This page has the Science Fiction books that I have read, and rated A.
Here are the books rated A-, the books rated B, and the books that are NOT recommended.
| Name |
|
Notes |
NOTE – the most recent books I have read are listed near the top of each section below. |
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| Now Wait for Last Year
by Philip K Dick |
A | Earth is caught in an unwinnable war between two alien civilizations. Earth’s leader (The Mole) seems to be hover on the verge of death. Dr. Eric Sweetscent works with his wife Kathy at the Tijuana Fur & Dye corporation. TF&D are producing material for use in the war.
Things get really interesting after Kathy tries a new illicit drug, which is highly addictive. Eventually she discovers that it haphazardly sends its users traveling through time. Eric Sweetscent eventually is pressed into serving for The Mole, to treat his health problems. But his view of the war and both alien races is completely upended after he takes the drug and travels through time. I have read a few novels by Philip K Dick recently, and this was the best of the bunch. I found the story really compelling. |
| Ball Lightning
by Cixin Liu |
A | The main character’s parents were killed by ball lightning when he was young. The book outlines their lifelong fascination with ball lightning. A large part of the book details attempts to use this as a military weapon.
This was a fascinating read about a poorly understood phenomenon. I really enjoyed Cixin Liu’s imaginative extrapolations on the nature of ball lightning. |
| The Chronoliths
by Robert Charles Wilson |
A |
This story is about gigantic monuments that appear in various cities. These chronoliths are from the future, and they celebrate battles won by “Kuin”. A group of people try to figure out how to defeat this unknown enemy. There are some great ideas here. I really enjoyed the writing, but felt a bit let down by the subtlety of the ending. Upon further reflection (Goodreads research) I actually re-read this. Now it does make sense. |
| Pump Six and Other Stories
by Paolo Bacigalupi |
A | This is an interesting story collection. The title story is a grim dystopian tale about a future where water scarcity overwhelms society. |
| Roadside Picnic
by Arkady Strugatsky and Boris Strugatsky |
A | This is a fast paced story about what happens in a town after space aliens visit briefly and leave behind all kinds of stuff. It turns out that most of it is highly dangerous, but some of it is very useful.
The novel mostly covers the life of one character named Red Schuhart. He is one of many “stalkers”, which are people who specialize in retrieving alien artifacts from “The Zone”. I enjoyed this to the very end, which I found rather abrupt. I really can’t complain, since this was quite a fun read. I found this story quite compelling, and could not stop reading it.
|
| The Dragons of Springplace
by Robert Reed |
A | Robert Reed writes some very intricate stories, and this is a nice collection of his earlier work. The title story is quite long, and one of the best. There are a few “Great Ship” stories in here, which are also quite long. I read them before, but really enjoyed re-reading them. |
| The Quantum Thief
by Hannu Rajaniemi |
A | This is a fast paced, high tech science fiction story. I really loved how it is written, and it was great fun reading it. It is cybernetic, frenetic and very stylish. It is the first book of the Jean le Flambeur series. I am tempted to get the next one. |
| Embassytown
by China Miéville |
A | This is a deeply plotted and intricately written sci-fi novel. It is about language, and ambassadors and several alien races. It started off slowly, and dragged at times. There were quite a few interesting plot twists in the second half – I was very happy to read this. |
| Ready Player One
by Ernest Cline |
A | This is another dystopian novel about the far future, but I like these (in general). The novel is about virtual reality, and a global game to gain control of the entire system.
If you played video games back in the 80s and 90s, then you will definitely enjoy reading this. There are lots of references to events, culture and video games of those eras. I found this to be a very interesting story, and it comes to a very satisfying conclusion. |
| The Windup Girl
by Paolo Bacigalupi |
A | This is a fairly grim dystopian novel about Thailand in the far future. The novel is written in a dense style, so that the events described seem quite realistic.
This is a challenging read, due to the number of characters, and I almost gave up with about 1/3 of the novel remaining. But I kept reading, and I am glad I did – it was definitely worth the effort. |
| One Million A.D.
edited by Gardner Dozois ISBN 978-0-739-46273-7 |
A | This is a collection of REALLY FAR future (1,000,000 A.D.) science fiction stories. There are six novellas, about 60-80 pages each. Some are really great stories, and all are quite interesting. |
| Wireless
by Charles Stross ISBN 978-0-441-01719-5 |
A | This is a collection of short stories and two novellas. There is quite a variety of story types, including some trademark Charles Stross humor (Trunk and Disorderly). Many of these cross over from science fiction to horror. There are two really frightening / unsettling (good) stories in here: Missile Gap (novella) and A Colder War. This was quite entertaining reading, and a nice introduction to one of my favorite authors. |
| Cyderabad Days
by Ian McDonald ISBN 978-1-59102-699-0 |
A | This book is a collection of short stories. It is based on the same world as River of Gods, which is one of my favorite books by this author. These stories are equally good, and highly recommended. |
| The Guild of Xenolinguists
by Sheila Finch ISBN 978-1-930-84648-7 |
A | The idea is that there is a Guild that trains its members to interface with alien cultures, and to understand different languages. But this is not a simple undertaking, and the interface with aliens often requires use of dangerous and disorienting drugs.
