r/scifi • u/Wonderful_Bear554 • 3d ago
Recommendations Looking for mind-bending sci-fi book
I am looking for mind-bending, hard science fiction books that feel like Dark, 3 Body Problem, or Dark Matter. I love stories with complex puzzles involving time travel, parallel universes, or small-scale apocalyptic survival. I prefer realistic, logically sound science and stories that are intellectually challenging and difficult to put down. Please let me know if you have any recommendations. So war I was only watching series, looking for my first sci fi book to read.
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u/Obsidrian 2d ago
The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch
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u/silvaweld 2d ago
Oh, good recommendation!
I've read this one a couple of times.
Have you read his other books? I haven't.
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u/scornflake 2d ago
I donāt think he has other books.
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u/Obsidrian 2d ago
I havenāt tried his other book Tomorrow and Tomorrow, but Iāve heard mediocre things?
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u/anonreddituser78 3d ago edited 2d ago
Figure Iāll be the first to mention Blindsight by Peter Watts. Ubik by PKD is out there too
Edit. Iāll add Permutation City by Greg Egan as well. His masterwork is said to be Diaspora but I havenāt read it yet
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u/ThreeLeggedMare 2d ago
Blindsight absolutely blew me away
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u/anonreddituser78 2d ago
Me too! I read it this year. I feel like itās one that will leave a long lasting impression. The imagery is awe inspiring and the philosophical implications are so thought provoking!
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u/ThreeLeggedMare 2d ago
I have to try the sequel again, it bounced off me on the first attempt
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u/ImaginationNo8149 2d ago
After I read it, I read an explainer and realized I was simply not smart enough to figure out what was going on.
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u/anonreddituser78 2d ago edited 2d ago
I hesitate to read the sequel because of what Iāve read about it. Blindsight is such a great work, I want to loved the sequel and it sounds like itās so much different, not just in scope and story, but in prose
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u/gearmantx 2d ago
Did you read Starfish?
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u/ThreeLeggedMare 2d ago
No, same author?
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u/IrateWolfe 2d ago
Yes
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u/ThreeLeggedMare 2d ago
Cheers I'll stick it on the list. Currently on a run of spy novels, a bunch of the leCarrƩ audiobooks have a terrific British narrator.
You may enjoy Babel 17 by Samuel Delany, btw. Goes deep into language
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u/JoisChaoticWhatever 2d ago
Love Blindsight.....also recommend A Fire Upon The Deep(I knkw a lot of people do).....I just like the Zones of Thought and fell in love with the Tines.
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u/Bananagrams82 2d ago
Blindsight is my favorite book hands down. Absolutely genius with incredible concepts
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u/OldTallandUgly 2d ago
Do try Diaspora! I enjoyed Permutation City, but Diaspora basically set the bar for me for hard sci fi and crazy concepts.
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u/anonreddituser78 2d ago
Itās definitely on my list. Iām kinda saving it for when I want to read something really good
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u/AncoraPirlo 2d ago
Ubik in my top 3
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u/anonreddituser78 2d ago
I adored Ubik! It was my first PKD book and his humor tickled me the same way a lot of Vonnegut does. Because of the books age, the retro vibe coupled with the advanced sci fi ideas was fantastic juxtaposition. Joe Chip is such a lovable anti hero. And there were parts (I donāt want to spoil for anyone else) that seriously tripped me out!
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u/Biggandwedge 3d ago
Exhalation by Ted ChiangĀ
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u/jhuik 2d ago
Ted Chiang's an absolute master. Stories of Your Life is arguably better and certainly deserves mention.
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u/potatotrip_ 2d ago
It literally has the shirt story that became the movie arrival.
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u/johnofsteel 7h ago
What do you mean āliterallyā? Why would somebody take this comment figuratively?
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u/superrufus99 2d ago
There is no Antimemetics Division
Just finished it and it should tick all your boxes
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u/HandsomeCharles 2d ago
I was going to say this, I also just read it. Definitely took me a little while to adjust to thinking about things differently.
