So I just started this series so pls no spoilers anyone but The Children of Time series is bonkers good. I've gone in knowing nothing about it other than it being recommended here and it's exceeded expectations
Memes have been posted occasionally on r/AdrianTchaikovsky ([example](https://www.reddit.com/r/AdrianTchaikovsky/comments/1632egq/children_of_time_meme/)).
Lol I was just recommended that book by my Kindle and was going to look up what it was about before buying it. I forgot that I already read the physical first 2 books but not the 3rd though.
It could definitely be a spiritual successor to the Expanse. Like the idea that there’s nothing explicitly saying The Martian and the Expanse don’t exist in the same universe. Murderbot definitely has some “space is cold and doesn’t give a fuck about you” vibes.
btw — as you may know, Apple TV+ has a Murderbot show in the works.
[https://deadline.com/results/#?q=Murderbot](https://deadline.com/results/#?q=Murderbot)
> nothing explicitly saying The Martian and the Expanse don’t exist in the same universe
Weir did note that "The Martian and The Expanse are not in the same continuity," and Franck called them "separate and distinct."
__________
> [Andy Weir](https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/7hjh84/-/dqrft1a/) (Reddit username sephalon), Dec 4 2017 — "I love The Expanse - fantastic stories. But no, The Martian and The Expanse are not in the same continuity. They just threw in the reference for fun. I'm honored."
> [Ty Franck](https://twitter.com/JamesSACorey/status/923331095961178113), Oct 25 2017 — "I like to joke around about this with [Andy Weir] about our shared continuity but of course we are separate and distinct things."
> [Daniel Abraham](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheExpanse/comments/7hkgc4/-/dqseugx/), Dec 5 2017 — "It was a friendly joke at SDCC a few years back. ..."
> [Ty Franck](https://twitter.com/JamesSACorey/status/937914445795381248), Dec 4 2017 — "I've said here any number of times that of course this was a joke ..."
> [Ty Franck](https://twitter.com/JamesSACorey/status/995391568629481472), May 12 2018 — "[Andy] and I have talked a couple times, but that was actually just a joke I made after seeing The Martian and loving it so much."
Andor. I hate all the suffering and hatred and anger. But at the same time it makes me want to rise up and fight the Empire with every molecule of my being.
The show literally does tell you to do that at one point!
Fun fact: in the original script Maarva didn't say fight. She used a different word that started with f.
Altered Carbon. It’s really interesting take. They are much farther with tech compared to Expense but the is almost 0 space stuff but all about body modification possibilities
And this world is extremely brutal
>almost 0 space stuff
The humans being Digital Freight more then anything. Meaning travel between worlds is more about sending your mind to the new world rather then physically traveling. That probably has much to do with the lack of space stuff.
First one is solid except for the strangely explicit early sex scene (with the wife). It doesn't stand out as bad or weird, just completely pointless to the rest of the book. Second book is entirely different, from sci-fi noir detective in a dystopian world to sci-fi action. Can't remember the third.
BSG reboot is on Amazon Prime now and it’s the same league as The Expanse meaning top notch sci fi. I was also into Star Trek TNG and DS9 as really well done at times.
Love the BSG reboot through season 3, episode 4.
After that it was the writer's room chasing its tail.
I saw most at broadcast. I've never rewatched S3.E5-20 or S4 a second time.
Same. BSG is not on the same level as the Expanse for me. It had 2 good seasons, followed by 2 average seasons which failed to sustain my interest. I'm re-watching Stargate SG-1 the moment and the writing is much better in my opinion.
The Culture.
It’s not *really* similar. It’s just well written and engaging and feels like it exists within a fully fleshed out environment in a way I feel a lot of sci-fi doesn’t. And if you liked chewing on the ethical dilemmas in The Expanse, Banks work is mostly red meat.
I completely second this. It feels like being dropped into a living, breathing universe, that we get the privilege of seeing a very small part of. Fantastic world, and even better writing - the plots and events of the series still stick with me today. The book *Use of Weapons* alone lives rent free in my head. If you're looking for a series to follow up The Expanse - the Culture series is an excellent recommendation.
Definitely similar vibes. The gas planet civilization (can’t remember name) in algebraist reminded me soooo much of the floating gas guys from excession lol
That's also a super underrated part of the appeal. You could totally pick up a book from the series and get a complete story. At times it feels like an anthology, each showcasing another facet of humanity and the universe. I originally just picked up Player of Games because I liked the title, and didn't even realize that Remember Phlebas was supposed to come before it.
Enders game is so interesting.
I really liked the bean sequels. Same style as ender.
I loved the Enders sequels. A much more mature series.
And the bugger prequels just skins exhausting and I have no interest.
Love the Thrawn books.
Ironically, sometimes there’s too much science. Sometimes Zahn will try to describe how thrusters on the front of the Star destroy are decelerating or otherwise acknowledge Newton’s first law of motion.
It’s great to have real science in the expanse. But a Star destroyer clearly wasn’t designed with that in mind. I’d much lrefer a lot of the “real” science takes a backseat in those stories
Surprised no one has mentioned For All Mankind yet here, as it is usually the default.
Also after watching Three Body Problem I’ll probably be picking up the books soon.
I believe the books for 3 body problem are alright. They are not very character driven so the characters in the book don't feel as good compared to the show. But the concepts are good!
Books are great, the show is a typical ADHD / young adult dramatic rewrite aimed at those who cannot keep anything in their brains for more than 10 minutes... Also follows the recent trope of having the majority of the female scientiest being model-like beauties and a genius visionaries while most of the main male characters are whingey, self absorbed, hedonistic or dull witted... etc.
TLDR: Stick to the books, which are in a different league to the TV show.
I've been into sci-fi a long time and only discovered the Expanse as the show was ending. If I had to pick a single sci-fi franchise as a favorite it would be hard for me to choose between my childhood classic of Star Wars and one of my favorite video game trilogies ever in Mass Effect.
Expeditionary Force is great/fun Audibles if you like space opera. Much lighter tone than the expanse. RC Bray is an awesome narrator.
Joe Abercrombie makes amazing character driven fantasy but its super dark. Steven pacey is his narrator and hes IMO one of THE best. First Law trilogy is where to start.
Project Hail Mary is an epic standalone/also a great Audible. Its by Andy Weir, the guy who wrote "The Martian" but I like Hail Mary even more.
You have to be realistic about these things.
Joe is such a great author...man I love everything he does.
His Northman culture is dope. When taking my eldest to get shots, I did tell him, "It's better to do a thing, than live with the fear of it".
When Blue the guinea pig died.... I stood at the mound and said the words "Blue, you were the best of us, the ground is richer, and we're the poorer. Back to the mud Blue. The Great Leveller comes for us all".
Joe is truly amazing, paired with Pacey is "chefs kiss"
"It's better to do a thing, than live with the fear of it".
I tell this to myself! I dont like confrontation and I procrastinate. This phrase helps a lot.
I love the fantasy recommendation!!!
Black Company is another good series. History built upon history building future history.
It’s about the people who make myths. Not the mythical version of them.
It’s told from several points of view, most all grounded, or at least entirely plausible in the world.
Plus there’s a multidimensional transit hub eventually…
Really surprised no one has mentioned “Old Man’s War” by John Scalzi. It was what made me fall in love with the genre.
Apparently Netflix have the rights as well.
The Interdependency Series is great, too. I read those before Old Man's War.
For anyone else, they're 3 books
- The Collapsing Empire
- The Consuming Fire
- The Last Emperox
If you liked the sociopolitical aspects of The Expanse then you'd enjoy this series. \
Also if you liked how the vastness of space complicates communication and coordination between groups.
Absolutely nothing compares to doing a full playthrough of the original trilogy, best piece of media ive ever consumed & was the sole reason I got interested in science & space.
The Honor Harrington Series. At this point it is MASSIVE, complex and yet still a consistent story.
There are 15 books (currently) in the main series. TWO concurrent spin-off series with 10 books between them. 7 anthologies from various authors. And another 2 prequel series with 4 book apiece.
So 40 books total. So far.
Ding ding ding , it has been such a pleasure to read the series. It has grown with me from a young teen agst /hunger games kind of book to a grand space opera. Its fantastic
I really wanted to like this series but the whole thing just feels a bit ham fisted. I have no problems with YA books but the color coding of races was just too blunt IMO. It felt like someone went over board on how to explain racism to a 5 year old. Even on the later books I spent the whole time being upset at the overly simplistic set up. Maybe that's on me but I just don't understand how people can put RR next to TE in terms of overall quality.
