Great reviews. I’m only mid way through but thoroughly enjoying so far. Nice to get a brief description of each book and some really rooted opinions of them, as opposed to a lot of book tubers I’m finding that exclusively read the “popular” books and give painfully generic reviews. You’ve added some books to my TBR 😊
Thanks for saying that and for watching so much of a long video! I didn't mean to speak so much but I got carried away I suppose. Got more obscurities coming up so hopefully you stick around.
I actually didn't mean to speak for so long about each book but I got carried away... glad you enjoyed it and hope to see you in the comments more David, cheers.
53:35 - Heathen, again! 54:34 - That's Lem's trademark - our inability to communicate with anything and anyone "other". That's one of the topics of _Solaris,_ and the main topic of _The Invincible, His Master's Voice_ and _Fiasco._ 55:21 - That's the complaint I heard from at least one other BookTuber I follow. It didn't bother me at all (and, again, there are others who agree with me.) interesting.
Good stuff mate. Glad I found you and thanks for the video…a few disagreements “cough Blood Music and Old Man’s War cough” but hey that’s the fun of it and I truly appreciate your content.
Great video - thanks for taking the time to describe and review each book so clearly and honestly. It looks like you've had an epic reading year. Clearly Silverberg was a big winner overall. I have a few of his on my list to get through next year.
I appreciate you watching and commenting Robin, especially since you're one of the people I look to most on science fiction youtube. I look forward to hearing your opinions on them!
I loved this tier list! Now when I find myself in a used bookstore and confronted with thousands of vintage science fiction books… or just at the library, I will just whip out my I-phone notes where I now have a list of your S & A titles!!
nice! love the honesty! really important to just call it as you see it instead of kowtowing to the "majority opinion" whatever that is. really agree with you on the S-tiers.
About half way through; You have a great catalog of books here! I really appreciate how you are rating the books based on your feelings/experience with the book and not just what's popular. I do think you explain the plots of books a little too much (which your description seems to allude to). For book I haven't read yet, I had to skip around a bit. I think the longer plot summaries can be left to the single or grouped review videos; this format is more for summary of thoughts and comparing/contrasting. Still, great work and I look forward to watching the back-half!
Old Man's War - The volunteers don't get their old bodies renewed, they get their mind consciousness put into a new 'vat grown' perfect soldier body. Small point Good video over all. I don't pay much attention to other people rating books but can appreciate the effort it takes to make the video. Also nearly always come away withy a new author, or get reminded of a forgotten one. This time Lois McMaster Bujold, never heard of him/her, I now have a dozen new audiobooks to listen to. Thank you.
Hey, appreciate you watching and commenting. I specifically didn't mention the method that they're 'renewed' in case people wanted to discover that for themselves. I think I did mention that I wanted to avoid spoilers when speaking about that book. I'll check out that author you mentioned, I always like hearing recommendations in the comments so feel free to chip in on my future videos if you feel so inclined :)
1:08:22 - The main point of _Ender's Game_ is not a kid in a weird school, but an outsider (kid as opposed to "normal" military") being manipulated to do their dirty work, to do unthinkable, attack the enemy home planet and commit a xenocide.
Thank you for sharing this vast ranking. I enjoyed and I trust benefited from your opinions. I could mention a few surprises, but hey, that's kind of the purpose of these videos -- to share individual POVs and eventually find one's own 'true reader within'. As I contemplate possible SF books in 2025 I was glad to see my top 2 make S-tier: Simmons & Vinge. And for a lighter fun read I think we have to say by this point that Day of the Tiriffids is a good bet to reach for.🌱
@@SciFiFinds Not sure, but we are taking a family trip this coming week and I plan to make that decision before the new year. My last name is Hopkins and can I tell you something fun? I recently came cross an old end-of-the-world disaster novel I'd never heard of called, of all things, The Hopkins Manuscript! Maybe I'll start with that. :) I'm hoping it's a bit Wyndham-like. Perhaps you can review it sometime. Merry/Happy Christmas!
50:20 - I agree, this novel (and its sequels) will hold most appeal to connoisseurs of Niven's _Known Space_ universe; but it does have some really neat ideas, like luck being an inheritable trait 52:05 - No, no argument here. I agree with this placement. It _is_ possible that I will change my mind if I find strength to read the whole series.
