I asked for fantasy recommendations a couple months ago and got tons of amazing books out of it (everyone, thanks again for your help!), so I thought it was worth asking again now that I'm on the lookout for...
SCI-FI! Honestly, this a genre that's eluded me my entire life, but I've been very intrigued by it as of late. I mean, I love the Star Wars and Alien franchises, as well as Firefly, and I recently got super into Mass Effect, but I never really read many science fiction books. All I can think of are the Uglies series, The Giver, 1984, The Hunger Games, and Ray Bradbury's books and short stories - all of which I thoroughly enjoyed. So, I'm going into this with nearly a completely blank slate.
Right now I'm probably the most interested in something that explores the cultures of alien species, robots, and future civilizations in general, as well as anything involving virtual reality, but since I have so little to go by, I'm open to all recommendations. Thank you so much! ♥
Comments
One of the most unique science fiction books I've ever read was Eifelheim, by Michael Flynn. Unique in a good way, though.
She's written several standalones which are quite good as well, including "Alpha" and "The Veiled Web".
I'd be remiss if I didn't recommend Frank Herbert's DUNE - I admit the series seems to be unending at points and I have not completed the entire series, but I've read the first three and enjoyed them a great deal.
Raymond Feist writes a strange fusion of fantasy and sci-fi, so he's one to check out too - I haven't read the series that's more sci-fi but the Conclave of Shadows trilogy is predominantly fantasy with a peek at the alien species which has a bigger role in one of his other series.
I know I've got others I can rec but without my bookshelf in front of me it's a bit more difficult than I'd like!
Edited at 2012-02-27 10:33 pm (UTC)
It's a post apocalyptic setting when survivors wake to realize that aliens have saved what was left of the human species from extinction during a massive war. In return for this saving, the aliens expect the human to partake in genetic trade with them, and the books chronicle the re-population of Earth.
Look up some reviews/synopsis, because I'm terrible at summaries, but they are *really* good books!
For classics, William Gibson's Neuromancer has stood the test of time well for me, and Ursula K. LeGuin's The Left Hand of Darkness is just amazing.
Mary Doria Russell - The Sparrow (also, the follow-up novel Children of God)
Connie Willis - Uncharted Territory
AI
Bruce Sterling - Neuromancer (he may have others on the subject, but this is the only one I've read)
Future Civilizations
David Marusek - Counting Heads (I think this is the first novel in the series)
Connie Willis - Fire Watch; To Say Nothing of the Dog; Doomsday Book; etc.
Jasper Fforde - Shades of Grey (his Thursday Next series is an alternate history- starts with The Eyre Affair)
You may want to also check out Cory Doctorow.
There are plenty of others out there - this is just a smattering. A lot of SF novels I find by just browsing the SF/F section in my local library and picking up novels that look interesting.
I'm going to recommend you two series here:
Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series
Sharon Lee and Steve Miller's Liaden Universe
Both touch on future societies, and are probably my two favorite space opera sci-fi series of all times.
Oh, and for virtual reality, I'd be remiss in not recommending Ernest Cline's Ready Player One. Easily one of my favorite books from last year.
Edited at 2012-02-27 10:25 pm (UTC)
Since it can be a little hard to figure out where to start this series: the first 2 books are about Cordelia Naismith and are Shards of Honor, then Barrayar; these are now available in a pb omnibus entitled Cordelia's Honor. The next umpteen books are almost all about Cordelia's son Miles, and these begin with The Warrior's Apprentice, which is in a pb omnibus entitled Young Miles. After that it's a bit easier to keep going. Just remember there are a few books in the series that have not been omnibused for whatever reason - a lot of the books have a chronology at the end with book titles though!
The Vorkosigan series is one of my favourite series of all time.
Dune by Frank Herbert You probably don't want read the whole series, but the first one is pretty good.
The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume one is a collection of older short stories, Volume two, if you can find it, is
a collection of novellas from the same period.
