Aesthetic in Science Fiction

[Trilderberg]

I read a lot of speculative fiction, and every year, the new Hugo award winner for best novel gets inserted somewhere near the top of my list. The 2017 winner was The Obelisk Gate by N. K. Jemisin. The first two installments of Jemisin's Broken Earth series won best novel (the third installment is nominated at the moment). As far as I know, Jemisin is the first writer to win two Hugos for Best Novel consecutively. I hadn't gotten around to reading The Fifth Season, the first in the series, so I decided it was time to check it out.

 

The book was ambitious, evocative, and unique, and looking back, I really disliked it. Generally I'm not picky about fiction. I enjoy pulp at least as much as more philosophically rich science fiction. Reading this book, I realized that the reason I disliked it so much wasn't something reasonable like weak characters, or pacing (objectively every aspect of Jemisin's storytelling seemed pretty solid). I think it was because when I imagined the setting in my head, It looked stupid to me. That's it.

 

I found this story largely uninteresting, even though I enjoy stories which are much less high-brow, but aesthetically more appealing to me, such as The Expanse series. As far as I can tell, the only thing that unifies my favorite Sci-fi is a vaguely hard or sleek look (even if the look is just in my head). As a result, I often find very interesting classics by Frank Herbert, Ursula K. Le Guin, or Kurt Vonnegut largely inaccessible, whereas less ambitious books, and books which I can imagine well, like the Culture series are totally enjoyable to me.

 

Has anyone else had a similar problem enjoying a book which is totally interesting, but aesthetically unappealing?

Have you found a way to overcome this?

[Beasteh]

Is there any particular reason you want to enjoy these books? Just because they've won an award, doesn't mean they're right for you (god, imagine only watching Oscar-nominated films!). Not liking them doesn't mean you have bad taste. There are more books out there than you will ever have time to read, so just read what you enjoy. Don't be afraid to quit the book!

 

However, there might be something in what you said that would help find what it is you're after. You liked The Expanse and the Culture novels, where space travel and action-adventure is the main component driving the plot. Broken Earth seems to be post-apocalyptic SF/Fantasy, which is a whole different subgenre. A lot of the classics put contemporary society under the lens, the technology is less important - is this part of the problem?

 

 

 

[tracy18]

In the past, I've hated a lot of sci-fi classics for various reasons but mostly because I found the setting and the way the story was told to be unappealing. I found it very hard to read Frankenstein, which is considered to be a pioneer in sci-fi classic. I feel it is okay to dislike acclaimed books if it doesn't appeal to you. My preferences matter to me more than what the world recommends as a great book.