My favorites include the Gateway series by Frederik Pohl, the Foundation series by Asimov, the Giants series by James P. Hogan, the Ender series by Orson Scott Card, and the Rama series by Arthur C. Clarke.

#1

The Rama series as a good series? The first book was decent enough, yes, but the next three were absolute rubbish. Oh, and the ending of the fourth book was the worst ending I could imagine for the entire series.

2: I agree about the Rama series. The books went from good, to bad, to plain awful. I'm reading the last of the original Ender quartet now (Children of the Mind) and a little over halfway through, I'm decidedly unimpressed. The series went from more or less hard science fiction to basically out and out magical fantasy in the course of four books. Pick one or the other, but both together is just silly.

The Dumarest of Terra series by E.C. Tubb.

I'll second Dumarest - I've always enjoyed those, even though they're a bit workmanlike. Susan Matthews' Jurisdiction novels are good, and I like John Morressy's Sternverein series (except for Mansions of Space, which is rubbish). And I still have a soft spot for the Dorsai books, despite rereading this recently and finding them disappointing.

Message edited by its author, Jul 30, 2009, 5:58am.

Foreigner and Alliance / union universe by Cherryh

Revelation SPace by Reynolds.

Foundation

though they're all very different, and it much depends on what modd I'm in.

Bujold's Vorkosigan books. Very re-readable.

I'm not a fan of Card's Ender series (save for Ender's Game) - the newest in particular I thought was just terrible - but I did like his Ender's Shadow series well enough. Don't know that I'd bother to re-read them, but I liked them while I was going.

MacLeod's Fall Revolution series (Star Fraction, Stone Canal, Cassini Division, Sky Road)

Wright's Golden Age series.

Morgan's Altered Carbon stories.

Do The Culture novels count as a series?

Oh, and Brin's Uplift series, well the first few anyway.

Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy which starts with Red Mars

Message edited by its author, Jul 30, 2009, 12:12pm.

I also like Richard Morgans Takashi stories.(ALtered Carbon etc)

Peter F Hamilton's Greg Mandel Stories.And his commonwealth sagas.

Both Morgan and Hamilton have interesting takes on regeneration or "living forever".

I liked the Ender series, but read them a long time ago.

I'm always changing my mind, but I think at the moment I still go for Morgan as a favourite.

Message edited by its author, Jul 30, 2009, 1:33pm.

the miles books by lois mcmaster bujold.

Neal Asher's Polity universe. Especially the Spatterjay series, starting with The Skinner

Gwyneth Jones's Rock & Roll Reich series which starts with Bold As Love.

Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy is at the top for me also.

Tad Williams Otherland

and Larry Niven Ringworld

Message edited by its author, Jul 31, 2009, 2:51am.

An old series that I enjoyed in the past that I am rereading is the Stainless Steel Rat by Harry Harrison. Dated, but still fun.

Message edited by its author, Jul 31, 2009, 3:11am.

My current favorite is the Honor Harrington series by David Weber

Revelation Space series. However, I found The Prefect to be weaker than the first three novels. The short stories/novellas are great.

Foundation series -- ALL of the books related to the Foundation series are terrific.

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (if you consider them a series; I read them as a single book). Funnier than hell.

Certainly not the best, but the first I ever read was the Lensman series by E.E. Doc Smith. For favorite I would probably have to go with the Azimov's Foundation series. I could read them time and again.

I like Rusch's Retrieval Artists series, regularly re-read Bujold's Vorkosigan series and Weber's Harrington series. Although I am looking for a new series to sink my teeth into.

#15

I must admit I love the Stainless Steel Rat, but more for the character than the stories themselves.

Any series by C. J. Cherryh.

Personally, I loved the Rama series. Still one of my favs.

Also, Scalzi's Old Man's War series.

Stephen Baxter's Manifold, and Destiny's series are awesome.

#10

I have to agree. It's not often I come across a new author and immediately want to read everything they've written but Altered Carbon was one of the best novels I've read in years. Richard Morgan was a real find!

Elizabeth Moon's Vatta's War

I also enjoyed the Lensmen and The Stainless Steel Rat series

I agree with the Dumarest Sage by Tubb.

I also like the Known Space books by Larry Niven.
The Commonwealth books by Alan Dean Foster.
The Keys to the Dimensions series by Kenneth Bulmer was also quite enjoyable.

Honor Harrington series by David Weber rates top on my list.

Of the ender's Series, could only stomach Ender's Game and Ender's shadow. I can't bring myself to finish the last books of either quartet. *shudder* the man doesn't know how to sustain a series.

Its been years since I tried any of the Foundation books, which means their dry read still sticks in my head. The foreigner series by C. J. Cherryh. is on my to be read pile.

>26 Lucky you! I recently re-read the first book in the Foreigner series.

For philosophy: Ender's Game / Speaker for the Dead / Xenocide by Orson Scott Card

For philosophy and political intrigue: The Dune books by Frank Herbert

For pulp / action / pure fun: The Stainless Steel Rat books by Harry Harrison

For humor / satire: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books by Douglas Adams

For mind-bending cyberpunk goodness: Software / Wetware / Freeware / Realware by Rudy Rucker

Message edited by its author, Aug 4, 2009, 2:32am.

Another vote for C. J. Cherryh's Foreigner series.

I also second (third?) the Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster Bujold and Vatta's War by Elizabeth Moon.

Of the Ender series, I enjoyed Ender's Game, but won't recommend any of the others.

