Kalanadi and BeckyM are two relatively small channels with a very strong focus on sci fi who have huge backlogs of reviews to keep anyone wanting more sci content busy for days!
Murphy Napier and Daniel Greene are two of my favourites. Both are not *just* sci fi - Daniel also does fantasy content, and Murphy is fantasy, adult and classics.
Alaistair Reynolds and Peter F Hamilton are amazing! I really recommend their book. I think you'll really like them. They're almost automatic buys for me.
A couple of older sci fi "first contact with aliens" books I enjoyed: The Forge of God - Greg Bear (1987 ) - first contact with aliens coming to earth Slow Lightning - Jack McDevitt (2000) - kind of a murder mystery/first contact/thriller These stories are really different and have very different outcomes. I enjoyed both of these a lot - give them a try if you want!
Sci-fi is one of my favorite, if not, favorite genre! I actually got into it from movies, some of my earliest memories are of the prequel Star War movies and The Fifth Element. The first Sci-fi books I remember were some of Margret Peterson Haddix’s books, which I loved in middle school!
I knew Becky Chambers was coming out with the 4th Wayfarer book next year but I had no idea about the other series! Thanks for putting it on my radar 😁
omg omg i’m thrilled to find a booktuber who loves becky chambers!!! i’ve been searching for booktubers who enjoy her writing and have finally found someone 😭 that’s the mark of good taste… subscribed immediately 💗
I so agree with your Sci-Fi favs (Becky Chambers ---amazing) and your Sci-Fi disappointments (Dune, Hitchhiker's Guide etc.). Appreciate your recommendations too. Great video!
My first sci-fi was Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth. The tropes I enjoy are time travel, first contact, and sentient ships. Anne McCaffery's Ship series has always been on my favorites list, though I do enjoy all of her books. The Freedom series is also very good (especially the audiobooks!). I also really enjoyed The Neanderthal Parallax trilogy by Robert J. Sawyer. It's interdimensional space instead of outer space, but still great and an interesting take on what Humans could have been like.
If you want a wonderful, light-hearted sci-fi time-travel novel, I recommend "To Say Nothing of the Dog: or, How We Found the Bishop's Bird Stump at Last" by Connie Willis. If you don't want to take a stranger's word for it, how about this: it won both the Hugo and Locus Awards for Best Novel in 1999 and was nominated for the Nebula for Best Novel in 1998. It's one of my favorites and gets a re-read (or re-listen as the audiobook is FANTASTIC) at least every couple of years. If you want more qualifications for the author, Connie Willis, then how about this: she has won eleven Hugo Awards and seven Nebula awards (more than any other writer) and was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2009. The Science Fiction Writers of America named her its 28th SFWA Grand Master in 2011. So...she can write. :)
Connie is one of my auto-buy authors. And the new Oxford Time Travel book she was mulling over last time I saw her in person is a go! :: bouncing in anticipation ::
Great tag! I think I’ll do this tag. Sadly, I’m in the camp of not liking Becky Chambers: I wanted to punch the characters of A Long Way because I thought the novel was too syrupy and lacking in real stakes, bu that’s just me.
I think I started with some non fiction science books and the Hot Zone around the same time. Then I found your channel and got some great recommendations! I've now fallen in love with Becky Chambers and am still reading the Sparrow. I had to put it down for a bit because I love the characters and am scared to finish it haha
I've never been a sci-fi reader but at the beginning of this year I picked up 'The Martian' and now almost half of what I read is sci-fi. Got a lot of great recommendations from your channel so thank you! ;)
To be taught if fortunate was a delight and everything I absolutely love in scifi. This tag was so fun, I can't wait to do it and talk more about my fav genre!!
I'm not a big sci-fi reader, but ever since I've discovered your channel, I'm slowly warming up to it. So your lists for beginner sci-fi are super helpful for the intimidated by sci-fi readers like me.
I have started my scifi journey with a huge classic in the hard scifi genre (quite accidentally, a family friend gave me the book as a gift): The Foundation trilogy by Isaac Asimov. It was a challenge, but it blew my mind and just wanted to read more. My starter-pack recomendation would be to read something by Sergei Lukyanenko. He likes to explore virtual reality and space travel as well, he writes very accessible and fast paced books. His urban fantasy series is also exceptional, if you have not heard from The Night Watch and are interested how vampires, shapeshifters and other beings would stay alive in Moskow, I highly recommend it. There’s also a movie, it’s great fun (skip the second movie though, it did not follow the story of the second book in any way).
I've really gotten into SciFi in the last few years, in large part thanks to you and The Themis Files series. Have you tried Storygraph? I get so many amazing recommendations there.
Love Sci - Fi, thank you for the video. My answers would be 1) 1984. May not actually be the first sci - fi I ever read, but it's the earliest I can remember reading 2) I would like the author to be Stanislaw Lem (my all time favorite author), the trope would be time travel 3) 'Chain Of Chance' by Stanislaw Lem 4) My favorite would be dystopian sci fi; the one I haven't read too much from would be space opera 5) Stanislaw Lem; it's kind of obvious at this point I suppose :) 6) Various Online sources (that includes your channel, obviously) 7) Not sure, I'm more into classic sci - fi as opposed to modern sci - fi 8) Some people think sci - fi isn't a serious genre and has little food for thought to offer. It is perceived by some poeple to be a mere entertainment at best. Fewer people think so nowadays, but some still do. I hope one day it goes away since it's completely false. 9) 'Six Wakes' by Mur Lafferty; 'Eden' by Stanislaw Lem; '1984' By George Orwell 10) You
I never would’ve thought that I would be into Sci-Fi but a few years ago I read Scythe and whenever someone asks me what my favourite book is, I say Scythe. Because of you I also read the Martian and Recursion and tbh those are now also two of my favourite books! Also I just realised that the Lunar Chronicles are also Sci-Fi haha and loved those too
I just discovered all the Get to Know the Sci Fi Reader tag videos tonight, and am binge-watching to get recommendations, but so far everyone I've seen has said they hate time travel and love space/aliens. I'm the opposite. You're the first person I've seen who's enjoyed time travel! Can you offer up a few of your favorite titles for this sub-genre?
