AskSaidIt, what are your favorite SciFi books?

submitted by Bitchcraft from self.AskSaidIt

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[–]Bitchcraft[S] 5 insightful - 2 fun5 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 2 fun -  (4 children)

I've recently re-discovered my passion for reading, in the last few weeks I've read:

  • Recursion by Blake Crouch. I loved this book, for two reasons: The "Fictional Science" in this book is not just window dressing, it facilitates a plot that wouldn't work without it. The writing is very credible, in the sense that the characters believable and the story never breaks its own rules.

  • The Martian by Andy Weir. While this book isn't too deep, it's really fun.

  • Enders Game by Scott Orson Card. Holy shit that book was bad. I just don't get how garbage like this gets to be a "SciFi calssic". The "Science Fiction" elements of the story add nothing. You could tell the same story of "boys in the space fight academy" in a "paintball summer camp" type of setting. Also, why does the protagonist being a "victim" in every circumstance excuse his behaviour? Because of the fanfiction-grade writing, that's why.

[–]Tums_is_Smut_bkwrds 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

I see that Recursion is the follow up book to Dark Matter. Do you recommend reading Dark Matter first?

FWIW Enders Game was a mind blowing read when it came out and Orsen Scott Card was a major SF talent. Unfortunately the book did not age well and now all of the themes feel trite, overdone, and overblown. But you have to take my word for it, it really was a genre changer. I don't think I could re-read any of Card's stuff now, actually.

[–]Bitchcraft[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

No, Recursion and Dark Matter are are completely independent.

Re Enders Game, I understand that it is a product of it's time. But reading it back to back with modern SciFi books made it look really unimpressive. I've vented about this book in this thread twice now, but I don't mean to imply that people who liked it have bad taste. There has to be a legit reason why it was so highly acclaimed, I just don't see it.

[–]Riva 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Did you read Ender's Shadow?

[–]Tetrahedron 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I second The Martian. I just finished reading it last week. I haven't read a book that fast in years.