Books I've never read, but have heard good things about:
Iain M. Banks' Culture Series
Snow Crash by Neil Stephenson
The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
The Diving Universe by Kristine Kathryn Rusch:
Diving into the Wreck
City of Ruins
Boneyards
The Night's Dawn Trilogy by Peter F. Hamilton:
The Reality Dysfunction
The Neutronium Alchemist
The Naked God
Rick Cook's Limbo System. A first contact story.
Jack Campbell's Lost Fleet series. Dauntless, Fearless, Courageous, Valiant, Relentless, and Victorious Future civilization
Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series. Future civilization
Only You Can Save Mankind by Terry Pratchett. Sort of. But it's definitely got aliens! And it's a great book
Archangel by Sharon Shinn. Future civilization
Endless Blue by Wen Spencer. Future civilization and aliens. A Brother's Price. Not future, not alternate history --that can be discerned -- but world-building with no fantasy elements.
Brothers of the Snake by Dan Abnett Future civilization. And aliens, too. Also The Founding , the omnibus of the first three of his Gaunt's Ghosts books in the same universe. Ciaphas Cain: Hero of the Imperium by Sandy Mitchell is another omnibus in the same universe. They're all good, even if you have to go to the media tie-in section for Warhammer 40,000 to read them.
Some folks really enjoy the Man-Kzin Wars by Larry Niven. I wasn't that enthralled by them but some of my friends were. I think there are a dozen or so books in that series.
Most of the stuff I have enjoyed have been anthologies. There are a couple good ones out there. One is titled "Gateways" and is edited by Martin H. Greenberg.
Obviously I've already said I think Left Hand of Darkness by LeGuin is a must in an earlier comment.
For light fluff, Robert Asprin's Phule's Company can be amusing, but it's very human-centric. Frankly I'll tell you that the first two books are worth the read, the rest really aren't.
The Faded Sun Trilogy by C. J. Cherryh is an absolute must though for what you're asking for.
Hitchhikers and Dune will get a lot of play here, but I think they're definitely YMMV books, particularly Dune.
Spider Robinson's books about Callahan's bar.
Fritz Leiber The Big Time
The Necessary Beggar (not in print) or Shelter (in print), by Susan Palwick - Palwick is an amazingly compassionate writer of character-centered stories involving family, love, justice, and conflict.
Archer's Goon, by Diana Wynne Jones - marketed as a kid's novel, but all her stuff is amazing. Most of her stuff is more fantasy, but this has tech.
Expendable, by James Alan Gardner - fast-paced novel about Festina Ramos, one of Earth's Explorer Corps. People with aesthetic defects (hers is a birthmark) are no longer allowed in society, so are pushed into the Explorer Corps, which is sent out to new planets to figure out whether humans can survive on them. You'd think this would be grim, but Festina is wry and funny - and eventually wins her freedom.
Stories of Your Life and Others, by Ted Chiang - Ted Chiang is the best short story writer ever. Seriously. No matter what field. No matter what he writes. No matter what anyone else writes. I don't know how he does it, he just produces perfect stories (most of which are sf).
Cyteen, by CJ Cherryh - Ariane Emory is a genius scientist-slash-dictator running her own little enclave in one city. When she's murdered, the only thing her subordinates can think of to do is to clone her and design all the minutia of Ari II's childhood so that her personality replicates Ari I's as much as possible. So Ari is this little genius kid whose rewards and punishments are based on someone else's childhood, while she is surrounded by the supporters and enemies of her predecessor, a middle-aged woman capable of both brilliance and rape. Tons of ethical questions, intrigue, and thought problems.
Hellspark, by Janet Kagan - best first contact/linguistics novel ever. Tocohl Susumo, a trader, is forced into impersonating a judge sent to determine whether an enigmatic species is sentient, which will govern the allocation of resource exploitation rights. Again both funny and dramatic (I like the mixture).
Do you want fantasy recs too?
"Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card
"Do Anrdroids Dream of Electric Sheep" by Philip K Dick
On a Pale Horse" by Piers Anthony
"I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream" by Harlan Ellison
"Lucifer's Hammer" - Jerry Niven and Larry Pournelle
"A World Out Of Time" - Larry Niven
"Clans of the Alphane Moon" - Philip K Dick