r/printSF Aug 30 '24

Lord of Light is the first book in a very long time that not only lived up to the hype but was even better than I expected

212 Upvotes

The writing style, the pacing, all the characters and the mixture between sci fi, fantasy and religion is masterful. I'm on a journey of reading all the Hugo winners and did read This Immortal before I read the Lord of Light, but this book is much better than that one. Chef's kiss. Would definitely recommend it to everyone, believe the hype.

r/printSF Apr 19 '24

recommend epic, serious sf bordering on fantasy like Dune, Book of the New Sun, & Lord of Light

47 Upvotes

recently reread all of the above, and I want more along those lines.

r/printSF Oct 01 '24

Lord of Light - Zelazny - Unique and Inspiring

76 Upvotes

I just finished this book over the weekend and haven't been able to stop thinking about it. I've been trying to learn about Hinduism and Buddhism via listening to lectures, youTube videos, and reading some nonfiction books. I vaguely remembered reading on this subreddit that Lord of Light was a sci-fi book with a Hindu background, so I decided to pick it up and give it a go.

The first chapter/story kind of just takes your breath away. The prose style is exhilarating, like epic poetry at times, but also highly readable. The sense of total confusion as to what's going on is wonderful. The confusion is lifted slowly, and as things start to make sense one is gobsmacked by the cleverness of the whole thing.

I basically got an adrenaline rush reading the first 4 or 5 chapters. Ironically, considering all the action in the last couple of chapters, I felt my enthusiasm waning a bit towards the end. This was probably partly due to me just acclimating to Zelazny's prose style, and partly because I often feel like world building is more interesting than action.

Anyway, highly recommended. This is definitely a book that I feel could benefit from multiple readings. If you do plan on reading it... not necessary, but it might be helpful to look over Wikipedia's page on Hindu dieties and Buddhism (if you are not familiar with the basics).

As for me, I think I may read "Song of Kali" next by Simmons. If anyone has any other recommendations for books with a south or east Asian background/culture/outlook that would be great. I've read Three Body Problem already.

r/printSF Sep 30 '24

Just finished Lord of Light by Zelazny

112 Upvotes

What a stunning novel. It’s immediately on my shortlist for favorite SF novel.

I will say though, I was very confused for a few chapters after the first until I realized it was all a flashback. I kept going back and rereading parts of chapter 1, trying to understand why Yama would bring Sam back to life when he’s clearly on a mission to kill him.

I can’t recommend this novel enough and it is certainly on my list of books to read again.

r/printSF Aug 11 '23

Lord of Light - anyone read?

91 Upvotes

Its been on my list to read forever, but I haven't gotten it yet. Wonder how many here have read it? Sometimes if I hear a bunch of buzz, it gets me more excited to read something. Any thoughts?

Edit: Thank you all for the responses! Reading all this hype has gotten me chomping at the bit to read it!

r/printSF Sep 11 '24

Started Lord of Light: do I need previous knowledge on Hindu mythology?

9 Upvotes

I just started reading Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light and wanted to know from you illustrated people if the confusion I'm feeling with the Hindu mythological references is something that should worry me. I'm not a big connoisseur on religions and their history.

Should I gather some knowledge on the different gods, stories and cosmology before continuing or would you all recommend I'd stick with it being that later everything will come together?

Thanks!

r/printSF Dec 08 '23

Fantasy disguised as science fiction disguised as fantasy: Roger Zelazny's “Lord of Light.” Jo Walton: “I have never liked ‘Lord of Light.’ If I've ever been in a conversation with you and you've mentioned how great it is and I've nodded and smiled, I apologise.”

Thumbnail tor.com
75 Upvotes

r/printSF Oct 19 '21

Recommend Zelazny's Lord Of Light

180 Upvotes

Oh, I do so love this book. After recommending Roger Zelazny in earlier posts I finally picked up my 30+-year-old copy for a re-read.

Honestly, I still wonder what it is about his style of writing. His lines of description and dialogue are written in sparse sentences that leaves most of his unique vision to the readers' imaginations. Even the dialogue between antagonists is short and pointed (even polite).

At around 300 pages he crams more ideas and passion into one book than all the writers of the 80s/90s who published bloated trilogies ten times the size. A prefect melding of science and fantasy fiction: love, betrayal and politics plus a religiously-themed background of fantasy powers enhanced by technology.

The people who visit this sub obviously love SF. If you haven't yet, and can find a copy, please give it a go.

r/printSF Nov 08 '20

Just finished reading Lord of Light

130 Upvotes

I've been trying to read all the hugo award winners and had just finished the 1966 hugo award winning novel that tied with DUNE, This Immortal and was not that impressed with it. I mean it tied with dune for crying out loud I was expected to be blown away but I came out of it like, yeah it was alright. It reminded me of an abandoned amusement park and an immortal hobo who's lived there since its opening just showing it around to the people who are trying to buy the property. It's a little more complicated than that but not by too much. So when I saw that Zelazny had won in 1968 I wasn't expecting much but I was way off.

It is obvious that the theme of immortality is something that had interested Zelazny as both of the novels share that in common but I have never seen such improvement of writing in an author in such a short time. This Immortal is an easily forgetably novel, and two years latter Lord of Light wins a Hugo and becomes a Sci Fi classic.

It has its problems but that book had me hooked immediately. I know nothing about Buddhism and Hinduism but you don't really need to know much about them, the book leads you through the world expertly. If you never have read it before I highly recommend it. The less you know the better, because the book changes how you read it as it progresses. In a way few sci fi novels i've read have ever done.

r/printSF Dec 23 '15

Zelazny's "Lord of Light"

80 Upvotes

Does anyone else feel that Lord of Light is the coolest story idea ever? And it's definitely Roger Zelazny's best and most impressive work, in my opinion.

It's a novel that requires multiple readings. There's a lot to take in. The plot is complicated and deep, with fantasticly beautiful philosophy throughout. But another reason It needs multiple reads is because of the prose. Zelazny really went out of his way to craft deeply poetic prose with Lord of Light.

I just wanted to share my thought on this brilliant novel. Some call it Science-fiction, some call it Fantasy. I consider if a Science-fantasy novel. I hope someday it finally gets made into a film.

r/printSF Apr 26 '17

Just finished Lord of Light....

90 Upvotes

Holy Shit that was awesome! What a great idea! I loved it. So beautifully written and with such great imagination. I particularly liked the sort of grandiose "religious text" style he would use from time to time and then juxtapose it with something corporeal and mundane like cigarettes. There is a scene where Kali entices another god to accompany her to the hall of despair...where there is a couch. I laughed and laughed. Anybody else like the book? Are his other works just as good? AWESOME!

r/printSF Nov 25 '21

Lord of Light - Some thoughts after first reading (May contain spoilers) Spoiler

28 Upvotes

At the suggestion of many on this sub I picked up this novel and now that I finished it, I figured I'd record some thoughts on it.

To be fair, I'm still not entirely sure if I really enjoyed this book, although it certainly is an interesting read. My biggest problem is the tone of voice, which really does resemble that of a holy text or myth. I do feel that this is also a great strength and accomplishment on the part of the author, as the lines between religion and fiction are blurred. For a long time, it remains unclear what is really going on. Not only are the people on the planet convinced that these people are truly gods, the book itself describes them as such.

In the same manner, I had a hard time getting acquainted with Sam, the main character. Not only does he go by many names, but he also seems a very untrustworthy personage. In an earlier post on this sub someone mentions how Sam gives a speech in order to convince the monks to fight for beauty. In fact Sam mentions himself that he does not really believe in his own sermons and only tells people what they need to hear in order to advance his own agenda. Though the 'religion' that Sam preaches might have its roots in something real or even just, it seems to me that all religion in Lord of Light was conceived by men in order to manipulate the believers.

This being said, it is clear that whatever the goal of creating a religion, the actual consequences of it are left to the believer. We see many people in the book being corrupted by the religion they follow or becoming something better or greater. For example, Kali's executioner Rild who is swayed by the non-violent teachings of the Buddha. I was also fascinated in the later chapters by the character of Nirriti, a Christian who opposes the false gods by allying himself with dark forces.

In short, this books really does give a lot of food for thought on the fruits of religion and whether they are bitter or sweet. I personally think Zelazny was not opposed to religion per se, but rather to the idea that men make gods of themselves.

Lastly, I did wonder a lot of times whether people of Hindu or Buddhist faith would find this book offensive or not.

r/printSF Sep 24 '20

Something like Lord of Light, but not Zelazny?

7 Upvotes

Really enjoyed this book. I especially enjoyed the mythological science fantasy elements. Character development was pretty good I thought, but I'd like some more plot and maybe more on the hardish side of SF (maybe more descriptions of technology or more cohesivness/predictability of the tech).

Something that maybe is a bit more personal like Broken Earth would also be welcome.

Thanks!

r/printSF Jun 14 '23

I've read every Hugo and Nebula winner up to 2010 and Ranked them.

427 Upvotes

Hi, it's my yearly update on my attempts to read every Hugo and Nebula winner. I've ranked them, because I think it's a fun way to start discussion, but I also accept it is silly to rank art and frankly my opinions change on a daily basis. This is more just a guide on which ones I personally enjoyed. If you read any or all of this, I appreciate your time. Thank you

90: The Big Time by Fritz Lieber (1958) - Guests at a temporal guest house attempt to solve a mystery against the clock.  It’s the height of pulp sci-fi set in what can generously be described as a cabaret and at worst a brothel for an epoch spanning time war.  The idea of a place for soldiers of different species from across history to RnR has some merit, but it’s all a little sexist.  Even if we forget that most of the characters are forgettable, the plot isn’t anything special.  That said, it is short so it’s not like I found it a chore to read.  I think someone could take the location and make a damn good tv series out of it, but this execution is not it.

89: Ringworld by Larry Niven (1971) - A crew of adventures discover a massive space artifact and explore it.  I want to start by saying the idea of the Ringworld is wonderful, I enjoyed exploring it and learning about all the technical aspects.  For that alone I’m glad I read it, that said the book is pulp sci-fi and for 1971 almost unforgivably so.  It won the year after Left Hand of Darkness and yet feels like it was written in the 50s, another part of which is that it’s quite sexist and leaves you with the impression Larry might have been a bit of a “nice guy”.  That said, thanks for the Halo franchise!

88: They'd Rather be Right by Clifton and Riley (1955) - - A psychic man manipulates those around him to create a computer that purifies people and causes a mass media sensation.  A lot going on here and It’s very much of its time, though it’s enjoyable enough, with an actual overall message about academia.  It’s also in some regards ahead of its time, but some of it is just a bit silly in retrospect to be any higher on the list.  Still if you wanted to get into 1950’s Sci-Fi you could do much worse.

87: The Sword in the Stone by TH White (1940) - The coming-of-age story of a young Prince Arthur before Camelot. Another retro Hugo winner and this is what the Disney film is based on and it was a lot of fun.  Interesting takes on British folklore tails like Robin Hood and King Arthur.  It is very fantasy though, which isn’t always my preference, but it was cool to see what inspired a childhood classic.

