Let's talk SF

[Pestis the Spider]

So, I noticed that we are all about fantasy books on this forum, but are there any sf fans beside me? If there are, then let's talk about sf books. 

 

Myself, I absolutely love sf books, some of my top 5 books ever are sf, and I do read quite a lot of this genre. I absolutely love Isaac Asimov books (especially the series about Robots), Ender's Game. And just after I finish the remaining Cosmere books (I still need to read Warbreaker and short stories), I'm going to read Echopraxia by Peter Watts, because I've read his Blindsight before and that is probably the most brilliant book I've ever read. 

 

What are your favourite sf books? Do you prefer hard or soft sf? Let's discuss. ; D

[Bort]

I own (or used to own) most of the Star Wars novels (both good and bad), and have a decent chunk of Star Trek novels (mostly terrible, but with the occasional gem), but I would have to say that my favourite sci-fi  books are either Ender's Game (awesome book that asks a lot of questions about the human race), or one of Iain M. Banks' Culture novels. Probably Excession because the Sleeper Service is both an excellent character and a brilliant ship.

 

I'll admit though, that my fantasy collection far outweighs my sci-fi collection.

[Blaze1616]

I love science fiction! Heinlein's Starship Troopers is the epitome of good SF for me. Ender's Game was good as well, and for recent releases, The Martian by Andy Weir was phenomenal. Highly recommended hard SF. As for my preference, I have to say that it doesn't matter much to me. I mostly enjoy soft SF visual media, though. Hard SF is a little tough to grasp visually without long monologue like lectures.

[Kobold King]

I'm a huge fan of science fiction!

 

Where do I begin? I've devoured quite a few sf novels in my day. I'll start with the old classics and work my way into the modern world.

 

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea was a masterpiece of early science fiction, and had me bubbling with excitement and wonder from cover to cover. While some of the science has since become outdated, particularly the sequence centering around the South Pole, Jules Verne could rightly be considered one of the fathers of science fiction.

 

Similarly, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wove contemporary paleontology and evolutionary theory into a brilliantly compelling narrative in The Lost World. Professor Challenger was an awesome character, and certain scenes with ape-men and the Allosaurus had me on the edge of my seat like few modern novels have.

 

But how could any discussion of sf not include that ingenious writer, H. G. Wells? This is a man who wrote an alien invasion novel so convincing, they couldn't adapt it as a radio program because it made too many people think it was real. The War of the Worlds is one of my all-time favorite sf novels, crafting both a terrifying vision of a Martian invasion and a scathing critique of Western imperialism. Only slightly lesser is The Time Machine, the earliest work of time travel I know of. The surreal and frightening future filled with Morlocks and Eloi quite struck a chord with me.

 

Robert Heinlein was one of the greatest sf writers who ever lived, in my opinion. His work was based off of fascinating scientific concepts, coupled with a dynamic and immersive writing style. My favorites of his are probably The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, The Door Into Summer, and Starship Troopers, but I've loved everything I've read by him;  for a while my forum signature was "Watch out for stobor," from his Tunnel in the Sky.

 

Of the two other widely hailed greats of science fiction, I've read comparatively little. I loved I, Robot by Isaac Asimov but couldn't get into the Foundation novels last time I tried them; I do intend to try them again soon, though. I read Childhood's End and the novelization of 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke. They were both immensely fantastic novels, though I preferred Heinlein's writing style over either Asimov's or Clarke's.

 

The High Crusade by Poul Anderson is another great work of classic sci-fi, which can best be described as "medieval knights hijack a starship and wage war against an alien empire." Yes, it is every bit as awesome as it sounds.

 

One spectacular sf series that doesn't get mentioned often enough is the Sector General series by James White. White wrote for an sf magazine during the 60s, and as he was distressed by the number of military sci-fi stories the magazine published, he channeled his pacifist leanings along with a lifelong love of medicine to write myriad stories about an intergalactic hospital space station. The main character is human, but the alien lifeforms that work at the station are among the most endearingly and convincingly non-humans I've ever seen in fiction. Despite occasional tidbits of the sexism that ran rampant during the 60s, it's one of my favorite sf series and serves as the primary inspiration for my own worldbuilding.

