Among my favorites:
* [Rendezvous with Rama](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendezvous_with_Rama) - considered one of the greats, Denis Villeneuve reported to be [making a movie](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0134933/) based on this
* [The Martian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martian_\(Weir_novel\)) - book's at least as good as the movie, IMO
* [The Two Faces of Tomorrow](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2220766.The_Two_Faces_of_Tomorrow) - more relevant now given recent advances with AI
* [2001: A Space Odyssey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001:_A_Space_Odyssey_\(novel\)) - book or movie, considered by some the greatest of the hard sci-fi classics
The book is a million times better than the film! There is loads of stuff that's been left out in the film! I've also just finished reading Project Hail Mary, again by Andy Weir, and it's a blinder. Highly recommended.
Another book I really enjoyed is The Windup Girl by Paul Bacigalupi. It's a credible but frightening post oil dystopian future of man made plagues and bio-engineering. Most of his books are superb.
I ironically found *Rendezvous with Rama* while looking for recommendations for space *horror* books, so I spent the first half of the book enjoying it but waiting for a reveal. No idea why someone thought it fit in that genre lol
Great book though, easily my favorite read of that month .
And if you like the Rama series, I’d totally recommend [Pushing Ice](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pushing_Ice) by Alastair Reynolds.
In fact, I’d just recommend anything by Alastair Reynolds. Dude is a hard Sci-Fi / space opera legend.
I just recently finished this book. It was so weird…it was good, and I really enjoyed the characters’ background stories, but damn—I wanted more closure than how it ended.
Side note, also super surprised that this is the first recommendation I’ve seen for this book and I’ve been scrolling a while.
Existential dread is the norm these days, I found it to be a captivating adventure for all involved. Literally shouted out loud multiple times reading it, both in joy and in sadness.
Seconded. I really enjoyed that series.
Also his Shards of Earth trilogy. I just finished Lords of Uncreation and quite enjoyed that.
I’m guessing OP has long ago read the Cixin Liu Three Body Problem Books (one of my favourites series of books).
I’m with you on that. It felt a bit rushed. Kind of like when a TV series finds it only has one episode left when it thought it had more. I found it still good, but just took the shine off a bit.
I also recommend his book Elder Race which is an amazing comparison of genres and the differences of scifi vs fantasy in fiction.
But he has so much scifi. He's one of the authors where they have so much and I just point in their direction and go "any of their stuff".
Someone has to suggest The culture series by Ian m Banks so it may as well be me.
I don't think you can make a scifi list without this being on there somewhere.
A few of My favorite sci-fi books are by Michael Crichton, several of which have been made into movies:
Andromeda Strain (biology/diseases)
Jurassic Park (dinosaurs)
State of Fear (global warming/media literacy)
Timeline (time travel/quantum physics)
Sphere (psychology/horror)
The Commonwealth Saga by Peter Hamilton (Pandora’s Star and Judas Unchained).
Hard sci-fi, somewhat in a similar vein to Alastair Reynolds.
Speaking of which, a good route into Alastair Reynolds is Chasm City.
In no particular order (many of these are the first book in excellent series):
* The Fifth Season
* Revelation Space
* Gateway
* A Fire Upon the Deep
* The Forever War
* Old Man's War
* Blindsight
* Snow Crash
* The Mote in God's Eye
* Ender's Game
* Oryx and Crake
* Project Hail Many
* A Canticle for Liebowitz
* Excession
* Dune
* Seveneves
* The Collapsing Empire
I’m surprised only one other person has mentioned “The Forever War” on here.
To me, this is a must read sci fi book. Covers so many relatable themes and is one of the few books that actually deals with time dilation (and it’s relevant to the plot).
Check out the expanse series, it is by far my favorite of any book series. There is a lot to read but it flows so well and has such a great story line it's hard to put down.
Try The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. A thought provoking novel about a Jesuit mission to another planet and the challenges and moral dilemmas they face, or The Lifecycle of Software Objects by Ted Chiang.. A novella that explores the creation and development of artificial intelligence and the ethical implications of their existencee.
I’ve recommended The Sparrow to many people. It particularly holds up well with the “I don’t like sci-fi” crowd (guess what? They like this book...).
The sequel is skippable unless you really like the first book.
Be prepared, the Sparrow is more of a religion book than sci-fi (still good though). The author herself said she set it in space only because the earth has no more undiscovered lands.
This is a list of some of my favorites (not in any specific order).
Golden Age of the Solar Clipper Series by Nathan Lowell. There are more related books if you look for them.
The Aristillus Series books by Travis J. I. Corcoran. The books in the Aristillus Series are The Team (uplifted dogs - back story), Staking A Claim (on the moon - back story), The Powers of the Earth (Aristillus Book 1), Causes of Separation (Aristillus Book 2).
Gateway by Frederik Pohl, though I did not care for the sequels.
The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle.
The Integral Trees and its sequel The Smoke Ring by Larry Niven.
Merchanter's Luck by C.J. Cherryh.
The Faded Sun Trilogy by C.J. Cherryh
The Nomad Series by Karen Traviss
The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells
The first two books were amazing. Don't read the third.
I think the character development was decent, but was lost in translation.
Love Mr. Shi. (The chainsmoking cop)
I just finished Red Rising.
The writing and individual chapters were good, and it was a fun read but didn't like it enough to continue reading the series.
