Others: Mixed In the far future, in a solar system colonized by a strange aggregation of human cultures, Abelard Lindsay, a rogue diplomat from the Mare Serenitatis Circumlunar Corporate Republic, struggles for survival amidst powerful, advanced societies warring to control the shape of human destiny. In the complex hi tech environment known as Schismatrix, cybernetic humans (Mechanists) contend for domination against the psychologically and genetically altered Shapers, and as today's high technologies take bizarre new forms, and explosive advances in science shatter mankind into warring camps. Schismatrix is a modern science fiction epic. Vast in scope, with dozens of characters, it covers 170 years of far future history in settings that span the solar system. In this world Sterling has built the grand tradition of SF adventure flowers again as Abelard Lindsay, exiled revolutionary, travels from world to world building and rebuilding an empire, always on the cutting edge of technological change and social ferment. He uses the Mech vs. Shaper conflict for his own ends, to rise to a unique position of power and authority in the Schismatrix. Shifting, changing, fast paced, and fascinating, Lindsay's adventures redefine classic idea of space adventure for our generation.
Genres: science fiction
Lists: …
James S. A. Corey
2012 · 608 pages · 9 reviews
Others: Overwhelmingly positiveThe second book in the NYT best-selling Expanse series, Caliban's War shows a solar system on the brink of war, and the only hope of peace rests on James Holden and the crew of the Rocinante's shoulders. Now a Prime Original series. We are not alone. On Ganymede, breadbasket of the outer planets, a Martian marine watches as her platoon is slaughtered by a monstrous supersoldier. On Earth, a high-level politician struggles to prevent interplanetary war from reigniting. And on Venus, an alien protomolecule has overrun the planet, wreaking massive, mysterious changes and threatening to spread out into the solar system. In the vast wilderness of space, James Holden and the crew of the Rocinante have been keeping the peace for the Outer Planets Alliance. When they agree to help a scientist search war-torn Ganymede for a missing child, the future of humanity rests on whether a single ship can prevent an alien invasion that may have already begun...
What made the match, strongest first
Philip K. Dick
1964 · 240 pages · 5 reviews
Others: Mostly positiveMartian Time-Slip is a 1964 science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick. The novel uses the common science fiction concept of a human colony on Mars. However, it also includes the themes of mental illness, the physics of time and the dangers of centralized authority. The novel was first published under the title All We Marsmen, serialized in the August, October and December 1963 issues of Worlds of Tomorrow magazine. The subsequent 1964 publication as Martian Time-Slip is virtually identical, with different chapter breaks.
What made the match, strongest first
Ted Chiang
2002 · 285 pages · 8 reviews
Others: Overwhelmingly positiveTed Chiang's first published story, "Tower of Babylon," won the Nebula Award in 1990. Subsequent stories have won the Asimov's SF Magazine reader poll, a second Nebula Award, the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award, and the Sidewise Award for alternate history. He won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 1992. Story for story, he is the most honored young writer in modern SF. Now, collected here for the first time are all seven of this extraordinary writer's stories so far--plus an eighth story written especially for this volume. What if men built a tower from Earth to Heaven--and broke through to Heaven's other side? What if we discovered that the fundamentals of mathematics were arbitrary and inconsistent? What if there were a science of naming things that calls life into being from inanimate matter? What if exposure to an alien language forever changed our perception of time? What if all the beliefs of fundamentalist Christianity were literally true, and the sight of sinners being swallowed into fiery pits were a routine event on city streets? These are the kinds of outrageous questions posed by the stories of Ted Chiang. Stories of your life . . . and others.
What made the match, strongest first
Alastair Reynolds
2012 · 565 pages · 1 review
Others: PositiveOne-hundred-and-fifty years from now, the moon and Mars are settled, and colonies stretch all the way out to the edge of the solar system. But something has come to light on the Moon--secrets that could change everything--or tear this near utopia apar
What made the match, strongest first
Frank Herbert
1985 · 464 pages · 2 reviews
Others: Leaning positiveThe desert planet Arrakis, called Dune, has been destroyed. Now the Bene Gesserit, heirs to Dune's powers, have colonized a green world and are turning it into a desert, mile by scorched mile.
What made the match, strongest first
Philip K. Dick
1964 · 238 pages · 3 reviews
Others: Mostly negativeThe Penultimate Truth is a 1964 science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick. The story is set in a future where the bulk of humanity is kept in large underground shelters. The people are told that World War III is being fought above them, when in reality the war ended years ago. The novel is based on Dick's 1953 short story "The Defenders". Dick also drew upon two other of his short stories for the plot of the novel: "The Mold of Yancy" and "The Unreconstructed M".
What made the match, strongest first
MixedGood. Very inventive cyberpunk here. Some kind of really interesting dynamics between factions, different philosophies on technology. Some cool tech in here. It just sort of needed a bit of a throughine to kind of get me to that ending where I was more invested in the outcome.
