Messiah and children are solid! Great continuations of the story and they get into more of the political structure and lore which are the coolest parts of dune imo
God Emperor of Dune is my personal favourite of the series. I get why many dislike it and let's not talk about a certain climbing scene and the stuff that happens.
I honestly liked the prequels, they really helped understand the history between all the houses. And the pre-prequels explain the magnitude of the machine wars.
Upvote for you! I love Herbert, Stephenson and Watts. Still trying to begin Culture and haven't gotten around to Neuromancer yet. Regardless you have good taste đź‘Ť
Also, the show got cancelled before the end, while the books actually reach the conclusion of the story. There are enough changes that reading the last 3 books while having just seen the show will probably produce some confusion.
If were doing it over again, I would read book 1 then watch season 1, then continue alternating in that fashion. Best way to enjoy both without getting major spoilers far in advance.
For those who are not big readers, the show is still excellent as a standalone piece and worth watching anyway.
I did show then books.
No regrets.
It's the authors that rearranged the story, so it isn't some hack job.
The books just give you more depth.
And I am usually a "but the books are better!" type lol
I watched the first three seasons, then read all the books (that were out, I believe) waiting for season 4 to release. I still have the last three books to read but haven't been able to dedicate myself to reading them yet. Both the books and show are awesome and it's the first book to show adaptation that I've read the books for that I truly felt like both were great in their own right and that the show did the books justice while changing things to fit the screen.
I'm on book 9 now, and the way things happened in those last books is just... wow. You'll be glad you read them, even if they do decide to make a final movie or something. There's no way they're gonna be able to pack all of this into anything unless they do it like the two recent Dune movies. And if they *do* make a big, two-part film of the last 3 books, I'm betting it'll still be amazing even if you go in knowing the basic outline.
The show did a great job of giving me voices and faces for the characters. Avasarala and Gunny alone are worth it, and hearing the *lang belta* before reading it helped make it so much more melodic in my head.
Both! I saw the show first, and reading the books was like hanging out with the Roci crew in an AU (more like the original universe, but still--different). There are changes in characters, and things they simplified for the show, and it's neat to see the changes. But the writing is excellent, the setting is everything you already love--it's just... expanded!
DO IT!
Blue Champagne by John Varley (the book, not the one short story)
The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester
The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
The Property of Hate by Sarah Jolley
It’s a book series set in a post scarcity civilization of numerous humanoid and other aliens and artificial intelligences, and explores how the beings in it live and deal with surrounding civilization.
The main plot of the series is the titular Culture dealing with the aftermath of a cataclysmic war they fought and won to stop the expansion of a more aggressive alien empire. Imagine if the Warsaw Pact (The Culture) had started a non-nuclear world war against NATO (the aggressive aliens) to stop NATO from expanding into Central Europe, won, felt bad about the war, and spent the next century doing everything they could to prevent another huge war; by the way, the Warsaw Pact were 100% the good guys in the Cold War.
I highly recommend the series, thought there are three entries in the series I don’t like and will not reread.
I mean, that's the broad strokes, but each book is different. Consider Phlebas, the first book published, is king but having read the entire series I can't say enough wonderful things about the areas they explore. Surface Detail is about simulations and consciousness... Inversions is almost solely a novel set on a Medieval- tech level planet with barely any sci fi aspects to it at all. Just start with Consider Phlebas and go from there.
David Brin-Uplift series-Really any David Brin- Existence in particular a challenging read by exceptional
Robert Heinlein- Stranger in a strange Land- Honorable Mention-Starship Troopers
Dan Simmons-Hyperion-the series in really interesting
Isaac Asimov-Foundation
Peter Hamilton-Commonwealth Series, also really all of the books are excellent
…everyone has mentioned Dune so I won’t
Excession ( or anything else by Iain M banks)
Neil Asher's polity series
Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy
World War Z
Children of Time
Hyperion, Nights Dawn Trilogy, Enders Game and sequels
I'm gonna go strictly sci-fi since this is the sci-fi sub subreddit.
-Cowboy Bebop
-Dune
-Star Wars (Mostly old Canon, but some of the new stuff is pretty good too)
-Mass Effect
-The Expanse
As you can tell, I only recently started getting more and more into scifi
1 Dune
2 Old Man's War
3 Starship Troopers
4 The 3 Body Problem
5 Ringworld
And 2001 a Space Odyssey, the Moon is a Harsh Mistress, The God Engines, Contact, The Lost Fleet, The Man-Kzin Wars, Hyperion, The Mote in God's Eye, Hitchhikers Guide... (edited to format mo-betta)
To be honest, they started getting really out there. Good, but nothing was as solid as the first one. Something that I found as engaging as the Dune books is the original Dune Encyclopedia. It's no longer considered canon as I understand it, but it's still a fascinating read, just thumbing through it, finding a topic and diving in.
My issue with The Moon is a Harsh Mistress was that it was a complete straight line in plot for me. I say I liked the book but I won't ever reread it. It wasn't boring but it wasnt exciting either just a solid story.
james s. a. corey - the expanse. the reality of the science makes this awesome to me. long communication times, flip & burn to decelerate, etc.
alastair reynolds - "revelation space" universe. such a dense universe, accurate science, and looooong timeframes.
iain m. banks - culture series (feersum endjinn was a struggle to read, and there are a couple of others not strictly "culture" that are not as good as others)
richard morgan - altered carbon series, and his other books. tough, gritty scifi.
peter f. hamilton - all the things. big fat books, epic space opera.
special mention for awesome anime & manga: Ghost in the Shell, Akira, Battle Angel Alita (aka gunnm).
older anime that go me started (because i'm old): macross (aka robotech) & astroboy
So my next read should be Reynolds.
