This thread is to recommend and discuss great space/ science fiction books!
Responses
Old Man's War, by John Scalzi
In the Old Man's War universe, set hundreds of years from now, older people are given a loaded choice. Either age and die on Earth or [enlist in] the military to fight space aliens. Protagonist John Perry makes the obvious choice and becomes a high-octane space marine [...] Of course, all is not as it seems, and Perry begins to piece together what's really going on. (review from engadget.com)
Sounds like Soylent Green meets Starship Troopers; nice! In the realm of military sci-fi, Steel World
by B.V. Larson was another good read via Audible.
In the twentieth century Earth sent probes, transmissions and welcoming messages to the stars. Unfortunately, someone noticed.
The Galactics arrived with their battle fleet in 2052. Rather than being exterminated under a barrage of hell-burners, Earth joined their vast Empire...As most of the local worlds were too civilized to have a proper army, the only valuable service Earth could provide came in the form of soldiers. (review from amazon)
About half way through Steel World now and is pretty awesome. The narrator has a great, dynamic voice, some really engaging and fun characters.
I love this thread because I've been trying to find some new titles ! Great suggestions team, I will check those out.
Mine would be: We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor.
There's a reason We Are Legion, We Are Bob was named Audible's Best Sci-Fi Book of 2016. Unique, hilarious, and utterly addictive, Dennis E. Taylor's debut novel kicked off an Audible-wide obsession among sci-fi diehards and new listeners alike.
Bob Johansson has just sold his software company and is looking forward to a life of leisure. There are places to go, books to read, and movies to watch. So it's a little unfair when he gets himself killed crossing the street.
Bob wakes up a century later to find that corpsicles have been declared to be without rights, and he is now the property of the state. He has been uploaded into computer hardware and is slated to be the controlling AI in an interstellar probe looking for habitable planets. The stakes are high: no less than the first claim to entire worlds. If he declines the honor, he'll be switched off, and they'll try again with someone else. If he accepts, he becomes a prime target. There are at least three other countries trying to get their own probes launched first, and they play dirty.
The safest place for Bob is in space, heading away from Earth at top speed. Or so he thinks. Because the universe is full of nasties, and trespassers make them mad – very mad.
Listener-favorite narrator Ray Porter (14, The Fold) brings the many Bobs into being in all their glory, delivering a performance that listeners have described as
outstanding,nuancedand adizzying tour de force.
Sounds like a great story! I've never done Audible before, I feel like I would drift off... what do you think about it?
I have the opposite problem, reading too much at once tends to make me drift off haha. Audible is awesome if you have alot of commuting to do. I have a few long drives over the weekend so I get to immerse into the story. It's been a huge time saver me.
Some of the experience with Audible can be highly dependent on how much you connect with the narrator and their style well.
There is a series I absolutely loved called War God. 3 parts, each part was over 20 hours! But the narrator, Barnaby Edwards, was INCREDIBLE and really made all the characters come alive. This was the only series where I'd listen to the books outside of the car, sometimes for 4 hours at a stretch.
There's some books I've purchased just because of who the narrator was. R.C. Bray is another awesome narrator. He did the Martian, although I haven't listened to that one since I watched the movie.
Not related to space, but War God has the "clash of civilizations" theme. Very dark content but great story.
I've got another one, risking some controversy...
Origin, by Dan Brown.
Now, I know Dan Brown is not a science fiction writer and the book isn't about space, but this particular book has an AI element that is interesting to think about. Although my mind came up with a much better end than the author did.
Of course the book follows the typical Dan Brown formula
that gets tiresome after the 5th book, but it's a fun read nonetheless. Here's a nice review that sums up my thoughts:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2137777256
Yes, it's the new Dan Brown book. Yes, it's pulpy and ridiculous. But I have to say it-- it was really entertaining, too.The thing about Brown is that he's a mediocre-at-best writer with really fascinating ideas. [...]Origin draws on current events and hot topics to make it more relevant to today's world. Brown touches on subjects like
fake news", the advancement of technology and artificial intelligence, and the dark corners of the Internet. He may not be an amazing writer - whatever that means - but he does play on universal thoughts, fears and questions. It makes for a very compelling tale.
I wouldn't recommend this to anyone looking for excellent writing, well-developed characters and a whole lot of sense-making. But if you want to sprint through an almost 500-page novel at breakneck pace and escape from thinking for a while, then it is very enjoyable."
A great space book that I read last semester:
Homesteading Space: a Skylab story
by David Hitt, Owen Garriott, Jow Kerwin
My own review:
This book tells the story behind the Skylab missions, from the planning, to the selection or crew members, going through frustrations, challenges, victories, to the retirement of the station. This book isn't technical, instead it very interestingly details the daily lives of the people involved, wether on earth or in orbit. It also has a chapter dedicated to the results of the mission- what did they learn from it? And the written diaries of two of the astronauts.
I highly recommend this! Great book!
Sounds cool. Skylab was always a mystery growing up so would be good to see what actually was going on up there.
I haven't read this book yet, but it seems very relevant for the Titanium Shores crew.
Mars on Earth by Robert Zubrin
"Recounts the virtual missions of the Mars Society space pioneer team, who while waiting for new technological advances in the space program, replicated and simulated the real-life challenges of exploring Mars on the harshest terrains on Earth."