hiiiiii. looking to read some sci-fi but feel like i’ve exhausted all the major ones. are there any sci-fi books or series you wish got more hype?
some of my favorites are dune (obviously), project hail mary/the martian and wayfarers
edit: bonus points if it’s written by a woman
by juunkitty
12 Comments
Martha Wells Murderbot diaries
I really dislike Dune (obviously).
Try Mars Crossing, Geoff Landis. Written by a NASA scientist, very under rated and IMO better than Weir.
I like the works of Yume Kitasei(the deep sky), Ted Chiang(stories of your life and others), Martha Wells(the murderbot diaries), Ann Leckie(ancillary justice), Arkady Martine(A Memory Called Empire), Becky Chambers(A Psalm For The Wild Built), Aliette De Bodard(The Tea Master and The Detective). (tried to put their most well known work if you don’t know names)
Walking to Aldebaran by adrian Tchaikovsky is my particular to you recommendation
also well known in the past but Downbelow Station by C. J. Cherryh might be up your alley
Tanya Huff’s Confederation series
I will never stop recommending A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine. I want everyone to read it so I have more people to talk about it with.
Basic premise: an ambassador from an outlying station gets called up to replace her dead predecessor in Teixcalaan, the heart of an empire that seeks only to devour more cultures. The problem is, she quickly figures out her predecessor was probably murdered and the culprit is also trying to kill her, too, while she’s trying to figure out what it means to be an outsider on the inside. Part political thriller, part sci fi with sociological/anthropological question at its core.
If you like it, there’s also a sequel!
h{{Agent of Change by Sharon Lee}}.
Free ebook on the publisher’s website Baen.com.
Silo series is really good all though it’s not super sci-fi-y
Somebody mentioned Martha Wells, so let me add 3 suggestions.
1) Children of … series from Adrian Tchaikovsky if you like hard scifi with fresh ideas
2) Blindsight from Peter Watts if you like a gritty, grim, hard scifi. (but you’ll have to tolerate vampires in space)
3) If you read the western classics, try to turn your gaze towards the Eastern Bloc writers of old. Arkady and Boris Strugacki wrote a lot of good, interesting scifi. Most well known is Rodside Picnic, but I also liked Space Mowgli/the Kid or Noon) Stanislaw Lem wrote interesting stories, with his most known work Solaris.
Have you read Ursula LeGuin? She’s a giant but underrated sometimes because she and her estate do not license her work for movies and merch.
I recommend *For a Breath I Tarry* by Roger Zelazny.
I love almost anything by Octavia Butler
The Culture books by Ian M Banks are great and you can read them in order