book rec

[pooxs]

I've just finished Larry Niven's Ringworld series, after going through Orson Scott Card's Ender series.

Can people please rec me books/finished series in a similar space themed science fiction genre or style that isn't overly romantic, and has intelligent characters?

Comments

[pooxs]

I librarything-ed a recommendation, and the reviews of foundation didn't seem that appealing to me

on a scale of 1-5 for ringworld: b1-5, b2-1, b3-3.5, b4-2.5. I didn't dislike book 2, but when compared to the others, it is the least "good", it is bugfixes, but the storyline fills in the holes from book 1 and sets up book 3 and 4 well

[pooxs]

oh, the girl isn't in any of the others, except briefly in the end of b2 when you find out what happened to her. it's all about louis wu and speaker to animals (and his son)

[livelurker]

Could try some Heinlein... Or check out Joe Haldeman's Forever War and Forever Peace.

Lois McMaster Bujold's books are great military space opera, but do involve romance... Check out "Ethan of Athos" or "Falling Free" for some standalone ones. Otherwise try "Shards of Honour" as the first book on the journey :)

Or just go through the Hugo and Nebula winners...

http://www.nicholaswhyte.info/sf/nh2.htm

[ataxi]

Alastair Reynolds or Peter F. Hamilton? The latter's trashy as heck, but certainly not "overly romantic". The former's ... short on likable characters, but vaguely interesting? Both very much "space themed".

Frank Herbert is a fun writer: even if you've read the Dune books some of his other works (e.g. The Ascension Factor) are interesting.

Hyperion / The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons are terrific.

[kadeton]

John Scalzi's Old Man's War is great. While it is the first in a series, it works very well as a standalone.