Science Fiction

[Anonymous No.5032586]

I have recently become interested in the sci-fi genre, and ordered 5 novels from this site with really good prices and free shipping. I'm really excited for them to arrive, and I feel like I will enjoy them all, but can anyone suggest which one I should start with?

I don't want to bounce around between them. Dune seems like one I should leave for later just because of how huge it is in scope. I'm thinking I should start with Red Mars, but what would you recommend a newbie to sci-fi start out with, from these? I'd be happy to hear your opinion.

Snow Crash, Dune, Childhood's End, Rendezvous with Rama, and Red Mars

[Anonymous No.5032590]

>>5032586
>tfw no Philip K. Dick.

[Anonymous No.5032629]

>>5032586
You can start with either of the Clarke books, he writes simply and the ideas are very straight-forward. I think he's a terrible writer and his books are garbage, but many people like him, so my 2 cents are to try the other books even if you dislike whichever Clarke you've read. Snow Crash is probably the next most accessible book, it's very readable except for the extended segments about Sumerian mythology. It's a fun read satirizing cyberpunk stuff, even if parts are pretty groan inducing. Red Mars is a hard sci-fi book, so the majority of it is about the physical colonization of Mars which it goes into with detail. Eventually it gets a story outside of the colonization... sort of... but you're going to have to wade through hundreds of pages before that point. Does that sound appealing to you? If not, leave it for last. Dune creates a complex world, and there's a lot going on, but it isn't that hard to follow. You can really read Dune at any point on this list and it would make sense, though it's not as easy as the Clarke or Stephenson just because those are written at such a low level (not necessarily a bad thing).

Anyway, have fun.

[Anonymous No.5032678]

where is official /lit/ scifi power ranking

[Anonymous No.5032698]

>>5032629
You seem to know shit

I startet with "The Hidden Empire" (Saga of the seven suns #1) and I really enjoy it thus far. (halfway through)

Where is it on your scale of difficulty? With what could you compare it? If you've read it at all that is.

[Anonymous No.5032701]

1. Snow Crash - it's an easy, hilarious, and nifty ride into SF.

2. Dune. Go straight into fucking awesome. Do not wait.

3. Childhood's End. Interesting concept, and Clarke's writing isn't as bad as everyone says it is (most people just don't understand the value of terse prose). Uncharacteristically, however, Clarke fails to really take his idea to an interesting conclusion - but this is basically a great picture of what it looks like when a STEM tries to into morality.

4. Red Mars. I haven't read it, but everyone says it's great.

5. Rendezvous with Rama. Clarke's best book, and definitely one that will epitomize SF for you, leaving you with a great taste in your mouth for more. SF is all about ideas, and anyone who is in it for characters can get that stuff in any other genre as well. True SF aficionados are in it for the concepts.

[Anonymous No.5032707]

>>5032586
>Snow Crash
4/10
>Dune
7/10
>Childhood's End, Rendezvous with Rama
2/10
>Red Mars
2/10

You have shit taste. (Unless you're 15, in that case I forgive you.)

[Anonymous No.5032719]

>>5032586
The Culture Novels.

[Anonymous No.5032734]

>>5032698
>"The Hidden Empire" (Saga of the seven suns #1)
Sorry, I haven't read that one so I can't say.

[Anonymous No.5032755]

>>5032707
Name better cyberpunk than Snow Crash.

protip: I can, but can you?

hint: it's not William Gibson

[Anonymous No.5032761]

>>5032755
Islands in the Net. Bruce Sterling.

[Anonymous No.5032762]

>>5032701
>True SF aficionados are in it for the concepts.

Ignoring the potential debate over whether "true aficionados" are a thing, the fact that Science Fiction is more about the ideas than the writing is almost entirely because the genre has only every had a handful of authors who can actually write. The idea that bad prose should be forgiven because of the ideas is equally absurd (or legitimate) if you apply it to 19th century Russian literature.

[Anonymous No.5032779]

>>5032586
Read some P.K,Dick., Dune (obviously), Blindsight by Peter Watts, get some short stories like J.G. Ballard. Fukicng Ringworld by Larry Niven. Lem. Dukaj. Fuck, Sci-fi is the best.

[Anonymous No.5032782]

>>5032755
Deus Ex

[Anonymous No.5032788]

>>5032779
>>5032719
>>5032707
Looks like some people forgot to read the OP!

[Anonymous No.5032793]

>>5032788
Who gives a fuck. It's the internets.

[Anonymous No.5032806]

>>5032788
Oh no, I recommended someone new to sci-fi some books.

[Anonymous No.5032845]

I would read Neuromancer before Snow Crash just because some of the jokes are about the cyberpunk genre. and I really liked Neuromancer.