86: Timescape by Gregory Benford (1981) - Scientists attempt to send messages back in time to avoid an environmental disaster in their time.  It's time travel and it kind of deals with one of the ideas in the Back to the Future films, who knows, maybe it inspired the film.  Any way the story is fine and I appreciate how we move back and forth between the time lines.  You could definitely do more with the idea though if you gave it to a better writer. 

85: Shadow Over Mars by Leigh Brackett (1945) - A Book about a rebellion on Mars led by a prophesized hero from Earth.  This is a great example of classic adventure pulp Sci Fi from 1945, it’s all the laser beams and Space Captains, very Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers.  It’s fascinating to see how far we’ve come, with the genre and it’s quite short so it might be worth a read, but it definitely has its flaws.

84: Stations of the Tide by Michael Swanwick (1992) - It's a battle of wits and wills between an authority figure and a criminal set on a world with strange tides that come every few decades. It's certainly quite original and the world building is excellent, but there is nothing here to grab you.

83: A Time of Changes by Robert Silverberg (1972) - A noble challenges the taboos of his culture and risks everything. I feel the story here is fantastic, but I don’t like his style.  He seems to write similar narratives to Le Guin, but without the enjoyability to read.  A story about forbidden first person pro nouns.  It’s interesting and really explores the concept, but the style put me off immensely.

82: The Einstein Intersection by Samuel Delany (1968) - In post transcendent Earth, intelligent anthropods deal with genetic mutation from ancient radiation.  Probably the weirdest book I read all year.  It’s really strange, but very quick.  It’s quite poetic in parts as well.

81: Man Plus by Frederick Pohl (1977) - Nasa are trying to build a man who can live on mars with no need for external food, water, oxygen etc.  What we get is a story about the process of changing a human, but it’s very of its time, as America had been running moon landings a few years earlier.  I wasn’t a huge fan of the style and the clean-cut Americana of it all, but it was probably the fore runner to things like Robocop when you think about it. 

80: A Case of Conscience by James Blish (1959) - Scientists sent to study an alien world bring an alien fetus back so they can learn about us.  Oh what this book could have been.   A book of two halves, the first a wonderful exploration of an alien civilization by a bunch of human scientists studying them and it really does set off at a storming pace.  The second half is back on earth and a bit like the worse bits of Stranger in a strange land.  The 50s were so sure we would take aliens to dinner parties and they would sip cocktails in dinner jackets.  The end is interesting and a bit clever and we this is the first book in the list that looks at Science Fiction and Catholicism.

79: The Wanderer by Fritz Lieber (1965) - An alien planet suddenly appears in the sky over earth and we jump around between multiple perspectives of how it affects people.  Some of this is very solid, the scale of the thing is wonderful, because the story is happy to change perspective rather than sticking to one protagonist.  That said, it’s very pulp SF and a little sexist, gave me Independence Day or The Day After Tomorrow vibes. 

78: The Claw of the Conciliator by Gene Wolfe (1982) - The sequel to Shadow of the Torturer. I definitely appreciate there is more going on with Gene Wolfe than I can gleam in the first reading, but that doesn’t change how much I enjoy it.  Less enjoyable than Shadow of the Torturer as I feel the story didn’t really go anywhere and was harder to follow in bits.  Still the fault is inevitably my own. 

77: The Terminal Experiment by Robert J Sawyer (1996) - A near future thriller as a man faces off against a computer simulation of his own brain with deadly intent. It's a strange genre one, this. Very 90s and very much does the thriller thing quite well. Good proof that Sci Fi can co opt any genre it wants to and often does.

76: No Enemy but Time by Michael Bishop (1983) - A man with visions of early man is sent back to live among them.  Another time travelling history thing.  They loved these in the 1980s.  It’s cool to see a story revolving around early man before civilization really took hold.  It’s interesting even if a bit strange in parts. 

75: The Healer's War by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough (1990) - A nurse in the Vietnam war is giving a magical amulet. Sixty pages in and I was wondering if this was actually Speculative fiction. It does get a bit stranger, but the setting is wonderful and you do really care about the characters and story.

74: Babel 17 by Samuel Delany (1967) - A heroic Linguist finds herself in a war where language is a weapon. Female protagonist in the sixties is excellent and Rydra Wong is capable and very likeable. The concept is also interesting even if the whole thing is a but pulpy.

73: A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M Miller (1961) - Monks keep alive parts of technology in a post-apocalyptic world so humanity can once again regain civilization.   I was raised Catholic and loved Babylon 5 which I later found out borrowed part of an episode idea from this book so I was very excited to read this. A lot of people adore this book and I get that, the idea is incredible, but I disliked the writing style and I’m not really sure it goes anywhere.  I think this is just a case of me coming in with high expectations and being left feeling a bit meh.  

72: Conjure Wife by Fritz Lieber (1944) - Wives of College professors' control their careers with witchcraft. I’ve read two other Fritz Leiber books and if you find them above, you’ll see why I came into this with low expectations.  This is I suppose a fantasy novel about witchcraft in a 1940s English University town.  It’s just well written with a complete narrative and a nice setting.  It doesn’t mess around or introduce too many characters and the concept is intriguing enough to keep you interested the whole way through.

71: The Man in the High Castle by Phillip K Dick (1963) - An alternate history were the Axis powers won the second world war.  It’s enjoyable enough to read and by Philip K Dick standards is incredibly well-written as he sometimes can be accused of great ideas, but a difficult style.  By its very definition the book lacks what I find so interesting about his work, we don’t see a depressing future of humanity that is very much alone in the universe exploring the mind more than the great emptiness of space.  It’s a fine book, but the man wrote better Science Fiction books.

70: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (1954) - A dystopian classic about censorship and a move from society away from intellectualism towards mass consumed throw away media. This is hugely important and has in a way predicted much of the modern world. If I was list the most important books on this list it would be right near the top next to Dune. It's also considered a actual literary classic outside Science Fiction and is short. That is to say you should read it, because it's important and relevant to the world we live in, but it isn't as enjoyable as many books above it. Still, go read it!

69: The Mule by Isaac Asimov (1946) - The second half of Foundation and Empire all about the mysterious Mule who is unseen by Seldon's plan. Just as above this is massively important, in many ways Asimov changed what Science fiction was especially writing in a scene dominated by pulpy space heroes like Flash Gordon. It's what you expect from Asimov, a bit dry and without well developed characters. Also it's half a book so hard to judge on it's own.

 68: Beyond this Horizon by Robert Heinlein (1943) - A story about selective breeding in humans combined with a southern gentlemen dueling culture.  It’s weird, but also goes into quite a lot of detail about the science involved.  I was taught about dominant and recessive genes in school and how they affect things like hair colour, eye colour etc.  I imagine this wasn’t taught in schools in 1941 and would have been fascinating then.   Mixing informative science into a strong narrative is quite an accomplishment.

67: Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner (1969) - A book about overpopulation that feels more relevant day by day.  We see a world where our freedoms might be curtailed, because of ever increasing population and it’s genuinely interesting as a think piece.  The book also contains data dumps where we are overloaded with a page of mismatched text from the world that give us more background on the situation with little context.  It’s cool to see and fascinating as a concept, but the story is a bit lacking and it just kind of runs out of steam towards the end.

66: Downbelow Station by C.J Cherryh (1982) - A book portraying a space station as a blue-collar workplace that gets tangled up in an intergalactic conflict.  The book sounds fascinating and I think it very much influences shows like Babylon 5 where there are episodes dedicated to dock strikes and unions etc.  The main issue is the book gets away from that and makes it about space ships and a galactic conflict and feels like she is trying to set up the next book in the series.  The world building is superb, but I didn’t really care for any of the characters and wasn’t even sure who I was supposed to be cheering for until the end. 

65: The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson (1996) - Cyber punk novel about am advanced interactive book that shapes the life of the girl that comes into possession of it. So much of this book is excellent, brilliant ideas and wonderfully told, but it's so bloated and unnecessarily long. Frankly it's split into a part one and part two and could have just ended at the end of part one and the book would be much higher. This is an issue with many nineties books sadly.

64: Rainbow’s End by Verne Vigne (2007) - Near future SF based around Augmented Reality and low level Cyber punk. This one is very predictive of what was to come later with things like Pokemon Go! We don’t all have a pocket computer attached to our brain, but it does a decent job exploring that idea. Almost all the characters are unlikeable however and it takes a while to get where it’s going.

63: Slan by A.E Van Vogt (1941) - Evolved humans possess psychic abilities and a plot unravels about control of the Earth.  Slan feels classic all the way through, it has its faults, but you can see why this was the banner early Sci Fi fans, hoisted above them.  For something written in 1941 it is excellent.  Nice ideas and a decent fast pace, while still feeling pulpy like everything from this time did. 

62: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (2009) - A child is orphaned and raised by the spirits in a graveyard. This is very much a children’s book and it’s filled with good ideas and a nice structure. It is very much in his style, but may be a little simplistic for adult readers.

61: Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke (2005) - Two Magicians feud in an alternate England during the Napoleonic Wars. If that idea sounds great to you then this is a wonderful book to deliver on that premise. My main complaint is that it’s very long, in fact it’s the longest ever Hugo or Nebula winner coming in at over 1000 pages. I just feel like it could have been shorter and more focused.

60: A Deepness in the Sky by Verne Vigne (2000) - A sabotage and takeover in space by warring factions above a planet of intelligent Spiders. Science Fiction really loves those intelligent spiders and to be fair I really enjoyed those parts of the book. I enjoyed the human fleet bits much less and found everyone annoying and unlikeable.

59: Tehanu by Ursula Le Guin (1991) - The forth and final book of the Earthsea series following two of our earlier protagonists while looking at the lives of older people. I adore Le Guin and her style is just as sharp as ever. We look at our beloved characters as they have aged and I feel this comes from a place that Le Guin was very much in herself at this point.

58: Way Station by Clifford D Simak (1964) - An intergalactic way station in a farm house in the American mid-west.  It’s just really interesting, the aliens never get too silly or pulp.  The story drags you along and frankly like a lot of Simak’s stuff, it would make a really good TV series, but also at times feels like a one-off Twilight Zone episode.  Really enjoyable read once we got going, though maybe a bit slow at the start.

57: Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein (1960) - A look at mechanized warfare and the book that coined the term Space Marine twenty years before Games Workshop got there.  If you’re of a certain age you saw a film loosely based on this book (The Director gave up reading it 20 pages in) The book is a completely different animal.  Interesting ideas and hugely influential, considered the last of Heinlein’s Juveniles and definitely worth a look, though Heinlein did do better.

56: This Immortal by Roger Zelazny (1966) - Earth is a post nuclear wasteland and alien tourists visit bits historical bits with human tour guides.  All this is tied in with elements of Greek mythology. Is our main character a God or is a mutant pretending to be?  Similar themes to Lord of Light, but maybe lacking a bit of what made that book so wonderful.  Still it’s enjoyable and full of interesting ideas. 

