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The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russel Loved: Science vs Religion Characters overcoming language barrier (language aquisition) and the miscommunications that may result in a false sense of superiority. The way the story is presented in flashbacks. I know I am not the best poster. I am a reader not a writer. lol Maybe someone that has read this book and liked it may be able to give you some more insight.
Posts: 204 | Registered: Aug 2001
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If you are open to short fiction, try Masterpieces, edited by OSC. These are OSC's picks of the best in the genre / most influential to him.
Posts: 1080 | Registered: Apr 2006
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There are dozens of threads like this on the board, and very few times can you get a decent consensus.
I suggest you try goodreads (www.goodreads.com) and search for people who gave Ender's Game 5 stars. Then compare your tastes against their rankings for other books. If you seem generally compatible with a persons rankings on books you've shared, then using books they ranked highly as a "to reads" list will give you more books than you'll probably ever be able to read in a lifetime.
Posts: 1321 | Registered: Jun 2006
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..I really enjoyed Hot Sleep, by OSC. I know there's other versions of that story that are more recent then Hot Sleep, but I haven't read them. But I really liked Hot Sleep.
Posts: 25 | Registered: Dec 2008
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quote:I know that pretty much everyone posting in here is a fan of Ender's Game and the subsequent Enderverse novels...for various reasons.
While I am, by no means is everybody here.
You might want to read Starship Troopers by Heinlein, if for no other reason than because so many people have compared Ender's Game to it over the years. And besides that, it's fun science fiction story that's worth reading.
Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
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quote:Originally posted by mr_porteiro_head: You might want to read Starship Troopers by Heinlein, if for no other reason than because so many people have compared Ender's Game to it over the years. And besides that, it's fun science fiction story that's worth reading.
Second! And if you end up liking that, I recommend Orphanage by Robert Buettner, which pays homage to Heinlein. Military sci-fi, aliens attack Earth, narrated in first-person by a messed-up teen who becomes a soldier, etc. It's a series but the first book stands alone. (The next book was great, 3rd just okay, and the 4th is on my to-read list.)
Posts: 973 | Registered: Apr 2005
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If you like Heinlein's Starship Troopers and Card's Ender's Game I recommend Old Man's War by John Scalzi. Its a series of 4 books and a short story now. Read them in order.
Old Man's War The Ghost Brigades The Sagen Diary (short story) The Last colony Zoe's Tale
Zoe's tale is the same story as colony, but from a different POV. He thanks Orson Scott Card for that idea in the credits.
Seriously I thought it was better than Heinlein and the Old Man's universe is as in depth and intricate as Card's Enderverse. Card wins out in volume of writing, but for quality their near equals.
Scalzi really surprised me in the story a few times and that doesn't happen too often. He also has the 'best first chapter' surprise I've ever read in all of my readings. I won't say which of the 4 books has it though.
Also the Sagen Diary is available on Sclzi's website for free download as an audiobook. Its beautifully read by some of the best female voices of audiobooks IMO. Don't listen to it until you've at least read OMW and GB though.
Posts: 197 | Registered: Jan 2007
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I enjoyed Old Man's War, but the style of exposition he employs, while charming at first, ended up grating on my nerves by the second book. I'll still read the rest of the books in the series--the first two were a lot of fun--but I definitely wouldn't put Scalzi's writing in the same class as Card's was when he was at the top of his game.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Since you've read the first 2 books, the diaries won't ruin anything for you and I think listening to them adds to the enjoyment of the last 2 novels.
Scalzi and Card aren't identical. But where Card sometimes lacks consistency in storytelling Scalzi doesn't. Where Card's dialogue is a joy to read, Scalzi's isn't as good. Where they are similar is the little surprises that make you laugh out loud. Honestly I'm still not sure which author comes out ahead for me.
Probably still Card, since I like the diversity of stories he tells, but for straight sci-fi, Scalzi is awesome too.
Posts: 197 | Registered: Jan 2007
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I've seen mentioned here a book where super-soldiers were raised and trained up in just a few weeks, and one of the books they read during that time was Ender's Game.
Does that sound familiar?
Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
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I guess it all depends on what you like to read.
I've read all of the EG books at least three times a piece.
Some of my favorite other Sci-Fi books are:
Cryptonomicon - Neil Stephenson Starship Troopers - Robert A. Heinlein Altered Carbon, Broken Angles - Richard K. Morgan Do Androids dream of electric Sheep 2001, 2010, 2060, 3001 - Arthur C. Clark Neuromancer, Mona Lisa Overdrive - William Gibson Of course the Call of Earth Series by OSC
Posts: 3 | Registered: Jan 2009
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Future Wars which is a collection of Sci-Fi Short Stories. The first one is what the movie Screamers was based on.
Posts: 3 | Registered: Jan 2009
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Have you read any of Scalzi's other stuff? I picked up The Android's Dream at a used bookstore the other day, but haven't gotten around to reading it yet.
quote:Scalzi and Card aren't identical. But where Card sometimes lacks consistency in storytelling Scalzi doesn't.
I think that the difference here is that Card has been writing for quite a bit longer than Scalzi has. To be fair, you'd have to compare Scalzi's current body of work to Card's circa 1990. In that comparison, I think that Card comes out the clear winner (though I recognize, of course, that there is more than a little subjectivity in an evaluation like that).
quote:Where they are similar is the little surprises that make you laugh out loud.