 

Of more modern science fiction I confess to having read comparatively little. But no discussion of sci-fi is complete without the stupendous work of Michael Crichton. This man defined the techno-thriller genre, creating action-packed and deeply thought-provoking novels out of any scientific concept you could name. Primate anthropology? Congo is the novel for you, packed with intriguing thoughts on gorilla mentality coupled with endearing characters and an action-packed storyline. Underwater research/search for extraterrestrial intelligence? Read Sphere, and prepare to have your mind utterly blown. Paleontology/genetic engineering? Jurassic Park and The Lost World, which leave the Hollywood adaptations in the dust in both philosophy and action. I'd encourage eager speculative fiction readers to pick up any of his novels. My only complaint with Crichton's books are that they tend to be more violent than the older books on this list, and his later works often included more sexual content than I'm comfortable with. (I'm a prude, though, so other people's tolerances may vary.)

 

I've read the first three Orson Scott Card novels, plus Ender in Exile. I feel that the novels somewhat decreased in quality as they went on; Ender's Game was a masterpiece of literature like few works I've seen, Speaker for the Dead is filled with wonderful characters and fascinating alien psychologies, but Xenocide struck me as overly dull and convoluted, leaving me to never finish the series with Children of the Mind. The less said about Ender in Exile the better, in my opinion.

 

I have little experience with novels set in established universes: I've read two, Outbound Flight by Timothy Zahn and Prisoner of the Daleks by Trevor Baxendale.

 

Outbound Flight was a story light years ahead of the Star Wars movies it was based upon, with a far more compelling plot and exponentially more interesting characters. Commander Thrawn was an utterly fascinating individual, and the character of Joruus C'baoth brilliantly illustrated the dark side of the Jedi Order.

 

Prisoner of the Daleks suffered from the poor and often predictable writing of Doctor Who novels, but it has the benefit of including Dalek X, the most terrifying individual Dalek yet seen in fiction. Referred to as "The Devil in Dalek form," Dalek X is a character I'd love to see revisited on the show itself.

 

 

That's all I can think of for now.

[Dunkum]

Agree that Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead are the superior entries in that series.  I've read Ender's Game at least 5 times since I first saw it on a summer reading list in high school.

 

I've read some of Asimov's Foundation series, but I didn't really like it.  Nightfall, which he cowrote, is really interesting though.  I have also read some Heinlen.  Starship Troopers was really interesting, though a bit overtly political, but Time Enough for Love and Stranger in a Strange Land were just weird, especially all of the gratuitous sex (Time Enough for Love features a main character who has sex with his own mother as well as female clones of himself...).  Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars trilogy is pretty good, though again a bit overtly political.

 

Recently I have also been reading Ursula K. LeGuin's Hainish Cycle books which range from Pulp adventure like Rocanon's World (which I only bought because it was 50 cents and the cover featured people flying on winged tigers) to explorations in strange physiology like The Left Hand of Darkness, and actually are somewhat similar to the Cosmere books with their behind the scenes history of the shared universe.

 

All that said, my personal library tilts much further towards Fantasy than Sci-Fi

[Redbird]

I have read a fair amount of the Star Wars EU, mostly new republic era. Enders Game was pretty good, and with 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas I think that's it

[Briar King]

I'm not a huge SF reader. I do own every Star Wars EU bk. I'm still sad about that big blow

In 2014 I read 5 of Hamiltons Commonwealth bks and LOVED them.

Also read the 1st 3 Expanse bks by James Corey and I liked them even more then CW. They are great fun and I'm looking forward to the show.

That's about the lunit of my SF, I did buy the 1st Hyperion bk by Simmons as a few reco that on Malazan board. Anyone here care to comment on it? I read his Troy on Mars bks a few yes ago. LOVED bk 1 but really let down on bk 2.

[Kipper]

The Quadrail quadrilogy by Timothy Zahn.

Yes, he does write stuff besides Star Wars, and it's very good. The Quadrail series is like a combination sci-fi-mystery-space-opera-fun-awesome book. Everyone should read it.

[Pestis the Spider]

Believe it or not, but I've never read a single Star Wars book.

 

Of the two other widely hailed greats of science fiction, I've read comparatively little. I loved I, Robot by Isaac Asimov but couldn't get into the Foundation novels last time I tried them; I do intend to try them again soon, though. I read Childhood's End and the novelization of 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke. They were both immensely fantastic novels, though I preferred Heinlein's writing style over either Asimov's or Clarke's.

I've read some of Asimov's Foundation series, but I didn't really like it. 