What a year, lots of great books! I’ll forgive😉 the poor Solaris rating since you’ve got Hyperion and Fire Upon the Deep in the S category! I’ve got to read Downward to the Earth, loved A Time of Changes.
Haha I did say that I understand why people do love it! Does that count for anything? I need to read more Lem and you seem to be the resident expert on RUclips so any recommendations of what to try next would be appreciated. Has been great to chat with you in comments and such this year, as well as discovering your channel :)
@@SciFiFinds Yes, it is great connecting with you here on Booktube; I love your channel. With Lem it isn't easy to know what will work for a reader. He uses different writing styles depending on the book; some are funny, and satirical like The Cyberiad. Others more serious in tone, like The Invincible. Star Diaries strikes middle ground. Happy Holidays!
13:20 - "A bit" ?!? Heathen! ! 😀 Well, to each their own. Of course it is not about plot, but the atmosphere. BTW, be sure to watch the film _Stalker_ by Tarkovsky (there is a DVD in Criterion collection, along with his _Solaris_ after Lem - watch that, too). As you might have guessed, pretty much nothing happens in the film, and you watch that non-happening on the edge of your seat, barely breathing.
Find the very idea of Tchaikovsky ranked above Priest painful (I've read both of course) but I guess that's why I don't so tier rankings myself: you've read some great books this year, however, your journey will take you many more wild places yet....
I thought you might. I suppose I'm not necessarily saying that I think Tchaikovsky's book is better or that he is a better writer but I had a better time reading it. Priest definitely achieves more conceptually, which probably highlights the flaws inherent in the tier ranking system.
@@SciFiFinds Got it. I'll be very interesting to see how your perspective shifts- if it does- over the next year. Reading a lot of classic SF in a short space of time can be a duzzying experience (as it should be) and I'm pumped to see ho you get on. We'll do a collab at some point next year if you're keen, would be great to talk!
Quite the impressive list for a single year of reading. You seem to have more free time than I do. (Or are not addicted to WoW.) A few notes: I read Man Plus a couple years ago. It's dated, has some ideas but could be done better today. I read Book of the New Sun series last year and hated it. Why people rank it so highly befuddles me. I kept waiting for it to get better and it never does. Weird things happen for no reason. Dead ends abound. I think Wolfe just wanted an excuse for his character to hear a bunch of short stories. The whole series I'd give a low C or even a D rating. Children of Dune I'd say is the worst of the Dune books. It's mostly set up, or an origin story to God Emperor, which I liked (love the idea of the character which I think is one of the best in sci-fi.) I can't remember if it is Messiah or Children which has Alia being controlled by the brain ghost of Baron Harkonnen, just a dumb idea I thought. I too read Norstrillia this year and didn't like it. Read The Best of Cordwainer Smith first just to get an idea of his universe and didn't like that. He has ideas but can't put them into a story I cared about. Norstrillia just seemed silly to me. Maybe it was great stuff in the 60s but not any more. Another C at best, probably a D. Read Fire upon the Deep a few years ago. Loved most of it but the Zones of Thought just make no sense to me. Zero idea of how any of that would work. The Tines are great though. Been reading more Heinlein this past year and... I dunno. He's alright. Don't see the greatness in his reputation. Don't care for libertarianism. Agree that Hyperion is among the best sci-fi. Old Man's War is pretty good. The whole series is good although Zoe's Tale is redundant. In general I like every Scalzi book I've read. Agree that Ringworld is average at best. It's just travel... travel... travel... End. I loved Mote in God's Eye when I read it 30+ years ago. I don't know if I'd feel the same today. Niven and Pournelle make a great team. Loved Dream Park.
Haha I'm definitely not addicted to WoW. Appreciate your comments there, I can see the logic in all of them. Anything you'd recommend I read as a priority in the new year?
