Excuse my lack of better words but I really like "first contact" type of books. With this I mean where the protagonist is faced with a previously unknown situation, and as a reader, you are discovering together with the protagonist what is really happening, and how to deal with it.
A couple of examples that I really enjoyed:
"Speaker for the dead" (Orson Scott Card): What is really happening with the piggies, and why are they doing what they are doing (killing humans)
"Hyperion / fall of hyperion" (Dan Simmons): especially in Hyperion, the "shrike" is introduced, but you have no clue what it is or why it is important to the heroes in the book
"The stand" (S. King): the characters are faced with a massive disaster that wipes out x% of the human population, and the survivors have to figure out how to deal with it.
I know, this is quite vague, but I hope that these examples illustrate my preference in this kind of books.
Based on this, which other books would you recommend, and why. Reason why I ask is that I haven't read too much new in a long time, and I am looking for new material, hence recommendations. Thanks!
mlemmond
10-21-09, 08:00 PM
Check out Footfall by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
That is a GREAT suggestion. I have read "the mote in gods eye" several times, and enjoyed every reading. I haven't read Footfall yet, so this one is on my list of things to read shortly. Thanks!
LolaRennt
10-22-09, 10:23 AM
...and "Lucifer's Hammer" by the same which fits more your "The Stand" mention... along with "Swan Song" by Robert R. McCammon.
Haven't read that one either. Have you read it, and did you like it?
Thanks for the tips so far. Looking forward to some more.
Kevin M. Dean
10-22-09, 10:52 AM
Yes I've read everything mentioned in this thread (albeit a long time ago). Footfall, Lucifer's Hammer and Swan Song are all excellent reads.
mgbfan
10-22-09, 01:28 PM
That is a GREAT suggestion. I have read "the mote in gods eye" several times, and enjoyed every reading. I haven't read Footfall yet, so this one is on my list of things to read shortly. Thanks!
I love The Mote in God's Eye as well. But to me, Footfall just didn't stack up.
I think a perfect book for what you're describing would be The Sparrow by Maria Doria Russell. Ranks up there with Mote and Dune as one of the best SF books I've ever read, and it really works for what you're describing.
TimeandTide
10-25-09, 08:56 PM
Arthur C. Clarke's Rendevouz With Rama springs to mind.
milo bloom
10-27-09, 11:25 AM
Kind of a stretch, but the Star Trek novel Strangers From the Sky is a great story of the first meeting between Earth and the Vulcans.
Deke Rivers
10-27-09, 01:24 PM
...and "Lucifer's Hammer" by the same which fits more your "The Stand" mention... along with "Swan Song" by Robert R. McCammon.
Lucifers Hammer is indeed an end of the world story vs a first contact..unless a giant comet coming to earth constitutes contact of some sort
superdeluxe
10-27-09, 04:20 PM
David Brin's novels?
xmiyux
10-31-09, 09:54 AM
...and "Lucifer's Hammer" by the same which fits more your "The Stand" mention... along with "Swan Song" by Robert R. McCammon.
I'll second or third these suggestions. Lucifer's Hammer is a great hard sci-fi story. Swan Song is just like the Stand - and imo was even more interesting than the Stand.
cgray
11-06-09, 10:45 AM
Arthur C. Clarke's Rendevouz With Rama springs to mind.
I just finished this one. I thought it was a fantastic book. I was disappointed to go on wikipedia and discover that Morgan Freeman was championing the making of the movie, that Fincher had signed on to direct, and that it has all been cancelled due to Freeman's health. The whole time I was reading, I was wondering why it hadn't been made into a movie yet. A lot of very cinematic scenes, action, etc.
drmar35mm
11-06-09, 01:53 PM
Roadside Picnic, by the Strugatsky brothers. What if aliens stopped on earth for a time, with no more consciousness of us than we have of ants at a picnic? What do we do with the garbage they left behind?
Buy: