Science Fiction book suggestions - Page 13
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Jerubaal
United States7676 Posts
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pfods
United States895 Posts
On October 29 2010 13:09 Bijan wrote: Actually, here's a quote from his son: "I got a call from an estate attorney who asked me what I wanted to do with two safety deposit boxes of my dad's ... in them were the notes to Dune 7 -- it was a 30-page outline. So I went up in my attic and found another 1,000 pages of working notes." And I know that he intended to write it as a 7th book, but couldn't figure out how to do it and broke it up into 2. God Emperor is the most philosophical of all the novels and in that way is more similar to Dune Messiah. Those were both certainly slower in action and pacing. Its my favorite after the original book. Actually, Heretics and Chapterhouse are my least favorites because they are more action driven. There are less thought-provoking themes. that's understandable. i actually like heretics the most, but that's because even from the first book, the bene gesserit were my favorite. also, maybe having one of my majors as philosophy is why i cringe so much at letos musings. | ||
iGrok
United States5142 Posts
On October 28 2010 23:10 Hoosegow wrote: Seconded: Dune Nights Dawn Trilogy and Commonwealth Saga by Peter F. Hamilton Vernor Vinge's Fire Upon the Deep Alastair Reynold has spoiled me to most SciFi. I would direct unfamiliar readers to Chasm City and/or Pushing Ice. A few other oft under-looked works: Greg Bear: The Forge of God, and it's unbelievable sequel Anvil of Stars Peter Watts: Blindsight, the most thought provoking SciFi book I've ever read and, the best "alien invasion" storyline of all time: World War, by Harry Turtledove Some of my favorites as well. I jumped right into Revelation Space with Reynold, and got hooked from that - Read it first! Hoose, I'd reccomend you read Neuromancer by William Gibson and Armor by John Steakly (finally remembered his name). | ||
VikingKong
China509 Posts
On October 26 2010 15:14 Zaxro wrote: I'm a big fan of Science fiction novels so I'm gonna give some recommendations Some of my favorites and books that I personally recommend The Culture Novels by Iain M. Banks-I've only read the first two (Consider Phlebas and The Player of Games) and they were both fantastic (The Player of Games is one of my top 5) and I've heard great things about other novels in the series The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin-My Personal Favorite SF book Dune by Frank Herbert-Everyone says it's great, and for good reason Hyperion by Dan Simmons-Great book, Canterbury tales-like structure gives really good characterization and world-building. Not so fond of the first sequel (The Fall of Hyperion) but I've heard the next two are better, so I'll get around to reading them at some point Spin by Robert Charles Wilson-Great Social examination and characterization. It's a newer book but it's one of the all-time best. A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr. Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham Earth Abides by George R. Stewart I'm a big fan of Post apocalyptic novels and the three above are my favorites. All three are very different novels but all of them are outstanding in my opinion. Some good sources that I use to find new books. SF Lists-A site with a top 200 list of books based on votes/awards with comments on each book. Very good list (not necessarily that I agree with the order, but there are a ton of great books on it), also, take a look at the 101-200 section, some really underrated books there. Also has a link to a similar list for fantasy books. SFReviews.net-A site with a large number of SF/Fantasy reviews. I don't agree with the writer of the site's opinion on everything, but the books he recommends (4+) are generally pretty good Science Fiction Book Review podcast-Good reviews, though the podcasts are really long since the maker generally talks for as long of a time as he wants to about the books he is reviewing. Again, I don't always agree with him about book quality but the books he rates highly are almost always good, and his reviews have exposed me to new books and has me think differently about books I have already read. This guy is fantastic and has excellent opinions! Left Hand of Darkness is one of my favorite books ever, but it doesn't exactly have widespread appeal, and I don't mean this in a hipster, douchey way, it's just that it goes more into literature than mainstream bestsellers, or even sci-fi bestsellers, so people wanting a light read might not like it. I second the Culture novels by Banks, which are fantastic, but even though The Player of Games is good, Use of Weapons is best by far imo. Much stronger thematically. Also good is Oryx and Crake, by Atwood, which I read recently. Not too sure if I'll remain liking though. The Forever War by Haldeman is a little dated but still very relevant and still very good. The Stars My Destination by Bester is as best as his name implies. Lord of Light by Zelazny is much better than his Amber stories. It helps if you read Siddhartha by Hesse first, but it's not required by any means. The Road by McCarthy is excellent, though not really sci-fi. It's just a beautiful book in general, if a little more shallow than some of the others. My favorite light read is probably Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Clarke. It's fantasy/historical fiction, but excellent all the same. Also it's a fucking brick. You can kill people with it. | ||
Bijan
United States286 Posts
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Carras
Argentina860 Posts
pity i cant find forward the foundation in argentina :/ i also like arthurs c clarke RAMA and RAMA II , (cant find the next 2 in argentina either) fffffuuuuuuuu | ||