@@SciFiFinds Well, with the caveat that I don't know what you have and haven't read... I'm a big fan of short stories. So most of these authors I'd point to their short story collections. Clarke, Pohl, Niven, Asimov... all good. For Fred Pohl two of my all-time favorite sci-fi books are his Gateway and Beyond the Blue Event Horizon. The other Heechee books are okay, but not as good. As I mentioned for Niven I loved Dreampark 30+ years ago, plus the sequels. Also Footfall, Legacy of Heorot, Inferno and even Oath of Fealty (although I think that one betrays his conservative/libertarian leanings too much.) Another top favorite is Brin's Uplift series, particularly the second book, Startide Rising. The third, Uplift War is good too. The first, Sundiver is okay but light, consider it a long introduction/prologue. There's a second series which is okay, the first two books are meh but the third is very weird and unpredictable. Fred Saberhagen is a good, solid writer, not the best but dependable. I love his Berzerker series and Book of Swords/Lost Swords series. Alistair Reynolds is a top star. Haven't read most of his stuff yet but I did like Pushing Ice and House of Suns. Enjoyed the Bobiverse books. Interesting the direction they go in. Julian May isn't talked about much but I loved her series about psychic humans. The Pliocene Exile is the first series. Another series that isn't talked about but I loved is Leo Frankowski's Chronicles of Conrad Stargard. It has some stuff that hasn't dated well, but overall is excellent. The best I've read this past year was two of Octavia Butler's books: Kindred and Parable of the Sower. Grim and sad, but worth reading. If you like fantasy, and most sci-fi readers do, my favorites are: Zelazny's Amber series. Brust's Vlad Taltos books. (They can be uneven and they are published out of order, but I give him points for trying new things.) Frazetta and Silke's Death Dealer series. J.V. Jones' Baker Boy series. (I love that the hero boy accidentally has magic, it's weak, and he barely survives the adventures.) Hines' Jig the Goblin is fun. Eddings' Belgariad and Mallorean series is good but often seems like a travelogue.
Re: _Contact_ (6:05) (SPOILER ALERT) it should be said that, despite Sagan leaning, obviously, towards the science side in the science vs. religion conflict, in this book our Universe has been created (not by anything resembling Christian God, but nevertheless created.)
Poul Anderson has usually disappointed me when I read his novels. I think his sword and sorcery was a bit better than his SF but I never loved it. I read quite a bit of it, back it the day though because like you say, it was everywhere and cheap. Also I had a terrible habit of confusing his name with that of Frederik Pohl who is a fantastic author, in my onionin. So I would get them home, start reading and then think 'oh no, I did it again...' Great video, looks like a lot of time went into making the reading tier and it was very interesting to watch.
A book I DNFed decades ago was Poul Anderson's Orion Shall Rise. I thought it was terrible. Love Fred Pohl and I list Gateway and Beyond the Blue two of the all-time best sci-fi I've read. Read Man Plus a couple years ago and was disappointed.
13:00 - "Dated"? Yeah, like "damsel in distress" princess and "space sailors" dancing kozachok. And asymmetry is not what is driving Motie societal trayectory, but their inability to control population.
I would have elaborated a bit more but I already went way beyond what I set out to do with this video. I'm also trying to largely avoid spoilers or information revealed late into the books
1:27:40 - No quarrel here, either. While I pretty much despised this propaganda for fascist, ultramilitarized society, I quite like Verhoeven's satirical treatment of it in the eponymous film.
Let's see - a book every five days, not bad (unless this _is_ your day job which, based on the number of subscribers, it is not.) I agree with at least hapf of your placements (+/- 1 tier - precise placement is a bit arbitrary and done at the spur of the moment); I vehemently disagree with several, but also find that we agree in "unconventional" palcement of some books. All in all, very interesting. Thanks!
I really appreciate you watching and leaving insightful comments. It is not my day job, I am an engineer trying to cram in science fiction books where I can. The best part of connecting with other people on here is to get a wide variety of perspectives I think. Hope you stick around for future content!
@@SciFiFinds Thank you for reading and replying to all comments. I will certainly try to follow your channel (I have subscribed, but with the number of subscriptions I have, alerts get drowned...)
800/900 page books rarely do justify their length I find. I was vaguely curious about Seveneves but this has swayed me to give it a miss. Sounds like a plot that one of the hard SF masters of old would've done in half the length. B tier is actually lower than I thought you'd place Inverted World, as it's held in such high regard. I don't entirely disagree though; while I can recognise it as objectively good SF, some of the character choices in it really irked me. Well done on this anyway. You're reading some good stuff, it's not all the usual contemporary stuff we see all the time on YT. 👍
Thanks for this! B tier is still a good rating in my mind but it sounds like we are aligned in our thinking. Any long books you've read that you would recommend?