I loved Dune and RWR.

also, Altered Carbon

[Anonymous No.5032875]

>>5032586
Jesus man, who recommended you that list, it will make you hate s-f.

Straight up ignore red mars and childhoods end, red mars is one of the worst s-f books ive read over the years, if not the worst.
Its first world problems in space, basically what would you get if a rich over educated kid who never worked a day in his life tried to understand human behavior.

Snow crash is alright if a bit infantile, the sex scene and epic samurai hackers might make you cringe, but plow through it, rest is good.

Rama is okish and feels like its longer than it should be. Very straight forward and simplistic for my taste.

Dune aged horribly, if you read a lot you wont like it. Insanely predictable with a wish fulfillment mary sue omnipotent protagonist who can see the future or something.
Im still confused why its even called s-f since its about wizzards, but on some alien planet.

Good starter books.

Snow crash
enders game
jurassic park
sphere
moot in gods eye
hyperion ( only the first 2 books, dont even touch the third and forth one )
altered carbon ( again, the 2 cash in sequels are an abomination that should never came to be )

Dont even touch anything by Dick, his books are very love or hate ones. They never have any plot, consistency or logic in it, with characters popping in and disappearing constantly, books where whole cast gets killed "off screen" midway into it, or ones that drop what they are about 3/4 into it and suddenly start something else.

Hell near the end of blade runner, a book baout hunting androids, out of nowhere, space Jesus shows up and tells Deckard god wants him to kill people he founds not "worthy" what ever that means.
So yeah, if that sounds like a great "twist" for you then go for it, otherwise avoid like the plague.

[Anonymous No.5032902]

>>5032875
What the fuck. Dune is stupid but enders game is ok ? xD kill yourself nigguh. Jurassic park sucks, wathc the movie. Wellllll sir, I think that you are a nig nog. :*

[Anonymous No.5032986]

>>5032902
What are you, 12 ?
Where did i say dune is "stupid", i said its not good.
At least enders game dosnt have a protagonist that can do no wrong since he is "teh chosen one". Also i saw no reason for the story to take place in space, it could work as a much better fantasy book if the "evil" empire was just another kingdom on the same plane rather than on another planet. The space travel is meaningless when its instant ftl type of thing.

Or the shoehorned science elements ?
When Herbert tries to use some pseudoscience bullshit to explain some of the magic ? Like, she is immune to poisons since she uses "the force" to turn poison molecules into non poison molecules.
The fuck was the point of that, he spends like 5 pages on that part.

[Anonymous No.5033019]

>>5032875

If Paul Atreides is a wish-fulfillment character to you, I'm not really sure I want to know anything about your opinions.

[Anonymous No.5033076]

Do not start with red mars. Read one of the Clark books.

[Anonymous No.5033890]

>>5032586
>Snow Crash but no Neuromancer
I'd never recommend Snow Crash as a first cyberpunk novel. It certainly works, but it's sort of like watching Space Balls without having seen Star Wars. Though my analogy falters in the sense that Snow Crash isn't a direct parody of Neuromancer at all.

Point is, since Snow Crash is a crazy parody of cyberpunk it's better to introduce yourself to the genre through the grandfather of it all. In my humble opinion.

Though in case my rambling post still made a little sense, Snow Crash is still good as sci-fi for beginners.

[Anonymous No.5033920]

Seems to be the right thread for it.
Is Stephen Baxter's Xeelee Sequence and/or Manifold any good? I read that it was hard sci fi while at the same time featuring absurdly high civ power levels and thought it might be interesting. Would you approve, /lit/?

[Anonymous No.5033954]

>>5032586
Dune is fantastic. It take's till around the end of the first book (The novels split into three "books") to really heat up but after that it's gripping.

[Anonymous No.5033964]

>>5032875
Paul is a messiah, he's meant to be omnipotent. Otherwise it would be like writing the bible and giving Jesus character flaws.

[Anonymous No.5033991]

Either of the Clarke novels.

[Anonymous No.5034463]

>>5033954
I was about to report you until I read your parenthesis. Thought you were saying it only gets good after the first novel.

[Anonymous No.5034474]

>>5033964
Paul wasn't even really perfect either. From very early on he made it extremely clear that he wanted to stop the Butlerian Jihad. He said it over and over. But he didn't.

He also turned Arrakis into a shithole covered in grass.

Paul's flaws exist less in how ability to accomplish something, and more in whether what he accomplished was really something that was actually good. Did we really need a god emperor? Leto II didn't think we did, but fuck if that stopped him from becoming one.

