Science Fiction Aficionados discussion

I like to read books with an emphasis on character on worldbuilding and little hard tech. And am looking for another science fiction book like Dune.

Are there any?

Have you read any of the rest of the Dune series?

You might like works by Robert L. Forward or some of Gordon R. Dickson.

Dragon's Egg by Forward is a great piece of hard tech SciFi.

Traci wrote: "I like to read books with an emphasis on character on worldbuilding and little hard tech. And am looking for another science fiction book like Dune.

Are there any?"

Hi Traci, ask ten different people that question and you'll probably get ten different answers. I'll chuck in a couple of suggestions that you might be interested in; try Grass by Sheri S. Tepper, the most recent book to manage to get a rare 5 star rating from me. In fact I thought it was so good it inspired me to write my first GRs review.

Or for something a bit more epic how about the 'New Sun' books by Gene Wolfe. There are four books in all but they can be found in various omnibus editions, ie The Book of the New Sun 1-4.
It looks and feels like fantasy but is in fact very much Science Fiction. IIRC it's listed by David Pringle in his top 100 SF novels.

Hope this helps and is the sort of thing you're after.

I second the Gene Wolfe books- they're very well written. VERY well written.

I've only read The Player of Games, but Ian Banks and his Culture series seem to get a lot of love, and both should hit perfectly for world building and tech for you.

These all sound like good recs. Especially Gene Wolfe sounds like what I'm looking for. But Gordon R. Dickson looks good too in a pulp style kind of way. And Banks has been on my radar.

Thanks for the recs.

for scifi that takes place - like Dune - so far in the future that it has a lot in common with fantasy, i would second Iain Banks. although i suppose i could get a lot of slings & arrows cast my way for suggesting that either Herbert or Banks have anything in common with fantasy.

two by Vernor Vinge: A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky.

the Revelation series by Alastair Reynolds looks like it could fit the bill, but i've only read the first book in the series so i can't really say.

i would also suggest the Winterlong trilogy by Elizabeth Hand, the Sugar Rain trilogy by Paul Park, and the Gene Wolfe series (as mentioned). although i think those three series actually have less world-building than Dune.

for scifi that is still connected to Earth - sometimes ever so slightly, but still tangibly:

the Eon series by Greg Bear and the various space operas of Peter Hamilton. although a lot of folks don't take Hamilton too seriously. i love him, but he did build that grave for himself and i get why folks dismiss him.

I agree with Afire upon the deep and A deepness in the sky.

There is another series of 3 books that I really enjoyed and is set in the 25th century I think. Richard Morgans Altered Carbon was a good futuristic read. Somewhat lacks the worldbuilding you may be looking for, but has some interesting tech stuff going on. I went into the books thinking they would be pulp fiction/ murder mystery style and was pleased with the read.

Maybe try Helliconia Spring which is first in a trilogy. They shouldn't be hard to find. I haven't read them but they might fit what you're looking for in "world building" sci-fi.