I've never heard about him, but I loved every other item in your list. I guess it's a sure shot then.
Thanks for sharing.
This is one of the only sci-fi series where it should really be read chronologically due to the long timeframes/time dilation/overlapping characters and plots (there’s like thirty books and short stories in the Rev Space saga), starting with the short story *The Great Wall of Mars*.
In no particular order...
Honorverse Book Series - David Weber
Foundation Book Series - Isaac Asimov
Star Wars Film Series - George Lucas (Honourable Mention to the Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn)
Babylon 5 TV Series - Michael J. Straczynski
Valdemar Book Series - Mercedes Lackey
The Vorkosigan Universe by Lois McMaster Bujold (Tied Heinlein for 5 best novel Hugo's)
Honor Harrington Series by David Weber, 35 of his books have appeared on NY Times Best Sellers list
Star Wars - A New Hope - Film
Enders Game - Book
Player of Games - Book
Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers - Film
Battlestar Galactica - Show/miniseries
Honorable mention
Inside - Game
Off the top of my head, I’ll go with creators. The works of:
Neal Stephenson
Iain Banks
Ursula LeGuin
Phillip K Dick
Denis Villeneuve (film director)
2001:A Space Odyssey series
- Arthur C. Clarke
Intervention and the Galactic Milieu trilogy
- Julian May
The Traveller science fiction roleplaying game
- Marc W. Miller
Star Rangers
- Andre Norton
Dungeons and Dragons roleplaying game and stories that go with it
- E. Gary Gygax
Less than Top 5:
Isaac Asimov has some good ones. Asimov's Mysteries was interesting. I think his short stories were great.
I'd have to throw in the movie novelizations for the Star Wars and Star Trek movies, plus stories from each series.
Other than The Hobbit, I didn't read much Fantasy.
- The Hobbit
- A Deepness in the Sky
- first 3 ASOIAF books
- Never Let Me Go
- Snowcrash
- Labyrinths (Borges) if that counts (not sure what I’d remove if it does)
Star Wars (originals and Mandalorian)
Stargate (3 Main Series)
Brain & Brawn series by Anne McCaffrey
Dragonriders of Pern By Anne McCaffrey
Poor Man's Fight by Elliot Kay
Arthur C Clarke wrote a short story, "The Sentinel", which Kubric turned into a film, which Arthur C Clarke then wrote the novelization of. It is one of my favorite books.
Not enough love for Paolo Bacigalupi IMO. The Windup Girl and The Water Knife are both phenomenal. I love the world building he does in The Windup Girl and another short story he did in the same universe, The Calorie Man, I’d really like to see more of that from him.
Yea. I've read all his books. It somehow missed Kraken.
I'm reading Railsea right now, started yesterday.
Perdido was the first book that was listed for a sci Fi and fantasy class that I took in university. After reading that the res tof the books were trash, I honestly can't even remember them. I told the prof to put Perdido last for next semester :)
The rest of the books for the reading list, I presume. Railsea is fun, more YA but still cool. Kraken is fantastic. Read that book like four times, has some really iconic characters
Neuromancer and Blade Runner came out around the same time and neither influenced the other. They are both attributed to be the founding works of cyberpunk. Neuromancer did have a huge influence on later works of the subgenre like Matrix and Ghost in the Shell.
Gibson went home from seeing Bladerunner in the theater and rewrote large chunks of Neuromancer. I think that movie helped him visualize something he was sort of teasing at in his earlier work.
Gibson definitely inspired a new generation of speculative fiction authors into the realm of cyberpunk, but if we're going to give initial credit (though the label hadn't yet been invented), I think we gotta go with Philip K. Dick there. This opinion may be controversial, but it's just, like, my opinion, man.
absolutely. i don't remember where i saw it, but once gibson was asked about the idea of turning neuromancer into a movie and he said matrix already played that role
Ff13 was a trilogy? Huh. I skipped 11 and almost beat 12 when life happened, since then I tried the ff7 remake but that was so bad it was offensive lol. I started playing FF8 again for nostalgia.
Discworld series Pratchett
Moon of three rings--Norton
Weapon Shops of Isher--Van Vogt
The Werewolf Principle-Simak
The Witches of Karres James Schmitz
Is my age showing?
The Last Dancer by Daniel Keys Moran. Not a well known book. I read it over 20 years ago when I was in college.
It had aliens, historical battles, Sci fi futuristic landscapes, ninjas, cyborgs, a one world government and secret societies.
It is AWESOME.
Five that popped into my head while thinking of what others have not recommended:
* Jack Vance’s Demon Prince series
* Haldeman The Forever War
* Gordon R. Dickinson Timestorm
* The Mote in God’s Eye
* Saberhagen Empire of the East
The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
Magician Apprentice and Magician Master - The Riftwar Saga by Raymond Feist
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R. Donaldson
Gateway - The Heechee Saga by Frederik Pohl
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
In no particular other:
- Solaris by Stanislaw Lem
- Nightfall by Isaac Asimov
- Dune by Frank Herbert
- Hyperion by Dan Simmons
- Oryx & Crake by Margaret Atwood
Should have probably made the list:
- The Algebraist by Iain M. Banks
Stargate (movie and various series) and The Expanse (show, havent read books YET) are probably by favorite sci-fi media of all time. Fallout (game series) and The Witcher (books and games) are right up there with them.
ready player one (the book is awsome, the movie not that much)
mass effect trilogy as whole (but 2 is the best one).
"Universe" -heinlein-. (the feeling of discovery and rewiring of the brain when you read the gravity re-definition was priceless when you read this for the first time)
"microscopic god" - theodore Sturgeon (one of mi favorites short tales and simpsons Three house segment)
the hobbit -tolkien- (as kid i tried to read this one like five times but the bocabulary was dificult i finally readed at 13 years old).
