The Sci-Fi Book Thread

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Seventh

Golden Squire
892
15
I'm just about (90% or so) finished with the second one. It is pretty damn good, though I'm taking a Simmons Break after this one. I need something a little less wordy.

Solid reads though, glad I picked them up.
 
iannis

iannis

Musty Nester
31,351
17,659
I enjoyed Hyperion / Endymion the first time I read them.

The second time I read Hyperion it occured to me about halfway through that The Shrike = The Terminator and I couldn't take it "seriously" anymore. And the whole using human hosts for AI processes fad. He was on the front of that fad, so it's not like he's a big giant hack. It's just that it was a fad, and it ages poorly. He's a good writer, if self indulgently verbose at times. Lovecraft was self-indulgently verbose as well so it's not a criticism of itself.
 
Rod-138

Rod-138

Trakanon Raider
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Just read Hyperion and it felt like reading a children's book after forcing my mind and body to finish the WoT. I enjoyed the book but actually found myself more interested in the characters after hearing their stories than the story....not to take away from the story, which was good, but the characters had some really neat backgrounds
 
Grimmlokk

Grimmlokk

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
12,190
134
Rod-138_sl said:
the characters had some really neat backgrounds
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I think James Corey was inspired by that some in his Expanse books. The non-crew characters he introduced were always from wildly diverse backgrounds. Space noir detective, space rebel military CEO, super senator bitch lady, space marine, space debutante avenger, and lesbian space pope.
 
Gnomedolf

Gnomedolf

<Silver Donator>
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Started Great North Road by Peter F. Hamilton this week. So far it's very good. I'm a big fan of his Commonwealth series of books. This one isn't in the same universe, but it has lots of the same tech, but at earlier stages than the Commonwealth books.
 
spronk

spronk

FPS noob
23,636
27,721
Top 25 most-anticipated books of June 2014 | The AudioBookaneers

been reading a lot of sci fi recently, most not very good. Gary Gibson's Shoal Sequence was pretty decent though, a big ol space opera about aliens and humans and massive wars involving trillions

reading Gene Wolfe's Pirate Freedom right now, not sure its scifi exactly but its definitely interesting. Mostly pirate (as in 1700s) stuff, which is always cool to read. Gene's the dude who wrote the Long Sun stuff, which was one of the weirdest scifi series I ever read.
 
spronk

spronk

FPS noob
23,636
27,721
just finished Abyss Beyond Dreams, the latest Commonwealth Novel from Peter Hamilton (Dreaming Void etc). Good fun read, its part 1 of 2 so may wanna wait till part 2 if you hate reading unfinished stuff. It continues the void stories, won't say anymore to not spoil it. If you liked the void series you will like this book, if you didn't like them you will hate this book. It takes place almost completely in the void, with a little bit of Commonwealth chapters thrown in.
The Abyss Beyond Dreams: A Novel of the Commonwealth (Commonwealth: Chronicle of the Fallers Book 1) - Kindle edition by Peter F. Hamilton. Literature Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.
 
slippery

slippery

<Bronze Donator>
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spronk_sl said:
just finished Abyss Beyond Dreams, the latest Commonwealth Novel from Peter Hamilton (Dreaming Void etc). Good fun read, its part 1 of 2 so may wanna wait till part 2 if you hate reading unfinished stuff. It continues the void stories, won't say anymore to not spoil it. If you liked the void series you will like this book, if you didn't like them you will hate this book. It takes place almost completely in the void, with a little bit of Commonwealth chapters thrown in.
The Abyss Beyond Dreams: A Novel of the Commonwealth (Commonwealth: Chronicle of the Fallers Book 1) - Kindle edition by Peter F. Hamilton. Literature Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.
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I agree, I thought the book was excellent as well.
 
slippery

slippery

<Bronze Donator>
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I could use some recommendations for what to read next. I like space stuff, both science like Hamilton and the military type stuff as well. I've read most of Hamiltons, a few of the series by Evan Currie (mention others if you enjoyed them, I might not have hit them yet), Ian Douglas, Jack Campbell (whom I like, but god does he repeat himself a lot), Michael R Hicks, Nathan Lowell, Randolph Lalonde, Ryk Brown, Thomas DePrima, Valmore Daniels, and then a variety of Star Trek stuff (Titan, Typhon Pact, Destiny, Slings and Arrows, Lost Era, Stargazer, Cold Equations).

