Children Of Time and Hyperion should be top of your list; COT isn't really that hard sci-fi but the ideas and the execution is astounding and as a Fantasy fan you will really appreciate the characters and stories in Hyperion.
Ursula Le Guin has some great sci fi books. The classics are The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed which are both beautiful works of art and part of a very loosely connected series called the Hainish Cycle ( theyre essentially standalones). But you cant go wrong with any of it really, including some of the shorter Hainish books like Rocannon's world which is kind of an elevated version of old pulpy scifi, or The Word for World is Forest
Hyperion definitely lives up to the hype. I don't think you need to know anything about the Canterbury Tales either, I think it just means it borrows from it structurally, but either way it works on its own. I'm only two books into the Expanse but I'm really digging it so far, for some reason I just keep putting off book three. For recommendations, I know it doesn't work for everyone, but I'm loving the Murderbot Diaries right now. There's just something about the narrative voice that resonates with me, probably due to the social anxiety aspect, but if you're ever looking for a short read between larger books you should definitely check those out.
Awesome video brother! Great idea😊 These are all on my scifi tbr list too! We will have to see which ones Chance hasn't read, may a scifi buddy read down the road. I'm excited to read You Sexy Thing by Cat Rambo too. Sounds fun!
So my pitch for Three Body is always that it legit changed the way I think about the universe and it explores ideas and concepts that will make your brain hurt. For the Expanse its it feels like a real possible future for humanity. Its just far future enough that tech has evolved but still close enough it all makes sense. The character in the expanse are also super well done and you will get attached to them.
Consider adding Pournelle & Niven's The Mote in God's Eye, Andy Weir's Project Hail Mary, Neal Stephenson's Seveneves or maybe Anathem and Devon Eriksen's Theft of Fire to your list.
Great video! Many of these are on my list to get to someday too! If you want an easy entry point to Tchaikovsky, I read a little novella a couple years ago called Elder Race. It was fun cause there are two perspectives, one is more fantasy and one is more sci-fi. A very interesting concept!
Great books on here. I read the whole 3body trilogy this year and it was very interesting and I love Octavia Butler and desperately need to read more from her.. but… if you really want ur Nerd level to rise (with a standalone that packs a punch and is easy to throw in between reads and you said you need a palate cleanser after Malazan 😉😉😉) please please please read Recursion by Blake Crouch. DO NOT SEARCH UP ANYTHING ABOUT IT. Jake. Trust me. If you want a book to feel like you’re spiralling from a small point out into massive consequences, with two characters that manage to create such a heartfelt center to thought-provoking story… and it’s only like 300p? this is what you want. I have bullied many a person to read this book and I haven’t missed yet ;) One of the only 5⭐️s I’ve ever given.
@@valliyarnl daaaaang Wera, now this is a masterfully done pitch for a book 👀 Evoking my rising nerd level, appealing to my need for palate cleansers after Malazan, going with a short standalone, and it getting an elusive 5 star rating... oh man. That's VERY tough to resist
Dude, read Hyperion! You like the same stuff I like and this was one of my favorites! Dune for me past book 4 gets pretty weird but go for it. Expanse is also a great series, but read Hyperion first :)
I’ve read two books from The Book of the New Sun so far and I think it’s really good. It’s confusing, and sometimes a bit dry, but it’s interesting for sure. I read The Three-Body Problem, but haven’t continued with the series so far. I thought the first book was ok, but didn’t amaze me. I haven’t read The Expanse or Hyperion yet, or a few of these other, so I’m excited to get to those as well.
I always have to recommend the Machineries of Empire series by Yoon Ha Lee, just finished my re-read and it's just chock full of amazing ideas. Space empire that uses calendar and holiday observations and belief to power their tech, very east Asian inspired but not overwhelming. It's political and largely about war but it's deeply about the characters and they're so intriguing. And I read Octavia Butler's Dawn once over a decade ago and I STILL think about parts of it. It's great.
Oh yeah, Octavia E Butler is just brilliant. I haven’t read Xenogenesis but from my experience with Parable of the Sower, she knew how to make a brilliant mesh of Character and ideas and just hooks you and destroys you with how naive you didn’t know you were. And a self published sci fi you may want to check out is A Dirge for Cascius which gave me Suneater Vibes but more complex worldbuilding in a detective story. I get the Suneater obsession. That is easily my favorite sci fi series full stop. Awesome video man! Keep on keeping on!
Sounds like an epic line-up! I haven't read any of these either, so I will be keeping my eyes peeled for your thoughts to see which ones I need to bump up the priority list haha. As for selfpub recs, I would highly recommend checking out JCM Berne's Hybrid Helix series. They might seem like popcorn reads, but they have a lot of heart and substance, and we're now 5 books in and it's only building out to something bigger and more complex. Such great reads all round!
