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Recommendations based on Consider Phlebasby Iain M. Banks
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The Player of Games
by Iain M. Banks
A game-player embarks on a journey to win a tournament in a distant world, uncovering secrets along the way.
The Culture - a humanoid/machine symbiotic society - has thrown up many great Game Players. One of the best is Jernau Morat Gurgeh, Player of Games, master of every board, computer and strategy. ... (Goodreads)
Use of Weapons
by Iain M. Banks
A space opera of revenge, espionage and loyalty, woven together in a complex web of intrigue.
The book is made up of two narrative streams, interwoven in alternating chapters. The numbers of the chapters indicate which stream they belong to: one stream is numbered forward in words (One, Two ... (Wikipedia)
The Forever War
by Joe Haldeman
A soldier's story of the horror of war and its consequences in the far future.
The monumental Hugo and Nebula award winning SF classic— Featuring a new introduction by John Scalzi,The Earth's leaders have drawn a line in the interstellar sand—despite the fact that the fierce ... (Barnes & Noble)
Look to Windward
by Iain M. Banks
The story of two civilizations and their intertwined destinies, spanning thousands of years.
The Chelgrians are a race of centaur-like cat aliens with three hind-limbs and a humanoid catlike torso. Major Quilan, a Chelgrian, has lost the will to live after the death of his wife, killed ... (Wikipedia)
Complicity
by Iain Banks
A man's investigation into a murder, exposing a web of government conspiracies.
Colley is a " Gonzo journalist " with an amphetamine habit, living in Edinburgh. He also smokes cigarettes and cannabis , drinks copious amounts of alcohol , plays computer games, and has adventurous ... (Wikipedia)
Revelation Space
by Alastair Reynolds
A space opera that explores the dark side of humanity and the consequences of advanced technology.
Nine hundred thousand years ago, something annihilated the Amarantin civilization just as it was on the verge of discovering space flight. Now one scientist, Dan Sylveste, will stop at nothing to ... (Goodreads)
Old Man's War
by John Scalzi
Elderly citizens enlist in an interstellar war to save humanity, discovering new strength and purpose.
Old Man's War is about a soldier named John Perry and his exploits in the Colonial Defense Forces (CDF). The first-person narrative follows Perry's military career from CDF recruit to the rank of ... (Wikipedia)
Neverwhere
by Neil Gaiman
A mysterious journey through a hidden realm of London, filled with danger and unexpected allies.
Neverwhere is the story of Richard Mayhew and his trials and tribulations in London. At the start of the story, he is a young businessman, recently moved from Scotland and with a normal life ahead. ... (Wikipedia)
Absolution Gap
by Alastair Reynolds
A sci-fi adventure featuring a crew of misfits on a mission to save their home world from destruction.
The plot of the novel takes place in four separate time periods. The bulk of the novel is contained in the 2675 and 2727 sections. Queen Jasmina of the lighthugger Gnostic Ascension wakes Quaiche, a ... (Wikipedia)
Judas Unchained
by Peter F. Hamilton
The thrilling conclusion to the Commonwealth Saga. Humanity faces its greatest threat as ancient alien technology is unleashed.
The book opens with a short section providing backstory. As part of the first mission to Mars , a team of astronauts exits their spacecraft for the first time, only to see another man standing there, ... (Wikipedia)
Red Mars
by Kim Stanley Robinson
Colonists brave the harsh landscapes of Mars, striving to make the planet their new home.
Red Mars starts in 2026 with the first colonial voyage to Mars aboard the Ares , the largest interplanetary spacecraft ever built and home to a crew who are to be the first hundred Martian colonists. ... (Wikipedia)
Eon
by Greg Bear
A mysterious asteroid appears near Earth, and a team is sent to investigate. They discover a complex alien structure and a dangerous power struggle.
The 21st century was on the brink of nuclear confrontation when the 300 kilometer-long stone flashed out of nothingness and into Earth's orbit. NASA, NATO, and the UN sent explorers to the asteroid's ... (Goodreads)
Snow Crash
by Neal Stephenson
A hacker's quest in a futuristic America dealing with a mysterious computer virus.
Hiro Protagonist is a hacker and pizza delivery driver for the Mafia. He meets Y.T. (short for Yours Truly), a young skateboard Kourier ( courier ) who refers to herself in the third person , during ... (Wikipedia)
Hyperion
by Dan Simmons
Epic science-fiction story of a journey to the distant planet Hyperion.
In the 29th century, the Hegemony of Man comprises hundreds of planets connected by farcaster portals. The Hegemony maintains an uneasy alliance with the TechnoCore , a civilisation of AIs . Modified ... (Wikipedia)
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
by Max Brooks
A collection of interviews recounting tales of the zombie apocalypse.
It has been nearly twenty years since the start of the apocalyptic worldwide pandemic known as the Zombie War, and about ten years since the war has ended in humanity's victory. The framing device ... (Wikipedia)
Second Foundation
by Isaac Asimov
A quest to find the mysterious force controlling the fate of the galaxy.