@@SciFiFindsHow familiar are you with John Brunner? He's most known for 'Stand on Zanzibar' (which really is a huge novel) but I haven't got to it yet. I read another of his called 'The Sheep Look Up' which is still decently long (~450 pages) and is a meticulously realised dystopia; quite heavy in its messaging but marvelously written and it has stuck with me so that counts for something. The blurb on my edition describes reading it to "the autumnal feeling of approaching loss", which I'd say is accurate. A fine piece of work that you may want to put on your radar.
What a strange coincidence. I'm currently reading Stand on Zanzibar - about 100 pages into it! Will probably talk about that in the first week of January but your words there are resonating so far
47:28 - Come on! Perhaps a very good _action_ SciFi film, but "the best film, full stop" ?!? With _Solaris_ (Tarkovski's, but the other one, too), _Stalker, 2001..., Forbidden Planet..._
It's subjective of course but I truly think that the set design, score, practical effects and claustrophic horror of Alien sets it apart. 2001 is definitely a contender for me too!
I really enjoyed this video due to your succinct explanations of each book! Please enjoy an in-depth comment: -I agree with your take on Poul Anderson. I enjoyed The High Crusade but what else I've read by him has been meh. There's a permanent free book box outside of a local school and when I peeked inside out of curiosity, it had a bunch of Poul Anderson. I didn't take any 🤷 -Sorry you had a negative experience with PJ Farmer. He's one of my favorite authors but like all authors, he has some duds. I enjoyed Venus on the Half Shell (writing as Kilgore Trout) as it's the book that inspired Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy but be warned, in addition to the protagonist's search for ultimate universal truth, it contains explicit alien sex scenes. Groovy. -I haven't read any Silverberg yet but I want to read Lord Valentine's Castle. It's encouraging to see most of his stuff rank highly on your list! -I loved Weapon Shops of Isher and Weapon Makers by van Vogt. So even though you ranked it as C, your description of Space Beagle made me more excited to read it. I bought it a few weeks ago in an omnibus with Slan and World of Null A. -The first time I read Shadow of the Torturer, I thought it sucked, honestly. Then I read its sequels. Then I read all of the books again. Then I read them a third, and fourth time... and now I love them. They require an intense exegesis to get the deeper story. Reading Gene Wolfe is a lot of work and I'm not always up for it, which is why the Books of the New Sun are all I've read by him. "Do you know who The Conciliator was?" -Don't feel obligated to like Roger Zelazny's work just because he's revered. I read Jack of Shadows and thought it was lousy. He gets one more chance with me when I eventually read Lord of Light, because who knows, maybe he is awesome and I just read one of his duds? Still, my first impression of him has not been good. -I added Hyperion, the Forever War and Nonstop to my collection wish list, thanks for all the great suggestions implicit in this video!
I really appreciate you watching and taking the time to leave this comment. Definitely check out some Silverberg, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Space Beagle is an enjoyable read! I do think I will benefit from a read of the entire Book of the New Sun like you said. I will definitely read some more Zelazny, but probably not his fantasy stuff. Look forward to all of your future videos!
Haha I turned on RUclips's 'Automatic Chapters' feature for this video and it looks like it's not working too well. I'm not sure that I could speak about The Black Hole for an hour if I tried!
Great reviews. I’m only mid way through but thoroughly enjoying so far. Nice to get a brief description of each book and some really rooted opinions of them, as opposed to a lot of book tubers I’m finding that exclusively read the “popular” books and give painfully generic reviews.
You’ve added some books to my TBR 😊
Thanks for saying that and for watching so much of a long video! I didn't mean to speak so much but I got carried away I suppose. Got more obscurities coming up so hopefully you stick around.
Like your lengthy, critical descriptions of each book. Keep up the very good work. Best wishes- David
I actually didn't mean to speak for so long about each book but I got carried away... glad you enjoyed it and hope to see you in the comments more David, cheers.
53:35 - Heathen, again! 54:34 - That's Lem's trademark - our inability to communicate with anything and anyone "other". That's one of the topics of _Solaris,_ and the main topic of _The Invincible, His Master's Voice_ and _Fiasco._ 55:21 - That's the complaint I heard from at least one other BookTuber I follow. It didn't bother me at all (and, again, there are others who agree with me.) interesting.
I know I'm probably in the minority. First half is excellent
Good stuff mate. Glad I found you and thanks for the video…a few disagreements “cough Blood Music and Old Man’s War cough” but hey that’s the fun of it and I truly appreciate your content.
