[iseng]

hi. looking for some good scifi books to read. seems like many here know and have read quite a few.

i'm looking for: futuristic epic space war. (BioWare's Mass Effect did this to me. wish i had an xbox360.)

here are some books i've read for reference on what i like:

• Frank Herbert - Dune
  (+) good background.
  (+) interesting characters and factions.
  
• Issac Asimov - Foundation series
  (+) epic and good background.
  
• David Weber - Honor Harrington series
  (+) good space battle and actions. using tactics, not just "charge!" and "fire!" commands.
  (-) protagonist is too perfect and other characters worship her. admiration is fine, but tiresome to read if too much.
  
• Alastair Reynold - Revelation Space
  (+) nice and factual technology.
  (+) epic in scope.
  (+) grey-shaded characters.
  (-) story unfolding too slowly for me.
  (-) too much unnecessary tech descriptions.
  
• Black Company (not scifi, but...)
  (+) writing style that i prefer, concise and to the point.
  
• Terry Pratchet - Discworld series (again not scifi...)
  (+) humours not a must but can't hurt.

thank you in advance.

[caladanbrood]

When I saw the title, I thought Reynolds, but I see you've already read him.

Next up is Peter F Hamilton, start with the Night's Dawn Trilogy:)

[Zanth13]

I never read his space books but Fred Saberhagen has some...you should try them out.

[Aptorian]

Warhammer 40.000 books. Be carefull which ones you get. Some are completely crap but others are quite good. I'd recommend the books on the Grey Knights and the Souleater ultra marine chapters.

Do not read Saga of the Sevens Suns by Kevin J Anderson unless you have a high threshold for tedious storylines - Its a really cool idea ruined by the authors mediochrity.

[Illuyankas]

I tried reading those Saga books. Some things I liked - like the evil insectoid robots who did a Matrix-with-more-killy; and, wait, no, that was it - but the majority sucked ass. Warring alien races based on the four elements? More aliens that can interbreed with humans? The THICKEST politcal leaders of any book ever? That made Pormqual and Maggie Furey antagonists seem competent?

Don't even touch them if you can help it.

[Tsundoku]

Aptorian;237904 said:

Warhammer 40.000 books. Be carefull which ones you get. Some are completely crap but others are quite good. I'd recommend the books on the Grey Knights and the Souleater ultra marine chapters.

Just read anything by Dan Abnett - specifically his Gaunts' Ghosts, Eisenhorn and Ravenor books. Avoid pretty much anything else in the 40k library.

Cheers,

La Sombra, Tanith First and Only

[Spindrift]

Iain M Banks: The Culture novels. theres a bunch of them and they're all good.

Charles Stross: Singularity Sky,and Iron Sunrise. Also try Accelerando, which isn't 'epic space war', but is still fantastic (and free).

John Scalzi: Old Man's War, and it's sequels. Fast paced military sci-fi, but not stupid or politically preachy like they often are.

Vernor Vinge: A Fire Upon the Deep, and A Deepness in the Sky are his two most space opera'ish

[caladanbrood]

While I agree that Banks is awesome and you should try and read the Culture novels, it's more special ops than epic wars...

[Fifty]

It is future rather than space, but the Chung Kuo series by David Wingrove is suitably Epic for you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chung_Kuo

[BridgeBurner]

You could try Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series.

There's enough info about them on Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia....Vorkosigan_Saga

[tickhill43]

The Gap Series by Stephen Donaldson - In my opinion the best sci-fi ever written

Deathstalker by Simon Green - Not really an epic series but makes up for it by being brilliant fun.

The moon is a harsh mistress & Starship Troopers by Heinlein - Heinleins best two books, they are a bit pollitcally preachy.

The Left hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin - Not set in space but one of the all time classics of sf

Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan - Again not really a space book the action scenes are some of the best ever written in sf

[Werthead]

Yep, Peter F. Hamilton's The Night's Dawn Trilogy (starts with The Reality Dysfunction) and The Commonwealth Saga (starts with Pandora's Star) both feature enormous interstellar wars and space battles, and are the best fit for the original request.

Otherwise, I enjoyed the Star Wars New Jedi Order series but you have to wait for a while to get to the really huge space battles and the best books in the middle of the series, and some of the individual instalments are awful. I think it's worth it for the good books though.

Timothy Zahn's Conquerors trilogy is also reasonably entertaining.

Or alternatively pull out the DVD player and watch the new Battlestar Galactica or Babylon 5

[BridgeBurner]

Werthead;237986 said:

Otherwise, I enjoyed the Star Wars New Jedi Order series but you have to wait for a while to get to the really huge space battles and the best books in the middle of the series, and some of the individual instalments are awful. I think it's worth it for the good books though.

Timothy Zahn's Conquerors trilogy is also reasonably entertaining.

I miss Timothy Zahn's Thrawn trilogy in that list. You didn't like them? They're epic enough...

(You know, the three books that take place after Return of the Jedi )

[Werthead]

They're good, but not as epic and widescreen as The New Jedi Order.

That said, the Thrawn Trilogy is better-written and it's easier to read three books than nineteen

[BridgeBurner]

Werthead;237997 said:

They're good, but not as epic and widescreen as The New Jedi Order.

That said, the Thrawn Trilogy is better-written and it's easier to read three books than nineteen

Thanks. I never heard The New Jedi Order. 19 books you say? I'll give them a try then.

[mxlm]

Sombra;237906 said:

Just read anything by Dan Abnett - specifically his Gaunts' Ghosts, Eisenhorn and Ravenor books. Avoid pretty much anything else in the 40k library.

Cheers,

La Sombra, Tanith First and Only

Abnett is pretty terrible. Ian Watson is pretty awesome.

[Zelech]

BridgeBurner;238009 said:

Thanks. I never heard The New Jedi Order. 19 books you say? I'll give them a try then.

Vector Prime is the first in the NJO series, and I found it to be enjoyable.


Of course, when you mention Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy, you shouldn't forget the Hand of Thrawn Duology--I found this to be almost as great as the Trilogy. Futuristic? Check. Epic? Check. Space War? It's Star Wars, so check check.

I'd like to second Werthead as for suggesting Timothy Zahn's non-Star-Wars books--if one finds the Thrawn books to be great for his style of writing, one will likely find most of his other books to be as great if not better (that's what I personally believe). As for Conqueror's Trilogy... Futuristic? Check. Epic? Check. Space War? Check.

Be warned, though, that Zahn's books always are deep with politics & intrigue; Star Wars fans are already aware of most of the politics in Star Wars, so the Thrawn books might not have seemed as full of politics & intrigue as they were.


But of course, I'm a little wonky--I just now started reading into the Dune series. Atrocious of me, I know.

[iseng]

wow lots of good recommendations. thanks everyone.

oh and happy new year!

[paladin]

Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card(and following it up with Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, and Children of the Mind[if i have that in the right order])

Ender's is required reading for any scifi reader, so if you haven't read it yet, you're failing at life.

Also, there are a good many Battletech books that are always heavy in battles. I couldn't tell you which authors are good and which aren't, but I know that some of the cycles of books are pretty good.

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

tickhill43;237981 said:

The Gap Series by Stephen Donaldson - In my opinion the best sci-fi ever written

I would agree with this. I prefer fantasy to scifi, but the Gap series is the best thing SRD has written, and I like it all.