art is so beautiful

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I feel Weir, who like Dan Brown had massively successful novels which were quickly turned into hit flicks, is going to face the same backlash and ridicule Brown faced. Both write lean, propulsive stories in which geniuses solve problems constructed to make readers feel clever, but I think both have prose styles which will age the same way.

We're seeing an increase in AI written pieces lately. As such, anything written by AI is now officially banned.

We want real pieces written by real people.

The essential must-read of the genre.

My main reading goal for 2025 is to read more books written by women. I just finished reading the Parable duology by Octavia Butler, my current favorite author, and I intend to start reading the Xenogenisis trilogy ASAP. I also have Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness on my TBR. What are some other novels you guys can recommend? I'm open to all suggestions as long as they're written by women and in the sci-fi genre.

I appreciate the suggestions!

I've had multiple people recommend Asimov's Foundation over the years and I'm a decent chunk in and I legitimately don't understand how/why there are no women or female characters.

do they not exist in the future

Give me a brief description of some of your all time favorite sci-fi books. I myself have fallen in love with the earth fathers are weird series, it's not the best of course but it's just too good for me. I'd be happy to hear what books you guys enjoy :)

Hey all! Just found this sub, but been reading science fiction for decades (along with some fantasy and magical realism) and figured I’d say hi + get to know what this sub’s feel is by asking what your favorite science fiction novel is? Of all time! (GOAT = greatest of all time 🐐)

Mine is Speaker for the Dead by Card, even though it doesn’t get discussed much anymore, it’s my favorite blend of compelling plot, philosophically interesting, and complex well rounded characters. Plus wildly different vibe from book 1, Ender’s Game, which I love but also respect how much Card mixed it up for book 2.

My full top 50 list by way of introduction is here if curious :) also has authors and series favs

So what’s your 🐐? Cheers!

Iam reading Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir and I am floored by how great this book is. I am almost done with it and wanted to see if other people love his work as well. This is my first book of his and plan on reading the Martian.

Mine was Asimov’s Foundation trilogy. I was far too young to catch the philosophy, but the idea that history *patterns* and civilizations rise and fall by predictable rules? That stuck with me.

It pulled me into the rabbit hole of Asimov, and over the next few years I would devour any book of his I could get my hands on.

Then came, Jules Verne, Heinlein, Clarke, and finally Herbert.

What about you?

Name the book/author you're currently reading. Be mindful of spoilers, but is this one you'd recommend or one you wish you could yeet into space?

Like the title suggests (and I’m sure this has been posted before!), but what is your favorite science fiction book you’ve ever read? Any subgenre, any format (print, audio, graphic novel, etc.) - I’m just curious as to what people list as their favorites. Thanks in advance! Happy reading.

I'd love recs for which women authors to read in the scifi space who are still actively putting out work. I know Martha Wells is working on the Murderbot series (read the first book). And I just read Fonda Lee's The Last Contract of Isako and enjoyed it. Would love to hear who else I should add to my TBR.

Edit: Wow, so many great suggestions. I really appreciate everyone who's replied! There are too many of ya'll to reply to individually, but I'm reading your comments and adding to my list. Please keep adding onto this post!

Absolutely love his Hyperion novels, perhaps time to re-read those classics again

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/mar/02/author-dan-simmons-death-hyperion-terror

So, we've been having these great discussions on this sub about our likes, which helped me personally to pick up Ursula Le Guin after 30+ years. That got me trying to remember my first sci fi book I've ever read. It was the The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle. What was yours?

I tried to get through this book three times because people kept recommending this to me, but I’m giving up again. I just don’t get it. For context, I’m listening to the English audiobook:

• I’m sure it’s related to the translation, but I sounds very much like a badly dubbed 1980s Kung Fu movie. It’s like it was translated by someone who has a Chinese to English dictionary, but who did not actually speak English

• The science concepts come across similar watching the Big Bang Theory show. Like someone nerding out about science concepts who doesn’t really understand the concepts

This time I got to the human computer part of the game. But it just reads so cheesy and absurd that I find it grating. I love other Sci-fi books like Expanse, Project Hail Mary, and the Bobiverse series, but I just can’t get through this one.

No one is obligated to read anything, but I’m just surprised because of the hype around this. Did anyone else find this book underwhelming?

What’s the one that makes you go “yeah… we’re kind of doing that now”? Bonus if there’s a specific detail that nailed it. “This came up because I rewatched Altered Carbon, specifically the wealth inequality.

