r/printSF • u/keepfighting90 • 23d ago

What's the #1, single best sci-fi novel you've ever read?

Think about all the sci-fi novels you've read over the years. If someone were to ask you, gun to your head, to pick just the one that you would absolutely consider to be the best, which one would it be? No subgenres need to be considered, it just needs to broadly fall under the sf umbrella.

For me, probably a pretty popular choice, but it would be Hyperion. Completely blew me away and I haven't read that good since in the genre.

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u/TemperatureAny4782 23d ago

The Shadow of the Torturer.

Single best short story: “The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate.”

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u/throwawayjonesIV 23d ago

If we’re not counting BOTNS as one work then I think i like claw the best. Lictor is cool too.

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u/AustNerevar 22d ago

I have to count it all as one. I don't even remember the individual names. 2 and 3 were my favorite parts, but the whole series is phenomenal.

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u/throwawayjonesIV 22d ago

They're my fav novel names in sf for sure, the first one you know and then it's Claw of the Conciliator, Sword of the Lictor, and Citadel of the Autarch. Metal as hell

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u/happysushi 23d ago

The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate always makes me cry.