SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

I've become obsessed about reading books with good alien cultures.
I love Eifelheim by Michael Flynn,
The Sparrow by Dora Maria Russel (I hope that's right?)
The Wess'har series with Karen Traviss
Right now I'm reading The Cosmonaut's Keep by Ken Macleod.

Do you have tips for more?
Thank you!

Foreigner, by Cherryth

Embassytown is an interesting one.

The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber

I seem to be recommending it everywhere right now, but try David Brin's Uplift series. There are a lot of very well-developed alien cultures in the series.

Thank you!
I read The book of strange new things, that's a good one!

I've heard a lot about Embassytown, I started it but didn't get far. If it's really good I'll try it again.

I'll go look for the uplift series, thank you!

Xan Shadowflutter wrote: "Foreigner, by Cherryth"

Thank you too! Will look.

Helen wrote: "Thank you!
I read The book of strange new things, that's a good one!

I've heard a lot about Embassytown, I started it but didn't get far. If it's really good I'll try it again.

I'll go look for t..."

Embassytown is bizarre, but the aliens and their culture were really cool. Don't blame you if the writing isn't your thing, but it's up there on my "cool aliens" list :)

I'll second The Sparrow and Uplift series. (Sparrow has a sequel, too.)

The most out-there aliens I've ever encountered are the cheela in Robert L. Forward's Dragon's Egg, who are the size of sesame seeds and live on the surface of a neutron star.

Some very interesting aliens inhabit Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep. Telepathic canine-esque creatures who are only intelligent in packs, and if the members of the pack change, so does the gestalt personality. It's really interesting.

For more conventional aliens, try the insectoid ones in Alan Dean Foster's Nor Crystal Tears. Once you start exploring Foster's universe, known as the Humanx Commonwealth, you'll get to visit dozens of planets with just as many alien species.

Larry Niven's Ringworld features two very distinct aliens with the Kzin and Puppeteers. The gigantic Ringworld itself was built by the Pak, who we meet in Protector, which you might want to read first (but you don't have to). The rest of his Known Space universe is populated with interesting aliens, as well as humans who have adapted and evolved to various biomes.

In the "More Aliens Than You Can Shake A Stick At" department, it's hard to top Jack L. Chalker's Well World series. I can't think of another genre work that features more aliens and gives them page time. It's as if you get to know all the denizens from the Star Wars cantina... and their neighbors. The first one is Midnight at the Well of Souls.

There is the classic Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke, although the Overlords are rather inscrutable.

Thank you all.
This is great!
I read the sequel to The Sparrow, I didn't like it as much as the first one, but it was very important to read it to understand the reasoning behind the aliens actions in the first book.

If you haven't read Eifelheim https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...
I can't recommend it enough.
It's set in a tiny town in Germany in the 14th Century where an alien ship crash lands. The history and their lack of comprehension of space in general makes this an amazingly well done first contact story.

Allison wrote: "Helen wrote: "Thank you!
I read The book of strange new things, that's a good one!

I've heard a lot about Embassytown, I started it but didn't get far. If it's really good I'll try it again.

I'll..."

If it has cool aliens, I should read it I think. Must feed my obsession :)

Helen wrote: "Allison wrote: "Helen wrote: "Thank you!
I read The book of strange new things, that's a good one!

I've heard a lot about Embassytown, I started it but didn't get far. If it's really good I'll try..."

You might try the audiobook of Embassytown. It was a very strange experience. This is how I felt about it :

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Faith wrote: "Helen wrote: "Allison wrote: "Helen wrote: "Thank you!
I read The book of strange new things, that's a good one!

I've heard a lot about Embassytown, I started it but didn't get far. If it's really..."

Wow. Linguistics are interesting but if it's too confusing then it loses its appeal in my opinion.

Chris Beckett and his Dark Eden novels are wonderful and he does several interesting things with how the English language changed over time on another planet.

Trike wrote: "Some very interesting aliens inhabit Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep. Telepathic canine-esque creatures who are only intelligent in packs, and if the members of the pack change, so does the gestalt personality. It's really interesting...."

I couldn't agree more with this one. It's absolutely one of the most fascinating alien species I've read. It's very unique.

Sarah Anne wrote: "Trike wrote: "Some very interesting aliens inhabit Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep. Telepathic canine-esque creatures who are only intelligent in packs, and if the members of the pack change, s..."

Nice! I will have to give it a try.
Hearing about it reminds me of the Tide Lord series with Jennifer Fallon. They're not aliens but some of the people in her book are half canine half human. I was surprised how much I loved the series.