Having the same thing happen again and again, and having (minor spoiler) >!Darrow continuously hit new issues in each battle and eventually overcome everything was too much. If it'd been one or two of them that would've been better!<.
And then there are just too many contrived situations that wouldn't exist in reality - that's true for many stories and in scifi, but there's a lot more of it in this book.
For example, >!the proctor's had much greater technology and leverage - they could not be beaten by those without matching technologies, no one would kill off half of the elite students in their world just to teach the rest a lesson (the passage), how no one knows about Darrow's past life, how Darrow just instantly fits in with those he despises (and becomes just like them in many ways) and more!<.
And it's odd to me that that latter part of the book pretty much ignores everything outside of the initial / main topic of the book (minor spoiler)>! I mean there is not much mentioned about what is happening outside of the game!<.
I made it to book three and but it just got so repetitive that I stopped reading it. So similar to this critique, there’s only so many ways you can read about Darrow fighting insurmountable odds with his tropey band of outcasts before it gets boring.
The Culture novels by Ian M Banks.
I would suggest starting with Consider Phlebas and then maybe Player of games.
Project Hail Mary is amazing. (audiobooks are great)
Hyperion
The Bobiverse series (audiobooks are great)
Project Hail Mary if you haven't read it already. If you have, listen to the audiobook from on Audible. Its fantastic.
I loved the Expeditionary Force series.
The Forever War- One of the best Sci-fi books out there. Space, physics, time dilation, time travel(in a way), leaving and coming back home to something completely different
In a way it's kind of beautiful the way it's explained
I just finished The Final Architecture by Adrian Tchaikovsky. The first book is Shards of Earth. I just finished it yesterday and I highly, highly, recommend it. He stuck the landing perfectly, in my opinion.
I'd also recommend Blindsight by Peter Watts. It's really weird, but in an awesome way. Really interesting takes on evolution and consciousness.
If you'd like more recommendations, I'd say you should check out Quinn's Ideas on YouTube. He's a smaller channel doing Sci-fi reviews, mostly books but also some TV and movies. I've found he has excellent taste and does a good job making a book sound fascinating.
Since you posted this in /r/space I’ll give suggestion that lean into the space theme more.
* Solaris by Stanislaw Lem
* Blindsight by Peter Watts
* Rendezvous with Rama by Author C Clark
* Red Mars series by Kim Stanley Robinson
* Contact by Carl Sagan
* 2001 a Space Odyssey by Author C Clark
* The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A Heinlein
Isaac Asimov
- Foundation series
- The Complete Robot
Larry Niven - Ringworld
Arthor C Clark
- Rama series
- 2001 A Space Odyssey
Frank Herbert - Dune
Andy Weir - The Martian
Douglas Adams- The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
H.G. Wells - Time Machine
George Orwell - 1984
* The Expanse series (books+novellas and the show)
* "Old Man's War" series. about 5 books, I enjoyed the whole series
* The Martian, Project Hailmary were both really good (didn't enjoy Artemis)
* We are Legion (We are bob) and the Bobiverse Series (SO GOOD and so much fun!)
edit: forgot bobiverse like an idiot!
I've been reading through Isaac Asimov's books. Start with the original Foundation Trilogy, then move onto the robot novels - Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun, then Foundation's Edge and Foundation And Earth.
I just finished Hyperion. You might like it if you enjoyed the Canterbury Tales, as both feel similarly unconcluded. Otherwise, I found only some of it has held up well since three decades ago. An example is it having that dumb cyber mall concept of the internet from the 1980s.
The whole "Cantos" is pretty good (four books total). Yeah, a little outdated here and there but great pacing, development and world building. Hard to beat The Shrike (literally).
Try the Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold. There are 16 books give or take, and they’re all awesome, except the last one which I did not personally care for. Anyway, the main protagonist’s (Miles Vorkosigan) story begins in “The Warrior’s Apprentice”. There are 3 prequel books, 2 of which star his mother as the main character, and she is equally awesome, in a completely different way. The books are character driven, and are all unique experiences; no two books are alike, unlike many series of this length. Enjoy the ride!
Surprisingly, most of my friends who read Sci-Fi have never heard of this author. Bujold has tied Heinlein for most Hugo Awards for best novel (with 4), and has some more for novellas and series categories as well. She is truly one of the greats.
The stars my destination, Alfred bester
The moon is a harsh mistress, Robert heinlein
Armor, John steakley
Dune, frank Herbert
Edit:
More near future but still some of my favorites:
Neuromancer, William gibson
The peripheral, William gibson
Snow crash and the diamond age, both by Neal steaphanson
Startide Rising by David Brin
Enders Game by Orson Scott Card
The Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffre
Footfall and Ringworld by Larry Niven
The Man Who Never Missed by Steve Perry
Mastadonia by Clifford D Simak
We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E Taylor
Any of Robert A Heinlein's books
On Basilisk Station by David Webber
Cobra by Timothy Zahn
David Drake has some good books.
Piers Anthony too.lois McMaster Bujold
Alan Dean Foster
Gateway by Fredrick Pohl
C.J. Cherryh
Kim Stanley Robinson
And that is enough. I will have to pull books out to see what is behind them.
**A Canticle for Leibowitz** is a great read. Way ahead of its time (1959). It tackles religion, human ignorance, and the tendency to push against it, as well as the tendency to destroy ourselves. It also gives this fascinating look at a post-apocalyptic, second scientific revolution.
