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What Sci-Fi Book(s) Should I Read Next?

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Q

qcf x2

Member
andythinkpad said:
Hyperion is very great, even the sequal is pretty good. But the 3rd and 4th books are absolutely terrible. But book 1 is great.
Click to expand...

I read the first 2 books then took a break. Book one was great, book 2 was very good but at the end it opened Pandora's box (not necessarily in a bad way).

No point in finishing up the series, then? I'm presently reading Game of Thrones, but considering I'm up to date w/ the show it's less exciting than it should be. I was gonna go back to the Hyperion series... I also have The 3 Body Problem, The Blade Itself and a few others.
 
T

thebeeks

Banned
HotHamBoy said:
Yeah, what other Clarke and PKD books are considered the best? I was thinking The Man In The High Castle should be on that list.

Hey, should I watch The Expanse tv show or just read the books? I do need a new show and I haven't seen a good scifi show in a loooong time. But if the books are a lot better I guess I don't want to ruin them by watching the show first.

As for my next book, I think I'm leaning towards A Fire Upon the Deep.
Click to expand...


I'd maybe swap High Castle for Ubik. I found Man in the High Castle to be pretty dull, but that's just me. Maybe I'm into more surreal stuff and less alternate history.



EDIT: Not PKD related, but you should totally check out Altered Carbon by Richard K Morgan if you like cyberpunk.
 
S

studyguy

Member
Almost done with Three Body Problem now, this book is a god damn rollercoaster that starts out slowish but interesting due to subject matter and setting. This ends nowhere near where it felt like it started though jeez.
 
T

TheXbox

Member
Time for some more Clarke, my dude. Check out 2001, 2010, Rama, and The City and the Stars. Those are my favorites.
 
andythinkpad

andythinkpad

Member
qcf x2 said:
I read the first 2 books then took a break. Book one was great, book 2 was very good but at the end it opened Pandora's box (not necessarily in a bad way).

No point in finishing up the series, then? I'm presently reading Game of Thrones, but considering I'm up to date w/ the show it's less exciting than it should be. I was gonna go back to the Hyperion series... I also have The 3 Body Problem, The Blade Itself and a few others.
Click to expand...

I don't know what it is, the last 2 Hyperion book (Endymion, The Rise of Endymion) left a worse taste in my mouth than last two books of by Frank Herbert (Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse: Dune.)

I have read the 3 bodies books. I like them better. Although the last book went to pretty depressing and crazy places.
 
andythinkpad

andythinkpad

Member
studyguy said:
Almost done with Three Body Problem now, this book is a god damn rollercoaster that starts out slowish but interesting due to subject matter and setting. This ends nowhere near where it felt like it started though jeez.
Click to expand...

Yeah it went from a 2012 type movie to end of evangelion to me.
 
Bulletzen72

Bulletzen72

Member
As others have stated -
Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion are an absolute must!
Hyperion is especially lovely as it's a superb sci-fi take on the Canterbury Tales.
It's essentially an anthology/portmanteau novel. A collection of stories with a connecting overarching story that binds the novel together.
The stories themselves range from horror (The Priests Tale) to military action (soldiers tale), coming of age love story (The Consul's Tale) and even a whodunit/conspiracy story (The Detective's Tale).
Simmons paints the planet of Hyperion (geography, history and atmosphere) in such a vivid fashion that it feels like a real plusable place at times!
And then there is the Shrike......
These need to be read. You can thank us later!
Just don't read The Endymion books. Despite being sequels they are like Lucas's Star Wars prequels. They just sour and leave a bad taste in the mouth.
 
Jag

Jag

Member
Read the Expanse first. Then you can watch the show. Probably can watch it after book 1 or 2.
 
Monocle

Monocle

Member
The Culture series by Iain M. Banks is spectacular. Read in release order. (Consider Phlebas, The Player of Games, Use of Weapons, etc.)

Be aware that while Inversions is labeled as a Culture novel, it has almost no resemblance to any of the books that precede it. It's like a straightforward fantasy book with minor veiled Culture references thrown in. Good on its own, but not what I was looking for as a huge Culture fan.
 
