Recommendations

[Shonsu]

The Revelation Space series by Alastair Reynolds, maybe ? The first book is a bit slow to start (but then, if you've been through The Night's Dawn Trilogy, you should be fine), but I found the whole series as a whole difficult to put down.
7 books so far: Revelation Space, Chasm City, Redemption Ark, Absolution Gap form the main arc. The Prefect is a prequel, with Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days and Galactic North two short stories collections set in the same universe.

Check Here for the Wikipedia page.

Hmmm I think I'll go with this. I'll start with the initial 4 then do the prequel and other short stories.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

 

[nquixote]

OK, folks! Need a recommendation here. Which of the following books should I read next?

Spin State, by Chris Moriarty

Mind Over Ship, by David Marusek

The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood

 

[The Moye]

I'm looking for a series that is military sf. I'm looking for something that is not all space battles with star-ships and all that i want infantry battling aliens or something like that.

I would really appreciate some help.

 

[Loerwyn]

Jack Campbell's The Lost Fleet (Starts with Dauntless) is possibly something you could look at. It's largely battles in space, but there's a lot of focus on the internal politics of the fleet, and there are sections where the marine force do become a focus. They're very trashy, pulpy sci-fi with a lot of similarity across the books (And I mean a lot!), but they're by no means bad.

David Weber's Honor Harrington series may also of be of interest. Again, ship focused but with a lot of ground and political action. A warning, though. It's quite technical and Weber seems to lecture the reader about the technology more often than not, so it might be a bit much for you - I know I struggled a lot with the books I've read.

In a little twist, it might also be worth your time to look into books from Black Library. They publish the Warhammer 40,000 books and a lot of those are more infantry based, especially the Imperial Guard novels. There's two big Imperial Guard series which may work for you. The first is Gaunt's Ghosts, which I believe is a fairly standard but immensely popular series revolving around a group of soliders. The second is Ciaphas Cain, and that's a more light-hearted series with a number of funny moments. There is some 40k lexicon thrown around quite often, but for the most part you can get a good idea of what's being said.

 

[Ash]

I'm looking for a series that is military sf. I'm looking for something that is not all space battles with star-ships and all that i want infantry battling aliens or something like that.

I would really appreciate some help.

john ringo's legacy of the aldenata series seems to fit that bill perfectly. the books depict an invasion of earth by the Posleen and our attempts to repulse them. The story is contrived so that land battles are the principle focus.

 

[The Moye]

Jack Campbell's The Lost Fleet (Starts with Dauntless) is possibly something you could look at. It's largely battles in space, but there's a lot of focus on the internal politics of the fleet, and there are sections where the marine force do become a focus. They're very trashy, pulpy sci-fi with a lot of similarity across the books (And I mean a lot!), but they're by no means bad.

David Weber's Honor Harrington series may also of be of interest. Again, ship focused but with a lot of ground and political action. A warning, though. It's quite technical and Weber seems to lecture the reader about the technology more often than not, so it might be a bit much for you - I know I struggled a lot with the books I've read.

In a little twist, it might also be worth your time to look into books from Black Library. They publish the Warhammer 40,000 books and a lot of those are more infantry based, especially the Imperial Guard novels. There's two big Imperial Guard series which may work for you. The first is Gaunt's Ghosts, which I believe is a fairly standard but immensely popular series revolving around a group of soliders. The second is Ciaphas Cain, and that's a more light-hearted series with a number of funny moments. There is some 40k lexicon thrown around quite often, but for the most part you can get a good idea of what's being said.

Thanks for the advice. I bought the first two novels of the the lost fleet off ebay.

 

[DDCOrange]

I'm looking for a series that is military sf. I'm looking for something that is not all space battles with star-ships and all that i want infantry battling aliens or something like that.

I would really appreciate some help.

You could try Harry Turtledove's World War: In the Balance series about an major, hostile alien invasion happening right in the middle of World War II. Almost all the action is on the ground and global in aspect. While the aliens seem invincible, they do have flaws and weaknesses.

 

[almostvoid]

Zamyatin et.al

I actually think I enjoyed We by Zamyatin more than 1984, has anyone read that?

talk about browsing to the right location: your head! 'We' as you know inspired Orwell as well as Huxley [back to front I know]
I found some others you might go for

Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky: Memories of the Future
Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz: Insatiability
Vladimir Odoevsky: The Salamander and other Gothic Tales [predates Poe]

 

[jelder]

The thought police are going to get you Kamakhya. LOL
BTW, did you know that Muse's entire album Resistance refers to George Orwell's 1984. Very cool!

 

[Chuffalump]

No idea if it's been mentioned already but I'd recommend everyone who likes SF to read John Scalzi's The God Engines. One of the few books that I've finished and then actually stopped and thought about. Then I made my OH read it too. No idea what it's saying to me but it's definitely saying something. Probably involving futility.

Anyway, if you are new to SF and you want something that isn't ray guns and space rangers, go for this.

