Sci Fi recommendations

[Sloth]

I just finished reading the Forever War this afternoon and thought it was excellent.

[Headache]

I just finished reading the Forever War this afternoon and thought it was excellent.

You listening bastion? Give it another go!

[Flub]

I'm 2/3rds of the way through my first ever reading of Dune. Bloody love it.

[Cocky]

I'm 2/3rds of the way through my first ever reading of Dune. Bloody love it.

It's an incredible piece of sci-fi. I'm rereading Dune for about the fifth time. Are the other books any good? I'm mostly interested in the Bene Gesserit and their history.

[ZOK]

Dune Messiah is just as good, Children of Dune is worth a read if you still want more, but you'd have to be really committed to go beyond those two I'd say.

[Danster]

Yeah, the next two are well worth reading but they get reaally woolly after that... I have read them all

[Mr Cochese]

I hated Dune Messiah and Children Of Dune, but liked God Emperor Of Dune. The Second and third novels seem like some ludicrous soap opera, but then it switches back to the mythic quality of the first book.

[csuzw]

I enjoyed all the books from Dune to Chapterhouse: Dune. Dune is by far the best but I still enjoyed the later books (I think I actually enjoyed the last 3 more than the 2 preceding them).

On a similar line, has anyone got any opinions on the Brian Herbert/Kevin J Anderson Dune books? I'm occasionally tempted to get them but I assume they're pretty terrible, being sequels by different authors and 1 of those authors being Kevin J Anderson (the only book I've enjoyed with his name on it was Tales of the Bounty Hunter and he only edited that).

[ZOK]

Maybe I should go back and read the later ones, I was about fifteen when I read them all so maybe I'd like them better.

[Flams]

I've been reading the books of "the saga of the seven suns" by Kevin J Anderson and I really recommend them to anyone.

[Quest]

Funnily enough I'm on my fourth read through of Dune right now, and was just coming in to ask about the Brian Herbert/Kevin J. Anderson novels. They always look a bit iffy to me.

[c-cat114]

I listened to the audio book of Paul of Dune a while ago and it was alright I suppose. I LOVED Dune from 1 to.. 5? (didn't like the last one which seemed more a tacked on Dune in name only book. FWIW God Emperor is my favourite of the series).

Anyhow Paul of Dune not a bad start off if you wanted to give them a try. It's set iirc between Dune and Messiah and contains itself pretty well to that specific part of the history.

[Mr Cochese]

God Emperor is ace, I think. I liked Dune, but then Dune Messiah and Children Of Dune just bored me with their mix of dull mystical contrivances and political chicanery. God Emperor sort of brings the series back to its mythic, grandiose roots. The set up for God Emperor at the end of Children of Dune was pretty ass, but the pay-off is more than worth it.

[ZOK]

God Emperor is ace, I think. I liked Dune, but then Dune Messiah and Children Of Dune just bored me with their mix of dull mystical contrivances and political chicanery. God Emperor sort of brings the series back to its mythic, grandiose roots. The set up for God Emperor at the end of Children of Dune was pretty ass, but the pay-off is more than worth it.

I hated Dune Messiah and Children Of Dune, but liked God Emperor Of Dune. The Second and third novels seem like some ludicrous soap opera, but then it switches back to the mythic quality of the first book.

Get some new material Cochese!

[Mr.Jeff]

On a similar line, has anyone got any opinions on the Brian Herbert/Kevin J Anderson Dune books? I'm occasionally tempted to get them but I assume they're pretty terrible, being sequels by different authors and 1 of those authors being Kevin J Anderson (the only book I've enjoyed with his name on it was Tales of the Bounty Hunter and he only edited that).

Funnily enough I'm on my fourth read through of Dune right now, and was just coming in to ask about the Brian Herbert/Kevin J. Anderson novels. They always look a bit iffy to me.