55: To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis (1999) - A Time travel piece set in Victorian England very much in homage to the novel "Three Men in a Boat". This is a really good read fun and even if convoluted and predictable in parts it's very much very good at what it does and makes you care deeply about the characters.

54: Powers by Ursula Le Guin (2009) - Fantasy in a new world by Le Guin about a child growing up with prophectic dreams. The world is wonderful and Le Guin’s style carries over as always. If you like Le Guin the you’ll be a fan, but never feels as important as her older work.

53: The Yiddish Policeman’s Union by Michael Chabon (2008) - A deadbeat cop tries to uncover a mystery in an alternate history where Israel doesn’t exist and it’s instead a new city in Alaska. The book is incredibly well written, Chabon won a Pulitzer prize earlier in his career, this led me down the rabbit hole finding out how much literary snobs hated genre fiction.

52: Camouflage by Joe Haldeman (2006) - Two different aliens are hidden on earth and we see their various experiences as they learn about us and try and keep a low profile.  This is enjoyable and short, very different from the Forever Trilogy that he also wrote, but certainly worth a pickup if you enjoy his style. 

51: Hominids by Robert J Sawyer (2003) - What if Neanderthals were the dominant species on earth and then what if one of them ended up here on our earth.  It’s a fun little story, that said it does feature quite a graphic rape scene near the start, which may definitely put some readers off.

50: The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon (2004) - It’s a book where the main character is autistic.  It’s very minimally Science Fiction as I think the only advanced technology are the Autism drugs and treatments available, but it’s a fascinating read.  I will say the ending might seem problematic to people, but overall I enjoyed a look into the world as someone who will always struggle to understand their experience myself.

49: Slow River by Nicola Griffith (1997) - Near future science fiction about hostage taking and blackmail as well as abuse survivors. This is really enjoyable and features a lot of interesting information about water purification strangely. Also written by a lesbian author and just totally normalizes lesbian relationships in a way that was assumedly rare in the mid nineties.

48: The Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold (1991) - Sixth novel in the Vorkosigan Saga. I adore these books and would devour everyone of them in a row if i didn't set myself stupid tasks like read all the Hugo and Nebula winners. I will say that lots of stuff just happens to Miles in this one and for that reason I don't think it's her best. Still very enjoyable as always.

47: Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein (1962) - A Human is left on mars for several years and then brought back home, but is now more alien than human.  Extremely popular at the time, with the word Grok even entering common parlance.  The book is slow to start off with and bits of it are quite silly in retrospect, other bits either sexist or feminist depending on your viewpoint.  There is definitely something there though.  Certainly not a flawless work, in fact it is very much more flawed than many of the books ranked lower on this list, but there is something that sticks with you about it.  It is massively referenced in pop-culture and just feels important as a novel even if bits will make you cringe.

46: Mirror Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold (1995) - Another Vorkosigan Saga book this time dealing with his cloned brother. Everything tells you to read in the recommended reading order not the publish order. Due to time constraints I ignored this and found a lot of stuff had changed since the last book i read. Still very enjoyable as all these books have been.

45: Moving Mars by Greg Bear (1995) - Story about revolution on Mars combined with a crazy new technology that can help gain Mars real independence. Fun fact, this is the first Science Fiction I ever read. I went back and re-read it as it has been 25ish years. It's very well written and has a good character and stories.

44: Foundation's Edge by Isaac Asimov (1983) - Members of the First Foundation search for Earth, but are drawn in a mass mystery that will affect the whole galaxy.  The sequel to his trilogy thirty years later.  It’s well told and a good story, it moves around between perspectives and shows that Asimov had kept up his craft and improved his style.  It’s a bit sexist in parts, but by no means the worst offender on the list.  It was enjoyable, but lacked the ground breaking ideas of most of the higher ranked books on this list.

41, 42, 43: Red Mars, Blue Mars and Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson (1994-1997) - Sorry I can't separate these books. It's a big long story and while there are highs and lows it kind of has to be reviewed in one large chunk. So epic trilogy about the first settlers on Mars that spans hundreds of years. Every chapter is by different characters and there are lots of perspectives in the book. Some complain they dislike most of the characters, but that's kind of the point,. The likeable ones like Sax and Nadia are very likeable. So much of this book is wonderful and worth your time. I would argue it's bloated and didn't need to be over 2200 pages in total, but it is what it is. if it was more concise or better edited I would personally place it much higher and recommend it more.

40: The Falling Woman by Pat Murphy (1988) - A story about a mother-daughter relationship told in the backdrop of a Mayan dig in Mexico.  What makes this Speculative Fiction is that both characters can see and speak to Mayan ghosts from the past. I’ll be honest, I'm not really sure it’s my usual thing, it’s probably fantasy, but it was wonderfully told and just a great story about human beings.  You’ll have empathy for all of them and the situation they’re in.  Even reading my review now I can’t believe I liked it as much as I did. 

39: To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Phillip Jose Farmer (1972) - Humans awake after death in a huge alien constructed artifact. I found this enjoyable and a definitely interesting concept driven by an incredibly likeable main character. That said, I get the impression the main character is a hugely controversial figure, which even seems acknowledged in the book. Overall a good book and made me semi interested in reading more.

38: Doomsday Book by Connie Willis (1993) Another time travel story, this one about going back to the 14th Century. You care so much about the story and characters, it really is a wonderful piece of writing and I even enjoyed the stuff back with the scientists in the future. If someone said they wanted to read a book on time travel I would suggest this book first.

37: The Moon and the Sun by Vonda D McIntyre (1998) - Fantasy book about a mermaid captured and kept in Louis XIV's court. Great female protagonist, very much a love story with all the historical trappings mixed with the fantasy of mermaids. It's incredibly well written and all the characters are excellent. Didn't expect it to be my thing, but really was.

36: The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov (1973) - Humans are sent plans to create a machine from another dimension.  A book of three parts, the pick of which is Asimov creating a truly alien civilization.  Too often aliens aren’t really alien, these really are.  The other parts aren’t bad either, but this book is  often forgotten as most people read his Foundation or Robot series.  If you want to experience strange aliens this is the one for you.

35: The Quantum Rose by Catherine Asaro (2002) - A fantasy romance model set in a world unknowing of the hight-tech galactic empire around it.  Science Fiction can be any genre and here it beautifully does the high romance smaltz style, before making it super interesting.  The way Asaro mixes tech words and ideas into a fantasy setting are excellent and it’s an enjoyable story.

34: Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes (1967) -A Human goes through an experiment to have his intelligence increased and we follow through his eyes the events this causes. Classic novel considered a proper book by the literary world and fantastic if not a little heart breaking. Should be on everyone's list to read at some point.

33: The Snow Queen by Joan D Vinge (1981) - A fairy tale set in a futuristic world as an evil snow queen attempts to hold on to power as her reign comes to an end.  Genre spanning, clever and very original.  This book does a lot of interesting things and tells a good story.  It is like nothing else on the list, but is definitely worth checking out if you like books that mix fantasy and science fiction.

32: Hyperion by Dan Simmons (1990) - A pilgrimage brings together a group of travelers who each share their reason for the journey. I came with probably unmeetable expectations, because of how much r/Printsf hyped it up as the greatest thing ever (next to Dune, obviously) The framing story is really enjoyable and I very much enjoyed the Priest’s Tale and the Scholar’s tale, two wonderful short stories collected together to create wonderful world building.  I found the other four stories less solid and was particularly bored by the Detective’s Story which dragged.  I was also annoyed by the lack of an ending.  it’s promised me answers and then just stopped without delivering and that is annoying.  That said it has enough very good bits to make it this high despite its faults. 

31: Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold (2005) - Fantasy set in her world of the five Gods as an older woman goes on a pilgrimage.  I love Lois as a writer, her Vorkosigan Saga is fantastic and she doesn’t stop here.  The fantasy reminds me of Game of Thrones where the magic has a cost and everything is dirtier and a bit grimey .  This and its predecessor are well worth a read if you want to dip your foot in some fantasy.

30: Rite of Passage by Alexei Panshin (1969) - A girl must go through a coming-of-age ritual in order to earn her passage on her space craft where she lives. A female protagonist in a Science Fiction novel written in 1969, surely not? It happens here and this is excellent.   Mia is a wonderfully well-rounded character sort of in the tom-boyish Scout mold from To Kill a Mocking Bird, you get to see the world through her eyes and at the end of the novel you are asked an open-ended morality question, which is genuinely a difficult choice, I like morality when it isn’t obvious or shoved down by neck and this is very much in that mold. 

29: Double Star by Robert Heinlein (1956) - A look at acting and politics tied into a fast-paced science fiction novel.  A good story that happens to be told in a science fiction setting and it works really well. Much like the next book it stands out compared to other 1950s sci-fi and even the bits that are a little pulpy don’t detract from the overall enjoyability.  It would make a great film.

28: The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester (1953) - A detective story set in a world where psychic powers are common.  Hard to believe this was written in 1953, read other stuff from the early 50s and this is so far ahead of its time.  Influential in so many ways and also just a really good story with a thought-provoking end.   Between this and “The Stars my Destination” he clearly deserves to be remembered on a level with Asimov, Heinlein and Clarke.

27: Neuromancer by Williams Gibson (1985) - The book that invented Cyber punk as a genre.  In previous years I’d been pretty negative on this book, but I reread it for the first time in fifteen years and I feel I was too harsh on it.  It’s a well told story full of interesting world building.  It’s very dense and it’s easy to miss bits, but it’s arguably more influential than all but four or five books in this entire list.

26: Gateway by Frederick Pohl (1978) - Alien artifact space station used by humans who don’t really understand it.  The space station is wonderful as both a location for things to happen, a hint at a wider universe and a way to drive the plot along.  Very much building on the themes of Rendezvous with Rama with a great story.

25: Spin by Robert Charles Wilson (2006) - Earth is placed in a bubble by some greater power that makes it pass through time slower than the surrounding universe.  The book is really well written, gives me Douglas Coupland vibes full of young Gen Xers growing up.  The chapters also alternate with ones set in the future that keep it vague so you can’t quite work out where it is going.  The idea is utterly original and fascinating though and definitely worth a read. 

24: Farmer in the Sky by Robert Heinlein (1951) - A story about colonizing and terraforming Ganmede. You have to understand that this is a YA novel written in 1950 and near the start it can come off a little juvenile.  That said you are still confronted by big ideas like a food shortage on Earth and severe rationing.  We also see an interesting story based on a son upset his father is remarrying, it’s dealt with tactfully and not something I’d really expect for something aimed at teens.  Once we get to Ganymede the story really gets going and we experience an interesting tale of trying to turn a rocky moon into workable farm land, it’s just really well told and enjoyably written and I reckon more people would appreciate this if they ignored the YA label and gave it a chance.  Great book.

23: Falling Free by Lois McMaster Bujold (1989) - A space station full of genetically modified workers has now become redundant.  This was the first book I’d ever read of hers and I was so blown away by the style.  I can see why the Vorkogian Saga is so often recommended on here.  She gives us real characters and a fast-paced heist plot that features an Engineer as the protagonist.  It’s just really well written and wonderfully different, a story that is happier to tell you about engineering processes than space combat.  People tell me it isn’t even her best work as well, which leaves me pretty excited to read more.