I read the final Xenolinguists short story in one of my science fiction monthly magazines. Somehow I had completely missed reading anything by this author. I am glad I got the rest of the stories – light reading, lots of interesting characters and pretty entertaining. |
| Air
by Geoff Ryman ISBN 978-0-312-26121-4 |
A | This novel is primarily about people in a small village and how their lives are intertwined. The “Air” of the title refers to a new technology that allows everyone to connect to the internet without the use of computers.
This advanced technology has quite an impact on a remote village that is quite backward. The story focuses mostly on the individual members of the village, and their plight. It is very well written. |
| Implied Spaces
by Walter Jon Williams ISBN 978-1-59780-125-6 |
A | This novel is about someone who is really pissed off, and wants to bring about the end of civilization. This is a far future civilization, composed of multiple pocket universes. The main protagonist moves freely between these alternate realities, and eventually tracks down the culprit. It takes quite a few battles to finally get things under control.
This is more of a sci-fi adventure novel, with swashbucking action and romance. I enjoyed it a lot. |
| Rollback
by Robert J. Sawyer ISBN 978-0-7653-4974-3 |
A | Rollback refers to a rejuvenation process. This is the story of a married couple who undergo the process. Sarah (the wife) is a famous scientist who worked many years earlier to decode a message from another race. The Rollback is paid for by a benefactor, who hopes Sarah lives long enough to decode another message. Unfortunately, the process works for her husband but fails for Sarah. There is not much else in the way of science fiction here, but this is a touching story of how the couple deal with the aftermath. |
| Desolation Road
by Ian McDonald ISBN 0-553-27057-5-395 |
A | This is an early novel written back in 1988. It is about a city named Desolation Road, built from nothing, at the edge of nowhere.
The first third keeps adding characters to the city until it becomes hard to keep track of them all. The middle third spins a fairly complex set of relationships between these characters. The last third concerns the resolution of several conflicts, some spanning a generation or more. It builds to an impressive climax. This is another example of why I love Ian McDonald’s work. This was a fun read, even if it had a few TOO many characters for me. |
| Grey
by Jon Armstrong ISBN 978-1-59780-065-5 |
A | This novel is like a psychedelic dream of a bizarre future where everyone is obsessed about music, fashion and celebrities. The key conflict is between two rival corporations, and the protagonist is being groomed to take over one of them. After an attempt is made on his life, the rest of the story is about how he unravels the web of intrigue to discover who tried to kill him.
This is one of the more “WAY out there” books I have read. It is very well written and I enjoyed the trip immensely. |
| Galactic North by Alastair Reynolds ISBN 978-0-441-01600-6 |
A | This takes place in the same universe as his prior books (Chasm City, Revelation Space, Redemption Ark). You do NOT need to be familiar with the earlier books to enjoy this one. This is a collection of stories which fill in some of the gaps between the prior books. These are quite enjoyable, but I think Reynolds’ novels are more satisfying. |
| The Prefect by Alastair Reynolds ISBN 978-0-441-01722-5 |
A | This takes place in the same universe as his prior books (Chasm City, Revelation Space, Redemption Ark). You do NOT need to be familiar with the earlier books to enjoy this one. We are now many years in the future, and the story concerns the inhabitants of the Glitter Band. The Panoply is responsible for maintaining the security for all inhabitants of the Glitter Band.
This book proceeds at a breakneck pace, and is very carefully plotted. I read it over two days, and it was very hard to put down. This is another great work by Alastair Reynolds, and I look forward to reading more! |
| Eifelheim by Michael Flynn ISBN 978-0-7653-1910-4 |
A | This is a novel about the town of Eifelheim during 1348 and 1349. An alien craft appears, and the inhabitants are stranded on earth. The novel has two main parts. One occurs in present day, and constitutes about 1/4 of the novel. It involves a theoretical physicist and a cliologist. The other part occurs in the past, and constitutes about 3/4 of the novel. It describes how the aliens become part of the culture of Eifelheim. This part is very finely written, and has an impressive feel of veracity about it. |
| Old Man’s War by John Scalzi ISBN 978-0-765-34827-2 |
A | This is John Scalzi’s first book of many about an alternate universe. Here humanity is one of a multitude of races competing for breathing space on habitable planets around the galaxy. There are numerous wars going on, and not nearly enough soldiers to fight. The title refers to the solution to this problem. People are given the option to sign up for the Colonial Defense Forces. The twist is that they can do it at any age, and they have ten years before they start their tour of duty.
