I've been reading a lot more lately but I don't have the focus I used to… long, politically/philosophically heavy books are hard for me to get through lately. I need some action or excitement somewhat frequently interspersed to keep me engaged. What I've read recently and enjoyed:
- 3 Body Problem Series
- Project Hail Mary
- Some Warhammer 40k books (although I'm a bit burnt on this)
In the past, I've enjoyed military sci fi, especially The Forever War, Old Man's War, and Starship Troopers.
I saw that John Scalzi had some recent series, but I saw them described as Game of Thrones in space and it seemed like it might be too much for my tired mind to follow right now.
Most of the books I've read lately are ones that are so interesting/exciting that I binge them in a week or two. If I have breaks in reading, I tend to lose interest.
Please help this dad out with some recommendations!
by Naga14
46 Comments
{{Red Rising}} might scratch the itch you’re looking for. It’s a fantastic series that draws you in and keeps you hooked. I found myself rereading the series recently and got drawn in again. It’s perfect for a tired dad (I think) looking to escape into an epic, thrilling universe. Plus, it has a hardcore, dedicated following, so you’ll have plenty of fans to connect with.
Neal Asher’s books are good for action. Try [Prador Moon](https://www.nealasher.co.uk/book/prador-moon/) as an introduction to his work.
Tired dad trying to read… been there! Still kinda am.
*The Expanse* by James S.A. Corey if you haven’t read it yet. They’re entertaining, easy and (mostly) fast paced. Nine books + short stories should keep you occupied for awhile.
*Altered Carbon* by Richard K. Morgan is a noir detective story with violence and adult situations. The sequels go into military sci-fi (to my understanding) but I haven’t read them.
Are you at all a Trekkie? Scalzi’s Redshirts is brisk and pretty fun but best enjoyed by someone who knows enough to get the satire.
If you’d ever consider wandering over to fantasy, the first Witcher volumes (The Last Wish and Sword of Destiny) are short story collections which really move. Naomi Novik’s Temeraire books (the first of which is His Majesty’s Dragon) are full of military tactics and grand adventure, but are also really sweet in parts and a lot less grimdark than some of what’s out there.
Murderbot Diaries are good easy short read
Binti by Nnedi Okorafor & To Be Taught if Fortunate by Becky Chambers are both compelling & short
Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh is also compelling, but less short
Expanse by J Corey and Eclipse by Ophelia Rue feel like movies to me. Not too long and a lot of action.
Red Rising by Pierce Brown. Good sci-fi, futuristic adventure good read.
I bet you’d like the Vorkosigan saga by Lois McMaster Bujold. It’s military sci-fi, the books are all fairly short, the protagonist is great, and it’s very addicting to read.
Since you enjoyed PHM I would recommend The Bobiverse books. Dennis Taylor has similar prose and wit to Andy Weir but his story is slightly better than PHM in my opinion.
Also even though I love Scalzi, I would never compare anything he writes to Game of Thrones. His books never reach anywhere near that kind of complexity. He’s very hit and miss for me and I think some of his newer stuff is absolute trash (Redshirts) while some is a fun quick read (The Interdependency Trilogy), but none of it is difficult to read or complex.
Try “The long way to a small angry planet” and/or everything from Iain Banks. Imo 3 body problem is overhyped (nice but not great). Oh yeah, Scalzi is great too.
Frontlines, Lost Fleet, Demons At Rainbow Bridge.
Scalzi’s Collapsing Empire series is pretty fast-paced. Lots of assassination attempts and space piracy. And ‘Kaiju Preservation Society’ is just big stupid fun.
If you can track them down, John Steakley’s ‘Armor’ and Joe Haldeman’s ‘All My Sins Remembered’ are good military and secret-agent sci-fi respectively. Not too much heavy lifting involved.
The Marid Audran series by George Alec Effinger is a cyberpunk mystery series set in a futuristic Middle East. Definitely an underrated series and one of my favorites.
The Expanse is another great series
The Years of Rice and Salt is a long book but each chapter has a new set of characters and jumps forward in time, so it’s easy to follow along.
Across a Billion years Robert Silverberg. Short fun and positive.
If you haven’t read the Ender’s Game series I think it would fit. It’s complex, but certainly not moreso than 3 Body Problem.
Red Rising
I, Robot is short and super interesting
{{Dark Matter by Blake Crouch}} — I’ve read it in 3-4 days, about twice as fast as I usually spend reading books of similar length. It’s compelling, thrilling, and makes you think, too… Great read all around.
