For context I mostly watch sci fi like doctor who, Star Wars, Star Trek, etc. but I haven’t read much sci fi aside from Anne McCaffrey and the Dragon Pearl. So I’m looking for suggestions of good beginner series to explore the genre with. Preferably a trilogy or stand alone I don’t think I have the time rn for a long series commitment.
by SestraLavenda
16 Comments
Ender’s Game. Technically a series, but you can treat it like a stand-alone. Book #1 and #2 (Speaker for the Dead) are both very celebrated and you can probably stop after that unless you’re totally hooked
The red rising series is pretty good.
Doctor Who! Consider the Red Dwarf novels. Also the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy! Also, I mean, there are Doctor Who novels. Spades of them.
Adrian Tchaikovsky – Children of Time. There’s a few in the series, I’ve just read the first one and really enjoyed it!
I’ll recommend Warlords of Utopia and The Book of the Enemy, you might find some familiar ideas in there as a Doctor Who fan… There’s also the many Doctor Who books of which the vast majority are standalone, the only exceptions being the Eighth Doctor Adventures and Virgin New Adventures book ranges and those are hard to find in any case.
*The Murderbot Diaries.* It’s about a combat android who hates people – not like Skynet, more like Dr. House – and just wants to be left alone to watch his soap operas, so goes rogue at the first opportunity.
Good mix of seriousness and humor, 6 books so far but they’re all very short.
The Murderbot series by Martha Wells is great!
We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis Taylor
The Interdependency by John Scalzi
Three body problem trilogy. It’s very good imo
Jack Vance. “Demon Princes” series or “Planet of Adventure” series
The Riverworld series by Philip Jose Farmer
I am quite fond of the Wayfarer series by Becky Chambers (starting with The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet).
I believe it is four different books, but they take place in the same universe and explore cultural aspects of multi-species interactions. My wife and I found the world-building phenomenal.
The books aren’t narratively connected, so they’re basically standalone titles though characters do pop up in different books, giving you some flexibility, but you’ll likely want to keep returning to the universe.
I was going to recommend The Expanse by James SA Corey, but then noticed you preferred a trilogy or standalone.
Fuck it, I can’t not recommend it (9 books along with various novellas, graphic novel, TV series and game).
Just start reading the series – you’ll make time to get through them.
r/theexpanse
These will probably be less popular options, but I had a great time with them so I’ll leave them here.
I struggle with sci-fi as my mind tends to enjoy a little more fantasy. As such, I found it easiest to get into books I already had some knowledge in. I’m a gamer, so I turned to gaming books.
The Halo books are actually *really good* and dive a lot more into the lore than the games ever do. You learn a lot more about John as a person, not just as Chief.
The Doom books were also very good. They’re written in the first person, which I found incredibly interesting as not many books do. Definitely adds to the scariness that is the Doom world.
I’m currently on the second Ancillary book in the series by Ann Leckie and really enjoying them. They are not easy as the author makes you work to understand everything and stuff becomes clear only through reading on, but I promise you they are worth persevering with. Great world building and protagonist who was a Battleship AI.
Up Against It by Laura J Mixon / MJ Locke.
Asteroid belt dwelling standalone novel. I’m 1/3 through it and really enjoying it. Really well crafted characters and world building. Highly recommend.