He asked for grand space sci fi, not alternative history.
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Book series as epic or grand as Star Wars?
- Thread starter TheOfficeMut
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He asked for grand space sci fi, not alternative history.
Version 3.0
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It's not for everyone, sadly. True story: a friend of mine insisted that I read The Puzzle Palace, which she'd just finished, because she knew I used to work at the NSA. When I returned it to her, I gave her my copy of Hyperion, thinking she might enjoy it.
She returned it to me the next day. "I didn't know 2 of the words in the first paragraph", she said. "I'm too dumb to read this". Sad face.
I still remember the two words: gymnosperm and saurian.
MrOogieBoogie
BioShock Infinite is like playing some homeless guy's vivid imagination
Haha, that's great.
Dan Simmons really shows off his talent in Hyperion, writing in multiple styles and nailing each one: noir, cyberpunk, military, etc.
Also, no book has ever made me cry as hard as Hyperion. Sol's story is an unending gut-punch. It's so fucking sad.
Megalosaro
Banned
Legend of the Galactic Heroes.
I believe Viz is publishing the novels
Edit: if you v read the drizzt novels, only read the first two trilogies. It goes to shit after that
I believe Viz is publishing the novels
Edit: if you v read the drizzt novels, only read the first two trilogies. It goes to shit after that
radios shipping overview
Member
Gene Wolfe has you covered:
Book of the New Sun (4 books available in omnibus)
Urth of the New Sun
Book of the Long Sun (4 books)
Book of the Short Sun (3 books)
Epic scifi set on a far-future Earth where history has piled up around mankind, society has devolved somewhat, and language has drifted away from what we know. The first series feels a bit like Berserk, with a sense of swashbuckling adventure, but there are sci-fi concepts and elements scattered throughout. The use of language makes it intentionally tricky to figure out which is which. Later books involve generation ships and colonization. They tend to be philosophical works, with narrators that are often unreliable.
Book of the New Sun (4 books available in omnibus)
Urth of the New Sun
Book of the Long Sun (4 books)
Book of the Short Sun (3 books)
Epic scifi set on a far-future Earth where history has piled up around mankind, society has devolved somewhat, and language has drifted away from what we know. The first series feels a bit like Berserk, with a sense of swashbuckling adventure, but there are sci-fi concepts and elements scattered throughout. The use of language makes it intentionally tricky to figure out which is which. Later books involve generation ships and colonization. They tend to be philosophical works, with narrators that are often unreliable.
D
Deleted member 98878
Unconfirmed Member
+ Zahn duology (The Hand of Thrawn)
Timeline:
X-Wing 1-7, Thrawn Trilogy, X-Wing 8+9, Hand of Thrawn Duology, X-Wing 10 (which is set 20+ years after Hand of Thrawn)
Haven't read any of the new canon SW books yet (even though I did buy the Ahsoka one) but someone over at /r/StarWars posted a timeline for the new books. Might be interesting for some
BossDarkseid
Member
Legens of Galactic Heroes. Not far in the first book but the scope is pretty epic
Charles Brandon
Member
Hyperion is brilliant but the follow up was nowhere near as good. It's on a completely different, worse level of fiction. To the point where it diminished the first book for me. Sometimes mysteries are best left as mysteries and this is one of those times.
My advice to potential readers is just pretend the second book doesn't exist. You'll want to read it but you shouldn't.
bonesmccoy
Banned
In terms of series?
Hmmm. I can only think of Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun. And Wolfe is not for everyone.
For one offs, I've enjoyed Dune and Hyperion.
Hmmm. I can only think of Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun. And Wolfe is not for everyone.
For one offs, I've enjoyed Dune and Hyperion.
WhiteRabbitEXE
Member
That title sounds like a faux-Star Wars mockbuster from The Asylum, lol.
Is that.. legal
TheOctodad
Member
Hyperion Cantos for sure.
Dune.
Snow Crash - Standalone, but good.
Dune.
Snow Crash - Standalone, but good.
I liked the first two books, I had a hard time getting through the Void ones..I think his Night's Dawn trilogy might be a better package.
Version 3.0
Member
I disagree. I love the whole series, and the two Endymion books in particular. Hyperion's separate stories are great, but they need to tie together. Granted, the first is artsier and more experimental, whereas the sequels are more straight sci-fi, but at some point there has to be an actual plot with sequential events.
But what you posted is how I feel about his Ilium and Olympos books. First one was amazing. Second did next to nothing with the setup.
super-famicom
Member
I love Book of the New Sun, but it requires the reader to pay a lot of attention to things. I've had to re-read chapters a few times to really pick up on everything. But it's an amazing series.
Charles Brandon
Member
Not for me. The structure of the first book, the violent, savagely spiritual imagery and the general peculiarity of the mysterious goings-on elevated it above genre fiction. The second one was just straight, po-faced, schlock sci-fi. The first felt sublimely allegorical, the second - prosaic. The denouement(s) were disappointing. Felt to me like a classic case of having a life-time to write your first novel (if it was his first) and a year or so to write the next.
