What are some of your favorite science fiction books and why? If you had to pick only a few. As of writing this post my favorites are the following.
- The Quantum Magician
- Three Body Problem
- Children of Time
I tend to like in-depth explanations of the fictional science that exists in-universe as well as a good mystery.
I really enjoyed the ‘Foundation’ series by Isaac Asimov. ‘Rendezvous with Rama’ by Arthur C. Clarke is a great one as well.
Asimov is my favorite author
really love all his short story collections, he even did some (light) mystery ones
I am currently reading a collection of all of Asimov’s short stories. That will take a while, it’s a 2339 page epub. In the beginning there are some lesser stories but they keep getting better and better.
+1 for Foundation series, was really good.
The Expanse series has done it for me. Best books I’ve read in a long time.
I completely agree and love The Expanse. It’s more character driven than I prefer, but it is still in my top 10 for sure.
The thing I loved about the characters in the expanse is that they were well fleshed out and while events were happening I could think about how other characters will react to it when news reaches them. It still had plenty of space opera/political intrigue for me too.
I really enjoyed Project Hail Mary.
I recently read Artemis by Andy Weir, but the protagonist had so much teenage angst that it was difficult to finish despite its short length. I’ll have to try one of his more popular books instead.
I haven’t read Artemis but I’ve seen multiple people say that it is his weakest work. There is no teenage angst in this one.
Didn’t know about this, going to go out and get this one, thanks! I really enjoyed reading The Martian by the same author way back when.
Loved it too. Easily most enjoyable book that year.
I ended up reading The Martian after seeing the movie and while poking a hole in the glove was mentioned in the book, I was a bit disappointed that the movie could not resist forcing to going through with it. Felt more silly and unnecessary even when originally watching the movie.
After that Project Hail Mary was a must read when I found out about it and was not disappointed. The amnesia was a bit forced, but necessary for the structure and didn’t actually bother me much while reading. Also
spoiler
one of the best depictions of an alien that actually felt out of this world.
I’m a big fan of world building and well fleshed out settings and characters. I love getting lost in descriptive and unique imagery.
- Hyperion by Dan Simmons - feels like such a lived-in universe, some interesting tales, and a horrifying antagonist in the Shrike.
- Neuromancer by William Gibson - cyberpunk ahead of its time, great story, incredible atmosphere.
I feel like you’d really enjoy House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds. One of the most “lived-in” feeling worlds I’ve encountered since Hyperion. I’m reading Pushing Ice now and haven’t read any of Revelation Space yet, but I’m planning on it.
“The Dispossessed” by Ursula K. Le Guin is maybe the best political sci-fi book I’ve ever read. Cory Doctorow’s “Walkaway” is also quite good and feels a bit like its spiritual successor.
I just finished The Dispossessed. I am simply in awe at how wonderful that story felt as I read it. I am about to dive into Ursula K Le Guin’s catalog now.
Haven’t read The Dispossessed yet, but love Le Guin’s work ever since I read The Lathe of Heaven and The Word for World is Forest, can’t recommend these enough. Am reading through a collection of her short stories now.
Anyone interested in a general Le Guin discussion thread, or a reading group type thing where we discuss a different book each month?
Seveneves by Neal Stephenson is one of my most favourite science fiction books.
“Creatures of Light and Darkness”, and “Lord of Light” by Roger Zelazny - I love the blending of mythology and science fiction.
“Dune” though it hasn’t aged well in terms of the science of genetics.
“Cyteen” by C.J. Cherryh
“Starship Trooper” and “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress” both are peak Heinlein.
I’m currently reading The Left Hand of Darkness, and so far enjoying it a lot.
- Three Body Problem (and sequels, especially The Dark Forest:) it’s good scifi, though I worry that a lot of people missed the message.
- Consider Phlebas/Use Of Weapons: tragic space opera is my favorite kind.
- Gideon The Ninth: sci-fantasy popcorn with a sass-mouthed narrator.
- Providence: Fresh take on ubiquitous scifi tropes, and I’m a fan of Max Barry’s punchy writing style.
How do you feel people missed the message?
I sometimes see people saying Wade was right or that he would have saved the day or some such.
I really enjoyed Stranger in A Strange Land by Heinlein… Its a classic and even though some concepts are a bit outdated, I think overall its amazing. Actually most of Heinleins books are my go to when I just want a lazy relaxing read. I’ve read them all so many times, its like visiting comfy friends.
This book is still really solid ; I didn’t really mind the moments of “oh this was SO written several decades ago.”
I haven’t read Quantum Magician but certainly agreed on the Three Body Problem and Children of Time. Fantastic books.
Some others I really like:
- This Is How You Lose the Time War - short, poetic. Love it.
- Red Mars trilogy and really anything by Kim Stanley Robinson. Oh also in particular The Years of Rice and Salt
- Diaspora by Greg Egan and also much of his other stuff
- Player of Games and Use of Weapons from Ian Banks’ Culture series. Haven’t read all of them yet.
- Ancillary Justice
I don’t see many people recommending Ancillary Justice, but really enjoyed the series. I thought it was a pretty light read as far as Sci-fi goes, but it ticked all the right boxes for me.
I wouldn’t call AJ a light read, just because you spend so much time wrapping your brain around what the narrator is doing and the cultures are so deliberately weird. All the more rewarding for it though imo.
well compared to some of the really dense classic sci-fi I considered it a light read lol.
“Ticking all the boxes” describes Ancillary Justice well for me, it has a bunch of interesting thing and the fit together and play out well. I also found it interesting to see how quickly the gender neutral thing felt natural.
The sequel however felt like a syndicated tv crime drama. Haven’t gotten myself to read the third yet.
I know that I read all the books and enjoyed them but its been years. The first one was the best in my opinion though.
I read Dark Eden by Chris Beckett within the last year and it quickly became one of my favorite universes. The trilogy tells the story of a group of humans who crashed onto a planet of eternal night, and the civilization that arises from that event.
I’ve linked the BookWyrm page below. https://bookwyrm.social/book/590341/s/dark-eden
For anyone that doesn’t know, BookWyrm.social is the federated version of GoodReads.
I just finished listening to To Sleep In A Sea Of Stars. I really enjoyed it, and the audiobook version is narrated by Jennifer Hale (Sheppard from Mass Effect)
Dune, The Expanse, Seveneves, Snow Crash, Hitchikers Guide, Ancillary Justice are all good ones off the top of my head. I really enjoyed reading Neal Stephenson’s novels because they are so thoroughly researched as to be plausible.
- Children of Time
Is also one of my favourite books full stop. The followingups are pretty solid as well. It’s amazing that he was writing Shards of Earth and its followups at the same time.
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The Use of Weapons
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is Piranesi sci-fi or is it crossing more over to that crossover genres of science fantasy?