Always looking for more good Science Fiction. I think a lot of people out there are really critical of entertainment stuff, but I don't find myself to be that way. I can enjoy almost any book as long as it isn't slow as fuck. I don't even need purely science fiction, I like fantasy as well, but I'm on a scifi kick atm. I enjoyed The Galactic Mage series by John Daulton which was a cross between magic and high science.

Recommendations, go!
 
Lasch

Lasch

Trakanon Raider
1,535
759
At this point it would probably be considered light fluff reading, but in high school I absolutely loved Dorsai! by Dickson.
Lois McMaster Bujold was something I have on my to-read list from a suggestion from someone here.
 
Vorph

Vorph

Silver Baronet of the Realm
11,617
5,451
Already mentioned a few times, but definitely give Richard K. Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs trilogy (Altered Carbon, et al.) a shot.
 
Nester

Nester

Vyemm Raider
4,985
3,186
slippery_sl said:
I could use some recommendations for what to read next. I like space stuff, both science like Hamilton and the military type stuff as well. I've read most of Hamiltons, a few of the series by Evan Currie (mention others if you enjoyed them, I might not have hit them yet), Ian Douglas, Jack Campbell (whom I like, but god does he repeat himself a lot), Michael R Hicks, Nathan Lowell, Randolph Lalonde, Ryk Brown, Thomas DePrima, Valmore Daniels, and then a variety of Star Trek stuff (Titan, Typhon Pact, Destiny, Slings and Arrows, Lost Era, Stargazer, Cold Equations).

Always looking for more good Science Fiction. I think a lot of people out there are really critical of entertainment stuff, but I don't find myself to be that way. I can enjoy almost any book as long as it isn't slow as fuck. I don't even need purely science fiction, I like fantasy as well, but I'm on a scifi kick atm. I enjoyed The Galactic Mage series by John Daulton which was a cross between magic and high science.

Recommendations, go!
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Dan Simmons, Hyperion Cantos. I am 2/4 atm and loving it.
 
spronk

spronk

FPS noob
23,636
27,721
try Gary Gibson, Shoal Sequence 3 book "mega space opera" series thats very similar to Hamilton. Also read the Expanse series by James Corey, SyFy is making a TV show so it'd be good to get ahead of the curve on it - book series is pretty good and again very similar to Hamiltons style. Pratchett and Stephen Baxter have a 2 or 3 book series the Long Earth/Mars that is interesting, its more explorative than action. Stephen Baxter has two novels, Proxima and Ultima that are decent.

I just started reading Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu, its the first chinese modern scifi novel. Very interesting to read, quite different from western style of writing in tone and content.
 
D

DoctorSpooge_sl

shitlord
1,173
1
Nester_sl said:
Dan Simmons, Hyperion Cantos. I am 2/4 atm and loving it.
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I'll second this. Hyperion & The Fall of Hyperion are hands down the best SFF novels I've ever read, and among the best novels I've ever read, especially if you enjoy good writing, because Simmons can go toe to toe with the most fleet-footed stylists in SF. Book 3 is't anywhere near as good as the first two, but I think the fourth one probably is, but it gets pretty sentimental.

I'll also suggest:
Tales of the Dying Earth (Jack Vance)
The Forever War (Joe Haldeman)
The Martian (Andy Weir)
Altered Carbon (Richard K Morgan)
Ilium (Dan Simmons) - Olympos, the follow-up, isn't nearly as strong but it's not a catastrophe.

I'll also mention Mission of Gravity, by Hal Clement. It's on my to-read list, and it's allegedly one of the progenitors of "hard scifi" as well as one of the all-time bests in the genre.
 
Agraza

Agraza

Registered Hutt
6,890
521
Fucking zombies man. I'm sifting through "new sci-fi" and I swear 80% of it turns up as some flavor of zombies. It's fucking lame.

The Martian was refreshingly distinct.

The only sci-fi author I worship is Alastair Reynolds. Read everything he's written if you haven't.
 
slippery

slippery

<Bronze Donator>
7,920
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Agraza_sl said:
Fucking zombies man. I'm sifting through "new sci-fi" and I swear 80% of it turns up as some flavor of zombies. It's fucking lame.

The Martian was refreshingly distinct.

The only sci-fi author I worship is Alastair Reynolds. Read everything he's written if you haven't.
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I think I've looked at his stuff a handful of times but never tried it. Any specific order?
 
Woefully Inept

Woefully Inept

Karazhan Raider
9,378
37,422
Can anyone recommend like a comedic space sci fi book or series? The serious stuff just doesn't seem to hold my interest well at all.
 
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