Any fiction suggestions for a somewhat picky reader? The Expanse lasted me a long while but I’m finishing up the novellas now and need to start looking for something new. Not necessarily in the same genre.
I don’t have a lot of books under my belt as an adult, but some of my favorites have been Stoner by John Williams, Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts, East of Eden, Catch 22, Flowers for Algernon, and Harry Potter. Kind of all over the place I guess. 😅
I’ve also enjoyed John Williams’ other novels, Piranesi, The Things They Carried, House of Leaves, and Ender’s Game and the sequel.
Some books I didn’t really care for include Hitchhiker’s Guide (although I loved the first half), Lolita, Sharp Objects, Turtles All the Way Down, The Stand, The Road, 1984, and Fahrenheit 451.
I’m always overwhelmed trying to find something new, so thanks for any suggestions!
EDIT: Thank you all! It’ll be a bit daunting exploring all these new books but not nearly as daunting as if I had no guidance, so I really appreciate it!
Ian M. Banks’s Culture series is pretty good sci-fi.
Currently on the third book in the Three Body Problem trilogy. Just absolutely mind-blowing. Highly recommended.
Can second this series, loved it
I’m really enjoying the Children of time series. Red rising is also a good one
I just picked up Red Rising based on a streamer’s recommendation, I’m looking forward to it
Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Final Architecture trilogy ticks a lot of the same boxes as the Expanse. A blue collar crew of misfits from different factions gets caught in the center of a galaxy-spanning fight for survival.
I like the books and Adrian in general but he seriously needs a better editor. I was skipping whole pages by book 3 of nothing happening but the same inner monologue we already heard 10 times in the same book. I feel it’s the same thing that happened in children of memory. His series start so strong and then become way too bloated.
Couple of stand alone books:
The Paper Menagerie (and other stories)
The Ocean at the End of the Lane
Stardust
Johnathan Strange and Mr Norel
Couple of series:
Discworld (start with guards guards and follow a reading order guide)
The Culture
Malazan Book of the Fallen (be warned this is big and complex, but my fucking god is it rewarding. Especially on a second read through)
Children of Time
Final Architecture
In regards to Ocean at the end of the lane. You could really broaden that out to anything by Neil Gaiman (Ocean, stardust, graveyard book, neverware, good omens, american gods, etc. Etc.)
And if you like Neil’s fairytale-esque stuff, then check out Spinning Silver and Uprooted by Naomi Novik as well.
N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy scratched that itch for me. I devoured those three novels. It starts with The Fifth Season.
I could say a lot about the setting, the tone, the subtext, but I’ll give you the gift I had walking in. Ignorance. Don’t read any more about the novels. If you’re reading this, right now, stop. Open Libby, or Audible, or whatever you use to get your books. Get the Fifth Season and read it.
You’re still reading this post. What did I tell you.
Go
I’m going to take this opportunity to recommend libro.fm. it’s like Audible but it gives proceeds to local book stores rather than Amazon
Oooh yeah, i like it. I usually borrow books and audio books from the library using Libby but I’ll check it out
Andy Weir’s stuff, The Martian and Project Hail Mary
This list is just in the order that I thought of them, not in the order I think is best quality wise.
- The Caves of Steel - Isaac Asimov
- The Naked Sun - Isaac Asimov
- The Robots of Dawn - Isaac Asimov
All pretty great robot detective novels. Lots of pondering on Asimov’s 3 laws of robotics and how they would play out. Pretty good.
- I, Robot - Isaac Asimov
Also pretty good, anthology of short robot stories. Similar kinda vibe as the above 3.
- Foundation - Isaac Asimov
- Foundation and Empire - Isaac Asimov
- Second Foundation - Isaac Asimov
- Foundation’s Edge - Isaac Asimov
- Foundation and Earth - Isaac Asimov
What if math could predict the future of civilization. The first 3 are the best… sorta loses the thread a bit in the last 2. Overall pretty good. Mostly doesn’t have any robots like the other Asimov books I listed.
- Ringworld - Larry Niven
A giant ring shaped megastructure around a star, lets go explore. Only the first is any good, some low key sexism in it but bearable. Past the first the sexism ramps up. Nivin like a lot of male sci-fi authors doesn’t know how to write women.
- The Murderbot Diaries - Martha Wells
A half robot half human security robot hacks its own systems. Very good, my interpretation of the series is its an allegory for the autistic experience. Also Martha Wells can write women so that’s always a big plus.
