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Need your help,

Haven't read a good sci-fi novel, or series, in a very long time and would like to start reading a good stand alone novel or a series. Are there any good ones that came out in the last half decade?
Last things I read, in the science fiction scope, that I really liked were the Ender Wiggins books (Ender’s Game Series) as well as the Hyperion ones (re-read).

So, whats good?

-----
EDIT:
List of writers and books suggested up to now:

A.C. Clarke (Rendezvous with Rama,The City and the stars,The Fountains of Paradise )
Alastair Reynolds (The House of Suns)
Alfred Bester (The Demolished Man)
Bruce Sterling (Islands in the Net)
Charles Stross (Saturn's Children,Halting State )
Cherie Priest (Boneshaker)
Dan Abnett (40 Novels)
Dan Simmons ( Hyperion, Ilium/Olympos)
David Drake
David Weber (The Safehold)
Eric Flint
Fred Pohl (Gateway, Jem )
George Alec Effinger (When Gravity Fails)
Greg Bear (Eon)
Harry Harrison (The Stainless Steel Rat)
Iain M Banks (Surface Detail, Algebraist, Culture series (Player of Games a good starting point))
Jack Campbell
Joe Haldeman (The Forever War )
John Ringo
Kim Stanley (Red Mars)
Mark Z. Danielewski (House of Leaves)
Neal Ashe (POLITY series)
Neal Stephenson (Anathem, Snowcrash)
Peter F Hamilton (Great North Road)
Philip K. Dick (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, A Scanner Darkly)
Poul Anderson (Tau Zero)
Richard K. Morgan (Altered Carbon, Black Man)
Robert A. Heinlein (Starship Troopers, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress)
Roger Zelazny (Lord of Light, Amber series)
Stephen R. Donaldson ( The Gap Cycle)
Taylor Travis
Timothy Zahn
Walter Jon Williams (Hardwired)
Walter Tevis (Mockingbird )
William Dietz
William Gibson and Bruce Sterling (The Difference Engine)


VARIOUS ARTIST:

Halo

Military Sci-fi, Hardcore Sci-Fi, Space Opera. What kind of scifi are you interested in?

I personally like Space Opera and Military Sci-fi so writers like John Ringo, Taylor Travis (think that's his name), David Weber, Eric Flint, David Drake, Timothy Zahn, Jack Campbell, William Dietz, and a few others interest me. Baen Books is a good place to go searching too if you have a reader since they sell most of their publishing on there pretty cheap and have package deals that are good for getting into new authors.

Not sure I can think of five but there are some suggestions.

Black Man (Richard Morgan) barely creeps in
The House of Suns (Alastair Reynolds)
Surface Detail (Iain M Banks)

To be completely honest, the Halo novel series is fantastic. I actually prefer it to the games.

If you liked Hyperion, Ilium/Olympos by the same author and Eon by Greg Bear might be to your liking as well.

I've also bought a good number of classic science fiction novels; some of those were really good.
Among the best were:

Gateway (Fred Pohl)
The Forever War (Joe Haldeman)
Jem (also Pohl; not a very uplifting novel, but very good, nonetheless)
Tau Zero (Poul Anderson)

 Hulksmash wrote:
Military Sci-fi, Hardcore Sci-Fi, Space Opera. What kind of scifi are you interested in?

I personally like Space Opera and Military Sci-fi so writers like John Ringo, Taylor Travis (think that's his name), David Weber, Eric Flint, David Drake, Timothy Zahn, Jack Campbell, William Dietz, and a few others interest me. Baen Books is a good place to go searching too if you have a reader since they sell most of their publishing on there pretty cheap and have package deals that are good for getting into new authors.

I really like space operas and like military sci-fis from time to time. Didn't knew about John Ringo, Taulor Travis, Eric Flint, David Drake, Jack Campbell or Willian Dietz, so I will definitivelly look them up. As for Timothy Zahn, I liked what I read from him. But I don't like Honor Harrington fro m Weber. I ended up not reading more from him.

 Kilkrazy wrote:
Not sure I can think of five but there are some suggestions.

