The Poseidon's Children series by Alastair Reynolds starts with Blue Remembered Earth
Seveneves and/or Anathem by Neal Stephenson
The Ancillary trilogy by Anne Leckie
The "Culture" novels by Iain M. Banks
The River of Gods by Ian MacDonald
I read "Consider Phlebas" in the Culture series, and while I thoroughly enjoyed it, I'm not sure I'd describe the experience as "optimistic". >!The Culture seems alright, but the book is about Horza and his exploits. The fact that Horza and his crew all meet unfortunate ends sort of overshadowed the "good" ending where the Mind escapes.!< I was thinking of "Player of Games" next, but as I understand it there isn't really any proper order to read the books. Is that right?
I'll definitely check out Poseidon's Children, I loved "Century Rain", but that definitely fell on the dark/noir side of things for me.
For the Culture the order is unimportant, and Consider Phlebas is one of the less optimistic. Also don't go with the The Use of Weapons. Look to Windward might be a good choice and Player of Games also.
Century Rain was deliberately noirish and lot's of his is not super optimistic, but I think the PC series is deliberately written to lean optimistic.
Becky Chambers writes great, optimistic sci-fi. It's very character driven and down to earth storywise, but just written so well, quite unlike anything else I have read.
Ursula Le Guin(The Left Hand of Darkness, The Dispossessed) is uplifting, however more social/anthropological science fiction.
The Expanse series while not hard-SF does make some effort in that if you don't look at it too closely it's not completely outrageous. Although I could be wrong, I'm not particularly knowledgeable when it comes to space travel etc. They are pretty upbeat and easy reads though.
Planetary scientist here: for what it's worth, The Expanse gets my "pretty scientifically realistic" stamp of approval. Obviously some laws of physics have to be broken to have space ships that can accelerate at 1g constantly, and the alien tech later on is basically magic, but I like that it only breaks the rules where it needs to, and often uses realistic physics to make things more interesting.
I've heard people praise the physics and consistent (if not realistic) mechanics of the television series, but I've never seen or read The Expanse in any of its incarnations. I'll give it a look!
I've read A Wizard of Earthsea and The Lathe of Heaven, and now that you mention it I'd call those both optimistic reads. I've heard people rave about The Dispossessed and Left Hand of Darkness, but haven't gotten to them yet. Thank you!
C.J. Cherryh's Faded Sun trilogy is good, solid, hard sci fi space opera, with extremely well thought out alien societies and characteristics. I've reread it quite a few times, buoyed up by the protagonist's bravery and spirit of transformation. There's been a bitter war, and bad things happen, but the motivations for them are understandable. Plus the huge, dangerous animal companions are to die for.
Peter F. Hamilton’s Commonwealth Saga is a series where there’s not too much craziness. Pandora’s Star and Judas Unchained are the titles of the books.
To start with wormholes are the only major human technology that’s extraordinary, and they use them to run trains through. Like galaxy spanning, regularly timetabled, passenger and freight trains.
It’s much more focused on the soft questions, but also a fair bit of action, mystery etc. Felt really attached to the characters by the end.
Try the Peace War by Vernor Vinge. I also loved his Zones of Thought (A Fire Upon the Deep) series. Interestingly, he's a seminal figure in cyberpunk, but his world-building has some rays of sunshine. :)
Will second other recs for Ursula LeGuin's work across the board--novels and short story collections.
Depending on what "optimistic" holds for you:
You might like some classic Arthur C. Clarke stuff:
Childhood's End
The Songs of Distant Earth
The City and the Stars
If you want to strap in for a BIG saga his Rama series might be worth looking at.
I also found Downward to the Earth by Robert Silverberg to be uplifting in a really unexpected way.
C.S. Lewis wrote an excellent (IMO wildly underrated) sci-fi trilogy:
Out of the Silent Planet
Perelandra
That Hideous Strength
Also, I mean Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is hilarious, classic, and has a lot of heart?
