I’m currently reading the Wool omnibus by Hugh Howey. It’s pretty decent I’ve been making very rapid progress as it’s been too hot to sleep here recently now the summer has arrived.
I haven’t seen the Apple show, but maybe I’ll watch it in the future when I’ve finished all the books (I had Shift and Dust as well).
Seveneves by Neal Stephenson. Was a recommendation on the R site.
Complex, eon spanning, hard sci-fi. I’m loving it!
I finished Seveneves a few weeks ago. If I wasn’t reading it with a friend I wouldn’t have finished. I am glad I did, I loved the last 1/4 of the book.
How far in are you?
Just moved on to Kath Two. After all the fun with Izzy and The Cannibals ;-)
Izzy and the what?! 👀😵
Amazing book! Loved it +1
I love that book. Very ambitious and enjoyable.
If you could, what other sci-fi works would you compare it to? I am wrapping up the Children of Time series and could use something else.
I sold Seveneves to a friend by saying it is like Neal Stephenson wrote The Martian. Well, at least the first 2/3 of it. It talks a lot about the science how how an event like the one described in the book might happen but with the kind if granularity and verbosity you would expect from NS.
Not sure. Tried a couple of Adrian Tchaikovsky and couldn’t really get on. Could be because they were audiobooks.
Have been ‘off’ of reading for a while, but have realised a new found love for my Kindle.
Andy Wier’s Hail Mary might fit your bill.
Or Iain Banks’ Culture series.
I’m rereading Asimov’s complete saga in “internal story chronological order”:
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I, Robot / The Complete Robot (except ‘Mirror Image’!) [ROBOTS]
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The Caves of Steel [ROBOTS]
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The Naked Sun [ROBOTS]
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Mirror Image (short story) [ROBOTS]
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The Robots of Dawn [ROBOTS]
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Robots and Empire [ROBOTS]
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The Stars, Like Dust-- [EMPIRE]
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The Currents of Space [EMPIRE]
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Pebble in the Sky [EMPIRE]
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Prelude to Foundation [FOUNDATION]
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Forward the Foundation [FOUNDATION]
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Foundation [FOUNDATION]
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Foundation and Empire [FOUNDATION]
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Second Foundation [FOUNDATION]
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Foundation’s Edge [FOUNDATION]
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Foundation and Earth [FOUNDATION]
I’m currently on “Forward the foundation”
The Foundation series is absolutely amazing, and I am jealous of you if this is your first reading. One of my formative series growing up. You’re inspiring me to do the whole Asimov read through like your doing, because I don’t believe I ever read the Empire books and never read Robot beyond I, Robot.
I’m surprised The Caves of Steel is so early as it seemed really futuristic compared to most of The Complete Robot, but I read it a long time ago so maybe I’m not remembering correctly.
Well all short stories in The complete robot are with “normal humans” and their interactions with the first “robots” on earth when there was no faster than lights spaceships.
The Caves of Steel instead is the first of the robot saga where humanity is divided between human from earth that lives inside the big underground cities and the “spacers” which lived on several different planets and are almost a new spieces because they have been separated from earth for several centuries.
Honestly, has to be my favourite series. There’s just so much to it.
I did this last year. It’s quite amazing to read through.
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I listened to the 2nd and 3rd books of the Murderbot series on a car ride recently. I had read them before, but it was the first time that he did. I really enjoyed laughing with him.
Just finished The Dispossessed, by Ursula Le Guin and going to look for a library where I can buy the next book in the Hain cycle !
Not science fiction, but I’m loving Carl Sagans “The Demon-Haunted World”. He really was a brilliant dude.
Yeah, I really liked that book. Pale Blue Dot is really good as well and he reads part of the audiobook himself, although unfortunately not all of it as he was already quite ill by that point. He was taken far too young.
Roadside Picnic by brothers Strugatsky.
It’s really fun, with a cool premise. It’s a classic though. Basically: Aliens come to Earth for a fraction of second and dump their garbage there. The places of impact are basically turned into paranormal zones and people are actively trying to scavenge the wonders of the civilisation so alien to us we couldn’t even catch a glimpse of what they are.
For all its alien backdrop, it was the human element of Roadside Picnic that I found more terrifying. I needed a more cheerful and upbeat story as a palate cleanser from its dismal outlook.
I’m currently reading Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey, which is the first book of the Expanse series. I haven’t watched the TV series, since I wanted to dive into the books without previous knowledge.
