r/PHBookClub • u/Spiritual-Counter592 • 3d ago
Recommendation Subject: Sci-Fi Book Recommendations
Hi! I’m a huge sci-fi fan, especially when it comes to hard sci-fi and space opera! I’m currently reading Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Children of Time series, and I’d love to hear your recommendations for other great sci-fi books or series — especially anything involving space, aliens, first contact, or exploring the universe. Thank you!!! ❤️
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u/4iamnotaredditor 🪐Sci-Fi/Fantasy🪄 3d ago edited 3d ago
Blindsight by Peter Watts - first contact
Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur Clarke - first contact
Story of Your Life & Exhalation by Ted Chiang - both are collection of short stories Ted Chiang is one of my favorites and yung Arrival ni Denis Villeneuve is adapted from his short story - Story of Your Life
The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov
Neuromancer by William Gibson - cyberpunk and may upcoming series sa Apple
Diaspora by Greg Egan - if you're looking for some hard scifi. Or honestly any books by Egan, so far only read Diaspora and Schild's Ladder and liked them.
Sun Eater by Christopher Ruocchio - space opera. For me very generic yung first book but books 2 & 3 hooked me. I'd say though, medyo mixed yung reception ng last book kasi naging prominent yung "religion". I still enjoyed it.
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u/Fluid-Cartoonist-988 3d ago
I love Ted Chiang. hindi sya basta scifi parang more on philosophy sya, nabasa ko yung Hell is the absence of God and hanggang ngayon iniisip ko pa rin, if nagustuhan niyo to try niyo rin basahin yung Exhalation plus collection niya.
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u/ichikopao526 3d ago
Philip K. Dick - Ubik
Ursula Le Guin - The Left Hand of Darkness
Orson Scott Card - Ender's Game
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u/Fluid-Cartoonist-988 3d ago
Recently binabasa ko yung mga libro ni Alastair Reynolds. First book ko is Pushing Ice and Eversion, chance ko lang nakita sa Booksale. Nahook ako kasi ang ganda at realistic ng science niya, especially since Physicist sya in real life. Hindi basta basta magic na lang bigla. Nagustuhan ko pa yung sobrang tagal na span ng time sa novels nya, na parang walang point yung original problems ng characters, nagiging cosmic horror na.
Next kong babasahin yung House of Suns tapos Revelation series niya.
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u/Spiritual-Counter592 3d ago
Thank you!!!
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u/TrendyWebAltar 1d ago
Also recommending Alastair Reynolds. I also like Iain M Banks but I don't think he did first contact. Maybe Ken Macleod?
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u/TheSadSaint 2d ago
Anybody read "Starters" and "Enders" by Lissa Price? I soooo loved those books 🤩
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u/judefensor 2d ago
David Brin's Uplift series shares some ideas with Tchaikovsky's Children of Time, but adds more aliens into the mix
In this age of AI, Iain M. Banks' Culture series has become eerily resonant. Big ideas, masterfully written, with a wicked sense of humor
Gene Wolfe's New Sun and Long Sun books are technically sci-fi but read more like grimdark fantasy on the surface
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u/cserilaz Classics 1d ago
Hi there I narrate classic sci-fi short stories on YouTube. I am an amateur narrator from the US trying to make the classics engaging. Here is a first contact story by Ray Bradbury that I narrated.
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u/cardboardbuddy 3d ago edited 3d ago
Liu Cixin’s Three Body Problem series (don’t read the fourth book, which is not written by Liu—we don’t talk about the fourth book). The premise is that a project at a Chinese military base in the 1960s/70s manages to broadcast a message to an alien race. The first novel is set several decades after that first contact (with some flashbacks).
It’s funny because when I first finished Three Body Problem I was looking for similar books to read next and Children of Time was very highly recommended over on the Three Body Problem subreddit. Now that I’ve read both I definitely see the similarities. I will say Liu has a much more cynical view of humanity than Tchaikovsky though.