Black Man (Richard Morgan) barely creeps in
The House of Suns (Alastair Reynolds)
Surface Detail (Iain M Banks)

The House of Suns looks like the first book I would read from the feedback I received on this thread. Thanks.

 mega_bassist wrote:
To be completely honest, the Halo novel series is fantastic. I actually prefer it to the games.

I am surprised by this. I will check this out.

Bran Dawri wrote:
If you liked Hyperion, Ilium/Olympos by the same author and Eon by Greg Bear might be to your liking as well.

I've also bought a good number of classic science fiction novels; some of those were really good.
Among the best were:

Gateway (Fred Pohl)
The Forever War (Joe Haldeman)
Jem (also Pohl; not a very uplifting novel, but very good, nonetheless)
Tau Zero (Poul Anderson)

I did read Ilium and Olympos and it was a very good read. Eon seems pretty interesting. I didn't read any of the older novels you listed up.

Tau Zero looks very interesting.

Thanks guys!

Come to think of it, Great North Road by Peter F Hamilton was significantly less turgid than a lot of his other books.

I know that they didn't come out in the last 5 years, but pretty much anything by Philip K. Dick. Personal favorite of mine from him, is "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" and I am currently reading "A Scanner Darkly"

 Kilkrazy wrote:
Come to think of it, Great North Road by Peter F Hamilton was significantly less turgid than a lot of his other books.

Yes, it does seems interesting and I really liked the confederation novels by Hamilton. Thanks a lot

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:
I know that they didn't come out in the last 5 years, but pretty much anything by Philip K. Dick. Personal favorite of mine from him, is "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" and I am currently reading "A Scanner Darkly"

Nerver read anything from him and always wanted.

Another one to look for is Charles Stross.

Saturn's Children (2008) is good and there is sequel coming this year.

Halting State (2007) is just outside the time limit but I shall mention it anyway.

There's nothing these days in sci-fi in the scope of Games of thrones, the Confederacy serties from Hamilton or Dunes?

Have you read The Gap Cycle by Stephen R. Donaldson? Maybe my favorite sci-fi series ever.

 deathholydeath wrote:
Have you read The Gap Cycle by Stephen R. Donaldson? Maybe my favorite sci-fi series ever.

I've seen those books many times at the store but I never read them.

The Safehold series by David Weber is quite good.
Book 6 (of 7) has just been released, I'm enjoying it thoroughly.

Do you think that we could get an unspoilered synopsis of what the recommended books are about? Or at least what sort of sub-genre they fall undrer?

For example: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep is the book that Blade Runner was based off of. It's a very dystopic future world, but still reads like a good detective novel, with some sci-fi seemlessly melded in.

Iain M Banks is my favourite Sci-fi author. Any of the Culture series apart from 'Excession', 'Inversions' and 'Look to Windward' can be read on their own. The three mentioned above should only be read after you've read at least one of the other ones. There is one more called 'the algebriast' which i haven't actually read, so cant recommend. Look to Windward is fairly weak if i'm honest though.

Player of Games is an excellent starter point, mainly because that's it's intended purpose, even if it is the second novel. Banks' work errs on the side of Hard sci-fi but his black humour, boundless imagination and social commentary are just fantastic.

Phil Dick's full novels are pretty crappy imo, his short stories however are excellent.

I updated the OP with the suggestions done up to now.

More good classic scifi novels that I've recently (ie, over the last 5 years) come across:

Lord of Light (Roger Zelazny; his Amber series is also quite entertaining, but not scifi)

Rendezvous with Rama
The City and the stars
The Fountains of Paradise (all from A.C. Clarke)

The Demolished Man (Alfred Bester)

Mockingbird (Walter Tevis)

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (Heinlein)

 Perkustin wrote:
Iain M Banks is my favourite Sci-fi author. Any of the Culture series apart from 'Excession', 'Inversions' and 'Look to Windward' can be read on their own. The three mentioned above should only be read after you've read at least one of the other ones. There is one more called 'the algebriast' which i haven't actually read, so cant recommend. Look to Windward is fairly weak if i'm honest though.