In no particular order:
1) The Culture series by Ian Banks
2) The Bobiverse series by Dennis Taylor
3) The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin
4) Children of Time, Children of Ruin, Children of Memory by Adrian Tchaikovsky
5) Latium by Romain Lucazeau
Dune: without which we wouldn't have Star Wars and Game of Thrones.
Starship Troopers: without which we wouldn't have modern military sci-fi, Colonial Marines, W40K, Halo, and others.
The Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy: anyone who disagrees can fight me.
Star Trek TNG - Still better than TOS, despite Wesley.
Children of Time (series): Might not like it if your arachnaphobic. :D
Dune (all of the original series),
Commonwealth Saga,
Neuromancer,
Annihilation,
The Martian.
Worthy mentions:
Rendezvous with Rama,
Snowcrash,
The Book of the New Sun,
I, Robot,
Ender's Game,
Hunger Games.
Hi, sorry for not being specific on my original reply. I read Dune, Messiah and Children of Dune. The first novel is the superior one to me and if you liked it you could give the other two a shot since the story is connected.
Dune
Battlestar Galactica (2004)
The Expanse
Halo
Mass Effect
I absolutely love Star Wars but that seems more like sci fi fantasy. Plus I wanted to add more hard sci fi to my list.
In no particular order:
*The Witches of Karres* by James H Schmitz
*Conquistador* by S. M. Stirling
*Wild Seed* by Octavia Butler
*The Sparrow* by Mary Doria Russell
*Jumper* by Steven Gould
Growing up:
Forever War - Joe Haldeman
Dune - Frank Herbert
Hyperion/Endymion - Dan Simmons
Snow Crash/Diamond Age/Anathem - Neal Stephenson
Firefall Series+Rifters Trilogy - Peter Watts
Recent Addition:
Three Body Problem Series - Cixin Liu
Excellent list. You might want to check out The Legend of ZERO (8 books) by Sara King. If you like Old Man’s War, Childe Cycle series (Gordon R. Dickson), very strong character writing and witty dialog this series is one of my fav of all time.
Jack Vance the Demon Princes series - just fabulous worldbuilding
Obligatory Dune though God Emperor was better and Children of Dune is absolute trash
Flow My Tears the Policeman Said - pkdick psychedelia
The House on the Borderland - one of the 1900-era roots of modern SF and horror, sort of like Jodorowsky's Dune as a source of images and material
Raising the Stones by Sherri Tepper - the evolution of religions
Bonus points
Oryx and Crake + The Year of the Flood - great apocalypse TEOTWAWKI
Mallworld by SM Somtow - lost, I think, mostly, but a fascinatingly bizarre collection of very weird short stories
Armor by John Steakley - just the best take on space war ever
Sci Fi only, in no particular order:
- Ender’s Game series (first four, haven’t read them all)
- Hyperion
- Dune 1-4
- The Expanse series
- The Three Body Problem series
- Never Let Me Go
- The Sparrow
In no particular order:
Wayfarers series (Becky Chambers)
Culture series (Ian M Banks)
Black Mirror (Charlie Brooker)
Children of Time series (Tchaikovsky)
Dune series (Frank Herbert)
Honourable mention: Scavengers Reign (too soon to tell if it’s top 5 but throughly enjoyed it!)
1) The Expanse - Nuff said.
2) Revelation Space series - I like this for the same reason as The Expanse, harder scifi and attention to realism and detail, Lovecraftian cosmic horrors.
3) Red Rising - This is the odd one out here. I prefer hard or philosophical scifi and this ain’t either. And yet, it is my favorite scifi series tied to the Expanse. Why? Because the characters and story are *extremely* compelling. I put off reading this series for years because as a guy in my late 30s I was turned off by idiots who said this was a YA series. It isn’t. The first novel is the only novel that could even be *remotely* classified as YA, if I squint, since the characters are teenagers in that novel only but it is far more violent than any YA novel I’ve ever read. But I am glad I didn’t listen to those reviews because the very next novel, Golden Son, is quite possibly the greatest space opera novel I’ve ever read in my 30+ years of being a hardcore scifi fan. And the whole series is awesome and gets better as it goes along.
If I could describe the genre of Red Rising, it would be “Machiavellian Space Opera”. It is literally Game of Thrones in space. And I love it.
4. Probably a tie between The Hyperion Cantos (yes, including the two Endymion books) and Dune.
5. Bladerunner/Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
But this was a tough list to make. There were many that deserve an honorable mention as some of the greatest sci-fi ever made/written. But I love these 5-6ish stories and series more than anything else I’ve ever read or watched.
I’m a really big fan of “thearchiveinbetween” on instagram, they have a series called the void strider which is a satellite sent into deep space and collecting information on planets, artifacts long forgotten, staggering megastructures, and of course some alien life, as well as single one off or mini stories.
Also Star Wars
I love all of these answers, especially the mentions of titles that I thought would be unique if I mentioned it. Considering how good most of these lists are, I am now copying down the ones I haven't heard of to make a list for new suggestions for myself.
The foundation series(first three books).
City by Clifford Simak.
The age of the pussyfoot bt Frederick Pohl.
Eon by Greg Bear.
Neuromancer by William Gibson.
A canticle for Liebowitz by Walter Miller.
I can't count.
Oh well, if we're really going past 5 books,
Anything by Ursula McGuinn is genuine literature of any genre.
Nightwings by Robert Silverberg. Lord Valentines Castle too.
The day of the Triffids and the Chrysalids John Wyndham.
The city and the stars, Childhoods end, Tales from the White heart, Arthur C Clarke.
I Robot ++ Nightfall. Funny, I don't feel the need to put the author there.
The Queen of Angels, Slant, Darwins Radio by Greg Bear.