I've read the first 3 prequels set just before the Dune series and the first book of the Butterlain Jihad era. They're passable. The pre-Dune prequel is possibly slightly more enjoyable than the book of Butterlain Jihad that I read. The problem being is that you're constantly reminded how much it's not like his father's way of writing.

Their own writing is passable enough but I'd say all you're really getting is the story with no feeling of the soul of the series. Additionally, the Butterlain Jihad novel gives massive hints regarding what will happen in the novels set after Frank's last book which is massively irritating.

The enemy that's encroaching into the universe

tl;dr - If you want a conclusion or just to continue on some of the Dune universe go for it but don't expect wonders.

[Mr Cochese]

Get some new material Cochese!

I have a cold, you bastard!

[Danster]

Apologies if it has already been mentioned, I did do a quick search but couldn't find anything, by Richard Morgan's books, specifically the Kovacs' novels are well worth a read. An interesting take on future human society where the body is no more thna a sleeve and eveyone has a device for recording their brain before death... whether you can afford to be re-sleeved is another question!

Well written and some excellent action sequences but not particularly speace-based. Good stuff and well recommended.

[Mr Cochese]

If anyone would like to read something slightly trashy but surprisingly decent, I would recommend The Damned series by novelisation supremo Alan Dean Foster. Instead of being about Captain Sensible, it's actually a space opera in which Humans get recruited into a galactic war after the aliens discover that, compared to them, we are almost psychotically attuned to violence and war. It's either a harsh critique of human nature or a fist pumping celebration of our ability to dismember other living things, depending on which way you look at it.

Quite reminiscent of the Halo games, in a way.

[Headache]

Sounds like fun, might check out the first book.

[Flub]

Apologies if it has already been mentioned, I did do a quick search but couldn't find anything, by Richard Morgan's books, specifically the Kovacs' novels are well worth a read. An interesting take on future human society where the body is no more thna a sleeve and eveyone has a device for recording their brain before death... whether you can afford to be re-sleeved is another question!

Well written and some excellent action sequences but not particularly speace-based. Good stuff and well recommended.

If you like the Kovacs books try reading Jeff Somers Avery Cates series. Starting with The Electric Church. It's up to a fourth book so far and getting better all the time. He starts off in the first book laying the foundation of his future Earth (Not a nice place) and telling a story about people getting their brains transfered into electric Monks. Then just for aceness in the second book he smashes the entire thing to fuck and throws everything into bloody chaos which is still going on (But evolving every book) by the fourth book (Which I'm reading now).

Lots of violence, dark humour and general badassery.

[Flub]

If anyone would like to read something slightly trashy but surprisingly decent, I would recommend The Damned series by novelisation supremo Alan Dean Foster. Instead of being about Captain Sensible, it's actually a space opera in which Humans get recruited into a galactic war after the aliens discover that, compared to them, we are almost psychotically attuned to violence and war. It's either a harsh critique of human nature or a fist pumping celebration of our ability to dismember other living things, depending on which way you look at it.

Quite reminiscent of the Halo games, in a way.

I like a bit of Foster but I've never read these. Sounds right up my alley. A couple of his standalones worth reading are Sentenced To Prism and To Vanishing Point. Both excellent and very different from each other.

[Danster]

If you like the Kovacs books try reading Jeff Somers Avery Cates series. Starting with The Electric Church. It's up to a fourth book so far and getting better all the time. He starts off in the first book laying the foundation of his future Earth (Not a nice place) and telling a story about people getting their brains transfered into electric Monks. Then just for aceness in the second book he smashes the entire thing to fuck and throws everything into bloody chaos which is still going on (But evolving every book) by the fourth book (Which I'm reading now).

Lots of violence, dark humour and general badassery.

Cheers for that, I hadn't heard of him, I'll check them out once I've finished on my current to-do list....

