Yep! Everybody here keeps mentioning Greg Egan and I’ll give him a shot. The rest I’ve read and love. Thanks!

Yep, added EON to my list based on the numerous recs here. Ringworld I’ve gone through, it’s such a classic!

I might give Ministry a shot, haven’t tried it yet. And Greg Egan is on my list now. Crichton, I did not like Sphere and I guess it turned me away from trying his other books. I guess I should give some of them another shot.

Thanks! I bounced off the Mars trilogy. All the petty human drama and politics just felt way too much like current news (which is probably a compliment to his writing skills, but it just wasn’t what I was looking for at the time). I think I probably need a very relaxed state of mind to be able to dive into it. As for Rev Space, I’ve read about half of it before losing track of the various threads and time jumps.

Have never heard of him before, will check him out!

Stephenson is the kind of author you start a book and after a bit you’re like… ok… I don’t think this is for me… wait… what? And then you’re hooked.

Yeah, I liked the books but they really do need a bit of determination to get started.

Alcatraz is definitely for a much younger crowd, but Reckoners might be worth a shot. The worldbuilding is great, classic Sanderson. The YA part comes through as a teenage MC and easier language, but it’s still plenty interesting. A lot of parallels to Mistborn.

Yeah I’ll give it another look :)

I’m hearing… Death Star laser

Well I didn’t miss all of Tchaikovsky. I think I took a break from him after finishing the Shadows of the Apt series and forgot about his other books.

They don’t always end on a happy note (most are hopeful)

Storms take it, I’m gonna cry again aren’t I?

Oof, Stephenson is heavy! Anathem took me a fortnight to get through. I’ve read a few of his works and they’re good, but man they take a lot of mental effort (maybe it’s just me?)

Dogs of War

Ooh, more Tchaikovsky. How did I miss that one? I’ve been meaning to check out Ted Chiang, this is probably as good a time as any. I’ve enjoyed every one of the recs you’ve made so far that I’ve read, I’ll definitely check out the rest!

I should get back to the Bobiverse. I tried it once and couldn’t get into it for some reason. I don’t recall the exact details now, and maybe I was misunderstanding something, but there was some stuff about his drones destroying entire solar systems for raw minerals, that just seemed plain nonsensical to me? I guess with all the good things people are saying about it I should go back and figure out what rubbed me wrong the first time.

I really loved the concept and worldbuilding of the Long Earth. However I felt that the books didn’t focus as much on the nitty-gritty as I’d like, instead becoming really metaphysical. I’d have loved to see how every aspect of society changed over time, but instead got a human interest story about a few people. Fun, but ultimately I felt like a lot of potential was wasted.

Solar Clipper looks like some nice cozy slice of life SF, will put that on my list for when I’m in the mood for that :)

Argh. Peter Hamilton. Don’t all his books end with deus ex machinas? I got so annoyed at how Night’s Dawn ended that I’ve avoided all his books ever since.

Huh, it’s not often I get series recs that I’ve never even heard of before. Thanks, will check them out!

Back on topic to sci-fi. Do you prefer singular protagonist in a limited scale of time (person/crew) fighting against some local challenge (Martian/Expanse) or larger sweeping epics spanning centuries and a lot of perspectives (Dune, Foundation)?

More human/realistic perspectives (Martian) or are you open to Alien/Non-human perspectives (ex. protomolecule perception about the gates reopening)

Eh. I loved all your examples? Lol. Especially alien perspectives if done right are always interesting. Like Blindsight, Mote in Gods Eye, and Children of Time. I love great worldbuilding and internally-consistent plots, and I usually find petty drama and politics cringey.

What starvin’ interplay, you storming voidbringer?

That looks really interesting, definitely gonna check it out, thanks!

Thank you Szeth-nimi! I did enjoy Season 1 of Altered Carbon Netflix, so the books should be worth a look. I fully agree with all your other recs (though I have issues with the character writing in Three Body Problem), unfortunately I’ve read all of them :D

And now that you mention it, you’re right about how tough it is finding modern-day hard science fiction. I think you managed to put your finger on one of the things I wanted but couldn’t verbalise.

More looking for the 2nd at the moment. Though yes I did enjoy DCC and all the other series you mention, I’ve read them all (well maybe not all of Rev Space, at some point I lost track of the timeline and gave up).