I do like both books! Glad you don't have the pitchfork out though haha. Plenty more to come so I appreciate you watching and commenting
Great video - thanks for taking the time to describe and review each book so clearly and honestly. It looks like you've had an epic reading year. Clearly Silverberg was a big winner overall. I have a few of his on my list to get through next year.
I appreciate you watching and commenting Robin, especially since you're one of the people I look to most on science fiction youtube. I look forward to hearing your opinions on them!
Absolute quality content, thank you!
Appreciate you saying that! I think I can do better next time around so hopefully you'll watch the 2025 tier list top :)
@@SciFiFinds better in the sense of...more books? 😅
@@floeten-olm8396 haha let's see!
I loved this tier list! Now when I find myself in a used bookstore and confronted with thousands of vintage science fiction books… or just at the library, I will just whip out my I-phone notes where I now have a list of your S & A titles!!
Thank you Heidi :)
I'm sure you'll be able to find a few of these fairly easily. Hope you have a great Christmas and New Year
nice! love the honesty! really important to just call it as you see it instead of kowtowing to the "majority opinion" whatever that is. really agree with you on the S-tiers.
Thanks for watching! I'm glad that you're not coming after me with a pitchfork
About half way through; You have a great catalog of books here! I really appreciate how you are rating the books based on your feelings/experience with the book and not just what's popular. I do think you explain the plots of books a little too much (which your description seems to allude to). For book I haven't read yet, I had to skip around a bit. I think the longer plot summaries can be left to the single or grouped review videos; this format is more for summary of thoughts and comparing/contrasting. Still, great work and I look forward to watching the back-half!
Thanks again!
Good stuff!
Thank you! I think I made my sore throat worse by talking for this long...
@SciFiFinds hahah a lot of good suggestions for us viewers though 😁
Old Man's War - The volunteers don't get their old bodies renewed, they get their mind consciousness put into a new 'vat grown' perfect soldier body. Small point
Good video over all. I don't pay much attention to other people rating books but can appreciate the effort it takes to make the video. Also nearly always come away withy a new author, or get reminded of a forgotten one. This time Lois McMaster Bujold, never heard of him/her, I now have a dozen new audiobooks to listen to. Thank you.
Hey, appreciate you watching and commenting. I specifically didn't mention the method that they're 'renewed' in case people wanted to discover that for themselves. I think I did mention that I wanted to avoid spoilers when speaking about that book. I'll check out that author you mentioned, I always like hearing recommendations in the comments so feel free to chip in on my future videos if you feel so inclined :)
1:08:22 - The main point of _Ender's Game_ is not a kid in a weird school, but an outsider (kid as opposed to "normal" military") being manipulated to do their dirty work, to do unthinkable, attack the enemy home planet and commit a xenocide.
Thank you for sharing this vast ranking. I enjoyed and I trust benefited from your opinions. I could mention a few surprises, but hey, that's kind of the purpose of these videos -- to share individual POVs and eventually find one's own 'true reader within'. As I contemplate possible SF books in 2025 I was glad to see my top 2 make S-tier: Simmons & Vinge. And for a lighter fun read I think we have to say by this point that Day of the Tiriffids is a good bet to reach for.🌱
I definitely have a few opinions that are outliers, but like you say, each reader will have their own view. What are you going to read first in 2025?
@@SciFiFinds Not sure, but we are taking a family trip this coming week and I plan to make that decision before the new year. My last name is Hopkins and can I tell you something fun? I recently came cross an old end-of-the-world disaster novel I'd never heard of called, of all things, The Hopkins Manuscript! Maybe I'll start with that. :) I'm hoping it's a bit Wyndham-like. Perhaps you can review it sometime. Merry/Happy Christmas!
He put most of the highly acclaimed and rated sci fis in b and c. Brave man
Brave... or stupid?
Thx for this ranking
No problem! It probably could have been shorter... maybe next year!
@ you can talk sci-fi all day long, i’m in ! Cheers !
50:20 - I agree, this novel (and its sequels) will hold most appeal to connoisseurs of Niven's _Known Space_ universe; but it does have some really neat ideas, like luck being an inheritable trait
52:05 - No, no argument here. I agree with this placement. It _is_ possible that I will change my mind if I find strength to read the whole series.
Great list, I am still working through it!