Hey Emily, Sorry for the looooong reply but I decided to play the game. 1) I guess the first sci-fi book I read might have been some Jules Verne when I was really young, if you consider that sci-fi T ALL (I do), and then probably Le voyageur imprudent by Rene Barjavel at school. Back then I kinda hated to read though, so if I had to define my origin story as a sci-fi reader I would say it really kicked off in 2012 when Game of thrones, the TV series, started to become popular. I decided to read the books first so that the series could become unspoilable for me, and I fell in love with reading at that point, with fantasy but mostly with science fiction. I started with the classics, Asimov, Herbert etc. and never stopped since then. 2) I'm hesitating between Iain M Banks because being a citizen of the Culture is pretty much a guarantee to have a good time, and John Scalzi because all of his characters (which would include myself) are smart and witty. Which trope, I'm not sure. Maybe being stranded in space with a rapidly decreasing amount of resources, but it's easy to say that right now because I know I would get out of it alive and well. 3) Probably The Expanse series, if only one book then Leviathan wakes, because even if the books are quite massive and I suspect they could be intimidating for someone who doesn't read a lot, the story is well structured, the characters compelling, the plot interesting. Something easier to read, maybe the Old man's war series by Scalzi. 4) Sci-fi investigation / police procedural, no hesitation. I fell in love with it when I read the Robots series by Asimov, and I've been looking for such books ever since but it's harder to find than I'd hope. On top of my head, I'd cite Caves of steel by Asimov, Lock in by Scalzi (currently reading Head on), Seeker by McDevitt, The city and the city by Mieville (although arguably it's more fantastic than sci-fi, maybe?), the aforementioned Leviathan wakes, and I'm probably forgetting others. Time travel, space opera and military sci-fi would be 2nd, 3rd and 4th respectively, I guess. 5) John Scalzi, Paolo Bacigalupi, Connie Willis, Alain Damasio, Vernor Vinge. Regarding Alastair Reynolds his Revelation space series is on my TBR but I think he has the potential to get on this list, and I would also have included Iain M Banks in there but sadly he died a while ago so I'm not sure it counts. 6) I don't really know any sci-fi enthusiasts in real life, and I don't really like to take recommandations from RUclips because generally it comes with spoilers, so I prioritize award winners or nominees, for a few years I've been going through the Hugo and the Nebula winning novels. Then of course the usual "Hey the cover is nice and the name is cool, I'll take that" at the bookstore. Also lately there have been a few good sci-fi TV series that made me want to read the source material, namely The Expanse and Altered carbon. For fantasy, I don't really mind being spoiled (if it's light spoilers) and I don't read as much anyway so RUclips is fine. I've got a few Brandon Sanderson books on my TBR thanks to you and Daniel Greene. 7) Anything by the authors I mentioned in my answer to question 5, I guess haha. I don't actively follow releases. 8) I guess the idea that it's childish to some extent. I think that all the genres that are purely imaginary, fantastic, fantasy, sci-fi etc. all suffer from this perception by the general public and they're too easily dismissed as not being "legitimate enough" if you see what I mean. 9) Spin by Robert Charles Wilson just because it's my favorite, Dune by Frank Herbert because I think it's a quintessential space opera, and The end of eternity by Asimov for the time travel. I guess it's diverse enough, unfortunately I can't say for sure if it's very accessible for new readers, I guess Spin is, The end of eternity and Dune might be a bit more difficult, I don't know. 10) Media death cult, he's a relatively small channel but I like his books and movie reviews and dry humour. I believe I found your channel through his, in the recommended videos. So yeah, there you go :) Cheers,
Have you tried the Old Man's War!?!? It's military Sci Fi. But it's Soooooo character driven and it was my beginning to sci Fi and John Scalzi has my heart. Try "Agent to the Stars", it's first contact with Aliens, and if you love his writing from there, dive into the others! (I also did not care for Ender's game or the forever war)
I would add a caveat, though, that younger readers are less likely to appreciate much of the humor in Agent to the Stars. It's pretty heavy on '80s pop culture. So by "younger," I mean post-GenX.
Fave scifi RUclipsr, other than you, is Booksandpieces, though unfortunately she hasn't posted since the pandemic started. Her backlog is great though, and she has done many theme lists as well as wrap ups and reviews.
I think you'd really enjoy "Timeline" by Crichton. I've read a read a good majority of his books (I'm behind on the posthumous releases) and that one has always been a favorite.
My favourite sci fi are time travelling and space opera. I love the star trek novels, specially the ones with Q. A lot of first contact with Aliens. For time travelling I just started history interrupted trilogy, it looks promising.
I love Sci Fi and love your reviews about Sci Fi books... I started reading in this genre since I was 10yrs old, my first books is the PENDRAGON Series by D.J. Machale...its 10 books with 10 worlds...the tropes I like mostly intergalactic travel, parellel universes and time travels 😁
Hi Emily - I have been following your channel for over a year now, and always like hearing your opinions on books - mostly because we share so many favourites like Blake Crouch, Flowers for Algernon, Becky Chambers work, etc - although you don't like Artemis and I loved that hahaha (and I think you said before that you didn't like Claire North but I love her books) - and anyway, I haven't said it yet (because it feels a bit naff because i'm sure you get tons of authors throwing their books at you) - but I am a self published author and my 2nd book (first novel called "Out among the ice beacons") is a first contact book. I know you love first contact books, and this is kind of my own take on it - with some humour in it and some difficulties that my protagonists face with the language barrier etc...I've tried to put comments on religion and fanaticism in there too....anyway, i'm sure your TBR doesn't need adding to, but I thought i'd mention it....apologies for the cheek of it. Really love seeing your thoughts on what you read, and a lot of the books you're looking forward to are also books i'm looking forward to in 2021.