PS Maybe I'VE mentioned this??? Could be. I'm too lazy to go back through the pages and see.

 

[damican]

It has already been mentioned but I'd like to say it again.

HONOR HARRINGTON!

Very amazing series, one of the best I've read and it really got me into scifi (previously a fantasy only type of guy)

Amazing story and great characters. Just fantastic all around.

 

[psikeyhackr]

It has already been mentioned but I'd like to say it again.

HONOR HARRINGTON!

Very amazing series, one of the best I've read and it really got me into scifi (previously a fantasy only type of guy)

Amazing story and great characters. Just fantastic all around.

Many of Weber's works in general and Harrington stories in particular are available free and legal on the net.

http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/

I think the Vorkosigan series by Bujold are better in general but they are somewhat different than Weber's. Weber does infodumps on his imaginary military hardware. Sometimes it is funny, sometimes it is interesting and sometimes it is annoying so it may vary with my mood at the time but I am sure not everybody likes it. Bujold is not as militaristic as Weber though there is some military action in the books before Komarr.

What does it matter whether a ship is accelerating at 400 gravities or 500 gravities as long as the inertial compensator keeps working? LOL

I always suggest reading Honor of the Queen first even though it is the second book in the series.

psik

 

[Loerwyn]

I always suggest reading Honor of the Queen first even though it is the second book in the series.

And I say don't. First book had quite a lot of character interactions that'll help the second make a bit more sense.

I'll also recommend buying Baen books alongside using the Free CD. I do it

 

[damican]

And I say don't. First book had quite a lot of character interactions that'll help the second make a bit more sense.

I'll also recommend buying Baen books alongside using the Free CD. I do it

I would highly recommend reading the series from book 1 to the finish in that order for sure. You see the characters grow so much and it introduces everything properly etc etc.

 

[Shadowcharge]

The SF group doesn't currently have a good recommendation thread, so I thought I would start one.

What books would you recommend to a newcomer to SF? What do you consider must-reads? Any books that make a good cross-over from fantasy to sf?

Cross-over: Julian May, "The Many Coloured Land" (and the rest of the books in that series). I'm finishing the last book now and I love it. It is fantasy but in so many ways it is sci-fi as well ~

After crossing over, newcomers to sci-fi will discover a plethora of delicacies from which to choose. There are so many sub-genres within sci-fi that I suppose it really depends on who the reader is.

That being said, if you don't mind a bit of violence, start with "Forever Free" by Joe Haldeman. If you find you like his style (he is such a great writer imo), go back to one of his earliest works, "The Forever War." (depsite the similarities in the titles, these two books are not in a series; he seems to have taken the word "forever" and run with it as a theme but not necessarily as a way of tying the novels together -- there are others as well).

If you're not into military-related stories like those, try "A World Out of Time" by Larry Niven or "Growing Up Wightless" by John M. Ford.

Ok, I'll stop now while I can... there are too many to list ~ lol

[Edit: spelled Haldeman, oops!]

 

[MoonDoggie]

I'll add my vote for the recommendation of Leviathan Awakes by James S.A. Corey. Possible spoiler: [You gotta love vomit-zombies in space.]


Anyone know of a book that does not have any humans in it, just different aliens?

 

[Loerwyn]

That being said, if you don't mind a bit of violence, start with "Forever Free" by Joe Haldeman. If you find you like his style (he is such a great writer imo), go back to one of his earliest works, "The Forever War." (depsite the similarities in the titles, these two books are not in a series; he seems to have taken the word "forever" and run with it as a theme but not necessarily as a way of tying the novels together -- there are others as well).

Forever Free is the third in the series. Forever Peace is the one least linked to Forever War. Wonkipedia.

 

[psikeyhackr]

I would highly recommend reading the series from book 1 to the finish in that order for sure. You see the characters grow so much and it introduces everything properly etc etc.

To me Weber's characters don't seem to grow so much as just get promoted. They are unrealistically good or unrealistically bad from the beginning. Bujold's characters' evolution over the Vorkosigan series are far better. Weber's stories are interesting for different reasons for me. Basalisk was rather boring.

psik

 

[Loerwyn]

On Basilisk Station was pretty good, but Weber is VERY hard going (from what I've read of both Honorverse series) at the best of times.

 

[psikeyhackr]

On Basilisk Station was pretty good, but Weber is VERY hard going (from what I've read of both Honorverse series) at the best of times.

There is no "standard" for what is "pretty good".

I have no doubt that some people think Weber is terrible. I am simply saying that if someone has never read him they don't know whether they will like him or not. Honor of the Queen introduces the Graysons who are important to the rest of the series. The culture conflict was much more interesting "to me" than the Manty politics of Basalisk which just gets mentioned now and then in later books. If the reader likes HoQ then they can read the first book later but if they give up on the first book...

The Antares Trilogy by Michael McCollum is better than the Harrington series in general but it is only three books.

http://3mpub.com/mccollum/sfaz-04g.htm

psik