No pressure to watch it all, I know it's a long video. Thanks for the comment
What a year, lots of great books!
I’ll forgive😉 the poor Solaris rating since you’ve got Hyperion and Fire Upon the Deep in the S category!
I’ve got to read Downward to the Earth, loved A Time of Changes.
Haha I did say that I understand why people do love it! Does that count for anything? I need to read more Lem and you seem to be the resident expert on RUclips so any recommendations of what to try next would be appreciated. Has been great to chat with you in comments and such this year, as well as discovering your channel :)
@@SciFiFinds Yes, it is great connecting with you here on Booktube; I love your channel. With Lem it isn't easy to know what will work for a reader. He uses different writing styles depending on the book; some are funny, and satirical like The Cyberiad. Others more serious in tone, like The Invincible. Star Diaries strikes middle ground. Happy Holidays!
Hi! Great list. We've been through a similar journey this year. Do you happen to have the list's link? Cheers from Argentina.
Hey there, thanks for watching! Try this - tiermaker.com/create/every-sci-fi-book-i-read-in-2024--17147283
@SciFiFinds oh no, it appears empty. Too bad 😞
13:20 - "A bit" ?!? Heathen! ! 😀
Well, to each their own. Of course it is not about plot, but the atmosphere. BTW, be sure to watch the film _Stalker_ by Tarkovsky (there is a DVD in Criterion collection, along with his _Solaris_ after Lem - watch that, too). As you might have guessed, pretty much nothing happens in the film, and you watch that non-happening on the edge of your seat, barely breathing.
I've seen the film. It has some really staggering cinematography in it! I haven't seen that version of Solaris yet though. Thanks for the suggestion
Find the very idea of Tchaikovsky ranked above Priest painful (I've read both of course) but I guess that's why I don't so tier rankings myself: you've read some great books this year, however, your journey will take you many more wild places yet....
I thought you might. I suppose I'm not necessarily saying that I think Tchaikovsky's book is better or that he is a better writer but I had a better time reading it. Priest definitely achieves more conceptually, which probably highlights the flaws inherent in the tier ranking system.
@@SciFiFinds Got it. I'll be very interesting to see how your perspective shifts- if it does- over the next year. Reading a lot of classic SF in a short space of time can be a duzzying experience (as it should be) and I'm pumped to see ho you get on. We'll do a collab at some point next year if you're keen, would be great to talk!
I'd love to! I occasionally find myself out west too but I forget exactly where you're based. Thanks again
@@SciFiFinds Bath. An in-person meet would be a good one to film.
Quite the impressive list for a single year of reading. You seem to have more free time than I do. (Or are not addicted to WoW.) A few notes:
I read Man Plus a couple years ago. It's dated, has some ideas but could be done better today.
I read Book of the New Sun series last year and hated it. Why people rank it so highly befuddles me. I kept waiting for it to get better and it never does. Weird things happen for no reason. Dead ends abound. I think Wolfe just wanted an excuse for his character to hear a bunch of short stories. The whole series I'd give a low C or even a D rating.
Children of Dune I'd say is the worst of the Dune books. It's mostly set up, or an origin story to God Emperor, which I liked (love the idea of the character which I think is one of the best in sci-fi.) I can't remember if it is Messiah or Children which has Alia being controlled by the brain ghost of Baron Harkonnen, just a dumb idea I thought.
I too read Norstrillia this year and didn't like it. Read The Best of Cordwainer Smith first just to get an idea of his universe and didn't like that. He has ideas but can't put them into a story I cared about. Norstrillia just seemed silly to me. Maybe it was great stuff in the 60s but not any more. Another C at best, probably a D.
Read Fire upon the Deep a few years ago. Loved most of it but the Zones of Thought just make no sense to me. Zero idea of how any of that would work. The Tines are great though.
Been reading more Heinlein this past year and... I dunno. He's alright. Don't see the greatness in his reputation. Don't care for libertarianism.
Agree that Hyperion is among the best sci-fi.
Old Man's War is pretty good. The whole series is good although Zoe's Tale is redundant. In general I like every Scalzi book I've read.
Agree that Ringworld is average at best. It's just travel... travel... travel... End.
I loved Mote in God's Eye when I read it 30+ years ago. I don't know if I'd feel the same today. Niven and Pournelle make a great team. Loved Dream Park.
