Ask HN: Recommend a Good Sci-Fi Book | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Recommend a Good Sci-Fi Book

3 pointsmacando12 comments

I've recently read:

- The Gods Themselves, Asimov: The second story is brilliant. The other two are meh.

- Neuromancer, Gibson: So disappointing I couldn't finish it. Is there a better cyberpunk book out there?

- Ready Player One, Cline: Loved the book, loved the movie.

- Slaughterhouse-Five, Vonnegut: Not a pure Sci-Fi book, but loved it nonetheless.

CJ Cherryh, Cyteen (and then the rest of the Merchanter universe).

Iain M Banks, Player of Games (and then everything else)

For cyberpunk, Neuromancer and the sprawl trilogy have not aged terribly well. I still like them, but they're from a certain context.

Try Greg Egan's Permutation City; Bruce Sterling's Heavy Weather, Islands in the Net, or Holy Fire.

Lauren Beukes, Zoo City.

There are so, so many ... ;-)

Vernor Vinge: A Deepness in the Sky and A Fire Upon the Deep.

Iain M. Banks: Consider Phlebas (and then spend the following months reading all the rest of the Culture series)

If you're familiar with Usenet, A Fire Upon the Deep has extra good moments.

"Story of Your Life" By Ted Chiang (source for the movie "Arrival")

"Schild's Ladder" by Greg Egan Really, anything by him is good but Schild's Ladder is the best.

Neal Stephenson - Snow Crash

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

Neal Stephenson: Cryptonomicon

For me, Snow Crash was awesome, but like early Gibson, it's lost a little with the passage of time.

His middle-period work did nothing for me at all. Just overdone, to my taste.

I haven't read anything after the Baroque Cycle put me off.

I enjoyed the Baroque Cycle, but at the end was left with little sense of resolution. I have enjoyed Anathem since.