4.06 avg rating — 5,737 ratings

"While John Varley's prose isn't always as eloquent as other authors working in scifi he never speaks down to his readers. I think it's safe to say with the Gaia trilogy he had an expectation of older readers. At least I would hope so given the amount or sex and murder in these books. In particular the fact that many of the characters have detailed and fleshed out (even if sometimes in a juvenile way) romantic lives, including both heterosexual and gay, with actual sex made them seem more relatable to me. I don't need all my books to have sex in them but I sometimes feel like many scifi characters are too cookie cutter. Even some of the most well known and influential scifi explores deep and difficult moral and social issues but usually through the setting and not the actual characters"

4.04 avg rating — 3,881 ratings

3.94 avg rating — 9,461 ratings

4.06 avg rating — 1,411 ratings

"Another book by Varley that explores complex gender and sexual identity issues that isn't commonly written about in the scifi genre "

4.24 avg rating — 290,567 ratings

"While not necessarily scifi in the strictest sense I think it qualifies and it certainly deals with morally grey areas. Junkie protagonist? Check. Bipolar, sexually charged and powerful African American female protagonist? Check"

4.29 avg rating — 1,629,084 ratings

"While dune may not always offer much in the way of relatable characters (which is odd given how often you're in their heads) it certainly deals with some heady topics. The ecological, political and religious issues it confronts are still topical and while I would encourage any young reader to pick the book up I added it because a lot of the ground covered in the book is very complex and certainly not for someone who is looking for a light jaunt through space "

3.95 avg rating — 250,867 ratings

really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 175,787 ratings

4.27 avg rating — 220,401 ratings

4.05 avg rating — 223,247 ratings