Like you, I can't really remember the first book that got me into scifi. I know I was reading fantasy first, but I was definitely reading scifi by my early teens. I'd say Asimov was my main hook, probably one of his Robot stories. Then it was mostly classic authors like Le Guin, P.K. Dick, Brian Aldiss. Late 90s into 00s is when I started getting into military scifi, including Ender's Game. It's only the last decade or so that I've branched out into other subgenres. Most of my scifi reading has been in short story form, I think I've read more collections of those than actual novels. You said that you haven't read much in the VR subgenre, I would love to recommend the Otherland series by Tad Williams! It is based around an online world/ecosystem that is an evolved version of the internet, where the protagonists stumble onto/are dragged into a secret project that is quite sinister. I also haven't seen you talk about Kim Stanley Robinson, so I'd recommend any of his extensive catalogue of books. The misconception I would dispel is that scifi is all about tech and science. A lot of the best scifi is about philosophical questions - how would we view a world that has *this*, or what would *that* social change mean for our future civilisation?
I started To Be Taught, If Fortunate today. I am curious if I am going to enjoy it, since Sci-Fi isn't my jam, but your praise made me curious. So let's see :D
You inspired me to read Sci Fi for the first time ever, so your goal has worked with me at least haha. I loved "To Be Taught If Fortunate", such a great book!
I recommend anything by Julie Czerneda! Of all the scifi I've read, she's still my favorite at alien creations (AAANND the first contact is usually from the perspective of the alien, which is a cool variety). She's also really good at character-driven novels, similar to the tone of Chambers (especially in her most recent works). My personal favorites were the Migration trilogy and the Web Shifters trilogy. :) I'm totally with you on the typical top x recommendations - absolutely no variety and they usually generate from the masses of people who have ONLY read one or two scifi total. I need recs from people who have read a bunch!
If you like time travel I loved First Flight by Mary Robinette Kowal who writes the Lady Astronaut series. It is a short story about the Wright Brothers with a great time travel premise. I also loved her First Lady Astronaut series book The Calculating Stars. Kowal is probably my favorite sci-fi writer of 2020.
Ender's Game and the whole series is my absolute favorite but I totally respect that you aren't into it because of the military heavy vibe. I'm not into military heavy anything either but I think because it is just so sci-fi that it doesn't bother me.
@@BookswithEmilyFox I love military themes , but I hated the "8yo being tortured through a school" part. And if you hated that, then you may as well avoid the author. He seems to be a man of a single story retold in slightly different ways.
I've been reading sci-fi off and on all year. The Martian, Recursion, and Ready Player One are currently competing for my favorite. I'm planning on reading Contagion by Erin Bowman, Ready Player Two, Bird Box, and War of the Worlds before the year is over. :)
I also find that sci-fi doesn't get the hype it deserves. Tori Morrow has some great sci-fi content. Thanks for always keeping it real in your videos ❤️
"I will have to eat glass" HAHAHAHAHA 'To Be Taught' is one I absolutely adored as well. Becky Chambers is absolutely a favourite author of mine now and I can't wait for Wayfarers 4 AND her other works coming out in 2021!!! :D Also Sylvain Neuvel is releasing a new book next year and I enjoyed the Themis Files and The Test, so. Yee!
Emily, since you liked The Humans by Matt Haig I think you would also enjoy Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman ☺️ It's a non-fiction but hooked me right from the start even though I'm not a big non-fiction reader! And it definitely leaves you a bit more hopeful for humanity & I think we could all use that in these times 🙈
I started reading sci fi because of my boyfriend and your channel and I've read a few sub genres now. HATE first contact with aliens (the humans being the exception❤) other planets, wars etc.. but I LOOOOOVE different dimensions, waking up in a new body, reliving the same day every day...and for some reason someone being alone in the universe? I really liked the loneliest girl in the universe and the martian for that reason. I'm hoping to find more books in these more different sub genres because they're so good Def interested in looking into more robot books tbh
First, thank you for making a video on this subject. I keep repeating it like a broken record in YT comments, but s-f is very underrepresented on BookTube. In my mind there's a distinction between a sci-fi book and a book of other genres with sci-fi background. First category is where you'd find Arthur C. Clarke, Philip K. Dick etc. Some people would just call it "hard sci-fi". The second one is where Hunger Games and many other books belong. Sure, there are typical s-f themes, but they serve more like a background to the plot. If I see a book being labeled as YA and s-f then I you can bet your money on it being a teenage romance story that just happen to be set on a spaceship or in a postapocalyptic world. You can also bet your life savings on me not ever reading that book. I won't ever risk picking up another thing like The 100 by Kass Morgan. I won't judge anyone for loving one category or the other though. Variety is great for having a lot of people enjoy reading. Sadly if you happen to enjoy heavy s-f themed books like me, finding reading recommendations, YT channels and reading partners is hard. I wish more channels would cover classics or just older stuff in general.
Loved this tag!! My first sci-fi were Le Tour du Monde en 80 Jours and De la Terre a la Lune by Jules Verne when I was about 7 I think? I can still remember the scientists opening the window to throw out the bodies of the dead dogs and my dad explaining to me that people didn't know about the vacuum of space just yet ahaha! And George's Secret Key to the Universe by the Hawkins father x daughter duo not long after I finished Jules Verne, which follows George who lost his pig through a multi-dimensional space portal and must go into space to retrieve him -- one of the best middle grade I ever read! Would highly recommend if you haven't read it and are looking for a wholesome funny read :)
I'm currently listening to and expect to finish today the audiobook for Marie Lu's new book Skyhunter and I'm loving it. It's the first book in her new sci-fi/fantasy series, and I highly recommend it. I expect it to be a 4.5 or 5 star book when I finish it. I love a good book that has both sci-fi and fantasy elements!