I actually liked Look to Windward a lot. It's a rather nice look at the morality of suicide, and its ramifications. It can definitely be a bit confusing, between the large amount of flashbacks and the intentionally obtuse conversations at the various conversations aboard Masaq, but it's certainly worth the read. The Algebraist is also wonderful, although as a warning it's a completely different universe to the rest of his novels: It's much closer to hard sci fi, with no FTL barring wormholes that need to be carted to systems the slow way around. I'd personally been hoping for a sequel, although it'll never happen now. :(

House of Leaves is another great one, and is perhaps the greatest mindscrew I've ever had the pleasure of reading. It's got a story within a story within a story, two unreliable narrators, and three sets of editors notes (and notes on notes), with footnotes occasionally filling multiple pages on their own. At a surface reading, it's about a house that's larger on the inside and getting bigger, and the owner's attempts to come to grips with that. At the next level, it's about a failing marraige and his attempts to save it. And neither of those interpretations even scratches the two other stories above that one. Oh, and pay attention to the binding on the physical book when you pick it up (and believe me, you HAVE to read a physical copy: You lose FAR too much if you read it digitally).

Bran Dawri wrote:
More good classic scifi novels that I've recently (ie, over the last 5 years) come across:

Lord of Light (Roger Zelazny; his Amber series is also quite entertaining, but not scifi)

Rendezvous with Rama
The City and the stars
The Fountains of Paradise (all from A.C. Clarke)

The Demolished Man (Alfred Bester)

Mockingbird (Walter Tevis)

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (Heinlein)

I also read Rama a long time ago and, as far as I can remember, I really liked it. As for the other books from Clarke, I never read them.

 Laughing Man wrote:

 Perkustin wrote:
Iain M Banks is my favourite Sci-fi author. Any of the Culture series apart from 'Excession', 'Inversions' and 'Look to Windward' can be read on their own. The three mentioned above should only be read after you've read at least one of the other ones. There is one more called 'the algebriast' which i haven't actually read, so cant recommend. Look to Windward is fairly weak if i'm honest though.

I actually liked Look to Windward a lot. It's a rather nice look at the morality of suicide, and its ramifications. It can definitely be a bit confusing, between the large amount of flashbacks and the intentionally obtuse conversations at the various conversations aboard Masaq, but it's certainly worth the read. The Algebraist is also wonderful, although as a warning it's a completely different universe to the rest of his novels: It's much closer to hard sci fi, with no FTL barring wormholes that need to be carted to systems the slow way around. I'd personally been hoping for a sequel, although it'll never happen now. :(

House of Leaves is another great one, and is perhaps the greatest mindscrew I've ever had the pleasure of reading. It's got a story within a story within a story, two unreliable narrators, and three sets of editors notes (and notes on notes), with footnotes occasionally filling multiple pages on their own. At a surface reading, it's about a house that's larger on the inside and getting bigger, and the owner's attempts to come to grips with that. At the next level, it's about a failing marraige and his attempts to save it. And neither of those interpretations even scratches the two other stories above that one. Oh, and pay attention to the binding on the physical book when you pick it up (and believe me, you HAVE to read a physical copy: You lose FAR too much if you read it digitally).

I have to say that you got me intrigued about House of leaves.

the Windup Girl, by Paolo Bacigalupi, is excellent.

If you like steampunk, the clockwork century series by Cherie Priest is fun, and they're quick reads.

Do yourself a favor and read Neal Asher's POLITY series of books, starting with this series:

Gridlinked (2001)
The Line of Polity (2003)
Brass Man (2005)
Polity Agent (2006)
Line War (2008)

Then moving on to these:

The Skinner (2002)
The Voyage of the Sable Keech (2006)
Orbus (2009)

Then these:


Prador Moon (2006)
Hilldiggers (2007)
Shadow of the Scorpion (Prequel to Gridlinked, 2008)
The Technician (2010)

Good stuff!

Saturn's Children (2008)
200 years from now all animal life is dead but an extensive society of android robots carries on social functions around the solar system, awaiting and dreading the return of their human masters.

Halting State (2007)
The police of an independent Scotland try to solve a bank robbery that has been carried out inside an MMPRPG.

Black Man (Richard Morgan)
In the mid 21st century The western powers have turned to genetic engineering to produce a race of supersoldiers. The wars over, most of them are exiled to Mars as too violent for modern society. But if one of them manages to get back to Earth, who can hunt him down except another of them.