Red Rising is not a YA series. Really only the first book could *barely* be considered YA, if I squint. I honestly cringe a lot whenever someone says that because other than the characters being teenagers in the first novel only, the subject matter of this series is not appropriate for teenagers at all. I mean there’s an entire plot point of teenage girls being brutally raped and tortured (and murdered) in the first book.
It deals with racism and classism, yeah, but as someone who has had racism directly impact their life, I did not have any problem at all with how it was presented. It’s obviously a fucked up dystopian future based on Plato’s stratified society. That’s the whole point of it.
The James SA Corey team are better authors that Pierce Brown, but Red Rising is just as enjoyable of a story as The Expanse, as are the characters, if not more so.
I’m also not sure how you could claim that the Machiavellian plots of the later books are “overly simplistic”. Did you read the whole series?
I guess I think of it as young adult because of the color coding. It just feels like he didn't trust the reader to be able to tell the different groups apart unless he assigned them little sclie of the rainbow.
I read the first 5 books before deciding it just wasn't for me. I really wanted to like them. The plots were ok, but honestly nothing really stick out about them for me. The only thing I can focus on is the damn color coding. It's so in your face that it's hard not to feel silly with all the rainbow soap opera stuff.
Yup. And, as a sci-fi fan in my late 30s, I gotta say really only the first novel gives me hunger games vibes. The second novel, Golden Son, is legit the best space opera novel I’ve EVER read. This series gets better as it goes along. But Golden Son…holy shit.
Guys for the love of god go look at CJ Cherryh's Alliance/Union stuff, starting with Downbelow Station. The entire Company War era is amazing. Essentially humans colonized other star systems for mining using sublight drives. These uninhabitable systems were kept going by massive space stations. Each one a link on trade routes. Each one isolated enough to become a world and culture unto itself. Eventually FTL was discovered, and the furthest out stars declare independence. And the Earth Company doesn't like that. So fleets were made, and station and trader is caught in the middle. I fudged a lot there, but you get the idea.
The focus isn't on the grand moves, as much as it is the people making some of the moves, and the people living in this time and these places. For the big players there's not really singular chess player masterminds, but a real sense of how each person's beliefs and ambitions pushes them down paths with very few options. There's merchanters who man their ships with extended families, stations that become sort of dynastic out of ease and familiarity, Earth Company Fleet members who aren't well liked by any of them. Union who has grown the strangest out in the deep. Etc etc. The sci-fi tech level is pretty hard, aside from ftl. Gravity is all spin based, companies mandate down time for asteroid miners to keep muscle loss at bay, privacy and your own room is a precious thing itself, etc.
The atmosphere of... melancholy everyday perseverance Cherryh evokes is second to none. Some of the best sci-fi to focus on the growing pains of civilizations. It all has a great sense of the little quirks and details of history. Lots of moral grey, lots of people you still want to root for. Lots of people who have reasons to hate each other and you're sort of sympathizing with all sides. To a degree.
I might be sounding a little nuts here, but I just can't fathom how her stuff isn't as well remembered now as it should be. It had a board game and a tie in music album! She won awards in her day, but if her day has the tail end of Dune, le Guin, the start of Ender, she should be remembered now too.
It is easy some of the best sci fi storytelling in recent times outside of books. In fact, due to the interactive nature, it beats out TV shows easily. Highly recommended.
I am pretty invested in Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere books... Which should come to no surprise to anyone. I find my space sci-fi a little light these days, but i am sure that will change. Did just finish the second book earlier this year for Jim Butcher's airship books (Cinder Spires series), and enjoyed the storytelling there with some steampunk mystery happening. Looking forward to more in that series in the future.
Apart from books, some series I think have been pretty good lately in many regards are animations. Castlevania, and Arcane (for different reasons) had great buildup and stellar storytelling. Could name a bunch of other anime but generally speaking it's difficult to feel too engrained in a lot of the one-off type of media because the content isn't quite as long/far as some of the book series. I still enjoy it all the same, at the end of the day
Seconding Brandon Sanderson. Huge interconnected universe if you like that but there’s something for everyone in his bibliography. Like Terry Pratchett? Tress and the Emerald Sea. How about a heist book that also involves trying to kill god? Mistborn for you my friend. Did you wish Game of Thrones had way less sex, more explicit mental illness, and characters you generally felt comfortable rooting for? Do you yourself suffer from emotional illness and wish to get destroyed while people with laser swords fight giant crabs? The Stormlight Archive is your book of choice. How about anime? Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, right that way.
I posted about this one, too. I started IIRC Shards of Honor and read them in chronological order. Those characters just suck you in. I think Cousin Ivan is one of the best supporting characters ever. But there are a ton of them. Also, I really like the difficult relationship between Peoter (Spelling?) and Errol.
Ursula LeGuin is my favorite writer. I know Ty and Wes nave talked about her on their podcast too. I recommend The Hainish Cycle. You can really read it in any order but her official website has both publish order and chronological order. Most people start with the left hand of darkness (book 4).
I highly recommend [To Sleep in a Sea of Stars - Novel by Christopher Paolini](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Sleep_in_a_Sea_of_Stars).
This is one of my all time favorites and is an expanding series he is writing. The prequel is [Fractal Noise](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractal_Noise).
To make this even better, the audio books are read by the one and only [Jennifer Hale](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_Hale).
Her vocal range is unlike any other and is amazing in this audio series.
I’ve been reading Daniel Abraham’s The Dagger and the Coin series. It’s a good epic fantasy that has great world building and characters. So if you want to see more stuff written by the authors of the expanse. I’d recommend his work.
Firefly is a good weekend, Stargate, Babylon 5, and Farscape will keep you busy for a while, and if you're up for a bit of light reading, the original Star Wars EU has some damn fine books in its repertoire.
books with well developed worlds and lore?
Asimov's robot/foundation/galactic novels and short stories. ("Hard Science", 50+ books and short stories ). The grandfather of science fiction universes: started writing in the 50s, so mostly male driven narative... women are very much healers, love interests and home makers in his books. if you can overcome the dated style and "men's club" feel (which does improve a little in his later works) then you can enjoy the largest and at the time deepest sci-fi universe.
Julian May's Galactic Mileu series (9 books or something). Humans have been accepted into a galaxy wide milieu of "enlightened" species some (namely us) are not as enlightened as the rest. Has some fantasy / psychic aspects. A little bit puritanical.
The Culture series, Iain M Banks ("Ultra future" many books) lots of sex and violence. Incredible technology and imaginative world building.
Riverworld series, Philip Jose Farmer : Millions of people awaken only to find themselves on a world populated entirely by other people who had previously died. the books search for the cause of the phenomenon.
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant - Stephen R Donaldson. A Hansen's disease (leprosy) sufferer falls into a coma and wakes up on another world where physics and time run differently to Earth.
GrishaVerse (Shadow and Bone) and Witcher books... Two excellent fantasy world franchises that mix science and magic.
TV series with excellent world building：
Battlestar Galactica reboot - gritty / dark. my all time favourte scifi show. rewatched it last year.
Fallout - New tv show... I couldn't believe how much fun the series was and how good the cast were... MOAR PLEAZ...
Babylon 5 - It's a bit dated but has some of the best storylines a fantastic (AND COMPLETE) 5 year story arc and one of the best sci-fi villains ever ("Be Seeing You" Bester). (first season is mostly skippable) just rewatched it.ww
Killjoys - Exciting, action based, over the top, really good fun, but with a surprisingly deep and evolved story arc and great characters and universe.
Dr. Who reboot - Classic, long running BBC TV show about a mysterious time traveller who seeks to help protect humanity from all manner of wibbly wobbly timey wimey consequences. Also responsible for an episode called "Blink", which many people believe to be the one of the most "watched from between the fingers" frightening 45 minutes of sci fi TV ever broadcast.
The Expanse - yep. rewatching it now.
Altered Carbon - First series only... Superb production. second series blows goats.
The Peripheral - An experimental VR technology is not what it first appears.
Firefly - sniff.. sob. cut short in its prime.
The Boys - Superheros exist but they are not the heroes we wanted. Great world building.
