I have soon finshed all of The Expanse (which I have enjoyed immensely) and last month I finished Peter F Hilton’s Pandoras Star. While I enjoyed the second half of Pandoras Star, they (it’s a trilogy) are such heavy books with rather slow pace. One of my favorite reads last year was Recursion by Blake Crouch - it’s fast paced and just a plain joy to read. The same goes for The Martian and Project Hail Mary.
Given this, do you have any recommendations for what to read next?
- zakomo ( @zakomo@beehaw.org ) 11•11 months ago
The Hyperion saga is very enjoyable. If you didn’t read them already The Martian and Project Hail Mary by andy Weir are outstanding.
Hyperion is definitely on my todo list. I’ve heard so many good things from so many sources!
- thelastknowngod ( @thelastknowngod@lemm.ee ) 5•11 months ago
The Hyperion series is the best scifi I have ever read to be honest… It has the adventure of something like Ringworld or maybe Ender’s Game, politics like Foundation or Dune, philosophy like Childhood’s End or The Left Hand Of Darkness. The first book is structured like The Canterbury Tales too… Like a loosely connected group of short stories instead of the modern style 600 page slog… It makes it really easy to get in and out of.
I honestly can’t imagine anyone not liking that book. There are so many layers it’s super easy to find something to love.
- SokathHisEyesOpen ( @Anticorp@lemmy.ml ) 1•11 months ago
It is amazing. One of the coolest, most ambitious, wackiest series I have read.
- Jaximus ( @Jaximus@lemmy.ml ) 9•11 months ago
I read Solaris recently and was genuinely blown away. Anything from Ursala le Guin is also an excellent choice although I would suggest “the Dispossessed”.
- Lupus108 ( @Lupus108@feddit.de ) 4•11 months ago
I read Solaris recently and was genuinely blown away.
Stanislaw Lem was a genius. I recommend also ‘Fiasko’. ‘Ichon Tyhchy’ is also great, it’s a collection of humoristic sci-fi short stories. I’ve been contemplating learning polish just to be able to read Lem, it’s been said a lot of his word play gets lost in translation. Although I have to admit the descriptions of the geometrical forms in the ocean in Solaris where just too much and I skipped those pages entirely.
- tccpdi ( @tccpdi@lemmy.ml ) 1•11 months ago
Also recomend Solaris, contemplative and amazingly deep
- SokathHisEyesOpen ( @Anticorp@lemmy.ml ) 1•11 months ago
Really? I read that book because it’s so highly rated and didn’t enjoy it at all. I couldn’t wait for it to end and was glad it was a short book. What did you like about it?
- Awall ( @Awall@lemmy.ml ) 6•11 months ago
I really enjoyed the novel Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. As someone who also thoroughly enjoyed the Expanse this definitely gave me some similar vibes even though the stories aren’t similar at all.
- SokathHisEyesOpen ( @Anticorp@lemmy.ml ) 1•11 months ago
OP, I came here to recommend this as a quick, stand-alone, amazing book. Read it!
- cherubrocky ( @cherubrocky@waveform.social ) 5•11 months ago
The Expeditionary Force novels are solid and even better if you like audio books. We Are Legion (We Are Bob) and the follow up books by Dennis E Taylor, if you like project Hail Mary these have a similar tone. Hyperion is a classic, but is fantastic!
- Berttheduck ( @Berttheduck@lemmy.ml ) 2•11 months ago
I thoroughly enjoyed the Bobiverse books. The first one was my favourite but they were all enjoyable. I listened to them and the narration was very well done.
- Surface_Detail ( @Surface_Detail@lemmy.ml ) 4•11 months ago
Iain M Banks’s Culture novels. User name is relevant.
- Jordan Lund ( @jordanlund@lemmy.one ) 3•11 months ago
A couple of standard favorites of mine:
The Fuzzy books by H. Beam Piper. First of three is even public domain:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18137
These others may be harder to find… Steve Perry is known for his Star Wars and Aliens books, but he also has his own shared universe which is a good read:
The Matador Novels:
The Man Who Never Missed (1985)
Matadora (1986)
The Machiavelli Interface (1986)
The Omega Cage with J. Michael Reaves (1988)
The 97th Step (1989)
The Albino Knife (1991)
Black Steel (1992)
Brother Death (1992)
The Musashi Flex (2006)Stellar Ranger series:
Stellar Ranger (1994)
Lone Star (1994)Venture Silk series:
Spindoc (1994)
The Forever Drug (1995)Standalones:
Trinity Vector (1996)
The Digital Effect (1997) - Peafield ( @Peafield@programming.dev ) 2•11 months ago
Infinity Gate by M. R. Carey while definitely not his best work (see The Book of Koli trilogy which is outstanding but more dystopian), is a fun multiversal sci-fi romp.
- birdcat ( @birdcat@lemmy.ml ) 2•11 months ago
Not sure but maybeprobably the raw shark texts. - Berttheduck ( @Berttheduck@lemmy.ml ) 2•11 months ago
I really enjoyed all the Polity novels by Neil Asher. They are more fantasy leaning than the Expanse and Pandora’s Star but fit your bill for fast moving and fun to read.
- DisietSma ( @DisietSma@beehaw.org ) 2•11 months ago
Asher is currently my favorite living sci-fi author
- notsocrazy ( @notsocrazy@beehaw.org ) 2•11 months ago
I’ve been on a real Alistair Reynolds kick lately and just finished House of Suns, which I think is his best. But a good entry point for him is definitely Revelation Space. Good space opera with some gothic elements that I wasn’t expecting.
- tccpdi ( @tccpdi@lemmy.ml ) 2•11 months ago
Dune. Also Diaspora by Greg Egan.
Both are on my top 3. Look em up, hard sci-fi if that’s your thing.
- SokathHisEyesOpen ( @Anticorp@lemmy.ml ) 2•11 months ago
If you haven’t read the Bobiverse series yet, you’re in for a treat. The first book is called We are Legion (We are Bob). The books are easy to read, and somewhat light-hearted, while tackling serious philosophical questions. The first 3 books are right at the top of my all-time favorite sci-fi.