I’m looking for some great long sci-fi along the lines of Star Trek, Star Wars, or Mass Effect. I am aware all those have their own books but I was hoping for something original. Mainly the normalization of alien species. It can have a human main character but I don’t want aliens to be special. Just an accepted reality. Also warp/hyper speed should just be established. I have read the entire Expanse and loved it but its too ‘human’ centric. And when I look up good long epic sci-fi operas its all human, all the time. Get me some cool sentient aliens!
by Woodwork111
4 Comments
The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
Old Man’s War
Books by [James White](https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14624750.James_White) are a lot like Star Trek.
The most Mass Effect-like book I’ve ever read is [The Stars Now Unclaimed](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35612392-the-stars-now-unclaimed?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=JKLtHlNWK1&rank=1)
Besides those two standouts, here’s a bunch of books that have normalized aliens and speedy space travel without relativity (as far as I can remember, it’s been a long time since I read some of these):
* I second books by Becky Chambers. The entire Wayfarers series is great and can be read in any order.
* [The Algebraist by Iain M. Banks](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12009.The_Algebraist). The Culture series by him also features alien species, and can be read in any order, but some books are more alien-focused than others.
* [The Uplift series](https://www.goodreads.com/series/41134-the-uplift-saga)
* [The Icarus Hunt](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/192528.The_Icarus_Hunt?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=R9zHIWCj83&rank=1) by Timothy Zahn. This guy has written about a billion books, including Star Wars books, but I haven’t read enough of them to know if he has other good original fiction with normalized aliens.
* Books by [Julie E. Czerneda](https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4005.Julie_E_Czerneda). I’m slowly working my way through the Clan Chronicles series, which you can start either at Reap the Wild Wind or A Thousand Words for Stranger. A Thousand Words for Stranger has pretty paltry worldbuilding (it was the first book the author ever wrote) but the others go way more in depth about alien planets, species, and societies.
* [Relic](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36960178-relic) by Alan Dean Foster
* The [Chanur series](https://www.goodreads.com/series/40818-chanur) by C. J. Cherryh. Be warned this author has an *extremely* slow paced style.
Have you read the novelization of *Star Wars*? Here is the first:
*Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker*, attributed to George Lucas, but written by Alan Dean Foster. Published a few months prior to the original film.