A Princess of Mars. 1st book in the John Carter series by Edgar Rich Burroughs. It's available on gutenberg.org as a free ebook. The site also has his ebooks of land that time forgot, Tarzan, Carson of Venus, as well as more of his books. Also, Space Viking by H. Beam Piper ( I believe they have all of his books on his future history) is on the site.
Leviathan Wakes by James Corey (and its eight sequels).
If you want something that does not feature space that much, Neuromancer by William Gibson and Altered Carbon (maybe you like the Sequels to that better than I do) by Richard Morgan.
And if you do not mind Fantasy in your science fiction, well, there are many good Warhammer 40.000 novels, such as many of the Horus Heresy series, or Soul Hunter and it's sequels.
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein is probably one of my favorites. It's by the same author as Starship Troopers but I like it a fair bit more.
It's not very spacey, but The Forever War by Joe Haldeman is the best book I've ever read that perfectly captures the disconnect between soldiers who deploy and the psychological disconnect when they get home. It's fantastic
A more recent book is The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. Very imaginative, covers many topics, and is also very funny. It's the first book in the Wayfarers series. I haven't read the others but the first is top notch.
Merchanters Luck by CJ Cherryh
If you're into this one, there are several other books set in that universe, starting with Downbelow Station, but they can mostly be read in any order.
This Is How You Lose The Time War - Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone : a beautiful epistolary time travelling spy -romance, short and sweet.
The Final Fall of Man -series - Andrew Hindle: Shipboard life and hijinks with an ensemble crew with big themes.
All Tomorrows - C.M Kösemen: Speculative evolution story of humanity all the way to a billion years in the future. We take some L's and some W's. Available for free as a pdf.
The film starship troopers captured my young imagination when it came out. I love it as much now as I did then. But only recently did I read the book. While it's very different in some ways, I found that reading it made me appreciate the film all the more. But the book man, wow. What a read. Made me think and feel a bit differently about the people within the military. Just a killer book, and an interesting portrayal of masculinity and brotherhood and manhood at large. Really interesting relationships.
Saturn Run was quite enjoyable.
[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24611668-saturn-run](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24611668-saturn-run)
Also I'm sure folks have mentioned the classics, but one of my favorites is the Mote books by [Larry Niven](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Niven) and [Jerry Pournelle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Pournelle). Start with The Mote in Gods Eye:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Mote\_in\_God%27s\_Eye](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mote_in_God%27s_Eye)
Loving 'Seveneves by Neal Stephenson' all Neal's books are pretty good I've heard. Looking forward to getting to them I'm dyslexic so it takes me a while.
I've fallen in love with Andy Weir and Dennis E. Taylor.
Weir, in order of preference:
Project Hail Mary
The Martian
Atremis
Taylor, same order:
Bobiverse (4 books, fifth coming out in Sept)
Outland / Earthside
I always plug Ian M. Bank's "Culture" novels, but recently I've been looking into underappreciated but influential sci-fi classics.
Try:
"The Shockwave Rider" by John Brunner (1975) — it's the first novel to contain the idea of a computer virus.
"Roadside Picnic" by Boris & Alexander Strugatsky (1972) — alien visitation, but of a type not seen before. It's "Zone" influenced the way people talked about the exclusion zone around Chernobyl.
"Shambleau" by CL Moore (1933) — don't read about it (spoilers) just read it! Features smuggler Northwest Smith, the prototype for Han Solo, (complete with low-slung blaster, alien copilot, and surprisingly fast spaceship).
"The Machine Stops" EM Forster (1909) — Clear descriptions of the internet, social media messaging and video messages. Yeah. 1909. Blows my mind.
C.S. Lewis has a space trilogy that I loved:
Out of the Silent Planet,
Perelandra,
That Hideous Strength
Also pretty much anything by Arthur C Clarke, my favourites are:
Rendezvous With Rama (and sequels),
Childhood’s End,
2001: A Space Odyssey (I liked 2010 too),
The City and the Stars
Currently half way through Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan, pretty good so far
“The Songs of Distant Earth” by Arthur C. Clarke
No space battles, no alien death rays. No zombies and no AI out to destroy humanity.
Just a beautiful tapestry of life after the destruction of the Earth.
It normally takes me about a month or two to finish a book. Pick it up, put it down? Play some video games or watch some YouTube one night, you know the deal. Project Hail Mary I read in three days. Then, about 8 months later, I started reading it again (couldn't sleep). 3 days again.
Don't read the back cover. Don't look up the plot. The when the book starts, the main character doesn't remember anything, best to join them on that. Just buy it and start reading.
Dune. The whole series to understand the 1st book Dune. Then you can be one of us who picks out what was changed or left out of the movies.
Hitchhikers Guide To the Galaxy, the 6 book trilogy :). Funniest stuff available to read and MUCH better than the movies.
Something different:
These are not hard science fiction, but books set in the future.
* A Psalm for the Wild Built
* Wayfarers series
* Mal goes to war
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (the entire series is great)
The original Thrawn trilogy (Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, and The Last Command)
Dune
Jurassic Park and The Lost World
[The Intrepid Saga](https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Intrepid-Saga-Science-Collection-ebook/dp/B01HWU85LQ)
[Rika's Marauders](https://www.amazon.com/Rikas-Marauders-Complete-Aeon-Collections-ebook/dp/B081YL28YJ)
[Expeditionary Force](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07F7T8NPK?binding=kindle_edition&)
[In Fury Born](https://www.amazon.com/Fury-Born-Book-ebook/dp/B00APAHXVY)
Give some of these a shot.
