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Science Fiction

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Lemmy World Rules

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In the mood for engineering / competence porn. What are your favourite novels / series? (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works to c/sciencefiction@lemmy.world
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As an example, I love the Martian, and I think a lot of older books from authors like Asimov are heavily into engineering / competence porn. Other favs in this category include the standalone novel Rendezvous with Rama to leave you wishing for more, most of the Culture series for happy utopian vibes, Schlock Mercenary for humor, Dahak series for fun mindless popcorn.

Edit: I'm so happy to have found a replacement for r/books and the rest of them.

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[–] AFKBRBChocolate@lemmy.world 11 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

If you end up searching online for that kind of things, "hard science fiction" is the phrase that's usually used for it.

A lot of good recommendations here. Some endorsements and other recommendations:

  • Project Hail Mary by Weir is a no brainer choice if you liked The Marian. He gets the science right.
  • Children of Time, by Adrian Tchaikovsky is amazing, and the first of a trilogy, so more to read.
  • The whole Expanse series, by James Corey is good and he does a good job with the science, especially the celestial mechanics.
  • The Uplift series (starting with Sundiver) by David Brin is great, and Brin is will known for hard SF. It's from the 80s.
  • Ancillary Justice, by Ann Leckie, is great and the first of a series as well.
  • Beggars in Spain, by Nancy Kress, is great, with a good science background, though it's more genetics than engineering. Really cool story though.
  • I also agree with the recommendation on Saturn's Children, by Charles Stross. Also the first of a loose series.

On the flip side, I really didn't care for Three Body Problem, and though the Bobiverse books seem fun, I'm not sure I'd call them firmly hard SF.

[–] TheWilliamist@lemmy.world 4 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Thanks! There a few that I hadn’t heard about!

[–] AFKBRBChocolate@lemmy.world 4 points 17 hours ago

Oh, certainly. In case it's helpful, here's a post I made last spring with notes from a year of reading - it's pretty much all SF and fantasy. Many of the books mentioned in this thread are there. I've been reading about the same amount since, and will probably do another post on the anniversary of that one.

[–] Subverb@lemmy.world 7 points 22 hours ago (3 children)

The Three Body Problem is bad. The hype for the book is a good example of "The Emporer's New Clothes".

[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 2 points 11 hours ago

It’s a little bit of a slog. There are a lot of cultural references, plot devices, characters, and ways of moving through the story that are literally foreign to the western mind. Odd injections of what feels like philosophy. At least the version I read. Once you get used to it it gets better.

[–] damnthefilibuster@lemmy.world 1 points 14 hours ago (2 children)

I have finished the series and absolutely loved it.

Could you please explain why you consider it bad?

[–] AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works 1 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

I loved it for the game theory, ideas, and what-if aspects. The characters however, were flat 2D cutouts. I can't say how much of that was due to translation issues, if any.

[–] Semjaza@lemmynsfw.com 2 points 12 hours ago

I found the third book very weak, albiet with some interesting ideas.

Also, made it clear that he can't write women at all.

I found them overall fine to good, except the main character's chapters in the final 2/3rd of Book 3 which were just kinda bleh by the end.

Book 1 was strong idea explored well.

Book 2 felt good at the time, but I think feels weaker in hindsight but was some more interesting ideas.

[–] AFKBRBChocolate@lemmy.world 2 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

I was surprised at how little I liked it given the hype.

[–] Subverb@lemmy.world 6 points 21 hours ago

I did enjoy the parts about the Cultural Revolution and some of the dialog from Da Shi. That's about it.

[–] AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I haven't read Beggars in Spain or Saturn's Children yet, will take a look!

[–] AFKBRBChocolate@lemmy.world 3 points 22 hours ago

I'd love to hear what you think, I enjoyed both quite a lot.