Cross-posted to [email protected]
It is not possible to read all the Sci-Fi books out there. So you must have a process for selecting what you do read. Reading a book is an investment in your time. Your time is valuable. No one wants to waste that time reading unworthy books.
I have never codified my criteria. And it has changed and evolved over time. I suspect it will continue to change moving forward, as who I am tomorrow is not who I was yesterday.
What is your criteria to date?
Mine is that it must meet ALL the following criteria, some objective and some subjective.
- it must have at least 1,000 reviews
- it must have at least 70% 5-star reviews
- if after reading about it I get the suspicion that it’s a romance disguised as Sci-Fi, I automatically reject it no matter what
- if it’s YA, it really needs to be exceedingly compelling to choose it
- Space Opera also needs to be exceedingly compelling
- if I get the feeling it’s trying to preach I’ll reject it
- if i get the feeling it has (messaging, strong opinions, or political overtones) about today’s societal issues, I probably won’t choose it. Not judging; I primarily read for escapism.
I guess that’s about it. There’s probably more but I just haven’t put that much thought into it yet.
I’m very interested in how y’all decide to choose a book to spend your valuable time reading.
Yeah there’s like half a dozen books. I only read the first two though. The author Steve Alten has written a lot of off the wall concept books. He has a Loch series which is about the Loch Ness monster. I think there is even a crossover novel with the loch and the meg. There is even a novel about a human given shark genes. Most of the books have intriguing concepts but mediocre writing (I’ve read I think 5 books of his), but his Omega Project is a pure science fiction that was awesome. I can’t even give you a one line story. It’s very complex. That is his first book I listened by chance and all the others were to see if he wrote anything else comparable.
Ah, cool, will look it up. Thanks!