What sort of case could I make that everyone would accept? The whole thing is about the field of literature, where people get into fistfights just trying to define terms. You might not define dullness or preachiness the same way I do, nor would you necessarily measure degrees of dullness or preachiness on the same scale.
(This for Chris as well:) The main reason I hate to name titles is for fear of being drawn into the current political shitstorm about identity themes, which fall under my aversion to preaching, and preaching has been really big in recent times. I think Ancillary Justice was spoiled by preaching but was otherwise a decent story. If it hadn't been trying to smash my face into a message pie, I would have enjoyed it a great deal more.
Dullness is a far worse problem. I had hopes for Redshirts, which, alas, turned out to be dull and not funny in the slightest. Bowl of Heaven was deadly dull, incomplete, and did almost nothing with its spectacular premise. Much of Red Lightning was dull, and clearly an attempt to tailgate on Red Thunder, which was one of the few novels I've read in the last ten years that I was completely happy with.
Much of the dullness is sequel-itis, and I blame publishers for a great deal of that, given their SMOWS orientation. I consider politics dull, which may be one reason I found Robinson's Mars trilogy borderline unreadable. Some people consider politics delicious. This has always puzzled me, because politics is basically hate in an evening gown.
So in truth, there's no good way to answer your question. Or maybe there is, once I get to The Human Wave. We'll see.
(This for Chris as well:) The main reason I hate to name titles is for fear of being drawn into the current political shitstorm about identity themes, which fall under my aversion to preaching, and preaching has been really big in recent times. I think Ancillary Justice was spoiled by preaching but was otherwise a decent story. If it hadn't been trying to smash my face into a message pie, I would have enjoyed it a great deal more.
Dullness is a far worse problem. I had hopes for Redshirts, which, alas, turned out to be dull and not funny in the slightest. Bowl of Heaven was deadly dull, incomplete, and did almost nothing with its spectacular premise. Much of Red Lightning was dull, and clearly an attempt to tailgate on Red Thunder, which was one of the few novels I've read in the last ten years that I was completely happy with.
Much of the dullness is sequel-itis, and I blame publishers for a great deal of that, given their SMOWS orientation. I consider politics dull, which may be one reason I found Robinson's Mars trilogy borderline unreadable. Some people consider politics delicious. This has always puzzled me, because politics is basically hate in an evening gown.
So in truth, there's no good way to answer your question. Or maybe there is, once I get to The Human Wave. We'll see.
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