Try reading the Robots series. It is set in the same universe as the Foundation series, but much much earlier, and I found it way more interesting. Also, what annoyed me in main books of the Foundation series was that there was this time skip through ages to show the whole timeline of the Foundation, so there were characters constantly changing etc. The Robots series is better in this aspect. And one of the main character from the Robots series is one of my favourite characters of all time. : D And the plot is great, and the relationships between various characters are sooo great in there. I was actually crying at some moments, and I do not do that a lot while reading. : D Well, I also have to admit that I found it pretty fun to see all the connections between two series when I both read them. I still have to read the Imperium series, which is set between the Robots and Foundation series, but I found myself less eager to do that as I read that my favourite character is not even mentioned there. But I'll definitely read it one day.

 

I've read the first three Orson Scott Card novels, plus Ender in Exile. I feel that the novels somewhat decreased in quality as they went on; Ender's Game was a masterpiece of literature like few works I've seen, Speaker for the Dead is filled with wonderful characters and fascinating alien psychologies, but Xenocide struck me as overly dull and convoluted, leaving me to never finish the series with Children of the Mind. The less said about Ender in Exile the better, in my opinion.

I've read them all, and I think that Children of the Mind is actually better than Xenocide, but still kind of convoluted (unles I'm mixing something right now). And Ender in Exile wasn't that bad. I found it less dull than Xenocide although it may be because the short stories are by definition shorter and so are easier to read.

 

That's about the lunit of my SF, I did buy the 1st Hyperion bk by Simmons as a few reco that on Malazan board. Anyone here care to comment on it?

I've read it. And I liked it, although I found it quite a hard thing to read at a time. But that's probably because it was like... 6-7 years ago. I think that I would like it more if I read it right now. As far as I remember the worldbuilding in Hyperion is quite epic and spectacular. Characters are fine. What I found a little heavy for me at a time is that there is a lot of thinking and "kind-of-metaphors" about humanity. The Endymion  books that are set in the same universe but later are more straightforward than Hyperion, but they have other things that may make some people feel weird while reading them. I think you just need to see on your own if you like this kind of books. Also I heard that Hyperion is kind of similar to Diune, but I haven't read that one yet, so I cannot say if that's true.

[Briar King]

Cool.

Dammit I knew I was forgetting a series. Dune!! Epicness in the original 6 bks. I read them in 2001. I did read the 2 bks based on his notes to finish up the story but I will never read any of the other bks by them.

[Dunkum]

Cool.

Dammit I knew I was forgetting a series. Dune!! Epicness in the original 6 bks. I read them in 2001. I did read the 2 bks based on his notes to finish up the story but I will never read any of the other bks by them.

gah, how did I forget Dune!?  I've read the first 3, and been warned away from any after that.  My brief research on their plots on wikipedia inclines me to avoid them too.

[Briar King]

You should. 4 is the one where it just gets insane but it comes together nicely at the end. Bk 5 is my 2nd fave of the 6. 6 is kinda sad cause you can tell he was trying to get to a major game changer for the next bk but he died before that passed. Give them a read

[JTolman]

DUne was my first Sci-Fi series.. I read the first and seond book in the 6th grade.

[Bort]

The High Crusade by Poul Anderson is another great work of classic sci-fi, which can best be described as "medieval knights hijack a starship and wage war against an alien empire." Yes, it is every bit as awesome as it sounds.

 

I have to get me a copy of this. It sounds excellent

[Asperity]

Hard sci-fi has completely changed how I view any type of fictional media now.

 

Th-thanks Clarke's Third Law.

[vietnamabc]

Check The Expense by James S. A. Corey: this series is awesome, like BSG meet Firefly + Alien. And now Syfy has made a TV series of it. Currently, this is the best SF series I have read.

Furthermore, I urge people to read Old man's war by John Scalzi and Terms of Enlistment by Mark Kloos, both are very good series too.

[Left]

I've read the first three Dune books as well as one of Brian's. I love Dune, but the others.....I just can't bring myself to like them.

 

Big fan of Timothy Zhan, read almost all of his Star Wars books, my library doesn't really have any of his other books though so I haven't tried them.

 

I love Edgar Rice Burroughs' Pellucidar books, and to a lesser extent his Barsoom, or John Carter, books. At the same time, if you read one of his books, you've pretty much read all of them.

 

Big fan of LE Modesitt as a lot of you know, his Timegod and Ecolitan books being my favorites of his Sci-Fi.

 

I love some of the Ender's Game books, I hate others, and I'm not sure how I feel about the new Formic Wars books.

 

I read two of the trilogies of the Dragon Riders of Pern. Face it people, these are more sci-fi than fantasy.