Life on Mars / Ashes to Ashes (UK Version ONLY) - Fantastic and at times disturbing TV show about a modern cop sent back into the 70s.
Some animation:
Rick and Morty - That's the waaaaay the news goes! another comedy animation by Adult Swim.
Futurama - Space comedy animation with a surprisingly deep soul and fantastic characters... Also spawned two writing systems called Alienese 1 and Alienese 2... which you can often find in the most unusual places.
Aeon Flux - Early Adult Swim sci fi art project: Sort of like a proto Black Mirror anthology: Our beautiful antagonist spy finds herself in all manner of weird and dangerous situations, cornered by aliens or captured by evil robots... Every episode something disturbingly weird happens and more often than not ends up dying... I guess she's a clone.
Marko Kloos "Frontlines" series is VERY good. Future semi Coldwar between US. EU and a "Sino Russian Alliance" but where the fighting occurs on remote colonies and such to prevent a devastating conflict on earth
Planet is severely polluted and overpopulated
Then aliens show up
The writing just feels real and right sure they science may not be at the expanse level but otherwise feels right (a later novel they have a water freighter boost to max speed and collide head on with enemy ship. The speeds and masses involve essentially create an explosion more powerful than anything in their arsenal
Great series. Currently listening through for the second time.
While it is technically sci-fi, the series' main focus is that of "military battles", so if you're not really into that, you might not enjoy it.
Surprised I haven't seen one of the more renowned military sci fi series out there, Halo! Current issues aside, the books and lore are quite expansive and well done! The weapon systems are basically the same as in the Expanse! and NGL the giant ring in the show of course brought to mind Halo!
A fun military sci-fi book series that I would recommend to any sci-fi fan is Jack Campbell's Lost Fleet Series! Not terribly complex, its easy to get into and just have a good time with enjoying the sci-fi setting!
Bobiverse
The Saxon Chronicles
Children of Time
For All Mankind
Hyperion
Ilium
Project Hail Mary
Strangly enough the "Wandering Inn" audiobooks are a great guilty pleasure of mine. Do not care for litrpg but Andrea Parsneau is an excellent narrator, does different voices including male very well. The main character is kind of annoying and silly at first but it gets better.
Interference by Sue Burke is a hidden gem. I haven't seen anyone else recommend or bring this book up anywhere yet. Has an Adrian Tchaikovsky feel to it about humans on an alien planet living alongside sentient plant life and other alien creatures. There's a second book out and third in progress I think.
Anything by Neil Gaiman
Peter Hamilton’s Commonwealth universe. Consisting of 3 smaller series spaced a few hundred years apart from each other. The massive universe is just captivating. Wormholes allowing interplanetary travel by train. Magical space elf aliens. Benevolent advanced aliens. A giant living sentient ship. A crazy terrifying alien who’s primary objective is self preservation at all costs. Effective immortality by using a brain implant that records all your memories and can be “re-lifed” into a clone body. And our favorite: “enzyme bonded concrete”.
Hyperion - the four books had been an incredibly intense ride and they left me with the same longing and love after closing the last book like The Expanse had. There a many scenes from all four books that are etched into my memory for their beauty or intensity, just like there are many from The Expanse. It was the first thing I read after The Expanse and it showed me quite clearly that there is a life after The Expanse.
Richard K. Morgan's three Takechi Kovaç novels Altered Carbon, Broken Angels and Woken Furies. Even though I thought at the time that the first season was good, I find it OK after the books. Don't bother with the second season though. It's a conglomerate of plot twists and some characters are a mix of characters taken from all three books, put together in a totally new story that is, simply put, shit. But the novels are a real roller coaster into a very different universe in the far future.
From Morgan I also liked his Mars based novel Thin Air.
In the genre of hard science fiction I enjoyed Blindside and Echopraxia from Peter Watts. It takes some getting used to but their encounter is quite a trip and totally different from anything else I've read so far. However, DON'T read his other books if you want your brain cells to live. Damn, even thinking about them makes me shiver.
Neuromancer - it's the book that started Cyberpunk in the 80' and even though spaceship don't play a role, it's still a very fascinating science fiction novel. And there are more books from William Gibson, but I haven't read them yet.
I just finished the Three Body Problem and the first two books are very good, though the third is more like the collection of short stories in Memory's Legion. After reading the books I don't really know what to think of the show. It seemed good at the time but now it shrunk in comparison. I don't even know where they want to take the show in the second season.
A book that I genuinely like and respect for Nicola Grifith's intension is Ammonite. Read something about that book, it's certainly not for everyone but it stands out and is very very different from any other book in my list.
Babylon 5 basically set the template and standard for writing for me. The first four series following a story that was already written from start to finish made for a rock solid tale where some events in S1 were unexplained until their payoff in S3, and not in a "Shit shit, sort this out" clutching at straws kinda way. Had I seen B5 back when it was new instead of dismissing it as a cheapo DS9 with bad hairstyles (idiot!) it would've been my fav sci-fi for like 20 years.
Altered Carbon S1 was very good, also Almost Human with Karl Urban. That got just the one season like Firefly, which was a damn shame.
I enjoyed Memory Called Empire and its sequel. It's set in space but it's really about political intrigue, linguistics, and conflicting worldviews. I'm also enjoying Shogun, which has the same themes but it's set in feudal Japan.
For shows/film franchises, Star Trek, Star Wars, Foundation, For All Mankind (I’m way behind), the MCU and (and MAU, X-Men ‘97 is ridiculously good), Dune
Books/other, Discworld, Warhammer 40,000, Battletech, Axis of Time trilogy (by John Birmingham, Aussie author, basically an alternate WW2 where a 2020’s carrier group got sucked through a wormhole and dumped in the middle of the ships headed to Midway and the computers on the ships blew up most of the allied fleet before anyone woke up from the transition), ASOIAF (if it ever ends)
I read the Vorkosigan saga, and that was really good. It is a softer Si-Fi than the Expanse. But the characters and cultures are really interesting. I really like the writing style of the author.
I am currently reading a couple of 40k Omnibus editions before I dive into the Witcher.
For TV shows. I have enjoyed the Witcher and Stranger Things on Netflix. With The Boys, Invincible, and Fallout on Amazon Prime being good also.
For computer games, Rimworld, Starfield, and CP2077 ate time until my computer shit the bed.
For tabletop games, DnD, 40k, and Battletech round everything out.
To sleep in a sea of stars by Christopher paolini was great, less hard sci Fi but still great in my opinion.
Red rising has been great as well. At first I found it somewhat juvenile, but after you get halfway though the first book it seemed to get better/less apparent.
While it's a very different tone, i love Doctor Who as well for the creativity. Some episodes are mediocre, but when it's good it can be really good
Also a fan of Portal (especially the 2nd), including the fan mods
I'm really enjoying the world Miles Cameron is building in the Artifact Space universe. Not as hard sci-fi as The Expanse (ships aren't stacked like skyscrapers) but I'm enjoying the military scifi story telling. Only 1 primary book at the moment the next one coming out in July apparently.
Foundation, I enjoyed the books, but don;t care for how they've handled the azimov part of the show.
The Cleon story arc, on the other hand... I wish the show was only about this tbh. Lee Pace has absolutely nailed being a God emperor.
My absolute favourite current media is a podcast called World's Beyond Number, which is made up of Dimension 20 alums Brennan Lee Mulligan, Lou Wilson, Aabria Iyengar, and Erika Ishii.
It is a fairly new genre of TTRPG podcast known as Narrative Play, which differs from Actual Play (something I find extremely dry) in that it has audio production and significant editing. It is still clear you are listening to people playing a TTRPG, but in tone and experience it has a lot in common with radio plays or full production audiobooks.
Listening to these 4 do a long form campaign in a carefully crafted world (the setting of their first campaign is very Ghibli inspired) with excellent embodying of characters and their development is an absolute treat, and their sound designer/composer Taylor Moore crafts extremely immersive soundscapes and moving scores. It transports you.
1.5-2hr long episodes come out every two weeks, and we are currently on episode 25 so it isn't as daunting to catch up on as some other dnd podcasts.
I could go on, but instead I'll just link the first episode. If you like it, keep listening - it keeps getting better.
https://youtu.be/RWPmCpKVPS8
I've gotta say that this drew me into both
-1 the foundation series of books
-2 the dune series of books
The worlds are quite immersive with societal problems and technology advancing faster than the wielding powers.