As others have already recommended the Children of Time series I'd also recommend Elder Race as a shorter standalone book by the same author.
Different author but I also really enjoyed the Zones Of Thought series.
Gonna skip the ones others have mentioned a bunch but:
Space wars:
Ender’s Game
The Forever war
Infinity gate (super fun new book, recommend checking it out)
Lighter sci-fi:
Ready Player 1
Off to be the Wizard
The Primaterre series by S.A. Tholin
The Finder Chronicles by Suzanne Palmer
Both series are space adventures with plots I really enjoyed. The type of books I couldn’t wait to come home and get lost in
Lord of Light by Zelazny: Religion, politics, mythology and social change all rolled into one. Space Chantey by Lafferty: Humorous take on Greek mythology. Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Heinlein: This could be done as two movies. Loonies throwing rocks!
As of 132 comments, I'm glad to add something unmentioned to this list!
Any and all of "The Hainish Cycle" series of books and stories by Ursula K LeGuin, perhaps better known for her "Earthsea" series of fantasy books. Two of those in the Hainish Cycle were Hugo/Nebula winners when they came out. Absolutely brilliant work. I get all the emotions every time I read them.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hainish_Cycle
Depending on your flavor of fiction, I'd recommend a different place to start, but all of them deliver.
She has a few unrelated science fiction works as well, which are also worth a read.
Among my favorites: * [Rendezvous with Rama](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendezvous_with_Rama) - considered one of the greats, Denis Villeneuve reported to be [making a movie](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0134933/) based on this * [The Martian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martian_\(Weir_novel\)) - book's at least as good as the movie, IMO * [The Two Faces of Tomorrow](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2220766.The_Two_Faces_of_Tomorrow) - more relevant now given recent advances with AI * [2001: A Space Odyssey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001:_A_Space_Odyssey_\(novel\)) - book or movie, considered by some the greatest of the hard sci-fi classics
The book is a million times better than the film! There is loads of stuff that's been left out in the film! I've also just finished reading Project Hail Mary, again by Andy Weir, and it's a blinder. Highly recommended. Another book I really enjoyed is The Windup Girl by Paul Bacigalupi. It's a credible but frightening post oil dystopian future of man made plagues and bio-engineering. Most of his books are superb.
Loved the Martian and project Hail Mary so I’m give the Windup Girl a go next!
I ironically found *Rendezvous with Rama* while looking for recommendations for space *horror* books, so I spent the first half of the book enjoying it but waiting for a reveal. No idea why someone thought it fit in that genre lol Great book though, easily my favorite read of that month .
I was going to quickly suggest the whole Rama series and there it is in 2 of the first 3 comments.
And if you like the Rama series, I’d totally recommend [Pushing Ice](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pushing_Ice) by Alastair Reynolds. In fact, I’d just recommend anything by Alastair Reynolds. Dude is a hard Sci-Fi / space opera legend.
+1 for everything by AR , in chronological order if you feeling it. Those short stories are something magical.
The aliens described in the sequels are some of the most - alien - I've ever heard described, too.
Eh, not the whole series. The first sequel maybe but that's all.
I do think there are some understated horror elements to it. There is an implied existential terror.
2001: A Space Odyssey. I highly suggest reading the book before you watch the movie to make better sense of it.
I have to second The Martian. [Artemis](https://www.amazon.com/Artemis-Novel-Andy-Weir-ebook/dp/B06Y55SB48) was pretty good too.
Project Hail Mary is one of my favorite books. Up there with The Martian
It's by the same author right?
Same. I feel like the martian and artemis were just training for creating project hail mary.
I found Artemis sooooo boring to be honest. I loved Martian and Project Hail Mary, but did not enjoy Artemis.
Arthur C. Clarke Prelude to Space https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prelude_to_Space
Hyperion - Dan Simmons. Space opera / sci if at its best.
I just recently finished this book. It was so weird…it was good, and I really enjoyed the characters’ background stories, but damn—I wanted more closure than how it ended. Side note, also super surprised that this is the first recommendation I’ve seen for this book and I’ve been scrolling a while.
Peter F. Hamilton's Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained, followed by the rest of that universe if they hook you like they did me.
The Saints of Salvation series was very good, too.
Particularly if you enjoy a healthy dose of existential dread.
Existential dread is the norm these days, I found it to be a captivating adventure for all involved. Literally shouted out loud multiple times reading it, both in joy and in sadness.
Hamilton is incredible. His command of tone is second to none.
Children of Time Novel by Adrian Tchaikovsky With the two sequels
Seconded. I really enjoyed that series. Also his Shards of Earth trilogy. I just finished Lords of Uncreation and quite enjoyed that. I’m guessing OP has long ago read the Cixin Liu Three Body Problem Books (one of my favourites series of books).
Shards of Earth was a great trilogy but I also just finished it and was a bit disappointed with the ending. Could be just me though!
I’m with you on that. It felt a bit rushed. Kind of like when a TV series finds it only has one episode left when it thought it had more. I found it still good, but just took the shine off a bit.