Haven't seen anybody talking about this SF series, but I highly recommend the Donovan series by W. Michael Gear (4 books so far - Outpost, Abandoned, Pariah & Unreconciled). An abandoned, corporate-controlled mining colony struggling to survive on a distant hostile alien world, what could go wrong? (a lot!). Easy to get into, even if you're fairly new to SF. Welcome to Donovan!
I started reading SF in the late 50s... yes, that's 1950s. LOL I started with Andre Norton and Anne Mccaffrey (who I've met). I've attended, worked on SF conventions since 1983. Soooo yes, I love SF
Wow first books... My Dad's John Carter books probably. Then the Riverworld series and Chalkers Well of Souls. And Dune. It was a much different read at 30 than the first time when I was about 12 but it can be daunting and not for everyone. Really enjoyed Reader Player One. Which much like Breakfast Club really hit home as that was my formative years. Otherland seems to be popular for virtual reality but I don't care for Tad Williams. That series and Memory Sorrow Thorn were a waste of 8000 pages. Highly recommend Snow Crash. How can you not love the pizza delivery mafia?
If you don't watch him already, I recommend Daniel Greene ! He reads mostly fantasy and then SciFi. His channel has really developed over the last few months and he does a broad variety of videos. His two main characteristics are : he's silly (very) and has very clever analysis. I think you'd like him.
I saw a videoe where you talked about the Becky Chambers book. Decided to find out more and fell in love with the first one so over the last few months I have read them all and need the next one right now! XD Next year is still too far away!
For the last question, look up the Media Death Cult channel, this guy makes the best sci-fi content I've seen on youtube! He makes great reviews and I love to listen to him talk about books.
With virtual reality, give Tad Williams' Otherland series a try. It's a 4 book series. City of Golden Shadow came out in 96, so the tech is outdated, and all four books are huge. It's so good though
I would recommend Seven Devils by Elizabeth May and Laura Lam, it came out in August, and gave me Long Way to a small angry planet vibes but I enjoyed Seven Devils more
I saw you try classics of sci fi but i never saw you going for Asimov and i wonder why. Anyway i'm not much into this genre but you made me change my mind ^^
just letting you know you can read Zima blue, a short story by alastair reynolds for free, the pdf is floating around google i think. Love death and robots made this story into an episode on netflix, alongside beyond the aquila rift
My favorite scifi genre is speculative philosophical books! The only time I reread a book immediately was Sophie Ward's book Love and other thkught experiments. So good! It is more literary but has scifi elements :)
Not a YT channel but I have a book podcast to recommend. It's called Reading Glasses, comes out every Thursday and one of the hosts, Brea Grant is a huge sci-fi reader.
You know I realised recently I'm a SciFi reader but as its was never space books, I never thought of them as so. Bernard Werber is a great SciFi author maybe considered "mondane" subgenre !
Since you're into first contact with aliens, have you considered reading Lindsay Ellis' book "Axiom's End"? I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on it, as someone who reads more of this trope!
OMG PEGGY SUE ! I have 5 of those at home and adult me is conscern that nome of them follow. I don't even the 2 firsts books of the serie and i know that i have never read them
I agree with you there on military. I love SciFi (and thrillers), but ones involving the military (like "space operas"too) are really not my thing. I didn't read the book, but saw the movie "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and I really didn't like it either. I greatly appreciate that you don't cover romance and only YA like a lot of other BookTubers.
Everybody should subscribe to Tori Morrow's channel!! She reads so much sci-fi and fantasy and has great recommendations!! And Emily because of you I discovered some of my favourite sci-fi books 😍📚
My first was the novelization of the first Alien movie in sixth grade! Also, do you have any recs for a near future first contact book in a non-dystopian context?
The first sci-fi I read as an adult was "The Humans" and I only read it because of your recommendation.. now I'm obsessed with sci-fis!!
Kalanadi and BeckyM are two relatively small channels with a very strong focus on sci fi who have huge backlogs of reviews to keep anyone wanting more sci content busy for days!
I love Kalanadi! I'll check out the other one, thank you!
Murphy Napier and Daniel Greene are two of my favourites. Both are not *just* sci fi - Daniel also does fantasy content, and Murphy is fantasy, adult and classics.
These and Emily are probably some of my faves
I haven't finished this video but I already fully support this. More sci fi pls!
I love the channel Kalanadi. A lot of scifi. She talks about books in a way you instantly know if you like the book or not.
Alaistair Reynolds and Peter F Hamilton are amazing! I really recommend their book. I think you'll really like them. They're almost automatic buys for me.
A couple of older sci fi "first contact with aliens" books I enjoyed:
The Forge of God - Greg Bear (1987 ) - first contact with aliens coming to earth
Slow Lightning - Jack McDevitt (2000) - kind of a murder mystery/first contact/thriller
These stories are really different and have very different outcomes. I enjoyed both of these a lot - give them a try if you want!
I read Pines and Dark Matter by Blake Crouch this year, thanks to you, and LOVED them 💕
I’ve gotten more into sci fi every year for the last few years. I love it.
Sci-fi is one of my favorite, if not, favorite genre! I actually got into it from movies, some of my earliest memories are of the prequel Star War movies and The Fifth Element. The first Sci-fi books I remember were some of Margret Peterson Haddix’s books, which I loved in middle school!
I knew Becky Chambers was coming out with the 4th Wayfarer book next year but I had no idea about the other series! Thanks for putting it on my radar 😁
Flowers for Algernon broke my heart
I read To Be Taught If Fortunate because of you talking about it and it is now one of my favorite books of all time, thank you for the recommendation.
omg omg i’m thrilled to find a booktuber who loves becky chambers!!! i’ve been searching for booktubers who enjoy her writing and have finally found someone 😭 that’s the mark of good taste… subscribed immediately 💗
She's the best! I've read everything I could find by her and I'm recommending (forcing) them to everyone lol
I love sci fi so much! I’ve always been more into sci fi tv (ie Star Trek) but I’ve been loving your videos that share more books!
