Anyone have some really good Science Fiction Book recommendations?

Kesomir

Kesomir

Kesomir

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I read a lot of Sci-Fi and Fantasy along side Nautical, Action Adventure, Crime / Police Procedural and Thriller (Like Jack Reacher). Most of the books I've collected recently have been Fantasy, so I am looking for recommendations of well written engaging sci fi. I'm not averse to the Hornblower in space stuff like Honor Harrington or Jack Campbell's JAG in space (or the Lost Fleet). Quite like Military Sci Fi, but not into sci-fi romance like 'Hunt the Stars - Jessie Mihalik'.

I love every Neal Asher book I've read and prefer them generally to Iain M. Banks. Recent picks I've particularly enjoyed:
  • Artifact Space by Miles Cameron
  • Old Man's War by John Scalzi (I find this author hit and miss, some great books and some I don't really get on with)
  • Children of Time / Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky
  • The Wrong Stars by Tim Pratt
  • Embers of War by Gareth L Powell
 
MadMossy said:
Expeditionary Force by Craig Alanson is a great series.
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oooh very nice suggestion. Excellent ratings, the excerpt looks intriguing and there are 14 books in the series :)

Added to wishlist.

Edit: Looks like they are also available to read on kindle unlimited.
 
Turns out I already own `We are legion`, so will bump that up the reading list.

Looks like Ruins of the Galaxy 1-9 can be had for just over £4. Although I prefer to read them broken up, at that price it's too tempting to just get the omnibus.

Thanks MadMossy!
 
Mr Badger said:
If you haven't read them already then it sounds as though David Feintuch's Midshipman's Hope (The Seafort Saga) would be right up your street. I read them some years ago and found the series to be a page turner. Would second the recommendation for Peter F Hamilton and also to check out some Niven/Niven and Pournelle (e.g. Ring World, Footfall, Mote in God's Eye). Another author I used to like was Philip José Farmer, such as the Riverworld series.
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Spot on with the Seafort saga recommendation. I have read them on paperback, also have the set on the kindle wishlist for a while too, but the prices don't shift so not re acquired yet.

Have a fair amount of hamilton and read the niven / pournelle dyson ring books.

Not familiar with Philip José Farmer, do will check that out.
 
Dano said:
Ok, gonna dump a load from my kindle list, ignoring those already mentioned.

Orson Scott Card: Ender's Game
James S. A. Corey: The Expanse series
Evan Currie: Odyssey Series
Hugh Howey: Wool Trilogy
Marko Kloos: Frontlines Series
Cixin Lui: The Three-Body Problem
Richard Morgan: Altered Carbon
Alastair Reynolds: Revelation Space series
Kim Stanley Robinson: Red, Green, Blue Mars
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Some great books in here. I've read most of these (love the Marko Kloos books, Evan Currie is good pulp). Looked into the wool series and while the ratings are good, there are a few that didn't like it - do you know how many stars you gave it?

Mr Badger said:
Each to their own, but personally I'm not sure that I would recommend <red, green, blue mars> trilogy to someone looking for well written action. The first book is certainly good but I found the second and particularly the third to be rather less gripping.
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I appear to own red mars, but don't recall having read it, so will give that a go, but maybe not worth the getting the rest of the series.

Werewolf said:
It may be worth trying some of the Peter F Hamilton books, possibly try "A second chance at Eden" first as it's short stories with a link to his first big Trilogy (the Confederation/Nights Dawn Trilogy which starts off with The Reality Dysfunction), whilst his Commonwealth books are from memory a standalone prequal type thing, a duo (Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained), then a trilogy set later, then another duology.

They can take some getting into, but they are very good imo.
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I've read quite a bit of Peter f Hamilton, although probably 15/20 years ago now. I have grabbed some of his stuff again as ebooks, so could re-read the void trilogy, commonwealth saga and salvation series among a few others.

Have also wishlisted the following from the recommendations:
  • The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells
  • Spinward Fringe by Randolph Lalonde
 
To update: have finished rhe first Ruins of the Galaxy.

I felt the book was OK, the parts with the trooper felt a little more engaging than those with the Luma.

I felt the quality of writing was average, could have benefitted from stronger character development.

The heroes were generally awesome at what they did and the swathes of cookie cutter enemies generally did a good job of dying at their hands.

There are a few interesting parts to the story so far, will read on the series and see how it develops.
 
SPG said:
Player of Games - The late great Iain M Banks, then pick up the rest of the culture novels. A series I wish I could forget and start again and again and again.
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When I was a child, I couldn't understand my father re reading books. "But you know what's going to happen"

Of course now I understand that if enough time elapses I don't remember any of it.

The older I get, the shorter the required interval.
 
Just finished Galactic Breach.

I felt it generally flowed a little better than the first, although would rate it the same as the first.

Found a few bits as with the last book broke my suspension of disbelief e.g. the ethics discussion when the torpedoes were taken control of.

Moving on to the next one.
 
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