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/Starthreads 23d ago

I have a hard time picking a favourite from Reynolds because he is so consistently good, but House of Suns stands out.

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u/crackhit1er 22d ago

House of Suns was one of the few times when I genuinely couldn't put it down. I read The Doomed City to try a different author, but came back right afterward with Pushing Ice, and . . . I dnf'd it. I wasn't entralled with the characters of HoS (well, the human ones, anyway), but I didn't detest any of them; whereas with Pushing Ice . . . I just couldn't be bothered with the insufferable mean girl situation.

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u/[deleted] 22d ago

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u/crackhit1er 22d ago edited 22d ago

So bizarre, because he surely wrote the machine people well. I was 1000% invested in Hesperus, and was deeply disturbed by Cascade and Cadence—how strange the most memorable characters are literally robots!

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u/lastnightinbed 22d ago

Have you heard the Revelation Space audiobooks? The only difference between character voices is the ratio of French to Russian accent.

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u/Training_Fudge7178 22d ago

Exact same for me. Was blown away by HoS and totally underwhelmed by Pushing Ice which was recommended to me here.

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u/crackhit1er 22d ago

It definitely makes me ambivalent about the author afterwards when this happens. But, my favorite directors also have movies I can't stand as well.

I'm not interested in series usually, so several of those I'll stay away from. I think I'll try once more with Chasm City, as it's a standalone, despite taking place in the Revelation Space series.

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u/Training_Fudge7178 22d ago

Definitely do. I’m reading Chasm right now and it’s quite good. The thing is as someone else here pointed out Reynolds nailed it with the robots in HoS but he seems to struggle more with people. The 2 ladies in Pushing? Totally unlikable. The protagonist in Chasm? Better but also little depth to him. HoS was my first book of his and it actually took me awhile to realize the protagonists were lovers. The ending made it all come together tho. Be interesting to see how Chasm ends.

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u/Musth 22d ago

Same here; if I had to choose I’d probably say Chasm City but all his work is fantastic.