I’ve read all of them. The TV series is incredible as well and had the full involvement of the authors. Some stuff is done better in the books (like the stuff that doesn’t translate so well to screen such as the lanky belters and zero-gravity) and some stuff is done better in the TV show (they had an incredibly good cast of actors, all of whom really added to the roles - Krisjen, Ashford and Drummer in particular were amazing).
It was a really really good adaptation and it’s quite rare you see that.
And they are magnificent.
So is the TV series ; -)
Amazing series of books that are up in my top three, still trying to find time to read Leviathan Falls (the final book). The story gets crazy.
Right? It starts off all very hard sci-fi, the only “magic” is a rocket motor that makes travel around the solar system doable on story-friendly timelines.
That expectation gets broken pretty quickly, and it really is amazing how far the story goes after such a simple beginning as the incident with the Canterbury!
Working my way through some Hugo winners past— reading A Canticle for Liebowitz by Walter M Miller.
I really liked Canticle, but I really felt like it suffered from being a fix-up novel. It’s three acts are not equal and don’t totally fit together in my opinion. It really starts off strong though! Hope you like it!
I’m enjoying it! I love a solid premise and the references to modern science appearing as obscure archeological nuggets are perfect. There are some bits I’m guessing that I’m missing some symbolism or something (I’m not an expert in Catholicism).
For what it’s worth, several Catholics I know have also had to read the book with notes open on the side. Monastic culture and tradition isn’t exactly common knowledge anymore, though I’m not sure if they would have been in the 50s, or if Miller just trusts that his reader is smart enough to catch on.
If you like Canticle, consider looking into the works of Gene Wolfe. He also writes very re-readable sci-fi that expects much of the reader, and delivers much in turn.
Thanks! That does make me feel a bit better! Will look into Wolfe.
I’ve been working through The Expanse books, and have just started Leviathan Falls.
I’m about halfway through Persepolis Rising. That prologue was one hell of a jolt!
How do you like the expanse? I’ve heard they are awesome!
Not the person you replied to, but I have read the series and watched the show. It’s fantastic. I highly recommend both.
I just finished up a first time read of Wheel of Time series. Solid 8 months of reading but 100% worth it. Mat Cauthon is my second favorite character ever written I think.
I could never keep the “chosen” straight. Some die, then get reincarnated, but as someone else that you kinda new. Maybe If O had crushed the series im 8 months instead of book by book as they were released if would have been easier to follow.
And yes, Mat is GREAT, which made Perrin super unlikable for me, just due to the unintentional comparison.
Honestly, same with Perrin for me. By the end of the series I wanted to skip Perrin chapters. He’s just so…Perrin.
As for the Chosen I couldn’t keep them straight at all. I had to look them up on the WoT wiki and try to keep from spoilering myself.
Who is your first favourite character ever written?
Teft from the Stormlight Archive.
Wool was great. And the show was good too. You can basically watch the first season after finishing Wool, if you’d like.
I’m reading He Who Fights With Monsters but I’m going to dig through this thread and find a good scifi novel to read next!
I just started HWFWM and it’s my first LitRPG. Very different from what I’m used to reading but I really like so far. Going to try and finish it before I start Brandon Sanderson secret novel #3
It was my first LitRPG too. I wasn’t sure I’d like it but I do. I’m on the 3rd book, actually.
I haven’t read anything by Sanderson yet but I follow him on social media and I really like him.
I’m really trying to read Three Body Problem, but I’m having a hard time following
There is a YouTube series that has adapted the book really well amazing https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMX26aiIvX5rFSYPXtcqda3tWd6pGVD5Q
Stick with it. I loved the series, but the first book is unfortunately the most confusing and, in my opinion, the worst of the three.
Really? I loved the first book, but felt the translator for the second had a different enough style that it was hard for me to stay engaged. Maybe I’ll have to give it a second try
Just started listening to “The Galaxy, and the Ground Within” by Becky Chambers, the fourth and last novel in the Wayfarers series.
This is a great one! Loved the whole series, honestly. Have you read To Be Taught, If Fortunate? Also by Becky Chambers, and also highly recommended!
“The complete robot” by Isaac Asimov.
Those are some of my favourite stories. Although if I remember correctly, it contains the short story version of The Bicentennial Man and you may wish to read the novella version instead which he wrote later, having developed the story some more.
A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine.
I really loved the first book in the series, A Memory Called Empire, but I find the second one harder to get through. The writing really gets into the protagonist’s head, and with all the stress she’s in, it gets… claustrophobic, I guess, for me. I wish there was a bit more focus on the plot about the cool mysterious aliens.