Haha I'm definitely not addicted to WoW. Appreciate your comments there, I can see the logic in all of them. Anything you'd recommend I read as a priority in the new year?
@@SciFiFinds
Well, with the caveat that I don't know what you have and haven't read...
I'm a big fan of short stories. So most of these authors I'd point to their short story collections. Clarke, Pohl, Niven, Asimov... all good.
For Fred Pohl two of my all-time favorite sci-fi books are his Gateway and Beyond the Blue Event Horizon. The other Heechee books are okay, but not as good.
As I mentioned for Niven I loved Dreampark 30+ years ago, plus the sequels. Also Footfall, Legacy of Heorot, Inferno and even Oath of Fealty (although I think that one betrays his conservative/libertarian leanings too much.)
Another top favorite is Brin's Uplift series, particularly the second book, Startide Rising. The third, Uplift War is good too. The first, Sundiver is okay but light, consider it a long introduction/prologue. There's a second series which is okay, the first two books are meh but the third is very weird and unpredictable.
Fred Saberhagen is a good, solid writer, not the best but dependable. I love his Berzerker series and Book of Swords/Lost Swords series.
Alistair Reynolds is a top star. Haven't read most of his stuff yet but I did like Pushing Ice and House of Suns.
Enjoyed the Bobiverse books. Interesting the direction they go in.
Julian May isn't talked about much but I loved her series about psychic humans. The Pliocene Exile is the first series.
Another series that isn't talked about but I loved is Leo Frankowski's Chronicles of Conrad Stargard. It has some stuff that hasn't dated well, but overall is excellent.
The best I've read this past year was two of Octavia Butler's books: Kindred and Parable of the Sower. Grim and sad, but worth reading.
If you like fantasy, and most sci-fi readers do, my favorites are:
Zelazny's Amber series.
Brust's Vlad Taltos books. (They can be uneven and they are published out of order, but I give him points for trying new things.)
Frazetta and Silke's Death Dealer series.
J.V. Jones' Baker Boy series. (I love that the hero boy accidentally has magic, it's weak, and he barely survives the adventures.)
Hines' Jig the Goblin is fun.
Eddings' Belgariad and Mallorean series is good but often seems like a travelogue.
Thanks for taking the time to type that out, I have made a number of notes to follow up on. Having such well read viewers is great.
Re: _Contact_ (6:05) (SPOILER ALERT) it should be said that, despite Sagan leaning, obviously, towards the science side in the science vs. religion conflict, in this book our Universe has been created (not by anything resembling Christian God, but nevertheless created.)
It's a really cool ending! Thanks for watching and commenting.
Poul Anderson has usually disappointed me when I read his novels. I think his sword and sorcery was a bit better than his SF but I never loved it. I read quite a bit of it, back it the day though because like you say, it was everywhere and cheap. Also I had a terrible habit of confusing his name with that of Frederik Pohl who is a fantastic author, in my onionin. So I would get them home, start reading and then think 'oh no, I did it again...'
Great video, looks like a lot of time went into making the reading tier and it was very interesting to watch.
Haha! I like Frederik Pohl so far too. Thanks for watching and commenting as always
A book I DNFed decades ago was Poul Anderson's Orion Shall Rise. I thought it was terrible.
Love Fred Pohl and I list Gateway and Beyond the Blue two of the all-time best sci-fi I've read.
Read Man Plus a couple years ago and was disappointed.
13:00 - "Dated"? Yeah, like "damsel in distress" princess and "space sailors" dancing kozachok. And asymmetry is not what is driving Motie societal trayectory, but their inability to control population.
I would have elaborated a bit more but I already went way beyond what I set out to do with this video. I'm also trying to largely avoid spoilers or information revealed late into the books
1:27:40 - No quarrel here, either. While I pretty much despised this propaganda for fascist, ultramilitarized society, I quite like Verhoeven's satirical treatment of it in the eponymous film.
Let's see - a book every five days, not bad (unless this _is_ your day job which, based on the number of subscribers, it is not.) I agree with at least hapf of your placements (+/- 1 tier - precise placement is a bit arbitrary and done at the spur of the moment); I vehemently disagree with several, but also find that we agree in "unconventional" palcement of some books.
All in all, very interesting. Thanks!
