Can anyone recommend some good sci-fi fantasy novels. Im wrapping up my graduate studies and have time for such pleasures again.
The Foundation series by Asimov is a must, if you haven't read it. It's dated but it's very, very good
The Culture series by Iain M. Banks is quite good: fairly Utopian space opera setting, interesting species and characters, fantastic plots, and witty AI ship names, what more does one need? considering these books can be read in any order i'd suggest either Consider Phlebas, Player of Games, or Look to Windward as my personal favorites The Quadrail series by Timothy Zahn is also good and a quicker read, its an old railroad mystery novel in space. plus i find the author has a way of making universes feel well lived in with minimal hand holding on background. These do need to be read in order so start with Night Train to Rigel A standalone novel by Zahn The Icarus Hunt is also a solid choice. if you don't mind the 40K universe i'd also recommend the Ciaphias Cain series of novels these can also be read in any order as they are the post retirement ramblings of the main himself, annotated by his Inquisitor lover interest but it would start with the Hero of the Imperium omnibus.
As an Infinity player, you may enjoy the sci fi of Dan Simmons. ( The Hyperion Cantos, but even better "Ilium" and "Olympos") The Expanse Series https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Expanse_(novel_series) Old forum threads on this very subject too: http://infinitytheforums.com/forum/topic/27961-books/?page=1 http://infinitytheforums.com/forum/topic/19394-top-reads-a-thread-about-books/
I suggest going in published order, or just read the two published omnibus before anything else, as there is a bit of continuity. Also, obligatory mention of the classics of Cyberpunk, the Sprawl Trilogy and Snow Crash. And the Takeshi Kovacs series just got a Netflix TV series recently, you might want to read the corresponding books along or instead, still haven't but people here recommend them greatly (also because of the inspiration towards Infinity).
Since you can see what my picks are from 2015 in the linked threads, here's some great standalone fiction I've read since then. Sci-Fi: We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Taylor Dennis - Implications and usage of AI from a human consciousness. Terminal Alliance by Jim C. Hines - Humanity has become the slave labour force of an empire because they are bigger, stronger and meaner than any other alien species. Live Free or Die Trying by John Ringo - A real fun book about a man working to overthrow our alien oppressors. I am two minds: it's a lot of fun but it's also endorsed by the Aryan Nation. Take that what you will. Tin Men by Christopher Golden - If every American soldier piloted a remote instead of being in the action, how complacent could they get? Little Brother by Cory Doctorow - Punk teens take on the government with their Hacker movement. One Second After by William Forstchen - A military historian, he goes over the stages of social decay if someone were to launch a successful EMP attack on America and how easy that is to accomplish. Terms of Enlistment by Marko Kloos - An updated Starship Troopers. That should sell you or not. Fantasy: Jade City by Fonda Lee - If Avatar the Last Airbender took place in the Godfather. Already Dead by Charlie Huston - If any of those old noir detective books took place within Vampire: The Masquerade but way less gothic ('cause its noir). Lexicon by Max Barry - They say words have power, but if that was literally the truth? And someone with an arsenal of power words is hunting you down. The Sudden Appearance of Hope by Claire North - While not my favourite novel of hers, I do believe it is her most important. If people forgot you when they weren't looking at you, what would you be in this social media centric world? The Man with the Golden Torc by Simon R. Green - The sequels sucked but this first novel is a wild ride. If James Bond used power armor to fight fantasy monsters. The Rook by Daniel O'Malley - If MI5 had to deal with the supernatural; unfortunately for the protagonist, they woke up among a pile of bodies with no memory of themselves.
Well, there's the obvious stuff, like Richard K. Morgan's Altered Carbon, Broken Angels, and Woken Furies, Dan Simmon's Hyperion series. Masamune Shirow's Ghost in the Shell (manga and light novels, there are a few LNs that have stories not drawn), Appleseed (movies aren't bad, either, though Appleseed XIII is rather low-quality compared to the 2004 Appleseed or Appleseed Ex Machina), and Dominion (aka Tank Police). Another input to the Infinity universe is Giannis Milogiannis' Old City Blues (a manga). For a fairly accurate look at high-end mercenary specialists, I recommend Michael Z Williamson's Ripple Creek series (Better to Beg Forgiveness..., Do Unto Others..., and When Diplomacy Fails...). MZW has a couple other books out, too. Freehold and The Weapon are very good, though The Weapon may make you a bit queasy at times, particularly towards the end. Jay Posey has two books about a crazy-high-end special ops team, OUTRIDERS and SUNGRAZER. Outriders stars with the main character getting killed. And then it gets interesting. Can't wait for the next book in the series. You may want to read John Steakley's ARMOUR. It's about a guy who wears power armor, but it's very much about the futility and stupidity of war. I like it, because when The Engine is fighting, he's an unstoppable force of nature, even though he's sure he's going to die. He's just bound and determined to take as many of the bastards as he can with him before he goes.