NukeTheBunnys
United States1004 Posts
Humans make first contact with aliens who want our help to defend them from another species that is raping and pillaging across the galaxy, and we are not far off on the list of planets to be invaded. However they are not willing to provide us help for free and we end up selling our soliders to go defend other planets to buy equipment for the eventual defense of earth What I like most about this is how it focuses on the economic, social and political repercussions of this alien war. There is also a large focus on the military command being set in its ways and slow to change, and how the officers on the battlefield are forced to improvise. I was laughing with glee when the humans decided to fill fire trucks with kerosene and turn them into massive flame throwers. Hymn Before a Battle, go read it now | ||
Leeferickson
United States20 Posts
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ShaperofDreams
Canada2492 Posts
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redviper
Pakistan2333 Posts
Peter Watts: Blindsight, the most thought provoking SciFi book I've ever read Seconded. Blindsight was an amazing read. Left hand of darkness is probably one of the best Scifi-esque books ever written. pity i cant find forward the foundation in argentina :/ 1. Get erearder 2. Look up name on isohunt 3 Profit (and/or go to jail) | ||
Bijan
United States286 Posts
On October 30 2010 03:38 Carras wrote: Asimov >>> ALL He's the most consistently interesting sci-fi author in my opinion. I've read so many of his short stories, and only a few of them were less than great. | ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41100 Posts
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Pertinacious
United States82 Posts
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bigjenk
United States1543 Posts
If you enjoyed the ender series you could read the bean and peter spin off from them. 1984 is a solid warning of the future. Neuromancer is the book that defined cyberpunk and was the vision behind the matrix 15 years later. | ||
aokces
United States309 Posts
Its about half sci-fi/half historical fiction, but still really awesome. It takes multiple perspectives including the aliens, Americans, Nazi Germany, Russia, China, and the Middle East. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tosev_timeline | ||
Thoreezhea1
United States532 Posts
I read a different book placed 100 years in the future depicting a select group of kids who could see these strange, invisible creatures that supposedly suck the life out of a dying person. Said kids hunt these creatures,+ Show Spoiler + only to find that when they die they dissolve into bubbles that individually form new creatures. the kids efforts are extremely counter productive. later it was shown that they actually suck the PAIN out of a dying person, and that a government agency was using them for horrible purposes. | ||
0neheart
United States92 Posts
On November 08 2010 13:35 Thoreezhea1 wrote: I read a different book placed 100 years in the future depicting a select group of kids who could see these strange, invisible creatures that supposedly suck the life out of a dying person. Said kids hunt these creatures,+ Show Spoiler + only to find that when they die they dissolve into bubbles that individually form new creatures. the kids efforts are extremely counter productive. later it was shown that they actually suck the PAIN out of a dying person, and that a government agency was using them for horrible purposes. The Supernaturalist it's pretty good | ||
rave[wcr]
United States1166 Posts
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Juvant
United States723 Posts
On September 29 2011 12:33 rave[wcr] wrote: The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe <-- better than LotR and Dune combined. This looks incredibly interesting. Thanks! Shall give it a try. I didn't look at every post in the thread, but the pages I looked through had a distinctive lack of Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars series. It's an incredible, realistic look at the idea of terraforming and inhabiting Mars as the Earth becomes overpopulated. Definitely worth a look for those into hard Sci-fi. Edit: And oh my god, this thread has been a gold mine for me. Seeing all of these posts about A Fire Upon the Deep forced me to wiki Vernor Vinge, and I discovered that he supposedly has a sequel to that novel I read all those years ago coming out in October! Perhaps this will mend the heartbreak I suffered reading A Storm of Swords for the first time. | ||
pi_rate_pir_ate
United States179 Posts
I also love the already mentioned Blackcollar (and trilogy) Cobra (and trilogy later expanded) and Triplet (stand alone). Manta's Gift is genius. If you love cross cultural discussions and politics, his Conqueror's Trilogy is amazing. Zahn's aliens are alien, which you would never expect if you know him post joining the Star Wars staff. So if you like reading about aliens that don't make any sense to humans, don't look like humans, and have technologies you wouldn't expect, Zahn is an excellent option. Everything else I would suggest has been suggested already in this thread except perhaps for Jules Verne, who despite the abundance of retarded movies is actually a wonderful, though technical, read. Two second tier SciFi writers are Poul Anderson and Gregory Benford. Of Benford try the Galactic Center Novels (in order): In The Ocean of Night, Across the Sea of Suns, Great Sky River, Tides of Light, Furious Gulf, and Sailing Bright Eternity. Of Anderson: Harvest of Stars series in order: Harvest of Stars, The Stars Are Also Fire, Harvest the Fire, The Fleet of Stars. | ||
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