The House of Suns (Alastair Reynolds)
The richest humans clone themselves and copy their personalities to allow thousands of themselves to ream the galaxy at sub-light speed. Once every ten thousand years they gather to exchange and update memories. A leading clone family is attacked and the survivors must find out who and why in order to protect themselves.

Surface Detail (Iain M Banks)
The Culture is divided into two factions running a virtual war to decide if the virtual Hells operated by a number of galactic factions should be suppressed.

Great North Road (Peter F Hamilton)
IN the 22nd century travel to the stars is done though warp gates. The most important in western Europe is in Newcastle where supplies of Bio oil are imported by the powerful North family. When a family member is murdered by an alien, the local police have to track the culprit.

 Laughing Man wrote:

 Perkustin wrote:
Iain M Banks is my favourite Sci-fi author. Any of the Culture series apart from 'Excession', 'Inversions' and 'Look to Windward' can be read on their own. The three mentioned above should only be read after you've read at least one of the other ones. There is one more called 'the algebriast' which i haven't actually read, so cant recommend. Look to Windward is fairly weak if i'm honest though.

I actually liked Look to Windward a lot. It's a rather nice look at the morality of suicide, and its ramifications. It can definitely be a bit confusing, between the large amount of flashbacks and the intentionally obtuse conversations at the various conversations aboard Masaq, but it's certainly worth the read. The Algebraist is also wonderful, although as a warning it's a completely different universe to the rest of his novels: It's much closer to hard sci fi, with no FTL barring wormholes that need to be carted to systems the slow way around. I'd personally been hoping for a sequel, although it'll never happen now. :(

House of Leaves is another great one, and is perhaps the greatest mindscrew I've ever had the pleasure of reading. It's got a story within a story within a story, two unreliable narrators, and three sets of editors notes (and notes on notes), with footnotes occasionally filling multiple pages on their own. At a surface reading, it's about a house that's larger on the inside and getting bigger, and the owner's attempts to come to grips with that. At the next level, it's about a failing marraige and his attempts to save it. And neither of those interpretations even scratches the two other stories above that one. Oh, and pay attention to the binding on the physical book when you pick it up (and believe me, you HAVE to read a physical copy: You lose FAR too much if you read it digitally).

In retrospect 'Fairly weak' was a bit absolutist of me, more fair would be something like, 'didn't grab me' or something to that effect.

Look to Windward is one of my favourites, too. It's one of the novels that has the most philosophy and civilian life in it, plus some nice alien viewpoints. Most "aliens" in the Culture books are para-humans.

Pretty much only read Sci-Fi, some classics here:

Will only comment on what I have read:
(sorry, did sneak out past 5 years but looks like others have as well)

Caves of Steel: Isaac Asimov - first big book I liked of this genre.

Cyberpunk:
When Gravity Fails: George Alec Effinger - It is a series, arabic background bit of a culture shock = great.
Hardwired: Walter Jon Williams
Snowcrash: Neal Stephenson - All time favorite book.
Islands in the Net - Bruce Sterling
Altered Carbon: Richard K Morgan - More recent publication and reads very well.

Steampunk:
The Difference Engine: William Gibson and Bruce Sterling - classic and great book.
Boneshaker: Cherie Priest - Good book, managed to fit in zombies as well, it works.
Anathem: Neal Stephenson - not what would fit neatly in this genre but does work.

Classics still good now:
Starship Troopers: Robert A. Heinlein
The Forever War: Joe Haldeman
The Stainless Steel Rat: Harry Harrison - A James Bond like thief (Lupin?)
Red Mars: Kim Stanley - trilogy, colonization of mars with much going on. Fun.

Good luck, many reviews out there, this is my taste.
Also read many of the 40k novels: Dan Abnett is a great writer.

 Talizvar wrote:

Altered Carbon: Richard K Morgan - More recent publication and reads very well.
Red Mars: Kim Stanley - trilogy, colonization of mars with much going on. Fun.

I've read Altered Carbon and really liked it. I also read the first red mars. Can't remember why I didn't read the other books

 Talizvar wrote:

Starship Troopers: Robert A. Heinlein

Was the movie pretty faithful to the book?

Otherwise, Wow, so much stuff, I will have books to read for a few years at least

 paqman wrote:
Was the movie pretty faithful to the book?

Not even a little.