I so agree with your Sci-Fi favs (Becky Chambers ---amazing) and your Sci-Fi disappointments (Dune, Hitchhiker's Guide etc.). Appreciate your recommendations too. Great video!
My first sci-fi was Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth. The tropes I enjoy are time travel, first contact, and sentient ships. Anne McCaffery's Ship series has always been on my favorites list, though I do enjoy all of her books. The Freedom series is also very good (especially the audiobooks!). I also really enjoyed The Neanderthal Parallax trilogy by Robert J. Sawyer. It's interdimensional space instead of outer space, but still great and an interesting take on what Humans could have been like.
Love journey to the center of the earth. I read it in 5th grade as baby's first sci fi lol
If you want a wonderful, light-hearted sci-fi time-travel novel, I recommend "To Say Nothing of the Dog: or, How We Found the Bishop's Bird Stump at Last" by Connie Willis. If you don't want to take a stranger's word for it, how about this: it won both the Hugo and Locus Awards for Best Novel in 1999 and was nominated for the Nebula for Best Novel in 1998. It's one of my favorites and gets a re-read (or re-listen as the audiobook is FANTASTIC) at least every couple of years. If you want more qualifications for the author, Connie Willis, then how about this: she has won eleven Hugo Awards and seven Nebula awards (more than any other writer) and was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2009. The Science Fiction Writers of America named her its 28th SFWA Grand Master in 2011. So...she can write. :)
Connie is one of my auto-buy authors. And the new Oxford Time Travel book she was mulling over last time I saw her in person is a go! :: bouncing in anticipation ::
@@skeletonkeybooks Sweet! I hope it's in a comedic vein, like To Say Nothing of the Dog. Maybe further adventures of Ned and Verity. :)
Great tag! I think I’ll do this tag.
Sadly, I’m in the camp of not liking Becky Chambers: I wanted to punch the characters of A Long Way because I thought the novel was too syrupy and lacking in real stakes, bu that’s just me.
I think I started with some non fiction science books and the Hot Zone around the same time. Then I found your channel and got some great recommendations! I've now fallen in love with Becky Chambers and am still reading the Sparrow. I had to put it down for a bit because I love the characters and am scared to finish it haha
The first sci fi I remember reading was the Animorphs series starting with The Invasion by K.A. Applegate which came out in 1996.
I just picked up the Humans and am super excited to read it. You hyped it up really well!
There's an awesome video by Kurzgesagt of Andy Weir's The Egg that is basically like an audiobook with animation of the story
This was so much fun, I'm glad you adapted this tag to sci fi.
I've never been a sci-fi reader but at the beginning of this year I picked up 'The Martian' and now almost half of what I read is sci-fi. Got a lot of great recommendations from your channel so thank you! ;)
To be taught if fortunate was a delight and everything I absolutely love in scifi. This tag was so fun, I can't wait to do it and talk more about my fav genre!!
I'm not a big sci-fi reader, but ever since I've discovered your channel, I'm slowly warming up to it. So your lists for beginner sci-fi are super helpful for the intimidated by sci-fi readers like me.
I have started my scifi journey with a huge classic in the hard scifi genre (quite accidentally, a family friend gave me the book as a gift): The Foundation trilogy by Isaac Asimov. It was a challenge, but it blew my mind and just wanted to read more.
My starter-pack recomendation would be to read something by Sergei Lukyanenko. He likes to explore virtual reality and space travel as well, he writes very accessible and fast paced books. His urban fantasy series is also exceptional, if you have not heard from The Night Watch and are interested how vampires, shapeshifters and other beings would stay alive in Moskow, I highly recommend it. There’s also a movie, it’s great fun (skip the second movie though, it did not follow the story of the second book in any way).
Two Favorite sci fi booktubers are Darrel from Book Odyssey and Rachel from The Shades of Orange
I've really gotten into SciFi in the last few years, in large part thanks to you and The Themis Files series.
Have you tried Storygraph? I get so many amazing recommendations there.
Love Sci - Fi, thank you for the video. My answers would be
1) 1984. May not actually be the first sci - fi I ever read, but it's the earliest I can remember reading
2) I would like the author to be Stanislaw Lem (my all time favorite author), the trope would be time travel
3) 'Chain Of Chance' by Stanislaw Lem
4) My favorite would be dystopian sci fi; the one I haven't read too much from would be space opera
5) Stanislaw Lem; it's kind of obvious at this point I suppose :)
6) Various Online sources (that includes your channel, obviously)
7) Not sure, I'm more into classic sci - fi as opposed to modern sci - fi
8) Some people think sci - fi isn't a serious genre and has little food for thought to offer. It is perceived by some poeple to be a mere entertainment at best. Fewer people think so nowadays, but some still do. I hope one day it goes away since it's completely false.
9) 'Six Wakes' by Mur Lafferty; 'Eden' by Stanislaw Lem; '1984' By George Orwell
10) You
I never would’ve thought that I would be into Sci-Fi but a few years ago I read Scythe and whenever someone asks me what my favourite book is, I say Scythe. Because of you I also read the Martian and Recursion and tbh those are now also two of my favourite books! Also I just realised that the Lunar Chronicles are also Sci-Fi haha and loved those too
I just discovered all the Get to Know the Sci Fi Reader tag videos tonight, and am binge-watching to get recommendations, but so far everyone I've seen has said they hate time travel and love space/aliens. I'm the opposite. You're the first person I've seen who's enjoyed time travel! Can you offer up a few of your favorite titles for this sub-genre?
Hey Emily,
Sorry for the looooong reply but I decided to play the game.
1) I guess the first sci-fi book I read might have been some Jules Verne when I was really young, if you consider that sci-fi T ALL (I do), and then probably Le voyageur imprudent by Rene Barjavel at school. Back then I kinda hated to read though, so if I had to define my origin story as a sci-fi reader I would say it really kicked off in 2012 when Game of thrones, the TV series, started to become popular. I decided to read the books first so that the series could become unspoilable for me, and I fell in love with reading at that point, with fantasy but mostly with science fiction. I started with the classics, Asimov, Herbert etc. and never stopped since then.
