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Best Science-Fiction/ Space Opera Books?
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Shrike_Priest
Member
See you in a couple of thousand pages. Dan Simmons is a master of the genre. Big, ambitious, textured and otherwordly novels. The Hyperion Cantos is better, but Ilium/Olympos was amazing as well.
SpankmasterC
Member
Peter F. Hamilton's Night's Dawn trilogy is amazing Space Opera!
Forsaken82
Member
Interesting thread...
Gives me the opportunity to ask if anyone has any impressions on the Expanse Saga...
Gives me the opportunity to ask if anyone has any impressions on the Expanse Saga...
Anything by Arthur C. Clarke and Robert A. Heinlein.
Dune by Frank Herbert.
The Foundation series by Isaac Asimov.
Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained by Peter F. Hamilton. Perhaps Night's Dawn trilogy as well.
Revelation Space series by Alastair Reynolds.
EDIT Cobra Trilogy by Timothy Zahn (author of Star Wars Thrawn Trilogy, which is very good as well)
Dune by Frank Herbert.
The Foundation series by Isaac Asimov.
Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained by Peter F. Hamilton. Perhaps Night's Dawn trilogy as well.
Revelation Space series by Alastair Reynolds.
EDIT Cobra Trilogy by Timothy Zahn (author of Star Wars Thrawn Trilogy, which is very good as well)
DiscoJer
Member
The Dumarest Saga by EC Tubb. 33 volumes. Probably the best SF series no one has heard of, though it did heavily inspire the Traveller RPG
WascallyWabbit
Member
See you in a couple of thousand pages. Dan Simmons is a master of the genre. Big, ambitious, textured and otherwordly novels. The Hyperion Cantos is better, but Ilium/Olympos was amazing as well.
Couldn't make it through Ilium, but the Hyperion books were great.
Shrike_Priest
Member
What's not to like? Greek gods, quantum magic, aliens ranting about Shakespeare's sonnets and ancient mysteries?
I honestly blazed through both of them, so I don't relate, but I guess they can be a bit dense at times.
Fragamemnon
Member
If you're specifically looking for space opera, these books really deliver.
Indeed.
They're long and slow moving at times but the worldbuilding is excellent, and story, once it gets running... well, it has some twists that are amazing!
Re-reading it right now... for nth time. One of my all time favorites.
See you in a couple of thousand pages. Dan Simmons is a master of the genre. Big, ambitious, textured and otherwordly novels. The Hyperion Cantos is better, but Ilium/Olympos was amazing as well.
I read Illium but never got around to Olympos. One of these days... *sigh*
I really liked Stephen R. Donaldson's take on science fiction in his Gap series.
lastplayed
Member
Shrike_Priest
Member
Seriously though, amazing books. I can never look at the Catholic church in the same way.
Does anyone else think that Pandora Star/Judas Unchained was a meandering, bloated, dragged-out mess? Bland dialogue and character development, with the writing-level dipping into fan-fiction for some characters.
Well, I guess the alien and post-human concepts were interesting.
I always see people highly recommending this series, and I don't get it.
Well, I guess the alien and post-human concepts were interesting.
I always see people highly recommending this series, and I don't get it.
I never understand that argument about any book.
Do all characters have to grow or change over time?
Ilium was great, but Olympus became a ridiculous mess by the end. Still has many great moments, though. Dan Simmons knows how to create an amazing world and great characters and put them into the craziest, coolest scenes imaginable, but he struggles hard with connecting all the loose ends in a natural way.
Gene Wolfe is my favourite sci-fi author by far. His Book of the New Sun series is a stunning work of art. But they are very hard to read. Vague, obscure, impenetrable, but oh so satisfying once things start to click. And he doesn't care much about loose ends. He just throws them about, forcing you to connect them yourself.
Gene Wolfe is my favourite sci-fi author by far. His Book of the New Sun series is a stunning work of art. But they are very hard to read. Vague, obscure, impenetrable, but oh so satisfying once things start to click. And he doesn't care much about loose ends. He just throws them about, forcing you to connect them yourself.
Rawr Its Ry
Member
Not finished with it yet, but i'm really enjoying Leviathan Wakes atm. Supposed to be part of a trilogy, so I'm excited about that.
Not necessarily, but over a 2000 page series, if the characters are boring and keep doing the same boring things, it gets tiresome.
Osiris
I permanently banned my 6 year old daughter from using the PS4 for mistakenly sending grief reports as it's too hard to watch or talk to her
Agreed with the love for Peter Hamilton's work, and don't miss his earlier work the Greg Mandel stuff, Like Mindstar Rising, A Quantum Murder and The Nano Flower, all great books.
