Please recommend me a Science fiction books?

[fenderstrat]

I posted this on the advice forum, but very few people saw it, so i'll post it here, i hope there's no problem with that.
Anyway guys, i don't usually read much SF, but once in a while i just get the urge to do so. So, could you recommend me some books? Im thinking something a bit like dead space-event horizon-alien kind of thing, with huge spaceships, not many characters,planets, etc. nothing "epic" i guess. more story driven than anything else, no weird powers,or jedis, or aliens (except maybe the ones that kill you). any ideas?

 

[Tdc2182]

Summer of the Apocalypse.

Under read book. Pretty good.

Clockwork Orange. If you don't like it you get to claim braggining rights for understanding it.

 

[Rylot]

I can't really think of any books that are Dead Spacey with aliens taking things over but Downbelow Station by C. J. Cherryh has spaceships and is pretty awesome. Kinda weird that I can think of a ton of movies with that plot line but very few books. Wish I could be more helpful.

 

[mcpop9]

The Ender series, the first can stand alone if you don't want to read the whole series.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

Deathworld series, Cities in Flight, Stainless Steel Rat, Saga of Seven Suns series and Slan.

 

[Anarchemitis]

Larry Niven's Ringworld.

 

[CombiBlood]

Really? am I going to say it.....The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy!

 

[Do4600]

This may not be like dead space, but you will never go wrong with Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein.

 

[mcpop9]

Really? am I going to say it.....The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy!

the only thing holding that plot together is the book binding itself, but its funny
also another is the original war of the worlds.

 

[tippy2k2]

I'm a huge fan of anything by John Ringo. "The Posleen Wars" is my personal favorite series of his (the core four are the best, though the spin-offs are good too), although all of his books have aliens, they are the "kill all humans" kind, which everyone loves! Another plus, all four are penny books on amazon (except for #4, bastards charging me $ .43 for it, what am I made of money!?!)

 

[Angerwing]

The Ender series, the first can stand alone if you don't want to read the whole series.

Agreed, but you really don't want to miss the second one.

Brave New World, Aldous Huxley.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Gaunt's Ghosts is a fantastic introduction to Warhammer 40000.

I'd also recommend reading the Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn if you like Star Wars.

 

[Omikron009]

I can't think of anything in the category you want, but I'd highly recommend the Culture series by Iain M. Banks. Start with The Player of Games. It's the second book, but I think it's better than the first.

EDIT: It would be worth mentioning that the books all take place in the same setting, but the stories are totally independent of each other, so it doesn't really matter what order you read the books in.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

I posted this on the advice forum, but very few people saw it, so i'll post it here, i hope there's no problem with that.
Anyway guys, i don't usually read much SF, but once in a while i just get the urge to do so. So, could you recommend me some books? Im thinking something a bit like dead space-event horizon-alien kind of thing, with huge spaceships, not many characters,planets, etc. nothing "epic" i guess. more story driven than anything else, no weird powers,or jedis, or aliens (except maybe the ones that kill you). any ideas?

Can't help with Dead Spacy, but if you want well written (award winning) character based science fiction, then you can't do better than the works of Lois McMaster Bujold.

Shards of Honor
The Warrior's Apprentice
Falling Free
Cetaganda

These four are all early books in the Miles Vorkosigan series. The first two involve interplanetary politics, interplanetary war, arms smuggling, and some fast talking. The third (Falling Free) is about genetic experiments. The fourth one is a sci-fi murder mystery.

Lois McMaster Bujold has won more literary and science fiction awards than almost any other sci-fi writer who has ever lived. She's up there with Orson Scott Card and Ursula K LeGuin as far as recognition and quality.

For that matter, check out Ender's Game (by Card) if you haven't. Another great book. (Personally, I like Card's earlier books - his later ones got preachy).

 

[Agayek]

I posted this on the advice forum, but very few people saw it, so i'll post it here, i hope there's no problem with that.
Anyway guys, i don't usually read much SF, but once in a while i just get the urge to do so. So, could you recommend me some books? Im thinking something a bit like dead space-event horizon-alien kind of thing, with huge spaceships, not many characters,planets, etc. nothing "epic" i guess. more story driven than anything else, no weird powers,or jedis, or aliens (except maybe the ones that kill you). any ideas?

