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1. The Liaden books, by Steve Miller and Sharon Lee. Space Opera covering the death of a universe and migration into a new one; dastardly villains, reluctant heros, gripping plots, sentient tree. 2. The tales of Vlad Taltos, by Steven Brust. Gods, swords, elves, humans, cooking, and one of the best snarky first-person narrators ever. Has a side series of five books pastiching Alexander Dumas. 3. The Vorkosigan univer…
Following a slightly more conventional definition of lighthearted, I think I'd recommend Larry Niven's Ringworld. When it comes to "moderately plausible megastructures", the ringworld concept is by far my favorite. Much less complicated than a Dyson Swarm, after all! Story is ok, and the sequels expanded things well enough. Not exactly the biggest fan of his female characters. Still worth it. Triple Crown (Hugo/Nebula/Locus) winner. Goodreads: [3]
0: https://parahumans.wordpress.com/ 1: https://www.parahumans.net/about/ 2: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18713259-worm 3: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61179.Ringworld
[1]: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25499718-children-of-tim...
Fun, light-hearted and enjoyable === Terry Pratchett. Strata and the Dark Side of the Sun if you’re looking specifically for Sci-fi. But if you haven’t read the Diskworld series, I envy you! I’d give anything to re-live the sheer ecstasy of reading Pratchett for the first time. Already mentioned: H2G2 (ditto, would love to be able to read it again for the first time); Ender’s game and sequels; Rama (maybe more though…
Lots of good stuff in this thread, but for fun and light-hearted (which lots of people are ignoring), Terry Pratchett takes the cake. I probably read over 50 books a year, and TP is one of the best authors I have ever had the pleasure of reading.
Can you recommend the first book for someone coming from a mid-to-hard scifi? Something that stands on it's own, is funny, and does not need prior knowledge of his work.
Ninefox Gambit - Yoon Ha Lee
A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet - Becky Chambers
The Broken Earth series - N.K. Jemisin
The Star's My Destination by Alfred Bester (also known as Tiger Tiger). Really great Count of Monte Cristo type plot with teleportation and a great antihero. I'm surprised it hasn't been adapted to film or long form series yet. Anathem by Neal Stephenson is superb and I recommend you carve out some time to really let it soak in. Anything by Neal is phenomenal, but Anathem stands out for me. Aurora by Kim Stanley Robi…