[Anonymous No.5034479]

>>5032875
I actually think 3rd and 4th Hyperion are worth reading. Very different than the first two, much more Buddhist/Metaphysical...but still worth.

Either way, this is god-tier scifi. Fucking read the Cantos. Live it.

[Anonymous No.5034504]

>>5034479
>>5032875
I'm never sure why Hyperion Cantos gets all of this hype and love. Of the six novellas a couple are excellent (The Priest and The Scholar's Tale), one was fun pulp (The Soldier's Tale), and the other three were nothing particularly special. Also, the frame narrative is never resolved, so there's no resolution to the first book, and when the second book does provide a conclusion with the Shrike it falls so short of the expectations it built up that it retroactively makes the frame narrative in the first volume worse.

[Anonymous No.5034509]

>>5032755
Diamond Age. Didn't even need to go to a different writer.

[Anonymous No.5035080]

>>5032875
>Jesus man, who recommended you that list, it will make you hate s-f.

it's on /lit/'s recommended reading list

[Anonymous No.5035202]

>>5034509
>incest sex orgies with zombies that have glowing dicks
Oh yeah, nothing like some glowing zombie dicks to truly show you that you reading a great book.

Also no ending, the book just stops at a random zombie orgy.

[Anonymous No.5036093]

So what's the best Clarke book in your opinion?

I'm trying to get into sci-fi and so far I've read the Dune saga, High Castle and Starship Troopers.

[Anonymous No.5036096]

>>5036093
Childhood's End

2001 is alright, 2010 is shit, Rendezvous with Rama is alright too.

But honestly, they're all pretty outdated.

[Anonymous No.5036102]

>>5032875
>Dont even touch anything by Dick, his books are very love or hate ones. They never have any plot, consistency or logic in it
No.

[Anonymous No.5036103]

>>5036096

Ok thanks.

I'll have to finish The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress before beginning those, though. I'm finding it rather difficult to read because if I wanted a damn political essay, I'd read one. WHERE IS THE STORY, HEINLEIN? STOP RAVING ABOUT MUH GUBMENT IS BAD, GOD DAMN IT.

[Anonymous No.5036111]

>>5036103
>WHERE IS THE STORY, HEINLEIN? STOP RAVING ABOUT MUH GUBMENT IS BAD, GOD DAMN IT.
haha we agree! I absolutely hate Heinlein, everything I've read from him (Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Stranger In A Strange Land, Starship Troopers) is just a weakly constructed story around whatever shit right-wing idea he woke up with on that particular day.

And then he turns it around so that his idea's people have the overpowered invincible thing on their side to make it look like the idea itself confers strength - like the strong AI in Moon, or the shitty magic tricks of Smith in Stranger.

I hope Heinlein is soon forgotten, I can't understand how Americans always praise him to the sky.

[Anonymous No.5036124]

> MFW no Book of the New Sun

[Anonymous No.5036128]

I cringed my way through Snowcrash. Never again. Cyberpunk is probably the worst genre ever.

[Anonymous No.5036136]

>>5036128
Snowcrash is a joke about 80s shit that became dated in 1991.

[Anonymous No.5036146]

>>5036128
>Cyberpunk is probably the worst genre ever.

>tfw I was about to read Neuromancer and you just killed my buzz

[Anonymous No.5036151]

>>5036146
It's pretty alright, and for the time it was absolutely groundbreaking, but keep in mind that cyberpunk has partially been overtaken by reality, so you'll cringe a lot if you apply the standards of 2014. Plus Gibson's writing style isn't particularly straight forward.

If you manage to supress your disbelief based on your own experience from online worlds, then you should have a blast. If you can't do that you'll cringe.

[Anonymous No.5036152]

>>5032755
Cyberabad Days

[Anonymous No.5036155]

>>5036146
Good luck bro. It was not worth the work for me. It's a genre that is largely irrelevant if you're not in the fedora-core cult world of it.

[Anonymous No.5036160]

>>5036155
Reading cyperpunk novels makes you fedora now?

Man, its hard to keep up what makes you cool and what is forbidden nowadays

[Anonymous No.5036298]

>>5036160

Didn't you get the memo?

Everything you don't like = fedora

It's cooler and easier than presenting actual arguments.

[Anonymous No.5038088]

>>5036124
stop

posts like this make me wish we had mod to filter out all the troll recommendations, few perma bans here and there and we would get much less shitposting

[Anonymous No.5038756]

>>5032590
Not OP.
>went to 2nd And Charles a few hours ago, because lots of credit
>search around for an hour for stuff
>mfw no Gibson or Dick

Also, maybe I was just unlucky, but they really need to tell their cashiers to just check out the fucking product, not talk about it with every goddamn customer when there's a line.