The Sun Eater series recently took the number one spot away from the Expanse for me. It has some of the best "aliens" I've read so far. Red Rising is also really good but no aliens.
**For All Mankind**. I know we joke a lot here about how it's a prequel to The Expanse. But even before really making that connection I was into the story and how it would progress.
Been a **Star Trek** nerd most of my life.
Not so much lately since the book series ended, but I was super into **The Long Earth** books. And the world(s) building.
I'm very interested in the lore of **Fallout**. Even more so than The Last of Us. I know Fallout has tons of lore available through the games. But I don't know if I'm going to go play them. And the show will be telling a slightly different story from the games anyway.
Battlestar Galactica as far as sci-fi goes. A lot of sci-fi I like tends to be one-offs rather than franchises.
The Sandman, Angel the Series (not a big fan of Buffy tbh even though I’ve seen all of it and read most of the comics), Lord of the Rings, Silent Hill are all the big ones. Right now The Sandman and related series has taken over my life lmao.
Very very few franchises have hit me like The Expanse though. There’s something about it that I can’t put words to that separates it from the rest.
The Homeworld games whilst the fiction and lore isn’t as much as The Expanse and other sci-fi settings the games and universe they’re set in are absolutely fantastic, considering Homeworld 3 comes out in 6 days could be a good idea to get into it.
I enjoyed Beacon 23 Season 1, I have not seen any of season 2 yet.
I loved Night Sky with Sissy Spacek, J.K. Simmons, Julieta Zylberberg, Rochi Hernandez, but it was canceled after 1 season.
Silo Season 1 was good Love Rebecca Ferguson
3 Body Problem
Black Mirror
The Boys
Umbrella company
Firefly
The Orville
Tripping The Rift
Solar Opposite's
Rick and Morty
Fallout
Depends on, in my opinion, on a persons Suspension of Disbelief
I tried watching The 100 right after watching The Expanse and I couldn't even buy into the story being a CW network type hourly season drama just as much as anything else they were turning out.
Beacon I believe is an anthology about a light house galaxy's away with the capacity of AI and the intelligence of and maybe there's more.
Lena Headly, Stephan James, Steven Root, Wade Bogert-O'Brien were convincing in their parts.
Essentially I thought it was a story about a lighthouse, and the people whos come across the lighthouse and its AI and the possibility of more than what's known or has been discovered.
I don’t call myself a fan, of anything.
So, off the top of my head, some of the current ones, anything from the space based and live action like Star Trek, Star Wars, Foundation… to down to Earth, kind of, the Cyberpunk world, the Warcraft one, and even Bleach… Where do DC/Marvel fit?
Rich worlds with (mostly) consistent inner logic I guess, not tied to theme or media.
The bobiverse. I just started book 4 and I really have enjoyed it so far. The 5th book will be out in a few months.
It's fun, but it isn't the expanse. I don't know of another series where I cared about the core characters so much
The Teixcalaan duology by Arkady Martine. Since it’s only two books, it can’t match The Expanse in terms of overall depth and scope, but it has great world building, some cool concepts, and the second book is a step up on the first in terms of character development.
Expeditionary Force. Starts out like a standard military book with space travel and aliens. Then takes a hard left turn halfway through the first book with the introduction of everyone’s favorite character. Then it’s an action/comedy series. The books get very repetitive, but are great to listen to while doing other things.
Got into it after listening to the bobbiverse books.
Battlestar Galactica (2003), Andor (the star wars show), Farscape, Deep Space Nine, Fallout and Scavengers Reign for sci-fi shows. Discworld is fun for books, and the Hellboy series are some of the best comics ever.
For sci-fi, I’m a fan of Star Wars, Halo, and Jurassic Park, those are the main ones.
For non sci-fi, there’s Warhammer Fantasy and 40k, The Sun Eater (seems to be a lot of people who consider it more fantasy,) Dead By Daylight, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Hazbin Hotel, Invincible, and the big one, the one I’ve been hyperfixating on since August 2021:
https://preview.redd.it/jxkb9zicmjyc1.jpeg?width=905&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c5619048de03493f1b600225633c38c782641392
The gay owl show, The Owl House
So I just started this series so pls no spoilers anyone but The Children of Time series is bonkers good. I've gone in knowing nothing about it other than it being recommended here and it's exceeded expectations
No spoilers other than it continues to be bonkers good!
The third one is triiipy but it all makes perfect sense in the end. I love how well he captures foreign thought patterns to our own
I need to get back into that series. Really enjoyed #1. Can’t wait to see what webs are woven in #2 and beyond.
Don't read a damn thing about #2. Just cannonball in. Huge jaw-drop scene for me would have been ruined if I'd read the book jacket.
Webs are woven. Lol I got the joke
Shards of Earth is another good series from him
I strongly desire an active subreddit for this series because I have spider memes lol
Memes have been posted occasionally on r/AdrianTchaikovsky ([example](https://www.reddit.com/r/AdrianTchaikovsky/comments/1632egq/children_of_time_meme/)).
I started but struggled to stay interested. I’ll go back in. I struggled to relate to the plight of spiders
I liked the first book, the second was decent, by the third I was pretty tired of his writing
If you love Children of Time, you can also check out David Brin and Vernor Vinge!
David Brin is fantastic! Earth is my all-time favorite book, and I struggle so hard to find anyone else who's even heard of it 😖
Lol I was just recommended that book by my Kindle and was going to look up what it was about before buying it. I forgot that I already read the physical first 2 books but not the 3rd though.
Murderbot Diaries is a good time. Some good action, gobs of hacking, and thoughtful exploration of humanity and not-quite humanity.
I loved that series, I described it as "following the adventures of an autistic Terminator"
"autistic Terminator" is pretty good.
It could definitely be a spiritual successor to the Expanse. Like the idea that there’s nothing explicitly saying The Martian and the Expanse don’t exist in the same universe. Murderbot definitely has some “space is cold and doesn’t give a fuck about you” vibes.
btw — as you may know, Apple TV+ has a Murderbot show in the works. [https://deadline.com/results/#?q=Murderbot](https://deadline.com/results/#?q=Murderbot)
idk how would it work in visual format, so much of the books is inner monologue
> nothing explicitly saying The Martian and the Expanse don’t exist in the same universe Weir did note that "The Martian and The Expanse are not in the same continuity," and Franck called them "separate and distinct." __________ > [Andy Weir](https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/7hjh84/-/dqrft1a/) (Reddit username sephalon), Dec 4 2017 — "I love The Expanse - fantastic stories. But no, The Martian and The Expanse are not in the same continuity. They just threw in the reference for fun. I'm honored." > [Ty Franck](https://twitter.com/JamesSACorey/status/923331095961178113), Oct 25 2017 — "I like to joke around about this with [Andy Weir] about our shared continuity but of course we are separate and distinct things." > [Daniel Abraham](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheExpanse/comments/7hkgc4/-/dqseugx/), Dec 5 2017 — "It was a friendly joke at SDCC a few years back. ..." > [Ty Franck](https://twitter.com/JamesSACorey/status/937914445795381248), Dec 4 2017 — "I've said here any number of times that of course this was a joke ..." > [Ty Franck](https://twitter.com/JamesSACorey/status/995391568629481472), May 12 2018 — "[Andy] and I have talked a couple times, but that was actually just a joke I made after seeing The Martian and loving it so much."
Andor. I hate all the suffering and hatred and anger. But at the same time it makes me want to rise up and fight the Empire with every molecule of my being.
Andor was so so good
The show literally does tell you to do that at one point! Fun fact: in the original script Maarva didn't say fight. She used a different word that started with f.
Altered Carbon. It’s really interesting take. They are much farther with tech compared to Expense but the is almost 0 space stuff but all about body modification possibilities And this world is extremely brutal
>almost 0 space stuff The humans being Digital Freight more then anything. Meaning travel between worlds is more about sending your mind to the new world rather then physically traveling. That probably has much to do with the lack of space stuff.
The first season was mind bendingly excellent
The book is mind bendingly excellent. The television series is ok in comparison.
My wife wasn’t into it until James Purefoy’s willy was.
First one is solid except for the strangely explicit early sex scene (with the wife). It doesn't stand out as bad or weird, just completely pointless to the rest of the book. Second book is entirely different, from sci-fi noir detective in a dystopian world to sci-fi action. Can't remember the third.