So many options... so few characters... Aside from the already mentioned, my suggestions are: The moon is a harsh mistress (easy to read, easy to get, the Moon colony wants to be independent from Earth) John's Varley's Gaea's Trilogy is an interesting read about living inside a schizophrenic planet-size alien intelligence Eight's Worlds collection also has an interesting set of stories to tell. Steel Beach and the Golden Globe are great readings. The Diamond Age, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer is my favourite work from Neal Stephenson, and it's an homage to a historical situation in the future with nanotechnology. David Weber's bibliography... Dahak Trilogy, for "that's no moon" turned up to eleven XD Honor Harrington series (Horatio Hornblower IN SPACE!!!), just the first 12 of the main series, and the first three of the Saganami sub series. The Laundry Files by Charles Stross (Cthulhu-based contemporary), the first handful of books are homages to other styles, including a James Bond one. Joel Shepherd's Cassandra Kresnov "sextallogy", about what is effectively an Aleph's Asura struggling to be human after being an artificially made child officer (essentially the protagonist is an artificial soldier of the most advanced level, after the end of a human civil war), lots of food for the RPG if Acontecimiento doesn't blow up XD Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality. Less silly than you might think, very good writing, and with an official sequel by a different author (Significant Numbers). Harry was adopted by an Oxford professor and a happy and good looking Petunia, and while he grows up to be a very sensible (kinda munchkin) child that has fits trying to "scientify magic", Voldemort is also upgraded and much much less silly (hpmor.com is the official website, and the book is freely available. And comprises the whole Harry Potter saga). Since I'm adding non-sci fi, Codex Alera and Harry Dresden saga (same author) are also good reads.
If you want to have any good grasp how actually "dark age" had looked like, or what's all about those works of mankind which transverse life of a single person. Or how insignificantly significant is a life of a single person when it comes to whole mankind. Also it appears thats one of the first if not not "the first' post-apo book. Advised to be read slowly with a good wine by a side.
The Uplift universe novels by David Brin are pretty good: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uplift_Universe probably up there with Star Trek on the scifi hardness scale, not particularyl dense reading so good to kick back with if you fancy something a little lighter.
The books from C. J. Cherryh especially the ones that take place in the Alliance Union Universe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliance–Union_universe Very good hard scifi. It has plausible faster than light travel, belters, space stations, clones and much more.
The Light of Other Days, a book by Steven Baxter with credit to Artbur C. Clarke for the synopsis. An interesting read where, on the background of an impending "Doom by Asteroid", a wealthy businessman developing wormhole technology for telecomunications, make information available instantaneously in spacetime continuum. Also, I can't recommend enough Asimov's The Foundation Series and Sandy Mitchell's Chiaphas Cain novels.
If we're talking Ciaphas Cain, we need to bring up Gaunt's Ghosts. It's just as good, but more serious. As for other Sci-fi stuff... After watching Ready Player One I kinda want to read the book. I don't think it's going to be good, but it does give off a good vibe about a world that uses a lot of VR simulations in their day to day lives.
Ready Player One is a different beast than the movie. Its entertaining but don't go in thinking it's any more deep and meaningful than the movie.Armada, by the same auther, is not quite as good, but still entertaining. Robopocalypse is another fun read .by Daniel H. Wilson.
Heinlein's Starship Troopers. Controversial. Can be thought provoking. As mentioned, Michael Z Williamson. Though I do not recall seeing Contact With Chaos on the list above. It's a unique and fun first contact book.
Starship Troopers is on most Western militaries' Required Reading lists for a reason. If you've only seen the movies, well, there's almost nothing in common with the book but the name. I left it out because it doesn't have as much to do with Infinity-style operations. It is good, though. I gotta recommend reading The Weapon before Contact With Chaos, and possibly Freehold first, too. Freehold and The Weapon are taking place about the same time (the main characters actually meet each other for a bit) but have different main characters and themes.
I can add Pandora's Star and so on by Peter F. Hamilton. Very long exposition at the beginning but a lot of stuff happening. Also fun conception of uneven development of different technologies areas, like diesel engine trains and evolved AI at the same time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_Saga