I read the first 3 Dune books after seeing the movie and hearing about the challenges of getting that story on the screen. Love the first 2, the ending of the 3rd was ok.
I’m 3/4ths through the 4th and final Hyperion books. Absolutely incredible, I’m disappointed knowing I’ll be done with it soon. I highly recommend it if you’re at all curious. The author does an excellent job sneaking deep references into the colorful narrative; Keats and Ancient Greek mythology among them. The characters are vivid, varied, and somehow all relatable.
When I was younger I liked Vonnegut, specifically Galapagos, cats cradle, and slaughter house 5. I recently read Philip K Dicks “do androids… electric sheep” and wasn’t a fan. I loved the film blade runner, but the book kind of trudged on for me with, what I felt was, a let down of an ending. Asimov’s foundation was ok, but it lacked action and the characters seemed thin; I do like the concept a lot, it was just missing something for me.
So what’s next? I read a few classics in school and wasn’t terribly moved by most of them. I’ve considered giving Philip K Dick another chance, and possibly exploring the Dune books not authored by Herbert. I’m not a big fan of fantasy- at least in the horse riding, sword wielding, magic and sorcery vein.
Thanks for any suggestions
I didn’t really like the Hyperion series much myself, but both Dune and Hyperion are sci-fi with religious elements. Maybe A Canticle for Leibowitz.
I loved Canticle. I recommend it to everyone
Maybe Flowers for Algernon? I read this for the first time near when when I read Canticle. I much more connected to Algernon.
MaddAddam trilogy also touches close to home for me, not least because Atwood is Canadian.
I was also late to Childhood’s End and The Chrysalids.
Flowers for Algernon is one of my top books of all time.
That being said, it’s definitely a different vibe than Hyperion or Dune. It’s a lot more personal and almost doesn’t read like scifi.
Just bought that book, you will be hearing from me when I am 12 beers in after finishing it
After the end of that book you’ll probably need 12 drinks.
12 more drinks.
Honestly, now — not promoting binge drinking or alcohol consumption at all — but that book tears something in you. It can’t be undone.
Similar in nature, but a bit more space focused would be the Foundation Series. It’s a series by Issac Asimov where a mathematician sets up a planet to try to speed up a galactic dark age due to an empire collapsing.
Apple TV has a series on it, but it actually focuses on what happens leading up to the main story of the first book.
Foundation Series and the Caves of Steel series are so good.
I suggest the Commonwealth’s saga by Peter F. Hamilton (Pandora’s star, Judas unchained).
Great books, I recently re-read and they don’t stand up as well as I remember, some characters in particular, but still good.
Been on a Peter Hamilton binge since I started Pandora’s Star about 4 months ago, and have since gone through all 7 of the Commonwealth books (Commonwealth duology, Void trilogy, and Chronicles of the Fallers duology) Exodus: Archimedes Engine, and am almost done book 1 of the Salvation trilogy.
So far my favourite is probably the Commonwealth duology, followed by Exodus. All of the books I’ve read have been amazing IMO, this is the first time I’ve read based solely off the author rather than recommendations. He can be pretty horny at times which is the main thing about his books that annoy me, but the world building is top tier IMO and the ideas he presents are fascinating.
Highly recommend giving the Commonwealth duology a try, it’s a bit slow going at first but once it gets going, I found it hard to stop. Amazing books.
The Nights Dawn series is good too. Love his stuff.
Roadside Picnic is awesome. It inspired the film stalker. I loved it.
While nothing like Dan Simmons, The Three Body Problem is the only one that has knocked my socks off in the last 10 years. If you want to stick with Simmons I recommend Song of Kali.
I put down three body after first book, perhaps I should push through
The escalation of story/plot stakes from Three-Body to Dark Forest is huge, but if you don’t like the writing style or the author’s voice, it’s more of the same.
You read the expanse series?
Wraeththu Chronicles by Storm Constantine.
If you’re wanting a break from the serious sci-fi, take a look at Expeditionary Force, it’s hilarious.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep is fine, but it’s not Bladerunner so yeah it might be jarring. It’s also not even close to his best work imo.
Some of my favorite Dick novels: The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch and A Scanner Darkly. I think those are his two best imo. The Man in the High Castle is pretty good, but not at all indicative of his other work.
Now Wait for Last Year, and Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said, are also pretty good. I liked what I read of UBIK, but didn’t finish it. I have a friend that swears by it though.
Some people swear by his latter stuff (e.g. VALIS), but I was never able to get into it. You can kind of see his mind starting to slip as you read his stuff (which leads to some incredibly mind bending shit in his early-mid works), and by the end, it’s kind of nonsensical imo.
It’s kind of tragic to read about his life at the time he was writing. The afterword of A Scanner Darkly goes into some detail, including listing the names of friends that “didn’t make it” (usually due to drugs). Later, during the VALIS years, he was having full-own psychotic breaks and hallucinatory events where he thought he was Thomas from the Bible, living in ancient Rome or some shit. And his writing started to reflect all of this.
