Recommended Sci-Fi Novels

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Paul1977

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#211606 3-Apr-2017 21:05

Could anyone recommend a good sci-fi novel series?

I am really enjoying The Expanse tv series, but am reluctant to read the books so as not to spoil the show.

For those who have read The Expanse novels 9and enjoyed them), what other series would you recommend?

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#1755996 3-Apr-2017 21:17

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Anything by Charles Stross, but do The Laundry series. Iain Banks, with or without the M. The Long Earth series.

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nzlegs

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#1755998 3-Apr-2017 21:20

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Have you read any novels by Anne McCaffrey?

If not then try 'The DragonRiders of Pern' series this will keep you occupied for a week or so depending how fast you read.
She has also written other sci-fi, but not so much as series.

Decal

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#1755999 3-Apr-2017 21:23

Read "We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis Taylor" over Summer. Thought it was really well written.

Paul1977

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#1756002 3-Apr-2017 21:27

nzlegs: Have you read any novels by Anne McCaffrey?

If not then try 'The DragonRiders of Pern' series this will keep you occupied for a week or so depending how fast you read.
She has also written other sci-fi, but not so much as series.

Prefer more sci-fi than fantasy. And generally like things relating back to humanity, so stuff set in the future with humans as opposed to all aliens in another galaxy.

Probably prefer somewhere in between space opera and hard sci-fi.

Paul1977

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#1756003 3-Apr-2017 21:28

SaltyNZ: Anything by Charles Stross, but do The Laundry series. Iain Banks, with or without the M. The Long Earth series.

How does The Culture series stack up against The Expanse? A harder read?

Dratsab

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#1756005 3-Apr-2017 21:49

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Paul1977: Could anyone recommend a good sci-fi novel series?

I am really enjoying The Expanse tv series, but am reluctant to read the books so as not to spoil the show.

For those who have read The Expanse novels 9and enjoyed them), what other series would you recommend?

I binge-watched The Expanse. Found it very slow to start with but it picked up quite nicely after a few episodes - I'll definitely be watching the next season.

A novel series I really enjoyed reading many (many!) years ago was The Amtrak Wars by Patrick Tilley. I thought the TV series The 100 borrowed some concepts quite heavily from these novels.

Edit: added a few extra links

TinyTim

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#1756036 3-Apr-2017 22:17

I've just finished the first three books of the Well World series. Written in the late seventies by Jack Chalker. Quite entertaining, reasonably easy reading, hard to put down. I don't know what the rest of the series is like (our library doesn't have them!).

Also a big Iain M Banks fan (particularly the Culture books).

nzkc

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#1756044 3-Apr-2017 23:10

I loved the Revelation Space series by Alastair Reynolds.

These are big books! They're not light reads.

Edit: Based on your earlier comments "And generally like things relating back to humanity, so stuff set in the future with humans as opposed to all aliens in another galaxy." I think you'll like them (if you havent already read them). Ive read The Culture series too. I found some of the Culture books a bit meh. Others were great. I preferred Reynolds books myself - both are terrific series though.

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#1756072 4-Apr-2017 01:08

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All the Polity books by Neal Asher. A bit like the Culture series by Banks, but more gritty.

Stephen Baxter is also worth a look, especially the Xelee stories.

The Amber series by Zelazney - more fantasy than sci-fi, but deals with parallel worlds.

Vernor Vinge.

The Dark Tower series by Stephen King - a mix of scifi and fantasy, again dealing with parallel worlds, alternate timelines, etc.

Peter F Hamilton - pretty much everything but especially the Commonwealth books and the Confederation series.

The Dune series by Herbert.

Alistar Reynolds is also good.

Of course Iain Banks.

jpoc

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#1756085 4-Apr-2017 07:09

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Peter Hamilton would be my top choice.

Pandora's World, the second book in the commonwealth universe is a great place to start. He has some of the best characters in modern SF.

Pandora's Star is galaxy spanning space opera at its very best. It is not the first book in the commonwealth time-line but it is the best place to start.

My second choice is Richard Morgan.

Altered Carbon is Morgan's first novel and I can still remember my thoughts when I read it for the first time. "This is a first novel? How can an author be so good from the very start of a writing career?"

It is the first of three novels featuring Takeshi Kovacs - an anti-hero of towering character.

Just in case it is not your cup of tea, I should mention that there is a lot of violent action and sexual content in both of those.

SaltyNZ

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#1756088 4-Apr-2017 07:21

Paul1977:

SaltyNZ: Anything by Charles Stross, but do The Laundry series. Iain Banks, with or without the M. The Long Earth series.

How does The Culture series stack up against The Expanse? A harder read?

The Culture series are a bit more complex (although I am not saying The Expanse is shallow) but generally the tone is more hopeful. The Culture is all about what humanity could/should be like, whereas the Expanse says that no matter where we go and how much we have, we take our greed and nastiness with us. But the Culture doesn't shy away from the hard stuff either.

The Culture shines more brightly by comparison to other less enlightened civilisations - including ours; in the The State of the Art, Contact representatives arrive at Earth, observe for a while, and debate whether to bring us into the fold or leave as us a control sample to prove to other civilisations (and dissenting factions inside the Culture) what happens to a species that doesn't come around to the Culture's way of thinking.

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JayADee

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#1756092 4-Apr-2017 07:48

Year of the Flood by Atwood for near-future and the rest of that series. I liked the early ones of the author David Feintuch’s Seafort Saga and ditto the earlier Honor Harrington (character name) books and some of the Lois McMaster Bujold (author) books and series. If you'd like some near future dystopia on Earth I have some suggestions.

jpoc

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#1756097 4-Apr-2017 08:35

Lists of SF award winners can be a good source of reading suggestions.

There is a list of awards on wikiP: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outline_of_science_fiction#Science_fiction_awards

If a book wins a major award, it is probably worth reading.

xpd

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#1756102 4-Apr-2017 08:55

I've read the first Expanse novel, couldn't put it down. Starting on the next one........

Another good read, was the Red Rising trilogy - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Rising

Lot of people compared it to Hunger Games, and from the first book, yes I can see why, but after that, was fresh and damn enjoyable.

XPD / Gavin / DemiseNZ

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timmmay

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#1756103 4-Apr-2017 08:56

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I like The Expanse series, here are a few others I've liked.

Forever War Series, Joe Halderman. Anything he wrote is generally good.

Most things by Peter Hamilton.

Wayferers.

Anything by Frederik Pohk, specifically Heechee.

Ender Series.

Evan Currie, Odyssey.

I have 600 books on my GoodReads shelf, 120 of them sci-fi. If anyone has similar tastes PM me the email you used to register with GoodReads and I'll add you.

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