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ConPro Bookclub: Sci Fi

posted 3 days ago by boni1984 on scored.co (+0 / -0 / )

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Alright you shits, enough doomposting. Time for some literature. I've been on a sci fi wave recently, so I'm starting with this genre. Preferably post less well known works you think have value. It'd be nice if you include a little info about the books themselves. I'll start.

The Lost Fleet series and its sequel The Lost Fleet - Beyond The Frontier by Jack Campbell are a series of military sci fi. The series is set one-hundred-plus years into an interstellar war between two different human cultures. The protagonist of the story is discovered floating in a suspended animation escape pod one hundred years after he made a "heroic last stand" against an enemy fleet and is suddenly dropped into the role of fleet commander and expected to live up to the legend that has grown around him.

The books have probably the best take on space combat I've ever come across with things like relativistic time issues, comm lag and heavily automated systems due to the sheer speed of engagements. No Star Wars WWII bomber runs.

The characters are pretty well developed and likeable with a large focus of the books being on things like duty, honor and sacrifice. Very little, if any, cheap drama.

The protagonist is not perfect and makes mistakes. The beginning of the books might make him seem a bit like a Gary Stu due to being literally the only guy left alive who knows how to lead a battle in space properly (all the rest died over the century of fighting) but the people around him and his enemies learn from him over the course of the books and get better with each fight. The books are good fun and I can't recommend them enough.

The only downside is that the author isn't that great at writing. The prose is not terrible but I'd give him a 8/10 for plot, 10/10 for world-building and 7/10 for actual writing skills.

The sequel Beyond the Frontier has less fighting (though still plenty) and is more focused on exploration. This is also my favorite take on space exploration from all the books I've ever come across.

Crockett on scored.co

3 days ago 5 points (+0 / -0 / ) 2 children

I recently rewatched Starship Troopers and it instilled in me a desire to read the book. Has anyone here read it? The movie was a fun, failed attempt at satirizing the ideas of the book, while the book was an honest, straight faced description of a militarist antidemocratic state.

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boni1984 on scored.co

3 days ago 3 points (+0 / -0 / )

I have. I quite enjoyed it. It's actually a good book to get into sci fi as it's quite short and easy to digest. Doesn't focus on drama or deep moral questions, just like military fiction should be.

It is quite different to the movie, though, keep that in mind.

That being said, while many of the ideas in the book will appeal to people here, some probably won't, so if you're looking for something that will conform to the current ConPro ideology, this is closer than most but still not quite there yet.

DavidColeIntrepid on scored.co

3 days ago 2 points (+0 / -0 / )

It's not really antidemocratic. They just don't consider anyone a citizen who isn't willing to work for it.

This is why you really need to distinguish the book from the movie. Heinlein called himself a libertarian but he was also in the military.

The entire theme of the book is willingness to sacrifice. The ships name , Roger Young, is named after a guy who sacrificed himself so his team could assault an enemy machine gun nest.

It's an "ask what you can do for your country, not what your country can do for you" idea.

americathegr888 on scored.co

3 days ago 4 points (+0 / -0 / )

Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds. The author is a physicist, has some really amazing concepts in it and the setting is pretty unique. The original books were written quite some time ago but he came back and added some more to the series later: https://www.goodreads.com/series/56392-revelation-space

I also suggest reading these shorts set in the same universe, in particular Diamond Dogs, which is one of the craziest stories I've ever read: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/893590.Diamond_Dogs_Turquoise_Days

But hands down my favorite scifi series *of all time* (and I've read a lot of books, including 6 or so of the Lost Fleet) is the Sun Eater series by Christopher Ruocchio. Amazing writing, really great main character, and the setting is awesome:

https://www.goodreads.com/series/231285-the-sun-eater

part on scored.co

The Mandibles
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amazing book

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27064345-the-mandibles

the "first 13" main warhammer books are good, but for 3d full fleet space battles other space operas shine better

WeedleTLiar on scored.co

Old Man's War by John Scalzi is about a two-tiered human civilization of civilians on Earth and a space-based military fighting various aliens that the civvies don't know anything about.

They recruit old people from Earth to do the fighting, giving them upgraded bodies in exchange for a term of service. They can never return to Earth in order to maintain secrecy.

Pretty based, generally. There's a scene where an ex-congressman tries to negotiate with a group of enemies they're fighting and it does not go well for him; he's played as a self-righteous, bleeding heart type who fails to understand the reality of war.

I only read the first book but there's a whole series, if it floats your boat.

DeplorableGerman on scored.co

any pre-Legal Distiction 40k books - personal highlights are Night Lords trilogy, Gaunt's Ghosts, Ravenor omnibus, Blood Gorgons. any 30k/Horus Heresy books. Star Wars Republic Commando quadrology and Imperial Commando.

i just realized that haven't read any sci-fi/space/futuristic fiction outside of Warhammer and Star Wars.

ChargedUpCharger on scored.co

I love that series.

The Red Rising series is also amazing. Its fanciful space opera with strong roman history themes. The first couple of chapters are not like the rest of the book, I reccomend sticking it out through those.

I know I plug this every time, but "3 Body Problem", IMO its the most epic sci-fi ever written by far. Its about humans facing an existential threat and the incredible lengths humanity might go to to survive.

JoePutin on scored.co

2 days ago 0 points (+0 / -0 )

I’ll throw in the ‘forever war’ and sequel. Very enjoyable relativistic based space war novel. Deals with concepts like travel taking so long that by the time you get to a battle site the tech has changed so others beat you there and you have mo clue what to expect.