I’ve only read the first Hyperion book (and fucking loved it), but keep in mind, Dick wrote a different kind of sci-fi that was more about exploring consciousness, existence, the concept of self, psychedelic drugs, etc. as opposed writing space epics or whatever. Not to say that they don’t sometimes take place in space, but just don’t expect the kind of grand narratives you’re gonna get with someone like Asimov. Completely different type of sci-fi.
That said, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch is his hidden gem imo. If you know, you know.
The second Hyperion book. Immediately followed by Consider Phlebas by Iain Banks. It has the same approachable writing style, doesn’t overstay it’s welcome, has similar deliciously out-there sci-fi, and I think may also be inspired by touchstone poetry.
Ursula K. LeGuin’s Always Coming Home is an intriguing approach to novel writing. Some can’t get into it because it looks more like an ethnologist’s report, but there is a story there (and I don’t mean the segments with Stone Telling: the entire novel has a story that rewards those who pay attention).
Anything by Brandon Sanderson. You’re welcome.
Edit: also the bobiverse is nerdy and lots of fun!
OP says he’s not a huge fantasy fan. Sanderson may not be the best recommendation. Most of his stuff is pretty squarely in the fantasy space. Even the cytoverse novels are more Sci-fantasy and less sci-fi.
Bobiverse could be a good recommendation though, assuming OP is looking for something more comedic.
I fucking did not like that book. I did not like any of the characters. Grrrr to that book. That is all. I guess in saying I wouldn’t go more Hyperion. Do Revelation Space Series. Much better.
I gave Hyperion about 200 pages and they were STILL world building and offering leading secrets the author didn’t think the reader needed to know. So I just gave up.
Couldn’t agree more. I guess what baffled me was all the years it was pushed on me. Canterbury Tales in space. Got it. Didn’t much care for the thing when Mrs. Baker was pushing allegorical shit and what not and I’m not digging it now that everyone is nothing I’m interested in rooting for. Harumph!
Yeah, if there’s not a character I can relate to, sympathize with, or cheer for within 200 pages, I’m not going to keep reading.
It really comes together at the end in an amazing way. However it’s such a chore to get there. Simmons doesn’t ever write characters I care about.
I loved the first two books, it felt like an adventure and a puzzle piece. Then the last 2 are 😬
I liked the series until the point OP is at. The third book was okay but I just could not like Raul Endymion no matter what.
The ending fourth of Rise felt like Disney wrote it. “Oh but you see it’s bittersweet and–” okay but ::: spoiler plot spoilage Anea fucking died and now she’s back in Disney “everything’s okay!” fashion for like 2 years or whatever, yeah she’ll be gone but the book doesn’t bother making even an ounce of progress towards that happening. “And Earth is back, and no one is allowed to visit it while it’s just you and I and then and then and then”. It’s like a fucking 8 year old wrote the ending. :::
Same. Simmons fucks up a landing. Idk what it is. I like Ilium and hated Olympos.
I’m with you. I was pretty close to giving up on it several times, but slugged through it at first because so many people said it was so great, and then because the next book was meant to be better, and then because I was over halfway so I may as well finish it. I wish I hadn’t.
I felt the Culture books by Iain Banks were a similar tone and style, but I found them much more enjoyable.
Yeah revelation space is what I’m reading now. The series is great
I also didn’t like Hyperion. Just couldn’t get into it for whatever reason and I gave it a fair whack. Thank you for the recommendation. I’ll check it out.
The Book of the New Sun (really 4 books) gave me the feeling of reading Dune, Hyperion, and Lord of the Rings kind of wrapped into one.
I would also recommend the 4th Dune book (God Emporor), as it wraps up where the first 3 books were going with the Golden Path. After that, he starts a new trilogy, which doesn’t get finished, so results may vary.
I second the finishing of the quatrology. I think one could stop at the first book, maybe even the second, but if you’re in for the third you should be in for the fourth.
Second The Book Of The New Sun - it’s dense and really rewards re-reading.
There’s also the Urth Of The New Sun, which sort-of concludes the story.
I liked Urth of the New Sun, but I can also see why it is separate from the others. For me it felt like a step back for the main character.
I’m currently three books into the Sun Eater series by Christopher Ruocchio. The first book is a Dune rip off until about the halfway point when it gets really good. The second book is awesome. I’m about 100 pages into the 3rd book. Most reviews I’ve read mention the 3rd book as the best in the series. There’s still four more books after though. The latest one is set to release this year IIRC. The best I’ve heard the plot be described is imagine Anakin was justified about turning to the dark side.
If you’re into a rich narrative and deep references, don’t miss Cryptononicon and the whole Baroque cycle by Neal Stephenson.