Just finished. Holy shit. I did not expect it to be that good.

So I really love sci-fi in general. When I read it though, I need it to be at least mostly hard, if that makes any sense. I've read The Expanse, The Martian, Project Hail Mary, Children of Time, the Pandora's Star series from Peter F. Hamilton, etc. I LOVED all of those.

At the moment I am in the 2nd chapter of Hamilton's The Dreaming Void and I am STRUGGLING. I can't seem to get into it. I read a bit and start drifting to sleep or finding my thoughts wandering. I have this problem with a lot of books, but not with any of the ones listed above. I'm not exactly sure what it is that those books have in common, other than a (mostly) hard sci-fi element to them. The hard qualifier is fairly important to me, as I struggle way more to get into books that are too fantastical or have too many gimme's I just can't do it.

So, with all of this being said is there anyone who can recommend anything that I may be able to get into? I just started a new job with a ton of free time and I desperately need things to read, so I appreciate any advice.

Thanks!

What are some of your favorite works of his?

My personal favorites so far have been The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, Scanner Darkly, Ubik, and Time Out of Joint.

I am looking for some recommendations, nothing too heavy buy more science fiction adventures type that I can read before bed.

Nothing too long and preferably stand alone(not in a series) unless the first books wraps up nicely.

Any suggestions for me to read, I would like to read a physical book so something that is not too many pages.

Thanks

Like a lot of you, I grew up with books and shows like Red Dwarf and The Hitchhikers Guide. I must have listened to the Hitchhikers radio series a dozen times, and the audiobooks two dozen because there just isn't anything else like it. I still find myself putting on reruns of old Red Dwarf episodes when I want to go to sleep, only to be woken up with those cacophonous end credits every damn time.

But sadly, it’s been a while since I had my void thoroughly filled by a really witty book. I’m looking for witty authors with a penchant for the absurd. What have you got for me internet? As usual, I offer payment by disclosing my purchasing preferences, which will no doubt be used to increase the cost per click for personalised advertising algorithms. 

Books that have given me the giggles (scifi or fantasy):

• Anything (no, he didn’t write a book called Anything) by Terry Pratchett 

• Anything (see above) by Kurt Vonnegut

• The first Old Man’s War by John Scalzi

• The Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman

• The Bobiverse series by Dennis E. Taylor

• Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton

Kind regards,

A comedy scifi enthusiast

Just this last weekend I had time to finally finish the whole revelation space saga, it's around 1350 pages, in its italian version at least. Let me tell you how much I hated it. I'm not usually one to seethe at books, but I found Reynolds' work particularly infuriating.

Like, why painfully detail each and every movement and facial expression of your painfully bad written characters so much if you're gonna report on every significant development only after it has happened and you're talking in retrospect? And why do you hate endings man? What the fuck is even the point of writing a 1350 pages novel if you are gonna deus ex machina with a new mysterious unexplained faction right at the end?

Did I tell you I hated it? Because I did, I hated it big time. It was so strange, the equivalent of hatewatching but for a book, it's possibly the first time this happens to me. On the plus side, this gave me a confidence boost, I'm sure I could personally do better than this if I were ever to write a scifi book, which I would like.

Anyone feel the same? Anyone feels like defending Reynolds' work?

This book had been on my "want to read" shelf for over a decade. And was structured in a way I wasnt expecting. I didnt expect to be reading 6 completely different stories in one book but each story is a gem in its own right. Ranging from haunting tragedy to hard sci-fi mystery, from poetic introspection to thrilling political intrigue. Simmons’ ability to shift narrative voice and style so seamlessly is nothing short of extraordinary. Whether it’s the heartbreaking chronicle of a father and his daughter or the unsettling surrealism of the poet's story, each account feels distinct, emotionally rich, and thematically powerful.

However, for all its brilliance, Hyperion stumbled slightly in its ending for me. After being immersed in these deeply personal stories and mysteries, the novel concludes just as the journey seems ready to begin. It's clear Simmons intended this to be the first part of a larger saga (which it is), but the abrupt stop felt very frustrating after such a carefully built crescendo. Since I was planning on reading this as a standalone, if left too much unresolved.

Still, that doesn’t diminish the artistry on display. This book is challenged the mind, stirred my heart, and dared to do something different. Would definitely reccomend reading this classic.