OK, I don't command you...I BEG you to give me an epic sci-fi series...someone please provide me with something as I haven't read a sci-fi book in a long time.

Shamu, list the ones you have already read. This will save time in that responses aren't wasted in repeating the name of a series that you've already read.

• For literate and well-written soft-science fiction, I recommended the BOLO tank series. It was originally started by Keith Laumer, but has been mostly taken over by William Keith. The latest offering is "Bolo Strike" which I will buy as soon as it comes out. I have the old Bolo game on the Amiga and that Bolo still whups up on me.

[Edited by Startide on 05-25-01 at 12:39 PM]

The Ender books by Orson Scott Card

Hyperion by Dan Simmons-weird books that gets stranger as the series continues.

I've heard good things about Chung Kuo by David Wingrove

Of course, most of this stuff is over 10 years old. Man I'm old.

Please don't read L Ron Hubbard's Mission Earth.

DUNE

Wingrove's Chung Kuo is certainly epic in scale. It has the advantage of now having reached a conclusion although I've not caught up!

Not sure if this will be the same in the US print but there is a rather nasty graphic sequence quite early on in the first book that met with some flak in UK circles when the books first appeared. That aside, the work merits consideration.

But there are plenty of series. As Startide says, it would be useful to know what you have read to avoid duplication but also to act as a guide i.e. "if you enjoyed that you might like this".

I've not read the last few but, yes, Dune is a series I greatly enjoyed when I was starting out in science fiction. On a slightly more pedestrian route, you might like to work though Asimov's Robot and Foundation series. I wouldn't call them great literature but he knew how to maintain one's interest.

Alongside the already mentioned Hyperion Cantos I'd also give a shout for Zindell's Broken God series which, in my view, maintained its high standard throughout: I like Simmonds but think that he dropped the ball towards the end of the Hyperion books even though I still enjoyed completing the series....

Not sure if you'd consider it epic - I do - but I loved the Planet Pirates trilogy by Elizabeth Moon, Anne McCafferey, and Jody Lyn Nye. Large scope, involving storylines, and captivating characters.

There is a series by Gregory Benford that I liked that included books titled Great Sky River, Across the Sea of Suns, Furious Gulf, and Sailing Bright Eternity. Also, try Fred Saberhagen's Berzerker books.

Depends on what kind of SF you prefer. If you are looking for something that isn't hard SF but does include space opera, action, intrigue, humor, engaging characters and epic scale, I highly recommend Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan saga. It's ongoing and already includes an armload of books. I really enjoy this series.

The series focuses on Miles Vorkosigan, son of a high Vor family on a planet on which the Vor are the nobility. Miles has to balance duty and honor with his own yen for adventure and excitement, and he travels across the galaxy getting himself involved with space pirates, mercenaries, organized crime, spies, terrorists, and just about everything else you can think of. Oh, yeah, and butterbugs, but I'll leave them for you to discover...

Dan Simmons' Hyperion.

Here are some links to reviews of some of the books mentioned:

Zindell

Simmons

Herbert

Benford

Moon et al

I think I read six or seven of the Chung Kuo books. My issue with it is this:



For those who have read it, am I being unfair or unreasonable?

Try Peter Hamilton's "The Reality Dysfunction" In paperback, it is divided into two books, part 1 and part 2. The second book, "The Neutronium Alchemist" is also divided into two parts in paperback. The third and last book is "The Naked God."

This is sci-fi epic...space opera. Pretty cool. I don't want to give anything away but I did not care for the ending at the very end of the last book. Other than that (if one can forgive the ending), it was a good series.