I agree with emily1, with the Vorkosigan series being my favorite, except that I haven't read the Foreigner series yet.

Speaker for the Dead, the sequel to Ender's Game, was interesting, but not at its level of quality.

I've also enjoyed the Liaden series by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, e.g. I Dare and Agent of Change.

I'm a big fan of the Pendergast series by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. They are wild rides through the magical realism zone.

#29 and #30,

See, I *completely* disagree about Speaker for the Dead.

Which I suppose is why there is no universal "these are the best / most highly-recommended science fiction novels".

I think that Speaker for the Dead has more depth, paints a more detailed / thought-out world, definitely a more vivid description of a truly alien race, and wrestles with more philosophical issues. On those bases, I consider Speaker to be a better novel.

Ender's Game is a more straight-forward "genius boy overcomes obstacles" plotline, with an interesting twist at the end. I mean, don't get me wrong: the writing quality is AMAZING, the characterization is very well done, and it's one of my all-time favorite novels.

But, I appreciate the depth and complexity of "Speaker" more. I dont pretend this is an objective assessment: "Speaker" appeals to the specific features of a novel that I like (the anthropological angle, the philosophical and moral dilemmas, etc).

(4) Foundation series, Asimov,
(4) Stainless Steel Rat series, Harry Harrison
(4) Vorkosigan Saga, Lois McMaster Bujold
(3) Altered Carbon, Richard Morgan
(3) Dumarest of Terra series, E.C. Tubb.
(3) Ender’s Game Series, Orson Scott Card,
(3) Foreigner C. J. Cherryh
(3) Honor Harrington series, David Weber
(2) Dune series, Frank Herbert.
(2) Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams.
(2) Mars trilogy, Kim Stanley Robinson
(2) Old Man's War series, John Scalzi
(2) Vatta's War, Elizabeth Moon

Alliance Universe, C. J. Cherryh
Commonwealth Books, Alan Dean Foster.
Commonwealth Saga, Peter F Hamilton
Culture novels, Iain Banks
Destiny series, Stephen Baxter
Dorsai books, Gordon R. Dickson
Ender’s Shadow Series, Orson Scott Card
Fall Revolution series, Ken Macleod
Gateway series, Frederik Pohl
Giants series, James P. Hogan
Golden Age, John C Wright
Greg Mandel Stories, Peter F Hamilton.
Jurisdiction series, Susan Matthews
Keys to the Dimensions series, Kenneth Bulmer
Known Space series, Larry Niven.
Lensmen, E. E. Doc Smith
Liaden series, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
Manifold series, Stephen Baxter
Otherland series, Tad Williams
Pendergast series, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
Polity universe, Neal Asher
Rama series, Arthur C. Clarke
Retrieval Artists series, Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Revelation Space, Alastair Reynolds.
Ringworld series, Larry Niven
Rock & Roll Reich series, Gwyneth Jones
Software series, Rudy Rucker
Sternverein series, John Morressy
Uplift Series, David Brin

I’ve put in my vote for the Altered Carbon series, the Dune series, Scalzi’s Old Man’s War, and Stainless Steel Rat.

I'm not familiar with the terminology of each series - someone correct me if I have the series name incorrect (or the author, since series' don't have touchstones).

#33

I'm so glad that you mentioned Rudy Rucker's Software series -- which I have also seen referred to as the *ware series (in-joke for oldschool computer nerds).

I think this series is one of the most under-appreciated science fiction series out there.

#34

I didn't mention it at all - someone named gregstevenstx mentioned it in post #28.

I just like to compile all the responses in a thread, and collate them, to see what the general response is.

Damn.... I guess that means I *am* the only one! *sigh* Figures. LOL

But they ARE seriously good science fiction.

I guess Asimov's Foundation and Robot series (I count Robot City books among them), Herbert's (original) Dune novels and Miles Vorkosigan series are at the top of my list.

These are the series I have read from first to last and truly enjoyed them.

A vote for The Godhead Trilogy, by James Morrow - Towing Jehovah, Blameless In Abaddon and The Eternal Footman.

It's a well-written, incisive satire, that contains quite serious religious points. Highly recommended.

Alliance Universe, C. J. Cherryh (including the loosely connected Kif books)
Giants series, James P. Hogan
Known Space series, Larry Niven. (this includes the Ringworld books)
Stainless Steel Rat series, Harry Harrison
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams

All get a vote from me, plus these two not mentioned before

The Dedalus Missions by Brian Stableford
The John Grimes stories by A. Bertram Chandler

edit I just noticed that Heinlein's Future History has not been mentioned and I want to correct that.

Message edited by its author, Aug 5, 2009, 12:51pm.

Thanx, virtualron, for all the feedback, but especially on the Rama series ... there is no question Arthur C. Clarke had his ups and downs as a fiction writer, but even his downs were so interesting.

And in a non-fiction example, his advice to SETI researchers was to set aside the audio search approach and instead analyze data in "light ... the better spectrum." Wowsers.

Gregstenstx, I will definitely take a look at the Rudy Rucker series items. In my first college computer class, we were required to wire a circuit board, so I don't mind hardware way-back references at all.

I'm enjoying the Company series by Kage Baker. The most recent one is The Empress of Mars. The first book in the series is In the Garden of Iden. The first one had a sad ending--even though it's a funny book--so it took a while to get up the nerve to read the next one. I should have realized: It's a time travel story, there's always a second chance for a happy ending.
I'm currently concentrating on live authors.

