Recommend a Sci-fi novel

[Ender]

Wait, I have conditions!


1. The book is not a book in a long complex series of novels. If it happens to have another book in the same universe, and is itself well contained and can stand alone, ok. But if you need to read multiple things to resole it, no go. For example, Mote In God's Eye would pass, but Ender's Shadow would not.

2. It must be non-generic. I visited B&N yesterday, and I was nauseated as I skimmed the fantasy section, with every book being part one in a six part series with a wizard on the cover, and called something like "THE MAGIC OF THE SORCERER'S FIRE", and had a content of about that level. These books must be so good as to stand out in some provoking way. Something mindblowing in its pages.

3. You should tell me, without spoiling any major plot points or resorting to obvious general compliments, WHY it is an enjoyable book. If you just post the name of the book and the author I'm going to pretend like you didn't even post. Was it the characters? The plot? The world?

4. You only get to pick one book here. 1 So make it good.

[Ford Prefect]

What have you read recently, so I don't say anything redundant?

[Pulp Hero]

I'm going to assume you're a familiar sci-fi/fantasy reader so I'll skip some obvious choices and say-

Old Man's War. by John Scalzi.

It is a sci-fi war novel set in a future where humanity is a fairly weak power. The title comes from the fact that a person enlists in their 30s-50s for a term of service at around 80-90, with the upside being some secret military method of rejuvenation.

The story is of a man who enlists and his tour.

Solid sci-fi action, good background universe, some intersting technology displayed. Though to be honest it had some explicit sex stuff that I always find out of place in action stories.

[Bob the Gunslinger]

A Fire Upon the Deep, by Vernor Vinge

It's a classic space opera story about a galaxy-threatening event and the people who have to stop it. However, the universe in this novel is unique in that computers and ftl work more powerfully and more quickly the further you get from the center of the galaxy. This gives the threat, which takes advantage of the "singularity"-like computing speeds at the edge of the galaxy, a real sense of menace as it gains more and more ground forcing the survivors into the more primitive core of the galaxy. The aliens portrayed in the series are also quite well done, with one particular species really standing out from most of what you see in average sci fi. Also, the space battle kicks ass.

[Bob the Gunslinger]

Um, Pulp Hero, isn't Old Man's War part of a trilogy with The Last Colony and Ghost Brigades?

[Ender]

Um, Pulp Hero, isn't Old Man's War part of a trilogy with The Last Colony and Ghost Brigades?

Fire Upon the Deep is part of a duology in the same vein - it stands alone, but is part of a larger universe. Glass houses, stones, etc.

[Ender]

What have you read recently, so I don't say anything redundant?

Idea is just create a good list.

[Gerald Tarrant]

Footfall (if you haven't read it yet), by Niven and Pournelle is pretty good.

The aliens are positively alien, and humanity isn't quite up to understanding or resisting them at first. The portrayal of the aliens, alone makes the book an interesting read.

[Ford Prefect]

What have you read recently, so I don't say anything redundant?

Idea is just create a good list.

Okay, well, I'll have to suggest Sun of Suns by Karl Schroeder. While it is book one of the Virga series, the story basically stands alone, and as far as I can tell, the second book just features one of the characters from Sun of Suns, doing her thing in a new plot. As such, it can be safely read on its own without having to worry about the plot running into another novel.

Virga is basically one of the coolest settings ever: it is a pressurised bag floating in space. As such, while it has breathable air, it is also all in freefall, meaning that settlements made to take advantage of centrifugal gravity are common, and there's at least one aristocracy that denies its peons gravity. Schroeder really takes advantage of the zero-gee environment. There's a town built into a gigantic sphere of water, there are farms floating about like wheaty asteroids, there are 'airships' galore shooting each other with kerosene powered rockets, there are swashbuckling zero-gee swordfights and so on. On top of that detail, he's put a lot of work into the 'weather' of Virga. As Virga's orbit is really far from its star, it would freeze without the mysterious technology of the artificial suns. Every major (and lots of not so major) nations have their own sun, and there is mention of 'pirate suns', which are enclosed in walls, with only certain portholes open to illuminate distant towns. Because of the nature of the various suns, this strips Virga with vast swathes of 'winter' - cold, dark swathes of air populated by pirates and vagabonds and what have you.

In addition to one of the coolest settings I've ever heard of, the plot itself is not too shaby either. It's got the right amount of intruige, piracy, swashbuckling and quests, plus it's rather well written.

