Your Top 3 Sci-Fi recommendations ✓?

[Maddy ✨]

(I Had read some of the Sci-fi books ,now I have been thinking to dive more into it from 2025 onwards)

[Udayan]

From recent times

Children of Time - Tchaikovsky
Three Body Problem - Cixin Liu
Ancillary Justice - Ann Leckie

[Ryan, Your favourite moderators favourite moderator]

My top 3 recommendations are to...

- avoid reading the 'classics'.
- join as many libraries as you can.
- not feel guilty about not finishing a book that you aren't enjoying.

[Cheryl L]

Udayan wrote: "From recent times

Children of Time - Tchaikovsky
Three Body Problem - Cixin Liu
Ancillary Justice - Ann Leckie"

I also loved all three of these.

[Colin]

Limiting the list to only three is very hard. Since this is under Sci Fi, I will stay away from fantasy and more toward "hard" SF.

1) Dune by Frank Herbert
2) Downbelow Station by CJ Cherryh
3) The Martian by Andy Weir

[MadProfessah]

When people ask me what science fiction book they should start with I always say “Children of Time” by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I’m a huge Hamilton fanboy so I have to include him in my list, but i understand it might not be for everyone since his books are always 750+ pages long LOL. The third entry on my y list is a near-perfect genre melange of apocalyptic fiction and police procedural. I wish it was more well-known.

So my top 3 recommendations are

1) Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
2) Pandora’s Star/Judas Unchained by Peter Hamilton
3) The Last Policeman<\i> by Ben Winters

Alternates would include the following quick reads:

1) Nexus by Ramez Naam
2) Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
3) Semiosis by Sue Burke

[CBRetriever]

Dune
The Witches of Karres
Dreamsnake

[Tiny]

Udayan wrote: "From recent times

Children of Time - Tchaikovsky
Three Body Problem - Cixin Liu
Ancillary Justice - Ann Leckie"

wonderful!
but some classics aged well. oddly enough, I still enjoy most of HG Wells stuff.

my recommendatiosn:
Murderbot
Fledgling (almost everything Butler wrote is superb, but this vampire story is one of the best)
The Martian

non scifi is Catch 22. insane book.

[Brian]

Hi,
It's a classic, but H.G. Wells' - 'War of The Worlds', the original, is worth a read. There are so many modern adaptions, but the original is a foundation of the genre.
Which brings me on to Asimov, (see what I did there?) - Anything by Asimov is worth reading, although they fit into a story, so consider one of his short story collections. Unless you've got a long time to devote to the process.
Douglas Adams is a more humorous writer; his 'Hitchhiker's Guide' is very amusing.

[Jabotikaba]

Rocannon's World by Ursula Le Guin
Dune by Frank Herbert
Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin

[Bookworm]

Some contemporary SF authors who may not be on the list of usual suspects: (yes, they are all British)

Adam Roberts - Lake of Darkness (2024)

Emma Newman - Planetfall (2015)
16th Locus 2016 Best Novel

Chris Beckett - Dark Eden (2012)
Arthur C. Clarke winner 2013 category Best Science Fiction Novel

[Melani]

Parable of the Sower-Octavia Butler is still one of the most prescient and frightening sci-fi books I've read.

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin

The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon--with the caveat that a number of neurodivergent readers take issue with the ending (and I understand why, but I disagree with their reading of it).

[DivaDiane]

My three recommendations are:

The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin.
Dawn, by Octavia Butler
Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes

[Economondos]

It may be that you will like the first books in a series (so there are more if you like it):

With the Lightnings by David Drake
On Basilisk Station by David Weber
Shards of Honor, most easily found in the duo Cordelia's Honor by Lois MacMaster Bujold

[Jan]

Lots of good suggestions here. I'll add my support for Dune by Frank Herbert.

Other ideas:
The Telling by Ursula LeGuin.

The Engines of God by Jack McDevitt

[DivaDiane]

Seems like we are kind of saying, "Read any of Ursula K. LeGuin's SF"!!

I often recommend to people who are unfamiliar with UKL and also SF in general to start with The Lathe of Heaven. It's short, is an easy concept to grasp, yet it has so many layers, that it bears multiple readings.

[Mai]

The Pride of Chanur by C.J. Cherryh
These Burning Stars by Bethany Jacobs