The Chanur series by Cherryh
The Vorkosigan series by Bujold
The Liaden series by Lee and Miller
The Heris Serrano series by Moon
The first trilogy of the Uplift series by Brin
The Telzey and Trigger series by James H. Schmitz
The Time Trader series by Andre Norton
The Solar Queen series by Andre Norton
The Sector General series by James White
The Psion series by Joan Vinge
The City of Pearl series by Karen Traviss

and I must confess to a lingering fondness for the Lensman series as well.

ETA The Starcats (A Judgment of Dragons, Emperors, Swords, Pentacles, The Kingdom of the Cats) trilogy by Phyllis Gotlieb

Message edited by its author, Aug 6, 2009, 6:51pm.

Can I post a negative vote for Rojse list about Honor Harrington. I have every one but the most recent and in my little estimation, it has gone from great to good, to same old same old.

Helll, Honor is invinicible, and she is getting better rewards than any naval officer in real history ever got. Wow, and they say that truth is stranger than fiction. Here Fiction has to be totally stranger than truth. Now if Weber can just maker her immortal, Honor will have fulfilled the dream.

But for things I do like

Vorkosigan had not grown boring, and Liaden has much more to offer us. Heris Serrano much better than the more recent stuff that Moon was writing (Vatta) Sector General always a favorite (and no more since White has passed.) Another vote for Foster and Flinx in the Commonwealth novels... And then Stirling's work with the Sea of Time trilogy was quite entertaining.

#44

But most series' come under this same criticism - series characters don't really die. I would never expect Jim DiGritz to die in Stainless Steel Rat. Whatever troubles that Arthur Dent got into hitch-hiking around the galaxy, you knew he was going to survive through it all in some way. Kovacs is always going to have one of his electronically-stored personalities revived in some way in the Altered Carbon series.

Oh, and if a character does die, you know they are going to be revived in some way. Or stored in a jar. Or have their thoughts stored on computer. And if none of that will work, there is always prequels, mid-quels, alternate universes or fake deaths.

EDIT: Can you be a bit more clear in what you're nominating in your last paragraph?

Message edited by its author, Aug 6, 2009, 9:44pm.

Latest update:

(6) Vorkosigan Saga, Lois McMaster Bujold
(5) Foundation series, Asimov,
(5) Stainless Steel Rat series, Harry Harrison
(3) Altered Carbon, Richard Morgan
(3) Dumarest of Terra series, E.C. Tubb.
(3) Dune series, Frank Herbert.
(3) Ender’s Game Series, Orson Scott Card,
(3) Foreigner C. J. Cherryh
(3) Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams.
(3) Honor Harrington series, David Weber
(2) Alliance Universe, C. J. Cherryh
(2) Giants series, James P. Hogan
(2) Known Space series, Larry Niven.
(2) Lensmen, E. E. Doc Smith
(2) Liaden series, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
(2) Mars trilogy, Kim Stanley Robinson
(2) Old Man's War series, John Scalzi
(2) Uplift Series, David Brin
(2) Vatta's War, Elizabeth Moon

Chanur series by Cherryh
City of Pearl series by Karen Traviss
Commonwealth Books, Alan Dean Foster.
Commonwealth Saga, Peter F Hamilton
Company series, Kage Baker
Culture novels, Iain Banks
Dedalus Missions by Brian Stableford
Destiny series, Stephen Baxter
Dorsai books, Gordon R. Dickson
Ender’s Shadow Series, Orson Scott Card
Fall Revolution series, Ken Macleod
Gateway series, Frederik Pohl
Godhead Trilogy, by James Morrow
Golden Age, John C Wright
Greg Mandel Stories, Peter F Hamilton.
Heris Serrano series by Moon
John Grimes stories by A. Bertram Chandler
Jurisdiction series, Susan Matthews
Keys to the Dimensions series, Kenneth Bulmer
Manifold series, Stephen Baxter
Otherland series, Tad Williams
Pendergast series, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
Polity universe, Neal Asher
Psion series by Joan Vinge
Rama series, Arthur C. Clarke
Retrieval Artists series, Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Revelation Space, Alastair Reynolds.
Ringworld series, Larry Niven
Robot series, Isaac Asimov
Rock & Roll Reich series, Gwyneth Jones
Sector General series by James White
Software series, Rudy Rucker
Solar Queen series by Andre Norton
Starcats trilogy by Phyllis Gotlieb
Sternverein series, John Morressy
Telzey and Trigger series by James H. Schmitz
Time Trader series by Andre Norton

#44 - I would disagree about subtracting the Honor Harrington series, but we absolutely need the Heris Serrano series by Elizabeth Moon added to this list.

Here are more votes a little clearer

Bujold-Vorkosigan
Moon-Heris Serrano
White-Sector General
AD Foster - Flinx in the Commonwealth novels
SM Stirling's-Sea of Time trilogy

A great character need not die, but it does need to continue to have tension, to have conflict. Herrington by Weber no longer has that. 200 pages, oh there is another war, 200 pages more, Honor back to battle with all her living friends. Maybe, just maybe one will die by the end of the book. 200 pages more, oh Honor wins and gets a super giant reward like the highest title or a planet as a fief, and might have a scratch on her. To me that is where the negatvie vote comes in. Where is the drama, conflict, tension in that. And a series in this genre (Herrington owes more to nautical fiction then science fiction, the Peoples Republic is after all Napoleonic France) we have Bolitho by Kent reaching the end of his days and his Nephew emerging to continue the fight.