To add to that:
Old School Space Opera / Sci-Fi:
Greg Bear's books of "The Way" (Eon, Eternity and Legacy, you can skip the short story "The Way of all Ghosts" though)
Another British Sci-Fi Author / Series in the same kind of style as Iain Banks / Peter Hamilton is Welsh author Alastair Reynolds, with his Revelation Space series, very good, highly under appreciated in my opinion.
To add to that:
Old School Space Opera / Sci-Fi:
Greg Bear's books of "The Way" (Eon, Eternity and Legacy, you can skip the short story "The Way of all Ghosts" though)
Another British Sci-Fi Author / Series in the same kind of style as Iain Banks / Peter Hamilton is Welsh author Alastair Reynolds, with his Revelation Space series, very good, highly under appreciated in my opinion.
Sapphire Dreams
Member
The Lensman series :
Pretty old but really revolutionary for it's time.
Pretty old but really revolutionary for it's time.
Boring? The only boring things from the book i can remember are Mark's and Mellanie's early story-lines. But i can see why they're there, for they have pretty good pay-offs. And give another perspective to the world.
This, recently finished the series myself, awesome books.
ElectricBlue187
Member
I highly recommend Hyperion if you've never read it
Gordon0Freeman
Member
Are the culture the most/one of the most "advanced" civilizations in all of scifi literature? Would like to read a book on some mind boggling shit
I don't think so, there were races/lifeforms more advance then them in their own book's
Funky Papa
FUNK-Y-PPA-4
This is an interesting topic.
Is there any good scifi book that takes in consideration the fact that any space faring alien species with enough resources to cross galaxies in droves would also have the power to wipe us out in a blink? I'm watching Falling Skies (lolz, I know) and the idiocy of the aliens is simply astounding.
Is there any good scifi book that takes in consideration the fact that any space faring alien species with enough resources to cross galaxies in droves would also have the power to wipe us out in a blink? I'm watching Falling Skies (lolz, I know) and the idiocy of the aliens is simply astounding.
TestMonkey
Member
I'll throw in the Dread Empire's Fall trilogy by Walter Jon Williams. Well rounded space opera with aliens that actually act like aliens.
SpartanForce
Member
Mass Effect books.
yes.
yes.
David Incorporated Esq.
Member
Pretty much. Anything older/higher than them has sublimed and left the galaxy. Certain groups in the Culture sublime every so often but as a whole the Culture sticks around to be a bunch of bothersome do-gooders.
And yeah, the silly high-tech shit the ships and drones do gives me nerd-boners at times.
Excession turns this on its head a bit with an out of context problem, but who knows what that was all about. One of my favorite books, though.
I would highlight the various books by Australian writers Sean Williams and Shane Dix:
Orphans trilogy (Echoes of Earth, Orphans of Earth, Heirs of Earth)
Evergence trilogy (The Prodigal Son, The Dying Light, The Dark Imbalance)
Geodesica duology (Ascent, Descent)
Astropolis trilogy (Saturn Returns, Earth Ascendant, The Grand Conjunction) (written only by Sean Williams)
Evergence and Orphans are particularly good.
Yup.
Orphans trilogy (Echoes of Earth, Orphans of Earth, Heirs of Earth)
Evergence trilogy (The Prodigal Son, The Dying Light, The Dark Imbalance)
Geodesica duology (Ascent, Descent)
Astropolis trilogy (Saturn Returns, Earth Ascendant, The Grand Conjunction) (written only by Sean Williams)
Evergence and Orphans are particularly good.
Yup.
The Orphans trilogy deals with that. Suffice to say, humanity is a tiny speck among massively powerful and ancient alien forces. I won't say anything further.
Osiris
I permanently banned my 6 year old daughter from using the PS4 for mistakenly sending grief reports as it's too hard to watch or talk to her
He said all of sci-fi literature, not just in all of the Culture work, I'd say some of the civilizations in Peter Hamiltons works are more advanced than the Culture, and certainly those in Vernor Vinge's work too.
(In fact I'm surprised VV's work hasn't been suggested yet, so I'll add it, Read Vernor Vinge's "A Fire Upon The Deep" whilst your at it!
)CitizenVectron
Member
Peter F Hamilton:
- Pandora's Star
- Judas Unchained (Commonwealth Duology, is fantastic)
- The Dreaming Void
- The Temporal Void
- The Evolutionary Void (Void Trilogy, is a continuation of Commonwealth series)
- The Reality Dysfunction
- The Neutronium Alchemist
- The Naked God (Night's Dawn Trilogy, totally awesome)
Iain Banks
The Culture Novels. There's a bunch of them, and they are all awesome, but these 3 are my favourite:
- Consider Phlebas (good introduction to series)
- The Player of Games (great example of the politics of The Culture, and how they say they don't meddle in other civilizations but really are no-good "good guy" meddlers)
- Excession (probably my favourite, it's amazing because you see inside the minds of A.I. controlled ship "Minds," which are far more advanced than humans. We are simply cargo to them, and they lead lives on a level far above us).
