Read the first one, wife read the entire series. Very good, written like ASOIAF in space, which makes sense as the authors work for or are affiliated with GRRM.

just added Pandora's Star- thanks for the tip

Lemme know what you think, would love to hear your thoughts. I have conflicting opinions about Neal Stephenson, but Reamde is the best techno-thriller I've ever read. The wife loves Matthew Reilly. He's not a great writer, but he's lots of fun with non-stop action.

not a Stephenson fan- never engaged me in any way other than revulsion, and that ain't my idea of fun- but I know many who Revere his work. it'll be a bit till I get to it (412 books in queue, and yes I have a problem), but I'll let you know when I do.

You thinking of Neil Gaimen?

lol... no, no- I forget which book, but it struck me as despair porn with an unhealthy sprinkle of anxiety added in; I ended up giving the book away. and yeah, Gaiman falls into that trap in much of his work.

I read Cryptonomicon which was a fucking slog. Many refer to him as akin to Michener, a master of the info dump. Reamde wasn't like that at all; World of Warcraft-like game developer, Chinese credit card scammers, and Russian mafia are the three big sets of characters. Wild ride.

I've never been impressed with Gaimen. He's always been a condescending prick, and now we learned he's just a gross asshole who can write.

say anything like that about the Sandman & the fanatics'll beat you with a comic book 🤣

I was hooked in the first chapter. Even the wife loved it, and she usually looks to discount my perfect taste in everything.

lol... did that with the Expanse- blew thru the first 3 books in 5 days, sleeping maybe a total of 11 hours & had to titrate the last in disciplined portions.