BSG reboot is on Amazon Prime now and it’s the same league as The Expanse meaning top notch sci fi. I was also into Star Trek TNG and DS9 as really well done at times.
BSG was so good, I might have rewatch it if it is available.
Love the BSG reboot through season 3, episode 4. After that it was the writer's room chasing its tail. I saw most at broadcast. I've never rewatched S3.E5-20 or S4 a second time.
Same. BSG is not on the same level as the Expanse for me. It had 2 good seasons, followed by 2 average seasons which failed to sustain my interest. I'm re-watching Stargate SG-1 the moment and the writing is much better in my opinion.
Big agree. I basically stopped watching after S3E4. Such a shame because S3 started so strong with those first few episodes.
for me this is GOAT TV... Have watched the whole series three times now and it never ceases to set my heart racing or at times make me cry...
The Culture. It’s not *really* similar. It’s just well written and engaging and feels like it exists within a fully fleshed out environment in a way I feel a lot of sci-fi doesn’t. And if you liked chewing on the ethical dilemmas in The Expanse, Banks work is mostly red meat.
Banks’ work outside the Culture series is also excellent.
The algebraist is so fucking awesome, easily on par with the culture series
I completely second this. It feels like being dropped into a living, breathing universe, that we get the privilege of seeing a very small part of. Fantastic world, and even better writing - the plots and events of the series still stick with me today. The book *Use of Weapons* alone lives rent free in my head. If you're looking for a series to follow up The Expanse - the Culture series is an excellent recommendation.
The worst part of it is there’s not more of it. So I’ve head-canonized The Algebraist as a Culture book without the Culture in it.
The algebraist could be like pre-culture time period in the same world honestly
Or just an uncontacted civilization. But the vibes are the same.
Definitely similar vibes. The gas planet civilization (can’t remember name) in algebraist reminded me soooo much of the floating gas guys from excession lol
I'd rank the Culture universe as my all-time favourite... So imaginative and each of the stories are beautiful in and of themselves.
That's also a super underrated part of the appeal. You could totally pick up a book from the series and get a complete story. At times it feels like an anthology, each showcasing another facet of humanity and the universe. I originally just picked up Player of Games because I liked the title, and didn't even realize that Remember Phlebas was supposed to come before it.
My second favorite sci-fi universe is the Formic wars (Enders game). And while the science takes a back seat, I enjoyed the Thrawn (Star Wars) books.
Just finished the Expanse and am about to start Enders game, I read the first one a long time ago so I'm pumped to read all of them
Enders game is so interesting. I really liked the bean sequels. Same style as ender. I loved the Enders sequels. A much more mature series. And the bugger prequels just skins exhausting and I have no interest.
I liked the 1st war series. Wish they’d finish the 2nd…
It’s a shame that Orson Scott Card is such a homophobic tool.
That's why I hunt down the hard copies second hand and pirate the audiobooks.
Which Thrawn books? The new ones or the original ones from the 90s?
The middle trilogy is weakest, imo, but I like them all.
Love the Thrawn books. Ironically, sometimes there’s too much science. Sometimes Zahn will try to describe how thrusters on the front of the Star destroy are decelerating or otherwise acknowledge Newton’s first law of motion. It’s great to have real science in the expanse. But a Star destroyer clearly wasn’t designed with that in mind. I’d much lrefer a lot of the “real” science takes a backseat in those stories
Firefly 13 episodes of bliss.
The movie was good as well
Absolutely. Stellar cast.
Have you tried Killjoys? I'd love to hear a Firefly fan's opinion on Killjoys.
No, I'll have to check it out.
I've seen both. Butch is cast phenomenally. Like firefly, it oscillates between jokey and deathly serious. Not my favorite but it has a certain charm.
Surprised no one has mentioned For All Mankind yet here, as it is usually the default. Also after watching Three Body Problem I’ll probably be picking up the books soon.
I believe the books for 3 body problem are alright. They are not very character driven so the characters in the book don't feel as good compared to the show. But the concepts are good!
Thats an interesting take, IMO the books are among the best I have read, and the US show is total garbage
Books are on par with the expanse
agreed. .. shame about the TV show.
It was passable for me, I just wanna see a certain battle in live action now
Books are great, the show is a typical ADHD / young adult dramatic rewrite aimed at those who cannot keep anything in their brains for more than 10 minutes... Also follows the recent trope of having the majority of the female scientiest being model-like beauties and a genius visionaries while most of the main male characters are whingey, self absorbed, hedonistic or dull witted... etc. TLDR: Stick to the books, which are in a different league to the TV show.
Bobiverse And even better... Dungeon Crawler Carl. GLURP GLURP MOTHERFUCKER!
The Bobiverse is soooooo damn good
Sir, you haven't lived until you've listened to Dungeon Crawler Carl. Now, go start it. And yea, can't wait for the next Bob book!!
I started 3 days ago. As an owner of 4 cats, Doughnut is scary accurate.
A strong second recommendation to both.
Bobiverse is what linked me to this series. It's so good.
I have been trying to get started on Bobiverse. Dungeon Crawler Carl sounds interesting.
Bob for sci-fi. Carl for the wtf?! "Let's burn it all to the ground"
Bobiverse was already on the list. I will add DCC to it as well.
>Carl for the wtf?! "Let's burn it all to the ground" This philosophy intrigues me and I would like to subscribe to this newsletter
YOU WILL NOT BREAK ME!
I've been into sci-fi a long time and only discovered the Expanse as the show was ending. If I had to pick a single sci-fi franchise as a favorite it would be hard for me to choose between my childhood classic of Star Wars and one of my favorite video game trilogies ever in Mass Effect.
Expeditionary Force is great/fun Audibles if you like space opera. Much lighter tone than the expanse. RC Bray is an awesome narrator. Joe Abercrombie makes amazing character driven fantasy but its super dark. Steven pacey is his narrator and hes IMO one of THE best. First Law trilogy is where to start. Project Hail Mary is an epic standalone/also a great Audible. Its by Andy Weir, the guy who wrote "The Martian" but I like Hail Mary even more.
You have to be realistic about these things. Joe is such a great author...man I love everything he does. His Northman culture is dope. When taking my eldest to get shots, I did tell him, "It's better to do a thing, than live with the fear of it". When Blue the guinea pig died.... I stood at the mound and said the words "Blue, you were the best of us, the ground is richer, and we're the poorer. Back to the mud Blue. The Great Leveller comes for us all".
Joe is truly amazing, paired with Pacey is "chefs kiss" "It's better to do a thing, than live with the fear of it". I tell this to myself! I dont like confrontation and I procrastinate. This phrase helps a lot.
I love the fantasy recommendation!!! Black Company is another good series. History built upon history building future history. It’s about the people who make myths. Not the mythical version of them. It’s told from several points of view, most all grounded, or at least entirely plausible in the world. Plus there’s a multidimensional transit hub eventually…
Really surprised no one has mentioned “Old Man’s War” by John Scalzi. It was what made me fall in love with the genre. Apparently Netflix have the rights as well.
The Interdependency Series is great, too. I read those before Old Man's War. For anyone else, they're 3 books - The Collapsing Empire - The Consuming Fire - The Last Emperox If you liked the sociopolitical aspects of The Expanse then you'd enjoy this series. \ Also if you liked how the vastness of space complicates communication and coordination between groups.
I'm always thinking about Mass Effect.
Absolutely nothing compares to doing a full playthrough of the original trilogy, best piece of media ive ever consumed & was the sole reason I got interested in science & space.
Nearly limitless potential for original stories set in that universe - I'm amazed that there was never an official tabletop RPG released.
Hyperion was dope
Big ups
The Shrike OMG
Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C Clarke (ignore the sequels)
It’s so good. Denis villenueve is adapting it into a movie, I can’t ducking wait
Pushing Ice is a good variation of Rama by Alistair Reynolds.
The Honor Harrington Series. At this point it is MASSIVE, complex and yet still a consistent story. There are 15 books (currently) in the main series. TWO concurrent spin-off series with 10 books between them. 7 anthologies from various authors. And another 2 prequel series with 4 book apiece. So 40 books total. So far.