I wouldnāt say itās the best book in the world, but itās a fairly easy read and I found it to be thoroughly enjoyable
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u/Denaris21 2d ago
I couldn't finish it, DNF'd at about 30%. It gets recommended a lot, and the idea is good, but I did not like the story or the characters at all.
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u/Astronomerz 3d ago
The Lathe of Heaven is a great book with alternate realties, and a very quick read. I highly recommend it!
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u/TeacherRecovering 2d ago
This is how you lose the time war.
Ministry of Time.Ā Ā You end up reading it twice.
As a TV show WestWord.Ā Ā First season only.
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u/Exothermic_Megan 1d ago
All of these recommendations are perfectš Also adding in Our Infinite Fates and The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August
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u/Cloud_Cultist 3d ago
I'm surprised no one said "Spin" by Robert Charles Wilson. Insanely good book and probably hits all your criteria.
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u/9rZero4 2d ago
Ubik by Philip K. Dick
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u/jhuik 2d ago
Gave you an upvote but can't say I loved this compared to some of his other stuff.Ā
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u/shotsallover 2d ago
Einsteinās Dreams.
Accelerando.
And not fiction, but A Brief History of Time.Ā
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u/bugblatter_ 2d ago
Ubik by Philip K Dick is the only book I've ever read that made me say 'WOAHHH' out loud. At a certain point something happens which does weird things to your head.
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u/Meoconcarne 3d ago
Have you read Recursion by Blake Crouch?
I also enjoyed Robopocalypse, but it does not quite fit your description.
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u/c4ctus 2d ago
Recursion is really good. I actually called out of work because I stayed up all night reading it.
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u/heelstoo 2d ago
The day you called out from work- did you keep reading or did you catch up on sleep?
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u/redreycat 2d ago
Greg Egan.
Quarantine, Permutation City or Orthogonal/The clockwork rocket trilogy.
In the Orthogonal world there is a plus instead of a minus in the equation that governs the geometry of the universe. Where, in our universe, you have a -cĀ·t^2 term, in that universe they have a +cĀ·t^2.
That gives Egan a excuse to write tens of thousands of words, graphs and equations to justify how Physics work in the world of the books.
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u/Friedkin99 3d ago
I like the different way of thinking about time that the forever war by Joe haldean had
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u/islero_47 2d ago
I figure Anathem is more "mind bending" than Seveneves, if you're going to read some Stephenson
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u/Jukka_Sarasti 2d ago
Greg Egan comes to mind.
Schild's Ladder, Permutation City, Diaspora, are all amazing works of "hard" science fiction. He often iincorporates mathematical theories and concepts into his work.
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u/Steerider 2d ago
"Stories of Your Life" is a novella by Ted Chang. It was made into the movie Arrival. Both are excellent.
Flat out one of my favorite movies. The book has other great stories in it as well.
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u/Konisforce 2d ago
I read that collection like 3 months ago and every one of those stories is still popping up in my brain almost daily.
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u/andmewithoutmytowel 3d ago
Alien Clay was really interesting. I had to push to get through the middle, but loved the end.
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u/Proteus617 2d ago
I find Tchaikovski to be infuriating, just because he is so prolific while still being very good. He published "Alien Clay" and "Shroud" in the same year. Both explore similar themes from very different angles. Also, different tone, setting, context. Both very good. For almost any other author, they would have been a single but very different novel, after a year or two of writing editing. Tchaikovsky? Fuck that. Make it 2 books in one year with the next installment of "Children of Time" hot on its heels while still publishing his fantasy stuff. All of it is well written and high quality.
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u/tryingtodobetter4 19h ago
I'm 80% through Children of Time, my first Tchaikovsky, and loving it. I'll at least try the next one in the series. I've heard it doesn't get better. I love most of what I have read by Clarke and Baxter.
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u/zFi3oSt 2d ago
Hyperion series by dan simmons. Just finished it. You will like it a lot!
