Godstalk_ by P.C. Hodgell (available in the omnibus _Dark of
the Gods_)

High fantasy: _Riddlemaster of Hed_ by Patricia McKillip

These are just a few that I pulled up with a couple of minutes thought;
I've got many, many more.
-- 
Aahz (aahz at pythoncraft.com)           <*>         http://www.pythoncraft.com/

This is Python.  We don't care much about theory, except where it intersects 
with useful practice.  --Aahz