I second a negative vote on Honor Harrington. The title character became increasingly implausible as the series progressed. From a junior officer with a genius for tactics, she became the richest and most powerful woman in the Kingdom and on Grayson, a genius at strategy as well, friend and confidante of the queen... the biggest mary sue in sf, in other words.

Since when did we do negative votes, anyway?

It would be more interesting if we could. Then you wouldn't always end up with the likes of Foundation and Honor Harrington appearing at the top of the list...

You know that someone would then just vote down any SF series you nominate, saying it was too pretentious, or too cryptic. Or that they were just feeling spiteful.

However, I'd like to see why people voted for Honor Harrington, particularly what they think of the supposed "Mary Sue" aspects of the later novels that have been mentioned. Prehaps some of our posters enjoy "Mary Sue" novels, and picture themselves in a similar position?

Message edited by its author, Aug 7, 2009, 8:37am.

True enough.

Maybe when you next collate the results, you should separate them out by decade (of publication of the first book). So The Stainless Steel Rat series would be 1960s, Lensman and Foundation 1940s, Honor Harrington 1990s, Revelation Space and Takeshi Kovacs 2000s...

I was not being facetious about Honor (And I am surprised to be totally in sync with Ian, did I wake up on the wrong side of the bed yesterday? :-)

But I was being critical of the series and have been in my reviews of the novels recently. The only good stuff is the collaboration novels that has Honor so fat in the background that it is the Honorverse not Honor that we see, but even that has big suspension of disbelief problems. The Universe being so large that there are many empires. But the slave trade is so well run and organized that the fledgling movement to destroy it is now a big second theme in the Honorverse. I can buy a slave trade in the future space empires of man, but not as a mega corporation. I can buy that people are opposed to it, just like William Wilburforce and the pre ACW environment. But Weber's set-up historically, even using an Asimov idea of Psycho-History would not be what we evolve too. (Yeah perhaps in the infinite worlds theories we could, but human nature just works against the whole Weber dug himself with this Manpower Inc storyline.) Better go back to the rip-off of the Napoleonic Wars. And time to bring in Wellington as a counterbalance to Nelson, Hornblower, Ramage, Bolitho and Aubrey all rolled into one.

The negative vote idea was to spark commentary.

Message edited by its author, Aug 7, 2009, 12:09pm.

I think my favorite sci-fi series (that's not Star Trek related) would have to be the Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson and the Dune series. I think Brian Herbert is picking up where his father Frank Herbert left off really well. Of course there's also the Space Oddessy series by Arthur C. Clarke.

Message edited by its author, Aug 13, 2009, 6:36am.

I think Brian Herbert is picking up where his father Frank Herbert left off really well.

Ian, it's for you!

Dear me. The Brian Herbert/Kevin J Anderson Dune sequels are appalling. They're strip-mining Frank Herbert's universe and turning it into a franchise - McDune.

To each his own I guess. Maybe the fact that I came into the series recently as opposed to reading them when they first came out has something to do with it.

There's also the fact that the McDune books are of consistently lower quality, less inventive, and very simplistic.

Mind you, I'm very forgiving compared to some Orthodox Herbertarians (as they call themselves).

Some new nominations:

Dan Simmons's four Hyperion novels
Ursula K LeGuin's Hainish novels, which don't really form a series but are set in the same universe and include a couple of her finest novels (The Dispossessed and The Left Hand of Darkness)
Gene Wolfe's Sun series, consisting of three multi-volume novels plus Urth of the New Sun

Yeah, I'm sorry, I tried with the Frank Herbert, but it was just not anywhere on the same level for me.

fave sci fi series, off the top of my head - Dune of course. Then Peter Watts' Rifters series. The conclusion wasn't great, for me, but the first 2 were quite excellent. That's all I can think of. Evidently I've read more fantasy series than sci fi. I like Scalzi and Rusch but not as much as the Dune & Rifters books.

Message edited by its author, Aug 13, 2009, 10:23am.

I would be so much more a fan of Dune if it had been the one book. When I picked this up, it was three books by then, and yuck. Two and three not only did not live up to the first for me, it made it so heavy and slow for me that I have no desire whatsoever to visit that universe again.

Completely agree re Dune. Dune itself is one of my favourite books of all time. Children of Dune was a bit ropey. The others ranged from ropey to really, really bad.

I prefer to think of it as a standalone masterpiece :)

Strangely enough, I disagree :-) I think the first book is the worst written of the six and, while the fourth is little more than a soapbox, they improve in quality and scope as the series progresses. The first book is somewhat juvenile, but they quickly mature.

Well, in all fairness, I was about fifteen when I read the Dune series so I was probably fairly juvenile at the time :-)

I'd love to re-read but I'm worried I won't like it now.

I re-read the original Dune at 50 and enjoyed it. Of course some folks would say I'm still about 13 in many respects. I haven't been motivated to re-try the sequels or to try the knock-offs at all.

I read Dune the first time about that age, teenage for sure. Then later in college found out about Mohammad while taking Islamic history for 2 quarters. Wow. Who knew that Herbert was so prophetic (oh, I get it, he plagiarized the life of Mohammad.) But I did reread it in my late twenties. Still thought it was good. Tried again with the other two and had to stop.

"I think Brian Herbert is picking up where his father Frank Herbert left off really well."

Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson are doing their best to ruin the original Dune series arc. The new books are written poorly, the characters and plots are extremely inconsistent with the original Dune books, and the books contribute nothing meaningful to the original Dune series arc.

The original Dune novels are challenging in regards to a number of topics and ideas, even if the later books aren't written in the same "simple writing, complex ideas" manner of the first. KJA's current crop of novels is just poorly-written fifties pulp with current SF novel bloat. I think KJA was born fifty years too late.

I'd say that the new Dune novels were badly-written fan fiction, but that would only apply if KJA was a fan, and a fan would not do their best to ruin their favourite series of books for money.

I plan on re-reading them, just for the pleasure of minutely detailing the numerous problems that I pick up in the books.

Message edited by its author, Aug 13, 2009, 7:17pm.

I kind of wonder what Ian thinks. I have always thought KJA was not serious Science Fiction material, but always the quick buck serialized stuff...

#69

That's pretty much my opinion, but saying that doesn't allow me to vent at all.

#69 I wrote about Dune on my blog a while ago - see here.

I did enjoy the 'Honor Harrington' books by David Weber, very much. The first 6 are great, 7 slips a bit, then the 8th/9th books were Okay. 'War of Honor' (Book 10) damn near killed me. I've kept putting off 'At All Costs' which is the last one (currently). I also read all 4 Honorverse collections, and 'Crown of Slaves' which was co written with Eric Flint (very good indeed). I'm stalled on 'Shadow of Saganami' the spin off, due to the 'War of Honor' debacle.

The RCN Series by David Drake is fabulous, more hornblower in space. That one starts with 'With the Lightnings' and is currently on book 7 (all of them are great)

David Feintuch did 7 Novels in his Nicholas Seafort series, starting with 'Midshipman's Hope'. I Initially bought these because of the odd reviews on Amazon, they were either 1 Star or 5 Stars, and even the 1 Star Reviews, described the series as a 'trainwreck' that you had to keep reading. How much can one author punish a character, read them and find out. I have read the first 4 books (which is the Primary plot Arc). You will either love them or hate them.

I'm reading Frederik Pohls Heechee Saga, 'Gateway','Beyond the Blue Event Horizon','Heechee Rendezvous','Annals of the Heechee' I'm just about to start Annals, the other previous three were very enjoyable.

Rich

I read the Seafort books. I hated myself afterwards. The books are so full of angst and self-doubt, you can't read them and not be affected. It's like that time I watched 3 episodes of X-Files a night on DVD for a month... I couldn't sleep for weeks after I was so paranoid...

Feintuch wrote another series, The Still and that too was just Dark. I had to give up on him as an author. How many heroes can you have that are really losers. I don't mean that they lose at the big battle, I mean that they have a Scarlet L branded into their foreheads...

Thomas Covenant for one. Not science fiction, I know, but I thought he deserved a mention as my least likeable protagonist.

Kage Baker's "Company" series. Unfortunately the final(?) book in the sequence, i THINK is the weakest the sons of heaven.

The Hungry Cities Chronicles by Phillip Reeve mortal engines (YA)

his dark materials - Pullman

Takashi Kovaks set, Richard Morgan

When gravity fails and the other two books in the Marid Audran set.

The SF/SF/Detective stories, Carlucci books by Richard Paul Russo ie Carlucci's Heart

When Gravity Fails, is it true you can't count on negativity to pull you through?

Message edited by its author, Aug 31, 2009, 10:27am.

Sector General by James White, without a doubt.

The Culture, if that counts.
Robert Heinlein's Future History, and Poul Anderson's Future History.
Ursula K. LeGuin's Hainish Cycle (again: if that counts).
Revelation Space.

ETA: D'oh! And Takeshi Kovacs, of course.

Message edited by its author, Aug 31, 2009, 11:35am.

I'd recommend William Gibson's Sprawl Triliogy (Neuromance, Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive) and Dan Simmons' Hyperion Series.

My favorites, chronologically ordered by completed date (my REAL favorites are starred-*):

Wrinkle in Time (L'Engle)
Tripods (Chrisopher)
Amber (Zelazny)
Hitchhiker's (Adams)
Lazarus Long (Heinlein)
Foundation (Asimov)
Robots (Asimov)
Gateway (Pohl)
Riverworld (Farmer)
Ringworld (Niven)
Stainless Steel Rat (Harrison)
Null-A (Van Vogt)
Ender (Card)
Sprawl (Gibson)
Starchild (Williamson & Pohl)
Software (Rucker)
Uplift (Brin)
(*)Mars (KS Robinson)
Deathworld (Harrison)
Night's Dawn (Hamilton)
(*)Hyperion (Simmons)
(*)Xenogenesis (Butler)
Zones of Thought (Vinge)
Greg Mandel (Hamilton)
Revelation Space (Reynolds)
Parables (Butler)

Begun, and must finish before death:
Culture (Banks)
Manifold (Baxter)
Idlewild (Sagan)
Uglies (Westerfeld)
Coyote (Steele)
Spin (Moriarty)
Spin (RC Williams)
Arbai Trilogy (Tepper)

Begun but will not continue:
Rama (Clarke)
Fall (Ken MacLeod)
Uplift 2 (Brin)
Dune (Herbert)
Book of the New Son (Wolfe)
Vorkosigan (Bujold)
Bengal Station (Eric Brown)

I was looking through my Amazon wish list and came across a name and thought wow, his stuff was great and he passed away too soon, Rick Shelley and the 13th Spaceborne books. Love them.