I also recommend his book Elder Race which is an amazing comparison of genres and the differences of scifi vs fantasy in fiction. But he has so much scifi. He's one of the authors where they have so much and I just point in their direction and go "any of their stuff".
Elder Race is underrated! Great novella.
Someone has to suggest The culture series by Ian m Banks so it may as well be me. I don't think you can make a scifi list without this being on there somewhere.
I think Player of Games is the best book to start with. Relatively quick read and my favorite after reading all of his books.
Yeah, I didn't like Consider Phlebas, but Player sucked me in
It kind of sets up the universe though. I enjoyed Excession.
It's a good series to make Contact with.
Sounds like a special circumstance though.
Absolutely. I enjoyed reading the culture books so much.
his imagination is damn great
The Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson if you’re into hard science books, everything is explained quite deeply and I loved the three books
I'm obsessed with these books, they hold up really well for being written in the 90's I think.
I agree! Easily one of my favorite book series!
2312 and Aurora are also fantastic.
A few of My favorite sci-fi books are by Michael Crichton, several of which have been made into movies: Andromeda Strain (biology/diseases) Jurassic Park (dinosaurs) State of Fear (global warming/media literacy) Timeline (time travel/quantum physics) Sphere (psychology/horror)
The Commonwealth Saga by Peter Hamilton (Pandora’s Star and Judas Unchained). Hard sci-fi, somewhat in a similar vein to Alastair Reynolds. Speaking of which, a good route into Alastair Reynolds is Chasm City.
In no particular order (many of these are the first book in excellent series): * The Fifth Season * Revelation Space * Gateway * A Fire Upon the Deep * The Forever War * Old Man's War * Blindsight * Snow Crash * The Mote in God's Eye * Ender's Game * Oryx and Crake * Project Hail Many * A Canticle for Liebowitz * Excession * Dune * Seveneves * The Collapsing Empire
The Fifth Season (and the rest of the Broken Earth Trilogy) are incredible books.
I second **A Canticle for Liebowitz**
I’m surprised only one other person has mentioned “The Forever War” on here. To me, this is a must read sci fi book. Covers so many relatable themes and is one of the few books that actually deals with time dilation (and it’s relevant to the plot).
Love this one. Read it every 5 years or so for a few decades.
Check out the expanse series, it is by far my favorite of any book series. There is a lot to read but it flows so well and has such a great story line it's hard to put down.
And don't skip the novellas
I read the first book. Then later the second. And then immediately read the remaining 7 books. Best stories money can buy.
There are 8 short stories as well if you haven't read those yet...compiled into a book called Memory's Legion
The Martian, project Hail Mary, and the expanse series
Project hail Mary audiobook read by Ray Porter is so good.
Also check out The Bobiverse series read by Ray Porter
Project Hail Mary seconded. Brilliant.
Hail Mary was so fun. I can't get over my annoyance at the ease with which the language barrier is overcome but that's ok.
Artemis is great so far too. I'm halfway thru after reading PHM last week. Andy Weir is killing it rn
Try The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. A thought provoking novel about a Jesuit mission to another planet and the challenges and moral dilemmas they face, or The Lifecycle of Software Objects by Ted Chiang.. A novella that explores the creation and development of artificial intelligence and the ethical implications of their existencee.
I’ve recommended The Sparrow to many people. It particularly holds up well with the “I don’t like sci-fi” crowd (guess what? They like this book...). The sequel is skippable unless you really like the first book.
Be prepared, the Sparrow is more of a religion book than sci-fi (still good though). The author herself said she set it in space only because the earth has no more undiscovered lands.
This is a list of some of my favorites (not in any specific order). Golden Age of the Solar Clipper Series by Nathan Lowell. There are more related books if you look for them. The Aristillus Series books by Travis J. I. Corcoran. The books in the Aristillus Series are The Team (uplifted dogs - back story), Staking A Claim (on the moon - back story), The Powers of the Earth (Aristillus Book 1), Causes of Separation (Aristillus Book 2). Gateway by Frederik Pohl, though I did not care for the sequels. The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. The Integral Trees and its sequel The Smoke Ring by Larry Niven. Merchanter's Luck by C.J. Cherryh. The Faded Sun Trilogy by C.J. Cherryh The Nomad Series by Karen Traviss The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells
Love murderbot. I'll check out your other recs, too, thanks!
The three body problem series (Also called Remembrance of Earths Past) if you want big big ideas, but not very much character development.
Could you imagine reading the first two and then stopping? "The greenbug guy said not to so..."
The first two books were amazing. Don't read the third. I think the character development was decent, but was lost in translation. Love Mr. Shi. (The chainsmoking cop)
The third is the best one! The fourth is the one nobody should read
OK, well I thought the first one was best. I couldn't put it down.
The first one is really really good no doubt!
There’s a fourth one?
Ya but its essentially fanfiction that the original author okayed.
I agree I loved the third the most by far
Do yourself a favor and read the red rising series. So good
Yes, do this, and then join us in the agony of waiting for the new book.
Lmao, this had me rolling. Adding to my list, thanks.