- The Three-Body Problem - Liu Cixin
- The Dark Forest - Liu Cixin
- Death’s End - Liu Cixin
I see the 3 body problem series recommended a lot in this thread but it has a lot of overt sexism baked into the plot so don’t really recommend. Lots of fun sci-fi concepts tho, gets into some pretty surreal concepts that border on mathematical physics.
- Ender’s Game - Orson Scott Card
Probably already seen the movie, its pretty much the same. The book is pretty good but the author himself kinda sucks, bigtime homophobe. The follow up books are nowhere near as good as the first.
- The Found and the Lost - Ursula K. Le Guin
Every novella by Ursula K. Le Guin. Some of them are not scifi but most of them are, and the ones that are not are still great. I am currently working though this one now. She has a big anthropologist/feminist slant to her writing so highly recommend. Feels very modern when compared to the other sci-fi that was coming out around the same time. I plan on reading her other longer novels after this but I have not gotten there yet.
- Dune - Frank Herbert
Pretty good sci-fi. Has a bit of a “white boy goes and lives with the natives and becomes their savior” vibe that kinda feels a little off to me but I think Herbert had good intentions. It’s an allegory for the middle east and oil extraction. Overall worth a read just to check it off the list.
- The Captain - Will Wight
- The Engineer - Will Wight
The Last Horizon Series, wizards in the future in space. Pretty much feels like a dnd campaign where every one is already lv20. Sci-fi+Magic. It’s not really very deep but its a fun nonetheless.
- The Martian - Andy Weir
- Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir
Hard science fiction. If you like competency porn or engineering/science then these are for you. Very nerdy stuff.
- We Are Legion (We Are Bob) - Dennis E. Taylor
- For We Are Many - Dennis E. Taylor
- All These Worlds - Dennis E. Taylor
- Heaven’s River - Dennis E. Taylor
The writing itself is kinda meh but the stories are fun. The kinda stuff an engineer daydreams about, like von neumann probes and mind uploading and stuff like that. Over all fun series but not very deep.
Dune is one of my favorite books. Herbert is clear on this, Paul is exploiting the fremen. The Bene Geserat planted the savior myth. Their goals align, mostly, but he can’t really control them, just aim them and pull the trigger.
Also three body problem series is a slog. Character development is not great. He pulls the plug on the main baddie too early and installs a characature of america bad at the end. Second book has one idea.
Lol I like your suggestions and I appreciate all the caveats about authors not knowing how to write women and being low key homophobes or sexist. Too bad there aren’t equally good authors without the BS.
Nice list, I will add to my bucket the hall Mary and the DND ones
I tried reading hitchhiker after seeing the movie but didn’t get my attention. I’m afraid the Martian may be the same thing.
As for Asimov, I’ve read all his books when young, may be worth re reading.
I’ve tried 3 body problem but I’m avoiding typical hero sci Fi stories as long as I still have star Trek books to read, and there’s hundreds of it.
Then there’s one in in progress that I’d like to suggest, "this is how you lose the time war"by Amal El-Mohtar. Very different from anything else I’ve read, it’s less action and more… poetry? It’s more introspective and less descriptive, and you can get a reasonable first impression from the sample ebook pages.
I’ve been looking for authors that are not rooted in dichotomy such as any English related literature (like everyone is clearly good or bad, instead everyone is fallible and in between), including but not limited to sci Fi.
I had the same void to fill after finishing The Expanse series a couple years ago. But I was also still on a bit of a sci-fi “high”.
A quick series that I jumped to afterwards was The Bobiverse. It has a more casual writing style, but entertaining in its own way. I especially liked the first couple books. You and I seem to have similar tastes, so you might consider jumping into the first book to see what you think. ( the exception of strong disagreement on HHGTTG 😁, though I can understand your comment on first vs second half)
The Andy Weir books suggested by others are also great reads, but surprisingly, I would recommend them as audiobooks… because they are even better listens if you are into that. I rarely do audiobooks, but The Martian and Project Hail Mary are hands down the best listening experiences I’ve had. Typically audio doesn’t have the same charm as reading, but I have no hesitation suggesting a listen to those two!
The Last Human by Zack Jordan and Recursion by Blake Crouch were a couple nice one-off reads that had some fascinating themes as well. There were things I didn’t love, but still not bad as a transition if you didn’t feel like jumping into a whole new series.