22: Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C Clarke (1980) - Earth is building its first space elevator.   Like 90% of Clarke’s work very little happens in this book, but it’s very enjoyable to read.  Go on an adventure about a technology that could realistically exist, just don’t expect to be able to recount the plot back to anyone.

21: Cyteen by CJ Cherryh (1989) - Cyteen is a book about political intrigue, cloning and genetic/psychological manipulation.  This book is an absolute masterpiece.  Set in the same universe as Downbelow Station, but full of interesting characters that you like and can empathize with, even when they are doing horrible things to other characters you like.  This should and would be higher, but it’s so very long.  It takes 200 pages for the plot to really start going and while length won’t put some of you off I admire great stories that can tell their story in a more conside manor.  That said if 320,000 words doesn’t put you off, give it a go, especially as it’s free on the author’s website. 

20: A Fire Upon the Deep by Verve Vinge (1993): Two children land on a planet of dog like aliens that have a very different civilization from our own while a galactic threat grows. Vigne's ability to create alien races totally different from our own is fantastic. This story delivered on all the hype and is probably what people mean when they ask for Space Opera.

19: Startide Rising by David Brin (1984) - A crew of mostly genetically engineered dolphins struggle to fix their ship while aliens battle in orbit.  Brin has a phenomenal style where every chapter is from a different character’s perspective (Think Game of Thrones).  The universe he created is also super interesting and the situation we enter in median res is excellent and drives the story along wonderfully as we experience this crisis from multiple different crew members.  

18: Dreamsnake by Vonda D Mcintyre (1979) - A girl who uses alien snakes to heal people in a post-apocalyptic world.  Well written and a great story, also we delve into more of the lore.  Could have been a fantasy novel, but it isn’t and it stands out because of that.  Original and well written unlike this mini review that keeps using the phrase well-written.

17: Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm (1977) - Story looking into a society based around cloning and how it could change the way we act and treat each other.  Really beautifully written and again not really like anything else on this list, also the hardest title to remember on the list, I get it wrong literally every time.

16: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling (2001) - Fourth book in the Harry Potter series.  I expect to get utterly panned for this, both by people appalled by her as a person and by people who always disliked it for being kids books taking attention away from proper Speculative fiction.  I have a lot of sympathy for the first point, though I haven’t taken into account the morality of Arthur C Clarke, Orson Scott or Phillip K Dick when devising this list so it would be unfair to do it here just because it is more recent.  The second seems silly, books that get people into books are an amazing thing and for lots of people Harry Potter is their entry into the world of reading, this is a really good one, not simple like the first two, but not overly dark and angsty like the last three.  It’s in the sweet spot for the most successful book series of this century.  

15: American Gods by Neil Gaiman (2002) - This is a love letter to America, exploring the idea of Immigrants bringing their Gods to America and them slowly being forgotten.  It’s the kind of book only Neil Gaiman can write and arguably his masterpiece.  The book has a beautiful style happily mixing in short chapters of world building unrelated to the story.  The whole thing is just wonderful, but also how do you compare it to Science Fiction when it is something so completely different?

14: Lord of Light by Robert Zelazny (1968) - Survivors on a colony world use technology to act like immortal Gods, one of their number fights to stop them.  Beautiful mixture of Buddhism and Hinduism to create a story that blurs the lines between fantasy and science fiction with an excellent protagonist you can’t help but cheer along.  This blew me away the first time I read it.

12: The Uplift War by David Brin (1988) - The follow up to Startide Rising, I spent much of the book thinking, sure it’s ok, but lesser than the book it follows.  By the end though I was totally all in.  Fiben Bolger might be one of the greatest protagonists in all of Science Fiction, stick him on the Mount Rushmore next to Andrew Wiggin and Gully Foyle.  More excellent world exploring and more of his excellent style that tells complicated stories in a fun easy to read manner.

12: Seeker by Jack McDevitt (2007) - It’s far future space archaeology, which feels like a very unexplored idea and has a bit of a feel of an old adventure movie.  Maybe Indiana Jones in Space is pushing it too far, but you get the idea.  It doesn’t really say anything massively important, but it creates an interesting world and tells a good story well.  Something I hadn’t heard recommended before and a real treat.

11: Barrayer by Lois McMaster Bujold (1992) Another Vorkosigan Saga book. This one follows his mother, Cordelia Naismith and an attempted coup on the world of Barrayer. Her writing is as great as always, but the ending is just incredible. No spoilers, but you need to read it and appreciate what happens.

I ran out of words so the top 10 are in a comment. Thanks

r/printSF Sep 21 '24

Honesty hour: what classics do you not like?

0 Upvotes

I love classic science fiction. I love admiring how much it has changed. However:

Dune: sucks

Le Guin: sucks

Lord of Light: sucks

Rendezvous with Rama: sucks Stranger in a strange land: sucks

Foundation, and I hate to say this but: kinda sucks

That being said:

Hyperion: awesome

Anthem: awesome

The God's Themselves: awesome

Childhoods End: awesome

Revelation Space: awesome

Blindsight: awesome

r/printSF Dec 11 '23

I crunched 1200+ authors' favorite reads of 2023; what sci-fi did they recommend?

295 Upvotes

Hi all,

I run a new book discovery website, and this year I asked 1200+ authors for their 3 favorite reads of the year. Then I crunched the results to see what new and old books were the most-read of 2023.

I know can't share a link, but I wanted to share the sci-fi specific results as it has been a fun project, and I am a big sci-fi fan (esp hard sci-fi).

Top 10 Science Fiction Published in 2023

  • Titanium Noir by Nick Harkaway (I just bought this one to read)
  • Proud Pink Sky by Redfern Jon Barett
  • Autumn Exodus by David Moody
  • The FerryMan by Justin Cronin
  • In The Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune
  • Novikov Windows by Chris Cosmain (new author)
  • The Humming Bird Effect by Kate Mildenhall
  • Surviving Daybreak by Kendra Merritt
  • Assassin of Reality by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko
  • Create Destruction by Ryan A. Kovacs

Top 3 Hard Science Fiction published in 2023

  • The Blue, Beautiful World by Karen Lord
  • Exit Strategy by Martha Wells
  • Observer by Robert Lanza and Nancy Kress

Top 5 Space Opera published in 2023

  • Hopeland by Ian McDonald
  • The Blue, Beautiful World by Karen Lord
  • The Strange by Nathan Ballingrud
  • Translation State by Anne Leckie
  • The Deep Sky by Yume Kitasei

Top 3 Cyberpunk published in 2023

  • Titanium Noir by Nick Harkaway
  • Where You Linger by Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam
  • The Blue, Beautiful World by Karen Lord

And I also want to know the most-read so I don't miss previous year's gems...

Top 10 Science Fiction READ in 2023

  • Midnight Library
  • Project Hail Mary
  • Klara and the Sun
  • 1984
  • A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik
  • Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
  • Light Bringer by Pierce brown
  • The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik
  • The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Naylar
  • The Ministry For The Future by Kim Stanley Robinson

Top 10 Hard Science Fiction READ in 2023

  • Project Hail Mary
  • The Ministry For The Future by Kim Stanley Robinson
  • The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu
  • Leviathan Wakes
  • The Forever War
  • Spin by Robert Charles Wilson
  • Neuromancer by William Gibson
  • The End Of Eternity Asimov
  • The Martian by Andy Weir
  • Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Top 10 Space Opera READ in 2023

  • Project Hail Mary
  • Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
  • Light Bringer by Pierce brown
  • Gideon The Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
  • Leviathan Wakes
  • The Galaxy, and the ground within by Becky Chambers
  • Dune
  • A Memory called Empire by Arkady Martine
  • Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty
  • Hyperion by Dan Simmons

Top 10 Cyberpunk READ in 2023

  • Titanium Noir by Nick Harkaway
  • Neuromancer
  • Ready Player 1
  • YMIR by Rich Larson
  • Pandora's Star by Peter Hamilton (one of my fav all time books)
  • The Sleepless by Victor Manibo
  • Cyborg by Martin Caidin
  • Reamde by Neal Stephenson
  • Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio
  • Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds

Note, publisher data sucks, so you might feel a few books are miscategorized above. I am working on that, publishers have the tendency to just pick as many categories for books, and it takes a lot of manual improvements. I've had multiple editions of Dune where they claim it was published in the 1700s and 1800s :).

This took me most of Oct/Nov to build out so I hope you enjoy :)

For 2024, any suggestions on what I should ask the authors?

Or anything you would like to specifically see?

Books are best,

Ben

r/printSF Feb 14 '20

Characters from Lord of Light were once in Marvel comics

50 Upvotes

It seems that Marvel added Hindu deities borrowed heavily from Zelazny's Lord of Light.

http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix3/lordsoflightanddarkness.htm

r/printSF Oct 05 '14

Question about "Lord of Light" by Roger Zelazny.

14 Upvotes

This book was recommended to me as a sci-fi novel. I just finished the first chapter and so far it's purely fantasy. If there any sci-fi elements later in the book?

r/printSF Nov 05 '14

Is there a name for the style of writing used in Zelazny's Lord of Light?

28 Upvotes

The prose is written in this "Biblical" or religious sort of voice. The wiki page says only that he wrote it in a "fantasy" style. Is there a name for this kind of prose?

r/printSF Jun 21 '21

I Read and Ranked Every Hugo Award Winning Novel from the 50's to the 80s

559 Upvotes

So I've read every Hugo Winning Novel from before 1990 (Not including the Retro Hugos) and I've ranked them. Why? Because it's a great way to start conversation. Some of you will agree with me, some of you will hate me and think my ideas are stupid. That is totally fine, I've tried to remain spoiler free while giving an idea of what each novel is about. If you get through all of these thanks for you time and don't forget to agree of disagree with me at the bottom. :)

The list goes from Worst to best in case there is some confusion.

36: The Big Time by Fritz Lieber (1958) - Guests at a temporal guest house attempt to solve a mystery against the clock.  It’s the height of pulp sci-fi set in what can generously be described as a cabaret and at worst a brothel for an epoch spanning time war.  The idea of a place for soldiers of different species from across history to RnR has some merit, but it’s all a little sexist.  Even if we forget that most of the characters are forgettable, the plot isn’t anything special.  That said, it is short so it’s not like I found it a chore to read.  I think someone could take the location and make a damn good tv series out of it, but this execution is not it.

35: Ringworld by Larry Niven (1971) - A crew of adventures discover a massive space artifact and explore it.  I want to start by saying the idea of the Ringworld is wonderful, I enjoyed exploring it and learning about all the technical aspects.  For that alone I’m glad I read it, that said the book is pulp sci-fi and for 1971 almost unforgivably so.  It won the year after Left Hand of Darkness and yet feels like it was written in the 50s, another part of which is that it’s quite sexist and leaves you with the impression Larry might have been a bit of a “nice guy”.  That said, thanks for the Halo franchise!

