[andrewflnr]

Fine Structure's ending is very optimistic, in fact. (edit: a lot of his short stories are, too.) But yeah, Ra is rather bleak. I guess it's not for everyone, but if you came in from "There Is No Antimemetics Division" it won't bother you.

[NooneAtAll3]

exactly because I came from antimemetics it bothers me as his default

[andrewflnr]

Then I'm confused about why you followed qntm from Antimemetics, which is already pretty bleak, but not enough to prevent you from reading Ra, which was somehow enough to put you off of his work forever. Why did you stop exactly there, reading more from an author who did something you don't like but not reading any farther to learn that he is capable of more?