Sci-Fi Book Recommendations

POSTED BY: JuniperJayne
UPDATED: Tuesday, August 11, 2026 16:20
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NANITE1018

Thursday, July 13, 2006 4:14 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by PhoenixRose:
Ender's Game is excellent. I feel the series declined steadily after that, myself.
Also, I forgot Dune. Dune is very good. Another one where the series declined a bit, though.

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From where though? The Shadow series with Bean and Peter was really good. The Ender series with "Speaker for the Dead" and all that was a little more boring. But i loved 'em all though. That whole series is a shining jewel of SF.

Even if it did decline slightly, become a little more boring and such during the Ender part that's okay. If anyone here hasn't read it, you need to if you like SF at all. Awesome, awesome, awesome series, that.

PHOENIXROSE

Thursday, July 13, 2006 4:22 PM

I didn't enjoy Speaker for the Dead as much as Ender's Game, I did not enjoy Xenocide as much as Speaker for the Dead, and I didn't enjoy Children of the Mind as much as Xenocide. I really didn't like where Ender's character went.
As for Ender's Shadow, I thought it was a very flawed book, just because of the way it ended.

Select to view spoiler:

The whole book makes the point that Bean is actually engineered to be smarter than anyone else, several times it indicates that he is smarter than Ender. Then the end comes, the final battle, Ender doesn't speak, Bean knows he's basically second-in-command, and he has nothing. He has zero plan. His mind - the incredible mind talked about throughout the rest of the book - is a blank. Blah. He could have at least had some form of plan; even if it wouldn't have worked as well as Ender's did. Something.

I stopped reading them at that point, so I don't know about Shadow of the Hedgemon.

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NANITE1018

Thursday, July 13, 2006 4:28 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by PhoenixRose:
I didn't enjoy Speaker for the Dead as much as Ender's Game, I did not enjoy Xenocide as much as Speaker for the Dead, and I didn't enjoy Children of the Mind as much as Xenocide. I really didn't like where Ender's character went.
As for Ender's Shadow, I thought it was a very flawed book, just because of the way it ended.
Select to view spoiler:
The whole book makes the point that Bean is actually engineered to be smarter than anyone else, several times it indicates that he is smarter than Ender. Then the end comes, the final battle, Ender doesn't speak, Bean knows he's basically second-in-command, and he has nothing. He has zero plan. His mind - the incredible mind talked about throughout the rest of the book - is a blank. Blah. He could have at least had some form of plan; even if it wouldn't have worked as well as Ender's did. Something.

I stopped reading them at that point, so I don't know about Shadow of the Hedgemon.

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Oh, well there's your problem. The story of Bean and Peter and Achilles is great. You have to finish it. That's why i recommended the Shadow series more highly than the Ender series. And i do agree that Speaker, Xenocide, and Children were less enjoyable than Ender's Game. But The whole shadow series is better than Speaker and probably as good (depending on who you ask) as Ender's Shadow or Ender's Game.

But still, finish 'em, you quit just when it was getting good!

PHOENIXROSE

Thursday, July 13, 2006 4:34 PM

As good as? There was a HUGE GAPING FLAW in Ender's Shadow, as I stated. I think Card is milking it at this point. I got tired of it. I don't think that another book is going to reverse the problems I had with that book. Glad you enjoy them, but sorry I'm done.

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DAVESHAYNE

Thursday, July 13, 2006 4:45 PM

Well if you want to dive into the classics you should read Asimov's Foundation trilogy. That's the original 3: Foundation, Foundation and Empire and, Second Foundation. Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Neuromancer by Gibson. Dune by Herbert as already mentioned. Ringworld by Niven.

David

"Not completely as well as the series of Firefly..." - From a review of Serenity at amazon.de

SOUPCATCHER

Thursday, July 13, 2006 4:57 PM

Ah, a thread topic I always enjoy.

Quote:
Originally posted by 13:
A nice obscure sf book to pick up would be 'Rats, Bats, and Vats,' by Dave Freer and Eric Flint. Wicked funny.

And the sequel was funny as well.

Quote:
Originally posted by Miramel:
... also, theres a book called 'old man's war' by i-dont-remember-who, and a sequal too, both of which are pretty amusing.

John Scalzi.

Hmmm, recent books?

"Designated Targets," by John Birmingham
"The Speed of Dark," by Elizabeth Moon
"Doomsday Book," by Connie Willis
"Red Mars," "Green Mars," and "Blue Mars" by Kim Stanley Robinson

And anything in the Honor Harrington universe by David Weber.

For older books, pretty much any novel that won a Nebula or Hugo is a good place to start (well, there were some in the seventies that I just found too out there - I'm looking at you "The Einstein Intersection"). Even better if the book won both the Nebula and the Hugo.

ECGORDON

Thursday, July 13, 2006 5:17 PM

For Spider Robinson, I recommend The Free Lunch.

I also highly recommend John Varley's Red Thunder from a couple of years ago, and I am about halfway through with its sequel now, Red Lightning, and am enjoying it as much.

Have to mention E. E. Knight's Vampire Earth series, but it is SF not fantasy/horror. The "vampires" in the story are an alien species who have very nearly conquered Earth, and the main character is a young soldier named David Valentine, who has been fighting against them all his life since his parents were murdered. I've read the first four books so far, Way of the Wolf, Choice of the Cat, Tale of the Thunderbolt and Valentine's Rising, which were all released as paperback originals. The fifth book came out last month, but in hardcover, so I will wait for it a bit. It's called Valentine's Exile.

The Vampire Earth books remind me somewhat of another great series by David Gerrold, the War Against the Chtorr. Four books so far, A Matter For Men, A Day For Damnation, A Rage For Revenge and A Season For Slaughter. Even though it has been over twelve years since the last one, Gerrold swears the fifth book will be completed soon (his last blog said by the end of this month, but don't hold your breath).

wo men ren ran zai fei xing.

GROUNDED

Thursday, July 13, 2006 5:22 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by nanite1018:
I'd suggest anything pretty much by Stephen Baxter. He's one of my favorite SF authors, although they are pretty hard-SF (as in they try to be at least relatively accurate scientifically and have absolutely NO fantasy elements at all, ever.) One of my favorite's by him is the "Manifold" series: Manifold: Time, Manifold: Space, and Manifold: Origin. Those are awesome.

Seconded :) The Xeelee sequence (Raft, Timelike Infinity, Flux, Ring) is excellent too.

NANITE1018

Thursday, July 13, 2006 5:22 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by PhoenixRose:
As good as? There was a HUGE GAPING FLAW in Ender's Shadow, as I stated. I think Card is milking it at this point. I got tired of it. I don't think that another book is going to reverse the problems I had with that book. Glad you enjoy them, but sorry I'm done.

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What flaw?

CYBERSNARK

Thursday, July 13, 2006 5:24 PM

Anything by Peter David is fun and funny as hell, with a lot of Whedonesque bombshells and "everything you were expecting has just been thrown out the airlock" moments. There's the whole Star Trek: New Frontiers series, and if you're more into fantasy, the trilogy Sir Apropos of Nothing, The Woad to Wuin, and Tong Lashing are not to be missed.

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We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.

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