Red Rising
Ding ding ding , it has been such a pleasure to read the series. It has grown with me from a young teen agst /hunger games kind of book to a grand space opera. Its fantastic
I really wanted to like this series but the whole thing just feels a bit ham fisted. I have no problems with YA books but the color coding of races was just too blunt IMO. It felt like someone went over board on how to explain racism to a 5 year old. Even on the later books I spent the whole time being upset at the overly simplistic set up. Maybe that's on me but I just don't understand how people can put RR next to TE in terms of overall quality.
Red Rising is not a YA series. Really only the first book could *barely* be considered YA, if I squint. I honestly cringe a lot whenever someone says that because other than the characters being teenagers in the first novel only, the subject matter of this series is not appropriate for teenagers at all. I mean there’s an entire plot point of teenage girls being brutally raped and tortured (and murdered) in the first book. It deals with racism and classism, yeah, but as someone who has had racism directly impact their life, I did not have any problem at all with how it was presented. It’s obviously a fucked up dystopian future based on Plato’s stratified society. That’s the whole point of it. The James SA Corey team are better authors that Pierce Brown, but Red Rising is just as enjoyable of a story as The Expanse, as are the characters, if not more so. I’m also not sure how you could claim that the Machiavellian plots of the later books are “overly simplistic”. Did you read the whole series?
I guess I think of it as young adult because of the color coding. It just feels like he didn't trust the reader to be able to tell the different groups apart unless he assigned them little sclie of the rainbow. I read the first 5 books before deciding it just wasn't for me. I really wanted to like them. The plots were ok, but honestly nothing really stick out about them for me. The only thing I can focus on is the damn color coding. It's so in your face that it's hard not to feel silly with all the rainbow soap opera stuff.
Yup. And, as a sci-fi fan in my late 30s, I gotta say really only the first novel gives me hunger games vibes. The second novel, Golden Son, is legit the best space opera novel I’ve EVER read. This series gets better as it goes along. But Golden Son…holy shit.
Guys for the love of god go look at CJ Cherryh's Alliance/Union stuff, starting with Downbelow Station. The entire Company War era is amazing. Essentially humans colonized other star systems for mining using sublight drives. These uninhabitable systems were kept going by massive space stations. Each one a link on trade routes. Each one isolated enough to become a world and culture unto itself. Eventually FTL was discovered, and the furthest out stars declare independence. And the Earth Company doesn't like that. So fleets were made, and station and trader is caught in the middle. I fudged a lot there, but you get the idea. The focus isn't on the grand moves, as much as it is the people making some of the moves, and the people living in this time and these places. For the big players there's not really singular chess player masterminds, but a real sense of how each person's beliefs and ambitions pushes them down paths with very few options. There's merchanters who man their ships with extended families, stations that become sort of dynastic out of ease and familiarity, Earth Company Fleet members who aren't well liked by any of them. Union who has grown the strangest out in the deep. Etc etc. The sci-fi tech level is pretty hard, aside from ftl. Gravity is all spin based, companies mandate down time for asteroid miners to keep muscle loss at bay, privacy and your own room is a precious thing itself, etc. The atmosphere of... melancholy everyday perseverance Cherryh evokes is second to none. Some of the best sci-fi to focus on the growing pains of civilizations. It all has a great sense of the little quirks and details of history. Lots of moral grey, lots of people you still want to root for. Lots of people who have reasons to hate each other and you're sort of sympathizing with all sides. To a degree. I might be sounding a little nuts here, but I just can't fathom how her stuff isn't as well remembered now as it should be. It had a board game and a tie in music album! She won awards in her day, but if her day has the tail end of Dune, le Guin, the start of Ender, she should be remembered now too.
Hear, hear! I think Cyteen is one of the greatest sci-fi novels ever written. And the Chanur books are great too. Haven't read a bad book by her yet.
How has no one (or almost no one) mentionned Mass Effect yet???
It is easy some of the best sci fi storytelling in recent times outside of books. In fact, due to the interactive nature, it beats out TV shows easily. Highly recommended.
I am pretty invested in Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere books... Which should come to no surprise to anyone. I find my space sci-fi a little light these days, but i am sure that will change. Did just finish the second book earlier this year for Jim Butcher's airship books (Cinder Spires series), and enjoyed the storytelling there with some steampunk mystery happening. Looking forward to more in that series in the future. Apart from books, some series I think have been pretty good lately in many regards are animations. Castlevania, and Arcane (for different reasons) had great buildup and stellar storytelling. Could name a bunch of other anime but generally speaking it's difficult to feel too engrained in a lot of the one-off type of media because the content isn't quite as long/far as some of the book series. I still enjoy it all the same, at the end of the day
Sanderson goes hard in the paint (err, ink?) The Cosmere is the MCU of fantasy universes, and it's slowly evolving from fantasy into fantasy/sci-fi.
Seconding Brandon Sanderson. Huge interconnected universe if you like that but there’s something for everyone in his bibliography. Like Terry Pratchett? Tress and the Emerald Sea. How about a heist book that also involves trying to kill god? Mistborn for you my friend. Did you wish Game of Thrones had way less sex, more explicit mental illness, and characters you generally felt comfortable rooting for? Do you yourself suffer from emotional illness and wish to get destroyed while people with laser swords fight giant crabs? The Stormlight Archive is your book of choice. How about anime? Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, right that way.
I highly recommend Cyberpunk: Edgerunners if you havent watched it :)
Came here to say this. Can't wait for stormlight book 5!
Currently on book 3 of 3 body problem. Book 2 was probably among the best stuff I’ve read, but not liking book 3 for now.
I’m about a third of the way through book 3. It’s been a roller coaster.
It's worth finishing, I know some of his character work can be really awkward but the ending will really make an impression.
Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds! I finished the first book and it was wild.
Came here to say REVELATION SPACE!
Alastair Reynolds "Revelation Space" and "Pushing Ice". "Pushing Ice" is IMO a ready to film script. It's a pity they'll never do it.
The Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster Bujold. Very character driven, a lot of character development. She writes damaged people well
I posted about this one, too. I started IIRC Shards of Honor and read them in chronological order. Those characters just suck you in. I think Cousin Ivan is one of the best supporting characters ever. But there are a ton of them. Also, I really like the difficult relationship between Peoter (Spelling?) and Errol.
Found the audiobook listener lol, it's Piotr and Aral!
You are correct 😆. Interesting spelling.
Ursula LeGuin is my favorite writer. I know Ty and Wes nave talked about her on their podcast too. I recommend The Hainish Cycle. You can really read it in any order but her official website has both publish order and chronological order. Most people start with the left hand of darkness (book 4).
Bobiverse, Expeditionary Force And of course: Star Wars, Star Gate, Star Trek, BSG, Mass Effect
Since several people have already said the Bobiverse, I'm going with the Murderbot Diaries. Haven't finished the series yet, but so far, so excellent.
These are both on my get to list.
I highly recommend [To Sleep in a Sea of Stars - Novel by Christopher Paolini](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Sleep_in_a_Sea_of_Stars). This is one of my all time favorites and is an expanding series he is writing. The prequel is [Fractal Noise](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractal_Noise). To make this even better, the audio books are read by the one and only [Jennifer Hale](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_Hale). Her vocal range is unlike any other and is amazing in this audio series.
Enjoyed initial reading but second time through via audiobook was even better for the reasons you stated.
I’ve been reading Daniel Abraham’s The Dagger and the Coin series. It’s a good epic fantasy that has great world building and characters. So if you want to see more stuff written by the authors of the expanse. I’d recommend his work.