#80 how can they be favourites if you don't plan on finishing them?

#82 Hmm, yes, poor of me to take license in ignoring the topic when listing the "Begun but will not continue" series, and then not adequately explaining that these are *not* favorites but rather anti-favorites.

To be clearer: at some point in some book in each of these series, I could no longer anticipate any future enjoyment by reading the remainder of the series. These included:
Rama (Clarke)
Fall (Ken MacLeod)
Uplift 2 (Brin)
Dune (Herbert)
Book of the New Son (Wolfe)
Vorkosigan (Bujold)
Bengal Station (Eric Brown)

#83, oh well now we get to be all fun and nit-picky about what constitutes part of a "series". LOL

I *love* the "core series" Dune (4 books, "Dune" through "God Emperor of Dune"), and I hate the rest.

I *love* the "core series" Ender books (4 books, "Ender's Game" through "Children of the Mind") and I HATE the rest (the "Bean books" as I call them)

Greg,

Why be nitpicky... If a series no longer holds you fancy, just don't place it on the list of favorite sci-fi series...

Of course my neg vote comment for Honor Herrington to spark discussion is similar to being nit-picky...

So I actually still find the Ender/Bean series intriguing, though I expect the reexploration of Bean was a way to go pack to the roots and make it a strong YA novel.

#85 says "If a series no longer holds you fancy, just don't place it on the list of favorite sci-fi series.."

Because if you look at my top 10 favorite science fiction novels of all time, Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, Dune and God Emperor of Dune ALL appear on that list.

It seems unfair to not give them their due, just because later books in the series dragged the series down.

83: Interesting anti-list. I agree on some (the Rama series, for example). I found the second Uplift series got better as it went on, it seemed that Brin got more sure of the story he wanted to tell.

If we only had one series to recommend then certainly if we became less fond of it over time, it would not be worthy of being recommended at all... But since one can list as many as you like... And even if you stop liking them, still liked them to begin with...

But do you make the list with caveats, read this series, but not book 3 or 6, they were terrible...?

#87
Thank you, StormRaven. I respect both Brin as an author and your prior reviews enough to give "Uplift 2" another go sometime. Just don't tell me to try to finish "Dune", as I've already tried it four times.

89: I haven't even tried to finish the Dune series, and I've waded through some awful drek to finish a series of books.

Psybre, you could try the movie, it was like 3 1/2 hours if I remember originally, and I gather there has been a new TV version since.

Sting was in it. I remember that was fun...

i loved john varley's gaean trilogy: "titan"; "wizard"; and "demon".

#90 if by "finish Dune", you mean reading the execrable Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune, then I full agree. I read them, and I'll be off the medication soon...

93: Sometimes when people find out you read science fiction, they try to "help out" by giving you books as gifts. I have accumulated most of the later Dune books that way. I don't want to release them back into the wild, because then they will just harm other people. I keep them as a public service to the world.

That is very noble, StormRaven. I, on the other hand, paid cash money for the first couple of Brian and Kevin J. farces and I want to hurt somebody. I will, however, keep them quarantined on my shelves against a very cold winter or a global shortage of toilet paper.

My favorite science fiction series lean toward the space opera side, rather than the hard science side (with a few nostalgic young adult series throw in).

Norby, the mixed up robot by Janet Asimov
K-9 Corps by Kenneth Von Gunden
Miles Vorkosigan by Lois Bujold
Lensmen by E.E. Smith
Liaden Universe by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
Mageworlds by Debra Doyle and John MacDonald
RCN series by David Drake (With the Lightnings)
Pip and Flinx by A.D. Foster
Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper
Warlock series by Christopher Stasheff

>91

I asked my family for a DVD copy of the TV serial version for a Christmas present. Little was I to know that there was a cut-down version of the film in existence which had significant portions of the storyline replaced by on-screen text and voiceover. I love the original version, but the cut-down version that I received instead of what I was expecting was dire.

Does His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman count?

I have a love/hate relationship with the Hyperion novels of Dan Simmons (his most recent stuff unreadable, alas).

Liked the Altered Carbon books.

I liked Gateway but never got around to reading the series.

Hope it's not too gauche to say I like my own books ("Mind over Matter" series) as well.

#97 There are three adaptations of the original Dune trilogy: David Lynch's 1985 movie "Dune"; and the Sci-Fi Channel's two mini-series, "Frank Herbert's Dune" and "Children of Dune".

There are two versions of Lynch's film - the theatrical release and an "extended" or "television" version, which had scenes added by, I think, ABC and opens with a voiceover while the camera dwells on a badly-painted scene from the Butlerian Jihad. There is a DVD available which contains both editions of Lynch's film.

I remember waiting for the release of Dune in 85 and seeing it. Now, 20+ years later I can use a critical eye and say that it was a bad movie. From several points. A movie has to move and flow.

The Dune movies stops and starts and waits and jumps. While reading the book you can make some of the leaps much more easily. In a movie, you have to let your audience up and off to the restroom at certain points. Can't keep them stuck in their seats, that soda pop that cost 10 times as much as at the market is hitting their kidneys hard.

There have become certain accepted dynamics, and Lynch just didn't care. Hence a lousy experience. In order to understand Dune you need the backstory, but the presentation can be better than little sis trying to give it to you in her creepy way.