You're gonna want Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, and Larry Niven in there if you want a sci-fi grounding. Start with anthologies to give you a taste of their visions before moving on to their classic novels. Beautiful, and deeply iconic of science-fiction. Vastly worthier than some of the stuff you're talking about.
@@NerdLevelRising For Asimov, start with "I, Robot" (has nothing to do with the Will Smith movie). Simple but sweet brain-teaser stories that introduce his robot universe. For Clarke, I actually go back on the anthology bit and recommend going straight to "2001: A Space Odyssey." There's four books in the series, and it's gorgeous and mind-blowing. Niven, start with "Tales of Known Space." Establishes the universe of same name, in which the classic novel "Ringworld" and its sequels takes place.
That Donaldson series caught my eye recently too! Hyperion is one I’ve put off for no reason that I too need to get into. I have a hunch you’ll enjoy BotNS. With your love for Sun eater and Malazan, I have no doubt you’ll enjoy it. But even the author says it needs to be read twice (a great selling point for books) but I’d love to do a reread of the first couple of the trilogy (since I haven’t read the third) and get way more thoughts. Expanse is certainly one at the tail end of my TBR, simply because of the scope. My brain can only take on so much epicness
You might take a look at Connie Willis, she has a series about time traveling historians at Oxford University. The first is “Doomsday Book” (winner of both the Hugo and Nebula awards) followed by “To Say Nothing of the Dog”, and “Blackout/All Clear” a single novel in two volumes.
Great list! I haven’t started many sci-fi series, but I’ve read many sci-fi standalones this year. It’s added variety to my TBR without the series commitment. While not on your list, I would highly recommend Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed. Brilliant story exploring dystopian and utopian planets, privacy, and whether ideas can be owned. My second sci-fi standalone recommendation is Octavia Butler’s time travel novel, Kindred. It’s a fairly short soft sci-fi exploring racisim, ancestry, ways we think we’ve progressed in the present as the past continues to haunt us. I also have Dawn on my sci-fi list, which I’ve heard is excellent! I read Hyperion this year, and I think you will love it! I’m determined to continue the series, but I’m also juggling a lot of fantasy series. Book of the New Sun and Three Body Problem are also high on my list! We have a good problem with all these good books to read, right? 😅 Happy reading! ✨
@@Johanna_reads it's a good problem to have, but wow there is just way too many amazing books to try to get to 😅 Thanks so much for the recommendations, I'll add those to my list! Standalones are always a welcome thing to break up longer series. I really want to get into Le Guin's Earthsea books, I didn't even know she has written some science fiction as well!
@@NerdLevelRising Le Guin is widely acknowledged as one of the best science fiction writers in the genre! Her Earthsea books are highly regarded. They were written for middle grade readers, but I understand they can be enjoyed by adults (my husband loved the first two). Her sci-fi is adult fiction and won Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards to name a few. 😊
@@NerdLevelRising Jared Henderson did an excellent and brief video called “The Radical Science Fiction of Ursula K. Le Guin.” I highly recommend checking it out! I need to read more by her! 😅
Listen I know it’s young adult but for a fun quick sci-fi Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman Illuminae series is so fun and is so visually different from anything else. I wish Jay would go back revisit that kind of idea and themes and do more adult version.
@@NerdLevelRising I’ve just trying to get into sci-fi to and besides red rising and Sandersons skyward that was only suggestion I had 😂 BUT it is really interesting the audio book is great full cast of characters. But it’s not written like a normal book it is like this mashup of a normal book and graphic novel.
#1: Star Wars - The Darth Bane books are my favorite...and I have read over 100 SW novels. ;) (Have actually read through the Bane books (3) times.) #2: I am also primarily fantasy reader, but am currently reading Adrian Tchaikovsky's "The Final Architecture" series and REALLY enjoying. Thanks for the video! Look forward to more. #3: Also, just recently finished the (9) book "The Echoes Saga" from Philip Quaintrell. That series was AWESOME classic fantasy. Highly recommend!
@@gregray4011 I keep seeing such great things about Quaintrell's books, I want to try them out!! And WOW that's a lot of star wars books! The Darth Bane books are probably what I'll do next, would love to try them out soon
A few of my favorite authors (in no particular order) are Walter Jon Williams (Days of Atonement, Implied Spaces, and Aristoi are all awesome), Neal Stephenson (Anathem, Seveneves, Cryptonomicon, and Snow Crash are ALL amazzing reads!!), Roger Zelazny (Lord of Light, Doorways in the Sand, This Immortal are among the best of 1960's & 1970's science fiction. Again, excellent.). One last thing, if you've never read Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, you have done yourself a serious disservice in English science fiction literature.
