I have just completed the Bobiverse series by Dennis Taylor and absolutely loved it. The creative writing is may be a notch below Douglas Adams (in fairness what isn't?) but it has way more nerdy sci-fi pop culture references combined with how are 'we going to engineer our way out of this problem in space?' that I absolutely love.

I'm not new to the genre of sci-fi and have read lots but certainly not all of the canon (Dune, most Asimov, Heinlein) and could use some recommendations for the next book or series. All recommendations are appreciated.

Not quite sci-fi, but have you read the Dresden Files series of books?

If you liked the Bobiverse, checkout Mechanical Failure. I'd describe it as a Sci-Fi Comedy. Basically technology reaches a point that joining the military is a big party since there's no wars or the machines take care of everything. But then the machines break so the worthless Spacers have to figure out the basics of warfare and how to fix basic things for the ship to function. It's an extremely fun series, especially if you've been in the military.

EDIT: I also recommend Dresden Files. Basically a pure mixture of Die hard and Harry Potter.

Haven't heard of them. Go on…

The Martian and Project Hail Mary are both good by Andy Weir.

The Expanse series just finished up, 9 books total, and it's one of my favorite Sci-Fi series ever.

Dune is a pretty topical one right now. I recommend physically reading that over an audio book. It has a huge glossary in the back, and the first 50 pages feel like you are just translating a different language. Once I got his terminology down, it turned into a frantic page turner.

Dresden Files is an urban fantasy following a Wizard that starts off as a PI. First couple of books you can definitely tell he's a new writer, but by the Third or fourth book he really hits his groove, and by book 18 (I think he plans 25 or so), they are some of the most fun fantasy you can read. Recommend the Audible books for this one, the narrator is great.

Have you read any Sanderson? He does sci-fi and fantasy.

The Expanse - James S. A. Corey
Old Man's War series - John Scalzi
Murderbot Diaries = Martha Wells
The Collapsing Empire - John Scalzi
Redshirts - John Scalzi (one book)
Red Rising - Pierce Brown
Ancillary Justice books - Ann Leckie

I read A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine last year and loved it. I just got the sequel and am really looking forward to getting into it.

Second the recommendations for Project Hail Mary, the Expanse series & Dune. Would also recommend The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and Starship Troopers by Heinlein

The Forever War by Haldeman is a classic. Good short read and you can see how it's influenced a lot of more recent stories in the genre.

Footfall by Pournelle and the Rama series by AC Clarke are also really good.

Anything by H.G. Wells.

ETA -- for those not familiar, he wrote The Time Machine, War Of The Worlds, The Invisible Man and many others. My favorite is The Island Of Dr. Moreau.

Julian May's Saga of Pliocene Exile series is a favorite. The Galactic Milieu series is a companion set of 3 books that's both a prequel and a sequel to the Pliocene Exile series.

Sci-fi/speculative fiction, space and time travel, orcs, aliens...what more could you ask for?

I'm gonna have to give Dresden Files a chance, and if it's that good RIP my Audible budget for the year. How would you compare the Expanse novels to the TV show? I just couldn't get into the TV show, but if the book is more engaging I'll definitely have to give it a look.

Check out Scott Sigler.

Www.ScottSigler.com.

You can thank me later.

Thunder18 said:

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Second the recommendations for Project Hail Mary, the Expanse series & Dune. Would also recommend The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and Starship Troopers by Heinlein

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TANSTAAFL! I loved the Martian and haven't given Weir any love after that so I have to check out Project Hail Mary

Malibu2 said:

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Thunder18 said:

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Second the recommendations for Project Hail Mary, the Expanse series & Dune. Would also recommend The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and Starship Troopers by Heinlein

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TANSTAAFL! I loved the Martian and haven't given Weir any love after that so I have to check out Project Hail Mary

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Project Hail Mary is the greatest book I've read in many years. Exclamation.

Another vote for Expanse. Best sci-fi I've ever read and that covers a lot of ground.

Another good author is Alastair Reynolds. Most if not all of his books tie loosely together, but it's not exactly a series in the traditional sense.

Malibu2 said:

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I'm gonna have to give Dresden Files a chance, and if it's that good RIP my Audible budget for the year. How would you compare the Expanse novels to the TV show? I just couldn't get into the TV show, but if the book is more engaging I'll definitely have to give it a look.

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The show follows the books very closely, though they had a little more drama in season 1 to try to get more of a hook or bond between characters. If you don't like the show you probably won't like the books. Which is a shame because start to finish it's one of the best sci-fi series ever made.

