I’m new to scifi books, and books in general. (only got into reading 3 years ago) I’ve read dune, the dispossessed , a fire upon the deep and the stars my destination. I’m currently reading the left hand of darkness . What should i read next? Suggest me some of your must-reads.
What everyone said, plus:
Strata by Terry Pratchett
Dahak trilogy by David Webber
Anything by Ray Bradbury
Lots of good stuff from Charles Stross:
Also Vernor Vinge:
A few:
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The Unincorporated Man by Dani and Eytan Kollin. The story and parallels of society really slap.
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Lightning by Dean Koontz. Not exactly known for sci-fi per se, but this one checks lots of boxes including time travel.
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The Dosadi Experiment by Frank Herbert. A good non-Dune choice.
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Leviathan Wakes by James SA Corey. A great space opera.
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Star Trek: Starfleet Corps of Engineers series. It’s Trek with a different angle and adventure from the series leaders.
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Warm Bodies by author Isaac Marion. Probably controversial but i dig the way it did the zombie genre. Darker than the movie.
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The Sequence by Lucien Telford. A hidden gem really. Gene editing thriller sci-fi.
On my backlog:
- The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters
- Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Junkyard Pirate by Jamie McFarlane
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Frederick Pohl Heechee series.
Hyperion Cantos
Saberhagen’s Berserkers, the first few books
Keep going on Vinge’s zones of thought; well worth finishing
Dragonriders of Pern is escapist as hell
Dune: the Frank Herbert stuff, nothing his son wrote was good. In fact, I’d probably stop at God Emporer
Majipoor Chronicles.
Larry Niven: Ringworld series, Known Space and Kzinti Wars
David Brin’s Uplift books
Steven Baxter Xeelee Sequence and his Long Earth series.
10 is hard to go off the top of my head, but, in semi-random
The expanse: loved it so much we have our son the middle name Holden
Dune: always a classic for a reason
Children of Time: find myself dwelling on this
Honor Harrington: the best military sci-fi
Forever War: made me think
Hitchhiker’s Guide: always makes me laugh (also like Darkside of the sun, but not listing both)
Hyperion: definitive space opera
The matian: definitive hard scifi
The culture: like the federation in star trek, but better.
Children of time needs more hype. Probably the best science fiction to come out in recent times.
We’re going on an adventure!
I didn’t think the second book could be on par with the first but it was also fantastic.
The Three Body Problem trilogy, in particular the second book. It’s hard to talk about it without giving away the mystery of the first book, but it’s a book series that reshaped my perception of the universe.
Otherwise, there’s Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy for some good old British comedy.
The first one was so bad though. The characters had ZERO depth, and the “game” was obviously created by someone who has never played a game before…ever. The dialogue was so cringey at spots.
Like…I can’t bring myself to read the second book.
They’re all bad. Don’t bother.
I read most of the first book in Chinese, and so attributed it to my language level not being high enough. So I read it in English, and it was worse. Then later, again, someone recommended the TV series, and I watched the whole thing thinking that I might have missed something. I believe the first season also contains parts of book 2. Still, I don’t understand why so many people like it. It feels like it was written by someone who never read other sci-fi before, to say the least.
written by someone who never read other sci-fi before
And lauded by people that have never read SF before. It’s like it was written by a literature prof with zero understanding of anything scientific and if he handwaved enough, everyone was just going to hypnotized into a suspension of disbelief. And the terrible character development. And the deus ex machina plot device that invalidates everything else. And and and. Just horrible.
I hated it. Other than the folding think I didn’t find anything worthwhile in it, and I’ve read other books with the same gimmick, if at a smaller scale.
I agree with your points, but I liked the first book despite its flaws. The second book actually has an interesting protagonist that’s not solely a vessel for the story, which is why I particularly like that book. And there’s no weird VR game involved (apart from one very short section).
I absolutely hated the first one. I read that the second one introduces interesting concepts, but I can’t convince myself to go through this again.
