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I'm looking for a fairly particular type of book from the SciFi genre. It has be from the third person perspective, fairly epic (although if it's more limited in scope I'm not too fussed) and the type of book which starts with a fairly innocent character who turns out to the saviour of the known world/galaxy/universe.
I've read plenty in the Fantasy genre (Belgariad, Wheel of Time, Black Magician, His Dark Materials) but not so much in SciFi....
Anyone recommend anything?
I like The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks:
Great read which gets even better after you've read it a couple of times.Quote:
Originally Posted by Amazon.co.uk
Big Leon ... thanks, Iain M Banks is a god of SciFi, and I can't remember if I've read that one, but his style of very definate, and not quite what I'm looking for.
Nichomach ... Epic indeed, I've read the first and the third. Thanks for the reminder about the second.
Anyone else?
The "gap" series by Stephen Donaldson is quite good. Starts small scale but grows out to encompass everything.
"Dune" is a bit obvious, but fantastic.
Start with early schlok scifi like the Lensman series :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lensman
THEN work up to new age chaos stuff like Banks.
If you get any of the following, it may be a good start :
EE "Doc" Smith (Lensmen)
Ray Bradbury (Martian Chronicles)
AC Clarke (Rama, 2001, Fall of moondust, Childhoods End etc)
Asimov (Robots, Foundation/Empire)
Heinlein (Stranger in a strange land, Time enough for love)
Philip K Dick (any/all, fab!)
James Follett (Earthsearch, Savant, Dominator, Torus, Trojan - very accurate science)
hth
Fabula .. thanks, I haven't read any of the Gap stuff, although I'm sure I've been through some of the Thomas Covenant stuff before. I'll pick up a copy of The Real Story and see what it's like...
G8ina ... Is it what I'm looking for though. As I said, I'm looking for a fairly particular type of story, and a few of the books on the list don't adhere to the criteria (as incredible as they may be), specifically the zero to hero concept. I'm reasonably well versed in SciFi literature already, and not looking for an introduction to genre, rather particular types of books. I must commend you on your taste however. Are there any in there that have what I'm looking for?
Glad you approve :)
Lensman is a nice series, which involves "ordinary" folk being turned into Galactic Police !
Stranger in a Strange Land by Heinlein would also (nearly) fit your requirements. The stranger is quite special and ordinary at the same time I spose, with a nice twisting ending
I'll post back if I think of any more zero to hero types (oh, H2G2 ?).
Asimov: Perhaps Currents of space.. although that's quite an old one :)
Just chewing my way through the first of Peter Hamilton's latest pair, Pandora's Star. A good read, if a little muddied in places by Hamilton's excessive descriptives but all in all a decent epic romp with a good few twists here and there.
Thanks, thanks, and thanks, although not necessarily in that order :D
Ill second Dune ! :)
edit - infact you look like a freman in that pic ! :cool:
Foundation saga.. should keep you busy.
It would... but its a bit different to what he was after :)
(anyone know if the "Authorised" prequel & sequels are any good?)
Peter F. Hamilton's Night's Dawn Trilogy is great and they don't come much more epic than that.
All of Alistar Reynold's work is much in that same vein, but is more scienced based as before he started to write he used to work for the European Space Agency.
If you like it with a horror-edge......
The Necroscope series by Brian Lumley.....14 books in total now, truely epic and a thoroughly good read from start to finish :)
The dune prequels are well worth a look, I prefer them to the middle books in the original saga, and maybe evern better than the original dune novel.
Although Necroscope crosses a lot of genres! :)Quote:
Originally Posted by shaithis
(Espionage, Horror and Sci-Fi)
(Think there's another book out as well? Set before the E-Branch stories?)
I've read Dune a few times, excellent book, amazing scope, and the Fremen kick ass.....I wasn't going for that look with my avatar, but it's a striking resemblance none the less.
The Foundation sage is a phenomanal piece of writing, but at David points out, not exactly what I was looking for. I've lost track of how many times I've read Foundation, it was one of my earliest SciFi books I think.
