Agreed entirely. The Man/Kzin wars rest happily on my shelf.Kalezian said:
Another good series, at least up until this last one... is Honor Harrington. Great patch of books.
Best sci-fi book you've ever read
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Another good series, at least up until this last one... is Honor Harrington. Great patch of books.
That would be 'Flight of the Eisenstein' by James Swallow. It's the fourth novel of the ongoing Horus Heresy series, and to me it's not only the best W40k novel I've read, it's the best sci-fi I've read, period. Yeah, it may not have as much artistic or literary value as 'Brave New World' or 'Fahrenheit 451' (both great), but screw that, I've had more fun with this one.
Hah, literally just finished reading Peace and War for the second time. (Forver War, Free and Peace) Excellent books through and through.Aidinthel said:
Well, looking at my shelf, I seem to be quite a big Alastair Reynolds fan. I'd say my favourite book by him is probably gonna be either Pushing Ice or Terminal World. Relatively hard SF, but still accessible.
(Ever get the idea that captcha is really taking the piss? It makes some really odd requests.)
For me it's a tie between A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge and Look to Windward by Iain Banks. Although I do love a lot of the other books you guys have been bringing up - especially Ender's Game, Dune, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress... There's just too much great science fiction to chose from!
This thread is simply full of ninjas, although it is nice to see that others appreciate such great books. My personal favorites include Hitchhikers, Enders Game, Dune, and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, all wonderful books that I recommend to everyone (yes even you). I do need to read some more Asimov and Phillip K. Dick. Can anyone recommend me some Asimov, I've read some of his short stories and loved them, any full length novels by him I should look for?
Life, the Universe, and Everything. It's got all the best jokes in the Hitchhiker's Trilogy, it ties the plot up quite nicely while still leaving a logical opening for the sequels, and it has the starship Bistromath, the description of which is probably my favorite passage in the entire trilogy.
Tips_of_Fingers said:
I like you guys. None of my friends have heard of Philip K. Dick, except from me.Koroviev said:
OT: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is definitely my favourite sci-fi book, no other book has ever kept me as enthralled as that one has.
Old, crappy, irrelevant joke. Let's move on, people.mrmostlymittens said:
Hmmm most likely A Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.
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Probably the entire Time Odessey trilogy by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter. Alternatively, The Alan Moore Neonomicon series of comics including the novella/comic of The Courtyard.
Yes! Fuck, I just signed in for the first time since February to make this statement and you've already made it. I like Charles Stross, but much prefer Banks. His best book is Player of Games for me, followed by the Use of Weapons. However, Fearsum Enjinn is the only one I haven't read, along with State of the Art.JavaJoeCoffee said:
I really cannot sing Banks' praises enough. There are only 3 science fiction writers that are perfect: him, Asimov and Clarke.
Also, will people piss off with all the fantasy crap. Scifi and fantasy are distinctly unrelated. I loathe almost all fantasy but lurve scifi.
I, Jedi isn't a bad pick from the extended Star Wars universe, but the best one is probably Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire series.
Also, I know everyone has read Ender's Game, but has everyone forgotten Speaker for the Dead? Ender's Game is a good novel, but even the author only thought of it as a semi-necessary prequel to Speaker, which had a lot more creative energy and imagination poured into it.
And no one likes Vonnegut? Slaughterhouse 5 was probably his most famous novel, but Cat's Cradle was by far my favorite.
Someone already mentioned Dune which is possibly my favorite traditional novel if I had to pick one. The 4th in the series, God Emperor of Dune, is great too.
Since we didn't disqualify comics, I want to also say that Alan Moore's Top 10: Season 1 is probably the best cop drama ever written.
Also, I know everyone has read Ender's Game, but has everyone forgotten Speaker for the Dead? Ender's Game is a good novel, but even the author only thought of it as a semi-necessary prequel to Speaker, which had a lot more creative energy and imagination poured into it.
And no one likes Vonnegut? Slaughterhouse 5 was probably his most famous novel, but Cat's Cradle was by far my favorite.
Someone already mentioned Dune which is possibly my favorite traditional novel if I had to pick one. The 4th in the series, God Emperor of Dune, is great too.
Since we didn't disqualify comics, I want to also say that Alan Moore's Top 10: Season 1 is probably the best cop drama ever written.
Neonomicon, huh? I was under the impression that most people didn't like that one. I didn't have any problem with it, but I will say that there's a Visual Novel out there called Saya's Song (Saya no Uta) that does better pretty much everything that Neonomicon did, and even goes farther than Neonomicon was willing to at points.nothingspringstomind said:
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress has rocketed itself to the top of my favorite's list, supplanting Dune.
Everything by Ursula K. LeGuin, especially The Lathe of Heaven (if that counts as sci-fi), and also The Dispossessed and The Left Hand of Darkness and pretty much everything else from the Hainish Cycle. (The Earthsea books are amazing too, but they're definitely fantasy, not sci-fi.)
I also really like Anne McCaffrey's Pern series, which is basically "what if the medieval-fantasy-with-dragons genre was all explained by science and therefore sci-fi," but I tend to like it more in concept than in execution. With the exception of Dragonsong and Dragonsinger, which are the best books she's ever written, by far.
I also really like Anne McCaffrey's Pern series, which is basically "what if the medieval-fantasy-with-dragons genre was all explained by science and therefore sci-fi," but I tend to like it more in concept than in execution. With the exception of Dragonsong and Dragonsinger, which are the best books she's ever written, by far.
I'll mix things up by saying Speaker for the Dead instead of Ender's Game. Apart from that, Dune also gets a mention, of course, as well as Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy.
Also that, definitely. McCaffrey's style can be a bit weird at times, and I can't say I go for the time travel/massively overpowered telekinesis powers she gives the dragons, but that book was great.EmperorSubcutaneous said:
Aside from the obvious Ender's Game and Hitchhiker's Guide, I'd say my favorite Science Fiction novel is The Windup Girl.