- Pandora's Star
- Judas Unchained (Commonwealth Duology, is fantastic)
- The Dreaming Void
- The Temporal Void
- The Evolutionary Void (Void Trilogy, is a continuation of Commonwealth series)
- The Reality Dysfunction
- The Neutronium Alchemist
- The Naked God (Night's Dawn Trilogy, totally awesome)
Iain Banks
The Culture Novels. There's a bunch of them, and they are all awesome, but these 3 are my favourite:
- Consider Phlebas (good introduction to series)
- The Player of Games (great example of the politics of The Culture, and how they say they don't meddle in other civilizations but really are no-good "good guy" meddlers)
- Excession (probably my favourite, it's amazing because you see inside the minds of A.I. controlled ship "Minds," which are far more advanced than humans. We are simply cargo to them, and they lead lives on a level far above us).
David Incorporated Esq.
Member
He aid all of sci-fi literature, not just in all of the Culture work, I'd say some of the civilizations in Peter Hamiltons works are more advanced than the Culture, and certainly those in Vernor Vinge's work too.
(In fact I'm surprised VV's work hasn't been suggested yet, so I'll add it, Read Vernor Vinge's "A Fire Upon The Deep" whilst your at it!
Doh, I misread his question. I've read Hamilton's void series but didn't especially care for it, Pandora's Star was a ton better but lower tech. I'm struggling though, to think of a civilization that is more high tech than the Culture without being partially removed from the physical universe.
I'm about a third of the way through "A Fire Upon the Deep" right now and it's pretty great, though I do get a giggle over data transmission in that universe. Holy shit 10 mB/s the network can't handle thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis!
Another suggestion is David Weber's Honor Harrington series. It's super-de-duper techy and light on story quality, but if you like spaceships blasting each other with bomb-pumped x-ray laser missiles there's nothing better.
I really love this book
for its psychological twist. You think that the human characters are somehow important to the story, but really they're only there to convince one AI to help out since it feels bad about the couple breaking up a while back. It does a really nice job of hammering home the point that the humans in the Culture are playthings or tools for the minds, and the minds are the real players.
Gordon0Freeman
Member
Cool thanks. Did some quick research regarding this sort of stuff, and found out about the Downstreamers. Jesus Christ some of the stuff they could do certainly is some mind boggling nuggets to chew on
Cameron122
Member
Hello my name is Cameron Alexander Booth-Rothschild and I'm here to drop knowledge
Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe
Haven't read Hyperion, but I have been meaning to.
Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe
Dune by Frank Herbert
Honor Harrington by David Weber
Haven't read Hyperion, but I have been meaning to.
Lois McMaster Bujold the Vor books. Horatio Hornblower in space.
CJ Cherryh The Chanur series. Cats in space.
Alan Cole and Chris Bunch the Sten books. Sort of pulpy James Bond in Space.
David Gerrold the War Against the Chtorr. Classic alien invasion sci-fi.
CJ Cherryh The Chanur series. Cats in space.
Alan Cole and Chris Bunch the Sten books. Sort of pulpy James Bond in Space.
David Gerrold the War Against the Chtorr. Classic alien invasion sci-fi.
Good cover.
Unfortunately the first book wasn't very good (and thus i won't be reading any more of the series).
Out of some 400 pages, 50 were good, namely the end. Weber writes excellent space battles, but everything else in the books sucks.
I guess it is good if one can stand inane plot that doesn't have any real twists, info-dumping, mary sue protagonist, irrelevant side characters, and the relatively safe and standard worldbuilding (the human nations are more or less counterparts to real nations). The writer does't understand "Show, Don't Tell".
PS one minus point for the space battle, luck played too big a part in it but that is easy to forgive.
GrandHarrier
Member
Antares Dawn
Antares Passage and
Antares Victory
by Michael McCollum.
Hard Sci-Fi goodness.
Antares Passage and
Antares Victory
by Michael McCollum.
Hard Sci-Fi goodness.
Character development, at least as I understand the term, is more about how well you get to know the characters/care about the characters.
I think character growth is something else entirely.
Yep. Not Space Opera in the classic sense, but grand in scale, and amazing ideas and writing. RIP.
To me, development implies growth and/or change. Not sure about the actual definition...
Perhaps it could be used to describe "opening" a character to the reader?
Bought the whole series but am only halfway through the 2nd book so far. Haven't had time to read recently and seem to have stalled but don't want to restart the whole book just to remember where I was and what was going on.
Napoleonthechimp
Member
Those are the ones from Stephen Baxter's books, right? From what I recall they essentially rewrote the multiverse of that series.
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