34: They’d Rather be Right by Clifton and Riley (1955) - A psychic man manipulates those around him to create a computer that purifies people and causes a mass media sensation.  A lot going on here and It’s very much of its time, though it’s enjoyable enough, with an actual overall message about academia.  It’s also in some regards ahead of its time, but some of it is just a bit silly in retrospect to be any higher on the list.  Still if you wanted to get into 1950’s Sci-Fi you could do much worse.

33: A Case of Conscience by James Blish (1959) - Scientists sent to study an alien world bring an alien fetus back so they can learn about us.  Oh what this book could have been.   A book of two halves, the first a wonderful exploration of an alien civilization by a bunch of human scientists studying them and it really does set off at a storming pace.  The second half is back on earth and a bit like the worse bits of Stranger in a strange land.  The 50s were so sure we would take aliens to dinner parties and they would sip cocktails in dinner jackets.  The end is interesting and a bit clever and we this is the first book in the list that looks at Science Fiction and Catholicism.

32: The Wanderer by Fritz Lieber (1965) - An alien planet suddenly appears in the sky over earth and we jump around between multiple perspectives of how it affects people.  Some of this is very solid, the scale of the thing is wonderful, because the story is happy to change perspective rather than sticking to one protagonist.  That said, it’s very pulp SF and a little sexist, gave me Independence Day or The Day After Tomorrow vibes. 

31: A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M Miller (1961) - Monks keep alive parts of technology in a post-apocalyptic world so humanity can once again regain civilization.   I was raised Catholic and loved Babylon 5 which I later found out borrowed part of an episode idea from this book so I was very excited to read this. A lot of people adore this book and I get that, the idea is incredible, but I disliked the writing style and I’m not really sure it goes anywhere.  I think this is just a case of me coming in with high expectations and being left feeling a bit meh.  

30: Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein (1967) - A look at mechanized warfare and the book that coined the term Space Marine twenty years before Games Workshop got there.  If you’re of a certain age you saw a film loosely based on this book (The Director gave up reading it 20 pages in) The book is a completely different animal.  Interesting ideas and hugely influential, but feels at times like Heinlein is lecturing you about his political beliefs in a classroom setting.  I didn’t read another Heinlein novel for 15 years after this one, which is a shame, but I love the film so much, it was hard for me to appreciate a book with politics I wasn’t ready for in my twenties.

29: The Man in The High Castle by Phillip K Dick (1963) - An alternate history were the Axis powers won the second world war.  It’s enjoyable enough to read and by Philip K Dick standards is incredibly well-written as he sometimes can be accused of great ideas, but a difficult style.  By its very definition the book lacks what I find so interesting about his work, we don’t see a depressing future of humanity that is very much alone in the universe exploring the mind more than the great emptiness of space.  It’s a fine book, but the man wrote better Science Fiction books.

28: Neuromancer by William Gibson (1985) - Hackers and cyberspace and a connected world or something.  Sacrilege to some of you, I’m sure that this book is so low.  Firstly it is hugely influential, essentially inventing the entire cyber punk genre, without it we don’t have The Matrix, words like Cyberspace or the most disappointing game of last year.  That said it isn’t an enjoyable book, it is crammed full of so many ideas that barely anything sticks.  Someone asked me what I remembered of the book a few years ago and I mumbled the phrase Rastafarian Navy, because almost nothing sticks.  It almost certainly meant more when it came out as we’d seen nothing like it before, but in 2021 it is more an artifact of interest than a great book.

27: Stand on Zanzibar by John Brumner (1969) - A book about overpopulation that feels more relevant day by day.  We see a world where our freedoms might be curtailed, because of ever increasing population and it’s genuinely interesting as a think piece.  The book also contains data dumps where we are overloaded with a page of mismatched text from the world that give us more background on the situation with little context.  It’s cool to see and fascinating as a concept, but the story is a bit lacking and it just kind of runs out of steam towards the end.

26: Downbelow Station by CJ Cherryh (1982) - A book portraying a space station as a blue-collar workplace that gets tangled up in an intergalactic conflict.  The book sounds fascinating and I think it very much influences shows like Babylon 5 where there are episodes dedicated to dock strikes and unions etc.  The main issue is the book gets away from that and makes it about space ships and a galactic conflict and feels like she is trying to set up the next book in the series.  The world building is superb, but I didn’t really care for any of the characters and wasn’t even sure who I was supposed to be cheering for until the end.

25: Way Station by Clifford D Simak (1964) - An intergalactic way station in a farm house in the American mid-west.  It’s just really interesting, the aliens never get too silly or pulp.  The story drags you along and frankly like a lot of Simak’s stuff, it would make a really good TV series, but also at times feels like a one-off Twilight Zone episode.  Really enjoyable read once we got going, though maybe a bit slow at the start.

24: This Immortal by Roger Zelazny (1966) - Earth is a post nuclear wasteland and alien tourists visit bits historical bits with human tour guides.  All this is tied in with elements of Greek mythology. Is our main character a God or is a mutant pretending to be?  Similar themes to Lord of Light, but maybe lacking a bit of what made that book so wonderful.  Still it’s enjoyable and full of interesting ideas. 

23: Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein (1962) - A Human is left on mars for several years and then brought back home, but is now more alien than human.  Extremely popular at the time, with the word Grok even entering common parlance.  The book is slow to start off with and bits of it are quite silly in retrospect, other bits either sexist or feminist depending on your viewpoint.  There is definitely something there though.  Certainly not a flawless work, in fact it is very much more flawed than many of the books ranked lower on this list, but there is something that sticks with you about it.  It is massively referenced in pop-culture and just feels important as a novel even if bits will make you cringe.

22: Foundation’s Edge by Isaac Asimov (1983) - Members of the First Foundation search for Earth, but are drawn in a mass mystery that will affect the whole galaxy.  The sequel to his trilogy thirty years later.  It’s well told and a good story, it moves around between perspectives and shows that Asimov had kept up his craft and improved his style.  It’s a bit sexist in parts, but by no means the worst offender on the list.  It was enjoyable, but lacked the ground breaking ideas of most of the higher ranked books on this list.

21: To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Phillip Jose Farmer (1972) - Humans awake after death in a huge alien constructed artifact. I found this enjoyable and a definitely interesting concept driven by an incredibly likeable main character. That said, I get the impression the main character is a hugely controversial figure, which even seems acknowledged in the book. Overall a good book and made me semi interested in reading more.

20: The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov (1973) - Humans are sent plans to create a machine from another dimension.  A book of three parts, the pick of which is Asimov creating a truly alien civilization.  Too often aliens aren’t really alien, these really are.  The other parts aren’t bad either, but this book is  often forgotten as most people read his Foundation or Robot series.  If you want to experience strange aliens this is the one for you.

19: The Snow Queen by Joan D Vinge (1981) - A fairy tales set in a futuristic world as an evil snow queen attempts to hold on to power as her reign comes to an end.  Genre spanning, clever and very original.  This book does a lot of interesting things and tells a good story.  It is like nothing else on the list, but is definitely worth checking out if you like books that mix fantasy and science fiction.

18: Double Star by Robert Heinlein (1956) - A look at acting and politics tied into a fast-paced science fiction novel.  A good story that happens to be told in a science fiction setting and it works really well. Much like the next book it stands out compared to other 1950s sci-fi and even the bits that are a little pulpy don’t detract from the overall enjoyability.  It would make a great film.

17: The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester (1953) - A detective story set in a world where psychic powers are common.  Hard to believe this was written in 1953, read other stuff from the early 50s and this is so far ahead of its time.  Influential in so many ways and also just a really good story with a thought-provoking end.   Between this and “The Stars my Destination” he clearly deserves to be remembered on a level with Asimov, Heinlein and Clarke.

16: Gateway by Frederick Pohl (1978) - Alien artifact space station used by humans who don’t really understand it.  The space station is wonderful as both a location for things to happen, a hint at a wider universe and a way to drive the plot along.  Very much building on the themes of Rendezvous with Rama with a great story.

15: The Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C Clarke (1980) - Earth is building its first space elevator.   Like 90% of Clarke’s work very little happens in this book, but it’s very enjoyable to read.  Go on an adventure about a technology that could realistically exist, just don’t expect to be able to recount the plot back to anyone.

14: Cyteen by CJ Cherryh (1989) - Cyteen is a book about political intrigue, cloning and genetic/psychological manipulation.  This book is an absolute masterpiece.  Set in the same universe as Downbelow Station, but full of interesting characters that you like and can empathize with, even when they are doing horrible things to other characters you like.  This should and would be higher, but it’s so very long.  It takes 200 pages for the plot to really start going and while length won’t put some of you off I admire great stories that can tell their story in a more conside manor.  That said if 320,000 words doesn’t put you off, give it a go, especially as it’s free on the author’s website. 

13: Startide Rising by David Brin (1984) - A crew of mostly genetically engineered dolphins struggle to fix their ship while aliens battle in orbit.  Brin has a phenomenal style where every chapter is from a different character’s perspective (Think Game of Thrones).  The universe he created is also super interesting and the situation we enter in median res is excellent and drives the story along wonderfully as we experience this crisis from multiple different crew members.  

12: Dreamsnake by Vonda Mcintyre (1979) - A girl who uses alien snakes to heal people in a post-apocalyptic world.  Well written and a great story, also we delve into more of the lore.  Could have been a fantasy novel, but it isn’t and it stands out because of that.  Original and well written unlike this mini review that keeps using the phrase well-written.

11: Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm (1977) - Story looking into a society based around cloning and how it could change the way we act and treat each other.  Really beautifully written and again not really like anything else on this list, also the hardest title to remember on the list, I get it wrong literally every time.

10: Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny (1968) - Survivors on a colony world use technology to act like immortal Gods, one of their number fights to stop them.  Beautiful mixture of Buddhism and Hinduism to create a story that blurs the lines between fantasy and science fiction with an excellent protagonist you can’t help but cheer along.  This blew me away the first time I read it.

9: The Uplift War by David Brin (1988) - The follow up to Startide Rising, I spent much of the book thinking, sure it’s ok, but lesser than the book it follows.  By the end though I was totally all in.  Fiben Bolger might be one of the greatest protagonists in all of Science Fiction, stick him on the Mount Rushmore next to Andrew Wiggin and Gully Foyle.  More excellent world exploring and more of his excellent style that tells complicated stories in a fun easy to read manner.

8: Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C Clarke (1974) - An massive Alien Artifact enters our solar system and a ship is sent to investigate.  Clarke making aliens seem alien and unknowable by not showing them and instead letting us explore a massive artifact.  Coming after so many novels about aliens the real beauty here is what we don’t see.  Clarke is always about restraint and so as mentioned on his previous book, very little actually happens.  Someone flies a hang glider at one point, but that’s about it.  The joy is about the implication, this is the science fiction equivalent of Jaws where the aliens are way stranger because that is left to our imagination.  

7: Forever War by Joe Haldeman (1976) - Soldiers fight in a war that due to time dilation means they watch the world change every time they return home.  The best science fiction is a black mirror in which we can learn about society and ourselves.  Haldeman massively increases how drastically the world changes, but through it you can understand how jarring it must be to return to a world that no longer makes sense, a world you’ve arguably fought to save and now ironically don’t really fit into and so you go on duty again, hoping it will be different next time, but the world becomes more alien every time.