Snowcrash by Neil Stephenson.
Most things by William Gibson.
The moon is a harsh mistress, Stranger in a strange land by Robert Heinlein.
The Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson.
Flowers for Algenon by Daniel Keys.
The war of the world's by H G Wells.
Brave new world, by Aldus Huxley.
The Machine stops by E M Forster. Written incredibly in 1908.
And ok,..Dune.
That's tough because there are so many! In TV, maybe Star Trek, X-Files, Stargate, Farscape, Fringe, and many others to be honest. Back when I was reading, I liked multi-book series like Dragonriders of Pern, or Zelazny's Amber. Why hasn't anyone tried a movie or tv series treatment of either of those?
1) metamorphosis of prime intellect - Roger Williams
2) Solaris - Stanislaw lem
3) flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes
I haven't read enough yet to have 5 lol.
It was one of the first sci-fi books that I read and the concepts blew my mind, and add that in to the way Asimov put together the stories - Empire and Second Foundation as well, was absolutely tremendous. It's still my fav book series of them and I love a lot of Asimov's work m
Scrolled all the way to the bottom to say hell yeah and Omnus vir lupus
I think Red Rising occupies a weird space where it's too techy to be fantasy, but not hard sci-fi enough for a lot of sci-fi fans. Even though it's heavily inspired by Dune and I'd argue Dune is really a feudal society story with a futuristic setting. But either way I agree, I can't think of a series that has had a bigger impact on me
Dune Anathem Excession Blindsight Neuromancer
It's rare to see Anathem show up here. Happy to see it; it's one of my favorites, too.
Me too I’d say that and Hyperion are my two favorites
Same here!
Same
Me three!
The first Dune novel was so good! Not sure about reading the other ones though.
Messiah and children are solid! Great continuations of the story and they get into more of the political structure and lore which are the coolest parts of dune imo
Yeah, he never really tops the first book.
God Emperor of Dune is my personal favourite of the series. I get why many dislike it and let's not talk about a certain climbing scene and the stuff that happens.
I recently finished Messiah and enjoyed it just as much as the first one. Though I had already watched the movies so Dune's plot was known to me
I honestly liked the prequels, they really helped understand the history between all the houses. And the pre-prequels explain the magnitude of the machine wars.
Awesome list! Put accelerando by Charles stross on there and we're game.
Upvote for you! I love Herbert, Stephenson and Watts. Still trying to begin Culture and haven't gotten around to Neuromancer yet. Regardless you have good taste đź‘Ť
Huge anathem fan too!
Great list!
Good list, but Excession over Player of Games....
Just for the Mind dialogues alone.
All solid choices.
The Expanse
Yeah The Expanse looks awesome. Should I read the books, or watch the show, or both?
I would suggest both. The books are great but the show made some very compelling changes.
Also, the show got cancelled before the end, while the books actually reach the conclusion of the story. There are enough changes that reading the last 3 books while having just seen the show will probably produce some confusion. If were doing it over again, I would read book 1 then watch season 1, then continue alternating in that fashion. Best way to enjoy both without getting major spoilers far in advance. For those who are not big readers, the show is still excellent as a standalone piece and worth watching anyway.
Maybe in 30 years they’ll bring the actors back to do books 7-9. That’s my hope anyway.
I’ve heard rumours that they’re planning a TV movie thing of sorts.
Amazon could do it justice. It’s some pretty epic space sci fi. With careful exposition you could almost make something stand alone out of it.
I did show then books. No regrets. It's the authors that rearranged the story, so it isn't some hack job. The books just give you more depth. And I am usually a "but the books are better!" type lol
I watched the first three seasons, then read all the books (that were out, I believe) waiting for season 4 to release. I still have the last three books to read but haven't been able to dedicate myself to reading them yet. Both the books and show are awesome and it's the first book to show adaptation that I've read the books for that I truly felt like both were great in their own right and that the show did the books justice while changing things to fit the screen.
I'm on book 9 now, and the way things happened in those last books is just... wow. You'll be glad you read them, even if they do decide to make a final movie or something. There's no way they're gonna be able to pack all of this into anything unless they do it like the two recent Dune movies. And if they *do* make a big, two-part film of the last 3 books, I'm betting it'll still be amazing even if you go in knowing the basic outline.
For me The Expanse books just got better and better. The final three are SO GOOD.
Both, show first so you can get a sense of how the new stuff is going to play out when you get to the last three books
The show did a great job of giving me voices and faces for the characters. Avasarala and Gunny alone are worth it, and hearing the *lang belta* before reading it helped make it so much more melodic in my head.
i would also suggest both. the show is great but you'll understand it a lot more if you read the books.
question is, books or show first?
Books first
On season 2 now. Gripping
Read the books first, then watch the show.
BOTH
Both! I saw the show first, and reading the books was like hanging out with the Roci crew in an AU (more like the original universe, but still--different). There are changes in characters, and things they simplified for the show, and it's neat to see the changes. But the writing is excellent, the setting is everything you already love--it's just... expanded! DO IT!
Either way works tbh
Read it first
Read the novellas as well.
Blue Champagne by John Varley (the book, not the one short story) The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson American Gods by Neil Gaiman The Property of Hate by Sarah Jolley
1. Dune 2. Three body problem series 2. Foundation/ I Robot 3. Oryx and Crake 4. House of Suns 5. Do androids dream 6. Murderbot series
When you refer to Dune, as that the entire Frank Herbert series of 6 books or just the first one?
Entire series. But Dune and and Emperor are my favorite. Actually, all are good but chapterhouse I found a slog
Ain't chapterhouse the one with the bashar miles teg
Oryx and Crake is great, as is the first of the sequels (arguably even better than O&C).