The Expanse Series Enders Game We are Legion (We are Bob) Murderbot Chronicles
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In no particular order:
Forever War. This is a good companion piece and counterpoint to Starship Troopers. As a book I find it more engaging and easy to get through than Starship Troopers. There is a lot of interesting contemplation about society and government structures in the book.
Foundation. A classic novel that tackles the idea of the “great man” theory of history. The next two follow-up books round out a great trilogy. There are more books after that, but those belated sequels don’t have the same spark.
Dune. It’s Dune.
Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy. This book and the sequels are the funniest scifi out there.
Ender’s Game. A great book about a child prodigy in military strategy, and the consequences of a government which uses him.
At The Mountains Of Madness. Humanity is either a joke or a mistake.
Tactics Of Mistake. Decently breezy military scifi. It takes The Art Of War and turns many of its principles into a scifi plot.
Hyperion. Strange, scary, weird.
Old Man’s War. Another military scifi that is accessible and easy to get through. Great central concept.
The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress. Robert Heinlein’s best book. An uprising, but on the moon.
Andy Weir‘s Books (The Martian and Project Hail Mary) are very good entries and fairly easy to read and brilliant.
Then you can look into Corey’s The Expanse for more „realistic” sci-fi in around earth and/or look into Banks’ The Culture of you want to stretch your imagination.
Further mentions: Hugh Howley (Wool/Silo), Neal Stephenson (Anathem, Seveneves, Snow Crash …)
Did you just read the first Dune book? If so, I highly suggest getting through God Emperor of Dune. Messiah wraps up (mostly) Paul’s story, then Children and GEoD resolve a lot of the themes.
I’ve been getting into the Culture series by Iain M Banks, which is frequently recommended for good reason.
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman is a classic of hard military sci-fi
Ringworld by Larry Niven is likewise a classic, though I never finished it
Philip K Dick’s stories are also a must
Asimov’s Foundation series is basically sci-fi’s LotR, deeply fundamental to the genre
I know I’m forgetting one or two, I’ll add if I remember
There are quite a few books and novellas in the Ringworld universe, properly called “Known Space”. One of my favorite bits is the different human planets and their people.
+1 for the Culture series, personally my favorite sci-fi books
Yes, i read Dune. But unfortunately it wasn’t for me . I had a hard time understanding the prose as I’m a new reader.
I’ve been reading for over 30 years. I’ve tried and failed more times than I can count on one hand to read Dune, it’s dry as a bone.
Yeah Frank’s writing is good but can be difficult I’m sure. The audiobooks are really good if you like those, they’re fully-produced dramas with actors and effects and all that jazz.
Blindsight by Peter Watts
The Bobiverse series by Dennis Taylor
Anything by Blake Crouch
William Gibson isn’t for everyone but I love him.
Not exactly sci-fi more like litrpg but my favorite series currently is Dungeon Crawler Carl. Audio books are the way to go here, Jeff Hayes is fucking incredible.
I might get shit for this but Project Hail Mary
Godddammmnn it donut!
Anyone who likes Iain Banks, should give Anne Leckie a try. I’ve never had that special kind of “Iain Banks feeling” again until I read her books. But Banks is still the GOAT, of course.
Stranger in a Strange Land
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Both by Heinlein
I really enjoy Kim Stanley Robinsons books, the Mars trilogy especially. However a couple of his standalone books are also great (Aurora and 2312).
Also, I love peter f Hamiltons world building. Pandoras Star kicks off a huge story spanning 7 odd books.
And finally, James sa Corey and the expanse series are phenomenal.
Seconded for Peter Hamilton books, a total of 8 books if you include the prequel Misspent Youth.
One warning that the story perspective jumps between many different characters viewpoints before bringing them together. It can feel really confusing and irrelevant until you get further into the book.
Anything by Stanislaw Lem. Very philosophical at times, but easy enough to read, and with a lot of jokes and thrills… I’d start with some short storys.