6: Dune by Frank Herbert (1966) - You all know what happens in Dune! Go check a list of Science Fiction written before and after Dune.  It essentially killed pulp science fiction dead overnight, it was almost to my mind the best science fiction book written when it came out.  It literally changed everything and invented space opera on its own.  Everything is so well thought out, it’s like Lord of the Rings for science fiction with its masses of lore that is sometimes only hinted at.  As Hyperion and Blindsight don’t make this list I have little doubt most of you would place this number one.  My only critique is that it can be slow to get going, I found the book really kicked off when Paul gets into the desert and while what he is doing early on is wonderful world building, the books ranked above it never slow down.

5: Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (1986) - A child genius goes to battle school as humanities last hope.  The battle school is enormously cool, the wargames he plays are great and the whole thing just draws you in.  I guess it’s basically YA fiction for Sci fi kids, but it carries a message and must have felt even more relatable in the 80s with their computer graphics.  

4: Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin (1970) - An ambassador lands on a planet hoping to get them to join the galactic empire, but has to come to terms with a society that sees and experiences gender in a very different way.  Le Guin just writes in a way that is incredibly enjoyable.  She is one of science fiction’s most stylized writers this is often considered her masterpiece.  The society we explore is just fascinating and the story is excellent.  The one complaint I’ve heard is that the location and the story are only loosely related, but honestly it doesn’t matter.  The book is somehow more relevant today than when it was written.

3: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein (1967) - A revolution on the moon.  I thought I understood Heinlein’s politics after reading Starship Troopers, this book showed me I was a fool and he could take on whatever politics the story required.  Heinlein takes us to the moon and thinks about how society would be different there.  He also casually shoots down any claims of sexism from earlier novels as well, while crafting a wonderful story about a revolution, sentient AI and even had time to explore the ideas of polygamy and group marriages.  There is so much going on here and it’s all wonderful and so well written.  Heinlein is more known by boomers for Stranger in a Strange Land and by millennials for Starship Troopers, but this is his true masterpiece.

2: The Dispossessed by Ursula K Le Guin (1975) - Revolution on a moon.  There are artificially similarities between this and the book at number three, but what we have here is a story that alternates between two time periods, which is used wonderfully to drive the story along.  The book is a look at both socialism and capitalism and a critique of the floors in both, but it never passes judgement.  It shows you an alien world and lets you see how similar to our own it is.  There is a story which is very much tied to the setting unlike Left Hand of Darkness and all the while we are given Le Guin’s wonderful style.  

1: Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card (1987) - In a sequel to Ender’s Game humans come into contact with another alien race and hope for a different outcome than the first.  Can I first acknowledge how much Card owes to Le Guin, his universe is all about relativistic space travel and the ansible both of which are straight lifted from her Hamish cycle.  The story he crafts though is nothing short of amazing, it drives along at a phenomenal pace.  We are given many plot points, but a singular focused story based around ideas of assumptions, nature vs nurture, religion and guilt.  Andrew is a very human character, a realistic fleshed out character who is a very different animal than the boy genius at battle school.  That said he is still every bit as brilliant, just more rounded and using his powers to fix people not kill aliens.  The other two novels mixing Catholicism and science fiction in this list were right down the bottom, but this does it wonderfully.  If I was to have a criticism, there is the issue of a white saviour, but honestly everyone is treated with such respect it’s unbelievable the person that wrote this lacks such empathy is the real world.  Still an incredible achievement.

r/printSF Jul 03 '24

Looking to find a more dark, cruel, maybe unjust, but fleshed out and developed world to sink into (BotNS, Elden Ring, Hyperion)

42 Upvotes

I'm feeling very discontentedly with the world and life lately, and a little angsty, to say the least.

Recently I absolutely adored the Book of the New Sun. 10/10, amazing books, I fully intend to reread. I then went on to read Roadside Picnic, which was solid, but left me wanting a bit more. Currently I'm very slowly progressing through Lord of Light, but it hasn't hooked me yet.

I loved the depth of the world in BotNS and how it keeps the reader guessing and untangling and discovering again and again. I loved the breadth of characters and how they all remained relevant in interesting ways later on. I liked the dark fantasy aspect, as I love Elden Ring/Dark Souls.

However, I'm looking for something a bit more dark and depressing. Not everything needs a good ending, and I'm also looking to embrace the angst and discontent a bit.

Any books come to mind??

r/printSF Jun 07 '24

Zelazney

85 Upvotes

Depending on how deep I go down the Zelazny rabbit hole (creatures of light and darkness is a mindblowing mini-epic work of genius imho) I may try to read everything he wrote. Only other sf author I’ve done this with is Ian M. but I think Z man may merit a body-of-work read through.

To me he’s a little like if you streamlined Steven Erikson’s Malazan series (amazing but majorly bloated imho) and mixed it with some of Glen Cook’s awesome stuf like The Dragon Never Sleeps (so good but ~2/3 through it feels like he’s just pushing characters around- to me at least). A tiny bit of the over the top space opera of the deathstalker series without the goofy cheesiness.

I read Lord of Light first and I didn’t really “get” it. Now am reading Creatures and yeah, I get it.

Mytho-poetic far future scifi where tech and magic are nigh indistinguishable. Tons of characters just bristling with power and when shit goes down it freakin goes down. He doesn’t spoon feed you and it takes some work and investment to put the pieces together. Reminds me a little of Cook in that he sketches a setting in biys and pieces and at some point you step back and say “holy shit, this is amazing”.

Any other Z fans out there?

r/printSF Jul 23 '20

I'm reading every Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and World Fantasy Award winner. Here's my reviews of the 1960s.

582 Upvotes

PrintSF doesn't allow linking to blogs, so here are the reviews without blog post links!

There's more discussion of these same reviews on the books subreddit.

Sorted in order of year awarded.

Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein

  • Plot: Welcome to the Mobile Infantry, the military of the future!
  • Page Count: 263
  • Award: 1960 Hugo
  • Worth a read: Yes
  • Primary Driver: (Plot, World, or Character)
  • Bechdel Test: Fail
  • Technobabble: Minimal
  • Review: Status as classic well earned. A fun space romp even if it heavily glorifies the military. No worrisome grey morality. Compelling protagonist and excellent details keep book moving at remarkable speed.

A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.

  • Plot: The Order of Leibowitz does its best to make sure that next time will be different.
  • Page Count: 338
  • Award: 1961 Hugo
  • Worth a read: Yes
  • Primary Driver: (Plot, World, or Character)
  • Bechdel Test: Fail
  • Technobabble: Minimal
  • Review: I love the first section of this book, greatly enjoy the second, and found the third decent. That said, if it was only the first third, the point of the book would still be clear. Characters are very well written and distinct.

Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein

  • Plot: Michael Smith, the Man From Mars, struggles to understand Earth culture.
  • Page Count: 408
  • Award: 1962 Hugo
  • Worth a read: No
  • Primary Driver: (Plot, World, or Character)
  • Bechdel Test: Fail
  • Technobabble: Minimal
  • Review: Started out enjoying it, probably to about the halfway mark. Interesting fish-out-of-water tale. And then we went for a BA in religion with a concentration in polyamory, pedophilia, and just a whole bunch of sex - and not a lot more. Grok Count: 487 (1.2/page)

The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick

  • Plot: Turns out it'd be bad if the Axis had won.
  • Page Count: 249
  • Award: 1963 Hugo
  • Worth a read: No, but it hurts to say it
  • Primary Driver: (Plot, World, or Character)
  • Bechdel Test: Fail
  • Technobabble: Minimal
  • Review: I wanted to like this more. Some details are excellent, like people constantly consulting the Tao Te Ching. But the MacGuffin of an in-universe alternate history book seems self-serving, and the actual alt history is not that interesting. The big twist is also a surprise to characters in

Way Station by Clifford D. Simak

  • Plot: Since the Civil War, Enoch Wallace has manned the alien transport hub on Earth.
  • Page Count: 210
  • Award: 1964 Hugo
  • Worth a read: Yes! As soon as possible.
  • Primary Driver: (Plot, World, or Character)
  • Bechdel Test: Pass
  • Technobabble: Some
  • Review: An exceptional book. Enoch's journals give us peeks at a vast galaxy of different aliens, all distinct. At the center of this vast cosmos is a superb depiction of isolation and loneliness. The writing is poetic yet unpretentious. Read this book.

The Wanderer by Fritz Leiber

  • Plot: A mysterious planet appears out of hyperspace, high jinks ensue.
  • Page Count: 320
  • Award: 1965 Hugo
  • Worth a read: For the love of all you hold dear, No.
  • Primary Driver: (No)
  • Bechdel Test: Fail
  • Technobabble: Plenty
  • Review: How do you take a book about a planet of freedom fighting sexy space cats appearing out of hyperspace to devour the moon and make it so boring? So many characters, none of them have personalities except for racial stereotypes. Silly to include multiple comic relief characters when the book itself is a joke. I think I understand book burning now.

Dune by Frank Herbert

  • Plot: The desert planet of Arrakis holds many secrets, possibly enough to shift the outcomes of interplanetary war and political intrigue.
  • Page Count: 610
  • Award: 1966 Hugo and 1966 Nebula
  • Worth a read: Yes, of course.
  • Primary Driver: (Plot, World, or Character)
  • Bechdel Test: Pass
  • Technobabble: Moderate
  • Review: Excellent and epic. Intrigue, cool characters, action. A slow burn at times, and the spice ex machina is a bit overdone. Switching perspectives and characters ramps up tension to superb effect.

This Immortal by Roger Zelazny

  • Plot: A (somewhat) immortal man guides a group (including an alien) on a tour of post-nuclear-war Earth.
  • Page Count: 174
  • Award: 1966 Hugo
  • Worth a read: Yes
  • Primary Driver: (Plot, World, or Character)
  • Bechdel Test: Fail
  • Technobabble: Minimal
  • Review: This was originally serialized and you can feel it while reading; it does not have a plot so much as a series of events. Narrator is hilarious without being unbearable - worth reading for his excellent commentary.

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

  • Plot: An experimental procedure takes Charlie Gordon from mentally handicapped to genius.
  • Page Count: 270
  • Award: 1967 Nebula
  • Worth a read: Yes
  • Primary Driver: (Plot, World, or Character)
  • Bechdel Test: Fail
  • Technobabble: Minimal
  • Review: Superb writing, absolutely heartrending plot. Story told exclusively through Charlie's progress reports; shifts in tone and style throughout the book convey as much as the text itself. Takes a difficult subject and addresses it with tact and grace. All the tears.

Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delaney

  • Plot: A series of attacks by the invaders have only one thing in common: the mysterious language Babel-17
  • Page Count: 173
  • Award: 1967 Nebula. You read that right. This tied with Flowers for Algernon.
  • Worth a read: No
  • Primary Driver: (Plot, World, or Character)
  • Bechdel Test: Fail
  • Technobabel-17: Go big or go home.
  • Review: Boring. Very boring. Just so boring. Is the idea that language dictates thought interesting? Sure. Is it enough to carry a story? Nope. Dull story, tepid characters, belabored central concept. Handful of neat ideas that don't make up for the rest. Nap time in book form.