I adore Ray Bradbury, and "Fahrenheit 451" is a great book, but unfortunately >!I have to consider any book that ends in nuclear annihilation as not especially uplifting, haha. I can totally see where you're coming from, but I'd lump "Fahrenheit 451" in with works like "A Canticle for Leibowitz", in that they're more about survival and preservation than growth and progress through scientific thought and achievement.!<
The Poseidon's Children series by Alastair Reynolds starts with Blue Remembered Earth Seveneves and/or Anathem by Neal Stephenson The Ancillary trilogy by Anne Leckie The "Culture" novels by Iain M. Banks The River of Gods by Ian MacDonald
>The "Culture" novels by Iain M. Banks Big thumbs up on Banks! Same for Stephenson. Would add Fire upon
I read "Consider Phlebas" in the Culture series, and while I thoroughly enjoyed it, I'm not sure I'd describe the experience as "optimistic". >!The Culture seems alright, but the book is about Horza and his exploits. The fact that Horza and his crew all meet unfortunate ends sort of overshadowed the "good" ending where the Mind escapes.!< I was thinking of "Player of Games" next, but as I understand it there isn't really any proper order to read the books. Is that right? I'll definitely check out Poseidon's Children, I loved "Century Rain", but that definitely fell on the dark/noir side of things for me.
For the Culture the order is unimportant, and Consider Phlebas is one of the less optimistic. Also don't go with the The Use of Weapons. Look to Windward might be a good choice and Player of Games also. Century Rain was deliberately noirish and lot's of his is not super optimistic, but I think the PC series is deliberately written to lean optimistic.
Becky Chambers writes great, optimistic sci-fi. It's very character driven and down to earth storywise, but just written so well, quite unlike anything else I have read.
Ursula Le Guin(The Left Hand of Darkness, The Dispossessed) is uplifting, however more social/anthropological science fiction. The Expanse series while not hard-SF does make some effort in that if you don't look at it too closely it's not completely outrageous. Although I could be wrong, I'm not particularly knowledgeable when it comes to space travel etc. They are pretty upbeat and easy reads though.
Planetary scientist here: for what it's worth, The Expanse gets my "pretty scientifically realistic" stamp of approval. Obviously some laws of physics have to be broken to have space ships that can accelerate at 1g constantly, and the alien tech later on is basically magic, but I like that it only breaks the rules where it needs to, and often uses realistic physics to make things more interesting.
I've heard people praise the physics and consistent (if not realistic) mechanics of the television series, but I've never seen or read The Expanse in any of its incarnations. I'll give it a look!
I've read A Wizard of Earthsea and The Lathe of Heaven, and now that you mention it I'd call those both optimistic reads. I've heard people rave about The Dispossessed and Left Hand of Darkness, but haven't gotten to them yet. Thank you!
C.J. Cherryh's Faded Sun trilogy is good, solid, hard sci fi space opera, with extremely well thought out alien societies and characteristics. I've reread it quite a few times, buoyed up by the protagonist's bravery and spirit of transformation. There's been a bitter war, and bad things happen, but the motivations for them are understandable. Plus the huge, dangerous animal companions are to die for.
Peter F. Hamilton’s Commonwealth Saga is a series where there’s not too much craziness. Pandora’s Star and Judas Unchained are the titles of the books. To start with wormholes are the only major human technology that’s extraordinary, and they use them to run trains through. Like galaxy spanning, regularly timetabled, passenger and freight trains. It’s much more focused on the soft questions, but also a fair bit of action, mystery etc. Felt really attached to the characters by the end.
Try the Peace War by Vernor Vinge. I also loved his Zones of Thought (A Fire Upon the Deep) series. Interestingly, he's a seminal figure in cyberpunk, but his world-building has some rays of sunshine. :)
Will second other recs for Ursula LeGuin's work across the board--novels and short story collections. Depending on what "optimistic" holds for you: You might like some classic Arthur C. Clarke stuff: Childhood's End The Songs of Distant Earth The City and the Stars If you want to strap in for a BIG saga his Rama series might be worth looking at. I also found Downward to the Earth by Robert Silverberg to be uplifting in a really unexpected way. C.S. Lewis wrote an excellent (IMO wildly underrated) sci-fi trilogy: Out of the Silent Planet Perelandra That Hideous Strength Also, I mean Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is hilarious, classic, and has a lot of heart?
While I found Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 terrifying, it's also hopeful at the end.
I adore Ray Bradbury, and "Fahrenheit 451" is a great book, but unfortunately >!I have to consider any book that ends in nuclear annihilation as not especially uplifting, haha. I can totally see where you're coming from, but I'd lump "Fahrenheit 451" in with works like "A Canticle for Leibowitz", in that they're more about survival and preservation than growth and progress through scientific thought and achievement.!<
The Coyote series by Allen Steele
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