I highly recommend Donaldson's Gap series, which I've read twice but hardly ever gets mentioned on Booktube. Morn and Angus's story arcs over the five books are fascinating. I also enjoyed the Dune House trilogy.
@@bytor0125 the Gap books have been drawing me in for a long time, and would be a cool chance to talk about a series that - like you said - doesn't get much love on booktube!
Awesome video! Three Body Problem really is good! Dune and Hyperion are my 1st and 2nd favorite sci-fi of all time. The Scythe series is really good as well.
Don't be too intimidated by Book of the New Sun. Just ride the wave. I'd also argue against looking up words you don't understand. The Expanse ROCKS. It actually covers a few different genres along the way. Read it first and then watch the TV show, which is also quite good. As a scientist I'm curious what you'd make of The Mercy of Gods. The only Tchaikovsky I've read so far is Children of Time and it was a great read. I'm sure if you read whatever you're curious about, you'll be fine with him. I read a lot of Star Wars in middle school and high school and remember none of it 😅. I've been meaning to go back.
@@sw3dge good to know about BOTNS, I'll keep that on mind! And yes I definitely want to check out Mercy of the Gods after hearing Tom Orange talk about it
Hyperion arrived a few weeks ago. I'm so excited to read it, it's look like some I'd love. Will get to it after probably finishing red rising trilogy I'm half through book one
The Book of the New Sun is awesome - like Dune, it manages to convey a society weighed down by it's own history. definitely a SciFi/Fantasy crossover feel to it. it's not as scary as you think. mind you, i love Stranger in a Strange Land by R Heinlein and Barefoot in the Head by Brian Aldiss - 60's science fiction at it's psychadelic best.
3 Body Problem - Sciencey, I liked book one but haven’t continued YET. I’m first & foremost a character reader but I enjoyed the science 💯 Hyperion - interesting story, I’ve only read book one, will eventually read book 2. Dune - enjoyed book one. Will prolly only read the first few & not the extended series. The Expanse - loved it. It’s hard sci-fi that’s compelling with a little humor. Read it before I watched it. Tchaikovsky - I loved … Guns of the Dawn, Dogs of War, Cage of Souls, Ogres, The Final Architecture, The Doors of Eden. I haven’t tried Children of Time yet, (spiders). I’m 95% audiobook. Here’s some others that are excellent audiobooks: Project Hail Mary The Martian Mickey 7 Revelation Space Culture Bobiverse Honor Harrington Expeditionary Force (if you get to chapter ten & don’t like the unusual character that you meet there, you might not enjoy the books, it’s one of my favorite series but it’s fun - not hard sci-fi). I’ve read a lot of older sci-fi but the characters & humor come second most of the time so it can be technically great & I still might not love it. I love dystopian/apocalyptic & zombie/vampire too (Hell Divers, etc). Fast paced, good humor, great characters, premise rocks, I’m there!! Sometimes I’ll love a book just for what it could have been 🤷🏼♀️ I’d like to try Book of the New Sun. ~ Twainy
@@nancywolf1467 thanks so much for the recommendations! Man, there's so much great scifi out there I haven't gotten to or even heard of. I'm a big character guy, but I do think that as long as I go into a book knowing the character work isn't the point, I'll still be able to really enjoy it and get a lot out of it
@@NerdLevelRising idk if you read indie but here are two off the top of my head that are fantastic … The Guardian of Empire City Hybrid Helix I look forward to your recommendations. 😁
@@AFantastical_Journey sun eater is just incredible! I finished the 2nd volume of short stories recently and it's even better than the first in my opinion 😄
Of what I’ve read on this list they’re really good. Well mostly, the Three Body Problem was way too smart for me. I actually think Shards of Earth, and its sequels, are the better Adrian Tchaikovsky trilogy. I think John at Talking Story called him the Human Storymatic 2000 and it’s so true. Mickey 7 by Ed Ashton is a good palate cleanser, and it has a movie adaptation coming out next year. Also, I love JS Dewes. If you read and like her standalone “Rubicon” I think you’ll like her trilogy. Also, Megan O’Keefe’s Protectorate trilogy is a fun space opera
Hyperion should be at the top of your list. Arthur C. Clarke, Alistair Reynolds, Jon Scalzi, Eric Brown and Micheal Mammay are all really good. Kim Stanley Robertsons Red Mars is really good, Blue and Green are good but not nearly as good as Red
@@Talking_Story JOHN. With you constantly adding to my immediate TBR like this I'm gonna have to drop out of school to make more time for reading man 😂😂
@@NerdLevelRising So true hahah. I tried my best to follow a plan but did not work that way. Anyway 3BP i loved the first book becuase it was my kind of dark thrilling sci fi. I will continue with book 2 and 3 after i finished re-reading harry potter