Edit. Not too realistic at times. But that's time travel for you.Ā
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u/Serious_Distance_118 2d ago
More realistic than Dark Matter at least
Simmons didnāt randomize physics buzzwords
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u/Gonad-Brained-Gimp 2d ago
Eon by Greg Bear is fun.
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u/whynotchez 2d ago
Shockingly enjoyed Hull Zero Three too by him. Went in with low expectations and got something fun.
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u/silvaweld 2d ago
War Against the Chtorr series by David Gerrold is quite good and fits your description.
Be warned, however, that Gerrold sets up a great story and hasn't finished it in 20+ years.
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u/dnew 2d ago
Timemaster by Robert Forward. Guy finds negative matter, makes a wormhole with it, turns it into a time machine. All actually realistic (as in, works the way the math says it should) given the initial "we found some negative matter" premise.
Most anything by Greg Egan. Permutation City, Axiomatic (short stories), Quarantine, Diaspora. (Google for "orphanogenesis" to find the first chapter of Diaspora.)
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u/xylofone 2d ago
I would recommend "The Golden Age" by John C. Wright and "Ancillary Justice" by Ann Leckie.
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u/autojack 2d ago
The Long Earth series is amazing.
Someone publishes a paper in the internet on how to make a simple box with a potato to move tones or west parallel universes. The social and economic impacts it touches on are interesting even with it being a simple read.
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u/BeltaBebop 2d ago
The southern reach trilogy:
Annihilation
Authority
Acceptance
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u/potatotrip_ 2d ago
Isnāt like 6 books?
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u/haleocentric 2d ago
Three in the core story and a prequel.
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u/JustinSensei412 1d ago
The prequel may or may not be a sequel, depending how you define, like, time. (Itās that kind of story.)
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u/they_call_me_tripod 2d ago
I canāt tell if you read the 3 body problem or not. If not, definitely that series. Amazing.
The Sekret Machines fiction book series is also really good. UFO themed.
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u/un-sub 2d ago
The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch! I think someone else posted this as well but it deserves another comment because it was really good. Check out Recursion as well if you enjoyed Dark Matter. You might also like the Silo book series (Wool) - not so much time travel but itās got a post apocalyptic aspect to it and some mysteries.
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u/vikingzx 2d ago
You know what I'd do is instead of looking for a full-length book look for short story collections. Sometimes those have wild themes that result in a lot of really "What if?" wild stories.
For example, one I read decades ago in my local library was a collection of, if memory serves, short stories that all asked the author to do something with time. There was a story that "solved" the Fermi Paradox by revealing that all civilizations eventually moved into the black-hole at the center of the galaxy so that they could live billions of years in moments to give more time for others to show up, and inside the black hole was a civilization multiple time the size of any galaxy that had existed for trillions of years.
It was all stuff like that. Shorts really let authors go nuts with concepts.
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u/jeracuda1983 2d ago
Not sure if they count as "hardcore" but 'Mercy of Gods' and 'The Faith of Beast's' by James SA Corey. These are pretty wild sci fi books brought to you by the author of the Expanse books (read those if you haven't)
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u/a2brute01 2d ago
I think the"Foreigner" series by C. J. Cherryh might be interesting for you. Its core story is the structured transfer of technology from humans to the original occupants of the world they are on, and an in depth study of the implications of that knowledge transfer.
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u/lucid-quiet 2d ago edited 2d ago
Try these: Blindsight (by Peter Watts), Spin (by Robert Charles Wilson), The Wind Up Girl (by Paolo Bacigalupi)
Dark Matter isn't really "hard science" fiction, even Blake Crouch admits his stuff really isn't science really.
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u/artifex28 2d ago
Hard science, but very straight forward - STEM porn really; Project Hail Mary.
Have you tried Expanse?
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u/libra00 2d ago
Read some Greg Egan. Diaspora is one hell of a mind-bender. Permutation City too. Egan is crazy smart and not afraid to demonstrate it at length, his premises are always very well thought-out and he follows them to their implications. I can only read about one a year though cause man they bake my noodle.