The Pride of Chanur by C. J. Cherryh
Children of Time by [Adrian Tchaikovsky](https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1445909.Adrian_Tchaikovsky)
#
The Silo Trilogy by Hugh Howey. Wool, Shift, and Dust. I found the world building to be compelling while not being challenging to follow different POVs and timelines. I plowed through all 3 in a matter of weeks. Highly recommend.
I enjoyed the Mickey 7 series. The books are short and have a similar vibe to Project Hail Mary. If you want to try something longer, The Expanse is an excellent sci-fi series.
Dungeon Crawler Carl
You need Scalzi’s Kaiju Preservation Society!
That style of fiction has kind of fallen out of favor. Lots of people seem to just be ignoring your request and suggesting their favorite politically/philosophically heavy books.
I will second the suggestion of **The Murderbot Diaries**…short straightforward books with action that are actually very good. Perfect suggestion…but the only perfect fit I can think of.
There are old books like **Requiem for a Ruler of Worlds**, lots of Andre Norton’s books.
Do you read Fantasy? There are a lot of straightforward action-heavy LitRPGs. **Apocalypse Parenting**.
**Super Supportive** is a web serial rather than a print book, but is a rather good Science Fantasy pastiche. Low action, but not heavy reading, and very accessible.
I found Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Final Architecture series pretty good to read as a tired dad. Reasonably exciting, just heavy enough to be engaging without getting bogged down. Childrwn of Time and it’s sequels were good too but maybe a bit heavier.
Also recently read Gridlinked by Neal Asherb which was very easy to read, but maybe a bit less engaging/mentally stimulating.
Have you tried Altered Carbon? Like Cyberpunk on Crack… Well, more Crack than usual.
Red Rising, The expanse – just finished Levitation wakes and the short chapters are perfect
Time’s Children has been recommended to me a lot by my friends’ dads. This isn’t even a bad play on words.
Dungeon Crawler Carl. It’s a LitRPG but it’s pretty light and pretty hilarious.
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky – if you can handle the amount of philosophy of the 3 Body Problem series, you can definitely enjoy that one. A very unique take on conflict between two worlds/species.
Since you like Haldeman, you might enjoy The Accidental Time Machine – very quick and fun read, lesser known work by the same author.
And just in case you haven’t read The Martian yet (since you didn’t list it along with PHM) – do. It’s the first book I’ve read in a long time that I couldn’t put down until it was over.
Appreciate all the suggestions here
The Expanse!
Not sure if it delves too deeply into biology, but I’m almost finished with Children of Time and it is phenomenal. Project Hail Mary was my favorite read of 2023 and I’m very much enjoying this one, so it might appeal to you as well.
“Planet of Adventure:” by Jack Vance
“To Your Scattered Bodies Go” by Philip Jose Farmer
Ready Player One or
Enders Game
Tired dad here and these were fun quick reads
Well, Michael Marshall Smith’s first three novels..
Only Forward
Spares
One of Us
.. are perennially entertaining. Not heavy on the SF realism, but brilliant characters and engrossing plots.
Check out Blake Crouch “Upgrade”
Swan Song by Robert McCammon is the ticket. Don’t be alarmed at the amount of pages. It flies. I too have trouble not falling asleep while reading and this kept me awake.
Consider audio books.
Bobiverse
Expeditionary force
The fold
Dungeon crawler Carl
Hell divers
Black ocean
Author Jack Campbell has some fun light but still interesting books
Galaxys edge
Heechee series
Undying mercenaries
Iron dragoons
A hymn before battle
Ark royal
Terran fleet command saga
I’ll throw in the Stainless Steel Rat series by Harry Harrison, and Tunnel in the Sky by Heinlein. Neither of those are military sf, but I feel like they kind of fit with the vibe while being relaxing, fun reads.
Dungeon Crawler Carl. Great reads and use up your audible credits when you want to sleep.
Red Rising – the first book is a little YA at times but the series gets better with each book and era 2 is gritty and dark and as far from YA as could be. highly recommend
Oh, I’m right here with you buddy. I understand exactly how you feel. The one SciFi that got me good was The Commonwealth Saga starting with Pandora’s Star, followed by the Void series in the same universe. I found myself listening to it on Audible while watching the baby, then later when commuting to the nursery, then staying late just so I finished one more chapter. To this day the series has some of the more memorable SciFi characters and villains for me.
If you like Scalzi I would recommend John Barnes – most of his stuff is a bit older but he’s got a lot of short, entertaining sci fi books.
And as someone else said: try audiobooks! For me it’s much easier to pop in an earbud and do some laundry or dishes than to find time to sit down and read a book. (Although I do both!)