The Culture Series by Iain Banks. Love his style, love the setting, and love the stories. Really fascinating look at a post-scarcity galaxy spanning anarchist society facilitated by extra dimensional artificial intelligences.
Ask HN: What is the best sci-fi you read this year?
11–20 of 45 posts
Re: Ask HN: What is the best sci-fi you read this year?
#12The final red rising book was published this year: https://www.amazon.com/Red-Rising-Trilogy-Book/dp/B0159URANK I really enjoyed the first 15 lives of Harry August ( https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ECE9OD4/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?... ) I only found it in 2016 although it was published in 2014.
I second the First 15 lives of Harry August. Great book, well written
Re: Ask HN: What is the best sci-fi you read this year?
#13Definitely The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe.
Re: Ask HN: What is the best sci-fi you read this year?
#14The final red rising book was published this year: https://www.amazon.com/Red-Rising-Trilogy-Book/dp/B0159URANK I really enjoyed the first 15 lives of Harry August ( https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ECE9OD4/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?... ) I only found it in 2016 although it was published in 2014.
I second the First 15 lives of Harry August. Great book, well written
Touch by the same author, Claire North is a great book too.
Re: Ask HN: What is the best sci-fi you read this year?
#15I've been reading the "Expanse" series. I liked the earlier books a bit more. The latest one drops today. Anyone watched the show they made from it?
I'm working my way through the show after having just finished the first book. I found the crew of the Rocinante to be fairly generic characters in the book, but at least they were likeable. In the screen adaptation, I find the constant conflict among the crew a little grating at times – Amos and Holden aren't particularly likeable. Miller seems like a much more interesting character, and I think he is played well in the series (I will have to look up the actor who plays his part...).
The dialogue seems quite hard to understand – it falls victim to the typical mumbled, gravely voices that seem to be present in many American shows and films.
Re: Ask HN: What is the best sci-fi you read this year?
#16Definitely The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe.
To those unacquainted, imagine if Godel Escher Bach mated with The Lord of the Rings. It is a true masterpiece.
Re: Ask HN: What is the best sci-fi you read this year?
#17Seveneves by Neil Stephenson
Re: Ask HN: What is the best sci-fi you read this year?
#18This is a little more Lovecraftian Horror than science fiction, but I loved Matt Ruff's "Lovecraft Country". Equal parts what you'd expect, with an exploration of how shitty America was for black people in the 1950s.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25109947-lovecraft-count...
Ted Chiang's "Stories of your Life" have been recommended here a bunch, since Arrival was based on one of the stories in the collection.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/223380.Stories_of_Your_L...
Peter Watts' Blindsight and Echopraxia are both excellent explorations of the human mind and consciousness.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48484.Blindsight and https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18490708-echopraxia
Bonus: Echopraxia comes with an optional audiovisual component that stands alone quite well: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL30ED0756E00786E2
And don't let the mention of Vampires scare you off; this isn't a Twilight wannabe, and it's very likely not a take on Vampires you've seen before.
Re: Ask HN: What is the best sci-fi you read this year?
#19Seveneves by Neil Stephenson
This is by far the most Stephenson book that he's written. Hopefully without giving away any spoilers, the Engineer-types are the most enlightened good guys, the Soft-Sciences folks are about as evil as it's possible to get, and the book ends very abruptly not once, but twice.
If you like Stephenson, read this, but if you've never read one of his books before, I would not recommend this as a first.
Re: Ask HN: What is the best sci-fi you read this year?
#20Seveneves by Neil Stephenson
This is by far the most Stephenson book that he's written. Hopefully without giving away any spoilers, the Engineer-types are the most enlightened good guys, the Soft-Sciences folks are about as evil as it's possible to get, and the book ends very abruptly not once, but twice . If you like Stephenson, read this, but if you've never read one of his books before, I would not recommend this as a first.
The first 2/3rds of the book is just too heavy duty and depressing to be much fun for me. I wish that were some kind of brief initial thing so that the rest of the book could be in the 'new world' part which is fun and interesting and barely explored.