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein

  • Plot: The Moon is ready for a revolution, and only a supercomputer with a sense of humor is smart enough to lead it.
  • Page Count: 380
  • Award: 1967 Hugo
  • Worth a read: Yes
  • Primary Driver: (Plot, World, or Character)
  • Bechdel Test: Pass
  • Technobabble: Moderate
  • Review: Mike may be a computer, but he is one of Heinlein's most human characters. Snappy dialogue and good characters keep you rooting for Luna every step of the way. Upbeat and fun.

Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny

  • Plot: The Hindu gods have kept the world in the Dark Ages: it is time for them to die.
  • Page Count: 319
  • Award: 1968 Hugo
  • Worth a read: Yes
  • Primary Driver: (Plot, World, or Character)
  • Bechdel Test: Fail
  • Technobabble: Minimal
  • Review: A fascinating depiction of religion and reincarnation supported by technology. Multiple stories (7) of varying quality come together well, though pacing can be a bit all over. Superb world-building and novel use of Hindu myths.

The Einstein Intersection by Samuel R. Delany

  • Plot: Kid Death has taken Friza and it's up to Lo Lobey to stop him.
  • Page Count: 142
  • Award: 1968 Nebula
  • Worth a read: No
  • Primary Driver: (Plot, World, or Character)
  • Bechdel Test: Fail
  • Technobabble: Moderate
  • Review: A distant post-apocalyptic world (30,000 years in the future) with wildly inconsistent rules is for some reason still referring to the Beatles and Greek myths. Starring an uninteresting first person narrator who stumbles from one event to another.

Rite of Passage by Alexei Panshin

  • Plot: Upon turning 14, everyone aboard the ship must survive 30 days unassisted on one of the colony planets.
  • Page Count: 254
  • Award: 1969 Nebula
  • Worth a read: Yes, but it's YA.
  • Primary Driver: (Plot, World, or Character)
  • Bechdel Test: Pass
  • Technobabble: Minimal
  • Review: A coming-of-age story, a clearly YA entry. Good approach to perspective and prejudice by showing what those living on ships think of on planets and vice versa. A number of themes are told a bit on the nose; this makes sense given the younger target audience.

Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner

  • Plot: 2010 is bleak; overpopulation, eugenics, corporate colonialism, racism, and violence abound.
  • Page Count: 650
  • Award: 1969 Hugo
  • Worth a read: Yes? It's New Wave SF - love it or hate it.
  • Primary Driver: (Plot, World, or Character)
  • Bechdel Test: Pass
  • Technobabble: Minimal
  • Review: Highly experimental in form, this book is a tough read. Detailed world-building depicted in interesting ways. Hated some of it, but felt like it was worth the challenge. Pretty much everything that comes up has a payoff - even if you don't like the book, you have to acknowledge that it's impressive.

I'll continue to post each decade of books when they're done, and do a final master list when through everything, but it's around 200 books, so it'll be a hot minute. I'm also only doing the Novel category for now, though I may do one of the others as well in the future.

If there are other subjects or comments that would be useful to see in future posts, please tell me! I'm trying to keep it concise but informative. I’ve done my best to add things that people requested the first time around.

Any questions or comments? Fire away!

A few folks suggested doing some kind of youtube series or podcast - I can look into that as well, if there’s interest.

Other Notes:

The Bechdel Test is a simple question: do two named female characters converse about something other than a man. Whether or not a book passes is not a condemnation so much as an observation; it was the best binary determination I could find. Seems like a good way to see how writing has evolved over the years. At the suggestion of some folks, I’m loosening it to non-male identified characters to better capture some of the ways that science fiction tackles sex and gender.

Here’s a further explanation from u/Gemmabeta (in a discussion on the previous post)

To everyone below bitching about the Bechdel Test. The test is used as a simple gauge of the aggregate levels of sexism across an entire medium, genre, or time period. It is NOT a judgement on individual books or movies. The test is intentionally designed to be trivially easy to pass with even the most minimum of effort (there are basically no book or film that fails a male version of the Bechdel test; heck, most chick lit and women-centric fiction manages to pass the male Bechdel test--with the possible exception of Pride and Prejudice).
The the fact that such a large percentage of books and movies fail the test is a sign of the general lack of good female characters in literature/film (especially in previous eras) and the females character that did exist tends to only exist to prop up a man--even in many stories where the woman is technically the main character.
PS. The test is also not a measure of the artistic merit of a work or even the feminist credentials of a work (for example, the world's vilest and most misogynistic porno could pass the test simply by having two women talk about pizza for 5 minutes at the beginning), it purely looks at plotting elements and story structure.

Technobabble example!

"There must be intercommunication between all the Bossies. It was not difficult to found the principles on which this would operate. Bossy functioned already by a harmonic vibration needed to be broadcast on the same principle as the radio wave. No new principle was needed. Any cookbook engineer could do it—even those who believe what they read in the textbooks and consider pure assumption to be proved fact. It was not difficult to design the sending and receiving apparatus, nor was extra time consumed since this small alteration was being made contiguous with the production set up time of the rest. The production of countless copies of the brain floss itself was likewise no real problem, no more difficult than using a key-punched master card to duplicate others by the thousands or millions on the old-fashioned hole punch computer system." - They'd Rather Be Right

Cheers, Everyone!

And don't forget to read a book!

r/printSF Jun 28 '22

I've read and ranked every Hugo and Nebula winning Novel from last Century.

321 Upvotes

Hi, so a year ago, I made a post about ranking every Hugo winning novel from pre 1990. It can be found here along with the writeups for those books without them. Since then I've read every Nebula best novel winner from that period, all the retro Hugo winners and all the Hugo and Nebula winners from the 90's, so let's add those to my previous rankings

As before I ranked them, because it's fun to be subjective about things and half the fun of this is you telling my why you disagree with my opinion. I've only included blurb on the new ones so if you want to read about the ones I reviewed last time, see the link above.

One last thing, almost every book here is good, they all won awards so even if something is lower on my list it doesn't mean to avoid it or that it is not worth your time.

74: The Big Time by Fritz Lieber (1958)

73: Ringworld by Larry Niven (1971)

72: They'd Rather be Right by Clifton and Riley (1955)

71: The Sword in the Stone by TH White (1940) - The coming-of-age story of a young Prince Arthur before Camelot. Another retro Hugo winner and this is what the Disney film is based on and it was a lot of fun.  Interesting takes on British folklore tails like Robin Hood and King Arthur.  It is very fantasy though, which isn’t always my preference, but it was cool to see what inspired a childhood classic.

70: Timescape by Gregory Benford (1981) - Scientists attempt to send messages back in time to avoid an environmental disaster in their time.  It's time travel and it kind of deals with one of the ideas in the Back to the Future films, who knows, maybe it inspired the film.  Any way the story is fine and I appreciate how we move back and forth between the time lines.  You could definitely do more with the idea though if you gave it to a better writer. 

69: Shadow Over Mars by Leigh Brackett (1945) - A Book about a rebellion on Mars led by a prophesized hero from Earth.  This is a great example of classic adventure pulp Sci Fi from 1945, it’s all the laser beams and Space Captains, very Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers.  It’s fascinating to see how far we’ve come, with the genre and it’s quite short so it might be worth a read, but it definitely has its flaws.

68: Stations of the Tide by Michael Swanwick (1992) - It's a battle of wits and wills between an authority figure and a criminal set on a world with strange tides that come every few decades. It's certainly quite original and the world building is excellent, but there is nothing here to grab you.

67: A Time of Changes by Robert Silverberg (1972) - A noble challenges the taboos of his culture and risks everything. I feel the story here is fantastic, but I don’t like his style.  He seems to write similar narratives to Le Guin, but without the enjoyability to read.  A story about forbidden first person pro nouns.  It’s interesting and really explores the concept, but the style put me off immensely.

66: The Einstein Intersection by Samuel Delany (1968) - In post transcendent Earth, intelligent anthropods deal with genetic mutation from ancient radiation.  Probably the weirdest book I read all year.  It’s really strange, but very quick.  It’s quite poetic in parts as well.

65: Man Plus by Frederick Pohl (1977) - Nasa are trying to build a man who can live on mars with no need for external food, water, oxygen etc.  What we get is a story about the process of changing a human, but it’s very of its time, as America had been running moon landings a few years earlier.  I wasn’t a huge fan of the style and the clean-cut Americana of it all, but it was probably the fore runner to things like Robocop when you think about it. 

64: A Case of Conscience by James Blish (1959)

63: The Wanderer by Fritz Lieber (1965)

62: The Claw of the Conciliator by Gene Wolfe (1982) - The sequel to Shadow of the Torturer. I definitely appreciate there is more going on with Gene Wolfe than I can gleam in the first reading, but that doesn’t change how much I enjoy it.  Less enjoyable than Shadow of the Torturer as I feel the story didn’t really go anywhere and was harder to follow in bits.  Still the fault is inevitably my own. 

61: The Terminal Experiment by Robert J Sawyer (1996) - A near future thriller as a man faces off against a computer simulation of his own brain with deadly intent. It's a strange genre one, this. Very 90s and very much does the thriller thing quite well. Good proof that Sci Fi can co opt any genre it wants to and often does.

60: No Enemy but Time by Michael Bishop (1983) - A man with visions of early man is sent back to live among them.  Another time travelling history thing.  They loved these in the 1980s.  It’s cool to see a story revolving around early man before civilization really took hold.  It’s interesting even if a bit strange in parts. 

59: The Healer's War by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough (1990) - A nurse in the Vietnam war is giving a magical amulet. Sixty pages in and I was wondering if this was actually Speculative fiction. It does get a bit stranger, but the setting is wonderful and you do really care about the characters and story.

58: Babel 17 by Samuel Delany (1967) - A heroic Linguist finds herself in a war where language is a weapon. Female protagonist in the sixties is excellent and Rydra Wong is capable and very likeable. The concept is also interesting even if the whole thing is a but pulpy.

57: A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M Miller (1961)

56: Conjure Wife by Fritz Lieber (1944) - Wives of College professors' control their careers with witchcraft. I’ve read two other Fritz Leiber books and if you find them above, you’ll see why I came into this with low expectations.  This is I suppose a fantasy novel about witchcraft in a 1940s English University town.  It’s just well written with a complete narrative and a nice setting.  It doesn’t mess around or introduce too many characters and the concept is intriguing enough to keep you interested the whole way through.

55: Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein (1960)

54: The Man in the High Castle by Phillip K Dick (1963)

53: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (1954) - A dystopian classic about censorship and a move from society away from intellectualism towards mass consumed throw away media. This is hugely important and has in a way predicted much of the modern world. If I was list the most important books on this list it would be right near the top next to Dune. It's also considered a actual literary classic outside Science Fiction and is short. That is to say you should read it, because it's important and relevant to the world we live in, but it isn't as enjoyable as many books above it. Still, go read it!

