Please suggest science fiction books with full on space exploration and finding something completely unexpected. I want to read something where an unusual science team or a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits might find either a Garden of Eden Creation Kit or a Sealed Evil in a Can, or something completely different… And then following fully on what are the consequences of finding such a thing. The more epic scale the better.
I just finished Adrian Tchaikovsky's Shards of Earth. It's the first of a trilogy and I will surely be reading the rest of it too. It just got me thinking of finding even more of similar style.
Some other authors with similar themes I've enjoyed: James S.A. Corey (Expanse series), Hannu Rajaniemi (The Quantum Thief), Vernor Vinge (A Fire Upon the Deep), Becky Chambers (The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet), Tim Pratt (The Wrong Stars), Alastair Reynolds (Revelation Space series).
by Aplakka