SO either the movie could have been better at half the size, or twice the size, or completely have found elements to cut like Tom Bombadil, or the the return to the shire...

Oh wait, the lord of the rings was a long tale that found a way to work with a giant creative collaborative effort not afraid to rewrite a little in the sack of making the story succeed in a different medium.

In other ideas, did I recommned the Starship Troupers series by Christopher Stasheff I thoroughly enjoy this and reread every three or four years.

Oh, yes. Starship Troupers. I was just thinking of it the other day too. In again, out again brains. I may have to add Altered Carbon to the TBR mountain. (I hate the internet.)

Addition to list:
Starship Troupers by Christopher Stasheff

100: The David Lynch Dune movie suffers from both being a bad movie and from being fairly unfaithful to the source material.

It is a bad movie because the pacing is bad, the dialogue is all too often spoken in a whisper, or as a voice-over (or both), it contains massive amounts of exposition, and still remains incoherent unless one has read the books, and despite the fact that it takes place primarily on a desert planet, most of the scenes seem to be oddly dark (as in poorly lit).

It is unfaithful to the source material in that large, fairly significant elements were changed for little reason: the wierding way of battle became a ray gun. The Sardaukar became guys in black raincoats and welder's masks with laser guns. In a movie pressed for time, a completely extraneous and unnecessary sequence showing a Guild mnavigator "folding space" was added. It rains at the end. The roles of the Guild, the Bene Gesserit and the Emperor were radically altered, and the Landsraad eliminated, and on and on.

The Sci-Fi channel miniseries has problems: sometimes cheap sets and some goofy looking hats and costumes, but remains much more true to the source material, and actually tells a story that resembles the one Herbert told in the book. As a result, I think it is better, but that's damning with faint praise.

Message edited by its author, Sep 3, 2009, 12:18am.

I also thought the Lynch version of Dune suffered because the Harkonnens were portrayed in a particularly grotesque way that I don't believe was justified by the book. It was just disgusting, really, which was ultimately distracting. The TV version was more faithful, but ultimately without strong enough actors in the roles, so forgettable.

The tv version of the Lynch film, on the other hand, restores some footage that ended up on the cutting room floor. In particular, there're some scenes with Pat Stewart's Gurney Halleck that are referred back to in the theatrical release.

Mind you, Herbert himself rather short-changed us on some of the supporting cast, like Halleck and Duncan Idaho.

Ideally, it would be good to have all the footage restored of the Lynch film. Not that I'm praising it unconditionally; I always thought of it as the trailer for the film that ought to have been made. I also felt that someone, somewhere, had looked at the script and said "These Fremen look too Arab...."

On the other hand, the look of the film is gorgeous, though Sting's jockstrap is laughably Viking....

So far as I can tell, *nobody* here has mentioned L.E. Modesitt's "Saga of Recluce" series. I've been hung up on these books for almost a year now. The detailed societies he's drawn, the characters he's produced and developed and the way he delineates good and evil clearly, but without being judgmental nor marginalizing, I find to be both engrossing and unique.

He's by far my favorite author at the moment, and this is my favorite current series. So far as I can tell, he's largely undiscovered by most people.

I've always though that the Recluce was more fantasy, even when he wrote the two sci-fi founding novels. Still basically to me fantasy.

For my money, Gene Wolfe's original Book of the New Sun Quadrilogy is the most solid of any scifi/fantasy series (i.e. no "where the blazes did that come from?" in later volumes), probably because Wolfe wrote all four volumes before publishing any of it. But Urth of the New Sun, which I think was composed later, feels like an afterthought. I've slogged through Urth twice now and although I'm usually inclined to give Wolfe the benefit of the doubt, there are parts of Urth that still feel more like contractual obligation than authorial affection.

I discovered Dune after seeing the Lynch film at 15 (the perfect age, I suppose, to encounter young Paul) and Frank Herbert definitely and permanently changed my way of thinking about the world. After the first book, I went around for months thinking in italic asides. Anyway, as a series, Dune has its ups and downs -- in this case it seems the opposite of what happened with Wolfe: some of the material in Dune Messiah and Children of Dune had been written earlier, but Herbert's vision had grown to such an extent that the bits from prior drafts suffered by comparison. Still, the magnificent vistas opened up in the later books displayed a grand return to form.

I started reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series by way of midnight airings of the BBC TV series on our local PBS channel. One of the things that struck me on a second reading was how philosophical Douglas Adams's concerns are, like the plummeting whale who tries to deduce the world from first principles, or for that matter the whole Deep Thought project itself. I haven't read the rest of the series in a while, but I do recall a sense of fatigue in the later volumes, though I could be wrong.

Finally, William Gibson's Sprawl Trilogy seems another example of how to do a series right, just as surely as the Bridge Trilogy... doesn't.

>107:

"After the first book, I went around for months thinking in italic asides."

Jules, plenty of people find that after reading Dune. It makes me think of one of David Langford's pastiches, which he starts with the fake Frank Herbert aphorism "Versatility is the ability to swim on unknown ground." ;-)

>107:

"After the first book, I went around for months thinking in italic asides."

This is so, so true. Certainly for many months my whole thought proccess was warped. Letters I wrote to friends during that time had them puzzled for ages.

i also liked Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun, starting with Shadow of the Torturer, and *not* including Urth of the New Sun.

i have only read the first two of Wolfe's "Soldier" series, and they are both excellent.

Message edited by its author, Sep 4, 2009, 6:25pm.