I read a lot of the Necroscope books, and enjoyed all of them. Kind of lost track after they killed off Harry, and now I can't remember where I got to. Might pick it up again one of these days.
So I've got a couple of books to be going on with, but if anyone else has any ideas, I'd love to hear them.
Well, there is a brand new book thats set after all the others and has a new necroscope, its still a good book but after reading it I can't help but think it was written purely and simply to allow the Necroscope film to go ahead in a manor that made it easier for the film studios to accept :undecided
So... Silky & Brian have agreed on the film?
Shame it's not with Harry.... the original and best.
Anyway - a bit off topic now perhaps? :)
The ultimate zero to hero scifi story, IMHO, is 'The Stars My Destination' by Alfred Bester. It certainly influenced the whole cyberpunk scene and films like The Matrix. I think it fits the zero to hero genre anyway!
His other well-known title 'The Demolished Man' is also brilliant, and one of my favourites. Doesn't quite fit the zero to hero criteria though. It's a shame Bester wasn't more prolific.
Definitely recommend the Bloodwars trilogy - set on Sunside/Starside.... and the E-Branch Trilogy isn't bad reading ... although the lead character certainly isn't Harry.Quote:
Originally Posted by ibm
They are decent. If you enjoy Foundation then you should enjoy them as well. They are not quite as good, but still worth the read.Quote:
Originally Posted by DavidM
The Dune prequels are also interesting to fans of the series. Definately pads out a lot of previously hinted at themes.
Also just thought of Tad Williams "Otherland". A very interesting Sci-fi series, though set in the near future. Fantastic stuff, but quite detailed.
Yup, I liked 'The Stars My Destination', but the writing style always felt very dated. Very distinctive and striking, but dated. And the charecter really is a zero in the beginning, and throughly unlikable, where as I'd like someone with a little more of a personable nature...
Fabula .... I'll check out Tad Williams, thanks
Pity you want sci fi.. i know loads of fantasy sagas :P
Like The Chronicles of Thomas Convenant ... ?
Would have been one suggestion from me.
I was thinking of the Wheel of Time :)
[ cough ]Quote:
Originally Posted by ibm
[ /cough ]
ahem.. didn't see that :P
alright then.. most of the Terry Brooks stuff is good :) or Stephen King's Dark Tower..
Thing is that I've done the whole Orks, Elfs (Elves?) Wizards & Warlocks thing to death. Read a fair number of Terry Brooks, although none of SK's Dark Tower series (I went through a period of really not liking anything of SKs, just when I first saw the Dark Tower books), and now it all seems the same.
"No, he's got the Orb of Blahblahblah. We're all doomed." said short comedy elf.
"By the two moons of Blahblahblahblah, this cannot stand. I will use my twin swords of BlahBlah to open a portal to BlahBlahBlah and retrieve the ancient soul of ........" said brutal but misunderstood hero.
You get the idea.
*reads instructions for portable flame retardant suit and places it carefully next to chair for emergency use*
I love the scope of imagination and the exploration of possibilities offered by SciFi. Foundation saga was the first book to truly open up the awe inspiring possibilities of technology and human exploration, and I'm always trying to find books to match the vision behind it.
Neuromancer by William Gibson. One of the first cyberpunk novels wrote and very good. Dead easy to get into and quite difficult to actually put down.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuromancer
Do androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K Dick. Tis is the story that inspired Blade Runner all thos years ago. Its a bit of a heavy read but very good if you can get into it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_andr...electric_sheep
If you are wanting more fantasy type Sci Fi I would go for the Myth series by Robert Asprin. I have read all of them due to the great stories and comedy element. He also wrote a series about Mercenaries, these are the Phules Company books etc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Asprin
Good books one and all, but not really what I was looking for.
I'll take a look through some of my older books that are sitting there see if I can come up with something that will suit you. If theres anything you are more than welcome to have them :)
Going back to Brian Lumley - there's always The Psychomech Trilogy :)
Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, look on amazon. Enjoy.
Wahey, thread resurection!
Am I being a litterary snob not wanting to read a book based on a computer game?
Isn't it a game based on a book?
Nope