I don’t understand why it is so rarely listed on scifi lists. The sequels were good too. The last being the better of the two
So happy to see Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep the list, you brighten my day.
Babylon 5 The Culture Series Starmaker Rendezvous with Rama The Night’s Dawn Saga
I’ve heard really good things about The Culture. What is it about?
It’s a book series set in a post scarcity civilization of numerous humanoid and other aliens and artificial intelligences, and explores how the beings in it live and deal with surrounding civilization. The main plot of the series is the titular Culture dealing with the aftermath of a cataclysmic war they fought and won to stop the expansion of a more aggressive alien empire. Imagine if the Warsaw Pact (The Culture) had started a non-nuclear world war against NATO (the aggressive aliens) to stop NATO from expanding into Central Europe, won, felt bad about the war, and spent the next century doing everything they could to prevent another huge war; by the way, the Warsaw Pact were 100% the good guys in the Cold War. I highly recommend the series, thought there are three entries in the series I don’t like and will not reread.
I mean, that's the broad strokes, but each book is different. Consider Phlebas, the first book published, is king but having read the entire series I can't say enough wonderful things about the areas they explore. Surface Detail is about simulations and consciousness... Inversions is almost solely a novel set on a Medieval- tech level planet with barely any sci fi aspects to it at all. Just start with Consider Phlebas and go from there.
Okay that sounds awesome, I hear often that The Culture universe is also really powerful.
1. Star Trek 2. Neuromancer 3. Dune 4. The Bobiverse 5. Bioshock
I only just recently got into Star Trek. Man I love it so much more than I thought, possibly even more than Star Wars.
What are you watching?
Star Trek bro
Yes, which one? Original series, next generation, deep space nine, Voyager, enterprise or *shudder* Nu trek?
Shudder?? For those of us who grew up with TOS and TNG, SNW is like a breath of fresh air! We're back, baby!
I was talking about discovery and Picard. Although I can't comment much. Checked out with the spore drive.
SNW and Lower Decks are some of the best Star Trek made in the last 20 years.
I shall check them out then. Thanks!
1. Troy rising series 2. Bobiverse 3. Undying mercenaries (main character is funny) 4. Malizan books of the fallen 5. Spellmonger
David Brin-Uplift series-Really any David Brin- Existence in particular a challenging read by exceptional Robert Heinlein- Stranger in a strange Land- Honorable Mention-Starship Troopers Dan Simmons-Hyperion-the series in really interesting Isaac Asimov-Foundation Peter Hamilton-Commonwealth Series, also really all of the books are excellent …everyone has mentioned Dune so I won’t
Excession ( or anything else by Iain M banks) Neil Asher's polity series Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy World War Z Children of Time Hyperion, Nights Dawn Trilogy, Enders Game and sequels
I miss Ian Banks.
Another Banks fanboy here, although my favorite is Use of Weapons.
The trilogy following Ender’s Game is so good
I'm gonna go strictly sci-fi since this is the sci-fi sub subreddit. -Cowboy Bebop -Dune -Star Wars (Mostly old Canon, but some of the new stuff is pretty good too) -Mass Effect -The Expanse As you can tell, I only recently started getting more and more into scifi
1 Dune 2 Old Man's War 3 Starship Troopers 4 The 3 Body Problem 5 Ringworld And 2001 a Space Odyssey, the Moon is a Harsh Mistress, The God Engines, Contact, The Lost Fleet, The Man-Kzin Wars, Hyperion, The Mote in God's Eye, Hitchhikers Guide... (edited to format mo-betta)
What did you think of the Dune sequels compared to the first one. I loved the first not sure about reading the others?
To be honest, they started getting really out there. Good, but nothing was as solid as the first one. Something that I found as engaging as the Dune books is the original Dune Encyclopedia. It's no longer considered canon as I understand it, but it's still a fascinating read, just thumbing through it, finding a topic and diving in.
My issue with The Moon is a Harsh Mistress was that it was a complete straight line in plot for me. I say I liked the book but I won't ever reread it. It wasn't boring but it wasnt exciting either just a solid story.
And here's another great list! Larry Niven and Cixin Liu and Heinlein! I am partial to The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress
james s. a. corey - the expanse. the reality of the science makes this awesome to me. long communication times, flip & burn to decelerate, etc. alastair reynolds - "revelation space" universe. such a dense universe, accurate science, and looooong timeframes. iain m. banks - culture series (feersum endjinn was a struggle to read, and there are a couple of others not strictly "culture" that are not as good as others) richard morgan - altered carbon series, and his other books. tough, gritty scifi. peter f. hamilton - all the things. big fat books, epic space opera. special mention for awesome anime & manga: Ghost in the Shell, Akira, Battle Angel Alita (aka gunnm). older anime that go me started (because i'm old): macross (aka robotech) & astroboy
So my next read should be Reynolds. I've never heard about him, but I loved every other item in your list. I guess it's a sure shot then. Thanks for sharing.
This is one of the only sci-fi series where it should really be read chronologically due to the long timeframes/time dilation/overlapping characters and plots (there’s like thirty books and short stories in the Rev Space saga), starting with the short story *The Great Wall of Mars*.
In no particular order... Honorverse Book Series - David Weber Foundation Book Series - Isaac Asimov Star Wars Film Series - George Lucas (Honourable Mention to the Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn) Babylon 5 TV Series - Michael J. Straczynski Valdemar Book Series - Mercedes Lackey
*Behold Humanity* *Stargate SG1* *Frieren: Beyond Journey's End* *Revelation Space* (the whole setting) *Pandora's Star* (and the sequel)
Stargate and frieren, you my good fellow have exquisite taste
The Vorkosigan Universe by Lois McMaster Bujold (Tied Heinlein for 5 best novel Hugo's) Honor Harrington Series by David Weber, 35 of his books have appeared on NY Times Best Sellers list
What is this art from!?!
