I'm talking books with:
- compelling characters like The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells
- fascinating ideas like the Pandominion duology or the Book of Koli trilogy by MR Carey
- that are just a good fucking read that deliver on every promise set up early on, like the strong "eat the rich" themes of Starter Villain by John Scalzi
- trilogies whose books are excellent standalone and the collection of which is better than any individual book, like the Impossible Times trilogy by Mark Lawrence
I do not want:
- "cozy scifi" for people who don't actually like scifi. If the "scifi" is a setting but it could just as easily be on our regular ass earth for all the relevance it has or it's a "blink and you miss it" element, then I'm out. I want scifi, not vibes.
- inconsistent science. I'm okay with hand-wavy science "it works because I said so," and I'm okay with science that is explained, but if someone with minimal science background can tell it's inaccurate or the rules are made up as the plot demands, I stop believing it, and I'm out.
- absolutely no rape; just don't like it in any book.
If your recommendation landed on Goodreads' Readers' Choice Awards list this year, then I guarantee you, I read it. Get me the legit reads that Goodreads keeps missing.
by twee_centen
7 Comments
Like this comment i wanna come back and see the suggestions please 🙏🏻Im interested
*Embassytown* by China Mieville
**The Damned Trilogy** by Alan Dean Foster (first book is *A Call to Arms*)
*The Moon is a Harsh Mistress* by Robert Heinlein
*The Forever War* by Joe Haldeman
The Book of the New Sun series by Wolfe. Buckle up.
Semiosis trilogy by Sue Burke
Longer version of my comment got eaten, so a much shorter one:
Do not read *any* other book by him (he likes to discuss violence, degradation, horrors, etc.), but Iain M. Banks’ **Look to Windward** has no rape (as far as I can tell; I just spent 15 minutes searching the ebook for any sign of it) and can be read as a standalone. Graphic *consensual* sex; *very* graphic violence; as far as I can remember and see, no rape.
Settings and characters (some of the items in this list are *both* settings and characters) include: a gigantic space station, some five-legged aliens, a three-legged alien, a space whale big enough to be its own biome.
Some years ago, the Culture (a utopian humanoid society) intervened in Chelgrian (the five-legged people) society to make it more ‘moral’, according to Culture standards. This caused a destructive civil war, and now some Chelgrians are arriving on a Culture station, years later, carrying their own trauma. It’s about consequences, identity, trauma, and the threat contained in the promise of salvation.
The Wreck of the River of Stars – Michael Flynn
Character based heavy sci-fi that not nearly enough people know about.
Embassytown by China Mieville is my second favorite book regardless of genre