• cryptosporidium140@sh.itjust.works
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    8 months ago

    That’s a common criticism of the books. They’re chock full of cool ideas but the dialogue and character building are rather limited. It’s actually the entire reason I’m looking forward to this. If they can fix that side of the equation, we’re in for a treat

    • NielsBohron@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      It’s a common problem with lots of classic sci-fi authors. Heinlein, Asimov, Philip K Dick, Larry Niven etc. are all terrible at writing believable dialogue and compelling characters. There are some exceptions, but most of their characters are cardboard cutouts so they have a way to move along a story or give exposition about the ideas.

      The Expanse did a pretty good job with characterization (in the books), and Kim Stanley Robinson is decent (but is still pretty “hit or miss,” IMHO), but in general, the weakest part of sci-fi writing is almost universally characterization and dialogue.