Part I is about The Mule 's search for the elusive Second Foundation, with the intent of destroying it. The executive council of the Second Foundation is aware of The Mule's intent and, in the words ... (Wikipedia)
Life, the Universe and Everything
by Douglas Adams
An intergalactic quest to find the answer to the ultimate question of life.
After being stranded on pre-historic Earth after the events in, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, , Arthur Dent is met by his old friend Ford Prefect , who drags him into a space-time eddy , ... (Wikipedia)
Neuromancer
by William Gibson
A hacker's journey through a dystopian cyberpunk world, searching for a way to survive.
Henry Dorsett Case is a low-level hustler in the dystopian underworld of Chiba City , Japan. Once a talented computer hacker , Case was caught stealing from his employer. As punishment for his theft, ... (Wikipedia)
The Reality Dysfunction
by Peter F. Hamilton
Epic sci-fi adventure through space and time, tackling questions of identity and reality.
The Reality Dysfunction opens in the year 2581 with a war raging between two worlds, Omuta and Garissa, over three hundred and eighty seven mineral-rich asteroids known as the Dorados. The war ... (Wikipedia)
Chasm City
by Alastair Reynolds
A journey through a post-apocalyptic city, uncovering its lost secrets.
The once-utopian Chasm City -a doomed human settlement on an otherwise inhospitable planet- has been overrun by a virus known as the Melding Plague, capable of infecting any body, organic or ... (Goodreads)
The Foundation Trilogy
by Isaac Asimov
Intergalactic future-history saga of a Galactic Empire on the brink of collapse.
A THOUSAND-YEAR EPIC, A GALACTIC STRUGGLE, A MONUMENTAL WORK IN THE ANNALS OF SCIENCE FICTION FOUNDATION begins a new chapter in the story of man's future. As the Old Empire crumbles into barbarism ... (Goodreads)
The Rise of Endymion
by Dan Simmons
A perilous adventure in a post-apocalyptic future, with a hero set on fulfilling a mysterious destiny.
The Rise of Endymion is set more than 275 years after the fall of the Hegemony of Man, an interstellar organization connected by farcaster portals. At the time of this novel, the Roman Catholic ... (Wikipedia)
The Caves of Steel
by Isaac Asimov
Detective story set in a distant future, where humans and robots coexist.
A faction of Spacers have come to the realization that Spacer culture is effete, stagnating due to negative population growth and longevity. Their solution is to encourage further space exploration ... (Wikipedia)
Blue Mars
by Kim Stanley Robinson
The final book in the Mars Trilogy, following the terraforming and colonization of Mars. The story explores the political, social, and environmental consequences of human expansion into space.
Red Mars starts in 2026 with the first colonial voyage to Mars aboard the Ares , the largest interplanetary spacecraft ever built and home to a crew who are to be the first hundred Martian colonists. ... (Wikipedia)
The Bridge
by Iain Banks
A sci-fi exploration of an alien world and the human experience, with a shocking twist ending.
The three main characters represent different elements of the protagonist. Alex (full name hinted to be Alexander Lennox, but never explicitly named), John Orr and The Barbarian are one. Alex is a ... (Wikipedia)
A Wizard of Earthsea
by Ursula K. Le Guin
A young wizard embarks on a quest to master his own magical powers and battle a mysterious force of evil.
Ged, the greatest sorcerer in all Earthsea, was called Sparrowhawk in his reckless youth. Hungry for power and knowledge, Sparrowhawk tampered with long-held secrets and loosed a terrible shadow upon ... (Goodreads)
A Fire Upon the Deep
by Vernor Vinge
An interstellar adventure of exploration, uncovering a powerful and mysterious force.
An expedition from Straumli Realm, an ambitious young human civilization in the high Beyond, investigates a five-billion-year-old data archive in the low Transcend that offers the possibility of ... (Wikipedia)
Caliban's War
by James S.A. Corey
War between rival colonies on a hostile planet, with humanity's survival at stake.
On Ganymede , Mei Meng is kidnapped from her preschool by her doctor. Several hours later, Earth and Martian space marines are attacked and effortlessly killed by a super soldier , with Bobbie ... (Wikipedia)
Reamde
by Neal Stephenson
A thrilling adventure story set in the world of online gaming, with an international cast of characters.
“Stephenson has a once-in-a-generation gift: he makes complex ideas clear, and he makes them funny, heartbreaking, and thrilling.” — Time The #1, New York Times, bestselling author of, Anathem, Neal ... (Barnes & Noble)
Fallen Dragon
by Peter F. Hamilton
A group of mercenaries travel to a distant planet to steal dragon eggs for a corporation, but things go awry.
Deploying invulnerable twenty-fifth-century soldiers called Skins, Zantiu-Braun's corporate starships loot entire planets. But as the Skins invade bucolic Thallspring, Z-B's strategy is about to go ... (Goodreads)
