Best Sci-Fi Books

[Legend27]

There's a thread on best fantasy books going on right now so I figured I'd start one on Sci-Fi.

Some that I have read an liked are:

Steven King's Dark Tower series (kinda sci-fi and fantasy)
William R. Forstchen's Wing Commander series (I remember the movie wasn't very good. Has the series continued at all since the 90's?)
I'm reading a bunch of books by Harry Turtledove and they seem ok.

What are some other good ones?

[Lumpy]

Most Larry Niven, Ringworld especially.
Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat series are also very good.

[Dynasty]

Thread about fantasy books was intitiated by a new thread about sci-fi books. However, there was already a fantasy books thread going. Now, we've got a new sci-fi thread.

We must be stuck in a temporal causality loop.

[Neil Stevens]

Isaac Asimov's Foundation

I loved the hints of Foundation in the origial Star Wars movie.. it's a shame that those elements disappeared in the later movies.

[Legend27]

Some other one's I remembered:

The Halo series by Eric Nylund
Aliens: Earth Hive by Steve Perry (That one is book 1 of a series. Any know what the names of books in the rest of series are called?)
I remember the storyline behind the game StarCraft was awesome but the books were just ok.

[Moozh]

1) Ender's Game (Card)
2) Dune (Herbert)

The order is debatable. After this it gets tougher...

3) Rendezvous with Rama books 2 through 4. (Clarke and Lee)
4) Foundation series (Asimov)
5) Diamond Age (Stephenson)
6) Worthing Saga (Card)
7) 2001 Series (Clarke)
8) Homecoming Series (Card)

As you can see, I'm a bit selective when it comes to authors. Orson Scott Card is by far my favorite author because of the humanity he puts into his stories. All of the books and series listed above (except perhaps for the Foundation and 2001) contain incredible character development. I personally do not like Sci-Fi books that spend too much time on technology and not enough on an actual story.

That said, I think Ender's Game and Dune are both must reads for anyone interested in the genre.

In case anyone cares, number 8, the Homecoming Series, is a personal favorite that I'm guessing most have not read. My name, Moozh, is from that series.

[PhatTBoll]

[ QUOTE ]
In case anyone cares, number 8, the Homecoming Series, is a personal favorite that I'm guessing most have not read. My name, Moozh, is from that series.

[/ QUOTE ]

Just to show you how much of a nerd I am, I not only got the reference, but I know how to properly pronounce the name.

Card is also my favorite author for the reasons you mentioned. I could have done without the last book in the Homecoming series though. I have no idea what must have been going through his mind when he wrote it.

"Hey, I'll kill off every character, except the least interesting one, and revolve the story around her. People will love it!"

[Moozh]

It's a bit off the topic of the thread, but there was a reason for the fifth book. As you might know, Card is a Mormon. You'll see hints of this in most of his books (an example: Ender's mom is Mormon). Fortunately, none of his books are anything near preachy, which is good since I'm not very religious.

Anyway, what you might not know, is that the Homecoming series is Card's interpretation of the Book of Mormon. I have to admit I was very surprised to find this out after I had already gone through the series. Again, this could have been a problem, but he does it in such a way that the story stands by itself. There's nothing in the books that would let you know this if you didn't do some research. Thus, even though I'm not religious, I can still appreciate the writing and enjoy the story.

That said, the fifth book is a bit out of place. I imagine the reason he wrote it was because that's how the story unfolds in the Book of Mormon. It could be argued that he should have wrapped things up at the end of book 4. But, after reading through the series a few times, I've begun to really appreciate book 5's role in bringing the story to a real conclusion.

[PhatTBoll]

I didn't make that connection, but I did of course know he is a Mormon, and I guess it sort of makes sense. However, for an author who places so much stake in character development, I didn't see why he had to do away with all the characters we cared about and leave the most boring one. Surely his "artistic vision" could have been advanced without taking this drastic step.

I'm not saying I didn't like the 5th one, but it just has so little to do with the first 4 that he probably could have just made it a book by itself without having to make the allusions to old characters and storylines.

Have you read Folk of the Fringe? That book clearly has references to LDS beliefs as well, and much more explicitly.