I have gone through a mystery/thriller phase, and more recently have been reading mostly fantasy and romance. I am now interested in dipping my toe into the sci-fi world. Where should I start?? I like both stand alone books and longer series but I don't think I want to completely jump off the deep end with a huge series in this genre just yet. I have the first couple Dune books so I was considering reading those but wanted to see if there may be something totally new to me that I would be interested in instead of reading something I am somewhat familiar with from seeing the movies.
by Automatic-Phrase8363
6 Comments
Project Hail Mary
For a start that isn’t a massive break with what you’ve been reading, maybe try
The Stars Too Fondly by Emily Hamilton
or
The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer.
Both are pretty new, not too long, with elements of mystery/thriller/romance.
“The Martian” also by Andy Weir
Stranger in a Strange Land
Perfect for a noob to the land of sci fi
The Martian and Project Hail Mary, both written by Andy Weir are great.
Martian is more science based, very realistic. Project Hail Mary has more of the fantasy elements in it. Both are very funny.
If you want to try a series, go for Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells. Most of the books are short 160-180 pages, only the 5th book is around 400.
Or the Bobiverse series. I just finished the first book, it was interesting. I plan to read the second one to see if I like it. I was not 100% conviced the Murderbot Diaries were for me after the first book, but fell in love with it when reading the second one, where the main character’s personality is more pronounced. It only got better after that.
*The Moon is a Harsh Mistress* by Robert Heinlein for a serious book.
*The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy* by Douglas Adams for a comedic book.
**The Damned** by Alan Dean Foster for a series (the first book is *A Call to Arms*.)
**The Murderbot Diaries** by Martha Wells is another excellent series (the first book is *All Systems Red*)
*The Mote in God’s Eye* by Pournelle and Niven is another good standalone book.