I have soon finshed all of The Expanse (which I have enjoyed immensely) and last month I finished Peter F Hilton’s Pandoras Star. While I enjoyed the second half of Pandoras Star, they (it’s a trilogy) are such heavy books with rather slow pace. One of my favorite reads last year was Recursion by Blake Crouch - it’s fast paced and just a plain joy to read. The same goes for The Martian and Project Hail Mary.
Given this, do you have any recommendations for what to read next?
Asimov is really good. If you are hesitate you can read I, Robot. Which is a collection of short stories to give you an idea of his writing style.
His books are pretty quick reads and high quality.
I really enjoyed the novel Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. As someone who also thoroughly enjoyed the Expanse this definitely gave me some similar vibes even though the stories aren’t similar at all.
OP, I came here to recommend this as a quick, stand-alone, amazing book. Read it!
Children of Time is a must-read IMO
Iain M Banks’s Culture novels. User name is relevant.
The Expeditionary Force novels are solid and even better if you like audio books. We Are Legion (We Are Bob) and the follow up books by Dennis E Taylor, if you like project Hail Mary these have a similar tone. Hyperion is a classic, but is fantastic!
I forgot about the We are Bob series, but I also really enjoyed them.
I’m enjoying To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Paolini. Though it is a bit long, it has lots of character development and I thought had a similar vibe to the Expanse. Also available as an audiobook which is excellent.
On the lighter side there is The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Chambers (1st of a series) which I think are all excellent Adult/YA Space Opera and more in line with the Weir books.
If you haven’t read the Bobiverse series yet, you’re in for a treat. The first book is called We are Legion (We are Bob). The books are easy to read, and somewhat light-hearted, while tackling serious philosophical questions. The first 3 books are right at the top of my all-time favorite sci-fi.
I read Solaris recently and was genuinely blown away. Anything from Ursala le Guin is also an excellent choice although I would suggest “the Dispossessed”.
Really? I read that book because it’s so highly rated and didn’t enjoy it at all. I couldn’t wait for it to end and was glad it was a short book. What did you like about it?
Infinity Gate by M. R. Carey while definitely not his best work (see The Book of Koli trilogy which is outstanding but more dystopian), is a fun multiversal sci-fi romp.
I would usually recommend some Alastair Reynolds to anybody into science fiction. I always suggest starting with House of Suns because it’s a stand-alone novel that is really good and will give you a pretty good idea of what to expect from his writing. But his Revelation Space series is where the bulk of his writing is. However, I wouldn’t call his work fast paced. So you might not get into it.
I have recently been reading the Murderbot Diaries. They are extremely easy and enjoyable reads. Could definitely give those a try.
If you enjoyed Recursion, you would probably like another book by Blake Crouch, Dark Matter.
Thanks! Yeah I really enjoyed Dark Matter :)