I liked the writing style here. The author keeps taking things one step further, and shows good creativity. This was well written, and I really enjoyed reading it. |
| Halting State by Charles Stross ISBN 978-0-441-01498-9 |
A | Charles Stross is one of my favorites. This novel starts with a silly premise, where a bank heist occurs inside a MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role playing game). In spite of that, I found this a fascinating read. It is written in first person plural, with each chapter from a different character’s point of view.
There are plenty of BIG ideas scattered throughout. One is that the police use a virtual reality based system called CopSpace to keep track of everything. Everything they see, hear and do is recorded through video feeds transmitted via their headsets. |
| Accelerando by Charles Stross ISBN 978-0-441-01415-6 |
A | Charles Stross is one of my favorites. This novel is a series of stories about what happens AFTER the Singularity, which occurs when computers attain consciousness. I read most of them when they were published in Isaac Asimov’s science fiction magazine.
It is hard to describe the sheer scope of what happens. You start with a couple, and they have a child named Amber. Amber leaves the solar system in a tiny spaceship, and her descendants eventually return. In between are several encounters with alien races. I can’t quite describe the effect of this book, so I’ll steal a quote from an Amazon review: |
| Seeker by Jack McDevitt ISBN 0-441-01329-5 |
A | Like most of McDevitt’s novels, this is a story about alien artifacts on several worlds. This is a science fiction novel about an archeological mystery. Even though this sounds a lot like other McDevitt novels, I found it quite entertaining. |
| Gun, with Occasional Music by Jonathan Lethem ISBN 0-312-85878-7 |
A | Science fiction murder mystery in an interesting future world. Written in the “film noir” style of Raymond Chandler. |
| Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan ISBN 0-345-45768-4 |
A | This is essentially a murder mystery, but it is surprisingly well written. I have rarely seen such depth of writing in any science fiction books.
The key idea is that “real death” has been conquered – people can have their memories and persona implanted into new bodies. This book is full of other great ideas, which makes it really fascinating. WARNING – this novel has numerous scenes of EXTREME VIOLENCE Not for the faint of heart! |
| Futureland by Walter Mosley ISBN 0-446-52954-0 |
A | This book contains nine interlocking stories that weave a dark vision of the future. The stories are excellent, and the entire novel is told from a black man’s point of view. |
| The Wave by Walter Mosley ISBN 0-446-53363-7 |
A | This book is difficult to categorize. It starts off rather offbeat, as someone gets telephone calls from their supposedly long-dead father. Eventually they get involved in a grand conspiracy involving the government, and a new life form: “The Wave”. This novel shows more of Mosley’s creativity – I really liked it! |
| Idoru by William Gibson ISBN 0-425-15864-0 |
A | This is one of Gibson’s better works. It is a bit hard to describe, or summarize. The main character is Rei Toei – a cybernetic media star. This is essentially a love story, not something I normally read. I found this quite an interesting read. |
| The Engines of God by Jack McDevitt ISBN 0-441-00284-6 |
A | This is a story about alien artifacts on several worlds. It is a science fiction novel about an archeological mystery!
There are four major sections to the novel, and each is nicely crafted. The character development is really well done. |
| A Mouthful of Tongues
by Paul di Filippo ISBN 1-587-15507-9
|
A | WARNING – EXTREME EXPLICIT SEX
Not for the faint of heart! This is probably the only science fiction / erotica / pr0n novel I have ever read. The main female character is taken advantage of by some male characters at the beginning of the story. Her response is to become something not quite human. The novel traces her path from civilization to a life in the jungle. Most of the story takes place in this setting. It is extremely well written, and amazingly inventive. Towards the end, I began to wonder where this was all going to end. Not to worry, the author ties things up VERY neatly. |
| Strange Trades
by Paul di Filippo ISBN 1–930–84605–3 |
A | This is a collection of short stories, most of which are based on the theme of work and business, workers and society. It is hard to categorize most of these stories. Based on this collection, I look forward to reading more of his work. |
| Crystal Express
by Bruce Sterling ISBN 0–441–12423–2 |
A | This is a collection of his early short stories, some of which are based on the Shaper / Mechanist story line in Schismatrix. I usually think of Bruce Sterling as a great novelist, but this collection shows that he also does a great job on short pieces. |
| The Golden Globe
by John Varley ISBN 0-441-00643-4 |
A | This is a story about the life of a stage actor named Kevin ‘Sparky’ Valentine, and his father John Valentine. This alternates between segments on the present day Kevin Valentine, and his life as a child star named Sparky. I found the story of Sparky’s life up to age 30 to be more interesting than the present day stuff.
