hey y'all, thought I'd start a thread specifically for science fiction literature, as I've been in the mood for sci fi over the past few months.
post your recommendations for good science fiction literature that you've read recently, or (if you disliked a recent title) tell us why to avoid any books you didn't like.
some recent ones I've completed:
Takeshi Kovachs trilogy (Altered Carbon, Woken Furies, Broken Angels) - Richard Morgan. Fantastic series, follows the exploits of a sociopathic ex-soldier across numerous human-inhabited worlds. The real strength of this series is the world building, which portrays IMO what the "real" future is going to look like: the same hierarchical power structures that have always existed, plenty of pointless conflicts, new and frightening methods to slaughter lots of people used often, fairly believable technology. It might be perceived as dystopian, until one realizes that many of the same types of things happen all the time in our own history.
The Diamond Age - Neal Stephenson. This was an interesting book, following the same theme present in Snowcrash in which governments no longer exist, giving rise to microstates that compete for membership and resources. Features a possible view of a world in which nanotechnology is highly developed and the dominant force in the socioeconomic order. The plot was a bit slow throughout the middle of the book, and while interesting, it became just a bit too ridiculous to be really enjoyable toward the ending.
The Quiet War - Paul McAuley. Very good read concerning the future of humanity in the next few hundred years, in which global climate change and dwindling resources have caused democracy to be completely abandoned on Earth in favor of vast pseudo-monarchies. A sizable faction of humanity (known as the "outers") has left earth completely and lives in small terraformed city-states on the moons of jupiter and saturn. This was mainly a political thriller, concerning the strife between earth's governments and the outers, and how the governments of earth eventually escalate to war and conquest of the outers' city states. Highly recommended.
post your recommendations for good science fiction literature that you've read recently, or (if you disliked a recent title) tell us why to avoid any books you didn't like.
some recent ones I've completed:
Takeshi Kovachs trilogy (Altered Carbon, Woken Furies, Broken Angels) - Richard Morgan. Fantastic series, follows the exploits of a sociopathic ex-soldier across numerous human-inhabited worlds. The real strength of this series is the world building, which portrays IMO what the "real" future is going to look like: the same hierarchical power structures that have always existed, plenty of pointless conflicts, new and frightening methods to slaughter lots of people used often, fairly believable technology. It might be perceived as dystopian, until one realizes that many of the same types of things happen all the time in our own history.
The Diamond Age - Neal Stephenson. This was an interesting book, following the same theme present in Snowcrash in which governments no longer exist, giving rise to microstates that compete for membership and resources. Features a possible view of a world in which nanotechnology is highly developed and the dominant force in the socioeconomic order. The plot was a bit slow throughout the middle of the book, and while interesting, it became just a bit too ridiculous to be really enjoyable toward the ending.
The Quiet War - Paul McAuley. Very good read concerning the future of humanity in the next few hundred years, in which global climate change and dwindling resources have caused democracy to be completely abandoned on Earth in favor of vast pseudo-monarchies. A sizable faction of humanity (known as the "outers") has left earth completely and lives in small terraformed city-states on the moons of jupiter and saturn. This was mainly a political thriller, concerning the strife between earth's governments and the outers, and how the governments of earth eventually escalate to war and conquest of the outers' city states. Highly recommended.
