What’s something that you feel like you should like, but for some reason can’t get into, no matter how many chances you give it?
For me, it’s The Three Body Problem. It should be right up my alley from everything I’ve heard about it (especially the second book, which looks at the Fermi Paradox and the Great Filter!), but for the life of me, I can’t get past the first chapter at all. I even tried reading it in another language to see if it was the translation that kept me from getting into it, and nope.
Foundation stopped me from finishing for 20 years until I could get it on audiobook, and even then it was a slog. All the politics in that book are simply not what I’m after when it comes to sci-fi, even if I can acknowledge that it’s a fantastic piece of work.
I really like cool ideas in sci-fi, but with all of Asimov’s works I could never get over how cardboard the characters were.
Given the trends of recent SFF, I think a lot of readers who turned into writers agree, since the characterization has massively improved across the genre even in SFF books that are pretty thinky.
Yeah every time I try Asimov, it just feels kind of dry and lifeless. For me, Phillip K Dick is the undisputed heavyweight champion.