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Ask HN: Recommend a Good Sci-Fi Book

3 points by macando ↗ HN
I've recently read:

- The Gods Themselves, Asimov: The second story is brilliant. The other two are meh.

- Neuromancer, Gibson: So disappointing I couldn't finish it. Is there a better cyberpunk book out there?

- Ready Player One, Cline: Loved the book, loved the movie.

- Slaughterhouse-Five, Vonnegut: Not a pure Sci-Fi book, but loved it nonetheless.

12 comments

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inianvasanth
"Story of Your Life" By Ted Chiang (source for the movie "Arrival")
phillc73
Vernor Vinge: A Deepness in the Sky and A Fire Upon the Deep.

Iain M. Banks: Consider Phlebas (and then spend the following months reading all the rest of the Culture series)

__d
If you're familiar with Usenet, A Fire Upon the Deep has extra good moments.
osullivj
Neal Stephenson: Cryptonomicon
__d
For me, Snow Crash was awesome, but like early Gibson, it's lost a little with the passage of time.

His middle-period work did nothing for me at all. Just overdone, to my taste.

I haven't read anything after the Baroque Cycle put me off.

osullivj
I enjoyed the Baroque Cycle, but at the end was left with little sense of resolution. I have enjoyed Anathem since.
DaOne256
Neal Stephenson - Snow Crash
__d
CJ Cherryh, Cyteen (and then the rest of the Merchanter universe).

Iain M Banks, Player of Games (and then everything else)

For cyberpunk, Neuromancer and the sprawl trilogy have not aged terribly well. I still like them, but they're from a certain context.

Try Greg Egan's Permutation City; Bruce Sterling's Heavy Weather, Islands in the Net, or Holy Fire.

Lauren Beukes, Zoo City.

There are so, so many ... ;-)

brudgers
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Phithagoras
"Schild's Ladder" by Greg Egan Really, anything by him is good but Schild's Ladder is the best.