2) I'm hesitating between Iain M Banks because being a citizen of the Culture is pretty much a guarantee to have a good time, and John Scalzi because all of his characters (which would include myself) are smart and witty. Which trope, I'm not sure. Maybe being stranded in space with a rapidly decreasing amount of resources, but it's easy to say that right now because I know I would get out of it alive and well.
3) Probably The Expanse series, if only one book then Leviathan wakes, because even if the books are quite massive and I suspect they could be intimidating for someone who doesn't read a lot, the story is well structured, the characters compelling, the plot interesting. Something easier to read, maybe the Old man's war series by Scalzi.
4) Sci-fi investigation / police procedural, no hesitation. I fell in love with it when I read the Robots series by Asimov, and I've been looking for such books ever since but it's harder to find than I'd hope. On top of my head, I'd cite Caves of steel by Asimov, Lock in by Scalzi (currently reading Head on), Seeker by McDevitt, The city and the city by Mieville (although arguably it's more fantastic than sci-fi, maybe?), the aforementioned Leviathan wakes, and I'm probably forgetting others.
Time travel, space opera and military sci-fi would be 2nd, 3rd and 4th respectively, I guess.
5) John Scalzi, Paolo Bacigalupi, Connie Willis, Alain Damasio, Vernor Vinge. Regarding Alastair Reynolds his Revelation space series is on my TBR but I think he has the potential to get on this list, and I would also have included Iain M Banks in there but sadly he died a while ago so I'm not sure it counts.
6) I don't really know any sci-fi enthusiasts in real life, and I don't really like to take recommandations from RUclips because generally it comes with spoilers, so I prioritize award winners or nominees, for a few years I've been going through the Hugo and the Nebula winning novels.
Then of course the usual "Hey the cover is nice and the name is cool, I'll take that" at the bookstore.
Also lately there have been a few good sci-fi TV series that made me want to read the source material, namely The Expanse and Altered carbon.
For fantasy, I don't really mind being spoiled (if it's light spoilers) and I don't read as much anyway so RUclips is fine. I've got a few Brandon Sanderson books on my TBR thanks to you and Daniel Greene.
7) Anything by the authors I mentioned in my answer to question 5, I guess haha. I don't actively follow releases.
8) I guess the idea that it's childish to some extent. I think that all the genres that are purely imaginary, fantastic, fantasy, sci-fi etc. all suffer from this perception by the general public and they're too easily dismissed as not being "legitimate enough" if you see what I mean.
9) Spin by Robert Charles Wilson just because it's my favorite, Dune by Frank Herbert because I think it's a quintessential space opera, and The end of eternity by Asimov for the time travel.
I guess it's diverse enough, unfortunately I can't say for sure if it's very accessible for new readers, I guess Spin is, The end of eternity and Dune might be a bit more difficult, I don't know.
10) Media death cult, he's a relatively small channel but I like his books and movie reviews and dry humour. I believe I found your channel through his, in the recommended videos.
So yeah, there you go :)
Cheers,
Have you tried the Old Man's War!?!? It's military Sci Fi. But it's Soooooo character driven and it was my beginning to sci Fi and John Scalzi has my heart.
Try "Agent to the Stars", it's first contact with Aliens, and if you love his writing from there, dive into the others!
(I also did not care for Ender's game or the forever war)
I loved both of those Scalzi books. Of course, I've never not liked anything by him. Another auto-buy author for me.
I would add a caveat, though, that younger readers are less likely to appreciate much of the humor in Agent to the Stars. It's pretty heavy on '80s pop culture. So by "younger," I mean post-GenX.
Fave scifi RUclipsr, other than you, is Booksandpieces, though unfortunately she hasn't posted since the pandemic started. Her backlog is great though, and she has done many theme lists as well as wrap ups and reviews.
I DIDN'T KNOW WE WERE GETTING A NEW WAYFARERS BOOK OMG HOW BLOODY EXCITING!!!
I think you'd really enjoy "Timeline" by Crichton. I've read a read a good majority of his books (I'm behind on the posthumous releases) and that one has always been a favorite.
My favourite sci fi are time travelling and space opera. I love the star trek novels, specially the ones with Q. A lot of first contact with Aliens. For time travelling I just started history interrupted trilogy, it looks promising.
I love Sci Fi and love your reviews about Sci Fi books... I started reading in this genre since I was 10yrs old, my first books is the PENDRAGON Series by D.J. Machale...its 10 books with 10 worlds...the tropes I like mostly intergalactic travel, parellel universes and time travels 😁
Here for all the To Be Taught love! That book makes me cry just THINKING about it. Gosh.
Hi Emily - I have been following your channel for over a year now, and always like hearing your opinions on books - mostly because we share so many favourites like Blake Crouch, Flowers for Algernon, Becky Chambers work, etc - although you don't like Artemis and I loved that hahaha (and I think you said before that you didn't like Claire North but I love her books) - and anyway, I haven't said it yet (because it feels a bit naff because i'm sure you get tons of authors throwing their books at you) - but I am a self published author and my 2nd book (first novel called "Out among the ice beacons") is a first contact book. I know you love first contact books, and this is kind of my own take on it - with some humour in it and some difficulties that my protagonists face with the language barrier etc...I've tried to put comments on religion and fanaticism in there too....anyway, i'm sure your TBR doesn't need adding to, but I thought i'd mention it....apologies for the cheek of it.
Really love seeing your thoughts on what you read, and a lot of the books you're looking forward to are also books i'm looking forward to in 2021.