[Bob the Gunslinger]

Um, Pulp Hero, isn't Old Man's War part of a trilogy with The Last Colony and Ghost Brigades?

Fire Upon the Deep is part of a duology in the same vein - it stands alone, but is part of a larger universe. Glass houses, stones, etc.

Oh. I haven't read Old Man's War yet, though I did start it. I ended up buying all three books because I was told it was a trilogy--in the sense that I would have to read all three to get one complete story. I retract my statement since that does not seem to be the case.

Also, A Deepness in the Sky did not hold my attention past 60 pages. Sometimes you just can't revisit the same universe.

[Lord of the Abyss]

I like The Ring of Charon. It has a sequel, but is fine alone. Selling points : It has lots of Big Stuff if you like that sort of thing; planets getting crunched into black holes, the Fermi Paradox, a Dyson Sphere, and the main action starts when Earth is stolen ( the subtitle sort of gives that away, not much of a spoiler ). Also, an enemy I regarded as what the Borg should have been.

[The Grim Squeaker]

After much deliberation with Hyperion (Which is honestly, a duology), I'll recommend:
"Use Of Weapons" By Iain M. Banks.

It's a sci-fi novel, and while part of the larger "Culture" series it's fully self-contained and understandable.
The characters are memorable (Best is the Drone/Robot who's random personality was a bit too nasty for "Special circumstances" (Think Black ops in Spaaaace. In Utopia. Who play very dirty with the rest of the galaxy), Skeffen-Amitskaw).
The gem of the novel, after that lovable drone and Diziet Smaw (his human companion/handler, who helps show the emotional versilitude of the book, going from horror to comedy (the giant teddy-bear ship Avatar)), is the protagonist though.
The characters are exceedingly well written (On the "level" of fine fiction, not generic cardboard cooky cutter characters), and the depths of some of them are intruiguing and later, utterly shocking.
And for the love of all that is holy, get the older cover of the book, showing a small, white "chair". And Do NOT read older spoiler threads on the book, and do NOT "accidentally" skip to the ending.

Do you want an explanation about the unique Culture universe, or are you vaguely familiar with it?

[Patrick Degan]

Joe Haldeman's The Forever War.

[phred]

Cusp, By Robert A. Metzger
Basically the Earth sprouts rocket engines while the sun does something similar. There's a group of people trying to 'evolve' past 'The Point' becoming energy beings. and then there's some other people, just trying to get along in the world. All the plotlines eventually come together after the rockets start up and the sun and earth start moving toward their destination.

[Saxtonite]

The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon. It explains what might happen with a "Cure" to Autism in the US and how companies and corporations might act to it, whether it's best to be the same or be "cured", etc. I'm still reading it but the first pages are good. Her research seems accurate too.

[phred]

Or The Android's Dream, by John Scalzi. which is funny as hell. But you said only one book, so I'll shut up now

[Thanatos]

Pyramid Scheme by Eric Flint and David Freer. Good book about an alien probe that abducts people into Greek Myth while growing ever larger. Extremely excellent book that applies a less glamorous, less rose tinted and more accurate interpretation of Greek myth. It doesn't pull any punches showing how fucked up the Gods are compared to our modern romanticized view of them.

Works well on two levels: The analysis of the probe from the outside and the efforts of those inside to figure out how to get out. Has a great cross section of characters, is well written, has a great plot, has a good point to make about the way we look at myth and is generally excellent all around.

[Karza]

The characters are memorable (Best is the Drone/Robot who's random personality was a bit too nasty for "Special circumstances" (Think Black ops in Spaaaace. In Utopia. Who play very dirty with the rest of the galaxy), Skeffen-Amitskaw).

What? First of all, it's Skaffen-Amtiskaw. Second, I think you're confusing it with the drone from The Player of Games (Mawhrin-Skel), because there wasn't anything wrong with Skaffen-Amtiskaw's personality, it just didn't like Zakalwe much.

And it's Diziet Sma, not Smaw .

[Shortie]

Joe Haldeman's The Forever War.

Worth expanding on.

It's a counterpoint to the generic mil-SF books which are all Dulce et decorum est. It treats war as a (somewhat) necessary evil, with relativity actually coming into play, and proper aliens. Tech advances, combat isn't at 20 paces, and society really changes.