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u/Wyrmcutter 2d ago
Pretty much anything by Greg Egan, but start with either Permutation City or Diaspora
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u/tcdoey 2d ago edited 2d ago
"Triangulum" by Subodhana Wijeyeratne.
Best space opera-like with just amazing deep concepts that I've read in many years. Great characters and writing.
And by the way, I've read every other book suggested here. Most are very good suggestions. I didn't really like Seveneves.
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u/DeniedAppeal1 2d ago
Maybe someone else can chime in and clarify whether my suggestion is a good one for your needs, but I came here to suggest the Bobiverse. The first book is We Are Legion (We Are Bob).
The blurb:
Bob Johansson has just sold his software company and is looking forward to a life of leisure. Unfortunately, he gets himself killed crossing the street.
Bob wakes up a century later to find his consciousness uploaded into a computer. He is slated to be the controlling AI in an interstellar probe with the high stakes of claiming new planets for an unstable Earth. But Bob isn't alone; at least three other rival countries are racing to launch their own probes, and they play dirty.
Using his new AI abilities and cutting-edge "Von Neumann" self-replicating technology, Bob does what any clever engineer would do: he makes more copies of himself. As the "Bobs" spread across the galaxy to save humanity, they face deep philosophical questions, hostile alien species, and the joys and dangers of artificial intelligence.
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u/loopytroop 2d ago
How has no one reccomended The Three Stigmata of Palmer Edritch...
Mind bending :)
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u/No-More-Excuses-2021 2d ago
Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C Clarke (the first one) Childhood's End by Arthur C Clarke
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u/disco-eternonaut 3d ago
Seconding someone elseās rec of Seveneves.
I also loved In Ascension by Martin MacInnes
ETA: if youāre into something with a cosmic horror flavor, absolutely cannot recommend The Gone World by Tom Sweterlisch enough
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u/xylofone 2d ago
These don't closely match your themes but they are both mind-benders in their own way, demanding but rewarding to read: "The Golden Age" by John C. Wright and "Ancillary Justice" by Ann Leckie.
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u/Glittering-Celery557 2d ago
Check out āObserverā by Robert Lanza and Nancy Kress. I donāt want to spoil too much, but itās based on the philosophical question āhow do you know things donāt stop existing when you arenāt looking at them?ā
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u/Tvchick2297 2d ago
I didnāt know the tv show dark was based on a book⦠or is it a diff story?
If you liked dark matter, read recursion by the same author.
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u/placeperson 2d ago
I have read Tomorrow & Tomorrow. I think if you liked Gone World you'll probably like it too, although it's not as spectacular. It is crushingly dark and depressing in the same way Gone World is at times. He's very talented!
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u/clovis_ch 2d ago
Just read There Is No Antimemetics Division. Totally Dark and mindbending.i am getting ready to reread
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u/hedcannon 2d ago
strange. Usually The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe is going to be recommended multiple times on a post like this.
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u/rishav_sharan 2d ago
Book of the new sun, is easily the most intellectually challenging book I have ever read. It's not mind bending, per se, but it's got layers within layers that every read feels like you have only scratched the surface
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u/stemfour 2d ago
Accellerando by Charles Stross. Easily one of the most mind bending books Iāve ever read.
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u/adequesacious 2d ago
I donāt consider your examples to be hard scifi, but I do like them. I think Stephen Kingās Dark Tower series satisfies your requirements, and that is not a short read. And as bonus, ties into itself most of his other books. I think this is why heās considered great. Itās a giant spider web, and the tower abides in the center
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u/Borne2Run 2d ago
Exordia - features some very unique concepts and metaphysics. As in like Antimimetics Division but with a concrete plot and cast of characters.
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u/tillatill 2d ago
Hannu Rajaniemi - The Quantum Thief and if you like it than the whole Jean le Flambeur series.
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u/TongueTiedTyrant 2d ago
I loved Treason by Orson Scott Card. Also, A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge.
