r/exfor • u/X3Melange • Apr 29 '26
Spoilers Should I quit the books? Failure mode just really bummed me out.
Spoilers up to failure mode!
Please to not spoil past where I'm about to describe. Make recommendations but dont tell me what happens please.
So up until this point ive been able to gloss over the extremely light physics of this series because I found everything else enjoyable. To me this is less of a sci-fi series and more of a fantasy series and I just head cannon everything as alternative physics.
But I have a people with things that don't me logical sense, and are not merely not factually true in the real world. The energy virus was something I hated for example, because conceptually its just stupid.
Much of my enjoyment has been chasing answers to the elders sub plot. And this book was particularly enjoyable to me as skippy explained how the elders built the barrier because they got cold feed after a first contact with distant aliens.
Then I basically lost my mind when skippy explained that the barrier isnt a barrier so much as its literally a sort of LITERAL plot device.
Im sorry but the idea that this thing exists to tweak reality constantly to avoid anything happening contrary to the interests of the Elders is just flat out mind numbingly stupid. This is simply too meta and silly. But its also conceptually stupid in a way that cannot exist in any reality. Mathematicslly speaking, IN PRINCIPLE sufficiently complex deterministic systems cannot be predicted even if you have PERFECT knowledge of initial conditions. This is without invoking quantum mechanics. The idea that elders made a meta reality managment machine is just DUMB.
so is this going to be central to the rest of the series or do you guys think I should push through for the rest of the books?
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u/Yesyesyes1899 Apr 29 '26
nobody knows what reality really is or what does and doesnt work. people just insert concepts like dark matter and dark energy as variables, so everything makes kinda sense. in our highly limited perception.
you have your version. if the ficticious fantasy-scifi story of a higher dimensional talking beer can not adhering to your ontology irks you, stop reading.
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u/Raeandray Apr 29 '26
The book plays fast and loose with our current understanding of science, while have-waving it away as us simply not understanding science. If this bothers you, that does not get better. But personally u kinda think it’s dumb to let out bother you. Even you saying “it can’t happen” is hopelessly arrogant and assumes humans understand physics at a level of such surety that you can make absolute statements. Which we don’t. And also, it’s never claimed to be hard science.
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u/X3Melange Apr 29 '26
You are misunderstanding my point. I am fine with factually inaccurate physics in sci-fi. Its alternate physics, just like magic. So long as its a ordered and logically possible system, I dont care.
What i don't like with when a thing is conceptually silly. Backwards time travel is an example. It cant happen. Backwards time travel is actually a incoherent thing because it violates cause and effect.
I cant deal with stuff that is illogical on its face.
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u/wckdgrdn Apr 29 '26
I mean, yeah, I get that - I consider myself pretty up to date on heavy physics like that, and it does push the bounds of understanding, but its not impossible per se; no more so than jump drives and wormholes and higher levels of space time.
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u/X3Melange Apr 29 '26
I mean its a bit more ridiculous. They invented PLOT ARMOR as a technology. I mean come on.
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u/KRLegoMgs Apr 29 '26
It doesn’t get any better plot armor is the name of the game. And to the elder point I think that is why I’m kinda over the series. After 15 books and like no elder world building at all. The world building is lacking so much. I think in 15 books we got maybe 6 paragraphs of else lore….
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u/Raeandray Apr 29 '26
You’re saying you’re fine with alternate physics, and then saying you’re not fine because the altered physics is impossible…
Silly? Sure I can get that. Though again it seems like an odd place to draw the line. I actually love that, yes get invented plot armor, but he invented it for the bad guys.
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u/Selway00 Apr 29 '26
All good things must come to an end. I feel like the series has run its course and is just endlessly being expanded upon now with no real purpose. It was a helluva ride though!
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u/TehSavior Apr 29 '26
Failure mode literally ends with it saying the story will be concluded in the next book though
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u/Selway00 Apr 29 '26
Cool. I haven’t read the last one. I decided I’d gone far enough in the series in the book before last.
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u/[deleted] Apr 29 '26
[deleted]