 

I read one christian fiction(I normally stay away from this genre like crazy) sci-fi, and it was remarkably good, although that was probably because I enjoyed the premise so much. The Lamb Among the Stars

 

The Books of Umber was a great trilogy, YA, but still dark and really good. It was way back when I read them though so they might not be so great if I reread.

 

The Foundation books were amazing of course, I haven't read any of Asimov's other books though.

 

I read Hitchhikers, didn't like it. Go ahead and burn me at the stake

 

I am Legend started good, up till he died, I didn't understand the 2nd half of the book....

 

I've read most of Michael Crighton's work, Prey being my favorite.

[Briar King]

I read Battlefield Earth before that God awful movie came out. The book was amazing to me.

[Andarist]

I started SF by Jules Verne: 20000 Leagues, Around the World in 80 days, Journey to the Center of the Earth. 

 

Then I read Isaac Asimov: the Foundation and Robot series, various short story collections, Nightfall, the Gods Themselves.

 

Arthur C Clarke: Odyssey series, first two books of Rama, Fountains of Paradise and others

 

Frank Herbert: Dune.

 

Also read a bunch of others. Some by Heinlein, some by Niven. I loved Dan Simmons' Hyperion Cantos. A ton of military sf. David Weber, Steve White, Jack Campbell.

 

Iain M Banks' Culture series is some of the best stuff I have ever read. I also love Neal Asher. Charles Stross is one of my favourite authors. Accelarando, Singularity Sky were both awesome. But my favourite is his Laundry series.

 

Alastair Reynolds is an author I really respect for his attention to detail and mind-boggling plotlines. Peter Hamilton's books are always fun to read.

[Dunkum]

The Foundation books were amazing of course, I haven't read any of Asimov's other books though.

 

I read Hitchhikers, didn't like it. Go ahead and burn me at the stake

I just can't fathom either of these. I read a few of the foundation books, and I thought they were boring. Something about Asimov's style just doesn't work for me. HHG2G, on the other hand was a lot of fun, though with diminishing returns on the later books

I'm with you on the Dune books. the first 3 were great, but I can't bring myself to try any of the later ones. reading the plot synopses on wikipedia, just further cemented that

[Briar King]

I just can't fathom either of these. I read a few of the foundation books, and I thought they were boring. Something about Asimov's style just doesn't work for me. HHG2G, on the other hand was a lot of fun, though with diminishing returns on the later books

I'm with you on the Dune books. the first 3 were great, but I can't bring myself to try any of the later ones. reading the plot synopses on wikipedia, just further cemented that

I'm sure it sounds strange going that route. Bks 4-6 really are fun to read though once you get past the This post has been reported for attempting to skirt the rules feeling of the jarring new direction. I so wish he would have lived to finish bk 7 to end everything in his own words.

[Orlion Blight]

The Expanse is on my reading pile. I have been slowly going through the Culture books by Banks (absolutely loved Consider Phlebas!) 

 

Just finished Old Man's War and Lock In by Scalzi. They are enjoyable enough, though sometimes I want something of a higher caliber... at least he got multiple universes right!

[Left]

I just can't fathom either of these. I read a few of the foundation books, and I thought they were boring. Something about Asimov's style just doesn't work for me. HHG2G, on the other hand was a lot of fun, though with diminishing returns on the later books

I'm with you on the Dune books. the first 3 were great, but I can't bring myself to try any of the later ones. reading the plot synopses on wikipedia, just further cemented that

Yeah, I just couldn't find Hitchhikers funny. It really tried and came really close, but....meh.

Dune is beyond amazing. Messiah is okay. Children though, I really almost hate that book. Seeing what the kids and Alia do and become and what's happened to Paul, gosh, it was painful for me.

[Blaze1616]

Yeah, I just couldn't find Hitchhikers funny. It really tried and came really close, but....meh.

Dune is beyond amazing. Messiah is okay. Children though, I really almost hate that book. Seeing what the kids and Alia do and become and what's happened to Paul, gosh, it was painful for me.

 

I'm not continuing beyond Dune. I'm afraid to, to be honest. I enjoyed Dune, but I didn't LOVE it. The book had some issues that I tolerated, but when I hear people who LOVED Dune talk about how they weren't too pleased with the rest of the series, I doubt I'll like the rest of it at all.

[Left]

I'm not continuing beyond Dune. I'm afraid to, to be honest. I enjoyed Dune, but I didn't LOVE it. The book had some issues that I tolerated, but when I hear people who LOVED Dune talk about how they weren't too pleased with the rest of the series, I doubt I'll like the rest of it at all.

Hmmmm, what were your issues?