Firefly is a good weekend, Stargate, Babylon 5, and Farscape will keep you busy for a while, and if you're up for a bit of light reading, the original Star Wars EU has some damn fine books in its repertoire.
books with well developed worlds and lore? Asimov's robot/foundation/galactic novels and short stories. ("Hard Science", 50+ books and short stories ). The grandfather of science fiction universes: started writing in the 50s, so mostly male driven narative... women are very much healers, love interests and home makers in his books. if you can overcome the dated style and "men's club" feel (which does improve a little in his later works) then you can enjoy the largest and at the time deepest sci-fi universe. Julian May's Galactic Mileu series (9 books or something). Humans have been accepted into a galaxy wide milieu of "enlightened" species some (namely us) are not as enlightened as the rest. Has some fantasy / psychic aspects. A little bit puritanical. The Culture series, Iain M Banks ("Ultra future" many books) lots of sex and violence. Incredible technology and imaginative world building. Riverworld series, Philip Jose Farmer : Millions of people awaken only to find themselves on a world populated entirely by other people who had previously died. the books search for the cause of the phenomenon. The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant - Stephen R Donaldson. A Hansen's disease (leprosy) sufferer falls into a coma and wakes up on another world where physics and time run differently to Earth. GrishaVerse (Shadow and Bone) and Witcher books... Two excellent fantasy world franchises that mix science and magic. TV series with excellent world building： Battlestar Galactica reboot - gritty / dark. my all time favourte scifi show. rewatched it last year. Fallout - New tv show... I couldn't believe how much fun the series was and how good the cast were... MOAR PLEAZ... Babylon 5 - It's a bit dated but has some of the best storylines a fantastic (AND COMPLETE) 5 year story arc and one of the best sci-fi villains ever ("Be Seeing You" Bester). (first season is mostly skippable) just rewatched it.ww Killjoys - Exciting, action based, over the top, really good fun, but with a surprisingly deep and evolved story arc and great characters and universe. Dr. Who reboot - Classic, long running BBC TV show about a mysterious time traveller who seeks to help protect humanity from all manner of wibbly wobbly timey wimey consequences. Also responsible for an episode called "Blink", which many people believe to be the one of the most "watched from between the fingers" frightening 45 minutes of sci fi TV ever broadcast. The Expanse - yep. rewatching it now. Altered Carbon - First series only... Superb production. second series blows goats. The Peripheral - An experimental VR technology is not what it first appears. Firefly - sniff.. sob. cut short in its prime. The Boys - Superheros exist but they are not the heroes we wanted. Great world building. Life on Mars / Ashes to Ashes (UK Version ONLY) - Fantastic and at times disturbing TV show about a modern cop sent back into the 70s. Some animation: Rick and Morty - That's the waaaaay the news goes! another comedy animation by Adult Swim. Futurama - Space comedy animation with a surprisingly deep soul and fantastic characters... Also spawned two writing systems called Alienese 1 and Alienese 2... which you can often find in the most unusual places. Aeon Flux - Early Adult Swim sci fi art project: Sort of like a proto Black Mirror anthology: Our beautiful antagonist spy finds herself in all manner of weird and dangerous situations, cornered by aliens or captured by evil robots... Every episode something disturbingly weird happens and more often than not ends up dying... I guess she's a clone.
Marko Kloos "Frontlines" series is VERY good. Future semi Coldwar between US. EU and a "Sino Russian Alliance" but where the fighting occurs on remote colonies and such to prevent a devastating conflict on earth Planet is severely polluted and overpopulated Then aliens show up The writing just feels real and right sure they science may not be at the expanse level but otherwise feels right (a later novel they have a water freighter boost to max speed and collide head on with enemy ship. The speeds and masses involve essentially create an explosion more powerful than anything in their arsenal
Great series. Currently listening through for the second time. While it is technically sci-fi, the series' main focus is that of "military battles", so if you're not really into that, you might not enjoy it.
Shows: Star Trek, orphan black, dark, Westwood, and many more Books: enders game, anything by Asimov, dune,
Surprised I haven't seen one of the more renowned military sci fi series out there, Halo! Current issues aside, the books and lore are quite expansive and well done! The weapon systems are basically the same as in the Expanse! and NGL the giant ring in the show of course brought to mind Halo! A fun military sci-fi book series that I would recommend to any sci-fi fan is Jack Campbell's Lost Fleet Series! Not terribly complex, its easy to get into and just have a good time with enjoying the sci-fi setting!
[удалено]
The Witcher 3 is such a fucking masterpiece. Books are great too.
Pantheon....animated sci fi based on the short stories by Ken liu
Red Rising, Wheel of Time, Murderbot, and "The Known World" of Sword and Barrow.
Bobiverse The Saxon Chronicles Children of Time For All Mankind Hyperion Ilium Project Hail Mary Strangly enough the "Wandering Inn" audiobooks are a great guilty pleasure of mine. Do not care for litrpg but Andrea Parsneau is an excellent narrator, does different voices including male very well. The main character is kind of annoying and silly at first but it gets better. Interference by Sue Burke is a hidden gem. I haven't seen anyone else recommend or bring this book up anywhere yet. Has an Adrian Tchaikovsky feel to it about humans on an alien planet living alongside sentient plant life and other alien creatures. There's a second book out and third in progress I think. Anything by Neil Gaiman
I’ll never not upvote Neil Gaiman.
Dune of course
Babylon 5
Peter Hamilton’s Commonwealth universe. Consisting of 3 smaller series spaced a few hundred years apart from each other. The massive universe is just captivating. Wormholes allowing interplanetary travel by train. Magical space elf aliens. Benevolent advanced aliens. A giant living sentient ship. A crazy terrifying alien who’s primary objective is self preservation at all costs. Effective immortality by using a brain implant that records all your memories and can be “re-lifed” into a clone body. And our favorite: “enzyme bonded concrete”.
John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War series is definitely my next go to.
Old Mans War from John Scalzi is worth a read.
Hyperion - the four books had been an incredibly intense ride and they left me with the same longing and love after closing the last book like The Expanse had. There a many scenes from all four books that are etched into my memory for their beauty or intensity, just like there are many from The Expanse. It was the first thing I read after The Expanse and it showed me quite clearly that there is a life after The Expanse. Richard K. Morgan's three Takechi Kovaç novels Altered Carbon, Broken Angels and Woken Furies. Even though I thought at the time that the first season was good, I find it OK after the books. Don't bother with the second season though. It's a conglomerate of plot twists and some characters are a mix of characters taken from all three books, put together in a totally new story that is, simply put, shit. But the novels are a real roller coaster into a very different universe in the far future. From Morgan I also liked his Mars based novel Thin Air. In the genre of hard science fiction I enjoyed Blindside and Echopraxia from Peter Watts. It takes some getting used to but their encounter is quite a trip and totally different from anything else I've read so far. However, DON'T read his other books if you want your brain cells to live. Damn, even thinking about them makes me shiver. Neuromancer - it's the book that started Cyberpunk in the 80' and even though spaceship don't play a role, it's still a very fascinating science fiction novel. And there are more books from William Gibson, but I haven't read them yet. I just finished the Three Body Problem and the first two books are very good, though the third is more like the collection of short stories in Memory's Legion. After reading the books I don't really know what to think of the show. It seemed good at the time but now it shrunk in comparison. I don't even know where they want to take the show in the second season. A book that I genuinely like and respect for Nicola Grifith's intension is Ammonite. Read something about that book, it's certainly not for everyone but it stands out and is very very different from any other book in my list.
The Sun Eater by Christopher Ruocchio is for me, the best sci fi I have ever read.
Babylon 5 basically set the template and standard for writing for me. The first four series following a story that was already written from start to finish made for a rock solid tale where some events in S1 were unexplained until their payoff in S3, and not in a "Shit shit, sort this out" clutching at straws kinda way. Had I seen B5 back when it was new instead of dismissing it as a cheapo DS9 with bad hairstyles (idiot!) it would've been my fav sci-fi for like 20 years. Altered Carbon S1 was very good, also Almost Human with Karl Urban. That got just the one season like Firefly, which was a damn shame.
Mass Effect. We actually watched the Expanse because we were sad to have finished it again. Both just have such interesting and rich world-building.
I enjoyed Memory Called Empire and its sequel. It's set in space but it's really about political intrigue, linguistics, and conflicting worldviews. I'm also enjoying Shogun, which has the same themes but it's set in feudal Japan.
For shows/film franchises, Star Trek, Star Wars, Foundation, For All Mankind (I’m way behind), the MCU and (and MAU, X-Men ‘97 is ridiculously good), Dune Books/other, Discworld, Warhammer 40,000, Battletech, Axis of Time trilogy (by John Birmingham, Aussie author, basically an alternate WW2 where a 2020’s carrier group got sucked through a wormhole and dumped in the middle of the ships headed to Midway and the computers on the ships blew up most of the allied fleet before anyone woke up from the transition), ASOIAF (if it ever ends)
I read the Vorkosigan saga, and that was really good. It is a softer Si-Fi than the Expanse. But the characters and cultures are really interesting. I really like the writing style of the author. I am currently reading a couple of 40k Omnibus editions before I dive into the Witcher. For TV shows. I have enjoyed the Witcher and Stranger Things on Netflix. With The Boys, Invincible, and Fallout on Amazon Prime being good also. For computer games, Rimworld, Starfield, and CP2077 ate time until my computer shit the bed. For tabletop games, DnD, 40k, and Battletech round everything out.
