SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Hi, I'm looking for recommendations of books where humans have colonised another planet/space. Books that describe the ways in which humans have adapted to living in space and the interactions between different alien races. I like the idea of politics between the different races and how they have learnt to tolerate and live with each other. Ideally books that aren't too heavy and serious, at least not all of the time i.e a few characters that provide some comic relief! Thank you!

I would highly recommend Semiosis. It's about human colonization another planet without destructive technologies and interactions between various alien species.

Another nice book to read would be The City in the Middle of the Night, where things go little different but you will enjoy it.

BTW, if you want an excellent story with human-alien interaction without colonizing another planet, read Project Hail Mary.

Agree with Suman about the Semiosis/Interference duology by Sue Burke.

Other interesting colonization books would include “Chasm City” by Reynolds, “Thin Air” by Richard Morgan and “Great North Road” by Peter Hamilton.

For colonization of the solar system without any aliens I would recommend Ben Bova's Grand Tour series.

What is it about this thread that draws self promos like flies to honey?! Authors, please read the rules before posting, thanks!

For the part about humans colonizing other planets and adapting to living in space, an obvious one would be the James S. A. Corey books from which the TV show "The Expanse" was based.

If you would like complete tongue-in-cheek humor, there was a series of books by Keith Laumer written in the 1960's centering on the main character Jame Retief and alien-terra relations. They could be hard to come by given their age but you could probably find some in vintage used books stores.

This is one of my favorite themes, as well!

Some more suggestions (not all of these have aliens, but most do):

An obvious answer would be Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy, about the colonisation and terraforming of Mars

I liked Fuzzy Nation (Scalzi's cover of Little Fuzzy). I am also fond of the first couple of books of the Ender Saga, specifically Speaker for the Dead, which I somehow read before I knew there was a series and I honestly don't think suffered at all for my not having read the rest. (YMMV on Card of course.)

Andrew wrote: "An obvious answer would be Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy, about the colonisation and terraforming of Mars"

Only humans colonizing an empty planet though. No other species there already.

Eva wrote: "This is one of my favorite themes, as well!

Some more suggestions (not all of these have aliens, but most do):..."

Wow, that is quite a list and must have taken some time to grab and paste all the covers. Ack! Can't believe I forgot about the Bobiverse!

G.R. wrote: "Eva wrote: "This is one of my favorite themes, as well!

Some more suggestions (not all of these have aliens, but most do):..."

Wow, that is quite a list and must have taken some time to grab and ..."

Have just listened to the last book in the Bobiverse on Audible. Love the Bobs.

Eva wrote: "This is one of my favorite themes, as well!

Some more suggestions (not all of these have aliens, but most do):

[bookcove..."

Wow Eva, great list!

Amy (Other Amy) wrote: "YMMV on Card of course.."

Indeed, but the original Ender's Game novella was superb, and Speaker for the Dead was not half bad.

G.R. wrote: "If you would like complete tongue-in-cheek humor, there was a series of books by Keith Laumer written in the 1960's centering on the main character Jame Retief and alien-terra relations. They could be hard to come by given their age but you could probably find some in vintage used books stores."

Amazon has lots of them for Kindle, at rock bottom prices.

G.R. wrote: "For the part about humans colonizing other planets and adapting to living in space, an obvious one would be the James S. A. Corey books from which the TV show "The Expanse" was based.

Aha! The Expanse TV series was what I had in my head when asking for this recommendation, I watched it ages ago and couldn't remember what the show was called but only that I wanted to read a book with a similar theme/atmosphere! I had no idea it was originally a book, thanks so much for reminding me of its name!

Eva wrote: "This is one of my favorite themes, as well!

Some more suggestions (not all of these have aliens, but most do):

Wow that is an impressive list, thanks so much!!

Thanks everyone for all the suggestions, excited to try some of them out!

Maybe not exactly in line with the theme, but perhaps close enough to be interesting:

Joe Haldeman, The Forever War
Frank Herbert, Whipping Star and, in particular, The Dosadi Experiment

"The Forever War", I guess, is technically military sf, but the important themes are the interactions with alien civilisations and taking the effects for relativity seriously.

"The Dosadi Experiment" is entirely about interactions between various life forms (more that than human colonisation as such) and in particular about what essentially amounts to a planet-sized experiment in survival of the fittest. "Whipping Star" is not necessary to read first, but does introduce the universe and some concepts that appear again in Dosadi.

Seveneves, by Neal Stephenson. Most realistic tale about living in space I've ever read.

Erik wrote: "Andrew wrote: "An obvious answer would be Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy, about the colonisation and terraforming of Mars"

Only humans colonizing an empty planet though. No other species ther..."
ROFL

Mike wrote: "Seveneves, by Neal Stephenson. Most realistic tale about living in space I've ever read."

I like Stephenson. Putting this on my tbr!

Anne McCaffrey's trilogy that starts with Decision at Doona is light and easy to read. Though according to some of the reviews it is likely to be a little dated in some aspects. I still enjoyed reading it though... possibly I'm a little dated myself.

John Scalzi's series that starts with Old Man's War is possibly more about how not to tolerate or live with other species but I thought that there were some really interesting aspects to the stories and some of the interactions with different alien species.

I also enjoyed Elizabeth Moon's Remnant Population, another non taxing read.

Forty Thousand in Gehenna by CJ Cherryh. Excellent short novel about a planet that was colonized then abandoned and “rediscovered”.

Lynn wrote: "Anne McCaffrey's trilogy that starts with Decision at Doona is light and easy to read. "

I vaguely recall having read it - I don't remember much, but I think it was quite enjoyable. Re-read, perhaps...

Anne McCaffrey’s PERN books, for that matter but it’s only a later book in the series that gets into the colonization bit.