[Miner Willy]

I don't even know why I looked in this thread in the first place as I've never been particularly into sci-fi, but for some reason I did, and I ended up on holiday with a copy of The Stars My Destination. I wasn't totally convinced I would like it, but as soon as I started I was just floored by it. Oh my fucking God - what an amazing book! It's a book of ideas, but also a real adventure page turner with a superb lead character - and as others have said: it feels so fresh and modern; I can't believe it was written 50-odd years ago.

Oh, and it's clearly influenced by The Count of Monte Cristo, which is of course the best book ever. So that makes it even better.

As soon as I got home I ordered The Demolished Man. If the other SF Masterworks are like this then I could become a proper sci-fi convert at this rate. Good suggestion chaps!

[Mr Cochese]

The sci-fi masterworks series has never disappointed me. If you love yourself, you'll get you a copy of Lord Of Light.

[Flub]

If anyone would like to read something slightly trashy but surprisingly decent, I would recommend The Damned series by novelisation supremo Alan Dean Foster. Instead of being about Captain Sensible, it's actually a space opera in which Humans get recruited into a galactic war after the aliens discover that, compared to them, we are almost psychotically attuned to violence and war. It's either a harsh critique of human nature or a fist pumping celebration of our ability to dismember other living things, depending on which way you look at it.

Quite reminiscent of the Halo games, in a way.

I'm onto the second book now. The first was slow going but really picked up towards the last quarter. The second one is much much more interesting.

What I did lol at was the bad guys realising they'd picked a fight with a race of clinically insane aliens who come from a mad planet and who spent the time that other aliens spent achieving peaceful civilisation by building an insane stockpile of weapons who then discover that it's far more fun killing aliens than it is killing each other and proceed to start kicking arse. Bonus points that the first round of arse kicking was done by the homeless, the poor and the stupid. BECAUSE WE'RE THAT FUCKING AWESOME.

Cheers for the recommendation. I'm having a blast.

[Aardvark]

The sci-fi masterworks series has never disappointed me. If you love yourself, you'll get you a copy of Lord Of Light.

Yep, it really is an excellent book.

[Talvalin]

I haven't read very many of the SF masterworks (I know PDK was amazing, but all of his books were in print so really Gollancz should have picked a couple of his and then concentrated on less well known works) but I highly recommend these ones:

The Forever War - Joe Haldeman

The Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester

Lord of Light - Roger Zelazny

The Dispossessed - Ursula K. Le Guin

Eon - Greg Bear

The next four are also brilliant, but are set on Earth rather in space (are we still concentrating on space opera stuff or is this now a general SF thread?)

The Demolished Man - Alfred Bester

Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes

The Lathe of Heaven - Ursula K. Le Guin

Stand on Zanzibar - John Brunner

[smac]

Yep, it really is an excellent book.

So good, it even gets props in the Fantasy Recommendations thread as well. Great book.

I also threw in a shout for Lord Valentine's Castle in there, as a similar 'SF that reads a bit like Fantasy' crossover - the first book; the rest are a case of diminishing returns.

[Headache]

I haven't read very many of the SF masterworks (I know PDK was amazing, but all of his books were in print so really Gollancz should have picked a couple of his and then concentrated on less well known works) but I highly recommend these ones:

The Forever War - Joe Haldeman

The Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester

Lord of Light - Roger Zelazny

The Dispossessed - Ursula K. Le Guin

Eon - Greg Bear

The next four are also brilliant, but are set on Earth rather in space (are we still concentrating on space opera stuff or is this now a general SF thread?)

The Demolished Man - Alfred Bester

Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes

The Lathe of Heaven - Ursula K. Le Guin

Stand on Zanzibar - John Brunner

I'd also include these other Masterworks books on a must read list.

Mocking Bird - Walter Tevis

Gateway - Frederik Pohl

The Fountains of Paradise - Arthur C. Clarke

I bought a ton of them when Borders was going under and everything was discounted. I'm currently reading The Lathe of Heaven mentioned above and it's been excellent so far.

[poppa_f]

Also worth checking out from the SF Masterworks list:

Ringworld

Flowers for Algernon

Dune