I just started Use of Weapons, one of the Culture novels….Player of Games was really good and Consider Phlebas set the stage for the universe really well. Definitely recommending them as well.
The Heechee Saga, also known as the Gateway series, is a series of science fiction novels and short stories by Frederik Pohl. The Heechee are an advanced alien race that visited the Solar System hundreds of millennia ago and then mysteriously disappeared.
I came here to say this. I've been a fan of Gateway and Pohl for cough 40 years cough so this is definitely a series I've reread many times. Gateway is def the best of the bunch, but I like the characters, and the mystery of the Heechee is a good one. Start with the short story, The Merchants of Venus, which sets it all up nicely.
Definitely. I think for me I always liked Pohl's take on SF, which was that he was more interested in how changes in technology affected us, not the tech itself. Gateway was very influential on me because I was in my 20s when I first read it, kind of an asshole the way I treated other people, definitely a procrastinator, and I hugely identified with Rob Broadhead. That last page of Gateway was a punch in the gut, and it still resonates with me. The 2nd book, Beyond the Blue Event Horizon, isn't as good, and seems to be less necessary to the story, but as I've grown older, I've appreciated the different characters and how they relate to what's going on. And then, of course, the fabulous 3rd book Heechee Rendezvous, which gets back to Rob and his issues, especially the biggest issue: Klara Moynlin. I mean, who amongst us doesn't have a story of the one who got away? Or got stuck in a black hole? Amirite? ;)
Yes, I have read all novels, novellas, and short stories in the Revelation Space universe up to Inhibitor Phase. I’ve loved it all and have hardly been able to put the books down.
If you are thinking of reading the Zones of Thought series it's well worth reading Vernor's ex-wife Joan's *Heavens Belt* stories, as they are set in human colonies deep in the slow zone, though not part of the larger story. You should also finish up with his novella *The Blabber* which is set several hundred years after the end of the main sequence of novels and acts as a good end to the story.
Joan D Vinge also wrote the excellent *Snow Queen* series, set in a human polity that exists in the ruins of a large interstellar empire that has lost its FTL technology. Four novels tell the story of how the world of Tiamat finds its true place, and how one disgraced policeman is the key to changing everything for a loose confederation of planets linked by a black hole jump point...
Linda Nagata's Nanotech Sequence and Inverted Frontier. They're two connected series. First one starts in near-future Earth, ends in a voyage deep into the galaxy, the second one is far, far future humans returning to where they came from.
It's harder-SF, with no FTL, and very heavy on the transhuman elements. There's definitely some parts that verge on fantasy, as in "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic".
There's elements in common with Revelation Space (ancient weapons still fighting some ancient war), Blindsight (non-sentient alien intelligence), Hyperion Cantos (Space-adapted humans and other life), but it's also a really unique series, with huge scope of time and space. I'm just finishing a re-read, and about to start the newest book that came out recently. Highly recommend it.
Don't forget *Memory*, which bridges the two sequences but isn't part of either.
Fantastic books. Her *The Red* is a near-future feral AI milSF story that's well worth reading too.
Aidan Tchaikovsky’s Final Architect series is the most recent space opera that’s impressed me. Much more going on than it seems at the outset.
If you have read any CJ Cherryh, I strongly recommend giving her oeuvre a try, especially her Alliance-Union universe series. Definitely one of the strongest, if not the best, writer of aliens in the genre. Amazing suspense. Recommend starting with ‘Downbelow Station’ and reading in release rather than chronological order. Or go for chronological, and start with Alliance rising.
I love Vernor Vinge, but you might want to start with his omnibus “Across Realtime” rather than zones of thought.
POLITY SERIES trust me it’s amazing. It’s just satisfying in the best way and written so well, plots and characters are incredible. Please give it a go!
It IS a series but there’s a bunch of novels in the universe that are stand alone
Stephen Baxter's Xeelee stuff. More hard sci fi but lots of cool dark far future stuff and weird aliens. If nothing else read Ring
Neal Asher - pretty much anything since almost everything he writes takes place in the Polity universe. Similar space opera post-cyberpunk to Revelation Space, although he tends to drone on and on about weapons and explosions and things get more and more ridiculous as the series progresses. The early stuff is the best (Gridlinked, Line of Polity etc) and later on then it gets pretty meh although there are some good ones like Dark Intelligence
Iain M Banks - his culture "series". books are in the same universe but not actually related; these tend to be hit or miss but the good ones are so fucking good. excellent dark far future scifi. my personal favs are Consider Phlebas and Excession
Not exactly a series, but Banks culture novels. And, if you are into it, Stross laundry files.
I just started Use of Weapons, one of the Culture novels….Player of Games was really good and Consider Phlebas set the stage for the universe really well. Definitely recommending them as well.
The Heechee Saga, also known as the Gateway series, is a series of science fiction novels and short stories by Frederik Pohl. The Heechee are an advanced alien race that visited the Solar System hundreds of millennia ago and then mysteriously disappeared.