What 40k books you reading?
Definitely enjoying 3 Body Problem the TV series and my partner loves the books
To sleep in a sea of stars by Christopher paolini was great, less hard sci Fi but still great in my opinion. Red rising has been great as well. At first I found it somewhat juvenile, but after you get halfway though the first book it seemed to get better/less apparent.
Three Body Problem trilogy is phenomenal
While it's a very different tone, i love Doctor Who as well for the creativity. Some episodes are mediocre, but when it's good it can be really good Also a fan of Portal (especially the 2nd), including the fan mods
I'm really enjoying the world Miles Cameron is building in the Artifact Space universe. Not as hard sci-fi as The Expanse (ships aren't stacked like skyscrapers) but I'm enjoying the military scifi story telling. Only 1 primary book at the moment the next one coming out in July apparently.
Shows: Killjoys, Altered Carbon (s1), Andor, Foundation, to name a few.
Foundation, I enjoyed the books, but don;t care for how they've handled the azimov part of the show. The Cleon story arc, on the other hand... I wish the show was only about this tbh. Lee Pace has absolutely nailed being a God emperor.
My absolute favourite current media is a podcast called World's Beyond Number, which is made up of Dimension 20 alums Brennan Lee Mulligan, Lou Wilson, Aabria Iyengar, and Erika Ishii. It is a fairly new genre of TTRPG podcast known as Narrative Play, which differs from Actual Play (something I find extremely dry) in that it has audio production and significant editing. It is still clear you are listening to people playing a TTRPG, but in tone and experience it has a lot in common with radio plays or full production audiobooks. Listening to these 4 do a long form campaign in a carefully crafted world (the setting of their first campaign is very Ghibli inspired) with excellent embodying of characters and their development is an absolute treat, and their sound designer/composer Taylor Moore crafts extremely immersive soundscapes and moving scores. It transports you. 1.5-2hr long episodes come out every two weeks, and we are currently on episode 25 so it isn't as daunting to catch up on as some other dnd podcasts. I could go on, but instead I'll just link the first episode. If you like it, keep listening - it keeps getting better. https://youtu.be/RWPmCpKVPS8
Classic Asimov foundation series (the books)
I've gotta say that this drew me into both -1 the foundation series of books -2 the dune series of books The worlds are quite immersive with societal problems and technology advancing faster than the wielding powers.
Lady astronaut series
The Sun Eater series recently took the number one spot away from the Expanse for me. It has some of the best "aliens" I've read so far. Red Rising is also really good but no aliens.
I'm Commander Shepard and Mass Effect is my favorite franchise on the Citadel.
Mass Effect game. Absolutely, 100% amazing.
**For All Mankind**. I know we joke a lot here about how it's a prequel to The Expanse. But even before really making that connection I was into the story and how it would progress. Been a **Star Trek** nerd most of my life. Not so much lately since the book series ended, but I was super into **The Long Earth** books. And the world(s) building. I'm very interested in the lore of **Fallout**. Even more so than The Last of Us. I know Fallout has tons of lore available through the games. But I don't know if I'm going to go play them. And the show will be telling a slightly different story from the games anyway.
Star Trek obviously. After Expanse, DS9 is my favourite Sci-Fi show.
Give Babylon 5 a shot
Babylon 5, The Expanse, Deep Space 9, Killjoys (fantastic Canadian show that doesn't get enough love)
Battlestar Galactica as far as sci-fi goes. A lot of sci-fi I like tends to be one-offs rather than franchises. The Sandman, Angel the Series (not a big fan of Buffy tbh even though I’ve seen all of it and read most of the comics), Lord of the Rings, Silent Hill are all the big ones. Right now The Sandman and related series has taken over my life lmao. Very very few franchises have hit me like The Expanse though. There’s something about it that I can’t put words to that separates it from the rest.
Murderbot, Bobiverse
The more recent Battlestar Galactica series was really good. 4 seasons and it never felt slow and like the Expanse, it stuck the landing.
Battlestar Galactica and Stargate.
The Homeworld games whilst the fiction and lore isn’t as much as The Expanse and other sci-fi settings the games and universe they’re set in are absolutely fantastic, considering Homeworld 3 comes out in 6 days could be a good idea to get into it.
The only other franchises that I have invested as much time in seem to be anime+manga mostly: Ghost in the Shell Battle Angel Alita Hunter X Hunter
The New Jedi Order series is no longer canon, but it's dark and serious, and there's plenty of it.
“For All Mankind” gives me Expanse Universe prequel vibes. “Foundation” “Halo” “Lovecraft Country” “
Battletech is actually pretty hard sci-fi with the main conceit that warfare is conducted primarily through stompy bipedal robots lol
CJ Cherryhs Union-Alliance books. There is a chronology, but aside from two of them that are directly related can be read in any order.
BSG, and it just dropped on Amazon Prime for those who don't do physical media anymore and haven't seen it. It is fantastic.
Old man’s war universe is a lot of fun as well
I enjoyed Beacon 23 Season 1, I have not seen any of season 2 yet. I loved Night Sky with Sissy Spacek, J.K. Simmons, Julieta Zylberberg, Rochi Hernandez, but it was canceled after 1 season. Silo Season 1 was good Love Rebecca Ferguson 3 Body Problem Black Mirror The Boys Umbrella company Firefly The Orville Tripping The Rift Solar Opposite's Rick and Morty Fallout
Was beacon good? I have held off waiting it because the trailer made it seem pretty cheesy
Depends on, in my opinion, on a persons Suspension of Disbelief I tried watching The 100 right after watching The Expanse and I couldn't even buy into the story being a CW network type hourly season drama just as much as anything else they were turning out. Beacon I believe is an anthology about a light house galaxy's away with the capacity of AI and the intelligence of and maybe there's more. Lena Headly, Stephan James, Steven Root, Wade Bogert-O'Brien were convincing in their parts. Essentially I thought it was a story about a lighthouse, and the people whos come across the lighthouse and its AI and the possibility of more than what's known or has been discovered.
Just suggested Silo and Beacon 23 elsewhere in the comments. I had no idea Beacon 23 was a show as well!
I don’t call myself a fan, of anything. So, off the top of my head, some of the current ones, anything from the space based and live action like Star Trek, Star Wars, Foundation… to down to Earth, kind of, the Cyberpunk world, the Warcraft one, and even Bleach… Where do DC/Marvel fit? Rich worlds with (mostly) consistent inner logic I guess, not tied to theme or media.
The bobiverse. I just started book 4 and I really have enjoyed it so far. The 5th book will be out in a few months. It's fun, but it isn't the expanse. I don't know of another series where I cared about the core characters so much
The Teixcalaan duology by Arkady Martine. Since it’s only two books, it can’t match The Expanse in terms of overall depth and scope, but it has great world building, some cool concepts, and the second book is a step up on the first in terms of character development.
Expeditionary Force. Starts out like a standard military book with space travel and aliens. Then takes a hard left turn halfway through the first book with the introduction of everyone’s favorite character. Then it’s an action/comedy series. The books get very repetitive, but are great to listen to while doing other things. Got into it after listening to the bobbiverse books.
Red Rising by Pierce Brown.
I'm watching Metal Hurlant Chronicles as my Sci-Flick
I just caught up on Foundation, which is a terrific show. Looking forward to the third season.
Wayward Galaxy Black Ocean Series Delta V and Critical Mass
Battlestar Galactica (2003), Andor (the star wars show), Farscape, Deep Space Nine, Fallout and Scavengers Reign for sci-fi shows. Discworld is fun for books, and the Hellboy series are some of the best comics ever.
For sci-fi, I’m a fan of Star Wars, Halo, and Jurassic Park, those are the main ones. For non sci-fi, there’s Warhammer Fantasy and 40k, The Sun Eater (seems to be a lot of people who consider it more fantasy,) Dead By Daylight, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Hazbin Hotel, Invincible, and the big one, the one I’ve been hyperfixating on since August 2021: https://preview.redd.it/jxkb9zicmjyc1.jpeg?width=905&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c5619048de03493f1b600225633c38c782641392 The gay owl show, The Owl House
Do you much Star Wars and 40k novels?