Just finished the Enders game series, ready player one and about finished with ready player two. I got a cyberpunk 2077 book that I don’t mind putting on the back burner for a bit longer. Was considering asimonov’s foundation series. Any classics you recommend? Just started reading last year so I haven’t gone through much at all.
by Purpl3banana
4 Comments
Here are some you might like. These are also about games of strategy where the protagonist may or may not understand the true stakes, similar to Ender’s Game and Ready Player One:
* Red Rising by Pierce Brown
* The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks
More in the cyberpunk genre besides Ready Player One, but without featuring deadly games of strategy:
* In a different subreddit [I have a list of freely available short stories](https://www.reddit.com/r/cyberpunkred/comments/16vmf8v/cyberpunk_stories_to_get_in_the_mood/).
* **The Girl Who Was Plugged In** by James Tiptree Jr., a classic cyberpunk novella and one of the oldest things in the genre. I’m not sure if you will like it, but it’s definitely shorter and faster paced than Neuromancer and Snow Crash.
* **Busted Synapses** by Erica L. Satifka, a recently published novella.
* **Voice of the Whirlwind** by Walter Jon Williams.
* **Blackfish City** by Sam J. Miller
* **We Are Satellites** by Sarah Pinsker. The author has a very easily readable writing style.
* **Snow Crash** by Neal Stephenson, a great classic.
* **Infomocracy** by Malka Older. A vaguely similar premise to Snow Crash
* **Islands in the Net** by Bruce Sterling. This author has written a lot of books, and a lot of cyberpunk, but I like this one. It’s a fun mix of extremely good predictions of how people would use the internet to communicate, and comically outdated geopolitics.
* **Rule 34** by Charles Stross (near future) and **Accelerando** by Charles Stross (far future).
* The **Sprawl series** by William Gibson, also great classics. The first book, Neuromancer, I found hard to get into. I personally like the sequel Count Zero better.
* **Trouble and Her Friends** by Melissa Scott
Asimov’s “Foundation” series are a classic for a reason, delving into big ideas about the future of humanity and the nature of civilization.
As for other classics, try Philip K. Dick’s stuff, like “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” That’s the book “Blade Runner” was based on. It’s got that gritty, thought-provoking vibe.
If you’re looking for something a bit more recent, you could try “The Expanse” series by James S.A. Corey. It’s got a good mix of space opera and hard sci-fi, with a bunch of political intrigue thrown in for good measure.
If we’re talking about classics I’d add Larry Niven to all the excellent suggestions here. His books have great worldbuilding even if his characters aren’t all that great.
In particular I’d recommend the Ringworld series and Integral Trees / Smoke Ring.
*The Moon is a Harsh Mistress* by Robert Heinlein
*Snow Crash* by Neal Stephenson
*The Mote in God’s Eye* by Pournelle and Niven
*All Systems Red* by Martha Wells
*The Demolished Man* by Alfred Bester