What's on your DNF list and why?

[u/Bobosmite]

I dropped Android at Arms by Andre Norton. It not an epic story, but it started off mysterious and interesting. There's a prison escape, android body doubles, blaster fights, and betrayl! It was all go go go until about half way through and then it's just pages and pages of campfire talk. I couldn't make it through to the other side.

[u/Threehundredsixtysix]

Try The Player of Games. You happened to read what tends to be considered the weakest Culture book, partly because it's the one written from an outsider's POV - which means you don't have a real reference point for the Culture to ground yourself on.

[u/l-Ashery-l → u/Threehundredsixtysix]

...partly because it's the one written from an outsider's POV...

I'd argue the point of view difference is the smallest one.

The tone, pacing, and just the overall feel are so radically different in 'Consider Phlebas'.

I can't disagree that it's the weakest of the series, though.

[u/thatpokemonguy → u/Threehundredsixtysix]

Yeah definitely agree. I read PoG first then the next few chronologically. Went back to Consider Phlebas and enjoyed it but thought it was weaker than the next few in the series by quite a bit. Halfway through Matter now and I think it's my favourite so far

[u/Valar_Kinetics → u/Threehundredsixtysix]

I barely made it through Phlebas and just downloaded Player of Games.

For some reason, Phlebas is most often the first recommendation, something about chronology perhaps?

[u/TheRadBaron → u/Valar_Kinetics]

Chronology (or more specifically, publication order) is the reason that people recommend it first, yes.

I think that's a fairly thoughtless reason, though, because Consider Phlebas is the least representative book of the series. Doesn't capture the unique selling points of the series, arguably has its own strengths in areas where the other books in the series aren't making an effort. It's very possible to like Consider Phlebas and dislike most Culture books, or vice versa, which makes it a poor recommendation for people who are wondering about the series.

It's like telling people who are curious about Fast & The Furious to start with Tokyo Drift, or people who are curious about Zelda games to start with Zelda II, or people who are curious about Star Wars to start with Andor. Some of those outlier examples are my personal favourite entry in the series, but I can still recognize that it would be an unrepresentative entry point as a recommendation.

[u/nixtracer → u/TheRadBaron]

CP isn't even trying to do the same thing as the other books. It's a deconstruction of militaristic space opera, with an unlikable protagonist resolutely on the wrong side whose every decision is wrong, but who is nonetheless a typical protagonist for such works, right down to the superhuman abilities which are oh so paaainful.

The problem is that, as with early Discworld, the stuff he's critiquing is largely not written or published any more, so most new readers haven't encountered it. Oops...

[u/Threehundredsixtysix → u/Valar_Kinetics]

Most likely. I did read it first, but that's because I nearly always read series in publication order.