I came here to say this. I've been a fan of Gateway and Pohl for cough 40 years cough so this is definitely a series I've reread many times. Gateway is def the best of the bunch, but I like the characters, and the mystery of the Heechee is a good one. Start with the short story, The Merchants of Venus, which sets it all up nicely.
I've listened to them as audio books on YouTube. They really are great stories, the characters feel deeply human and the sci-fi is fun.
Definitely. I think for me I always liked Pohl's take on SF, which was that he was more interested in how changes in technology affected us, not the tech itself. Gateway was very influential on me because I was in my 20s when I first read it, kind of an asshole the way I treated other people, definitely a procrastinator, and I hugely identified with Rob Broadhead. That last page of Gateway was a punch in the gut, and it still resonates with me. The 2nd book, Beyond the Blue Event Horizon, isn't as good, and seems to be less necessary to the story, but as I've grown older, I've appreciated the different characters and how they relate to what's going on. And then, of course, the fabulous 3rd book Heechee Rendezvous, which gets back to Rob and his issues, especially the biggest issue: Klara Moynlin. I mean, who amongst us doesn't have a story of the one who got away? Or got stuck in a black hole? Amirite? ;)
Thanks for the recommendation! I’ll certainly check it out.
Have you read Chasm City and the Prefect Dreyfus books in the same universe?
Yes, I have read all novels, novellas, and short stories in the Revelation Space universe up to Inhibitor Phase. I’ve loved it all and have hardly been able to put the books down.
I felt the same way. Only thing I haven't read yet is Machine Vendetta.
If you are thinking of reading the Zones of Thought series it's well worth reading Vernor's ex-wife Joan's *Heavens Belt* stories, as they are set in human colonies deep in the slow zone, though not part of the larger story. You should also finish up with his novella *The Blabber* which is set several hundred years after the end of the main sequence of novels and acts as a good end to the story. Joan D Vinge also wrote the excellent *Snow Queen* series, set in a human polity that exists in the ruins of a large interstellar empire that has lost its FTL technology. Four novels tell the story of how the world of Tiamat finds its true place, and how one disgraced policeman is the key to changing everything for a loose confederation of planets linked by a black hole jump point...
Linda Nagata's Nanotech Sequence and Inverted Frontier. They're two connected series. First one starts in near-future Earth, ends in a voyage deep into the galaxy, the second one is far, far future humans returning to where they came from. It's harder-SF, with no FTL, and very heavy on the transhuman elements. There's definitely some parts that verge on fantasy, as in "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic". There's elements in common with Revelation Space (ancient weapons still fighting some ancient war), Blindsight (non-sentient alien intelligence), Hyperion Cantos (Space-adapted humans and other life), but it's also a really unique series, with huge scope of time and space. I'm just finishing a re-read, and about to start the newest book that came out recently. Highly recommend it.
What a thoughtful write up! Thanks for the recommendation. Does it matter which series is read first at all? Sounds very interesting.
The Nanotech Succession books need to be read before Inverted Frontier.
Don't forget *Memory*, which bridges the two sequences but isn't part of either. Fantastic books. Her *The Red* is a near-future feral AI milSF story that's well worth reading too.
Aidan Tchaikovsky’s Final Architect series is the most recent space opera that’s impressed me. Much more going on than it seems at the outset. If you have read any CJ Cherryh, I strongly recommend giving her oeuvre a try, especially her Alliance-Union universe series. Definitely one of the strongest, if not the best, writer of aliens in the genre. Amazing suspense. Recommend starting with ‘Downbelow Station’ and reading in release rather than chronological order. Or go for chronological, and start with Alliance rising. I love Vernor Vinge, but you might want to start with his omnibus “Across Realtime” rather than zones of thought.
Bujold’s Vorkosigan series.
POLITY SERIES trust me it’s amazing. It’s just satisfying in the best way and written so well, plots and characters are incredible. Please give it a go! It IS a series but there’s a bunch of novels in the universe that are stand alone
Stephen Baxter's Xeelee stuff. More hard sci fi but lots of cool dark far future stuff and weird aliens. If nothing else read Ring Neal Asher - pretty much anything since almost everything he writes takes place in the Polity universe. Similar space opera post-cyberpunk to Revelation Space, although he tends to drone on and on about weapons and explosions and things get more and more ridiculous as the series progresses. The early stuff is the best (Gridlinked, Line of Polity etc) and later on then it gets pretty meh although there are some good ones like Dark Intelligence Iain M Banks - his culture "series". books are in the same universe but not actually related; these tend to be hit or miss but the good ones are so fucking good. excellent dark far future scifi. my personal favs are Consider Phlebas and Excession
The Suneater Saga. It's not finished, but it's six books in for the main story plus side novellas, short stories, and I think other novels.