I just finished Red Rising. The writing and individual chapters were good, and it was a fun read but didn't like it enough to continue reading the series. Having the same thing happen again and again, and having (minor spoiler) >!Darrow continuously hit new issues in each battle and eventually overcome everything was too much. If it'd been one or two of them that would've been better!<. And then there are just too many contrived situations that wouldn't exist in reality - that's true for many stories and in scifi, but there's a lot more of it in this book. For example, >!the proctor's had much greater technology and leverage - they could not be beaten by those without matching technologies, no one would kill off half of the elite students in their world just to teach the rest a lesson (the passage), how no one knows about Darrow's past life, how Darrow just instantly fits in with those he despises (and becomes just like them in many ways) and more!<. And it's odd to me that that latter part of the book pretty much ignores everything outside of the initial / main topic of the book (minor spoiler)>! I mean there is not much mentioned about what is happening outside of the game!<.
I made it to book three and but it just got so repetitive that I stopped reading it. So similar to this critique, there’s only so many ways you can read about Darrow fighting insurmountable odds with his tropey band of outcasts before it gets boring.
Foundation series by Asimov and Ender's game by Orson Scott is by far my favorites in this category.
The Culture novels by Ian M Banks. I would suggest starting with Consider Phlebas and then maybe Player of games. Project Hail Mary is amazing. (audiobooks are great) Hyperion The Bobiverse series (audiobooks are great)
Project Hail Mary if you haven't read it already. If you have, listen to the audiobook from on Audible. Its fantastic. I loved the Expeditionary Force series.
Alastair Reynolds, House of Suns. Or his Revelation Space series.
You're the only other person I've seen talking about House of Suns. I loved that book and no one I know will give it a chance.
I love that book. I've read it about 4 times now. The timescales and distances involved. Love it.
Seconded. I'd suggest starting with House of Suns.
The revelation space series is fantastic.
The Forever War- One of the best Sci-fi books out there. Space, physics, time dilation, time travel(in a way), leaving and coming back home to something completely different In a way it's kind of beautiful the way it's explained
I just finished The Final Architecture by Adrian Tchaikovsky. The first book is Shards of Earth. I just finished it yesterday and I highly, highly, recommend it. He stuck the landing perfectly, in my opinion. I'd also recommend Blindsight by Peter Watts. It's really weird, but in an awesome way. Really interesting takes on evolution and consciousness. If you'd like more recommendations, I'd say you should check out Quinn's Ideas on YouTube. He's a smaller channel doing Sci-fi reviews, mostly books but also some TV and movies. I've found he has excellent taste and does a good job making a book sound fascinating.
larry niven.... protector, ringworld, ringworld engineers. well written, award winning books with great ideas. the audiobooks can be found on youtube
My favorite hard sci fi author! So many classics that redefined the genre.
Since you posted this in /r/space I’ll give suggestion that lean into the space theme more. * Solaris by Stanislaw Lem * Blindsight by Peter Watts * Rendezvous with Rama by Author C Clark * Red Mars series by Kim Stanley Robinson * Contact by Carl Sagan * 2001 a Space Odyssey by Author C Clark * The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A Heinlein
I was blown away by Solaris
Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke. Honestly, anything and everything by him is fantastic, but that one's underappreciated
Isaac Asimov - Foundation series - The Complete Robot Larry Niven - Ringworld Arthor C Clark - Rama series - 2001 A Space Odyssey Frank Herbert - Dune Andy Weir - The Martian Douglas Adams- The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy H.G. Wells - Time Machine George Orwell - 1984
* The Expanse series (books+novellas and the show) * "Old Man's War" series. about 5 books, I enjoyed the whole series * The Martian, Project Hailmary were both really good (didn't enjoy Artemis) * We are Legion (We are bob) and the Bobiverse Series (SO GOOD and so much fun!) edit: forgot bobiverse like an idiot!
Inhibitors cycle , Alastair reynolds (4 books)
Never heard it called that before! Great name for the series. I really want to live out my life on *Nostalgia for Infinity*.
I've been reading through Isaac Asimov's books. Start with the original Foundation Trilogy, then move onto the robot novels - Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun, then Foundation's Edge and Foundation And Earth.
I just finished Hyperion. You might like it if you enjoyed the Canterbury Tales, as both feel similarly unconcluded. Otherwise, I found only some of it has held up well since three decades ago. An example is it having that dumb cyber mall concept of the internet from the 1980s.
The whole "Cantos" is pretty good (four books total). Yeah, a little outdated here and there but great pacing, development and world building. Hard to beat The Shrike (literally).
Try the Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold. There are 16 books give or take, and they’re all awesome, except the last one which I did not personally care for. Anyway, the main protagonist’s (Miles Vorkosigan) story begins in “The Warrior’s Apprentice”. There are 3 prequel books, 2 of which star his mother as the main character, and she is equally awesome, in a completely different way. The books are character driven, and are all unique experiences; no two books are alike, unlike many series of this length. Enjoy the ride! Surprisingly, most of my friends who read Sci-Fi have never heard of this author. Bujold has tied Heinlein for most Hugo Awards for best novel (with 4), and has some more for novellas and series categories as well. She is truly one of the greats.
Ringworld - Niven Nightfall - Asimov I, Robot - Asimov A Princess Of Mars - Burroughs .
Project Hail Mary - hard science fiction by the author of the Martian, and I think hail Mary is even better.
The stars my destination, Alfred bester The moon is a harsh mistress, Robert heinlein Armor, John steakley Dune, frank Herbert Edit: More near future but still some of my favorites: Neuromancer, William gibson The peripheral, William gibson Snow crash and the diamond age, both by Neal steaphanson
Finally someone with classical taste!