The character development is excellent. Some plot pieces seem |
| This Alien Shore
by C. S. Friedman ISBN 0-88677-799-2 |
A | This is a story about a young woman who has some extra hardware in her head. As a result, she is constantly pursued by various factions. From this clichéd beginning, the author creates quite an interesting story, which involves interstellar travel, and several alien races.
The character development is excellent. I thought the portrayal of the alien races were very convincing. |
| Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days
by Alastair Reynolds ISBN 0-575-07526-0 |
A | This consists of two novellas, which are situated in the Revelation Space universe. You can read this as a stand-alone novel. It is not as deep as his other novels.
Diamond Dogs is about The Spire, which is a large artifact on an alien world. and the attempt by a group of people to unlock its mystery. The Spire is malevolent, and eventually tries to kill anyone who enters. Turquoise Days is about the Pattern Jugglers, who inhabit the ocean on the planet Turquoise. Simply learning about them is quite interesting. Then a ship from another world arrives, and things get complicated. |
| The Scar
by China Miéville ISBN 0–345–44438–8 |
A | This is the author’s second novel set on a world with multiple races. The good news is that it is NOT part of a trilogy – you can read this without having read the earlier novel.
This is a slightly less complex story than Perdido Street Station. The character development and writing are both quite well done. |
| The Sparrow
by Mary Doria Russell ISBN 0-449-91255-8 |
A |
This story is about the Jesuits and first contact with aliens on another planet. The story spans 40 years, and at the outset, you are told there was only one survivor. The result is that the story reads like a Greek tragedy – you know what the outcome will be. The character development is really well done. It made it rather painful to know there is only one survivor. This was very well written, and I really enjoyed reading it. |
| Jennifer Government
by Max Barry ISBN 1-4000-3092-7 |
A | This is tongue-in-cheek novel of a future earth where marketing and corporate identity are all-important. If you have a cynical view of marketing today, you’ll enjoy this a lot.
There is not a lot of hard science fiction in here. It is more of about the sociology of marketing. There are quite a few characters, and the story jumps between them rapidly. This was cleverly done, and a lot of fun to read. |
| Fairyland
by Paul McAuley ISBN 0-380-97344-8 |
A | This is another dark vision of a future earth. The human race has created a race of “dolls” for unskilled labor, and other unsavory uses. Over time, the “dolls” are modified into competitors of the human race.
The ending did not completely satisfy me. I felt there were certain major issues left unresolved. |
| Snow Crash
by Neal Stephenson ISBN 0-553-38095-8 |
A | This is an amazing novel, with lots of great ideas. I enjoyed it a lot.
WARNING – EXTREMELY VIOLENT Not for the faint of heart! |
| Revelation Space
by Alastair Reynolds ISBN 0-441-00942-5 |
A | This is a true classic “space opera”, which covers quite a long time span. There are so many ideas here, there is enough for 3 or 4 novels.
My only quibble is that the ending wasn’t entirely satisfying. |
| Redemption Ark
by Alastair Reynolds ISBN 0-441-01173-X |
A | This is the sequel to Revelation Space. This sequel DOES justify the ending in Revelation Space. It continues the story line and the characters. You may feel lost if you haven’t read the prior novel.
This novel also continues the story line of Chasm City, so you should also read that before starting on this one. Once again, there are lots of fascinating ideas and characters, which are developed extremely well. |
| Girl in Landscape
by Jonathan Lethem ISBN 0-375-70391-8 |
A
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An unusual story about the relationships between several different species, on an ancient planet. It is quite interesting, but with a more somber undertone than some of Lethem’s other books. |
| The Engines of Dawn
by Paul Cook ISBN 0-451-45736-6 |
A | Interesting story on the relationships between several alien races and humanity. |
| Distress
by Greg Egan ISBN 0-06-105727-4 |
A | Another book that centers around physics, specifically the “Theory of Everything”. It tends toward “more talk, less action”.
There are some great arguments here about the need for some groups to actively seek, promote, and disseminate non-rational thought. |
| Slippage
by Harlan Ellison ISBN 0-395-92482-0 |
A | Harlan Ellison has always been a favorite author. This has mostly short stories, with two teleplays. A mix of horror, fantasy and science fiction. |
| Darwin’s Radio
by Greg Bear ISBN 0-345-42333-X |
A | Bear is one of my favorite authors. The story centers on the idea of genetic traits that have been passed down from prehistoric times via the inactive areas of our DNA. |