Like you, I can't really remember the first book that got me into scifi. I know I was reading fantasy first, but I was definitely reading scifi by my early teens. I'd say Asimov was my main hook, probably one of his Robot stories. Then it was mostly classic authors like Le Guin, P.K. Dick, Brian Aldiss. Late 90s into 00s is when I started getting into military scifi, including Ender's Game. It's only the last decade or so that I've branched out into other subgenres. Most of my scifi reading has been in short story form, I think I've read more collections of those than actual novels.
You said that you haven't read much in the VR subgenre, I would love to recommend the Otherland series by Tad Williams! It is based around an online world/ecosystem that is an evolved version of the internet, where the protagonists stumble onto/are dragged into a secret project that is quite sinister. I also haven't seen you talk about Kim Stanley Robinson, so I'd recommend any of his extensive catalogue of books.
The misconception I would dispel is that scifi is all about tech and science. A lot of the best scifi is about philosophical questions - how would we view a world that has *this*, or what would *that* social change mean for our future civilisation?
Omg peggy sue et les fantomes probably one of my first sci-fi/fantasy series too 😂
I started To Be Taught, If Fortunate today. I am curious if I am going to enjoy it, since Sci-Fi isn't my jam, but your praise made me curious. So let's see :D
You inspired me to read Sci Fi for the first time ever, so your goal has worked with me at least haha. I loved "To Be Taught If Fortunate", such a great book!
I think I’m gonna start reading Becky Chambers in 2021. It might be my first book of the year.
I read the egg. It was fantastic.! So short but really fascinating.
About Alastair Reynolds... read House of Suns first. I know Revelation Space is probably more popular but House of Suns is a standalone.
I recommend anything by Julie Czerneda! Of all the scifi I've read, she's still my favorite at alien creations (AAANND the first contact is usually from the perspective of the alien, which is a cool variety). She's also really good at character-driven novels, similar to the tone of Chambers (especially in her most recent works). My personal favorites were the Migration trilogy and the Web Shifters trilogy. :) I'm totally with you on the typical top x recommendations - absolutely no variety and they usually generate from the masses of people who have ONLY read one or two scifi total. I need recs from people who have read a bunch!
I love Peter f Hamilton, the commonwealth saga specifically, made me love huge sci-fi books. They are all like 800 pages or more. They are fantastic.
this was such a fun tag! can’t wait to make my version of the video!
SFF180, Kalanadi, and Booksandpieces are my go tos for SFF on RUclips.
If you like time travel I loved First Flight by Mary Robinette Kowal who writes the Lady Astronaut series. It is a short story about the Wright Brothers with a great time travel premise. I also loved her First Lady Astronaut series book The Calculating Stars. Kowal is probably my favorite sci-fi writer of 2020.
I like Thinkbolt and Kalanadi.
The Egg!! Thank you!! I read this years ago, and could not remember the title or author. Such an incredible, thought-provoking piece of writing.
Ender's Game and the whole series is my absolute favorite but I totally respect that you aren't into it because of the military heavy vibe. I'm not into military heavy anything either but I think because it is just so sci-fi that it doesn't bother me.
I also don't really care for the "5yo being so incredibly intelligent" trope so it didn't help lol
@@BookswithEmilyFox I love military themes , but I hated the "8yo being tortured through a school" part. And if you hated that, then you may as well avoid the author. He seems to be a man of a single story retold in slightly different ways.
I'm already avoiding him... for all the other reasons lol
I've been reading sci-fi off and on all year. The Martian, Recursion, and Ready Player One are currently competing for my favorite. I'm planning on reading Contagion by Erin Bowman, Ready Player Two, Bird Box, and War of the Worlds before the year is over. :)
I also find that sci-fi doesn't get the hype it deserves. Tori Morrow has some great sci-fi content. Thanks for always keeping it real in your videos ❤️
"I will have to eat glass" HAHAHAHAHA
'To Be Taught' is one I absolutely adored as well. Becky Chambers is absolutely a favourite author of mine now and I can't wait for Wayfarers 4 AND her other works coming out in 2021!!! :D Also Sylvain Neuvel is releasing a new book next year and I enjoyed the Themis Files and The Test, so. Yee!
Emily, since you liked The Humans by Matt Haig I think you would also enjoy Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman ☺️
It's a non-fiction but hooked me right from the start even though I'm not a big non-fiction reader! And it definitely leaves you a bit more hopeful for humanity & I think we could all use that in these times 🙈
I started reading sci fi because of my boyfriend and your channel and I've read a few sub genres now. HATE first contact with aliens (the humans being the exception❤) other planets, wars etc.. but I LOOOOOVE different dimensions, waking up in a new body, reliving the same day every day...and for some reason someone being alone in the universe? I really liked the loneliest girl in the universe and the martian for that reason. I'm hoping to find more books in these more different sub genres because they're so good
Def interested in looking into more robot books tbh
First, thank you for making a video on this subject. I keep repeating it like a broken record in YT comments, but s-f is very underrepresented on BookTube.
In my mind there's a distinction between a sci-fi book and a book of other genres with sci-fi background. First category is where you'd find Arthur C. Clarke, Philip K. Dick etc. Some people would just call it "hard sci-fi". The second one is where Hunger Games and many other books belong. Sure, there are typical s-f themes, but they serve more like a background to the plot. If I see a book being labeled as YA and s-f then I you can bet your money on it being a teenage romance story that just happen to be set on a spaceship or in a postapocalyptic world. You can also bet your life savings on me not ever reading that book. I won't ever risk picking up another thing like The 100 by Kass Morgan.
I won't judge anyone for loving one category or the other though. Variety is great for having a lot of people enjoy reading. Sadly if you happen to enjoy heavy s-f themed books like me, finding reading recommendations, YT channels and reading partners is hard. I wish more channels would cover classics or just older stuff in general.
Loved this tag!!
My first sci-fi were Le Tour du Monde en 80 Jours and De la Terre a la Lune by Jules Verne when I was about 7 I think? I can still remember the scientists opening the window to throw out the bodies of the dead dogs and my dad explaining to me that people didn't know about the vacuum of space just yet ahaha!
