Is anyone else reading Ian M. Banks right now?

[Wenla]

I like all of those, Banks is one of my favourite scifi-writers.

 

[marvin the martian]

I'm generally not a fan of sci-fi, or to many I've come across are more like action books in a space setting. Banks is the big exception for me.
Can anyone suggest other authors and series?
No need to mention Dune, I've enjoyed that series already.

I very much enjoyed Alastair Reynolds' "Revelation Space"-series, especially the first one of the core series ("Revelation Space") and the novel "Chasm City". They admittedly have a fair amount of action, but not too much.
A mixture of cosmic horror and near-future sci-fi is Jeff Vandermeer's "Souther Reach" trilogy, which I can also recommend. Almost no action but a lot of paranoia.

 

[8igualdos0s]

I very much enjoyed Alastair Reynolds' "Revelation Space"-series, especially the first one of the core series ("Revelation Space") and the novel "Chasm City". They admittedly have a fair amount of action, but not too much.

A mixture of cosmic horror and near-future sci-fi is Jeff Vandermeer's "Souther Reach" trilogy, which I can also recommend. Almost no action but a lot of paranoia.

Another good one by Alastair Reynolds is House of Suns. Commonwealth series by Peter F. Hamilton or Polity Universe by Neal Asher are also really interesting when we are talking about "new" scifi writers from UK.

Vandermeer is really good, but if we speak about "steampunkish" writers I really like more China Mieville (Embassytown is more scifi and it is really good).

 

[Serenity84]

Inversions is a culture novel, or did I get that wrong?

The general setting is medieval and the story itself isn't really sci-fi on the surface. It's only a few small allusions (in sentences by one of the characters) that let you know it takes place in the Culture universe.

As for the series in general. I really liked most of them.
For megastructures "Matter" is an interesting read and the characters are fun, but it kind of falls apart at the end. Hundreds of pages of slow buildup and then it's rushed to a conclusion in a few pages.

 

[Mummolus]

Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons are absolutely phenomenal. Personally I enjoyed them much more than Banks, which is not in any way a slight against Banks as his work is still quality.

I'll second the mention of Neal Asher's Polity books, too. They're a bit fluffier than Banks as a whole, but also quite a bit more accessible. Good, fun reads that play with a lot of scifi concepts, but at times they're closer to action-adventure so if that's what has turned you off about some scifi in the past you may want to leave them be.

 

[Four eyed fish]

Thanks for the recommendations!
I've nothing against a bit of action and adventure, just don't want it defining the book.

 

[Guilliman88]

I never liked books and I found out late in my life it's because of my working memory and attention issues.
I have last week started to listen to audio books for the first time! I'm loving every minute of it. I've started with Ian Banks' Culture 1: Consider Phlebas

Cool to see I'm not the only one interested in Banks' Legacy!

 

[Morbid Gerbil]

I'm generally not a fan of sci-fi, or to many I've come across are more like action books in a space setting. Banks is the big exception for me.
Can anyone suggest other authors and series?
No need to mention Dune, I've enjoyed that series already.

The Lost Fleet + Lost Stars .. nice linked series (same guy who writes JAG in space & starks war)

EE "Doc" Smith if you can find his books anywhere .. very space opera

forget the author & book title, but essentially about a guy who can talk to machines and flies around in a mbt/frigate called Lobo

 

[VoodooDog]

I really cant read banks books. especially not Considering Phlebas.

there are just so many better writers out there than him(if you are looking for epic space operas).
for example
- peter f. hamilton (epic space opera + master in character creation. years after reading his books u will remember the characters he created)
- alister reynolds (an ex astrophysicist who creates dark and realistic hard sci fi universes; he creates things that even i could never imagined)
- dan simmons (no words needed, right? stephen king on him: [i translated it in my own words because i could not find the original quote] " Dan Simmons write like a god. I can hardly say how much I envy him.")

 

[grandad1982]

May some general comments. Banks was one of my favourite authors and he will be missed. It's not part of the culture series but the algebrist (sp?) is worth a read and set in a fixed wormhole only ftl galaxy.

Peter Hamilton is ok and i enjoyed his books but they seem slightly corny (if thats the right phrase) at times.

Revelation space is a great series, worth a read.

Hyperion was great and written in an interesting style (its influenced by the the Canterbury tales structure) but the second part was weaker in my opinion.

 

[VoodooDog]

dont forget ilium from dan simmons

 

[Four eyed fish]

I've just down loaded house of suns by Alistair Richards on Audable.
I have 3 days of running ELISA bio chemical assays next week. I've refused to run them for years as they mind numingly tedious, but needs must and hopefully this is what I need to get through it.