[The Tyrant Lizard]

I second 2 of the above notions.

Warhammer 40,000 and Simon Green's Deathstalker series.

The later I would say has a similar style to SE.

[Zelech]

paladin;238103 said:

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.

Required reading? Ender's Game (Book #1) maybe.
Futuristic? Check. Epic? No, book #1 isn't. Space Wars & action-packed? Check check.

All others of Card's books (Ender's #2+ included) NO for the extraneous philosophy, slow pace, and minimal action despite being well written.


Happy New Years!

[BridgeBurner]

iseng;237892 said:

[*]Terry Pratchet - Discworld series (again not scifi...)
(+) humours not a must but can't hurt.

If you like Pratchett (frankly, who doesn't?), you may also like Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books.

They've been available in one volume for a while now.

42.

[paladin]

Zelech;238202 said:

Required reading? Ender's Game (Book #1) maybe.
Futuristic? Check. Epic? No, book #1 isn't. Space Wars & action-packed? Check check.

All others of Card's books (Ender's #2+ included) NO for the extraneous philosophy, slow pace, and minimal action despite being well written.


Happy New Years!

well, enders game is the only book with enders in it of the ones i mentioned. the sequels are great as well, but yes, less space warfare.

now, enders game isnt that long(which most people would consider not to be epic then), but it has an epic scope to it(survival of the human race is pretty epic).

[Coco with marshmallows]

paladin;238243 said:

well, enders game is the only book with enders in it of the ones i mentioned.

ummm. its been a while, but i'm fairly sure that Ender IS the speaker for the dead, and he has a similarly central role in the other books.

[Spindrift]

Cocoreturns;238281 said:

ummm. its been a while, but i'm fairly sure that Ender IS the speaker for the dead, and he has a similarly central role in the other books.

Yeah Ender is the Speaker. He's definitely the main character for the next few books. I don't know if he continues to be the main character after children of the mind though because i stopped reading out of boredom.
I agree that reading the first one is a must.

[iseng]

BridgeBurner;238204 said:

If you like Pratchett (frankly, who doesn't?), you may also like Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books.

They've been available in one volume for a while now.

42.

i bought it already. years ago. yeah it's fun to read.

[polishgenius]

Hamilton was the first thing to spring to mind when I read this topic. Checks every box.

[paladin]

Cocoreturns;238281 said:

ummm. its been a while, but i'm fairly sure that Ender IS the speaker for the dead, and he has a similarly central role in the other books.

yes yes yes, but i only said ENDERS GAME. not ENDER WIGGIN starring in SPEAKER FOR THE DEAD. my fault for being lazy. sorry.

[Flawed]

caladanbrood;237894 said:

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:)

I agree with Broodige. Im reading the last of the trilogy now. They are my first Sci Fi read and i would probably read more Sci Fi now as a result. Very interesting and different.

[Deornoth]

Peter F. Hamilton's 'Night's Dawn' trilogy is probably the best place to start but I'll also throw my vote in behind anyone who's already mentioned the Deathstalker books, lightweight reads but great fun

[Morgoth]

I seem to remember the uplift saga to be pretty entertaining, but there's years since I read it, so I dunno.

[stone monkey]

I would recommend EE Smith's Lensman Series... but I suspect that none of you younger sorts would like it... Not self-cosciously "cool" enough, I suspect. Anyway, they're proper old-school Space Opera: and I really do mean old school; the first Triplanetary was written in the early 1930s. Very old fashioned derring-do, laughable attitudes to all sorts of things, ham-fisted writing - you might think they contain nothing of any merit whatsoever - but the narrative drive of the things is absolutely astonishing.

[Pallol One Eye]

stone monkey;238955 said:

I would recommend EE Smith's Lensman Series... but I suspect that none of you younger sorts would like it... Not self-cosciously "cool" enough, I suspect. Anyway, they're proper old-school Space Opera

Being an old fart my self I'd concure with Stone Monkey and also recommend the Skylark series by EE "Doc" Smith as well.

One word of warning these were written so long ago (well relatively speaking)that women's role in society was not quite as enlightened as today, and it shows in the writing for both these series to one degree or another. Good fun reads though.

Oldies but Goodies (Goody Goody Yum Yum)

[Abyss]

Weber was ref'd earlier and i'll just add that his STARS AT WAR series is great great fun without the HONOR IS THE BESTEST hero elements. Highlights include cat-people fighter pilots, bugs a la Starship Troopers, planetary bombardment as a PR strategy, a religious jihad space war and massive, massive spaceship battles that are viciously vivid. And it's all on the internuts for free, see Weber's wikipedia entry.

The THRAWN TRILOGY were, imnsho, the only truly great SW spin-off novels.

Fifty;237931 said:

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

Yes, but for the love of god, don't read the last two books.

- Abyss, once bitten, twice stabbed.

[polishgenius]

Abyss;239006 said:

The THRAWN TRILOGY were, imnsho, the only truly great SW spin-off novels.

Clearly you've not read Traitor.

Or you have, and I have to hunt you down and adjust your taste with sticks in the brain.

¬_¬

[Mort]

stone monkey;238955 said:

I would recommend EE Smith's Lensman Series... but I suspect that none of you younger sorts would like it... Not self-cosciously "cool" enough, I suspect. Anyway, they're proper old-school Space Opera: and I really do mean old school; the first Triplanetary was written in the early 1930s. Very old fashioned derring-do, laughable attitudes to all sorts of things, ham-fisted writing - you might think they contain nothing of any merit whatsoever - but the narrative drive of the things is absolutely astonishing.

I remember reading these when I was about 10.... ish... maybe

If you're after a bit of humour, try the Stainless Steel Rat and Bill the Galactic Hero. Both very fun and I can't remember the author (Harry Turtledove keeps coming into my head but I know that is wrong!)

Richard Morgan is good, but Broken Angels is the closest to space opera he has written.

A final one, since no one has mentioned her - CJ Cherryh. Try Rimrunners and Downbelow Station. They are slow but very good once you give them time. And her Chanur books are required reading for anyone who wants to say they know SF. (And Glenn Cook wants to write with her - enough said!)

[ledhead73]

Oh jeez guys.

I know just the book.

Check out Forever War by Joe Haldeman. It's a really easy read and only around 300 pages but if you like those scifi war things it's an absolute must read. It was so good I couldn't help but to finish it in two days instead of savouring it's awesomeness =) so I read it again..

[Mentalist]

@ Mort: Stainless Steel Rat is by Harry Harrison...

[Mort]

@Kud

Thanks