A community for the discussion of science fiction and speculative fiction in print.
Rules:
Related communities to visit:
[email protected] [email protected].
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.
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.
Everone always praises Asimov’s Foundation, but I found his robot stories (collected both in “I, Robot” and “The Complete Robot”) more entertaining. While Foundation is more of an adventure story, the robots pose interesting philosophical questions are are always good for a last-minute reveal. They’re also usually quite short, so they’re a good read when your time is on a budget or you’re not an avid reader in general.
I wish I had learned earlier that short stories can also be entertaining and not just the artsy bullshit you’re forced to read in school.
A few off the top of my head:
Haven't read 10. I like "a canticle for leibowitz".
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.
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.
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
+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.
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.