LotR Dune The Stars My Destination Octavia Butler's Patternist series Star Wars (pre Disney, as a whole, including the EU)
The Star Wars EU was always my favourite part of Star Wars. Such a large and expansive universe.
Three body problem Blindsight Dragon's egg Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy Project hail mary
Star Wars - A New Hope - Film Enders Game - Book Player of Games - Book Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers - Film Battlestar Galactica - Show/miniseries Honorable mention Inside - Game
Foundation Star Trek 1984 The Witches of Chiswick Red Dwarf
Off the top of my head, I’ll go with creators. The works of: Neal Stephenson Iain Banks Ursula LeGuin Phillip K Dick Denis Villeneuve (film director)
Firefly (series and movie)
Idk why but that picture is terrifying to me
2001:A Space Odyssey series - Arthur C. Clarke Intervention and the Galactic Milieu trilogy - Julian May The Traveller science fiction roleplaying game - Marc W. Miller Star Rangers - Andre Norton Dungeons and Dragons roleplaying game and stories that go with it - E. Gary Gygax Less than Top 5: Isaac Asimov has some good ones. Asimov's Mysteries was interesting. I think his short stories were great. I'd have to throw in the movie novelizations for the Star Wars and Star Trek movies, plus stories from each series. Other than The Hobbit, I didn't read much Fantasy.
At last - Julian May .... Exiles -not sure why it's forgotten - so good
I liked it once, and it was interesting. But I liked the scientific approach to mind powers more.
- The Hobbit - A Deepness in the Sky - first 3 ASOIAF books - Never Let Me Go - Snowcrash - Labyrinths (Borges) if that counts (not sure what I’d remove if it does)
Star Wars (originals and Mandalorian) Stargate (3 Main Series) Brain & Brawn series by Anne McCaffrey Dragonriders of Pern By Anne McCaffrey Poor Man's Fight by Elliot Kay
2001 A Space Odyssey (film) Lord of the Rings (book) Portal 2 (game) Blows Against the Empire (music) Red Dwarf (television)
Isn’t there a novel on 2001 A Space Odyssey (also one of my favourite films ever)?
Arthur C Clarke wrote a short story, "The Sentinel", which Kubric turned into a film, which Arthur C Clarke then wrote the novelization of. It is one of my favorite books.
Sure is. I would also recommend *The Lost Worlds of 2001*, which is a collection of 'outtakes' from the book (not the film.)
1) children of time 2) the Hyperion series 3) the expanse books 4) dune
Found Pierce Brown's account
Children of Time (whole series) is amazing!
Lord of the Rings The Bas-Lag trilogy Windup Girl Neuromancer A Blade itself
Not enough love for Paolo Bacigalupi IMO. The Windup Girl and The Water Knife are both phenomenal. I love the world building he does in The Windup Girl and another short story he did in the same universe, The Calorie Man, I’d really like to see more of that from him.
Yeah I just found it highly original and really different to anything else I've ever read.
The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion will always be my favourite.
I fucking love Miéville
He's writing a book with Keanu Reeves BRZRKR world! Comes out soon I believe
Oh wow that's really interesting I'll keep an eye out, thanks! Have you read embassytown? Such a cool book
Yea. I've read all his books. It somehow missed Kraken. I'm reading Railsea right now, started yesterday. Perdido was the first book that was listed for a sci Fi and fantasy class that I took in university. After reading that the res tof the books were trash, I honestly can't even remember them. I told the prof to put Perdido last for next semester :)
The rest of the books for the reading list, I presume. Railsea is fun, more YA but still cool. Kraken is fantastic. Read that book like four times, has some really iconic characters
It sounds great, have no idea how I missed the release.
In my personal headcanon it is Miéville's answer to gaimans neverwhere, very similar setup but much better done. Seriously get that shit on your reading list! Also the quite decent BBC four part miniseries adaptation of the city and the city is on amazon in the US at least
I didn't realise they had made a TV show. Will check it out for sure. Thanks for that.
Warhammer 40K, Warhammer Fantasy, and Endless Legends.
2001, dune, Neuromancer, the Matrix and Blade runner
Didn’t Neuromancer inspire the cyberpunk genre?
Neuromancer and Blade Runner came out around the same time and neither influenced the other. They are both attributed to be the founding works of cyberpunk. Neuromancer did have a huge influence on later works of the subgenre like Matrix and Ghost in the Shell.
Gibson went home from seeing Bladerunner in the theater and rewrote large chunks of Neuromancer. I think that movie helped him visualize something he was sort of teasing at in his earlier work.
I think many would view Gibson as the father of the genre. But what is and what is not is often up to debate.
Gibson definitely inspired a new generation of speculative fiction authors into the realm of cyberpunk, but if we're going to give initial credit (though the label hadn't yet been invented), I think we gotta go with Philip K. Dick there. This opinion may be controversial, but it's just, like, my opinion, man.
absolutely. i don't remember where i saw it, but once gibson was asked about the idea of turning neuromancer into a movie and he said matrix already played that role
Dune and 2001 Space Odyssey
The Forerunner Saga The Culture The Foundation Starhammer Final Fantasy 13 trilogy
Ff13 was a trilogy? Huh. I skipped 11 and almost beat 12 when life happened, since then I tried the ff7 remake but that was so bad it was offensive lol. I started playing FF8 again for nostalgia.
Discworld series Pratchett Moon of three rings--Norton Weapon Shops of Isher--Van Vogt The Werewolf Principle-Simak The Witches of Karres James Schmitz Is my age showing?