For a recommendation totally out of left field, sounds like you enjoy deeper fictional world building. You would likely enjoy the fantasy book The Name of The Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, but prepare for epic disappointment when you find out the third book of the trilogy isn’t released, and may never be written.
Ahh, the Bobbieverse… for when we can’t get enough of our favorite Martian. 😉 Jokes aside, I always feel more confident jumping into books from someone who has similar tastes, so thanks for the recommendation! I know, disliking Hitchiker’s Guide is bordering on blasphemy.
I started Project Hail Mary and I think I was irked by the protagonist, if I remember right. But the book has such glowing reviews, maybe it’ll be better for me as an audiobook.
Thanks for the other recommendations as well! I am probably going to shoot for a lighter read before diving into another series. I don’t know if I can jump into an incomplete series though. I’m putting off on reading the Game of Thrones books because I’m worried I’ll get incredibly invested and then they’ll never be finished. Maybe I should just embrace the journey though. There’s still fun to be had even if everything doesn’t get tied up.
The narrator for Project Hail Mary does a great job, so maybe that will be helpful to get through the opening act. Once the meat of the story picks up, it’s pretty awesome IMO.
I’m in the same boat for Game of Thrones… Everyone says I’ll love it, but I can’t bring myself to dive in knowing it won’t be finished. Honestly, I wouldn’t have read Name of the Wind had I known, but the person who recommended it failed to mention the trilogy wasn’t finished! That being said, it leaves a lot of room for imagination, and really inspires more reading when you get to the end of book 2… with a healthy dose of utter frustration.
I’m a big fan of modern epic fantasy. I highly recommend Stormlight Archive and The Kingkiller Chronicles. Sanderson and Rothfuss are easy to read and enjoy.
This is like the sixth time I’ve had Stormlight Archives recommended to me by random strangers. Maybe it’s time to look into those.
Brandon Sanderson is awesome. I recommend starting with the mystborn books, but stormlight are good as well. They’re both part of the cosmere, a universe created by Sanderson. Many other books as well.
Stormlight Archives can be daunting to those not familiar with Sanderson’s works, especially since the books are long (1000+ pages) and the first book is setting up a long 10-book series (plus other stuff from a wider universe).
If you’d like something smaller and standalone to try first, check out “Emperor’s Soul” (novella) or Warbreaker (novel).
Sanderson himself recommends ‘Tress of the Emerald Sea’ as a short work to get a feel for his style. I agee.
My buddy’s and I have started reading through stormlight together. I put it off for years but I have been really enjoying it. Already mostly done with book two.
Just be warned that it does start with a bit of a lore dump by one of the main characters attending university. It’s not all like that.
But I quite ike that you get some explansion of the world before the story really starts
The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells
Great series, I just wish they were longer
One series I haven’t seen recommended yet is Alastair Reynolds novels. Revelation Space is a wonderful series, and if you want to start with a standalone story House of Suns and Diamond Dogs are great choices.
For lighter reading there’s also the Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells.
There’s other older series that may appeal to you: Vatta’s War and Vorkosigan Saga conf to mind.
+1 for Murderbot!
Check out the Silo series by Hugh Howey. AppleTV’s show did the first half of book 1 already, but the books are still better. Great writing and a pretty easy read.
Honestly watching The Expanse was how I got into the series in the first place so I might check out the show first and if I like it, then get the books. Thanks!
I honestly found the series more entertaining than the book, so I stopped after reading book one.
I just reread the three Shift books for that series. Really good.
If you enjoyed The Expanse then I would recommend Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds.
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The Aubrey/Maturin series. Now you might think you’d hate a series of 20 novels set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars because when I finally gave in to my friends constant pressure to read them, so did I. I was wrong, they are brilliant. Very well written and often very, very funny. The movie Master & Commander is based on two or three of them. It’s like if Star Trek was set in the 19th century and on an actual ship.
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The Wolf Hall trilogy. Everyone thinks they know the story of Anne Boleyn and Henry, but this trilogy is unique - set from Cromwell’s perspective.
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Farseer trilogy. Fantasy fiction done right.
A glass of wine with you sir!
Bumpers, no heel taps!
Haha, well you’re right, the setting of the Aubrey series does not sound like my cup of tea, but you’ve convinced me!
I think it’s because, like all good escapist fiction, the setting plays a part but it’s the people you remember. On the surface they’re novels about the Royal Navy but really, like Star Trek, they’re novels about friendship and people.
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