I really appreciate you watching and leaving insightful comments. It is not my day job, I am an engineer trying to cram in science fiction books where I can. The best part of connecting with other people on here is to get a wide variety of perspectives I think. Hope you stick around for future content!
@@SciFiFinds Thank you for reading and replying to all comments. I will certainly try to follow your channel (I have subscribed, but with the number of subscriptions I have, alerts get drowned...)
800/900 page books rarely do justify their length I find. I was vaguely curious about Seveneves but this has swayed me to give it a miss. Sounds like a plot that one of the hard SF masters of old would've done in half the length.
B tier is actually lower than I thought you'd place Inverted World, as it's held in such high regard. I don't entirely disagree though; while I can recognise it as objectively good SF, some of the character choices in it really irked me.
Well done on this anyway. You're reading some good stuff, it's not all the usual contemporary stuff we see all the time on YT. 👍
Thanks for this! B tier is still a good rating in my mind but it sounds like we are aligned in our thinking. Any long books you've read that you would recommend?
@@SciFiFindsHow familiar are you with John Brunner? He's most known for 'Stand on Zanzibar' (which really is a huge novel) but I haven't got to it yet. I read another of his called 'The Sheep Look Up' which is still decently long (~450 pages) and is a meticulously realised dystopia; quite heavy in its messaging but marvelously written and it has stuck with me so that counts for something. The blurb on my edition describes reading it to "the autumnal feeling of approaching loss", which I'd say is accurate. A fine piece of work that you may want to put on your radar.
What a strange coincidence. I'm currently reading Stand on Zanzibar - about 100 pages into it! Will probably talk about that in the first week of January but your words there are resonating so far
47:28 - Come on! Perhaps a very good _action_ SciFi film, but "the best film, full stop" ?!? With _Solaris_ (Tarkovski's, but the other one, too), _Stalker, 2001..., Forbidden Planet..._
It's subjective of course but I truly think that the set design, score, practical effects and claustrophic horror of Alien sets it apart. 2001 is definitely a contender for me too!
I really enjoyed this video due to your succinct explanations of each book! Please enjoy an in-depth comment:
-I agree with your take on Poul Anderson. I enjoyed The High Crusade but what else I've read by him has been meh. There's a permanent free book box outside of a local school and when I peeked inside out of curiosity, it had a bunch of Poul Anderson. I didn't take any 🤷
-Sorry you had a negative experience with PJ Farmer. He's one of my favorite authors but like all authors, he has some duds. I enjoyed Venus on the Half Shell (writing as Kilgore Trout) as it's the book that inspired Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy but be warned, in addition to the protagonist's search for ultimate universal truth, it contains explicit alien sex scenes. Groovy.
-I haven't read any Silverberg yet but I want to read Lord Valentine's Castle. It's encouraging to see most of his stuff rank highly on your list!
-I loved Weapon Shops of Isher and Weapon Makers by van Vogt. So even though you ranked it as C, your description of Space Beagle made me more excited to read it. I bought it a few weeks ago in an omnibus with Slan and World of Null A.
-The first time I read Shadow of the Torturer, I thought it sucked, honestly. Then I read its sequels. Then I read all of the books again. Then I read them a third, and fourth time... and now I love them. They require an intense exegesis to get the deeper story. Reading Gene Wolfe is a lot of work and I'm not always up for it, which is why the Books of the New Sun are all I've read by him. "Do you know who The Conciliator was?"
-Don't feel obligated to like Roger Zelazny's work just because he's revered. I read Jack of Shadows and thought it was lousy. He gets one more chance with me when I eventually read Lord of Light, because who knows, maybe he is awesome and I just read one of his duds? Still, my first impression of him has not been good.
-I added Hyperion, the Forever War and Nonstop to my collection wish list, thanks for all the great suggestions implicit in this video!
I really appreciate you watching and taking the time to leave this comment. Definitely check out some Silverberg, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Space Beagle is an enjoyable read! I do think I will benefit from a read of the entire Book of the New Sun like you said. I will definitely read some more Zelazny, but probably not his fantasy stuff.
Look forward to all of your future videos!
@@SciFiFinds Likewise!
The 2nd half is just an hour long chapter about The Black Hole?
Haha I turned on RUclips's 'Automatic Chapters' feature for this video and it looks like it's not working too well. I'm not sure that I could speak about The Black Hole for an hour if I tried!
Personally I like textbooks. Golem XIV