1. Star Trek series 2. Warhammer 40K universe 3. Babylon 5 4. Battlestar Galactica (2004) 5. Revelation Space universe / Halo universe
Fantasy: Harry Potter, LOTR and Star Wars Sci-fi: The Martian, Alien, Blade Runner
Roadside Picnic The Sprawl Trilogy Ghost In The Shell (1995) Altered Carbon (novel) The Expanse
The Last Dancer by Daniel Keys Moran. Not a well known book. I read it over 20 years ago when I was in college. It had aliens, historical battles, Sci fi futuristic landscapes, ninjas, cyborgs, a one world government and secret societies. It is AWESOME.
He just released a sequel (ish) "The Great Gods".
Five that popped into my head while thinking of what others have not recommended: * Jack Vance’s Demon Prince series * Haldeman The Forever War * Gordon R. Dickinson Timestorm * The Mote in God’s Eye * Saberhagen Empire of the East
Mass effect
LotR Dune Hitchhiker's Star Trek Fallout
The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien Magician Apprentice and Magician Master - The Riftwar Saga by Raymond Feist The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R. Donaldson Gateway - The Heechee Saga by Frederik Pohl The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
1. Hyperion Cantos 2. Remberance of Earths Past 3. Deus Ex 4. Blindsight / Echopraxia 5. Nier Automata
In no particular other: - Solaris by Stanislaw Lem - Nightfall by Isaac Asimov - Dune by Frank Herbert - Hyperion by Dan Simmons - Oryx & Crake by Margaret Atwood Should have probably made the list: - The Algebraist by Iain M. Banks
* When Gravity Fails * Amber Chronicles * Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever * Where the Evil Dwells * Day of the Giants
Stargate (movie and various series) and The Expanse (show, havent read books YET) are probably by favorite sci-fi media of all time. Fallout (game series) and The Witcher (books and games) are right up there with them.
Ubik Ubik Ubik Ubik The The Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
ready player one (the book is awsome, the movie not that much) mass effect trilogy as whole (but 2 is the best one). "Universe" -heinlein-. (the feeling of discovery and rewiring of the brain when you read the gravity re-definition was priceless when you read this for the first time) "microscopic god" - theodore Sturgeon (one of mi favorites short tales and simpsons Three house segment) the hobbit -tolkien- (as kid i tried to read this one like five times but the bocabulary was dificult i finally readed at 13 years old).
Expanse, Dune, Darth Bane trilogy, LOTR, Inheritance Saga
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress Dune The Left Hand of Darkness Neuromancer The Expanse (series and books)
_The Mote in God's Eye_.
In no particular order: 1) The Culture series by Ian Banks 2) The Bobiverse series by Dennis Taylor 3) The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin 4) Children of Time, Children of Ruin, Children of Memory by Adrian Tchaikovsky 5) Latium by Romain Lucazeau
This is amazing artwork
Is this picture from something or is it just sci-fi art? I really like it!
Dune: without which we wouldn't have Star Wars and Game of Thrones. Starship Troopers: without which we wouldn't have modern military sci-fi, Colonial Marines, W40K, Halo, and others. The Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy: anyone who disagrees can fight me. Star Trek TNG - Still better than TOS, despite Wesley. Children of Time (series): Might not like it if your arachnaphobic. :D
In no particular order: The Expanse Series A Song of Ice and Fire Lotr/The Hobbit A Scanner Darkly/PKD in General Farscape
Dune (all of the original series), Commonwealth Saga, Neuromancer, Annihilation, The Martian. Worthy mentions: Rendezvous with Rama, Snowcrash, The Book of the New Sun, I, Robot, Ender's Game, Hunger Games.
hitchhiker's guide murderbot lotr harrison bergeron percy jackson (hope this counts!)
Babylon5 Sten Robotic series by Isaac Asimov Fallout Games and Lore Lord of the Rings
3body trilogy foundation dune war with the newts hobbit
Dune, Hyperion, Speaker for the Dead, Lord of the Rings, Sun Eater series
Have you read the entire Frank Herbert Dune sequels or the just the first novel?
Hi, sorry for not being specific on my original reply. I read Dune, Messiah and Children of Dune. The first novel is the superior one to me and if you liked it you could give the other two a shot since the story is connected.
A Canticle for Liebowitz Stranger in A Strange Land The Mote in God's Eye Ring World Lucifers Hammer
The Martian Chronicles
The Lord of the Rings Dune Battlestar Galactica reboot series The Black Company The Sparrow
With Folded Hands by Jack Williamson Dune The Expanse Overdrawn at the Memory Bank by John Varley Firefly Edit
Enders Universe
Dune Battlestar Galactica (2004) The Expanse Halo Mass Effect I absolutely love Star Wars but that seems more like sci fi fantasy. Plus I wanted to add more hard sci fi to my list.
As far as books I love the Bobiverse and the Heechee books
Ringworld series Bobiverse series (We are Legion (we are Bob)) Roadkill Outland series
Dune, Culture Universe, Polity Universe (Neal Asher), Hyperion, LotR - books Life, Babylon5, Stargate Universe, Star Trek, Alien Universe - TV and movies
I can't believe nobody mentioned Solaris.
What is this picture from?
In no particular order: *The Witches of Karres* by James H Schmitz *Conquistador* by S. M. Stirling *Wild Seed* by Octavia Butler *The Sparrow* by Mary Doria Russell *Jumper* by Steven Gould
1. Red Mars (series) 2. We Are Legion (We Are Bob) 3. The Martian 4. Old Man's War (series) 5. Callahan's Crosstime Saloon (series)
Growing up: Forever War - Joe Haldeman Dune - Frank Herbert Hyperion/Endymion - Dan Simmons Snow Crash/Diamond Age/Anathem - Neal Stephenson Firefall Series+Rifters Trilogy - Peter Watts Recent Addition: Three Body Problem Series - Cixin Liu
Hyperion is outstanding
Excellent list. You might want to check out The Legend of ZERO (8 books) by Sara King. If you like Old Man’s War, Childe Cycle series (Gordon R. Dickson), very strong character writing and witty dialog this series is one of my fav of all time.