And George's Secret Key to the Universe by the Hawkins father x daughter duo not long after I finished Jules Verne, which follows George who lost his pig through a multi-dimensional space portal and must go into space to retrieve him -- one of the best middle grade I ever read! Would highly recommend if you haven't read it and are looking for a wholesome funny read :)
I'm currently listening to and expect to finish today the audiobook for Marie Lu's new book Skyhunter and I'm loving it. It's the first book in her new sci-fi/fantasy series, and I highly recommend it. I expect it to be a 4.5 or 5 star book when I finish it. I love a good book that has both sci-fi and fantasy elements!
Haven't seen anybody talking about this SF series, but I highly recommend the Donovan series by W. Michael Gear (4 books so far - Outpost, Abandoned, Pariah & Unreconciled). An abandoned, corporate-controlled mining colony struggling to survive on a distant hostile alien world, what could go wrong? (a lot!). Easy to get into, even if you're fairly new to SF. Welcome to Donovan!
You should try the 'Killer B's'. Greg Bear, Gregory Benford, David Brin, Stephen Baxter.
How can you not love dolphins in space?
I started reading SF in the late 50s... yes, that's 1950s. LOL I started with Andre Norton and Anne Mccaffrey (who I've met). I've attended, worked on SF conventions since 1983. Soooo yes, I love SF
Wow first books... My Dad's John Carter books probably. Then the Riverworld series and Chalkers Well of Souls. And Dune. It was a much different read at 30 than the first time when I was about 12 but it can be daunting and not for everyone.
Really enjoyed Reader Player One. Which much like Breakfast Club really hit home as that was my formative years.
Otherland seems to be popular for virtual reality but I don't care for Tad Williams. That series and Memory Sorrow Thorn were a waste of 8000 pages.
Highly recommend Snow Crash. How can you not love the pizza delivery mafia?
If you don't watch him already, I recommend Daniel Greene ! He reads mostly fantasy and then SciFi. His channel has really developed over the last few months and he does a broad variety of videos. His two main characteristics are : he's silly (very) and has very clever analysis.
I think you'd like him.
I saw a videoe where you talked about the Becky Chambers book. Decided to find out more and fell in love with the first one so over the last few months I have read them all and need the next one right now! XD Next year is still too far away!
Micro by Crichton is also fantastic!
Love your version of the tag! I will make it in my channel... in Spanish 😀
For the last question, look up the Media Death Cult channel, this guy makes the best sci-fi content I've seen on youtube! He makes great reviews and I love to listen to him talk about books.
With virtual reality, give Tad Williams' Otherland series a try. It's a 4 book series. City of Golden Shadow came out in 96, so the tech is outdated, and all four books are huge. It's so good though
I would recommend Seven Devils by Elizabeth May and Laura Lam, it came out in August, and gave me Long Way to a small angry planet vibes but I enjoyed Seven Devils more
I saw you try classics of sci fi but i never saw you going for Asimov and i wonder why. Anyway i'm not much into this genre but you made me change my mind ^^
just letting you know you can read Zima blue, a short story by alastair reynolds for free, the pdf is floating around google i think. Love death and robots made this story into an episode on netflix, alongside beyond the aquila rift
My favorite scifi genre is speculative philosophical books! The only time I reread a book immediately was Sophie Ward's book Love and other thkught experiments. So good! It is more literary but has scifi elements :)
Not a YT channel but I have a book podcast to recommend. It's called Reading Glasses, comes out every Thursday and one of the hosts, Brea Grant is a huge sci-fi reader.
thank your for the recommendations Emily!
Revelation space by Alastair Reynolds is a great series. Personally I like the cyber-punk genre and would recommend it.
Have you read Axiom’s End by Lindsay Ellis? I feel like it would be right up your alley. SFF 180 is a great sci-fi creator.
Have you read Not Alone? It's pretty interesting if you like alien contact stuff.
You know I realised recently I'm a SciFi reader but as its was never space books, I never thought of them as so. Bernard Werber is a great SciFi author maybe considered "mondane" subgenre !
I really got into SciFi because of you 😀👍🏻
Keep doing sci fi
You’re me fave sci-fi creator!
I like sci fi books
Tori Morrow's channel if you haven't checked her out yet.
I second Tori Morrow!
Yess! Was coming here to say Tori :)
Have you ever read Sirens Of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut?? I feel like you would love it!
Oh man I am so doing this tag and is it weird to tag myself?? I mean your reading and mine are WAY different but I am a humble SSF reader.
That's so funny, I hated the martian and LOVED Artemis!!!!
Since you're into first contact with aliens, have you considered reading Lindsay Ellis' book "Axiom's End"? I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on it, as someone who reads more of this trope!
I remember Peggy Sue! I didn't know there were more than 2 books... I guess it was for the best lol
I was looking for the cover for this video and noticed that there were more... and she was now blond?! No. Just no haha
OMG PEGGY SUE ! I have 5 of those at home and adult me is conscern that nome of them follow. I don't even the 2 firsts books of the serie and i know that i have never read them
The first ones were the best ones haha
I agree with you there on military. I love SciFi (and thrillers), but ones involving the military (like "space operas"too) are really not my thing. I didn't read the book, but saw the movie "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and I really didn't like it either. I greatly appreciate that you don't cover romance and only YA like a lot of other BookTubers.
Are you really judging a 4 book "trilogy" by a 2-hour movie?
@@DonGass Obviously the movie did not cover all four book, but regardless it was to weird for me. Personal opinion.
Would you consider Lovecraft Country sci-fi? Have you read it?
Everybody should subscribe to Tori Morrow's channel!! She reads so much sci-fi and fantasy and has great recommendations!! And Emily because of you I discovered some of my favourite sci-fi books 😍📚
My first was the novelization of the first Alien movie in sixth grade! Also, do you have any recs for a near future first contact book in a non-dystopian context?