Well, I did quit the wire after six episodes and then someone talked me into trying it again and I am very glad that they did. Do you think the expanse is a comparable experience of that or is it the kind of thing that you'll know after the first two episodes if you're in or out?

I'd probably say that you'll know after the first book if your in or out. It is politically heavy and the combat is the most physically realistic from the series I've seen, which I think is part of the fun. They don't have an idealistic view of humanity in space like star trek. They are very realistic that people will still be people, good ones and bad ones. What did you not like about the first 2 episodes?

I thoroughly enjoyed the books, not so much the TV series. Keep in mind, some of the books are loooong, with some slow points just due to that. With having said that, I looked forward to each one, and it is nice to have a series have a true end.

As to the TV show, after a couple of pauses and restarts, I made it to episode 12 of season 3 and couldn't go on. There were just too many other shows to watch. I hated the way they handled the Bobbie character; completely wimped her out compared to the books. Amos was great in both the book and series. More than the character changes, though, I thought there were too many changes to the story line.

Big fan of The Expanse series. Best sci-fi I've read/watched in a while. But if you don't like the tv show you'll probably not like the books either. There are differences but pretty close to each other. The authors wrote the books with TV in mind.

I just started Hyperion by Dan Simmons. It won the Hugo Award in 1990. In fact tough to go wrong just reading the Hugo winners you haven't read. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Award_for_Best_Novel

The Enders Game series are all great books. Don't compare to recent movie.

lurker76 said:

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The Expanse - James S. A. Corey
Old Man's War series - John Scalzi
Murderbot Diaries = Martha Wells
The Collapsing Empire - John Scalzi
Redshirts - John Scalzi (one book)
Red Rising - Pierce Brown
Ancillary Justice books - Ann Leckie

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Wholeheartedly recommend the Murderbot series (Martha Wells is an Aggie author) and Redshirts if you enjoy sci-fi with a touch of humor.

The Known Universe set by Larry Niven from The Long Arm of Gil Hamilton and Crashlander through the Ringworld trio. Classic.

The Vorkisigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold is great space opera.

Falkenberg's Legion, Prince of Mercenaries, Go Tell The Spartans and Prince of Sparta by Jerry Pournelle. These are sci fi military and the precursor to A Mote in Gods Eye.

Yeah the murderbot diaries are fun and by a B/CS Author.

Another Expanse vote and I still think the Three Body trilogy by Cixin Liu is the best sci fi I've ever read.

Two sort of sci fi thrillers I've read recently we're Recursion and Dark Matter both by Blake Crouch. Both fun reads.

I also liked Project Hail Mary but I don't think it's on par with the Martian.

I really liked the Martian and disliked Project Hail Mary. I appear to be an outlier though.

Dresden files is great and as others said, it really sucks you in after a couple books.

I think for me the Martian was a great sci fi book, where Project Hail Mary was more like a fun sci-fi book.

Not as heavy, or as good, but still fun. I definitely wasn't mad I read it.

jeffk said:

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The Forever War by Haldeman is a classic. Good short read and you can see how it's influenced a lot of more recent stories in the genre.

Footfall by Pournelle and the Rama series by AC Clarke are also really good.

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Agreed. Can keep going with the rest of the Forever series and more AC Clarke as well.

These are all required reading in any SciFi library in my opinion.

• Revelation Space series - Alastair Reynolds
• The Night's Dawn trilogy - Peter F Hamilton
• Commonwealth Saga - Peter F Hamilton
• Hyperion Cantos - Dan Simmons

Wildcard because it's a little more dark and not super uplifting:

• Culture series - Iain M Bank

bobinator said:

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Yeah the murderbot diaries are fun and by a B/CS Author.

Another Expanse vote and I still think the Three Body trilogy by Cixin Liu is the best sci fi I've ever read.

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Tried but couldn't get into Three Body Problem although I've heard it's a great book (and Hugo winner). I'll give it another try before Netflix show comes out.

https://www.whats-on-netflix.com/news/three-body-problem-netflix-season-1-everything-we-know-so-far/amp/

Neuromancer by William Gibson is another great book. Influenced most of the ideas in The Matrix.

Has anyone read the Expeditionary Force series by Craig Alanson? I just had a friend recommend it to me, saying it is one of only 4 series he would ever do so for. Since he also told me about Red Rising, and agrees with me on the Murderbot series, I tend to think it would be good, but would like to know if the board has an opinion.
Thanks.

Culture series for sure.

Revelation Space! I knew the Alastair Reynolds novels had a name associated with most of them, but just couldn't remember it. Thanks!

And forgot about the Hyperion books. Good stuff!