There is an actual sequel, and a kind of partner (Forever Free & Forever Peace), but you don't need them. (in fact I wouldn't really recommend Free, though Peace is also good.


Since you mention fantasy in the OP, mine is The Curse of Chalion. Technically part of a trilogy, but again stands alone. Bujold does great characters, understated but well-considered magic, and nice world-building. Plus the hero is pretty awesome, and as ever her dialogue is good.

[The Grim Squeaker]

The characters are memorable (Best is the Drone/Robot who's random personality was a bit too nasty for "Special circumstances" (Think Black ops in Spaaaace. In Utopia. Who play very dirty with the rest of the galaxy), Skeffen-Amitskaw).

What? First of all, it's Skaffen-Amtiskaw. Second, I think you're confusing it with the drone from The Player of Games (Mawhrin-Skel), because there wasn't anything wrong with Skaffen-Amtiskaw's personality, it just didn't like Zakalwe much.

And it's Diziet Sma, not Smaw .

Goddamn I suck. The spelling can go to hell for all I care (Next you'll be mentioning Diziet's 1.5 sentence long full name ), but confusing the drones aaash...

[Crazedwraith]

The characters are memorable (Best is the Drone/Robot who's random personality was a bit too nasty for "Special circumstances" (Think Black ops in Spaaaace. In Utopia. Who play very dirty with the rest of the galaxy), Skeffen-Amitskaw).

What? First of all, it's Skaffen-Amtiskaw. Second, I think you're confusing it with the drone from The Player of Games (Mawhrin-Skel), because there wasn't anything wrong with Skaffen-Amtiskaw's personality, it just didn't like Zakalwe much.

And it's Diziet Sma, not Smaw .

SA was rather overly violent in that flashback where he's defending Sma though. He pulps several people, where he could have just knocked them out.

I would actually recommend "The Player Of Games" as a book to read, for a better introduction to The Culture books.

PoG, is a bout well: what it says on the tin a man who plays games, (board games specifically) and is one of the best in the Culture. However playing games for the sake of playing games is beginning to seem rather pointlesss for him and he wonders what its like in cultures where the out come of games actually matters. (ie. gambling) so in the end the Culture send him to a society where the only thing that matter is a game...

[Vendetta]

What? First of all, it's Skaffen-Amtiskaw. Second, I think you're confusing it with the drone from The Player of Games (Mawhrin-Skel), because there wasn't anything wrong with Skaffen-Amtiskaw's personality, it just didn't like Zakalwe much..

This was a prophetic mistake.

Because you should actually read The Player of Games. It's a great combination of compelling characters and the more wildly creative side of Iain Banks' imagination, essentially distilling the best parts of Banks into one novel.

[Vendetta]

Joe Haldeman's The Forever War.

Worth expanding on.

It's a counterpoint to the generic mil-SF books which are all Dulce et decorum est. It treats war as a (somewhat) necessary evil, with relativity actually coming into play, and proper aliens. Tech advances, combat isn't at 20 paces, and society really changes.

The effects of relativity were actually the point of The Forever War. It was inspired by Haldeman's experience in Vietnam, where every time he and others returned from a tour of duty, the society at home that they had been told they were fighting for was more and more distant and unrecognisable, to the point that by the end of the war they simply didn't fit in to it at all any more.

[The Grim Squeaker]

What? First of all, it's Skaffen-Amtiskaw. Second, I think you're confusing it with the drone from The Player of Games (Mawhrin-Skel), because there wasn't anything wrong with Skaffen-Amtiskaw's personality, it just didn't like Zakalwe much..

This was a prophetic mistake.

Because you should actually read The Player of Games. It's a great combination of compelling characters and the more wildly creative side of Iain Banks' imagination, essentially distilling the best parts of Banks into one novel.

Player of Games is the best introductory Culture novel, but it's not the (from a literary, critical POV) best Culture book.
If he was asking for multiple books then I'd say POG then UoW, and all of Pratchett's Sci fi books and Dan simmon's Hyperion duology and, and,

[Murazor]

Foundation.

Although it is part of a long, complex series of novels, it stands alone pretty well on its own, unlike Foundation & Empire and Second Foundation, which are much more closely linked through the Mule's story arc.

And while its galactic empire is somewhat generic, the utter lack of aliens in the Foundationverse and the concept of psycho-history for long term social planning were original enough back in the day to merit this recommendation.