Q

qcf x2

Member
andythinkpad said:
I don't know what it is, the last 2 Hyperion book (Endymion, The Rise of Endymion) left a worse taste in my mouth than last two books of by Frank Herbert (Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse: Dune.)

I have read the 3 bodies books. I like them better. Although the last book went to pretty depressing and crazy places.
Click to expand...

Bulletzen72 said:
As others have stated -
Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion are an absolute must!
Hyperion is especially lovely as it's a superb sci-fi take on the Canterbury Tales.
It's essentially an anthology/portmanteau novel. A collection of stories with a connecting overarching story that binds the novel together.
The stories themselves range from horror (The Priests Tale) to military action (soldiers tale), coming of age love story (The Consul's Tale) and even a whodunit/conspiracy story (The Detective's Tale).
Simmons paints the planet of Hyperion (geography, history and atmosphere) in such a vivid fashion that it feels like a real plusable place at times!
And then there is the Shrike......
These need to be read. You can thank us later!
Just don't read The Endymion books. Despite being sequels they are like Lucas's Star Wars prequels. They just sour and leave a bad taste in the mouth.
Click to expand...

Okay, you guys are convincing me not to read the rest of the series. How do I find out how things shake out, Wikipedia? It's not like anything was actually resolved by the end of book 2.
 
B

Blizzard

Banned
Fire Upon the Deep, and its sequel A Deepness in the Sky, are both quite interesting and thought-provoking in my opinion.
 
S

SocksAndShoes

Banned
Monocle said:
The Culture series by Iain M. Banks is spectacular. Read in release order. (Consider Phlebas, The Player of Games, Use of Weapons, etc.)

Be aware that while Inversions is labeled as a Culture novel, it has almost no resemblance to any of the books that precede it. It's like a straightforward fantasy book with minor veiled Culture references thrown in. Good on its own, but not what I was looking for as a huge Culture fan.
Click to expand...

LISTEN TO THIS PERSON.

The Culture series is easily my favorite sci-fi series.
 
E

emag

Member
You've got to read Wolfe's Book of the New Sun at least once, so why not start now? Then you can keep re-reading it until you entirely comprehend it or you pass away, whichever comes sooner.
 
D

DarkChronic

Member
I was in a major reading slump for the longest time until I read the Hyperion Cantos

My God, what a series. The first two books are incredible and prompted me to replay Mass Effect. Can't recommend it enough.

emag said:
You've got to read Wolfe's Book of the New Sun at least once, so why not start now? Then you can keep re-reading it until you entirely comprehend it or you pass away, whichever comes sooner.
Click to expand...

Ha. I read through the first book a little while ago. That's some dense stuff, but it's real good.
 
M

Magic Mushroom

Member
Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang. It's a collection of acclaimed short stories. The movie Arrival was based on Story of Your Life.
 
S

SodiumBenzoate

Member
How did the thread get to almost 3 Pages without someone mentioning Armor by John Steakley? It's one of the GOATs.


I will also second the recommendation for cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. It's not even really sci-fi but it's one of the best books I've ever read. It's also one of the more approachable of his books, if you were really really into it you can go on to some of his other work. Anathem, REaMDe and Seveneves are amazing. The Baroque cycle was so dense I barely got through it, though.
 
V

Violet_0

Banned
Neil Stephenson's The Diamond Age is one of my favorite recent Sci-Fi novels. Near future dystopian nanotech setting that is unlike any other future vision I've encountered, but at the same time one of the more fantastical and plausible ones

Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy (although I've only read the first book, Red Mars, so far) - quite technical and political, slow-paced, tries to portray a realistic approach tocolonizing and terraforming Mars but also takes a few creative liberties

Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun series - extraordinarily well-written science fantasy novels

Hyperion - really a collection of science-fiction short stories connected by the main plot (which is honestly not that good, ironically the planet Hyperion is the worst part). I liked the first book much better than the second

e: and all of them have been mentiond at least once, oh well :p
 
A

AxeMan

Member
Thought I'd hijack this thread instead of asking starting another - sorry OP. Feel free to get me to get nicked

I'm trying to find a book I've read about a gun that can fire faster than light. The story kind of follows 3 or 4 different characters as well. I remember there is a part about them being in a prison that is basically just an asteroid, small and cramped.

