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Sci-fi books that you may never have heard of, but definitely should read

shepherd.com

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Re: Sci-fi books that you may never have heard of, but definitely should read

#31

Post by interludead »

hnmullany wrote: post #11

These are all painfully mid reads. (The alien in Hail Mary is about as alien as a rival fraternity brother.) If you want real alien aliens, read Blindsight (Peter Watts).

Peter Watts really explores the concept of alien intelligence in a way that challenges our perceptions

Re: Sci-fi books that you may never have heard of, but definitely should read

#32

Post by nicolas_t »

Let me throw my hat in the ring. I'd recommend Grass by Sheri S Tepper. It felt fresh and original in a way few science fiction books are, the characters are really well done and it just stays with you. Despite being the first book of a trilogy, it works well on its own.

Re: Sci-fi books that you may never have heard of, but definitely should read

#33

Post by hailpixel »

I love this genre, and there is such a plethora of interesting reads. I think one of the most interesting, in terms of presenting technology's role in varied societies, is A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge. Great read if you are bored of the classic space opera.

Re: Sci-fi books that you may never have heard of, but definitely should read

#34

Post by bwb »

justinclift wrote: post #17

Can't really take the recommendation for Beacon 23 seriously after seeing the 1/2 half of the first tv episode. That was utter crap and nonsensical. :(

Ya TV adaptations can fail for so many reasons that a book succeeds at. I've read so many books that when translated to a visual medium fail because of the people involved, see Wheel of Time as that one was so bad...

Re: Sci-fi books that you may never have heard of, but definitely should read

#35

Post by tialaramex »

freetonik wrote: post #3

One of "you may never heard of" sci-fi books I can recommend is The City & the City by China Miéville. Perhaps not traditional science fiction, but so original and strange, it's beautiful.

I dislike both this and Miéville's Embassytown since in my opinion both set out to mislead me and then do a reveal which amounts "I misled you about what's really going on" and while that works for a stand up comic beat (e.g. Taylor Tomlinson "he cheated on me ... in my head") I don't want to read a whole novel this way.

Perdido Street Station and Kraken I really enjoyed, but I almost threw the book across the room for Embassytown once I realised.

Re: Sci-fi books that you may never have heard of, but definitely should read

#36

Post by freetonik »

netdevnet wrote: post #18
A_D_E_P_T wrote: post #4

Greg Egan's Permutation City is #1 for me. It's not only a good read, it may be the most important work of late 20th century philosophy. (Among other things, it completely anticipated Tegmark's Mathematical Universe Hypothesis, and totally obviates Bostrom's latest work.)

I am surprised there was no Egan book in the list. He's in the top 5 of hard sci fi authors you should definitely read

The list starts with Project Hail Mary, which is as far from Egan as I can imagine on the science fiction spectrum.

Re: Sci-fi books that you may never have heard of, but definitely should read

#37

Post by bwb »

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #29

Another set is CS Lewis' Space Trilogy Out of the Silent Planet Perelandra That Hideous Strength Note that like a lot of CS Lewis, there is a very heavy Christian view.

We've had 5 authors actually pick that one as a favorite, and they connected it to some really interesting book lists: https://shepherd.com/book/that-hideous-strength/book-lists

I love seeing something like this as it is awesome where their minds go for what other books they connect it with...

Re: Sci-fi books that you may never have heard of, but definitely should read

#38

Post by _s_a_m_ »

lynx23 wrote: post #21
_s_a_m_ wrote: post #15

The problem with Project Hail Mary is that the audio book is good but the book is not. First read the book and then listen to the audio book and you know what I mean.

I am curious, is the audio book abridged and the book far too long? Or what else could it be?

In my opinion Andy Weir is not a very good writer anyways, he is ok. When the story is interesting enough that is typically fine, like in The Martian. Hail Mary is too long certainly, characters a little flat, however, Ray can fix the flat characters in the audio book a little with his good voice acting.

Re: Sci-fi books that you may never have heard of, but definitely should read

#39

Post by progbits »

lynx23 wrote: post #21
_s_a_m_ wrote: post #15

The problem with Project Hail Mary is that the audio book is good but the book is not. First read the book and then listen to the audio book and you know what I mean.

I am curious, is the audio book abridged and the book far too long? Or what else could it be?

Without getting into spoilers, the very high quality narration makes the story better.

Re: Sci-fi books that you may never have heard of, but definitely should read

#40

Post by bwb »

closewith wrote: post #20
_s_a_m_ wrote: post #15

The problem with Project Hail Mary is that the audio book is good but the book is not. First read the book and then listen to the audio book and you know what I mean.

That's interesting. I found Project Hail Mary to be once of the most disappointing second novels ever written and am surprised at its reception. Is the audiobook meaningfully different?

I liked it, he has his own style, and I love the "productivity porn" vibe of it. Sometimes I need that in this wild world.
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