Agreed.
quote:Honestly I'm still not sure which author comes out ahead for me.
For me, Pre-1997 Card beats Scalzi hands down, while Scalzi beats (but doesn't trounce) post-1996 Card.
Porter, I believe that what you're thinking of is Scalzi's work. Specifically, I think that you're recalling something from The Ghost Brigades. I could be mistaken, though.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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LeGuin is definitely one of the greats. Left Hand of Darkness and The Lathe of Heaven are probably my two favorites of hers. Really, though, I think that I enjoy her short fiction even more than her novel length stuff. "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas", "Mazes", "The Wife's Story"...man. Just fantastic stuff.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas is simply fantastic. OSC's "masterpieces" actually introduced me to it, and last year I had a Philosophy professor have us read it and write an essay about it in class - I was pretty stoked!
I really need to do a comprehensive read through of all her short fiction. I've seen 4 of his short story collections in the library, but haven't had time to delve into them much. Posts: 2222 | Registered: Dec 2008
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Dogbreath, I think that my favorite of her collections is The Compass Rose, if you're looking for a place to start.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Oh, and I got to that part in The Ghost Brigades. That was indeed the book I had heard of. Thanks!
Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
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quote:Originally posted by mr_porteiro_head: Oh, and I got to that part in The Ghost Brigades. That was indeed the book I had heard of. Thanks!
Sure. So what do you think of the exposition in the second book? What struck me as a fun stylistic choice in the first really got on my nerves in the second.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Are you going to be reading The Sagan Diaries and then going on to the third book? If so, let me know if he continues to employ the same expository style.
By the way, Steve, I started listening to The Sagan Diaries, and am enjoying it. I need to burn the tracks to a CD so that I can listen to it in the car.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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I finally got a chance to read Old Man's War (had it on hold at the library for a while), and found it immensely enjoyable. It was a good take on Heinlein and Card, liked the twist where it's geriatrics off to fight for humanity instead of children.
I especially enjoyed the description of the alien races, very few writers have managed to convey just how alien real aliens would be, not just psychically, but psychologically, logically, and culturally. It reminded me a lot of Star Control II: The Ur-Quan masters.
For those unfamiliar, it's a video game, but it might be a good play if you enjoy Ender's Game and Old Man's War. It's got well over a novel's worth of dialogue with numerous alien species (13 or 14 fully developed, with 6 or 7 just hinted at) ranging from outrageously hilarious (the Spathi, Pkunk), to delightfully macabre (Ilwrath), to truly terrifying (the Orz, and Kzerz-Za), as well as the typical space video-game travel around, explore new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations, discover insidious plots, etc.
It's source code was released a public domain back in 2002, and has since been fully ported to modern systems - you can download it herePosts: 2222 | Registered: Dec 2008
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You might like Ray Bradbury's sci-fi stories. Or Unwind by Neal Shusterman. It's for young adults, but it's a good read.
Posts: 3 | Registered: May 2009
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There are a couple series that I have read in the past couple months that I really enjoyed.
The first is a scifi trilogy by CS Lewis. It mixes science fiction and religion in an interesting way. The three books are:
Out of the Silent Planet Perelandra (I might have mispelled this one) That Hideous Strength
The second series was written by Peter Hamilton. In the UK it was a trilogy, here in the US it was split up into 6 books. It is called the "Nights Dawn" trilogy.
The Reality Dysfunction (1996) Part 1 and 2 The Neutronium Alchemist (1997)Part 1 and 2 The Naked God (1999) Part 1 and 2
It is a space opera and was a really good read as well. Again, there are what seems to be religious themes that are strangely enough resolved in a very scientific way.
I can't believe nobody else suggested this one. It's Star Wars' deeper, more original, and more entertaining older brother.
Posts: 278 | Registered: Apr 2004
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Dune was awesome... I LOVE Stephen King's fantasy books... My favorite was The Eyes Of The Dragon... Hubby loved his Three Tower series.
Posts: 6 | Registered: Jun 2009
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Ive become a huge Albert Camus fan, hes not scifi but fiction. His insight into how morose and apathetic a person can be without any type of ill-will, just not really caring. He won the nobel literature prize in the fifties for the book The Stranger, I suggest the newer translation as the book was written in nineteen forties France.
The first is a scifi trilogy by CS Lewis. It mixes science fiction and religion in an interesting way. The three books are:
Out of the Silent Planet Perelandra (I might have mispelled this one) That Hideous Strength
IIRC, OSC references this books in his wonderful "How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy" as examples of how to not write science fiction. Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
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Have you read Red Prophet? I just got it as an audio book from http://www.audiobooks.net/ and have really been enjoying it so far. It's always great to try another of Scott's works.
Posts: 1 | Registered: Jun 2009
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If any of you haven't read 'Hunger Games' by Suzanne Collins, now is a good time to read it. The 2nd book in the trilogy 'Catching Fire' is coming out on Sep 1.
Hunger Games is intense, thought provoking, and impossible to put down. You might want to wait until you actually have 'Catching Fire' in your hands, because waiting for CF after finishing HG has been horrendous.
Posts: 197 | Registered: Jan 2007
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