I haven't read the others in the series admittedly.
Not saying you're wrong of course, we are all entitled to our opinion.
radios shipping overview
Member
Considering that women run the Bene Gesserit, which is a matriarchal order that is prominent throughout the series, has manipulated the course of humanity for millennia with the goal of producing a superhuman, and many of the main characters are members of it, I'd say there are female characters in the books that are quite powerful and important.
But the dominant political system in the universe of the novels is akin to feudalism, where the great houses are patriarchal, and the male heir of the main character is the focus of a couple of later books, I guess I could see where people would find room to criticize the series.
I do feel like Herbert went out of his way to write female characters that were well-rounded and gave them room to be flawed.
Cesare Borgia
Banned
Culture series.
Angelus Errare
Banned
Culture series by Iain M. Banks
I love both, but I can understand the criticism. The Endymion books are more of 'simple adventure' compared to Hyperions antics, but it's a more personal story as well. I think I do gravitate towards the Endymions tho.
I have read more people having that complaint but for me I think they expanded on a very good formula, although not as good as the first two books.
I just finished it the other day, it's great.
Of all the things to criticize Dune over this makes absolutely no sense. Its like criticizing Black Panther for having black super villains and ignoring the context of everything else.
evanswolves
Member
Horus Heresy, you missed out on a grea deal over on Humble Bundle
Also from the Warhammer universe, The Beast Arises
Also from the Warhammer universe, The Beast Arises
Version 3.0
Member
Hmmm...can't decide whether to recommend the Endymion books to you, then. They tell a straightforward story, I suppose "schlock sci-fi", even told in a first person narrative. But they tie in well with the themes, and many of the direct consequences of, the short stories from the first book. And they get very philosophical and emotional.
D
Deleted member 98878
Unconfirmed Member
Just ordered it. Thrawn is definitely one of my favorite Star Wars characters. I'm glad he's part of the canon now.
Charles Brandon
Member
I'll give 'em a go at some point.
Herr Starr
Member
There aren't a lot of series that come to mind. One might say Foundation, but I wouldn't call that "rich" in the way you're probably expecting.
My vote goes for both Dune and Warhammer 40k. Interestingly, one of WH40k's major inspirations (to the point of straight out ripping off a bunch of concepts from it, names and all) is Dune, so the two have a lot of similarities.
You might find this hard to believe, but Warhammer 40k's universe is even more rich and developed than the Star Wars one, and it certainly makes a hell of a lot more internal sense. There's tons and tons and tons of material for it, enough that you can read about it for years and still discover amazing things you'd never heard about, yet which fit perfectly into everything you already knew.
Try picking up Dan Abnett's Eisenhorn trilogy for WH40k. It's a great entry point to the setting, and it's considered to be one of the absolutely best book series for it. You'll know if you enjoy WH40k by the end of those books.
My vote goes for both Dune and Warhammer 40k. Interestingly, one of WH40k's major inspirations (to the point of straight out ripping off a bunch of concepts from it, names and all) is Dune, so the two have a lot of similarities.
You might find this hard to believe, but Warhammer 40k's universe is even more rich and developed than the Star Wars one, and it certainly makes a hell of a lot more internal sense. There's tons and tons and tons of material for it, enough that you can read about it for years and still discover amazing things you'd never heard about, yet which fit perfectly into everything you already knew.
Try picking up Dan Abnett's Eisenhorn trilogy for WH40k. It's a great entry point to the setting, and it's considered to be one of the absolutely best book series for it. You'll know if you enjoy WH40k by the end of those books.
Sir_Crocodile
Member
The only new SW book I liked was Thrawn, and even that's not among Zahn's best work (the old EU Thrawn trilogy and Outbound Flight were much better).
Seconding or tripling Warhammer 40k books. You might want to spread out to fantasy since star wars shares a lot of similarities with genre fiction there.
I love the Hyperion and Dune books but they aren't really that similar to star wars in tone.
Also, it is a damn shame how nuts Dan Simmons got. I felt betrayed when I found out how deep he fell into the anti-Islamic rabbit hole.
A brilliant author ruined by his own prejudices.
I love the Hyperion and Dune books but they aren't really that similar to star wars in tone.
Also, it is a damn shame how nuts Dan Simmons got. I felt betrayed when I found out how deep he fell into the anti-Islamic rabbit hole.
A brilliant author ruined by his own prejudices.
elrechazado
Banned
Umm, I couldn't disagree more. All four books are great and tell an amazing overarching story.
cebri.one
Member
He asked for "fiction literature that is as grand in scale as Star Wars, specifically based in space". Not just Space Opera. Those books are great recommendations too.
cryptosporidium
Member
Legend of the Galactic Heroes is what Star Wars wishes it could be
I'm always amazed how Hamilton can write such amazing edge-of-your-seat action sequences, probably the best in sci-fi I've read, but also lack the sense not to have 1/3 of a 1000+ page book dedicated to Ozzy's wacky adventures in dreamland.
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