Think it had the name of glass or something (could be totally wrong on that). I can't for the life of me remember the book
 
M

More Fun To Compute

Member
AxeMan said:
Thought I'd hijack this thread instead of asking starting another - sorry OP. Feel free to get me to get nicked

I'm trying to find a book I've read about a gun that can fire faster than light. The story kind of follows 3 or 4 different characters as well. I remember there is a part about them being in a prison that is basically just an asteroid, small and cramped.

Think it had the name of glass or something (could be totally wrong on that). I can't for the life of me remember the book
Click to expand...

Jack Glass by Adam Roberts.
 
X

xevis

Banned
Most interesting bit of sci-fi I've read in ages is 20th Century Boys from Naoki Urasawa. Give it a shot, if you're not afraid of picture books.
 
Monocle

Monocle

Member
SocksAndShoes said:
LISTEN TO THIS PERSON.

The Culture series is easily my favorite sci-fi series.
Click to expand...
Yes.

emag said:
You've got to read Wolfe's Book of the New Sun at least once, so why not start now? Then you can keep re-reading it until you entirely comprehend it or you pass away, whichever comes sooner.
Click to expand...
YES.

And don't you dare skip Urth of the New Sun after you've read the Book of the New Sun. It's a stunning payoff to a series that's already brilliant on its own. One of my favorite experiences in fiction ever.

The Fifth Head of Cerberus, also by Gene Wolfe, is also worth a look. And once you've gone down the rabbit hole that far, you might as well check out The Book of the Long Sun and The Book of the Short Sun too. They are not as grand as New Sun, but they have their own rewards. Oddly affecting and memorable. It's interesting to ponder when the books are being written, and by whom. (You're reading accounts of characters by some of those same characters, you see.) Some real mind stretching business at play there.

You might want to look into fan interpretations after. Some of those guys are seriously insightful, and their observations enrich the books a great deal. There's an awful lot going on under the surface. Family connections, overlapping identities, even (non-obnoxious) time travel. Gene Wolfe doesn't play around.
 
N

nitewulf

Member
Rama is by Arthur C Clarke...not Asimov. And Clarke was a better writer, it's a must read for any sci-fi fan IMO.
 
I

illiniguy05

Member
qcf x2 said:
Okay, you guys are convincing me not to read the rest of the series. How do I find out how things shake out, Wikipedia? It's not like anything was actually resolved by the end of book 2.
Click to expand...

Read the final two books, they are a good wrap up to the story.

I also always recommend A Canticle for Liebowitz in these threads, it's an absolute classic.
 
Hesemonni

Hesemonni

Banned
qcf x2 said:
Okay, you guys are convincing me not to read the rest of the series. How do I find out how things shake out, Wikipedia? It's not like anything was actually resolved by the end of book 2.
Click to expand...
Endymion isn't really anything to write home about, but by the end of Rise of Endymion it's up there with the 2nd book. My advice, read them, but keep your expectations at bay.
 
M

Mindlog

Member
Lots of great stuff in here. Just remembered I've had Cyberabad Days on my Kindle waiting for years and never got around to that. Now is a good time.

If you enjoy cypberpunk/post then River of Gods by Ian McDonald may be worth a look. The story takes place in 2047 India. I really enjoy how thorough he is with the worlds he describes. His imagined world advances tech beyond a narrow focus on one or two fields that tends to happen in other novels.
 
R

Ratrat

Member
The Voyage of the Space Beagle
Inherit the Stars
Tuf Voyaging
Heart of the Comet
Light
Embassytown
The Quantum Thief
Vorkosigan Saga
Culture series
Enders Game
 
A

AxeMan

Member
Just started to read The Expanse series - on Leviathan Wakes - from a lot of recommendations from posters here.
I'm enjoying it so far, about 7 or 8 chapters in
 
P

paradise_circus

Member
27833670.jpg

I recently read Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. It's not about time space travelling like the name could suggest and it actually does not really have to do anything with dark matter, but the book is extremely addicting.
It is some kind a mixture between the movie source code, the dark tower series and maybe inception/memento. It was great.
 
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