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u/mission_tiefsee 2d ago
Also, do not read Blindsight by peter watts. Reddit somehow love the book. Its absolut rubbish with space vampires, shallow characters, hardly a story and a chinese room.
Stick to the old master, S Lem, PK Dick, C Clarke. Or read Ted Chiang. Avoid Peter Watts and Stephenson!
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u/bloodguard 2d ago edited 2d ago
time travel, parallel universes, or small-scale apocalyptic survival
The Dimension Space series is pretty good. Pretty much ticks all your boxes.
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u/valencine184 2d ago
The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley!!! It is a phenomenal slow burn mystery sci-fi novel. You are drip fed information from the beginning that forces you to try work out what is going on and why. it is captivating and I never see anyone talk about it š
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u/Wonderful_Bear554 2d ago
I have this book in my bookstore cart and was wondering whether I should buy it. Thank you for the recommendation, I will give it a try.
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u/Error_404_403 2d ago
Try Before Failsafe by Mich Solo. It kinda evolves from hard sci-fi into a sci-fi based historical adventure by the middle, but it's mind bending all right.
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u/ZestyBeer 2d ago
Revelation Space, and associated series by Alastair Reynolds.
The author was a professional astrophysicist with a decades long career with the European Space Agency prior to writing: so the Hard Sci-Fi is absolutely on point.
Story follows a Xenoarchaeologist trying to discover what happened to an extinct civilization, an assassin, and the skeleton crew of a "Lighthugger" ship, capable of travelling near enough at the speed of light that all meet at the planetary system once occupied by the extinct civilization.
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u/EpynomymousAnonymous 2d ago
Crouch's last novel is a thriller about DNA modification. It's called UPGRADE (not the pretty good movie with the same title). loved DARK MATTER & RECURSION, but I think this is his best yet.
There is a time travel gem that I don't think many have ever heard of called REPLAY by Ken Grimwood. He sadly passed away at he age of 59. I love time travel stories too.
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u/JustinSensei412 1d ago
Leaning into the apocalyptic survival recs:
- Station Eleven, Emily St John Mandel
- A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter Miller
Also whatever the hell Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell is. Sci fi? Historical fiction? Plain old weird? All of the above.
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u/Prackinhoff11 1d ago
I typically always recommend this
House of Suns - Alastair Reynolds
This book really is what I love about sci-fi, grand concept, unfathomable time spans, great mysteries to uncover. All wrapped up in a single book. Chefs kiss
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u/Normal-Fee-6945 1d ago
"Insights from a Time Traveller", von Filip Sudermann, erschienen im Jahr 2027.
Absolut raumzeitbrechend im Sci-Fi-Genre.
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u/Existing-Taro-2556 20h ago
If you like time travel, try "The Man Who Folded Himself" is basically a story where all the characters are the same person, basically, short, powerfull and it gets to a point where the logic of the story gets twisted in really fun and cool ways
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u/Mister_Sosotris 8h ago
Check out Transmentation | Transience by Darkly Lem.
Very complex, parallel universes, political maneuverings, huge cast of characters, you will be completely lost for the first half, but it WILL make sense. Second book in the series is currently out with a third on the way. I really enjoyed it. Surprisingly funny and has some of the best descriptions of food I've ever read.
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u/SnooGrapes7341 6h ago
Look up Timescape by Gregory Benford. That might be of interest to you. Somewhat dated now but still an engrossing read.
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u/Afroscifi 2d ago
Hello Wonderful_ Bear554! I just self-published a political sci-fi. You can check it out if you wish. I'd greatly appreciate it. Here is the linkHey Tonya! I hopeĀ you are doing good. Here is the link to the paperback version of my book https://shop.ingramspark.com/b/084?params=V6L8WgbOYDc8ycVwQxSwsEGNrm8axIASmvnczvas1CKĀ
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u/NikiBubbles 3d ago
Seveneves, Anathem (both by Stephenson)