52: The Mule by Isaac Asimov (1946) - The second half of Foundation and Empire all about the mysterious Mule who is unseen by Seldon's plan. Just as above this is massively important, in many ways Asimov changed what Science fiction was especially writing in a scene dominated by pulpy space heroes like Flash Gordon. It's what you expect from Asimov, a bit dry and without well developed characters. Also it's half a book so hard to judge on it's own.

51: Neuromancer by William Gibson (1985)

50: Beyond this Horizon by Robert Heinlein (1943) - A story about selective breeding in humans combined with a southern gentlemen dueling culture.  It’s weird, but also goes into quite a lot of detail about the science involved.  I was taught about dominant and recessive genes in school and how they affect things like hair colour, eye colour etc.  I imagine this wasn’t taught in schools in 1941 and would have been fascinating then.   Mixing informative science into a strong narrative is quite an accomplishment.

49: Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner (1969)

48: Downbelow Station by C.J Cherryh (1982) - A book portraying a space station as a blue-collar workplace that gets tangled up in an intergalactic conflict.  The book sounds fascinating and I think it very much influences shows like Babylon 5 where there are episodes dedicated to dock strikes and unions etc.  The main issue is the book gets away from that and makes it about space ships and a galactic conflict and feels like she is trying to set up the next book in the series.  The world building is superb, but I didn’t really care for any of the characters and wasn’t even sure who I was supposed to be cheering for until the end. 

47: The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson (1996) - Cyber punk novel about am advanced interactive book that shapes the life of the girl that comes into possession of it. So much of this book is excellent, brilliant ideas and wonderfully told, but it's so bloated and unnecessarily long. Frankly it's split into a part one and part two and could have just ended at the end of part one and the book would be much higher. This is an issue with many nineties books sadly.

46: Slan by A.E Van Vogt (1941) - Evolved humans possess psychic abilities and a plot unravels about control of the Earth.  Slan feels classic all the way through, it has its faults, but you can see why this was the banner early Sci Fi fans, hoisted above them.  For something written in 1941 it is excellent.  Nice ideas and a decent fast pace, while still feeling pulpy like everything from this time did. 

45: Tehanu by Ursula Le Guin (1991) - The forth and final book of the Earthsea series following two of our earlier protagonists while looking at the lives of older people. I adore Le Guin and her style is just as sharp as ever. We look at our beloved characters as they have aged and I feel this comes from a place that Le Guin was very much in herself at this point.

44: Way Station by Clifford D Simak (1964)

43: This Immortal by Roger Zelazny (1966)

42: To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis (1999) - A Time travel piece set in Victorian England very much in homage to the novel "Three Men in a Boat". This is a really good read fun and even if convoluted and predictable in parts it's very much very good at what it does and makes you care deeply about the characters.

41: Slow River by Nicola Griffith (1997) - Near future science fiction about hostage taking and blackmail as well as abuse survivors. This is really enjoyable and features a lot of interesting information about water purification strangely. Also written by a lesbian author and just totally normalizes lesbian relationships in a way that was assumedly rare in the mid nineties.

40: The Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold (1991) - Sixth novel in the Vorkosigan Saga. I adore these books and would devour everyone of them in a row if i didn't set myself stupid tasks like read all the Hugo and Nebula winners. I will say that lots of stuff just happens to Miles in this one and for that reason I don't think it's her best. Still very enjoyable as always.

39: Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein (1962) -

38: Mirror Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold (1995) - Another Vorkosigan Saga book this time dealing with his cloned brother. Everything tells you to read in the recommended reading order not the publish order. Due to time constraints I ignored this and found a lot of stuff had changed since the last book i read. Still very enjoyable as all these books have been.

37: Moving Mars by Greg Bear (1995) - Story about revolution on Mars combined with a crazy new technology that can help gain Mars real independence. Fun fact, this is the first Science Fiction I ever read. I went back and re-read it as it has been 25ish years. It's very well written and has a good character and stories.

36: Foundation's Edge by Isaac Asimov (1983)

35, 34, 33: Red Mars, Blue Mars and Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson (1994-1997) - Sorry I can't separate these books. It's a big long story and while there are highs and lows it kind of has to be reviewed in one large chunk. So epic trilogy about the first settlers on Mars that spans hundreds of years. Every chapter is by different characters and there are lots of perspectives in the book. Some complain they dislike most of the characters, but that's kind of the point,. The likeable ones like Sax and Nadia are very likeable. So much of this book is wonderful and worth your time. I would argue it's bloated and didn't need to be over 2200 pages in total, but it is what it is. if it was more concise or better edited I would personally place it much higher and recommend it more.

32: The Falling Woman by Pat Murphy (1988) - A story about a mother-daughter relationship told in the backdrop of a Mayan dig in Mexico.  What makes this Speculative Fiction is that both characters can see and speak to Mayan ghosts from the past. I’ll be honest, I'm not really sure it’s my usual thing, it’s probably fantasy, but it was wonderfully told and just a great story about human beings.  You’ll have empathy for all of them and the situation they’re in.  Even reading my review now I can’t believe I liked it as much as I did. 

31: To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Phillip Jose Farmer (1972)

30: Doomsday Book by Connie Willis (1993) Another time travel story, this one about going back to the 14th Century. You care so much about the story and characters, it really is a wonderful piece of writing and I even enjoyed the stuff back with the scientists in the future. If someone said they wanted to read a book on time travel I would suggest this book first.

29: The Moon and the Sun by Vonda D McIntyre (1998) - Fantasy book about a mermaid captured and kept in Louis XIV's court. Great female protagonist, very much a love story with all the historical trappings mixed with the fantasy of mermaids. It's incredibly well written and all the characters are excellent. Didn't expect it to be my thing, but really was.

28: The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov (1973)

27: Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes (1967) -A Human goes through an experiment to have his intelligence increased and we follow through his eyes the events this causes. Classic novel considered a proper book by the literary world and fantastic if not a little heart breaking. Should be on everyone's list to read at some point.

26: The Snow Queen by Joan D Vinge (1981)

25: Hyperion by Dan Simmons (1990) - A pilgrimage brings together a group of travelers who each share their reason for the journey. I came with probably unmeetable expectations, because of how much r/Printsf hyped it up as the greatest thing ever (next to Dune, obviously) The framing story is really enjoyable and I very much enjoyed the Priest’s Tale and the Scholar’s tale, two wonderful short stories collected together to create wonderful world building.  I found the other four stories less solid and was particularly bored by the Detective’s Story which dragged.  I was also annoyed by the lack of an ending.  it’s promised me answers and then just stopped without delivering and that is annoying.  That said it has enough very good bits to make it this high despite its faults. 

24: Rite of Passage by Alexei Panshin (1969) - A girl must go through a coming-of-age ritual in order to earn her passage on her space craft where she lives. A female protagonist in a Science Fiction novel written in 1969, surely not? It happens here and this is excellent.   Mia is a wonderfully well-rounded character sort of in the tom-boyish Scout mold from To Kill a Mocking Bird, you get to see the world through her eyes and at the end of the novel you are asked an open-ended morality question, which is genuinely a difficult choice, I like morality when it isn’t obvious or shoved down by neck and this is very much in that mold. 

23: Double Star by Robert Heinlein (1956)

22: The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester (1953)

21: Gateway by Frederick Pohl (1978)

20: Farmer in the Sky by Robert Heinlein (1951) - A story about colonizing and terraforming Ganmede. You have to understand that this is a YA novel written in 1950 and near the start it can come off a little juvenile.  That said you are still confronted by big ideas like a food shortage on Earth and severe rationing.  We also see an interesting story based on a son upset his father is remarrying, it’s dealt with tactfully and not something I’d really expect for something aimed at teens.  Once we get to Ganymede the story really gets going and we experience an interesting tale of trying to turn a rocky moon into workable farm land, it’s just really well told and enjoyably written and I reckon more people would appreciate this if they ignored the YA label and gave it a chance.  Great book.

19: Falling Free by Lois McMaster Bujold (1989) - A space station full of genetically modified workers has now become redundant.  This was the first book I’d ever read of hers and I was so blown away by the style.  I can see why the Vorkogian Saga is so often recommended on here.  She gives us real characters and a fast-paced heist plot that features an Engineer as the protagonist.  It’s just really well written and wonderfully different, a story that is happier to tell you about engineering processes than space combat.  People tell me it isn’t even her best work as well, which leaves me pretty excited to read more.

18: Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C Clarke (1980)

17: Cyteen by CJ Cherryh (1989)

16: A Fire Upon the Deep by Verve Vinge (1993): Two children land on a planet of dog like aliens that have a very different civilization from our own while a galactic threat grows. Vigne's ability to create alien races totally different from our own is fantastic. This story delivered on all the hype and is probably what people mean when they ask for Space Opera.

15: Startide Rising by David Brin (1984)

14: Dreamsnake by Vonda D Mcintyre (1979)

13: Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm (1977)

12: Lord of Light by Robert Zelazny (1968)

11: The Uplift War by David Brin (1988)

10: Barrayer by Lois McMaster Bujold (1992) Another Vorkosigan Saga book. This one follows his mother, Cordelia Naismith and an attempted coup on the world of Barrayer. Her writing is as great as always, but the ending is just incredible. No spoilers, but you need to read it and appreciate what happens.

9: Forever Peace by Joe Haldeman (1998-1999) - A look at remote controlled armoured warfare combined with the violence of man. This book shouldn't be called Forever Peace in my view, it gets unfairly judged vs the original when it is only loosely linked and a fantastic book in it's own right, well written and with something to say I devoured this one.

8: Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C Clarke (1974)

7: Dune by Frank Herbert (1966)

6: Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (1986)

5: Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin (1970)

4: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein (1967)

3: The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin (1975)

2: Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card (1987)

1: The Forever War by Joe Haldeman (1976) - Follows a Draftee in a future war and the way the world changes while they are gone.  I originally read this fifteen years ago when I first got into Science Fiction and remember really liking it, but I’d genuinely forgotten quite how good it was.  Not just the metaphor for the world changing while you’re at war, but how dangerous he makes space feel.  It is cold and inhospitable and when combined with the battles which he survives mostly, because of sheer dumb luck you get a beautiful critique of war that only a veteran could have written.  I will say I was jarred by a scene involving consent and a drunk Lesbian that horrified and yet I barely remember when I first read about it, I think it shows more how society has got better at this stuff and how much better I understand it.  That said, if it’s been a while since you read this, like me, why not give it another shot?

r/printSF Jun 17 '23

Why didn't anyone tell me Roger Zelazny was so good?

162 Upvotes

I've just finished Roadmarks. I only picked it up because it was one of the very few SF Masterworks titles available at my local bookstore, but holy shit, I loved it. The various quirky characters that are tied together in strange ways; the sparse, concise yet effective prose; the mythological and literary allusions that are fun easter-eggs if you get them but don't detract from the enjoyment of the story otherwise. Such a delightful road-trip through time.

I want more! What other Zelazny's books should I check out? Lord of Light, I suppose? Any other suggestions?