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Recommend me a book [fiction]

vetrox

By vetrox
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vetrox

vetrox

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Ok. I will be straight here. I dont read all that much (i read alot of non fiction) and the fictoin I do read tends to be based on something i have either watched or played. So far my list of books read only really constists of Dune (only the original one when i was quite a bit younger) A bunch of warhammer 40k books. All the Halo novels and as of last night. Metro 2033.

With metro being by far my favourite and none of the later metro books having a solid translation into english I'm looking to pick up something new that isnt based off of a game or film (or has inspired such). Something that I have no idea about. In the past I havnt bothered to pick up books because I had no idea if I would even like them because I had no prior knowledge of that books "universe" but after reading metro and seing just how completley different it is from the game, it makes me want to broaden my horizons.

Now I'm quite fussy I think. I dont want it to be really "hard" sci fi. I'm quite happy for there to be innacuracies but what I dont want is a whole chapter explaining how any sort of FTL drive works but I am intruiged by varous races and sci fi culture. Think mass effect but in book form. Also It doesnt have to all be war and conflict and massive space battles (a little bit of conflict never hurts though *pun*) but I dont want full out space politics. I'm quite happy to read about some poor chap thrust into a quest to save the world (see:metro 2033) I did try to pick up some work by Ian Banks but just didnt get on with them (maybe thats because I was about a decade younger).

TBH...I'm not really sure what I'm looking for. Maybe thats why I always pick up stuff based on/in the universe of games or film. It would be a nice change to just pick something up and be amazed like people used to be before video games melted our brains.

Keep in mind, Whatever I decide to purchase will probably decide weather or not I try any other non fiction so be carefull :P

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Dwight_js

Dwight_js

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Haha, Hitchhikers Guide is definitely good - you just have to get used to Adams' particular brand of humour (almost every sentence is a joke).

I know you asked for no hard sci-fi, but I have to recommend Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C Clarke. I found it to be very gripping, and I don't recall any overly long descriptions of how stuff works. If you like that one, there are 3 more books in the series, and they get "softer" as you go along with the story focusing more and more on the interplay of the characters.

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iDan122

iDan122

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Edgar Rice Burroughs's Barsoom series, starting with "A princess of Mars"

Very good read, aliens, huge flying aircraft, and a very good description of Mars considering book was published around 1920's

If you haven't read, try Jules Verne's "From the Earth to the Moon" and "Around the moon"(sequel)

I recommend reading both without a break, very interesting story and amazing detail for the 1860's!

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vger

vger

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H.G. Wells's "The Time Machine"

Just read it for the first time since elementary school. Scary how much of it is still relevant.

Though if you read it, you WILL feel like you're being taken through sci-fi Time Travel 101. But that's because "4th Dimensional Travel" was his idea in the first place, and part of his reason for writing the book was so he could explain his theory to people who couldn't wrap their minds around it. Of course to any modern sci-fi fan, the concept is child's play.

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vetrox

vetrox

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Ok thanks guys.

Time to put some names in a bowl and draw one at random. I'm going to exclude lord of the rings and hitchikers guide to the galaxy. LOTOR because theres a film about it thus ruining the plot for me and Hitchikers because I'm under the impression its a bit on the silly side?

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Specialist290

Specialist290

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I'd recommend a fair bit of Robert Heinlein's books, mostly the earlier ones like Red Planet, Space Cadet, Citizen of the Galaxy, and their ilk. Much of his stuff is pretty hard, but for the most part he manages to weave the exposition into the story fairly seamlessly. Starship Troopers might be another one you'd enjoy, since I noticed you mentioned WH40K.

As for "Mass Effect in book form": Check out a series called Lensman, by E. E. "Doc" Smith. You might find the writing to be a bit cliche'd, but keep in mind that it was written during the Thirties, and thus it made most of those cliches (like Lord of the Rings did for modern fantasy). I'd recommend starting with Galactic Patrol, the third book chronologically; the first two books are prequels written long after the rest of the series, and they're full of spoilers for the main plot and fairly slow-paced, while GP drops you pretty much right into the action.

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Elthy

Elthy

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When you say "Fiction" that doesnt mean it has to be with spaceships or other futuristic stuff, right?

Then i would recommend the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. Its the best and funniest stuff ive ever read!

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vger

vger

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When you say "Fiction" that doesnt mean it has to be with spaceships or other futuristic stuff, right?

Then i would recommend the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. Its the best and funniest stuff ive ever read!

Aye, Discworld is more or less to religion, what Hitchhiker's Guide is to science.

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TechnicalK3rbal

TechnicalK3rbal

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Edgar Rice Burroughs's Barsoom series, starting with "A princess of Mars"

Very good read, aliens, huge flying aircraft, and a very good description of Mars considering book was published around 1920's

If you haven't read, try Jules Verne's "From the Earth to the Moon" and "Around the moon"(sequel)

I recommend reading both without a break, very interesting story and amazing detail for the 1860's!

I don't know how I forgot to mention these originally!

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KOCOUR

KOCOUR

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Alastair Reinolds, "Revelation space" series.

Joe Haldeman, Forewer War.

Anything from Sergej Ljukjaněnko. Not hardSF much more of Fantasyscifimashup, but great.

Frank Herbert, "Dune" series and His sons, "Hystory of Dune" series. (Just Awesome!)

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KASASpace

KASASpace

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Harry Turtledove- Worldwar.

It's a good sci-fi book series, with (bear with me here) aliens invading during WWII (Turtledove does alternate history as well, so yeah).

Turns out they invaded at just the wrong time.

We end up destroying them, and a peace agreement is signed.

Sort of...

Then colonization. I don't know much of that, but it is during the 1960s.

Now, the last book, is Homeward Bound.

Basically, we end up getting some really advanced tech, outdoing the aliens, in less than a hundred years since they invaded.

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vetrox

vetrox

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Harry Turtledove- Worldwar.

It's a good sci-fi book series, with (bear with me here) aliens invading during WWII (Turtledove does alternate history as well, so yeah).

Turns out they invaded at just the wrong time.

We end up destroying them, and a peace agreement is signed.

Sort of...

Then colonization. I don't know much of that, but it is during the 1960s.

Now, the last book, is Homeward Bound.

Basically, we end up getting some really advanced tech, outdoing the aliens, in less than a hundred years since they invaded.

DUDE! that sounds awesome....but thanks for the spoiler :(

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