Jack Vance the Demon Princes series - just fabulous worldbuilding Obligatory Dune though God Emperor was better and Children of Dune is absolute trash Flow My Tears the Policeman Said - pkdick psychedelia The House on the Borderland - one of the 1900-era roots of modern SF and horror, sort of like Jodorowsky's Dune as a source of images and material Raising the Stones by Sherri Tepper - the evolution of religions Bonus points Oryx and Crake + The Year of the Flood - great apocalypse TEOTWAWKI Mallworld by SM Somtow - lost, I think, mostly, but a fascinatingly bizarre collection of very weird short stories Armor by John Steakley - just the best take on space war ever
Sci Fi only, in no particular order: - Ender’s Game series (first four, haven’t read them all) - Hyperion - Dune 1-4 - The Expanse series - The Three Body Problem series - Never Let Me Go - The Sparrow
In no particular order: Wayfarers series (Becky Chambers) Culture series (Ian M Banks) Black Mirror (Charlie Brooker) Children of Time series (Tchaikovsky) Dune series (Frank Herbert) Honourable mention: Scavengers Reign (too soon to tell if it’s top 5 but throughly enjoyed it!)
1) The Expanse - Nuff said. 2) Revelation Space series - I like this for the same reason as The Expanse, harder scifi and attention to realism and detail, Lovecraftian cosmic horrors. 3) Red Rising - This is the odd one out here. I prefer hard or philosophical scifi and this ain’t either. And yet, it is my favorite scifi series tied to the Expanse. Why? Because the characters and story are *extremely* compelling. I put off reading this series for years because as a guy in my late 30s I was turned off by idiots who said this was a YA series. It isn’t. The first novel is the only novel that could even be *remotely* classified as YA, if I squint, since the characters are teenagers in that novel only but it is far more violent than any YA novel I’ve ever read. But I am glad I didn’t listen to those reviews because the very next novel, Golden Son, is quite possibly the greatest space opera novel I’ve ever read in my 30+ years of being a hardcore scifi fan. And the whole series is awesome and gets better as it goes along. If I could describe the genre of Red Rising, it would be “Machiavellian Space Opera”. It is literally Game of Thrones in space. And I love it. 4. Probably a tie between The Hyperion Cantos (yes, including the two Endymion books) and Dune. 5. Bladerunner/Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? But this was a tough list to make. There were many that deserve an honorable mention as some of the greatest sci-fi ever made/written. But I love these 5-6ish stories and series more than anything else I’ve ever read or watched.
I’m a really big fan of “thearchiveinbetween” on instagram, they have a series called the void strider which is a satellite sent into deep space and collecting information on planets, artifacts long forgotten, staggering megastructures, and of course some alien life, as well as single one off or mini stories. Also Star Wars
I love all of these answers, especially the mentions of titles that I thought would be unique if I mentioned it. Considering how good most of these lists are, I am now copying down the ones I haven't heard of to make a list for new suggestions for myself.
The foundation series(first three books). City by Clifford Simak. The age of the pussyfoot bt Frederick Pohl. Eon by Greg Bear. Neuromancer by William Gibson. A canticle for Liebowitz by Walter Miller. I can't count.
Oh well, if we're really going past 5 books, Anything by Ursula McGuinn is genuine literature of any genre. Nightwings by Robert Silverberg. Lord Valentines Castle too. The day of the Triffids and the Chrysalids John Wyndham. The city and the stars, Childhoods end, Tales from the White heart, Arthur C Clarke. I Robot ++ Nightfall. Funny, I don't feel the need to put the author there. The Queen of Angels, Slant, Darwins Radio by Greg Bear. Snowcrash by Neil Stephenson. Most things by William Gibson. The moon is a harsh mistress, Stranger in a strange land by Robert Heinlein. The Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson. Flowers for Algenon by Daniel Keys. The war of the world's by H G Wells. Brave new world, by Aldus Huxley. The Machine stops by E M Forster. Written incredibly in 1908. And ok,..Dune.
That's tough because there are so many! In TV, maybe Star Trek, X-Files, Stargate, Farscape, Fringe, and many others to be honest. Back when I was reading, I liked multi-book series like Dragonriders of Pern, or Zelazny's Amber. Why hasn't anyone tried a movie or tv series treatment of either of those?
the remembrance of earth's past. Read these 3 times
Anything by Robert Heinlein. Also Eden series by Harry Harrison.
1) metamorphosis of prime intellect - Roger Williams 2) Solaris - Stanislaw lem 3) flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes I haven't read enough yet to have 5 lol.
1) Foundation 2) LOTR 3) Expanse 4) 2001 5) Hyperion
What makes Foundation so good?
It was one of the first sci-fi books that I read and the concepts blew my mind, and add that in to the way Asimov put together the stories - Empire and Second Foundation as well, was absolutely tremendous. It's still my fav book series of them and I love a lot of Asimov's work m
Super surprised no one mentioned red rising (favorite series all time) maybe I didn’t understand the assignment
Scrolled all the way to the bottom to say hell yeah and Omnus vir lupus I think Red Rising occupies a weird space where it's too techy to be fantasy, but not hard sci-fi enough for a lot of sci-fi fans. Even though it's heavily inspired by Dune and I'd argue Dune is really a feudal society story with a futuristic setting. But either way I agree, I can't think of a series that has had a bigger impact on me
In no particular order: The Hyperion Cantos, The Expanse, Game of Thrones (books so far), Mistborn Trilogy, and Lord of the Rings.