>107 juleswellesley I'm probably part of a small group that likes the Bridge Trilogy (I also like the Sprawl Trilogy. I often think of the former when I see sculptures by the artist Sarah Sze. I thought William Gibson created a fascinating world.

Message edited by its author, Sep 5, 2009, 1:45pm.

>111 Well... I suppose one of things that might've soured me on the Bridge Trilogy is this: with the Sprawl trilogy I was a teenager reading them as used paperbacks, but with the Bridge trilogy I was a Gainfully Employed Adult and bought each volume as it came out in hardcover. Since my investment in each of the "Bridge" books was about 25X that of its "Sprawl" counterpart, perhaps I was lot less forgiving of any perceived lapses on Gibson's part.

*Edit - crazy talk removed

Message edited by its author, Sep 10, 2009, 4:40pm.

os card has written other things as well. try your hand at the alvin makerseries witch is more heroic fantasy than sf ...splendid!

one of my favourites too, but it went on too long.
ashes of victory was where i quit...

absolutely stailess steel rat rules.

i dont find a mention of the superior Chong Kuo
series by david wingrove or this perfect day by ira levin

must reads

What is a series, really?.
Uplift is more a set of books set in a semi-consistent universe, rather than a series. By the same criteria Nivens "Tales of known space" would equate a series.

However, mine are something like,

Miles Vorkosigans books.
Doc EE Smiths Lensmen, and his Skylarks too.
Ken McLeods Star Fractions et al.
Iain M Banks Culture novels.
Douglas Addams' Hitchhikers.
Nivens anthologies of "The Man/Kzin Wars".
Nights Dawn trilogy, Hamilton

Might I just register my support here, for DWWilkins' opinion of *shudder* the honor herrinton novels. Absolute mindless trash, without even the positive that semi-competent writing technique might have afforded their paper-thin plots and lifeless characterizations. ( I didn't like them. )

>116

Your opinions belie your name.

My favorites:
Titan trilogy by John Varley
Callahan series by Spider Robinson
Mars Triliogy by Kim Stanley Robinson
Three Californias series by Kim Stanley Robinson
Ender series by Orson Scott Card
Barrayar series by Lois McMaster Bujold
Old Man's War series by Scalzi
Gateway series by Pohl
Uplift series by David Brin

Scalzi is a hoot on Twitter, BTW

#116 From what I remember, the Uplift books Startide Rising, The Uplift War, Brightness Reef, Infinity's Shore and Heaven's Reach all follow the same story arc. OTOH, none of Banks's Culture novels do - which makes them not a series by your definition.

Message edited by its author, Nov 8, 2009, 6:43am.

119: Your memory of the Uplift books has not failed you.

Well, you make my point exactly. Other people have listed both "series" as favourites. So my question, "What is a series, really?" seems ( here at least ) to have the answer "What we wish it to be".
It has been a while since I read the Uplift books, which I found disjointed and rather random, but we all have our various opinions, eh?.

121: It is hard to see how you could find the Uplift 2-6 books to not be a series:

Book 2 Startide Rising: Follows the crew of the Streaker after it discovers something that causes the various races to go to war and lay siege to Earth.

Book 3 THe Uplift War: Details the resdulting war on the planet Garth.

Book 4 Brightness Reef: Follows the Streaker as it attempts to escape the various factions pursing it and find a way home to Earth. Also introduces the inhabitants of Jijo as the war spills over to their undocumented colony.

Book 5 Infinity's Shore: Deals with the inhabitants of Jijo caught up in the war and follows the crew of the Streaker some more.

Book Six Heaven's Reach: The inhabitants of Jijo continue to be caught up in the intergalactic struggles, the Streaker finds its way home to confront the beseiging fleets, and the odd events of the whole series are somewhat resolved.

These books are tied together such that they pretty much form a signle story. I'm not sure how much more explicitly "a series" a group of books could be.

in no particular order -
Olympus / Ilium by Dan Simmons
Takeshi Kovacs novels by Richard Morgan
The Reality Dysfunction series by Peter Hamilton
The Riverworld Series by PJ Farmer
Gaia trilogy - John Varley
Heechee series by Frederick Pohl

Oh, add the little known and very unappreciated Flat Earth fantasies by Tannith Lee
Should be on everyone's TBR list.

I agree that of all the Neal Asher books, The Skinner is the best. Brass Man disappointed, as did the last one, Line War.

Olympos and Ilium by Dan Simmons; breathtaking, fantastical, at times wildly funny, gruesome. Altogether wonderful.

>126
The adjectives you use to describe Olympos and Ilium are just. With the exception of "wildly funny," Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion should be described in kind. It's my position that the quality of the plot and the writing is on an order of magnitude higher in The Hyperion Cantos and more memorable also.

>127
Read Oympos and Ilium very recently, so right at the front of my mind.
Read Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion years ago and remember that they were indeed enthralling, well written, certainly darker, and that the "monster" was memorable, but I can't remember the story. Just means it's time to read them again. Also makes me want to find any by Simmons that I haven't yet read. Recommendations? any welcome, especially of same quality as these.

Sector General series by James White
Pip and Flinx series by Alan Dean Foster
Stranger in a Strange Land and Fear No Evil by Robert Heinlein
Through Alien Eyes by Amy Thompson

#128, My wife read The Terror and enjoyed it very much. I think it is horror more than SF. My wife devours horror, but not so much the SF.