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.
Seveneves by Neal Stephenson is one of my most favourite science fiction books.
“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.
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.
Loved it too. Easily most enjoyable book that year.
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.
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.
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.
- 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.
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)
I really enjoyed the ‘Foundation’ series by Isaac Asimov. ‘Rendezvous with Rama’ by Arthur C. Clarke is a great one as well.
+1 for Foundation series, was really good.
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.
‘Consider Phlebas’ is my top 1 favorite book and I’m more a fantasy guy. Incredible 80s action adventure (it’s from 1987) with philosophical musings, cool sci-fi world and good humor. And as a plus he creates awesome visual scenes, although I’m not good at mind images.
That is one of my all time favorites too. So many cool images which still come back to me even though it’s been many years since I read it.
“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 love the Xeelee Sequence by Stephen Baxter, as well as the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov.
I had someone recommend Xeelee Sequence to me recently. It looks quite daunting in length, but it is definitely on my list for some day.
The Vacuum Diagrams is a short story anthology that spans the whole saga. I feel like it’s a good introduction to it.
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 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.
“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 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.
The Salvation Sequence by Peter F. Hamilton fits the bill on the technology and mystery aspects. I definitely recommend checking it out!