I just finished up the Bobiverse. It was a blast. Fun, thought-provoking and with just enough pandering to nerds that I couldn’t put it down.

I also read the first book of the new Red Rising Trilogy, but it was not up to the standards of the first trilogy imho.

Anyone else stumble across something new this year?

Not new, but I read the first 4 Expanse books. 1-3 were great, 4 was ok.

33 minutes ago, BlodVargarna said:

Not new, but I read the first 4 Expanse books. 1-3 were great, 4 was ok.

5 is the best for most readers. I loved 4, but I’m a biologist so a little biased.

Ok so if people really liked 5, maybe I’ll check it out. I got a little Expanced out after 1-4, but it’s been a while.

The Caine Riordan series from Charles Gannon is rather good, and you can't go far wrong with David Weber's Honor Harrington or Jack Campbell's Lost Fleet .

Just some 40k and Horus heresy novels. How good they are depends on the writers.

Reread "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" by Heinlein. One of the best all time and I strongly suspect had a heavy influence on the "Expanse" series.

The "There will be War" anthologies edited by Jerry Pournelle are outstanding. Lots of good short fiction and essays. Note the publication date because the series starts before the end of the Cold War. You even get a little bit of a history lesson in these. I read "Allamagoosa" out loud around the campfire over the 4th to the enjoyment of all.

The wife picked up "Beren and Luthien" for me (although fantasy) and am really enjoying it.

"Soulminder" by Timothy Zahn was a good thought provoking hard science fiction story.

C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy is pretty interesting, though it's less actiony and more exploration in the first two books.

18 hours ago, Cr0aker said:

"Soulminder" by Timothy Zahn was a good thought provoking hard science fiction story.

Zahn's non-starwars stuff is really good (unsurprisingly). Blackcollar is one of my favourites, and the Conqueror series is really nice.

3 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

Zahn's non-starwars stuff is really good (unsurprisingly). Blackcollar is one of my favourites, and the Conqueror series is really nice.

Yeah, it was Zahn who got me into StarWars. Spinneret is what really turned my head. Conqueror series is good. X-wing could use some mind-linked Copperhead pilots. I liked the early and late Cobra series and Blackcollar.

Zahn is top tier hard science fiction. (For those who don't know what that means, he excels at telling a human story around interesting technology and how mankind would likely use, abuse, and struggle with the pro's and con's of such.) As you can gather from some of my other posts, I can suspend reality when it comes to sci-fi... but I can't suspend common sense. Man kind WOULD use technology/abilities the best (or certain) way(s) it could every time. Also why I can't get into many superhero stories/movies or poorly written sci-fi stories. [For example, in one of the early batman movies some evil device run by Liam Neeson causes water to explode so batman has to stop it before it reaches a water main or something stupid like that. YOU are 70% water.................................. but batman, the goons, and Liam don't go boom]

46 minutes ago, Cr0aker said:

[For example, in one of the early batman movies some evil device run by Liam Neeson causes water to explode so batman has to stop it before it reaches a water main or something stupid like that. YOU are 70% water.................................. but batman, the goons, and Liam don't go boom]

Meh, Adam West will always be the definitive Batman in my mind.

The story's going to be cheesy anyway, so you need to embrace it!

3 hours ago, JJ48 said:

Meh, Adam West will always be the definitive Batman in my mind.

The story's going to be cheesy anyway, so you need to embrace it!

The request was for good not cheesy :P. There are some cheesy things I enjoy.

but not others :P. Especially when the hero/characters take themselves seriously.

It is not a story but if you want to explore where economics meet morality check out this video series by a Harvard proff. They don't present a right/wrong perspective but explore grey areas on modern economic/social issues the same way that sci-fi authors often examine technological issues before they arise.

https://www.aei.org/publication/what-money-cant-buy-six-episode-video-series/

The Institute for New Economic Thinking has posted a six-episode video series: “ What Money Can’t Buy .” The video series features Harvard political philosophy professor Michael Sandel (pictured above) who has thought about the intersection of economic motivations with other values as deeply as anyone. At times, Sandel discusses questions with prominent economists (Greg Mankiw, Richard Posner, Joseph Stiglitz, Lawrence H. Summers, and others). But most of the videos are a seminar-style discussion with Sandel and 12 students. The trailer for the series appears above and here are links below to the six episodes in the “What Money Can’t Buy Video Series.”

Episode 1: Sex Sells, But Should It? (Should We Be Able to Discriminate Based on Looks?)
Episode 2: The Body Market (Should You Be Able to Sell Your Kidney?)
Episode 3: The Walrus Quota (Should We Be Able to Sell Refugees?)
Episode 4: Supply Shock (Should You Be Able to Sell Water In A Disaster?)
Episode 5: The Golden Door (Should We Pay People to Vote?)
Episode 6: The Death Pool (Should We Be Able to Profit Off of Death?)

HT : Timothy Taylor’s highly recommended blog Conversable Economist .

I had no idea Zahn wrote hard sci-fi. Anyway, his Night Train to Rigel is an absolutely charming yarn. I enjoyed the other books in the series, but not as much (the first one stands alone perfectly).

I'm just going to put this out there as well. There's a local author who's quite successfully self-published, Glynn Stewart. You can read a free military sci-fi e-novella of his at ashenstarsbook.com (e-readers, pdf, etc.). I enjoyed the story, though the style is different from my preference. It reads very quickly.