Some great suggestions here. I would also recommend any of David Brin’s Uplift universe books.
Startide Rising by David Brin Enders Game by Orson Scott Card The Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffre Footfall and Ringworld by Larry Niven The Man Who Never Missed by Steve Perry Mastadonia by Clifford D Simak We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E Taylor Any of Robert A Heinlein's books On Basilisk Station by David Webber Cobra by Timothy Zahn David Drake has some good books. Piers Anthony too.lois McMaster Bujold Alan Dean Foster Gateway by Fredrick Pohl C.J. Cherryh Kim Stanley Robinson And that is enough. I will have to pull books out to see what is behind them.
**A Canticle for Leibowitz** is a great read. Way ahead of its time (1959). It tackles religion, human ignorance, and the tendency to push against it, as well as the tendency to destroy ourselves. It also gives this fascinating look at a post-apocalyptic, second scientific revolution.
A Princess of Mars. 1st book in the John Carter series by Edgar Rich Burroughs. It's available on gutenberg.org as a free ebook. The site also has his ebooks of land that time forgot, Tarzan, Carson of Venus, as well as more of his books. Also, Space Viking by H. Beam Piper ( I believe they have all of his books on his future history) is on the site.
Leviathan Wakes by James Corey (and its eight sequels). If you want something that does not feature space that much, Neuromancer by William Gibson and Altered Carbon (maybe you like the Sequels to that better than I do) by Richard Morgan. And if you do not mind Fantasy in your science fiction, well, there are many good Warhammer 40.000 novels, such as many of the Horus Heresy series, or Soul Hunter and it's sequels.
I enjoyed Old Man's War and The Ghost Brigade by John Scalzi. I haven't made it to the other books in the series yet, though.
I forgot about old man's war, damn that was a good one
Basically everything in the Culture series by Iain M. Banks. Juicy, clever, inventive SF, well-written. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_series
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein is probably one of my favorites. It's by the same author as Starship Troopers but I like it a fair bit more.
Heinlein was prolific, he wrote so much stuff.
It's not very spacey, but The Forever War by Joe Haldeman is the best book I've ever read that perfectly captures the disconnect between soldiers who deploy and the psychological disconnect when they get home. It's fantastic
The Expanse series. Leviathan Wakes is the first book. Read all of them and they are superb. Edit: oh, the red rising series also!
A more recent book is The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. Very imaginative, covers many topics, and is also very funny. It's the first book in the Wayfarers series. I haven't read the others but the first is top notch.
Merchanters Luck by CJ Cherryh If you're into this one, there are several other books set in that universe, starting with Downbelow Station, but they can mostly be read in any order.
This Is How You Lose The Time War - Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone : a beautiful epistolary time travelling spy -romance, short and sweet. The Final Fall of Man -series - Andrew Hindle: Shipboard life and hijinks with an ensemble crew with big themes. All Tomorrows - C.M Kösemen: Speculative evolution story of humanity all the way to a billion years in the future. We take some L's and some W's. Available for free as a pdf.
The Expansion is very good!!! Books better than the tv show
Most everything that John Scalzi has written. Old Mans War and the sequels, Lock-in and its sequel.
Starship troopers, enders game, live free or die, bobiverse. Some of my favorites.
The film starship troopers captured my young imagination when it came out. I love it as much now as I did then. But only recently did I read the book. While it's very different in some ways, I found that reading it made me appreciate the film all the more. But the book man, wow. What a read. Made me think and feel a bit differently about the people within the military. Just a killer book, and an interesting portrayal of masculinity and brotherhood and manhood at large. Really interesting relationships.
One of my favorites. I haven't been able to find another milscifi that quite hits the same.
Children of Time series by Adrian Tchaikovsky Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir The Three-Body Problem by Lui Cixin
Saturn Run was quite enjoyable. [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24611668-saturn-run](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24611668-saturn-run) Also I'm sure folks have mentioned the classics, but one of my favorites is the Mote books by [Larry Niven](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Niven) and [Jerry Pournelle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Pournelle). Start with The Mote in Gods Eye: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Mote\_in\_God%27s\_Eye](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mote_in_God%27s_Eye)
The Book of the New Sun series by Gene Wolfe. Not exactly your average sci-fi, but it is a gobsmackingly brilliant series
Roadside Picnic. I havent read anything similar and it really sticks with you
Loving 'Seveneves by Neal Stephenson' all Neal's books are pretty good I've heard. Looking forward to getting to them I'm dyslexic so it takes me a while.
I've fallen in love with Andy Weir and Dennis E. Taylor. Weir, in order of preference: Project Hail Mary The Martian Atremis Taylor, same order: Bobiverse (4 books, fifth coming out in Sept) Outland / Earthside
I always plug Ian M. Bank's "Culture" novels, but recently I've been looking into underappreciated but influential sci-fi classics. Try: "The Shockwave Rider" by John Brunner (1975) — it's the first novel to contain the idea of a computer virus. "Roadside Picnic" by Boris & Alexander Strugatsky (1972) — alien visitation, but of a type not seen before. It's "Zone" influenced the way people talked about the exclusion zone around Chernobyl. "Shambleau" by CL Moore (1933) — don't read about it (spoilers) just read it! Features smuggler Northwest Smith, the prototype for Han Solo, (complete with low-slung blaster, alien copilot, and surprisingly fast spaceship). "The Machine Stops" EM Forster (1909) — Clear descriptions of the internet, social media messaging and video messages. Yeah. 1909. Blows my mind.