Quick Sci-Fi list off the top of my head:

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Thirteen by Richard K. Morgan
Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan
The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F Hamilton

Ender's Game is the must-read for science fiction, detailing the story of super-genius children being trained as generals and commanders for use in the war against an alien race that we never actually see.

Thirteen is much more action-oriented than Ender's Game, following the exploits of a "Variant Thirteen" (essentially, a genetically modified human bred for violence and war) as he tries to figure out why someone's trying to kill him.

Altered Carbon is similar thematically to Thirteen. It takes place in the 2500s or so, and technology has progressed to the point where people are essentially all immortal. Everyone has what's called a "cortical stack" that records their entire mind. As long as that is intact, they can be downloaded into a new body at will. The book tells the story of a former government enforcer/special forces commando as he tries to solve the murder of a very old, very rich, very powerful individual in what used to be San Francisco.

The Reality Dysfunction is... hard to describe. The basic premise is that in the 26th century, there's 2 subspecies of human: "Edenists" (or psychics) and "Adamists" (or not-psychics). The book spends more time building the universe than the action, since it's the first part of a trilogy, but towards the end it all comes together into an explosion of violence and mayhem. It takes a long time to get rolling (something like 800-1,000 pages before the actual "bad guys" are introduced), but it's definitely worth it once it does. Mostly because the bad guys are a cult of Satanists that are possessed by the literal ghosts of an ancient species. There's a lot more detail to it than that, but like I said, it's hard to explain concisely. This one is probably my favorite out of all of these books, and I highly recommend it. It's probably the best science fiction novel I've ever read.

 

[ApeShapeDeity]

Seriously, if you haven't read it, Neuromancer.

This book was hugely influential. It was responsibe for the popularisation of words like "firewall", "black ice", "dub" and "cyber-space".

Imagine Johnny Neumonic, but good.

Edit: "popularisation" is incorrect really. It ORIGINATED these terms.

 

[Nouw]

Horus Heresy series which takes place in Warhammer 40,000. Excellent series of books which can have very awesome battles.

Starship Troopers which is a Sci-Fi Military and a damn good one at that. Gave the Space Marines a boost needed so arguably it can be called responsible for them.

 

[imperialus]

Tough to come up with ideas that fit your criteria...

I'd second Downbelow Station by C. J. Cherryh. Not a huge number of characters. Does a pretty good job of keeping a "hard" Science Fiction vibe but still having aliens and space travel ect. A bit slow paced and character focused though.

The Demon Princes series by Jack Vance. Pulpy, but very very good. Each book is about a guys quest to kill a powerful alien that took part in the destruction of his village. Five aliens (demons) five books.

"I have no Mouth but I Must Scream" by Harlan Ellison is jaw-droppingly brilliant. No spaceships (it's a post apocalyptic novel), but it has the horror vibe you seem to be going for.

If you feel like wandering down the Military Sci-Fi direction then then David Webber and Steve White's Starfire series fits most the criteria though there is a lot of planet hopping and most of the characters tend to be high ranking captains, admirals ect. so the action can feel somewhat distant sometimes.

Of course Dune by Frank Herbert (at least the first book) fits almost all your criteria except that a few of the central characters do have some "weird" powers but they aren't terribly overt... Some odd prophesies and the like... no force lightning by any means. It gets stranger in some of the sequels though.

 

[fenderstrat]

Thanks guys, im taking note of every title.
I played the "I have no Mouth but I Must Scream" adventure game a long time ago, very good, and very scary. I'm sure the book is better though. I already read "Starship Troopers" and a couple of "Dune" books. "Neuromancer" seems pretty interesting, along with "Downbelow Station". But still, im trying to find something with that "all alone in a gunmetal spaceship, in the edges of space" sort of horror feel. Hard to believe but i couldnt find anything like it yet...

 

[audiblemirage]

I was going to suggest the Otherland series, but it definitely does not fit the criteria you described. Very dense and descriptive, not for the faint of heart. If I think of anything Dead Spacey, I'll post it.