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Space sci-fi with a compelling story

A

AA Institute

New Member
Anyone here read anything space/alien related that they felt was a compelling read? I guess, something that's got an air of realism about it with lots of believable technology and the like? A lot of the old Arthur C. Clarke books had that sort of thing, but I wouldn't mind reading something by more recent authors...
 
Hi - there's a couple of authors/books I'd recommend:

Peter F. Hamilton - writes big 'space opera' novels and sagas. Try 'The Reality Dysfunction' - I think it's a fantastic book, but beware it's about 1000 pages, and the first in a trilogy (so together the three books weigh in at about 3000 pages). If you want to try something a little shorter first, he's also written a stand-alone sci-fi/space opera novel: 'Fallen Dragon'.

Iain M Banks - His 'Culture' novels are good and very popular, though some I found difficult to get into. His first one is 'Consider Phelebas', and my personal favourite is 'The Player of Games'. Haven't read them all, but as far as I know they're all stand alone novels, though loosely connected to each other.

Lois McMaster Bujold - She's written quite a few science fiction novels about a character called Miles Vorkosigan. Think they're all between 300 and 500 pages each and are stand-alone despite being linked. It's best to start with the first one if you can - it introduces the character and sets the scene for future books. The first Miles Vorkosigan novel is 'The Warriors Apprentice'.

Stephen Baxter - Quite a prolific and popular UK science fiction author, I'd highly recommend his Xeelee sequence of novels. First one is 'Raft', and then there's Flux, Timelike Infinity, Ring and Vacuum Diagrams. His novels are part space opera, part 'hard-sf'. But the technical science aspects don't interfere with the story, and they're easy to read for the non-science types (like me). He's written other, different types of SF novel, some of which I've read, but wasn't as keen as I was on the above books.

Here's a couple of older SF novels set in space that you may like if you've not read before:

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman (only about 300 pages and an exceptional book in my opinion).

Ringworld by Larry Niven

Hyperion by Dan Simmons.

There's probably more, but that's all I can think of for now. If I think of more later I'll add them.

Hope this is useful.

Nakmeister
 
I'm not a whole lot into sci-fi, and I know its not new, but it was really compelling...Solaris by Stanislaw Lem
 
I'm currently reading book 4 of Kevin J. Anderson's Saga of Seven Suns. Book 1 is titled Hidden Empire.

Of course I would also highly recommend Dune by Frank Herbert if you've never read it.
 
Hi,

There's a good selection here which I'm going to look into, so thanks everyone for sharing.

Stephen Baxter's 'Space' was a great book I thought, although I managed to read only about 30% of it at the time. I enjoyed its setting within the familiar territory of between Earth, the Moon and our asteroid belt and, of course, all its near future, life-like technology backdrop. I like his style of writing and I will look to get more of his books.

Never read anything by Iain Banks before, but I just started on 'Excession' as part of a reading group that I'm attending. His stuff appears to be more in the realm of far future fantasy, and I'm finding his style of writing a bit difficult to feel comfortable with...

'Ringworld' by Larry Niven is one I need to read at some point, not just because of its high acclaim, but also because quite a few people initially pointed out that it has similar parallels to my own book in terms of the world-building, which I have set inside a giant cylindrical interior ark.

Question to Nakmeister:

'Hyperion' by Dan Simmons sounds interesting. Is it actually set on 'Hyperion', the moon of Saturn?
 
ions said:
The Ender's books by Orson Scott Card kinda fits what you're asking.
Click to expand...
I second this reply - the moment I read your post this book came immediately to mind. I just finished reading it and it is /brilliant/. A definate must-read :)

It begins with Ender's Game :

New York Times
Intense is the word for Ender's Game. Aliens have attacked Earth twice and almost destroyed the human species. To make sure humans win the next encounter, the world government has taken to breeding military geniuses -- and then training them in the arts of war... The early training, not surprisingly, takes the form of 'games'... Ender Wiggin is a genius among geniuses; he wins all the games... He is smart enough to know that time is running out. But is he smart enough to save the planet?
Click to expand...
 
Oh, I thought of a few more throughout the day:

The Dune series, starting with Dune by Frank Herbert:
Amazon.com
This Hugo and Nebula Award winner tells the sweeping tale of a desert planet called Arrakis, the focus of an intricate power struggle in a byzantine interstellar empire. Arrakis is the sole source of Melange, the "spice of spices." Melange is necessary for interstellar travel and grants psychic powers and longevity, so whoever controls it wields great influence.
Click to expand...

And War of the Worlds by H.G Wells (I wasn't sure if this counts, but I decided to add it anyway)
 
A Talent For War by Jack McDevitt falls into this category one of the few sci-fi books I enjoyed. But do not waste time picking up a copy of Polaris a new book with the same characters but it seemed like a complete rehash of the original with the lead role switched.
 
I would add my "yes" to the Ender Series and Dune.

You might also try The Forge of God and Anvil of Stars by Greg Bear.
Forge is set on earth, but Anvil (the sequel) definitely fits what you are looking for.
J
 
The Gap series by Stephen R. Donaldson is about as compelling as it gets! As good as the Covenant books, too.
 
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