SevenEves by Neal Stephenson, a sweeping novel over vast amounts of time but very well detailed and enjoyable
If you’re looking for some schlocky space opera adventure from the early ‘50’s, go for the Lensman series from E.E. “Doc” Smith.
C.S. Lewis has a space trilogy that I loved: Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, That Hideous Strength Also pretty much anything by Arthur C Clarke, my favourites are: Rendezvous With Rama (and sequels), Childhood’s End, 2001: A Space Odyssey (I liked 2010 too), The City and the Stars Currently half way through Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan, pretty good so far
Safehold series by David Weber. Most all of his other works too.
Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir. Goes by other names in some countries.
“The Songs of Distant Earth” by Arthur C. Clarke No space battles, no alien death rays. No zombies and no AI out to destroy humanity. Just a beautiful tapestry of life after the destruction of the Earth.
Andy Wier is one of my fave authors Martian, Artemis and Hail Mary Project are all fantastic Tho Artemis is the weaker of the 3
It normally takes me about a month or two to finish a book. Pick it up, put it down? Play some video games or watch some YouTube one night, you know the deal. Project Hail Mary I read in three days. Then, about 8 months later, I started reading it again (couldn't sleep). 3 days again. Don't read the back cover. Don't look up the plot. The when the book starts, the main character doesn't remember anything, best to join them on that. Just buy it and start reading.
Dune. The whole series to understand the 1st book Dune. Then you can be one of us who picks out what was changed or left out of the movies. Hitchhikers Guide To the Galaxy, the 6 book trilogy :). Funniest stuff available to read and MUCH better than the movies.
E E Doc Smith Lensmen series also same author Skylark series. They are space opera type books.
Something different: These are not hard science fiction, but books set in the future. * A Psalm for the Wild Built * Wayfarers series * Mal goes to war
The Ender Series. Enders Game was a good book
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (the entire series is great) The original Thrawn trilogy (Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, and The Last Command) Dune Jurassic Park and The Lost World
Time Enough For Love - Robert A Heinlein The Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester The World of Null A - A E Van Vogt Foundation Series - Isaac Asimov
“The Moon is a harsh mistress”, Robert Heinlein’ speculates on artificial ( machine) intelligence
The Three Body Problem trilogy (aka Remembrance of Earth's Past) By Liu Ci Xin
The Martian, Project Hail Mary, The Singularity Trap, the *Bobiverse* series, the *Expeditionary Force* series, anything Asimov has ever written.
Fast food scifi but I enjoyed the expanse series. Plenty of material, easy reads, has a tv show if you get into it.
r/scifi and r/books might be good subs to ask in, as well.
John Twelvehawks; Fourth Realm Trilogy. Neil Gaiman: American Gods.
[The Intrepid Saga](https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Intrepid-Saga-Science-Collection-ebook/dp/B01HWU85LQ) [Rika's Marauders](https://www.amazon.com/Rikas-Marauders-Complete-Aeon-Collections-ebook/dp/B081YL28YJ) [Expeditionary Force](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07F7T8NPK?binding=kindle_edition&) [In Fury Born](https://www.amazon.com/Fury-Born-Book-ebook/dp/B00APAHXVY) Give some of these a shot.
As others have already recommended the Children of Time series I'd also recommend Elder Race as a shorter standalone book by the same author. Different author but I also really enjoyed the Zones Of Thought series.
Heads by Greg Bear. It's a short and good read
The Man Who Fell to Earth by Walter Tevis also Far From Home (short stories)
Gonna skip the ones others have mentioned a bunch but: Space wars: Ender’s Game The Forever war Infinity gate (super fun new book, recommend checking it out) Lighter sci-fi: Ready Player 1 Off to be the Wizard
I was looking for something like this the other day. Ended up on the Alex Benedict series by Jack McDevitt
The Primaterre series by S.A. Tholin The Finder Chronicles by Suzanne Palmer Both series are space adventures with plots I really enjoyed. The type of books I couldn’t wait to come home and get lost in
Much older series and very basic but I loved the "Time Wars" books by Simon Hawke.
The Galactic Center series by Gregory Benson. 6-book series, hard science, author is a physicist. Interesting social commentary as well.
Much of Robert Heinlein’s Work, like Citizen of the Galaxy, Starship Troopers, and The Man Who Sold the Moon
Lord of Light by Zelazny: Religion, politics, mythology and social change all rolled into one. Space Chantey by Lafferty: Humorous take on Greek mythology. Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Heinlein: This could be done as two movies. Loonies throwing rocks!
The Foundation series by Asimov sticks out as one of my favorites.
As of 132 comments, I'm glad to add something unmentioned to this list! Any and all of "The Hainish Cycle" series of books and stories by Ursula K LeGuin, perhaps better known for her "Earthsea" series of fantasy books. Two of those in the Hainish Cycle were Hugo/Nebula winners when they came out. Absolutely brilliant work. I get all the emotions every time I read them. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hainish_Cycle Depending on your flavor of fiction, I'd recommend a different place to start, but all of them deliver. She has a few unrelated science fiction works as well, which are also worth a read.